Reckless Aging

 

   Life Hack: If you hit your thumb dead-on with a framing hammer, heat a needle and stick it straight into the middle of your thumbnail to relieve the pressure caused by the hemorrhaging underneath it.

   Or don't - depends upon how squeamish you are, and whether or not you can exert the somewhat gentle but strong force necessary to penetrate your thumbnail with a hot needle.

   Oh, criminy, stop being a big wuss and just do it, it'll relieve the pain fairly quickly and might save your nail.

   Then soak the thumb in a solution of clean water and Epsom salts. Might then want to but a bandage on after the soaking/cleaning - one of those extremely large mummy bandages like you see in cartoons would be best.

Going Nowhere On Thirty, Maybe Forty Dollars A Day

 He told me that all he needed to get through a day

Was thirty, maybe forty dollars

That was enough, he mumbled through what teeth he had left

To get enough of a gig

For himself, and maybe this little girl he knew

If she was willing to earn it, that is

Life is cheap if you live in a thicket of trees near an overpass

The Closest Living Relatives To Birds

 

                                                                          Wait, what?

Sometimes the kid next door learns something new that he absolutely has to share with the entire neighborhood. This afternoon, as several of us neighbors were enjoying Easter dinner together, he approached me with the question, "Do you know what the closest living relatives to birds are?'

My response was "Other birds?" and he promptly declared that I was wrong, and that the closest living relatives to birds were crocodiles.

Which I then responded to by saying "Wow, who woulda thunk, that's very interesting."

Later, after dinner and after all the folding tables and chairs had been put away as well as the dishes, I got on the ol' internet to check the veracity of that statement.

Whaddya know, the kid was right. Good to know he's paying attention at school.

Five Interpretations Of A Young Model, 1938

 

                                                Ann Gutkin, 26, model featured in Life magazine in 1938

Life magazine covered all the visual bases back in the day. International photojournalism was the mainstay of the publication, but occasionally a few pages were dedicated to artists and models. This model, Ann Gutkin, lived in Greenwich Village which even then was fairly Bohemian. Five New York artists were commissioned to create impressions of her make-up free appearance.  

Alexander Brook gives Ann doe eyes and portrays her as if she is deciding what to wear (or not wear) to the next big Bacchanalian shindig she'll be attending

Jerry Farnsworth's painting of Ann is more restrained, and looks a bit stiff, which may have been the result of a not-so-comfortable pose.

Leon Kroll added a somewhat gratuitous heart in the small of Ann's back and titled this painting Ann in White Scarf.

Ann Brockman added a few pounds to Ann's frame and placed her outdoors near the ol' swimming hole, swimsuits optional

Robert Brackman had Ann pose with a water pitcher while standing behind his wife Frances, who is posed as if she was considering a refill.

Grandiosity For Grandiosity's Sake

   

   Perhaps today would be one of those memorable days, a day of energy and creativity that only the truly remarkable men and women of history have ever experienced, a day of not only the imagining of fantastic ideas, but of also achieving them, of seeing them through from conception to gestation to birth.

   It could happen, it is possible, that the necessary focus would manifest itself, allowing for the dissolution of every possible barrier to that elusive wellspring that he yearned to tap into. His very soul shuddered at the prospect of finally being so inspired that originality would flow from his fingertips like the snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada's during the early summer.

   Or not. After all, the sun was out now and it would be a shame to waste the day staying indoors.

The Real Story...Or The Real Fabrication?

Some people call some news fake news

Fabrications. Paid points of view

Press releases

Lies  

                                                                                 Apparently

                                                                           Which is which

                                                                       All depends on the

Side of the divide you're on

Funny that, eh? 

War Movies Suck

    I was asked what my favorite war movie was and after thinking about it for awhile I came to the conclusion that I no longer have a favorite war movie.

   I used to. I used to like movies such as The Sand Pebbles, Apocalypse Now, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, Full Metal Jacket, The Big Rad One, and Saving Private Ryan, but these days I cannot watch any of those films without being distracted by the fact that all of those films are portraying the worst of human behavior as entertainment.

   And that just doesn't work for me. 

   Yeah, yeah, I know, some of those movies were made to show how pointless war is, but that's something that rarely works to effect, at least not in my experience.

   Yeah, I also know that fighting a war against an invading force can be absolutely necessary for survival - I'm not contesting that.

   What I'm saying here is that making a movie about war for entertainment purposes sucks.