Morons of the Month - April 2021

 

No, no, I am not calling these two "morons."   I am smarter than that.   My taxes would be liable to go up a lot more than they already were.   And, frankly, these two are geniuses.   Any folks who manage to get to the two top positions of the nation on a minimum of smarts should be congratulated.

No, my issue this month is with all the super vocal people who supported them.  Okay, I don't challenge anybody's vote.   You are totally allowed to pull the lever for whoever you like.   I don't argue with that.   If you find solace and comfort with any politician, have yourself a time.   Personally, I think the last election offered us the worst choices in American history.

But, last year on social media, there was an awful lot of hand wringing from the Democratic supporters and Trump haters.   And it got nasty.   I saw fights break out on Facebook.   I watched friendships come apart.   And, if I had to take a poll, I would venture to say that more of the nastiness came from the left side of things.   

Yep, it was ugly.

And then there was a lot of gloating.   And preening.  And pronouncements that some people were better and smarter than others.

Uh huh.

It's interesting how quiet it's gotten on Facebook ever since then.

Let's see.   Gas prices have shot through the roof.   My accountant has already told me my estimated taxes for 2021 will go up 30%.   Meanwhile, the open border policy now offered by America is fast becoming a health issue in this nation.   And anybody who watched President Biden's first press conference have to be convinced that this man is not operating on all cylinders.  They used to say Reagan was out of it during his second term.   Comparatively, what we have now is Ronny's third term.

But you see none of this from some of the bigger mouths on Facebook.   Several such friends spent last week celebrating "National Crayon Day!"  Or focusing on Biden's dogs.   Or Jill Biden's April Fool's prank.  Chaos at the southern border?  Oh, pish tosh.  

These are the true morons.   The folks who simply wanted Trump out and never took the time to read their party's national platform.   Well, I did.  And I could have told you that the open border and tax increases and gasoline inflation were going to be a natural result of what the party was planning.  And things will get worse.

But you now have crickets from some of your friends on social media.  For the last four years, they spent hours sitting on their fast asses and regurgitating everything they heard from the goose steppers on MSNBC.

Now it's the sounds of silence.

And people wonder why I respect them less than I ever had.  

Dinner last night:  Leftover Chinese food.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - April 5, 2021

Now is it nice to laugh like that?   YASSS!!

Dinner last night:  Grilled London broil and butter balsamic mushrooms.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - The Annual Easter Conundrum

 

And yes, that is me dressed like a Frank Sinatra album cover.

Happy Easter to all.   Make sure you wear those great bonnets as you attend your Zoom services.

Ah, Easter.  It's admittedly a weird holiday on our calendar.  The first problem with Easter Sunday is that it's not consistent.  Sometimes it's in April.   Or, in other years, March.  It can be hotter than blazes.   Or you have six inches of snow on your doorstep.

Meanwhile, there is the day itself.  Unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas, when family gatherings were a requirement, there was less of a focus on the big holiday meal for Easter.  Sometimes we did.   Or, in other years, we didn't. 

There were one or two Easters when we got all dressed up and took a bunch of silly pictures out in a park or at City Island in the Bronx.  You see evidence of that as my mom poses for one of Dad's Technicolor slides with Bing Crosby Jr.    At the same time, there were several Easters where we never left the front of the television set.  Let's Go, Mets!   Let's Go, Mets!

There were gifts for Easter sometimes.  And then, sometimes, there weren't.   There was always a chocolate bunny and a basket full of candy.  Which my dad would eat most of since my parents were worried about cavities. 

A holiday celebration that was sometimes sweet and very frequently sour.

Yep, I could never get a handle on Easter Sunday.

Okay, there is the religious celebration and that was always stressed when I was a kid.  My grandparents didn't go to church all that much anymore, but they never missed Good Friday services.  Meanwhile, while we were a Protestant home with nary a religion-provoked dietary restriction, my own parents really pushed the "no meat" rule on Good Friday.  It was always grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. 

Part of my confusion about this Easter stuff naturally came from an innocent child's questioning of what I learned in Sunday school.  On Good Friday, you're told that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross and took three hours to die.  There was one kid in my neighborhood who was a religious nut.  He told me that the nuns in his school told him that the skies get dark every Good Friday from the hours of 12 noon to 3PM. 

Yeah, right.

Naturally, that very year, it happened just like he said.  Day turned into night due to an impending storm.  I peered out the window of my grandmother's living room at the doom and gloom.  Maybe there was something to this all.   Ever the skeptic, Grandma injected her usual logic.

"Oh, don't believe everything those crazy Catholics tell you."

Oh.

My inward struggle also got contributions from my mother, who wasn't particularly religious but had dragged me to every Biblical epic that played at the RKO Proctor's Theater on Gramatan Avenue in Mount Vernon, New York.   We saw them all either first-run or in revival.

"The Story of Ruth."

"Spartacus."

"The Ten Commandments."

"King of Kings."

"Barabbas."

"El Cid."

"The Robe."

Whatever the film, most ended with Jesus dying on the cross and the subsequent resurrection.  The latter was another concept that had me raising my hand in question a time or two.

They put Jesus Christ in a tomb.   They blocked it with a stone.  But, by the third day, he was gone.   Risen to heaven.   His body was gone.

Okay, this happens to all people, right, Mom?

When my dad's brother, Uncle Fritz, died and was buried at Ferncliff, I had a novel idea.   Let's go up there and see if we can watch this happen.  I mean, you must be able to see these people coming out of their graves and going skyward.  I presented this idea to both my parents.   And got the vague response.

"It doesn't work like that."

But they told us that in Sunday school.  The pastor told us that.  Gee, we saw it happen just like that in "King of Kings."

"It's more complicated than that."

Uh huh.  Over the years of my life, I realized that those questions were at the very heart of Christian belief. 

So, along with the changing day and unplanned weather and the inconsistent holiday celebrations, that was the main reason I still can't figure out Easter Sunday.  Oh, I go to church on the day as I do every Sunday that isn't during a pandemic.  And we hear the story one more time. 

Perhaps that's the struggle that was originally intended. 

And then, to make the holiday even more confusing, I will spend the day watching the Dodgers play in Colorado.

Yes, Easter is weird for me all over again.

Dinner last night:  Char siu pork and Szechwan string beans from Chin Chin.

Classic TV Commercial of the Month - April 2021

The voice on this vintage Easter commercial is so memorable.   The wonderful Mason Adams from TV's "Lou Grant."

Dinner last night:  Good Friday and my parents' voices are in my head.   It's the one day not to eat meat.   So....grilled gruyere and tomato sandwich from Clementine.

April's Mug Fools 2021

I don't think so.

And a lawyer.

I disagree.

WTF for you people on-line.

Jerk.

Not so much.

The dog is cuter.

Somebody took a picture of her without her tarpulin.

Those two things are breasts.

Jimmy Hoffa hidden here.

Dinner last night:  Salad.
 

The Signs of Lent

 

Dinner last night:  Baseball's Opening Day---Hot dogs and potato salad.

 

When I was a kid, Disney used to put out all these live action family movies.  Wholesome, good-natured.   Mom and Dad grappling with some kids and maybe a pet or two.   Dean Jones was the father.

"Yes Day" reminds me of those movies from my childhood.   Except I remember liking them.   This one...well, the answer is not yes.

I can't wait for movie theaters to reopen so as I don't find myself wandering around some streaming service for the slightest bit of enticement to a film.  I stumbled across "Yes Day" on Nutflix and saw that Jennifer Garner was in it.   Apparently, that was enough for desperate moi.

Of course, we are in diverse 2021, so the family here is Hispanic save for Ms. Garner.   Dad is a bit of a lummox who works for a drone company.   The kids are suitably spoiled, yet still pissed off because their mother always seems to say "no" when they ask her about something.  It gets so bad that the young boy in the family makes a movie about how rotten Mom is and shows it to his guidance counselor.   Normally, that would be a red flag for Social Services.   But, in this bizarr-o world, it's just the impetus for Mom to commit to the word "yes" for a day.  Given the Hispanic roots, I am actually surprised the film wasn't entitled "Si Dia."

So what follows is a series of misadventures.   Like a paintball game in the living room.   Or Dad climbing a tree to return a baby bird to its nest.   Or Mom and teenage daughter going to a Coachella-like concert that looked more like an Osmonds TV special.   Ultimately, none of this was the least bit interesting or heart warming or even coherent.  While looking for the photo above, I saw an internet article with the heading " The End of Yes Day Explained."   Heck, all anybody had to tell me was that the movie was finally over.   No explanation needed.

After a year of misguided movie entertainment while stuck at home, I can safely say that "Yes Day" hit the very bottom of a bottomless pit.   I was almost compelled to meander over to Disney Plus and see if I could watch "The Ugly Dachshund" or "Herbie Rides Again."

Yep, movie theaters can't open soon enough.   

LEN'S RATING:  One star.

Dinner last night:  It was Charity Day at Jersey Mike's so I contributed by getting an Italian hero.