Petrelis Files

Season's Greetings From Mike + Mike;
Judy, Barbra & Tarkovsky Too

Here in San Francisco today, it's a gray and chilly day, with heavy rain falling outside, but in the house of Mike and Mike it's warm and cozy. We're sharing the joys of the season together, speaking with friends and family, and counting our many blessings.

I'm sharing this great photo of my husbear and I, taken earlier this month by our friend Bill Wilson at rally for global gay solidarity, because it captures just a small portion of our love and happiness together.

Greetings of the season to one and all, and let's be totally honest about one tradition we share with lots of other gays. It's just not the holiday season without listening to Judy Garland sing a song or two to brighten the spirits.

Here she is performing that classic duet with Barbra Streisand of the "Get Happy" and "Happy Days Are Here Again" medley from her short-lived TV show in the 1960s:



Finally, on a more serious note, I also want to share a clip from Andrei Tarkovsky's masterpiece of longing and hope "Nostalghia". It's the scene in which the protagonist, in a single nine-minute take, lights a candle and crosses an empty pool, in a profound act of spirituality:



I give the last word to Tarkovsky and the message of his films, a message that resonates especially today, in our house:

"In all my films, it seemed important to me to remind the audience to the fact that they are not alone, lost in an empty universe, but that they are connected by innumerable threads with their past and present, that through certain mystical ways, every human being realizes the rapport with the world and the life of humanity."

Merry Christmas and belated solstice blessings to everyone!