Is Truth Still Stranger Than Fiction?
June 25, 2008
Who knew there was a statue of John Lennon in Havana, Cuba? Although he never visited Cuba or sang about it, the government unveiled his statue on Dec 8, 2000 - the 20th anniversary of the singer’s death. In fact, Fidel Castro, who had said that the Beatles were subversive and that they were a symbol of selfish consumerism, made a surprise appearance at the unveiling of Lennon’s cross-legged, bespectacled likeness. Because the spectacles have been stolen twice, four retirees have been hired to protect the statue in 12-hour shifts. Because the guards keep the spectacles in their pocket until a tourist wants to take a picture, it’s obvious no one has been able to see a way to permanently... Read more »
Funny Videos - They Are Good For You!
June 24, 2008
Funny videos are abundant on the web. From amateur clips to professional skits, samples of cartoons to segments of live comedy acts, and anything else that can make you laugh the internet has it all. There are many sites featuring funny videos. Some are video sharing sites, where users can post videos they find funny, and rate videos posted by other sites. Other sites feature videos, so that people browsing can just graze and click; no effort required. Most video clips online are relatively short, which is convenient for you the viewer. You no longer need to spend half an hour or more in front of the TV to relax, loosen up, and have some laughs. With the proper video site, you can scroll... Read more »
History of the Recliner Chair
June 21, 2008
While much of the written history of the recliner starts in the early Twentieth Century, the recliner chair dates back much further. The earliest recliner chairs actually appeared in the late Eighteenth Century, and were functionally similar to todays recliners. The goal was always to allow the user to sit upright or recline back with the legs and feet off the floor. What has been dubbed by many designers as motion furniture, the recliner has been with us in one form or another for over two hundred years. Modeled after the... Read more »
Is 21st Century Communication Different?
June 21, 2008
When a Swarthmore College student turned a guided tour of the Web into a detailed journal of his life, blog communication was born. That was in 1994. By 2007 that one blog had grown into 106 million blogs. Seventy-six percent of them document personal experiences to share with others. The 15 most popular words used in communicating those experiences are blogger, blog, stupid, me, myself, my, oh, yeah, ok, post, stuff, lovely, update, nice and a four-letter word that begins with “s″. Although that word isn’t in my dictionary, Merriam-Webster proclaimed another four-letter word to be... Read more »
The Comedic Genius Of Robin Williams
June 20, 2008
Robin Williams’ manic style of comedy earns him the honor of being called a living legend. His wild improvisational skills bring both humor and excitement to his performances, and his impersonations are truly unique. Williams has the rare gift of taking on character traits with apparent abandon, moving in and out of personalities with ease and authenticity. To the audience, he is nothing short of a genius. As a child, he was very shy and quiet, until he became involved in his high school’s drama department. The teaching and coaching he received there gave him the outlet to express himself and develop his acting talent. In 1973, he was one of 20 students accepted in the Juilliard School, a private conservatory. He was later accepted into... Read more »
The Evolution of the Garfield Comic Strip
June 19, 2008
June 19th, 1978 saw the birth of one of the most beloved and best known comic strips of all time, Garfield, a tale of an ornery but lovable orange tabby cat, his owner Jonathan Q. Arbuckle, better known simply as Jon, and the long-eared but equally adorable Odie the dog. Garfield was the brain child of cartoonist Jim Davis and over the past three decades, has evolved into a billion dollar empire as well as holding the record for being the most widely syndicated comic strip in the entire world, appearing in just over 2,500 different publications. Over the years, Garfield has developed... Read more »
Aaron McGruder And His Controversial Comic Strip “The Boondocks”
June 19, 2008
The satirical and edgy comic strip “The Boondocks,” created by Aaron McGruder, involves two young African American brothers from inner-city Chicago who explore life living with their grandfather in an unassuming suburb of the big city. The strip, which ran in syndicate from April 19, 1999 to March 26, 2007, was certainly no stranger to controversy as “The Boondocks” has regularly received criticism from both the white and black communities in regards to McGruder’s strong left-wing political and often risque views on current events. Aaron McGruder was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 29, 1974 and at the age of six relocated to Columbia,... Read more »
Does Time Stumble When It Marches On?
June 17, 2008
Time flys - even when you’re not having fun. Everyone talks about it, but talking is all we do. According to the Oxford Dictionary, talking about time has made it the most frequently used noun in the English language. Year is the third most frequently used noun, day is the fifth and week is the seventeenth. On the list of the one hundred most frequently used nouns, war is forty-ninth, but peace didn′t make the list - which is something we could talk about. We could talk about timepieces/watches.... Read more »
Does Cooking Provide Food For Thought?
June 17, 2008
Everyone has an opinion about cooking. Robert Frost said, “There is one thing more exasperating than a wife who can cook and won’t and that’s a wife who can’t cook and will”. Buddy Hackett said, “My mother’s menu consisted of two things: take it or leave it” and Phyllis Diller said her meals were so bad her kids thought Thanksgiving was meant to commemorate Pearl Harbor Day. Then there’s Thomas Wolfe. He said, “There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves″. Frankly, I think Wolfe should have had to eat those words for dinner. Because I hadn’t cooked before I... Read more »
What Are The Comforts Of Home?
June 13, 2008
The comforts of home depend on where home is. I’ve lived in a trailer, an apartment, a condo, a house and with my in-laws. Everywhere I’ve lived I’ve known that home is where the heart is. What I’ve learned is that neighbors can give you heartburn. Now I live in Los Angeles, where they want to make homeowners responsible for their sidewalks. Many of LA’s sidewalks are cracked and in need of repair, but I thought that was why I paid taxes. If I have to fix cracks, that should include the ones in lawmakers’ heads. My grandmother led a simpler life. She didn’t have a dishwasher or a microwave. Her freezer wasn’t frost-free and her oven wasn’t... Read more »
