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Showing posts from September, 2006

Supposed Thoughts of Gypsy Rose Lee While Performing

zip... "Walter Lippman wasn't brilliant today." zip... "Will Saryan ever write a great play?" zip... "I was reading Schopenhauer last night, zip... And I think that Schopenhauer was right." "I don't want to see Zorina." "I don't want to meet Cobina." zip... "I'm an intellectual." "I don't like a deep contralto, Or a man whose voice is alto." zip... "I'm a heterosexual." zip... "It took intellect to master my art." zip... "Who the hell is Margie Hart?" zip... "I consider Dali's painting passe." zip... "Can they make the Metropolitan pay?" zip... "English people don't say 'cl e rk', they s ay ' cl a rk '". zip... "Anybody who says ' cl a rk ' is a 'jark!'" "I have read the great Cabala, And I simply worship Allah." zip... "I am just a mystic." "I don't care f

Television: A Medium

"...So called because it is neither rare nor well done." - Ernie Novacs

Farther Along

Tempted and tried we're oft made to wonder Why it should be thus all the day long While there are others living about us Never molested though in the wrong When death has come and taken our loved ones It leaves a home so lonely and drear Then do we wonder why others prosper Living so wicked year after year ‘Faithful til death’, said our loving master A few more days to labor and wait Toils of the road will then seem as nothing As we sweep through the beautiful gates Farther along we'll know all about it Farther along we'll understand why Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine We'll understand it all by and by -American Hymn by an Anonymous/Unknown Composer, 1911

Time Heals All Wounds

"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind (protecting its sanity) covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But, it is never gone." -Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

It's Later Than It's Ever Been

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The John Hand Building Birmingham, AL Photo by Randal Eaton Culbreth Click Image to Enlarge

On War and Aggression

"Valuing life is not weakness; and disregarding it is not strength. The next time you gamble, bet your own life." -Mirage in The Incredibles John Walker, Producer; Brad Bird, Director

I'd Like to Propose a Toast

Here's to the ladies who lunch. Everybody laugh. Lounging in their caftans and planning a brunch on their own behalf. Off to the gym, then to a fitting claiming they're fat; and looking grim 'cause they've been sitting choosing a hat. (Does anyone still wear a hat ?) I'll drink to that. Here’s to girls who stay smart; aren’t they a gas? Rushing to their classes in optical art wishing it would pass; Another long exhausting day; another thousand dollars; a matinee; a Pinter play; perhaps a piece of Mahler’s. I’ll drink to that. (…and one for Mahler!) Here's to the girls who play wife. Aren't they too much? Keeping house but clutching a copy of "Life" just to keep in touch. The ones who follow the rules; and meet themselves at the schools; too busy to know that they're fools. Aren't they a gem!? I'll drink to them! Let's all drink to them! And here’s to the girls who just watch.

In Memory of Jonathon Thomas

"I think the virtue of being given the Lifetime Achievement Award before you have necessarily achieved your lifetime's work is probably because if they wait until you have achieved all of your lifetime's work, you probably will have died. This is better. And I'm grateful. I'm dedicating this to the memory of Jonathan Thomas, my life partner, who died only a month ago. He and I were together for 35 years. And he made me a happy playwright. And you have made me a happy playwright tonight. Thank you." — Edward Albee , Playwright - on receiving the 2005 American Theater Wing's Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement

Optimism

Upon hearing an unexpected knock at the door, or a ring of the telephone, Dorothy Parker would often exclaim "What fresh hell is this?"

My Philosophy of Life by John Ashbery

Just when I thought there wasn't room enough for another thought in my head, I had this great idea-- call it a philosophy of life, if you will. Briefly, it involved living the way philosophers live, according to a set of principles. OK, but which ones? That was the hardest part, I admit, but I had a kind of dark foreknowledge of what it would be like. Everything, from eating watermelon or going to the bathroom or just standing on a subway platform, lost in thought for a few minutes, or worrying about rain forests would be affected, or more precisely, inflected by my new attitude. I wouldn't be preachy, or worry about children and old people, except in the general way prescribed by our clockwork universe. Instead I'd sort of let things be what they are while injecting them with the serum of the new moral climate. I thought I'd stumbled into, as a stranger accidentally presses against a panel and a bookcase slides back, revealing a winding staircase with gree

The Miraculous Potential of Diversity

"We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself." - Gore Vidal

On God and Money

"If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to." - Dorothy Parker

But We'll Get Together Then

My child arrived just the other day, He came to the world in the usual way. But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away. And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew, He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad. You know I'm gonna be like you." And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, Little boy blue and the man in the moon. "When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when, But we'll get together then. You know we'll have a good time then." My son turned ten just the other day. He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play. Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today, I got a lot to do." He said, "That's ok." And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed, Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah. You know I'm gonna be like him." And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, Little boy blue and the man

The Lord Is My Keeper: A Song of Degrees

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh even from the L ORD , whom hath made heav'n and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The L ORD is thy keeper: the L ORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The L ORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The L ORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. -Psalms 121 (KJV)

Eeyore: On Life

"Hallo, Eeyore," said Christopher Robin, as he opened the door and came out. "How are you ?" "It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is," said Christopher Robin, looking up and around. "... and freezing," Eeyore continued. "Is it?" replied Christopher Robin. "Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately." The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne

Turn! Turn! Turn!

To Everything - Turn, turn, turn. There is a season - turn, turn, turn. And a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap. A time to kill, a time to heal. A time to laugh, a time to weep. To everything, turn, turn, turn. There is a season - turn, turn, turn. And a time for every purpose under heaven. Pete Seeger, adapted from Ecclesiastes