Mushrooms

Speckled specimen.

I've always loved mushrooms and their shapes. They bring to mind fantastical fairy tales about leprechauns, those whimsical shapes that capture the artistic mind with a naturalist bent. I had a yellow polka dotted, painted wood cutout of a mushroom on my wall as a kid, decor that was sought to match the bright walls. I also loved the scene from Fantasia with the dancing oriental mushrooms. What kid didn't? The very first piece of art I did at Oneonta State (a SUNY school, enough said) was an Alice in Wonderland piece of psychedelia with a giant 'shroom that I put on our front door. It went with the giant tie dye tapestry we bought for about $15 (we haggled with the hippie who went door to door) that hung from the ceiling. We also took a tossed couch by the side of the dorm with no legs, put it on top of a tipped over bookcase, and covered it with a black and white cowhide I bought at a farm goods store in West Texas.

Me and my best friend were the first people to get "written up" (cited for partying) on campus, in the very same dorm her older brother was an R.A., and we're chicks, so overnight we became infamous. Within a few days, the sorority girls from Long Island, in their matching Champion sweats, slouchy socks, and top knot ponytails, wrote nasty remarks about stoners on the drawing, and then someone jacked it. In retaliation, we spray painted cracks about them in hairspray on the mirrors in the common bathroom (our commentary about their dependency on beauty products and their cliched 80s hairdos), and then lit them on fire so they would be visible in burnt scorch marks, a brilliant piece of impromptu performance art that was angry, hilarious, and true, which was our punk ethos at the time. We made the scene, and the best guys around wanted to hang out and party with us, which made us even bigger targets, but by then, we'd already surpassed the dorm in hijinks, so we were golden. It kicked off one of the best, funnest, fruitful, and most stable parts of my life, but more about that in the future. Suffice to say, whenever I see a cute patch of them, I still think the same thoughts: they're funny, sweet, cheerful, happy and also edible, but please don't go foraging without an expert. The difference between an edible one, a trip to Mars, or a slow, agonizingly painful death can be a minute one, so don't do it. If you're interested in mycology like I am, check out some resources on the subject, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/The-Pocket-Guide-Wild-Mushrooms/dp/1620877317/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1382549928&sr=8-2&keywords=Skyhorse+mushrooms.

Mama and baby 'shroom.

There's also a bunch of nature hikes with guides you can take in the area New Yorkers, so have at it you freaks, and I mean that in the best, warmest way possible: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/.

Live life, and prosper.

http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/nature/. 

The Holy Fonz

Catholics catch a lot of flack for the wackier elements of their faith, ones that I cherish for that very reason: there's walking on water, turning water into wine at a wedding (Who wouldn't want that? It certainly is cheaper than the HUGE tab that comes with an open bar. Especially at Irish-Catholic events.), getting beamed up into space, er, "Heaven" after death—you know, all that fun, cool stuff.

We laugh about it, (and sometimes cry, too), because religion is a human thing, and like any institution, people can either make it great or really effin' bad. This season is kind of a big deal; there's the build up with Mardi Gras, Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and then Easter. It's the time period leading up to Jesus' crucifixion: The Betrayal, (for a few scheckels...eww), His arrest and capture, imprisonment and torture, public trial and condemnation by the mob, humiliation on the way to the site, and then Jesus was nailed to a cross with the other criminals and mocked while He died. It was way harsh.

So when I get a chance to have fun with the some of the more liturgical and dogmatic aspects to Christian ceremonies, it's a good time for me. No doubt, there are many disturbed and robotic people who just want something to belong to, and Seth McFarlane is there to mock them, as is fitting given their "Sheeple" mindset. No one does it better than a Catholic schoolboy ;) 

Here's a link to The Father, The Son, and The Holy Fonz, in its' entirety. NSFW!! Enjoy.

http://www.familyguyepisodes.tv/family_guy_season_4_episode_18_the_father_the_son_and_the_holy_fonz.html

Greatest Hits

I caught the beginning of this movie on t.v., about a week or so ago. It was sheer excitement. I sat up on the couch, threw both arms in the air, shouted "Yeeaaahhh!!", then cranked the volume on the remote.

Dear readers, for your enjoyment I submit to you the opening sequence from the original 1958 version of "The Blob"—a movie with the added bonus of Steve McQueen in the lead, as a drag-racing hipster. The graphics are perfectly set to the music, hinting at the action to follow. No wonder we loved this movie as kids! How much fun is the trailer?

Check out the beachy theme to "The Munsters", a weird and silly t.v. show about a family of monsters, (and one human cousin) with some of the best, most exaggerated, over-the-top characters, ever. Unfortunately, we never had the attention span to watch an entire show. Too hokey for our tastes, though the music has aged really well:

We flipped for "Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse" because of the opening music, the evil frog villain, and the groovy background tunes. If you've got the time, watch the clip (after the jump), from beginning to end, because the voices are hysterical. It's about 5 minutes long. If not, the first 30 seconds is the theme song. You've got to click on the link below to watch it on youtube, because the embed functions for videos have been disabled on the site, in order to drive the sales of a DVD release featuring the cartoons:

http://youtu.be/vuAPrY5ErjA

Nothing made us more psyched than hearing the Pink Panther cartoon theme song. Great music played throughout, timed and composed to incredible animation, with nary a word spoken. If you have the time, check out the first episode from season one:

No compilation would be complete without a clip or two from the "Schoolhouse Rock" series:

Have a magical day.