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Laozi
Grammys, The secret Life of Walter Mitty, and other news and reviews



TV ReviewBeyoncé and Kacey Musgraves
2014 Grammy Awards
January 27, 2014

Last night was weird.

I watched the Grammy Awards (I never watch the Grammy Awards!), and I enjoyed it.

It was also weird because of what was missing -- awards. Not many gold sippy cups were handed out.

Of the 82 awards, 70 were given out before the Grammys at the pre-award show, leaving the Grammys only a dozen. They took the awards out of the award show and made it a better show.

There were many great performances. Here's the order of my favorites:
1.  John Legend - All Of Me
This was just about the music. No theatrics, just John singing at the piano.
2.  Kacey Musgraves - Follow Your Arrow
Kacey's performance had a great song with great lyrics. The way she sang them, with horrible emphasized into whore-ible, was lively. And her outfit, right down to the light up boots, was great.
3.  P!nk - Give Me A Reason
P!nk's acrobatics over the audience were great. This was performance with a capital P!nk.
4.  Metallica & Lang Lang - One
Great combination. The 2014 Grammy Awards Show was all about combinations of performers, like a fantasy football of music.
5.  Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers, Stevie Wonder, & Pharrell Williams - Get Lucky medley
Good medley.
6.  Beyoncé & Jay-Z - Drunk In Love
Good performance. Didn't she just have a baby? Is that the new mommy?

Five of the 12 acceptance speeches for theawards were missing because the French robots Daft Punk kept winning but saying nothing. Wow, letting your music speak for itself -- that is so artistic!

Two hundred or so other words were missing from the broadcast. Bleeped out of existence without even a bleep. The missing words were commonplace.

Usually I'm a fan of Katy Perry, but her Dark Horse was too not-Katy, too dark. Even the camera stayed away from her.

The Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr song Queenie Eye was OK. “Coming up, Paul McCartney and a special guest.” Right. Special guest my queenie eye.

The Robin Thicke & Chicago medley was cringeworthy. Fine time for the censors to take a break.

Music Association: John Legend - All Of Me




P!nk over the 2014 Grammy audience
P!nk performs over the 56th annual Grammy Awards on January 26, 2014








Feeling Laozi
January 21, 2014Laozi (6th century BCE)

When I say I'm feeling Laozi (or Lao-tze), I am not feeling bad. I'm feeling zen.

When I say I'm feeling zen but feeling Laozi as well, some see conflict. I do not.

Zen grew from Buddhism and Taoism, just as I grew from a mix of west and east. Call it Weast, if you must.

Laozi, the founder of Taoism said:

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.

If you don't trust people, you make them untrustworthy.

Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure.

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.

Music Association: Never Shout Never - Lousy Truth  Shine outward, not inward






movie review
The Dream Zone
January 20, 2014

As a positively optimistic dreamer, I am a fan of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Walter Mitty. I recently stood on the step King stood at the Lincoln Memorial when he delivered his I Have A Dream speech. And I recently saw the Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

If you did not see
the Secret Life of Walter Mitty don't feel bad. Most haven't. We saw it in an otherwise empty theater. It was as if Walter Mitty's life really was a secret. Walter Mitty is the story of a mild-mannered man who occasionally zones out and imagines a life he's never lived. The original James Thurber 1939 short story and the original 1947 movie starring Danny Kaye both share a  negative view of the people in Mitty's life. I always liked the daydreamer side of Mitty but not the bleak portrait of the real world.

The recent Secret Life of Walter Mitty movie breaks out of the gloom and doom post-911 evil zombie world where life as we know it is about to end. Life is not about to end, but Life Magazine is about to end and Walter Mitty works at Life with the negatives. He's the negative assets manager. He's surrounded by the negatives of Life. And he's lost one of the negatives.
Walter Mitty's Secret Life
Ben Stiller starred in the movie, while also directing it and co-producing it. He brought it to life after the project had been kicked around the studios for almost two decades, mostly leaning on Jim Carrey as Walter Mitty. Ben Stiller is better cast as the Walter Mitty
every man, living in the tapestry of Life magazine covers that never were.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a good movie with the potential to be a great movie. If I were directing and editing the movie I would play with the scope. Mitty would be as boxed in as his negatives. His dreams would be a blur of animated overlays and full-fledged day dreams. But then, I would be steering the movie further away from James Thurber than Ben Stiller did. I just dream of movies that live up to their potentials.

And that potential is what I saw while daydreaming from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial -- a better world.
3 stars
Music Associations: Blondie - Dreaming & Aerosmith - Dream On








Simple Pleasures
Hot Shirt
January 14, 2014

I just put on a shirt straight out of the dryer. That feels good.


Music Association: James Brown - I Feel Good


shark tickled







Poptart factory



Snowballs, Snow Falls
January 4, 2014

At almost midnight last night, the snow was falling like snowballs. It was cartoonish. It startled the cats.

When did I move into a snowglobe?

Governor Dayton announced yesterday that Minnesota public schools will be closed on Monday due to the extreme cold temperatures forecasted. Good plan.

For the record, Minnesota hasn't closed the schools ahead like this in years. Gov. Carlson closed the schools three times in the 1990s.

More information about what stops working as the degrees drop can be found at the Twin Cities Calendar for January.

Stay warm my friends.

Music Association:  Foreigner - Cold As Ice




Happy New Year 2014









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