the Charlie (Sheen) Limbo

art of darkness

i think there's a theory  called  the Peter principle that says that even the most accomplished can fall to their level of inadequacy. for instance, Hitler was brilliant as a politician, but when he tried to take on military leadership, he ultimately failed in a huge way. 


me and a friend noticed that  as far as names go, the phenomenon may be even truer amongst Charlies. it seems  to pop up a lot: 'Charlie in the box' from Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, Charlie x from Star trek, Charlie Chaplin at times (marrying teenagers, trials, expulsion from the US), Charles Barkley at times (spitting on fans, never winning title, saying he'd play for the Klan etc), Charlie Batch (failed NFL qb.) and of course, the once, present and probably future Charles the Infamous, Sheen. 


like i said, they seem to limbo on down to a spectacular  level of infamy. Chaplin was maybe one of the greatest artists of all time. Sheen was the highest paid actor on tv.  but they just tend to do poorly decided  actions that make you say, "what a Charlie!" 

Biggest Bullshit Holiday

not to seem super bitter (wink), but Valentine's wins. at least Mother and Father's day are based on real people, deeds etc. Valentine's ain't. there were a couple of St Valentines but neither had anything to do with romance, love etc. that story about one of them getting the first Valentine's card is just that. 


astronomically same deal: nothing. some bs that birds start courting is just that. 


where it's real? as usual with holidays, commercialism, like greeting cards, gifts etc. guilt. chicks expecting more rings things blings etc. the capitalism of love (redundant). 

the Birth of a Religion

as we all should know, the Christians took most of the traditions celebrated before them by Scandinavian pagans, Roman pagans etc and Incorporated (double meaning intended) into Christmas. most traditions were pre Christan: the tree, gifts, feast etc.

this time of year was the beginning of my entry towards Paganism in many ways. years ago  i started to wonder why a holiday like Christmas is celebrated like it is. why the tree, fire, incense etc.

i started to look into the origins of the holiday and others. i found that most holidays, especially American christian ones, have their roots (as far as the practices, celebrations) in pagan traditions.

Paganism started to make more sens to me, including practices like seeing the evergreen as a great symbol of the strong Earth (and the Solstice as the time of the  turn around of the SUn to stronger light), which led to stronger belief in the power of the Earth, environment etc. it meshed well with the facts of the strengths  of nature, the bounty of Earth etc.

and that's how much of it began for me. not with the birth of a a human savior, but in my mind,  great gods like the Earth and Sun, and ancestors that have given us all so much.

Coogan's Ultimate Bluff

bluffer and bluffer

well it;s finally gone: the "Polo grounds curse', 'another NY baseball curse', is lifted. the Giants of baseball won 5 championships in NY, in the old Polo grounds. since moving to SF in the 50s: 0, until now. 


the old Polo grounds was a  classic park, with championships in football, great boxing bouts, etc. but it proved that there's nothing too big to fail in NY and even when the Giants  were one of the best teams in the world, they didn't sell much. 


not much left from the old house except the stairs on the left. I think i wrote about this and displayed it before: it's this condemned, falling apart, awful stair way up the  bluff (Manhattan's spine as i call it). you literally have to climb around to get to the top. but it clearly displays an old remnant from the Giants, and yes this is how it still looks. . and it's right near where i live. on the site of the old field are pjs (projects, housing). supposedly inside they've marked  the site of around  where home plate was. gotta check it out. 


the Giants, after some 70 years of playing in NY, went on to 'Frisco (SF, they hate when u say that),  where even with players like Mays, Maricial, Mccovey, Bonds, Kent etc: no championships. . that finally ended the other night. 


so next year, are the Cubs the only ones left? 

"Rocktober"

Lenin,  Lennon (born Oct)

 when i was younger  i listened to much too much classic rock (even when rap, pop, New wave etc were cutting edge), a lot of the stations used to love to promote "Rocktober" and i've always thought of  that this month.


as i learned more it did seem like  a time for '"revolution" kind of: i think the main Communist revolution in Russia was called the "oktober revolution' even though in our western calendars i think the date of ascension of Lenin etc was in Nov. some deal with the Eastern orthodox calendar or something made it Oct maybe. and one of the great Eisenstein's films was called October, or Ten Days that  Shook the World, about the revolution. 


it also always  seemed like a dark time where a lot of wildness could come out, hence Halloween (time when the supernatural forces were active on earth). and even the ubiquitous trees changed and shed, bared their hearts. 


  getting back to Rocktober, of course the coolest rock shirts were concert shirts that were black, featuring acts that actually looked like Halloween characters: Ozzy Osborne, Alice Cooper, Kiss. 


well i can't name many  rock bands or artists that are prominent right now, and im tired of a lot of classic rock,  but still, rock on all! 

Once and Present Thoughts: Sept 11

Arab neighborhood

after the 2nd 110 floor  tower went down the early suggestion were to go out and give blood because many  thought that there would be many injured. i went out and walked towards i think Elmhurst hospital. i was living in Astoria Queens near the Tri borough bridge. at our side  is one of the busiest intersections in the city: 31 st, Grand central parkway, the  bridge, interstate, maybe more. it was at a stand still at this time though:  no one getting  over the bridge because of security probably,  cars everywhere.

 i went  to the hospital but they had so many donors that we were turned away (and folks complain about rude NYers). one guy on line  had a big turban, bearded, medium toned skin.. i talked with a nice guy and a girl. . we went walking to another hospital. Queens is very diverse and  we  thru what i think was an Arab neighborhood. much of it quiet that day  like many neighborhoods in the city.

 but me and the guy remarked, that it would maybe be  the beginning of a blast of hatred  against Arabs. it was assumed quickly  that bin Laden and the other terrorists were responsible, and ignoramuses would render Arabs guilty by McCarthyist association.

what we didn't think was that the bias  would still be alive 9 years later.seemingly more hateful than times closer to the tragedy.  Fox news, right wing bigots (redundant?), book burners,  hateful protesters that want to "bombard" the Islamic center in lower Manhattan. ii thought there would be an earlier expiration date but no.

i also want to remind those  politicians that don't believe in big government but are using this tragedy  as a political jack pot, and those out of towners that are against the Islamic center: if im not mistaken, the majority of folks that died hat day were NYers.   and it is in OUR  city that the center is being built. as far as the loved ones of the deceased, they were more likely to be here.  it was us going all over town and standing in huge lines to be turned away to give blood. it was us that had to smell the stink of burning as far north as the 60s  (up town, miles away). it was us that had to walk miles home that day.

  i know it was an attack on America and a lot of non NYers died.  and the center is going up (i hope) in our city, and it is our business literally. you ever hear of "think global act local?" we live in this city, with Muslims, Arabs etc, we mostly  live together, in peace, prosperity etc. we don't need opportunistic politicians or bigots from out of town telling us what to do with a  property in our city that peaceful, lawful people want to use.

A Good Wall (St) Makes Good Muslim Neighbors?

im a licensed NY City tour guide and know way too much about our history.  the Dutch were the first European settlers in lower Manhattan and they came here to make money, and it's been that way ever since. however they were advanced enough to "buy out" the Natives and not massacre them.

Wall st is so named because the Dutch  erected a wall there to keep out the British, or Natives, depending on your source. and so began the segregation way back then.


keep in mind the Europeans started settling at lower Manhattan and built their way up contuiing north, generally. so after the Dutch came the British and they fought.  the new Americans fought with the Brits (and now  im talking guns, prisoners, disease, not bigots with signs and/or politicians). everyone put down the blacks for a long time of course. later, the natives (now we're talking euro descendants) and at times the government  fought against the Irish, Jews, Italians, Asians. . the infamous 5 Points was pretty close to the future World trade center, and the Lower East Side close to that. "different" folks, "immigration problems", "security". sounds familiar im sure.





interesting though, that the Muslims have been there for a while now: the people, a mosque right down there before  the WTC.  Muslims were killed on Sept 11 itself.

and the Financial district went from people advanced enough to trade and not kill, to having  "greed is good" as their absolute,  to sociopaths severely damaging the economy of the entire world. not much movement to get them out of there either, besides Michael Moore  in a poorly reviewed film.

you see New York should maybe be called the city of the phoenix even more so than the western city. especially with an area like lower Manhattan. an area of horrible bigotry, violence, war, disease, poverty, that has risen up repeatedly through its history to give us a world leader in commerce, great architecture, at times great leadership, and of course great history.

and i hope that our city rises again in defiance of terrorists, bigots, extremists, ignorance, avarice, sociopathology. irregardless of who perpetuates such crimes against humanity: American, Muslim, rich, poor, extremist, politician, "average joe".

All Peoples have Skeletons (TOns) in Their Closets

RObeson, peoples

US: from the FOunding Fathers to GW Bush

Irish: from James Joyce to the NYC St Patrick's parade

Blacks: from Paul Robeson to O.J

Jews: from Moses to Bernie Madoff

Italians: from the Renaissance to the Jersey shore

British: from Jon Locke to BP

Arabs: from Mohamed to bin Laden

whites: from Gutenberg to Wall st robber barons

Asian: from Confucius to N Korea.

men: from the Pharaohs to Charlie sheen

women: from Mary mother of Jesus  to the Hills

as you can see,  all  peoples,  race, ethnic group etc has their good and bad. not one is perfect. not one is all evil. not one deserves to be elevated above all, not one deserves to be wiped out/ cast out.