Netflix trailer: https://tinyurl.com/mr86e6rk

I was into Everest before it was big.

That’s what we used to say about rock acts in the sixties and seventies, like Yes, whose first album my dentist turned me on to and didn’t break through until two LPs later, really three, with “Fragile.”

That used to be the process. You discovered and owned an act, followed them from the club to the theatre to maybe the arena after they had a big AM hit, and when the hoi polloi came on board, that’s what you’d say. Or as Bill Murray told his girlfriend in “Stripes,” “You know one day Tito Puente’s gonna be dead, and you’re gonna say ‘Oh, I’ve been listening to him for years, and I think he’s fabulous.'”

The funny thing is Tito Puente didn’t die for two decades.

But that’s not the point.

The point is someone turned me on to the book “Annapurna” in high school. I vividly remember reading it, becoming enraptured with the tale of Himalayan mountain climbing.

And then in ’96, the internet had progressed to the point where there were live reports from the Everest climbing season, and the disaster that ensued, ultimately covered in an “Outside” article by Jon Krakauer which was expanded into the book “Into Thin Air.” I was into Krakauer early too, I went to a friend’s birthday party and they gave out his first book, “Eiger Dreams,” wherein a climber falls off the Eiger and lives, along with a bunch of other climbing tales.

And about two months ago, I read Will Cockrell’s new book “Everest, Inc., The Renegades and Rogues who Built An Industry at the Top of the World”: https://shorturl.at/4IfdN which delineates the modern history of climbing Everest, and how the Sherpas have taken over the business.

And then I listened to a recent Blister podcast entitled “Adrian Ballinger on Everest, Ethics, & Unexplored Places” https://shorturl.at/93iOG

All this to say when I read about “Mountain Queen” I was eager to see it, but you don’t have to be a mountain acolyte to love this documentary.

Oh, one other Everest link, someone recently posted a drone video of the climbing route: https://shorturl.at/x7HlB

But that doesn’t compare with the visuals in this movie. Especially climbing up the ever-shifting Khumbu Icefall, where death is seemingly inevitable every year.

So what we’ve got here is an uneducated woman with a son who decided to leave her mark, do something great, by being the first woman on Everest. First as porter, then as a guide.

It’s an incredible achievement.

But then she meets this Romanian climber and moves to Hartford, CT, has a couple more kids, continues to climb Everest, and deals with his abuse.

“Mountain Queen” hit Netflix on the last day of last month, and I highly recommend it, I’d put it at the top of your list.

But I’d also say to upgrade to Netflix 4k just for this movie, the visuals are unbelievable.

It’s an hour and forty four minutes and your mind will never wander.

Lhakpa climbs the mountain to inspire her children, and it didn’t resonate with me until the very end. I wince when I read about a person doing this or that to inspire others, but when Lhakpa throws her arms in the air at the end of this doc, goddamn, it made me think I could do things too.

It’s cognitive dissonance, Lhakpa is working in Whole Foods, then she flies to Nepal to climb the world’s tallest mountain.

This is just not a story of mountain climbing, but of a person, born with no advantages who made her own way, despite the huge challenges in her path.

I’ve only been technical mountain climbing once. It’s easy until it’s difficult. Rappelling back down was no big deal. But when I had to pressure my hands against the overhanging rock as I scuffled along with my feet on this V-shaped formation laid on its side…that was too much.

I’d like to go to Everest Base Camp. I would not like to climb Everest, that’s not how I want to die. But “Everest, Inc.” says that if you’re in shape, they can now even take you up K2, one of the most difficult climbs in the Himalayas.

And it used to be Everest was remote. Now we have satellite phones, the whole world is networked. Then again, it’s pretty easy to be beaten by Mother Nature, I’ve had my own close calls.

As for non-climbers needing to make the trek for whatever reason… Everybody’s trying to prove something to the world. When in truth, it’s only about proving something to yourself. So, if you’re climbing Everest to brag…I don’t get it.

There are a lot of questions raised in “Mountain Queen.” I don’t care if you live on the water, if the nearest mountain is far away, you’re going to be intrigued and moved.

This is a winner.

https://rb.gy/tkiln8

I didn’t realize Taffy Brodesser-Akner was writing the Great American Novel until about halfway through.

Before that, I was reading in fits and starts.

I thought it was an out of control comic novel, until I realized it was not. And then I was driven to finish it.

You won’t have the same experience I did unless you’ve already read “Long Island Compromise” or stop here, because I’m going to break my rule, I’m going to tell you what it’s about.

A multi-generational Jewish family. From nothing to success and then…

Yes, Zelig immigrates from the old country, starts a styrofoam factory and everybody gets rich. But what happens to the subsequent generations? What’s it like to grow up rich, to never have to worry about money, how does it affect you?

This is a very Jewish novel. Not that non-Jews cannot enjoy it, but if you’re a Jewish Boomer or Gen-X’er you’re going to identify. This is your life.

Although the focus is on the Fletchers, there’s the families that struggle, a household driven by an intellectual. Is money everything, is it the defining characteristic of society?

If you grew up in the Jewish suburbs of the fifties, sixties and seventies…everybody knew each other, from the synagogue, from the Jewish Community Center, from camp. It was very different from today. On some level I envy my parents, they had an incredible social life, nobody I know has the equivalent today. And there was a constant run of gossip about everybody, from parents to children. We knew everybody’s wealth, how well they did in school, who they were dating. It was nearly incestuous.

They used to make movies about this. About the country club, about the small society that was everything to its members.

Who drove a Cadillac, what neighborhood your house was in, where you went to college, these were bedrock, and it’s almost like the rest of the world didn’t exist.

And we, the progeny of our parents who’d succeeded, had opportunity, we were allowed to live our dream, even though most ultimately punted, many ultimately living the same life in the same neighborhood as their parents. I had no intention of staying, I couldn’t wait to get away. But in retrospect, I was the outlier.

So the father busts his balls to earn a living so…you don’t have to focus on money, you’re not struggling. Many of my contemporaries are not doing as well financially as their parents, because they just don’t have that hunger, that drive. Their best lives were led when they were living at home, going on trips, to restaurants, living it up in retrospect. It took money, and there was enough, but this was also when there was a strong middle class, when mothers didn’t have to work unless they wanted to.

But the successful… There were choices buried in the past. As my father said, “Schnooks get sh*t on.” This is one of the reasons people hate the Jews, because they’re loud, they test the limits, they won’t take no for an answer. Why don’t they just shut up and wait their turn like the rest of us?

Well, having been excluded from so many opportunities, jobs, clubs, the Jews had to find their own way to survive. And many of the goyim don’t like it.

Is every Jew rich? Far from it. But I’ve never been to a quiet dinner with Jews, it’s like the dinner table in “Radio Days,” everybody talking over each other.

So…

With opportunity, what do you do?

Well, there’s always one who ends up running the family business.

And then one who gets into drugs and alcohol and tests the limits.

And another one who does their best to hide their wealth, they’re ashamed of it.

Once again, the Fletchers are rich. How do people treat them?

Beamer is charismatic, a star from the outside, but crippled on the inside.

Nathan is afraid of the world.

And Jenny, the baby, the only girl, wants almost nothing to do with the family. She keeps going to school, but has no friends, because she can’t accept that people are plain, like the ones she grew up with in Middle Rock, on Long Island. Ultimately she realizes friends are everything, is it too late? Has she been such a dilettante, wearing blinders, that she’s missed her whole life?

I know people like this. Who don’t have to work. They’re lost. In many cases even if they have a job. They’ve had advantages, believe they’re above the hoi polloi, but don’t really fit in, to the degree they even want to try. They’re ultimately lost souls, living on the last vestiges of the money, assets sold to keep up their lifestyle, and then a new hungry generation takes over.

“Long Island Compromise” is not the easiest book to read. Not because the words are big, but because there’s a lot of interior dialogue, nearing stream of consciousness. The book is broken down by character, and each one is gone into in extreme depth. And each has their own personality, which they’re hobbled by…aren’t we all?

“Long Island Compromise” is one of the best-reviewed books of the year, the number one best-seller in the “Los Angeles Times” last week. All of which is why I read it. I was thrilled to get it so soon from the library, but as I waded in…I truly wondered whether I could finish. At first it verged on a beach read. And then it seemed like humor took precedence. But as I got deeper into the characters, one by one, the book came alive.

“Long Island Compromise” is not a slam dunk. You’re on your own here. It’s not as breezy as early Philip Roth, yet not as dense as Roth’s later works. I could recommend many other books if you only read novels occasionally. But if you’re Jewish, if you’re willing to look at yourself…

Ultimately, “Long Island Compromise” is in Franzen territory, but without the fog of heaviness in his books. Actually, I’d rather read “Long Island Compromise” than all but the last Franzen, “Crossroads,” which is great in case you gave up on him, but the lightness of “Long Island Compromise” is absent.

I don’t know… I usually only feature recommended stuff, or stuff everybody is talking about, but Taffy Brodesser-Akner captured an essence of my life, which I wasn’t prepared for, her previous novel, “Fleischman Is in Trouble,” did not attempt to chew off as much, and I didn’t love it.

And she came up via journalism, as opposed to the Iowa Writers’ Workship. How high should one’s expectations be?

I was caught off guard, I was ultimately enraptured, “Long Island Compromise” took me away from my everyday life while ironically evoking it.

I just had to write about it.

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That’s how much people hated that Biden was the candidate.

James Carville, Ezra Klein and the “Washington Post” wanted a mini-primary, a vetting of the Democratic candidates. But the truth is literally one minute after being told by Biden that he was dropping out, Kamala called her all potential opponents and asked for their endorsement. Just that fast. Sewing up the nomination for herself. Got to give her credit for that, even though I was not of the belief she would be the best candidate, but now she is.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Trump’s victory was a fait accompli. I mean the man took a bullet! Now that’s in the rearview mirror and seemingly has no effect. We now live in internet time, which is very fast, laden with a zillion events, you may peak today, but tomorrow you may be history. In any vertical you must build to last, momentary success doesn’t yield long term success, where all the profits lie.

So now there is a huge surge of excitement for Kamala, to a degree I’ve never seen in my lifetime. It far eclipses the Eugene McCarthy surge of ’68. Then again, the enemy was Nixon, not the fall of democracy.

Did you see that that was Biden’s sole campaign strategy, to point out the negatives of Trump? You can’t win without talking about the future, which Kamala is doing with her “freedom” campaign.

And Trump is too stupid to know that debating Harris is his only way out of this mess. Right now, Kamala is giving scripted speeches in a bubble. All vetted, playing to acolytes. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just that those who remember her from 2020 know that she came across poorly in the debates. If Trump were smart, he’d roll the dice and have a debate and hope that Harris made a mistake, revealed negatives, but the Donald is running scared.

If Trump was smart, and he’s not, and it’s only Trump, he’s running the Republican Party, he’d kick Vance off the ticket and nominate a moderate with experience. Why not? It was his choice. We’re living in a new era. Vance is a liability. But to axe him would show a flaw, and Trump believes he’s invulnerable.

But the Democrats must realize they cannot win by painting Trump as the doofus he is. That is not a winning strategy. But the best thing about Trump is he’s self-immolating. Just give the man a mic and he blows himself up, and it’s laughable.

So how long will the Kamala excitement last? Traditionally, not very long. But we’re in uncharted territory. People now have a champion, they see the way out, and they’re excited about that. It’s like a football team that’s down and suddenly scores a couple of touchdowns, the fans are excited until the final whistle, whereas the previous leaders and their fans are demoralized, how did they blow this lead?

Furthermore, contrary to insiders’ predictions, the lack of vetting has helped Harris. By not having to duke it out in primaries, most people are unaware of her flaws. In truth, most people don’t know much about Harris, Trump said he only recently realized she was BLACK!

That’s how out of touch Donald is. Just like the Democratic Party that tried to convince us Joe was up to another term. Have you seen him on camera recently? He seems a step away from the old folks home.

But even more interesting is how Biden was instantly forgotten. We debated his candidacy for over a year, it was front page news, and then he exits and it’s like he was never in the race. That’s the modern paradigm. You’re here until you’re gone, and then you’re in the rearview mirror, discarded.

To tell you the truth, the less people see Kamala the better. Not because she’s Kamala, but because her candidacy is now bigger than her, it’s democracy versus potential fascism, it’s dirty old man versus modern woman, it’s us versus them and finally we’re winning!

The “Washington Post” still has Harris behind in the electoral college, in the toss-up states. But speaking of toss-up, Nate Silver says the election now is one.

What Democrats have to realize is… Many people voting for Trump hate the man. But they want fewer regulations, fewer taxes, fewer takers, defeat of the woke and the support of Israel…the list goes on and on. How many of these people can be brought to Harris’s side?

I’m not sure any can.

But these elections are decided by a small margin. Getting out the vote is key.

Then again, if you’re Black and you’re in one of the toss-up states… Odds are you’re going to stand in line for hours to cast your vote while whites walk right in.

This is the Supreme Court that got rid of the Voting Rights Act, saying there was no racism anymore. Yeah, and no antisemitism either…

The Republicans have done their best to stack the game against the Democrats. But just because the game doesn’t favor you, that does not mean you cannot win.

Trump is worse off for not being vetted. By staying out of the debates he not only didn’t hone his chops, didn’t get to adjust his presentation, he came across as imperial, a deserving king, but the man is all flash and no substance, and doesn’t seem to know it.

And Elon Musk’s X/Twitter, under the rubric of absolute freedom of speech, shut down the account of White Dudes for Harris. Musk himself is on the run, did you read the exposé in the “Wall Street Journal” on Tesla’s self-driving capability? Turns out it’s massively flawed, because Musk insisted on cameras only, excluding lidar, trying to save money, and crashes keep happening. And now the “Journal” is doubling-down, questioning the future of Tesla robotaxis, upon which the entire company’s value is based. Don’t forget that the “Journal” single-handedly brought down Theranos. And the Elizabeth Holmes company even hired David Boies to intimidate reporting, and that didn’t work.

A house of cards I tell you.

How could the Democratic Party get it so wrong? How could it not see what the average citizen did?

Which begs the question what industries are blind as to the needs of their customers. Does the American public really want the tripe the major record companies are purveying? The movie studios are completely lost. The only thing that seems to consistently work is reboots and sequels but fewer of them than ever before succeed. The lifeblood of the movies is innovation, that’s what brings the audience to the theatre, but it’s scarce, because the brass is afraid.

This Kamala surge is a phenomenon.

But please don’t mistake the excitement for ultimate victory. It’s a long way until November. Just like Trump’s wound is now a footnote, Harris could screw up or the public could move on…

People love to support a winner. And right now, that’s what Harris appears to be.

As even the Republican Party sees Trump as a loser. The news is filled with his faux pas, criticism from the old school. They’re coming out of the woodwork, Sununu in the “Times,” telling Trump to cool it, but he never does, he’s like a spinning top, out of control, listening to no one.

And tone-deaf to boot.

And another Republican told Trump to stop trotting out B-list celebrities, when the Democrats have all the A-players.

It’s an amazing movie to watch. The script has been flipped, now Trump is the old guy one step from the graveyard, a man who has lost a step.

We’re never going to heal the nation. Not as long as we have two different news systems, if not more, not as long as the public is uneducated with no power of analysis. Now is the time to carry the ball to the goal line.

But the momentum can shift just that easily. As Carville said, be ready for the Harris attacks, hell, if you’re on X/Twitter, the site is flooded with them already.

It’s not going to be easy, but it’s doable.

All because losing Joe Biden dropped out.