"What the HELL is going on?" A weird, surreal time

I was going to do a lot of ranting today, mainly because certain people in my life have said things like, "Well, you can't do anything about it" and "it will just have to run its course". And yes, logically, both of those things are true.

But there is this.

To me, the "can't do anything about it", shrugging-off view is kind of like coming up to a weeping person at a funeral and saying, "Crying won't bring him back." To ME, usually out of step with pretty much everything, that only makes it worse, but some apparently believe they are offering a dose of logic and sound advice. Those who weep must just snap out of it, or stand corrected. It's the only view that makes any sense.

Even close friends of mine, or people who WERE close friends of mine, say I am overreacting and it's a waste of energy - in the category of "shrug - let's get on with it", and I do not find that helpful. 

No doubt MANY will say my "approach" is too negative, doomsday thinking, etc. and I should just wait for it to pass. "We're all in this together," people continually say, but I feel profoundly isolated and alone. I'm just not chipper enough, and my sleeves aren't rolled up enough to suit everybody.

And where is the leader of the free world? Not on any known planet. And WHAT is he but a complete idiot with a low IQ, a sociopath who only knows how to make money, a man who contradicts himself wildly every day, a man who campaigned on "How I love the undereducated!" - and WON. But if he rides out the curve of this pandemic without dying, I know he will win again. It's the American way.

I only complain now because the States continues to do appalling things, and no doubt this Easter Sunday will bring the usual public mega-church services, when stats are showing that up to 3/4 of people who go to those mass meetings come back infected. "But that's the STATES, Margaret!" (This is, of course, a separate universe, a separate reality.) "We're relatively safe up here. What are you so concerned about?" 

I've been told it's no good to obsess about statistics, which are just numbers. Why do I do it? It doesn't make my life any better, DOES IT?  But maybe, just maybe, I'd rather die of overreaction than be deadened by a world view that leaves people less than human, and worse than dead.

Cockatoo scene from Citizen Kane

I've always wondered about that cockatoo. But maybe THAT is why people call it "the best movie ever made".

HOLY SHIT! Socio-pastor finally arrested

I was so GODDAMN happy to see that this creep, Rodney Howard-Browne, was arrested for holding his GODDAMN mass church services in violation of every moral law in the human condition. Many of these evangelicals/Pentecostals are giving services practically daily, with anywhere from 500 to 1000 people crammed together in sweaty pews in swampy places like Florida and Louisiana. This guy goes way back (I've posted about him before), back to the Toronto Blessing phenomenon where congregants screamed and flailed and threw themselves on the floor. It spread like a contagion, and this guy was at the forefront before he mysteriously disappeared from Canada. Since then he has popped up again to spread the manure of his beliefs, preaching here, healing there, dancing heavily and clumsily, and generally making an ass of himself, and THAT'S OK, but what he's doing in the States is the most immoral thing I have ever heard of. I would call him a socio-pastor. Below is a brief excerpt of the NBC News article that had me cheering for the first time in an eternity:

(YES, IT’S TRUE! Pentecostal pastor Rodney Howard-Browne (shown here in the throes of the Holy Ghost) has just been arrested for being a crazy, immoral, totally selfish dick-head. Here’s the story:)

“A controversial Florida pastor who refused to stop holding packed church services, in violation of coronavirus restrictions, was arrested Monday by a local sheriff who said the preacher was putting his followers’ lives at risk.
Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was booked on misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly and violation of public health rules after flouting social distancing orders at The River at Tampa Bay church.
Howard-Browne—an ally of President Donald Trump—has been an outspoken opponent of social distancing requirements, claiming his church has machines that can stop the coronavirus and vowing to personally cure the state of Florida himself.
'His reckless disregard for human life put hundreds of people in his congregation at risk, and thousands of residents who may interact with them this week, in danger,' Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said at the press conference. Howard-Browne did not respond to an immediate request for comment.”

These kids are REALLY bored! Learning at home

You are getting very sleepy.

I would normally use this to drown out the sound of my neighbor's lawnmower, or else the sickening yapping of their trembling little chihuahua as it strains at the leash and makes a sound like a rabid chimpanzee. But it's good for other things, like trying to forget how we feel when we wake up in the morning and realize once again, "It's real".

Resusci-Baby

*EDIT* Discoloration on legs has worsened. Price has been adjusted accordingly.. (Pictures available upon request)   

I am selling a 1970s era Resusci-Baby made in Norway by Laerdal medical corp. for St. John's Medical. This is a great item for anyone who is into lifelike doll collecting or for anyone who collects old medical tools and supplies! Doll is made of rubber with very detailed features and a realistic size and weight (almost feels as though I'm holding a real baby). Anyone who is familiar with the resusci mannequins knows what these dolls are all about.. 

Doll has some discoloration to the rubber and also some damage where the rubber looks to have been "torn" or "shredded" slightly. It still has its original case which also has some damage where the seams are starting to come apart. Doll and case both have been cleaned best to my ability just using soap and water and a cloth (I made sure NOT to get any water inside the doll!) 

Please see photos for full item condition. What you see is what you get!! 

International buyer are responsible for any taxes or duties that are not included in my price. 

NO RETURNS OR REFUNDS

Thanks for looking and happy shopping :)  

New rules of social distancing

 

Bentley is not happy

Bentley moments

Moonstruck Moments

Could there be a better (sweeter, sexier) movie than Moonstruck? It features some of the most charismatic actors of their generation, caught in their prime before they went crazy/ruined themselves with plastic surgery. Perhaps Cher and Nicolas Cage really hated each other, but the chemistry when he shouts "GET! . . .IN!. . .  MY!. . . BED!" quivers in the air like a coming storm.

I just watched this perennial pleasure once again on TCM, and this time had an unexpected reaction to the couple's operatic scenes of passion: I cried. I mean, I REALLY cried, just sobbed. It took me until this moment to realize why: this is the most Italian movie I have ever seen, and right now Italia is sinking, with many hundreds of COVID-19 deaths every day. 

But this movie reminded me of the true nature of this beautiful country, and is my favorite romantic comedy: though calling it that is selling it short. What made me cry was the sincerity of it, the tenderness, the fire - the proclamation that "love wrecks everything", and that we are here to RUIN OURSELVES. . . well, how big a slice of reality is that? And we respond most profoundly to that which is most real.

Jesus loves me, this I know

Cherry Blossom Prince

 

When Worlds Collapse

A bad day at work.

Cherry Blossom Cat of the Day

More wretched news from Italy

Opera singer Placido Domingo tests positive for novel coronavirus

From CNN's Natasha Chen

Opera singer Placido Domingo performs in Hamburg, Germany, in 2019. Christian Charisius/picture-alliance/dpa/AP

Opera singer Placido Domingo has tested positive for Covid-19, the artist confirmed on his Facebook page.

"I feel it is my moral duty to announce to you that I have tested positive for COVID19. My Family and I are all in self-isolation for as long as it is deemed medically necessary," the Spanish singer said.

Domingo added he is currently in good health but had experienced "fever and cough symptoms."

Placido Domingo here excels himself, singing better than he knows how. When I saw this performance years ago, I was astonished. It went beyond art. Please God, don't take him away from us! At this moment, the negative press swirling around him seems unimportant. This is his life.

Love in the time of COVID

A Trevor Noah comedy video asked viewers what their favorite song about the end of the world is (cheery thought, no?). I immediately thought of this one, then realized I had no idea who sang it. It was one Skeeter Davis, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find out how much I liked it. The song is simple, beautifully sung, and affecting in a way that reaches across the barriers of time. 

I don't even think I've heard this since its heyday in the '60s. This came out when I was eight years old, so I apprehended it with eight-year-old sensibilities - in other words, it probably hardly registered at all. But now I hear it with new ears. It's not about anything apocalyptic, of course (though one's first major heartbreak might fit into that category). Otherwise it would be too much, no matter how well-sung or heartfelt. What made me a bit queasy is that all the comments were posted in the last few hours, on a video uploaded in 2011! 

People have the end of the world on their minds. Comedy shows are becoming a bit forced, and more than a bit distasteful. I don't want to hear the "lighter side" of coronavirus, with visions of truckloads of dead bodies in Italy with nowhere to bury them. There isn't one, and that's final.

I am also miffed at all the "six simple steps to feel better under quarantine" and "how to improve your attitude" and "look on the bright side". Walking outside will soon be prohibited, so perhaps we will just have to walk in place. People with treadmills are prescient, obviously.

I don't know, I find myself hunkering down in a way which is sometimes scary, and sometimes almost enjoyable. I feel grateful that we have enough - so far, anyway. That my people, my close family are OK. I care about the world, and it is aching now, and infected. It's hard to drive the thoughts out of my head. I had a dream I was visiting with Bill's brother and his wife - we hadn't seen them in more than ten years - then suddenly jumped back, realizing I had to keep a "social distance" between us.

Seems to me the world is alienated enough, with technology standing in for human contact. But at the moment, it's the best we can do. Without it, the word wouldn't be getting out. It STILL isn't, not sufficiently to flatten the curve as we are expected to do. 

My office is now my cocoon, my doll haven and my troll village, Trollandia, a state of mind as much as a collection. They relax me palpably, and I don't question that. We were amazed and a little overwhelmed at how crowded Lafarge Lake was today, though for most people it's the only avenue left for any sort of outing. The ducks were fed to bursting point. Kids ran around as if they hadn't run around in days. It was heartwarming - and a little scary.

I'm  posting cats and cherry blossoms, because I always do this time of year - but with a difference. When I post one of them on Facebook, suddenly everyone "likes" them, when NOBODY likes my stuff, period! It's because people are nearly desperate for something that will make them feel good, if even for a moment. This led to a truly nasty little article about HOW TO AVOID COMFORT-EATING in this time of cholera. It's a pandemic, folks. I can eat whatever the fuck I want with impunity, because soon it may turn to famine. 

These are ramblings only, and I never expected to make them, at 1:30 in the morning. I had a surgery planned for next month which will likely be postponed. I am concerned, very, about my daughter's colleague, a wonderful reporter named Michelle Brunaro, who underwent months and months of chemotherapy and overcame Stage 4 breast cancer. She came back to work and was reporting on stories, almost like before. But today I thought about that, and the bottom dropped out. She should not be going out to work. Not at all. Even my daughter, totally fried with stress and nearly hysterical with anxiety, is penned at home, stuck to her computer, trying to stay employed.

I hope Michelle can go home now, stay home, stay safe. It was really good to see her again, but it was plain she was not quite the same. Her hair was short, her face a little puffy. I just hope this thing passes her by. I think of that weird thing in the Bible where somebody marked the doorway with an x in blood - could that be it? This sounds insane! - so that the pestilence would pass that house by.

I had better stop now, since I do not plan to edit this AT ALL and want to go to bed. This is a mixed-up time, and emotions are turned upside-down. People are doing weird things, like putting up their Christmas lights (!), claiming it will help to spread good cheer in the time of cholera. (I don't mean literal cholera, folks, I'm referring to the title of that novel.) If I saw Christmas lights and inflatable Santas now, it would weird me out so badly that I'd want to run home again. But that's what people are doing. To me, it's desperation: we'd better put our lights up NOW, because come December. . . Maybe that's not what they mean. But to me, Christmas lights in the first bloom of spring can mean only one thing. The world has been turned on its head, and it may be a very long time before it rights itself again.

Cats and cherry blossoms

Ti amo, Italia

Italy is one of the few foreign countries I have ever visited. To think about it now, the loveliest country in the world, the heart of music and culture, under siege as never before since the Black Death, makes my heart sink. I had a thought as I was riding in the car today: Why don't I do something different, post a "smackdown" of various singers interpreting the same song? What a great idea as a diversion from all this hell. 

But my mind had other ideas. Before I even realized what I was doing, I was downloading different legendary tenors singing my favorite operatic aria, E Lucevan le Stelle. Puccini, perhaps the ultimate Italian composer. When I began to listen to these men sing, each with their own soul-baring interpretation, I began to realize it was both tribute and farewell. 

I don't know how many opera singers and artists of all kinds are sick and dying of this horrendous thing, this reaper of souls, but I know the arts will be gutted like everything else in Italia. But I post these singers anyway, praying for their welfare, because I don't know what else to do - and even though I gave up on praying a long time ago.