Lyrics; Dealing with an Elderly Parent; Trash Break; World Cup; "Veronica Mars" and "Kyle XY"

For the past month or so, I've been adding lyrics to the lyrics page.

I keep thinking of various lyrics that I'd like to be able to easily access.

It's really a very mixed bag. From Sinatra and Nat King Cole to Radiohead and Pet Shop Boys. You'll notice a number of "protest" songs. (Note to self: add "The Dove," "Brothers in Arms," and "Goodbye Saigon") A number of these are also available at YouTube. There's a version of Billy Joel's "Goodbye Saigon" that is overpowering!

Something I discovered in the process was that Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" was inspired by a passage from Mikhail Sholokhov's novel "And Quiet Flows the Don."

Sholokhov, Nobel Prize Winner for Literature (1965) is not nearly as well known as two of his compatriots and fellow Nobel Prize Winners for Literature: Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1958) and Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (1970).

Boris Pasternak accepted at first but was later caused by the authorities of his country (the Soviet Union) to decline the Prize.

A little cultural trivia for thee.

Last night, I added a conclusion to the section of dealing with an elderly parent.

In an earlier entry, I'd made reference to the Buddhist term - katannu katavedita. In last night's effort, I mentioned the concept. I was trying to figure out a way to explain it, so I Googled it. And oddly enough, my earlier entry appeared at the top. However the other handful of entries listed the term in a slightly different format.

The original article from the spring 2006 "Tricycle" appeared last. Which may be because it is in a pdf format.

I stopped for a few minutes to take out to the street the inside trash. There was a delicious, almost cool, breeze. And the light from the street lamp bounced off the leaves of the tree across the street. Through the pine limbs, the moon appeared silent and silvery.

By the way, in the other house, I would have not even thought of going to the street without carefully checking for suspicious pedestrians or cars. And I most definitely, I would not have taken time to look at the moon through the pines.

I've actually watched parts of the World Cup competition. There's an intensity to it that most definitely holds my attention. There's no sense of dilly dallying; it's a game of constant motion. And there's certainly nothing as trivial as a "time out."

Alas that I did not see a game with the legendary Beckham. But I did get to see the equally well-known, and some would say better player, Zinedine Zidane.

It took me a while to understand that players can be associated with a club in one country, such as Zidane of Real Madrid of Madrid, Spain, but play for their country of principal nationality. In Zidane's case: France. Beckham is also a Real Madrid member but played for England. (Not the UK, as I would have thought, because Scotland and Wales also have national clubs.)

Goals are rare. Every score I've seen was in the single digits. But the play can come at anytime. In the Germany - Italy game of July 4, Italy scored two goals in the last two minutes of the game. Usually matches run in two 45-minute periods, but extra time can be allotted. The first Italian goal came at minute 119; the second, at 121.

I'd intended to watch the match live, but got confused on the starting time. So when I clicked on the tv, it had just finished. There was a wonderful panning shot of German coach Jurgen Klinsmann, looking not so much defeated as perplexed. Which is probably a massive understatement. So I then planned on watching the repeat later in the evening. I watched from about the 90th minute on. At about minute 118, the cats got into a terrific snit in the kitchen, so I missed the goal; but I did get to see the second. (I be willing to bet the little urchins had their hooliganism planned down to the second.)

There's a great article in the July 3 issue of "The New Yorker," "Un-American Activity - The World Cup and our probloem with soccer." It mentions that about 500 American fans showed up in Germany this year.

There's a funny quote from Nathaniel Max of Riverside, California, who recalled his trip to the World Cup eight years ago. "All the fans from opposing teams wanted to take pictures of me, ... it was like 'Look! An American soccer fan! Never seen one of them before!' "

There's even a quote from Henry Kissinger, "Americans like their games segmented into different plays, which can be statistically analyzed. Soccer, with it continuous action, requires a change of thinking."

"Veronica" has been on for two years, but I only starting watching again after mother's passing. So I've a lot of catching up to do. And dang if I understand what's going on half the time. From reading the various forums, there are some hysterical lines. I think I've fallen in love with a number of the male characters.

"Kyle XY" is very new. Another twist on the wolf-boy syndrome. A teenage boy appears from nowhere in the forest, can not speak, is sent to a youth facility, is taken in by the psychologist.

The actor playing Kyle is perfect. His skin has the pale elegance of a Leonardo da Vinci statue. And he can have a look of sheer vacancy. But then there are other times, as he learns something, he's like a little boy who's learned to blow bubbles.

The younger boy in the family is convinced he's an alien. And start's taking notes to prove it. He finally finds Kyle outside looking at the stars, and he says, "That does it! I'm calling Steven Spielberg."

There's also some surprising mature material. We first meet the younger boy, as he enters the bathroom, puts down the toilet lid, pulls down his pants and starts looking at a copy of "Playlady." The obvious intent being masturbation. Of course, he does not know that Kyle is hiding in the bathtub.

The mother asks Kyle to draw what he first saw in the forest. But he doesn't know how to draw. So he uses the crayons in a punching style, so that the picture comes out in a Pointillism style. By the way, the first thing he discovered in the forest was a couple having sex inside a closed tent. They, of course, are baffled to find this naked teenage boy at the opening.

There have been any number of very clever sequences. Much different from the way this could have been handled.

PAX!