Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

(The above photo was taken by Emma Span, and is of my granddaughter Robin and her dog Sandy. They are a pair of hellions)

Holmes @ Watson, the new comedy from Director Etan Cohen, is funny. It stars Will Farrell and John C. Reilly.

The film draws lovingly from Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic mystery series, also also from the great slapstick movies of the 30’s an 40’s, especially the Mark Brothers and W.C. Fields.

The movie is written with a contemporary cultural sensibility, it is hip and wry spoof of the Holmes mythology. There are a 100 references to historic figures – Chaplin, Einstein – and some riotous use of contemporary music, which is sprinted throughout the film to funny effect.

Maria and I are both slapstick fans, we laughed throughout the movie. We took a bit of a flyer on the film, it just came out Tuesday and there are no reviews as yet.

Good slapstick is crude, unrestrained and a bit over the top. The best slapstick pokes the pompous, we love to see them get taken down.

Slapstick movies never lapse into violence because they never get close to reality. There is not a tense moment in this movie, and the filming is surprisingly beautiful and rich.

Will Farrell is just very funny, is what it comes down to, especially with Reilly, who plays Watson as dumb and fawning.

Farrell has a blast impersonating the pompous and in this movie, somewhat foppish and narcissistic Holmes, who is obsessed with his image and  obsesses on different hats for his publicity shots. He throws up into a bucket at the mere mention of autopsy.

Ralph Fiennes was a fine Professor Moriarity and Pam Ferris, as the haughty Queen Victoria, was a riot. Watson is smitten with her also, and keeps trying to touch her.

Ferris is a brilliant deadpanner. I especially loved the scene where Watson knocks the Queen out with his big box camera while trying to film a selfie.

I thought that John C. Reilly who plays Watson, had an amazing chemistry with Farrell, he nearly stole the movie right out from under him. The two of them seemed to be improvising  and having fun with one another  throughout the movie, and their manic energy was both infectious and in the best traditions of slapstick.

I don’t want to get to heavily into the movie or the plot which is, of course, almost irrelevant. The movie is a string of great sight gags and slapstick scenes.

Maria and I laughed a lot, and I want to see the movie again to figure out all the in-jokes that I missed. Holmes struggles to get in touch with his inner, gentler self, he ends up also spoofing our national  pasttime (no, not fighting, navel-gazing).

I just wanted to write about this movie to highly recommend it.

We need to laugh these days, and laughing at a movie perfect for kids of all ages is a great thing to do over the holiday weekend. Go see it if you need or want to smile.

It’s classic slapstick, so I don’t need to take it too seriously here. What I needed to say is that this comedy is  funny, and Maria and I both loved it.

There is always something dumb about good slapstick movies – critics usually hate them until they are at least 40 years old . Farrell is the reigning king of the genre, he does not disappoint. In fact I think he needed a smart and timely role like this.

This one really worked for me, and lots of us need a laugh this days.

I should say the movie takes a very funny swipe at our whining Tweeting President, holed up this weekend in the White House in a rage, sending off a barrage of barrage of self-pitying  tweets. Maybe he really does need to go to Florida and play some golf, before he shuts down North America.

The timing for a movie like this is perfect.

You will get your laughs with Holmes & Watson. The movie has a great deal of fun with itself, it never lapses into posturing, and is thus a great deal of fun to watch.

Get some laughs this week. It’s good to hear a lot of guffawing.

(I got a Merry Christmas From Robin, above)

We are having a quiet lovely Christmas. Last night, we had two friends over and I made two gourmet pizzas: one pear and goat  and sheep cheese and pesto, one chicken sausage, kale, and mozzarella.

I undercooked one, and over cooked the other, but they didn’t come out badly. I didn’t start early enough. I learned a lot about making pizzas.

We had the nicest time talking and just being together.

Our Christmas was simple, quiet, peaceful. This morning Maria and I went to the Mansion and I read Christmas stories to the residents there,  it felt like one of the nicest Christmases experiences.

Doing good feels so much better than living in fear or anger.

Our plan for the rest of the day is to go to a movie and then out to dinner. We were planning to see the new movie about Vincent Van Gogh, At Eternity’s Gate. It stars William DeFoe.

We were both interested in the movie, we love seeing movies about art, and Maria said she knew she would cry, Van Gogh was such a brilliant artist, his life was so sad. We’ve been planning to go on Christmas for weeks.

We had the schedule out and were making our plans when we spotted a trailer for the new Sherlock Holmes movie spoof, Homes & Watson, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. I just clicked on it on my Iphone and we watched it together.

We just started laughing at scene after scene. I thought if I don’t laugh at any other scene, it will be worth it to see this movie. It is so healthy to laugh. Sometimes I think our country is forgetting  how to do it.

Maria was laughing so hard the bed was shaking.

Don’t be fooled, she and I both have a robust adolescent sense of humor.

Maria and I both love slapstick. I remember nearly choking to death laughing during a W.C. Fields movie – Never Give A Sucker An Even Break – when Fields kicked the obnoxious Baby Leroy in the butt after being tormented by him

I also remember Maria laughing so hard during the last Three Stooges movie that some teenagers in the back row asked her to be quieter, they said they couldn’t hear the movie.

Maria and I both looked at one another and we knew we were about to change plans. We figured if we laughed this hard at the trailer, we had to like the movie, even thought we knew little about it and had not read any of the reviews.

“We have a choice today,” Maria said. “We can laugh or we can cry”

It wasn’t a hard choice, “let’s go laugh,” I said. Afterwards, we will get some food at a Japanese restaurant.

And isn’t this a metaphor for America today. We need to laugh.

Our Christmas day will be in perfect balance, starting with talking in bed, then going to the Mansion and then being at home, and going out to eat.

I also called my sister Jane, Christmas was such an important day for us, we both loved it so when we were litt,e and were so caught up in it for weeks before December 25.

We were both so unhappy so much of the time Christmas was a happy day, even to excess.

It was the only day of the year that our family suspended it’s hateful warring and tried to love one another. We had the Christmas spirit right, but could never pull the rest of life together.

Scheduled happiness like this rarely works out, of course, but it was good to talk to Jane, she is living a life of peace and healing, she tries so much to do good, there are so many ways in which we are alike, so many in which we are different.

On Christmas, she just wants to be with her dogs, she has given up on sharing her life with people. It is a choice that has worked for her, but not for me. Yet she does so much good wherever she can.

Talking to her, I realize how much we have in common, we shared things nobody else ever saw or knows about, and we have both been dealing with it our whole lives. I admire her, she has put her life together and it has never been  easy.

So I honor this Christmas day, it has a lot of meaning for me, and for Maria, who has had her own struggles with family and Christmas.

I think today of those who fit in, and those who don’t, and I want to send a Christmas greeting to those in particular who don’t fit in. I know you are out there, and I send you a message of love, peace and compassion.

Some of you may know that life is good, no matter our challenges and to those of you who aren’t certain, my wish for you is to not give up, to hope and feel and love.

I believe that what we put out comes back to us. Merry Christmas to you.

And go laugh if you can.

“I am the little Christ child. “Who wanders through the world bringing peace and happiness to good children. You took me in and cared for me when you thought me a good child, and now you shall have my blessing for what you have done.” – The Legend of the Christmas Tree, by Clement Clark Moore.

There was no place in the world that I would rather have been this morning that at the Mansion, reading Christmas stories to the dozen or so residents with nowhere else to go. It was a wonderful gift to me, the Spirit of Christmas right in front of me.

Maria came with me, she is much-loved by many of the residents,  they love the art classes she conducts once a month. Mostly, Red and I go to the Mansion, but more and more, it has become something we share. She has a gift for this work. Her love and radiance lift them up.

At The Mansion, Christmas begins early, right after a special breakfast. The residents go into the Great Room where the Christmas tree is, and gift bags are distributed to each resident.

There is a calm over the Mansion, it  feels very different.

Under the tree are the gift bags are filled with candy, cookies, pins and buttons from the Army Of Good. Maria and I arrived just before 10 a.m. The residents who are away for the day, they will get them when they return later today or tomorrow.

We had talked about singing Christmas carols together,  but I sensed that the remaining residents could not or didn’t wish to sing this morning, they were in a reflective, even sad, mood.

They said they would love to sing on  Friday, a Karaoke sing-song is planned for 2:30. I understood how they feel. I’ll be there.

I had  two books with me,  Robert Frost: Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening, illustrated by Susan Jeffers, and Family Christmas Treasures, A Celebration Of Art And Stories, a big beautiful book with gorgeous illustrations.

I first read the Frost poem to the dozen or so people gathered for the reading. Two of them cried at the beauty of the images in the poem. The others were listening intensely. I was shocked when Ben spoke, he has never spoken to me before, he is shy and looks away.

They were all listening intently, I sensed they were very happy that we came. Something about the Christmas stories and poems touched them.

I  read three stories, including “The Legend Of The Christmas Tree,” by Clement Clark Moore, “The Tree That Didn’t Get Trimmed,” by Christopher Morley, and “Kidnapped Santa Claus,” by L. Frank Baum.

I asked the people in the room to share their Christmas memories after each story, many did. Sylvie talked of her sleigh rides in Austria after World War II, her father was a diplomat. Alan remembered getting a rifle, and learning to hunt deer. Ruth remembered sneaking downstairs early to open her presents.

She got into trouble she said, I asked her if she did it again the next year, she smiled and said yes, she did. Madeline came up to me as we were leaving and talked about her Christmas in the Jewish Orphanage where she was raised after her father’s murder. She said the Jewish directors were good about letting the Christian children have their Christmas.

As I often say, I am not a Christian, and I do not worship Christ as a God, but I do follow him as a kind of disciple, his life and teachings have always inspired me. It is hard for me to see how people distort and ignore his teachings.

As I work to make sense out of the Christmas holiday – we are having the most beautiful Christmas this year – I do think of what it was that Christ might be doing on the morning of a holiday like this.

Of course, he would have been in a place like the Mansion,  he was passionate about the need for human beings to care for the poor, the needy and the forgotten. That was his message, that was the point of him.

It was a wonderful experience for me, a gift, to be at the Mansion this morning, if I had any doubts about it, they were dispelled by the smiles, faces and tears of the residents in room, listening to my stories.

I told them stories until I was hoarse, and we left, running a gauntlet of people coming over to hug us and thank us and ask  when we would be back.

Friday, I said, I’ll be back on Friday, Maria too.

Red and I might come even sooner, we usually come once or twice during the week. I asked Wayne if his new shoes fit, and they did, and I told Ruth I would be getting her a flannel bathrobe in a couple of days, when some donations come in.

Ruth said, as she always does, that she can pay me back in a few weeks when her Social Security check comes in. No need, I say, it’s taken care of. She does not ask again.

Leaving the Mansion this morning was bittersweet. A part of me was sad at leaving these people alone on Christmas for the rest of the day.  Another part of me was so grateful to them for helping me practice and understand what it is that Christmas is really about.

I felt the meaning of Christmas this morning, but as important, I felt the joy of celebrating it in this way.

There is this idea people have that the elderly or the impaired are different from us. But what I’ve learned in my time at the Mansion is that this is not so. They are very much like us.

They have the same needs, the same feelings and fears.

Wayne is a loner, he is usually by himself, he says little and spends much of his time by himself reading or watching TV. I know nothing about him and have never met or seen a member of his family.

When I met Wayne, he was in desperate need of clothes – socks, shirts, shoes and sweaters. The doctor who treated him in a nursing home in Saratoga Springs comes to visit him, he sometimes took Wayne out to the movies. He pleaded with me to keep an eye on him at the Mansion, and I have.

Ruth lost her husband Kenny a few months ago, they spent their days sitting in the Great Room, watching the people who come and go. Ruth also had no money for clothes, and  she I often shop online together. She needs a warm flannel bathrobe for the winter.

Last week, Ruth crooked her finger at me, and was grinning. She whispered the obvious into my ear.https://www.bedlamfarm.com/support-my-work/

She and Wayne are dating, she said. They spend their days holding hands near the Great Room (Wayne is confined to a wheelchair, he can’t get down the stairs without considerable help.)

Wayne is happier and more at ease than I remember seeing him,  Ruth is clearly happy to have someone to sit with and talk to. The Mansion can be a lonely place, companionship is precious.

It’s difficult for people in assisted care, they have lost most of the lives they had for so many years. However every many people are around them, however loving and diligent the staff is, there is a loneliness that comes from being removed from normal life, home, pets, friends and family.

But that doesn’t mean the people there can’t find love and companionship.

Today, Ruth and Wayne came to my Christmas reading, and were holding hands while I read my stories.

They listened very carefully.

It is very much in the spirit of Christmas to see such love and happiness,  however long it lasts, wherever it might go. Good for them, I thought, good for them.

(You can support the Mansion work by sending a contribution to Jon Katz, Mansion Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected].

It is a gift to see this broad smile on Wayne’s face, and the sense of peace that surrounds him.

You can also support this work by clicking on the button below that says “Support The Army Of Good.” One-time donations in any amount are welcome. While you’re at it, please consider supporting my work as well, this is all the money the blog gets for its maintenance and operation.

Thanks.

I got a lot of Christmas cards this year, beautiful images and loving messages, and I thank the people who send them. I got one today – it was sitting on a table at the Mansion when I went there this morning – that was special to me.

It was from Jackie, a relative newcomer to the Mansion, a shy, thoughtful and very intelligent woman who is visually impaired, almost to the point of being blind.

You may recall we got her a lighted reading stand with a powerful magnifying glass and she is able to read again. Jackie also is an avid Bingo player and is a faithful attendee of our Friday games.

“Thank  you,” she wrote, “Jon and Maria,” for all your fun and help through the months.”

I don’t need a lot of thanks and many of the residents are not able to offer any, but I feel much loved and appreciated there. More than anything they appreciate people who just show up.

This card meant a lot to me, it was not easy for Jackie to write it, and it came from her shy but very loving soul. Merry Christmas to you Jackie, I am grateful for the chance to help  you once in awhile, and for the fun we share.

Jackie never laughs out loud, but out of the corner of my eye I see her smiling at me.