HELLO GENTLE READERS,

Today dawned crisp, bright and beautifully sunny. The trees have opened their Autumn Crayon box and are backdropping wispy Mare's Tail clouds scudding across a peaceful sky. I can look out of the window and see ten beautiful horses milling about the pasture. What a wonderful gift!

Do you know what my first full-awake thought was? We are out of milk and I'll have to drink my coffee black! Good Lord, have I no gratitude for this glorious moment? Aldous Huxley wrote, "Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted". I have all I need, and we have no milk. I need to work on this!

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

Roger Miller, a singer-songwriter of the sixties, said, "Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet". A dear friend of my says that we are either overcome by the storms of life or we are propelled forward by them.

The Polynesians of old would wait for a storm to provide the wind to propel their boats. They populated a vast portion of the South Pacific, as far west as Easter Island, entirely due to rainy weather.Here's to walking in the rain.

Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons, Ben Whishaw, Felicity Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Russell Brand y Alfred Molina ocuparán los papeles diseñados por el literato británico. A ellos se les unirá probablemente Geoffrey Rush, actualmente negociando su contrato con el filme.

La Tempestad narra la enrevesada venganza tramada por el mago Próspero (ahora maga Próspera, ya que el personaje es interpretado por Mirren) cuando un barco cargado con sus más terribles enemigos encalla por capricho del destino en la isla desierta en la que vive con su prole.

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

T.S. Eliot wrote, "People to whom nothing has ever happened  cannot understand the unimportance of events". The life of others often seems appealing to folks, it seems to me, because people often believe that the source of their happiness is tied to the events of their life. The events of their life seem to be worse than those of others. In fact, events are on the outside and problems are on the inside. Events always occur, but the same problems tend to recur. Problems cannot be solved by eliminating events because events cannot always be prevented. Almost all my problems are based on fear, insecurity, anger, resentment, low self-esteem and, yes, even happiness.

This is hoping that the events of your life are awesome and your problems few.

Tom Vickers

Julie Taymor (Across The Universe), aka one of the most overrated directors working today and ironically one of the most respected female directors ugh, is about to start production on her rape of The Tempest, adapted from the play by William Shakespeare (Romeo And Juliet). The film will star Helen Mirren (National Treasure: Book Of Secrets), Jeremy Irons (Appaloosa), Djimon Hounsou (Never Back Down), Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Alfred Molina (The Da Vinci Code), Ben Wishaw (Brideshead Revisited), Felicity Jones (Brideshead Revisited) and possibly Geoffrey Rush (the Elizabeth movies).

Although the play centers on Prospero, an exiled duke-turned-sorcerer, Taymor -- who likes to take an experimental approach to her stage and film projects -- has rechristened the lead character Prospera so that Mirren can take on the role.

Shakespeare's play mixes romance with fraternal politics and the supernatural. As revised for the screen, it will center around Prospera, her daughter Miranda (Jones) and a shipwrecked crew full of Prospera's enemies.

The island's other inhabitants include Hounsou as the deformed slave Caliban and Wishaw as the airy spirit Ariel.

On the ship are rising comedy star Brand, playing Trinculo, a jester; Irons, as Alonso, the King of Naples; and Molina as the drunken butler Stephano. Rush would play Gonzalo, a royal adviser and old ally of Prospera's.

Sure the cast is good, but that's never stopped a bad film and that's all I've seen from Taymor. Is anyone else here disgusted at this travesty? Kenneth Branagh maybe?

Source

If you've been thinking of going to see this but haven't quite got round to it you better get your finger out because it ends on Saturday.

And extracting the digit would be a very good idea.

I approached this with no real qualifications and indeed comment on it as a Shakespearean no mark.  I have not studied even a page of Shakespeare in my life.  I don't understand the politics (and boy there's plenty here) the language, the context or the history.  Apart from that I am scholarly.

So Joyce Macmillan's two star review in The Scotsman alarmed me.  What was I letting myself in for?

I'll tell you what.  A bloody good night's entertainment (with the emphasis on bloody).

The staging was magnificent, the lighting, sound design and music; all terrific.

The acting was top notch.  Liam Brennan as Macbeth looks like he's put his heart, soul and every ounce of his being into this role.  He looks and sounds exhausted, but that's because his passion for the part and command of the stage and the role are quite remarkable.  Allison McKenzie, as his complicent wife (complicent in the lust for power that is) belies the fact that she has made her name in River City - a soap that I have thankfully managed to avoid totally, and Jimmy Chisholm in a number of roles is great; particularly in the one comedy scene as the drunken Porter in which he brought the house down.

It's an intense and very involving theatrical experience and hugely rewarding.

In recalling MacMillan's review the thing that stood out was her dismissal of the period setting (is modern necessarily good I ask myself?) and her strong criticism of the role of the witches which she, from memory, saw as overly indulgent, overpowering and ham fisted.  Me? I thought they were an imaginative and thrilling part of the whole.

Please see it if you have the chance.

It brought back memories of my one and only Shakespearean involvement, in the chorus of Verdi's Macbeth by Edinburgh Grand Opera in the late 80's.  Another superb production featuring one of opera's least talented practitioners.  Moi.  But boy did I enjoy it.

So that's two Macbeth's and two stonkers.  I am lucky indeed.

Hello Gentle Readers,

There is an old American proverb which states, "There is always free cheese in a mousetrap". It may be no accident that this adage is American. We have, throughout our brief history, bailed out industry after industry. We, the taxpayers, have "bought" the Railroad Industry four times, the Steel Industry once, portions of the Auto Industry once and now the Financial Industry, just to name a few. Of all of these, the latter galls me the most. This industry is supposed to be comprised of the "best and brightest". The "best and brightest" will not only cost me in taxes, but also in the reduced value of my portfolio. Have they no shame?

Industry gets the cheese, we get caught in the trap! Frodo failed...Bush got the ring!

Tom Vickers

We live on a horse farm with 22 horses and ponies, 6 dogs, 2 rabbits, 5 fish, 2 teenage boys and about 855 farm cats (at last count), not to mention the odd bear, deer, copperhead, raccoon and polecat.

The following is one anecdote from many true stories we hope to write. The names have been changed to protect the innocent and to avoid lawsuits. The cast of characters for these stories is as follows:

Anastasia- a "horny", 555 pound Blue Butt hog who took unattended walks, searching for her "man-pig".
Shiloh- a Heinz 57 mixed breed farm dog who escaped the evening before his scheduled neutering.
Shasta- a female puppy who was the reason for Shiloh's upcoming vet appointment. Jude- a transexual? hen/rooster known in her/his previous persona as Judy. Jude was assigned the female gender by the seller. Truth in advertising?
Josie- a heterosexual hen who died of fright.
Dagny- sadly, a suicidal goat.
Doozy- Dagny's twin sister whose proclivities included peeing on tavern floors.

It all started on Mother's Day when, upon returning from gift shopping with the family, we brought home a weedeater, lawnmower and a garbage disposal; in other words, 2 goats and a baby piglet. The goats, Dagney and Doozy, were tethered in the front yard and given their assigned task of mowing the lawn. A pen of pallets was built for "Annie" (Anastasia) in anticipation of her coming into season and becoming amorous. Jude/Judy started playing a game with Shiloh in which she/he would entice Shiloh to pull her/his tail. Josie was not into the tail-pulling game and when chased by Shiloh assumed "room-temperature". Deader than a fried mule was Josie. Dagney, not to be outdone by Josie, promptly hanged herself on her tether. Goat stew, was Dagney.

The stars of this story, Shiloh, the dog, and Doozy, the goat, became closer than nature ever intended, even sleeping together on the front porch. This pairing was never fully consummated, as far as we know, but, nevertheless, a sordid affair. Doozy, never the shy one, started escaping to the Tavern across the street. She would walk in, pee on the floor and then make her merry way back  home. A mahem of mixed-up, madcap, mildly-disfunctional, mixed-marriage of a modern menagarie.

Two weeks before his scheduled nuetering, Shiloh, the dog, eloped with Doozy, the "floor-peeing" goat. A "high-and-low" search ensued across the entire ridge! Calling upon Native American tracking skills, we were able to trace their movements. OK, OK! Actually, we asked the neighbors if the "odd-couple" had been seen. They had. Did they really think they could remain anonomous?

About three or four miles from home, Doozy and Shiloh committed the first felony of this spree. They were guilty of "Breaking and Entering" a neighbors home. The lady of the house was cooking dinner when out of the corner of her eye she spotted lifeforms not usually found in a kitchen. After recovering her composure, she fed the desperados. Shiloh dined on Cornish Game Hens while Doozy helped herself to the salad bowl generously laid at her feet. After their four-star dining, the lovebirds slinked off, never to be heard from again. In all fairness, we must attribue some canine loyalty to Shiloh. He did make one more cameo appearance the very night before his appointment with the Vet. We never quite knew if it was an attempt to rectify his behavior or just a final farewell. He left that night to return to his love.

We check the mailbox daily hoping against hope for some word from our missing four-legged family members.

More animal stories to follow.

Tom Vickers and LaVerna Huey

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

There is an old Jewish expression, Make a plan, give God a laugh. Adages such as this have become part of our language for a reason. Yesterday was a day of which axioms are built.

The boys, ages 13 and 15, had been promised a day boating and fishing on the Ohio River. They are home-schooled so, scheduling events in not all that incovenient.

Yesterday dawned blue and clear, mild and sunny and the clouds had all been chased away by our dreams of of pleasant sailing. The boat was packed with fishing gear, safety equipment and enough munchies to feed Peru for a week. Off we rolled to the Marina.

"What no bait," we inquired? "Yeah, they haven't delivered today," said the clerk at the BP Station. "Of any kind," we asked? "Mealworms only," he answered. Well, we can't allow mealworms on the boat, you see. LaVerna refuses to use anything for bait that has eyes. Ok, blind artificial lures and a beautiful day on the river. Not too shabby, really.

Into the water we go. The boat, which was manufactured before The Beatles broke up, started without a hitch. The heads had just been rebuilt and the motor pronounced seaworthy. Our favorite mechanic's nephew made this pronouncement. BEWARE the pronouncements of Mr. Tippet's nephew. Our intuition, ultimately proven right, led us upriver. You can always float downriver back to your starting point, should something go amiss. You can't float upriver. It's a gravitational "thing". Upriver we chugged. Maybe two miles. The motor started smoking more than a Hippie at Woodstock! Rats!! Ok, gravity, your're up to bat. Damned nephews, anyway! Boaters are generally a friendly lot. We got a tow back to the Marina, put the diseased boat back on the trailer and headed home.

Is this story finished, Gentle Reader? Oh no, not by a long shot! To make a long story "endless" (Gotcha'! You thought I was going to say make a long story short, didn't you?), we decided to park the boat at home and go to a nearby lake fishing. So, take that you evil motorboat gods! We finally found some nightcrawlers, transferred the munchies to the truck and headed to the lake. Wet lines, flavored water, lively worms, sodium, sugar, corn syrup and yellow dye #4 were to be our guides for the day. Uh-huh, so we thought.

"I'VE GOT ONE," shouted John-John! "IT'S A BIG ONE , I THINK," he announced to half of Cabell County! "HOLY SHIT, IT'S A FUCKIN' SNAKE," he cussed. John, such language! "HOLY SHIT, IT IS A FUCKIN" SNAKE," I agreed! Not a water snake or a garter snake but, a COPPERHEAD! No lie! He caught a freakin' copperhead on a nightcrawler!

We cut the line and I held the end with the snake attached while LaVerna tried to call the Dept. of Natural Resources for guidance. With today's laws, it pays to be sure which animals to destroy. A copperhead on a leash. God, I hate snakes. They're not finished; no eyelids, limbs or personalities. What was God thinking? DNR told us to back off, leave the snake to nature and choose our next fishing spot with extra care. No Shit!

A lazy day on the river.

Tom Vickers and LaVerna Huey

Is the act of sexual congress funny, or what? In, out, repeat if necessary, goes an old joke. All lifeforms are at a very vulnerable state when engaging in procreational activities. The very act of creating new life often ends it for the creators. Flowers die, prey animals often are so distracted that they end up on the value menu, predators, at great peril, continually have to fight for dominance and even the lowly amoeba, when dividing, can expose itself to danger. All life pays a price. Of course there are exceptions to this vulnerability. My soon-to-be ex-wife, for example, could tell me the ceiling needed painting while engaged in sex. No vulnerabilty there, huh?

Humans are no exception. Why do we pay such a dear price for sex. Many studies have been done on the subject and, guess what? It feels good, dammit. Yeah, sometimes we do it to start a family but, I wonder how eager we would be if the sex act were painful instead of providing pleasure? I can just hear it now; "God, what an awful night. The wife and I want to start a family but, I just didn't realize what a toll it would take on me to engage in sex!"

The sex drive is one of the strongest forces on earth. Humans give up safety, money, position, relationships and many other advantages for a thirty second orgasm. Tell me God has no sense of humor!

Yeah, it's true. Men have nipples too.

Tom Vickers

O avanço da vulgaridade na televisão mundial aponta a desvalorização da democracia na aldeia global [conceito criado por Marshall McLuhan que se refere ao avanço tecnológico e dos meios de comunicação que faz com que as distâncias entre as pessoas sejam cada vez mais curtas, como se houvesse uma aldeia global].

"É um belo menino; tem os olhos do Duque", disse o médico que tirou Umberto Eco do ventre de sua mãe. E os pais do autor de "O pêndulo de Foucault", embora não fossem fascistas, sentiram-se orgulhosos, porque se tratava de um elogio. Afinal de contas, naquele momento a pequena burguesia italiana "tomava a ditadura como um evento meteorológico". Algo que simplesmente ocorre.

"Cada época tem seus mitos. A época em que nasci tinha como mito o Homem do Estado, e esta em que se nasce hoje tem como mito o Homem da Televisão", explicou o escritor e semiólogo. Nesse ensaio mostra um pensamento que conduz a uma conclusão inquietante: "as novas ditaduras serão mais midiáticas que políticas".

O mito dominante determina condutas e certezas com total naturalidade. O Homem do Estado poderia ser inteligente e humanamente virtuoso, mas também poderia ser tirânico e brutal; poderia representar a compaixão sensata ou o a supremacia exterminadora. O mito atual, ou seja, o ser televisivo pode, também, transbordar inteligência e humanidade, ou também baixeza e mediocridade. Nas primeiras décadas de sua existência, a televisão teve, em termos gerais, um efeito positivo. Quino explicou aos filhos da televisão o que, na verdade, constitui um tratado sociológico lúcido e profundo, através de Mafalda e seus amigos; uma geração de crianças inteligentes e curiosas em cujas perguntas e inquietudes naufragavam os pais ultrapassados.

Certamente, aquela televisão também tinha contradições, mas recorda-se dela como um bálsamo frente à tela de hoje, onde a violência, a mediocridade, o vulgar e a frivolidade conspiram na criação de um cidadão minguado.

Fenômeno global, resposta local

A "tinellização" [efeito relacionado a Marcelo Hugo Tinelli, famoso apresentador da TV argentina], o jornalismo transformado em show midiático, o êxito das pessoas sem graça que exibem escabrosas intimidades, a exaltação do abjeto etc, não é apenas um problema argentino, mas uma amostra local de um processo de vulgarização televisiva que está acontecendo em escala mundial.

Frente ao fenômeno global de vulgarização midiática, o governo do matrimônio Kirchner colocou em funcionamento uma televisão estatal livre de vulgaridades e com figuras respeitáveis na condução dos programas. Desde o humor até os programas de entretenimento, a proposta estatal é indubitavelmente mais saudável e até exibe exemplos de excelência. Em particular, o canal a cabo do Ministério da Educação brilha como uma contribuição original e ousada. Contudo, o modelo argentino de televisão estatal tem um aspecto negativo: o grosso dos documentários históricos do sinal a cabo e a oferta jornalística do canal aberto sintonizam-se totalmente com o discurso oficial sobre a atualidade e a história. A soma constitui uma visão tendenciosa, fortemente ideológica e decididamente doutrinadora. Tanto o histórico como o jornalístico bebem de um oficialismo aparentemente desinteressado, onde não há lugar para outras visões políticas nem para vozes opositoras.

Esta forte característica reduz a pretensão intelectual do conteúdo a uma mera aparência. O doutrinamento, o oficialismo permanente e o partidarismo histórico são incompatíveis com o pensamento crítico.

O contrário da vulgaridade não é o doutrinamento, mas o pensamento crítico. E é óbvio que este não pode existir onde um governo manipula as mídias estatais como se fossem suas.

Na Alemanha seria impensável que um governo fizesse oficialismo com a Deutsche Welle. O mesmo na Grã-Bretanha com a BBC e na Espanha com a TVE. Em matéria de mídias, o modelo argentino reflete o autoritarismo messiânico que caracteriza tanto a sua direita como a sua esquerda.

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Alguns pensadores e escritores alertaram, inclusive antes da era da televisão, sobre o obscuro processo de degradação humana insinuado na primeira parte do século 20. "A característica do momento é que a alma vulgar, sabendo-se vulgar, tem a audácia de afirmar o direito à vulgaridade e o impõe onde bem quer". Afirma Ortega y Gasset em "A rebelião das massas", livro escrito e publicado na década de 20 do século passado.

Mais explícito e aterrador foi Aldous Huxley em "Um mundo feliz". O nome original daquele livro escrito em 1932 é "Admirável Mundo Novo" e foi inspirado por "A Tempestade", obra de William Shakespeare na qual no quinto ato Miranda, o personagem, diz extasiado: "que maravilha; quantas criaturas belas existem aqui; quão bela é a humanidade. Ó mundo feliz no qual vive gente assim..."

Esse "mundo feliz" é o da ditadura perfeita, ou seja, uma sociedade onde a opressão se torna imperceptível, porque escraviza mediante um sistema de consumo e entretenimento.

A sociedade sobre a qual adverte Huxley utiliza a genética e a clonagem para a criação em série de indivíduos condicionados. Os alfas, que constituem a elite; os betas, que são os executores das determinações dos alfas, e finalmente os gamas, trabalhadores e mão-de-obra.

Neste mundo, a liberdade é uma aparência, porque se tratam de seres condicionados pelo consumo e o entretenimento. Este homem que consome e se entretém foi descrito em 1932 pelo autor britânico nascido em uma família de intelectuais e cientistas.

Ao ver que, junto à pornografia e à violência difundida na internet, a televisão se transformou durante a última década em um instrumento de mediocrização em grande escala e a nível mundial, Umberto Eco agregaria a seus exemplos da ditadura televisiva o reality show, onde se sacrifica a intimidade no altar do índice de audiência, sob o lema "sou visto, logo existo".

Peter Weir explicitou o reality como a face totalitária da televisão, descrevendo a vida de Truman Burbank na ilha de Seaheaven. Poucas argumentações contra o totalitarismo têm sido tão contundentes e inadvertidas como "O Show de Truman" [filme do ano de 1998].

Estes telespectadores de emoções tele-direcionadas, seguindo a vida de um homem criado pela televisão e capturado por uma perfeição artificial, se parecem ao homo videns que Giovanni Sartori descreveu. Na sua obra principal, o cientista político italiano adverte que o homo sapiens, um ser caracterizado por possuir pensamento e capacidade de abstração, está sendo substituído pelo homo videns, a criatura que olha mas não pensa, que vê mas não entende.

Ao humanóide sobre cujo advento adverte Sartori em seu livro "Homo Videns", o filósofo esloveno Slavoj Zizek o descreve como um homem que acredita que atua e crê que influi, mas, em realidade, tornou-se inativo e sem nenhuma incidência na realidade que o contém.

Tomás Abraham, argentino, mas nascido na Romênia, país próximo à Eslovênia, a pátria de Zizek, é um filósofo imprescindível por ser dos poucos que desprezam a linguagem crítica, e tão intelectualmente honesto que reconhece que é apaixonado por assistir televisão. Dela, sente saudades dos desaparecidos programas de humor, e aprecia as comédias norte-americanas atuais, nas quais o humor convive com uma ácida e devastadora crítica social e cultural, como o genial Seinfeld.

Com a mesma franqueza e lucidez, Tomás Abraham disparou em abundância suas críticas a este reino da vulgaridade e da violência, onde o medíocre vai perfurando o pensamento e a capacidade de abstração. O autor de "Fricções" adverte sobre os estragos que isto causa na sensibilidade e na inteligência das crianças.

O fenômeno que descreve não circunscreve-se à Argentina. Está acontecendo em escala mundial e sua conseqüência, na aldeia global, será a democracia desvalorizada na qual crê atuar e influir um ser, em realidade, inativo e sem incidência: o cidadão minguado.

Claudio Fantini

In an ill-spent youth, I used to hang out a lot in bars and taverns. One of these was Ma'Ha's Short Snorter. Ma'Ha's was not your mahogany-paneled, brass-railed, Manhatten Ice Tea type of establishment. Ma'Ha's was a red-eye whiskey, Stroh's Bohemian Style Beer kinda' place. Cheers it was not, nor, did it wish to be. It was one of those places where "everybody forgot your name", assuming they knew it in the first place. It was very entertaining, though. It was like belonging to a "Fight of the Night" club. But, I met some very interesting people there and, that's the subject of this post.

One of those folks was Sally. Sally was a Caterer by trade. She "catered" to the sexual desires of all who had the itch and the jingle with which to scratch. I met her when she sidled up to me at the bar and said, "Mister, for fifty dollars I'll do anything you want"! So, I asked her to paint my house. She threw back her head and laughed, filling Ma'Ha's  with that rich, whisky-stained voice. She allowed as how she'd never been asked to do anything quite that kinky but, maybe I'd buy her a drink while she thought it over. I did. She declined.

Sally had lost her left leg in an automobile accident and wasn't the least bit self-conscious about it. It never seemed to hurt her trade either. This was one happy hooker. I got to know Sally (not as a customer) and she makes my top 25 list of people to admire. She accepted life as it was presented to her. Was her choice of occupation unfortunate? I don't know. All cultures put value on a woman's sexuality. We seem to get queasy, though, when that value is expressed in money. She was not the "whore with a heart of gold", she was just another person providing for her family. Quite well, thank you.

God bless you, Sally.

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

Any of you guys raised on guilt? My parents were survivors of The Great Depression, WWII and the Cold War. How many times did I hear, "Tom, you didn't finish your green peas. Children in Asia are starving!" My offering to airmail green peas to Asia was not met with much amusement, but I often overestimated their sense of humor. "Tom, you can't use that old shirt as a rag. Somebody can still get good use out of it," I've heard a time or two. Yes, healthy or not, I do respond to feelings of guilt.

My old Ford Pick-Up was just about eligible for Social Security, so I recently bought a new vehicle. It's a GMC Envoy with the Denali package: V-8, 4x4, heated leather seats, wood dashboard, adjustable pedals, power everything, Bose sound system and came complete with a combined 15 MPG EPA rating. I know, I know! It's an expensive truck and gas prices are outrageous, fossil fuels in limited supply and the planet is reportedly heating up. What in the hell are you thinking, Tom? I can hear Mom now, "You could have bought four Dodge Neons for the same price and saved over $1,200.00 a year in gas!"

I no longer argue with my Mom. She's 85 years old, and as far as I'm concerned, she is allowed to speak her mind. She's earned that right. The thing is, I no longer have to argue with her. I can carry both sides of the arguement in my own head.

I bought a GMC Denali! By God, I'm going to enjoy it! Uh, sorry Mom. I really didn't mean that. Ok, Ok. I'll pray for forgiveness!

Can you keep a secret? It's a really cool machine, but don't tell my Mom.

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

I can't think of anything else to write so here are some random thoughts and quotes:

1. Income tax forms are the greatest fiction being written today! (Herman  Wouk)
2. The trouble with winning the rat race is that even the winner is a rat! (Lily Tomlin)
3. It is my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtures! (Abraham Lincoln)
4. If you want a place in the sun, be willing to put up with a few blisters! (Abigal Van Buren)
5. If you are reluctant to ask the way, you will soon be lost! (Malay Proverb)
6. Propaganda is the art of persuading others what you don't believe yourself! (Abba Eban)
7. Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor! (Truman Capote)
8. Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example! (Mark Twain)
9. Trust in God, but tie your camel! (Persian Proverb)
10. Some folks think they are thinking when they are only rearranging their prejudices! (Anonymous)
11. You have freedom when you're easy in your harness! (Robert Frost)
12. Think twice before you think, especially if you're going to say what you think! (Anonymous)

I hope you have enjoyed this hodgepodge. Feel free to comment, add to the list or complain about my lazy writing.

Tom Vickers

We are said to be truly doing good when we do not notice we are doing so. When we forget about ourselves, and live for the interests of others. Is this so? I'm not sure. The prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of animals, asks us to, "To love rather than be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds". I'm not sure I totally buy this concept though, perhaps I'm just not as spiritually aware as I could be. I tend to believe that the reward for doing good is the positive emotion I feel when I do so. Almost a "Pavlov's dog" reaction, if you like. Nevertheless, I believe that doing for others, regardless of the motive, makes for a better life and a better world.

Often I've heard people ask, "why is there evil in the world?" Is evil an entity unto itself? Is there such a thing as "pure evil"? I don't know. Perhaps evil comes within us. I know that many believe that evil exists outside of human thought and behavior; such as Satan, the boogeymen and a host of supposedly bad entities. Maybe they're right. I happen to think, for the most part, that evil exists in the human heart. It, like goodness, is probably a choice we make.

People often, when angry, depressed or irritated, revel in their state. It reminds me of a person sitting on a horse galloping down a steep hill; instead of trying to stop the horse, he lets go the reins and whips the horse to make it go faster. When evil gets on a roll, it grows. The inverse is also true. When "good" gets momentum it accelerates.

In any event, I can only live in this very moment. Time, outside of this instant, does not exist. In this very moment in which I'm living, I will choose "good"! How about you?

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

The Talmud says, "If one word is worth a coin, then silence is worth two. If silence sits well with those who are clever, then it should sit even better with those who are stupid". Nothing supports idleness so much as empty talk. Two things can reveal faulty thinking: to be silent when you should speak, or to speak when you should be silent. To paraphrase Mark Twain, "I can be silent and be thought a fool, or I can open my mouth and remove all doubt". Count Leo Tolstoy advises us, "Words are great things. You can unite people, or separate them. You can create love or animosity". Both great loves and great wars are created by words. In an arguement, truth is almost always the loser.

I rarely get in trouble by keeping my mouth shut. I often do by speaking.

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

I grew up in a household where we went to church almost every Sunday. My dad was the Sunday School teacher for the adult class at our local Methodist Church. We were not Holy-Rollers or hard-core "believe as I do or you'll go to Hell" folks. It's just what people did on Sundays.

At the age of twelve or so, I started having serious doubts about what I was hearing on Sundays. Why would a God who loved me so much ever allow me to go to Hell? Why would God even allow a place of eternal damnation to exist? Why would God give mankind "free will" then place a "Tree of Knowledge" in the Garden as a temptation? If this knowledge was so dangerous, then why expose mankind to it? God made sure that Adam had dominion over the carniverous animals. The lions didn't eat him, did they? It seems very inconsistant to me. My experience with people is that, something denied becomes very attractive. Tell me I can't do something and I'll be more than a little tempted to do it.

I just don't understand this God at all. Being omnipetent, he should have forseen the consequences of HIS actions. Religious people always answer that, "God has a plan!" I think a little better planning is in order.

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

A wise man was once asked, "What is the most important moment in a person's life?" He answered, "The present moment, because you are master of your life only in the present!" St. Francis of Assisi tells us that our actions in this particular moment belong to us. What will become of them belongs to God.

The Talmud says, "You are a day laborer. You should work every day, and be paid every day."

Obviously, I must plan for the future. That's why I have a refrigerator. I don't want to spend a part of every day at the grocery store. Obviously, I must deal with the past. That's why I have voice mail. But, the amount of time I have wasted on the past and the future staggers me. These are moments forever lost. Children are masters of "the moment". They, like dogs, live only for the here and now.

If I take stock of this very moment in time, I have everything I need. Apparently, I always have, else, I wouldn't be here.

My well-spent moments today are my happy yesterdays and happy tomorrows!

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

Of wealth and poverty, which is the greater burden? Count Leo Tolstoy wrote, "Enormous wealth is a sin, because for every rich person there are hundreds in poverty". Jesus said, "It is harder for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter the Kingdom of God". He also said, "How you treat the least of these, you treat me also".

I have spent periods of my life in both conditions. With much more than I needed and with less than enough. I am now somewhere in between. Money makes for convenience but, I can honestly say that my level of happiness was not really much different in each of these conditions. In Sub-Saharan Africa, many people live on less than $500.00 U.S. per year. They still live their lives, raise children, laugh and cry just as T. Boone Pickins or Bill Gates do. It is reported that they don't spend much time thinking about money. The average American's thoughts are dominated by either money or sex. This is not my opinion but, a reported study.

I try to help others, on a small scale, with my money but, I'm not sure it is because of my morals or intention of altruism. More likely, it is my feelings of guilt. Charity can be helpful, useless or even harmful but, never moral. The very need for charity in itself shows us the immoral existance of human suffering of which I can never separate myself.

Jean-Jacques wrote, "The selfishness of rich people is not as cruel as their lack of compassion".

Tom Vickers

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The first point of courtesy must be the truth." If my friends and family won't tell me the truth, who will? If asked what I think, can I tell the truth without fear of hurting their feelings or fear of hurting the relationship? Do I risk living a lie, or do I seek clarity and honest communication in my relationships? Can I really believe that witholding the truth to protect someone's feelings is doing them, or me, any favor? No!

Excessive consideration which slays the truth is inconsiderate.

Tom Vickers

If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

These words are some of the most beautiful that ever were penned. William Shakespeare, for all the nonsense that he displays at times concerning love and marriage, wrote words worthy of the nature of love. Love runs through the veins of a true lover like fire, ever consuming and every marking them with it complete takeover. Love never quits, never fails, never removes itself from the mind of one who has been seared with its brand.

I have not been in love. I find that each time I am tempted to believe I am, once the object of that love is removed, it was only counterfeit.

Yet this love withstands all storms, and bears all things, even unto the end of time. Physically, we all wear down under the sickle of time. We all begin to bear the marks of life, and start to fade. But love doesn't fade, it does not alter when it alteration finds.

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Ha llegado hasta el buzón de mi aislada casa, un tríptico (mmm, tríptico) con la temporada 2008-2009 del Teatro de Palafolls.

La temporada 08/09 cuenta con 17 obras, algunas de las que llaman mi atención:

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Dissabte, diumenge i dilluns (de Eduardo de Filippo – Sergi Belbel) 16/11/2008
Sergi Belbel es uno de los autores/directores teatrales más interesantes de Catalunya. Merece tenerlo en Favoritos para ver qué va haciendo.

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El mètode Gronhölm (de Jordi Galceran) 28/12/2008
Uno de los éxitos teatrales de los últimos años. Argumento llevado al cine.

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Figuretes de vidre (de Tennesse Williams) 25/01/2009
Una obra de Tennesse Williams completamente desconocida para mí.

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El Rei Lear (de William Shakespeare) 08/01/2009
Un clásico de Shakespeare que habría que ver.

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El cafè de la marina (de Josep Maria de Sagarra) 22/01/2009
Un clásico del teatro català, que convendría ver.

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Terra baixa (d’Àngel Guimerà) 08/03/2009
Una de las tres grandes obras del más popular de los autores teatrales catalanes.

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El visitant (d’Emmanuel Schmitt) 05/04/2009
El argumento mezcla a Freud y los nazis (mmm nazis XD).

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Lista completa de obras y fechas
Las representaciones empiezan a las 18:00. Y el precio de la entrada es de 5€
¿Alguien se anima?

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William Shakespeare's

Hamlet (1996, Kenneth Branagh)

I don't much care for Shakespeare.  Branagh goes a long way in remedying that.

Have your silly Godfather.

Poetry Dispatch No. 253 | October 2, 2008

Sonnet XXX

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear times' waste;
Then can I drown an eye, unus'd to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoanéd moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restor'd and sorrows end.
--William Shakespeare

Proud, and I thanke you: and I thanke you not.

Thanke me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds, But fettle your fine ioints 'gainst Thursday next, To go with Paris to Saint Peters Church: Or I will drag thee, on a Hurdle thither.

Out you greene sicknesse carrion, out you baggage, You tallow face Lady.

Fie, fie, what are you mad? Iul.

Good Father, I beseech you on my knees Heare me with patience, but to speake a word

Fa. Hang thee young baggage, disobedient wretch,