Notes and Meditations

The Mrs. and I are back on the road. We've completed our third move in four months. This nomad thing has got to stop. It will soon enough.

Of course, the place we're living doesn't have internet access. I haven't forgotten you and I'll keep pluggin' away as I can, but until I have consistent access it will continue to be catch as catch can, I'm afraid

Hey Guys,

Are you looking to woo that special someone. Why not take her out some place special and pick her up something nice to wear.

Something like this. It's a dress worn by Vicki Lawrence in an Episode of Mama's Family. It's on the auction block another week, but so far the high bid is $26 bucks.

Surely your sweetie's worth more than that.

I must say one of the entrepreneurial dreams I harbor is to open my own independent soda company. I can just imagine gleaming conveyor belts gliding along with crystal bottles just waiting to be filled with every imaginable concoction.

I dream about taking on the big boys, Coke and Pepsi, cutting into their market share with our superior product and brilliant marketing.

Sure, it might be tough, but not impossible. The soda world is probably a lot more volatile place than you think.

Last year some guys made quite a stir by putting their special Turkey and Gravy soda on the market. A few bottles went for more than $100 on eBay. Now, their back with side dishes including green beans and casserole, and mashed potato sodas.

See what I'm saying. Anything can happen.

In my adolescence, I sat through "Death Spa". I've seen a number of Troma films including this one. I've even seen some truly frightening films no human being should have to see.

Rare are the times when I can slog through to the end of some odious piece of celluloid rubbage.

This week, I found one that made the "unwatchable list," short as it may be.

I plucked last year's "Alex and Emma" from the new release shelf at Blockbuster. Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson star. He's supposed to be a novelist who can't type; she is his stenographer.

I knew making it through was going to be tough when in the first five minutes some very rough looking Cuban men hang Wilson upsode down off his balcony twice. I knew this movie was going to have a lot to apologize for. The whole thing is only 89 minutes or so, not enough time to make up for such a cliched opening. I bailed at about minute 58.

I reccomend you avoid this one.

I've been on a kick lately using the internet to look back at what the culture was like when I was a kid.

I found this Web page to help me do it. It's full of links to galleries of food packaging, toys and television shows from the '70's.

One thing I've noticed is that when I was a kid you could go to the store and get toys with a generic "army" theme, or a generic "space" theme. I remember I once got a package of little plastic men in space suits and their shuttle-like ship in a single package. Now that I think about it, you could also get a package of generic cowboys as well.

Things have changed. It seems like every time I peruse a toy aisle these days all I see is Shrek's big ugly mug or some equally atrocious marketing tie-in. The desire to tie as many toy products to movies and television shows is making slow war against children's imaginations, evicting the creative aspect of play and reducing children to mere entertainment consumers.

Too bad.