Ricky's Wisdom Today - 4/12/08

I'm writing a graphic novel and will say nothing more at this point other than this is pretty much the defining quote of my novel.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!"

-John 29:15

Mike Church - Brainwashing Kids, Blatant Lies

Sirius Radio has given me new perspective on the horrors of right wing talk shows. First it was Andrew Wilkow. I can almost stomach the whole show. Now...

Right wingnut radio neo-con, Mike Church - also known as "King Dude" because of an apparent unhealthy love affair with "The Big Lebowski" but ironically looks like every other straight-laced repub - was spouting flat earth global warming "myth" garbage and bragging about how well-versed his daughters are in the mythos of global warming caused by the proximity of Earth to the sun on Thursday.

Specifically, he talked to his daughters about how the lumber industry is doing the world a great service because if they didn't cut down those trees, those trees would grow old and dry out and die. Or some shit. He went on to say that because of hippie lawsuits, the lumber market is suffering, and that the folks on the show "Ax Men" on the History Channel are actually Canadians because they couldn't find any Americans who were loggers anymore.

Couple things, Mike:

1. Cutting down trees kills those trees. As you stated, those trees are reseeded. This is not a "natural process." Lightning and fires and decay are.


2. The lumber market is suffering because of the failure of the housing market which was artificially inflated by rich, white repub bankers.


3. The History Channel show "Ax Men" features American loggers logging in the American Pacific Northwest. Take two seconds not to sound like a boob.

Oh, Jesus, he just said the Liberals demanding religious tolerance in Tibet have no desire to extend the same tolerance to Mormons here in America. If he's referring to the recent spat in Texas where over 300 kids were taken into custody, Mike must be equating under-age sexual abuse - rape - to something that lives in the realm of acceptable religious practices. For someone with an 11 year old daughter, he should be ashamed.

I could write all day on this, but listening to him spew verbal diarrhea, yelling over the callers, putting everyone on defensive because of a perceived level of intelligence, and showboating musical parody as high comedy is giving me an ulcer.


UPDATE: 2 years later, I've been noticed by Mike Church. Read the comments here, then go to the modern post.

Waterworld Sees Steampunk Resurgence

Late Tuesday night, Lane Chancellor, avid steampunk aficionado and Chocobo breeder, caught the first twenty minutes of the oft-lauded Hollywood flop, Waterworld, starring Kevin Costner.

"I never knew," he said in a first-ever interview. "I'd seen it when it came out, but that was before I was totally into steampunk. It's like the movie was a story about the future - our future in loving on steampunk."

Chancellor shifted in his chair and subtly eyed his mother poking her head into the basement, wondering "what the hell's going on down there with the lights and the talking and the -"

"Shut up, mom! I'm interviewing," Lane shouted.

"Granted," he continued, "the jet-skis are piss-poor mock-ups when it comes to steampunk, but that balloon? Costner's sail rig? That's fucking hot! Steampunk gold, baby."

At which point, Chancellor waved his hand in a sad attempt at a Jedi Mind Trick, muttering "You will leave now. I have more important matters at hand," and lit the welding torch, continuing to work on his steampunk dildo. At which point I was terrified and allowed Mrs. Chancellor to pack me some cookies before I was on my way.

The Time Traveler's Wife

In one of those crazy incidences of synchronicity, this past Saturday night saw me at the home of some of my favorite people. Let's call them Art and Music, for as I am Writer, they eat their names with savor.

Saturday evening, after many a libation, we were visually walking the bookshelf and Art told me about a book she'd been given but never read: The Time Traveler's Wife. The next morning, mildly foggy from the aforementioned evening, I appeared back at my parents' house. Before I went home, without mentioning the previous conversation, I was handed The Time Traveler's Wife and told to read it.



So now I must.

But I don't just spill trivial bullshit on a regular basis, so here's the crux: I've barely begun the book (working on Harry Potter 6 right now as well), but caught this poem in the opening pages. It's called "Love After Love" but is more appropriately entitled "Love During Love." Because we need it. We forget, sometimes, during a relationship and especially during a marriage, that we are solitary figures, that we have an individual personality. We forget to know ourselves, our desires, our dreams. And sometimes we need to give ourselves a giant fucking hug.

(note: I realize this punches in the face the Zen Buddhist parts of my idealistic life, but I'm an admitted walking dichotomy, so get the hell over it.)

I almost cried the first time I read it. I cry now reading it again and again. Because I've forgotten.

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.


Derek Walcott

Don't Go Breakin' My Heart

Aaaaaughh.

This is pretty horribly straightforward: A man kills himself. He's an organ donor and his heart goes to another man in need. The suicide's widow is in contact with the recipient, eventually meets, falls in love with, and marries him. Man with the late husband's heart kills himself.

Aaaaaughh.

(source: ABC News)

All Business, Good & Bad

Just a reminder that my other blog, All Business, Good & Bad, is starting to pick up, as far as me posting more often goes.

The original premise of the blog (it was originally "Bad Business") was to provide a platform for me - as well as any other folks who wanted to email their stories - to piss and moan about consumer failures in the marketplace. I've since expanded it to include good business experiences because, well, simply pissing and moaning gets a little tired after a while. Not to mention that I've had some seriously wonderful experiences since moving to Cincinnati, OH.

There are national companies as I deal with them in chains or on the web, and there is some local Cincinnati flavor that can give you, fair reader, a heads-up on what to expect and possibly avoid from your own local service providers.

Posts past and including even today: Crappy Adidas shoes, the plus and minus of Proactiv, airline debacles, and home warranty companies. Much more in the archives. Much more to come (and I promise: more positive!).

Enjoy.

Mario Key Party!

If you're a subscriber to Game Informer, you also get Game Infarcer. From the world of Mario:

We all know that the Mario gang has some of the wildest parties in the industry, but Key Party takes the gang into some saucy new territory. Hey, we all know things can get a little boring in a long-term relationship (Toad and Yoshi have been domestic partners since '92), so why not spice things up with some gameplay that puts a new spin on the term "multiplayer?" Using the Wii remote to select a key from the fishbowl, you'll find out who you'll be hooking up with for the evening. From there, let's just say things ge interesting, and feature some motion control moves we never thought we'd see.

From Princess Peach to Kirby, the whole crew takes it to the next level in this one, and we even find out that some Nintendo heroes we thought we knew had some definite skeletons in their closet. Hey, has anyone seen Link and Wario? Wonder where they went off to...

Now that's a spicy meat-a-ball!

Raise a Glass for Reason in America: Beer!

75 years ago, our idiot government had a brain fart long enough to pause a continued stream of stupidity and repealed Prohibition. Today marks the first recovering beer deliveries. From the Beer Institute:

"The last 75 years powerfully demonstrate that a healthy beer industry strengthens our overall economy," said Beer Institute President Jeff Becker. "Looking forward, fair tax policies are essential to ensuring that brewers and beer importers can continue supporting the more than 1.7 million jobs we have created and $190 billion provided annually to the economy."

Fair taxes aside - Cleveland area still enjoys a "sin tax" on all alcohol and tobacco years after the stadium that it was meant to pay for was completed; and you can't smoke there - this is a cause for celebration.

So raise a glass in cheers for those who made it possible, and raise a joint for those working hard to reform the other idiot prohibitions still in existence.