Brigid
Brigid's JournalAnybody remember "Perfect Strangers?"
Balki: Am I in debt?
Larry: Yep.
Balki: (tearfully) I'm a true American!
That show used to make me laugh till I cried! 
"Fool! This very night your life will be required of you!"
Earlier today I saw the most amazing short animated film. It was aimed at kids, but DUers would definitely appreciate it. It was a brilliant blend of two Bible stories: the parable of the rich fool and the incident in which a young man asks Jesus to demand that his brother split the inheritance (a vineyard) with him.
It went like this: A man owned a vineyard. He had a reputation for growing and selling the finest grapes. After he died, his two sons were to run the vineyard together. Things soon went downhill: the younger brother discovered that his older brother was mixing in bad grapes with the good ones and jacking up prices (he later switched to selling the grapes at half price to undercut his competitors and then buying up their vineyards). Then he destroyed his workers' homes to make room to build bigger barns. When his overseer objected, pointing out that winter was coming, he said, "They'll have plenty of time to make new blankets." He spent his time indulging himself, until one night he died (this is where the "Fool! This very night your life will be required of you!" comes in).
I was just stunned. The unscrupulous, greedy older brother was the best portrait of a one-percenter I ever saw. And do his business practices sound familiar? I wonder if even the filmmakers realized what they had created.
I just saw an amazing short film on EWTN.
It was an animated film aimed at kids, but DUers would definitely appreciate it. It was set in Jesus' time. It was about the owner of a vineyard. He had reputation for growing and selling the finest grapes. After he died, his two sons were to work together to run the vineyard. Things soon went downhill: The younger son discovered that his older brother was selling unripe grapes along with the good ones, selling the grapes at half price to undercut his competitors and then buying them out, and destroying the homes of his workers to make room to build bigger barns. When his overseer objected that winter was approaching, he said, "They'll have time to make new blankets." He spent his time indulging himself, until one night he died (does the line "Thou fool! This very night your life shall be required of you!" sound familiar?).
I was just stunned. This was an absolutely brilliant combination of the parable of the vineyard and the incident in which a young man asked Jesus to demand that his brother split the inheritance with him. And as for the unscrupulous older brother, he was the best portrait of a one percenter I ever saw. I wonder if even the filmmakers realize what they created.
At least they built a memorial.
I'm watching a doc where at one point they talk about the construction of the Hoover Dam. General Superintendent Frank Crowe drove the workers hard, and received a $4 million bonus for completing it two years ahead of schedule. 96 workers died during construction. According to wikipedia, some deaths which were actually caused by carbon monoxide poisoning were attributed to pneumonia so that the company would not have to pay workers' comp claims. But hey, at least they got a memorial. It says, "They died to make the desert bloom." 
Just found out it's the 35th Anniversary for the classic movie "Animal House."
I am digging out my DVD right away in honor of this historic occasion. I have the "Double Secret Probation" edition.
"Yeah? So I lied to her."
"You can't lie to a nun, Jake. We gotta go in and visit The Penguin."
" No fucking way."
"You two were such a disappointing pair. I prayed so hard for you. It saddens and hurts me so that the two young men I raised to believe in the Ten Commandments have returned to me as two thieves with filthy mouths and bad attitudes. Get out! And don't come back -- until you've redeemed yourselves!"
Yes, I'm watching "The Blues Brothers!" I love The Penguin! Kathleen Freeman says people still recognize her from that role.
"I have no idea what that is."
-- "The Most Interesting Man in the World" on "bromance."
And tonight's fortune cookie reads:
"One who is too insistent on his own views finds few to agree with him." 
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Gender: FemaleHometown: MO
Home country: USA
Current location: Indianapolis, IN
Member since: Sat Apr 8, 2006, 03:12 AM
Number of posts: 17,621
