Honey Boo-Boo and other dysfunctions

I don't get the appeal of Honey Boo- Boo and her family.  I have watched about thirty seconds of her antics.  I don't know who I want to slap- I think I am leaning toward her mother.  What I have seen is bratty behavior, encouraged by a "Stage Mother" of the worst order. What may be considered "cute" in a four year old is going to be Hell on Wheels in a thirteen year old.. Her mother dresses that poor child up and gives her "go-go" juice to caffeinate the heck out of her to produce an 'entertaining" pageant performance?  If this kid were an animal, PETA would be all over this!  I am not advocating "Child Protective Services"  but this is a train wreck.  I certainly hope that they are putting some away of the money they are getting for dragging their lives into the public arena.  That girl is going to need therapy.

I wonder why we are drawn to these "reality" shows, that if they are not heavily scripted are certainly "guided" in a direction.  Let's face it, most real life is dull, punctuated with stretches of fun and some amazing things.  I know I wouldn't watch a show about MY life, for instance.  So what makes the lives of Honey Boo-Boo and the Kardashian sisters ( and the Jenner sisters thrown in to boot) something we waste time on?  Is it the "I can't believe someone would do or say that" factor?  Or  is it a kind of schadenfreude;  the relief that our lives may be dull but we don't have the problems thes people do?  I would rather watch a well written drama or a comedy, but those seem to be hard to find on television these days.  I have yet to find a show that I rework my night around, that I want to be home for and am upset if I miss it.  I don't have TiVo or whatever that thing is where you can record a show and watch it later.  TV isn't that big a deal to me anymore, so paying for the service was not something my budget really needed to absorb.

Writer's Block

Sitting in my kitchen, trying to keep my promise to write SOMETHING every day.  I've got nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  So what do I write about?  that's right!  Writer's Block.  I wonder how writer's actually do this, create characters and stories.  I used to write more; bad poetry short stories so bad that they weren't worth the paper they were written on.    Never anything really sell-able, but I guess it was more for the process of creating something, of putting what was rolling around in my head down on paper.  I wonder if it is possible for me to come up with a story and a character and follow them to a logical conclusion.  I love writing what's called "Flash" fiction.  A REALLY short story that is more a sketch than a story.  I may try to do some more of that.  If I do, and I think it's worth a shot and IF I think it's worth sharing, I will add it here.  as of now, there is still nothing!

Happy Birtday, John Lennon

Today marks what would have been ( I think) the 72nd birthday of John Lennon. Today is also Sean Lennon's birthday, so Happy Birthday Sean!  When I think of John, I try not to remember how he died, but  rather how he lived.  I remember being allowed to watch the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show and having a HUGE poster on my wall as a kid.  The Beatles created the music that catapulted Rock and Roll into the mainstream music world.  Our parents hated them.  We loved them.   It must have been hard to be such a public figure, John made a lot of mis-steps as far as PR might be concerned, but he remained true to himself.  The tragedy of his death is that he was coming back into the musical world that had truly missed him.  I can only wonder what songs he would have created had he not been so cruelly taken. His album "Double Fantasy" was terrific.  John was irreverent, cheeky and we loved that about him.  I think the songs he created with Paul McCartney are some of the best ever.  He gave edge to Paul's sweetness and Paul gave sweetness to his edge.  I loved the silly Beatles movies.  I even tried to watch "How I won the War"  a movie in which John plays a soldier called Gripweed.  John is also supposed to be somewhere in Monty Python's Holy Grail.  I believe he is the flute player among Sir Robin's minstrels.  I never could confirm that one.

The funny thing about the Beatles for me is this.  My father HATED them, made all kinds of remarks about their musicianship ( although we were allowed to listen to the music, they never forbade it)  Years later, he made an offhand remark to me about how much he appreciated a Beatles song that was playing in a restaurant  where we were eating dinner.  He said "Boy , they sure wrote some good songs!"  It's a good thing I was sitting down when he said that.

John was more than his Beatle personae.  He was a writer and artist and an actor.  He was a gift to the world, taken from us far too soon.   Happy Birthday, John.

Columbus Day

I had the luxury of not having to get up at O-Dark -hundred this morning.  It's one of those weird City Holidays that isn't really about anything.  At least it doesn't mean anything to me. It's the day we remember and celebrate the fiction that Christopher Columbus "discovered" the "New World"  uh-huh.  The fact that he encountered PEOPLE there when he got there?   We can just overlook  that little detail.  We ALL know North America didn't even exist until some Italian guy stuck his foot on it.  So Happy "I don't have to go to work today" Day. I wonder why we celebrate "Columbus Day" at all?

Still it was kind of weird to send my husband off to work while I stayed home. I felt like a 1950's housewife, sending him out the door with a lunch I had packed for him.  Usually I am out the door around the time he is easing into his day. I have a usual routine and in our small place, it's best to stay out of my way while I get myself ready for work.  Today, I plan to do things I should have done this weekend.  I was still a bit asthmatic and slept a lot.  I have granola to make and cupcakes to bake and I need to get that going before it gets too hot in the house.

I'd better get to it!

Sheriff John

I read, with some dismay this morning, that Sheriff John passed away at the age of 93.  He was such a big part of my childhood, as I am sure he was for a lot of my LA area baby boomer friends. By today' standards, the television shows that were produced locally, like Sheriff John and Engineer Bill would be considered cheesy. Who of our generation does not remember "Laugh and be happy" or "Put another candle on your birthday cake" ( which I believe was actually called the Birthday Polka)?   The article said he also led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and said a prayer before we all sat down to "have lunch" together.   It was a different  time.  Saying the Pledge was part of the daily ritual, people were more in line with the patriotic feeling of being an American,most of our fathers had fought in World War II or Korea. There was not a lot of talk about offending someone.  It makes me wonder if we don't give up our right to believe in something, if we don't follow OUR beliefs for fear of insulting someone.  my Dad used to say "your rights end at my nose"  I think about that sentiment a lot these days.

I remember being allowed to "eat" with Sheriff John and with Engineer Bill.  I actually remember meeting Engineer Bill.  They brought his Engine in on the back of a flatbed truck and he waved to all of us from the cab   What a thrill for a fan, huh?  

So rest in peace, Sheriff John. Thank you for reminding me to "Laugh and be happy" As someone said 10-7, end of watch (ironic that this IS also 10/7, 10-7 is police code for "Out of Service' or "end of Watch")

Shirley Temple movies

I woke up, having had the strangest dream about Shirley Temple Movies.  In the dream, I was a film editor and I was working on editing "The Wizard of Oz" but I kept complaining to my colleagues that the cuts they were making to the film were not good.  Literally, they were cutting the heads off the actors and splicing them back together  them and you could see the cuts when the film played.  I left the room, past my colleague who was smoking a cigarette in the hall and told him "Don't lock the door, I'll be right back."   I went out the door to a large round garden where everything was sepia toned. Everything.  Someone explained that they were making a new Shirley Temple film, but since Shirley was too old to do it, that they had a fake Shirley and the sepia would hide everything.  Fake Shirley was baking cupcakes but announced she had to ride off with the cowboys, and she did.  They were immediately chased by a bunch of "Indians" in that faux headdress favored in 1930's films.   Every "Indian"  was lying flat on the horse, their headdresses lying flat across their backs all the way to the tail of the horse. On closer inspection, the headdress was tree branches and the sepia made the leaves look like feathers. The "Indians" were really frightened housewives ( again wearing clothing appropriate to a 30's stereotype) and they were clinging not to reins, but the handles of baby buggies.  Nyquil dreams, I suppose.

I got up thinking about Shirley Temple films, the real ones not the one they were making in my dream.  I loved Shirley as a kid, but thinking about them as an adult, they kind of give me the creeps.  In "poor Little Rich Girl"  she charms this old guy into letting her and her pretend parents into letting them be on the radio show.  The whole scene is so pedophile creepy, I couldn't watch it.  "Susannah of the Mounties"?  She's the only survivor of an Indian attack and she comes out smiling and singing?  Huh?   I love Shirley's talent and the first class actors whose work make her films worth watching, but the story lines are just something awful.  They were knocking them out as fast as possible, it WAS the Depression and the films were very popular escapist fare.  Looking at them with a modern eye, some of it just makes my skin crawl.  You cannot apply a modern mindset to things created in the past, but must look at it as a piece of history and learn from it.

Friday's random- and I do mean random - thoughts

As I am waiting for the  coffee to finish brewing, I am thinking about a lot of things, totally unfocused.  I hope the coffee will help!

Can anyone tell me why the gas prices always seem to fluctuate wildly just before a presidential election?  I don't mean to go all "Conspiracy Theory" here, but it seems to me that someone is trying to make the American people think that the President has something to do with the price of gas.  He doesn't.  The last time I looked, Oil Companies were Corporations, not Government entities.

I am surprised at the number of people who say that PBS should go and that Sesame Street isn't part of public education?  Huh?  One person railed about how her kids learned from her and her husband, and they didn't "plunk their kids down in front of the television to have them learn".  Well bully for you!    Children learn in a variety of ways.  Sesame Street ,the Electric Company and Reading Rainbow were all pretty terrific programs .  I no longer have a small child in my household, so I am out of the PBS loop on that, but I would MUCH rather have kids watching Elmo than Snookie.  Before you get on me about that- yes I know Snookie was NOT on PBS  and Yes I know that they cancelled the show she was on but you get my point.  PBS provides quality programing.  Some days I think television is quickly becoming like that movie "the Running Man" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Richard Dawson.  The plot, as I recall, was they let a convict out of prison and if he could escape the area they dropped him in and make it out of the gates he was free.  they sent all kinds of mayhem after him , including a pack of wild dogs.  It was all filmed and the host of the show was gleefully detailing the terror for the breathless viewers.  I think we are only a few years away from THAT becoming part of "Reality TV", which is scripted anyway.  Back to PBS, remember the first "reality" show The Louds?  TV went into their home and filmed everything.  It destroyed their lives.  Well maybe destroyed is  too strong, but things broke apart badly during the year in their lives.  I often wonder what would have possessed them to allow this 'experiment" to happen to them.    I will have to look back and see, as I was a kid when it was on and my perception might be skewed.