Grumpy Old Hecklers

If you grew up in the seventies like I did, you'll remember The Muppet Show, starring the dashing and debonair "Froggie!" (as Miss Piggy would wail). Well, I was 12 by then, and on the verge of womanhood. So this made the love aspect between Kermit and Miss Piggy amusing. And there was also Animal, whom we all loved. But there was another aspect that kept us glued to the telly, or at least made us come back to it at the end of every episode. And that would be Statler and Waldorf, the two old men sitting in the box seat, acting as critics rating every show at the end.

Here's a sampling of their show-enders...


Now, does anyone also remember the movie "Trading Places" starring Dan Akyroyd and Eddie Murphy? The antagonists in the movie was a couple of extremely wealthy old men, a conniving brother team: Mortimer and Randolph Duke. The plot was extremely hilarious to us at the time, and the presence of these two know-it-all's reminiscent of the ornery muppet duo.



Well, after all these years, I still find these sketches so amusing. Actually they sort of caricature the actual conversations we secretly form in our minds. Some of us are too polite to say them out loud. But as our legendary undercover cops would quip:

"You said it!"... "Yeah, but you were thinking it!"






More Statler and Waldorf Clips:


Here they are doing movie cameos!!!


Here they are in a movie with Michael Caine!

The GoodFather

I got to see the "Dark Knight" last night, and heard for the first time Joker's sad story about his facial scars. He apparently has several versions of that story:

"Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" [Moore, Alan. "Batman: The Killing Joke" (1988) DC Comics. 1401209270]

Whatever his past may be, the one we tend to believe the most is the one he relates in the movie about his father. No spoilers here.

Sad...

Then I received this video in my subscription mail today. I first saw it at my friend, Nancy Polston's house in Phoenix in 2006. It's about a father and son triathlon team. They're Dick and Rick Hoyt.

"Rick Hoyt was born with his umbilical cord around his neck, which cut off necessary oxygen to his brain. Doctors said Rick was going to be in a vegetable state the rest of his life and that his parents, Dick and Judy, should put him in an institution. Despite this obviously upsetting news, Dick and Judy chose to raise Rick as a normal child, taking him swimming and allowing him to play hockey with the neighbors. Their strong will and perseverance paid off when Rick was ten and his family raised five thousand dollars to purchase a computer that he could navigate with his head to spell words and write sentences.

In high school Rick heard about another boy in his town who became paralyzed. There was a five-mile benefit run and Rick asked his dad to run it with him. So Dick, a self-proclaimed "porker," ran the race, pushing Rick every step of the way. When they got home Rick told his dad, "When we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore." That was all it took to motivate Dick to give his son that feeling as often as possible."

FAMILY HERO: DICK HOYT by Jay from Spokane

And although everyone must have seen it by now, I thought I'd re-blog about it as a reminder to all of us that there may be "Joker dads" out there, but there are those from the opposite side of the spectrum that serve as beacons pointing us all to the Father's love.
Click to watch:

a Muse story

Qotd [Reblogged from My Musical Influence]: "Which friend or acquaintance most influenced your taste in music?"

That would be my Papa, Dennis Jose Dario. Not only in taste, but also in listening habits. I remember watching him get ready for office in the morning, with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass blaring out "Tequilla" on his [semi] built-in speakers in the bedroom. He had a collection of 8-track cartridges in the bedroom. Then in his office-cum-den in the basement, he kept his collection of vinyls: Sergio Mendez and Brasil '88, Ray Conniff, Burt Bacharach, Carpenters... Finally, he had his cassettes in the car: Donna Summer, plus the kids' choices. Sundays were spent browsing music stores to buy "one" (more like four) more for his library.

Guess what? I married someone just like my dad... Music is here to stay.

Love you, Pop!!!

A Sunset Season of Goodbyes

sunset 2, originally uploaded by jeweled.

It's mystifying that each day ends with a sunset, the visual tail of an ongoing spiral of time. And although we do expect to see that same view the next day, each dusk brings a nostalgia. “Love makes us poets, and the approach of death makes us philosophers.” And what is sunset, but the death of a day... the passing of time we will not encounter again.

Salawikain

There's a famous Filipino proverb that goes "Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan [ay] hindi makakarating sa paruruonan." Roughly translated, it says that those who do not know how, or are unwilling, to look back to where they came from will not reach their destination.

Our friends like to joke about it too, changing the ending to make "patama" (barbs). So we've heard: "Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan [ay] may istip neck" (stiff neck). Funny, yet equally true, bringing to mind images of people we know (our past selves maybe?) who keep going "like flint", rail-roading all who would get in the way for fear of opposition or dissuading voices. Sadly, many relationships are ruined, and good-meaning people lay by the roadside.

So I guess, that's what I'll be blogging about till the memories run out. I think this journey back in time will be informative and hopefully therapeutic. Coming out of a fog means we need to gather our bearings. It takes courage because, many times, we need to face old ghosts. These wandering souls need to rest in peace. Ghosts, souls, shattered persona, whatever the term, they're always lurking beneath our skin, needing attention and oftentimes, healing.

Re-awakened

run, originally uploaded by tanned.

There’s a stir
A rustle of life
A fluttering ‘neath the rubble of my heart

It’s faint, it’s near
Yet quite undaunted
Rising, urgent
The surface crinkling

Winking, squinting
Through the haze
Vision forming
Word –transforming my soul

Out of time
Done with waiting
Time has come
Weathered-crust broken

You’ve made it
Here
You’ve made me
Here
[Written to accompany Jon's garageBand composition, 10/17/06]