TGIF

Thank George It's French tonight and not English. I get so tired of English night after night.
Here I sit waiting for the Just for Men beard Dye to dry. Yes I have gray in my beard and no I don't want to look like I am 50 (yet). When I get ruggedly handsome like Sean Fricking Connery then I will deprive the JFM brand of my patronage.

Well, the dye has dried, I am off to shower and shave and look more like JLD instead!

Can we define anything by definition?

 Most words by definition show that the originator or at least the commonplace user of such devices shows a distinct lack of imagination, understanding or sympathy to those who defy east definitions


‎"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat." ~ Rebecca West, 




So here we are at the hump of the week (by some definition anyway) looking back at the roads that got us here, while trying to decide where we should go from here. Will be struggle with our pasts, make decisions like Robert Frost or cut a new path altogether like Siesta Neuve'?

"Hello, is this the SAP?" (South African Police)

"e-yes. What you want?"

"I'm calling to report my neighbor, Fanie van der Merwe! He is hiding dagga (marijuana) inside his firewood."

"e-yes ... Thank you for your co-opershun and informashun in combatting crime and violence, in our society ser."

The next day, the SAP descended on Fanie's house. They search the braai lapa (BBQ area) where the firewood is kept.

Using axes, they chop open every piece of wood, but find no dagga. They shout and swear at Fanie and leave.

"Hey, Fanie! Did the SAP come?"

"Ja"

"Did they chop your firewood?"

"....Ja....."

"Happy Birthday Boet!"

 US Cops on Segues- lean forward and watch the face

 SA Cops looking official -except for the super model Right- he's Voguing

This guy could be any heavily armed cop anywhere...well almost anywhere. Probably no Botswana or Rhode Island

 This would be the raiding party at the Bri

 Anyone who shots shotguns like this needs to join the British police force

I had to add this joke since My friend Mixael posted it to the Social networking site.

Sometimes one can get many things. Wouldn't work here. The US Cops would insist on smoking some of the wood to be sure then confiscate the BBQ (Bri) to make sure it was "being used in illicit activities.




And don't talk about the Brits!

Okay, so I digressed off subject...again.

Maybe you should define it!

Sunday Punning and other things

I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.

Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.

Velcro - what a rip off!

Cartoonist found dead in home. Details are sketchy.

Venison for dinner? Oh deer!

Earthquake in Washington obviously government's fault.

Well, My hat is off to B.C. and BVV for sharing and daring.

Today is hardly an exception

Worked hard to find reasons not to despise my relations. There are times when I wonder why we had to be related since they seldom work at all to hide their general contempt for me.

I find it amazing that life continues to take strange and often unpredictable terms as I go from point to point seeing life's uncertainties develop into definitives that often defy description.


How can I be the person who once went out of his way to shock and annoy people to someone who no longer desires the same and yet by trying to be as honest with myself as with others I remain shocking and annoying....apparently.

No matter how much something changes it often stays the same. but seldom gets better. The only thing that ages well is wine and some cheese.

and vinegar if you can for such a thing

Some things are worth working toward and gaining as much as somethings are worth running away from and losing. Nice Weights by the way. :)

I tried to catch some fog. I mist.

What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.

England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool .

I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.

I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.


and with that I bow out, stage left...

I am a bad boy,, cause I don't even miss her

It was almost like a song.
youtube video
Did you know that was my favorite song in the 70's. Mostly because I could barely play it on the piano and mostly sing it as well.
Except someone didn't come  along unless it was this girl in Middle School and I missed it. Such would be the irony in my life. Or that girl (whose name was  something like Kathy Smith) in High School the one year I was at AISJ in SA who  seemed interested in everything  I  had to say- we ate our lunch together several times though in my memory it seems like forever.
I was blind to what you should see, what you only see as an adult,, that a child will never see- until its too late to  go back to that moment and say: Hey! Did you happen  to see the most beautiful girl in the world?
The most beautiful girl
But is it not about me that I write this morning.
I mean i don't regret much in my  life since i have found purpose and peace. I found my music, my writing. I know i am good at it. I have words to write and stories to tell. They make me feel good.
It would be a great blessing to share them with someone. Not all blessings are to be otherwise I guess they wouldn't be blessings.
I don't mind being alone.
Only on Mondays and Wednesdays and at night alone in my bed before I put on the CPAP Mask- because that's not romantic

So where was I?

Oh right. It was almost like a song,  though in this case is was more like a Monty Python Sketch.

I mean, how often does Mr. Bean complain about being alone?

Mr. Bean Romantic

Well there you have it and not much else.

That's it. 

Now go away!

No more, no more of the Blaming Game

A few things to note. Poverty in America is largely masked by reckless spending. So I would clarify what i meant by poverty. Also, the definitions of poverty in America diverge widely between expected income brackets, economic levels indicative to where and how you live. Among other things. Which is to say that being poor in Alaska is not the same as being poor in Tennessee or South Carolina. What makes the U.S. such a problem to classify is how widely incomes and lack thereof vary from state to state.
 We have all lived to see a major loss of income. I see the fault as that of trying to lay this at one president or another's feet. With 4 to 8 year terms, few presidents have managed to do much more than increase the speed or decrease the speed of American Decline since the 1960's when (as far as I can tell) it began. That seems to be when words like Crises came to be used by the media (which ironically becomes the eyes, ears and voice of America) began to surface. Debt becomes a more commonly known word. The fault (if there is just one) is in trying to sum it up with one term or blanket explanation. I am reminded of Act II of Into the Woods,, when the characters all start pointing fingers and singing "It's your fault." The wise man or woman would step back and say it doesn't matter whose fault it is, the problem(s) exist, what can we do to fix it?
Obama is no worse a President than any of the others. All of them are trapped by the monster of decline in a world where consumption is quickly overcoming everything including the ability to produce enough to stem the tide. Huxley's Brave New World comes to mind at this point.
America largely has stopped producing anything as changes in the labor force has grown and people's needs/desires/wants have evolved into other expectations. Some people argue that America can no longer produce anything, but I say it's a nice lie. We could produce everything we need and maybe some of what we want but sacrifices would have to be made- most of which few Americans seem (appear) to be willing to make. Like spending more money for local goods (yes Walmart could be considered a bane against this type of Industry. But it was the American who sought the cheap over the other that drove the Monster called Walmart all over this country. (Walmart is not the only corporation that is killing any chance of recovery- just the most prevalent one in my area (TN). 
Do you realize that most of our esteemed technology production is largely produced in 2 cities and located on average of 19 city blocks? Or that most of the hard drives in our computers originate out of a handful of factories in Thailand? No, all we are consumed with is getting a better Iphone or Mac or PC.
I'd say more but I realize I am barking mad anyway. Blame Obama if you want, blame Bush, Blame Thomas Jefferson or Lenin or George Washington. Blame Elvis while you are at it. WE Americans are very good at pointing fingers. Taxes and taxing will not solve ANYTHING. Cutting spending can, but almost all the cuts proposed are utterly futile and ridiculous that they are laughable against where 90% of the money is going. Eisenhower had it right. We should have listened to him. We shouldn't have listened to MacArthur, we should have down what Patton wanted and Maybe we should have studied our "Forefathers/founding fathers" better and paid more attention to what they actually said and did. You want to save America? Start with yourself and work from there.


What is all this about?


It's me trying (and  failing to  be reasonable on Facebook) 
We are what we are. 
largely Undeserving of  what our ancestors  and grandparents thought to be giving us.





A couple of interesting things doth follow thus:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303734204577464883344765926.html

And that is what I am going on about today, anyway.

tilting with Windmills and going to the Dentist

Some things are unavoidable.
Taxes must be paid but if you are crazy you can avoid them. Dentists must clean your teeth but you can sacrifice the ivory and enamel if you want the inevitable agony of decay and gum disease.

I hate going to the Dentist.
I have a great dentist, he's gentle, exacting, most likely the best at what he does. But he can come across as smug and smarmy to where I dread even a quip coming out of his perfect dental mouth.

So I live in dread of Dental cleanings and often brush and floss myself into oblivion dreaming/hoping/praying for an amazingly brief cleaning and silence from my Dentist.

Would I be so lucky? No, it boils down to a lot of plaque and tartar scraping, what seems like hours spent with my mouth open while he sits there and casually impales my gums with his tools and tisks away in his quiet I know better than you do voice.

what they want you to think of the as.....great conversationalistshow they think of themselves, yes mine has more hair and rides a motorcylce

my reaction to the dentist

motorcylce meets dentist meets little dentist's office of horrors

the I am so screwed moment

when my dentist says- "oh look pink swollen gums- oh my"

get me the drill, Darcy!

Hold still this won't hurt much

see did that not work out great?

and that life according to dental flossing, tax paying Mike!

Pressure washing and fights with Hornets on roofs

Today I got into a head bumping fight with a hornet  on top of the roof of my mother's screened-in  porch which is on a deck about 12ft off the ground- so its an easy 20 foot drop  down. I am busy minding my own business stringing an extension cord up there to pressure wash the  deck behind me when  this crazy Hornet starts dive bombing my head and  all I got to fend it off of me is the extension  cord.
So  there I am swatting and the hornet and yelling  at it which of course is futile but I keep yelling and this bug keeps flying in at me. We  reach an impasse and  i beat a strategic retreat  to go find wasp spray.
As it turns out,, the wasp spray lasted  long enough  to piss it off. But I brought my  backup- totally ineffective "Flying Insect" spray.
OH YEAH time to get it on little Hornet.
Anyway he got bored and flew away.
Bug 1- Mike 0. I decided I didn't need to pressure wash that deck anyway- especially after  trying to haul up a running water hose.
Man's awesome  Mind? yep.
Man is  awesomely soaked? yep

Oh those crazy lazy summer days.

At least I  didn't get a headache.

Oh yeah, that  was  before 11am.

Then I went to work.

sigh.

A quick note

I am wiped out, blogs and updating is hard work, so I will leave you with a couple of thoughts and go shoot some raiders.
Never expect more than a little of the worst out of people ( gives them a chance to surprise you but not that much)
never write late at night especially when your vision goes out on you
a 40" LCD TV is better than a 32" but draw the line somewhere between size and madness
Money does not make you happy for long since it lacks staying power

"How do you feel? Like Death on a soda cracker."
Dead Folks Blues. Womack

On the Fairy Tale

Sometimes a fairy tale is well told
and sometimes it is only fairly well told.

My initial impressions of Snow White and the Huntsman is that it is a fairy tale well told.
There is a lot to be told that is well done about this movie.
The most powerful piece of story telling in the movie is the visual symbolism that is throughout the movie. The rule of three persists with pleasing regularity. Three drops of blood.
The Queen (Charlize Theron) is very convincing as a sympathetic villain who is human in her desires, loyalties and fears.Charlize plays her role from beginning to end as a truly bipolar person trapped by circumstance who does awful things for seemingly good reasons or at least justifiable reasons. She is a character study in how much a person can lie to herself and in turn be lied to. When compared to her counterpart Julia Roberts (in Mirror, Mirror) one can see the parallels of interpretive translation. Julia's queen is ironic in her fight to stay young and beautiful whereas Charlize's Queen holds no illusions to the eternal cost that comes with her beauty.
I found the dichotomy between the two queens and their mirrors fascinating. In Mirror Mirror, Julia's Queen has trapped her alter ego in her mirror world (the side that is sardonic and pragmatic- almost good part of her soul lives their in the glass). In SW and the H, Charlize's Mirror is more traditional as a fairly reflective bowl like object that's presence is more like a split personality of the Queen than a servant to anyone except that which you find in unbalanced persons mind. I like that the director does not give you any clear idea of whether the servant of the mirror is real or imaginary.
Snow White remains pleasingly consistent throughout the movie all the way up until she realizes that she cannot cheat fate and must kill the queen thereby committing the one act that will change her. Ironically making become like her nemesis. She must kill the queen instead of pitying her. Kristen Stewart is a good upcoming talent who (despite of how I feel about Twilight) delivers as convincing a performance of the angst ridden innocent who must look into the face of cruelty and desire is full of compassion and awareness of the world around her. She does a good job of being good. The movie is too short for the performance to be wholly convincing.
The supporting cast (which is too big- like another film -Willow) does a fine job in the film and the script- which is too ambitious for the 2 hours that it has to tell this tale leaves little time to convince you of much.
The film would be good if they had just sacrificed a few characters or spent more time.
William has a largely undeveloped character who barely gets a chance to convince you that he is real or substantial and by the end you have no idea there will ever be any chance of him having any role in the story from that point. He suffers from this lack of screen time defining his role which is superfluous since his character is a repeat of the Huntsman and the Dwarves . The actor Sam Claflin does a convincing job as a bad ass archer who is interested in protecting his childhood friend- but he is not given anytime to convince us if he is in love with her or just wanting to fulfill a promise given in desperation. (I hope there is a scene or two that will make the director's cut where this can happen since it begs for viewing) I felt cheated by his presence because he is a good character that ends up being wasted as a plot device rather than an asset to the story.

The Huntsman also is cheated. Chris Hemsworth is fine actor who is showing some awesome range in his art. After this performance I want to see what else he has done. But here again this movie should have either been long enough to include his story more or he could have been combined into that of William's or one of the Dwarves. His story is only revealed in rushed sentence revealed in bits of pain and regret. We know he loved his wife and suffers her loss daily but it is unclear what happened to her and virtually unknown as to why. The queen's brother let's him know that he killed her but again the movie doesn't tell us how or why this should be except in death-throes of the same. The Huntsman cries for more development and the movie should have ended with more than a glance between him and SW.

Finally Finn played by the a disturbing Sam Spruell is also a character that lacks enough to be developed. He is a mufti-leveled tragic figure who is overshadowed by his sister and given better story construction could really help both SW's and the Huntsman's on stories along.

What is good is that the movie holds together though like other good/great movies I felt like someone (the director) was grinning on the sidelines with the rest of the movie being held behind his back.
The movie was too short. Recent history has proven that audiences can sit through 3 plus hours to get to the bottom of a story if the studio and filmmakers will entrust it to us. This movie was good and well shot but too short. Just too short.

Again, my favorite parts of the movie are like others (Gladiator, Matrix, 300) it is the moments where little happens but seconds of concentrated movement. In SWand H- it is the horse on the beach, the starling (?) in flight, the charging horses, the drops of blood, the moments in-between actions (Ang Lee/John Woo). For me moments of pure film poetry and artistry.

I will see this one again, definitely on Blu-ray and hopefully director's cut/extended.

And that is how I saw it.

Trying to be a good man

Notice, that I didn't say how to be a good man.

This is a constant struggle for me since part of me- the darker side of me would tell me on long nights that it would just be easier to lie cheat and steal. not as literally as that, but taking advantage of others would have gotten me things that I would have wanted. But I took the high road always the high road I didn't take or get. People talk about sacrifice but to be a better man I gave up the company of lesser people instead looking for honesty and truth and decency and passion I end up like that crazy greek man walking around Athens in the dead of night with his dog looking for one honest man.
We all lie.
We mostly lie to ourselves.
We try to be honest, true but it is not in our natures to do so. If you are uncompromising with this you end up like me, alone. Unless, you are indeed fortunate to find someone else that deceitfulness is not a part of who they are or want to be.

I never said that I have succeeded but I have found success. I can look in the mirror and say- Mike, you are a good man- most of the time when your human nature does not get the better of you and impure thoughts take over your mind no matter how briefly.

I am a man after all.
I lust.
I want.
I hate
I get angry
I feel pride
I am arrogant
I am perfect
I am selfish

But I struggle, I yearn to be more than what is easy - far easier to be.

I am a man after all.
I take responsibility
I keep my word
I respect others- not just because they are older, women, smarter, more successful, richer
I listen and hear what others say
I do what I say I am going to do- even when it is the last thing I want to do.
I dream the impossible dream

I will be your friend
I will tell you that I love you even when it is really really hard to
I will tell you the truth even when it is easier and kinder to lie to you
I will forgive you because I want you to forgive me to

After all.
We are not perfect

The reasons I decided to do this was because a part of me loves life more than most things
For me, that is my love of God. What I see as the Universe, What I do see when I look beyond myself and see that the needs of others are great indeed.

I choose to believe as I choose to follow the teachings of the Christ that instruct me to be what I want to be.

For me it is a perfect circle.
I try to be a good man because that is what God wants me to be and because that is what I want to be.


Anyway, that's how I see it.

here's is some inspirations: The Impossible Dream

20 words or less

Time to have no time to say what is really on my mind. I don't want to ramble on but getting what I want to say said will be difficult

Nope that didn't make it.

Tweeting is hard- if you are wordy. If your Spock or the Terminator it would be easy.
drop your adjectives and stick to the facts.

I'll be back. Sarah Connors. Actually the most he says in the first movie is about guns.
then he shoots people. Actually all he does is shoot people occasionally stopping to reload and tweet something profound back to @skynet.

Then there is Spock. Wasting no words on adjectives or adverbs or much else.
his standard tweet would be @Kirk, the needs of the >1 outweigh the needs of the <1.
@Bones I can only discuss death with one who shares a common exp.
@Bones(the other one) yes, we can look at the remains friday @2
@Scotty. drop the warp core
@Uhura. PR4U
@mikemumbled. R U Kidding me? Really? Not logical enough


But I digress.

Closing the Circle

I went to see MIB II. It is definitely worth seeing. As farces go this one has many good turns and while the obvious humor is great, it is the subtle stuff that really did it for me. The understated humor of Tommy Lee Jones carried the movie a long way but it was Will Smith who was both obvious and deep that came off the best for me.
The best part of the movie was the story coming almost full circle.
The circle of which  I speak is the one where J learns of his  father. It is what makes the movie special, instead of relying on ridiculousness and farce or even satire in places,, the movies takes on  an emotional note that  not only explains a lot about J but also K. I would even go on to say that the  movie hits an emotional note and changes the way I  saw the characters as a whole.
I have always like ideas presented about the  universe dropped, tossed and even thrown out at you by the writers  and directors in the movie. I like that they maintain many of the  die hard notions of aliens even though many would call them tired  or cliche'd. Whose an alien conitinues more to maintain continuity in the  series than anything else.
I say go see  it but be prepared for more than just  slapstick and action (which is okay) but look at the more subtle elements that are in  the background.
Remember that movies have to entertain the idiots and simpletons while amusing  those of us who are convinced we know more.

Mike
and that is how I see it.

On Reinventing

I saw an article on this guy Khan, Sal Khan. He's making waves and money (yeah he's making money) with a new wave on online education. I am not saying he's getting rich- I am just saying he's not starving. Besides his webcam needs improving/upgrading.
Still what he presents is an idea of what is going to happen here in this country, there are individuals like me that are doing it, having been doing it for years.
What am I talking about. Inventing a career.
Once when people asked me what I did I tried to use the standard Monster.com cookie cutter definitions that come on so many resumes/applications, online forms- just look at Linkedin if you have no idea. It is the reason I ultimately reject resumes and their like.
I am not and never have been a category or at least comfortable as a category.
I know there are people (probably the Mass of People) who prefer to be a thing that can be clicked on at the local who are you/what do you do websites of the world.
Not Me.
I am not one thing. I am many things. I don't do one thing, I can do many things and many of them are not directly related.
These days I have taken to calling myself a Media Specialist though I could reclassify myself as a media-technology generalist.
Those of you who know me- know that I wear many hats.
Those of you who have known me awhile know that I have been many things
Those of you who don't know me but read these blogs might pick up that I am what is called a
Renaissance man (hardly but nice) or a Jack of Many trades (I am a master at some though).

For many of us to make it in this new world we find ourselves in. We need to reject the stereotypes and categories. We need to build a job description that can describe what we think of ourselves as in a few easy descriptors.
I am not in Information Technology (Gosh, what a term)
I am not a TV Person
I am not a line editior nor a true NLE Editor
I am not a Producer
I am not an Artist (even though I am)
I am not just a writer/author/poet.
I am not just a PC tech
I am not just an eBay seller
I am not just a thing or a job classification

I am all those things above and so much more.

What are you then?