A More Poignant President...

These two fellers running for president are like damp moldy towels - which one smells worse is a matter of perspective... Think about it, can you back either of them 100%? 75%?... 50%? How low are you willing to stoop grasping at straws?

Woodlawn Cemetery - Santa Monica, CA

[Vance "See Ya" North & Lois "Go away I'm sleeping" North]

A couple of clever grave markers found at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica, CA. The cemetery holds some real gems in the way of upright headstones. Small enough to thoroughly explore in one day yet containing numerous examples of upright headstone types and styles from the turn of the 19th Century through early-mid 20th Century when uprights fell out of favour...

Twilight Zone Marathon...

The Twilight Zone marathon is a staple of holidays - mostly I remember it being a Thanksgiving Day tradition... But today it's a 4th of July run on the Sci-Fi channel... A Twilight Zone marathon while celebrating the birthday of our country is a rather poignant thing. Every episode a commentary on the 20th Century psyche of the United States - the hopes, contradictions, musings, daydreams, wickedness, despair, paranoia, kindness... the list can go on and on. It's all there in a nutshell, under thirty minutes per episode.

The Twilight Zone is also a collective experience. Discussion of favourite episodes is always an entertaining way to whittle away some time - and usually leads to discussion of other worthwhile subjects. Most - other than the old - first experienced The Twilight Zone as kids in the form of daytime TV reruns, probably after getting home from school - in the block of time when there used to be no daytime "talk shows" or other crap programing produced as cheaply as possible on every channel. That's how I experienced it and that's how almost everyone I know did - in different cities and at different times...

The details of my initial viewings of The Twilight Zone are probably a little different than most. As a latch-key kid I would get "home" from school - I loosely call it "home" because it was a rented garage... I would warm up some prepackaged thing in the toaster oven and turn on the TV. Not speaking a word of English, most TV shows would not hold my attention except for The Twilight Zone. Thinking back, I don't remember the episodes with sound - the narration and dialogue probably sounded like a bunch of gibberish, but that didn't matter - I didn't have to know what was being said to understand the meaning. The images are so well thought out that I could follow the story just by watching - just like reading a well put together comic book in a foreign language - if it's done well, you don't have to read the words to understand 75% of the story. Some stories were creepy some were fascinating, but always they were absorbing.

At some point I began to understand English - I'm not sure if it's the pictures that taught me what the words meant or if it was necessity, since no one I associated with, except for my parents, spoke my native tongue... it was probably a combination of both. As I started to understand the words, a whole other level of subtelty to the stories was unlocked - which I still enjoy every time I watch.

Whenever the Twilight Zone marathon is on, there's something compelling to leave it on - even if only in the background. A quick glance at the screen and most of the episodes are instantly identifiable, bringing memories of the story line - compelling one to sit down and watch. It's somehow comforting to know that every year for a major holiday, when TV people aren't around to mind the station, some channel will run a marathon because it's easy and cheap. When this Twilight Zone holiday marathon tradition ceases a remnant piece of the 20th Century will also cease.

The Twilight Zone Museum
The Twilight Zone on Sci-Fi Channel