I was riding the bus last week when I was attacked by a MWCM, which stands for “Misty Water Colored Memory” (lifted from that gooey Barb song she sang before she got the perm that made her look like “Arnold Horshack” on Welcome Back Kotter–a dated reference but very true). As you have likely guessed MWCM is a sarcastic term. It defines an elderly concept in my “Ago” that is always attempting to change me into a sniveling old Shrew. We all have something like that inside (or will once fifty or so comes creeping), an ugsome, nettlesome something that (apparently) has invested heavily in old Shrew futures. I cannot kill mine but I can temporarily beat it to atoms by using my hard, old cold heart as a hammer. I often take satisfaction in imaginary acts of violence. They keep me balanced.
The MWCM rose when my bus went uphill and at the crest I saw a group of tweenish school children waiting for their school bus. It was not quite yet eight, and the kids were standing in wisps of September fog–the type that comes when you recall the way things were; it was the soul of summer being sucked into the eternal abyss of autumn, if you are in a poet mood this morn’. And although I was not at all charmed by the children, the pensioner in my Ago spoke of a memory at least as old as the Barb song. It reminded me of when I was young, waiting for the school bus and how just fucking wonderful things once were.
The MWCM almost got me. You must be vigilant against such droopy hearted residents of your Agos. Fortunately, one of the boys in the gaggle (ten, maybe twelve years closer to prison than he was at birth) caught me looking, and as our bus went by, the waste of an otherwise perfectly good ovary gave me the Finger.
This may be the only time in my life when I blessed someone for flipping me the bird. It ruined MWCM’s plans and reminded me of the way things were not, but are and always have been. It was a wonderful little moment that I might want to sell to an ad agency. I can see it now, a bus rider of a certain age, all grumpy and beat, sees a group of children waiting for the school bus and recalls the Sweet Bird of Youth. Since Coke pays well, the Sweet Bird of Youth is shaped like a giant can of the best mixer there is for Jack Daniel’s. But dreams, sadly, are just dreams–like bus fare and lunch money, dreams are items destined to slip out of a hole in the pocket of our soul upon recalling the way we once were. A boy sees the face of a certain age, smiles and offers a Coke. But the goddamn bus is passing at at least fifteen mph. This infuriates the face who gives the boy a double blast of the Fingers.
When you cut my check, Coke, remember that’s two l’s in Allison…
Anyway, reality has a way of turning the screw, to borrow from Henry James. So let’s now give a finger to the future dreamers of the world (not out of hostility but because we are not yet dead) and move forward by looking back at the Week That Was (hmmm. A bit of a contradiction there, oh well, so it goes).
This week was the usual mixture of wildly singular voices, some new, some very familiar and another who still flagrantly scofflaws the restraining order.
The Sunday Rerun was its usual top notch self with David Henson’s About Uncle. This is deeply poignant, as it stands between the brother and sister. I can see this sort of hurtful thing happening everywhere and congratulate David for finding a restrained and mature way of exploring the gruesome subject.
We were very happy to welcome Carolyn Russell to begin the week. Her Grayscale walks the highwire. Is it reality or fancy? It is tremendously restrained and almost impossible to explain in a paragraph. The work raises questions and they are good questions!
The inimitable Frederick K. Foote showed why he has already clinched a hundred appearances (and more) with us on Tuesday. Eight-Ball Blues underscores Fred’s brilliant method of taking the reader into places and even if the reader is unfamiliar with the layout, s/he will be within a few words. Fred’s ability to capture language and layer a situation is unsurpassed by anyone.
Wednesday brought My Fair Wiccan by Yours Truly. I owe fellow site contributor Marco Etheridge a note of gratitude. This piece only came to be due to an invitation to make a very rare appearance elsewhere, where Marco is an Editor. All the good stuff is due to him, the rest you can blame on me.
Timeless Sympathy is a classy bit of work by newcomer Hana Carolina (what a wonderful name!). Much like the work of Carolyn Russell on Tuesday, Hana creates the extra atmosphere needed for a work in a familiar genre to not only be considered but to get through to a roaring success. The wonder of it is nothing is really at all held back, which helps to strengthen the climactic end. Tremendous sadness, extremely well told.
We closed this week with yet another long term friend. Not Such a Weird Duck by Adam Kluger again displays Adam’s fantastic fly on the wall way of capturing moments that would be mangled by lesser talents. And, once more, Adam gives us his artwork that is just like his prose, work so him, there is no mistaking it for anyone else.
Whenever I get to this point of the wrap I become so amazed that we pulled this off, and yet we have–for the 551th time in a row!
The Big Finale
I am all for book series (our co-Editor and friend Diane, has more than one active, still fresh CMT novel series going) and TV series and continuing characters popping up in different media. But there are some items that I feel should have ended a lot sooner than they did. This almost always involves film series and TV shows. These happen, of course, as a naked grab for more money and not because the creators have anything new to say. Below are nine of my opinions on the subject of enough is enough already–please include your own observations.
- The X-Files (it should have ended when Mulder left the show).
- Rocky (The original was a truly feel good film from the otherwise bleak 70’s. The follow ups were needless cartoons, which have harmed the original)
- Star Trek Films (I was never for the follow up films. I foresee a brighter age in which toupees and male girdles will not exist let alone be a choice)
- Star Wars (Call me a heretic, but I have only seen the original. That was about a year after it came out. I consider it a nice little, yet wildly overrated, film. It happened to be released the week I graduated high school, so it is attached to my generation no matter how much I do not care about it)
- Friday the 13th (If there was no such thing as cheap beer and fake ID’s, I doubt that the Slasher Genre would exist. I have nothing against it, but I think once you get to parts that need to be written in Roman numerals so they will fit on the poster then it might be time to quit making more)
- Saw (An excellent stand alone horror pic–but as a series it went on too long for me. Once stuff like this develops a “mythology” I consider it is being taken way too seriously)
- The Godfather (Part one is as fine a film as ever made. Part Two isn’t bad, but it sort of lulled when Deniro wasn’t on the screen; I walked out of Part Three. Nuff said)
- Endless Retirement Tours put on by Big Name Bands (I recall the Who’s Farewell Tour of 1982)
- Boston Three (Sort of like the Godfather. The first album was great, second wasn’t half bad, but, except for a couple of songs, three was the best reason not to make a fourth)
- Yours
Leila
Deborah Harry turned 80 in July. I recall listening to Parallel Lines by Blondie endlessly when both she and I were younger. Happy birthday Debbie!
literally stories 
Good post. My MWCMs often turn ugly if I think on them too hard. As for things that should have quit while they were ahead, I agree with most on your list and would add Happy Days, from which the phrase “jump the shark” originated. Thanks for the kind words in the roundup. Love the video.
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Thank you David
Just in from wandering about the fall day, truly lovely! Oh yes, the Fonz jumping the Shark! Ye gods. I guess anything can be considered “writing” if the network gives it the green light!
Thanks again!
Leila
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Hi Leila,
I never look back with any tinted glass or romantic (Not in the usual meaning) way, most memories make me cringe. I was a rather serious and weel fucked up kid so when I think back all I feel is misery and worry!!
My present life ain’t so good and I can’t say I’m very positive about the future.
So unlike wee greta, I don’t think I give a flying fuck where we end up. I do hope the beasties survive, they deserve to!!
You may realise why The Samaritans refused my application to go work with them.
Your enough is enough list, I have two. One may be controversial…
Dunken Donoughts!
Stop with the toppings and fillings. One of each is more than enough, in fact a bit too much!!
The second is TV Drama Series – Make two Series with eight episodes in each. This continual pouring out of episode after episode, series after series becomes repetitive. I consider it as an addiction when folks must watch whatever shit they are watching. And I also think it causes social problems as folks don’t go out because they are binge watching and then join fucking media forums to ‘discuss’ the latest ‘Bad yin’.
Excellent as always Leila!!!
Hugh
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Hugh you make several great points! Mainly, I love donuts, but I think just one addition (or two if one is sprinkles) is enough. And you are on the money with TV series that run too long. The Sons of Anarchy is a case there for me. The last two, maybe three seasons could have made one great finale season. Maybe there should be a law not allowing a show to run more than, say, forty episodes–except sitcoms who exist in their own weird little universes. I mean you can only stretch the concept so far. But like everything else, money was/is/will be the culprit, and I probably would find a way to justify those extra zeroes before the decimal point myself. Another thing is actors who have enough cash making the same film over and again. Harrison Ford did that for awhile and Tom Hanks is still at it. Enough already!
Thanks as always!
Leila
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Leila
My MWCM must have been painted in disappearing ink and I don’t watch movies even once with “Star” in the title or anything to do with horror. My favorite movie growing up was “East of Eden.” What? Yeah. My friends say I was never a child. The truth was, I never grew up.
I’m sorry I couldn’t play along today, but Debbie Harry was wonderful and Trump dumb. That’s all I got. — gerry
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Hi Gerry
Steinbeck had good luck with his stuff getting turned into halfway decent films. Hemingway too, Fitzgerald not so much.
Still waiting for a version of Grapes of Wrath faithful to the novel. Obviously the actual ending couldn’t happen with idiotic Hayes’ code. But Darwell, Fonda and Carradine were great.
Thank you for dropping by!
Leila
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Leila
I first want to congratulate you again on the great short story “My Fair Wiccan.” This piece is lovable and real at the same time, the characters in it are so adorable, and real at the same time, it proves yet again that one of the most talented writers out there continues to produce at the top of her game. Set beside your recent poem about Galileo from the SARAGUN SPRINGS site, for example, it can’t be beat at any level by anyone!
Looking forward to more of your material on SARAGUN SPRINGS this week!
“I often take satisfaction in imaginary acts of violence.”
The above brilliantly simple quotation from today is a great example of how well you write in nonfiction, too.
This quote, and all it implies, has enormous psychological depth, a huge relatability factor so that it touches the universal, and an honesty in writing that is EXTREMELY rare and therefore EXTREMELY GOOD.
Deep psychology, human universality, and hardcore honesty are qualities in a writer than can be seen in other writers like Herman Melville. Yes, one has to go to folks like Melville for valid comparisons.
And you manage to make it all seem so reader-friendly, as well, with an open-hearted humor that makes you, LITERALLY, a comedian in words, or a comic writer on par with D. Parker and J. Thurber.
There’s also a great DISTANCE in your writing, which is to say: a distance from yourself. An admirable, noble distance.
It’s a miracle how you manage to feel so PERSONAL while NEVER (not even once) sounding like you’re whining or complaining about your own situation or feeling sorry for yourself. An amazingly artful balancing act that goes straight to the heart of the reader from the heart of a great person who is the writer – yourself.
Singing your praises is so fun because you’re so Good!
Dale
PS Thanks for the Muppets clip which really brings me back and Happy Bday to Debbie!
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Hello Dale
You know how to make someone feel good about her/himself. And that you do it with sincerity is wonderful and I am extremely grateful to you for your kind words.
I felt kind of shitty about learning that Debbie was 80, made me feel old. Then I remembered that she and the boys are still out there rocking, which makes it a great deal better. The greatest portion of the list of biggest tours (save for those by people named Taylor Swift, who I’m sure will be out there at 80) is dominated by people like Springsteen and others who got their AARP cards eons ago. Age is a bit more than a number, but it also should never be a death sentence. Keep moving and grooving is a good thing to do.
Thanks again!
Leila
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…’the waste of a perfectly good ovary,’ a really great line, which I intend to reuse at every opportunity.
I enjoyed the Blondie Muppets clip too. A shame the Muppets never got Richard Nixon on the show, even if he was the waste of a perfectly good ovary.
thanks
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Thank you Mick
I loved the old Muppet Show–it ran at seven o’clock before Jeopardy (when it got in reruns) locally. They had one hell of a guest list. If Nixon could do Laugh In then why not the Muppet show? Would have loved to heard him sing a song!
Leila
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Your mention of Barbra is Evergreen (get it). I give her credit for one movie we liked “The Owl And The Pussycat”.
Debbie welcome from a fellow octogenarian. Have your tentacles started to grow yet? (Note – very obscure reference). With any luck they will be covered by your clothes. It is rather disconcerting though.
Star Wars. We lived in George Lucas country north of San Francisco before we moved to the Specific Northwest. Spotted him a couple of times. Our local theatre was about a block away. Mr. Lucas stipulated that the volume would blast.
Now that my editor has dragged me to God’s Waiting Room / Sunset City, death doesn’t seem that bad an option.
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Hi Doug
Thank you for coming by!
Don’t let the move get you down–maybe it will be the best thing ever–or at least tolerable.
Funny thing about popular singers–they either croak at 27 or live to challenge the century mark.
Leila
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Thanks for this it was great as always. I am in an odd situation regarding MWCMs I think. First of all the house I was born in was demolished many years ago – just as well as there was little to recommend it unless you were a fan of damp and rats. Then the school I attended in Liverpool was demolished – again no great loss – then the church I was married in was demolished – do you detect a sort of sad repetition here. So, although I have warm pink memories of my childhood (believe it or not) the chances of me witnessing any sort of a rerun have to be pretty remote.
I think your advert will be an enormous hit by the way! Genius.
Reruns – Oh my word don’t they annoy. You watch a really great programme and then they ruin it by adding and adding and adding until they have quite literally lost the plot and you want to throw something at the screen. ‘Lost’ that was one that was totally ruined by the never ending extension. Yellow Jackets – another one. The brilliant programme ‘Adolescent’ had barely disappeared from the screen before there were cries of ‘another, another’ Why can’t we just accept that sometimes less is very much more. Thank you for the mention of my series by the way. It was an odd thing with the first one it simply came to an end. The current one may be heading that way and book 10 could well be the last – though I can’t say that for definite at the moment.
I am amazed at the energy of many of the artists who just keep on going. More power to their elbows. Good stuff – dd
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Hi Diane
I can relate to your situation. Nearly all the places I associate with my past have been razed. But no big surprise since most should have already been dropped before I got to them.
I agree with what you say about “Lost.” That constant padding will turn an audience on the producers. But I can see Jordan going on as long as you’d like him too because there are always new things in that universe and he is not all by himself as far as interesting characters go.
Thank you as always for your support!
Leila
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I am partial too and often wooed by the gooiness of a good MWCM, and the older I get the more and more seductive they become. Another great week of stories, and Debbie Harry at the end – a true legend.
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Hello Paul
Thank you kindly! Debbie managed to get past the 60’s to break out in the 70’s. She’s older than Cher but deservedly got into the Rock and Roll HOF without complaining about it!
Leila
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.”.. it was the soul of summer being sucked into the eternal abyss of autumn” LOL
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Happy autumn Guylaine!
It is always great to see word from you. I always appreciate a kind word.
Thank you!
Leila
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