Do You Care About What Other People Think of You?

That was a question I saw online.

No.

Having the ability to self analyze is a skill. Knowing one's own foibles, quirks, and negatives, is informative, life-shaping, and helpful in relationships of all kinds.

Here:

"An odd mix of mixed metaphors and non sequiturs."

Afterward (Repeat)

“We (scientists) don’t know what happens after you die.”

Well, something to that effect. The scientific television guest got one thinking.

I will defer to my good friend Günther Spatz. In mild German-accented English he offered his opinion on the subject of “death after dying” as we enjoyed our beers, and moroseness:

“As long as it’s the full death, the real deal, and not some half-assed, phony death; where I’m forever playing the bongos on a downtown street corner.”

Poem: Where's the?.... (Repeat)

A cat too long without
manes nefarious
bottled dimensions
needing human sleep aids
The movers took the couch!

___

2017

Simon St. Laurent

It May Be the Dreariest of Team Sports (To Me) Repeat

Basketball.

While not "basketball tall" I've long been asked if I've played that display which some call a sport. In elementary school, phys ed involved tossing the odd game of nonsense. My sportsbrain, what there is of it, has no interest in dribbling and dunking. Admittedly this may be attributable to my inability to walk and bounce a ball. As any basketball fan or player can tell you, ya kinda gotta be able to do both simultaneously if you wanna play, never mind excel, on the court.

Speaking of "court".

For some of us, watching that sport is perhaps best summed-up by paraphrasing U.S. Justice Frank H. Easterbrook:

"Many things—beating with a rubber truncheon, water torture, electric shock, basketball game broadcasts, incessant noise, reruns of Space: 1999—may cause agony as they occur... "

The joke is a Canadian invented basketball.

The Toronto Raptors basketball team has a strong following in this city.

What the heck: Go Raptors!

Book: Space Odyssey (Benson)

Space Odyssey

- Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece -

Written by

Michael Benson

Simon & Shuster

2018

Toronto's Weather Today....

This is a good Toronto summer, as far as I'm concerned. Minutes ago I snipped the above from The Weather Network. Right now it's raining and 21 Celsius.

A typical Toronto summer is... well, just add 10 degrees to each of the above temps, including the "Feels like".

Two summers ago I was 'chatting' with a British friend of mine. We traded temps-for-the-day and his response was: "Holy f*******s!"

Make no mistake, Toronto has had heat and humidity this summer, but not at the expected rate and level: long, hot, and humid.

Two 'cool' Toronto summers: 1985 and 1992.

"Nineteen eighty-five and nineteen ninety-two, I pine for thee...."

Space Odyssey on Paper and Film (Repeat)

On Monday I wrote a piece about the 2018 book "Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece". Writer Michael Benson tells an absorbing tale of how one of the greatest motion pictures came to be -- its birth and life, and continuing life. Kubrick's masterpiece refuses to give easy answers. For me, thinking about 2001: A Space Odyssey is as pleasurable and natural as watching and listening to it.

2001 is magnificent, something I've 'known' since I first saw it at the age of ten. That screening is perhaps the most profound movie-going experience of my life to this point in time and space. (From what I can gather, there are no threats on the horizon). And it resonated with me to such a degree that it stayed with me for weeks; months. Of course being so young did not exactly help me understand the film from a thematic perspective. I saw the flick at CFB Borden's Terra Theatre with my next door neighbour and friend, Glen. We were shuttled home by his older brother who gave us the rundown as to what we had just seen and not entirely understood. Our chauffeur had read Arthur C. Clarke's book version, which functioned, and still does, as published footnotes for 2001 the movie. (A few months later I grabbed the book from the Ontario Science Centre bookstore during a school trip. So eager was I to assimilate the code-book that I started reading it on the bus ride back to the base.)

Every screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey renews my love and respect for one of my favourite pictures (a picture of art). And more is revealed.

Mr Benson's "Space Odyssey" gave me a much greater understanding of how the cosmic mind work was conceived, developed, and constructed: a special universe built by many talented people. That story is a page turner.

Andy Warhol on Buying American

“Buying is much more American than thinking.”

The buying public....

Andy Warhol on Smarts

“I don't want to be smart, because being smart makes you depressed.”

And I think I'm smart.

Andy Warhol on Waking Up

“I wake up every morning. I open my eyes and think: here we go again.”

Again, and again, and again....

A Forever Question: Semantics?

“Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question."

Sir. Does life contain more horror or terror?

Poem: And Then For Something Completely Different (Repeat)

Time Merchants

This morning I coffeed           
on Yonge Street               
with an old friend
caught up on
issues since

I last saw him
last week

He and I disbanded:
My friend went back
to his conference and
I decided
to do something I
rarely do
anymore

walk up Yonge

"Look at all the
bloody
Vertical
Cracker
Boxes!
(going up
or already spiking
the cloudy sky)"

This town is out of
control
Zoning going to
The Twilight Zone

Yonge Street has
changed
much these last few years
helped
by Premium stacks
sprouting
from holes

Before I made it
to Bloor Street I
was stopped by

a woman selling
something
in front of a shop

Cosmetics
Me?

Why not?....

No, I
don't use facial moisturizers
but I should

Perhaps
I could

The sales lady was
in top form
having worked a little sales

I know the bad
and
the good

The cosmetic's test was done
on my forearm
but
I can imagine

With every peek into the bathroom
mirror my imagination tweaks
with age

** return **

Bloor Street
away

less

eventful

___

2016
Simon St. Laurent

RAF '626 Squadron' Lancasters Over Berchtesgaden - April 25, 1945 (Repeat)

In previous postings I talked about my father's experiences during WW2 with RAF Bomber Command No 626 Squadron. Below is a photo I discovered on the Internet (Tom Bint's webpage, www.626-squadron.co.uk), taken during 626's final major operation of the war: The bombing of the SS Barracks in Berchtesgaden, on April 25th, 1945.

Special Guest Director (Repeat)

During a lunch date this week with my old friend Greg, the name Val Guest came up. The late British film and television director had a long and successful career, producing some fine work along the way: my two favourite pictures of his are The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961). As our conversation revealed, my friend has seen much more of Guest's feature film work than have I.

I had to end the subject with a joke:

Greg is a bit of a Space: 1999 fan. The British-produced series ran for two years, 1975 - 1977, and utilized a few directors of note, including Charles Crichton; who had been a noted Ealing Studios comedy force and would later helm A Fish Called Wanda (1988).

I reminded Greg that Guest directed a few episodes, including "one of my favourites from the series when it first ran"....

ME
(holding up three fingers from right hand)
The one with the three trees....The Rules of Luton.

Greg rolls his eyes and shakes his head gently from side to side....

GREG
(softly)
No, no, no, no, no....

Foghorn Leghorn on Donald Trump

Yesterday I thought about Foghorn Leghorn and what he might have had to say about, or to, Donald Trump. I looked-up some quotes attributed to the big feather duster. It's quite possible that, off camera, Foghorn was a conservative; but, no doubt, he was a smart one.

These are priceless:

* “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent.”

* “That boy’s about as sharp as a bowling ball.”

* “This boy’s more mixed up than a feather in a whirlwind.”

* “What’s it all about, boy? Elucidate!”

* “Go! I say go away, boy, you bother me!”

Poem: Cool Relief (Repeat)

Cool air is back!
It surrounds us

Gone for months
I missed it so much

Stifling, life-sucking
super-heat came
back in the spring

Taking energy away
replacing it with lethargy

Shirt-soaking humidity
Much worse in the city

cursed words out loud
looking for a rain cloud

Was it so hard to ask
for relief from
extreme heat and its blast?

we asked
How long can it last?!

Cool air came back

and it kisses me.

Hope it lasts....

___

2019

Simon St. Laurent

"The Doomsday Machine" Scored Big Time (Repeat)

"The Doomsday Machine" Music Revealed from Shem von Schroeck on Vimeo.


As any Trekker can tell you, one big reason for Star Trek's success is due to the varied and outstanding music scores. That stellar program had so many big hitters in the various production departments: cinematographer Jerry Finnerman and associate producer Robert Justman, to name two. We fans know and love the cast of characters, of course, but the "Tech Credits", as the industry papers label them, impress also.

The music department scored big time.

Some episodes with standout scores:

"The Naked Time" (A. Courage)
"The Conscience of the King" (J. Mullendore)
"Who Mourns for Adonais?" (F. Steiner)
"Amok Time" (G. Fried)
"The Trouble With Tribbles" (J. Fielding)
"Metamorphosis" (G. Duning)
"I, Mudd" (S. Matlovsky)

"The Doomsday Machine" rocks, rolls, and touches in brilliance. Its brass section blazes with 4 trombones, 3 trumpets, and 4 French horns. Those crackerjack session players ("West Coast musicians") plied their trade in Paramount Pictures' Stage M that day, with composer Sol Kaplan conducting them through the charts.

American composer/musician Shem von Schroeck produced the above 60-minute video. He starts off by breaking down the score's essential parts -- there are many -- then runs "The Doomsday Machine" with onscreen text noting what instruments and instrumental groups are playing at any given moment. His method is academic but easily understood by those folk who can't tell a kettle drum from a double bass, or a bassoon from a cello.

Schroeck's affection and admiration for Star Trek and its scores is evident, and infectious.

Outstanding. The instructive video reminds me why I got into the business.

A Forever Question: Expulsions for Peace!

“Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question."

Sir. What does "gas of the gods" refer to?

Poem: The Cat's But (Repeat)

My cat asked for
my homage

But

If I failed to
comply
He would pay
homage to
me and my

___

2017

Simon St. Laurent

Poem: See You In September? (Repeat)

I did not see you in September.

Did you get caught in August?

Or

were you hiding in July?

Oh,

January denied you entry.

___

2017

Simon St. Laurent