"i ain't down yet"....

2016 was a shit storm...sorry, but true...and i'm closing my eyes till midnight tomorrow...afraid another ap bulletin will scroll across the bottom of the tv...or another facebook or twitter post will flash a face...another gone...my youth and memories vanishing in quicksand...yes, there is perspective...these are not my family...or friends...but now it seems so many are my contemporaries...and that is enough for pause...and so the escape to the movies...start cramming them in before the oscar noms...oh, for how many years, before the immediacy of social media, did i sit by the tv...pen and paper...scribbling the names of nominees...strategizing which movies i needed to see...this was when the golden globes were still buried on tbs on saturday night(and still should be)...before the sag awards were a thing...oscar was it...on a monday in april...then march...then sunday in february...and so it's value has diminished...as so much has...and some of the movies this year are very good...but painfully sad..."jackie"...a bottle of vodka..."manchester"...two bottles of jack..."moonlight"...a few shots of tequila...ah, but "la la land"...maybe not perfect...but in the last days of the shit storm...before it was george and that beautiful voice...then debbie's daughter, and carrie's mom...i sat mesmerized...the colors and music washing over me...damien chazelle's vision was my sweetest memory of mgm classics..of gene kelly...fred astaire...ginger rogers...leslie caron...and yes, america's sweetheart, debbie reynolds...of dreamers...romance...what we lose along the way...and for that alone i was grateful...and it reminded me of the solace and saving grace of the arts...and so it would seem it is up to the artists...writers...musicians...and dreamers...to pull us across this finish line...leave 2016 in the dust...i'm checking out of this heartbreak hotel, carrie...i ain't down yet, debbie...'cause i gotta have faith, george...wishing for a peaceful 2017!