02 January 2013

Neither here nor there

A hill rises to a brilliant sky burning out in Mudville during early winter. 
Happy 2013!

My fresh new Reagan calendar is live and five in the kitchen to motivate and inspire all who shall see it.

At the beginning of the new year, I'm reminded of a radio opener by host Rusty Humphries a few years back, which was extremely important: to reflect on the meaning of dignity, to carry ourselves with dignity, and to not give quarter to those who would denigrate it. 



SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Attention employees of and shoppers at Whole Foods:  I am not a threat to you nor your way of life.  Do not let my short bad haircut or good posture alarm you.  I merely want to buy my juniper berries and depart. 

NEWS

   Mass media outlets and obamatrons renewed their edict that guns and their owners were evil after the tragic Newton, CT shootings.  While people talked about installing armed guards in school and removing classes of weapons from responsible owners, one feature of modern society rose far beyond any others: the absence of God from anywhere near education.  News sources reported in 2012 Americans who say they are “religious” dropped from 73 percent in 2005 (LINK) to 60 percent. 
   These kinds of slayings are not necessarily new.  Despite that, I do think you can give some of the credit to the God-hating libs for the emergence of this type of behavior. Don't like or too smart for what you're taught in school or church, or at home? Rebel. Nothing's true unless it fits your definition, except that man knows everything and the Ten Commandments aren't the basis for our canon of laws, nor was Christianity responsible for any prior success of the American experiment.
   On the heels of that, a newspaper saw fit to express its not-so-subtle antagonism toward gun owners in Putnam Co., New York, with an interactive map showing the owners' addresses. (LINK) In response, a blogger published the home addresses of the Journal News.  In a master stroke of hypocrisy, the Journal News in turn hired armed security guards for its facility.  Not that the status of American journalism isn't decrepit enough to turn its back on its ideals of fairness - it is - but what is the point of "naming and shaming" those with firearms permits, and how would it be in the public interest? 

SPORTS

Super Bowl 2013 prediction:  Houston v. Falcons would be a great game.  Cagey on UFC: There's a difference between violence, or training to do that, and barbarism.  The UFC is a joke.

PERSONAL:
Thought for the day: I don't have a scrapbook; I have a scrapbox.  I used to keep that scrapBOX in order loosely by time, but it got impossible and is all mixed together - which is great for someone like me who looks for symbolism too much.

ADVICE:
"I'm glad you're sensitive, but don't be too sensitive."  Keep your thick skin, keep your armor on in the new year.
  I'm going to do my part to help uplift others this year and let people know who have suffered tragedies that they're in my thoughts, which maybe can do some good.  Even a small gesture can be magnified a thousand-fold. JN

PETS:
"If you have a dog, you will most likely outlive it; to get a dog is to open yourself to profound joy and, prospectively, to equally profound sadness."
― Marjorie Garber
TASTE:
Chocolate ice cream drips on my hand and Gold Bond do not combine well.
http://www.whiskyforeveryone.com/whisky_basics/influence_of_peat.html
Dippin 'Dots was supposed to be the ice cream of the future and I could never afford it in college. I envied the people with $5 to spend on that stuff. Well, now that the future is here...? Then what? Was not entirely impressed by these things.
Has this been done before?  Cliche joke?  Well, I'm not joking.  I just got a bottle of ginseng, and another of gingko biloba.  When is the FDA ever going to get around from "evaluating these statements" that "haven't been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration?"  What the hell are they doing over there? Especially on some of the more well-known products like Ginseng, from which people have enjoyed its health benefits for thousands of years.
Finally, the best emergency frozen pizza ever: DiGiorno's Tuscan Pizza.


ENTERTAINMENT/CINEMA: 
  • TRON 3 a definite possibility - yaaaa squitches!!!
  • Satire has great promise in exposing American reality programs (LINK)
The show desperately needs a big name, so it approaches Vasquez, a Queens-born singer known for outrageous outfits, dating a gun-toting rapper and starring with her then-fiance in a universally panned movie (titled “Jinky” instead of “Gigli”).
She agrees to appear on the show, with a whopping caveat: They must adhere to a 78-page contract rider, which includes:
“Artist’s body to be insured with $1 billion dollar policy in case of injury. (Breasts, buttocks to be valued at $100 million each.)
“Crew to be forbidden to make eye contact with Artist at all times.
“Artist to be provided with chauffeur-driven limo . . . Limo to be a Rolls-Royce Phantom, white. Artist to select driver (male, under 25) from head/torso shots.”
  • 2013 shall be the year during which I defend the honor of Christian Slater, one of the greatest actors of all time.
Finally, so much deconstruction going on w.r.t. Django Unchained.  Racist?  Appropriate material?  Who is "allowed" to explore the radioactive topic of slavery?  Should it be done with any humor?  I'm staying on the periphery.
STYLE:

Confirmed today it is still o.k. to wear cargoes.  The military still wears them too.  Scroll to the comments and witness the author receiving his beating:

http://chicago.barstoolsports.com/random-thoughts/if-you-wear-cargo-shortspants-everyone-around-you-thinks-youre-a-fool/

How to dress for the weekend:
http://www.esquire.com/style/tips/casual-clothes-for-men

Good guide to different fabrics, and some great arcane (Pan-Am era) vocab in there too:
http://thesharpsuit.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/a-visual-guide-to-matching-shirt-tie-and-suit-patterns/

LOGOPHILIA:
My three words banned for 2013: foodie, hoodie, smoothie, and most anything with the stupid diminutive -ie suffix. Phrases: "In the wake of" (annual resubmission #5).

  TRAVEL:


Found this solitary tree on the grounds of Fort Monroe, a fortification for coastal batteries
 dating from the 1830s,  which was recently turned over to the National Parks System.

MUSIC

the GCAS Spotlight for winter 2012: Steve Roach - Ambient


... and the 2012 GCAS song of the year: (LINK)

Something Ahead of you - The Fixx (2012)

... the 2012 GCAS Rad New Wave song of the year:


The Riddle - Nik Kershaw (1984) The songwriter had claimed that the lyrics were "bollocks", and I am cautious not to overanalyze, but the words, the syntax, the linguistic whole had to arise from somewhere, and I wouldn't completely dismiss the importance of the autre from playing a role in its composition.

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