Pope Francis; what a doll!

You can buy this bobblehead doll for $59 and I think it’s an excellent likeness.  For an extra $29.95 you can have an audio chip implanted that will contain any of the words/speeches from his recent visit to the United States.  This is my choice:  “I deeply regret that some bishops failed in their responsibility to protect children.  It is very disturbing.”  Although the quote continues “…that in some cases even bishops were the abusers,” I had to cut it off in the middle because the entire quote has too many keystrokes.  But it is in Spanish anyway so a lot of people will just mindlessly nod their heads.

That old devil moon in my eyes

Two nice things happened last night.  I bowled a 219 game and this eclipse.  I was able to watch it from a lounge chair, beginning to end, poolside at my building's complex in Ft. Lauderdale; with an appropriate celebratory
beverage at my side.  Also a nice Ziplock bag full of mixed nuts.  This particular type of lunar eclipse (full-out, "blood" super moon) will not be repeated again until the year 2033.  Although I will be 97 then I fully expect my bowling score(s) to improve.

Flash in The Pants

Bowling has begun again.  We are Bernardo, Dan, Rick, Oscar and myself.  We were a team over the summer and found it not lacking in fun and congenial competition.  We are retaining our name and adding a logo, designed by Bernardo.  Bowling shirts are looming.

Coulrophobia

There is actually a word for it.  That is, the fear of clowns.  It’s “coulrophobia” and I guess it’s a real thing although modern in origin.  Part of this, I think, stemmed from The Joker in the Batman comics and movies and Stephen King’s “It” helped fuel the flames.  An “ordinary” clown with frizzy hair and a jolly red nose is, instead, made up to look like a crazed maniac and usually has some sort of psychotic laugh to help chill the bones.  Suddenly the benign clown is a scary Halloween character.  And then there is John Wayne Gacy…a real life serial killer par excellence who loved to play dress-up to entertain the kiddies.

The character of Kramer on “Seinfeld” has coulrophobia, as does Phil, the father on “Modern Family” and Booth, the FBI agent on “Bones” who actually shoots a clown image in one interesting show.  The fall-out from it reverberated through several subsequent episodes and he needed “counseling.”

I have a friend, who shall remain nameless, who has a collection of glass clowns; some of them quite valuable.  But he says he only collects “happy” clowns but, really, is he happy having a collection of happy glass clowns?  I mean, clowns are people who have souls and, of course, souls have a dark side.  The clown Emmet Kelly was famous for being sad.  I wonder if he was happy under his sad make-up.  He made a good living at it so maybe he was happy.  Or, at least, not murderous.