Catching Way Up

Much, much belated observance of the passing of "Uncle" Walter Cronkite on July 17, 2009. Funny how near that was to an earlier post of mine mentioning that he was still alive (as of that writing). We just never know.

After the Transition

I cannot say that I have ever been terribly fond of doing the IT on our home computer systems. Even with Macs, so many things can go wrong and will go wrong if you even look at them funny. I'd say it's better than being a greeter at Wal-Mart, but I've never been a greeter and Wal-Mart so what do I know?

How Things Go Sometimes

Nearly forty years ago a genuine musical genius/icon passed away, victim of a demented assassin. John Lennon's death was reported on CBS by none other than Walter Cronkite, who certainly knew of Lennon, but was clearly bemused by the outpouring of grief that followed his murder. Cronkite was not far from retirement by that time, but it was still nice, even somewhat comforting, that he was on the job while so much of the world was reeling from so senseless a loss.

Michael Jackson had his time in the sun, and is certainly an icon of sorts, but it's hard to call him a musical genius. And his death, while startling, is not remotely the tragedy that Lennon's murder was. Worse, his death is the latest thing to go up in lights at the top of the marquee of the trashy circus the news media has become. There's no "Uncle Walter" to provide sanity, much less dignity, to the proceedings.

It's ironic that both Lennon and Jackson died just as they were coming off hiatuses from performing and recording. We'll never know where they might've gone if they'd lived to see their comebacks through. But "Uncle Walter" Cronkite, as of this writing, is still with us, having enjoyed one of the longest retirements of any well-known TV anchorman.

The Way

The problem with trying to establish The Way is that going any way at all depends on where a person is and where that person wishes to go. Is there but one road, one bridge, one tunnel, suitable to the goals of each and every person? Can one road, one bridge, one tunnel get each and every person from where they are to where they wish to go? To suppose such for ordinary travel is blatantly absurd, as we can’t all be and aren’t all in one and the same place and heading for one and the same destination.

And yet, for the vastly more complex process of traveling from birth to death, there persists this idea that there can be only one Way. And while the case stated may suggest we all start from the same point and end at the same point, it isn’t nearly that simple. None of us share the same schedule, nor are we each blessed with precisely the same mental, physical, spiritual, educational, political and material resources for the journey—not at the start, not during the journey, and not at the end. No one life can be lived in exactly the same way as another, and no one Way will ever be sufficient to handle all the traffic.

Human history has demonstrated this more times than any sane person would care to count. Yet these demonstrations weigh like feathers on the consciences of those who insist that there is one Way and one Way only.  

So what is The Way? Depends…do you want get through life quick or take the scenic route?

Facebooking the World!

Discovered Facebook in the interim since my last posting, and have been going FB crazy! As a result this ol' blog's been kinda neglected. Then again, I can't say much has shifted in the world scene since my previous remarks, except to pretty much bear them out. Still, one can hope it's early yet, and that some things might start showing signs of turning around before the year's out.

Oh, and about Gemstone…I think we've seen the end of classic Disney comics in the US, at least for a while. Still doing some things for Egmont Creative, so I'm keeping my hand in with Disney comics as such, but it's still nothing like the heady days of Gladstone (especially Gladstone I, as everyone likes to call the first phase). Maybe things will turn around, but at the moment I can't summon much hope in that.

On the less grisly side, I've discovered two new authors (new to me, that is): Sherman Alexie and Diana Wynne Jones. The first is the first modern author I've read in ages, and the first American Indian writer I've ever read ever, while the latter does stuff that anyone going through Harry Potter withdrawal ought to like.

Up To Now

It's been very quiet these past several weeks, so I've had nothing to offer here of late. Oh sure, there's the new Prez, but what can I say that hasn't been said by bloggers far faster on their feet than I'll ever be. He's in, he's knucklin' down, he's bangin' his cabinet and agenda into shape, we'll see what happens.

The Market continues to blunder like a blind three-legged elephant towards some end that may be difficult to particularize but is bound to be anything but pretty. Meanwhile economic pundits lament the unwillingness of cash-strapped consumers to spend themselves into further ruin to keep this economy that has unabashedly betrayed them shored up. Did they not get the memo? Elvis has left that building, guys!

But hey, the Cardinals did a-okay against the Steelers yesterday, making it one Super Bowl I was glad I actually watched. And the hulu.com add with Alec Baldwin took the prize for best commercial bar none.

Well, now for a round of Pocket Tanks. Night.