In honour of tomorrow's schmaltzy schmooze in celebration of St Valentine's Day I took a look at some vintage Valentine's greetings cards at Google Image. Some of them would not go down too well in this era of more thoughtfulness, or as some disparagingly call it "PC". Take a look at these. A couple of them are just silly, most reflect the times in which they were produced, the last one would probably be mine to send - but one of these is especially nauseating.
Another day to celebrate capitalism. Various websites indicate the average cost of $150 upward spent per person, approximately $20 billion total. Love isn't free or cheap. No significant other here, so I'm off the hook...whew!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why, but VD was always observed in my grade school. It was mandatory to exchange cards among all fellow classmates regardless of gender. Each of us had to make a mailbox to receive the cards...an art project. There were the usual hurt feelings when the social outcasts (think "Lord of the Flies") weren't in the loop or nasty epithets were scribbled as extra salutations. Unnecessary, induced trauma at an early age.
Here are some interesting VD cards:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2016/valentines-4/
With the super-cold hitting the Northeast, I predict there will be lots of loving this weekend and proof will arrive around November. Scorpios will be on the increase.
May you and anyjazz find rapture in each others' embrace while watching "I Love You Phillip Morris" on Netflix.
mike ~ We've spend very much less than the average, as reported. We bought each other some better than our usual quality wine for him)/Scotch(for me) - V Day is as good an excuse as any. ;-/
ReplyDeleteI don't remember being aware of V-Day in my youth - that's odd, come to think of it. Certainly no school-day memories of it. I don't recall my parents giving each other flowers or gifts on V-Day. I suppose the commercialisation possibilities hadn't caught on in Britain in my younger days. From your description of your V-Day school experience I'm grateful to have missed something similar!
LOL! The card ideas at your link are definitely for those in a different dimension from me, mathematically speaking. :-)
Don't know what we'll be watching over the weekend, the last two films (non-fiction) we've watched on Netflix have provided fodder for a couple of blog posts, probably coming up next week - side effects can be useful! I'll try to find something a bit sweeter in flavour to watch on Sunday evening. We saw "Like Sunday, Like Rain" recently (Netflix again) - it's a sweet film, but not in a romantic way. I think you said you'd ditched Netflix though?
Haven't cancelled Netflix...yet. I've not been on Netflix for the past two or three weeks. I find myself searching for something to watch and spending thirty minutes in the effort, only to get out of Netflix and resume regular TV programming or possibly the PBS or History Roku channels. I'm sure there are movies on Netflix that I would enjoy, but finding them is an effort. I can select several and put them on "my list" only to view the first ten or twenty minutes, then go ugh. I'm more likely to enjoy a movie by simply going-in blind, based on the two-sentence description. HBO or Showtime is again calling my name. I was briefly on HBO GO and wasn't overly enthused with their limited library, but the movies are more mainstream and change regularly. I may try a one month free trial of Showtime. Amazon has some interesting stuff, but I'm against the corporation, so I won't go there. I'll investigate user-comments about the upgraded Hulu once again for comparison...they've become better, I've heard.
ReplyDeleteI should really go cold turkey and unplug. I haven't been reading books for some time. I used to read a book a week, sometimes two. Streaming movies is a bit like being spoon fed, whereas books require my mental visualization and interpretation, and keeps the noggin more intact I think. I feel more satisfied from a good book. We have a Half Price Books in town, but it's way out in suburbia and difficult for me to shop, though I can walk a couple of blocks and catch a bus that goes right by it, but it requires a full afternoon of travel and browsing. I still have several unread books from my last visit and I know that once I've read them, I'll HAVE to visit Half Price Books ASAP. It's always nice to have a stack of unread books in waiting.
"I Love You Phillip Morris" is supposed to be weird and good, so I'll probably watch it tonight. Sunday evenings, I've been watching the last season of "Downton Abbey" and enjoying it...wish I'd tuned-in at the beginning, as it's not as I'd thought. And after "Downton" comes the new "Mercy Street", and I've fallen into the series.
I thought if the day fell on a Sunday we didn't have to observe it.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I squeak when I walk? Maybe I'm coming down with something.
mike (again) ~ I know how you feel re Netflix - we have the same problem - often watch 15 mins. of a film or pilot of a series, say "Ugh!" and ditch it. I'd experiment all night, but anyjazz gets impatient (Aries Sun) ;-) so I have to decide on something quickly, for good or ill.
ReplyDeleteWe watched the last (and final) 7 episodes of "Mad Men" recently newly on Netflix, but first had to go back a couple of episodes to remind ourselves of what was what.
It ended rather with a whimper than a bang, they could've done better.
I tend to go by the number of viewer star allocations a film has - and look mainly for nothing less than 3 and a half out of 5. Not always a reliable guide, but often is. I've been known to add a star if impressed.
I think we've seen the Phillip Morris movie, but cannot recall it other than the title. Or maybe I've just read about it. We'll maybe give it a go. As you know "Downton Abbey" is one of my most ughly "Ughs!" "Mercy Street" is as yet unknown to me. On our version of PBS "Doc Martin" comes up late on Sunday evenings - we often see that, but it appears to be in a continual loop and we've seen most episodes at least twice now. "Vicar of Dibley" was similar a few years ago, but we loved that, even when we'd seen episodes 3 or 4 times it didn't matter. :-)
Bob ~ Oh really? LOL! Good excuse then!
ReplyDeleteI sometimes click when I swing my arm. ;-) Hope your squeak isn't worse than wearing in a pair of new shoes.
Something about being so tight (with money), making it hard to part with moolah for cards [when you can just say sweet nothings] and chocolates [that are bad for the waistline].
ReplyDeleteThanks to Cervantes, Thomas Lodge, Shakespeare, or Rabbie Burns. I shall use Will.
As You Like It - Rosalind
"Why, forester," quoth Ganymede, "comfort thyself. Be blithe and frolic, man. Love souseth as low as she soareth high; Cupid shoots at a rag as soon as at a robe; and Venus's eye, that was so curious, sparkled favor on polt-footed Vulcan. Fear not, man, women's looks are not tied to dignity's feathers, nor make they curious esteem where the stone is found but what is the virtue. Fear not, forester. Faint heart never won fair lady., But where lives Rosalind now? At the court?"
Bob ~ LOL! After reading that quote I wandered into the interwebs and straight away landed on this:
ReplyDeletehttp://trofire.com/2016/02/13/fox-intellectuals-suggest-that-sanders-cant-win-because-of-his-looks/
What would we expect from Fox News though? Because of his looks? Dang!!
Still, I do recall a British politician who coulda been Prime Minister but many said he couldn't "because of his looks" - he was a wild and woolly guy, not unlike Bernie before the hairdresser got hold of him. Michael Foot was his name - lovely fellow - anti-war, pro the People all the way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Foot
The Daily Mirror was the only major newspaper to back Foot and Labour at the 1983 general election, urging its readers to vote Labour and "Stop the waste of our nation, for your job your children and your future" in response to the mass unemployment which followed Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher's monetarist economic policies to reduce inflation. Most other newspapers had urged their readers to vote Tory. Foot's Labour Party lost to the Conservatives in a landslide.... :-(
This must not happen here - and especially not due to looks!
This blog sends a Valentine to Bernie. :-)
I find it hard to believe that a significant percentage of voters would base thier decision on a candidates looks.
ReplyDeleteThe real Rosalind.
http://www.shmoop.com/as-you-like-it/rosalind-timeline.html
" Again, she delivers more abuse, and then she demands he marry her. After the fake marriage, she points out that women are awful once you've married them, and you can't love them forever, as they only get nastier with old age."
Interesting?
http://trofire.com/2016/02/11/famous-economist-explains-why-a-bernie-economy-would-soar-big-picture-with-thom-hartmann/
Bob ~ I think ol' Will Shakespeare must have had some bad experiences with women, and wrote it into his plays. A little bit similar to the way some astrologers who have had bad experiences with someone who had a certain zodiac sign prominent in their natal chart might tend to write forecasts for that sign with an echo of their experience embedded? I guess that does happen.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to the economist's discussion on Bernie's plans - very nicely explained.
Anthony Scalia won't be receiving VD cards from here on. Marfa took him. Schadenfreude talks to me.
ReplyDeleteMr Foot was a very active man.
ReplyDeleteHow could Labour lose so many consecutive elections? Where was Holmes when you needed him to look into things? Apologies to Will and Henry (or 'enery) - “Come, Watson, come!" he cried. The game is afoot.”
There are more things in heaven and earth than in signs contrived by man. I do not use them, nor know much about them as what I learned has faded like the years.
The planets are real, space is real, signs are made up.
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/soliloquies/tobeornottobe.html
Days of innocence. My first GF thought VD stood for "very dirty". Smart girl.
ReplyDeleteSo no more porn for scallywag Scalia.
mike ~ Just read about that, then some comments, one of which was a video of the song "Dancin' in the Streets". (Way to stay classy). ;-)
ReplyDeleteSeems like chaos will reign atop chaos now, Repubs will block all nominees for sure.
4-4 decisions by SCTUS will go back to result of appeal court who sent the case to SCOTUS (according to commentary at Lawyers Guns and Money - who seem to know that of which they speak.
Bob ~ Dunno what went wrong - I've blocked most of it from memory. :-) Too many good men didn't get their chances. One who had an excellent chance unexpectedly died before he could get started - John Smith. That was dreadful.
ReplyDeleteYou astrologise with no signs then. Hmm. Interesting. Just the planets.
Yep no more porn for him - though it depends which way he was headed, I guess.
Oklahoma City hit with 5.1 earthquake today that was felt in surrounding states. Did you feel it? Do you have earthquake insurance on your house?
ReplyDeletemike (again) ~ No, didn't feel anything, but we are around 90 mins drive from OKC, to the south, over 100 miles away. Not sure whether we have earthquake insurance - will ask himself. :-( Maybe it comes under "Acts of God" ;-/
ReplyDeleteAw, you romantic, you.
ReplyDeleteI watched "I Love You Phillip Morris" and thought it deserving of its 4-stars, but the first half is a little deceiving, as it builds toward the ending. More amazing is it's based on real-life, Steven Jay Russell (born September 14, 1957). A good astrological study: http://planetwatcher.com/#-388047600
ReplyDeleteHere's an article from The Guardian, "I love you Phillip Morris: a conman's story":
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/sep/06/steven-russell-elizabeth-day-jim-carrey
James Higham ~ :-)
ReplyDeletemike+ (again) ~ We watched ILYPM too! Yes, it improved after the first 30 mins or so.
ReplyDeleteJim Carrey is probably the only actor who could have pulled off that part successfully - great performance! I began suspecting it was based on a real person, had to wade through never-ending credits to get confirmation. :-)
Have to tell you - remember the scene where he manages to get music playing in/near the prison cell and the song is "Chances Are" sung by Johnny Mathis? Anyjazz laughed and told me there used to be a bar in Wichita KS called "Chances Are", back in the day. He says it wasn't really a gay bar because there were no such things back then - but it WAS a gay bar. :-)
Thanks for the link and chart. Will take a look.
We had first watched "The Railway Man", a good one, but hard to watch in places when it flashed back to Japanese POWs. A valuable film though - especially for its ending.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Railway_Man_%28film%29
mike ~ Meant to say, also, remembered while reading the article you linked : he didn't do anything anywhere evil enough to be incarcerated in solitary for life! WTF!!! He didn't harm anyone. I don't understand this part.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the movie, there were two brief lines stating that it was a true story. At the end, prior to the credits, a brief sentence stating that he was sentenced to life in solitary under Governor Bush. Twenty-four USA states have some type of "3 strikes" law and TX had it since 1952...repeat offenders are put-away for life. His natal Sun and Mars are currently under a conjunction transit of Jupiter and N Node, also trine natal Moon. Perhaps there will be renewed interest in his life and incarceration...or when transiting Pluto hits the 21-22* of Capricorn, setting-up a grand trine. S J Russell's natal chart is very interesting, knowing how the energy was utilized. Day's article in The Guardian quotes Russell as saying "it's like acting"...his chart would indicate that, too.
ReplyDelete"Chances Are"...beautiful song and a good name for a bar...LOL.
I saw the offering for "The Railway Man", but the POW aspect and blurb made me squeamish. War movies, particularly ones with POWs, make me feel discomfit, but that's usually the point of those movies to a degree. I have a low tolerance for violence, torture, anguish, abuse, unless it's mental...LOL.
mike (again) ~ I thought the lines at the beginning of the movie were just part of the fiction; missed that bit prior to credits though.
ReplyDeleteRussell's a very unusual character. As the Guardian piece indicated, it'd not be too great a stretch to suppose he might even manage to escape again at some point...or do something else outlandish!
I was surprised not to see some Gemini in his chart, but Virgo is Mercury ruled too, and mutable. His 4 planets there give him lots of Mercurial traits, even though Earthy. But he's certainly no textbook Virgo-type! Venus conjunct Neptune at 00 Scorpio describes him and his adventures quite well.
The film has been out since 2009, I don't think it's likely to have any effect on judicial/legal opinion to cause a re-assessment of his sentence - it'd probably have the opposite effect anyway :-/ Transits you mention might help - maybe. :-)
The 3 strikes rule seems unduly harsh to me, at least regarding the solitary confinement part in his case.