Faces of Despots
We have a framed photo of Richard Nixon on our living room wall. It’s not exactly the same image as the one in the link, but it’s pretty close. Our fascination with the third-worst American President of our lifetime* would probably take a whole other post to deal with, so I’ll just note that we also have a Nixon mug from the Nixon Presidential Library, and some soap from the same source. The Nixon photo came from the Kitty. He found it in the back room of the theatre where he works, all dusty and grimy, long forgotten. Its provenance is unknowable, but it’s probably been there since the 70s. He wrapped the photo and gave it to Mama Dog for her birthday a couple years back. He asked me beforehand what I thought of it as a birthday gift. I guess he had been kidding, because he seemed surprised when I reacted with utmost enthusiasm. “She’ll love it!” I said, and indeed it was her favourite gift that year. I make it my business to know my target demographic.
The mug and the soap were gifts from the Pirates, who for some reason went to the library in Yorba Linda and thought of us. This was after they had seen Mama Dog’s reaction to the framed photo. Once you have a known enthusiasm, people start giving you more of whatever it is. My grandmother collected ceramic elephants, and had hundreds of them by the time she died, most of them gifts. The Pirates also sent us a card that now adorns our refrigerator, bearing the likenesses of Saddam Hussein and his daughter (as a young girl). Not this one, but it’s kind of close, in spirit anyway. Ours is in colour. He sure seems like a proud dad. Well, so was Nixon. Hitler was a vegetarian. Dick Cheney loves his lesbian daughter. Human nature can be some weird and fucked up shit.
I’ve been using the default Dell wallpaper on my desktop since we got the new computer. Mama Dog has used a few different things in that time, but it takes me a while to get around to decorative elements. Today I selected this blast from the past to live on my desktop when other programs are closed. It’s all stretched out and distorted to fit the screen, but hey, it sure catches the eye as you walk past.
___________________
*(After the current one and the one who preceded the current one’s father.)
The mug and the soap were gifts from the Pirates, who for some reason went to the library in Yorba Linda and thought of us. This was after they had seen Mama Dog’s reaction to the framed photo. Once you have a known enthusiasm, people start giving you more of whatever it is. My grandmother collected ceramic elephants, and had hundreds of them by the time she died, most of them gifts. The Pirates also sent us a card that now adorns our refrigerator, bearing the likenesses of Saddam Hussein and his daughter (as a young girl). Not this one, but it’s kind of close, in spirit anyway. Ours is in colour. He sure seems like a proud dad. Well, so was Nixon. Hitler was a vegetarian. Dick Cheney loves his lesbian daughter. Human nature can be some weird and fucked up shit.
I’ve been using the default Dell wallpaper on my desktop since we got the new computer. Mama Dog has used a few different things in that time, but it takes me a while to get around to decorative elements. Today I selected this blast from the past to live on my desktop when other programs are closed. It’s all stretched out and distorted to fit the screen, but hey, it sure catches the eye as you walk past.
___________________
*(After the current one and the one who preceded the current one’s father.)
posted by PapaDogDuvalier | 8:44 PM
1 Comments:
Great post, Papa Dog! I must add that, when we first looked at this house as prospective buyers, a portrait of the Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. hung in one of the bedrooms. Since the owner of the house was deceased, I asked our realtor if I could have some of the stuff that was left in the house, in particular, the MLK portrait. The realtor said, 'Yeah, sure -- just go around marking the things you want to keep and I'm sure it'll be fine," so I taped a large "KEEP" sign on the desired portrait, as well as on an ugly plaid couch from the '60s, a church pew, and some other stuff. When we finally closed escrow and got the keys to the house, I was sad to see that everything, including my MLK picture, had been taken away. If only that picture had stayed, perhaps we'd be pinning up pictures of Jesus and Gandhi rather than Saddam and Nixon.
Post a Comment
<< Home