Sweet
by tomThe sun is swimmin’ on the rim of a hill,
The moon is takin’ a header,
And jist as I’m thinkin’ all the earth is still,
A lark’ll wake up in the medder.
Category Archives for: Uncategorized
Really?
by tomI am a Bernie supporter and if he was on a ballot I’d send money and volunteer but he’s not. We got Joe. Don’t get me wrong, I love Joe but he’s not Bernie. But when people say they won’t vote for Joe because he’s not good enough. What. The. Fuck. He’s “four more years of Trump” good enough. Good enough for me. Want real change? 1) Make sure everyone who can vote does vote and that vote is safe and honest. 2) Elect Joe. 3) Elect people who will force him to follow the signs and bend liberal. I fear that we’re going to burn down the house or go deeper into right wing fascism. I want neither. I want us to get together, now, and make 100%, beyond doubt, that the upcoming election is squeaky clean. Our system can work if we vote and that vote must count. The alternative is not worth it.
Home
by tomMy bones and my soul enjoyed Tucson the most, I think. Home’s home but some resonate more or better than others.
Headshot
by tomI have a particular issue with the quite popular trope of revolver-to-head-bang. It started, of course, with JFK. Part of his head was shot off, an important part as it turned out.
I cringe on a regular basis even thinking of it. The sheer, instantaneous explosion of violence, virtually foolproof. Not the prettiest thing, at least according to Hollywood. Although I’m certain it’s worse.
Just saw it on a Netflix b-film and couldn’t look away quickly enough and while little was shown it was still triggering, literally.
Very effective, in reality and fantasy, fiction and nonfiction. Other methods achieve the aim but not with the efficiency or impact. I just think it’s overused in “entertainment,” such as it is.
Hubris
by tomWe’re watching the dissolving of a superpower, one that broke from the rule of kings, decided their new home was all theirs, driving natives into smaller, less desirable spaces.
They told others, from East and West, not to try and get a foothold anywhere near them and were pulled from the precipice of annihilation more than once.
They carried a big stick, but walked softly, sometimes saving the world, often making things worse, even tearing itself asunder.
They spend more arming themselves and their customers than everyone else combined. A subset of the population arms themselves beyond reason.
High ideals, deep flaws. Great words, brutal suppression. Brilliant legal system, unfair justice. They’re a dichotomy, a tinderbox awaiting flame and *boom*.
When people start getting sick, and the “government” is slow to help, anger becomes that flame. All bets are off.
Who takes the blame? Greed and bigotry. Wins every time.
Russo brothers
by tomThey’ve done 4 of the 5 Markus and McFeely Marvel films and those 4 work beautifully together. The continuity: Cap and Peggy, meshing the multiple threads of the series and the massive cast.
Dark
by tomDifficult weekend. War drums pounding and an issue at work are keeping me down. We don’t know where all this is going but I know that change is needed, in the world and in myself.
Rabbits
by tomMagical chimeric creatures that have hopped throughout my life. My favorite story is Watership Down, because it played a note that still resounds in my soul: wild animals are better wild. That’s been amended to allow habituation in emergencies. But there’s more to rabbits than that.
Saying ‘rabbit, rabbit’ first thing on waking, or last moment on New Year’s Eve, facilitate good luck for the month or year to come. Rabbit’s feet also, cruelly, impart the holder with luck. The trope of ‘the rabbit died’ noting pregnancy is redundant because the rabbit dies anyway.
Volumes have been written on the Easter bunny but suffice to say I have more than one stuffed rabbit.
There are small statues, representations of rabbits throughout my garden. I prefer them to caged rabbits and they give me joy. It’s as if a fairy is embodied there.
In Watership Down, Hazel followed his instincts and Fiver’s insights to save his friends but it was his courage that moved the story. He must save his warren.
Bugs Bunny is a locked character to me. No one can do it but Mel Blanc so what we have is all we’ll ever get but that’s plenty. An early influence on my humor and still a favorite character.
I’m hoping that if at least one person says ‘rabbit, rabbit, rabbit’ at midnight tonight we’ll have a lucky 2020. We need all the luck we can get.
Regulation game
by tomBare minimum 4½ innings, 3 outs per inning. 15 outs. So if the home pitcher can get all outs with one pitch, the bare minimum number of pitches is also 15.
The pitcher’s team has to score, of course.
“If the home team (which bats last) is already ahead in the score, and theoretically would not need its half of the fifth inning, then 4½ innings (i.e., the middle of the fifth) is considered an official game. “
Wikipedia, Official game (baseball)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_game_(baseball)
Tape
by tomOne of my earliest, best memories are of 3” diameter reels of magnetic tape and the machine that you needed to play the tape. The tape had to be threaded manually and I loved that it was my job. My brother sent us the machine along with tapes of concerts he’d heard while stationed off the coast of Vietnam. From those tapes came the voice of the funniest man I’ve ever heard. And that’s a problem.
No day goes by that doesn’t include one mental reference to the humor of Bill Cosby. For decades, that was a good thing, even wonderful. Reliving a Cosby routine brought me so much joy for so long, it’s hard for me to deal with what has happened.
I do not doubt the crimes. The weight of evidence is too great and it’s made fond memories into guilty, sad recollections. Like knowing a favorite uncle was raping his children. No memory is ever the same.
The line to cross can be subtle; older movies make stalking look normal but drugging women, then raping them? That’s over the line. Way over.