Television Family

Television Family

Jimmy always pre-empted his alarm clock by 5 minutes. That gave him some bonus time to turn it off, and relieve himself before "Tiger Panther Cats" came on.

The fluorescents sparkled into his brain, as he sat in the dim deep blue light watching. The Tiger Panther Cats solved another crime in their robot final form. TIGER PANTHER CATS UNIIIIIIITE!

Beatrice rolled out of her bunkbed with a slumbering tumble and joined Jimmy. Pupils dilated, in a glazed smile, breathing out her mouth.

Commercials where the mommy makes breakfast, and daddy brings home the bacon, interspersed the new episode of "Possessed SD Puppets." The TV trays sat aside the rump-indented couch. The cats came to keep Jimmy and Beatrice warm. First Juniper, then Jalopy, then Juxtaposition, then Rumproast. Rumproast, was the most portly and slothlike of the felines.

Bill woke up and grunted, slithering along dust bunny hopping houseshoes. Grabbed the grey brown remote and put on the morning news. His posture like a teenager on their smartphone but his pot belly keeping him from getting that usual bend. Another trade from the Flying Hawks to the Swimming Goats. Jill Clingon was in trouble again accused of having sex in the Oval Orifice. "Them politicals is so 'rupt!" Bill patted Beatrice on the noggin.

Jane made breakfast. Instant oats on the tv trays. It was always that way. I don't know why. They Bill changed the channel to the morning cooking show, "Something's Burning!" [exclamation mark part of title not added emphasis]. Each of the hosts wearing frilly "World's Greatest Matron" aprons around their waists. One of the host's opined, "I sure does love serving my mans, Peggy Sue!" as she smiled with teeth that covered two thirds of her face black shark eyes staring at the camera.

After school Jimmy and Beatrice would put on the tube and turn on "Wee House on the Plains." Bill and Jane joined on that couch soon after. They snorted and weezed with fluttering neon vacancy sign eye balls. The couch creaked into the foundation of the floor. The cats piled on. You know when you're laundry is throw akimbo in a pile?

"This is a PBS actor drive. This may be the end of television as we know it. No one wants to act in our shows anymore." A violin was bowed slowly in a minor key. "We need more human flesh for other humans to stare at. I'm looking at you America!" The camera panned back and on the host's back was a gynormus vacuum.

"Don't make me turn this on... America." CLICK.

An airy whirlpool filled the screen. The television set started to shake. Screen shattered into shimmering shards. The suction engulfed the room. First their eyes pulled out of their noggins. Their noggins followed, and finally their lumpy behinds swallowed into the black hole in the television.

Jimmy and Bill and Jane and Beatrice. SLURP! Replacing the characters in Wee House on the Plains.

They didn't know how to act. They just sat on a couch as a family petting the famous television cats Dingus, Dipshit, Duderonomy, and Muffin. Drooling as they looked into the souls of those who watched them on the other side.

Gutsy

Gutsy. 

I used to work early morning shifts. Basically, middle of the night shifts. I would get up at 2:30 and walk an hour to work cross town in the street light. One night, I had this feeling deep inside. This urge to vent. There was no one to talk to. So I spilled my guts like a bear in the woods. Discarded muddy socks for the clean up. Feet were bare at work that day.

Gluttony (Added Flavour)

 

Wolf Children: Strange and Saccarhine

Wolf Children: Strange and Saccharine

SPOILERS BELOW

I recently watched the 2012 Mamoru Hosoda directed film Wolf Children. First of all, this type of movie is not for me. It is not a Studio Ghibli film but it would be apt to compare it to movies such as My Neighbor Totoro or Spirited Away. It has an idyllic vibe with similar music, storylines and characters that tug hard on the heart strings. To some this may strike the resonant emotional chord and make one well up with tears. To me, it's just a little too perfect, coming across over-the-top corny. I do recognize this as a qualitatively good movie, just not to my taste.

The storyline is in the vein of a modern tragic fairytale. A young woman goes to college in a Japanese metropolis. Here she meets a young man and falls in love. However, it turns out the man is werewolf, which he reveals to her later. In fact he transforms into a wolf and confesses this to her in the moonlit scene right before they're about to make love. This is my second main criticism of the movie, humans having sex with animals (later giving birth to half animal half human creatures) creeps me out. Perhaps because of this the rating should be higher than PG, or maybe it's not such a big deal if you feel that fiction stays fiction, but it really felt icky to me. It's not a definite problem, but I think there is at least a reasonable discussion to be had on this point.

Alright, continuing with the storyline...

So, the young woman and the young werewolf make love and the young woman becomes pregnant. Over a few years she gives birth to two half-human half-wolf children. The children transform into wolf form under emotional stress. For various reasons related to the half-wolf challenges the couple leads a very sheltered existence.

One night the young man goes out, and does not return home, so the young woman goes out (babies in tow in carriers on her rain jacket), to find him. The wolf has died and some garbage workers pull his carcass out of a sewer drain... The woman tries to stop them as they load the body into a trash compactor but they push her aside. So the young woman has to take care of these children on her own...

There are many challenges for this woman and her young family. She does not know whether to take the youngsters to the doctor or the vet... The children howl at the moon, and her landlord kicks her out because of this... Social services come to check on the children because there is no record of them being vaccinated. So, the young woman eventually moves to a place in the countryside.

Here, she attempts to grow vegetables but of course this is difficult to do, and it looks like the family may starve. Farmers in the area are no help, rebuking her for being a soft city dweller... Even the stories she picks up at the library end with the wolf dying, and this terrifies her son.

As you can surmise, this movie is really trying to hit every tragic beat it can, all to that oh-so-dramatic string music you would expect.

This movie is critically and fan acclaimed alike as a classic on Rotten Tomatoes, so take that as you will. Watch this movie if you're looking to cry at a modern fairytale. Don't watch if overdone cliches or human-animal romantic relationships bother you.

The Artist's Favourite Fruit

 

Always been an apple fan. My second girlfriend bought me a granny smith and left it with someone else at work because she couldn't find me. Learning colored pencil drawing involves drawing a lot of spherical fruit.

Wisp

 

Lucky Roll

                                                                             Lucky Roll

        It's not all under your control...

        I believe in merit. Try as we might things are not promised. Life is unfair. The best we can do is give ourselves a better chance. The images that are projected to us are those of the successes. We don't get to see those who don't make it... We might think: oh we just do X or Y, and then we get Z. The successful people think this of themselves: I did X and Y, and I get Z! So why can't you?

        Genetics account for a large portion of your base intelligence. Genetics set you up for your health, athleticism, and attractiveness. Thanks mom and dad! Your genetics determine if you're more or less likely to develop many different illnesses over the course of your life.

        Where you were born sets you up for success or lack thereof. To paraphrase Scott Adams "go where there is more luck." You have a better chance of getting a job as an actor in New York City than you do in Utica. Nonetheless being born in a first world country vs a third world country makes a big difference. This often determines what kind of education you receive, which affects your prospects later in life. Though it appears statistically most people do not end up near where they were born.

        How you were raised both by your parents, as well as the culture that surrounds you has a profound effect on your development. A child that is raised by loving parents that gently challenge them sets a child up for much greater success than one who beats on the children or neglects them. Growing up in different countries or communities from individualist vs collectivist societies (to address one dimension of cultural difference) greater effects your outlook on your place in the world.

        There are random events that may occur such as a major injury, pregnancy, or addiction. Granted you have SOME agency in these happenings. There is also a genetic predisposition / sociocultural dimension to these which is a hard curveball to sidestep.

        There are people who are truly lazy, truly not trying. There are also many who are putting in the work. We live in a competitive society. Results are NOT promised. Which absolutely is to say we should try really hard! We should also respect the efforts of others, not just the outcome. You can absolutely improve things but there is a different between a person who starts life at negative four vs someone who starts at positive five.

        A little compassion, and a little humility make sense when we consider the reality.