Wisdom of the Sages
Episode VII
Spring 2008
Hello People of the World!
Man, sorry about the lateness of this month’s edition. I am just dragging after a string of gut-punches. Well, I am here at last to help you decide for yourselves, the worthiness of American Society. Not too cynical. So, toodle-pip and let’s get this off the shag carpeting, shall we? Onward!:
:[ Anyway, due to the Nosiness of Our Neighbors, our kitty was lost. It seems that during a neighborhood party, one of our next door neighbors saw our kitty Potter, whom likes to sit on the eave of our house and air out, (they both jump BACK in through the window and if they fell off, would have NO WAY of getting back up) and decided he was a stray "screaming" for help. This neighbor goes and gets a ladder, comes into our backyard and climbs it to get Potter off the eave. She then puts him in our driveway and attempt to shoo him off. I know this because she told me the next morning. (She kind of forgot that she did.)
We were out for a movie and dinner. Bonnie talks to her the next day and she tells Bonnie that the cat JUMPED from the eave and she call Animal Control BEFORE calling us to se if we had a cat, which she knows, we have two. The neighbors at the party tell us, they told her, "Hey. No. That’s a bad idea." (In half-ass voice.) But everyone seemed to NOT WANT TO CALL US TO CONFIRM OUR CATS. WHICH THEY KNOW HAVE! "Hey we didn’t know your number." (Again, in half-ass voice.) And the thing is, the school puts out a family directory in case the parents need to contact each other and we know that at least two of the families present at the party had the directory.
So we call the police who tell us we cannot do anything about a neighbor coming into our yard to pull a cat off our roof because it is protected under the Good Samaritan Law. My nine-year-old was devastated because it was her cat. So we put out posters and searched the neighborhood that day and night.
The happy ending is that Potter stuck close to the house and called out every night until we triangulated him and found him in the other next door neighbor’s yard. Scared out of his wits, and scared of coming into the house (because, you see, he never came in through the front door before. It messed with his bearings.). So now, he stays clear of the open window and suns himself on the sill with a screen. My girls avoid that neighbor.
:[ Obama’s Public Funding Debacle is more of a political yawn than anything. So the guy would not take 80 million in money that we are supposed to pay in taxes and took the money raised, 250 million or so, raised by fund raisers, donated by organizations and some willingly sent by US Citizens. The system he speaks of is broken. It is hypocritical to support it but not use it, but, it is also a show of support to point out its flaws, right? A leader does that. I mean, it’s not like being hypocritical about your religious beliefs or Christian values...
:[ When did Common Sense get thrown out? I mean really. Think about that for a minute...
:[ Mike (my new China), Cuba the Cool and Myself went to check out the Wizard World Chicago convention late last month. I had an eye on scooping up some Batman figures and seeing if there was anything on the new Dark Knight movie. But disappointment on all fronts. Except, meeting Alex Ross, (Stupid "No Sketches" Guy) and hanging with Mike and Cuba was cool. All I could find that maybe worth putting down some cash on was a Star Wars parody DVD called, Porn Wars.
Anyways, I looked and looked but could not find anything that really interested me. Though we did get to hear the latest news on the Star Wars franchise and see the animated Batman: Gotham Knights movie. I just kept coming back to that Porn Wars DVD. I looked for good-price Batman figures, let a cool Bubba Ho-Tep Bruce Campbell as Elvis figure slip through my fingers, almost bought an X-Files "I want to Believe" flying saucer poster, like the one Fox Mulder has in his basement office. (I want to give that to my Field Museum boss cause he has a basment office.) But I kept coming back to that Porn Wars DVD.
Anyways, we stayed until closing, Mike and Cuba bought a ton of cool stuff, we scarfed food at Buffalo Wild Wings and parted ways. Fun for all, it was Mike’s first time in attendance of Wizard World, and Cuba is always game to attend. It was a fun day. Even saw Godzilla. (And proved Mike is also bigger than Tokyo.) But I wish I had gone back and got that DVD...
:[ At Last: Indiana Jones and the Be-All-End-All of Nostalgic Childhood Cinema: CLICK-A HE-AH.
:[ File under JUST MY LUCK: One day I caught the Orange Line to Roosevelt south on my way to work at IIT figuring that all I have to do is get off and the next train would be the Green Line south with the next stop being IIT. Simple. It is the only other train that stop elevated at Roosevelt. But what is the very next rain that rolls into Roosevelt? The Orange Line....
:[ One day while working in the Northwest/Arctic Hall in the Field Museum I see a woman with her son approach one of the cases where I am photographing Eskimo objects, after making much ballyhoo over the stuff sled dog (which is the MOST photographed object in the Arctic cases by visitors, by the way), the mom pointed to some old 1920's photography of Eskimos of the time hunting seal and says to her little son, "Look, REAL Eskimos."
Episode VII
Spring 2008
Hello People of the World!
Man, sorry about the lateness of this month’s edition. I am just dragging after a string of gut-punches. Well, I am here at last to help you decide for yourselves, the worthiness of American Society. Not too cynical. So, toodle-pip and let’s get this off the shag carpeting, shall we? Onward!:
:[ Anyway, due to the Nosiness of Our Neighbors, our kitty was lost. It seems that during a neighborhood party, one of our next door neighbors saw our kitty Potter, whom likes to sit on the eave of our house and air out, (they both jump BACK in through the window and if they fell off, would have NO WAY of getting back up) and decided he was a stray "screaming" for help. This neighbor goes and gets a ladder, comes into our backyard and climbs it to get Potter off the eave. She then puts him in our driveway and attempt to shoo him off. I know this because she told me the next morning. (She kind of forgot that she did.)
We were out for a movie and dinner. Bonnie talks to her the next day and she tells Bonnie that the cat JUMPED from the eave and she call Animal Control BEFORE calling us to se if we had a cat, which she knows, we have two. The neighbors at the party tell us, they told her, "Hey. No. That’s a bad idea." (In half-ass voice.) But everyone seemed to NOT WANT TO CALL US TO CONFIRM OUR CATS. WHICH THEY KNOW HAVE! "Hey we didn’t know your number." (Again, in half-ass voice.) And the thing is, the school puts out a family directory in case the parents need to contact each other and we know that at least two of the families present at the party had the directory.
So we call the police who tell us we cannot do anything about a neighbor coming into our yard to pull a cat off our roof because it is protected under the Good Samaritan Law. My nine-year-old was devastated because it was her cat. So we put out posters and searched the neighborhood that day and night.
The happy ending is that Potter stuck close to the house and called out every night until we triangulated him and found him in the other next door neighbor’s yard. Scared out of his wits, and scared of coming into the house (because, you see, he never came in through the front door before. It messed with his bearings.). So now, he stays clear of the open window and suns himself on the sill with a screen. My girls avoid that neighbor.
:[ Obama’s Public Funding Debacle is more of a political yawn than anything. So the guy would not take 80 million in money that we are supposed to pay in taxes and took the money raised, 250 million or so, raised by fund raisers, donated by organizations and some willingly sent by US Citizens. The system he speaks of is broken. It is hypocritical to support it but not use it, but, it is also a show of support to point out its flaws, right? A leader does that. I mean, it’s not like being hypocritical about your religious beliefs or Christian values...
:[ When did Common Sense get thrown out? I mean really. Think about that for a minute...
:[ Mike (my new China), Cuba the Cool and Myself went to check out the Wizard World Chicago convention late last month. I had an eye on scooping up some Batman figures and seeing if there was anything on the new Dark Knight movie. But disappointment on all fronts. Except, meeting Alex Ross, (Stupid "No Sketches" Guy) and hanging with Mike and Cuba was cool. All I could find that maybe worth putting down some cash on was a Star Wars parody DVD called, Porn Wars.
Anyways, I looked and looked but could not find anything that really interested me. Though we did get to hear the latest news on the Star Wars franchise and see the animated Batman: Gotham Knights movie. I just kept coming back to that Porn Wars DVD. I looked for good-price Batman figures, let a cool Bubba Ho-Tep Bruce Campbell as Elvis figure slip through my fingers, almost bought an X-Files "I want to Believe" flying saucer poster, like the one Fox Mulder has in his basement office. (I want to give that to my Field Museum boss cause he has a basment office.) But I kept coming back to that Porn Wars DVD.
Anyways, we stayed until closing, Mike and Cuba bought a ton of cool stuff, we scarfed food at Buffalo Wild Wings and parted ways. Fun for all, it was Mike’s first time in attendance of Wizard World, and Cuba is always game to attend. It was a fun day. Even saw Godzilla. (And proved Mike is also bigger than Tokyo.) But I wish I had gone back and got that DVD...
:[ At Last: Indiana Jones and the Be-All-End-All of Nostalgic Childhood Cinema: CLICK-A HE-AH.
:[ File under JUST MY LUCK: One day I caught the Orange Line to Roosevelt south on my way to work at IIT figuring that all I have to do is get off and the next train would be the Green Line south with the next stop being IIT. Simple. It is the only other train that stop elevated at Roosevelt. But what is the very next rain that rolls into Roosevelt? The Orange Line....
:[ One day while working in the Northwest/Arctic Hall in the Field Museum I see a woman with her son approach one of the cases where I am photographing Eskimo objects, after making much ballyhoo over the stuff sled dog (which is the MOST photographed object in the Arctic cases by visitors, by the way), the mom pointed to some old 1920's photography of Eskimos of the time hunting seal and says to her little son, "Look, REAL Eskimos."
I wanted to point out the obvious: "Um, actually, those are photographs...."
:[ I have just seen the best picture of 2008: The Dark Knight. MY THOUGHTS HERE.
:[ Three Kingdoms UPDATE: Not much going on here. I have stalled in my reading the two-volume, unabridged, updated translation edition. Mainly, because I started maybe four other books; Oil! By Upton Sinclair, Fools Crow by James Welch, Daughter of Destiny by Benizar Bhuto, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, all interesting. Finished True Diary by Alexie again recently, twice. Once I finished it I simply started again. Also, No Country for Old Men by MacCarthy. Reading it, you realized how much the movie was MacCarthy and NOT the Coens.
I am still planning to submit a grant proposal for production funds for my film version of Three Kingdoms. But I would like some folks to read the treatment I wrote. Any volunteers?
:[ Remember when our worst fear for America was becoming like Communist Russia during the Red Scare of the 1950's? What were the big things that scared us about America becoming a Communist country? A despotic ruler with unlimited powers, a military police force, the state spying on its citizens, citizen under constant watch, "Show us your papers please", citizens spying on each other, mistrust of other countries, citizens being held for years without charges, and an economy in the crapper. I mean wow. We’ve become Communist Russia. At least the USSR had free health care. I mean the biggest evil of the 20th Century still gave out free medicine to its citizens. What does that say about us?
We were just tricked into enjoying our captivity, like Huxley predicted and Neil Postman points out in his book (see above).
:[ Looks like Urlacher held his breath and got what he wanted....
We truly live in mediocre times.
:[ Shoshoni Connection UPDATE: I have decided the best way for me to get the story out so I can adapt it into a feature film is to write it out first as a novel. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before. I am still going to re-submit it to the National Geographic All Roads Film Project. I know it is not as heady as a doc about powwows and tobacco and flute music, but it is kind of important for Native American self-representation in a way many people cannot see yet. On the surface it seems like just another action movie. But think Yimou’s "Hero" or Rodriguez’s "El Mariachi".
:[ The Watchmen Trailer: saw this when I saw The Dark Knight. I was never a big fan of the series. Read it maybe twice. The last time to bone up on the story in lieu of the upcoming movie. Seeing the trailer make me think "Dang, he did it." But how easy is it to copy the pages of a comic book. 300 was a good example of that. Still, it made me look forward to the movie.
:[ I got stuck on the train today on my way to work. The CTA Redline South stopped, lost power and sat for maybe 40 minutes (?) While an emergency ahead of us was being taken care of. What struck me post was how impatient people are. Especially with something they have no control over.
:[ Another Bears player holding out for more money. Don’t these guys realize that they are being paid scads of money TO PLAY A FRICKIN’ GAME! It’s not like they are digging water wells in famine-stricken countries, or on the front lines fighting terrorism, or on the cutting edge of inventing some new life-saving drug or machine. No, they play football. And in the end, what does that accomplish?
I guess that will do it for now. Again, apologies for the lateness of this month’s edition. I have had a terrible time of it lately and the ensuing insanity didn’t allow me to concentrate on your pleasure, Dear Readers. Forgive me. I am now going to get The Note out to each of you. Except those that already got it. You all replied already. But for those of you who haven’t received my missive. Keep an eye out, and when you get it, please, do reply and let me know how you are. Okay? UPDATE: I got it done by putting out a form letter. Please reply. SOme have and I appreciate that.
Until next time; " You want to know how I got these scars?"
:[ I have just seen the best picture of 2008: The Dark Knight. MY THOUGHTS HERE.
:[ Three Kingdoms UPDATE: Not much going on here. I have stalled in my reading the two-volume, unabridged, updated translation edition. Mainly, because I started maybe four other books; Oil! By Upton Sinclair, Fools Crow by James Welch, Daughter of Destiny by Benizar Bhuto, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, all interesting. Finished True Diary by Alexie again recently, twice. Once I finished it I simply started again. Also, No Country for Old Men by MacCarthy. Reading it, you realized how much the movie was MacCarthy and NOT the Coens.
I am still planning to submit a grant proposal for production funds for my film version of Three Kingdoms. But I would like some folks to read the treatment I wrote. Any volunteers?
:[ Remember when our worst fear for America was becoming like Communist Russia during the Red Scare of the 1950's? What were the big things that scared us about America becoming a Communist country? A despotic ruler with unlimited powers, a military police force, the state spying on its citizens, citizen under constant watch, "Show us your papers please", citizens spying on each other, mistrust of other countries, citizens being held for years without charges, and an economy in the crapper. I mean wow. We’ve become Communist Russia. At least the USSR had free health care. I mean the biggest evil of the 20th Century still gave out free medicine to its citizens. What does that say about us?
We were just tricked into enjoying our captivity, like Huxley predicted and Neil Postman points out in his book (see above).
:[ Looks like Urlacher held his breath and got what he wanted....
We truly live in mediocre times.
:[ Shoshoni Connection UPDATE: I have decided the best way for me to get the story out so I can adapt it into a feature film is to write it out first as a novel. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before. I am still going to re-submit it to the National Geographic All Roads Film Project. I know it is not as heady as a doc about powwows and tobacco and flute music, but it is kind of important for Native American self-representation in a way many people cannot see yet. On the surface it seems like just another action movie. But think Yimou’s "Hero" or Rodriguez’s "El Mariachi".
:[ The Watchmen Trailer: saw this when I saw The Dark Knight. I was never a big fan of the series. Read it maybe twice. The last time to bone up on the story in lieu of the upcoming movie. Seeing the trailer make me think "Dang, he did it." But how easy is it to copy the pages of a comic book. 300 was a good example of that. Still, it made me look forward to the movie.
:[ I got stuck on the train today on my way to work. The CTA Redline South stopped, lost power and sat for maybe 40 minutes (?) While an emergency ahead of us was being taken care of. What struck me post was how impatient people are. Especially with something they have no control over.
:[ Another Bears player holding out for more money. Don’t these guys realize that they are being paid scads of money TO PLAY A FRICKIN’ GAME! It’s not like they are digging water wells in famine-stricken countries, or on the front lines fighting terrorism, or on the cutting edge of inventing some new life-saving drug or machine. No, they play football. And in the end, what does that accomplish?
I guess that will do it for now. Again, apologies for the lateness of this month’s edition. I have had a terrible time of it lately and the ensuing insanity didn’t allow me to concentrate on your pleasure, Dear Readers. Forgive me. I am now going to get The Note out to each of you. Except those that already got it. You all replied already. But for those of you who haven’t received my missive. Keep an eye out, and when you get it, please, do reply and let me know how you are. Okay? UPDATE: I got it done by putting out a form letter. Please reply. SOme have and I appreciate that.
Until next time; " You want to know how I got these scars?"
