Life According to Beth Dutton

I just spent the day after Christmas with my mother, which went fine. She doesn't like my personality, but one thing she mentioned that I thought was semi-interesting: She thinks I'm like the "Yellowstone" character "Beth Dutton." I've never seen the show, but after she mentioned that, had to look her up:



To me, after watching only the above clip, Beth seems kind of sloppy (Real-Housewife-ish) and sans personality and says "fuckin'" way too much for no reason (bad, 28-yr-old writers?).

p.s. My mother and I also watched the movie "Tar" together, with my favorite modern-day actress Cate Blanchett. My mother---again, not a fan of me---also said that I reminded her of the "Lydia Tar" character! Hey: I'm perfectly fine with THAT! :)   https://youtu.be/Na6gA1RehsU

What's with these "insults" that turn out to be non-insults??!

Tammy Wynette: Stand By Your Man (Midnight Special)

Tammy Wynette: Til I Can Make It On My Own ('90s version of 1976 song)

Tammy Wynette + George Jones: We Loved It Away

Tammy Wynette + George Jones: Golden Ring

George Jones: She Loved A Lot In Her Time (1991)

About George's Mama, not mine.

George Jones: "Walk Through This World With Me" (1967)

Incident (Countee Cullen)

Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee;
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I was at my mother's home for Christmas and looking through my old school scrapbooks. I was in 6th grade and I had had a poetry assignment, and had hand-written out the above poem.

Leftist teachers today won't teach this poem because it has the word "nigger." Which is a shame, because the poem is so pure and heart-breaking. This is what poetry IS, and this is what makes you think about "race relations," about human relations and about hurtfulness. Not this current BS going on in the media and in academia, which try to force you to feel/think something.

Live Aid 1985 (Wembley Stadium): Do They Know It's Christmas

These gits did nothing for Africa, but they looked cute and self-congratulatory while doing so.

George Jones: "The King Is Gone (So Are You)" (1989)

One of the best country songs ever.
Note that when old-school country artists do "Absurd" they don't require an accompanying academic treatise about "The Absurd" and its effects on "diversity, equity, and inclusion."



Last night I broke the seal on a Jim Beam decanter
That looks like Elvis
I soaked the label off a Flintstone Jelly Bean jar
I cleared us off a place on that
One little table that you left us
And pulled me up a big ole piece of floor

I pulled the head off Elvis
Filled Fred up to his pelvis
Yabba Dabba Doo, the King is gone
And so are you

'Round about ten we all got to talking
'Bout Graceland, Bedrock and such
The conversation finally turned to women
But they said they didn't get around too much
Elvis said, "Find 'em young"
And Fred said "Old Fashioned girls are fun"
Yabba Dabba Doo, the King is gone
And so are you

Later on it finally hit me
That you wouldn't be 'a comin' home no more
'Cause this time I know you won't forgive me
Like all of them other times before
Then I broke Elvis's nose
Pouring the last drop from his toes
Yabba Dabba Doo, the King is gone
And so are you
Yabba Dabba Doo, the King is gone
And so are you

Last night I broke the seal on a Jim Beam decanter
That looks like Elvis
I soaked the label off a Flintstone Jelly Bean jar....

HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR Opening Sequence Excerpt

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) Alain Resnais

My first time to see this movie... I was horrified and stunned more by the emotional devastation and its aftermath than by the physical devastation and its aftermath. (Which is partially the point of the movie.)

George Jones: Choices (1999)

I never caught this the first few listens:
The lyrics say that if he'd listened to the voices telling him right from wrong, then he'd never be here today... We're only listening to him now because he chose the WRONG path!
Interesting! Regrets but no regrets.

Band Aid: Do They Know It's Christmas? (1984)

Did this make one bit of difference in Africa? Hell no.
Is it a great reference to the most popular (and self-congratulatory) UK singers in 1984? Hell yes.

Not-so-eagerly awaiting the "Climate Change Christmas" song.

1939: Joan Crawford on the set of "The Women"

 

Elton John: Your Song (1970)

Elton John: Tiny Dancer (1971)

Do you want this transvestite anywhere near your nuclear codes?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brinton

This recently arrested "they" was appointed by the Biden Admin as
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy.
How was this mentally ill person ever appointed to a high-level government office?

I'm bisexual myself. Like the creepy Sam Brinton above, I might consider myself "gender fluid." But being "gender fluid" or, as they said in the olden days, "androgynous," is an internal sexual preference. Having bisexual feelings doesn't entail either stealing luggage or making a public clown of yourself!

To Sam Brinton: Being "gender fluid" doesn't mean wearing red lipstick and Joan Crawford necklaces---that's called being a transvestite. Perhaps you should come out as such, and resign from government office and seek, first, mental help and then other work---perhaps in the arts.

If you're this mentally obsessed with posing in red lipstick and various party dresses (and if you consider your singular self a "they"), then you obviously don't have the time to focus on the mundane activities that an actual, less-exotic government job might entail.

 

Queen: Killer Queen (Top Of The Pops, 1974)

Queen: Somebody To Love (1975)

Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)

Elton John: Little Jeannie (Central Park, NYC 1980)

While I was going on about "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" below, I forgot the real impetus for re-listening to my Elton John CDs: My little black cat "Mini" (aka "Solomon Grundy," "Moonshine," "my Familiar," et al). I have many songs that I like to sing to her, but "Oh, little Mini..." is one of them.

A side-note: Today, Elton John and Freddie Mercury are the old/dead poster-boys for the currently trendy, shallow "Oh, aren't gay people great!" online opinions. Guess what---these guys were both supremely fucked-up and extremely popular during their own time---which has NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR LATTER-DAY CONDESCENDING LEFT-WING APPROVAL! Your virtue-signaling is not needed 40 years later. Elton John and Freddie Mercury had already established themselves in rock history based purely on their music and talents and charisma and concert/album SALES...

Your current "affirmative action" is not necessary. In whatever era, real talent always shines through despite what the bloodless, corrupt Academia/Media tells us is supposed to be right and true.

Elton John + Kiki Dee: Don't Go Breaking My Heart (1976)

I've been singing "Oh, little Mini..." to my sickly little black cat for months now, and got a craving to hear the original 1980 "Little Jeannie" song by Elton John.

Fortunately, I have several Elton John CDs, including his '76 - '86 hits, which includes "Jeannie" plus other good songs that I like, like: I'm Still Standing, Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word, Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Empty Garden, I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues, and Sad Songs.

While I was listening to the above CD for the "Little Jeannie" song, I also remembered how much I really liked this "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" single when it first came out. (While hating the Toni Tenille bangs and the overalls.)

Today when I hear it, I mightily want to see a Taylor Swift / Kanye West version. Yes, years past the initial 2009 MTV controversy, and Kanye is currently on the outs with mainstream media... But their duet would be hilarious and GREAT!

I'm addicted to TV, so it's hard to stop...

But what I've noticed over the past few months, especially since Queen Elizabeth died in September... I feel better overall mentally when there's something on in the television background like the "history-only," non-eventful coverage of the death of QEII, or, for the past couple of weeks, a World Cup soccer game, that is also mainly non-eventful, yet provides a background of comforting low-key conversation, while also being semi-interesting at certain points....

What is NOT relaxing to me at the moment is non-stop news coverage, like I used to watch (and still do): Fox, Fox Business, BBC, I24 (Israeli TV). (CNN and MSNBC and NewsNation are horribly stupid; can't even watch these for more than 2 minutes.)

Since World Cup soccer hasn't been on for the past couple of days, and I'd gotten used to it, I tried to find substitutes for its absence: ... I dunno, the Smithsonian Channel? Story? Reelz? TCM?  The commercial-free TCM shows stupid stuff half the time; the others, too many commercials... Maybe I should turn off the TV and put on the Wagner set I just paid a whole lot for: Der Ring des Nibelungen... But it's somehow comforting to have pictures on in the background...

Overall, I'm doing fine with working from home, as I've done for the past 2 years. Just now starting to notice, though, that I'm getting edgy and wanting something different in my routine... Not quite sure what it might be.

Stop saying "Happy Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday," etc. Just STOP!

Over the past 6/8/12 months, I've noticed a horrible trend among both bosses via Teams and TV talk-show hosts: They open each "session" with, "Happy Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday," or whatever-the-hell day it is. Which is annoying enough (Really? You can't just say "Hi everyone!" or "Hello" or "Greetings" on one of those days? You really have to recite the day every single time?)---but what makes it very-much worse: Almost every time, the boss/talk-show host pretends like he/she can't remember the exact day. There's almost always a pause after "Happy..." while the person seemingly struggles to recall what day of the week it is. Once or twice, maybe you really forgot the day. But EVERY week-day for a year now?

The bizarre affectation is annoying as FUCK. STOP IT!!

Elvis Presley: Baby, Let's Play House (1955)

Elvis Presley: My Way (June 1977)

Mock what he looks like... I did, too, when I was a kid.
But watch this: His mighty soul and talent and innate humbleness shine through his outward stupidity.

Elvis Presley: Unchained Melody (Rapid City, South Dakota; June 21, 1977)

Compare his drug-addled intro ramblings to the beauty and power of the actual song as he sings it. ("Sense memory" of some sort? That's an acting term that refers to childhood memories recollected in performances... This isn't quite the same thing, but it's very similar. When singing this song, the druggy, messed-up, present-day Elvis reverted to the pureness of himself and of the 1955 song that he'd learned much earlier.)

After years of prescription drug abuse, Elvis died 2 months later on August 16, 1977, at age 42.

(Who am I---an only barely above-average simpleton---to like/want life more than he did? Is it because he'd already done and witnessed everything on Earth, and there was nothing more for him to see?)

Psycho or just slow-witted?

Yesterday, on December 1, around 8am, I walked as usual on the 1st to the apartment office and dropped my physical rent check in their drop-box. As I exited the passage there, a tall, skinny young guy walked up to me. Thinking he was a resident, I said "Good morning" and then tried to walk on. He stopped me and said this exactly: "Hey, man, where are you from?"

Now usually, when you meet someone in passing, and you say "good morning" to them, they either nod or smile or say something similar back. They don't say "Hey, man, where are you from?"

I got bad vibes and didn't answer him, just walked quickly down the sidewalk back to my apartment. At the end of the sidewalk was a reflecting window, so I could see behind me---After I passed him, he started to follow me, then stopped and stared after me.

Freaked me out so much that I reported the incident to my apartment management office.

Then today, December 2, I was walking to the corner store in the afternoon... Again, the same guy approached me in the parking lot. I brushed past him without speaking, hoping he'd be gone by the time I came out of the store...

When I came out of the store, he was in an empty parking lot across the street; when he saw me, he started walking toward me... I again freaked out and walked quickly to my apartment complex office... I asked if they'd received my e-mail of the previous day about the "weird guy" hanging around... I started to describe the "weird guy," and then he shows up walking down the sidewalk to the office!

The office assistant manager that I was talking to was a big guy, so I felt safe when the weirdo pressed his face to the glass and then walked in... Office guy: "Henry, I'm busy right now, can't talk." The "weirdo" nodded and walked away. Turns out he's a retarded guy that had just moved in to the complex with his parents. The office guy assured me he was harmless.

WHEW! He's not a psychotic drug addict who's going to stalk and/or knife me! So that's good. But, as with the autistic girl that was running around the complex years ago (including in my backyard, in my home, and on my roof), why aren't this guy's parents watching out for him? Why is he wandering around the apartment complex and streets and empty lots without anybody supervising him?

Germany World Cup Squad: OUT!

The German World Cup squad was again knocked out of the Group Round (now, both in 2018 and 2022). Worst showing since 1950. Pictured here is this year's loser-squad posing in protest of not being allowed to wear their "OneLove" gay armbands; FIFA declared that any player wearing such a band would be automatically issued a yellow card---and good for FIFA!

I'm gay, but I'm sick of sports teams facing corporate and social pressure to post political views on either their uniforms or their courts/fields (the latter in the case of US football and basketball in recent years). In sports, as in most aspects of public life, I don't give a flying f*** about your sexual proclivities and I certainly don't want/need to see them officially proclaimed with armbands, on jerseys, on sports fields.

And re the German squad: Perhaps it's time to assemble a real GERMAN squad again, instead of virtue-signalling by choosing immigrants for over half of the team members. Over half of the German population is not black and Turkish. And the blacks/Turks are obviously not the most talented---or else why the early dismissal from the opening round the past 2 cycles?