And Now A Word From Our Sponsors...

So I have recieved two emails asking me if I want to allow 'advertising' on my blogsite. I track my numbers using Statcounter so I KNOW that I am staying very close to maintaining the truth of my tagline - "writing for an audience of one - reaching even fewer". It has to be a scam of some type.

Never the less, and I have received no consideration at all for this, I am going to exhort the 3 of you reading this to check out a dental hygiene product I have begun using.

I have always had trouble flossing. My teeth are tight, crowded and crooked (especially on my lower jaw). I have a small mouth (OK guys - yuk it up to your heart's content on that one), and I have short, stubby fingers attached to meaty palms. I shred regular floss and it gets stuck between my teeth so I have to use extra slippery stuff that is even harder to hold and control. Sheesh.

Well enter the new Reach Access Flosser. If you've tried other flossing tools and given up, take heart, this sucker works! It takes me less than a minute to floss completely down to my gum line and between each tooth with no shredding, gagging, slobber or muttered cursing.

If flossing is difficult for you, or simply inconvenient, then get thee hence to thine apothecary's shop and purchase this modern marvel of applied technology. And what's more, we really need the help as our dental coverage has been "adjusted" and cleanings are covered only every 9 months for us now. So hopefully this will help us keep our teeth and gums healthy until we can visit our hygienist.

There! I've done my good deed for the day/week/month/year/decade/century/millennium.

'Nuff said!

Only Giant Shadows

"Any reasonably advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic."

That is my gloss of a quotation attributed to the renowned author Arthur C Clarke. You'll notice that I didn't write "science fiction" before the word "author" above. It's my own personal rejection of the common practice of relegating certain writers to the artistic ghetto of the genre they write within. All of my life "Sci-Fi" has been relegated to a status below "literature". Now Clarke is gone, passing away last week and we are just beginning to discern the vast landscape his artistic shadow occupies.

I've been becoming uncomfortably aware recently of an increase in the number of artistic and culturally iconic persons who are shuffling off this mortal coil and this had led me into musing as to who, if anyone, is moving forward to occupy the void such losses create. Perhaps that is a misbegotten question, having more to do with my rising angst about my own mortality - which these passings are seeming to make keener in my mind. Still, I find myself looking for new shadows cast by new artists that seem to measure up to the ones cast by the giants I have encountered thus far.

I suspect that each generation asks similar questions, and that these questions become more personal and poignant as the one voicing them perceives they have truly passed the halfway post in the race they are running. It is our human perspective to ever view the world and events through the lens of self, even if we say we strive for empathy. We are hopelessly wrapped up in ourselves at times, especially at those time when we feel the Grim Reaper's breath cold upon the nape of our neck.

Still I am grateful for Clarke and his generous, creative energy that has so infused my life and thought with ideas that are at once wildly fantastic and deeply human. Indeed, it seems to me that the fantastic is often a better place to observe the truly human moments of truth we are all heir to. The fantastic can often provide a sharper sense of contrast, irony and inconvenient truth than we perceive amid the familiar. It was, and still is Clarke's uncompromising commitment to look straight into the human condition that has lent the ring of truth and the air of worth to his great canon of work.

But new fantastic revelations will flow no more from his mind into ours. We are left with only his giant shadow it seems, but perhaps something more as well. Shadows only appear in the light, and the bigger and more distinct they are, the brighter and more focussed the light must be. And the light draws us all, doesn't it?

To Hart From the Heart

This was my comment @ PVP Online regarding the passing of B.C. comic strip creator Johnny Hart. Search for the one submitted by "ZetaC".

I appreciated Johnny Hart’s wry and witty social commentary more than anything else. In one strip, Thor – Hart’s erstwhile inventor and wheel rider – is showing Wiley – the ensemble’s prince of sarcastic wit – his latest invention, which is obviously a sundial. Thor asks Wiley, “Do you know what I’ve just created?” Wiley takes a beat and replies, “A entire race of neurotics?”

Now THAT’S funny. And if you don’t think so Johnny and I dare you not to look at your watch once for the next hour.

In another strip the turtle and bird pair are coming in for a landing after having just flown south together for the winter (The bird does all the work). The running turtle trips and they careen into an inconveniently located tree. The bird shakily quips, “Man, I’ve taken better trips on a sugar cube!” Put than in its 70’s context and smoke it.

Johnny was funny. He was aware of the world around him. He had opinions – some of them others did not like – but he stuck to them. His feet were made of no more clay than yours or mine and – at least in my case – he spent my whole life writing the little jokes, tales, fables and doings of a bunch of unlikely, misanthropic, anachronistic cave men and women – whom I grew to know well and appreciate.

As long as I’ve known about Johnny Hart he has been creating something – nothing too dangerous or evil – unless you believe that the creation and expression of thoughts and ideas is too dangerous or evil for anyone to pursue who doesn’t have your specific approval.

Like him – hate him – whatever. He spent his life trying to make people laugh and maybe think at the same time if the opportunity arose – or if an obvious pun didn’t present itself. I think Johnny really did “Think Funny” and if more of us did that there might be less stuff for us to get all twisted up about.

Vaya con Dios, amigo!

My apologies to Johnny if I have misquoted his work. I know I haven’t mistaken his spirit.

'Nuff said!