Information Snippets

PG did a bit of research on a person (Harry Hay), and saw a comment on Wikipedia that Mr. Hay had been a guest on the Joe Pyne Show. This got PG to thinking about Joe Pyne.
The Joe Pyne show was on Atlanta on channel 11, at 11:30 Saturday night. Many guests were unusual characters. Mr. Pyne was rude to his guests, telling them to “gargle with razor blades”, among other things.
Mr. Pyne had a wooden leg. The lower part of his left leg was amputated in 1955 because of cancer. He was a marine in World War 2, and was wounded in the same leg.
Once, Frank Zappa was on the show. Mr. Pyne asked if his long hair made him a girl. Mr. Zappa replied by asking if Mr. Pyne’s wooden leg made him a table. This may be an urban legend.
Georgia Governor Lester Maddox was a guest on the show in 1969. The Governor was offended by Mr. Pyne, and walked off the show. The next guest called himself Culious Jeezer, and claimed to have been alive during the Roman Empire.
PG saw another episode of the JPS. People wearing masks discussed being “swingers”. Mr. Pyne was respectful to them
Joe Pyne was an enthusiastic cigarette smoker. The cameras showed him puffing, which is not done today. ( Has anyone seen a picture of Barack Obama smoking?). He developed lung cancer, and died March 23, 1970. The rumor that he was buried in a pine box is unconfirmed.

One rainy sunday, PG was pondering the difference between squirrels and chipmunks. The two words seem to be interchangeable. Finally, a trip to google turned up a site, with the verbatim question.
“Chipmunks and ground squirrels are very closely related. Both chipmunks and ground squirrels differ from and are smaller than tree squirrels. The major external feature that distinguishes a chipmunk from a squirrel are the stripes on the face across the eyes. Squirrels may have stripes on their back but lack stripes on the face. The bone structure (bacula) of squirrels are different from chipmunks.”
The ads  underneath this answer were from animal removal services. This is not surprising. Squirrels are rats with pretty tails. They are EVERYWHERE. They get between the roof and ceiling and make noise. Sometimes, they die in there, and the stench of decomposing rodent lingers.
Chipmunks, on the other hand, sing a highly annoying Christmas song.
Which brings us to the second part of this sunday afternoon. Last night was the finals of the 2009 Eurovision. The winner was from Norway, although he was born in Belarus. He played fiddle (what do you call lip sync for a fiddle?) and has prominent eyebrows.
Eurovision is apparently a big deal east of the Atlantic. It never has caught on in America.

The world is in turmoil. People are killing people for no good reason. The government is run by liars and scoundrels. Religion is a dirty word. It is time for blonde jokes. Thank you FunnyJokes.
A married couple was asleep when the phone rang at 2 in the morning. The very blonde wife picked up the phone, listened a moment, and said ‘How should I know, that’s 200 miles from here!’ and hung up. The husband said, ‘Who was that?’ The wife answered, ‘I don’t know, some woman wanting to know if the coast is clear.’
Two blondes are walking down the street. One notices a compact on the sidewalk and leans down to pick it up. She opens it, looks in the mirror and says, ‘Hmm, this person looks familiar.’ The second blonde says, ‘Here, let me see!’ So, the first blonde hands her the compact. The second blonde looks in the mirror and says, ‘You dummy, it’s me!’
A blonde suspects her boyfriend of cheating on her, so she goes out and buys a gun. She goes to his apartment unexpectedly and when she opens the door she finds him in the arms of a redhead. Well, the blonde is really angry. She opens her purse to take out the gun, and as she does so, she is overcome with grief. She takes the gun and puts it to her head. The boyfriend yells, ‘No, honey, don’t do it!’ The blonde replies, ‘Shut up, you’re next!’
A blonde was bragging about her knowledge of state capitals. She proudly says, ‘Go ahead, ask me … I know ‘em all.’ A friend says, ‘OK, what’s the capital of Wisconsin ?’ The blonde replies, ‘Oh, that’s easy. Its W.’
Q: What did the blonde ask her doctor when he told her she was pregnant? A: ‘Is it mine?’
Bambi, a blonde in her fourth year as a UCLA Freshman, sat in her US Government class. The professor asked Bambi if she knew what Roe vs. Wade was about. Bambi pondered the question; then, finally, said, ‘That was the decision George Washington had to make before he crossed the Delaware.’
Returning home from work, a blonde was shocked to find her house ransacked and burglarized. She telephoned the police at once and reported the crime. The police dispatcher broadcast the call on the radio, and a K-9 unit, patrolling nearby, was the first to respond. As the K-9 officer approached the house with his dog on a leash, the blonde ran out on the porch, shuddered at the sight of the cop and his dog, then sat down on the steps. Putting her face in her hands, she moaned, ‘I come home to find all my possessions stolen. I call the police for help, and what do they do? They send me a BLIND COP!’

I follow many of my favorite comics creators’ blogs via RSS feeds, and was amused this week to see an entry by Joey Weiser (The Ride Home, Tales of Unusual Circumstance) about Free Comic Book Day last Saturday. Joey was at Bizarro Wuxtry in Athens along with wife Michele Chidester and fellow comics power couple Eleanor Davis (Stinky) and Drew Weing, and noted that “[n]one of us really draw superheroes much, but we had a great time taking a crack at folks like Captain America, MODOK, and Arnim Zola. He went on to say that “Michele did a freakin’ great painting of Wolverine too” and “… Maybe some scans will surface, and I’ll let you know.”Conveniently, several of the sketches mentioned above were done for me or my buddy Robert, so I can share them here. Up first are my Captain America and MODOK sketches, to be followed by Robert’s Wolverine, Arnim Zola, and others. Take a look:Captain America by Drew Weing (pen and ink)MODOK by Eleanor Davis (pen and ink)MODOK by Michele Chidester (watercolors)Captain America and MODOK by Joey Weiser (colored pens)Thanks to Joey, Michele, Drew, and Eleanor!

So, Tim and I had a pretty spontaneous New Year’s Eve. The neighbors called us and asked if we were up for throwing the kids together and drinking some beers.Lemme think about it…. Uh, yeah!The kids tore up the house, we tore up some beer and rang in 2009 with a kiss. It was perfect.I absolutely love all of our neighbors.As I’m typing this, my entire family is asleep.I find myself thinking back to last year around this time. We were headed to the the doctor’s office to get an amniocentesis. Not fun.I can’t say that 2008 was great, minus of course, the birth of Harper. It was a trying year. Tough on so many levels. I have high hopes for 2009 and I’ve already begun my New Year’s Resolutions:-Make friends. Don’t be a hermit.-Go to the gym, fatty.-Don’t be so critical of yourself or others.-Take more vacations.-Reach out.-Make art againSo, there you have it. It’s not your typical list but hey, I’m not your typical broad.I’ll leave you with one of my favorite poems:Advice to MyselfLouise Erdrich Leave the dishes.Let the celery rot in the bottom drawer of the refrigeratorand an earthen scum harden on the kitchen floor.Leave the black crumbs in the bottom of the toaster.Throw the cracked bowl out and don’t patch the cup.Don’t patch anything. Don’t mend. Buy safety pins.Don’t even sew on a button.Let the wind have its way, then the earththat invades as dust and then the deadfoaming up in gray rolls underneath the couch.Talk to them. Tell them they are welcome.Don’t keep all the pieces of the puzzlesor the doll’s tiny shoes in pairs, don’t worrywho uses whose toothbrush or if anythingmatches, at all.Except one word to another. Or a thought.Pursue the authentic-decide firstwhat is authentic,then go after it with all your heart.Your heart, that placeyou don’t even think of cleaning out.That closet stuffed with savage mementos.Don’t sort the paper clips from screws from saved baby teethor worry if we’re all eating cereal for dinneragain. Don’t answer the telephone, ever,or weep over anything at all that breaks.Pink molds will grow within those sealed cartonsin the refrigerator. Accept new forms of lifeand talk to the deadwho drift in though the screened windows, who collectpatiently on the tops of food jars and books.Recycle the mail, don’t read it, don’t read anythingexcept what destroysthe insulation between yourself and your experienceor what pulls down or what strikes at or what shattersthis ruse you call necessity.