Train of Thought

Train of Thought from Leo Bridle on Vimeo.

Those who have departed in 2010

Hollywood Moves Away From Middlebrow

I saw this in the New York Times today. Here is the article. What it boils down to is that movie goers are demanding better movies or they will spend their big movie money elsewhere. Somehow they have, or are just now getting the message. Better movies or empty seats.

Hieronymus Bosch. The Stone Operation. 1475-1480. Oil on panel. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

The Stone Operation. There was an old Dutch saying for a person of odd behavior that he had 'a stone in the head'. Trading on credulity of simple people, charlatans would offer to extract stones. They always found patients among those with headaches. The 'surgeon' would then tie his patient safely to a bench, make a small cut and under cries, moans and groans of the victim produce a pebble or two covered with blood. These 'surgeons' were a popular object of satire in the 17th century.

Great and good are seldom the same man

"Great and good are seldom the same man."
Winston Churchill

Great men I venture do not set out to be great men, but effective men. A contemporary of Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, one of the top three United States presidents, had to use untruths, half truths and misdirection to help England stave off Hitler when America was in it's isolationist period. He initiated Lend-Lease, a put up way to provide arms to England, and convinced Congress that we had to build up our military, which was drastically out of date and inadequate to fight a war that he knew was going to involve his country. He juggled the truth or outright lied to prepare his country for what was to come. It did, of course, on December 7, 1941 when Japan struck at Pearl Harbor. He is judged by history as a great U.S. president, but he shepherded America during those years prior to Pearl Harbor with misdirection's and half truths which were thought by some to be unethical and morally wrong. Great and good are seldom the same man.

It's a Handel's Messiah Sing Along

Sing along with Handel's Messiah at the Kennedy Center.

Simon's cat in SANTA CLAWS

What has become obsolete this decade

Merry Christmas all. I bet most of you got a techie gift. This article that is most interesting from HuffingtonPost is about devices that have fallen into the obsolete category. We have all contributed to their obsolescence. Check it out here.

Two Candles 55 years later.

I wrote this to celebrate my wife Hazel and our fiftieth wedding anniversary five years ago. We're still here on the day of our fifty fifth anniversary of our wedding night on a cold night in 1955, and remembering. I was home on Christmas leave from the military and I had made the best decision I ever made as we stood on the cold church steps waiting for the minister to come and unlock the doors. It seemed he had forgotten us. As it has been for our whole married life we took it not as a symbol of things to come, but as a moment to remember and smile about. If a lesson was learned, it was that everything, if you look hard enough has a funny side to it. It held us in good stead all these years. We have never taken ourselves too seriously and it has turned out very well. I love this woman who was a skinny girl too young to take away from her family, but willing to go away with me. God love her for it. I know I do.

Two Candles

Two candles flicker in the wind
impervious to storm or gale
burning as one, bright and steady.
Intertwined, their combined flames can withstand
all of nature and man
I laugh, I smile, I tease, I question, I philosophize
I sympathize, I joke with this woman
As I have for so very long.
We have been sharing our thoughts, our discoveries
of life and love since we were children.
We have grown old together.
I am never happier than when we are alone,
Talking together about a past that still seems near and
A future together that knows no end.
I am still discovering, after nearly a half century together,
New depths of love for this woman who remains forever young in my eyes.
I cherish our conversation that started so long ago,
that continues and will until that unimaginable day when
as it must, a flame will sputter and a life will end.
How can two lives that live as one continue alone?
If I must stay behind, I pray to God the stay be brief,
For surely the sun will disappear from my being.
To comprehend the blackness of that day fills my soul with feelings
I cannot describe. That day when joy and purpose and completeness
Go out of my life, I will be so utterly alone.
But as it is in life, it goes on, and I will also, thanking God for allowing
Me the love and companionship of one of his chosen creations for such a
Long time, but not long enough, lest it was eternity.
Remembering our lifetime conversation will bring melancholy smiles to my
face knowing that the remaining candles flame is growing dim and will
soon sputter and on one glorious day will build to a glorious brilliance and go out.
On that wonderful day, the conversation will begin anew.

Seasons greeting from Tarzan, Tonto, and Frankenstein.

Brazilian street artist Herbert Baglione

Brazilian street artist Herbert Baglione created this beautiful and amazing installation at Winterlong Gallerie in Niort, France. The giant shadow, made from thousands of dead leaves, starts from a tiny silhouette of a man cutout from the wall. It's unknown whether or not Baglione was trying to express any kind of symbolism through this piece, leaving it up to the viewer to find his or her own meaning.

Marcos 21 years after his death

I hope this does not gross anyone out, but I was fascinated how 21 years later Ferdinand Marcos probably looked better than he did when he trod the earth. This is from Time magazine. While I'm grossing you out, what would happen to Marcos if the glass coffin would break. Maybe I don't really want to know the specifics.

Hagar wants to believe

As I have mentioned before, when it came to Santa Claus I was a true believer. It was never a topic of conversation or close examination in my neighborhood in the forties, and I was an only child so I didn't have a sibling to cross swords with or disagree with everything I thought. I caught on though at probably the right time as most all children do. Psychologically, it took asking for toys out of the greedy category because you could ask the old gentleman in the red suit for most anything and the people who paid the toy stores could pick and choose which presents Santa was going to get for you. It was a very good arrangement and made Christmas a magical time of the year for me. I was caught up in the excitement from Thanksgiving to the great day. As an aside, I remember as I got older one Christmas season I peeked and found Santa's stash. Bad move. On Christmas morning I had to pretend surprise. I never peeked again.

Not your Macy's type of parade

North Korea, a laugh a minute kind of place.

Bravo Shepherd Smith of Fox news

This guy, Shepherd Smith of Fox news is one of those unique guys who puts his job on the line frequently and sounds off when he's aware of something he thinks is disgusting. He's a good one.

Paper Sculptures

This Korean woman from Columbus, Ohio is loaded with talent. See more here.

Powdered Coffee Creamer

We're into the holiday season, and for some of us, like me of course, it is cookie, pie, cakes and other glorious deserts time. Hazel of course adds to my over consumption of everything sweet, and just recently offered up this to pass along.

Hazel says:

I really enjoy the spice flavored coffee creamers that are available from Thanksgiving thru Christmas and New Years.

While surfing the web I came upon a recipe for a powdered spiced creamer. This one is yummy. The hubby even likes it and he isn't overly fond of flavored creamers. My thanks to the unknown contributor.

POWDERED COFFEE CREAMER

3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup plain powdered coffee creamer
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Tweak it with a couple pinches of pumpkin pie spice or whatever strikes your fancy
mix together well and keep in a covered jar or plastic container.

ENJOY

HAZEL

Hearing Devices

These new hearing devices are pretty neat. But they only work when you insert them in your ear. If you leave them in their neat little holding container it doesn't assist you in hearing better at all. Like Helga, wives like it better, and it makes for better conversations and marital harmony to place them in your offending ear. (a testimonial from a forgetful user of the nifty hearing devices)

Cyber Marketing Elves

This by editorial cartoonist Fitzsimmons is right on the money.

Corny cartoon

I know it's corny, but I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff, it's funny.