The Race Card

Instead of lamenting the incorrect, knee-jerk use of the race card and wanting people to stop doing it... perhaps we should refuse to acknowledge when it's played? 

When it's thrown on the table just ignore it.  That's what Trump is doing.

I'm afraid to watch the new "Catch 22" series.  I was disappointed by the Alan Arkin film and worry I will be disappointed by the George Clooney film as well.  I love the book so much... I had "The Dark Tower" and don't want to see a repeat.

Feminine Hygiene Training

I was talking to a guy the other day and he relayed this to me, which I found very insightful:

When a baby is born, its mother bonds with it.  She often will remark that she fell in love with him/her the moment she held him/her.  The smell, the warmth, the trembling fragility of a new baby generates a deep maternal resonance in mothers.  For fathers it's different.  When he first holds his child.....  When he first sees his wife cradling his son/daughter.... He bonds too.  But it manifests itself differently.  He feels a powerful upwelling of protectiveness.  He thinks (often subconsciously), "I will KILL anyone who gets too close.  I will murder anyone who tries to harm them."  Men often remark that they feel "on-guard" in the room with their new mother and baby.

Men and women are both parents.  Both feel love and protectiveness.  But for each, the reactions to a new baby can be quite different.  I'm a step-parent myself so I can't speak from experience.  Maybe it's different for different parents.  But this guy's insight into parental bonding was very interesting.... anthropologically speaking.

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.