Friday, May 30, 2014

So be it

So be it - brought tous by Ramana.  We've discussed something quite similar before - que sera sera is really the same.  Whatever will be will be.  I get it. It is what it is  It's the acceptance of something you can't change.  Imagine Jean Luc Picard telling you to "make it so" - You non-Star Trek folk may not get that one.  So be it.

Gotta wonder if this caused Ramana to choose this weeks topic -


ASTU - SO BE IT - Marathi Movie Trailer - Dr... by RajshriMarathi


Guess I'll find out when I read his blog.

This is the type of topic that would have been covered in my philosophy classes in college.

Then there is this -


Things are what they are. So be it.

.

Friday, May 23, 2014

My odd habit - LBC Post

Today's topic comes to us from China via Delores 9aka Delirious) - a no longer active poster. She certainly sent us out on a high note - this topic should be fun to read about, maybe not so much to write about.  We shall see very soon.

It may be somewhat ironic but I am a lousy chess player.  Why ironic? Chess requires one to constantly look ahead several moves to help determine what the next - or rather current - move should be.  I am an inveterate multitasker and nearly always have several (too many) irons in the fire as it were.  It comes from the fact that I bore easily - so I am always pondering options.  It has occurred to me that this can and probably does prevent me from focusing on the occasional subject as clearly as possible. Ever wonder why my LBC posts tend to be short? I've said i n the past and will repeat here - I look at the topic the morning it is due and then begin writing.  It's all very free-form and off the cuff. I have developed the habit of being able to say what I want without much if any revision. That's because I am usually already thinking about the next task while writing.  Also - when I choose a song to add to a posy there is no deep thought process - I just have a vast catalog of songs stored away and picking one for a topic is relatively easy. Eclectic tastes in music do help I suppose.

Other odd habits?  
  • I seldom read without music playing at the same time.
  • I speed read (not the same as scanning)
  • I start each day with a huge cup of very good coffee (26-32oz.)
  • I have a short fuse that leads to a nasty temper but can't hold a grudge longer than about 5 minutes
  • Can be a bit melodramatic
  • Have always preferred the sound of he Dave Clark 5 to that of the Beatles while acknowledging the Beatles as the greatest rock band in history
  • Nice sehue to a music b reak eh?)






  • There are more but I have things to do - like work - and as I am planning on retiring soon I'd best get some stuff done.  That's it for layers of onion skin from the shack closet today.  Now I get to read what the others had to say - shuld be fun!



    Friday, May 16, 2014

    Is negative more honest? LBC post

    It's an interesting question FOS has presented us with this Friday.  Typical shades of gray from the old thinker.

    Methinks the response cannot be generalized but must be responded to in whatever context it is used so I'll try it several times and see where it leads.

    Two folks approach me.  They take a look at my mulit-X sized frame and person A says Hey shack - I see you are somewhat circumferentially challenged.  Person B simply sas Wow shack - you are fat.  While both are true, A is not negative whereas B certainly is.  Now which is more honest?  B is clearly negative and I'd have to say more honest.  As in B used the brutally honest approach. There's a reason that phrase is BRUTALLY honest. Now there's a time and place for both approaches - if A was beginning a dialogue in which je/she wanted to convince me to lose a few Xs that was the correct approach.  B would simply engender a sarcastic retort from me along the lines of "That's a blinding flash of the obvious - so what?"

    Now if we take the challenge to politics I'd say there is no way negative is more honest simply because virtually anything can be spun is any direction and in today's state of political dysfunction , both sides (luckily we are a 2-party system - India would make my head spin ala the Exorcist) adopted postures that seemingly say "the other side are a bunch of frickin idiots that are destroying the country and ignoring the constitution"  Since they say that about everything it certainly is not honest.  Frankly anyone that doesn't take his political commentary from a minimum of 3 sources is doing themselves and the rest of us a disservice if they are pontificating. Relying on Fox News is as stupid as relying on MSNBC imho. 

    Now when it comes to selling, I'd say negative is typically more honest.  Ever hear the phrase "sell the sizzle"? That's salesman speak for accentuate the positives, eliminate the negatives. The error of omission.  No way can that be considered more honest than simply stating ALL of the facts.  Caveat emptor comes from there.  :)

    I'll leave it to you to decide if the following little ditty is negative or positive - personally I see both sides expressed throughout



    There are numerous other examples that can be cited regarding today's topic.  Check out the other LBCers for their takes.  Perhaps even FOS will pick this topic to jump back into the fray with us.




    Friday, May 9, 2014

    All you need is .... LBC post

    Well - I have nobody to blame but myself for this topic.  No - it was not chosen because of the Beatle's tune -
    All you need is  some common sense, hard work, perseverance  and maybe a little luck (or synchronicity if you prefer to have a reasonably happy life.. Now some of you may say you need guidance from above in the form of your god.  OK - that's your choice.

    Now having a dream to pursue is certainly nice - and it often helps.  If you are passionate about something and you figure a way to make a living doing that then you have pretty much won the game of life.  But resilience is required as well since often passion does not translate into performance success.  A prime example is me - as a boy like many American kids I was passionate about baseball.  I lived, breathed and died baseball.  If you've seen the movie The Sandlot you know what my summers were like.


    Unfortunately, I was built for football  and although I was the hardest thrower in town I never got passed that - being a thrower.  I was called a pitcher but that was simply what the position is called. I never managed to combine the skill set needed to be a successful pitcher at the levels I desired.  Football was a different story altogether. I had that skill set. But I never developed the passion. .

    As far as education goes, school always came pretty easy for me - good grades were never difficult (until I hit Calculus). But I confess playing as the dumb jock quite a bit.  That was due to extreme shyness. But the dumb jock stereotype was a safe place to hide. Until a college professor assumed I was truely a dumb jock - as he assumed all were.  See - he had been approached by the football coach  to get a pass for a couple of his players (no - I was not one of them). On the day of the final in his class, Dr Hudson (name not changed to expose the guilty handed me my test and said "I guarantee you will not pas this test Mr McConvey".   Three days later when I visited his office to check on my grade and pick up my test, he simply glared at me and threw the bluebook in my general direction. I'd aced it and in fact gotten the 2nd highest grade in the class and an A for the quarter.  That led me to obtaining a degree in Political Science.  A degree that has value only in the sense that I actually have a degree. And if ever there was an oxymoron, it is Political Science.

    Alas I never developed a passion for earning money.  That too came pretty easy - in the sense I always made enough to get what I wanted/needed. I discovered I could sell ice boxes to eskimos.  Unfortunately I hated the weather.  So I got into the electronics industry.

    So what's the point to all of this?  Common sense, hard work and perseverance have served me will in life.  I'm not rich nor am I destitute.  I have some wonderful friends I have known for most of my life.  Friends that got me on a path that allowed me to live this life and not waste it.  I have friends all over the world thanks to the wonder that is the Internet. Don't q quit on yourself.  My passions? Well my mind is a steel trap for useless information - trivia - and I was a great Trivial Pursuit partner. .  And of course music.  That's pretty evident from my blogs.  They can be mini concerts.



    But I'm still searching.  After all - if you find it what's the point of living? What's left? The journey continues.





    Thursday, May 8, 2014

    Movie review - Play Misty for Me

    A movie that has been in my top 10 of all time since I first saw it in 1971, Play Misty for Me is a great Saturday night thriller and marks the directorial debut of Clint Eastwood - who also stars in the film.




    It also is the movie that ruined Jessica Walter for me forever as I still cringe when I see her in anything since her creepy turn as Evelyn in Misty. I'd been a Jessica Walter fan since Grand Prix (1966). I still am but now with an asterisk. It's possible - perhaps even probable - the more famous film Fatal Attraction might never have been made without Eastwood having made Play Misty for Me. The late Roger Ebert wrote, "Play Misty for Me is not the artistic equal of Psycho, but in the business of collecting an audience into the palm of its hand and then squeezing hard, it is supreme."


    Rotten Tomatoes describes Misty thusly: Play Misty for Me marked Clint Eastwood's debut as a director, and it gave him the then-unusual opportunity to play a regular contemporary guy in a thriller about sex, obsession, and stalking. Eastwood's Dave Garver is a self-centered California jazz disc jockey struggling with the idea of committing to his on-again, off-again girlfriend Tobie (Donna Mills). One night he meets the mini-skirted Evelyn (Jessica Walters) in a bar, and he goes home with her for what he assumes is a one-night stand. Dave discovers, however, that Evelyn has repeatedly called his show requesting that he "play 'Misty' for me," and she is not about to go gently into the night now that she has bedded him. Even though it touches on the early-'70s flashpoints of sexual liberation, studio execs expressed doubts about why anyone would want to see a movie featuring Eastwood as a deejay. Eastwood reportedly answered that he was not sure either, but he thought it was a good suspense story, and he offered his services as director for free. Play Misty for Me wound up making five times more than it cost and is a precursor to such erotic thrillers as Fatal Attraction (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992). Eastwood mentor Don Siegel appears early on as a bartender.


    The movie also provided a huge boost to a fabulous song by Roberta Flack called The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face -







    This one gets the full 5-hockey stick treatment from me.  If you enjoy thrillers, don't miss this one.

    Friday, May 2, 2014

    Elimination - LBC topic 5/2/14

    Elimination.  It sucks. Up 3 zip and we lose the next 4 frickin games. Yes folks - I take my hockey fandom seriously.  I'm what's known as a hockey freak. My beloved los tiburones lost game 7 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to the evil Los Angeles Kings.  Perhaps it might not have stung so much if it was a team from somewhere north of Santa Barbara but I doubt it. When you look up the term choke for sports teams, the San Jose Sharks are the classic definition.  They tease us annually and then proceed to fold in the playoffs. Sigh.  I need another hobby.

    Alas - I am sure hockey games were not at the top of reasons for suggesting this weeks topic. 

    I'd like to say I have eliminated the anger and pain I feel since my wife's passing but that would be a lie. I'll admit, though, things get a bit better every day.

    I have eliminated some of the empty calories I consume on a daily basis. I'm always going to be a buffalo petite but hopefully I'll get a bit healthier and reduce the daily ibuprofen intake a bit.  It'd be nice to eliminate that daily ibuprofen intake altogether.  We'll see.

    As we age, it is natural to lose people we love and care about. Family, entertainers - and sadly an entertainer I admired passed away on 04'30 at the tender age of 72.  He's the guy doing the intro on this song:  RIP Larry Ramos



    In our quest for advancement and saving humanity we have attempted to eliminate many diseases.  Alas - while we have experienced some success we have created several new monsters.  First there's the pill dependence we have created - there's a pill for almost everything.



     And then there're the drug-resistant viruses we have generated by feeding viruses various drugs over the years. So-called super bugs.  Now what? How do we eliminate those? Only time will tell.

    One thing I would never want to eliminate is the wonder I feel over life in general.  When did it start.  Is there something after this mortal existence?  If there is a god why can't evolution be the vehicle that he/she employs to take us down the road to  wherever we end up?  The only thing we know for sure is that we don't know - so we keep looking for the how and why.Some folks believe in magic, some in science.  Frankly I think the really smart ones believe a bit in both and to eliminate that wonder that drives us would be sad indeed.



    So that's a shack-take on elimination - this week's topic.  Check out the other LBC bloggers - see what they have to say.