Thanksgiving

This was a post, never before published, from thanksgiving. Please ignore the typos... I'm sure you'll enjoy this work, while I devote my time to a more current post...

My friend, K is always good about being thankful. Thankful for all we have as Americans. Even with, a maybe corrupt and definitely too secretive administration. We still have a great country. It is an anomable to have to resort to begging to get food and shelter. actually, using the great secret tools at my disposal. I found out that 36 million Americans live below the poverty line. 700 million of the world's population goes hungry...

100 billion pounds of food is wasted in America each year. and I believe that's not counting food "consumed" in eating competitions. speaking of wasting... if we are serious about fixing the world's problems, starting with say, Global Warming, we should demand that all sports car racing, is done with hybrids. Sure the races might be slower, but isn't the point of sports to see how you compare to everyone else? does it really matter to the 100,000 fans in the stands that the car they are rooting for is only traveling at 55 mph? I mean the best driver, is the fastest, assuming everyone is using the same type of engine and vehicle. Think about the endurance required to travel 500 miles at 55 mph... that's 9 hours of driving. it'd be like seeing a resident complete her 30 hour shift, having to make crucial life and death decisions after 29 hours of work.

it is important to be thankful for what you have.... remember the 36 million Americans that don't. and Don't waste food. or gas.

40 days and 40 nights

Some movies inspire you because they are deep. Some surprise you. Others are out to get a tear, letting you cry away your sorrows. some a belly full of laughs.

But I don't think 40 days and 40 nights, starring Josh Hartnett, is deep, surprising, tear-jerking, and while it is funny, doesn't make your belly hurt. it is really suppose to be just enjoyable (which is probably why it has so many sex scenes). It was on tv last night.

I'm pretty sure this upcoming fact is intended. perhaps even the point of the movie. 40... presents a world, SF, where everyone is on the same page. Everyone knows the bagel guy. Everyone finds out about Josh's pledge of abstinence. All the guys and girls are all betting on when he will give into his masculine desires. Even how it will happen (will there be a lucky lady involved?). There is just so much love (and togetherness) in the movie. It creates like this utopian world of the young, where everyone is actually living in the same world, or at least social circle, having a good time and getting laid. Maybe that's how it is for the cool people. while the rest of us are stuck in our own unique.... unpleasant place.

coming back to the Bay Area from DC. I feel like I left the world, where I was more or less apart of it to move back to SF, where I am in my own unique, unpleasant place. In DC, it just kind of happened organically that I became apart of the goings on. it certainly helped to have housemates and be on a friendly swimming team. not that I didn't have problems, but I think there is just a mindset shift, when you think you are a part of a larger group, than when you feel like you are alone or just have a few friends . In fact, I don't think anything physical or real has to shift, for my mind to go from feeling isolated to feeling apart of it. Watching 40 days, made me realize what exactly I was missing. To be honest, I found it inspiring. Am I alone here?

My Dad's Johnny Otis Movie

This is a video blurb from the local rag in lovely Sebastopol, CA, where my dad previewed a documentary biopic he is making on Johnny Otis.


Otis is an RnB composer, performer, producer, businessman, visual artist, preacher and was nearly mayor of Berkeley - a distinctly American renaissance man. His biggest pop hit was "Willie And The Hand Jive", the song from the dance-off scene in Grease (who didn't cry for Olivia Newton John?), but he is also the notable, but less than duly noted talent behind "(You Ain't Nothin' But a) Hound Dog", made famous by Elvis, but sung here by the aptly monickered Big Mamma Thorton:

The Hills Run Red With The Blood Of Children >:o

The Festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is generally regarded as 'The Celtic New Year'.
-Wikipedia

Samhain, the root of much of modern Halloween, is the Gaelic word for November and the name of the feast held at the beginning of month to celebrate the harvest . But it was also a day to remember the dead. Kind of like a Celtic Thanksgiving and Dia de los Muertos rolled into one. It makes sense in a twisted, Irish sort of way. Celebration always implies it’s opposite: dread. You don’t celebrate something you take for granted, you celebrate things that you are holding onto for dear life, like abundant food in the fall that you pray will last through the coming winter. So Samhain has a dark side. An actual Irishman told me that the night of Samhain, while festive, is also known as “the night the hills run red with the blood of children”. This was probably just his Irish charm talking, but there is definitely something to the holiday’s devilish side as its surviving Halloween rituals attest. On what other holiday would you carve demonic, candle-lit faces into helpless squash, tell ghost stories to impressionable children and run through the night like a crazy person threatening your neighbors? Gotta love it.

But seriously…Halloween is a profound holiday. Coca Cola and Hallmark have pretty much scrubbed clean the rest of the American calendar, but Halloween is still bad. It’s a night when you don’t exorcise demons, you embrace them; a night to accept that chaos, unpredictability and pain are part of all of our lives. A night to remind us that bad things do happen to good people so you just have to roll with the punches. Hopefully that makes us stronger or at least makes the journey more bearable. Here is a serendipitous example of that Halloween black magic in action.

Also:
The custom of the Jack O'Lantern has its roots in 5th century Ireland, where the people would light candles inside of turnips to scare away spirits.