#567 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Thursday January 26)
Good morning,
Just fun today…
I have ranted before that society requires guardrails in order to function. Laws, behavioral norms, and custom serve to control our impulses and order our affairs. But it’s not just limited to people!
EVEN THE ROADRUNNER AND WILE E. COYOTE PLAY BY RULES
TV shows and cartoons have rules that keep the narrative and the underlying characters consistent from week to week and from writer to writer. By way of example, I stumbled upon Chuck Jones’s alleged rules for Roadrunner cartoon scripts (and, yes, it could be apocryphal):
1. The Roadrunner cannot harm the coyote, except by going “beep beep.”
2. No outside source can harm the coyote—only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products.
3. No dialog ever, except “meep meep” and howling in pain.
4. The coyote could stop at any time, if he were not a fanatic (Repeat: “A fanatic is one who redoubles his efforts when he’s forgotten his aim.” –George Santayana)
5. The Roadrunner must stay on the road—for no other reason than he is a roadrunner.
6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the characters—the Southwest American desert.
7. All materials, tools, weapons or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.
8. Whenever possible, make gravity the coyote’s greatest enemy.
9. The coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.
10. The audience’s sympathy must always remain with the Coyote.
11. The Coyote is not allowed to catch or eat the Roadrunner.
Where would the cartoons be without rules?! And where would society be without rules?
Then there’s the cartoon “Pinky and the Brain,” which has two main characters, both genetically modified laboratory rats—a brainy and evil (yet hapless) mouse and his goofy sidekick, “Pinky.” This show has one essential own rule. Every show has an exchange like this (or a variation):
Pinky: “What are we going to do tomorrow night, Brain?”
Brain (in a sinister Orson-Welles’ish voice): “The same thing we do every night, Pinkie… Try to take over the world!”
They know what they’re doing and they’re consistent. Again, the rules are clear.
AMERICAN BUCKET LIST
Leslie Mayer shared a favorite song by the Charlie Daniels Band. Here is her recommendation in her words: "My Beautiful America" is not just a spoken testament to the incredible depth and beauty of this country, it's a bucket list of sorts that all Americans should try.” Leslie’s right to remind us that there is a lot of beauty for which to be thankful in this country. Here is an excerpt:
“Have you ever spent the late afternoon
Watching the purple shadows deepen in Arizona desert?
Or seen a herd of elk plough their way
Through waist deep snow on a cold Colorado dome?
Did you ever see the sun go down in Hawaii
Or seen the stormy waves break over the rock bound coast of Maine?
Or have you ever see an eagle fly up out of the mists of Alaska?
Or a big October moon hanging full over the still Dakota badlands?
Have you ever tasted the gumbo in New Orleans, Bar-B-Que in Carolina
Or the chicken wings in Buffalo?...
…Have you ever crossed the mighty Mississippi
Or been to the daddy of them all in Cheyenne, Wyoming?…
Did you ever see the Chicago skyline from Lake Shore Drive at night?
Or the New England foliage in the fall
Or the summer beauty of the Shenandoah valley
Or Indiana covered with new snow?...
…Have you ever seen the falls at Niagara?
The ice palace in Saint Paul?
Or the Gateway to the west?
This then is America!
The land God blesses with everything
And no Eiffel Tower: no Taj Mahal
No Alps; No Andes
No native hut; nor Royal Palace
Can rival her awesome beauty
Her diverse population, her monolithic majesty
America the Free!
America the mighty!
America the beautiful!”
ENCYCLOPEDIAS, REDUX
From Mark DiMaria:
Your note on the encyclopedias really hit home, for this fellow encyclopedia-using nerd. My first set was the Golden Book encyclopedia, which my Mom accumulated through her weekly shopping visits to the local A&P, serial-style. I can still picture the bust of Aristotle among the items on the cover of the "A" volume in my mind's eye. As my family moved up the economic ladder, we quickly graduated to the full Britannica series, and I devoured the annual yearbooks. I find it mind-boggling that no one else in that evening's congregation had encyclopedias. Of course, the enormous difference between them and the current internet was their credibility (notwithstanding their inescapable biases of the era of our youth). In fact, I recall that one of the first websites that I set a link to was the Britannica site. However, I found that it was not really functional, and it quickly fell into disuse.
AND DAD JOKES
"Why do fathers take an extra pair of socks when they go golfing?" "In case they get a hole in one!"
"Singing in the shower is fun until you get soap in your mouth. Then it's a soap opera."
"What do a tick and the Eiffel Tower have in common?" "They're both Paris sites."
FINALLY, FIXING A MANGLED PARAGRAPH FROM YESTERDAY
I enjoy interacting with people whom I meet casually. I think a smile or a friendly comment goes a long way toward breaking the barriers of incivility in which we live. Sometimes I yearn to take it one step further and be more engaged with strangers (but stop myself short—unwilling to get personal). But people often want more than mere cordiality. Being attentive, listening, and empathetic are important qualities that are not often fully developed or utilized in our fraught times. Sometimes there are moments when that empathy can be brought to bear with great effect.
Have a great day,
Glenn
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