Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Slackjaw City
I played basketball on Saturday in bare feet in thirtyfive degree heat. I’m an inch taller with the blisters I got. Twas fun while it lasted.
Posted by owen on from sea turtle massage parlour 06/06 at 08:11 AMI saw a great bumber sticker yesterday in my very white, very catholic suburb of New York:
Jesus loves you -
Everyone else thinks you’re an asshole.Cheers,
Posted by bdaly on from Upper Saddle River 06/06 at 08:53 AMGood morning, Mickey. Some of the comments from last night express our feelings...You are masterminding the best blog on the Internet and also have been making other contributions in an attempt to improve a really screwed up world.
The best written books of mice and men
Sometimes go unpublished
Those written words will live on and on
And survive when we all are dead
Publishing is important so that mouths can be fed
But that can’t detract from what your written words have said.............Owen...I have a basketball story. I once was a High School Basketball coach. I knew nothing about the game - nothing. I had to accept the coaching job as part of my job as a PE and Health teacher. I learned a lot that year. Mostly I learned that competitive athletics do not teach how to be a good sport or a good human being.
bdaly...thanks for putting a smile on my face on this dismal morning. I don’t have any bumper stickers on my car but if I had one it would be the one you post.
Did some of the candidates last night say that they would use pre-emptive nukes? The debate was so boring that I had trouble concentrating on what they were saying.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/06 at 09:44 AMwell this yokel has already said too much...slackjaw indeed.
But I will pass on this womans story of posting at myspace and being investigated by the fbi.
http://www.thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/
btw RMJ that outlaw granny is a cutie.Posted by frances on from bc 06/06 at 10:08 AMIn eighth grade I made the middle school team - quite a feat, I later thought, for a 12 year old living through intense trauma and dislocation. I had played a lot in my ‘hood and had decent skill. On the team I gained respect from the other players, which was a new experience among my peers. In other places there had been ostracism, the result of visible neglect and very spotty attendance.
The coach was the a science teacher and, on recollection, the only black man teaching at that school. Tactful and demanding, he had played college ball and did a fine job of trying to mold us into a team during winter recess, which was another odd one: going to school for any reason during a break. At 8AM! To run wind sprints across a cold gym!
I made all the practices but when the regular season started I had a rough patch - withdrawn, disappeared from school and other places. I missed several days of school, including one game. On returning, there were some puzzled looks in the halls; maybe the other players had wondered if The Sometimes Student was a good choice for the team. At any rate, some asked after my well-being and I sort-of said I was OK.
Not the coach. He must have known about my attendance, as the daily report distributed in the building had the absent and the number of days they had missed for the year. His tact was evident as he didn’t say much while I nervously passed him in the hall during class break. Later that day, when there weren’t nearly as many people around, he took me aside and said “You let your friends down.”
As shaken as I was, it was important advice in a life missing a lot of guidance. And I never missed another game, though that didn’t help our cause. I liked to play defense, but was alone in my passion. We finished 0-6 in the league and 1-11 overall.
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 06/06 at 10:10 AMThanks, frances...about the story on your link, I think that that sort of thing is not so uncommon. What a waste of taxpayer money! The citizens who reported this are a big part of the problem. Some “folks” posted on their sites that I am a terrorist. That was coming up on Google for a long time. What can I say…
Zen...I liked your story and was surprized by the coach’s comment to you. As I was reading, I was wishing that he would give you a hug and say that others had let YOU down. Maybe his approach was better?
Also, I keep thinking about Mickey and writing, and the publishing industry, and art in general. Recently I have had a question, because of some things that I have seen in the news and in my little town. The question is: If an artist spends his whole life creating one of the world’s most magnificent paintings, and then that painting is destroyed in a fire, does that mean that the artist has wasted his life. Think about the parents of the Virginia College shooter. It has been reported that they were very good, devoted parents. They issued a statement after the shootings. They were devastated. Does the fact that their son killed people negate the fact that they were good parents? .....On the other hand, there is an economic impact for an artist or writer. That impact is usually determined by someone other than the artist or writer. I think that timing, luck, and connections come into play here. We need more TLC.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/06 at 12:00 PMThe AP in Philadelphia is reporting that the Red Cross is offering gas for blood. Is that poetic justice...so many Iraqi’s have shed their blood because of the usa oil lust, now its our turn.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/06 at 12:15 PMI agree with Frances-- who was that fox in that outlaw photo?
My story is the news that I’m going to see the English Best in a few weeks! See--
http://www.bbkingblues.com/schedule/moreinfo.cgi?id=3649Oh man I can’t wait, don’t want to save this for later:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0bM0wVjU2-k
Posted by James on from work 06/06 at 12:42 PMStory:
How to get RICH and FAMOUS
(more slaphappy tapping after a grave shift)Here is my latest idea for getting rich and famous:
Handel’s Gourmet Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
I would start ourt with an eco-friendly pedicab with a neat little umbrella, in a busy financial district where no one has time-- hardly enough to chew and swallow.
I would call it Handel’s for two reasons:
1) I would play classical music as background.
2) I would have crisp sandwich wrapping with a printed Hermes-type design and the slogan: “I just LOVE HANDEL’S Gourmet Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches!”
You could have your peanut butter and jelly sandwich anyway you want it-- so long as the peanut butter is chunky or smoothe, and so long as the jelly is grape or strawberry: but only the very best!
You can have your choice of white bread with a crust, or white bread without a crust.
You can have your choice: sliced diagonally, or sliced in half!
Of course the piece de resistance is the Elvis Special-- google it-- it will scare you! That will cost you though. No. Scrap that-- too much trouble and too lowbrow.
People will laugh at first-- “why pay five dollars for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?! I could have made it myself!”
A: “"But you didn’t did you?”
I would steal all the business from people who are tired of McDonald’s and Subway.
When the money starts rolling in-- I will branch out-- and hire thousands, maybe millions of workers. They can have all the fun they want and they don’t even have to smile-- the only rule is that they have to play classical music but not too loud. Of course, they have to make the sandwiches my way, and wrap them up in smart little wrappers.
There will be a Handel’s on every corner.
I will keep it a secret-- but I will favor very big people when it comes to hiring. No real reason-- I just like that image.
Isn’t it fun to dream?
Maybe one day I can do only what I would like: walk around a lot and listen to classical music.
Being loved and admired everywhere I go won’t hurt.
I might even find time to write a book.
I promise I will Never plow the profits into hedge funds or the military-industrial complex.
If anyone wants the idea-- you can have it-- just take me out to dinner, preferably gourmet.
zzzzzzzz .
Posted by Robert B. Livingston on from San Francisco, California 06/06 at 01:24 PMOn secession:
http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/the_49_states_of_america
Posted by James on from work 06/06 at 03:33 PMThanks for the Onion, James. That’s kind of funny. Yep, every one’s flag will become obsolete when there are just 49 stars, that will give one more reason for outlaws to burn them......... Do you like that Outlaw in the photo, James? She likes you.
Mr. Livingston...I’ll take 2, cut diagonally, hold the Handel. Try a little Erroll Garner instead. The name of the franchises could be “P B and J and Jazz”.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/06 at 03:47 PMI know who she is, of course… and when I got arrested, I only got to wear plastic handcuffs!
Posted by James on from work 06/06 at 04:08 PMHappy basketball players, friendly human relations and cigarette smoking...boy, would r.j. reynolds like to use that theme...(-:
While at the VA hospital this afternoon, I picked up a magazine, title, ‘VAnguard’, U.S. Department of Veteran affairs.
There was a quote by William F. Tuerk, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, “Ultimately, VA’s goal is to serve 90 percent of Veterans with a burial option at a national cemetery or state Veterans cemetery within 75 miles of their residence.”
A burial Option! Now, that’s what I call helping war victims. Knowing there is a ‘burial’ option, I’m sure more people will be sprinting to enlist in the military, especially, knowing they will be buried with 75 miles of home.
Oh there’s no place like home for the slaughtered boys, fore, no matter how far way’s the war… Holy horse feathers a better deal can’t be had anywhere!
Don’t you wish you were a veteran?
Posted by joe of maine on from 06/06 at 04:31 PMHi joe...I was wondering where you were today.
James...When they got me and were going to put me in the police car, they realized that they had run out of cuffs. That was a funny moment. They did not know what to do with me (I think that there must be a rule about not putting a perp in a police vehicle without cuffs). They decided to walk me to the police station. There they put me in solitary and I was cuffed to a bench that was built-in. While I was sitting there in Solitary, I was gazing down at the shiny metal cuffs. I realized that I am so small that I could slip my hands in and out of them. I played that game for a little while and then realized that I could make a break, not for my freedom, for just to reclaim my protest sign which had been taken from me........Eventually, when I was bemoaning the fact that I didn’t have the plastic cuffs that the others arrested had as a souvenir, someone took pity on me and gave me theirs. I still was missing the metal ones though, so bought them in a toy shop. I have them on display in an honored place in my dining room. Recently when members of the Press were here, I made it a point to tell them when they noticed the cuffs, that I am not really into S & M.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/06 at 05:31 PMNo goddamned story from me, Mickey, but I like yours. Not much happens in a community of a mere 3,500 souls like Daylesford ..
Must say I like that bumper sticker, bdaly #2 - rings true somehow.
And warmest greetings to Owen, Rosemarie, Zen Prole, frances, Jemes, Robert B. Livingston (LOVE Handel’s music and would visit ‘Handel’s’ regularly ..) and Joe of Maine.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 06/06 at 07:39 PMa short video documenting the destruction of a Palestinian apricot orchard to make way for a sewer system for the illegal settlement. Filmed by Israeli peace activists.
via yayacanada
http://tinyurl.com/2cq58tPosted by Frances on from bc 06/06 at 07:40 PMRMJ #6: the comment from my old coach wasn’t cruel or gratuitous - even then I thought it a nudge in the right direction. To wit: another quote from “Starship Troopers,” from Mr. Dubois, the History and Moral Philosophy teacher: “I told you that ‘juvenile delinquent’ is a contradiction in terms. ‘Delinquent’ means ‘failing in duty.” But duty is an adult virtue - indeed a juvenile becomes an adult when, and only when, he acquires a knowledge of duty and embraces it as dearer than the self-love he was born with. There never was, there cannot be, a ‘juvenile delinquent.’ But for every juvenile criminal there are always one or more adult delinquents - people of mature years who either do not know their duty, or who, knowing it, fail.” I’m determined that at least one of the Expendables read SST and either agree that it has some value or gently inform me where I’ve jumped the tracks.
James, “Mirror In The Bathroom” plays during an action sequence of “Grosse Pointe Blank.” It’s a clever satire and John Cusack shines. The soundtrack is all 80’s. That movie made it OK for me that I only spent four non-consecutive months in high school.
Robert, get a Handel on yourself. You forgot the white gloves! And I want the concession where all the grownups with jobs play hooky. It’ll be like printing money, but without all the Federal Reserve Board meetings. “Bernanke, you hack, shut up and have a sandwich.”
Joe: there is a military cemetary, now closed for new occupants, at the Little Bighorn National Battlefield (aka Where Custer Proved His Critics Right). I looked around a bit, expecting to find some identifiably Native American names, but no luck. I am not a veteran and just might boycott my own burial.
Helga, I’m coming to Daylesford one day.
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 06/06 at 08:15 PMGW Bush and The 14 points of fascism…
# 11 Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts: Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htmBoycotting Chapters and Indigo books for supporting Israeli mercenaries:
http://tinyurl.com/2m5vbbBig government pushes for total taxation and restriction on the last great outpost of free speech:
http://tinyurl.com/ynwtq3Posted by frances on from bc 06/06 at 08:21 PMwe don’t play much basketball here
neverthelesss this is a good story. one year the british final was in glasgow (where i live). i managed to get a free ticket somehow so i went along. the team that was losing with not long left had no timeouts left and the coach had an idea.... he sent one of the staff out to set the fire alarm for the building off so that he had more time to talk to his team.
they got in serious shit for that one.
Posted by michael on from scotland 06/07 at 02:22 AM
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