Looper (2012)

I liked this movie, this is me speaking. They were light on the time travel bullshit and heavy on story and...ACTION!  And I've wanted the pistol, called 'The Judge' since it came out.  It shoots either 410 shotgun shells or 45 caliber.

Let's not forget those crazy kittens...

  
A cat in a chair? WTF?

More please!

Watch out, Goldie! I'm thirsty!
Whoo...how fucking funny is that?

It's about nine at night and I find myself alone...finally.  H is watching 'Bachelor'. I look at another woman and she calls me a swine, this guy dates two dozen women at the same time and it's entertainment.  Go figger.

I chose to spend my evening with the youngest, going over the syllabus for biology with him.  We watched some YouTube vids on Winogradski columns because that is going to be our 'at home' project. We looked up his textbooks and ordered three off Amazon and another to rent off Chegg.  It's a lot cheaper than when we had to buy all those fuxing books. I am his biology tutor, the eldest mentors math, and H mentors English. The eldest is taking the semester off to get his head together and  travel. My folks are paying his way, they think he needs to discover the world.  I can't say they're wrong.  The Zoloft seems to be helping him not worry so much.

I hope your finding something to read off the collection I sent you.  Text me which one you are currently enjoying and I'll read it too.  I usually read about six books at once.  Right now my fav is 'Perdido Station'.  I don't usually go for fantasy but this one is about a rouge scientist named Issac who dates a bug. Yew!  I've dated girls with bugs, but never a bug. They are called lice and they are nothing to be ashamed of.

The weekend was very relaxing.  I spent most of it in the ManLab channeling Issac. I made agar plates out of old bananas, seeing what I can grow.  Watched a lot of movies, including 'Looper'.

I have to stop going to the grocery store.  It costs me too much.  Not the food, my ignorance is expensive.  The first night, I left one of the DVDs in the RedBox so someone either returned it for me or they stole it and I'll have to pay for it.  The next day, after my walk, I ran up there to return the movies but...click it or ticket.  The cops laid a $150 ticket on me.  I feel fortunate actually, why? because he didn't notice the open container I had in the car or the shot of whiskey on my breath.  I'll take it as a sign.

Pictures!

Saturday lunch, I made a meatball sub...with lots of jalapenos. Ate it in the ManLab.

Saturday night dinner, salmon croquettes and fried potatoes.

Sunday breakfast, grits, fried eggs, bacon, and biscuits. This is H's plate.

This is the youngest's plate.  He likes gravy on those biscuits.

Me, I like home-made ranchero sauce (with habenaro) and gravy on everything else.

I needed a long walk after all that food.

Okay, let's get to the Tao....

Chapter 46

When the world has the Tao
Fast horses are retired to till the soil
When the world lacks the Tao
Warhorses give birth on the battlefield

There is no crime greater than greed
No disaster greater than discontentment
No fault greater than avarice
Thus the satisfaction of contentment
is the lasting satisfaction

This is about how if there wasn't war aka greed, horses would live in the fields where they belong.  But because of war aka greed, horses are forced to give birth on the battlefield.
Greed is what sours life,
Contentment is how life is to be enjoyed.

Everybody who's content say 'Hay'!

Thinks of you...breath in, breath out.

Killer Joe (2011)

Finding himself in considerable debt, Chris a Texan drug dealer, decides the only solution is to murder his mother to collect the insurance money. Getting together with his father, the ex-husband of Chris' mother, they decide to hire Joe Cooper a contract killer, who also happens to be a police detective. The plan is that the money will go to Chris' sister Dottie. However due to the size of the contract fee, Chris agrees that Joe can take Dottie as a retainer until the insurance comes through.

Me: PIcked up this little gem at the RedBox tonight.  Had to run up to CVS pharmacy to get some Ammoxicillian and cough droups for Head. She has been fighting strep throat for a solid week.  Just her luck, the flu will get her next week.

Hold on, I'm going to get to you, I just have to go through my routine.

I think you could use two funny pictures, comical animals is what the set is called...

I guess this is comical, not if your the cat.

So, I know Head has been getting quite a lot of texts like the one you sent my way. Dude, that is some hard news to hear.  I know you don't want to upset Head...so don't. Lie. She will never know,she  won't hear it from me.  Think of the most positive thing you can say, and tell her that.  At least one of you will be happy.  Price is right. Fucking free.  

'Today's better.'

'Caught myself smiling today'

'I'm starting to feel normal'.

So what if it's a lie.  It's a white lie if I've ever heard one and I've heard myself say a lot of white lies.

Here is some truth.  NO white lies for a minute or so.  There is absolutely nothing I can say to make things better for you. Nothing Head can say.  Doubt if there is anything your doctor or Sonny Jesus could say to change the way you feel.  Whether I'm here in Texas or sitting next to you on the couch. Your hurting. No telling how long. 

I mentioned that kid I work with, the one with the special needs child. Not a word or a step in three years, and he's  a beautiful child.  This guy, he just graduated with a masters, put in his time, got a chance to be lab director, all set for the new baby and BOOM... the kid's fucked.  The meds they give him are trashing his liver and he catches every fucking germ.  The medical community falls all over this kind of shit. Federal money. They have doctors who don't have a fucking clue.  They let him get meds from Canada because nothing they have has a chance of working.  He had to take a severe pay cut to qualify for all the medical care.  For the therapist and special foods and soft rubber mats for him to lay on.  His wife holds the kid all day cuz the meds keep him wired and he holds him all night.  My friend sleeps on weekends.  He has half a brain on Monday, less on Tuesday and by Friday, he is the walking dead. 

They say one way to feel better is to think of someone in worse shape, ...is it working?

I'm actually trying to make a point.  Head has him on her prayer list and he is the first person I pray for besides myself.  I also have his favorite pizza on my Papa John's account because I like to send him a pizza every now and then, like when they have a long day at the doctors.  A prayer and a pizza is better than just a prayer, am I right? He likes olive, pepperoni, and jalapeno, crispy crust.  

Okay, my point already. I'll tell you what I told him and maybe it will help.  Son, when your fucked, and you are out of options, the decisions become easier.  First, you can't fuck anything up more if you don't do anything. And no one can fault you for taking that route.  When your hurting, you don't have to do a fucking thing.  So don't.  Breath in.  Breath out.  Other people can't sit and watch a movie without feeling guilty.  You and my other friend can watch all the TV you want.  You can play solitaire for hours.  Read book after book.  You are free of all the pressure the rest of us have to put up with.  Now, he has to work and so do you.  No free rides but you don't have to be the best and brightest.  I finally go him to step down.  He is working on the bench instead of being lab director.  They couldn't cut his pay cuz he was making less than any technician.  His stresslevel has gone way way down.  Do the best you can at work.  If you have to find another place to work to do evern less, you'll find a place.  You don't need much because your concentrating on breating in, breating out.

I hope in time you can ad some constructive acts to your day.  If your day sucks, it cant suck any worse to eat oatmeal and yougert and all that other healthy food and go for walks or jogs or do fifty push ups.  Your not enjoying yourself anyway, so do something that is good for you while you suffer.  Clean your house.  That sucks but hey, you need something to do, so start wiping those baseboards.  

I dunno, I'm rambelling because I go back to my opening statement ...there is nothing I can say to help you.  Good luck figuring it out.  

I will leave you with the Tao (I find routines a great comping mechanism, I find it calms me because I don't have to make any decisions, I just follow my routine).

Chapter 45

Great perfection seems flawed
Its function is without failure
Great fullness seems empty
Its function is without exhaustion
Great straightness seems bent

Great skill seems unrefined
Great eloquence seems inarticulate
Movement overcomes cold
Stillness overcomes heat
Clear quietness is the standard of the world.

This talks about how us humans wouldn't know perfection if it poked us in the eye.  We cannot appreciate when things are working, we see failure, we don't see what's really there, we concentrate on whats not there.  The key is there at the end.  When your cold, move, you'll warm up.  When your too hot, stand still and cool down. The hard part is knowing when to move and when to stand still.

 

 

All in a day's work.

Benidorm (2007– )

At last a sitcom that you can just sit and laugh at. Benidorm has some great features. It does not try to be clever. It is not political and certainly not politically correct. It is not sexist, by which I mean it does not make the male characters out to be more stupid, feckless, or inept than the females. Most of the characters are grotesque to some degree, and yet all are likable and are played by excellent actors. Good comedy is not easy to do - re the depressing list of hopeless sitcoms scattered across TV history.

I could go on but there is no need to analyse Benidorm. The only thing that you really need to know is that it is very FUNNY.

PS The second series is turning out to be equally good.






I love British comedies.  This one is about staying at one of those all inclusive resorts the Brits to to in Spain.  I like the character, 'The Oracle' played by Johnny Vegas, who I first saw in in 'Ideal'. 'Ideal' is funny and dark and all about smoking weed.  Loved it, loved it, loved it.

And our newest series...

So, I hear today is a bad day for you. True? Well, .... I am sincerely sorry to hear that.  I work very had to keep myself happy. It's a full time job, really it is.  It requires more than a little self deception.  Wanna know a secret? I fake it quite a bit.  It's my way of really getting happy. I just pretend I'm happy and then before I know it, I'm happy.

Sing with me...if your happy and you know it clap your hands.  If you happy and you know it, your face will surely show it ....if your happy and you know it clap your hands.



I bet the last thing yo wan to hear about is being happy. Honestly, happy is over rated.  Breathing is where it's at.  Deep breath in, deep breath out.

I downloaded some more pictures that accumulated on my office computer, let's  look and see what's come home....

We had to go look at this car...it blew u and insurance didn't want to pay...

Blowed up...

More pictures of Hatch green chiles.  I didn't explain what Hatch is. It's a place in New Mexico know for the crops of green chiles.  In New Mexico, the question you will always be asked when you order Mexican food is, 'green or red' referring to the sauce.  The green is made out of Hatch chiles..duh.

 

What you do is take the peppers and roast them to get the skins off.  This is what they look like.

And this is the serial killer, Harry Holms.  Built a kiln right in his basement. I'm reading the book about it, about him and the Chicago world's fair.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

Erik Larson—author of #1 bestseller In the Garden of Beasts—intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World's Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

My dad recommended the book, ...it's all right. Not great.

This is from another book I'm reading, 'Hot Zone' about the Marbug virus.  It is a vicious bug...your organs start to rot before you die.

Not for something completely different, shrimp cocktail.  I love shrimp cocktail. Hey, I just said 'cock' to a gay man. Hardy har har. 

 
And this is what my DNA looks like.

And this is what Albert Einstein looks like.

I am trying to make my hair just as crazy, so people will think I'm just as smart.

This is a hospital I gassed in my last job, in Oxnard California.  See those two trailers, the one on the right was my crew's, the photographers had the one on the left.  And see where the tent stops, next the the other building, I stayed up for 48 hours straight making sure the gas from the hospital didn't get into the doctor's offices.  Pretty big tent, right?


It's been a while since we shared a chapter of the Tao:

Chapter 43

The softest things of the world
Override the hardest things of the world

That which has no substance
Enters into that which has no openings

From this I know the benefits of unattached actions
The teaching without words

The benefits of actions without attachment
Are rarely matched in the world

This is more on the theme of taking it easy.  Actually, it's all about doing nothing, which is the way of the Tao. 

It's been awhile so let's do another chapter...

Chapter 44

Fame or the self, which is dearer?
The self or wealth, which is greater?
Gain or loss, which is more painful?

Thus excessive love must lead to great spending
Excessive hoarding must lead to heavy loss

Knowing contentment avoids disgrace
Knowing when to stop avoids danger
Thus one can endure indefinitely

This is about it being better to have nothing than it is to have something.  Nothing is preferable   If you realize you don't need anything, then your better off. Hey, not a bad deal.










And I will leave you with this famous western painting, 'Laugh Kills Lonesome'.  The title says it all.  

Thinking about you, ....