My sister Laurie's memory is even more detailed than mine, and even though forty years ago tonight
was so long ago that it was the summer before we started kindergarten, she actually recalls something
from June 25, 1969. I guess we were watching TV and our dad was upstairs listening to the radio.
She remembers him coming into the living room looking very sad and telling our mom that
they wouldn't be able to see Judy Garland live in concert now, because she had died.


Today is not about MJ's scandals nor Farrah's illness.
It is the 40th anniversary of the death of Judy Garland,
and June 25 1969 used to be considered the origin
of the moden gay rights movment.

( Click here to find out more about what today is really about! )


And for those of you who are history buffs,
the "midget hanging himself in the enchanted forest"
is merely an urban legend, or something to look for after
the Dark Side of the Moon is done playing, 45 minutes into the film
when you turn the sound back up...



The most likely explanation I have heard is that it was a pelican or some other kind of
exotic creature the producers had placed around the set for some reason...


Thank you for visiting my Livejournal.
It's been too long since I was in here clacking away at ya.
Take care everyone, and have a fun & safe weekend :-)

By the time Laurie and I hatched, in 1964, on the very precipice between the baby boomers and Generation X, pop culture was mixing up the kitschy and the surreal like crazy, as if it was serious drama! Sci fi and horror are really fun. Movies that are called thrillers or suspense, not so much. In that way I am similar to my young friend Nicklaus who claims to "need a little more genre than that." Hence, to really enjoy the screen-viewing experience, I need colorful scenery, or intense black and white textures combined with maudlin, overplayed music, at least most of the time. I love the way the millenial kids (or Gen-Y or whatever Nick is) use words so diffeerntly, like the word "random," to refer to incongruity, or even merely a surprising or unfamiliar event. I like it though, it's cute. I am entranced by vincent price at any age, doing anything. On the few feature length sci fi selections at Hulu.com, you can see Vincent play THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, and we learn very early on in the film that the earth's last man is also the world's fussiest fussbudget. But all the furious fussbudgeting in the world, ultimately, cannot protect you from zombies, Vincent.




But I could have told you vincent, this whirled was never meant for one as beautiful as

(  BRAAAAAAAIIINNNNNNSSSS  )

Yeah man. Still fresh. But I'll take only what I need. It's gotta last.


Art is science made clear. -Jean Cocteau

Glad to find out there are some communities for the grownups on LJ,
don't know why I didn't search for them until the fifty_something community was spotlighted.
I have joined it a few years early, yo :-)

I found another groovy community, the over_forty list! Hello.

My most recent very fun synaesthesia poll got a great response but the
cohort is skewing a little young over there. You can fix that by
participating in my synaesthesia survey!


In honor of another currently spotlighted LJ community, toon_memories
here's one of my favorite toon memories from when Saturday Morning meant something.



Also, today's clip celebrates that two people I care about will soon be rolling along to better places. My faraway sister into a better neighborhood in our hometown, and my local friend fiLAh into a more comfortable place in which to make new happy memories.


If you've just tooned in, Welcome to the Sunshine Rewind Institute

Friend me here, friend me there
if you like. I haven't been making time to post here a lot lately, but I do always read my flist ;-)

Edit: Good coincidence, I finally got around to writing a much longer
review of the writing class I took last February, and now you
can hear
Lynda talking about creativity on NPR June 2nd, 2008!!


( Lynda Barry's Writing Class )

You can enjoy some groovy current Lynda Barry content in:

her contribution to the book The Best of American Comics 2006, available through booksellers or your local library.
(watch for the 2008 Best of American Comics, as Lynda Barry is editing it)

To enroll for the Chicago August 23-24 email the class secretary,
Kelly Hogan, at fromthedeskofmarlys@yahoo.com

Check the Writing the Unthinkable Myspace to see a whole bunch of
neat stuff, including info about the
Chicago class in August! ,
and you can see the current Ernie Pook's Comeek episodes in the pics section.

If you want to read What It Is,
Get Lynda's new book locally!
If you don't have time to go comic book shopping, Hank will ship any order
for one flat rate! Worth it!




In other news, now that she has gotten not only burglarized,
but now a couple weeks ago, robbed in her parking lot,
Laurie is finally willing to move to a bettier place in a nicer neighborhood.
I'm very happy that she is doing that and so impressed by the
many hometown friends who have really stepped up to be supportive and helpful!
It has made this whole situation a lot easier.
And one very special non-hometown friend, in a faraway urban sprawl land,
sent wonderful words of encouragement. (I like-you-way-too-much too !-)
To everyone who responded, and those who might in the future,
I am amazed and grateful beyond words.
Thank you doesn't begin to cover it.

Too much good stuff happening to even take time to blog about it,
but since I have met some new local folks on LJ and in "real" life,
and finding people I used to know on the internets,
(mostly MySpace), here's a link back to the tags of glory.
The bar-graph of visitation is pretty lame now, because I haven't been doing polls or posting here for several days. Hello. Really I need to do a new & improved welcome page, but since I've been too busy to have a theme-of-the-month on my LJ for the last few months, that ol' November welcome page is still remarkably comprehensive. Lots of good entries between then and now, but they are sort of random, as the kids say. Actually they really are random, not the way kids use the word random, which seems to mean surprising or out-of-context or something. Lil' slackers.

( In other news, )


Even though I've been neglecting to post here, I've been finding springtime-relevant clips to share! In today's clip the Jolly Green Giant wasn't really a tv icon yet, and he was SCARY. You have to imagine the green. Imagine the greeeeennnn...



The youtube uploader claims it's from the year that Laurie and I hatched, which means lotsa shows were in black 'n' white and the ones that weren't still proudly advertised "In Living Color" or had "technicolor" as a subtitle or in the credits. Now, who all of my readers is also a synaesthete and can imagine gray images as green? Please indicate by a show of hams. Anyone, Anyone?

Time travel movies from the Netflix queue are finally here. Yes, they will be disappointing mostly, but that's okay because there's always that first few minutes where it seems like they're gonna do something interesting with the premise. More on that (and everything else) later, taters.

Trying to get Laurie, who is on the phone to remember some stuff about Grandma Pipetti and the holidays.
She remembers for some unknown reason, when we were maybe five, putting two socks on the same foot, and then trying to get Grandma to help her take them off, and Grandma was like okay, OH! there's two of them here!
It may or may not have been during the holidays.
We went to a house she had, and her sock monkey, name of Jocko, was on the bed. When we were three or four, Laurie says, we went xmas shopping at Goldblatts and admired a toy drum. Later, when we were asleep, one of our parents went back there and bought it, because it was under the tree on Xmas morning. Laurie doesn't remember either of us banging on the drum ever, but I remember the top of it and the drumsticks being all beat up from me banging on it.



Fun Fact: This appears, according to our rewound sunshine analysis to be filmed long after Sonny and Cher were divorced, because look how old Chas is, and we believe the fussy baby that doesn't want to be on tv is Elijah Blue Allman. Nice of the Bonos to reunite for this awkward moment in holiday timelessness.


Pre-Holiday Stress ? Have a listen to a free guided meditation at the Comfort Queen site.

Oooh you're gonna like this one. I remember hearing it about eight or nine Halloweens ago, on the back porch of my atwood place and it was a great story then, and it's a great story now. Get out your plastic fork for protection, and read on!

( Click here to read Rachel's camper-ghost story! ) .....


Today, on my friendspage you may see that my new friend Lickintoadz has written a very compelling story about a haunted house in CT! I hope it is not too presumptuous of me to link to it so my friends can see it (although it might be locked), since she kindly linked to my LJ in celebration of me being her 100th LJ friend.



If you're reading this during the world series and it bugs you that no simpsons episodes are on, I put some simps back here for your convenience.
( CLick for a Treehouse of Horror segments! )

It just wouldn't be sunday without a good fun rach story and some simpsons episodes :-)

A house, that I rented with Bruce and Pooh, was haunted as all get-out.
It's no Halloween on Ice with Nancy Kerrigan,
but here at the institute we are working on a bare-bones budget! (  Click here if you dare. )



Since I have no house on seventh street photos (yet),
and the aerial google map photos of that region are hard to post here right now
(printer problems and I think the internets are busted),
here's little laurie in first grade being all nice



Wow I didn't even know there was a series derived from the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Until YouTube showed me the way.

( Click here to see an entire episode of it from some Halloween gone by.  )

Bucky worked in a haunted place in Chicago,

several of my hometown friends used to live in a weird haunted place there in the 80s

About half the places I've lived have been haunted.


(  Click here to find out about one of them. )

The comments section is a great place to leave your thoughts, stories about where you've lived, or your questions and ideas about what ghosts are/ what strange noises we hear at night might be. C'mon don't be shy -- tell us a creaky stairway story!


My most recent exciting YouTubular discovery,
these grickle animations I like so much.



I got a lotta sleep today, but nonetheless... I'm making coffee
and then it's off to the relay plant, where we make relays.

Finally got my silver jalopy back from Larry. Alternator. But now I am ready to enjoy the long weekend and looking forward to seeing several friends next Saturday downtown! Got more wooden wine boxes to paint at Woodmans this morning. I think the first place to have cute violet shelving added will be the kitchen.


I wasn't sure what theme to do not having been on here much in the last few weeks. I think perhaps autumn will be the theme for September, then more Halloweenish stuff for October, then Gratitude for November since thats the month of Thanxmas. Even tho it doesn't officially start for three weeks, this is not only my and Laurie's birth month but is the first day of fall, on planette pipette.


( Click here for some clipalicious Boondocks goodness! )
I like Boondocks. It's very entertaining, and the creator is not afraid to make fun of racism within his own community. The episode where Martin Luther King is still alive is brilliant. Uncle Ruckus (no relation) is kind of hard to take but you can't help laughing every time he says something. The parody of how the Mumia case gets explained is very funny, although probably not as politically correct as I like to think I would appreciate. McGruder is more comfy with the "n" word than most of us here in Madison, likewise with grandad taking of his belt and swinging it at the kids every episode. But the characters are adorable and visually it is one of the best shows Adult Swim has offered in a long time.

Well, I must take time out to study the inside of my eyelids for a few hours and then get up and listen to Prairie Home Companion. Everyone have a happy holiday weekend!

Here is little Ringo being so cute, and being on tv in 1970.

Last year I was telling someone at the relay plant, possibly little St. B, about listening to a Michael Moore audiobook read by Arte Johnson and she (or whoever it was) didn't know who he was. It wasn't as hard to describe him as it was to describe Jonathan Winters, but it was no cake walk...


Ugh. I was at the relay plant, after having lounged about for most of Sunday and Monday, and hence, got a lot done on recycling obsolote personal papers, and filing still-lete papers in my little accordion folders and sock mending. So now I am, as bo would say, tired 'n' feathered.



Have a good day everyone, and try not to worry too much about the future,
because at least in the short term it's going to be verdant and balmy.

Trying to recall what was on the tube sunday nights... this was on some night anyway.

Hard to believe that back then i thought all the musical segments of variety shows
were boring and thought the skits were funny !





Buncha English Beauties

caption & maybe a Lil' Laurie staurie here later
but now on phone with uncle rach

Hummus doesn't taste right to me anymore, at least none of the pre-made ones.. I think I'm
going to start making a better tasting sauce out of tahini and stuff.


Unfortunately we cannot bring you our regularly scheduled programming,





( so let's change the channel. )





Chazz93 is one of the very few LJ users associated with my elementary school and I dropped him a line. Thursday before last, i heard his pleasant voice on WARP Radio. It looks to me as if half, or possibly all of the LJers who the pipetti-hometown memorial elementary school are in the life. They're all younger, so I dont' know if they'd say that. Singin' in the choir? Do people still say family? Does Fabulous still have a very special meaning? In the club? I hope so. Now, just as I had hoped, it turns out that I'm very glad I found his LJ and his ( and his internet radio show. ) UW has really beefed up their security, as has the State of New Mexico, to the point where two people, that I thought were boycotting my infrequent emails, simply weren't receiving them. But lots of my other friends who have governmental or campus e-dresses, uw and elsewhere are getting and sometimes even responding to my gmails and hotmails, so maybe the newmexican lady and former reen colleague are dirty little fibbers. Juts kidding!

Plenty of disgusting media exploitation of the shooter, his family, the victims, their families, their friends. Lots of hindsight about how people were so concerned about the shooter when he was being quiet and a loner on campus. Whatever happened in his life is no excuse for shooting others, but are you really buying the stories of some of these students? I know they're just trying to make themselves feel better, but come on.

Strange, that I can't remember, even when I was old enough to remember lots of stuff, the obviously numerous
times my mom photographed me, and a contemplative little Laurie, ca 1970.


Today we go back to the very beginning of the 70s, for Shocking Blue's version of Venus Many of us heard the Bananarama remake of it in the 80s, but I think in the first Brady movie, when Marcia goes to school and we first meet her little admirer-galpal, it is the Shocking Blue version we hear. I saw the name Shocking Blue on the soundtrack for that movie, but didn't realize it was a seventies song, probably because of the remake from when i was in college (during the 1580s).



The lead singer was lost to cancer a few months ago. She had an incredible gift, and rumor on the internets is that she knew how to break glass with her voice!

Little Laurie, in both the 1970s and in the pigtails... Who says you can't have it all?


Lately I am really enjoying the art-of-the-day thingy on my friends page, because it's purty, and I'm learning a lot. Color Theory is just the nice folks posting gorgeously intriguing photos, and everyone's comments are so encouraging, and if you comment on what you liked about the piece they leave a sweet reply to your comment! It's so refreshing to see beautiful things and not only not be ripped apart for expressing appreciation, but to have them respond so graciously. I am so glad I found those two LJ communities. Both are on my friends page. Plus Torisfairytale has lots of great 80s music and political clips and wonderful zoo and people photos you will enjoy.


By Laurie's suggestion, Laverne and Shirley in the infamous "BETTY PLEASE" scene!



"Because I like to call you that. I don't know, it sounds so dinery."

Bobbo and Tft read my big rant yesterday! Because they are groovy, is why.

Little Laurie looks like little me ! Poolside, during 1971's westward Pipetti vacation.

IN keeping with tft's fine suggestion of doing 70s tv clips for my April LJ theme, I am trying to find more seventies pics, although I have probably scanned all the personal ones that I had. Still plenty more of me and mine, that I can post, butta course, if'n anyone wants to send me a photo to post, of you or yours from back then, no one would stand in your way...


Today we have a dainty little ramble, that isn't even a real rant, per se. It's more of a brief interlude from my frequent kvetching ( -- today, some grateful gushing. )


So now, in keeping with our happy happy appreciation theme today, clip-wise, let's include America's sweetheart, as she spins off of her series to visit Betty's groovy fictional New York sweetheart. Aw, hell you might as well see the ( entire episode. ) For you youngsters who might have found younger sis Brenda's voice sort of familiar, she is played by Marge Simpson.

Enjoy your day everyone. The roads are in good shape this morning, and tomorrow we get a good warmish sunny afternoon.

( Louise Hay knows what you didn't get done last summer! ) Louise has things to say that I am either not ready to hear, or just don't think apply to me. But for some she's been of great help.


Today's clip is a beaut, from the film Pleasantville. It's too exquisite of a scene to create any kind of spoilage, but you might prefer to just go to the library or your netflix queue or video store, or buy the film if you haven't seen it, because it's so incredible if you see it not knowing anything about it. Probably incredible either way, but y'know, view at your own risk. Then forget about it and watch the movie if you hain't alretty.

That Etta James rendition of At Last has been used a lot in film and television, but it always seems so special and fresh and enchanting to me. Hope you enjoyed the clip.

There are many of these [m/v] sorts of materials that I did not discuss, either because i haven't listened much to them yet, or I didn't feel like talking about them when I made entries this month. In the last fifteen years since I began really taking an interest in these topics, so much material has been published/recorded, there is something for just about everyone's personal needs and interests. Naturally, I hope those of you who are interested do, or will someday enjoy relaxing in the ways discussed here, whether you exchange ideas and opinions with this LJer or not. If, however, you are paging back through this LJ and wish to discuss any of these topics, feel free to let me know. Blessings and sweet dreams to you all.

Figuring out how to water plants in the garden, age 3^1/2
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Like most activities, Laurie caught on much faster than eye!

Natalie Goldberg has great ideas for writers, in her book that I've been listening to,
( Writing Down The Bones. ) Even if you are not currently putting together a play, novel, poetry, etc. you might enjoy trying some of her writing exercises.


This is called Hypnotise Yourself COOL.

Is it supposed to be satirical or seriously appeal
to stupid and/or immature folks? I can't tell, and I'm looking right at it!!

.........................Lil' Laurie with Kaz and Rita, circa 1994


Do any of you readers out there listen to subliminal messages, that you know of? I see a lot of that kind of thing marketed, even with accompanying lists telling you what the messages are on the recording. Perhaps I just don't trust, but I think it's more that I want to know on a conscious level what my subconscious is supposed to be influencing, or influenced by. Maybe just a case of F.M.I. (Fraida Missin' Somthin), but I have never listened to the tapes or cds that allegedly have subliminals on them. Maybe lots of them do and I don't know it! I guess I don't think they'd be too effective, whether you knew about them or not.


Tara Brach, in today's clip, offers you a heart-saving experience.




( More and more of Betty's thoughts on this month's M/V theme. )I would advise against deeming a meditation or similar practice to be unworthy if it seems easy, or even fun to do. As with exercise, and I hope with nutrition, learning, service to others, earning your living, or any other personal pursuits, remember that it can be very beneficial even if you enjoy it! Especially if you enjoy it.

The Pipetti family, we love us some cemeteries, to look for geneaology info and in the spring to put flowers on the stones.

On the public library's digital book website, i can finally download audiobooks. For a long time I couldn't make it work, and neither could the people at the library (their techs were busy coping with the ancient computers downtown getting freaked about the lil' change in daylight savings time). I got A Beginner's Guide to Meditation by Shinzen Young. It's really interesting, in that I thought I would alretty be familiar with all aspects of the introduction parts, but I didn't. There's so much in this field that there are always new ways of talking about it, in this case new approaches to talking about what various components of meditation are and can be and don't have to be. He also puts two guided meditations on there. Highly recommended whether you are a beginner or not, and free if you can put in a library card number and get it onto your machine, although you might have to use the troubleshooting hints on the site. I had to upgrade stuff that seemed irrelevant and use Internet Explorer, rather than the Firefox I've been using for most browsing lately.


Earlier this month I mentioned this song, and then I remembered how much I liked getting lost in the video but never had a recording of it.



Youtube Rocks, long may it wave!

This was on the Simps reruns tomorrow. I couldn't find it by using the search term clockstopper, and the youtube uploader claims the idea came from an old twilight zone. But they also claim that Greg Brady "wrote" the songs he sings on the Variety Hour, so y'know...

Anyway some of you'll know right away which one of their old comic books got me rett 2 find the clip!



( Click here for today's animation clips. )



Probably it was no coincidence that little Laurie was looking at the extensive sled modifications my dad put on there -- rather, it's likely he is explaining them in detail while my mom was taking the photo.

As my regular readers might have noticed, I have added word-of-the-day and art-of-the-day community posts to my friends page. Always glad to see (and I do learn from) my individual friends and their postings, but also thought these would add something interesting that I also like to learn more about.


Feeling much much bettier this week, so i think some further nutritional and lifestyle improvements are in order. If i need to seek urgent medical attention I certainly will, but right now taking care of what i need to take care of is going to be a lot more helpful than overworked healthpoindexters telling me what I alretty know. And having to figure out how to (not ) respond to bogus assumptions on their part just isn't going to be a health booster. But if i have to do that i'll just grit my teeth and deal with it.


Now we must cher for your 2s day. ( Forward, Then Brak Again! )

( Hey Now, get your clips on... )

Today is the birthday, i think of my great friend Rick! And also the birthday of my friend Mrs. Joan, who is in mequon or arizona or something and i don't think i have a photo of her. I must find out how to get in touch with them sometime soon and invite them to visit the insititute, and then we can update each other on our adventures. But in the meantime i'll just say Happy Birthday Rick and Joan, hope you are both well!


Betty Pipetti, patron of the artswith hometown chanteuse, Lil' Laurie.

From back in the day, when product placement meant entertainment galore,
( Click here for lots of Saturday clip-viewing Fun! )

When i still had cable, Cartoon Network used to have ( Bullwinkle )
I always thought of Rocky and Bullwinkle as a couple. When i was a kid I didn't notice that they called them "the boys from Frostbite Falls," and I thought Rocky was a girl. Then as an adult I knew they were both boys and I still think of them as a couple, doesnt everyone?



One of my favorite parts of the Bullwinkle show was always the Fractured Fairy Tales. I'll be adding more clips of those to upcoming posts, for your up and coming clip viewing pleasure!