Best of Both Worlds
After my QUANDARY of yesterday (thanks, Justin, for reminding me to use spell check, even on words you didn't think needed it!), you'll be happy to know that I was able to fit both in: A Beavis & Butthead marathon--well, an hour of it, which is a marathon when watching it--which I won't bother to explain any jokes because my wife reminded me of what the rest of the world thinks about B & B. She said, "Why in the world do you think this is funny? It's HORRIBLE." I don't care. It's funny to me.
But then I was off for some hammock time with Kurt Vonnegut's work, "A Man Without A Country." I read the entire book yesterday and it was a reminder of why he's such a brilliant American writer. Some snippets:
"I consider anyone a twerp who hasn't read Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. There can never be a better book than that one on the strengths and vulnerabilities inherent in our form of government."
"If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something."
"I know what women want: a whole lot of people to talk to. What do they want to talk about? They want to talk about everything. What do men want? They want a lot of pals, and they wish people wouldn't get so mad at them."
"The biggest truth to face now--what is probably making me unfunny now for the remainder of my life--is that I don't think people give a damn about whether the planet goes on or not. It seems as if everyone is living as members of Alcoholics Anonymous do, day by day. And a few more days will be enough. I know of very few people who are dreaming of a world for their grandchildren."
"Foreigners love us for our jazz. And they don't hate us for our purported liberty and justice for all. They hate us now for our arrogance."
"For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere."
"I was once asked if I had any ideas for a really scary reality TV show. I have one reality show that would really make your hair stand on end: C-Students from Yale."
A hammock.
Drought-driven 75 degree weather.
Words of a grandmaster of American letters (that's what the book jacket calls him--and I concur).
It didn't suck.
After my QUANDARY of yesterday (thanks, Justin, for reminding me to use spell check, even on words you didn't think needed it!), you'll be happy to know that I was able to fit both in: A Beavis & Butthead marathon--well, an hour of it, which is a marathon when watching it--which I won't bother to explain any jokes because my wife reminded me of what the rest of the world thinks about B & B. She said, "Why in the world do you think this is funny? It's HORRIBLE." I don't care. It's funny to me.
But then I was off for some hammock time with Kurt Vonnegut's work, "A Man Without A Country." I read the entire book yesterday and it was a reminder of why he's such a brilliant American writer. Some snippets:
"I consider anyone a twerp who hasn't read Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. There can never be a better book than that one on the strengths and vulnerabilities inherent in our form of government."
"If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something."
"I know what women want: a whole lot of people to talk to. What do they want to talk about? They want to talk about everything. What do men want? They want a lot of pals, and they wish people wouldn't get so mad at them."
"The biggest truth to face now--what is probably making me unfunny now for the remainder of my life--is that I don't think people give a damn about whether the planet goes on or not. It seems as if everyone is living as members of Alcoholics Anonymous do, day by day. And a few more days will be enough. I know of very few people who are dreaming of a world for their grandchildren."
"Foreigners love us for our jazz. And they don't hate us for our purported liberty and justice for all. They hate us now for our arrogance."
"For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere."
"I was once asked if I had any ideas for a really scary reality TV show. I have one reality show that would really make your hair stand on end: C-Students from Yale."
A hammock.
Drought-driven 75 degree weather.
Words of a grandmaster of American letters (that's what the book jacket calls him--and I concur).
It didn't suck.
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