1982: MTV invades the Maggi Household in Houston

Posted on August 15, 2021 by Steve

Until we moved to Houston at Summer’s End in 1982, MTV was just something I knew about through commercials. Often they were these rapid-fire, brightly colored affairs with various rock stars saying “I want my MTV!” and instructions to call your cable provider. Fat chance in Springfield, IL! All the channels that could be used were occupied by the time MTV arrived in late 1981 because our operator only used the VHF method, meaning your selections were limited to the channels 2-13 built into your set. Actually, 10 was vacant and had been just a teleprompter for years but I think Ted Turner had called dibs on it for Headline News since Springfield was already carrying his WTBS Superstation.

Other than the ads, MTV was just a pipe dream to us Springfield teens. Some kids had Showtime, a weaker version of HBO, and it filled time between films and nudity with music videos. Otherwise, maybe you’d catch these novelties on syndicated shows: Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, Solid Gold or America’s Top 40.

Our move to Houston changed everything. When the cable guy installed this special box offering 36 channels on our 12″ portable color Panasonic, we about plotzed! How was this possible? Getting all of Houston’s local seven channels clearly? Check. WGN Chicago to see what’s happening back home? Check. WTBS and CNN? Check. EPSN, CBN and the Weather Channel? Sigh, yeah. Mom and Dad decided to spring for HBO! Woo hoo! Naked women if the ‘rents were asleep or out of the house! Remember, this is 14-year-old me, not modern. What were these other things? WOR Seacaucus, NJ? Telemundo? Cool, TV in Spanish! USA? We saw that once somewhere. Nickelodeon? We’re not babies, hard pass. A&E? Isn’t PBS enough? MTV! YES!

Well…I had a feeling we would be getting MTV. I had overheard a couple classmates talking about the new Cheap Trick video “She’s Tight.” I think I bugged them later about what cable had to offer and they confirmed it. I couldn’t wait to get home that day. I remember the events fairly clearly, it was a Friday afternoon and I can’t remember why Mom brought me home instead of having me undertake what became my routine; waiting until Dad finished work and meeting at the Safeway parking lot near school. Anyway, I quickly channel surfed with this alien box until I thought I found MTV, I was on the money with my first try! “Rock the Casbah” by the Clash was about half over. I was thinking, OK, this is a bit weird. They look like bikers. I didn’t know they were the guys behind “Train In Vain,” which I liked. My first video from start to finish was Squeeze’s “Black Coffee in Bed.” I didn’t like the song upon the first listen and whoever did the band’s makeup, they laid it on rather heavily. People in the Eighties still exhibited negative opinions about men wearing visible makeup if it wasn’t done in KISS fashion.

It’s a blur after that. I’m sure I saw Duran Duran, Pete Townshend and Cheap Trick within a couple hours. MTV had worked its magic on me too. I was hooked and it became my favorite channel. And within a couple months, it became the bane of my parents’ existence as it became “That Goddamned MTV!” or they’d like to show other adults, “Check out this weird crap!”

I continued to watch regular TV, I wasn’t a junkie or dipshit. HBO had just gone to being a 24-hour network and hit movies were now appearing as quickly as six months instead of a year or two. Square Pegs was a Monday-night obsession (given the musical guests, it complemented MTV) and this was fine with my parents since they wanted to see how MASH would end and Bob Newhart had a new SitCom. I also got hooked on the Kung Fu movies an indy station showed every Saturday afternoon, but MTV was my automatic go-to if there was “nothing on” yet I wanted to turn off my brain. To me, MTV was similar to watching cartoons, these were just shorter and I was the key demographic the network would pursue for about a decade, young teens really starting to like music on the radio which in 1982 was also when FM would overtake AM and the Sony Walkman started to become ubiquitous. How people listened to music was shifting again and they were taking more control in additional spaces.

Thus ends part two. Next up, MTV helps me in forming my musical tastes and to some extent, the person I would evolve into. It also saves me from the music preferred by the burnouts I left behind in Springfield.

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New household addition

Posted on August 15, 2021 by Steve

Don’t let the Ozarka label fool you, inside is pre-filtered tap water. What originally happened was a friend of Jennifer’s retired a couple weeks ago and this water cooler was his personal gadget. He didn’t need it in his house, I guess he already has one or something. So I inherited it because Jennifer does the bottled-water thing, boo! Not good for anyone in the long run.

What I did was empty the Ozarka bottle, it had residual water, and cleaned it with a special kit I found at Target. The kit handles hard to clean containers like this, tea kettles, sports bottles, etc. Let the cleaning materials soak overnight. Rinsed thoroughly. Then filled it up with tap water put through my two Brita® Filter pitchers. After Austin’s recent boil order, I stopped drinking directly from the tap at my house. I also use the filtered water for cooking, my weekly pitchers of iced tea, the ice cube trays and the cats’ drinking bowl.

How well is it working out? I like it. I don’t think Jennifer has had a drink from it yet. My neighbor Niko received a glass after mowing my lawn. He said it worked out.

Before you mock the method to my madness. It didn’t take too long to fill the five-gallon (19 liters) jug. When you have two pitchers and a good funnel while multitasking some other job in the kitchen, it goes by pretty quickly.

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The Sparks Brothers: Must See*

Posted on August 14, 2021 by Steve

* – If you love music in any capacity, you better see this. Otherwise, the rest of the world can wait until streaming services carry it.

Despite this documentary being a huge love letter to one of greatest duos in the “Your Favorite Band’s Favorite Band” genre;  It’s also about how two brothers endured the ebb and flow of a finicky industry while making the music they wanted to make. You could say they are what Pixar used to be, they make the stuff they want to hear/perform and by staying true to their vision, they have a dedicated, like-minded fan base.

Superfan and director Edgar Wright takes you on the chronological journey of Ron and Russel Mael, two born-and-bred Los Angelenos. It all started when they were kids and there’s no signs of it stopping. After this movie, count on their upcoming tour to be sold out in every city.

Sprinkled throughout Brothers are interviews with their former band members in Sparks’ numerous iterations, past producers (all famous) and most importantly (to me), the artists they’ve influenced. The latter was quite a list. A few choices I thought were thrown in for general audiences (Patton Oswalt, Jason Schwartzman) or shitty artists with no right to be associated with the Maels (Flea, Thurston Moore/Sonic Youth). Jack Antonoff is both. If you didn’t recognize his name: he’s the hack producer/writer behind Katy Perry and Taylor Swift and was in one-hit wonder Fun. However, I want people to enjoy this movie as Wright did round up a good selection of true fans. Members of…Duran Duran, Erasure, New Order, Visage, Franz Ferdinand, Jane Wiedlin, Beck, Björk, Faith No More, DJ Lance, Squeeze, Human League, Weird Al, Heaven 17 and Haircut 100. Believe me, I had quite a wish list as well. Here’s a few Wright egregiously missed: Ultravox (Midge Ure and Billy Currie), Garbage, John Carpenter, Jellyfish (Roger Manning Jr. and Andy Sturmer), They Might Be Giants, Fountains of Wayne (the late Adam Schlesinger), Jean-Michel Jarre, Goldfrapp, Les Rita Mitsouko (just Catherine Ringer, Fred Chichin passed away over a decade ago), Ween, Robert Smith, New Pornographers and Siouxie & the Banshees.

There’s archive footage of them on stage, in the studio, at UCLA, on American Bandstand (several times), SNL with Danny DeVito hosting, etc. There are cartoons illustrating their anecdotes. There’s their vast collection of music videos they’ve made since the Seventies. There’s news clips on what others thought of them, or mistook them to be. Trust me, you’ll laugh at the legend involving what John Lennon said to Ringo Starr when he first saw them on TV and when an American actress said something similar making fellow guest Pete Townshend laugh as he clarified what she really saw. My favorite laugh was finding out how they influenced one of the biggest Pop Stars of the 20th century via his video, you’ll see.

For my fellow fans, fear not. Wright made sure the Maels’ infamous sense of humor which has permeated their music since day one, is all over this movie.

  • How they’ve put the Press back on their heels when asked stupid questions.
  • How they’ve mocked record company executives who gave them notes.
  • You see all their album covers, many have brilliant titles.
  • The big finale in which you learn incredible facts about them.

Lastly, I loved how the documentary winds down with Russel & Ron ending their story (for now) on top of the world. Thanks to FFS (the joint Franz Ferdinand album), they now have a huge following in Latin America. They still sell out shows in the UK, Japan, Germany and their hometown of LA, probably NYC too. By the time I finally write this, their opus film Annette should be in theaters. It’s another triumph after they got shafted by Tim Burton the late Eighties and another French director they wanted to work with in the Seventies became too ill. Sparks may go down in history alongside Big Star, the Velvet Underground and the Sex Pistols in how they influenced musical humor, electronica and DIY, but they should be revered as much as Queen since they’ve outlast all three of those bands; they’re all in the cliché…They didn’t last long or have much success but everyone who saw them started a band.

I can’t wait to get this on Blu-Ray. See what had to be left on the cutting room floor. Being the music nerd I am and one of those people who wants to know a band’s influences, I applaud how Edgar Wright laid down the blueprint of what a documentary should be like. With the rise of streaming services’ ability to resurrect “failed” series, maybe Paramount+, VH-1’s parent, could reboot Behind the Music or Classic Albums to follow a similar format.

Alamo Extras: Live performance of “Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth,”; a string of their videos (mostly from the Seventies and early Eighties); all the soundtracks they’re on: Get Crazy, Heavenly Bodies, Bad Manners, Fright Night, Rad, Black Rain, Unlawful Entry, Knock Off, Kick Ass and Holy Motors; Edgar Wright’s intro to Sparks music which you can easily see on YouTube.

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Shmow-zow! It’s Enchiridon Day!

Posted on August 13, 2021 by Steve

If the numbers on the back of the famous Fantasy manual are a date, then yes, it would be today! However, it’s only a coincidence because eight, 13 and 21 are part of the Fibonacci Sequence if you’re going from left to right.

To illustrate if you don’t care for the link: one, two, three (one + two), five (two + three), eight (three + five), 13 (five + eight) and 21 (eight + 13).

What those three numbers mean with the manual, the future of the show (I started over and I’m almost done with season four), Finn being a hero or how it will keep the Lich at bay, who knows.

SPOILER AHEAD

At this time, all I know about the Enchiridion is that the Bear who liked to imitate Finn gave it to a snail possessed by the Lich.

SPOILER OVER

Pretty cool how this will be the last Fibonacci string which will make a date on our calendar for the remainder of the 21st Century.

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Obey your master! Master!

Posted on August 13, 2021 by Steve

This should be an easy sell for Heavy Metal and UT Sports fans because it’s the same hand gesture! Plus it’s a European insult (with a little modification) and Ronnie James Dio learned it from his Italian granny as a way to put a curse on someone!

But first, use warm water and soap or sanitizer. Then bang your head all day, yell “Hook ’em Horns” or get punched in the face by a jealous husband.

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The COVID Ages? More like Dungeons & Dumbasses

Posted on August 12, 2021 by Steve

It’s a good thing dragons aren’t (or weren’t) real. I could imagine this happening but over the years, I’ve learned through books and documentaries that the people from the Dark through Middle Ages weren’t as stupid or superstitious as we were taught. Much of the negative attitudes originate with our ancestors from the Renaissance through Industrial Ages. There’s a lot of over-romanticizing certain aspects with the Victorian English, namely Richard the Lionhearted being a “good” king.

I also saw a demonstration of modern idiocy on my way to dinner tonight. About a dozen anti-masker schmucks were protesting outside Pflugerville HS. I gave them the finger. Next time I hope there isn’t a cop parked nearby, I would like to blast some uncomplimentary songs at them. Any suggestions? So far I’m leading with “Dumb, Dumb, Dumb” by the Austin Lounge Lizards.

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One hundred days of learning Italian!!

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Steve

Italian is what I’m primarily learning. I’m also picking up bits and pieces of Spanish while also refreshing my French. Why though? It all started with my friend Jeremy who lives in the Netherlands. Thanks to Amerika finally shedding its veneer of democracy (we have never truly been one), he and his family have decided to never return. I don’t blame them. Amerika is now the Soviet Union with more Starbucks. But in order to achieve the first step of permanent residency which leads to citizenship, Jeremy has to be able to communicate in Dutch at an eighth-grade level or better. I sure hope Dutch ‘tweeners are more communicative than American ones. The last time I spoke to someone’s kids around this age, it was mostly grunts of “fine,” “yeah,” and “uh-huh,” when their noses aren’t buried in their iPhones/iPads.

So how is Jeremy doing it? The site DuoLingo which he referred me too. Why Italian? Why not! It’s a fun language and it’s colorful. Sadly, nobody in my immediate family can speak it nor anyone in my extended family via my father. I’m figuring my paternal grandfather chose to over-Americanize. After these 100 days, I’ve concluded the key to proper pronunciation is to just talk like Chico Marx; DuoLingo does use the microphone in your devices to make you speak phrases as practice. Is it working? With Italian? It’s OK. I still make flashcards to remember individual words since I can’t always piece them together through sentences. I’m also limited to a few subjects: food, family, colors, time and clothing in the present tense. The stories are pretty cool. Those have more slang or everyday communication. My last resort has been Google Translate if I’m in a hurry for a particular word or expression.

French, I’m killing it. I was rather surprised too. I haven’t really bothered after I achieved gainful employment in 1995 and my proficiency declined when Patricia went home, I still miss her and hope she’s well. Don’t get too excited. I’m only in the very early parts with DuoLingo and some days, it’s just to earn points to avoid being demoted out of the second highest league.

Spanish is certainly more practical for where I live and how many continents its utilized, such a shame Europe isn’t one. I came around to this finally through a couple angles. Jeremy wanted to keep his going so we have an arrangement to exclusively communicate in this language on Taco Tuesdays. Given my limited ability, it results in broken Spanish with similar words and the wrong tense. I also hope to communicate with my friends’ children who have the good fortune of being in an immersion school. My reasoning is that little kids are more patient and they’ll get what I’m saying; I’ll probably come off as a giant, fat bear eking out Spanish.

On to the next 100 Days! My ultimate goal is to tell an old family joke, completely in Italian. All I have down are the punchline and callback elements.

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Dusty escaped

Posted on August 10, 2021 by Steve

I’m to blame. I was impatient, stupid and overconfident in his doped-up state. Yes, Dusty is a male. Time to rewind.

Dusty remained hostile in his rather large cage. I continued to provide water, food, shade, litter and a little cave to hide in; he continued to keep knocking things over in rage. The cave came in handy to gain Agamemnon’s trust and personality shift. Miguel used it to stay warm. Dusty could make himself incredibly small in it. Despite my efforts, he growled and hissed at every approach.

Then I saw pus on the injured paw. My vet said they could see him immediately instead of much, much later. Wrangling into the carrier resulted in a nasty scratch on my left index finger and super painful bite on my right ring finger’s knuckle. On the latter, Dusty successfully bit through the towel I used to cover his vision and a latex glove.

After the tech took him for immediate treatment, I had to rush to Walgreen’s for a tetanus shot. Oddly, my insurance wouldn’t cover it. They’d cover a combined tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) shot at no cost. The pharmacist assured me I wasn’t depriving a child in need of this; back-to-school time is coming. Even if it’s your own cat that bites you and leaves a deep wound, you need treatment. Cat’s scratch fever is real, it’s not only a Ted Nugget song.

The vet cleaned up Dusty’s injury, reported he also got bopped in the eye but it would be fine. No ear mites. He’s a dude about two-to-thee years of age. He might have been a pet as he isn’t jowly in the face from hormones. It was a good thing he got care sooner than planned, he had a fever (I figured, pus means the infection is cranking up) and was dehydrated, he wouldn’t be if he drank the water I gave him.

I was allowed to take him home, put him back in the big cage. Keep him far away from Isis and Agamemnon. Isis didn’t care about anyone outside. Aggie kept looking out the window at the cage, wondering, who is that? The plan for the next week was keep giving him this anti-biotic which has the side effect of mellowing out cats. Try to apply salve on the injury. Continue to monitor his eating and drinking.

Jennifer was on her way over too. We had plans last night to see Jason Isbell and Lucinda Williams at the ACL Theater. I stupidly didn’t think she’d arrive to help me so I opened the carrier, tried to get a good grip on his neck through the towel to transfer him. Why? I figured he was too lethargic to fight back and my vet always clips nails for free. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Dusty squirmed and screamed out of my control and bolted into my overgrown yard. Meanwhile, Jennifer could hear it all as she was at my front door.

I’ve been choking back the tears off and on since then. I don’t care about how much I spent, it was really nothing. I was able to use some remaining credit I built up with the Vet in what’s called the Molly Fund. Again, it’s not the money. I’m distraught over Dusty still not being at full strength. He’s out there alone, scared, thirsty and partially injured. I know he’s only a cat, gratitude isn’t something a feral animals shows like my lovey-dovey duo or their predecessors Miette and Molly (I miss them every day). I just don’t want him to be another casualty around here.

The trap is reset. The stinky wet food is in it and going to be changed every 12 hours or so, hoping against fear and doubt, Dusty will come back to me. I promise, he won’t be a foster failure. Dusty will find a forever home or get sterilized and released. Preferably the former.

Should the trap catch the other kitty or the possum again, I can live with it but Dusty is now my primary objective. Animals do think with their stomachs.

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Sen. Rand “Toupee” Paul is a terrorist

Posted on August 9, 2021 by Steve

Today is the final straw. This shitbag from Kentucky, a state in which half of its economy is dependent upon Federal Aid, making it between the sixth-to-eighth biggest deadbeat state in the Union. The so-called “doctor,” I use quotes due to his degree as an ophthalmologist being bullshit in the eyes of actual doctors and the majority of us trust optometrists for our eyesight…has pushed out a movie to tell people to rebel. Meanwhile, he plans to keep introducing legislation to defund the CDC and every organization that cooperates with them over the vaccine and mask mandates. He throws in this gem, the government can’t arrest everyone. Nice show of his willing ignorance too. Poodle Hat has never heard of China or Russia in this instance, only when it involves helping the suffering, then it’s Communism!

People like him are why the Delta Variant can’t be squashed. They have numerous zombies following his every lie, sadly at least a couple are my relatives.

He’s another reason why I piss on bi-partisanship. You can’t negotiate with a terrorist who creates his own Soviet-style reality. If CV-19 were the Xenomorph from the Alien franchise, he’d defund precautions to prevent the nasty creatures coming to Earth, thinking his natural immunity would save him from a face-hugger. I hope he catches a breakthrough strain and dies. It would be the poetic justice we need in these times but the Kochs and Sheldon Adelson prove that assholes like him live too long. Nevermind his shitty life in both near misses, CV-19 and the mugger, were saved at taxpayer expense. If the people who are finishing up the last season of The Walking Dead had any balls, they’d do a flashback with the lying senator being overrun and killed by the zombies after spending hours denying the reality. We know the hateful, greedy and morons of Kentucky won’t get rid of him.

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Meet Dusty

Posted on August 8, 2021 by Steve

After having the cute little visitor on my porch, I decided to lure the kitty into a better life. Since I was feeling too impatient to keep leaving out food to gain trust as I did with the tortie from a couple years ago because it didn’t work out and I’ve never seen her again, Jennifer loaned me her trap. A-doy! I should’ve been using this sooner!

We set it up before going to dinner last night and drinks. Upon return it had captured…a possum. The poor thing was freaking out. It knocked over the food and crapped a couple times in the trap. There was nothing to fear, we easily released it back into the yard. Then I tried again. This morning as you can see via the movie, jackpot…sort of. This isn’t the brownish/tan kitty who came by last week, it’s a bigger, meaner gray kitty. Boy is it pissed to be stuck in its situation. It needs medical attention soon as you may notice one of its front paws is badly injured. From the appearance of the cut, lack of fur, I’d guess this cat was in a nasty fight.

The kitty’s interim name is Dusty in honor of the late ZZ Top singer/bassist Dusty Hill. Dusty is also an excellent unisex name. The creature hisses, growls and climbs around too much for me to get an accurate assessment its sex. Given the level of hostility and face, I’m going on a ledge to say male. Female kitties have been more cooperative in my life. Males just want to fight everybody until you earn their trust. Case in point, Agamemnon.

I will call my vet hospital tomorrow to get Dusty an appointment ASAP. Wish me luck in turning Dusty’s life around. Being a domestic cat is a better fate than what awaits wandering in my neighborhood.

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Five Million Steps!!!

Posted on August 7, 2021 by Steve

I started tracking my steps in 2019 when I found this pretty cool, free app for my iPhone/Watch. I would’ve achieved this much sooner if it weren’t for the pandemic since my daily walking around my work campus would’ve doubled the output.

Currently, the only times in which I nail the big objective of 9000 steps/day are when I’m on vacation (New Orleans, Vegas), we hit downtown for booze or concerts and serious work around my house.

Let’s see if I can get to ten million in less time when or if life returns to normal. Hell, I’m debating whether or not I want to return to campus too.

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Real Estate follies, August 2021 Edition

Posted on August 7, 2021 by Steve

The family across the street from Niko and me suddenly moved out. I’m talking a U-Haul and multiple stuffings of their car. Meaning, it didn’t look like it was planned very far in advance. Couldn’t have been an eviction, those take months.

When I went to discuss it with Niko this morning, he pointed out the true owner working on the yard. Once again, I naively thought the residents owned the house. No, the guy with the weed eater has been for many years and he has decided to sell because these people were the last straw. Nevermind they were his daughter, son-in-law and grandkids.

OUCH!

Then again, he promptly explained how they left him no choice. They were dealing drugs. Shows you how blind, dumb or whatever I am with the junkie-dealer culture. I failed to make the correlation regarding all the different cars parking there. My neighbor Cristina said they played music too loud at night, a common tactic to drown out what’s really happening and I’m guessing surveillance. Not sure how I never noticed the tunes.

Sadly, I have to say good riddance. I had a couple interactions with them over the two years. I didn’t hate or dislike them, they just gave off an unlikable vibe which I tried to suppress, being filled with Middle Class, college-educated, White Midwesterner snobbery. You know, one of the elite groups the MAGAts attack since I prefer to read books and consult actual experts.

The owner is now in the process of cleaning it up. Having been down this aftermath a couple times by proxy, I don’t envy the guy. No matter how much work he’s going to put into rehabilitating the house, the vultures (hedge fund shitbats, realtors who flip property) will try to lowball him, Californicators will offer cash on the barrel with their bloated equity (and probably pay at least $100K too much) and the piece de resistance, despite him breaking even, Travis County’s Brunch Democrats will dick me over on my property taxes to featherbed more Elon Musk douchebags.

The poor owner experienced an old Maggi Family Maxim we should have on our family crest or coat of arms, “No one fucks you over harder than family!” Just in Latin.

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Now Travis County is going to Stage 5, thanks MAGAt dispshits

Posted on August 6, 2021 by Steve

According to the numbers, Austin has over 64% of adults and children over 12 vaccinated while the rest of the state is 53%. Wow. Even Austin’s numbers are shit. Thanks to all the Joe Rogan/Alex Jones Bro’s, Libertarian Dumbfucks and Volvo Driving Soccer Moms over in the wealthier parts. I know of at least two households in which they’re dealing with one member who refuses to get the jab. Both assholes in said households are White Males under 30, big shock!

The Confederate Gubmint continues to issue bans on mandatory masks or do squat over the decrepit power grid because making voting harder remains the minority’s only concern. If it’s any consolation, Republican flunkies in the areas with the worst cases are dying off faster than America’s true majority. I just wish it did it faster, more painfully and more graphically to them. Scare the crap out of the survivors. Get them to realize it’s smarter to back Science over Imaginary Friends and their cash-grabbing shills.

Oh, why the meme or whatever it’s called. Thankfully the Jason Isbell concerts remain on but I will need to show proof of my vaccinations (done) or pass a CV-19 test and wear a mask during the show. I’ll endure it. Beats being cooped up and Jason has made it clear, if you don’t follow the requirements, tough shit, you don’t get in. More room for me.

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1981: US Air Traffic Controllers are fired by St. Reagan

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Steve

Forty years later, US air travel has never recovered from this. Plus, air traffic controllers continue to be overworked to the point of burn out. Computers still haven’t come to the rescue for such an undertaking and if you ever read the fine print with most software, air-traffic control is excluded if you utilize it.

I can’t exactly remember the circumstances leading to the strike which started several days earlier but I know it certainly gave Corporate Amerika a boner. To me, it was the most visible and nastiest wound to Organized Labor in the United States. Nevermind that St. Reagan used to be president of the Screen Actors Guild, you know, the union for movie actors. Then again, he turned out to be one of the worst SAG presidents in history. He utilized the position to rape younger actresses after his divorce from Jane Russell and he loved to snitch to the FBI on anyone who stood up to his rein of error, especially if they landed roles in films he wanted while his career was circling the crapper.

It was also a blatantly example of Republican hypocrisy at the time. St. Reagan and his fellow Sabre Rattlers loved to shame the Soviet Union and Polish Communist government for not letting Lech Walesa legally lead Solidarity in their strikes. Here I’m in agreement but you could count on the Bullshitter in Chief to label strikers in Latin American nations as terrorists and Soviet dupes.

Given this horrible event and its repercussions which CV-19, billion cock rockets and the housing crisis brought to light; these are just the beginning; I’m hoping younger generations are ready to start organizing. They’re calling bullshit on Amazon, Tesla and the rest of the Tech Industry. They’re calling bullshit on many others. They’re seeing how much better our EU compatriots are doing on healthcare, child care, compensation, vacation time and so much more. Thanks to the Republican and NeoLiberal War on Labor, Amerika is now the new Soviet Union…a Third World Country with a big military and nuclear weapons.

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RIP Ron Popeil

Posted on August 4, 2021 by Steve

I thought he was already dead. Shows you what little I knew. He did live long enough and then some to be on Futurama and get credited as the man who invented immortality through Head in a Jar technology. Also known as how a cartoon set in the year 3000 AD could have modern-day and historical guests on. The writers even worked in his famous sales pitch Apple stole, “But wait! There’s more!”

Through his company Ronco, I often saw his odd, time-saving gadgets on TV during the commercial breaks of cartoons or syndicated reruns throughout the Seventies. The only three I remembered were the Pocket Fisherman, the Record Cleaner and the Glass Maker.

The Pocket Fisherman? Not sure if it really worked or anybody cared. Those who are really into fishing have good gear and probably saw it as crap. It could come in handy after the collapse of society as per The Walking Dead or Mad Max.

The Record Cleaner was for vinyl, namely LPs and 45s. Didn’t know anyone with it. Most people I knew didn’t care about their records to bother and the solution my parents owned seemed to work more thoroughly.

The Glass Maker I do know from experience through its commercial and my grandfather’s ownership. No, it wasn’t a kiln for you to melt down sand in order to blow your own glass creations. It was worse! The gadget cut the top section off glass bottles! Then you could repurpose the bottom half into all kinds of crap! A candle holder. An ashtray (smoking was still in vogue). The biggest payoff? A drinking glass because it came with special sand paper to file down the sharp rim the cutter left behind. Why? I have no idea! Buying new dishes and drinkware wasn’t exorbitantly expensive then. Looking back, I’d say this Ronco gadget was a hoarder’s wet dream. Grandpa didn’t succeed with it. He preferred to cut the tops off of empty beer cans to drink out of and I’d call it Appalachian China.

Ron did credited for a whole industry known as the As Seen On TV genre and got his own song through Weird Al. These things did make him famous and wealthy so I shouldn’t knock the three gizmos I recalled.

Thanks for everything Ron. Your commercials not just filled time between shows. Your inventions provided wonder, confusion and lazy comedy, especially SNL‘s “Bass-o-Matic” skit with Dan Akroyd. I guess you had to be stoned to find it funny.

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