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12/24/14

"I know what a lessor Sorkin is...and I want to be one."

I just finished watching the last episodes of Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom. Again.  After I had watched them, again.  After I had.... You get my drift.


Each time the 'on demand' menu flashes the blue screen and suggests the 'next title', I pause to dissect and marvel at the writer's creation which just expired before me (yet will arise, again).

Before I go further, I should make this remark:  I'm as independent a thinker as has ever been minted.  Progressive, liberal, or conservative views I treat as imposters just the same.  I weigh a viewpoint by the amount of water it holds, and that amount is determined by the number of holes it has.

My point is this:  I don't care where Sorkin is coming from, its the truth he's saying that's hard for all of us to handle.  No matter how 'bent' we all are in whatever direction, nearly all of us, he says, have become "Uncivilized," and I agree with him.

The word deserves to have caps, quotes, italics, and bold text, every emphasis print can give it, because that's how bad we've become.  Cervantes has not been able rest in nearly 400 years and probably is rolling over faster of late.  He needs for more Dons, Sanchos, and Dulcineas of all stripes to get off our asses, and onto a higher horse.  Then he could rest in peace.

I don't see much to debate here.  Most 'uncivilians' camp out with their ideologies, ready to war without rules against anyone who disagrees with their viewpoint.

Each episode gave me succeeding examples why this is so, and caused me to hit my 'pause' button to reflect.   Each time I'd come to this moment, I'd tell myself: 'he's right'.  I wish more of you would agree with me.

You have to give him this:  He's a great writer, regardless how his style of quadruple axles lands on the page.  Sure, he has a stable of creative people tossing him ideas, and he gets to pick and use the best of the litter, but it's his words that course through his fingers onto the keyboard.  He did this week after week in home run derby fashion.

What is a lessor Sorkin?  Someone like me, who loves to write, and wants to put  just one or two over the fence like he does, all the time.

I would be happy at that, if I didn't have to contend with the demons which are usually commensurate to enormous talent, and what Mr. Sorkin admits he has to face every day.


12/18/14

Dermatology

My friend went to his annual skin screening about two weeks ago, something he does religiously because his lifetime of sun worship and bronze tans has only left him reminders of how good he looked, in the form of freckles, moles, yet so far, no melanomas.

His appointment was made at the end of his last visit one year ago.  As it turned out, it was on the day of a pummeling Nor' Easter that super soaked the area.  He called ahead, making sure the doctor was in. He was, and my friend wryly remarked he would take the next 'boat' to the office.

To his surprise, there was hardly any traffic, he arrived early, and he was taken into the exam room immediately.  Chagrined, he told the doc:

"Doc, in all my years of doctor's visits, your the first one to see me early."

The doc replied:

"Miracles never cease."

The doc proceeded to give my friend a very thorough exam, more time consuming than a normal 'late' visit.  The past few years my friend noticed a pattern:  the doc would find one 'suspicious' lesion which he'd biopsy and send to the lab.  This visit, the doc found four.  Four! 

Well, my friend mused, all those years I thought I was George Hamilton are catching up to me.  He got dressed, then went to the receptionist to make next years's appointment, assuming optimistically these biopsies would be negative like the others.  After getting the 'same time, next year' appointment card, he relayed the 'early' visit comment he gave to the doc.  She said:

"That was easy, he had three cancellations before you."

My friend left the office, still believing in 'miracles', but not performed by this doctor.