A COVID-19 Booster Shot Dream

This one really had a "stranglehold on reality", to paraphrase a stand-up comic.

I was driving Sir Harry Secombe to the airport, which is a cool trick, considering that he passed away in 2001. We are both flying to the United Kingdom and I am taking a rather long way to the airport. We discussed his son Andrew and he mentioned his daughter. I had a copy of the second volume of his autobiography "Strawberries and Cheam" on the floor of the car and I said, "Maybe I should have read this a bit more closely". He laughed about that.

[Side note: Secombe and his wife, Myra, married in 1948 and stayed married until his passed. He wrote that when she found out she was pregnant with their first child, she was so happy she did a cartwheel outside the doctor's office! They had four children.]

So we get to the airport, for an international flight at 2:27. THE PLANE WAS SCHEDULED FOR 2:32! I told you this was a dream.

I then realize that I don't have any luggage with me. At this point, Sir Harry, who has, inexplicably, turned into Lady Myra (who died in 2018. This is a DREAM, folks!), told me, "You can't buy everything you need there!" I decide to board anyway. At this point, I see my Brother and Sister-in-Law leaving a plane (they are supposed to be on my flight!!) and after not having gone through customs, we try to get on the plane. There is no jetway. We have to climb up a steep concrete ramp (no mean feat for a woman in her 90's) and after that, there is a concrete walkway from the ramp to the plane with no guardrail. She stops. At this point, someone (the pilot?) announces, "If you don't have any luggage, you can't buy everything!"

The last memory I have of the dream is me, propped up on my elbows, feet dangling, on the walkway to the plane, too terrified to move, with a wall behind me. I am, in a way, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

That's when I woke up. 

The upshot of all of this is that I slept very well for four hours, but I woke up with a 100-degree fever, which is what tends to happen when I'm vaccinated. It takes a couple of days, or a day, in the last case and my energy comes back. I just know if I don't write this now, I'll forget it. 

Incomplete Thoughts on the Terms "Woke" and "Politically Correct"

 

Watch this video and then read the entry.

I liked this video, but there is some things that I think people are missing. 

1. He gets applause when he mentions that there are people nowadays that wait for the "thrill" of being offended. I would argue that these people have been around for a long time, but there are not more of them than previously known, they can just get organized much faster than any time in history. Terry Rakolta was outraged about what she saw on "Married...With Children" and she was able to turn her outrage into appearances on talk shows and she even founded an organization, Americans for Responsible Television. At the time (1989), she had a few advantages. She was well-to-do and more than likely had access to people of power and prominence. If you offended by something and you wish to complain, much of the above can be achieved if you have internet access.

2. To those who say, "Well, you couldn't make a show like THAT nowadays", I understand the sentiment, but I feel they miss the point. That show belongs to that time. With or without timely references or changes in standards, society at that moment allowed _____ to be a success, or well thought of. Some things stay funny, some things don't, some things need context. Times change. Cleese, as a member of Monty Python and in "Fawlty Towers", has used some pretty offensive racial terms, yet, when Cleese mentions the great time he had on stage, he says, "African-American", which is generally accepted. Hearkening back to context, Basil Fawlty was a "monster" to use Cleese's past descriptions of him, so to have him use enlightened terminology would not make sense.

If you do not believe that "woke" was an issue years ago, look at this clip. It is time-coded to start when the offended party (a plumber, not the actress Louise Beavers), talks to Groucho Marx

When one uses "Politically Correct" or "Woke" in a derogatory manner, some view this as a license. Well, ____ said it, why can't I? I would argue that it would be better if you are _____ when you say it. This is not to say that all comedians are perfect and just and should be given a pass, but I AM saying that the truly good and great have earned their artistic licenses whereas most have not and that some artists need to know that these licenses may need to be renewed. George Carlin went from a double act to a single, from doing character bits to observational humor to social commentary. Henny Youngman worked the same much of his life, he just changed out one-liners. Samantha Bee would not and doesn't harp constantly on the Bush Administration.

I prefer the term "responsible". Be responsible for what you say. The art comes whether folks find it funny or not. The audience, however, should also know what they're getting into and should not cry foul if they were warned. One should not go to, say Lisa Lampanelli and expect .cheeky, well-intentioned Bible commentary.

Free Speech is expensive.

Popeye Was a Rolling Stone: A Response from SOME People.

 The time has come to face some of the hard facts of my childhood. I watched a lot of Popeye cartoons. I think I've seen all of the Max Fleischer Popeyes and most, if not all of the Famous Studio cartoons.

I grew up in Rockland County. I used to belong to one of those Facebook groups that talked about days gone by in our old neighborhoods. Sadly, a thinly veiled racist comment would come through, basically stating how lovely things were, until SOME people, won't say who, came into town, committing crimes and starting up a bunch of single-parent households. I'm not going to get into the veracity of these statements, but they have an origin...

Popeye.

In these cartoons and in the comic Thimble Theatre, he is an unmarried sailor, which is absolutely no crime. Along comes Swee'Pea. Master Pea is, according to the strip, an infant left on Popeye's doorstep. Sad, but no sin. It's a bit of an eyebrow-raiser that Olive Oyl minds him more than Popeye tends to. In his first appearance "...with Little Swee'Pea" (1936), notice whose house he is emerging from:

In "Lost and Foundry" (1937) there is no denying this:

Later that year, he is definitely at Popeye's house, but what kind of man takes a full year to mind his own foundling? This still is from "The Football Toucher Downer" (1937). I won't discount his obviously and his ahead-of-his-time vegan lifestyle.

Which, truth be told, leaves him TOOTHLESS.

What concerns me MUCH more are his "nephews". I must make the case here that these are his sons. In "Wimmin is a Myskery" (1940) they are presented his children. However, this is Olive Oyl's DREAM of marriage to Popeye. To show you how pervasive sexism is, in HER dream, she doesn't merit a mantlepiece picture!

Two years later, when cold reality sets in, this 1942 cartoon named for the boys shows the "nephews" living with their "uncle". No Oyl to be had.

The Famous years proved...well, let's back off of the word "fatal", but I will say mysterious. Count the "nephews" in 1952:

Five years later in "Patriotic Popeye", they are either protecting themselves from an imminent explosion, or they are justifiably fearful that they are now down to a duo and must find a safe haven any way they can (no pun intended):

Folks, how can these quadrup... tripl... twins be anything else but his sons? Popeye, in the comic strip, in these cartoons, HAS NO BROTHER OR SISTER. These are his SONS. THIS is where the seed for single parenthood was planted. He has, truth be told, a fairly bad model. Poopdeck Pappy not only deserts him as a baby, but, in "Goonland", he is not the least bit happy to see him after roughly forty years of estrangement. Also, there is no mention of a Mom. With that kind of shaky foundation:

Popeye, unabashed vegan, career bachelor, was a rolling stone. 

Don't blame us POC.

Sources: Youtube, Daily Motion and Popeye the Sailorpedia