Nil Nisi Bonum

I was thinking of George Robinson yesterday. And then I thought, with Tom dead and Dea dead, who do I have left who also remembers George? Who is left who still remembers adventures with George, dining out with George, Traveling with George, and watching ice hockey on TV with George? Well, there is Fred who first introduced us to George back in 1969. But Fred? No, he's too wrapped up in exposing the injustices of life in excruciating detail. I can't endure his multi hour rants dissecting friends and foe. There might be Mimi. She may have known George or met him, or just heard the tales second hand. I like Mimi. She's sane, intelligent, has a sense of humor but I don't think we've been in touch for over 30 years. I have no idea if she wants to be in touch. She was Dea's friend originally and then we all drifted apart at one point. There was Ken Dupuy but he's been gone for many years now and his wife Kateri never approved of any of us. (And I wonder what happened with Ken as I remember us all celebrating his receiving his PhD from The New School but in the last listings I see of him at Fordham University, it lists him as just a MA. There's a story there.

But back to memories of George. There might be Ira Donewitz; Ira's been around since way back when but I don't recall him as one of George's little circle. Ira's too nice to have been one of George's friends. There's Mark Blackman but I absolutely know for sure that Mark and George didn't know each other. They may have met at one of Fred and Dea's parties but I can't imagine them even wanting to stand near the other. And you had to appreciate a certain warped sense of humor to appreciate George. George's old fellow travelers who attended Bronx Catholic schools with him are all long gone.

This is going to happen again with increasing  frequency as we all start to age out.

Nil Nisi Bonum

Film Review: A Wrinkle in Time

(Sotto voce in the voice of George Robinson)   The Horror! The Horror!

What have they done to that charming, award winning, childhood fantasy favorite by Madeleine L'Engle? I and my classmates in 1962 read this book, A Wrinkle in Time, at the urging of our math teacher. (This and a story titled, And He Built a Crooked House by Robert Heinlein launched us onto paths of maths and science fiction.)

When I heard Disney was bringing this favorite old children's book to the screen I was hopeful. Then details starting leaking out - they were rewriting the story to make it more relevant, Oprah Winfrey was sponsoring it and starring, they were changing it into a mixed race inspirational tale, they were cutting out complicated bits, they were deleting characters and scenes - critical ones, staging ones.

And so, too they have ruined A Wrinkle In Time.  OMG it's terrible, horrible. What did Madeleine L'Engle ever do to deserve this?

Ruined.
More than a waste, its a crime.