cityboy gets the message....

and the message is that there is to be an "action" protesting tenants being mistreated on Myrtle Avenue and Willoughby Street. So how do you feel about that cityboy...?  Really not the protesting type, concerned but let other people do it---yet I will go and participate--albeit with a lot of anxiety. What do you fear...? Being arrested..? Being identified as a "radical"---yet that is hardly what you are, merely a compassionate person who is enraged by the dislocation of  people who do not deserve it. Yet my "bourgeois persona" is very strong. Nevertheless, at this point, plan to be there and participate. We will see what happens.
Last night, went to La Flaca, long and arduous train ride, had to get off A at 34th street and walk down to 6th to catch F. A brutal trip, crowds on 34th are almost impossible. Anyway, made the switch and arrived at La Flaca, watched first five innings of game, then, after Bobby left, felt I wanted to move on as well. Decided to see a movie, checked times, decided that of all the movies that I wished to see, Listen to me Marlin was the most appropriate. But would I get in? Film Forum is very popular among the sixty and seventy somethings, and I figured all the Brando admirers would be out in full force. But with a half hour to go, had no trouble getting a ticket, and found the auditorium fairly empty with about 15 minutes to go. Ultimately the crowd was larger, and when the movie began, the theater was almost filled.
The movie was oddly dissappointing. Maybe because I had heard so much about it and the reviews were good---still I found it somewhat diffuse. Felt detached a lot of the time. Still, some interesting points that show why Brando needed to become an actor when he arrived in New York from Omaha, feeling almost as if he had no personality, and how he later came to hate acting---saw it as a stunt and nothing else. Forgot about or rejected the challenge of creating a role. And then there was the failure he felt as a parent---being an abused child, he probably wanted desperately not to be that kind of parent to his children, but events (the movie does not make this clear) seemed to turn against he and his children and one was in jail and the other a suicide. Horrible for him to live with this. And yet, no pain in the movie itself, maybe that is what I missed. Still, needed to see a movie---got home late and very tired, but went right to sleep.
Will report tomorrow on the "action"---am definitely going now, so all will be revealed then.