Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Movie Review

I bought this movie because I hoped to learn more about one of Spain’s most revered artists.  Francisco de Goya, (1746-1828) is considered the “Father of Modern Art” and knowing nothing about the movie. I read several reviews, most of them glowing.  In reality, .... (more)

  

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Artists

 “The past is what man should not have been.  The present is what man ought not to be.   The future is what artists are.”
~ Oscar Wilde ~ 

Friday, October 14, 2011

ART...


“There really is no such thing as Art.  There are only  artists."
~E.H. Gombrich, an English art historian~

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

EMAILS ABOUT OLD PEOPLE

 I keep getting all these “cute” emails about old people, describing all the idiotic things they do.  And I get lists of things which define old people such as, “You know you’re old when…..”  I find them semi-amusing.  I try not to personalize.  I do however, occasionally find myself doing things I probably wouldn’t have done 20 years ago.  I have to blame it on my age. Some of the things I now do are just plain dumb. I do question myself as to whether I was always this stupid or is it really the onset of senility that causes the behavior malfunctions going on in my life.  I mean I was NEVER going to be invited to the Mensa picnic, but, my gawd!  I’m getting worried.

For instance, the other day I stopped at a gas station to fill up my car.  I pulled into this very large Phillips 66 station, attached the nozzle to my car’s gas tank, inserted my credit card into the appropriate slot on the pump mechanism.  Now, as you know, getting gasoline is no longer a simple matter.  Before you start pumping, you have to answer a multitude of questions – cash? credit outside? credit inside? debit outside? debit inside? car wash? receipt? and very often your zip code, age, sexual preference, etc.  So, okay, I get through all the BS and the “pump” told me I had to re-insert my card and remove it quickly, which I obediently did.  Same questions.  Then the “pump” told me to “see attendant”.  By this time, I was so annoyed and frustrated, I pocketed my credit card, returned the nozzle to its home and drove away in a huff.  A short time later as I was waiting at a stop sign, I reached into my pocket to return my credit card to my wallet and I was stunned to see…..it was my J.C. Penney card.  Well…..as the epitaph on Alan King’s tombstone in the 1988 film “Memories of Me” said, “Now I Feel Like a Putz.”

There’s more stuff, but I’ll report it later.  Stay tuned.

 (Also, don’t pass this on.  One of my kids might get wind of it and have me put away.)

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS RUN AMOK!

The American Family Association recently reported the following story in their publication:


          Tyson Homosexual was a blur in blue, sprinting 100 meters
          faster than anyone ever has. "It means a lot to me", the 25-year-old
          Homosexual said.


          The runner's name actually was Tyson Gay, but that's how news of
          his race victory was reported by the AFA which has an automatic
          word-replacement program set against the word "gay".


I mean, really?  Haven't we just about reached the limit of the ridiculousness (is that a word?) of political correctness?


We, as a nation, are being treated like a bunch of kindergartners instead of adults.  Remember how we used to spell out words around our children when they were small so they wouldn't know what we were talking about?  Now the PC media watchdogs are doing that to us.  They use euphemisms such as "the n-word" or "the f-word" instead of saying what they really mean.  I don't get it.


I hate the "n-word".  I can hardly bear to say it aloud.  I can hardly bear to write it.  But, when reporting a news story that contains that word, such as the recent story about the rock in front of Governor Perry's fishing cabin with the "n-word" on it, why won't the news readers just go ahead and say it instead of pretending it says something other that what it really says?  Whom are they protecting?  Certainly not their audience.  To be fair, though, if a media person did actually say "nigger" on the air,  that person would be fired so fast they wouldn't be able to get the "er" out of their mouths before being evicted from the premises.  So, of course, they are protecting themselves.


And by the way, why are the only people who are allowed to say the "n-word" are "people of color"?  (Whatever that means.)  Why is it strictly taboo for WASPs to even think the word, much less say it aloud?  Why the hypocrisy?


Then there's the "f-word" or "f-bomb".  Are our psyches so delicate that hearing the actual word would cause us to get the vapors?  Why the pretense?  It's not as if everyone in the world has not heard the word.  If you are a movie goer, you've heard it a million times.


But, maybe I'm just being an "f-word b-word".  Could be.  I've been accused of being an "f-word b-word" a number of times.  (For those of you unfamiliar with PC-speak, "f-word b-word" is actually "fucking bitch".)


The following quote just about sums up the moronic concept of PC:


"Political correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous, mainstream media, which  hold forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

Saturday, October 1, 2011

THROWING GRANDMA UNDER THE BUS

All the media wonks are always talking about politicians “trying to scare Grandma” or “throwing Grandma under the bus”.  Sometimes they accuse them of “dropping a dime on Grandma”.  What the hell ever happened to Grandpa?  Why is Grandma the only one being discriminated against?  Is it because Grandma is the only one smart enough to figure out she’s getting fucked over by Obamacare and Big Government?  Surely Grandpa is getting fucked over, too.  Is he not smart enough to grasp the concept?   Or is it more fun to depict old ladies as pathetic symbols of older Americans?  I am the embodiment of the Grandma who is being scared and is being thrown under the bus.  I am 76 years old and I am definitely scared.  My retirement fund has dwindled to almost nothing under the Obama administration.  I haven’t had a “cost of living” increase in my Social Security for 3 years now.  Not that the increase ever amounted to anything.  Usually $7.00 or $8.00 after adjustments for Medicare, etc.  And all the while, gasoline costs more, groceries cost more, utilities cost more, and my monthly income is approximately $800 less that it was 3 years ago.  You bet I’m scared.  I think the “dime” has already dropped on Grandma and I am powerless to do anything about it.  Too old to work, too old to become a hooker, can’t stand the thought of having to put up with some toothless “Grandpa” to supplement my income.  What’s a Grandma to do?  I wish I knew.