all my hEroes are going to ground

David Thomas "Davy" Jones
Dec 20, 1945  -  Feb 29, 2012

I spent much of the mid to late sixties in Spain, but I remember how delighted I was at just 9 years old to discover, upon returning to the states, that television in America did not feature endless reruns of Roger Ramjet, and the Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle. All of a sudden there were real Saturday morning cartoons like Johnny Quest, Scooby Doo, Here Comes the Grump, H.R. Puffinstuff and, of course, The Monkees.

I loved the show, loved their only movie Head, and even loved waxing nostalgic when MTV ran constant reruns way back when MTV was actually "Music Television." In that much simpler time, there were records on the back of cereal boxes; The Archies, Jackson 5, Josie & the Pussycats, Bobby Sherman, & The Monkees. I remember asking my mom to buy Honey Combs Cereal just to get the Monkees' Valleri. The quality was crap, but come on! Music on the back of a cereal box? What could be cooler than that to a 10-year old?

Years later, I remember an interview I saw with Davy Jones some years after the Monkees' reunion during which Davy spoke about how hard and lean the years were between the end of The Monkees and their reunion. He said, and I paraphrase, when you have money and fame, when you're on top of the world, everyone want to give you money. But when you're out of the limelight, you can't even get a bank loan; no one will give you anything, even if you really need it.

That bit of interview has stayed with me; mostly because it's a sad epitaph to our culture of celebrity.

In the end Davy Jones landed on his feet, and I love him for it. He leaves behind a wife and four daughters, and three band mates. His last performance was a solo gig on February 19th, in Oklahoma.

David Thomas "Davy" Jones

Just last August, when I was turning 51, Davy himself was quoted as saying, somewhat prophetically, "I used to be a heartthrob, now I'm a coronary." Oddly enough, he died on Leap Day. And, as Davy was himself a consummate joker, I feel free to add my own sad quip... He was kind enough to die on a day we won't have to think about more than once every four years. 

But that's not true. I'll remember him every time I listen to a Monkees CD, or watch (for the umpteenth time) the movie "Head," which I must say lives up to its billing in the film's intro... These guys were a class act, and never took themselves too seriously.



From the intro to Head:


"Ditty Diego - War Chant"
 [Listen]

Well? [Mike]
Are you kidding? [Groupie]
Hey now wait a minute! [Mike]

Hey hey we are the Monkees
You know we love to please
A manufactured image
With no philosophies

We hope you like our story
Although there isn't one
That is to say there's many
That way there is more fun

You told us you like action
And games of many kinds
You like to dance, we like to sing
So let's all lose our minds!

We know it doesn't matter,
Cause what you came to see
Is what we'd love to give you,
And give it one, two, three! 

But there may come three, two, one, two
Or jump from nine to five,
And when you see the end in sight
The beginning may arrive!

For those who look for meaning,
And form as they do facts,
We might tell you one thing
But we'd only take it back

Not back like in a box back
Not back like in a race,
Not back so we can keep it,
But back in time and space!

You say we're manufactured,
To that we all agree,
So make you choice and we'll rejoice
In never being free!

Hey hey we are the Monkees,
We've said it all before
The money's in we're made of tin
We're here to give you more!

The money's in we're made of tin
We're here to give you...

Goodbye, Davy. It was all in good fun. Thanks for all the memories, and may God grant you peace and rest, and comfort to family and friends, and fans worldwide.

Because you were such a big part of our lives growing up, we are all Monkees now.

fast, faster, fastest

You know what? I like The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. I like it a lot. I watched it Saturday afternoon for the 4th or 5th time. I know it catches a lot go flack, but the haters are just ticked that it's not a Vin Diesel flick. But I love Lucas Black. I don't think we get to see enough of this young man in movies or TV. I know, I know, Tokyo Drift is basically "Karate Kid" with ricers... albeit fast ones... but I love just love this movie.

In all fairness to the film, the second outing 2 Fast, 2 Furious isn't a great film at all. It's a very poor sophomore outing (on it's own*) with a weak plot, though it does advance the mythology somewhat (as did Tokyo Drift), but the way I see it, the first two films enjoyed some continuity in that Paul Walker stars in both. The third outing, Tokyo Drift messes with the continuity thing very differently, in that Vin Diesel shows up at the end, and one main character, Han, dies... which is strange, because Han is in Fast and Furious, the 4th film. The events of Fast and Furious take place before the third film, as one scene shows Han saying he's going to Tokyo where he's heard about an interesting racing scene happening. Strange continuity, but I love these films... especially Tokyo Drift. But Lucas Black is a good actor, and has far more depth than the likes of Shia LeBeouf!

*Strange Continuity - It's all explained here.





One of the most intriguing lines in Tokyo Drift, to me, is what the Yakuza uncle said to his nephew in reprimand... for an "overlooked detail"...

For want of a nail, the horseshoe was lost
For want of a horseshoe the steed was lost
For want of a steed the message was undelivered
For want of the undelivered message the war was lost

Speed-- too much of it --allows for greater slacking in one's attention to detail. No detail is trivial. Every step on any journey of any distance is important.




Scientists have proven wrong, it is feared, the foundation upon which modern physics is built.

Speed of light 'broken' at CERN, scientists claim

The science world was left in shock when workers at the world’s largest physics lab announced they had recorded subatomic particles travelling faster than the speed of light.

If the findings are proven to be accurate, they would overturn one of the pillars of the Standard Model of physics, which explains the way the universe and everything within it works.

Einstein’s theory of special relativity, proposed in 1905, states that nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. But researchers at the CERN lab near Geneva claim they have recorded neutrinos, a type of tiny particle, travelling faster than the barrier of 186,282 miles (299,792 kilometers) per second.

The results have so astounded researchers that American and Japanese scientists have been asked to verify the results before they are confirmed as a discovery.

If it turns out to be true, don't expect too many people to be banging the drum for the "new world order" in the physical world. Change comes slowly to enlightened thinkers. Especially when said change threatens to alter the established order; careers, fortunes, prestige, and power could be lost. Truth get's blurred when fortunes, careers, and power structures are threatened.

German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860) had this to say about Truth...

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

This is seen even today in the fields of medicine and physical science. As it was in the days of Galileo, so it is today: western medicine, man-made global warming, evolution. Anyone who publicly doubts these canons is branded a heretic, or 'flat-earther,' and no better than a racist.

Regarding Medicine and Physical Science, there is too much money to be made off the fear of the eschewing the former to lift its metaphorical boot from the throats of its victims, and too much ideological capital already spent to allow the latter to ever admit its obvious flaws.

Here's a truth: The unregenerate heart will always seek to build its fortune on fear, be it of the personal or the preying upon variety, and fear will drive it to untold mongeries to build its fortunes higher than mere necessity dictates.

Avarice is king, necessity and truth be damned.

e's says, "it's monday!"

Let's start with a beaver. I like beavers. I like Mr. Beaver in the first Narnia movie. I like anything with innate ability to build a house... especially as it has to cut down the forest with its bleeding teeth to do so.

I also like Mel Gibson, despite the all-around angry guy he's become, or has finally allowed us to see. I've loved him as an actor ever since Galipoli, my first Mel Gibson film, a beautifully poignant and tragic historical epic.

I'd title this post as one in a long line of my "Pithy Reviews" but I haven't seen this film. I simply hope to. Judging strictly from the trailer alone it appears to be just what the doctor ordered for Mr. Gibson... both personally and professionally. I can only hope there is a lesson in the sets and dialogs of The Beaver that will give Mr. Gibson some personal clarity and, perhaps, a point in the right direction.

One review I've read claims this is not a drama... and is not meant to be comedic. I can only imagine how uncomfortable some might feel watching a man brought to this depth of depression and not be asked to laugh. The previews takes pains to make us want to laugh, so... how does that work? A drama that's not a comedy but asks us to laugh anyway. What is funny about a man who breaks down and struggles to find his way back? I hope I get to find out.

*    *    *

Pithy Review
(a few years late)

The Wrestler, starring Mickey Rourke. The most depressing movie I've ever seen. I want to say it was also beautiful, but now that I think about it... many of the camera shots were beautiful; the imagery was captivating, but there was nothing beautiful about the story. In short, The Wrestler is a personification of personal despair and flogging loneliness.

I'm not even sure I liked it; I felt enthralled by something I couldn't pull my eyes away from, like a train wreck you see coming but can't turn away from. There wasn't even a Rocky fanfare at the end... not at the beginning, the middle... no where. It opened without a shred of discernible hope, and it died that way. Even at the end with the hope of a Talia Shire moment in the person of Marisa Tomei... Nothing.

Disaster porn. You don't want to see the blood, the tears, or the bodies as you drive slowly by... but neither can you turn away. I've always liked Mickey Rourke, and his performance here was stellar, but a more depressing film he could not have made.

In the end I was, perhaps, more impressed that I sat all the way through it without changing the channel. Which means I'll likely watch it again sometime in the future.

*    *    *

Excerpts from:

The Trouble with Happiness
Alexander Green, Whiskey & Gunpowder, May 16, 2011

"Every life is lived between the poles of joy and sadness. Laughter and love are part of it. But so are pain and suffering. To deny the tragic aspects of the world is to suppress a large part of what it means to be human...

Great artists often try to awaken us — or stir our conscience — by reminding us of the more doleful aspects of life. In response to the 16th Street Church bombing in 1963, an attack by the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham that killed four girls, saxophonist John Coltrane wrote "Alabama," an instrumental work that expresses anguish and sorrow more eloquently than words.

In 1890, Vincent Van Gogh, overcome by feelings of worthlessness, walked out into the southern French countryside and shot himself in the gut with a pistol. Just 37, he died from the wound two days later. Yet in the previous two years — and despite his bleakness — he completed more than 200 paintings, many of them masterpieces.

Handel, after years spent at the top of the musical world, fell into terrible poverty, ill health, and deep depression. Yet from the depths of profound despair, he completed his greatest work, "Messiah."

Beethoven raged against advancing deafness and his own finitude, yet created immortal works during this period, including his Fifth Symphony; his only opera, Fidelio; his late string quartets; and the Ninth Symphony, with its triumphant "Ode to Joy."

We all want to be happy. But life is also about education, work, courage, honor, empathy, and resilience in the face of hardship. Real contentment comes from a feeling that your life is worthwhile, that it is dissolved into something meaningful and great. That leads to gratitude.

And gratitude, it turns out, is an indispensable part of happiness.

It's worth a read, if you have time.

pithy rEviews

Sucker Punch
viewed: 040211

Anyone who's seen the trailers? That's pretty much the movie, in terms of action. The creators chose not to tell you that there was another dark, depressing, less visual facet to their film. Nor did they bother to inform you that it is this other facet which propels all the action. Without the part you didn't know about, the rest falls apart.

As a whole, the movie is ultimately tragic; a Romeo & Juliet without a Romeo. You know how it's going to end in the first 8 minutes. They tell you. So don't be surprised or ticked off when it happens. But it's this knowledge that keeps you rooting for Baby Doll. You want her to win. You want her to escape her fate, but with the final rap of a small hammer it's done.

Sucker Punch succeeds very well in this respect; the investment you make in wishing her well. Another plus in Sucker Punch's favor is the music-- forget the art and color, you already knew that was in there. But the music! Specifically, White Rabbit (originally of Jefferson Airplane fame) by Emiliana Torrini.

She totally owns this tune. Before Emiliana all we had was Jefferson Airplanes cheap two-and-a-half minute, albeit great tune. Truly great. But Miss Torrini's version, clocking in at just under 5 minutes 10 seconds... modern, embellished, loud and explosive, is worth the .99 cents I spent to download at Amazon. Jefferson Airplane ends White Rabbit abruptly with little fanfare, leaving you wanting more. It's a shame it took 40 years for someone to explore the lengths to which Jefferson Airplane could have taken this iconic tune.

You may have heard Sucker Punch described as 'eye-candy'. Well, it is. The whole thing, not just the hookerishly-clad chickies. Even the depressing parts. And that's about as negative I can be. Would I buy this on DVD? I haven't decided yet.

But I am pleased with my music download.

paranormal frEaktivity!

E watched Paranormal Activity tonight. Paid 4.99 to Comcast OnDemand to watch, and simultaneously burn to DVD. This was one SCARY movie! I was totally freaked! I had to go online to assure myself that this movie was a fake.

Having done that [as well as taking a dose of GABA and 5HTP] I'll now be able to get some sleep.

Really! For a fake documentary I was on the verge of sleeplessness-- and I need all the sleep I can get going into this very long and tiresome week ahead.

About halfway through this movie I looked at my roommate and said, 'What that chick needs is Jesus! No way a demon's going to get the best of her with the Holy Spirit taking up residence!'

What made this movie so scary for me? I had the luxury of knowing nothing about the film prior to viewing. Even now knowing it's a fake, it's so well done it's still creeping me out.

e's wEekly brain dump

I never would have bothered otherwise, because I am loathe to like or appreciate anything Oprah Winfrey promotes-- this has nothing to do with skin color --but it was on the Disney Channel this morning and I had nothing else to do, so I watched Akeelah and the Bee. Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett? amazing actors both, so I was sure I could get something out of it. And that I did.

In my previous post I spoke of fear... of moving on... of fleeing in spite of the guns that awaited. Fear will keep a man in a situation he would otherwise flee the moment his situation is truly grasped. I know fear. So did Akeelah. And her instructor, Mr. Fishburne, told her to read a quote that was framed upon the wall of his office...

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won't feel unsure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. As we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

--Marianne Williamson

I can find nothing wrong with this statement, but I can find something to add.

Like the three servants, each given differing amounts of talents by their master, we are charged to use what we are given to not only enrich the Lord who bestowed to us our talents, and to demonstrate our faithfulness to his command, but to also show his glory through the gifts he has given that others might be drawn to him. We can choose to bury our talents, but then our Lord is not enriched, we are become unfaithful, and our light does not shine.

Were we all given candles and we chose not to light them, what light then would shine to draw others to shelter? God gives us our gifts for a reason. To not light that candle, is to tell God he is wrong about you... that you couldn't possibly do what he already knows you can. It is fear that keeps the candle unlit, that buries our talents that none can be thereby edified. We fear the kind of success HE asks of us.

* * *

I have come to realize that as much as you might want something, that something may not want you. Sometimes you have to let it go, and set your sights on something else. Only pain can result from chasing what does not wish to be caught.

e's wEekly brain dump

I did something this week I swore I'd never do... create a MySpace page. And now that's I've got one I haven't a clue what to do with it. I have to be careful, however, to make sure nothing potential future employers [or girlfriends or people whom I respect, or will come to respect] see or read that would paint me in a negative light. I wish to retain a measure of respect from everyone I meet. Sounds fair, right? I deserve the best, and will therefore avoid posting anything that might serve me a less palatable future experience.

I see a lot of customized pages there, but haven't managed to figure that part of it out. I had enough of a time figuring out Facebook, and I haven't really got a good handle on that one either.

Twitter? Piece of cake. Worthless, but a piece of cake... a novelty, if you will. Kinda like one of those creepy mechanical monkeys that clang together those irritating brass cymbals.

BrightKite? A completely useless account... a glorified digital flare gun. Woo Hoo! Like I want folks to know where I'm at at any given hour of the day.

These new sites seem geared toward the dispensing of personal privacy. Why would anyone want to lose every shred of privacy they have by letting complete and total strangers into just about every intimate detail of your life? Seems to me that if you have any respect for yourself at all you'd jealously guard your reputation AND privacy both! But not the yoots of today.

Anyway, all this is a process of acclimation the station is putting us through. We are all being forced into the digital age whether we want it or not. I've been blogging for years so I'm not a stranger to that part of it. And as to that part, I intend to keep it separate from all the new accounts the station wants us to create. I'm not sure how, as a graphic artist for the station's website, or as a videographer for the Creative Services department, Twitter, MySpace, BrightKite, or even Facebook will serve the station. But I can see some need for being "in touch" with emerging technologies and trends. So I'll go along with their evil schemes to corner the local viewer/traffic market. Edging out the local paper and utterly destroying that other station.

It's all part of the ratings game.

* * *

I had another long and quite lovely lunch with the lovely LeNeé-- I even told my roommate about my new 'lunch buddy'. I did most of the talking, I believe. Man, but it just felt so nice being able to talk and express my thoughts without having to guard every word. It was quite freeing. I wasn't the least bit nervous. And she responded openly, even welcomingly. And I appreciate her all the more for it.

She asked a day or so prior if I'd be interested in seeing "New Moon" with her when it comes to the theaters. I told her I hadn't even seen "Twilight," at which she insisted I rent it. Well, I hate movie rentals so I did the next best thing, which was order it off Comcast OnDemand. For $2.99 I watched a film I had no real desire to see, while burning it to DVD for future consumption.

In fairness to those who like the movie, it was a pretty decent film as teenage angst/vampire films go, and I admit I enjoyed it. I wouldn't have spent the price of a movie ticket for it, let alone buy the DVD, but thanks to Comcast, and one cent short of three bucks, I achieved the same end. Not only that, having seen the first, I will also own up to a desire to see "New Moon".

Now here's the question:

Am I interested in seeing the film? Or am I interested in sitting in the dark, and sharing popcorn, with LeNeé?

There's time enough to figure that one out.

Tangentially to the first portion of this post, I came across LeNeé's MySpace page yesterday afternoon, and that more than the station's insistence, prompted me to create my own MySpace page much earlier than I otherwise would have. I also saw a pic of what I assume is the guy she's still sweet on, despite being broke-up. He's looks older than me, and is much more buff, which is saying a lot since I am not even remotely "buff."

And no, I did not send a request to be friends with her. I'm content to let nature take its course.

Speaking of which...

Did you read my previous post?

* * *

I mentioned earlier that I told Cristal about my "lunch buddy." Yes, I did. But I presented it in such a way as to NOT make it sound like I was trying to date LeNeé, which I am not-- it's important you know this. Just as important as it was to make sure Cristal knew this. She was a little jealous. And if I could tell she was a little J, it's pretty sure she was "a lot" J. She wanted to know why I never called her to meet me for lunch. What was I supposed to say?

Should I have told her that I always have to guard what I say for fear of angering her? That her personality is so strong and overpowering that mine is never allowed enough sunlight through the shade of her own limbs to allow me anything other than stunted personal and communicative growth? And this is the primary reason I asked LeNeé to lunch in the first place. I have to learn to socialize with other people... especially women. And, believe it or not, I even told LeNeé this during our first lunch. I wanted to make sure she understood I wasn't trying to hit on her, whatever my heart really desired. But, as I related in a recent poem: I know the difference between Intrigue and Infatuation.

I am intrigued. Nothing more.

For now.