"I am praying for our country!"

I'll never forget that self-righteous bitch (Linda Marsten Grohman)  that I had to nix because she was crying, "I am praying for our country!" when Obama said that he supports gay marriage.

I told her first and foremost that it has been STRAIGHT PEOPLE that have been screwing up marriage for thousands of years, and if anybody had anything to do with the demise of the "sanctity of marriage", that perhaps, she should look in her own closets before she shoves the blame in ours.

(She was a preacher's wife from Hannibal, MO - currently residing in St. Charles, MO, BTW)....  Before I kicked her ass back to her bigoted curb, I told her that now, she REALLY needs to get down on her hands and knees, and perhaps pound the ground as she prays more fervently "for this country" because 2 more states legalized gay marriage.

I also suggested that she not be so self-centered in praying for just THIS country, and that she should also consider praying for :

Argentina
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Iceland
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
South Africa
Spain
Sweden

because long ago, they have also let those who love each other marry each other without somebody else thinking it's their damned business, and that they have the right or the authority to tell others who they should love, and who they should marry.

While we were on the subject of prayer, I told her to STOP using God / Jesus as a weapon of hate and bigotry, because #1) that is a gross use of religion, and that was not a religion's original intent (to spread hate and bigotry), and #2) it is people like HER that are giving religion a bad name, in general.

- Michael 

Windex, anyone? Your filters are dirty!

C'mon! Vogue!

This thread was posted on Madonna's FB page:

Troy Compas :

I had tickets and the heifer cancelled! Waited seven months for that!!! So not forgiving her as of now!!

Stephanie Gordon Feekes:

If you can't say anything nice/positive keep it to yourself!

Michael J Keller:I have been a big fan of Madonna's music since she first hit the stage over 30 years ago. But being a big fan of her behavior towards her fans: Not so much!

What about ACTING nice. Does that count, too?

Making your fans wait 2 - 21/2 hours past a concert's start time is just plain rude, disrespectful, and arrogant, and that is the same everywhere and for everybody. I don't care what part of the woods you just stumbled out of, or which turnip truck you just fell off.

The next time she is late taking the stage, I wish EVERY paying customer would walk back out the door, and en masse, demand their money back. With a 100% guarantee, I assure you that she would take the stage precisely on time at the next concert!

Ya think?

Tina Prince:
Geez people- she has an opening act and when it is over it takes 45 minutes to set the stage for her concert. It's gonna start 1030ish- it is known and should be expected.

Michael J Keller:

There is a **HUGE** difference between:

1) a 45 minute set-up time, where SOMETHING active is happening on stage, and her paying customers can see that progress - in one form or another - is being made...

and

2) Being late, rude and arrogant because one thinks they own the damned world.

Never forget: The paying customers that are waiting on her put her where she is. If it wasn't for THOSE PEOPLE, she would be as much of a 'nobody' as the next person. Those paying customers also have normal lives that take place on the weekdays that she schedules shows. They have paid and promised a baby sitter that they would be back home at a certain time. They have to work a normal job early the next morning. Time is a very non-renewable resource. Once your time is gone - IT'S GONE! I firmly believe that there is a special place in Hell for those who have no regard for wasting another person's time.

A good example of being grateful and courteous to your fans is Barry Manilow. He was asked during an interview if he ever gets tired of singing ""Copacabana". He quickly answered, "No! Why should I?" (be tired of singing 'Copacabana'). He follows that with:
"I will gladly sing that song - and happily sing it loudly at every concert. Why? Because the people that paid for that song is the reason that I live in a $5 million home!"

Barry Manilow is a great example of a performer who exhibits good qualities, which include gratitude and gratefulness.

Previous to this last flurry of ill behavior, I had no beef with Madonna. She was the reigning Queen. Both my mind AND my eyes are always wide open. Once I learn a fact that puts a person in an entirely different light, I am capable of 'doing a 180'.

Rude and insensitive is still rude and insensitive, I don't care what color your filters are. She's not doing it to 'be controversial'. Take off your blinders and take another gander in her general direction.
Rude, disrespectful and ungrateful is is still rude, disrespectful and ungrateful. Period.

My message to Madonna would be:

Of ALL people, I would think that you would know better than to resort to such bad behavior and atrocious maneuvers to remain in the limelight. If you can't 'hold court' like any good queen should, while upholding and maintaining good standards and ethics, then perhaps it is time to step aside, and join the other court jesters (Charlie Sheen, etc.)

REMEMBER:
We are not in England, and you are not a real queen.  We do not have 'heir apparents'.  Indeed, you earned your honorary title, and in this realm, once you assume the throne, it is not guaranteed for life.
That crown must also be maintained.

- Michael

Do You Love Me?

Note to others:

"Just when you thought that no other living being could be more full of themselves than I am, Conrad easily and effortlessly trumps me."

Note to self: "Don't ask Conrad stupid questions!"

I was making my lunch in the kitchen and Conrad is in his cage in the living room. He's in there talking up a storm to him, so I ask him:
"Do you love me?"

The answer to that question is USUALLY a simple "Yeah!" but today, he decided to change it up a bit with:

"Shit, yeah! You're my favorite whore!"

Any person out of Conrad's circle would freak out if they heard that response, but remember: "Whore" is a catch-all noun that Conrad uses for ANY living being. (A few weeks ago, our 2 biggest dogs walked by his cage, and Conrad yells, "Michael!!! Are these 2 about the same whore?" meaning "Are these 2 about the same (dog) ?"

My laughter to his new response is followed by his own amused chuckle, then he responds with, "See me! I'm gorgeous!"

Then...in his next several sentences, he substitutes "whore" for EVERY noun. (Think: Tourettes !")

He finishes this little episode by calling Sherman, the bulldog - but in a very different way. Greys are easily bored, and they are constantly 'changing it up'. Instead of "Sherman!", which he knows very well, he yells:

"Sherm-Asshole! come here! "

I wonder if Petsmart sells a tiny bar of soap to wash out his little potty bill?

- Michael

On the internet, believe none of which you see - and only half of what you hear!

A quick test:

Question #1)

You are viewing popular over-posted (FaceBook, etc) photographs of 2012's monster storm, Hurricane Sandy, with The Statue of Liberty in the forefront?

A) True
B) False
_______________________________________________

Since I am blind in my left eye (and viewing Magic Eye Puzzles requires binocular instead of monocular vision), I have to use my mind's little eye(s) to views such photographs in the same manner as a person with normal vision would see these puzzles.

I center and relax myself, and I let my mind look at the picture as a whole, instead of it's parts. Then.... the image becomes amazingly clear!

This is the view from my perspective:

1) Good photo altering software is cheap these days. (Blender and GIMP are both powerful and free downloads.)

2) There are still a FEW talented folk out there.

3) HOWEVER..... In the past few decades, the scale has tipped, and we now have far more lazy, attention-seeking people than talented, harworking people.

4) I am very familiar with computer generated graphics software (Photoshop, the free GIMP, free Blender, etc) and I can use them with a certain degree of success.

It can take hours, days or weeks to achieve a successfully rendered, believable image, - depending on the degree of difficulty and the amount of work to be done.

(Remember the 'Laziness' and attention-seeking "FB like-whore" factors.....)

In the end, the clear image that my mind's eye sees is the fact that these images are movie stills. 'Instant Gratification', attention-seeking people are just too damned lazy to put forth the hours of work required to hand-render such images.

When considering the internet:

"Without first consulting several independent sources, believe none of which you see and only half of which you hear."

______________________________________________

For those who would like to expend their energy doing something THEMSELVES that is creative and worth-while:

Please visit my blog entry, detailing GIMP, Blender, Sketch-up, and a few more free, downloadable 2D and 3D computer graphics programs.

**ALL** of these programs have their own learning curves.  Think of it this way:  It is was 'that easy', EVERYBODY WOULD BE DOING IT.  Learning these programs is worth the work involved.  Trust me when I tell you that your brain will thank you for putting forth the effort.

For details about GIMP, Blender, Sketch-up, etc, please visit:http://mrtoadslivingoutloud.blogspot.com/2011/04/reality-is-just-figment-of-your.html

- Michael

Hey! That Hat Looks Good on you!

Yesterday morning, we went shopping at St. Louis' Johnnie Brock's Halloween and Party Superstore (I-44 & Jefferson Ave.).

This store is huge, and they expanded it to twice the size that it was last year. The store management brings in an outside security company to staff this VERY busy store during this season.

I do believe that in order to pull off an authentic, believable look, you should use several sources and items ranging from store bought to custom made. HOWEVER.... if you can't find most of the items you need for a specific costume or look in this store, you probably don't need it! :)

Johnnie Brock's has separate, large departments for make-up, whoochies, make-up, wigs, shoes, rentals, and individual departments for each type of accessory. They even have a SteamPunk department.

Mark and I was standing in the hat department while he was choosing (the hat in our pictures).

While trying on hats, a security guard walked by me and said:

"Hey! That hat looks good on you!" I had to laugh at his comment.

He thought the hat on my head came from the store's selection of costume hats!

I laughed and told him, "No.... This hat and the rest of my look is a very real, everyday look for me!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the other people within earshot of our conversation slowly turn and look. he he he

For more info, please visit:http://www.johnniebrocks.com/

- Michael

Would you like cheese on that?

Public TV Chef Lidia Bastianich was asked her opinion about putting cheese on a fish dish.  She put her hands firmly on her hips, and answered:

 "If you go into any real Italian restaurant, and you ask the chef to put cheese on your fish, you won't get cheese!  An argument is what you'll get!"

You will get a similar answer if you ask a good hot dog vendor to put ketchup on your hot dog.

Personally, I don't care what you eat, or how you eat it, but I do love their passion and the drive that they possess to preserve the purity of the art form that they have worked so hard to hone.  They don't want their work - as they see it - bastardized.

One of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's past customers called him and asked, "Can I hang my new painting on this wall?"  Without skipping a beat, ole Frank answered the homeowner, "Not on my wall!"  Mr. Wright's art form was architecture, and instead of paint, he used building materials. Any and all buildings that he planned and built are his own distinct vision.  Changes to his vision - his work - were more often than not. declined,  

It takes great strength to form an accurate and clear vision, and even more intestinal fortitude to maintain and uphold those standards.

Quoting Chad Michaels from "RuPaul''s Drag Race":
"I'll never apologize for striving for perfection."

At first inspection, it seems like artist Salvador Dali is letting us off the hook, but in reality - he is not:
"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it."

Translation:

Striving for perfection is like looking for a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

It will always be just out of reach, but that doesn't stop me from chasing it!  :)

When I get frustrated at a particular piano piece (knitting pattern, Blender computer generated graphics project, etc), I pull my face out of my hands and "clog onward" when I realize that even though I'm not doing whatever it is as good as I want to be doing it - I am doing it better than I did a week ago, and far better than I was a year ago.  A year from NOW - but not now! - I can say the same thing about today's source of frustration.

So.... go ahead on, Mrs. Lidia.  Put your hands on your hips and stand your ground!

15 yrs. of St. Louis' City Museum

15 years ago, The City Museum (St. Louis) opened it's doors to the public.

Every time I go to The City Museum, I cry.  

From The Enchanted Caves, City Museum St. Louis, MO

Before the death of Bob Cassilly, my tears were from the sheer joy, relief, and the sensory stimulation that I crave. Now, just a little over a year after this tragic loss, my tears are from both: mourning a hurricane-force wind the blew beneath my sparrow's wings, and from enjoying the magnificent space he created before we reluctantly relinquished him to the ages.


If you have ever stood on the side of a major highway, and had a semi truck pass you, you will have experienced the same gust of wind that I felt the day Bob Cassilly flew past me when his soul escaped the bonds of this Earth.  I can still feel that wind as it blasts out of this realm and into the next.




I get "my fix" in abundance when I walk through the front doors and let my mind and body wander and expand, and for the few hours that I am there, I can momentarily fulfill the bottomless, ravenous hunger that I contain that gnaws at my heart, mind, body and soul for creativity, ingeniousness and diversity.

When I walk - and climb! - through this imaginative space, all my circuits start cookin', and my emotions are nothing more than a mere outward physical, instinctual manifestation of the activity created by fine-tuned neurons in my brain that are produced and maintained from major daily mental exercise, and my gratitude for the precious gift that I received:



My gift is not the musical instruments that I play daily, nor the things that I create both with natural fibers and in the digital realm.  My gift is much more simple in nature.  It is the ability to "know the difference", and to be acutely aware of the insidious hazards of ignoring that difference.  Another brightly wrapped package that I received at birth is "Curiosity".  A gift card for "Creativity" was attached to the top of my parcel.

After all is said and done, the creative and curious adult is the child that survived.

For more information:http://www.citymuseum.org/site/

- Michael