Archive for the ‘Regular Features’ Category
Bumper Stickers o’ the Day
Posted in Regular Features, tagged Humor, Miscellaneous, Society on November 21, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Tune o’ the Day
Posted in Regular Features, tagged Music, People, Society on October 24, 2018| Leave a Comment »
In the closing scene of the 1984 John Hughes movie “Sixteen Candles,” Jake and Samantha are together at last in a fairy-tale ending. And one of the reasons that schmaltzy scene worked so well was “If You Were Here” by the Thompson Twins” playing in the background.
Technically, “If You Were Here” was all wrong for the situation. It’s no happy love song. It’s about a guy who wants out of a bad relationship.
Maybe Hughes ignored the disconnect because the song sounds so good. Lyrics? What lyrics? Or maybe he rationalized that the song refers to Jake’s fizzled relationship with the school prom queen.
Yeah, the second one. That’s probably it.
If You Were Here
By The Thompson Twins
Written by Tom Bailey, Alannah Joy Currie, and Joe Leeway.
If you were here,
I could deceive you.
And if you were here,
You would believe.
But would you suspect
My emotion wandering, yeah.
Do not want a part of this anymore.
The rain water drips
Through a crack in the ceiling.
I’ll have to spend
My time on repair.
But just like the rain,
I’ll be always falling, yeah,
Only to rise and fall again.
If you were here,
I could deceive you.
And if you were here,
You would believe.
But would you suspect
My emotion wandering, yeah.
Do not want a part of this anymore.
Trivia Questions o’ the Day
Posted in Regular Features, tagged History, Miscellaneous, People, Society on October 20, 2018| Leave a Comment »
The Questions…
1. A full-size replica of the Santa Maria, the flagship of Christopher Columbus, is located in what American city?
2. Who was the first U.S. president to be born in a hospital?
3. How did celebrity chef Paula Deen get her start in the food business?
4. In the early 1700s, King George I of England decreed that all pigeon droppings in the realm were the property of the Crown. Why?
5. In the 1966 TV series Batman, the role of the Penguin was first offered to Spencer Tracy. However, Tracy made a demand that the producers found unacceptable, and Burgess Meredith got the part. What did Tracy want that scuttled the deal?
The Answers…
1. In Columbus, Ohio, of course. The replica was built in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the first voyage of Columbus.
2. Jimmy Carter. He was born in 1924 at the Wise Sanitarium in Plains, Georgia, where his mother Lillian worked as a nurse.
3. In 1989, she started a catering business from her Savannah home called The Bag Lady. She prepared bagged lunches that her sons delivered to local businesses.
4. In those days, pigeon droppings and bat guano were the only known sources of potassium nitrate, a key ingredient of gunpowder. The poop was a highly prized commodity until the early 1800s, when natural deposits of potassium nitrate were discovered in Chili and Peru.
5. Tracy wanted the Penguin to kill Batman.
Quotes o’ the Day
Posted in Regular Features, tagged Miscellaneous, Opinion, People, Society on October 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »
The ear tends to be lazy, craves the familiar and is shocked by the unexpected; the eye, on the other hand, tends to be impatient, craves the novel and is bored by repetition.
— W. H. Auden
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If things go wrong, don’t go with them.
— Roger Babson
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I am fond of children — except boys.
— Lewis Carroll
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Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths.
— Lois Wyse
Auden
Wyse
Quotes o’ the Day
Posted in Regular Features, tagged Life, Opinion, People, Society on September 26, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
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You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.
— Indira Gandhi
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Better to get hurt with the truth than comforted with a lie.
— Khaled Hosseini
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I think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.
— Oscar Wilde
Emerson
Wilde
Tune o’ the Day
Posted in Regular Features, tagged Life, Music, Society on September 10, 2018| Leave a Comment »
“Mad World,” one of the early hits by the British duo Tears for Fears, has remained a popular song over the years. It’s a pleasant tune, and, in fact, tells a compelling story. Not that people pay much attention to song lyrics.
Consider the line “The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.” Roland Orzabal, who wrote the song, said it was inspired by psychologist Arthur Janov, who believed that intense dreams (e.g., threats of death) are the best at relieving tension.
Bonus fact: Janov also inspired the name “Tears for Fears,” which refers to Janov’s concept of using “primal therapy” to relieve the repressed pain of childhood trauma.
Bonus fact two: Orzabal initially tried to sing Mad World’s vocals himself, but the results were lacking. He finally asked bandmate Curt Smith to try. “Suddenly,” said Orzabal, “it sounded fabulous.”
FYI, “Mad World” reflects the thoughts of a disillusioned teenager looking in despair at life around him. He feels hopeless and insignificant, deciding that life and people have neither meaning nor purpose.
He’s probably right, but that’s a weighty concept for some poor teen to handle.
Smith (top) and Orzabal.
Mad World
By Tears for Fears, 1982
Written by Roland Orzabal
All around me are familiar faces,
Worn out places, worn out faces.
Bright and early for their daily races,
Going nowhere, going nowhere.
Their tears are filling up their glasses.
No expression, no expression.
Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow.
No tomorrow, no tomorrow.
And I find it kind of funny,
I find it kind of sad,
The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.
I find it hard to tell you ’cause I find it hard to take.
When people run in circles, it’s a very, very
Mad world.
Mad world.
Mad world.
Mad world.
Children waiting for the day they feel good.
Happy birthday, happy birthday.
Made to feel the way that every child should.
Sit and listen, sit and listen.
Went to school, and I was very nervous.
No one knew me, no one knew me.
Hello, teacher. tell me what’s my lesson.
Look right through me, look right through me.
And I find it kind of funny,
I find it kind of sad,
The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.
I find it hard to tell you ’cause I find it hard to take.
When people run in circles it’s a very, very
Mad world.
Mad world.
Mad world.
Mad world.
And I find it kind of funny,
I find it kind of sad,
The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.
I find it hard to tell you ’cause I find it hard to take.
When people run in circles it’s a very, very
Mad world.
Mad world.
Halargian* world.
Mad world.
* Curt Smith wrote, “‘Halarge’ was an imaginary planet invented … during the recording of “The Hurting.” I added it as a joke during the lead vocal session, and we kept it.”
Bumper Stickers o’ the Day
Posted in Regular Features, tagged Humor, Miscellaneous, Society on August 21, 2018| Leave a Comment »
