These are five wonderful Monty Python's Flying Circus sketches and scenes from the comedy troupe's vast library of such skits and sketches. Choosing a "top five" is like selecting a "top five" Bruce Springsteen songs: incredibly difficult, and subject to how one feels that day. I could just have easily included Whizzo's Chocolate Assortment, Bruces Philosopher Song, Spam, Killer Rabbit, Killer Cars, Upper Class Twit of the Year, French Taunters, We Have Found A Witch, Mr. Neutron, Argument Clinic, or Penguin on the Telly. Or any of a dozen more from each of their movies!
So this may be a "top five" list, but it doesn't mean it's the top five. And this list could change on a daily basis.
The five presented here are in no particular order.
(1) The Dead Parrot Sketch & The Lumberjack Song
(2) Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
(3) Hell's Grannies (note: this was probably my father's favorite sketch of all time)
(1) Had a surprise phone call this morning from Trigg's Upholstery, letting me know the six dining room chairs I brought in Monday for a major re-do were finished. Picked them up in the afternoon. They look and feel great!
I went in to this project not really knowing how it would finish. Initially, I was told by a number of individuals that this was essentially a DIY project. I would agree; however, there were a few minor chinks in the idea. After going to the local Jo-Ann Fabric to estimate the cost of buying new padding and fabric, I brought the set in to Trigg's (recommended by Fawn Tenenbaum, who had used their services before, and whose father was an upholsterer) for a professional estimate. Turns out the situation was actually worse than I had realized; the padding in at least three seats was deteriorating, and replacing it would cause the seat fabric to look horrible. Additionally, the fabric design is no longer available, and the backs of the chairs are still in pretty good condition, so there is no reason to re-do them. Further, one of the chairs needed major repairs (it broke several years ago; it needed re-gluing, new screws, the works) to put it back together.
The end of it is that I am had the entire set re-done professionally. We found a fabric that worked well enough, color-wise and design-wise, to match fairly nicely with the chair backs. It ended up costing $437.81, or $72.97 per chair; this included repairing the broken chair and additional reinforcement of the other five, 2" foam for all six, the replacement seat fabric, etc. (I'm not sure, but I think they originally had 1" or 1 1/2" foam padding; after 40 years of use, it is hard to know exactly how much was there when my parents bought the set.) They did a far superior job than I could have, and much quicker. I highly recommend them for others in the area.
(2) Next on the agenda: finding a reputable furniture restoration company. I have two Mahogany end tables, a server table, a dining room table, and a china cabinet that need to be cleaned up, restained, and in some cases repaired, over the next few years. (I need to pace this, because finances.) A former student of mine from my days teaching at South Fork High School flagged me down; her father is an expert in woodwork and furniture repair. I sent her photos of the other items to get an initial estimate.
(3) Am I the only one who thinks, regardless of his ideas on bettering the nation (and some of them might even be legitimate), Donald Trump - for all of his media attention - is not the type of professional leader the United States of America deserves? He's brash, bossy, combative, and abusive. He's a boorish blowhard who is alienating so many people. I can understand, to a degree, the spoken word aspect of this; sometimes, the filter inside our brain doesn't catch everything, and we end up with egg on our faces. But it's a lot different when writing and posting something, whether in the newspaper or on the Internet. We have more time to stop, pause, and ponder, before hitting "send." Whether on Twitter, Facebook or other social media, there is always time to do this before publishing whatever your thoughts or arguments might be. Which is why I wonder, who the hell is running Trump's Twitter feed? An intern? A hired professional? Trump himself? The Democratic Party?
Yes, I realize this posted Tweet was from March 2013. But it's just a reminder that what you post online doesn't just disappear, no matter how hard you try or how badly you might wish it to happen. And your past can come back to haunt you.
(4) Tomorrow, Goodwill visits the condo to pick up a very large CD rack - the one given to me by Pete Bowers during my employment at WBFH-FM. It stands about seven feet tall, holds around 500 CDs, and is amazingly wonderful to have ... if you have a large CD collection. Which I don't anymore, since I donated about 350 to the Palm Beach County Library a few weeks ago, and only have about 150 left. And since I don't need something so large in my condo, it's better to donate and let someone else enjoy its usage.
(5) Next weekend, I head to Tampa to donate the bulk of my record album collection to my cousin's son. He collects albums; I'm sure he will get a kick out of the additional vinyl in his collection.
Donald Trump, overtly displeased with the Republican National Committee's persecution of His Royal Toupeeness, is threatening to quit the GOP and run as a third-party candidate for President of The Island of Misfit Toys.
Or is that quit The Island of Misfit Toys and run as a third-party candidate for POTUS?
What would King Moonracer think?
In an interview with The Hill earlier today, Trump said that, while in the past the RNC had been more than happy to accept his money, the GOP has "not been supportive" of his 2016 candidacy. Consequently, even though he currently leads all 87 (give or take a few) Republican candidates in poll numbers - something that has not taken a huge hit, even after the flack last weekend over his comments about John McCain's "hero" status - he is mulling a third-party presidential run.
The Republican businessman is under attack from many leaders in his own party who view his candidacy as a sideshow that could harm the GOP brand. The McCain flap didn't help matters in that regard; there's already been threats to try and keep him from participating in GOP candidate debates on Fox News during the campaign season. Trump says the chances of him launching a third-party run would increase if he believes the committee treats him unfairly during the primaries.
"I'm not in the gang. I'm not in the group where the group does whatever it's supposed to do," Trump told The Hill, explaining why he believes he's unpopular with the GOP establishment.
A Washington Post/ABC poll finds a hypothetical three-way race would result in Hillary Clinton getting 46%, Jeb Bush getting 30%, and Trump 20% among registered voters. That 20 percent would be really, really close to what billionaire Ross Perot received as a third-party candidate in 1992.
In a separate Washington Examiner article, Trump was asked if he believed Perot's candidacy threw the 1992 presidential election to Bill Clinton:
"Totally. I think every single vote that went to Ross Perot came from Bush. Virtually every one of his 19 percentage points came from the Republicans. If Ross Perot didn't run, you have never heard of Bill Clinton.”
There’s a lot to compare between Perot and Trump: Both are "off the chain" billionaires willing to speak "hard truths" to a political establishment that has grown increasingly out-of-touch with average voters. But Trump is missing the mark on this one; Perot was far more of a centrist than Trump, or any of the current GOP candidates, are. Perot didn’t draw votes disproportionately from Republicans.
But Trump would.
As The New York Times reported earlier this month, some party higher-ups fear Trump launching a third-party campaign could pull more votes from the Republican nominee than the Democrat in the general election next November. And that has Democratic Party leaders thrilled beyond belief. They believe they can defeat Trump if he's the GOP candidate; that belief is even stronger if he splits the Republican voting bloc.
Or, as NBC News pointed out:
The RNC has a choice to make: Does it bite its tongue and hold back on future criticism? Or does it let him go? It isn't an easy decision. On the one hand, the threat is credible - Trump has enough money (to get on the ballot) and enough name ID to affect a D-vs.-R presidential contest. On the other hand, he's held the GOP and its candidates hostage. And when you're dealing with a hostage-taker, sometimes the best approach is taking him out. But here's another question: Even if the RNC did want him to go, how does it go about doing that? After all, the RNC's job isn't to take people off the ballot. Voters - not the RNC - will decide who the GOP nominee will be.
So, is Trump is now the 2015 personification of Hermey, Rudolph, Edward Scissorhands, Rick Deckard, Willy Wonka, Jay Gatsby, Walt Kowalski, John Rambo, Travis Bickle, Jim Stark, and Pee-wee Herman searching for the basement of The Alamo? Regardless of his decision, one thing is for sure: Trump's a rebel, Dottie; a loner.
From The New York Post: "Jeff Bagwell gets excited by Astros, feels up girlfriend" - He's rounding first and really turning it on now; he’s not letting up at all, he's gonna try for second. The ball is bobbled out in the center, and here comes the throw, and what a throw! He’s gonna slide in head first! Here he comes, he's out - no, wait, safe, safe at second base!
VIDEO OF THE DAY: Sharknado? OH HELL NO!
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY: Meat Loaf, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"
(1) Got the crazy notion of running for public office today. Not this year. Not even next year. Maybe in 2017. I need to see who in the district in which I live is term-limited, because all of the individuals currently in office have extremely strong name recognition. And I like them, for the most part; I'm even Facebook friends with some (but not, like, BFF Facebook friends, catch my drift?).
(2) I'm sure that crazy notion will fade by the time I wake up tomorrow morning and say to myself, "What was that all about?"
(3) Not having a strong base of support or connections in said district in which I reside also factors into the equation. Most of the people I know in the area - current and former students, and their parents - live in a different district. (4) And I really don't want to deal with the media scrutiny. I'm neither rich nor famous, but given a choice between the two, I'll take the dead presidents, rather than be a future dead president.
(5) Besides, in many ways, it's more fun following the campaigns (and as a journalist, covering the campaigns) than actually being the candidate.
Today would have been Robin Williams' 64th birthday. He was, by far, my favorite comedian ever. That encompasses a large body of work; his introduction to mainstream America on ABC's Happy Days, followed by a successful spin-off with Pam Dawber on Mork and Mindy; his stand-up career; and his advance into the film industry.
Robin was one of the first real comedic influences in my life, the others being Allan Sherman, the Monty Python's Flying Circus comedy troupe, and the Saturday Night Live Not Ready For Prime Time Players. Yeah, there was Steve Martin and a slew of other amazing comedic talent out there. But these were the "big four" of the late 1970s, my junior high and high school formative years. And being young and impressionable, I immediately gravitated to Williams.
While my initial introduction to him was through his guest appearance on Happy Days, I was truly introduced to Robin through his starring role on Mork and Mindy in the late 1970s. Part of what attracted me to him as a performer was his amazing comedic ability; part of it was also the Detroit representation (both he and Dawber spent part of their formative years living in suburban Detroit, so there was a definite connection there). It was goofy, silly, and family friendly humor, and was a weekly staple of my childhood.
One of the first albums (rock or otherwise) I ever bought was Robin's "Reality ... What a Concept!" which was released at the height of his Mork and Mindy fame in 1979. I think I had the album memorized within three days, and quoted it endlessly with my friend Tim Olson. It was definitely raunchier than the sanitized ABC sitcom, and looking back at my 15-year-old self, I didn't understand many (read: most) of the jokes, drug references, and sexual innuendo Robin tossed at his audience from the stage. I was totally entranced by the speed of his commentary, the variety of voices and languages, the sharp wit that permeated the entire performance (improvisational Shakespeare!?!?!). I was in 10th grade when the album came out, and teamed up with a fellow Bloomfield Hills Lahser student, a junior by the name of Hugh Goldsmith (we were in a history class together) to do the album's Mr. Roger's Neighborhood sketch (which starts at the 8:00 mark of the album below).
We all know the film successes that followed in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Popeye. The World According to Garp. Good Morning, Vietnam.Awakenings. The Fisher King. Moscow on the Hudson. Good Will Hunting. Aladdin. Mrs. Doubtfire. The Birdcage. So many amazing roles. So many breathtaking performances. He transitioned from comedy to dramatic, and managed to do so effectively. It wasn't always easy; there were a few duds along the way (Bicentennial Man, for example) or extremely dark comedies (I'm looking at you, Death to Smoochy). And, of course his work with Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal to found Comic Relief USA, an annual HBO television benefit devoted to the homeless, which has raised $80 million between its start-up in 1986 and 2014.
He was a man among men.
Last August, Robin committed suicide - a stunning realization about a man who many saw as one of the funniest people in the world. It was revealed following his death that Williams had been suffering from severe depression, and had been sleeping in a different room from his wife due to restlessness and anxiety caused by early stages of Parkinson's Disease. Numerous individuals, famous and not, paid tribute to the comedic genius that was Robin Williams, and continue to remember him for his abilities, his friendships, and his philanthropy. Suicide prevention groups quickly reminded individuals that, if they felt they needed help, to call for help - for example, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline [1-800-273-TALK (8255)].
My favorite Robin Williams movie is Dead Poets Society, which forces us to look at life from a different angle and do what you believe is right, even in the face of adversity. It embraces passion, youthful idealism, and romanticism. It focuses on relationships and what makes relationships true and good. It's about finding a voice and sounding barbaric yawps over the rooftops of the world, I am important! I am an individual! I am somebody! As his character, John Keating, proclaimed to his class, "The longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, 'Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.' Don't be resigned to that. Break out!"
So may we learn. So may we live.
Seize the day.
THE FINE FIVE - ROBIN WILLIAMS EDITION (FOUR LESS KNOWN MOMENTS, AND A BEST OF COLLECTION):
(1) Robin Williams as Mime Jerry, a mine instructor who works with an on-the-lam Bobcat Goldthwait in Shakes the Clown:
(2) His appearance in Whose Line Is It Anyway? was magical; here he is working with the gang on the segment "Scenes from a Hat":
(3) Robin appeared on We Are Most Amused in 2008, where - after being introduced by John Cleese - goes full-throttle political with his own comedic twist:
(4) His performance of King of the Moon (OK, King of Everything) in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was over the top (in more ways than one):
(5) Ten amazing movie moments; how many have you seen?
