Saturday, September 29, 2007

Lady Liberty of Los Angeles


Not many people are aware that Los Angeles has its own Statue of Liberty. Regardless of how one feels about immigration reform, I think it is most appropriate that the statue is located in downtown where the large Hispanic population of L.A. works and shops everyday.

When I was a little boy, I used to stay up all night watching t.v. when there was no school the next day. Just before the t.v. station went off the air, it used to end its broadcast each night by playing Ray Charles singing "America the Beautiful". People tend to associate America with red, white, and blue and apple pie. I think Ray Charles should be included on that list. I couldn't think of many other artists who is as soulful as brother Ray. One of my regrets is to not have seen him perform while he was alive. If you've forgotten how special he is, you can watch his performance here.

Facts:

The original name of the 'Statue of Liberty' is Liberty Enlightening the World.

The 7-point spiked crown represents the seven continents or the seven seas.

Lady Liberty holds a torch high over her head with the right hand and holds a tablet close to her body in her left hand.

The tablet contains the text "July IV MDCCLXXVI", which commemorates the independence day of The United States of America on July 4, 1776.

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Friday, September 28, 2007

Clean Thoughts


"I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I don't have any clean laundry, because, come on, who wants to wash clothes on the last day of their life?" -unknown

"It's hard for me to get used to these changing times. I can remember when the air was clean and sex was dirty." -George Burns

"Cleaning anything involves making something else dirty, but anything can get dirty without something else getting clean." -Laurence J. Peter

"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.
-Maya Angelou

"Is sex dirty? Only if it is done right." -Woody Allen

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." -Mahatma Gandhi

"I see L.A. as a beautiful blonde with dirty underwear" -David Boreanza

"A clean fighter in a dirty game [on boxer Joe Louis] -Wilfrid Diamond

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Thursday, September 27, 2007

For Better or Worse

"Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without." -Lord Byron

"Many a man in love with a dimple makes the mistake of marrying the whole girl." -Stephen Leacock

"Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"Love is blind, but marriage restores its sight." -Samuel Lichtenberg

"Women seem to be all right on bargain till it comes to picking out a husband." -Ken Hubbard

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." -Theodore Hesburg

"The four rings of marriage: the engagement ring, the wedding ring, the suffering, and enduring."

"In every marriage more than a week old, there are grounds for divorce.The trick is to find, and continue to find, the grounds for marriage." -Robert Anderson

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." -Victor Borge

When asked for about his secret for being married fifty-four years to the same person, he said, "Ruth and I are happily incompatible." -Billy Graham

"A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband." -Michel de Montaigne

"The Japanese have a word for it.It's Judo -- the
art of conquering by yielding.The Western equivalent of judo is, 'Yes, dear.'" -J. P. McEvoy

"The best way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once." ~H.V. Prochnow

"My wife tells me she doesn't care what I do when I'm away, as long as I'm not enjoying it."
-Lee Trevino

"Think not because you are now wed that all your courtship's at an end."
-Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza

"If you live to be a hundred, I want To live to be a hundred minus one day,
So I never have to live without you." -A.A. Milne Eeyore


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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Horsing Around


"They must get to the end and go, 'We were just here. What's the point of that?'"
-Jerry Seinfeld, on what a horse must think after a race is over

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Friday, September 21, 2007

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Celluloid Dreams


John's job is to clean the stars on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Even without his legs, he manages to do a wonderful job shining the stars of the forgotten heroes...even if they're all just make-believe.














Celluloid Heroes

by The Kinks


Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star,
And everybody's in movies, it doesn't matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down Hollywood Boulevard
Their names are written in concrete.

Don't step on Greta Garbo as you walk down the boulevard,
She looks so weak and fragile thats why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne,
But she turned her back on stardom,
Because she wanted to be alone.

You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Rudolph Valentino, looks very much alive,
And he looks up ladies dresses as they sadly pass him by.
Avoid stepping on Bela Lugosi
'cause he's liable to turn and bite,
But stand close by Bette Davis
Because hers was such a lonely life.

If you covered him with garbage,
George Sanders would still have style,
And if you stamped on Mickey Rooney
He would still turn round and smile,
But please don't tread on dearest Marilyn
'cause shes not very tough,
She should have been made of iron or steel,
But she was only made of flesh and blood.

You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of.
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star
And everybody's in show biz, it doesn't matter who you are.
And those who are successful,
Be always on your guard,
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along Hollywood Boulevard.

I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.

You can see all the stars as you walk along Hollywood Boulevard,
Some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Oh celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh celluloid heroes never really die.

I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.


Listen to the song, Celluloid Heroes, here.



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Monday, September 17, 2007

Sweet 15


"How strange that the young should always think the world is against them- when in fact that is the only time it is for them.
-Mignon McLaughlin

"The young always have the same problem- how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying each other."
-Quentin Crisp

"Telling a teenager the facts of life is like giving fish a bath."
-Arnold H. Glasow

"Adolescents are not monsters. They are just people trying to learn how to make it among the adults in the world, who are probably not so sure themselves."
-Virginia Satir

"Don't laugh at a youth for his affectations; he is only trying on one face after another to find a face of his own."
-Logan Pearsall Smith

"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass."
-Maya Angelou

"Maturity begins to grow when you sense you concern for others outweighing your concern for yourself."
-John MacNoughton

"When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot."
-Larry Lujack

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Sunday, September 16, 2007

Pimping For J.C.


Frank was holding a bible in his hand.

Me: "Are you a preacher?"

Frank: "No, I came from church."

Me: "That's quite an outfit you have on."

Frank: "Thank you!"

Me: "Well, you are an original, I tell you."

Frank: "Thank you!! I have a closet full of suits like this one!"


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Friday, September 14, 2007

Paid

Cost of the War in Iraq
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3,742 U.S. Solider killed

27,767 seriously wounded

72,161-78,740 civilians killed

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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Monday, September 10, 2007

Overhaul

There are days when I feel
like I need a complete overhaul.
Gut everything out and
start over from scratch.


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Thursday, September 6, 2007

Conditioned Response


To the adults passing by on the street, the house was an eye-sore; gutted and crumbling and fallen victim to trapped anger with a paint can. The child saw beauty where others turned away. The yellow of sunshine, the blue of the ocean, the black of night, red like the hearts he drew for his mother, and all against a backdrop of the green grass he loved to tumble in before dinner time. There were dreams there. Dreams for a youth with hopes of following the curving words around the next bend. Someday he would build his own foundation, muting the riot of color with the serenity of promise and a childhood spent searching the wonders of the human condition.

April Gilford

(This is a collaborative project where I invite guest writers to write about what comes to their mind and heart when they look at one of my images. I want to thank April for her marvelous words and contribution to this post. If you want to read more of April's great writings, I highly recommend you to visit one of her blogs...and do visit often! Thank you, April!)

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Sunday, September 2, 2007