Get Real!

The average TV viewers' IQ has just gone down! Just look at all the TV shows that clog the networks of every major TV station and you'll agree with my opening statement.

Tonight, they're showing 3 consecutive reality TV shows on NBC5 Chicago. When it gets to this point where the only way that TV executives can lure viewers is to create these shows, then you know that it's time to get either a satellite TV or a subscription to digital TV. Then you can watch real TV shows without necessarily sacrificing a dip in your viewing intellect.
br>
What's with these shows that attract viewers?
They're "easy" on the brain, that's for sure! What's there to ruminate about somebody putting a big roach in her mouth? That's plain stupid! Even a moron can figure that out! And what about these dating games? Would you want to marry one of these scheming, whining, hypocritical people who have the gall to wash their laundry in public? These "Made in TV" pairings never seem to work out anyway. The last one about this Joe $$ guy looked like he was really screwed when the verdict was out on who he was going to marry. Boy! Did he really look f#@$d up! You'd think that he was going to puke.

Viewers also love reality drama. That's understandable. However, is it really that "real"? Can you really let it all out in front of 10 million TV viewers? Talk about drama, just give the participants some baseball bats and have them whack each other. That is, after they whack the show producers on their heads first for being so stupid when they can't even be morons!

Maybe all the other non-reality TV shows are really crappy. Has there been any TV show in the major networks that you really, really like? Aside from the news, there's Fraser, which is still funny after all these years. ER used to be OK but the concept got a little old when the original stars started jumping ship. Jeez! I think that's it! All the other good shows are on cable and not in the major networks! There does not seem to be any TV show nowadays that has a really revolutionary or innovative concept. Most of them seem to play on one another's tired concept.

On the production side, it seems like reality TV shows are cheaper because they don't have to hire high-caliber actors. When you're aching for publicity, go to some reality TV and embarass yourself. The public will love you and the network bean counters will shower you with pocket change. You get the publicity, they get the moolah. Of course, all these is at the participants' expense. You can't scrape your respect from the sidewalk with a nickel ...

So, my friends. TV is doomed. Reality TV shows have laid claim to what little attention we have left. It's a sad fate ...

Now give me that remote and surf over to Bravo and let's watch some foreign films!

Day of Sorrow

The space shuttle Columbia has just disintegrated.
Our sorrows pile up before we can even recover
from our past misfortunes.

Microwave Junkie

Here's a short poem I gave to a friend to exult her most excellent culinary skills!

Zooper-dooper - Master of all Matter
Awesome zapper of Eskimo dinner
Out of the fridge in a nanosecond flat
Shove it in the zapper box with a splat.
One . . . two . . . three, the magnetron hums
As you anxiously await the yummy yums.
Gee Mom! Cooking sure is easy --
All it takes is my zapper and a strong tummy!

In Memoriam

And when I die . . .
Let your eyes be as parched,
As the Kalahari desert sands.
For your tears only leaden the burden
Of the aches and troubles that I'll shed.
For where I go, these temporal ills
That plague my body and devastate my spirit
Shall forever be just a passing sigh
In the threads spun by Destiny.

And when I die . . .
Let your eyes sparkle with exultation
For my release from this finite shell
Of flesh, blood, and bone.
Consign this amazing vessel of my soul
To the cleansing Fires and grace my ashes
A mighty Roman candle whence on a clear night
In dazzling brilliance I embrace the sky
Return to Nature that which is Hers.

And when I die . . .
Fill the vacuum of my absence
With joyful memories of my childhood follies,
Pubescent romances and adult eccentricities.
Taint them not with your grief and anxiety
For our existence has e'er been in our minds
Where together our destinies mingle.
And in the swirls of memories that suffuse
Your mind -- placate . . . and my spirit liberate.

The Train

This poem was written within a span of 2 days while commuting to and from work. Isn't it amazing how the immersion in a seemingly ordinary real life experience can spawn creative beads of verse that blend to give life to a pretty acceptable poem?
-----------------------------------------------------------

Drab gray train snaking thru derelict tenements
And brownstone buildings shedding ancient blocks
As would a snake renews and molts.
Slithering tracks, polished by
Wheels' intense embrace,
Union of inanimate with dynamic
One bound to the Earth's bosom
Sacrifice -- to propel the other's
Dreams to race like the wind.

Drab gray train nourished
By electricity it draws hungrily.
Does motion now make it seem
Like a silver god warping through
The space-time continuum?
Leave the desperate reality
To a blur - relegate to oblivion.
In its obscurity the world
Seems a better place to be.

Wood and steel - by man's ingenuity
Create a universal microcosm
Of dynamic state reflecting life's
Subtle details and nuances.
Within the train's womb
A carriage of humanity suspended
In a time frame propelled to their
Appointed futures, distant destinies
And, perhaps, different realities.

Telephone poles in steadfast sentry
Shepherding a hurtling mass of steel and flesh.
Imprisoned within a track of complacency
With no freedom but that designated
By the morass of rails and gates.
Diminish a mighty god-like hunk
To a state of pathetic mediocrity . . .
A slave to its own awesome velocity
Confined in a vicious circle of servitude.

Steel frames, granite tenements
Tower mightily upon this miracle
Of dynamic pseudo-life that shakes
Their foundations as it punishes its tracks.
In its grand entrance to the sea of life
That populate the floors above -
Tremble and shake, grind and wheeze
Breezing above the cacophony of snarled traffic below
In its wake the bestial inhuman rusty engine growls.

Drab gray train stirring the placid night
With eddies of mournful yearnings
From a thousand metal wheels, axles, and bolts,
Grease and oil and soot in infernal heat;
Consigned to either an eternal marriage
With the unfeeling metallic surfaces or -
Expulsion to the freedoms of the embrace
Of a patiently waiting ozone
That ultimately suffers man's senseless follies.

Drab gray train traversing a lonely stretch
Of tracks that extend to infinity.
From a present vantage prepare
Join the union of the Sky,
The Earth and Man's mechanical offspring
Where all will consequently join in harmony --
Manifest proof of an omnipresent singularity.
And from afar the drab gray train now a pinpoint
Ceases to be, but a part of the Whole.

Lullaby For Amy

This was written to cheer up one of the most bawdacious friends I've met (so far!). And would you know -- I married her!


Soft shafts of light in pastel hues
Turn pale and dim as the night ensues.
I gaze, thru the blinds, at the starry sky
As I welcome sleep grant He try . . .
Bless me with dazzling dreams
Of castles and princes and crystal streams,
That flow past forests of choc'late trees
Vanilla fudge flowers in a scented breeze.

Soothe the aches that grip my heart
Dispel the loneliness, O pain depart.
Arrest my raging troubled storms
Infuse my soul with soothing balms.

My eyelids grow heavy, now is the time
Settle and slither to planes sublime . . .
Ah, sleep -- the world seems to cease
As I finally get my share of zzzz's.

Mondays

Mondays
Isn't it obvious that I wrote this on a Monday (duh)? Try listening to the song "I Don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats after you're done reading this. It'll really rub it in further! :-P

Monday ...
What if it were moved to the middle of the week?
Then we would have two days after weekend to prepare for it . . .
But the day after Sunday would still be like Monday
It best to legislate --
No heavy work after Sunday
And the day thereafter.
Then when the mind and body is ready
Just let it all go on Wednesday
Which is our pseudo-Monday
Or should I say ersatz Monday!