Hats!
Some say that Men’s hats are making a comeback.
I say that’s a good thing!
I like hats.
Being that I’m both follicly and pigmentally challenged, it only makes sense that I’d find hats useful. One, I’ve gotta keep my head warm in the winter & cool in the summer. Having a nice brim also makes it easier to see on bright days, as my eyes are rather sensitive to glare & whatnot. During warmer months, if I don’t cover my head on those occasions when I do venture outside, I’ll burn - and a sunburn on one’s head is about as unpleasant a burn as there is. For hats that help you be responsible and comfortable in the elements, I highly recommend Tilley Endurables. I’ve got several of their hats, and they’re all great, fitting even my size 8 noggin!
I also have a very personal reason for liking hats. My mom’s dad was a hat buyer for the J.L. Hudson Company. Papa worked at Hudson’s for 50 years, working his way up into management as far as he could without a college degree. If I’m a mama’s boy (and I am), then my mom is a daddy’s girl. I had special relationships with both of my grandfathers, and I proudly acknowledge the traits that I got from both of them. I’ve been told that I’m very much like my Papa in physical build, intelligence, and temperament. He was a wonderful, gentle man, who was always a joy to be around, talk to, and spend time with. I miss him greatly, but when I contemplate, purchase, and/or wear hats, I feel a connection with him and his life’s work at the legendary Hudson’s store in downtown Detroit.
I feel like going out & buying a fedora right now…
-ghp
Apple nostalgia
I get nostalgic quite easily. Always have. It’s not all that bad a thing, and probably contributed to my affinity with History & being an History major as an undergrad. That said, I do also tend to get melancholy at times, and that’s not always that good, when combined with nostalgia jags.
Anyway, of late, I’ve been getting increasingly nostalgic about computers. Someday, I’m going to attempt to do a more thorough rundown of the computers I’ve gotten, built, and/or used over the 26 years that I’ve had computers to call my own. The list of what I built & when, however, could be a bit tricky, though, as I’ve started to forget exactly what I built into the various boxes I assembled in the late ’90s.
The first computer that I really felt was mine was the Apple IIc that I got in August 1984, just as I was about to start my senior year of high school. I really, really wanted a Mac, but settled/rationalized that a IIc was OK because I could have a mouse with it, and might even be better because I could do my computer class (BASIC programming & such) homework just like at school (where Apple IIe computers were used). It wasn’t exactly what I wanted (I had bought into the Cult of Mac almost immediately upon hearing about the Mac), but I just wanted a computer with that rainbow fruit on it.
Years later, much to my chagrin, I found out that my father was surprised when my mom & I came home with the IIc instead of the Mac. He expected, and was OK with, my getting the Mac. The thing is, though, I was firmly convinced that he was dead set against the Mac, as it wasn’t as “practical” as the IIc. It wasn’t the first, and certainly not the last, time that I outmaneuvered myself!
That all said, I’m very fascinated by this Flickr photoset of someone unboxing a pristine, never-before-opened, 1988 vintage Apple IIc. Very cool. Very cool, indeed.
Now, I wouldn’t want to have that IIc, as my nostalgia doesn’t extend far enough to want to actually use one these days.
The same, however, cannot be said for the Mac SE that I got in 1988. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’m going to be putting the final touches on refurbishing that SE, so that I can have it up & running again in time for its 20th anniversary. I’m not looking to try and get it online or anything like that (I’m not that much of a masochist, after all…), but I do want to have it working & running just like I did back in the day. I have every intention of keeping y’all updated with all the gory details…
-ghp
Motown 25: +25
Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever was a watershed event back in early 1983. Not only did it offer a stunningly good slate of classic Motown talent, including a Temps vs. Tops “showdown”, a mini-reunion by Diana Ross & the Supremes, a powerful performance of What’s Goin’ On? by Marvin Gaye, and a performance by The Jackson 5, it also heralded the ascension of the King of Pop, with Michael Jackson’s seminal performance of Billie Jean, during which he unveiled the Moonwalk.
I still remember watching this show when it originally aired. It’s hard to put into words just how powerful and exciting it was. This was the rocket that boosted Michael Jackson into the stratosphere, and propelled Thriller to it’s status as the top-selling (non greatest hits) album of all time. Prior to this, MJ was “merely” the talented breakout star from the Jackson 5, who had grown up to have a pretty darned good solo album with Off The Wall. Afterwards, he began his long road to iconic superstardom & subsequent descent into bizarre eccentricity. But at that moment in time, Michael Jackson was an unbelievably talented, seemingly normal, and undeniably black man who was blowing an industry out of the water.
Here’s a video clip (5:05) that examines the Moonwalk and its impact.
-ghp
Father Hollywood emerges
All too rare is the blog posting that generates a comment thread that outshines the original post. Father Hollywood has done just that with his post Emerging Luther? !
Not only is the main post a great analysis of the increasingly interesting “Emergent Church” phenomena, particularly as it is impacting the LCMS, but the comments that follow the main post are worthy of separate consideration in their own right. This is particularly true for the comments by Fr. Hollywood, wherein he does a great job of simply & concisely explaining Lutheranism’s relationship to both Rome & Constantinople, as well as to all of the myriad splinters that emerged (no pun intended) from Geneva.
While I had known that Wittenberg has greater kinship with Rome & Constantinople, and much less than with Geneva (and its offspring), I had never connected the dots with quite the clarity that Fr. H does. Rather than rehash his statements, doing them dishonor in the process, I’ll just recommend that you head over to read them at his place.
-ghp
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