2025 Review

 

I’ve learned from experience not to make predictions or resolutions at the New Year. But there is no harm in looking back over the past year and trying to assess whether it was a good year or not. In my opinion I rate 2025 as a good to very good year. Here are some reasons.

The World did not come to an End.

There are still real problems facing the world today but 2025 turned out to be a pretty good year despite dire predictions following the Trump victory. War still goes on in Ukraine but no one can say that the Trump administration has not tried to broker a peace. For the time being, the war in Gaza is over, and the Iranian nuclear program has been derailed. Despite threatening gestures China did not invade Taiwan.

President Trump has also brokered a number of peace deals, and the U.S. military must be given credit not only for the destruction of the Iranian nuclear sites, but also for the weakening of Iranian surrogates in the Middle East. 

The United States did not go down the Drain.

Predictions of doom did not materialize after Donald Trump was sworn in as President in 2025. Somehow, the nation has survived his first year as President. Despite unprecedented and vitriolic hatred on the part of his enemies, President Trump and his administration have chalked up a number of achievements. I said at the beginning of his first term that it would be wise to see what Trump does as President rather than obsess over his words and tweets. I think this still holds true today.

In his second term President Trump seems to have put together a skilled and experienced set of advisors at the Cabinet level and on down. It appears as if adults and not ideologues are now in vital government offices. It would be hard for anyone to deny that Marco Rubio has done a good job as Secretary of State, or Scott Bessent has done a good job at the Treasury. More than anything else, Trump is an active and energetic President. He is out there every day answering questions from all sides. In this important respect he is the opposite of his predecessor.

The Stock Market hit an all-time high.  

The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 14%. The tech heavy NASDAQ gained more than 20%, and most global markets also hit record highs. Stock market gains benefit everyone, not just wealthy capitalists. Retirement plans, both public and private, are primarily invested in the stock market. Employees of profitable companies also get higher bonuses. President Trump cannot be given all the credit for this economic boom but his election did not cause the economy to collapse. So far Trump's tariff policies have not produced the dire results predicted by his opponents in politics or the media. 

Despite unanimous Democrat opposition, the Republican Congress passed a Tax Reform Bill. Although it is still too early to tell, it would appear that the bill will benefit low income workers more than the well to do. With the increased standard deduction those living at or below the poverty level will pay little or no income tax, and most Seniors will see a reduction in the tax on their Social Security benefits. Eliminating fraud and waste also benefits those in real need.

Inflation seems under control. 

During President Trump's first administration Democratic opponents never tired of complaining about income inequality, but in 2025 they switched to an affordability mantra. My wife tells me that prices are up at the supermarket, but she also noticed that gas is cheaper at the pump. Now that winter is here consumers will also see a marked decrease in the cost of their home heating oil. In 2023 during the Biden administration I paid $6.50 per gallon for home heating oil. That's $6500 for 1000 gallons. This year my price is capped at about $3.00 per gallon, and so our home heating cost will only be $3000. Interestingly, the price is down to what it was in the first year of Trump's first administration. In the first three years of the Biden administration my oil price cap was $6.50, $4.94, and $5.04. Why didn't anyone talk about affordability then? 

I compared my electricity and water bills and they are practically the same this year as they were last year. The cost is remarkably cheap considering the essential importance of electricity and water in our daily lives. I was even able to switch our cell phone carrier and reduce our monthly bill from $125 to $70. The new carrier even threw in two new smart phones (I hated to part with my old dumb phone), as well as $650 in Costco bucks. Competition is still the best way to keep costs down.

I really wonder about affordability concerns when I see the following:

The LA Dodgers won the World Series and the cheapest seat in their ballpark was around $800 and the stands were packed. Prices for playoff games in Yankee Stadium were similar. The cheapest seat in Madison Square Garden for a Knick game is around $200 but people in court side seats pay up to $13000 for even a meaningless regular season game. When cameras pan the fans in these expensive seats, most appear to be young men. Are they the same ones who can't afford to get married and start a family?

Of course, anyone's evaluation of 2025 will probably be based mainly on personal and family considerations. Despite old age health concerns last year, by the end of the year my wife and I were in relatively good shape for our age. In addition, our children and grandchildren seem to be doing well, and we are even expecting a third great-grandchild in Texas in 2026. Personally, it was a good year and we have much to be thankful for.

Speaking of thanks, I found the lovely and poignant song "Thanks for the Memory" on Youtube last year. It was sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross back in 1938 in an otherwise awful film, but it is amazing to watch the two performers put over the song that would become Bob Hope's signature for the rest of his long career. Click on this link or watch below. 

Happy New Year!  

Foreign Film Picks 2025

Lists of top films will often appear in newspapers and online at this time of the year. Rarely do these lists include foreign films. I'm sure that most foreign films can be as bad as most American films but the cream of the crop are well worth watching even with subtitles. These films open a window into other cultures while at the same time proving that we are all basically the same. Here are eleven films that my wife and I enjoyed this year. 

Fanny Ardant in Callas Forever

    Callas, Forever. Director Franco Zeffirelli recreates the magic, passion, and artistry of the opera diva who was also his longtime friend. Callas died tragically at the age of 53, and Zeffirelli presents an imaginative retelling of her last years. French actress Fanny Ardant perfectly fits the role of Callas, capturing all her fiery intensity on and off the stage. Jeremy Irons co-stars. This 2002 film is a rare gem featuring actual sound recordings of Callas arias. 115 minutes. 

      Dersu Uzala. Famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa made this 1975 Russian  film, the product of an arduous two year film making expedition into the far reaches of Siberia. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film in 1975. Dersu Uzala is a primitive Mongolian frontiersman who is taken on as a guide by an early twentieth century Russian surveying crew. While the soldiers at first perceive Dersu as a naïve and comical relic of an uncivilized age, he quickly proves himself otherwise with displays of ingenuity and bravery. 141 minutes.

       Breaker Morant. This acclaimed 1980 film from Australia is based on a true story. Edward Woodward stars as the controversial folk hero Lt. Harry “Breaker” Morant. As South Africa’s Boer War draws to a close, Morant and two fellow Australian soldiers are court-martialed for murder. Their only hope lies in a small town lawyer who fights passionately for their lives. Winner of 10 Australian Film Institute awards, this powerful film directed by Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies, Driving Miss Daisy) continues to stir audiences. CC, 107 minutes.

        Enchanted April. In post WWI England two wives fed up with the dreary London winter, and their seemingly loveless marriages decide to rent an Italian villa for a husbandless vacation. To share costs they enlist an acerbic widow, and a beautifuk young aristocrat. Miranda Richardson, Josie Lawrence, Joan Plowright, and Polly Walker star. This 1991 film also features Michael Kitchen, Alfred Molina, and Jim Broadbent at the outset of their notable film careers. Based on a novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. 95 minutes. CC.

        Incantato. Director Pupi Avati won the Italian best director award for this 2003 comedy set in Rome and Bologna in the 1920s. Neri Marcore plays a shy and clumsy man devoted to the academic world. His lack of interest in women has become an increasing source of anxiety to his womanizing father (Giancarlo Giannini), a tailor for the Pope. He sends his son to teach in a high school in Bologna with the hopes that he will find a wife and produce an heir for the family. 107 minutes. Subtitles.

        A Foreign Field. This British film has an acclaimed international cast that includes Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Jeanne Moreau, Loren Bacall, John Randolph, and Geraldine Chaplin. Two British war vets meet an American vet when all three return to Normandy on the 50th anniversary of D-Day. Old rivalries resurface, particularly when two of the men discover they are searching for the same lost love. This disparate band of survivors eventually finds common ground in the memory of what they lost on that fateful day in 1944. 95 minutes. CC. 

           Persuasion. Amanda Root and Cieran Hinds star as separated lovers in this 1995 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel. She is the proverbial ugly duckling in a pretentious upper class family, and he is a young somewhat lower class young naval officer who has risen during the Napoleonic wars. It is as close to the spirit of the great author as it is possible to get. 104minutes. CC.

           Pagliacci. Franco Zeffirelli directed this 1982 film adaptation of Leoncavallo’s famous opera. Placido Domingo and Teresa Stratas star as the principals in a travelling performance of the Commedia dell’ Arte but the comedy turns to real life tragedy. 72 minutes. Subtitles.

           “12”. Famed post-Soviet Russian film maker Nikita Mikhalkov directed this powerful story of a room full of jurors from all different levels of Russian society who are thrown together to determine the fate of a young man accused of murdering his stepfather. Each juror reveals his own story as they seek to discover the truth about the murder and themselves. Based on the famous American drama, Twelve Angry Men. 160 minutes. Subtitles.

          The Twilight Samurai. This 2002 Japanese film made by renowned director, Yoji Yamada, is set in a changing Japan of the late nineteenth century. Hiroyuki Sanada, one of Japan’s leading film stars, plays a low ranking, poverty stricken samurai trying to support his family. However, he is caught in the turmoil of the times and ordered to confront and kill a renegade warrior. The film won an unprecedented twelve Japanese Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress. 129 minutes. Subtitles.

         Italian for Beginners. This warm and playful story from Denmark is about six perfect strangers and the shared journey of discovery that changes each of their lives. In a small Danish city, a mismatched collection of opposites have signed up for an Italian language class in hope of spicing up their lives. The film was shot in “cinema verite” style without any special effects or overbearing sound track.  118 minutes. Subtitles.

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Christmas Memories 2025

I originally wrote this post back in 2011, and like to reprise it from time to time. It's amazing how these memories have stayed with me all these years.

At 86 years of age, I still have wonderful memories of Christmas. For me it is hard to imagine what life would have been like without Christmas. It is true that most of these memories have been blurred together by the passage of time—trimming the tree on Christmas eve, children around the tree opening presents on Christmas day, and sitting down with the whole family for Christmas dinner.


Some memories do stand out. Many years ago I went to Victoria’s Secret to buy a pair of pajamas for my wife only to be told that the sale price included two pairs of panties that I would have to pick out. Going back further, I remember standing in a mall after my first year as a struggling mutual fund and insurance salesman and calling my office (there were no cell phones then) to see if my commission check would be large enough to buy presents for my wife and five small children. It was.


Going back to my own childhood, I remember my grandmother and grandfather making zeppoles and other Italian pastries in their tiny kitchen. Never mind granite countertops, their old kitchen had no countertops at all. The kitchen table and the stove top somehow managed for the task of working the dough before dropping it into the boiling oil to cook the delicious Christmas confections.


However, one memory stands out above all the others. My wife and I had moved to Connecticut so that I could take a teaching position in a small college in Fairfield. My first year's salary was about $6000. With the help of a down payment from my dad, we bought a small house for $21,000 back in 1967 after the birth of our second child. Two years later on Christmas eve both of our boys had an attack of asthmatic bronchitis. This had happened before but our usual remedy of taking them into the bathroom, turning on the hot water in the shower, and making the room into a steam room did not work this time.


With reluctance we called our pediatrician on the night before Christmas. He volunteered to come to the house. House calls were not unusual in those days but it was Christmas eve and he was a young man with a family of his own. Still, he came and stayed and ministered to the boys for what seemed like hours. Finally, he recommended that we take the youngest to the hospital. A wonderful neighbor volunteered to baby sit for us and we drove to the hospital where my wife spent the evening with little Edward.


Next day all was well and mother and child returned home. We can never forget Dr. Cahill for what he did that night. To top it all off, he refused to bill us precisely because it was Christmas.

Happy 60th birthday to Ed and Merry Christmas to all. ###.

Peace on Earth

 

The birth of Jesus is recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, but they only have one fact in common: that the Holy Family was in Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David, when Jesus was born.

Nevertheless, scholars now agree that the accounts have a firm basis in history and complement each other. Modern biblical scholars argue  that the birth occurred in what we used to call 7 B.C. The gospel of Matthew says that Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod who died in 4 B.C. The gospel of Luke states that the birth occurred during a Roman census ordered when Quirinus, a Roman official, was governor of Syria. This official was governor in 6 A.D. but now we know that he was also governor between 10 B.C. and 7 B.C. During both terms he ordered a census.

The date Is also confirmed by astronomy. It appears that the star followed by the Three Kings or Magi is no pious fiction. There is no record of a comet or super nova in 7 B. C., but in the seventeenth century, famed astronomer  Johannes Kepler claimed that there had been a conspicuous conjunction of the two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, in the area of the constellation Pisces visible for months in 7 B.C. Only in the twentieth century did scientists confirm Kepler’s observation.

What about the Magi? Historians now doubt that they were kings but claim that they were astrologers (scientists) who were keen observers of the stars and planets. In fact, scholars now believe that there were Jewish astrologers living in the large Jewish community in Persia who were continually searching the skies for signs of the coming Messiah. 

What about Bethlehem? Joseph would have been required to travel with his wife the 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the hometown of his family to register for the census. The small town situated on a hill six miles from Jerusalem would have been crowded with others coming for the census. It would have been very likely that they would have had to stay in a stable or cave used to shelter animals.

There were certainly grazing fields around the town where shepherds could be watching their flocks, but scholars now believe that the flocks would not have been grazing at the onset of winter. The gospel accounts do not specify an exact date, and it seems most likely that December 25 is a later addition to the story.

Nevertheless, after all these years, it is hard to imagine a better date to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Winter is coming on, and we are faced with three months of cold and gloom. What’s wrong with a ray of light to pierce the darkness?

The birth of Jesus over 2000 years ago was an actual event that took place in a specific time and place. It is confirmed by historians and scientists. No matter what you believe, you cannot doubt that it changed the world forever.

Maybe we still have not achieved peace on earth and goodwill toward men, but we can always hope. Years ago I heard this lovely rendition of "Peace on Earth" by famed country singer Vince Gill, and his daughter Jenny, now a star in her own right. Click on this link or view the video below.

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Note: The image above is a painting by the Venetian Renaissance artist Giorgione. It is usually called The Three Philosophers, but I agree with those who believe it depicts the Magi when they first behold the star.