Every Picture Tells a Story

2.5.2020  State of the Union

It takes a Woman leader to put this disgraceful representative of America in his place.

 The trash can.

BuzzFeed 2.5.2020

It took zero time before the tension between President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was evident at the State of the Union address on Tuesday when the impeached president ignored her outstretched hand to greet him.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/trump-nancy-pelosi-outstretched-hand-sotu

Tonight is the yearly American “State of the Union” address given by the President.

Meanwhile, in Germany a historic piece of artwork has been unveiled.

There’s an old saying, “Be careful what you wish for it just might come true.”

America is becoming like Weimar in 1920’s Germany.  Tonight we saw the President refusing to shake the hand of the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.  At the end of the President’s speech, Speaker Pelosi in front of the worldwide television cameras tore up a copy of the President’s speech.
Meanwhile, the President’s sycophant like cheer leaders in the audience were chanting “Four more years!!!!” thinking about this November’s election. The President’s feverish supporters are giving him unprecedented Imperial powers.

The short sightedness of this total loyalty is that one day a person not of their Neo fascist persuasion will come into power. 

Deutsche Welle 2.4.2020

The exiled painter described his 1944 work as “Hitler as a fascist monster or as an apocalyptic beast.” After more than 75 years in a private collection, the masterpiece is now in public hands and was unveiled Tuesday.

George Grosz was a pioneer of irreverent Dada art in Berlin, an ardent critic of war and nationalism who went into exile before Hitler seized power in 1933.

In 1944, while living in the US, he completed a painting that portrays Hitler as a monster dictator reigning over an underworld of mass death and destruction. Titled Cain or Hitler in Hell, the masterwork has been privately owned (by the Grosz family) since its creation, but in 2019 was acquired by the German Historical Museum in Berlin (DHM).

The painting was officially unveiled today in Berlin, with Minister of Culture, Monika Grütters, Raphael Gross, President of the German Historical Museum Foundation, and Markus Hilgert, General Secretary of the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States, in attendance.

Purchased by the DHM with the support of the federal government and the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States, the acquisition marks a major coup for the institution as the painting is considered one of the outstanding works created by a German artist in exile after the rise of the Nazi regime.

Hitler in Hell, as it is known, will soon be on view to the public as part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Confronting Hitler

“We are very grateful that this important testimony of German exile art during National Socialism could be secured for our collection,” said Raphael Gross on February 4 at the official unveiling at the DHM in central Berlin. “Especially with regard to our new permanent exhibition, which we are currently designing, it will be a central object that tells us a lot about the artistic confrontation with Hitler and National Socialism.”

Read more: New Objectivity art: The anti-expressionism Weimar movement

Grosz, who gained a reputation for his highly political Dada art during the Weimar Republic, was a World War One veteran who became a trenchant critic of German nationalism and joined the Sparticist uprising in 1918.

As a communist and fierce anti-Nazi who condemned the emergence of fascism throughout Europe, it was no wonder that he emigrated to the US shortly before Hitler came to power in 1933. Soon after, the Nazis labelled his work “degenerate art” and removed it from the public collections in the so-called German Reich.

George Grosz’ Dada collage from 1918 mocks the Prussian generals and religious leaders at the heart of a disastrous war

By the late 1930s, Grosz  began to work again in his New York home, reviving many of his former themes as Hitler fomented world war and news of the Nazi death camps spread. Cain or Hitler in Hell is considered one of the main works of this era. Grosz himself described the picture as a representation of “Hitler as a fascist monster, or as an apocalyptic beast, consumed by his own thoughts.”

The artist equated Hitler with the figure of Cain, who in the bible is presented as the archetypal murderer and the first in human history

Repatriating ‘degenerate art’

The German Minister of State for Culture, Monika Grütters, noted at the unveiling that many of George Grosz’ paintings were in fact destroyed by the Nazis after they confiscated 285 of his works from public collections.

“By purchasing one of his most important paintings, we are making a mark for reparation, and honoring one of the most talented artists in the Weimar Republic,” she said. “Since its creation in 1944, the work Cain or Hitler in Hell has lost none of its power.”

George Grosz at work in his Long Island studio in 1940

“On the contrary: George Grosz’ apocalyptic vision of terror looks like an appeal, like a warning against forgetting, in view of the renewed anti-Semitism in our society,” she continued. “It is works of art like this that help us learn the right lessons from history.”

Back in Berlin

“This decidedly political picture shows how Grosz develops his critical formal language in exile,” said Markus Hilgert of the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States. “It is important to me that young people in particular have access to the painting and are able to deal with the artist’s critical view of National Socialism.”

He added that it was important to fulfill the Grosz family’s wish that the painting is shown permanently where Grosz was born and also died. Though the artist became a US citizen in 1938, he returned to his home city with his wife in 1958, where he died a year later.

https://www.dw.com/en/hitler-in-hell-george-grosz-masterwork-unveiled-in-berlin/a-52252359

I was immediately attracted to “The Rhythm Section” when I saw the trailer. 

I had no idea at least one critic would write the film is about the futility of revenge and guaranteed I will be viewing it in the theater soon.

The Rhythm Section is the 2020 version of “In the Fade” the 2017 German film “inspired by True Events.”

Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle gives the film the top rating in his review. The Little Man falling off the chair. Following is another critic’s review.

Indie Wire – Kate Erbland – 1.31.2020

Forgive the inscrutable title: Reed Morano’s “The Rhythm Section” will explain away its awkward name in due time, though it will likely only inspire viewers to wish for something even weirder to try to sum up the filmmaker’s third feature film. A gritty, anti-James Bond thriller about the futility of revenge and the limits of violence, “The Rhythm Section” might as well be called “This Hurts a Lot,” because the Blake Lively-starring adaptation of Mark Burnell’s novel leaves a mark on both its star and audience. “I’m not looking to get healed,” Lively’s Stephanie huffs at someone halfway through the dark drama, about as close to an ethos as her nihilistic anti-heroine has to offer.

That’s not to say she’s not compelling, or that she doesn’t start to evolve as the mystery winds on. It’s less a film about secret spies and global conspiracies (though that stuff is there, too) than an exploration of the price of guilt and the weight of trauma. Lively makes off with one of her best performances ever, and one that makes an unexpected case for giving the actress a real action franchise next time around. One of contemporary cinema’s most underrated chameleons, Lively throws herself into the role with real gusto (that the actress injured herself so badly during a fight scene that production had to be put on hold is not in the least bit surprising, as unfortunate as it was).

The physicality of Lively’s performance goes beyond those fight scenes, however — and these are impressive fight scenes, gritty and bruising, every punch and grunt jumping off the screen. She’s tasked with embodying not just an untested, accidentally made assassin, but a woman living in visceral trauma. The globe-trotting, time-spanning film opens at Stephanie’s lowest point: Three years after a horrific tragedy that took her entire family (mom, dad, brother, sister, all introduced during flashbacks that play over the film’s credits), the former Oxford whiz kid is living in a makeshift London brothel when a new client reveals he’s really an undercover reporter with a crazy story to tell.

Stephanie’s family died in a plane crash, but what Keith (Raza Jaffrey) tells her only further twists the knife into her life-consuming rage and guilt: it wasn’t some random accident, it was an act of terrorism that claimed hundreds of lives in the process of offing one major target. With nothing left to lose, Stephanie eventually opts to seek out all associated parties and take care of them — “violently,” she explains to one ally — despite having zero background in fighting, spying, espionage, or any other related dark arts.

It’s a compelling plot, but not a complex one, as its straight arrow slowly melts into something needlessly complicated. Stephanie’s rage is understandable, but some of the twists that follow from it are improbable and the relationships she forms along the way are unlikely (especially one that takes root in the film’s final act). Burnell’s script (the author adapted his own novel for the film, his first venture into filmmaking) works hard to sell Jude Law’s appearance as an unexpected mentor, and he and Lively exhibit enough chemistry as at-odds allies to smooth over the wrinkles in their association. (Sterling K. Brown, essentially stepping in as the male lead in the film’s second half, doesn’t make out as easily.)

The film is, given Morano’s background in cinematography, gorgeously shot, often taking its cues from Stephanie’s limited point of view. Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt’s compositions are both chilly and evocative, and serve Morano’s hard-hitting fight sequences well, adding heft to already gutting scenes. A dizzying single-take car chase halfway through the film appears to be lensed by someone sitting in the seat next to Stephanie, and serves as one hell of a cinematic rebuttal of other, more polished sequences in similar films.

For all its bite, there’s still a razor-thin edge of black comedy running through the film even in its darkest moments, a risk that pays off while others falter. (Law’s anonymous former MI6 agent pushes an ailing Stephanie to shape up through rigorous training, and Lively’s responses earn the laughs she and Morano easily layer in.) A dissonant soundtrack of cheeky songs is more distracting than anything, and often it’s Hans Zimmer’s (literally) pulse-pounding score that proves most effective at driving tension and emotion.

The film’s greatest asset is baked right in: Stephanie isn’t an instant super-spy, despite her drive and Jude Law-issued training. That’s not enough to suddenly turn anyone into a new wave James Bond, and that she falters at essential moments is what keeps “The Rhythm Section” pulsating along through an ending as messy and big as Stephanie’s pain itself. That it all but begs for a sequel (Burnell’s book has, so far, spawned three followup novels) is its final trick, not because actioners like “The Rhythm Section” always seem to be next in line for the franchise treatment, but because it’s unique enough to actually deserve to cut through the scrum. Not every thriller gets a happy ending, but at least Stephanie makes hers hit hard enough to matter.

https://www.indiewire.com/2020/01/the-rhythm-section-review-blake-lively-reed-morano-1202207516/

I thought that Da Mayor would take the low key approach in discussing the Feds bust of Mohammed Nuru – Department of Public Works (DPW) director.

The former Mayor, San Francisco  political and social fixture and now must read Sunday columnnist  dissects the story in a way only he can.

San Francisco Chronicle – Willie Brown – 2.1.2020

SF corruption scandal: Your good name is worth more than a tractor

Willie Brown Feb. 1, 2020 Updated: Feb. 1, 2020 9:01 a.m.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/williesworld/article/SF-corruption-scandal-Your-good-name-is-worth-15021356.php

The fantastic German series Babylon Berlin which takes a deep dive into Weimar as the Nazi regime ascends. It is must watching. In this election year where Trump continues to shred American institutions Babylon Berlin is a sobering, albiet fictionalized, account of life in a country where Nazi rule is on the horizon.

Excerpted from Variety 12.20.2019

Starting February 20, 18 films from 18 countries, 16 of them world premieres, will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears in Berlin. A past focus on star power will give way to darker themes that aim to “open our eyes.”

Jeremy Irons is the 2020 head of the Berlin Film Festival Jury. In 2019 Juliete Binoche was head of the Jury which awarded the Silver Bear award to “System Crasher” shown above.

Deutsche Welle 1.31.2020

On Wednesday the Berlinale International Film Festival leadership team revealed the movies that will compete for its top prizes under the “Competition” heading. The festival runs from February 20 to March 1 in the German capital.

With a new artistic director, Carlo Chatrian, and managing director, Mariette Rissenbeek, at the helm of the 70th Berlinale, films have been selected that are “part of a bigger picture,” Chatrian said at the press conference.

It is “the end of an epic and exciting journey where we have encountered more than 6,800 films from the whole world — short as well as feature-length films, documentaries and fiction films,” he added.

The Competition programme includes 18 films from 18 countries with 16 world premieres, as well as one documentary form. The selection appears to be a homage to film art rather than big names. The two US directors in the running, Kelly Reichardt (“First Cow”) and Eliza Hittman (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”), have an indie film pedigree and have not utilized A-list stars.

Remake of ‘Berlin Alexanderplatz’

German cinema will be very prominently represented: Christian Petzold will present his new film “Undine” starring German actors Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski. The remake of Alfred Döblin’s 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz by German-Afghan filmmaker Burhan Qurbani is also eagerly anticipated.

Chatrian is a film connoisseur who previously headed the renowned Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. The selection he announced seemed to address past criticism of the Berlinale’s middling competition entries that aimed for mainstream appeal.

A number of recognized directors are taking part in the 2020 Competition, and others are Berlinale alumni, but above all the selection is marked by its global diversity.

Tsai Ming-Liang from Taiwan, Hong Sangsoo from South Korea, Rithy Panh from Cambodia, Briton Sally Potter, French director Philippe Garrel, as well as French duo Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern, are some of the better-known names. American enfant terrible Abel Ferrara is directing a co-production from Italy, Germany and Mexico called “Siberia.”

There are a number of other international co-productions in the selection, incuding “The Intruder” from Argentina/Mexico and “All the Dead Ones” from Brazil/France.

A total of five films with German production funds are running in the race for the Golden Bear, the best picture award.

The premiere of the film “DAU. Natasha” by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Yekatarina Oertel, which portrays the life of Soviet physicist Lev Davidovich, combines funding from Germany, Ukraine, the UK and the Russian Federation.

‘Predominance of dark tones’

“The Competition films tell intimate and earth-shattering, individual and collective stories that have an enduring effect and gain their impact from their interplay with the audience,” Chatrian said. “If there is a predominance of dark tones, this may be because the films we have selected tend to look at the present without illusion — not to cause fear, but because they want to open our eyes.”

Opening film: “My Salinger Year”

The 70th Berlinale will open with the Canadian-Irish film “My Salinger Year.” Based on the memoir by Joanna Rakoff, director Philippe Falardeau tells the story of a young writer who works as an assistant to a successful literary agent (played by Sigourney Weaver), and who gets the job of responding to fan mail for cult author J.D. Salinger. Sigourney Weaver is expected to attend the premiere.

There will also be representation from Iran, which traditionally has a strong presence in Berlin. Director Mohammad Rasoulof presents “There is No Evil,” a story from his home country that is again caught in geopolitical crosshairs.

Chatrian said that all the directors would present their works in Berlin in person, and he hoped that Rasoulof could also do so. In the past, Tehran has repeatedly refused to allow local film directors, including banned filmmaker Jafar Panah, to travel to major festivals.

Gender balance?

In 2019, former Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick signed the 5050×2020 pledge to achieve gender equality. Of the 18 competition films for 2020, a third were directed by women. Chatrian described the “process” as ongoing.

Managing director Rissenbeek promised that an overall majority of the other festival sections would be directed by women. She added that the year’s proportion of women in the entire Berlinale programme, even behind the scenes, is relatively high.

https://www.dw.com/en/berlinale-competition-boasts-dark-tones-for-top-prizes/a-52190386

This behavior is totally disgusting and unconscionable.  

What kind of warped mind is at work to destroy beautiful and iconic art at one of San Francisco’s most venerable religious instiutions?

San Francisco Chronicle 1.31.2020

St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco was targeted by a vandal who shattered or cracked nine of the iconic building’s oversized windows on Friday.

“It’s like somebody came up and just smashed, like that,” glass glazier Kent Kester said outside the church Friday afternoon, miming a swing with a mallet. As he spoke, workers hauled more than 2 tons of glass away.

A person from one of the high rises across the street witnessed the lone vandal breaking windows around 1:30 a.m. and called police, according to Mike Brown, Director of Communication for the the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

A police spokesman said the suspect fled the scene prior to police arrival and there have been no arrests. The incident is under investigation.

Brown said the windows were broken around eye level, and added there were “plenty of security cameras that are being examined right now.”

Each pane was approxiately 105 inches tall, 96 inches wide, and weighed about 470 lbs, Kester said. The repairs will take several days: Approximately three days to set the bronze tempered glass and two more for caulking.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a half-million dollars,” Kester said.

Brown said another one of the church windows was broken in the last year or so, but said it wasn’t a regular occurrence.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Vandal-breaks-9-massive-windows-at-St-Mary-s-15021397.php#photo-18965114

Every Picture Tells a Story – Ongoing Series

After a grass roots political effort which began in 1972 San Francisco’s Market Street, one of the City’s main transit arteries, became car free today.

I have been riding a bike in San Francisco since, yes, 1972.  I must admit that I never thought this would happen.

San Francisco Chronicle 1.29.2020

1972 Bike Power rally at City Hall

Market Street 1.29.2020

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Will-banning-cars-solve-Market-Street-s-15014822.php

The personal and human toll of the US Attorneys campaign against San Francisco is only beginning to sink in to the City’s body politic.

Linda Clayton is not charged with any crime in Trump’s crime busters crusade against San Francisco.  Nonetheless, the strain of being brought into the media whirlwind has led to Clayton’s resignation after 24 years on the San Francisco Airport Commission.

Health reasons are being cited.

San Francisco Chronicle 1.29.2020

The San Francisco International Airport Commissioner whom federal officials allege Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru and restaurateur Nick Bovis sought to bribe resigned Wednesday.

Linda Crayton cited a struggle with “multiple, severe medical conditions for several years” in her resignation letter to Mayor London Breed.

Nuru and Bovis were charged with wire fraud Tuesday in connection with schemes that involved trying to exchange cash and gifts for contracts at SFO and the Transbay transit center. The complaint alleges the men tried to bribe Crayton in exchange for voting to approve an airport lease for Bovis’ chicken restaurant.

Crayton, who was first appointed to the airport commission by then-Mayor Willie Brown in 1996, is listed only as “Commissioner 1” in the Justice Department’s criminal complaint against Nuru and Bovis. But Crayton’s attorney, Randall Knox, confirmed that Crayton was the target of their alleged bribery scheme.

Her attorney Randall Knox said Crayton resigned due to her frail health combined with the revelations released Tuesday, which “is a little more stress than she wants to bear right now.”

“The bottom line is, the demands of my medical treatment have increased to the point that I cannot continue to serve on the commission,” Crayton said in her resignation letter

Recent questions have also emerged about whether whether she lives in San Francisco — a requirement for airport commissioners and other public offices.

In their complaint, federal officials lay out in meticulous detail the evidence collected from confidential informants, wiretaps, undercover officers and surveillance that they allege shows Nuru and Bovis concocting a plan to buy off Crayton. The complaint also alleges that Bovis expected Crayton’s approval would bring along the votes of two additional commissioners who “vote in a block” with Crayton.

The complaint indicates that Crayton knew Nuru — going so far as to say that Nuru helped get her a spot on the commission.

Federal officials say that Bovis thought Crayton was receptive to their overtures. According to the complaint, Bovis told an informant that Crayton had confided that “she was confident she could help them secure the lease after she got all the information.” “Bovis told the informant that Crayton said ‘she’ll make sure we get in.’”

The complaint accuses Nuru and Bovis of conspiring to bribe Crayton with a trip and $5,000 in cash.

“Bovis and Nuru then took concrete steps to implement the scheme by arranging a private dinner with (Crayton) and bringing an envelope full of cash to the meeting,” the complaint said.

Bovis told an undercover officer that he had offered the cash to Crayton after the dinner, but she rejected it. He later decided against the lump-sum and thought instead to “take care of” Crayton by offering a small portion of the licensing fees he would receive from the restaurant lease.

But that plan unraveled after Bovis and others involved in the scheme became suspicious that they were being watched by the FBI. The complaint also says Crayton did not accept the cash bribe.

“If you look at the recorded conversations in the complaint, it’s clear that Ms. Crayton is saying ‘I’m trying to do the right thing,’” Knox, the commissioner’s lawyer, said. “She’s innocent. She’s neither the target or the subject (of the investigation). At most, she’s a potential witness.”

The alleged airport scheme is one of five separate instances of public corruption Nuru and Bovis were involved in.

Both men are free on $2 million bonds and both face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Nuru was placed on paid administrative leave, in accordance with city policy, on Monday. They are expected back in court again on Feb. 6.

Scrutiny over Crayton’s role in the alleged scheme also raised questions about her eligibility to work as an airport commissioner based on where she lives.

Publicly available records indicate that while Crayton is registered to vote in San Francisco, she has a residence in San Leandro. A Chronicle editor visited the San Leandro address, inside a gated neighborhood, Tuesday and Wednesday. No one responded to calls to a home listed on the security system at the entrance as “Crayton L”.

The San Francisco International Airport Commissioner whom federal officials allege Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru and restaurateur Nick Bovis sought to bribe resigned Wednesday.

Linda Crayton cited a struggle with “multiple, severe medical conditions for several years” in her resignation letter to Mayor London Breed.

Nuru and Bovis were charged with wire fraud Tuesday in connection with schemes that involved trying to exchange cash and gifts for contracts at SFO and the Transbay transit center. The complaint alleges the men tried to bribe Crayton in exchange for voting to approve an airport lease for Bovis’ chicken restaurant.

Crayton, who was first appointed to the airport commission by then-Mayor Willie Brown in 1996, is listed only as “Commissioner 1” in the Justice Department’s criminal complaint against Nuru and Bovis. But Crayton’s attorney, Randall Knox, confirmed that Crayton was the target of their alleged bribery scheme.

Knox said Crayton resigned due to her frail health combined with the revelations released Tuesday, which “is a little more stress than she wants to bear right now.”