This and That

Much to the relief of the women in my life, my year-long experiment with a ponytail has ended. I had never had a ponytail in my misspent youth, so why not in my misspent retirement? In the end, it was concern for Spin, my barber. He had had no revenue from me for over a year, and with Hal's recent adoption of the Mr. Clean look, the reduction in income had put the nutrition of his twin girls in jeopardy. In any case, it was fun while it lasted.

A couple of recent celebrity deaths have dominated the news here for the last couple of days. Farrah Fawcett's famous poster certainly brings back memories of the times. The hair, the flashing white smile, the right nipple trying to poke through the bathing suit... Ah sweet dreams! I didn't follow Charlie's Angels or any of the many made-for-TV movies that she did, but I certainly remember her role as Robert Duvall's wife in The Apostle. I think I might have to put that one in my Netflix queue to watch it again.

I was never a huge Michael Jackson fan. In fact, I remember his chirpy songs with The Jackson Five as extremely annoying. I do however, remember the Thriller album quite vividly. I had just moved to St. Louis in 1983, and the airwaves were filled with the album's various hits. And who can forget his dancing? Incredible never before seen moves, that even I as anything but a dance aficionado, couldn't help but admire. But was he really that big a star? Big enough to warrant wall-to-wall cable TV coverage? His talent was long past its best-before date, and his private/public life was pathetic. He was an extremely talented but also tormented individual. I guess it's just another opportunity to highlight the vacuousness of the American media-industrial establishment.