Random Bits for Your Amazement and Amusement

First, check out Estelle Parsons! Is this woman amazing for 80 or what? A round of applause, please.

Second, newspaper misprints happen, but when they happen in the name of the paper . . . sheesh! (Thank you, Kathy Kehrli of Screw You! for this one.)

Finally, did I mention I was glad to see the 70s go? How ’bout those 80s “hair bands”? I must agree, though, with SemiConscious Dot Org that this video is awesome. (And does David Lee Roth not look like he’s dressed as an aerobics instructor in an acid flashback?)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

No, not the movie. Just a random sampling of interesting items I’ve run across.

First, the good news: somebody does walk in LA–and she even likes it.

Then, the bad: granite countertops may be hazardous for your health.

And, finally, the ugly. Or something so excruciatingly bad it’s good, perhaps? My thanks to SemiConscious Dot Org for this priceless video.

Thank God the 70s are behind us.

One Man’s Trash . . .

It probably won’t happen for a while (maybe never, if some people have their way), but companies are exploring ways to use solid waste as motor fuel.

This article says the first commercial sales of such fuel is “possible within months.” The article leads off with this, even though it goes on to caution that many of those involved in making garbage-for-gas commercially feasible are “small companies whose dreams may be bigger than their bank accounts. They are counting on billions in taxpayer subsidies. Big technological hurdles remain, and even if they can be solved, no one is sure what unintended consequences will emerge or what it will really cost to produce this type of fuel.”

That’s a heck of a caveat.

I’ll be interested to see how many “months” it takes for trash to take the place of gas. If they can get it to work, it’ll kill two birds with one stone: help dispose of solid waste and provide a low-carbon dioxide emitting energy alternative.

Now I’m picturing Christopher Lloyd stuffing trash into the DeLorean’s engine in Back to the Future.

The Compulsive Shopper

This article about compulsive buying fascinated me for several reasons.

First, it doesn’t surprise me that more than one out of 20 Americans are compulsive shoppers. When you consider how materialistic and acquisition-driven our culture is, I’m surprised the number isn’t much higher.

Second, I’m not surprised that (as one compulsive shopper put it) the incessant urge to buy springs from “a feeling of needing to fix yourself . . . a sense of filling a void.” Too many people in our culture confuse acquisition with success, creature comforts with fulfillment. But just having things won’t make you happy.

Third, I was struck by how compulsive shopping has led to a new niche in psychotherapy. Yes, therapists are finding ways to make a buck off this disorder by (surprise, surprise) selling goods and services! Talk about having a bunch of willing buyers . . .

At least one therapist is offering group psychotherapy sessions and a book coming out in December (just in time for Christmas!) on how to stop compulsive buying, which “will include a purse-sized shopping diary, a CD offering ideas and encouragement and a laminated reminder card listing the questions shoppers should ask themselves.” They include questions like “Why am I here?,” “How do I feel?,” “Do I need this?,” “What if I wait?,” “How will I pay for it?” and “Where will I put it?”

I especially loved the psycho-jargon in this article. One psychiatric expert had this to say about compulsive shopping during an economic downturn: “In hard times, people’s money may be tighter so it might cause functional impairment at an earlier stage.” Um, so when the economy’s bad, there’s something wrong with you if you’re spending money you don’t have in order to buy everything in sight. Thanks, doc, for that $500 statement of the obvious.

Here’s a thought: instead of having compulsive buyers purchase even more stuff in the form of 12-step programs and books with CDs and diaries, I would recommend seeing the movie Ikiru. Find it and rent it if you can, buy it if you must. But it’s possibly the best movie I’ve ever seen about how to find happiness and meaning in life. And that’s getting lot for the cost of a DVD.

All Good Things . . .

It’s not that I’m a huge Billy Joel fan. Maybe it’s just because I’m from Queens and I remember going to Shea Stadium to see the Mets play ball (and usually lose) and I also remember when the Beatles played there. I was too young to be one of their screaming fans, but old enough to wonder what the big deal was with them, anyway.

Maybe for reasons like these, I felt a pang of sorrow when reading about this last concert at Shea and thinking about how the old bowl-like stadium will go under the wrecking ball. Or, more likely, get imploded, sending its dust adrift all over Queens, perhaps even down to Brooklyn and across the river to the Bronx (to alight on Yankee Stadium? I like that) and even the hallowed streets of Manhattan.

Shea Stadium has a history that includes much more than the Beatles. It was also where the 1969 “Miracle Mets” won the Series in Game 5, the fans going berserk with joy at their underdog team’s historic victory. (I couldn’t find footage of that game, but I did dig up this cool video of the town celebrating afterward.)

And it was miracles all over again for the Mets in 1986, when they played the hapless Boston Red Sox in the astonishing Game 6 of that World Series in which Bill Buckner made the key error allowing the Mets to win the game after coming back from behind in the tenth inning. The Mets went on to win the Series, before a deliriously happy Shea crowd. (Here’s the play-by-play of the nail-biting bottom of the tenth in Game 6, with, um, interesting animated reenactment.)

Before Shea was built, it was suggested that a new ballpark be sited in Queens and become the Brooklyn Dodgers’ new home, in part to accommodate a growing shift in the fan base out of the borough and into the suburbs. There was a big fight between Walter O’Malley, the Dodgers’ owner, who wanted to keep the team in Brooklyn (and control over revenue from parking, concessions and events), and Robert Moses, a powerful New York City official, who insisted on building it in Queens and calling it “Flushing Meadows Stadium.” Everything went as Moses decreed, except the name. (This rift also led to the Dodgers’ departure for Los Angeles, where O’Malley felt he could get a better deal and perhaps a better suntan along with it.)

I know Shea’s replacement will be nicer, newer and shinier, even if it’s designed to look (ironically) like an “old-fashioned ballpark.” It will have better seating, sound system, video displays and all the other bells and whistles we’ve come to expect from Major League Baseball stadiums.

Ah, but the history . . . that will be missing.

Although the Beatles will never be able to play at the new park and past victories can only be relived in recordings and memories, lets hope the stadium that takes Shea’s place can acquire a history even close to that of its predecessor.

But, in that regard, it does have big shoes to fill.

PSA to Raise Dystonia Awareness

I’ve cut back to switching off between my blogs and I know I posted here yesterday, but this news is SO great, I felt like it just couldn’t wait.

The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation has created a public service announcement about dystonia. A foundation source tells me it “will run on all the major television stations” in the near future. It features Tony Award-winning actor Christian Hoff, who is a national spokesperson for the foundation. (A national spokesperson for dystonia? Yay!)

This is such exciting news! My thanks to Catherine Borod for sharing this!

And, as Marv Albert (or was it Warner Wolf?) once put it, let’s go to the videotape:

‘Twisted’: A Documentary That Deserves Attention

Despite the fact that dystonia is the third most common movement disorder, so many people (even medical professionals) know nothing at all about it.

I was happy to hear that filmmaker Laurel Chiten, who also has dystonia, made the documentary “Twisted” and thrilled to see it aired on PBS stations around the country. (Although I’m still pissed at Maryland Public Television and Washington DC’s WETA for showing it at 1 or 2 o’ clock in the morning–who’s going to see it then, except those who have dystonia or another reason to look for it?) I’d love it if the film became more widely-publicized through PBS or other networks, but I’ll take what I can get.

As a writer, I’ve been querying various publications to see if they’ll take an article about dystonia, written by one who has it. So far, no takers, but I can keep trying.

Meanwhile, for those who may have missed it here’s the trailer for “Twisted.” It’ll give you some idea of how horrible this disorder can be.

Flag Hoopla Put in Perspective

There’s been so much made lately about certain political candidates choosing to wear or not wear the flag on their clothing, I think we all need to step back, take a breath and put the matter in perspective.

Have you stepped back? Are you breathing? Good. Here’s the perspective.

On June 14, 1943 (in the middle of World War II, you’ll note, in which we were fighting genocidal baddies like Hitler and his friends who were collectively trying to take over the world), the U.S. Supreme court decided West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, in which the Jehovah’s Witnesses challenged the practice of forcing schoolchildren to salute the flag. (The Parent and Teachers Association, Boy and Girl Scouts, Red Cross, and Federation of Women’s Clubs even compared it to the Nazi salute, according to the opinion.) The Jehovah’s Witnesses refused to salute the flag, due to their religion’s prohibition on worshiping graven images. They and other parties sued the school board (and other parties), claiming that this forced practice was an unconstitutional denial of religious freedom and freedom of speech, and were invalid under the “due process” and “equal protection” clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal constitution.

Despite the Board of Education’s no-doubt vigorous attempt to dismiss the suit, the matter went all the way up to the Supremes. And with concurrences from other justices who included William O. Douglas (what a surprise) and a dissent from Justice Felix Frankfurter, the Court decided for the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Among other things, Justice Robert H. Jackson, who wrote for the Court, had this to say:

“To sustain the compulsory flag salute we are required to say that a Bill of Rights which guards the individual’s right to speak his own mind, left it open to public authorities to compel him to utter what is not in his mind. . . .

“Nor does the issue as we see it turn on one’s possession of particular religious views or the sincerity with which they are held. While religion supplies appellees’ motive for enduring the discomforts of making the issue in this case, many citizens who do not share these religious views hold such a compulsory rite to infringe constitutional liberty of the individual. . . .

“If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.

“We think the action of the local authorities in compelling the flag salute and pledge transcends constitutional limitations on their power and invades the sphere of intellect and spirit which it is the purpose of the First Amendment to our Constitution to reserve from all official control.”

Yes, someone really wrote that in the middle of what had to seem at the time to be the war to end all wars. And, if you don’t believe me, you can read the whole thing here.

Enough With the Gender Stereotypes!

Okay, this is just revolting. I mean, haven’t we come a bit farther than this? Apparently, not . . .

And another thing–reports like this one do not help. As it happens, I can read a map like a professional navigator, I never stop to ask directions and my husband is the one who notices those small visual clues that tell you what mood people are in. He’s also a great listener and a much better clothing shopper than me. (No lie.)

So, bottom line: we’re all individuals with our own individual quirks and skills. Quit making all these generalizations and perpetrating these stupid stereotypes–please!

The Time Has Come

Just so you know, I will probably be cutting back on what has been, for a few months shy of two years (how time flies!), my daily posting ritual (apart from times I’ve been at conferences or on vacation). I do this primarily because it has turned into ritual–something I feel compelled to do out of blind obligation. And I’d rather focus on the quality of these posts, even if the quantity suffers.

There’s also the time management factor. I’ve certainly not run out of things to say or news to share. I have more than enough material to blog about. But given the fact that I’m a freelance writer and researcher, marketing my services and handling projects, and balancing those projects with my fiction projects, which consist of editing one novel, finishing another, selling a third, editing a spec pilot script, writing a spec script for an existing show, writing a script based on an outline for a feature film (a suspense/thriller), and marketing, editing or writing five short stories (these are not all getting equal attention, mind you, but are either on my current to-do list or have been back-burnered for later consideration–but they are all there, vying for my attention), plus miscellaneous duties I pick up along the way and dealing with focal dystonia, I just feel like maybe I need to manage my time a bit more wisely and give it away for free to my blogging a bit less cavalierly.

So, I won’t stop blogging. But the time has come to consider doing it less frequently. I have two other blogs to which I’ve also posted daily–Writing for Hire and The Book Grrl. Maybe I’ll write for one each day, so the posts appear every three days. Or maybe two a day, so they come up every other day. I’ll see how it goes, what I can handle.

And, hopefully, the time I don’t spend writing here will be used to write something else you can see in a book, short story, movie, TV show or even one of my articles.

Oh, and did I mention my ebook project? Yeah, I’m doing one of those, too.

ADDENDUM: I forgot to mention a collection of essays I’m writing for my memoirs (doh!).