My article today concerns an event from August 6, which was my wife’s birthday. On the occasion I bought her a beautiful bouquet of roses. These dozen roses were of an unusual color making them especially attractive. With that thought in mind, I plan to talk about rooting roses which one receives as a gift bouquet and producing a living memory. We often encounter special events in our life where we wish that we could keep the set of roses forever, well, you actually can. Most people dry roses from special events in their life, but you can create a complete bush with very little effort. Imagine how romantic it would be to preserve a complete rose bush from your wedding bouquet or other special event.
The small vessel leaped playfully amongst the waves as Sheila held on tightly to the mast, closed her eyes and let her imagination run freely. Normally, the Loch Ness waters were calm but today its commotion was brought about by a brisk eastern wind. The young lady on deck was far from being fearful but rather she indulged her feelings towards the intention that she was finally alone with no one to disturb her in any way, shape or form. No cell phone, no television and above all no doorbell.
As I sit at my desk and wonder what I can write about it has dawned on me that today’s entertainment consists largely of a huge dose of Zombie related movies and shows. In general, most people will quickly say that it is merely fiction and nothing more. They will contend that there is no truth what so ever in the concept of zombies however perhaps we should see what exactly the bible says about such events. With that thought in mind I will discuss and show references to zombie or undead taken from the good book.
As an inspiration for today’s rant, I watched an older movie last evening and at its conclusion, my mind, as usual, started gears clicking inside. Immediately as usually is the case, I decided to try and evaluate and analyze the values of good and evil within the confines of this 1942 movie entitled Casablanca. This American classic film was based upon a stage play entitled, “Everybody Comes to Rick's.” The movie film set was that of World War II and focused upon a man who was drawn between the love he felt for a woman from his past and his desire to assist her husband in his efforts to escape from the Moroccan city of Casablanca.
For this article, I have selected one of my favorite paintings created by none other than Pablo Picasso. The painting in question is the “Three Musicians”. Before indulging into the actual analysis of this work of art, I would like to say a few words relating to a copy of it which I completed in the 1980’s. At the time, I was living in Zaragoza, Spain and we would usually venture down to a specific local restaurant in the town during the early evening hours. At this particular location the owner and his wife took a strong liking to my eldest son (Joe Jr.) and he was treated as if he was one of the family members whenever we went into the establishment. He was permitted in the kitchen; they gave him a chef’s hat and he could sit and bang on the keys of the piano as much as he so desired. These people thought nothing of all this, however, as a responsible parent my wife and I disapproved of this behavior and halted it in the bud.
I recently completed a math test and as I was making my way through the sixty plus problems which appeared on the screen, I chanced to encounter one of the questions which requested information on the word “median”. This made me recall a previous course in statistics, which I had taken several years ago. I can recall how I really hated that course and could not for the life of me understand why anyone would have to use the principles explained in it. It took a while before the rationale for learning statistics sink in. I present this rant to those students who are required by their schools to complete a course in statistical arguments. Hopefully it helps explain why we use this strange math method at all.
Writing is often perceived as one of our life’s secret realms entered by only a privileged few. Frequently we discover worthy writers who protect their interests by giving the impression that to be a first-class writer, you must analyze the mechanics of English for a good many years and only after painstaking study will one be able to master the art. The question which I present to you is whether this premise is actually true or a myth?
In this rant, we will see how popular culture has changed between the 60s and the 70s. We often at first believe we see drastic differences appearing however, if we give it a second glance, we soon discover that there are not as sweeping differences as we first suspected. The similarities of both eras engulf the youth of our country, a period of great creativity and expressions of freethinking. The 60s were the turbulent age for our society as changes were rapidly taking place on a number of topics. Fashion was basically a shock treatment for the eyes as the clothing ranged from the elegant array of fashions wore by Jackie Kennedy to the mod look with its go-go boots and the short miniskirt. We found bell bottom jeans, long skirts and the peasant dresses that were being worn by the hippy culture to be somewhat different.
The media is everywhere in our culture as it tries to influence our every move. No longer do we find it confined to the television or the newspaper, but it has managed to wing its way into every aspect of our life. Portable cell phones now permit a holder to access any news source that they so desire. This pop culture influence can especially be noticed in the areas of politics. You can have daily tweeted messaged sent to you by the top politicians in the campaign on their upcoming speech locations or their comments towards a particular issue. The most obvious influences that have an effect upon the pop culture is the political commentaries we find from the entertainer’s statements. We see this from both the right and the left.
Children tend to do some significant, but eerie things as they grow up. Yours truly was no exception to this rule. While growing up in New Jersey, as a preteen it was not uncommon for my friends and I to hide covertly behind a tombstone at the local cemetery. We would patiently await the passage of some poor, innocent “living being” as they made their way towards the local grocery store or somewhere else of importance to them in the early evening hours just after the arrival of darkness. In the event there was a full moon out that particular evening, the “scare game” we played took on a more sinister role and was even more enticing. I still to this day can vividly relive those creepy thrills experienced when we would suddenly leap out from behind the cold-stone tombstone and totally scare the pants off of an unsuspecting individual. To a young boy in those days this was a means of entertainment which actually hurt no one other than the intended victim and his or her missed heartbeats.
