Update on NOTEFLIX’s production of “Troubles in the Garden”: Pay Attention. Our Critters, The Bluebird of Happiness and his true love, Mamzelle Pinkie and their pest friend, Bork, the Angry Purple Slug, or whatever he is – are about to leave the Strange Land of Weird Stuffed Creatures and go home to where things are more normal, at least more normal for them. A problem has arisen, however, in that Tony, the Viperous Snake wants to go with them…and as you know, nobody in a more normal world likes snakes. Our critters do not want to offend Tony, because they do not want to peak any of his wrath. The Knome (the blue thing stage right) is overjoyed at the prospect of Tony leaving the area. (More action next week)
—————————————————————————————————
- THE DINNER BELL: I fear dinner conversations in the movies and tv shows are not going to be shown anymore. Back in the day, when the Brits had dinner in the movies, they got all dressed up ‘To the Nines’ and sat down and ate with precision and very good decorum, indeed. (See Agatha Christie movies). Then the Americans had Bonanza and Ozzie & Harriett where everybody ate together and had a good time of it. And don’t forget Don Corleone eating with his sons – that was good watching. Shows such as these inspired some of us to eat with each other in our own families. But today, families do not eat with each other. Everybody takes their iPads, phones, games, or whatever, to wherever they want and nobody gets a chance to scream at each other or learn from each other. What is happening to this civilized world? Come to think of it, the world is not in very good shape and maybe all this eating together in the past has produced this mess. More may be revealed in time.
- SYNTHETIC OIL: I went to change my oil in the car the other day and I was told it would be better to use Synthetic Oil. Of course, I have heard of this substance before; but I never gave it much thought. What is it? Did it come from fake dinosaurs? Synthetic Oil, Fake News, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Viral Rumors…Nothing is what it was anymore, and I can’t talk to anybody about it; because everybody is playing internet games, or searching for meaning on Social Media, or staring into their phones…and now I have no idea whether electric cars will need synthetic oil or real oil, or no oil at all…and who can you trust to tell you which way to go? (See title above).
- HODGEPODGE: *They have found there is a plastic ingredient on the Saturn moon Titan. (This seems like a Sci-Fi piece where they sent some people to outer space and the first thing we did was dump our trash out there. I hope it is not the case.) *Walmart is rearranging their stores so you have to walk by the retail stuff before you get to the food. It seems people go to ‘Wally’s’ to buy the food and ‘Wally’ wants you to buy the higher profit margin stuff, which you will now have to see before you can buy what you came to buy. Clever, no? *70% of the birds on earth are chickens. *Sir John Harrington designed the first flushing toilet in 1596 – and Queen Elizabeth I had one installed in Richmond Palace almost immediately. …Now you know what you need to know.
And now a word or so from our Resident Rodent Guest Columnist MATHUZALA: (Who is traveling through Europe on a book tour. Below is a photo he sent us, suggesting he is taking in the sites.)
MATHUZALA SPEAKS:
We notice New York City has appointed a new “RAT CZAR”. It was announced the City will spend $3.5 million dollars this year in Harlem to ‘mitigate’ the problem. What problem? And what is this ‘Czar’ business? Apparently the ‘Czar’ announced, at her swearing in ceremony, that she hates rats. That is not a good starting point for negotiations. The City should appoint a Czar to fight corruption, and violent crime and such.
-ed note: To learn how best to negotiate with Rats and other important survival tactics, go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and buy several copies of the book shown below:
—————————————————————————————–
“Notes From Tuscany” will return next week. Instead, we will show you a picture which explains why we bother to return.
Two quotes:
- “The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going.”—George Carlin
- “We have met the enemy and he is us.” -Pogo, upon his return from having been lost in the Swamp. (Walt Kelly)
That’s all there is for now…and a fond “Hello” to Ben, son of Bogie, wherever you are.
