You can point to the post-war prosperity and social changes wrought more than a half a century ago, when the future glistened with optimism unlike any we’d ever experienced. Industry and invention streamlined everyday tasks allowing people to concern themselves with more conceptual matters, matters not tied to the business of daily survival. New attitudes were born, attitudes whose values were deeply (more…)
Archive for the ‘Humorous Bits’ Category
guilty as charged, your hipness
Posted: October 26, 2011 in Humorous BitsTags: Abba, attitude, cool, encyclopedia, hip, humor, life, random, SpongeBob
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music for special occasions
Posted: October 19, 2011 in Humorous BitsTags: Basket Case, celebration, Dirty Laundry, Everybody Hurts, Green day, humor, life, Meatloaf, music, Talking Heads
Today Sandy wrote about a conversation she had with a friend concerning the song she’d like to have played at her funeral. It’s an interesting thought and makes for fun, lively discussion. Unfortunately, no matter which song(s) we request be shot over the loudspeakers during our final above ground moments, we can never be absolutely sure these musical instructions will be followed. This concerns me.
It’s not as if we can’t trust those tapped to deal with our going away soiree. I’m sure they’re fine people. It’s just that mistakes can be made, even by those with (more…)
i shot lee marvin
Posted: October 14, 2011 in Humorous Bits, TrasklandTags: alcohol, camera, fleet footed, hijinx, humor, Kansas City, Lee Marvin, Marine Corps, Marines, tale
Lee Marvin may have been a film actor, but don’t let that fool you. He was a tough hombre. He excelled at portraying hard-nosed characters who would as soon pummel as talk to you. There was never a hint of artifice about him. He had the gift of making his acting appear effortless, lending real credibility to the roles he played. At least I think that now looking back on his work. Maybe that’s because when I was nine I saw the real Lee Marvin in action and learned he was every bit as fiery off screen as on screen.
Each year when I was a kid we schlepped to the annual convention of the Marine Corps League. (The Marine Corps League is the Marine Corps official veterans association.) Schlepped is an unfair depiction since it was always tremendous fun. From the moment we’d (more…)
I used to carry around a pocket-sized notepad to jot down random thoughts and ideas, including the vital task of assembling my Christmas wish list, but I stopped doing so several years ago. I’m not sure why. I probably simply forgot it one morning and that was that. Apparently, it doesn’t take much to establish a new pattern with me. I hope I don’t forget to slip into my pants one morning. Now I realize I need to smash that new pattern, which is now (more…)
television builds self-esteem
Posted: October 9, 2011 in Humorous BitsTags: House Hunters, humor, real estate, realtors, television, the art of not listening
One of the beautiful things about having 7,000 television channels is the variety of restorative opportunities it provides. Whenever I’m feeling a bit underwhelmed with myself, I can randomly switch on the set and find something which immediately makes me feel better about whatever minor internal drama is at play. One example is House Hunters.
If you’ve never seen it, House Hunters is a show where people in the market for a new home tour three houses and then pick the one which is Just Right for them. There’s a visceral thrill peeking in a stranger’s house and watching other strangers decide if it will be (more…)
The first thing I’d do after collecting my mega-millions from the Powerball people is hire a full-time cook. Well, the first thing after fainting like an over-heated teenage girl at Shea Stadium screaming at the Beatles. I suspect if you were to chart the dietary practices of every American I would fall somewhere towards the middle with “Adonis Healthy” on one end and “Chris Christie-like” on the other. I don’t eat horribly. I know plenty of folks whose eating habits are (more…)
getting all historical
Posted: October 1, 2011 in Humorous BitsTags: film, history, History Channel, humor, random, war, WW2, Yalta
We keep our sanity by not thinking about certain things. Does anyone really crave greater insight into the food processing industry? Who wants to spend their time contemplating the doings of Lady Gaga, other than Lady Gaga? When it comes to waste management and all its disgusting details, wouldn’t you rather let those who dedicate their lives to removing our garbage, maintaining our sewers and arresting our celebrities deal with the details? Me too.
For many people War also falls into this category. Still, lots of folks love to think about war. They long to touch it, taste it, smell it, feel it and hear it. Until, of course, (more…)
Word around the chatterbox promises good sleeping weather tonight. Finally. The past several nights have been horribly uncomfortable. Talk about oppressive humidity. The air sat like a lead jacket on everyone’s chest. The troposphere hasn’t been this heavy on the east coast since Hendrix blew minds at Woodstock, man. The temperature is not cooperating either. It’s not quite hot enough to justify popping on the central a/c, so the fan’s been working overtime circulating the molten glop masquerading as (more…)
Hitchcock knew what he was doing. He was, after all, the Master of Suspense. He realized when you brought a large group of any living things together the results were terrifying. He happened to pick birds, menacing looking buggers. Add all that high-pitched squawking to their angry, prehistoric bone structure and you’ve got a recipe for top notch creepiness. Even without their henhouse cackling how disturbing was it watching them silently gather on wires, roofs and tree branches? Exactly.
It’s not just birds. Take any creature and put a bunch of them together and you’ve got yourself a bad scene. Like Sam Walton preached, it’s all about volume. If you were scuba diving would a single fish jolt you with terror? Of course not. (If it did, perhaps scuba diving isn’t the activity for you.) No, if you saw a single fish or maybe even a few similar fish you’d be full of ‘awwws’ saying stuff like, (more…)
Trask Avenue 