Books I've Read

Many years ago I acquired an old green canvas covered military ledger book in which I began to compile data and lists.  A list of vehicles I've owned.  A list of my favorite movie stars.  Another of my favorite adult film stars.  A list of my firearms and amounts of ammunition for each.  A running wish list of things I'd like to own someday with items like "40 foot houseboat" and "12 gauge Weatherby over/under shotgun" on it.

By far the largest list was the one cataloging all the books I've read since about high school.  The first pages were done from memory and in, no doubt, incomplete.  But then I listed all the books I have in my possession that I've read.

Now, as I complete a book, I go to the list and update it.  It's grown to over 400 titles and gets about one new addition each month.  Not a voracious reader but a consistent one.

I have no idea why this info might be worth recording but, if I ever save the world from destruction, this will be the kind of stuff historians will write about.  It will be in my museum library and bookstore.

The Wonders

There should be a reunion film of "The Wonders."  It takes place 20 years later and showcases a reunion appearance put together by Lenny in an attempt to bolster his failing casino.

The film was released in 1996 and is 22 years old.  The actors have all aged 22 years since and should play as the same age they are... 22 years later.  If the film was set in 1963 or 64 then the sequel should take place in 1986 or 87.  It would highlight and lampoon the Yuppie era of the 80's.  Brick phones and bag phones.  VCRs.  MTV.  New Wave.  All visualized with the same attention to detail as the early 60s was depicted in the original film.  Chrysler station wagons.

That would make Jimmy a member of "Jimmy and the Heardsmen" or perhaps he has begun his career as a producer.  T.B. Player would take a break from his construction business to appear but have some problems with alcohol and be a "crazy Vet" from his tours in Viet Nam.  Guy and Faye could come from the Music School they founded and there could be friction between her and Jimmy as a subplot.  Lenny, of course, will be the central plot pivot character and build the sequel around his attempts to put together a Wonder reunion concert at his hotel and casino while his marriage to Kitty humorously unravels.

Tom Hanks could make a cameo as a now openly gay senior semi retired power mogul who has regular contact with Jimmy in Jimmy's capacity as a record producer.

Phil Horace could surface as a down on his luck type looking to manage them again if they would consider a reunion tour.

Tina and her 3rd husband could appear in a cameo.  Scott Wolfman Pell might appear as a struggling session player looking to cash in and unseat T.B. as the bass player. 

Chad and Darlene (Guy's sister) could be married and running Patterson's Appliances with Mr. and Mrs. Patterson retired to Florida.

The possibilities are endless.

The Never Discovered

There should be a band in Nashville made up of singers and musicians who have never made it.  They can sing and play but they just can't seem to get discovered.  They should form a group or groups and pump out their music on the internet for free.

They should call themselves "The Never Discovered" and they should only allow members to be in the group on condition of not being able to get a deal with a label.  If they do, they are immediately booted from the group.  Sort of like "Menudo" except it's for talent not age.

Marriage... None of My Business

I'm occasionally asked whether or not I support gay marriage.  If I say "Yes I do." I'm going against God and nature.  If I say "No I don't."  I'm a bigot and a homophobe and tough shit anyway because the Supreme Court says it's legal so... up yours hater.  I usually say what I really think which is, it's of no importance whether or not I support gay marriage.  It is more important to ask if a gay couple's church, synagogue, temple, shrine or other religious institution supports it.  Why?  Because marriage is a construct of religion, not anthropology, sociology or government.

That last one... the government... is especially true.  The government should have NO business deciding who should or should not marry.  They wormed their way into it during the days of the industrial growth of the U.S. and its corresponding population boom.  The government wanted to ensure "morons, idiots, defective or retarded persons" along with other vaguely defined "low grade persons" did not marry and breed because, remember, in those days the vast majority of breeding was done shortly after marriage.  It was the societal stigma of sex/childbirth out of wedlock that sent folks running to the preacher to get hitched and sanctify sex.  All you needed back then was a preacher, priest, rabbi, imam... what have you, and you were set.  

Problem was, there was no check on who was fit to marry and breed.  Congenital birth defects could be passed down.  Relations as close as first cousins could interbreed, causing increased birth defects and genetic weakening.  Diseased persons where marrying and passing the diseases to their offspring.  These children were then perceived to weaken the broad health of the American public and burden the social infrastructure, primitive as it was.

So the government saw fit to step in an apply rules to who could get hitched.  Tests had to be run.  Medical exams administered.  Intelligence tests established.  This led to the issuance of marriage applications turned (hopefully) into marriage licenses which could be taken to a religious leader empowered to perform marriage rites or to a Justice of the Peace for the secular.  This was how government wormed its way into a practice that is not theirs to administer.

That didn't matter.  Once you turn on a government function, you can never seem to turn it off.  More insidiously, once the government set the precedent of being the decider of who gets married and who doesn't, they also became the place to go to appeal unfavorable marriage bans.  Long held societal bans on same sex marriage or polygamy began to be questioned and the government became the authority on permissible marriage arrangements.  It also began to codify preferences for married people.  Ostensibly to bolster the institution of marriage and a corresponding uptick in the population of native born Americans.  This manifests itself in legal protections, tax benefits, child subsidies for families... on and on.  Others that were banned from legally marrying but who lived as married, wanted some of those cookies and treats as well.  Most of my experience watching the debate for legalizing same sex marriage appeared less about validating love and devotion through a societally sanctified bond as much as it was about tax breaks and incentives.  

Stay Off Social Media... The "Fame" is Not Worth the Peril

Roseanne Barr went down in flames yesterday after tweeting a racially charged post about Valerie Jarrett.  The event was so minor and its consequences so major; not just to her but to the cast that was forming plans to make a living from the work her new show provided.  It's all so tragic because it was SOOOO avoidable.  Stay off social media (says the guy putting this out for the world to see on his weblog).

We are ALL guilty of the most ill-advised, stupid, thoughtless remarks but they usually go out from our mouths to the ears of just those few who were standing with us when we said it.  Tweets and Instagram, and Facebook posts of those same dumb things go out for the whole world to hear.  

There are some photos in an album in my den.  They are from my days as a young soldier and some are gross.  Some are obscene.  Some are in very poor taste.  But they are private and not out on the web for the world to see.

Our pathological need to have the world hear us has driven us to post automatically.  Like a Pavlovian reflex.  It's caused criminals to post videos of their crimes.  It’s made people boast of their bad behavior, not realizing it only makes the bad behavior look worse because you seem so proud of it at the time you sent out a video of your account of the incident.  

It’s different from the things others record us doing.  Road rage recorded and broadcast that becomes admissible in court.  Domestic disputes filmed by neighbors.  Quarrels between neighbors.  Dad picking his nose at a ball game.  These are bad but they are the risk we must take when we go out into the world where everyone can record everyone else.  I’m talking about the self-inflicted wounds like Roseanne's.  Or Anthony Weiner. Or any of another hundred that happen monthly.

Just stop and think.  Not EVERYTHING we do is share-worthy.  Not everything you have to say is anything others would want to hear.  Stop falling on your own sword.  Because the PC monster is now roaming the street looking to bring you down.  We grew it in a lab of teaching our kids to be unforgiving of others shortcomings.  It grew large and ravenous in it's cage as they grew into adults filled with a sense of self righteous indignation at the ills of every institution or person around them.  It broke out of the lab and began roaming the streets devouring any and all that carried the faintest trace of flaw in character as these people became rigid and unforgiving in their assessment that we should all be judged and hounded for the worst aspects of our character.  No matter how many poor people we feed or how many orphans we clothe.  Not matter how many good deeds we do... if we ever said the word ni**er when angry or upset (especially if it’s recorded) we are DONE.  Just ask Paula Deen or Michael Richard (aka Kramer from Seinfeld).