October 22, 2009
-
The Daily News
1 I guess the little things make us survive on a daily basis.
2 For me, the Phillies' champagne shower and clinch of the National league pennant worked, and if I may, only because it sent the Dodgers packing, always a pleasure.
3 Mind you, I don't mean that for me; I mean that for America.
4 The country has been through a lot. What it didn't need was a Dodgers-Yankees series.
5 So...the L.A. Dodgers' dreams walk into a bar...
6 All right, so it might sound like sour grapes, but it's really not...
7 It's for America.
8 Any fool knows that.
9 Moving on: So now Dodgers' fans can join Giants' fans in knowing what is going on in Glee.
10 Moving on, Part the Second: Last night I went into my third straight night of sleep without insomnia. Almost didn't make it, since I conked out at around 8:15, but awoke soon thereafter to watch the Phils feast on the Bums.
11 Because of the rest, healthier eating, and longer nights of sleep, I was able yesterday to hold court on Haunted Houses of California, an overview of the immortal book by Antoinette May. I think that I gave the incorrect title in yesterday's DN, so this is a correction.
12 Fortunately I've reached a point in life where I'm not that bummed out about something like that. In my earlier days, I'd have had an apoplectic fit. In the world of 2009, shoddy journalism seems to be embraced; idiocy is forgivin, and the real news clearly not as important as the daily yellow journalism that passes for accuracy.
13 Nobody cares, and if they do, they look like raving madmen.
14 The news is so easily controlled these days that the country thinks exactly the way the moguls want them to think. If we want a swine flu scare, everybody will fall in line, and make sure that everybody is squirting hand sanitizer and frowning on anyone near them who dares allow a sneeze.
15 To be honest, I caught myself doing that in the past few days. The fear worked: I bought two bottles of hand sanitizer, thick rolls of Kleenex, two boxes of Sudafed, and even plopped a coupla Airbornes into a large coffee cup, and poured water in, allowing me chemically to remain pure in the germ warfare scenario, the government's latest and best effort at scaring us to death. <sigh>
16 Half a minute! Sweet Caroline is making the nation sing on Glee tonight. Hands are up, with or without hand sanitizer!!!! Liberate!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMV4QevheIA
17 Whew. Intense one-minute song, but for that one amazing minute, I felt the entire country throwing their hands up and singing, "Sweet Caroline! Springtime never looked so good...!!"
18 It's funny, but that beyond-corny song has brought Tahoe to its feet each summer for the past ten years. When I was younger, Neil Diamond struck me as a bit of a greaseball Rico Suave sorta Vegas guy. Over time, however, his music has become somewhat of a campy fun go of it. The past ten summertimes have seen us grab guitars and rock the Lake with that tune. Always a fan fave!
19 Glee. I swear to God. Well named.
20 Ah, so fun.
21 Moving on, Part Three: Reverting back to item 10, I entered my third straight night of getting a good night's sleep after beginning the week with a horrible bout of insomnia, worry, and stress.
22 I figured rightfully that the stress and emotional duress were clearly the result of sleep deprivation, and I was clearly right. Yesterday I walked into the school day with energy, poise, and a lot of renewed vitality. Although it didn't work perfectly all day, I was able to stave off voice loss and to deliver an overview of California haunts, and to answer questions and field comments by the students.
23 They did the rest, which I've been doing more and more this year; letting THEM teach and correcting/explaining what they share. It's great fun, and seems to work time and again.
24 Sidebar: Glee is doing I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady! First off, I absolutely LOVE that musical because I absolutely LOVE George Bernard Shaw. He wrote Pygmalion, the play on which My Fair Lady was based.
25 I also love that musical because the guy who wrote the music, Frederic "Fritz" Lowe, did lots of odd jobs as a younger man, including working as an amateur boxer!
26 I always wondered if that song was inspired from Lowe's pugilistic meanderings at a younger age.
27 The show included the great tunes, "Wouldn't it be Loverly", "Get Me to the Church On Time", "With a Litte Bit of Luck", and the immortal, "I've Grown Accustomed to her Face". Alan Jay Lerner, whom Fritz met in a New York bar, where the two ran into one another on the way to the bathroom. As the story goes, Lowe approached Lerner and said, "I understand you write lyrics," to which Lerner replied, "Well, I understand you write music". The rest, as the saying goes, is theatrical history. The former prizefighter and the lyricist went on to create such epic pieces of musical history as Brigadoon, Camelot, and My Fair Lady.
The late, great Frederick Lowe.28 Ah, useless information, but always a bit of fun. A poignant moment in "Face" is when Henry Higgins, the intellectual puppeteer of Eliza Doolittle finds a moment when he realizes that he misses her terribly. He sings, "I've grown accustomed to her looks, accustomed to her voice, accustomed to her..." and he hesitates with perhaps the greatest pause in musical history, followed wonderully by a solo violin playing "I Could Have Danced All Night". The film score has this moment down, and it's a great listen, each and every time.
29 All this from a prizefighter.
30 Well, it's ten p.m. as of this writing, rather than 3 a.m. I'm wide awake due to a nice cuppa coffee I downed midway through this, but I'm going to relax a bit, and then get to sleep early for the third night running.
31 I'll wake up, mail this off, and then post it on the ubiquitous Facebook.
32 When you all awaken, this will be on your doorstep. Hope you enjoy a nice morning cup of your favorite beverage, a bit of a smile, and a beautiful morning.
33 You deserve it. Make someone smile; let someone know you care. And live give it your very best today.
34 And for all you do...
35 Peace.
The fighter still remains.~H~
Recent Comments