Some people might think being an intellectual requires me to be rather parsimonious in my praise for 'common' things, and reflexively dismissive of anything 'pop culture.'
It's not that way at all though. For example, while I will always dearly love the Marx Brothers, I sure do admire much of the 3 Stooges' work. Except for Shemp; he's just creepy.
My opinion, if one is stuck with being an 'intellectual' it should be defined as an expanded range of things to delight in, versus some snooty isolationist perspective.
Like that with music too. I really like Jim White, Tom Waits and 16 Horsepower. I realize that puts me in a minority. The mature view is to neither revel in the obscurity of things I appreciate, nor judge unfairly work with far wider appeal.
So I like Heart. I really really like Heart. But just the first 2 albums. The rest of their body of work is fairly pedestrian.
But 'Dreamboat Annie' and 'Little Queen' is some amazing stuff. Totally different than anything on the radio at the time. I'm listening to it right now. There's a defiant confidence in the music, quite rare for newbies. I'd say 'Dreamboat' is right up there with best 1st efforts in history of rock & roll; quite comparable to Lynrd Skynrd's first actually.
So I enjoy stuff other people like, OK? I just happen to like some weird stuff too.
Guess that applies to Tennessee as well. I enjoy looking at mountains in the morning. My favorite kind of mountains to look at are the killers who silently wait for unprepared fools. That's what I like to look at in the morning.
Instead, this morning I sipped coffee on my deck and looked down from my hilltop perch at the trees and rooftops of hillbilly land. There's a lot here to appreciate too though.
Never have felt myself a native of this land; more like some karmic diplomatic hostage, held with widely varying levels of courtesy at times, for the safekeeping of others. I really have no idea how it feels to be a native here, only that it must have its benefits.
Nor can I really understand how it feels to be a tourist here, only that it can be a really interesting place for tourists, with a knowledgeable guide.
So I'm going to gas up Mustang Lucy, and take my tourist son for a long ride.
"Heading out this morning into the sun"...
Well actually it's overcast. You ever try to find a song lyric that rhymes with 'overcast'? It's not easy, I'll promise ya that.
Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk...
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Not Mad 4 March Madness
This is one of those times of the year when I know more than usual, I ain't exactly mainstream.
Not that reminders of that are in short supply any time of the year, but this is when everybody is talking 'Sweet 16' and 'final 4' and of course, their 'brackets.'
Well. Am I disparaging of President Obama because he announced his 'brackets' with much fanfare? Naw, not really. I have plenty other reasons to be disparaging of him.
But realistically, he has to stay tight with a public image much of his base relates to, that's all.
It is kinda scary to me that a US President might be spending more time thinking about college basketball than events in Japan, but hey? His supporters will tend to think their man is SO super freakin' awesome cool, he can think about Japan AND college basketball with no deletirious effects to either project.
Hmmm, what was I gonna type about... oh yeah! This whole NOT being in the mainstream thing!!!
Well it's certainly there all the time, and VERY noticeable when I walk in on heated discussions of whether UTEP can beat Rutgers, but I guess I don't mind it that much.
My thinking, everybody has three names. You have the name God gave you, the name this world will give you, and the name you make up for yourself in response to the world.
If I tried to give myself a name that rhymes with 'digs college basketball' I'd be dishonest.
Best I can tell, my God given name just has a lot to do with knowing obscure things that delight and inspire me.
College basketball just doesn't interest me, and I don't care whether it consumes every other brain on the planet. I'd rather spend my idle hours pondering on Dr. Willem Kolff, Virginia Hall, or Minnie Vautrin.
And sure, I spend a good bit of time thinking about suicidal grasshoppers, termite symbiosis and bird migration too.
And on people, I often find myself considering people with legacies far harder to sort out, like Albert Speer or Robert Oppenheimer.
But I don't think much about college basketball. Apparently, not the sort of work God designed me for. Hey, little known fact from the history of great spies?
Virginia Hall had a killer jumpshot. Imagine that, and her with a wooden leg too!
Well... I've never read any scholarship that proved she DIDN'T have a killer jumpshot, OK?
Not that reminders of that are in short supply any time of the year, but this is when everybody is talking 'Sweet 16' and 'final 4' and of course, their 'brackets.'
Well. Am I disparaging of President Obama because he announced his 'brackets' with much fanfare? Naw, not really. I have plenty other reasons to be disparaging of him.
But realistically, he has to stay tight with a public image much of his base relates to, that's all.
It is kinda scary to me that a US President might be spending more time thinking about college basketball than events in Japan, but hey? His supporters will tend to think their man is SO super freakin' awesome cool, he can think about Japan AND college basketball with no deletirious effects to either project.
Hmmm, what was I gonna type about... oh yeah! This whole NOT being in the mainstream thing!!!
Well it's certainly there all the time, and VERY noticeable when I walk in on heated discussions of whether UTEP can beat Rutgers, but I guess I don't mind it that much.
My thinking, everybody has three names. You have the name God gave you, the name this world will give you, and the name you make up for yourself in response to the world.
If I tried to give myself a name that rhymes with 'digs college basketball' I'd be dishonest.
Best I can tell, my God given name just has a lot to do with knowing obscure things that delight and inspire me.
College basketball just doesn't interest me, and I don't care whether it consumes every other brain on the planet. I'd rather spend my idle hours pondering on Dr. Willem Kolff, Virginia Hall, or Minnie Vautrin.
And sure, I spend a good bit of time thinking about suicidal grasshoppers, termite symbiosis and bird migration too.
And on people, I often find myself considering people with legacies far harder to sort out, like Albert Speer or Robert Oppenheimer.
But I don't think much about college basketball. Apparently, not the sort of work God designed me for. Hey, little known fact from the history of great spies?
Virginia Hall had a killer jumpshot. Imagine that, and her with a wooden leg too!
Well... I've never read any scholarship that proved she DIDN'T have a killer jumpshot, OK?
Monday, March 14, 2011
Idiot Killers get Caught
Well it's going to take a lot of self-discipline to keep this thing going apparently.
Most people don't like being disciplined. There is however a certain percentage of
the population...
Some guy in a ritzy Memphis suburb is in legal trouble for running an S&M B&B.
Now personally, I'm a very open minded person, and it's none of my biz what two
or more consenting adults do behind closed doors. It would be however, the city of Memphis' biz, if it's your biz to profit by facilitating said conduct.
Me personally, I have only two issues with an S&M B&B. First, I think that's too many ampersands. Second, what do they serve for breakfast?
Bigger legal issues, pain not as form of foreplay, wanton idiocy wreaking havoc on
strangers who have no 'safe' word is more on my mind right now though.
I've never been in prison, except to visit people. (I have LOADS of interesting friends & relatives)So maybe I've no right to judge those who escape from prison
when they have maybe only two years left on their sentence.
I suppose it's bad being in prison. There aren't any girls in there, at least not any
'original equipment' females, and the food is bad. Wardrobe choices are very limited, and I for one do like to dress stylishly.
These two fellows who escaped a Louisiana jail and were finally caught today in Memphis, they killed a guy in Mississippi. They're headed straight to Death Row.
Who did they think they were I wonder. They killed somebody's husband, a father of four, for a vehicle. The sovereign state of Mississippi is going to exact vengeance
for the widow and the orphans. There won't be any breakfast for those two idiots, one of these mornings.
Times like these of course, it's not popular being a death penalty opponent. I'm judicious in my comments as nice people talk of their very justified blood lust.
I don't say much of anything at all really. The most I ever say is, "It won't bring back the dead."
Most people don't like being disciplined. There is however a certain percentage of
the population...
Some guy in a ritzy Memphis suburb is in legal trouble for running an S&M B&B.
Now personally, I'm a very open minded person, and it's none of my biz what two
or more consenting adults do behind closed doors. It would be however, the city of Memphis' biz, if it's your biz to profit by facilitating said conduct.
Me personally, I have only two issues with an S&M B&B. First, I think that's too many ampersands. Second, what do they serve for breakfast?
Bigger legal issues, pain not as form of foreplay, wanton idiocy wreaking havoc on
strangers who have no 'safe' word is more on my mind right now though.
I've never been in prison, except to visit people. (I have LOADS of interesting friends & relatives)So maybe I've no right to judge those who escape from prison
when they have maybe only two years left on their sentence.
I suppose it's bad being in prison. There aren't any girls in there, at least not any
'original equipment' females, and the food is bad. Wardrobe choices are very limited, and I for one do like to dress stylishly.
These two fellows who escaped a Louisiana jail and were finally caught today in Memphis, they killed a guy in Mississippi. They're headed straight to Death Row.
Who did they think they were I wonder. They killed somebody's husband, a father of four, for a vehicle. The sovereign state of Mississippi is going to exact vengeance
for the widow and the orphans. There won't be any breakfast for those two idiots, one of these mornings.
Times like these of course, it's not popular being a death penalty opponent. I'm judicious in my comments as nice people talk of their very justified blood lust.
I don't say much of anything at all really. The most I ever say is, "It won't bring back the dead."
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
About Grenades
Well, is that the actual speeling? They could be 'Gernades' and would be just fine with me.
So I'm watching episode V of 'Great Alaskan Mystery' and our hero just tossed a Grrrnade at the bad guys. Our hero is played by Milburn Stone, Doc from the 'Gunsmoke' TV show. In this Great Alaskan Mystery of course, he's somewhat younger.
I just can't figger how he came by the Grrrnade though. In the plot, he's a former Marine pilot who is now civilian due to war wounds. Guadalcanal has been referenced several times, but we're not told the nature of our hero's wounds. So far though? I think the Japs shot him in the personality.
WHERE did he get the Grrrnade from? If they gave those things out as parting gifts to discharged WW2 pilots, I've sure never read anything about it.
Let's just assume he's a sloppy packer. Probably has a loaded Bazooka mixed in with his dirty underwear too.
But WHY do American soldiers bite Grrrnades? They do it every time. Yep, they bite the pin off the Grrrnade before throwing it. As a kid in California, bet I watched "Combat!" every week, starring Vic Morrow. On that show, American soldiers invariably bit the pin off Grrrnades before throwing them.
The German soldiers never bit their Grrrnades, not as I recall. Now, German grrrnades didn't have that metallic pineapple look that our anti-personnel devices did. German grrrnades looked like an oil filter with a stick stuck in it.
On the surface of it, that would seem humiliating. The Germans invented a 'no-bite' grrrnade, since they were the master race and all. Here's what I think...
The Nazi war machine HAD to invent a 'no-bite' grrrnade because all their soldiers had bad teeth. This project of course diverted their best Scientific minds for quite some time, which is why we got the A-bomb before the Krauts did.
WOW! The toothbrush is real reason us good guys won WW2? And all this time I thought it was because John Wayne was on our side...
So I'm watching episode V of 'Great Alaskan Mystery' and our hero just tossed a Grrrnade at the bad guys. Our hero is played by Milburn Stone, Doc from the 'Gunsmoke' TV show. In this Great Alaskan Mystery of course, he's somewhat younger.
I just can't figger how he came by the Grrrnade though. In the plot, he's a former Marine pilot who is now civilian due to war wounds. Guadalcanal has been referenced several times, but we're not told the nature of our hero's wounds. So far though? I think the Japs shot him in the personality.
WHERE did he get the Grrrnade from? If they gave those things out as parting gifts to discharged WW2 pilots, I've sure never read anything about it.
Let's just assume he's a sloppy packer. Probably has a loaded Bazooka mixed in with his dirty underwear too.
But WHY do American soldiers bite Grrrnades? They do it every time. Yep, they bite the pin off the Grrrnade before throwing it. As a kid in California, bet I watched "Combat!" every week, starring Vic Morrow. On that show, American soldiers invariably bit the pin off Grrrnades before throwing them.
The German soldiers never bit their Grrrnades, not as I recall. Now, German grrrnades didn't have that metallic pineapple look that our anti-personnel devices did. German grrrnades looked like an oil filter with a stick stuck in it.
On the surface of it, that would seem humiliating. The Germans invented a 'no-bite' grrrnade, since they were the master race and all. Here's what I think...
The Nazi war machine HAD to invent a 'no-bite' grrrnade because all their soldiers had bad teeth. This project of course diverted their best Scientific minds for quite some time, which is why we got the A-bomb before the Krauts did.
WOW! The toothbrush is real reason us good guys won WW2? And all this time I thought it was because John Wayne was on our side...
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