Southpaw Jones

Southpaw Jones presents
Is This Interesting?
Thoughts/feelings that just might not matter:
Alright, I think it’s time I finish the story of my trip to the Northwest. I woke up in Portland on the last day of the trip, and I headed to church with Raina Rose and her father. Just any church, Southpaw? Nay, the First Unitarian Church of Portland, one of the largest congregations of its kind. It took up a whole city block, maybe more.

I visited just in time for the return of their Senior Minister, Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell. She had been to some far away places, and she seemed pumped for an annual presentation called “What’s It All About, Alfie?” The ushers handed out paper, and we were instructed to write questions about anything and everything. The good Rev. Dr. then answered them extemporaneously. I did not submit a question, although “Where’s the coffee?” weighed heavily on my mind.

It was wild to see someone field huge questions of life, love, and the great beyond off-the-cuff on a Sunday morning. Dr. Sewell did a great job. Turns out she was a Sunday School teacher in a Southern Baptist church. When she divorced her husband, that community ostracized her and took away the position she loved. After years of searching, she went to seminary for The Enemy, Unitarianism. Silly Baptists, judgment is for kids.

Having grown up in a strict church environ myself, it was wild to hear such open, unassuming talk from a pulpit. I had been to UU churches before, but I suppose I’ll never get used to it. For example, one question read, “Does God feel emotions?” Dr. Sewell began her response with, “Well, this question presupposes there is a God…” And so it goes.

Southpaw Jones presents
SPJTV
Moving pictures because technology allows it:
Woo! Do NOT mess with this video unless you’re prepared to be out of commission for a minute or two. It will make your world wavy like gravy. You’ll probably get a better effect by choosing the full-screen option here.

Spike Gillespie presents
A Haiku History of the World
A look at our past, / seventeen syllables and / three lines at a time:

The Twin Towers fall.
Sorrow, anger and pride rise
up from the ashes.

Atomic Robot presents
Wikipedioh?
What you might not know about what you might now know:
The Worst Video Game of All Time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._%28video_game%29

Despite truly miraculous titles like Custer’s Revenge, the sheer size and weight of ET: The Video Game’s failure grants it the title of “Worst Video Game of All Time.”

Here’s what Wikipedia tells us:

“E.T. is seen by many as the death knell for Atari and is widely regarded as one of the worst video games ever produced as well as one of the biggest commercial failures in video gaming history. The game’s failure is often epitomized as a major contributing factor of the video game crash of 1983.”

Atari execs, confident that the brand recognition alone of Atari and E.T. would guarantee the game’s success, commissioned Howard Scott Warshaw to program the game, giving him five weeks to turn out the finished product. The game proved to be such a colossal flop that millions of excess cartridges of the game were buried in the New Mexico desert.

Here’s what Wikipedia doesn’t tell you:

Twenty years later, that particular section of the New Mexico desert has grown into a lovely oasis of video game trees.

Southpaw Jones presents
Rhyme Time!
One clue whose answer consists of two rhyming words:
A twisty-turny infectious agent
This is a tough one…my bad!
Highlight here for answer: [viral spiral]

Thank you, come again!
www.southpawjones.net
E-mail southpaw@southpawjones.com
©2006 Southpaw Jones. All rights reserved.