I only saw my father cry twice.
He was crippled up with Progressive Supra-Nuclear Palsy both times. The worst kind of Parkinsonism you can get. That wasn’t why he was crying though. Muhammed Ali’s neurologist said my father’s PSP had two features worse than just regular PSP. Most people with that severe PSP don’t survive for more than a year. My Dad lasted eight.
He could take that.
The first time he really cried was when his best friend’s son died in a plane crash. He cried so hard. He was so upset it really startled me. It made me think of how much more he would cry if I had died. That is when I knew, really knew that my father loved me.
The second time I saw him really break down was about two months after September 11, 2001. He had read a story in a magazine about a little girl whose father died in the towers. She said she would never see his funny face again.
When I spoke about all this in his eulogy after he died in 2003, I told about how much my Dad loved to make Funny Faces with his kids. It was his favorite thing to do. The last thing I said was that he was the “The King of Funny Faces.”
Sometime around 2008, I realized this:
The King is Dead! Long live the King of Funny Faces!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
They Still Make Good Films These Days (Just Not In Hollywood) - #16
Just saw the German film Antibodies.
Norman Reedus is the very first character in the very first scene. Apparently he understands German, but he has no lines at all. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would think it was some kind of plot to get the attention of Boondock Saints and Walking Dead fans. He is only in that one scene. Anyone looking for more of him will be disappointed, if that's all they are looking for.
The film itself is absolutely incredible. It will not disappoint anyone with any sensible interest in psychological thrillers. Some will compare this film to Silence of the Lambs. A cop questions the most prolific serial killer in "the united Fatherland" for help with an unsolved case.
I will go so far as to say it is an improvement on Anthony Hopkins' masterpiece.
So sayeth the King of Funny Faces.
Norman Reedus is the very first character in the very first scene. Apparently he understands German, but he has no lines at all. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would think it was some kind of plot to get the attention of Boondock Saints and Walking Dead fans. He is only in that one scene. Anyone looking for more of him will be disappointed, if that's all they are looking for.
The film itself is absolutely incredible. It will not disappoint anyone with any sensible interest in psychological thrillers. Some will compare this film to Silence of the Lambs. A cop questions the most prolific serial killer in "the united Fatherland" for help with an unsolved case.
I will go so far as to say it is an improvement on Anthony Hopkins' masterpiece.
So sayeth the King of Funny Faces.
Friday Night News Dump
Stillwater stabbing victim accused of keeping box of child pornography in basement
Published: Friday, June 22, 2012, 8:30 PM Updated: Friday, June 22, 2012, 11:47 PM
By Seth Augenstein and Amy Ellis Nutt/The Star-Ledger
STILLWATER — As murder victim Dennis Pegg was laid to rest at St. Joseph’s cemetery in Newton today, across town a defense lawyer for one of the accused filed an affidavit seeking to preserve Pegg’s belongings — including an alleged box of child pornography.
The request, submitted by attorney Daniel Perez, specifically cited a box containing "numerous Polaroid photographs of nude children and/or children involved in sexual acts."
Clark Fredericks, 46, has been charged with first-degree murder and two of his relatives claim he was molested by Pegg years ago when he was a Boy Scout and Pegg a troop leader. Robert Reynolds, 47, friend of Fredericks, has been charged with helping him kill Pegg and hiding evidence.
Perez’s request, according to the affidavit, was based on information provided to police after Pegg’s death by an unnamed individual (called "John Doe 1" in the legal notice), who says he, too, was molested by Pegg when he was a child.
More at NJ.com
This happened too....
Thursday, June 14, 2012
LTTE: Domestic abuse against men still unrecognized
Domestic abuse against men still unrecognized
6/14/2012
Have you ever wondered why there are no domestic violence shelters for men? Have you ever wondered it out loud? If you’re like me, the answer you got was frightening.
Domestic violence doesn’t happen to men. Not in public. Domestic violence shelters simply do not exist. They are “battered women’s shelters” now.
“Violence against women” is another fine talking point. It is not more important than violence against men. Anybody with an ounce of common sense can tell you that throughout history more men have been victims of violence than women.
As U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy and the lobbyists at NOW have said, “a vote against VAWA — the Democratic Party’s favorite piece of legislation, the Violence Against Women Act — is a vote against women.”
Who could say no?
Has anyone ever heard it said that a vote for VAWA is a vote against falsely accused men because it denies them their due process rights? Has this even ever been allowed a vigorous public debate? I have not found any debate at all, really.
No wonder that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — the namesake and nephew of the most iconic Democrats of the last half-century — did not disclose the beatings he endured until after his abuser was dead.
ERIK B. ANDERSON
Independence Township
Independence Township
Friday, June 1, 2012
They Still Make Good Films These Days (Just Not In Hollywood) - #15
Norway's a good place they make films. Submarino, for example.
I love finding new directors.
This film has a Jim Jarmusch/Quentin Tarantino influence to it, in that the stories unfold in overlapping flashbacks similar to Mystery Train and Pulp Fiction.
There really isn't any comedy in this film, though. It's all tragedy. Some may call it slow, but I call it just beautiful.
I can't wait to see Mads Mikkelsen in Vinterberg's latest "The Hunt."
So sayeth the King of Funny Faces.
I love finding new directors.
This film has a Jim Jarmusch/Quentin Tarantino influence to it, in that the stories unfold in overlapping flashbacks similar to Mystery Train and Pulp Fiction.
There really isn't any comedy in this film, though. It's all tragedy. Some may call it slow, but I call it just beautiful.
I can't wait to see Mads Mikkelsen in Vinterberg's latest "The Hunt."
So sayeth the King of Funny Faces.
Monday, April 30, 2012
How To Make Your Child Hate You In One Easy Step
actually, doing nothing is not even one step
way to go mom
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
"The Hatred of Women"
From 'The Hatred of Women' E.P by Slumberwall. Available at:
http://slumberwall.bandcamp.com/album/the-hatred-of-women-e-p
Read the Lyrics on the YouTube Page
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Quote of the Day - March 18, 2012
For an order to be properly carried out, it is necessary for a man to issue an order that is capable of being carried out. But to know what is and isn't capable of being carried out is impossible, not only in the case of Napoleon's campaign against Russia, involving millions, but even in the case of the simplest occurrence, since millions of obstacles can always get in the way of either of these. Every order carried out is always one of many that are not. All the impossible orders fail to engage with the course of events and don't get carried out. It is only the possible ones that do engage with the run of subsequent orders, do correspond with the course of events and do get carried out.
Leo Tolstoy, War & Peace Epilogue, Part II, Chapter 6
Friday, March 9, 2012
Nothing becomes funny by being labeled so.
"The Elements of Style: Fourth Edition"
by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, page 50
by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, page 50
Monday, February 27, 2012
LTTE: Public officials see ‘threats’ everywhere
Warren County Sheriff David Gallant essentially says he “can’t tell” what a threat is anymore because of the rise of social media websites (“Threats to judges taken seriously in age of Facebook and Twitter, authorities say,” Feb. 24).
Oh, how easy it is for public officials to blame their own ignorance on some indescribable patina of mystification descending on us all by a strange new mysterious phenomena.
Blah, blah, blah. Bollocks, I say.
There’s no confusion about what a threat is. Look it up. This is a serious issue that needs to be clarified, quick.
Last week a man in Cincinnati was ordered by a judge to post a groveling apology to his wife on Facebook because of a previous post that said “all you need to do is say that you’re scared of your husband or domestic partner and they’ll take (your child) away.”
That’s political speech. A judge ordered a man around for it. Not an isolated incident.
Concerned citizens need to vent, but the Violence Against Women Act ensures an accused man will be punished even if the accusation turns out to be false.
In most cases, judges are immune from prosecution, even if their erroneous decisions profoundly harm families.
And if it’s in family court? The watchdog eye of the media is forbidden to ever know what happened.
This is pure insanity. If we are made to be afraid to vent by easily offended ignorant public officials, it’s time to have them removed from office.
ERIK ANDERSON
Independence Township
Published: Monday, February 27, 2012, 4:21 AM
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
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