They Love to Make Me Laugh

This was so fun; I laughed out loud, and watched all the alternate endings. The majority of Youtube.com creative stuff just doesn’t really make it outside of a million random silly thoughts that I have on my own. When someone stretches, or better yet, breaks out of my own strange imagination, particularly in a clever way, I am tickled by this. The video above stretched enough to be worth my while, and to subscribe to see more. Be on the lookout for Shrek, by Shay, auditioning for Robin Hood! Very funny silly stuff.

I think the funniest stuff comes from the stuff we’re familiar with, but with a twist. I think the biggest laugh can come from stuff we're scared of. Also things we'd be afraid to admit we have thought about. Have you ever had something devastating happen and you responded in laughter? Laughter is just like tears; an overflow of emotion. I love to laugh, and can forgive anyone able to make me laugh!

Top 5 Comedic Geniuses, IMHOToday are:

1. Kurt Vonnegut; a novelist who could literally make me laugh and cry in a single page. I often laughed at something and then had a cold chill that he could make me laugh at such tragic things. Brilliant, black humorist.

2. Lucille Ball; I know I know, but after seeing "I Love Lucy" many thousands of time there are still moments of genuine belly laughter, by some subtle gestures along with garish slapstick. She really was a genius!

3. Carl Reiner, by way of the Dick Van Dyke Show; for better or worse this show is the basis upon which I judge all comedy. It had everything, and it was the best of the best!

4. Mel Brooks; "Blazing Saddles", High Anxiety", "Young Frankenstein", need I say more?

5. Peter Sellers; "Being There" made me laugh out loud repeatedly, something I do rarely, except in conversation with my very clever friends. The Pink Panther movies are far more clever than just simple slapstick, and I never get tire of seeing them.

So many I haven't listed here (Looney Tunes, Woody Allen, Jack Lemon, Eve Arden, Gilda Radner, Alec Baldwin, Red Skelton, Chris Rock, Bob Hope, The Three Stooges), but you get the picture, and I am grateful, for they have made the hard times so much more bearable! Here's to you, funny people! "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer in your pants" from the eulogy for Chuckles the Clown

Independance Day Quotes

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. ~Thomas Paine

http://www.quotegarden.com/fourth-of-july.html


There’s a saying unrelated to politics that says “Youth is wasted on the young”, and while I don’t agree with it, I do see an important warning in the sliver of truth the saying contains. That is we must urge this generation to learn from our mistakes, and to pay attention to history so that it won’t be repeated.

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have. ~Harry Emerson Fosdick


We “old folk” must alert this present generation that freedom is not free. That even though for most of our parents and grandparents, freedom is all we’ve ever known, that doesn’t mean we are safe forever.

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

In the timber of political correctness, and “tolerance” (that used to be such a beautiful word) we are actually forfeiting our right not to agree with the main stream. I know it sounds fanatical and paranoid, but how much longer will I be allowed to carry a Bible that has “hate speech” against the practice of homosexuality or witch craft?

America is much more than a geographical fact. It is a political and moral fact - the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality. ~Adlai Stevenson


Back in the 1970’s a very conservative doctor of theology, named Dr. Gene Scott stood for the rights of a homosexual church. People were shocked, but he explained that if we don’t stand up for the rights of all men that we ultimately all lose our rights. I haven’t forgotten that lesson. I want to pass it on to you.

This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith. ~Lyndon B. Johnson

And on more bit of wisdom:

A statistician made a few calculations and discovered that since the birth of our nation more lives had been lost in celebrating independence than in winning it. ~Curtis Billings

Don’t be a statistic; don’t drink and drive. You’re freedom to do both is at the expense of others freedom to keep breathing unharmed.

Thank you to all who have suffered and sacrificed for my right to say what I like here and all over America.

God Bless Her!

4th of July

If you have a right to respect,
that means other people don't have a right to their own opinions.
Thomas Sowell


This my friends on the night of the 4th of July is the independence we are surely losing, and that is our right to think as we choose, and the freedom of speech to say things, yes even hateful things about one another.

I despise racism, truly but we must allow the racist his opportunity to speak or ultimately we lose our right to say what others may think is hateful. I think people who do physical harm to others because they hate what that person represents should be punished to the maximum of the law, no matter what that victim may represent. I don’t believe in abortion or in people who are hateful or violent to abortion doctors. Jesus said if you hate your brother then you’re a murderer.

In a course on ethics many years ago we discussed an existing group that believed sex between consenting children and adults should be legal. I asked why we didn’t just lock up every sick member of this group. Why should we protect the rights of perverts like that? Who in their right mind could think that was OK? My instructor gave a hypothetical situation and asked what if a proponent of this group became our leader and decided this was fine and made it law to speak against this perversion?

Most people I have met shouldn’t reproduce. It’s a fact; some really nice people make pretty lousy parents. Now, who decides who gets to have children? What are they allowed to be taught? Spanked? How should they be educated? When the government gets the job of protecting us, how long before they are protecting us from ourselves?

This is the beauty of our system of government. When it is not being twisted out of shape it has checks and balances so that power cannot shift in one direction for long enough to do permanent damage. The voters have enough control without allowing mob mentality to do anything stupid. Presidents, Congress and the Supreme Court all have great power; power to change and power to help or hurt, but ultimately only power enough to make a huge mark and not enough to send our system crumbling down.

Be careful with the responsibility you have as a citizen of this great country or you truly might not have it much longer.







"If a nation values anything more than freedom,
it will Lose its freedom: and the irony of it is that
if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will
lose that, too."
William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), British writer

Rube-Thanks for Legitimizing MY Way of LIfe

I remember doing a math quiz in 5th grade that required us to show our work. After looking over my papers, the teacher accused me of cheating from my neighbor’s quiz since my calculative work looked like gibberish. After leading the teacher through all the laborious tasks and 28 steps to arrive at my correct sums, she drew a couple of lines with arrows showing the 20 unnecessary steps I had taken to arrive at the answer. This was the first time I was introduced to the Rube Goldberg principle. It certainly wasn't the last.

I was about ten years old, learning the joy of cooking, when I was mixing too much Nestle Quick into a glass of milk. Hoping to make the ultimate in chocolaty goodness, I literally broke a sweat stirring this concoction, using my entire body to make the maximum motion possible.

When my mom stepped into the room she asked me what I was doing. After explaining that I was trying to mix the chocolate into the milk as much as was possible she asked why I didn't just make a more rapid motion at the wrist. I can't be positive but I sense she whispered "Rube" as she left the kitchen.

Some of us were born with a lack of common sense, seeing the distance between two points never as a straight line. We could be arguably dismissed as nitwits with no earthly purpose at all, and then, in enters Rube Goldberg, who made an art form of useless steps to arrive at some small task. The board game Mousetrap (did anybody ever really play the game?) was the epitome of this silly endeavor, but most kids had a great time setting it up and watching it all come undone.

Now as an adult I have been praised for my ability to think outside the box. To problem solve in creative ways and offer alternative solutions that bring originality to age old concerns. They don't seem to recognize that I can't see what's inside their box of typical easy answers, and I figure there's no benefit to my mentioning it.
http://www.rubegoldberg.com/

Dance

One of my lessons learned in life is regrets have no point unless you use them to change your mind. INHOToday, once you’ve used them, then cast them away and don’t let them visit with you. They are like a shiftless brother-in-law, hoping to live with you forever!

The biggest regret I am willing to put in flickering black and white is about dance. I always loved dance and wanted to be a dancer. Music is meant to be moved to even as your body stays in place. It shakes, stirs, rattles & rolls, and sometimes even cradles you as you listen. As a kid I just couldn’t handle any more ridicule than I was already taking for not being…..a sunbeam slice of bread; white, soft and perfectly shaped as all the other slices in the bag.


Quest Crew


So I ignored the dancer in me, though as I matured he did escape at every wedding reception and disco I could land in. Dancing made me feel free and happy and something beautiful inside me came pouring out, whether what you could see was good or not.

Most of my twenties and thirties I spent dancing in all different kinds of clubs and it has never ceased to be a joy for me. I have also always loved to watch dance; poetry in motion to the timed rhythms of the music. It is the best of life; math and music. It’s the physics of human anatomy and the intangible expressions of the soul.

The three videos express the span and greatness that dance can be. Believe me I could have posted thousands, but I picked three I hoped you might really like and may never have seen before. At least I doubt you’ve seen all three.

The first video, Quest Crew, is an amazing blend of the discipline of martial arts and the kinetic flailing, hops and squats of hip hop. They are brilliant and I have never seen a group dance better together.


West Side Story's Prolouge



Their Predecessors? The brilliance of a choreographer named Jerome Robbins and a piece from West Side Story. This was dance emerging from classical and popular training of the day used in more organic ways. The art form presented as an extension of natural movement, rather than a precise dance done to a precise beat. It so beautifully fits the cultural time and music of this play. You must watch for about 3 minutes before you start to see genuinely magnificent dancing. These guys appear to be suspended in time as they leap together.

The last piece is about more traditional dance, with a surgeon’s precision, and a musician’s heart. Notice the music is non-traditional; perfect art isn’t limited to certain parameters. The passion and discipline necessary to achieve greatness as a ballet dancer is as remarkable as climbing Everest!

So my lesson learned, forget what people think of you and do what brings joy and passion into your life. About dance? It will never stop as long as there is music to move you within.


Classical Ballet

Have Some Fries-We Need a Shake With That.

Christina Hendricks: "I Felt Beautiful" Gaining "15 Pounds"
Us Magazine - June 30, 2010 4:19 PM PDT
"Mad Men" star Christina Hendricks says she's always been proud of her curvier figure.

"Back when I was modeling, the first time I went to Italy I was having cappuccinos every day, and I gained 15 pounds. And I felt gorgeous!" Hendricks, 35, tells the July/August issue of Health. "I would take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, Oh, I look like a woman. And I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, 'cause I loved it!"
http://omg.yahoo.com/news/christina-hendricks-i-felt-beautiful-gaining-15-pounds/43174?nc

IMHOToday, by far, the most beautiful woman in the public eye is Christina Hendricks. (Michelle Pfeiffer, if you’re reading this-no one will ever take that part of me that belongs only to you). I began watching “Mad Men” because I caught a glimpse of her during channel surfing, and was sure I had plugged into something produced in the 60’s; after all, in this culture they would never allow a woman that beautiful not to look like a third world famine victim.

Besides being unattractive, the emaciated lifestyle body weight most celebrity women live at cannot be healthy. Women were designed to hold onto some fat, and most men really like it!

Prior to the 1990’s curves have always been assets to women (Okay there were 1920’s flapper girls in potato sacks, but the farm girls still filled out their overalls) and appreciated by the majority of men as well. I think it is women’s perception of women that makes them so dissatisfied with their appearance.


Back when it was tougher to get fat, those Rubenesque women were the rage. The bottom line is that some of us need to feel superior to others. So we go to the more difficult extremes and then make that extreme be the standard as the best possible way to be. Then the rest of us, in our sheep-like condition, decide they must be right and we start fighting our way to the same condition.

Women enjoy your body the way it is now. Don’t wait twenty years to realize how beautiful you are today. Hey you, young aspiring fashion designer, instead of making bigger designs that only look good on stick figures, start making really beautiful clothes that flatter really voluptuous women and see a niche that could use some filling!

Silver in the Darkest of Clouds

Randall Cunningham's 2-year-old son dies

The 2-year-old son of former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham died after he was found floating in a backyard hot tub Tuesday afternoon, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/nflnewsfeed/2010/06/randall-cunninghams-2-year-old-son-dies.html

There is almost nothing to compare to the death of a child; I can’t begin to imagine the depth of pain and sorrow one must endure through that kind of loss. My prayers will be with the Cunningham family, to ease their suffering and to see some glimmer of redemption.

Those who have experienced this kind of loss will hopefully understand what I mean. Nothing can take the pain fully away, yet finding a positive action resulting from tragic events is the impetus for many great works. Otherwise, all that’s left is torment and regret.

Cindy Lightner grieved the loss of her 13 year old daughter; but that’s not all, she also founded the organization, “Mothers Against Drunk Driving” or MADD, and created a national awareness of those innocents who are killed by the reckless.

While discussing the abduction and murder of a poor little girl, named Amber Hagerman, on a local Dallas radio show, a caller asked why the media couldn’t be alerted by police when a child went missing. That was the birth of the Amber Alert System. Well over 300 children have been rescued since that day, and though it won’t remove the pain of the Hagerman family, it may be a balm of comfort to know her death resulted in the preservation of other children's lives.

The Cunninghams are people of faith and I trust that they will turn to the One who can carry burdens too big for us mortals to bear. In the mean time, let’s not wait for another child to lose his life. Make sure your pools, hot tubs and Jacuzzi’s are well guarded from toddlers who know no fear. Keep them close, because losing them is too high a price.
Triumph Born of Tragedy