Weblog 51
January 28, 2007~ 1:30pm
I finally got to watch "Mark Twain Tonight", which was cooling its heels in my Blockbuster queue for a while, and they finally sent it. I'd originally watched it with my father as a television special back in 1971, and I still remember it making us laugh till we were crying; some parts still do that, but I was amazed at how "overacted" I found some of it watching this time, 35 years later.
There is no question that Hal Holbrook's portrayal of Twain is uncanny- right down to his Missouri accent, his little coughs and wiping his mouth with an ever-present white hankerchief, smoking the constant cigar, and winking now and again.
And his make-up artist was a wizard as well, transforming the '40 something' actor into the writer his 70's with uncanny perfection: roman nose, crepe neck flesh hanging in a wrinkly waddle, and an unruly crop of wavy white hair, white suit.......but it broke down for me particularly in the middle of the show when Holbrook dramatized parts of Huckleberry Finn. I found it overweeningly precious when he adopted the mincing tone of the young Huck nervously kicking at the carpet with the toe of his shoe and stealing shy looks at the audience. Funny how I didn't recall any of that from so long ago, so all that remained in my mind was the crotchety, whippet-fast remarks and the homespun, humorous philosophy. I certainly didn't remember the silly ghost-story segment about "Give me back my golden arm!"- no, it's the beginning and the end of the performance where Holbrook shines brightest. I'd forgotten- or I never noticed- the other parts that fall so much flatter by comparision, missing the subtlety of the rest of the performance by a mile, and falling into broad characterization.
Which leads me to conclude that yes, life does edit for us. Much of what is worthless or painful will one day be filtered out as we become blissfully clueless old farts who talk about 'the good old days'- never recalling that so much of it was boring, useless, painful, ignorant- or just bad juju. It is the happy amnesia of advanced age, with the internal editor leaving so much of it on the cutting floor that in some cases what we are left with is a Disney movie, minus the dwarves and the talking cricket, but with plenty of wall-hung frames so we can look at it, nod, wipe mouths with white handkerchiefs, smile and nod....
January 29, 2007~ 7:00am
Just in case you think I can't be lighthearted.....how about this little guy!
Nuthin' in life can look glum if you're staring at something like that. LOL!!! God, he makes me happy...maybe he's around just to let us know how good touch is- the bliss of being held, being cared about- that heat transfer of life to life. Makes me think about the psychologist Harry Stack Sullivan, and his stress upon the importance of human interaction in the phenomenon of an infant's failure to thrive. Barring real medical problems, it's a sad condition caused by lack of simple, human, nurturing touch. Loss of connection. Dark stars in an ocean of gleaming....
And how about THIS for a laundry list of mental and emotional illness? Wow. Take your pick. Bound to find yourself in there somewhere. I know I did.
Wikepedia List of Psychology Topics
Have fun. LOL....you'll definitely hit a mirror in there somewhere. The whole human race is prancing around in that alphabet soup....
February 1, 2007~ 8:30am
There is a new love in my life! I absolutely ADORE him. I call him, "Mighty Mouse"- because he IS! Do any of you have one of these...and he GLOWS when you turn the lights down?
Gone are the days of the jerky, non-responsive, aggravating mouse action....no more FUZZ! No more lint build-up nightmares, and yanking the mouse around like it's trying to do a spastic crane dance. This is movement at the speed of LIGHT...silk smooth, responsive as a shadow and I'm in love, I'm in love for sure. After watching my wheelie mouse die on me- (and the wheeled one- that was a big improvement from my original "scroll until you pass out" mouse that came with my Compaq computer)- but old Wheelie grew weaker and weaker in the past six days or so. I cleaned it. It would move, but the clicks were half-hearted, sometimes missed, then delayed, delayed, delaaaaaaaaaaaaaayed until finally all I had was cursor movement, but no clicks at all. I did every possible clean up on my operating system and did a fine tooth comb defrag, but the mouse grew fainter and fainter, and then died. (As per usual for me, I assumed the worst and thought it was my hard drive. LOL!!) But it was simply my wee mousie squeeking "stop. dead, you see. so sorry."
And now I own a Microsoft Optical Mouse with USB, PS2 connection and it skims the surface of the water like a dragonfly! And Mr. Trouble better not hang around because MIGHTY MOUSE IS HERE! Looks and feels like a race car. Va-ROOOOM! vA-roooooooooooooooom!!!
February 1, 2007~ 10:30am
I couldn't let this week go by without mentioning that magnificent young champion who lost his battle with a broken leg and subsequent complications over the last year. I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes, thinking about the great spirit that resided in that animal....
I am going to quote here from THE RECORD HERALD NEWSPAPER
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (AP) - Barbaro's eyes were so bright for so long, his appetite so voracious, even the surgeon who lovingly cared for the Kentucky Derby winner believed the colt would overcome his broken bones and ailing feet.
When Richardson checked Barbaro on Monday morning, the eyes that had been so full of life were darker, a sure sign of distress. And after consultation with owners Gretchen and Roy Jackson, the colt was given a heavy dose of a tranquilizer and an overdose of an anesthetic and put down at 10:30 a.m.
‘‘You could see he was upset,'' said Richardson, chief of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center. ‘‘That was the difference. It was more than we wanted to put him through."
Barbaro's eight-month ordeal, which made him even more of a hero than he was as a champion on the track, was over.
‘‘I really didn't think it was appropriate to continue treatment because the probability of getting better was so poor,'' Richardson said.
Fighting back tears, he added: ‘‘Barbaro had many, many good days.''
‘‘Certainly,'' Gretchen Jackson said, ‘‘grief is the price we all pay for love.''
Indeed it is. And if you really want to see what a phenomenal horse this was, watch this clip of his win at the Kentucky Derby in May 2006. If you can watch the ending, where he pulls out all stops and just hammers it home, without your eyes swimming with tears at that kind of extraordinary heart, you must be made of stone. FILM CLIP, DERBY 2006 Goodbye, young fella. You were much beloved.
February 3, 2007~ 3:30am
I'll admit it: it was a sloooooooow night. Bad weather again prevented me from seeing my daughter and her family- (yes, of course, I know I am a chicken)- but I just don't have it in me anymore when the roads and weather look dicey to get out there and brave it. I have, alas, become solidly middle-aged. Take less risks. Fear a lot more than I used to.....
So what did I do to overcompensate on this snowy, all-alone evening?
I went to a site that features a 'virtual'...
...--that's right... Jack the Ripper- another morbid fascination of mine, and I got to taunt him to my heart's content. lol....(Or "ha ha ha!"- as Jack would say. And OFTEN!) Plus, this nicely put together site plays one of my favorite musical pieces in its background, "Carmina Burana" by Berlioz- and tonight I noticed how the theme from "The Omen"- "Ave Satani"- stole the entire beat and feel of the Burana piece right out from under old Berlioz' nose! Certainly has the same 'galloping horse of the highwayman' rhythm to it, and its urgency, surely. I never can get enough of it.
If you find yourself with some idle time on your hands, and want to visit a viciously clever site, want to chat with one of the most notorious spree killers of all time, do pay a visit to SAUCY JACK. I kept telling him his penis was too small, and he'd respond with some bloody ditty or a "ha ha ha!" That guy's a barrel of laughs....sure does pass the time though, on a win'try snowbound evening.
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
I finally got to watch "Mark Twain Tonight", which was cooling its heels in my Blockbuster queue for a while, and they finally sent it. I'd originally watched it with my father as a television special back in 1971, and I still remember it making us laugh till we were crying; some parts still do that, but I was amazed at how "overacted" I found some of it watching this time, 35 years later.
There is no question that Hal Holbrook's portrayal of Twain is uncanny- right down to his Missouri accent, his little coughs and wiping his mouth with an ever-present white hankerchief, smoking the constant cigar, and winking now and again.
And his make-up artist was a wizard as well, transforming the '40 something' actor into the writer his 70's with uncanny perfection: roman nose, crepe neck flesh hanging in a wrinkly waddle, and an unruly crop of wavy white hair, white suit.......but it broke down for me particularly in the middle of the show when Holbrook dramatized parts of Huckleberry Finn. I found it overweeningly precious when he adopted the mincing tone of the young Huck nervously kicking at the carpet with the toe of his shoe and stealing shy looks at the audience. Funny how I didn't recall any of that from so long ago, so all that remained in my mind was the crotchety, whippet-fast remarks and the homespun, humorous philosophy. I certainly didn't remember the silly ghost-story segment about "Give me back my golden arm!"- no, it's the beginning and the end of the performance where Holbrook shines brightest. I'd forgotten- or I never noticed- the other parts that fall so much flatter by comparision, missing the subtlety of the rest of the performance by a mile, and falling into broad characterization.
Which leads me to conclude that yes, life does edit for us. Much of what is worthless or painful will one day be filtered out as we become blissfully clueless old farts who talk about 'the good old days'- never recalling that so much of it was boring, useless, painful, ignorant- or just bad juju. It is the happy amnesia of advanced age, with the internal editor leaving so much of it on the cutting floor that in some cases what we are left with is a Disney movie, minus the dwarves and the talking cricket, but with plenty of wall-hung frames so we can look at it, nod, wipe mouths with white handkerchiefs, smile and nod....
January 29, 2007~ 7:00am
Just in case you think I can't be lighthearted.....how about this little guy!
Nuthin' in life can look glum if you're staring at something like that. LOL!!! God, he makes me happy...maybe he's around just to let us know how good touch is- the bliss of being held, being cared about- that heat transfer of life to life. Makes me think about the psychologist Harry Stack Sullivan, and his stress upon the importance of human interaction in the phenomenon of an infant's failure to thrive. Barring real medical problems, it's a sad condition caused by lack of simple, human, nurturing touch. Loss of connection. Dark stars in an ocean of gleaming....
And how about THIS for a laundry list of mental and emotional illness? Wow. Take your pick. Bound to find yourself in there somewhere. I know I did.
Have fun. LOL....you'll definitely hit a mirror in there somewhere. The whole human race is prancing around in that alphabet soup....
February 1, 2007~ 8:30am
There is a new love in my life! I absolutely ADORE him. I call him, "Mighty Mouse"- because he IS! Do any of you have one of these...and he GLOWS when you turn the lights down?
Gone are the days of the jerky, non-responsive, aggravating mouse action....no more FUZZ! No more lint build-up nightmares, and yanking the mouse around like it's trying to do a spastic crane dance. This is movement at the speed of LIGHT...silk smooth, responsive as a shadow and I'm in love, I'm in love for sure. After watching my wheelie mouse die on me- (and the wheeled one- that was a big improvement from my original "scroll until you pass out" mouse that came with my Compaq computer)- but old Wheelie grew weaker and weaker in the past six days or so. I cleaned it. It would move, but the clicks were half-hearted, sometimes missed, then delayed, delayed, delaaaaaaaaaaaaaayed until finally all I had was cursor movement, but no clicks at all. I did every possible clean up on my operating system and did a fine tooth comb defrag, but the mouse grew fainter and fainter, and then died. (As per usual for me, I assumed the worst and thought it was my hard drive. LOL!!) But it was simply my wee mousie squeeking "stop. dead, you see. so sorry."
And now I own a Microsoft Optical Mouse with USB, PS2 connection and it skims the surface of the water like a dragonfly! And Mr. Trouble better not hang around because MIGHTY MOUSE IS HERE! Looks and feels like a race car. Va-ROOOOM! vA-roooooooooooooooom!!!
February 1, 2007~ 10:30am
I couldn't let this week go by without mentioning that magnificent young champion who lost his battle with a broken leg and subsequent complications over the last year. I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes, thinking about the great spirit that resided in that animal....
I am going to quote here from THE RECORD HERALD NEWSPAPER
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (AP) - Barbaro's eyes were so bright for so long, his appetite so voracious, even the surgeon who lovingly cared for the Kentucky Derby winner believed the colt would overcome his broken bones and ailing feet.
When Richardson checked Barbaro on Monday morning, the eyes that had been so full of life were darker, a sure sign of distress. And after consultation with owners Gretchen and Roy Jackson, the colt was given a heavy dose of a tranquilizer and an overdose of an anesthetic and put down at 10:30 a.m.
‘‘You could see he was upset,'' said Richardson, chief of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center. ‘‘That was the difference. It was more than we wanted to put him through."
Barbaro's eight-month ordeal, which made him even more of a hero than he was as a champion on the track, was over.
‘‘I really didn't think it was appropriate to continue treatment because the probability of getting better was so poor,'' Richardson said.
Fighting back tears, he added: ‘‘Barbaro had many, many good days.''
‘‘Certainly,'' Gretchen Jackson said, ‘‘grief is the price we all pay for love.''
Indeed it is. And if you really want to see what a phenomenal horse this was, watch this clip of his win at the Kentucky Derby in May 2006. If you can watch the ending, where he pulls out all stops and just hammers it home, without your eyes swimming with tears at that kind of extraordinary heart, you must be made of stone. FILM CLIP, DERBY 2006 Goodbye, young fella. You were much beloved.
February 3, 2007~ 3:30am
I'll admit it: it was a sloooooooow night. Bad weather again prevented me from seeing my daughter and her family- (yes, of course, I know I am a chicken)- but I just don't have it in me anymore when the roads and weather look dicey to get out there and brave it. I have, alas, become solidly middle-aged. Take less risks. Fear a lot more than I used to.....
So what did I do to overcompensate on this snowy, all-alone evening?
I went to a site that features a 'virtual'...
...--that's right... Jack the Ripper- another morbid fascination of mine, and I got to taunt him to my heart's content. lol....(Or "ha ha ha!"- as Jack would say. And OFTEN!) Plus, this nicely put together site plays one of my favorite musical pieces in its background, "Carmina Burana" by Berlioz- and tonight I noticed how the theme from "The Omen"- "Ave Satani"- stole the entire beat and feel of the Burana piece right out from under old Berlioz' nose! Certainly has the same 'galloping horse of the highwayman' rhythm to it, and its urgency, surely. I never can get enough of it.If you find yourself with some idle time on your hands, and want to visit a viciously clever site, want to chat with one of the most notorious spree killers of all time, do pay a visit to SAUCY JACK. I kept telling him his penis was too small, and he'd respond with some bloody ditty or a "ha ha ha!" That guy's a barrel of laughs....sure does pass the time though, on a win'try snowbound evening.
(Return To Weekly Archives)
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