Tuesday, April 28, 2009

This Queen Loves Tiki




(http://www.arkivatropika.com/) and I noticed a particularly interesting drink called a Susie Wong in another (very familiar to me) art deco glass mug or chalice.

Being an old Disney fan and also an animator, I remembered seeing the Evil Queen from Disney's Snow White drink her magic potion from a similar mug to transform herself into the old hag.

Fast-forward -- OMG! Did the animators who conceived this scene go to Tiki Bars???? Were there such things as Tiki Bars in 1936? And if there were -- how cool is that??? Now, I want one of those goblets!!!!

Wait a sec.... if you drink Susie Wongs, will you become an old hag????
No. But it sure makes old hags look better.

Trader Vics anyone?

Thursday, April 23, 2009

What does Jesus have to do with America?

A friend of mine wrote the following superb illustration of the origins of Biblical scripture among other ancient texts. In it we get a capsule of information that begs some to ask: "What does Jesus REALLY have to do with America?"

Before you get all riled up, I found the following rather enlightening and revealing the ego of America's "ownership" of Christianity and all things Jesus.

Here it is:

"Iraq and The Bible
[The] land mass that we now know as Iraq was the location of much history that was recorded in the Old Testament, however it was divided into many small civilizations; the Ammonites, the Jebusites, the Hittites, the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Babylonians,the Medes, the Persians, the Seleucids, the Hebrews and many others. (I'm not sure about the spelling of all those right now, but take my word; there was lots of turnover in those desert lands during the approximately 2,000 year period that the scriptures record. The Egyptians, whose records are more ancient and more thorough, list a lot of additional cultures that came and went.

The past tense reference in the Koran about the eagle triumphing, written about 600 years after Christ, is not prophesy of the future, but very likely a reference to the Roman Empire's destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. (A.D.), the Palestinian Peninsula being a part of that same highly populated land mass. The eagle was a popular symbol of many ancient civilizations, including Rome, so it could refer to other conquerors as well. None of this stuff in the Koran, New Testament, Old Testament, or any other ancient writing refers to the future United States. Their world was limited to the borders we have already mentioned, and their writings were full of symbols that represented clearly the nations known to them. They had no practical interest in predicting the future of any country outside their realm.

Maybe someday the people of the United States who see themselves in all these ancient texts will realize that history is just not all about them."

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Riddle Me This



I went to the Y today. First time in a week-ish...and by "week-ish" I mean nearly 3 weeks. Anyway, I'm doing the treadmill. I like it because I can listen to my meditation tracks on my iPod...you know...because I think of this when I'm about to work out and realize I can 'birth 2 birds with one egg' by doubling my workout pleasure and meditate to "positive thought training." So, I'm on the tread and this guy walks by...early 60-ish... with a gut and he has these sort of weird goggles for racket (raquet?) ball, but they don't look like actual goggles; more like a strange mask, like the Riddler used to wear on the old Batman....I mean JUST like it and I couldn't even see a plastic shine in the eye holes....just the mask. I'm thinking, "Ha! He's still hiding his old persona, when he was who he used to be.

I start to day dream a bit and I think what if that guy were a ponchy old Riddler for real. A former elite, top-of-his-game villain who had seen better days, but who still wanted to sort of keep an edge, so he works out and plays raquetball. Even though he wasn't "super" he still was crazy enough to wear bright-colored tights and was considered a super-genius.

I know we have seen the new incarnations like Batman Beyond and The Dark Knight of the comics age. It's not a far stretch to see others have given life to this kind of idea, but I don't think anyone outside of "The Watchmen" and Brad Bird's "The Incredibles" have actually fleshed out the what-if scenario of superheroes and villains existing in our world; not TV or movie world, or CG world, OUR Earth. I think The Incredibles came as close to ours as any could, even though it was a retro-futuristic, sci-fi, James Bond-ish kind of 1960s take. Okay so it wasn't that close.

Kinda crazy....so who else would we see trying to maintain their aged super-self. Would we see Flash on a treadmill; The Joker working at a Novelty Shop?

End of ramble......temporarily.

That old thing called etiquette

etiquette |ˈetikit; -ˌket|
noun
the customary code of polite behavior in society or among members of a particular profession or group.

Better known as Customer Service with a smile.

Is it just me? What is happening (has been happening) to customer service? I was standing in Frye's electronics waiting my turn to be directed to the next available cashier. The guy doing the deed was so busy texting, the cashier had to signal me himself. Jeez! I wanted to say something, but what do say "Think!" or maybe "Hello???" "Thanks for nothing."

But it's not just that.

A guy cut me off in traffic and then acted like I was in his way as he barely missed my front fender. I raised my arms as in "WTF?" and he gave it right back and proceeded to do that to another 7 or 8 cars ahead. "WTF" indeed.

McDonalds: Went back to the store that forgot my hashbrowns....yeah...they are THAT good. I got a "sorry 'bout that." What I wanted was, "Did you have to drive all the way back here because we screwed up? Gee....here's a free (something because WE blew it)"

Popeyes (yeah I eat out a lot) forgot cole slaw. I go back without my receipt and tell them and you think the $1.19 for the slaw was pure gold. "Sorry, not without your receipt." as if to say, yeah, you must be lying to us so prove it." They don't even serve Spinach and it's called freakin POPEYES! WTF???

Okay, so fast food is just the shits to work at. And God knows some just bounce from one fast food to the other for employment......so I guess and the people who eat there (like me) are really just looking for trouble.....Oh, okay I'll stop here. Epiphany realized. I feel ummmm... better?

God bless all you golden archers....I'll be back. Who am I kidding?

--Former Pizza Hut employee.