Tag Archives: Josey Wales

This Blog Has Evolved, But The Imbeciles Have Not

7 Feb

As you can probably tell from the title, this blog began as a place for biting commentary on the condition of humanity. It was a place to rail against the people and things that I found ridiculous about the world. I realize that was an arrogant mission, but I saw this as a place to vent without hurting anyone.

However, the blog has evolved. Now, I write about travel, music, movies, and funny things that happen. It is mostly light-hearted stuff about the things that I enjoy.

This change has come about for a couple of reasons.

First, I have changed. I found the love of my life, and that changed my view of the world.

Second, people I know started reading the blog, and I do not want to air my grievances out for everyone. It is one thing to write for people around the world and another to write for people down the street.

With all of that being said, I have found myself in a dark mood for the past several days. I have witnessed people acting like imbeciles, and that makes me want to divert back to my old writing ways. It also makes me wish that the real world was like the world we see on the screen.

Remember the kid that Billy Mumy played on The Twilight Zone? He was the one who could make anything happen just by thinking it. People were afraid to cross him because he could make them disappear or turn them into some kind of freakish toy.Billy Mumy

When someone does something completely ignorant, I imagine that I have that power.

Remember Josey Wales? When someone got in his way, he shot them and spit on their forehead. Lone Watie, his traveling companion, said, “I notice when you get to dislikin’ someone they ain’t around for long.” Captain Terrill, Josey’s enemy, said, “Not a hard man to track. Leaves dead men wherever he goes.”Josey Wales

When someone does something completely ignorant, I imagine that I have been dropped into the world of Josey Wales.

Obviously, these are things that are not done in polite society and are things that I would not do if I had the opportunity. However, that does not make me any less angry that I imagine the kid or Josey were supposed to be.

I used to be selfish in the fact that I would get angry when I felt someone had done something stupid that affected me. That was when I was a bachelor who lived alone. Now, I get angry when I feel that someone has done something stupid that affects my wife, my stepdaughter or the rest of my family.

I cannot be the kid on The Twilight Zone, and I cannot be Josey Wales. However, I can do everything in my power to protect them from the craziness. From the people who do not act before they think. From the people who only think of themselves. From the people who refuse to take responsibility for anything.

I am not perfect, and I have done some bad things in my life. I have hurt people. I have hurt myself. However, I always knew that many of the things were my fault. If I was the kid on The Twilight Zone or Josey Wales, then those are the people I would go after first – the ones who leave carnage in their wake and do not know who is causing it. They are the true imbeciles who surround us.

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A Post About Posts

10 Jun

I am always fascinated by what brings people to this blog and what they read when they arrive. Occasionally, I will go over to the stats page and see where the posts rank in viewership, and, the other day, I did just that. Some I knew would be there. Others were a little surprising.Eleven

“The Problem With Gas Pumps“, as it has for months, stands at the top of the list. In the early days of this blog, I wrote a sarcastic view of gas pumps and how they think we are imbeciles. For a long time, no one read it. Then, it hit big. This post controlled this blog for a long time, and I can’t figure out why.

“Into the Sunset” brought a huge surprise when it was Freshly Pressed. The idea for this one kicked around in my head for a few days before I wrote it. When I got around to it, there was no plan. I just typed. When I got the email that said it had been noticed, I sat there stunned.

“Victorian Brothelese” was another early post and covers my research topic in graduate school. I am sure you noticed the word brothel in the title. You can imagine the search terms that get people to this one.

At some point, I came up with the bright idea to look for movie quotes that provide life lessons. My first attempt at this was “Movie Wisdom – Burt Reynolds Edition“. I’m not sure people are looking for wisdom from Burt, but, from the search terms, I know there are a lot of fans of Smokey and the Bandit out there.

At another point, I decided to use our fascination with lists as a topic and came up with Listeria, a combination of List and Hysteria. Get it. Listeria. Anyway, two of those posts have hit the big time. The first is “Listeria – Gunslingers Edition“, and the second is “Listeria – Western Actors Edition“. There seems to be another theme there, as well.

“The Good, the Bad and the Presidential” gets a lot of hits from folks trying to find out which of our presidents was any good. I’m not sure that I can help them, but I have provided a handy list of who I think was any good.

One of my personal favorites is “Dirty Deeds and Thunder Chief“, an examination of lyrics that people get wrong. You would be surprised at how many people search for the exact words in the title. Perhaps, I should write a fictional biography of Thunder Chief and throw them off track.

Another favorite is “Sometimes It’s a Western, Sometimes It’s a Porno“. I love the search terms that bring people to this one. I didn’t realize that were so many people wanting Western themed porn. Honestly, the porn studios are missing a real opportunity here. Unfortunately, this post isn’t what they are looking for.

One of the best experiences of my life was meeting a man named Tom Drake, and I wrote about it in “The Cullman Comet“. This is a post that I would like everyone to read. Truly, he is an interesting man.

Finally, another early post has worked its way toward the top. “A Requiem for Josey Wales” is an examination of one of my favorite movies. For years, my mom complained because my father, my brother and I watched it every time it came on television. Then, she watched it and liked it. This is a movie that should be required viewing for every human.

Those are the titles at the top of the charts. It’s probably cheesy to link a bunch of posts like that, but, from a personal view, it’s interesting to see what draws people to this blog. It looks like these are the ones.

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