To Err is Human, To Forgive . . . Healthy

Scientists are finding that the less willing you are to forgive others, the worse it is for your health.

According to this article, researchers believe “[f]orgiveness–a virtue embraced by almost every religious tradition as a balm for the soul–may be medicine for the body . . . In less than a decade, those preaching and studying forgiveness have amassed an impressive slate of findings on its possible health benefits.”

So, that grudge you’ve been nursing for years–just let it go.

No Sunny Day on Sesame Street?

The early episodes of Sesame Street are now available on DVD. And they come with a parental warning.

“Huh?” one might rightly ask. Yes, the two-volume “Sesame Street: Old School” comes with the following warning: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

How crazy is this? Since when was Sesame Street ever intended for adults? I sort of assumed all that stuff about numbers and the alphabet was for preschoolers’ benefit.

Apparently, it all has to do with the show taking place around dingy brownstones, involving characters with all sorts of personality disorders: Oscar the grouch, who clearly needs his Prozac; Cookie Monster with his obvious eating disorder; a possibly-hallucinating Big Bird who claimed to see a character called Snuffleupagus, who was invisible to everyone else. Even kindly Gordon, who befriended a young girl and brought her to his home to meet his wife and have milk and cookies, is viewed as a potential predator.

All I can say is, give me a @&#-ing break. Next, they’ll be accusing Mr. Rogers of having psychotic delusions about the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

Colbert Writes a Column

In one of the top 10 favorite NY Times stories of the year, Stephen Colbert sneers at the Times’ columns, then on a dare from Maureen Dowd, writes one.

More Films Added to National Registry

The Library of Congress has added 25 more films to the National Film Registry, including some of my favorites.

Some of the highlights (for me) include “Bullitt,” “In a Lonely Place,” “12 Angry Men” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.”

“The National Film Registry seeks not only to honor these films, but to ensure that they are preserved for future generations to enjoy,” Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said in a statement.

Not Looking Trustworthy

Joe Queenan says there are some politicians he doesn’t like simply because he can’t stand their looks. He says we all need to ‘fess up and admit that rather than disliking people based on evidence of untrustworthiness, we just don’t care for their appearance.

He goes on at some length to make his point, only to say in his penultimate paragraph:

“I do not draw attention to these facts to chastise the candidates but to chastise the public. The idea that anyone would base his or her vote on a candidate’s ‘trustworthiness’ is absurd. Most politicians started out as lawyers, silver-tongued barristers whose very job description involves bending the truth, tergiversation and, sometimes, outright lying.”

Uh, excuse me? This former legal practitioner would beg to differ. It’s not a lawyer’s job to tell lies. Really, it isn’t. In fact, it’s an ethical no-no, for which an attorney can potentially suffer suspension or disbarment. I won’t say it never happens, but there are plenty of other occupations I can think of with people who lie and give themselves and their professions a bad name. Unlike law, however, they aren’t barred from doing their work as a result. How about used car salesman? How about public relations flacks? How about–ahem–journalists?

The Big Book of Pulp Fiction

From “out of the past” (to use the title of a great noir film) comes THE BLACK LIZARD BIG BOOK OF PULPS, a collection of pulp fiction, so-called for its publication in magazines printed on flimsy paper made of pulpwood. These long-defunct magazines, such as Black Mask, Dime Detective or “below-the-counter sleazoids like Spicy Detective,” were the breeding ground for American hardboiled crime stories and the noir movement.

To call it a “big book” isn’t saying enough–with 53 stories on 1,150 double-columned pages, it’s a tome. Plenty of pulp and then some.

Reason for Hope?

Even though religion has caused and continues to cause so much strife in the world, it’s reassuring to hear that various faiths may be coming together on certain issues.

“There also were growing signs that many Christians, Muslims and Jews could unite in a moral revulsion against terrorism,” according to this LA Times editorial. “But the strongest cause for optimism arrived during Ramadan, when the radical and influential Saudi cleric Sheik Salman Oadah delivered a scathing speech on live television breaking with ‘brother Osama’ bin Laden for spilling the blood of innocents and tarnishing the image of Islam.”

Oadah said the following:

“Brother Osama, what is to be gained from the destruction of entire nations — which is what we are witnessing in Afghanistan and Iraq — seeing them torn with plague and famine? What is to be gained from undermining their stability and every hope of a normal life? …The nightmare of civil war which now reigns supreme in Afghanistan and Iraq brings no joy to the Muslims. …

“My heart pains me when I think of the number of young people who had so much potential — who would have made such great and original contributions to society, who had so much to offer that was constructive and positive — who have been turned into living bombs. Here is the vital question that you need to ask yourself and that others have the right to demand an answer for: What have all these long years of suffering, tragedy, tears and sacrifice actually achieved?”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Chestnuts Roasting on a Glowing Monitor

Don’t have a fireplace for your Yule log? iYule provides a 30-minute downloadable video of one for several formats, including cellphones, computers and HDTVs–”a cozy shot of a burning log, complete with pops, hisses and sizzling sap.”

You can’t hang your stockings from it, but it’s something.

Happy holidays to all.

A Great Year for Films and Plays

NY Times film reviewer A.O. Scott says there were so many good movies this year, that “Stopping at 10 Just Seems Wrong,” according to the headline to the article featuring the top ten list, along with several honorable mentions.

And, in a prelude to his top ten plays, Ben Brantley states, “This was the year that the play stood up for itself, reminding us that it can go places inaccessible to other art forms.” He notes the best staged productions were plays rather than musicals, which “were most notable for being hazardous to your health (e.g., the eardrum-splitting, headache-making ‘Young Frankenstein’ and the tooth-decaying ‘Legally Blonde’).”

Top 200 Noirs

For those who love the dark side, author, editor and literary agent Allan Guthrie lists his top 200 favorite noir novels, by publication year. Guthrie says, “I’ve cut the list off at 1997 or there’d be 100 more.”