Saturday, September 11, 2010

ME! ME! ME! ME! ME! ME! ME! ME! ME! ME! ME!

Some readers have told me that I can't really call this a blog, until I cough up at least one post in which I gas on about myself endlessly. So here's my stab at it. The usual format is for a phantom "interviewer" to ask a lot of tasteless questions, to which I respond with oily self-congratulation; but just to keep things stirred up I'll be honest here and there.

Q.: What's your favorite scent in nature?

MB: Black locust blossom.

Q.: Do you talk to yourself?

MB: Yes, lots. Sometimes I crack myself up, or argue myself to a standstill. Why not have a great conversation, just because another person happens not to be there at the moment?!

Q.: What are your feelings about cilantro?

MB: I hate it. It's the loco-weed of our decade.

Q.: Do you sweat a lot?

MB: No. There's a saying: "Horses sweat. Men perspire. Ladies glow."

Q.: What movie scene made you laugh so much you fell off your chair?

MB: Sam Kinison as the psycho history teacher raving away at his terrified students in BACK TO SCHOOL. His eyes pop right out of his head and his spittle flies off the screen and onto the audience! I've heard Kinison was a child evangelist in the old days, mesmerizing whole audiences as he ranted at them about hellfire; so no wonder he's so good at this!

Q.: Most sustained comic performance in a movie?

MB: HAS to be Bill Murray as the creepy groundskeeper Carl Spackler in CADDYSHACK. Every crazy squint, every mutter, even his droopy camouflage pants are just brilliant.

Q.: What do you eat to get your strength back when you're feeling blue?

MB: Hot ham and fried egg, heavily peppered, on a toasted onion bagel. With strong mustard, a slice of red onion. And a big old Cuba Libre goes with this just fine. Dark rum, of course.

Q.: What personality types do you despise the most?

MB: Bullies and liars.

Q.: Who is your favorite spiritual leader? Buddha, Yahweh, Krishna, Jesus, Mohammed? Or lots of different gods like in Wagner operas?

MB: Yahweh is such a huge honking name and presence that I'm almost afraid not to choose him. In my mind's eye, to this day, I see his beard of thunder and his gaze of forked lightning just as I did as a child--and I see them with considerable respect. But for me, Jesus Christ of the Gospels is the most ethically sublime. If he actually said and did even a tenth of the things that were attributed to him, he had the most beautiful mind and heart.

Q.: Do you believe in forgiving...or not?

MB: I'm torn. There's a very moving scene in the Japanese movie BRIGHT FUTURE, where a kid has hurt and insulted someone who's been kind to him, a father figure. The kid realizes his mistake and begs for forgiveness. The man just says to him, very simply, "I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive everybody everything."
I know that that's the higher course.

But then there's a tiny little devil in people (including me) that just sort of pops up and enjoys the Spanish saying, "Forgiveness is the first sign of senility." As though holding tight to a good grudge is good for your health, adds salt and red pepper to life. So it's a toss-up.

Well, that's enough gassing on for now. Have a wonderful weekend, folks, and I will now sign off from my REAL BLOG!!!

10 comments:

  1. You already had a "real blog" but thanks for the inside scoop!

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  2. That sounds like a remedy I've got to try the next time I'm under the weather. Forget the soup, I want ham and eggs.

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  3. Thank you, Pat. Your blog is definitely one of the real ones.

    TS,my theory is that sick people should stuff themselves with greasy protein. They will either recover or die happy.

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  4. What a wonderful, quirky post - even if you revealed far less of yourself than we voyeurs would have liked!

    Forgiveness. Now that's a deep one. I used to nurse and hold my grudges dear. It was too sweet to let go. It's a huge leap to cut those loose - and such a relief, when you finally do..

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  5. Dear Shrinky, thank you for your generous Comment.

    About Forgiveness: I promise to try.

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  6. You are a fascinating woman.

    It's nice to know someone else talks herself into a standstill. It's a rather perplexing place to be, isn't it?

    xoRobyn

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  7. Robyn, you wrote, "You are a fascinating woman"--Ditto, babe! I lurve, luff, lawvvv your blog.

    I notice that something about this post made one Follower depart; so it's good to know that others weren't quite as appalled!

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  8. I gotta defend my spice cilantro. I love it on pizza 'n potato skins. Oh wait, is that chives?

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  9. Forgiveness doesn't mean you have to let people continue to hurt you. I forgive them, but they are no longer in my life.

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  10. Hi Copyboy, I'd agree most people like cilantro; but to a weird minority (I'm one), for some reason it really does taste like soap. It's a mystery! Chives are good, though.

    Jen, thank you for the thoughtful comment about forgiveness: "I forgive them, but they are no longer in my life--" I recognize that it's a very wise response.

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