And now for something completely different. First, the theatrical
Napoleon Dynamite
For those of you who do not know, this is from one of my all-time favorite movies, “Napoleon Dynamite.”
You can see the comparison; the same hairstyle, but mine was darker and his hair was brown. Thanks to Matt Jacobson, who is part of my weekly Zoom sessions, which we have been having since May 2020. He is always finding great items, often embarrassing, that he shares with his zoom buddies. I thought that these were worthy of sharing on my blog and my FB page. It is a follow-up to my earlier posting on FB of the BOC photo below.
[1] https://en.wikipeNapoleon Dynamite is a 2004 American comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt, Sean Covel, and Jory Weitz, written by Jared and Jerusha Hess and directed by Jared Hess. The film stars Jon Heder in the role of the title character who befriends a new student who emigrated from Mexico and assists him with his class presidential campaign, but Napoleon’s uncle, with whom he does not get along, has temporarily moved in to look after him while his grandmother recovers from an injury in the hospital.
Heder was paid $1,000 for starring in the film but successfully negotiated to receive more after the film became a runaway success. The film was Hess’s first full-length feature and is partially adapted from his earlier short film, Peluca. Napoleon Dynamite was acquired at the Sundance Film Festival by Fox Searchlight Pictures,[2] who partnered up with MTV Films and Paramount Pictures for the release.[3] It was filmed in and near Franklin County, Idaho, in the summer of 2003. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004. Most of the situations in the movie are loosely based on the life of Jared Hess. The film’s total worldwide gross revenue was $46,122,713.[4] The film has since developed a cult following[5][6] and was voted at number 14 on Bravo‘s 100 funniest movies.[7]
Reminds me of a true story. During today’s zoom meeting, my zoom buddies asked me to come up with a positive diplomatic story from back in the day rather than the various stories of death, and fraud that I had been sharing. Then Matt sent the item above and I remembered a true story. Here it is. Back in 2008-2009 when I served as the St Lucia officer in charge of the U.S- St. Lucia, I got to know the opposition leader in St Lucia, who later became Prime Minister after I left.
One day when we were clearing out office files, we found a picture of him with a 70’s” afro”. He was half black, half white, black father and white mother, I believe. At the time I knew him he was my age, and like me, had lost most of his youthful hair.
I also had a picture, perhaps the same picture of me with a “Jewfro”, which is what we called white boys with an “afro” back in the politically incorrect days of the ’70s. On a trip to St Lucia, I presented him with both pictures. He said he loved it and we became good buddies. He always took me out for a drink after that.
Oy … the musical comparisons continue…
——— heh•heh•heh tr°°°
The picture is from 1974, when I served as Student Body President at BHS. The girl who looks like Angela Davis is Joy McKinley, who served on the Board of Control which was the name of our student body student council.
famous musicians from Berkeley, California (Blog entry)
Am I Berkeley Enough?Famous Bands and Songs From Berkeley
He’s been known to sport a Cal Bears hat with an Oakland A’s jersey. He professes great love for the giant burritos at Gordo and Cancun taquerias. And he still gets his coffee at Peet’s — just not the one at the corner of Walnut and Vine streets.
Does all of that make David Wittman “Berkeley Enough”?
Wittman, a Berkeley native long living in Los Angeles, has been asking himself that question for years. His answer, thus far, has been anything but conclusive. So, the DJ/vocalist has turned the debate over to the online community — in the music video “Berkeley Enough,” which has become something of a water-cooler sensation in the Bay Area.
The tune is as intelligent as it hilarious, a well-crafted slice of satire that gently pokes fun while celebrating both his hometown and L.A. Watch the video once, and it’s easy to understand why the song’s title has become a kind of catchphrase in these parts — and why there is now a market for “Berkeley Enough?” T-shirts.
The catchy, comedic tune is a duet between Wittman, who is better known online as simply DJ Dave, and East Bay rapper LaeCharles Lawrence Jr. The ample humor comes from a back-and-forth between Lawrence, who contests that Wittman is no longer “Berkeley Enough,” and Wittman, deflecting those charges with varying degrees of success.
“DJ Dave, you’re not Berkeley Enough,” Lawrence says in the video.
“What you mean, dude?” DJ Dave responds, as a rhythmic rap starts to rev up:”I told you before, you know I still eat organic food.
“I might live in L.A., but I can still wear a Cal hat and (represent) the Bay.”
“I’m just trying to do L.A. with a Bay twist.
I ride my bike a lot and drive a Prius too.
I guess I can’t be down like you unless I drive a Subaru.”
Although written by and starring Wittman, “Berkeley Enough” is really a collaborative achievement that comes courtesy of Wittman’s Fog and Smog, a video arts collective that includes a number of former Bay Area talents now living in L.A.
Fog and Smog is less than a year old, but it’s already an online sensation. It’s produced four independent videos, all of which gently poke fun at West Coast culture. Together, they have totaled some 5 million views on YouTube and other sites.
It all started with “Whole Foods Parking Lot,” the first Smog and Fog video, which went viral within days of posting to YouTube.
“The reaction was really beyond our expectations,” Wittman says during a recent phone interview. “It got a million views in a week. It was crazy.”
That first video remains DJ Dave’s calling card — and he’s often introduced, even in Fog and Smog’s own videos, as “Dave from that Whole Foods song.” Yet, he seems even more passionate about “Berkeley Enough,” a tune that allowed him to explore his own mixed feelings about leaving the Bay Area for L.A.
Wittman, of course, is aware that many Northern Californians love to hate all things L.A. This video cleverly, yet far from viciously, plays into that intrastate rivalry — which, Wittman says, seems to matter far more to people in the Bay Area than to those in L.A.
“It is sort of a one-sided rivalry,” says Wittman, 37. “I’ve seen it from both sides for so many years now. L.A. is almost like the pretty older sister who just doesn’t even notice that someone is mad at her — like, ‘Huh? I wasn’t paying attention. How’s my hair?’
“Not to say that the Bay is the ugly-duckling little sister. (But) L.A., because of the nature of Hollywood, can be slightly self-involved and dismissive.”
Wittman, a vocalist, composer, DJ and drummer, graduated from Berkeley High School in 1992 and credits his continued passion for making music to his involvement in the school’s fabled jazz program. That’s why he decided to sell “Berkeley Enough?” T-shirts and donate the proceeds to the Berkeley High jazz program.
“It was just an inspiring thing to be around,” he says of the jazz program. “There was a lot of really high level playing that you had to measure up against. You had to work really hard to make it. I think that kind of motivation for kids is really valuable and amazing.”
After Berkeley High, Wittman ventured south to study at UCLA. He graduated with a degree in economics in 1996, but he had no real design to put his studies to use in the so-called “real world.”
“I actually kicked around for a little while, trying to figure out what to do,” he says. “I was like, ‘I’m going to be a bohemian DJ/drummer and figure out artistic stuff to do.’ But I didn’t do well without some sense of structure.”
He eventually landed a job doing musical scores for TV commercials and, 12 years later, he still works there. The job reignited his interest in music, leading him to again pick up the drumsticks and do some DJ work. He wrote the “Whole Foods Parking Lot” song on a lark and then decided to do a video for it. So, he linked up with some pals, many of whom also hailed from the Bay Area, and the video-arts collective Fog and Smog was born. The name, of course, is a nod to both the Bay Area (fog) and L.A. (smog).
Besides “Whole Foods” and “Berkeley Enough,” Fog and Smog has also generated clicks with DJ Dave’s come-on to a pretty “Yoga Girl” (sample lyric: “Well anyway I guess you better be going / The last thing I want to do is stop your Vinyasa from flowing”). Then there’s the plea, aimed at Mr. Android or Mrs. iPhone, to “Put Your Phone Down” (best lyric: “You’re in public man, you’re being kinda rude / Your text messages are not that important, dude!”). All of these videos boast a delicious, self-effacing humor.
“I think Fog and Smog’s videos resonate, because our fans are a very self-aware bunch who are happy to laugh at themselves if and when the comedy originates from a credible source,” says Fog and Smog’s George Woolley, a rapper and video director who graduated from Berkeley High in 1994. “We poke fun at social trends that we engage in ourselves, and I think that is very palpable in the lyrics and video aesthetic we strive for.”
The success of the YouTube videos even caught the attention of Hyundai, which hired Fog and Smog to do some clever car commercials. Wittman, however, isn’t giving up his day job — he says it’s still unclear if Fog and Smog can become a true moneymaker. He knows that the videos have tallied an impressive number of views online, but he’s also aware that Fog and Smog is hardly setting YouTube records.
“There is lots of stuff that gets more clicks,” he says. “Cats, man. You got to do something about a cat, because that (expletive) just blows up.”
berkeley maps
growing up in Berkeley
back in the day
we still were allowed
to free roam
and so I went
everywhere on foot
or bus
walking to Solano avenue
drinking coffee
at Peets coffee
eating Chinese food
in Berkeley’s china town
walking downtown
walking to CAL
eating top dog
experiencing the late 60’s
transforming Telegraph
and walking in the woods
in tilden park
high up in the hills
overlooking the bay area
674 Santa Rosa
my childhood home
for almost 10 years
was 674 Santa Rosa
Berkeley California
A five bedroom
adobe California home
on the side of a hill
at the bottom of the Berkeley hills
you entered on the top floor
across the street you entered
on the bottom floor
thus it was in the Berkeley Hills
the house had a large deck
with a perfect view
of the golden gate
we used to sit outside
watching the sunset
as we ate dinner
my Mom and Dad
would have their nightly cocktails
on the deck
before retreating inside
to continue
their nightly fights
and arguments
I grew up
downstairs
hearing their constant words
of hatred, dismay and outrage
my parents were the proverbial
odd couple
perhaps never should have married
but despite the hate
there was still some love
that kept them together
we had a red room
with a pool table
and I hung out there
with my friends
my mother tolerated my friends
most of the time
she would be somewhat sober
until after they left
and the madness came
over her
as she drank her whisky
and wine
the basement room
was added later
was my younger brother’s room
later was my room
whenever i visited
from college days
my old room lay abandoned
filled with books
thousands of books
that I had read
over the years
when she died
I should have taken
all the books
instead I took
about one hundred
just no space
for the books
of my childhood memories
National Poetry month day two prompt specific place poem 674 Santa Rosa Berkeley California
berkeley time travels
growing up in Berkeley
in the 70’s
one would be drawn
to Telegraph avenue
down the street from Cal
to a particular corner
Dwight way and Telegraph
catty corner to People’s park
a corner sacred to the hippie
vendors who were always there
down the street from Moe’s bookstore
I would often walk back
occasionally talk to the vendors
about the latest conspiracy theory
about the latest conspiracy theory
and the latest political gossip
as the vendors
loved to talk shit
as they sat on their seats
selling their t shirts
filled with anarchistic sayings
and political rage
against the machine of hate
they saw all around them
as the man tried to keep them down
that was Berkeley
my sacred homeland
stuck forever in 1969
This is a shout out to the many musicians in my home town, Berkeley, California which is as all people know, the center of the cosmos.
There have been so many great musicians who grew up there, many learning to play at Berkeley High school.Here are some of the famous groups – just to name a few
Two of my favorite Berkeley Songs, are by Fog and Smoke
That’s if for now. Please feel free to send in more Berkeley bands
and some more sent it thanks Kristen and Bob
Kristien Freedman
Great poetry! I didn’t see Lenny Pickett up there, also Michael Wolff, Jonny Otis, Steve Gaboury, I’m sure there are many more. We had a crazy talented school district in so many ways!
Thanks Jake, you could probably do another whole article about jazz musicians who attended Berkeley High School. Will Bernard, Charlie Hunter, Colin Hogan, Dave Ellis, Josh Jones, Robbie Kwok, Steven Bernstein ……
Note: I am not particularly that religious a person but I have had several encounters with God, spiritual encounters with a divine spirit, what I consider to be ‘God” but not in the Christian sense of ” God”. I used to be a an atheist but after these encounters I realized that there is something out there besides humanity. Perhaps the whole universe is alive somehow? Who knows? I certainly do not. Here then are several of my encounters with God. I’ve had a few others which I will write some day.
these have been published in Scarlet Leaf Review and other journals as well as Hypertext which just published them.
enjoy and drop me a line if you wish.
Meeting God in a Lake
god
In my 64 years around the sun
I encountered God four times
At least I thought it was God
But could never be sure
The first time I met God
I had taken magic mushrooms
And had gone to a lake
And soon was tripping inside my head
Lost in inner space
Zoning out tuning in
Dropping down the proverbial rabbit hole
And then in the middle of my madness
I felt oneness with the universe
My body melted away
And I joined the universe
All boundaries dropped away
And I knew that the universe was alive
and I was part of the Cosmos
And the Cosmos was part of me
And I wondered at that moment
If I was face to face with God
I asked God to reveal himself to me
And nothing happened
Just laughter as the whole universe
Burst into laughter
And the madness began to fade
And I slowly came down from the high
And became aware of myself
And I was no longer one
With the universe
I felt profoundly moved by the experience
Felt that I had achieved perhaps nirvana
Or felt the presence of God
The feeling faded over time
And my quest to find God resumed
But I knew that I would never again
Come so close to the divine essence
Of the very Universe
The Cosmic Cat from Berkeley
black cat
I next encountered the divine
Many years later in Berkeley, California
I had gone home to be with my Mother
While taking leave from my job
in the Foreign Service
I had two weeks there by myself
My wife came later
near the end of the trip
every morning I woke up
had coffee
Did yoga
Spoke to my mother
Who was sliding into dementia
Day by day losing her reason
Then I would go out
And explore the city
Go to a museum
Go to one neighborhood
And just be there
Rediscovering the Bay area
After years of being away
Having dinner with old friends
Seeing movies etc
Every morning a black cat came to visit
The cat was friendly and waited for me
And then would join me in my morning rambles
Following me to the bus stop
I started talking to the black cat
He looked at me with the spark of divinity
In his dark eyes
I called him the cosmic cat
He seemed to like that
He would look at me
And I opened up to me
Told the cat all my dark secrets
As I walked the streets
Of the old neighborhood
Every morning and every evening the cat
Would be there to greet me
And to carry on our endless conversations
Then I had to leave
And in our final conversation
I asked the cosmic cat
Say, Cat are you just a cat
Or are you a demonic cat
Are you possessed by God
Or by Satan
The cat looked at me
And I realized that God
Was indeed residing in the cat
But that god was residing everywhere
All I had to do was open my mind
And the rest would follow
So I said Goodbye to the cosmic cat
And he purred and came up to me
And I felt the comforting presence of the Divine
As I said goodbye to the cosmic cat
And said goodbye to my mother
As this was the last time
That we would be able to really talk
I told my mother about the cosmic cat
She smiled and said that the cat
was there for me and her
to comfort us both in our hour of need
and that the cat
was indeed a cosmic cat
Talking with God in Bombay
Five years later
After I had last talked to God
In the form of the cosmic cat
Who I hung out with in Berkeley
I found myself in Bombay, India
Where I was involved with another women
And contemplating whether to leave my wife
For the promised excitement of the other women
I did not know what to do
So I went to Church
And on the way home
I stopped on the side of the road
And prayed to God
to provide me a sign
What should I do
I asked God
And then I felt it again
God seemed to be everywhere
And nowhere
And I found myself down
the rabbit hole again
I had a vision of an old man
Sitting by the side of a bed
Looking at an old women
And realized that
I was seeing the future
And the women
in my vision was my wife
And then I knew the answer
that God was giving me
I had to find my way
Back to my wife
And rekindle the love
that we shared
I looked up
and saw my wife’s face
In the sky
I went home and wrote
A long poem for my wife
She was in the military
And in Korea
And I was with the State Department
Stationed in Mumbai, India
And I called her up
And began talking to her
For the first time
In a long time
And I told her what was on my mind
And told her that we had to decide
Would we continue as a couple
Or would we continue to drift apart
Somehow I finished the conversation
And fell asleep with the peace and contentment
Of God’s presence filling my heart and soul
The feeling of being connected with God
Faded over the time
But the conviction that God had spoken to me
Never really left me
I asked God
whether God was the God of Jesus
Or Allah or Brahmin
And I realized
that God is God
And the universe is God and I am God
And that was the end of the story
And my last time I prayed to God
The Cosmic Dog from Goa
My final time with God
Happened a year later
I was staying down in Goa
With my wife
Enjoying being with her
After our reconciliation
We stayed at the Taj Mahal Goa
Living like a King and Queen
Just for a few days
High up on a hill
Overlooking the beach
Every morning I went
down to the beach
And did yoga by the water
While contemplating life
And every morning
I saw the same Dog
Not just a Dog
But a cosmic Dog
Filled with the divine spark of God
And the Dog recognized me
And spoke to me and I knew
That God was present once more
In the face of that cosmic dog
Kindred spirit
perhaps to the cosmic cat
that had saved my soul
in Berkeley so long ago
I told the dog everything
And he just looked at me
With those soulful eyes of his
And I knew he knew that I knew
That he was possessed by God
God had sent him to me
To make sure
that I was on the right path
That the reconciliation that God had promoted
Was on track that I was back with my wife
And that everything was the way it should be
Again I asked God
whether he was Jesus or Allah
Or Brahmin or Ganesh or Buddha
God the cosmic dog
just stared at me
I finally asked him directly
Say if you are God the God of Jesus
Bark once
The Dog looked at me and barked
I said well if you are
Allah bark twice
The dog barked twice
Well are you Buddha
then bark three times if yes
The God Dog barked three times
Hmm well are you Satan
The dog growled at me
And I knew I had gone too far
Finally, I was at peace
And for the next three days
The God Dog
was my constant companion
And I knew God for the final time
In my life
Buddha Cat of Edsall Road
I had another encounter
With the divine recently
Another Cosmic cat perhaps
Perhaps not
who knows what cats are
are they aliens
from another dimension
or was he channeling God ?
I called him the Buddha cat
For the cat loved
Sitting in a meditative pose
Not moving
Just starting at me
With his soulful deep eyes
Boring into my soul
exploring all my secret thoughts
the Buddha cat does not move
does not react, as he is so deep
into his interior mediation
truly in tune with the cat universe
and the cosmos as well
the Buddha cat
seems to be one with God
one with Buddha, Allah, Ganesh
and the billion names of God
Known and unknown
The Buddha cat can teach us all
About the art of meditation
As he zones inward
And loses his soul
Joining the cosmos
And becoming the Buddha cat
The Buddha cat
Lives in a modest Town house
In a modest suburb
The Buddha cat reminds us all
To look for God in the everyday
All around us
If we but have eyes
To see God everywhere
all that I know about life
and how to deal with people
I learned while attending BHS
in Berkeley, California
back in the distant 70’s
so many memories
so many different people
from all over the world
in what was the most multicultural high school
in the country back then
4,000 students
from everywhere in the world
yet we were all together
and learned to get along
I ran for student body president
and won the election
no one thought I would win
For I was a classic nerd
but somehow I won the election
and somehow managed
to keep our little student council
working together
in the midst of terrible times
all around us
the ending of the Vietnam war
Watergate and other corruption news
the 1974 election
student activism
in the first high school
to offer African American studies
the class that had launched
the black panther party
Jimmy Hendrix’s last high school
I took Latin one of the few public schools
that still offered Latin
and was on the debate team
but always taking a far right wing theme
as complete mockery
decades before Stephen Colbert
perfected it
yes everything I learned
in life
began at Berkeley High School
Berkeley California
Growing up in the 60’s
In Berkeley
almost 50 years ago
I think back
At those turbulent times
Those crazy wonderful times
Berkeley is a wonderful place
In many ways
Stuck forever in 1967
A true time travel experience
Every time I go back
And relive the memories
Of the 60’s
The 60’s never died
They continue
In college towns
Across the world
And Berkeley
Remains the mecca
Of the counter
cultural revolution
Many things have changed
But the organic food revolution
Became mainstream
Marijuana spread out
The sexual revolution
Became mainstream
So much of the world
Is but a reflection
Of the revolution of the 60’s
And the conservative
counter-revolution
That we are still fighting
So, I salute
My homeland
The center of my universe
My Name, My Name is John (Jake) Cosmos Aller From Berkeley
born in Berkeley 64 years ago
64 trips around the sun
My middle name
has nothing to do
with my being born
in Berkeley
although no one believes me
for it is such a Berkeley Cosmic sort of name
and suits me now
as the name of my on line blog
the world according to Cosmos
My great grandfather Daniel Aller
wanted an English translation of the family name
Aller
also spelled Eller, Oller, Alhaird
the family came from Hamburg
Aller river valley
and a town called Aller
founded by Huguenots
from France
Daniel found two choices
Cosmos and Universe
and chose Cosmos
as Universe well
that would have been a very Berkeley name
and not something that would work
in Republican conservative Yakima
so I was born John
never liked John
too many Johns in the world
so I adopted the name Jake
from a wild assed dream I had
in high school had a wild dream
shouting out whoa jake
jump back jack
turn around verdiack
slide aside Clyde
while riding a horse
and that became my catch phrase
called the Whoa Jake kid
and eventually just Jake
a few years ago
I became Cosmos
when I started publishing
my poetry
and so now
I am just
Cosmos
the barge
A barge
on lake Anza
in Tilden Park
Berkeley, California
beckoning me
imploring me
to dive off
into the cool water
of life
