This Raises The Question

Oh, yeah? 

I think it's time for yet another remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. The most famous version is the one with James Stewart, however, Hitchcock made that movie at least one other time before that. 

Now, I'm no Alfred Hitchcock, unless I am for all the wrong reasons, however I do make movies on a more than an occasional basis. Well, at least that's what THEY call them. Who are they?

For the most part, it's those that make decisions that directly affect you, no matter what you do, or where you are. You have absolutely no control over THEM, therefore, paying attention is a good thing to a point where you decide that THEY are wrong! 

The sermon at church today boiled downto exactly this, and before you bail because I made downto one word, I say, "It's a programming thing." Everyone has their own opinion, and you know what those are like. Maybe you don't, but I like to get a PG rating on this blog every once in awhile. 

Why do I think a classic should be made again, when I eschew remakes? The easy answer is that I'm a hypocrite.  The longer answer to fill my arbitrary word count to make some semblance of sense appears following. 

We live in the Too Much Information Age. I was talking about this today with the doctor that tested me for COVID.  Fully half the information available to you today conflicts with the other half. Who do you trust? Not to be confused or confuzzed(sic) with the game show hosted by Johnny Carson before he became The Tonight Show host. 

If I had the time, I could search for the article I read sometime last year, but it basically states that with the invention of modern conveniences up to and including the computer, tablet, phone, or whatever you're using to read this, has created an explosion of information, and over the last century we've created as much recorded information as existed before these inventions. 

I could probably perform a search and maybe find the graph from the article itself. What does this have to do with the title of this missive? Better yet, why did I start this way, and more importantly, why the Johnny Carson reference?

In no particular order of importance; Carson had a character: Floyd R Turnbow, American. He'd come out and monologue about everything that's wrong with the country in general, and how it affected him in particular. Around the middle, he'd say something like, "This raises the question, kiss my grits!!!"

I know, it doesn't make too much sense, so, it's right up there with this bloviation about something I heard over 30 years ago. One time, he forgot, and said, "Oh, yeah?" 

When you're on the playground in elementary school, you'd have arguments like this. "Oh, yeah?" to which some other random punk kid would shoot back, "Yeah! What are you gonna do about it?" If there weren't any authority types around, a fight may break out. 

So, conflict breeds drama as previously discussed by me either here or elsewhere, and characters take action as a test of their well, character.  No matter what happens in a couple of weeks and beyond, I'm going to need to make a movie.   I know what it should be about, however, as previously stated, I may BE the man who knows too much.

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach. Adjust Your Expectations Accordingly™

Was Going To Write Something

Something.

Okay, there. It's done. Now I can get on with the rest of my day. This raises the question, "Why do they call it Labor Day when nobody works?"  I'm here because I'm avoiding the paid assignment.

Messed up, right?

I've signed several NDA's as well, therefore I can't even truly talk about it. However, there's no clause in any of them that says I can't talk about the NDA's themselves. You may have even signed one yourself without knowing it. Aside: A verbal contract is worth the paper it is written on.

How would you not know if you've signed an NDA? Well, it may be buried in a contract that you've signed with a company for which  you may or may not be currently working. Also, for the two or three of you out there that don't know the acronym: Non Disclosure Agreement.

The boilerplate is basically, "You can't talk about it, while we can!!!" It should truly be a mutual NDA, however, one side always gets the best of the other in these things, no matter who's who.  Like I said above, I've signed my share of them on both sides.

So, when someone asks you a question about where you work, before you check your contract say, "I can't talk about it." This gives you an air of mystery, and keeps 'em guessing.

Maybe that only works for me. I'm not sure. This isn't work, as defined above, therefore, I must be playing. The game of life. Not to be confused with the Milton Bradley version. Why, you may ask?

Maybe you didn't. I don't know truly. All I know is there's no square that states, "Achieve your career goal after x years on this planet, and have fun now...."

There's a pool just outside my apartment, and we've talked about that before, however, there's no party going on now. This makes no sense. It's probably why I can't concentrate to do the paid assignment. No outside distraction to tune out. Today's conundrum brought to you by, "Complacency!!!"

Well, it truly is 72 and sunny in Redondo Beach™

e You next time.

The Fear of MacBeth

Stay with me, as this one may go all over the place, however, the point to this post and everyone after it is simply thus: Why is it bad luck to say MacBeth?

A superstition that arose from before I was born, whenever that was, as lately, I'm telling people that I'm infinitely older than I actually am to prove a point, but to stay on topic, if you're on stage, you're not supposed to say, "MacBeth."

Now, as The Bard once wrote, "All the world's a stage, etc." in Act II Scene VII of As You Like it, maybe we're always performing, and therefore because of the above rule, we're never supposed to utter the forbidden name. Like Hitler. No one has that last name today because well, you know; Hitler.

There may not be anyone named MacBeth today either, but it shouldn't be considered bad luck simply to utter it. I don't know that I'm on stage, as right now as I write this, I'm an audience of one, as well as the original author. I may perform this at some point in my life, and that day may come soon, but for today, I say, "MacBeth!!!"

There's more research to be done, and links to link, and the need for other words said that will not be MacBeth. Forgot to put that one in quotes. #SorryNotSorry

Yes, we live in hashtag world now, however, I prefer the term octothorpe.  Tags are tags, and symbols are something else. I may have to tweet this link out later, and be assured that I will use the octothorpe #MacBeth!!!

Some may write it, "McBeth," but that would be wrong, as it definitely contains an "A."  Aside; A is the project that I should be working on, however, I'm writing this instead. I'll apologize for this one later but for now, I find I'm writing about well, you know by now....

Leave an appropriate comment below, and let me know why you think I should never say "MacBeth" again!!!!

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

CITY BENEATH THE SEA (1967) NBC UNSOLD PILOT

Later, made into a two hour movie with Robert Wagner as one of the bad guys....

Why Am I...

Not awake today, AND I HAVE WORK TO DO!!! I ACCIDENTALLY HIT CAPS LOCK TOO!!! 

Bought coffee. One sip, and I'm already jittery. WTF?!? Why isn't WTF in the spellcheck
dictionary? Who am I going to inflict these words on? What was I thinking when I told her
I was going to write a book too, and we'll see who finishes first? 

Damn me. 

Hell is where when you go there, they have to take you in. Standing up in front of a
crowd of people that you may be meeting for the first time is scary. In fact, fear of public
speaking is a fear that most of you have. I know I don't. My mom put me on stage at
what, three, maybe four years old, and I did okay. I spoke lines in another language as
well. 

I'm still attempting to figure out what year that was. Teahouse of the August Moon. Tea
House is two words? Hey, that's great. Sakini. Cho demo'd key word memorization for us
at Van Mar. I wonder why Ivan didn't ask me? Intellectually, I get it. We can't all be on
stage at the same time. Unless we can, in which case, I may have to be the one to write
that scene.

It's the big production number. Phantom has one at the beginning, and one in the middle.
Masquerade has always been my favorite. Paper faces on parade. I guess that's where
my need to emcee comes from. You can be behind the scenes, or you can be in front.
The question becomes, "Can you do both at the same time?" 

I know I can. I can compartmentalize too. It's how you make a successful 168 Project film
that goes on to bigger and better things after. Blue Blazes. Seven years ago!!! 

Damn.
 
These morning brain dumps get harder and harder. I feel like I'm writing the same stuff
over and over. What am I selling? My book. Wait! It hasn't been published yet! 

Neither has hers. It's not a race. It's a calling. We can all write. We can all read unless
you're like a toddler. At some point, we all know our alphabet. We know how to
pronounce things, and most of us can gain meaning from context. The writing discipline

means that I should be writing something every day, and all the time.

But I can't sit here 24/7. To write what you know, you have to know about it. That doesn't

come from sitting at the keyboard all day. At some point, your brain will be completely
drained. Have I written something that others want to read? 

I DON"T KNOW! 

That's for you to decide. Do you share this? Do others come here and leave a comment?
Sometimes instantaneous gratification takes too long. Everyone wants success NOW!!! 

Do the hard work first, and then maybe you'll find your passion. It took me x years to do
that, and I needed the motivation of several amazing women to get to this point. You
may even meet a few of them in the future. 

You may not know that you have. They may not be with me at the time. I could start a
list, or simply post an #FF at the appropriate day, and then you'll figure it out. However,
most aren't on Twitter, unless they are. Have we discussed how Twitter, and by extension all of social media is a drug? 

Everyone wants to be famous, however no one wants to do the work. The 'net is the
culprit. By virtue of the fact that there's almost 8 Billion, yes, that's right, Billion with a
big fat B people on the planet, not too many people know that I'm famous.

Communications and the ability to broadcast myself out to the unwashed masses as they
were called back in the day allow us to put words in some semblance of an order to
allow for others to read them. 

We all have opinions on how things should work, and most things work the way we want
them to wrote he, before he took another sip of coffee. I may need to write a poem about
the need for tea, or coffee. 

What was the movie in the 60's? Coffee, Tea, Or Me? About stewardesses and how they were selling not only over priced liquor onboard, but themselves to the various passengers. 1969 is the year I remember, however that's ayear or two after I became self aware for the first time....

Well, that's the required. This will be posted elsewhere for commentary. Hope to see you
there!!!

Artists Everywhere!!!

Not sure what will happen with the following:



But I'd ask you click, and find out. Then let me know in the comments section. I previewed this, and it looks like it does what I thought it would do. Fascinating. Well, visit the artist's site if you can from here, and comment below on what you think. Thanks!!!