Much like that Tiger tank in "Replacements"

Much as:

That Tiger tank

Bursting out of cover to brew up a Churchill

in "Band of Brothers":

Lucia di Lammermore

is gonna burst her vocals forth soon.

chexx herexx

On voting today for John Edwards for the Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States of America w/ respect to yesterday' Gallo

Reading Judas

Just finished Reading Judas by Pagels and King.  It didn't commence the armageddon like the last book I read, but it did exactely what I wanted it to do- a new bit (2007) of bible scholarship that should not only bleed me into the study of  the early days of the church - the historian in me has again taken over- but also interest me enough into pursuing that course.

Deal done.

The Gospel of Judas is a new discovery.  It came to lite in 1983  and was published to the great unwashed in 2006. It is a gospel, just like the four 'official gospels' that are in the New Testament.  It is very different from the four 'official' gospels, but not too different as to be a totally seperate document.  But, unquestionably-- there are some radical differences.  Throughout the last, say, 115 years, there have been various of these ancient text found.  The biggest find, for example, is above : the picture affixed to this post is of the Nag Hammadi Codices, a bunch of old texts found to-gether in the early 1900's (I think the date is rite- and no, Judas was not a parto' this haul.).

So, why isn't the Gospel of Judas in the 'official' bible??  It represents one of the many strains of Christianity that were about @ the time.  Sorta like today, where we have Catholics, mormons, Baptists, etc...  However, the strains of Christianity were very different back then.  Somewhere along the line, certain people decided to 'clean' up the various strains so that they could attain a 'one, true, catholic' church.  So out went the Gospel of Judas, the gospel of Mary, the Apocalypse of Peter, and many many more.  The 'winners' in this debate (well, I hate to say, what eventually became.... the catholic Church)   then did away with all of the other gospels.  The only way we knew they existed was that surviving works from that time actually discussed them is passing.  It wasn't until sometime in 1898 and after  that many of the old gospels were found in caves and etc scattered across Jesus's land, Palestine.  They were found in fields and caves and other places, and we are incredibly lucky somebody 1800 years ago sought to save and perserve their gospels.  In some ways, I like to think of it in terms of Anne Franks's diary, but w/out putting the nazi imagery onto the early church.  After they were rediscovered came the long work of perserving, translating, and studying the 'new' gospels.

Again, ten years ago Vito and I had a discussion about these finds.  Both Vito and I were rite, as I think back now, although ten years ago we didn't agree.  As we were talking ten years ago (to go to our main point) Vito held that these 'gnostic gospels' (as they are called- gnostic meaning ) were important for what we could glean from them about jesus teachings - who knows what else he taught, and we shouldn't ignore these works.  I held that the four official gospels held the superessence of Jesus, and it is impossible to miss (the whole love yr enemies' bit.  It wasn't a violent discussion, just an exchange of ideas, but I remember that that point rather ended that part of our conversation*

I think differently now.  True, the message of Love is perfectly important, but there's always more ways to look @ things.  I cxame to this conclusion in the past few weeks, but Vito's idea is maybe best expressed by Pagels /King:

"Exploring these discussions, then, offers more then insight into our past and present; it also opens up a far wider range of visions than we had even imagined of what Jesus- and his teaching- might mean." (p. 103)

The adult in me has seen so many people with differing versions of God- or, to  even narrow it down, but not much- differing versions of Christ.  There's the street prophet "Der Feurher", a skitzop. who is The One who "receives" "The Signals" from "God".  His God loves numerology and seems the world was created .... I don't know.  Then there is George W. Bush, who claims to follow Jesus teachings (and lets just say, in this case I needent be the one to judge).  The Mormons, the Catholics, the Spliffites, etc etc the etc etc etc.......  So, I dunno.  Long ago I realised that any religion is as fine as mine- yes they are trying tho teach us to hate Muslims in this country now, but I fully realise that it is a religion of peace- just to to some.  Same thing about Judiasm- despite what is being done to palestinians in it's name.   And despite the Crusades, the Holocaust, the Inqusition, etc - Christianity is a great religion.  

So, I'm kool with the gnostics.  But what real bad effect they  can have on people?  I have written of  my own distorted view of women via the madonna/whore concept.  m/w has it's funkiness fer sure, but I always worry about my views on women (to name but one subject) because of it.  Which takes me to Der feurhers teaching to Jamie Tree- what about Jamie losing years of his life doing 'bible studies' -- for FUCKING HOURS A DAY OVER WEEKS OF DAYS OVER MONTHS OF WEEKS OVER MONTHS OF YEARS -- with der feurher ??  Is this valid ??  If I say the Gnostics are valid, was that supreme waste of tijme valid as well?

Well, totally against the grain, I think I actually do have an answer, though not the one y'd think:

For all intents and purposes, Jamie has finally freed himself from "Der Feurher".  He understands that the guy is just a leach**.  He had deep anger @ the guy ; since the cloud der feurher scupped up on his head is dissapaiting, the lies become apparent.  

I guess the lesson is.........one must do it for them selves.

..............................................

*=No no no no no no, this conversation didn't happen in November of 2006, so this of course is not the "Ithica" conversation.  To parafrase Hitler before the invasion of Russia - "Don't worry; he's coming".  To parafrase one of Hitlers generals after the invasion of Russia : "We've grabbed the tiger by the tail and dear not let loose"

**=Der Feurher just cleared another guy's bank account of $25,000- no, not on drugs or anything like that-  but on waste, like fur coats and shit like that.  He's another skitzo./ not on meds.  who really doesn't understand anything expect to manipulate.

Trolling Army Intel in times of extreme nothingness going on...

Shamefully, there are some really kool trax on ............Fergies new LP.  Heard a few on the radio, but Gf got the LP from her daughter, and I've heard it a bit.  

This here LP (reviewed here) is another lovely example of art.  Not as good as their later LP, but kickn' no the less.

a whole new form of life

More magnetic fields connexions.......... since I' seeing them six x next month, be prepared for more and more shit like this.  They are very good in concert.

This note from neice.1

To one and all:

Just a reminder, I will be on the radio tomorrow on channel 99.9 at approx. 7 PM. Listen to me as I spin the disks!!! Haha! Its channel 99.9, 9 FM, but it may be a different radio station in the berbs. (I think O.P. still is 99.9)

Peace,
Neice.1

Reflection upon the draw for the fifth round of the F.A. Cup

He is The One

I asked for a better lipsync job / and they told me I couldn't

One of the great great great pop masterpieces of all time.

I'm pretty sure I posted this before,

but i'm a repetive fucker sometimes...

so i asked to see her next week and she told me i could /

i asked to see her and she told me i could

So now whats left ??

So, now that John Edwards is out of the race- shit- I now have to decide if I should vote for him anyway (in '04 primary I didn't vote 'cause Al Sharpton went out before Illinois- I always felt that I should have voted for him anyway), vote for my dead father, vote for myself, or evn vote @ all. In the primary, not the general. Nader or Green party then. tuesday yes i am excited, but less so now. Screw my Dad : Lets vote for ME !!

Un petit film de Hilts

from thanksgiving, and i finally give it my blessing

Magnetic Fields 1 h concert on NPR. Rocky's clash push let me meander to this.

local view of international deal

Whenever I come across stuff like this, I always think of Our Dear Mistress. I tried to get a NYT story of similar vein several m's back, but I jimied it up. Not this time.

diamonds

Bless diamonds, and i pass on the command to "click on Dave" - y'll be rewarded

DCS

The White Sox understood under the symbols of Lorenzo Barcelo

Jesus understood under the symbols of Sponge

I finished this book almost two weeks ago, and have been struggling with it since. I liked it, and I liked it a lot. I've covered this before,but despite growing up in a working class 'hood filled with many immigrants from the old country, I was always pretty happy with the religious instruction given in my parish, St. Rita, growing up. Although it was squashed down on us that our sole purpose was to get our souls into heaven - the sacrament of confession was quite possibly THE MOST important to us 'cause if ye got carhit outside the confessional booth after a 'good confession', y'd go straight to heaven - its very obvious I also got plenty of doses of the humanist Jesus and the deep importance of loving your enemies and all that. Lots of bible background in school and in church, understood the Good Samaritan story, knew that people thought Jesus was special.

But I always wanted to read more about the biblical background in the same way that I learned materialism back in the grad school day. Always loved reading iconoclasts like Marx and X and Hill and Parenti and Hobsbawm and others put their spin on familiar subjects. John Sponge is a like iconoclast, mixing up history, religion, culture, science, sociology, etc to create a very interesting mix of his ideas on Jesus and god. Good read, too.

So it happened to stumble upon this book by chance. It happened to be in a lib's New Book' section, and I grabbed it. Took 2-3m to finally start it, but then ate it all up and quick. Sponge, basically, amounts to what some have called him : an atheist bishop. He danses around the topic by saying that we have been bound too long by an image of a 'theistic god', which means a god that hangs out, listens to prayers, the big white beard and all. What he does is dissemble the historical/cultural Jesus that has been passed down to us and instead give us his ideal of who Jesus is. It takes a long time and like any historian, he builds his case bit by bit.

The first (of three) part of the book is entitled "Separating the human Jesus from the myth", and a partial list of chapters will tell you its targets : Chapter Two - "There was no star over Bethlehem" discusses the various accounts of Jesus' birth, and the inconsistencies between them. He also uses nice historical thinking when he writes about no historical record about the 'census' that forced Jesus's family to go to Bethlehem. Chapter Four - "The Historicity of the Twelve Disciples", discusses that if there were twelve disciples, how come there are like 15-6 mentioned ?? And he discusses miracles in Chapters 5-6-7-8. And finally, he presents the crucifixion narrative as "Liturgy masquerading as History" - meaning that instead of literal history, the crucifixion is instead written up as if it were a liturgy to be followed in 'mass'.

And that's the whole bit- the gospels, Sponge writes, should never be read as literal history. One totally should use them as a 'way to live' and even to seek out historical clues in the gospels. However, Sponge wants us to remember that the gospels were written 15-50 years after Jesus's death, and were handed down as oral tradition before that. So= literate readings of it ? NO !! Sponge sees the Gospels and talk of Christ as God as an attempt by humans to put the Jesus experience that they received into human words = and failing miserably. There are no way we can use human language correctly in this task-it just beggars- and successive generations have taken the gospel attempts to put 'God into words' as literal truth. I paraphrase Sponge when I write that Sponge is looking for the Jesus experience, not the 1st Century explanation of it.

Sponge writes :

" Perhaps if we can break Jesus out of religion, free him from creeds, doctrines, and dogmas, we can once again hear his invitation to enter the God experience known in the fullness of life. That is the Jesus I seek. he neither was nor is a miracle worker. He did not walk on water, heal the sick, or raise the dead. rather, in his radical humanity, he lived out the meaning of God and caused those who glimpsed his life or felt his power to exclaim "God was in Christ', and this God, the gospel writers assert, can also be in me and you. " (p.95)

The second part of the book is entitled "The original image of Jesus". Since the gospels were written by members of a movement that was heavily dominated by Jews, there is - unsurprisingly- lottsa Jewish stuff in them. Being a catholic, it is of course "Catholic Stuff" because that's the way it's always been presented growing up. Adam, Moses, Noah?? All Catholics and part of the catholic tradition, as far I always knew. But one must remember, there was lotta Jewish history before Jesus came along- and this is what Sponge is on in this section. Again, the gospels were written- Sponge argues- mainly by Jewish lads for Jewish people which also were...... well now also Christians. So, again, one must read through Jewish eyes the gospels to fully get all of their meaning. Again, some chapter titles: Jesus understood under the symbols of Yom Kippur, Jesus understood as the new Passover, Jesus as the Son of Man, etc..... So in writing the gospels for a heavily Jewish crowd, the writers wrote about Jesus to evoke some of the ideas and prophets in the Old Testament to tie him into that tradition. The net result, however, is to partially obscure Jesus's true message; which comes in Part Three.

In Part Three, Sponge feels Jesus ultimate message is in John 10:10 : "I came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly" - not 'Love your enemies". Sponge goes into science - evolution even- to explain his vision of God which Jesus enabled Sponge to see. People have it in them evolutionarily to be wary of others. In animals the pack sticks to-gether for the good of the whole pack, and treats all others suspiciously. However, Sponge sees Jesus' message as superseding this pack mentality. The Jesus message is to reach out to those who are not your family or frenz- love your enemies, Jesus says. This was a freak out in the day, because the people were taught to stay away from others and not 'cross tribal boundaries' as Sponge calls it. Jesus crossed many such boundaries- the curing of the lepers, the parable of the Good Samaritan, even that he had a lot of female disciples (he used context for this). Sponge writes

" The claim is made in these passages that Jesus is what God is, because in the fullness of Jesus's humanity we can experience what it means to live beyond the barriers of our evolutionary past and soar into a humanity that is spirit filled, open to the source of life and love ........ " (p 263-4).

And he crosses religious rules. The context of the time was that there were rules about rules about rules, and one had to follow all of these religious rules unless one wanted to be sinful. There is a story of a woman who was considered unclean by religious law, yet Jesus hung out and even cured her. He also cured a cripple on the Sabbath, another Total no no back then (p269). People got upset that Jesus was 'working' on the Sabbath, when one is supposed to rest. However, Sponge writes that to Jesus:

" Human life was not created to fit into the sabbath laws, he proclaimed. The opposite was true; the sabbath laws were designed as an aid in the enhancement of human life. If religious rules do not enhance life, they must be set aside in the name of humanity. Contrary to thousands of years of religious teaching and practice, the ultimate purpose of religion is not to please the presumed external supernatural deity, Jesus was saying; it is rather to enhance humanity. " (p.256)

So- to Sponge, the ultimate message of Christ is to overcome all boundaries and rules and distinctions and diversions that have kept all people apart for all of time. Instead, we are to serve one another. this is the purpose, and not to 'serve god' - back to that old theistic definition of god he wrote of earlier.

So- he's saying, in our language- there is no god, and when you die, that's it- no more you. But to touch the Divine? Well, you can- just follow Jesus's teachings about reaching out to those who you would normally not and making sure that they receive a full dose of...........of fuck, I'm not even sure. Again, Sponges 'Jesus message' is "I came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly". We, too, are to do the same.

Again, I loved the book and have been very influenced by it. Now reading Pagels/ Kings Gospel of Judas, and will read more on bible scholarship. But beyond the scholarly level, I must amidt I did a hard existential bit for two days realising that when my 76.3 years are over, that's it. I always have it that the idea of a god is rather far fetched, but I've been easy on myself with "Well, I can't explain Love, I can't explain consciousness, anything is possible. Vito long ago disabused my "Hey, I think that I got a proof of God : what about Love?" and he mumbled something about "Well, what about the the scientific ideas bout the chemical basis of Love??:, and Sponge takes out my "Well, what about consciousness? I can't explain that!!" with the argument that consciousness is simply an evolutionary uptic of the 'flight or fight' responses....or something like that. So, in my lazy way I've always been able to push such questions back for 'later'. Yet, my ideas jibe well with Sponge in many ways, and it's hard to dig his arguments about most things but not this final thing. It's hard to think that one day I will not exist. Again, for two days I went through this deep funk, and quite frankly : I was unhappy. Sponge writes that one must get the heavenly God idea out of our heads to fully live a humanistic life the way Jesus did. So- the way to truly serve god is to make sure she doesn't exist. And don't worry- I'm into the bible scholarship these days, so Ill be reading more. Need to get those gnostic gospels- very interesting deals.......

Political stuff

Loved the article about that jackel Guilini's ways of trying to fuck people when they crossed him. You wouldn't believe the deep pettiness. Hopefully the good voters of Florida will get himmout of the race today.

An interesting article in todays nyt about John Edwards future in the race. It's pretty obv. that either Obama or Clinton will get the nomination, but it may well come down to delagates in the end- and he probably will have enough to possibly be made the vice president canidate. So far it's:

Total 2,025 needed

Barack Obama 34

Hillary Rodham Clinton 21

John Edwards 12

A gigantic way off.

who knows

went to the

Showtime @ the Apollo - or is it http://www.apollotheater.org/amateur_night.html- ( i guess the lynx are not working correctly- the link should read "...or is it amateur nite @ the Apollo....., but i'm not fightiong...) is a long running show they show here latenite satnite. It's basically a variety hour/ talent show held in the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, and lets just say there is a lot of audience participation. Mite be cruel, but parta the shows draw IS the cruelness of the audience. When someoine sucks, the booing starts. When they really suck, a 'rouge' tap dancer comes out to sweep the offenders off the stage.

On Saturday nite, they played a year ending 'best of', and it was classic - especially the rude bits. Again, it makes one cringe to see someone on stage being unmercifully booed...........but it can be great. One poor comedienne's bit was on ugly guys who always hit on her- the booes started after her first lame joke cleared rthe audience.......they started slow, but she just stood there saying "yr not gona let me even finish my joke?" before tapdancer cleared her off. The next guy was classic- squat dude who lamed out a first joke, but when he started the second with "Maaaaan.....New york......y'all got some agressive bums..."

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

So funny. Then there was an operatic singer who belted out some sorta di Lammermoric type of vocals, and didn't you know it:

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

But sometimes it goes rite. Later in the show, they played best performances. First one was this totally funky sexy girl, who started out a bluesy number which was met with silence for about 10 seconds, and then the audience rolled out the applause. wonderous to see the young womans face as she felt the love, acknolwleded the love, and carried on. And yeah, part of it was that she was sexy as all hell.

here's a new little bit i made,

lots of birds,

know what i mean,

like that , do you ?

bet you would.

The gospel of Virgil

1 The Lord then spoke of a father and son who lived in the region of Marquettica : " The father held only but a small patch of land to grow his tomatos. Yet he would water them correctly, tending to their roots and the soil each morning before it got hot. He would pluck off the small branches, called suckers because nothing good could grow from, to strenghten each individual plant. 2 He would wait until each fruit was just correctly ripe before harvesting it. 3 And in the winter, the father would continually compost his patch, each year making it bigger and more productive. 4 Each year the family would benefit greatly from the produce by eating what they could and selling the rest at market. 5 The many in the village would share with the family, and would enjoy the healthy and nourshing vegatables. 6 When the father passed on after a life of tireless work, the son inherited the land. 7 The garden, only a shallow stony affair when the father has first started to work on it, had - 8 because of the fathers relentless surender of himself to his families fortunes- 9 now become a great and productive farm of many acres, with organtically sound, pest free, rich, well watered soil capable of fully feeding the multitudes. 10 Corretly harvested, the son - 11 because of the sacrifices of the father had investedin him, the son now was with certain powers that the father could never have for himself- 12 was in a position to better the fathers harvest by seven times sevenfold and so feed his family and the families of all in the the community. 13 Yet the son, squandering the gifts his father had invested in him, could only make the plants grow to one third the size the father had. 14 Although the son spent a lot of time tending the soil, terrible weeds grew that overtook all the son tried to do. 15 Despite attempting to correctly water the tomatoes, the weeds grew strong and drank all that was meant for the crops. 16 Although the son poured the table scraps into the garden digilently, this strenght was stolen by the weeds in its relentless quest to destroy. 17 And despite the many successful attemtps by the son to get rid of various weeds, each attempt was given up before the weeds were fully and finally evicted from the garden. 18 I say to you, if the does not act as the father did and clear all of the weeds off of the land, correctly water and tend his plants, the sons harvest will never be enough to feed the community or his family, not to speak of feeding even himself. 19 But corrctly tended by the son, this garden can contribute uncountable life to the count of seven times seven times seven."

The gospel of Virgil

1 Venturing from the place of Evergreens forwards, the disciple Reggie of Jackson asked of the Lord 2 "Cannot we stop here, Lord? We have been on this path for a longtime, and we should gather to-gether in a circle, drink from the common chalice, and relax- 3 for the road ahead is long". 4 But the Lord rebuked him, saying "Only when we have reached that place where we are to be can we stop and rest long enough to enjoy the chalice." 5 After a great deal more distance, another of the disciples, Jaggered spoke. "Lord, we have covered a great distance already. 6 We can stop, share our gibbles quickly, then return to the road enfreshed." 7 The Lord also dismissed Jaggered, saying "Stopping now would harm our journey tenfold. The path ahead is obvious and safe while the sun shines. However, stopping now in the various villages and towns will expose us to the thieves in the night along the open road." 8 After many ours on the path, Matthew of Jenke cried out : "But Lord, surely now, after we have been on the road all of this time, with all of our pack on our backs and with little to eat or drink- 9 surely now is the time to stop and rest. 10 And the Lord responded : "I say to you, you will be seated on my right in the kingdom to come, but then and only then is the time to rest."

sat .1

The long and winding oil change finally got done. Gf and I were going a long ways a way to go 'birding' and I needed the strasser the battle ready- I didn't want the car going for hours on 3000m oil, so I was obsessed with fixing it up before we sailed. The regular place I always did it @ was closed doors for good, so I had to go to another place (3h!!!!) and then a third. Took an hour and they also replaced the wipers.

Funny- the car purrs now. Every oil change and its a new car. I've been careful w/ every 3000m. Pluus, the wiperrs make such a great deal of differenc. the shit I had on befoe had basically rotted onto the window- but I ws too stupid to know better. Now, contextualised with the past vistas from the drivers seat, i-can-see-for-miles-and-miles................ per usual, I wait loads of time, and then think : "what took so long??"

Gf and I were on a tilt to see giant hawks, just like last year. We enhighwayed finally like 1300h moving west by southwest on 55. Starved Rock, here we come...

Saturday.2

When we went to Starved Rock last year to watch the bald eagles which winter there, we immediately climbed the highest point and tried to see them from there. Nice view- but we realised that the better place in the whole area to watch the eagles in the wild was rite across the river from where we were. It was too late in the 2007 day to switch positions on the river, but afters we intoned : next year.

And to that, I write : next year !

Again we missed that side of the river by the time darkness fell. However, this year we had a choice- be on that side, or watch a raptor show that we lucked into tickets. We knew there was gonna be raptor shows but was told the free tickets were all out. however, Gf asked someone and this person happened to have .........two returns !! So our choice ?

We chose raptor. As you will see, it was a couple of handlers showing off three eagles, two owls, a merlin, and two non raptors : a raven and an opossum. I loved it - it's nice to see such birds up close, and these were such exotic birds. they brought 'm out one by one, and lt some of them fly above the audience. Gf loved it as well. In addition to the tufted tit mouse and a chickadee that were feeding on seeds left outside one of the buildngs, I have now also seen a great horned owl, an european-asian barn owl, a ___ african eagle, a merlin, a ___ raven, and .......missing what?

Here is some video documenting the show. Originally I wanted to flim us climbing the rocks, some snaps of the gulls, herons, and bald eagles fighting over fish scraps, some from the show, maybe some driving, etc...... but y'know sometimes...

Sad and funny about the bald eagle in the video. The people running it are from the World Bird Sanctuary in St Louis . They caught the eagle as it was trying to get food from people in a parking lot- the shelter people surmise the eagle was a pet. Imagine being in a a parking lot when this massive birds plopps by begging for chips or other.

When the program ended and darkness fell, we expresswayed back routed through downtown Joliet, where we ate @ a place called Mcbrody's. Here we split a cheeseburgh and a corned beef riff. We deployed a 2-1 coupon and had double ciders and ll told it was about $18. Nice !!I have a deep fasination with central district areas of smaller towns/cities, and Joliets 's is pretty cool. Gf and I are determined to come again in the summer when we can actually walk about.

Again, fun day, although lots of it was tiring and aggrevating. The drive out to Starved Rock wsan't bad, we dug the show, and the meal was kool. Chalice.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles !!

saw scross the universe last nite. we went to one ofour favourite places, downtown la grange, and caught the late show. we had all sorts of plans to make it a thursday nite of out going which included resturaunt- but i forgot the 1/2 price book and that scutled that. instead, gf cooked up some pork and broccali and braed and goodness. then we blanketed to the theatre, knowing we had a time to make.

kinda korny, but it was a musical. it held to-gether a well as any musical- if you accept the laspses into song by the actors in any musical, it mite as well be fine here as well. yes kinda korny, but that's the spirit of the musical; and this doesn't pretend to be anything other than a musical.

funny were the many recognizable types in the movie and how many themes it tried to hit. jimi and janis. civil rites, womens rites, gay rites, student power, anti war movement, drug abuse, hippies, etc...

and of course there were the songs. my favourite scence featured one of my fave beat songs, 'hold me tite'. it was a song of young lustful passion, and it worked well. lisa hogg (above, in the skirt) enters my canon of favourite actors from this time on - yeesh, what a sexy scene.

good- i think i now appreciate 'i am the walrus'. 'revolution' scene great. and, incredibly, there was a 'coming out' song that was brilliant- i won't kill it beyond that. no one could ruin the sheer joy of 'i've just seen a face'. some songs were luke warm, but even if they were bad, i accepted them as a part of the story and noted their arrangement.

sorry i have to be forgiven for a little bit of thinking about things, but i'm so influenced these past few weeks by reading on jesus and the 'jesus authors' balancing out the bible text with biblical schlorship. so sorry, but what comes next is from this== what suprised me about the movie was the centrality of the song "all you need is love" to the beatles story. as john sponge mite assign jesus' mission as to bring life, and bring it abundantly, i felt that the message of this movie was that love is all you need.

funny-

i was once shure of that, then i realized in a certain context that this was false. later i then regained the ideal that all you need is love - but as i rite, i am not certain what i feel. that's the story

so- thumbs up ?? sure.

The bookshelves are finished

Jimey from Yesterday

Looky = some extra pixx i forgot about and read !!

Looky = some extra pixx i forgot about and read !!

St. Patrick's day begs early for attention

It's a million songs outta this tune, but this is one of my favourite two

Stones from the black and white days

Hawktalk

Interesting seeing a hawks approach today. It was one of those thin accipiters, holding itself up in the wind while it traded altitude for-----nah, can't use that phrase inthis context. Anyway, it sorta hovered down across Pulsaki near 71st, rite into a small shurbbery. Immed. double or triple little birds flew outta there. My guess is that they had played it kool and flushed themselves only when safe.

Persuasion

Gf and I'd finished the last hour of the 1995 version. Sorry for all the Persuasion talk as of late, but it really struck me hard. I'd just like to reiterate how much better this version is than the nw one - which I liked a lot !! The production values, the acting, direction, etc are far better in the 95 version.

Seeing it again, it's greatness is obvious. When Wentworth figures out he still has a chace, the helping hand in the carraige, the storming out of the recital, the writing and delivering of the letter......... such a striking story. Sorry.

A football filled with Sunday

It was to Smoky Treats that the football day was to be spent. He, from the Boston area, had a superrooting interest in the days games- the Patriots. That was the early game, and by the time Gf and I had broken out into the north side that game was over. But the late game was watched in th full - we all were kinda struck that the Giants won, but they deserved it. Lotta football type questions in the crowd there - since I was the reigning expert in football and pretty much do understand most of the weird little rules, I didn't mind -- err, liked -- to play Answer Man. Didn't seem to irritate anyone because it was in this case a service. I was in a talkative mood, not the taciturn turn which I usually am in. which is good.

Who was there? Hosts, Gf's, Sunshines, a family of three, Snowden for a bit, Chartman, and WR Heurst. No Guitars.

Although Gf and Id stopped @ Gilmart on the way up, I also chowed down on the brownies that Eden had made.

Half time Gf and I went to mass @ Mt. Carmel or something- it's on Belmont, just east of Halsted. It was a few minutes before half, and although we planned to take in the Loyola Univ. 2100h mass, thhis was way convienient. We marched in the fridgid cold the 3 blocks and worshipped. This mass is a different mass - Gf was, well, one of the very few women there- and in a pretty full church. Lotta men, shaved heads, etc... - y know the area. It's kool there's a mass like this, although they don't really publisize it in the regular bulletin. They have a bulletin all to this masses own special community. It's a nice mass, tailored just a bit to the congregents. Gf enjoyed it as well. I'd wanted to take her this nite- as said before - to L.U.'s mass, but I was happy to expose he to this sorta different thing. LU's sorta different thing some other day.

Again, pretty kool-and it's especially kool for me in a more mundane way: I went to this mass a few times in years past- the deep convienience of a 2100h/sunday nite mass rite off the Belmont El* back in my carless days was a powerful weapon in my quest to live a cityfull life sans voiture. I'd be watching something @ Treats, or simply be in transit across that 'hood, and popp in to the 2100h.

There were many other "masses of convienience"- the 7pm Espanish mass @ St. Jerome's on Lunt; Polish masses; Univesity masses @ St. Xavier's (lately) and DePaul as well as L.U.'s.,;well sung Vietnemese masses off of Lawerence Ave.; seven AM Easter masses- more than once- after having been up the entire nite. From a daily planner/calander I carried around all the time from '98-99, I find several regular places of worship written down so as not to be forgotten: in Holy Name Catherdral (Sun nite, 5.15p, rite off of subway stop) and St Mary of the Angels (near Jacksons crib and the entire Bucktown'hood). But then there are those I forgot about also annotated for future reference- from St. Andrews to St. Aloysius and St. Vincent to Holy Innocents. Then there's also Our Lady of Lourdes in Uptown. And what of St. Benedict's, where not only Big John and Kat got married but Blackie and I celebrated the Lord one Easter morning? St. Rita, the parish I grew up in, got a visit from me in 2001's Ash Wednesday - so's I could watch the USA take on Mexico in a World cup qualified later that nite. 2-0 USA.

St. Michaels near North ave I have two strong memories from. They have a ritzy congregation- yuppies, y'know, to nonlazysearchfor a better term- for their late sunday mass. First memory is when the priest had to read off his scripted pro-life letter they alays have to wice a year or so. I noticed several women- three or four- get and and storm off while he was reading it. Yikes!!! The other mmory is sadder, or maybe happier. It was two months after my Dad died in '93. I was early @ the 7pm mass, waiting in back 'cause Vito and his wee friend were expected. It was the second Sunday after Xmas, the trad. date the Three Kings (who we all know now are supposed to represent gentiles - oops, sorry !!!!) are celebrated, and the chior were doing- well, the best rendition ever of "Do you see what I see?". It was always a disregarded childs song to me up to that point, but overcome by the emotions of the catsatrophe that had befallen our family @ the loss of Dad , I had a good weep @ the beauty and grandeur of life. I met up with them rite after mass let out, but I will amidt that to this day I'm glad I had that time in the back of the church to myself. I just live for those moments, not just thoughts about my Dad but about.....everything, y'know. One of the reasons I still go to mass is bcause one can be just so suprised when these emotions rise.

Oh, and I've also heard the mass in French and Irish in my life, but not here in the States.

..................................................................................

*=I've always thought that it's funny that when one says "belmont El" they all know it's that stop and not the other El Belmont El stop on Kimball. I guess since it's in the subway there.

Saturday nite @ Black Beetles / Who said I buy'd a beer?

Black Beetle is one of those bars that open up in an area that, although dicey @ the time, the owners have hopefully scouted the areas waves well and found location. Dragon and I used to go here when it first opened ('Kause we're just that kool), but haven't been in a long time. Joker and wife were sans baby and looking for hangout action -Praise Jesus for gramma the babysitter- so we covalessed (sic) to this outpost on this coldest of nits of 2008. Yummy cold. Battle cold.

It was good. Snowden was there first, Gf and I second. Then Dragon. We all ate burgers, hungry kids. Then those who already ate began to show: The Smoky Treats, The Vampires and three, The Jokers and one. They had no cider, so I drank one miller Lite and called it quits. Pay $4.00 for something I think is Yik? I'll get one, from now on to support the bar- but i should work to just stop drinking when I don't enjoy the shit anyway.

A particular question was the local lately of Guitars. Although no one called him that name. Or ever, I believe, out loud. Even me.

Then- the ride home. It'd been mondo cold these days. we were below zero onthis nite when I went out to the Strasser to raise steam. The boilers began to fie, but................OUT WAS THE HEAT. And we being a bit less than an hour to final anchorage, I -as the Captain Wentworth of the ship, no doubt- just sailed home sans heat. We ally didn't suffer- body heat and the engine warmed up the enviroment (an enviroment that was outside of the elemsnts was well). rite when I stopped the car the heat popped on - visions of repair bills delightfully vanishing from my view. Phew.

Again, it was good to hang. Second in a row. Along with my dead gay son, I love my frenz.

One, really.

It took a bleedin' number to actually get to the museum, but it was all worth it in the end.

I had to mainly close shop for the classes I have been teaching the last month, so I couldn't get out of the school until a bit. The expressway to yr frenz taken in breezely, and the turnoff @ 22d was divine. A series of left hooks to skirt the Loop's defiles took the Strasser to the wilderness of the area around Bonniax's crib. Wilderness of addresses, that is: his block inconviently is bisected by not only an expressway, but also a major E-W street (Chicago), a major 'crooked' street (Ogden), and Racine. To further the craziness, the subway runs rite underneath his crib. So when I got to the vacinity, it took me a great deal of wandering- first moterized and then on foot - to finally come to the conclusion that I would never find the place. This was a real prob, since I didn't have his # handy. However, I knew Gallo was gonna be there and I also knew Jackson would get in touch if I called him- both called, both machines. I told them to leave the message that I was lost and to just go to the Intuit. I ran into Intuit to see if they were there- no. I went to look for the car, and.............was lost. I went back to where I though I'd left it, but was met w/ an empty slot in the street were a Strasser could fit and a bag over the defective coin machine thing on the street - yes, I thought I was towed for 4-5m there. Wandering found my car, reparked it in a more legal spot, and then loooked up- I'd wandered, chancely as hell, rite to Bonnaix's door. But where they will there??

Yes- not just there, but Bonniax was actually in his doorway screaming out for Book'm to arrive. So i was fine, partly. I knew William Randolph Heurst was arriving to the Intuit soon, so I wanted to no delay. The Glimmer Twins were sitting on the couch w/ a blasted out Frankie Diamond. He was out, and was even more outta here before I arrived. He would not come with us. But we waited for Book'm and wife to get there. When they did, we rang down the back metal stairs and out onto the street from the secret exit, and fuck if we weren't exactly next to the front door of the Intuit. Everyone inside, with me finishing, first..............

I was suprised by the number of people, and that number grew. We hung out for 2h or so, and the place was jammed- lines, hard to maneuver, etc... The crowd ran the gamut. Art types. Some young, but Gallo said that we were skewed on the young sid in this crowd. Funky art types and suits. Even some street people types who knew. And, I gotta say, some sexy ass types. Lots, really. It was jut a real nice, large, interesting and diverse crowd.

We scattered about, mixing and matching. William Randolh found. Don Perignon, an old work buddy of Blackie who I had predicted in an earlier post would be here (because he always shows up @ openings) was, but he didn't have the wonderous looker on his arm this time. I KNEW HE WAS GONNA BE THERE. I KNEW IT !!!! I did a lot of talking and laughng and cheese and champaign (not free, suggested donations) and very little of looking @ art. Funny.

But look I did. There were two especial draws in the opening- a series of mugg shots from criminals from times past, and a recreation of the room where Darger lived and worked up his art. Although I was in a tizzy enjoying myself, I will say I paused (after a 5m wait in line) pondering Dargers room; piled heaped up magazines and paints strewn about, framed pictures of girls cut out from magazines, Jesus, tornados, boxes of saved twine and rubber bands, and all other sorts of stuff : boy, when we go, we really leave it all behind. A bit of a pack rat, the lesson resonated. Has been for the last few years, as my purchasing of books for my personal library has noticably slowed. I also pledge to stop saving the rubber bands and twine myself. Just kidding- just Darger.

Funny intereaction noticed. Lots of people, right? Lots of camera and boom mics. The Glimmer Twins, William Randolf and I were interviewed by NPR, mainly 'cause my vanity asked the girl with the mic to ome over and talk to us. But funny the interview subjects vibes: of the four, only one really looked comfortable answering questions- like he has been answering questions posed in front of microphone for many years. And no, it wasn't me- I more resembled a happy dog wagging tounge out excitmentplease please please talk to meeeeeeeee!!!! than the Glimmer Twins and W.R. But anyway, we'll be on NPR sometime next week, and yes, after one of the us find out when we're on (me depend on the kindness of nonstrangers) and relay that to me, I will relay it to you. Find out how many times I have been fingerprinted !!! And then there were the paparazzi. Since it as an opening, the place wanted to have a colection to put on their site or magazine. Why yes you can take our picture. The Glimmer Twins and I, all full out models of the highest degree, were now ALL IN OUR ELEMENT. Sure some dog snaps, but the paparazzi worked with us, and we posed that shit down. She took tonnes of snaps of us, so hopefully our muggs will end up in some magazine. Yes, I did manage to make sure my middle initial was included when she asked our names. Vanity, they name is Flattery. Or straddling that name*. Again, when we find it, then we update you. If the Glimm's haven't already. But both of those experiences were kool.

The glimmer twins went to eat downtown, but WR and I went next door for many coctails @ The Matchbox- and yes, aptly named. It seems to be a fomer traincar that has been made into a bar trianbar, and there's barely room to scrape by its so skinny. to further the theme, the space actually narrows as one goes to the bathroom area. However, people are used to it and let each person slip by- the to-getherness of it all. They had cider in a can, and they were Irish sized pints, so I had what- 32z of cider in only two drinx?? Ugg.. The next day.. The stomach..

Finished Fridaynite by steak burrito-ing @ La Pasadita. Super food. The one closest to Division, if I remember correctly (an important fact to maybe ten mutherfuckers that read this blog- "Which Pasadita did we eat @?" There are three restuaunts of the same name in a 100 foot area two side by side and one across Ashland, and many people have preferences as to which one is best. Me: I can't tell th difference. Whenever I go to Pasadita The lone one on the east side of Ashland never gets a shoutout. So- to the ten fuxx to wanna know- Im pretty sure it was the one closest to Division. Kicked ass, and leftovers!!)

Drove home. Womb. Weary. Rest.

.....................................................

*= sorry, but Jutland finally starts to stir its head in mine. Soon.

So Goodbye /

It's my last hours as a social studies teacher. On Tuesday I will go back to my regular subbing, which prob. means logging long bits dans le bibliotech. Being a librarian is what I'm designed for, indeed : but it's hard to withdraw onesself from 'the group' 's that I have been involved in the last four school weeks. I'm not gonna pretend that I am the equal as a teacher as the one I was subbing for - he's way more than outstanding- but I didn't do too bad. The pressure? Holy fuck, pressure is a screaming baby a or a drawn gun, but also it is a classroom full of teenagers who you have to direct each day to do profitable things. The pressure is wilde; but being a part of a group, especially the four wonderful groups of kids that i was part part of- is something I live for.

And today it was time to relinquish my role as their partial teacher. I enjoyed it. And mournful about not being able to walk into a classroom of their smiling faces in the context that is now passing.

End of the school year, end off the soccer season, end of the class in college= goodbyes are normal, but also melancholy.

Shit : curse the Irish race for making my parents so sentimental.
Curse my parents for fostering it in me.
Curses..............................if I didn't like being so sentimental.

The Bunny who was Brown

Gallo

Computer interference of a schooltype form means this is unwatchable by me until after school lets out. But Gallo confides that Gallo is kool as hell in this ..... then again, are either of the Gallos naught but kool ??

Burnett

BUT WAIT: is not Gallo the most rightous piece of artist of the independent tip? Crankface has another option: what of the Charles Burnett 'fest' on TMC to-nite : four and one half hours on this cat..........who I must amidt I have never heard of.

Frozen Tundra

Written By Lazers (NOT WRITTEN BY HILTS)

names edited by Hilts
addendum by Hilts

Not even the greatest of scouts could have prepared a team for last night’s trivia battle. Even after all of the training and all of the previous battle experience, nobody was prepared for the twists and turns that arose…and all because Benkowski’s trunk was frozen shut. Online players- are you ready for a night of “throw the Tupperware” and “throw the funnel”? Are you ready for questions strewn about Benkowski’s backseat instead of the planned quiz for the night? Are you ready for questions hung off of thumbtacks beneath the televisions and a large piece of cardboard as the scoreboard? Game on!

The competition: Bar, Obama, Morning Wood, and a very special team named Loudmouths.

J&B represented by: Chemical Man, Hilts, Dragon, Peppys and Nixon

TC Pub represented by: Earth Mother

First Half: Mixed Up/Sports/Chicago & the World

Led 1992 Bears with 135 tackles?

Barrack Obama’s favorite TV character?

Opening Day shortstop for 1979 White Sox?

On “Dallas”- she played Donna Krebbs?

1999- sang “All Star”?

Year of birth of Madonna?

Capital of Sweden?

(This last question singled out due to one team’s guess of Meatballs)

Year Marie Curie died?

(This question singled out due to Loudmouth’s guess of 1963…after another team’s guess of 1940 was deemed as “too recent”)

Tonight’s “Drink Faster” challenges used actual beer! When it is a “Ladies Only” challenge, beer is probably not a good idea (unless coupled with a smoke break).

Main guy from Loudmouth (and how did we manage not to give this guy a nickname?), just prior to a “Roll the Funnel” challenge against another team: “I used to lag fucking quarters. Watch this shit.” He proceeded to lose the challenge.

After making an incorrect guess, the main Loudmouth wants to use a “throw” trick. He is miffed when it’s not allowed.

At halftime, two of the Loudmouths were having a heated argument that did appear to be related to the trivia game. One of the TC Pub employees had to head over there in case the argument turned physical.

Scores at the half: Bar 1360 Wood 610 Obama 510 J&B 480 Loudmouths will start the second half.

Second Half: Mixed Up/Music is Good/Chicago Only

Hilts suggests a nickname change from “Earth Mother” to “Sex Goddess.” I have to admit that I’ve also found her very appealing lately.

Just prior to a “throw” trick, Hilts announces to the entire bar area that the second half will be “J&B time!” Some earlier sound effects from Hilts were greeted with a Bar inquiry as to who was having sex with sheep.

1982- “Love Me Tomorrow”?

1986- “Don’t Get Me Wrong”?

1999- “Waiting For Tonight”?

1999- “Summer Girls”?

1993- “Because the Night”?

2004- “Freek-A-Leek”?

1984- which two Cubs won Gold Glove awards?

During a “roll the funnel” challenge, Benkowski and the two contestants were hovering above the funnel as it rolled back and forth and back and forth. Jim: “It’s come to this.”

J&B Hat Tricks tonight: 2

J&B record in “Drink Faster” challenges: 0-0 (tonight), 0-1 (season)

Scores after two halves: Bar 2340 Wood 1240 J&B 1200 Loudmouths 1010 Obama 990

Choice of category: Celebrity Birth Years or White Sox History. Two of three wins wager. All three win 3000 bonus points.

J&B and Obama select White Sox. Loudmouths select White Sox. Then Benkowski moves to Wood for their choice. Loudmouth guy starts to complain that he wasn’t given a chance to answer.

J&B wagers 1142.

White Sox History:

• 1959 World Series: in what stadium did the White Sox play their road games?
• 1983 ALCS: Sox player injured when hit in the knee by a pitch in Game 3?
• 1993 ALCS: Sox player that had a 4-hit game?

Celebrity Birth Years:

• John Cusack
• Marilyn Monroe
• Marie Osmond

And as Benkowski throws a pen at the Loudmouths and gruffly has to tell them to write down their answers, online players get a chance to type the same…

Part II

J&B guesses: LA Coliseum, Ron Kittle, and Lance Johnson

First Half answers:

Mike Singletary

Spongebob Squarepants

Harry Chappas

Susan Howard

Smashmouth

1958

Stockholm

1934

Second Half answers:

Chicago

Pretenders

Jennifer Lopez

LFO

Natalie Merchant & 10,000 Maniacs

Petey Pablo

Ryne Sandberg & Bob Dernier

Final Question:

Obama- 990- White Sox- guesses 2 Girls, 1 Cup (?- no), 2 Girls, 1 Finger (?- no), and Benkowski didn’t even read the third guess- wagered 990- thanks for playing.

Loudmouths- 1010- White Sox- guess Fenway Park (no- and a candidate for worst guess ever), Rudy Law (no- and they would still have been wrong if Benkowski allowed them to change this guess to Chet Lemon), and Carlton Fisk (no)- wagered 0- still at 1010.

J&B- 1200- White Sox- guess LA Coliseum (correct), Ron Kittle (correct), and Lance Johnson (no)- two correct- wagered 1142- up to 2342.

Morning Wood- 1240- Celebrity Birth- guesses Cusack 1962 (no), Monroe 1930 (no), and Osmond 1957 (close enough)- one correct- wagered 1240- thanks for playing.

At this point, Trophy had been hanging around the J&B table for awhile. Benkowski: “What does it mean that Throphy is hanging by J&B?”

Bar- 2340- Celebrity Birth- guesses Cusack 1966 (correct), Monroe 1933 (no), and Osmond 1957 (close enough)- two correct- wagered 150- up to 2490 and the victory.

Missing Answers:

Tim Raines had 4 hits in Game 3

Monroe born 1926

Osmond born 1959

Benkowski: “Thanks for bearing with my missing a couple of components.”

Next trivia: Thursday, January 31^st. I am “out”.

addendum (Hilts)

A terrible loss, and especially felt by me: It was my push to answer Lance Johnson. I was sure- but of course I think we had this question before and the answer was still raines. But the game I rememeber best from that series was the last game I ever...................ah, that's for another post. It was one of my favourite Sox games ever - but lance didn't have those four hits.

Both Lazers and someone else on the team were talking about the bartendress known as Mother Earth. She has grown over the years into a very sexy young lady. And last nite was the first time this was really discussed.

The return of Peppys. Peppys was a longtime regular, long before me, and he kinda stopped going last year regularly. like a Moho siting, he comes only on Occasions and also the odd game. Welcome to see him.

poetry(Hilts)

No more cider. Drank a Guinness, thinking that it would be good. Well, guess what?

W/out the cider
supplied inside
all beer is just a lie

a horrible taste
this ridiculous waste
sewage'd be easier to swallow

Death Note 7

Yes, I know, these posts are annoying and worthless, but I'm about done w/ D.N. 7, and holy fuck- I was waiting for it, and they did it.....or did they??

Motherfucker, the look on Lights face......count me re inflamed, or, to use a faveword de Q : 'revivified'

And, welcome back to Ruyk. Missed you.

Spliffocracy weighs in on pre judging Wentworths coat

This is the spliffe

the spliffe that she spits:

spliffe on top of old smokey

persuading, perhaps

those lovers of Persuasion;

who perhaps are already Persuaded

Raccoon action !!

dinner details, from dinnercrankface

the Owls of Elisabeth

Ok, maybe they are not liz's owls, but they are kool as hell. They live in a small public park , rite across from South Loop grammer school. I have never seen Owls (to my kowledge), so they are on my list to check out. Seems they have been there for three years now.

Sorry for lame snap- from paper.
Thanxx, Cranxx

Darger to-morrow

EEEF yr in-ter-ess-tedd, Darger and free cheeze ta-marra, de Intuit museum fer strange bits o art. And the cheeze. Im'a dere fer surzze, being jus' before 'bout six when I arrive.

What time do YOU arrive?

have always loved this picture of Liz's birds

one can find others not really like this in liz's site of flix

Persuasion '95

We didn't finish it, but finally got GF in front of a screen and this film on it. We watched half of it, and even though I haven't seen it fully through, I'm surprised how superior it is to the '08 one. And I liked that one.

I will break my habit of not ruining plots and stuff. It's an Auestin book that's been around for what- 250 years or so?? And how many movies??

First- when I first saw it, I was filled with the 'joys' of unrequited Love. Which Femme was I bonkers over who didn't know I existed back then?? Couldn't tell you, but I can tell you that there was one or two. Oh, I know- it was Spanky. I'm pretty sure she was it, and out 12 day thing was over except for another year in my heart. I'm sure it was her. But, having been spoonfed so much Morrissey in my formative years, 'unrequited' was considered..................I'm such a weakling............

Second: The change in Anne. She's presented as such a dowdy thing @ the beginning, but as the movie goes on, she visibly becomes more beautiful. I know it's a lot to do w/ makeup, but it's one of my favourite acting jobs as well. Well done, Cairan Hinds.

Third: Wentworth. Obviously he is presented as a man of great strenght- a hero in war. But the hurting that Anne has put in his head, and how the movies lets us see his condition, is wonderful. I always liked the power of Love and how it effects people. The power of Anne over Wentworth (and other way about as well) Again, one of my favourite acting jobs, and in the same film as Mandy Roots performance.

And, Gallo, I was saving the chick w/ douche bag pic for this post. I looked for a better, but............you bet.