Monthly Archives: November 2013
“The Batkid Rises”
One week ago today, “Batkid” entered the psyche of men, women and children all across the country. When the Make-a-Wish Foundation joined forces with the city of San Francisco to transform their beloved “city by the bay” into the dark, mean streets of Gotham City, the people were looking for a hero to save them from a familiar gang of villains.
Here is a fan-made trailer of what transpired last Friday:
Batkid showed us all how to rise that day.
The Shot Missed ‘Round the World
…after Lee Harvey Oswald rattled off multiple shots at the motorcade carrying Kennedy past the Texas School Book Depository, a Secret Service agent riding in a car immediately behind the presidential limousine grabbed his Colt AR-15 high-velocity rifle to return fire.
But when his car stopped suddenly, the theory holds, Agent George Hickey lost his balance and accidentally discharged his weapon, sending a .223-caliber round rocketing into Kennedy’s head — the wound that later killed the 35th president.
This is an excerpt from an article posted this morning on NBC News online by NBC News Staff Writer Daniel Arkin. It summarizes the circumstance for the theory of the unknown shot that ultimately killed President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.
Question: Is it possible that a logical explanation could ever win over a conspiracy-enthused American public?
This is a fascinating query to contemplate, especially considering the legend and lore this mystery has sparked for the past fifty years. When the assassination of a U.S. president happens, as we learned with President Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth, there is an instant reaction to conclude that a grand scheme or motive influenced the tragic event. Devastation like this does not just happen, even if by accident.
But what if it did, in part?
The purpose of this post is not to declare that the aforementioned theory is correct, valid or the truth. The reason for posing the question above is simply to ponder whether or not the answer to the assassination of JFK, after all the angles, motives, facts and hypotheses have been scrutinized for five decades by experts and amateurs alike, was an international conspiracy or simply one of the the worst friendly fires in history and if either answer would be acceptable to the American people.
Will the juxtaposition of our analytical minds and wild imaginations permit such a mundane conclusion of accidental friendly fire or does it require a grander reveal?
Actually, the better question is, “doesn’t it deserve a grand reveal/answer?”
Unfortunately, former Agent George Hickey is dead, as is Lee Harvey Oswald. The opportunity for any last second disclosure is a virtual impossibility.
The frustrating reality is that someone has or had the answer to this mystery of monumental proportion tightly locked up inside their head and heart.
Regardless, the pulse of intrigue to discover the whole truth beats on nearly as strong today as it did when Walter Cronkite famously removed his black frame glasses fifty years ago to announce in a reserved shock that, “President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. central standard time.”
It’s an eerily surreal feeling. The bullet was fired from somewhere relatively close to President Kennedy’s motorcade and crowd of people. It was fired by someone, somewhere nearby, yet nobody definitively knows by who or specifically where this occurred?
Unbelievable.
88 MPH to an ’88 (or so) Thanksgiving
In eight days, families from across the United States will gather together at their dinner table (and kid’s table) to individually and collectively give thanks for the blessings in their lives. There will be joyfulness from reminiscing about past memories, delicious aromas wafting from the kitchen and, above all else, complete and utter bedlam.
95% chaos, 5% peace and tranquility: Hello Thanksgiving!
Before we funnel into the designated house of our soon to be regretful host next week, one particular suburban Philadelphia family welcomed us into their home for a quintessential Thanksgiving celebration last night. While mission control was the kitchen and the commander was Beverly, the action spread far and wide on the Goldbergs premises.
Spoiler Alert for the DVR crowd for the latest episode of, “The Goldbergs”
The sons engaged in their made-up sibling game of “Ball Ball.” Or is it “Adam Ball” now…? The scenes with Adam and Barry (with Erica looking on, lounging on the spectator couch half-interested, half-rolling her eyes) was the perfect imagery of the glory that arises from a random, yet totally logical family game with a one-of-a-kind trophy to be used as a chalice at dinner for all to see.
In the case of this sibling game that involves knee pads, pillows, two hockey masks, a catchers mask and blue and yellow hula hoops scrunched in bean bag chairs, the age of old question between the older and the not-so much younger brother anymore is continuously answered:
Who’s the man? But what happens if that “one in a million” chance actually occurs? Then “the man” would have to be spelled A-D-A-M.
For Barry, the consequences would be comically dire.
When not fighting, this is the predominant therapy for how siblings interact with each other. This is how they bond. Are the rules absurd and never-ending? Will this ultimately lead to a colossal rematch for the ages that is the thing of legends and great mythology?
Yes, yes and yes!
And then, all of a sudden like something shot right outta thin air, the crazy (and oddly consistent) relative shows up with a grand entrance in a car that perfectly symbolizes the pure imagination of an entire decade and era of movies: the DeLorean DMC-12.
“Gotta get back in time!”
Huey Lewis and the News knows what that’s about.
Murray has always viewed his brother Marvin as a screw up, a chronically burdensome responsibility and, yes, a moron. Yet, during this Thanksgiving visit in 1980-something, Marvin promised it was different. Now working a “normal 9-5 job,” his future was assuredly looking brighter and smoother.
Did you know a triangle is the same shape as a pyramid?
A few mysteriously burning faces, an acknowledgement of basic geometry and a parking brake-less DeLorean DMC-12 on a hill later, the Goldbergs’ plus-1 was as unsettled as his car’s frame. Not even Beverly’s entertainingly deceitful promises to her fellow dinner companions in pursuit of her perfect Thanksgiving with a certain emphasis on the chef could have brought the harmony on the day she wanted it most.
No, it was going to take something much more powerful to change the dynamics of this disastrous day. In fact, it would take a curve ball.
In an act of sincere generosity sparked by a difficult, though necessary introspective, Marvin gave his big brother a small token of his lifelong appreciation for taking care of him when he was younger. It was a baseball. It was a memory. Perhaps most importantly, it was unexpected. Following this surprising gesture, Murray decided to bring his younger brother back into the future plans of his family’s Thanksgiving feast that evening.
What does a scheming in-law/uncle + a crazy grandfather + two battling brothers + a completely full of it (had already eaten turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce next door) teenage daughter + a thankful husband and family to their relentlessly hard-working wife and mother = ?
It equates to virtually everyone’s family at Thanksgiving.
By the end of the special Thanksgiving episode, “The Goldbergs” had confirmed the acutely accurate and reliable holiday formula: 95% entertaining chaos and 5% peace, tranquility and love.
With a full season ordered for, “The Goldbergs,” it’s a safe bet that lots of “fanz digit.”
P.S. Adam’s right, Harrison Ford does rule!
Jimmy's Daily Planet 