Steve Martin received the Mark Twain Award

Steve Martin received the Mark Twain Award!

Tom Hanks gave Steve Martin the Mark Twain award on PBS tonight, Sunday, November 13.

Tom Hanks said that Steve Martin defined who we were as people.

Martin Short played across Martin in "Three Amigos" and " Father of the Bride , Part I" and "Father of the Bride, PartII." Short said he admired his friend very much.

On clip of Martin showed him playing the banjo with a fake arrow running through his head.

Lily Tomlin sad he brought us to "sublime silliness and devine comedy!" She continued her description of her friend:" He has dachshund shaped ballons, a really big brain and abig heart with an arrow running right straight through it!...Everything else in him is rubber!"

Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel sang "The Sounds of Silence as a tribute to him and Dian Keaton sang a song to him. It was a beautiful show.

 

 

Veteran's Day

Honor Veterans Today

Today is Veterans' Day. I want to thank all of the veterans for the great job that they have done through two World Wars, the Korean War, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Persian Gulf, and Iraq.

If you are serving right now in Iraq, I am sending you appreciation for a very difficult job. And may you come home soon; and may you stay safe!

Note: Joe, our Journals' Editor encouraged people to honor  veterans today:

http:journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke/entries829

and JohnM.Scalzi has two journals that honor our veterans:http:journals.aol.com/johnscalzi/theway/entries/5050

A journalist at CNN was just on air reminding all of us to honor the people who have helped us maintain our freedoms so valiantly!

Oh No! Jim forgot to turn on the configuration button....

Oh No! ..Jim forgot to turn on the configuration button.!..http://hometown.aol.com/johnmscalzi/badclonea.jpg

Assignment  from John Scalzi

..".I am looking into an instrument that magnifies the entrance to Jim's porthall, which is just barely open...and you will not be pleased, Jude, with what I am seeing!.... Jude, Jim forgot to turn on the configuration button when he set the ascribed descriptive measurements for his model... He messed up his eyes ,which I need to get to, I'm afraid that they will loose their focusing ability if I don't adjust them soon...His brain may have hardening gelatinous substance; after all I don't know how long his model has been forced to obey commands without proper

tools...You know,Jude, if we don't get to him fast, it may confuse and bother him so much taht he looses focus and therefore is unable to do the computer setup for reentry on our way back...Please help me out if you can..Can you reach Jim on your remote?

http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/5012

 

Good Children's Movies

Good Children's Movies

There are some children's movies that I think are expectional. The first one  is :"Totoro", a Japanese animated movie for kids. It is fascinating and it includes Japanes folklore and stories about Japanese families in it. It is famous in Japan and in San Francisco, you can buy Totoro stuffed animals that are created after this movie.

   There are two movies about a continuing story called "the Never Ending Story , Part I and Part II".

This is storytelling at  it's best and the animation is stunning , and fits well with the music.It is very creative and wonderful . It has to do with courage, creativity, finding one's way in the world and standing up for oneself in a meaningful way!

Labrynth is a movie with great actors and a stunning plot built for kids; however, the girl has to figure out the huge maze in this old French castle and grounds in order to find her little brother. Very suspenseful!

Jimmy is gone

Jimmy is Gone

Al picked up his tools and he got in his truck. He drove quietly down the road; the image of his little boy in his mind. He remembered little instances when Jimmy had been so sweet...going along with him in he truck on some jobs and hammering away while his father fixed somebody's leaky pipes...The joy of that child was that he never thought of himself... always of everyone else....Al sighed....

Jimmy had a defective heart... although they had done everything that they could think of to help him, taken him to the specialists in California, had a special heart pump installed...had sepcial care form cardiologists in their town looking in on him...it was not to be... Jimmy's heart had failed him this week. How to answer all of the heart rendering questions from his friends at school? Al dropped some tears on his sweat shirt...How about his own questions? How could he stay strong for his wife when he felt insecure about this himself? He sighed....

He hoped that the postitve force in the universe would give him hope and information..and he hoped taht his best friends, the ones who had been helping him hold his own, the ones who wold carry the coffin with him tomorrw , would always be there...

El Dia de Meurte or The Day of the Dead

El Dia de Meurte or The Day of the Dead

We have good friends who hail originally from Mexico and there they have a great tradition of honoring relatives who have passed away called El Dia de Meurte.

They set the table for dinner like always, except that they add a placesetting for every family member who has pased away.They cook the favorite meal of that person. That night, they also set up an alter ..a way to honor that person with photos, pictures of their favorite things, and they make little sugar sculls like the person.

After they eat they leave the meal for the preson. They imagine the person sitting with them and visiting the family after the meal. They are happy that their dear relative has come by to visit them.The next day they remove the food. It is a joyous occasion!

 

Babies: Should We Choose their Sex?

Babies: Should We Choose Their Sex?

Apparently some scientists in Mass. think so...hey are experimenting to find a way to let parents decide on the sex of their new baby. Do you think this is right? please leave a comment....

Personally I think it is very bad.