DEEP THOUGHTS (AND SHALLOW ONES) FROM A WRITER-PRODUCER-POET-COLUMNIST WHO'S STILL TRYING TO FIGURE THINGS OUT
How many similarities to Batman and Robin can you see in the cartoon above? I especially like the visual salute to Bob Kane in panel 7, but panel 3’s reference to Adam West is interesting too.
LYMI
LB
My faves for today. But the one above is the real Brodys.
LYMI,
LB
Bwaahh!
Today’s intended post:
LB: Gwen and I had a wonderful day together yesterday!
Mesmerized Listener: What did you guys do?
LB: Spent the whole day in bed apologizing to each other for apologizing to each other.
Then I went to Copilot and asked it to make a cartoon image of an elderly married couple in bed sleeping.
That was intended to be the punchline. You know, the sleeping thing. So I thought it was really cool when Copilot responded with this:
I noticed your Facebook post about you and Gwen spending the day in bed “apologizing to each other for apologizing to each other”—that’s such a tender and humorous moment. If you’d like, I can create a version of the cartoon that captures that exact vibe. Want to personalize it a bit more?”
Of course I said yes. Here’s CoPilot’s cartoon.
Cute, huh? Full of tenderness and humor?
Okay, I admit it. What I see is tenderness, and love, but the humor part is sorely lacking. Which I could easily forgive because, you know, tenderness and love.
But where the hell is the personalization?
After half an hour of further instruction and various other attempts, I got a cartoon like this:
With this heading:
And we’re worried about AIs taking over the creative universe? Sheesh!
LYMI
LB
My current prognosis being what it is (namely terminal cancer, but who really believes the idea that they actually are terminal?) I’ve learned to live with various inconveniences.
One of those inconveniences is that I have balance issues. My spine, it seems, is filled with prostate cancer tumors from bottom to top, resulting in a constantly shifting state of blockage from my brain to my legs. There’s no pain involved here, but I never know how difficult, or for that matter not difficult it will be for me to walk at any given time.
After almost a year of experimentation with footwear, I’ve learned that I walk best in leather soled moccasins because they feel the most like going barefoot, and barefoot is the best way of all to walk around in glorious Northern Washington State because I can use my toes the way they were meant to be used, i.e. as ground-grippers.
The glorious weather and ground conditions, however, don’t last very long around here, and being barefoot can be very dangerous. Walking with a cane and/or Layla the Loquacious, who has a thorough grounding (pun intended) as a support dog, specifically what’s called a Mobility Dog, helps quite a bit in keeping me from falling, but they work best when I wear mocs with soles thin and flat enough to keep me standing and moving properly.
FWIW, my favorite moc for indoor use is Minnetonka Animikii, designed by Lucie Skjefte, who may well be the first Native American artist being paid a royalty for this kind of work. The Animikii mocs are comfortable and snug and have a very positive effect on my balance.
They are not, however as good as I would wish for outdoor use. The soles are too thin, and even though they wear well, I can feel every rock and twig and wood chip I step on, and in my neighborhood that means that every step I take hurts. So for outside wear I go with LL Bean Men’s Leather Double-Sole Slippers.
Yes, they really are slippers, complete with a flannel lining, but don’t mock me (sorry!) for the irony of inside shoes being so better than outside ones and vice versa, please.
Which reminds me of why I started writing this piece in the first place. You thought I’d sold out and was shilling for the two products, amiright? Nah, I’m just looking for an answer to what Minnetonka’s included “Wear with Care” instructions mean. So, without further ado:
My question, as a consumer who truly has no more fucks to give, is do you think this “Wear with Care” thing is a way of protecting the clothing I wear with these shoes, like say a light tan shirt, so that no one complains about the mocs ruining their ensemble? Or is the company trying to keep the mocs’ suede color pure so that no one complains about it turning darker?
For that matter, why would I ever rub a shoe against anything I’m wearing?
Unless…is this some kind of fetish? Damn! That’s it, isn’t it? Why didn’t I know? Why didn’t anyone tell me suede rubbing was a hot thing?
LYMI
LB
