Welcome once again kids to our weekly recap of our myriad journeys through the internet.

This has become a highlight for all of us and we’re hoping you’re enjoying the links as much as we’re enjoying compiling them for you.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this week’s cheesecake.  The lucky lady this week is Julie Bowen currently starring on ABC’s breakout hit, Modern Family.  This is far and away the funniest new show on television and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re not watching it.  You may also recognize Julie from Boston Legal, Happy Gilmore or, most of the GonzoGeek staff’s favorite, Ed.

Stephe and I originally had Julie slated for cheesecake duty a couple of weeks ago, but had a hard time finding the appropriate picture.  We’re sure glad we waited.  I bet you are too.

Quick piece of Modern Family trivia.  According to Wikipedia, Ed O’Neill, who plays the family patriarch, Jay Pritchett, is  a black belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  You don’t mess with Al Bundy kids.

On to the links.

1. Rock beats scissors.  Pelican beats Bugatti.
2. Dokken Radio.  Rhymes with Rokken Daddio.
3. All you gotta do…
4. Copying Risky Business is risky business.
5. In honor of the Sam Kinison concert DVD I found at Big Lots today for $6.
6. America (sadly) asked for it:  More Seth McFarlane than you can handle.
7. Super Dave Osborne on The Tonight Show – dick jokes and nut shots.
8. The trailer for Kick-Ass kicks…well…ass.
9. Will the Inglorious Basterds ride again?  Will they learn to spell?
10. Yo Sherlock!  Esquire interviews Robert Downey, Jr.
11. Evil Dead heading back to theaters in 2010.
12. And you know Ash will come armed…or handed.
13. Murderdeathkill!
14. Carrie Prejean threatens to walk out on Larry King.  Yeah, like she’s the first 20ish blonde to do that.
15. And she wasn’t having sex in that video.  Wow!  Even she can’t stand to be in the same room as her.
16. This one if for John.
17. Only if the swirls make a trio of 6’s.
18. Colts.  Patriots.  Sunday Night Football.
19. I want mine to be adorned with Hourman.
20. Take not girls.  Not all vampries are sparkly and sweet like in Twilight.
21. I blame Justin Long.  Wait!  Was that two Ed references this week?
22. Even Fox News is fact checking Sarah Palin now.
23. ED HAT TRICK!
24. Sean Hannity admits Jon Stewart was right.  In a related story, Hell freezes over!
25. He wasn’t extorting.  He was pitching.
26. Spider-Man 4 villain rumorsssss.
27. The Mayans weren’t the only ones to prophesy the end of the world.
28. David’s Iraq deployment blog.
29. And finally, something for all you golfers out there to put on your Christmas lists.

abbey lee kershaw is represented by next models ny.
she appears for the december issue of dazed & confused magazine.
i love the edit & abbey always delivers dope images.
wild style killed by karen langley,
captured by daniel jackson.

imagesource | mdc

Where: Real Vegas & Vintage Vegas
Who: Meredith Reese, Mr. & Mrs. Reese, Dr. & Mrs. Black, Elise LeBlanc
Why: Adam & Kelly’s wedding
Guest Starring: A handpuppet
Highlight: Sneaking into the Bellagio pool for a day.
Lowlight: Having a buffet two meals a day, four days in a row and – as a direct result – not being able to fit into my pants when we left.
True Story: Someone tried to smuggle a pizza home in their purse.

Ich hab auch mal wieder was fertig und das sogar im Doppelpack.

Beides ist aus Wollmeise Suzanne Wild Thing gestrickt.

Nachdem ich das Sockenpaar (natürlich für mich) fertig hatte, waren noch 78g auf dem Knäuelchen.

Aus diesem Rest habe ich mir dann passend zu den Socken den Fallmaschen- Baktus gestrickt. So ein super einfaches, aber effektvolles Muster. Gefunden bei Ravelry Fallmaschen-Baktus .

Ich wünsch Euch allen ein schönes Wochende.

With great apologies and thanks to Tampa Mom (and her friends), these pearls of wisdom got me thinking today:

Why do we enable our children to mediocrity and/or coddle them into becoming emotional cripples? Our children are so smart and amazing, but so many times we’re caught up in our own emotions and make their challenges all about us instead of just handing them back and saying, “How are you going to handle this?”

We’d have a lot more motivated, capable young adults in this world if we didn’t solve our kids’ problems for them and instead gave them guidance to help them solve their own. That’s what I’m working on and it’s just awesome seeing exactly how capable and smart my kids are.

If you guide your children and allow them the freedom to make the choices, they learn from the good and the bad and are far more capable, decisive, sympathetic, and empathetic. Keeping them safe is one thing, keeping them smothered is something else entirely!

I completely agree with allowing children to fail and to learn to make decisions for themselves … and suffer the consequences. A big bone of contention between me and WineGuy currently is how far do you let a child fall and/or when do you step in and start running things again. What do you do if you see your child is not handling his responsibilities as you’ve tried to give them back to him?

I’ll start with the positive side of my response. Wild Thing is handling his responsibilities well: he’s doing his homework and turning it in; he’s making good grades; he’s keeping up with religious school and music lessons; he’s keeping his room clean. All are signs of an emotionally well-adjusted child. However, WT cannot get himself downstairs on time in the morning and is frequently scrambling to eat breakfast and get his things together. WT continually refutes bedtime and is either chatting or playing with Moose until all hours. Moose is handling his responsibilities better: he does his homework and is remorseful when he can’t complete it for time constraints; he is making good grades; he’s doing much better keeping his room clean; and, he is being more helpful around the house. Moose occasionally is ready on time for school and gets to have breakfast. Nevertheless, I have to stand over Moose to get him to clean his room; he plays in his room before school and at night when he should be going to bed.

Wizard, as always, is the problem. His snarky attitude, disrespect, and dishonesty are so egregious at times that they drive a wedge between me and WG. (Maybe that’s what he wants. Hmm.) Wizard’s first quarter grades just came out: A-B-B-C-C-D. Those would be Art, Spanish, History, Science, Language Arts, and Algebra I, respectively. They. Suck. This from a kid who we all know is very smart. We checked the grades online before the report card was issued and found that Wizard continues not to turn in all assignments or take advantage of test-retakes when available. Why? Who the hell knows? Wizard claims he turns everything in, didn’t get full credit on some math assignments because he didn’t show his work. I believe Wizard has to fall flat on his face,  make the lousy grades and live with them, even if it means they affect his college choices. WG strongly disagrees. WG’s opinion is that Wizard has already fallen flat on his face. WG contends that Wizard, by having to leave Snooty School last year (because of homework, attitude, and behavioral issues), has already proven himself incapable of managing his own life. WG insists that “we” must now step in and micromanage the kid’s life. “We” = me. I am supposed to review Wizard’s assignments with him daily on the computer after school. I am supposed to review Wizard’s grades with him online. I am supposed to escort the boys upstairs for a room-check every afternoon.

Frankly, Scarlet, I don’t want to. WT and Moose, ages 10 and 7, manage to write down all their assignments without my monitoring them. WT and Moose bring their work home to show me their progress. I still have to check their rooms daily. I hate doing it because I would rather be chatting with my boys about their days and preparing dinner. But, no. WG insists that clean rooms and schoolwork trump homemade dinner with the family. I. Don’t. Like. It.

Am I wrong? Tell me what you think, even if it’s ugly.

First, for all those interested, I’ve said the things that needed to be said and I think things are better.

At least, it seems that way to me.

Tonight, I finally went to see Where the Wild Things Are. SUCH A GOOD MOVIE!!!! I mean, I had faith, of course I did, but I was still a little blown away by it.

The look of the Wild Things was PERFECT! I remember reading the book way back when and later comparing the Wild Things to Jim Henson’s monsters (considering them essentially the same type of fantastical beast), so seeing a combination of practical “man in suit” character design mixed seamlessly with digital effects for facial expressions makes these beasts seem completely real to me.

Then there’s the story. While I always loved the story from the book, I did wonder what they were going to add to make the movie stretch out to a feature length. Because, let’s be honest, it’s a really short book. But, leave it to Spike Jonze to find all the right stuff to add.

Just like all of us, the Wild Things deal with depression, loneliness, anger, fear, and love. However, unlike most of us, they have a unique way of dealing with these issues. Mostly, they fight, bite, slash, claw, dismember, and even devour each other to solve their problems. This makes sense, they ARE monsters after all.

It’s funny, I forgot how much I had in common with Max growing up. While I didn’t run around in a wolf costume “causing mischief”, I did (and still do) a lot of things that only seemed to make sense to me. Even other kids my age didn’t really “get” me. I can’t say that I blame them, there are a few things that I did (and, again, still do) that make sense at the time, but moments after even I would think “what the hell was THAT about?”

I’ve always been one of those “seemed like a good idea at the time” kinda guys.

I also still have quite a bit in common with Max, and the Wild Things.

Of course, I think we all do.

I mean, that’s the point, right?

William, the Movie Nerdfighter

who wants to have a Wild Rumpus as soon as possible.

At a loss, really, of what to blog about today.  I did notice though, that despite how drab it is today, the trees are changing color and the grey skies really make them pop.  I walked around the neighborhood on my break today and snapped some photos.

There is this church that’s near my work and has this brightly colored door.  I love the shape and the color of the door.  A bit unconvential.

The same church also had some of their kids do “where the wild things are” and made some wild things.  You should see the movie if you haven’t already. It’s a bit dark but very good.

]]> http://fidest.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/expo-wild-thing/ Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:57:28 +0000 fidest http://fidest.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/expo-wild-thing/

London until 24/1/2010 Burlington House Piccadilly, Royal Academy of Arts Over a period of 10 years from 1905 to 1915, three outstanding young sculptors emerged in Britain; Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Eric Gill. The radical impact of their work was to transform British sculpture. This exhibition is the first time that the three artists have been shown together in this revolutionary context and many of the works have not been exhibited in London before. Curated by Richard Cork The exhibition contains more than 90 works featuring mainly sculptures, drawings and pastels. With rooms dedicated to the work of each sculptor the exhibition focuses on the key achievements of each artist and reveals their impact on British sculpture. The show brings together spectacular works, including Epstein’s robotic masterpiece Rock Drill, Gaudier-Brzeska’s innovative carving of Birds Erect, and Gill’s controversial carving of the sexual act called Ecstasy. The title of this exhibition is taken from the American poet Ezra Pound, who vividly remembered meeting Henri Gaudier-Brzeska for the first time in 1913. Pound was impressed by the young Frenchman, and likened him to -a well-made young wolf or some soft-moving, bright-eyed wild thing.- But those last two words also sum up the feisty and daring spirit of rebellion driving the young Jacob Epstein and Eric Gill. (Image: Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, ‘Red Stone Dancer’, c.1913)

After many many many many attempts and then some, I finally figured out how to get crocheting in the round. Or at least my version of it because I know it isn’t 100% correct; but I don’t care because I now have a completed monster head for Wild Thing. I still maintain that I prefer knitting because I kept getting confused on where exactly my round started and by the time I found a stitch marker that would work my numbers were wonky. Instead of crocheting the face I have some extra felt that I’m going to sew on instead. Today I hope to get going on his body and maybe finish the whole thing by the end of the weekend!

I’ve been waiting for my husband to sit down with me for a few minutes so we can finish up the Murloc. I know that if I knit up the remaining fins without him here they’ll get lost somewhere or one of our cats will ingest it. Plus then he can sew on the Murloc’s face to his liking

The other day I ordered US 3 circular needle and new DPN’s so I can work on my uncle’s hat once the yarn comes in! I ordered a Qiviut/merino wool blend since the interwebs told me that a mix would help keep the shape of a hat better. Cottage Craft Angora is where I ordered the yarn from and I also picked up a skein of Angora sock yarn for myself in a blue/cream mix. Hopefully everything will be here by next week so I can get started! My plans for the hat are to knit up the Dew Drop Cable (find it at Vogue Knitting) starting at the bottom of each earflap and working its way up to the top and the rest in plain stockinette stitch. Then depending on how much yarn I have leftover I will make an I-cord or braid connected to each earflap to tie together in the middle! I can’t wait to see how this stuff knits up!

www.heavenlyhalloween.com

includes zebra-print dress with built-in petticoat, headpiece, gloves, and choker

www.heavenlyhalloween.com

Wild Thing opens in the Sackler Galleries of the RA next week. First and foremost it’s a show about experimentation and sexual liberation represetnted in modern sculpture during the post-war period. But it’s also a revealing look into the lives and minds of three radicals who were much more than sculptors.

For design, the name of Gill conjures up type design, lettercutting, the Golden Cockerel Press, and the meta font Gills Sans. For those that have read their Fiona McCarthy, the scandatll of Gill’s sexual practices is never far away too. As show curator Richard Cork puts it, ‘Gill was a very complicated person’. Some find him – the man – too difficult to entertain, even 60 years after his death.

Epstein was evidently obsessed by sex, and though we don’t know about Gaudier’s life as he died so young, he was dubbed the ‘Wild Thing’ by Ezra Pound, the radical poet radically carved here by Epstein.

This is a show worth much closer inspection, an all to clear reminder of just how little our generation has done to advance the Modern project.

Guest blogger Mike MacIntosh lives in a tunnel that runs beneath Sunset Blvd, coming out only in the pre-dawn hours to hunt for twigs and berries.

+++

I’ll just start with this: I’m sorry.

Okay, that’s done. Now this: The children’s book ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ is not as good as you think it is. It’s just not. It’s a kid’s book that works just fine for a kid, but it is exactly that. A kid’s book. I appreciate the nostalgic value it may hold for some of you, but stop trying to convince me, and yourself, it’s a literary classic. It’s approximately 10 sentences about a kid who is a brat, he gets expelled to his room, he goes to hang out with his imaginary monsters, then in the end he gets cookies or a sandwich or whatever. The end. Don’t look much more into it because that’s all it is. There was no intended psychoanalyzing of anger, there is no Freudian or colonialist angle, it was just a book written by some dude for kids to read. Even the exceptionally original art was a happy accident. Did you know that Sendak originally wanted the monsters to be horses, but he realized he couldn’t draw horses for dick? Genius, huh?

Well, apparently a bunch of stupid parents are upset that the movie doesn’t entertain their even stupider kids:

“It was joyless. There were maybe 15 minutes of the hour and a half that my kids were into it,” said James Griffioen of Detroit, Michigan.

His 4-year-old daughter asked, “Why is this movie so sad?” in the middle of their family’s matinee viewing, while his son, a 20-month-old who normally can’t get enough of the 1963 children’s classic, was simply bored, he told CNN.

He’s surprised his 20-month-old was bored? A 20-month-old could get bored with a puppy and a lollipop, let alone sitting in a dark movie theater watching a David Eggers/Spike Jonze film. And for the record, getting 15 minutes of entertainment out of a movie is a huge success these days.

“I think the book is almost designed for the 1-to-4 age group,” said Griffioen, 31. “The text is so simple, and it fits in with the other books that are appropriate for that age level, which is why the movie is so strange because it seemed much more dedicated to the 8-to-12 age group.”

You are absolutely correct, Griffioen, the book is designed for 1-to-4 year olds, not 31-year-old hipsters. However, if you want to see a movie made for 1-to-4 year olds, then maybe you should rent ‘Veggie Tales’ or ‘Teletubbies’. Did I mention that the movie was made by David Eggers & Spike Jonze? Oh, right, I did.

“As someone who reads that book to his kid every day, I wanted it to be a movie he could be thrilled about. I think there almost wasn’t enough of a fear element — there was never a moment when my [20-month-old] was crying.”

Wait, what?! You wanted your child to be so afraid of the movie that he burst into tears? You must be the same guy I was sitting next to with his 6-year-old when I saw ‘Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects’.

For Devon Adams in Chandler, Arizona, the problem wasn’t keeping his 5-year-old daughter, Claire, interested — it was dealing with the aftermath of the violent scenes.

“She and her friend seemed to enjoy the film, but when she returned home, she threw her own tantrum, bit her mother very hard (something she does not do), and told her she was going to run away from home and go to where the wild things are,” Adams said.

Mr. Adams, the movie isn’t your problem. Your child is simply an asshole. You need to sit her down, explain to her that biting her mother is not acceptable unless she is a zombie and if that’s the case you will need to remove her head from her body. Then make her understand that the wild things in the movie are fictional, but the factual wild things are called molesters and she’s more than welcome to go with them if she wants.

Sunday night, I went to see the number one movie in the country and came out tired and depressed. Where the Wild Things are, which made 32.5 million dollars in its opening week could possibly be the worst children’s movie of all time. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t read or at least heard of this classic childhood book, but the movie did no justice in supporting the book’s fame. Parents are expressing on Facebook and Twitter the lack of entertainment the movie presents. An article was published on CNN this morning with some of their views.  

“I did not expect a film that promotes a weak parent figure who fails to seem to be concerned for her children, a main character who truly seems to need a therapist and a ‘Wild Thing’ that throws temper tantrums by destroying private property and physically abusing others,” Adams said.

This quote pretty much sums up how I felt about the movie after seeing it. I had such high hopes for a classic book transformed into a fantastic movie, but that wasn’t the case at all.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/19/parents.wild.things.are/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Please comment if you see the film and think differently about it.

I often try to blend disperate items of the day or week into a single visual “Paella” that attempts to find connections that weren’t immediately apparent. I started in 2007, and am trying to get back into it since we live in such a colorful interesting world full of…stuff.

Case(s) in point: What does the Heene Hoax Balloon, the Black Taco, and Carol the Wild Thing have in common? Not much, admittedly. HOWEVER, if you go a step beyond the rational, the Balloon Boy, had he in face boarded the balloon, would have embarked on a journey not unlike Max’s in Where the Wild Things Are, a film I saw last weekend (which was fantastic, by the way.)

The odd balloon itself resembles a flying saucer, but doggone it, I can’t help but see Taco Bell’s Black Jack Taco as it’s own kind of spaceship. When young Falcon vomited on live TV – twice – he was almost non-verbally voicing his disgust not only in his father’s greed and insanity, but also the 24-hour news cycle media circus that descended upon him, despite his own sizable role. All he’s missing is a wolf suit with whiskers.

From licorice Twizzlers to Silky Bantam meat and Squid Ink pasta, black food has a tawdry but fascinating history. The unusual but striking images of a fancy-boy male model with a black eye using Blue Steel, and a black sheep (with black tongue) combined with the stark, construct-like white void of the taco commercial’s setting drive one major point home: this is no ordinary taco.

I have yet to sample it, but mark my works, if a Taco Bell should cross my path during its existence, I shall. So there you have it. More paella to come.

I found the jammies at Irongate Gallery.

Now I just need a crown.

Let the wild rumpus begin!

Tamra Davis; image courtesy of hulu.com

I keep meaning to shine a light on director Tamra Davis, so let’s do it. Having worked on clips like Depeche Mode’s “But Not Tonight,” she made a name for herself by working with talent on the seminal Delicious Vinyl label, directing clips like Young MC’s “Bust a Move” and Tone Lōc’s “Wild Thing.”

Soon after, she started working with folks like Sonic Youth and The Beastie Boys, and also built a family with Beastie Mike D. She’s also responsible for discovering Spike Jonze, with whom she co-directed the music video for Sonic Youth’s “100%.”

Davis would later go on to direct features like CB4, Guncrazy, Billy Madison, and Half Baked, a personal favorite. She also directed Crossroads, the cheesy but kinda enjoyably ridiculous Britney Spears vehicle. In addition, she helmed some memorable videos, including Veruca Salt’s “All Hail Me,” Hanson’s “MMMBop,” and Luscious Jackson’s “Ladyfingers.” She still works today, primarily in television, and has her own Web-based cooking show. But let’s reflect on some selected works of her grrrlriffic music video filmography.  

Cher and Beavis and Butthead
“I Got You Babe”

Sonic Youth
“Bull In the Heather”
Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star

Luscious Jackson
“Citysong”
Natural Ingredients

Tatyana Ali
“Boy You Knock Me Out”
Kiss the Sky

Yesterday, a film critic said something a little troubling about the ‘little boy’ character (Max) in Where the Wild Things Are – a film that “tells the story of a rambunctious & sensitive boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to where the Wild Things are.”  The critic (a fella that I greatly respect, by the way) said that “Max seems too old to behave in the tumultuous manner he does within the film.”

Hmm……while I can agree with him (to a point) in regards to how he may view it from a filmmaker’s standpoint……hmm……

One of the biggest reasons why I always loved the book is because the story celebrates the real freedom a child can have when he/she taps into his/her imagination.

Imagination is a powerful thing for a kid – you can be an astronaut, a bumble bee, a princess…or even a princess bumble bee that just became an astronaut.  One’s imagination is expansive, wonderous, safe and fun.  So when a grown up like a movie critic says that a kid is behaving too rambunctiously or causing too much of a ruckus when he/she goes to a ‘safe place’ where the Wild Things are, I have to take pause.  Not only because it goes against what being ‘a kid’ is all about; but also because I believe it has ruined the fun of being an adult.

When you were a kid, you couldn’t wait to be a grown up – drive your own car, go down the big slide at the water park, stay up late (on a SCHOOL NIGHT)…you get my meaning.  But when you grew up, something awful happened – you realized that you couldn’t be driving willy-nilly on sidewalks; you got impatient for having to wait in line for that big slide; and you turned in at a ‘respectable time’ because you had to be at work in the morning.

This business of being a grown up has also gotten in the way of real innovation and discovery.  Can you imagine what crazy-cool things were to come about if we were not only encouraged, but rewarded for being creative at work…?…taking folks to where your wild things are…?…no, not everyone can be a Tom Waits, Dr. Maya Angelou or Blue Man Group.  But you can have their energy and verve for pushing some boundaries, asking important questions and challenging the norm.

Be a Wild Thing.  Try being the person that demands more from your communications peers; creates out-of-the-box ways to deliver a message to your client’s target audiences; plays nice & fair with competitors; and pushes clients to step outside of their comfort zone (ever-so-carefully). 

You never know what you can accomplish when you observe the world through fresh-n-wild eyes.

Kate Langenburg/A&E Groove

I won’t lie to you — I’m so excited to see Where the Wild Things Are. The movie was recently released in conjunction with an anniversary edition of the book it is based upon. The first edition of the book was released in 1963.

The wild things look pretty real! Photo from nytimes.com.

So far, the reviews of the movie have been very generous. People seem to like the children’s flick quite a bit. One of the main reasons for this is that the director, Spike Jonze, has brought a twist to the film. The original book was only 40 pages long (some without words) so it seems like it might be a challenge expanding the story. However, Jonze’s take on the book has brought great pleasure from audiences.

A main point that reviewers have made is that the movie is intended for an older age group than the book was. While the book relied on few words and simple storyline, the new movie version could prove to be scary for young kids. Those wild things look pretty real, thanks to some wonderful movie technology.

To read an excellent synopsis and review of the movie, visit nytimes.com.

Oh, and if you haven’t seen a trailer for the movie yet (which I find hard to believe), watch one at the Where the Wild Things Are website.

I’m looking forward to seeing this movie because of the nostalgia it brings. Experiencing things again from your childhood can prove to be quite rewarding — it will transport even the oldest adult into the fun loving child they once were. Hopefully, when all is said and watched, the new movie will provide just that kind of experience.

여자와 만남은 흥분되는 시간이어야지,

유익한 시간이 되어서는 안되잖아?

- 친구 X

Tom Berenger and Charlie Sheen in Major League

Today after doing some work around the house and hanging around with Molly the dog as the Abbess has been away most of the week, I set about working on my first week of preparation for the comprehensive exams in my Masters is Military History program.  After having finished all course work with a 4.0 GPA I want to kick this thing in the ass and get a “Pass with Distinction” on the exam.  So as I sat down this afternoon without a baseball game in sight I switched to a college football game.  I don’t mind college football, in person I like it better than the NFL, but it is not baseball.  Football in all forms is a war and with the war comes a lot of noise and it seems to me that no matter how low I put the sound, with the exception of pushing the mute button, that I get a headache.  It happened last week too.  So as I collected my thoughts I decided to pick out one of my myriad of baseball movies Major League. This has been one of my favorite movies ever since it came out and I probably watch my DVD of it a couple of times a year.  If I see it as I’m channel surfing I will watch it.  Today was no different. With Molly at my side and Judy out I began to work on five separate thesis statements within my concentration area, which happens to be World War Two.  If you have noticed my site has a decent number of military history posts and this is because I never really stop studying, reading or writing.  A find lessons that are often applicable to the present when I do this type of research and analysis.

Molly Giving Me Advice on My Work

Anyway, back to the movie.  Having been on some really bad softball teams and having my share of emotional moments even before my encounter with PTSD I really appreciate the movie.  I really like the characters of Jake Taylor played by Tom Berenger and Ricky Vaughn played by Charlie Sheen. I kind of relate to both more like Ricky Vaughn in my younger days, though occasionally as people who know me well can attest I can be like “Wild Thing.”  Mind you I have been tossed from ball games and tossed from the Army Chaplain Officer Advanced Course. However, now I relate more to Jake Taylor, the old worn out catcher with bad knees.  Like the character Crash Davis in Bull Durham Taylor is the glue that helps keep the team together even though he is struggling with his own life, past failures and uncertain future I find myself wrestling with those things while still continuing to play the game to the best of my ability and eke out a few more seasons, in this case one last promotion so I can stay in a few more years and do what I love doing.  I have no aspirations for much more on the Navy side because I’ve had a great ride and have gotten to serve far longer that I thought that I would when I started.

Of course the movie ended just in time to watch the Dodgers sweep the Cardinals in the National League Divisional Series.  To say the least I did not expect a sweep.  The Dodgers played extremely well while the Cardinals hitters couldn’t hit water if they fell out of the boat.  The Phillies and Rockies were postponed due to winter weather conditions in Denver….of all the places that should have built a stadium with a retractable dome,  Hey Denver can you spell Dome? I knew you couldn’t.

So I watched as I wrote and looked at the baseball fields and felt peaceful.  The noise of the movie didn’t bother me, it wasn’t disruptive or intrusive.  There is a song in it that touches me because of how much time I have spent away from Judy over the years.  It is Most of all You by Bill Medley.

Woke up one day, what did I find Holes in my pocket, memories on my mind

So many things I lost on the way but most of all you

Pennies and dreams carelessly spent

Pieces of time and who knows where they went

Is there a chance to pick up the pieces and try for it all again

Sometimes you’re just so busy running, running round in circles

You never see you’re going nowhere.

Sometimes you get so tired of chasing, chasing after rainbows

You look around your life and find no one’s there

No one’s there, nooooooooo one’s there

If there’s a time everyone sees they may have missed the forest for the trees

How could I let the best things roll by and most of all you

You knew me better than I knew myself

Somehow you always knew there’d come a day I’d put my toys away

I was a fool traveling so far only to find that home is where you are

You are the way there, just let me stay there

I’ll have it all, if most of all there’s you……….

Now we do have a good marriage but I always have a tendency to get consumed by my work and when I let that get away from me as I often have in the past I miss really important things with Judy. Like Jake Taylor who is trying to recover a blown relationship with his one true love Lynn Wells played by Rene Russo I find that I have had to make up for lost time over the years spent on deployments, travel, exercises or duty.  So anyway with that said it is time for me to get my ass to sleep.

Judy and I in Harrisburg PA on our 23rd Wedding Anniversary in between trips and deployments

Peace, Padre Steve+

“What is the best word one could put in a song?” is a stupid question from almost every angle, but consider this:  psychologists at the University of Florida have developed a list of Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) by crunching questionnaire responses to “How does this word make you feel?” for hundreds of words.   There are best words, it turns out, in the sense that certain words score highest for making people feel good:   on a 1 to 9 scale, “triumphant” is a top word at 8.82; “love” is 8.72.[1] (The results raise all sorts of questions.  How could “hell” be 2.24?  Maybe a few people misread it as “hello”?)

Of course the meaning of your peak experiences in songs has to do with combinations of elements, never with one element alone, but still you can think about which words you tend to warm to.   Aw, admit it:  one of them is “love.”  There’s no way “love” won’t be one of the ultimate buttons to push in a human being.[2] Precisely for that reason, though, it will often be used lamely and lazily, so let’s set it aside (though I can’t refrain from asking:   When has the word “love” sounded most powerfully in a rock context?  Is it when Reg Presley says “I love you” in “Wild Thing”?  Probably not).

For me, another top contender is “people” (7.33).[3] Not as in the famous Barbara Streisand song (people, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world)—but my strong negative reaction in that case is a pointer to something big that deserves better treatment.  “People” gets to me whenever it’s set on a political horizon, somehow rallying people together.  Apparently I really want to feel rallied.

But don’t rally me shallowly.  Don’t just push the button.  I’m afraid The Rascals’ “People Got To Be Free” doesn’t specify a cause well enough, and there’s too much pop sunshine there for a sense of urgency.  John Lennon’s “Power To The People” is unfortunately just a slogan.  But when I hear of “all the lonely people” in “Eleanor Rigby”; when The Doors assert, with eerie coolness, “People Are Strange”; when Joni Mitchell sings desperately of the trap of “People’s Parties”; when Steely Dan sees “the poor people sleeping with the shade on the light” while “all the stars come out at night” in “Show Biz Kids”—these are definite causes, and serious, and the problem of collective life rushes into me through the gateway word.

“People Get Ready,” the much-covered Curtis Mayfield song said to be inspired by the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, is preeminent among the “people” appeals.

People get ready
There’s a train a-coming
You don’t need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear diesels humming
You don’t need no ticket
You just thank the Lord

Here “people” really works as the gateway to everything since it’s always the already-went-by first word, a summons word, not a sentimental button to be pushed repeatedly.  In Eva Cassidy’s version, the singer’s flexing of the melody marvelously combines a dreamy meditative openness (who are we? what is going on?) with a surging eagerness to get on that train to Jordan, to finally see the point of being “people.”[4]

[2] Speaking of buttons, “orgasm” scores a whopping 8.32; but who has used it effectively in a song besides the Buzzcocks in “Orgasm Addict” (1977)?

[3] Remarkably, according to the Corpus of Contemporary American Language list of frequency in general use of English from 1990 to 2009, the most frequently used word that isn’t a little hard-working article, demonstrative, pronoun, or auxiliary verb is “people.”

[4] Joss Stone’s version in Jeff Beck’s 2007 show at Ronnie Scott’s is great in much the same way, but a bit harder-edged.