Blog number 334 **** 03 November 2009
I'm reading a history of The Simpsons. One story contains a remark by the first President Bush's Drug Czar, William Bennett.
Willie admitted that he had never seen [an episode of The Simpsons] adding, "I'll sit down with the little spike head [Bart Simpson], we'll straighten this out ...there's nothing that a Catholic school, a paper route and a couple soap sandwiches wouldn't straighten out."
The Simpson writers responded, "If our Drug Czar thinks he can sit down and talk this over with a cartoon character, he must be on something."
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
WISH I COULD WRITE LIKE THAT
Blog number 333 **** 01 November 2009
I'm reading a kind of a biography by James Lipton - the "Inside the Actor's Studio" guy?
James was an actor when he met Harold Curman - the name's not important. Harold was a greatly respected acting teacher. Harold would talk with the students after classes, telling stories, One night James asked him, "Weren't you a play reader for the Theatre Guild in the Twenties?"
When he said that he was, one of the other students asked him what were the greatest plays he ever read.
He said the best was one that he never went beyond the title page because nothing could equal it.
"It said, Act one, Scene one; Ten million years before the first living creature crept out of the primordial ooze.
Act one Scene two; Two weeks later. "
Hah! Delicious!
I'm reading a kind of a biography by James Lipton - the "Inside the Actor's Studio" guy?
James was an actor when he met Harold Curman - the name's not important. Harold was a greatly respected acting teacher. Harold would talk with the students after classes, telling stories, One night James asked him, "Weren't you a play reader for the Theatre Guild in the Twenties?"
When he said that he was, one of the other students asked him what were the greatest plays he ever read.
He said the best was one that he never went beyond the title page because nothing could equal it.
"It said, Act one, Scene one; Ten million years before the first living creature crept out of the primordial ooze.
Act one Scene two; Two weeks later. "
Hah! Delicious!
Friday, October 30, 2009
I'M PRETTIER NOW
Blog number 332 **** 30 October 2009
Back in the seventies and early eighties, I could ask a mother if I could hold their babies and they were always pleased with the request. Then danger started increasing in the Good Old United States - going to a high of slightly over 32%, and suddenly I could no longer touch the little dears out of the fear held by the mothers.
I used to only stare at babies because I couldn't touch them and they would usually look at me with a blank face. It took me awhile before I realized that the blank stare they gave me was not interest, it was usually fear. I found that out as soon as they started crying. I guess to them I looked like a predator looking over a menu. At least that's what Teresa told me.
I went to slightly more than twenty years without holding a baby. Then I got a buzz cut haircut, and the first day with it, babies started smiling at me right away, and I was approached and hugged by two babies. Last week I was hugged by still another.
So the mothers might be afraid of me, but it looks like the babies love me. And all because of a different haircut. Beauty may be only skin deep, but that's deep enough for me.
Back in the seventies and early eighties, I could ask a mother if I could hold their babies and they were always pleased with the request. Then danger started increasing in the Good Old United States - going to a high of slightly over 32%, and suddenly I could no longer touch the little dears out of the fear held by the mothers.
I used to only stare at babies because I couldn't touch them and they would usually look at me with a blank face. It took me awhile before I realized that the blank stare they gave me was not interest, it was usually fear. I found that out as soon as they started crying. I guess to them I looked like a predator looking over a menu. At least that's what Teresa told me.
I went to slightly more than twenty years without holding a baby. Then I got a buzz cut haircut, and the first day with it, babies started smiling at me right away, and I was approached and hugged by two babies. Last week I was hugged by still another.
So the mothers might be afraid of me, but it looks like the babies love me. And all because of a different haircut. Beauty may be only skin deep, but that's deep enough for me.
NO WONDER HE LOOKED LIKE AN ALIEN
Blog number 331 **** 30 October 2009
This morning we went to see "This Is It" at the movies, and he was.
We saw the Michelangelo of sound. Amazingly amazing, brilliantly brilliant.
What a guy.
This morning we went to see "This Is It" at the movies, and he was.
We saw the Michelangelo of sound. Amazingly amazing, brilliantly brilliant.
What a guy.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
GIMMIE AN EL
Blog number 330 **** 28 October 2009
Yesterday the lovely Teresa and I were sitting in Barnes and Nobles and this Black lady with three adorable children came by and we started talking. At one point we got to talking about Halloween decorations at houses - she thought some of them rather gross. Then she mentioned that she knows a family that has a cat that is named after the Devil. I guess we looked blank because she said, "You know. The Devil's name. I don't want to say it. It starts with an el."
I was stumped, so I got to thinking. "The Devil's name is..Beelzebub...no, doesn't start with an el...Lucifer!"And just as I thought that, she says, "You know. It rhymes with useifer"
Ah, yes. I smile at her. But I don't say that obscene name.
People are so funny!
I hypothesize she was of the Pentecostal religion because those people have a thing about the Devil's power. I think they wish he didn't exist. But then why would we need God? I dunno.
I don't think she didn't want to say the devil's name for the same reason some religious people don't want to say God's name - out of a sense of awe, but more likely something like, "If I say his name, he might think I am calling him and come to me." I know some cultures don't like you making a fuss over their children in fear of attracting Satan's attention to the children.
If I get to know her better, I'm gonna ask, you betchum.
Yesterday the lovely Teresa and I were sitting in Barnes and Nobles and this Black lady with three adorable children came by and we started talking. At one point we got to talking about Halloween decorations at houses - she thought some of them rather gross. Then she mentioned that she knows a family that has a cat that is named after the Devil. I guess we looked blank because she said, "You know. The Devil's name. I don't want to say it. It starts with an el."
I was stumped, so I got to thinking. "The Devil's name is..Beelzebub...no, doesn't start with an el...Lucifer!"And just as I thought that, she says, "You know. It rhymes with useifer"
Ah, yes. I smile at her. But I don't say that obscene name.
People are so funny!
I hypothesize she was of the Pentecostal religion because those people have a thing about the Devil's power. I think they wish he didn't exist. But then why would we need God? I dunno.
I don't think she didn't want to say the devil's name for the same reason some religious people don't want to say God's name - out of a sense of awe, but more likely something like, "If I say his name, he might think I am calling him and come to me." I know some cultures don't like you making a fuss over their children in fear of attracting Satan's attention to the children.
If I get to know her better, I'm gonna ask, you betchum.
Row, row, row your boat
Blog number 329 **** 28 October 2009
I have several "triggers" to remind me that I am dreaming so that I can "wake-up" in my dreams; so I can dream a lucid dream, so I can know I am dreaming while I am dreaming.
If I dream I am naked in public places, if I see houses, cows, or any unusual thing floating in the sky, or if I find myself flying, those are supposed to be triggers to wake me up to the fact that I am in a dream.
Last night I dreamed that a large branch was floating in the sky, as if the wind was holding it up. I watched as if plummeted to the ground, barely missing a car, hitting the highway with a thunderous crash, bouncing across the road, raising a maelstrom of dust.
I also dreamed that same night that I was in a room and I started floating up to the ceiling in a circular pattern. I thought at first I might be dead, and then thought I might be dying, then I woke up. Two triggering dreams in the same sleep, neither of which worked.
What we normally call "being awake" is also a dream, but with different "laws." In this dream, I am trying to always be kind. I am also trying to never speak if I am angry, to always think of others as sacred beings. I guess you could call these rules, "triggers" for the "awake" dream.
Being in these states consciously, being awake to them, like being awake to one of my night dream triggers, would create a more aware and informative and enjoyable environment than if I slept unconscious through them. Today, two of these rules were broken. I was not kind and I spoke in anger. And I was totally unaware that I was supposed to be working to do neither. Just like I was totally unaware that I was dreaming triggers in my dreams last night.
Is there a connection between the failure of the triggers in the two "dreams" happening so close together? Is that concidence a trigger for a third type of dream? Inquiring minds want to know.
I have several "triggers" to remind me that I am dreaming so that I can "wake-up" in my dreams; so I can dream a lucid dream, so I can know I am dreaming while I am dreaming.
If I dream I am naked in public places, if I see houses, cows, or any unusual thing floating in the sky, or if I find myself flying, those are supposed to be triggers to wake me up to the fact that I am in a dream.
Last night I dreamed that a large branch was floating in the sky, as if the wind was holding it up. I watched as if plummeted to the ground, barely missing a car, hitting the highway with a thunderous crash, bouncing across the road, raising a maelstrom of dust.
I also dreamed that same night that I was in a room and I started floating up to the ceiling in a circular pattern. I thought at first I might be dead, and then thought I might be dying, then I woke up. Two triggering dreams in the same sleep, neither of which worked.
What we normally call "being awake" is also a dream, but with different "laws." In this dream, I am trying to always be kind. I am also trying to never speak if I am angry, to always think of others as sacred beings. I guess you could call these rules, "triggers" for the "awake" dream.
Being in these states consciously, being awake to them, like being awake to one of my night dream triggers, would create a more aware and informative and enjoyable environment than if I slept unconscious through them. Today, two of these rules were broken. I was not kind and I spoke in anger. And I was totally unaware that I was supposed to be working to do neither. Just like I was totally unaware that I was dreaming triggers in my dreams last night.
Is there a connection between the failure of the triggers in the two "dreams" happening so close together? Is that concidence a trigger for a third type of dream? Inquiring minds want to know.
Friday, September 4, 2009
CHICKIE BABY REVISITED
Blog number 327 **** 04 September 2009
In the Chick Publications book entitled, "The Warning," we are visited in the first panel with a car T-boning a police car. Not just ANY car gets T-boned in a Chick publication. It has to be a POLICE car.
The guy ran a stop sign.
In the next panel we have a little boy asking, "How did that happen, Grandpa?"
Grandpa asks his own question in response. "What do you think CAUSED the accident, Bobby?"
Bobby answers his own question. "That driver ignored the stop sign, didn't he?"
Maybe I'm being picky, but I don't think that CAUSED the accident. Lots of people ignore stop signs without having an accident. If there was a cause of that accident, I would say it was because somebody wasn't paying attention. Probably mostly the car that ran into the police car, but it seems that the cop was a little unaware too. Just a mite?
Anyhow, Grandpa takes this opportunity to give Bobby a lesson in believing in warning signs. He says, "When my father was a little kid, he almost died...because he didn't believe in warning signs." Grandpa then takes apiece of barbed wire from what looks like a dresser drawer and declares that it was this little piece of barbed wire that saved his life.
It seems like it would be kinda hard on any clothes kept in that dresser alongside that barbed wire. Barbed wire gets rusty after a few decades, so not only would Grandpa's clothes be torn, they'd have rust stains all over them. But maybe that drawer contains only trophies that saved Daddy's life? I can't believe it only contained that one piece of a barbed wire fence.
Now two things. First, evidently it was not the obeying of a warning sign that saved his life as the theme of the story might suggest. No, indeed. Turns out it was because his overalls got caught on a barbed wire fence and he couldn't get to the water in time to die with his three friends.
And second, what is it with that father's unborn-at-the-time's son doing with a piece of barbed wire from his daddy's childhood? Who cut the fence in order to have the trophy?. And is it the exact piece that the Daddy got caught on or would any part of that wire fence had been good enough? And was the needle from the hypo that vaccinated the father from getting smallpox and dying from that also saved somewhere in one of the drawers?
The next panel, after we get to see the foot-long length of barbed wire that Grandpa keeps in his dresser drawer, shows us some boys that come over from a neighboring farm. They say that "...someone found a new swimming hole." SOMEONE found a new swimming hole? Wonder who it was? Someone they knew? I hope so.
Bobby asks, "Where?"
One of the boys answers, "It's somewhere behind the old Simpson's place. We're on our way to find it."
Think about that. Three teenage farm boys, obviously entranced with swimming holes, never having heard of one on a neighboring farm.
So the lads go through a corn field, past a barbed wire fence with a "No trespassing" sign on it, through another barbed wire fence with two signs on it, one saying, "Stay Away," the other, "Danger!"
They finally come to the swimming hole, which is rather close to a windmill, which makes it a little more difficult for me to imagine how this swimming hole stayed lost for so many years. And oh, yeah. There's a sign in the water that says, "No Swimming."
So they jump in - all except Grandpa's Dad whom we know got caught on the barbed wire and was thus saved. The other boys died. They didn't drown, surprisingly. No, no. They got bit by snakes which were living in the water. Surprise, surprise.
Seems like Jack T. Chick's theme took a little side trip to look at the world's biggest ball of yarn. We now get five panels of a preacher talking at the funeral of the three boys, about Adam and Eve. We get to learn about the "the worst snake attack in history that took place about 6000 years ago." And, "the sad part was that those victims had also been warned of the terrifying consequences [of not heeding a warning]."
We get to learn about the dangers of ignoring warning signs while at the same time get a review lesson in how bad snakes are, all wrapped up in one Jack T. Chick story. Funny guy.
In the Chick Publications book entitled, "The Warning," we are visited in the first panel with a car T-boning a police car. Not just ANY car gets T-boned in a Chick publication. It has to be a POLICE car.
The guy ran a stop sign.
In the next panel we have a little boy asking, "How did that happen, Grandpa?"
Grandpa asks his own question in response. "What do you think CAUSED the accident, Bobby?"
Bobby answers his own question. "That driver ignored the stop sign, didn't he?"
Maybe I'm being picky, but I don't think that CAUSED the accident. Lots of people ignore stop signs without having an accident. If there was a cause of that accident, I would say it was because somebody wasn't paying attention. Probably mostly the car that ran into the police car, but it seems that the cop was a little unaware too. Just a mite?
Anyhow, Grandpa takes this opportunity to give Bobby a lesson in believing in warning signs. He says, "When my father was a little kid, he almost died...because he didn't believe in warning signs." Grandpa then takes apiece of barbed wire from what looks like a dresser drawer and declares that it was this little piece of barbed wire that saved his life.
It seems like it would be kinda hard on any clothes kept in that dresser alongside that barbed wire. Barbed wire gets rusty after a few decades, so not only would Grandpa's clothes be torn, they'd have rust stains all over them. But maybe that drawer contains only trophies that saved Daddy's life? I can't believe it only contained that one piece of a barbed wire fence.
Now two things. First, evidently it was not the obeying of a warning sign that saved his life as the theme of the story might suggest. No, indeed. Turns out it was because his overalls got caught on a barbed wire fence and he couldn't get to the water in time to die with his three friends.
And second, what is it with that father's unborn-at-the-time's son doing with a piece of barbed wire from his daddy's childhood? Who cut the fence in order to have the trophy?. And is it the exact piece that the Daddy got caught on or would any part of that wire fence had been good enough? And was the needle from the hypo that vaccinated the father from getting smallpox and dying from that also saved somewhere in one of the drawers?
The next panel, after we get to see the foot-long length of barbed wire that Grandpa keeps in his dresser drawer, shows us some boys that come over from a neighboring farm. They say that "...someone found a new swimming hole." SOMEONE found a new swimming hole? Wonder who it was? Someone they knew? I hope so.
Bobby asks, "Where?"
One of the boys answers, "It's somewhere behind the old Simpson's place. We're on our way to find it."
Think about that. Three teenage farm boys, obviously entranced with swimming holes, never having heard of one on a neighboring farm.
So the lads go through a corn field, past a barbed wire fence with a "No trespassing" sign on it, through another barbed wire fence with two signs on it, one saying, "Stay Away," the other, "Danger!"
They finally come to the swimming hole, which is rather close to a windmill, which makes it a little more difficult for me to imagine how this swimming hole stayed lost for so many years. And oh, yeah. There's a sign in the water that says, "No Swimming."
So they jump in - all except Grandpa's Dad whom we know got caught on the barbed wire and was thus saved. The other boys died. They didn't drown, surprisingly. No, no. They got bit by snakes which were living in the water. Surprise, surprise.
Seems like Jack T. Chick's theme took a little side trip to look at the world's biggest ball of yarn. We now get five panels of a preacher talking at the funeral of the three boys, about Adam and Eve. We get to learn about the "the worst snake attack in history that took place about 6000 years ago." And, "the sad part was that those victims had also been warned of the terrifying consequences [of not heeding a warning]."
We get to learn about the dangers of ignoring warning signs while at the same time get a review lesson in how bad snakes are, all wrapped up in one Jack T. Chick story. Funny guy.
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