Gone With the Wind Turns 70

Margaret Mitchell's classic Gone with the Wind was published seventy years ago this summer. While the novel is admittedly dated in its Southern sentimentality and troublesome in its treatment of racial issues, the icon that it captured and substantiated is a vivid part of the Southern literary landscape today. The novel (followed by the wildly popular film) became nothing short of a phenomenon. I saw documentary footage over the weekend of the Atlanta film premier. The entire city was in an uproar, audiences cheered aand wept, and even in recent years the film is considered a staple of chick films in some circles.... Or is it?

Sustainability
It is said that the test of a literary work's value is whether or not audiences can still connect with it decades later. With that in mind, I wonder if Gone with the Wind still matters in 2006? Folks everywhere in the 1930s read/watched it--Southern and otherwise. But have any of my 20 and 30 year-old friends out there ever read or watched it? Is it a generational thing? or just a Southern thing?

Trivia Facts
For those of you who are Margaret Mitchell fans, let's see if you know these facts:

* Mrs. Mitchell originally named the heroine of the novel Pansy, but changed her name to Scarlett at the insistence of her editors during the re-writes before publication.

* Mrs. Mitchell had little confidence in herself as a writer and had no intentions of publishing the novel. She even denied its existence until a friend vocalized doubt of Mitchell's talent as a writer. At that point she turned the manuscript over to an editor to prove a point, and the rest is history.

* Mrs. Mitchell wrote the last chapter first and then wrote the various other 1000 pages one chapter at a time in no particular order.

* The $3 price tag for Gone With the Wind when released in 1936 is the equivalent of $43.50 in today's economy. (When is the last time you payed 40 bucks for a book?) And yet for a time it was second in sales only to the Bible.

Related Links
The Story Behind Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell House and Museum)

Biography of Margaret Mitchell (Margaret Mitchell House and Museum)

Margaret Mitchell (Literary Traveler)

Gone With the Wind, Indeed (The Washington Post)

Apostolic Music - Part XXVIII

As you know, Ninetyandnine has featured a lot of dialogue on Apostolic music. I've even shared my initial "who cares" feelings which transformed to "wow, that would be cool" as I realized (through reader input) the need for more quality Apostolic music from all genres.'

On that note, I thought I would share a neat link. While I am not a Myspacer yet, here is a neat concept. A myspace profile has been created to serve as a simple way to find Apostolic recording artists. Check it out:

http://www.myspace.com/apostolicmusic

Should be fun to watch as this site grows and becomes a connection point.

Duct Tape - A Champion in the History of Tools

Great Duct Tape Article
Forbes recently released a list of the top 2o tools of all times with silly things like the abacus and telescope. In some appalling turn of events, duct tape did not make the list. But in recognition of the obvious oversight, Forbes released a wonderful article on the history and greatness of duct tape: "The Other Greatest Tool Ever." Even I had to say I was drastically impressed with some of the uses I would've never thought of.

Great Duct Tape Quote

"One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop."
--G. Weilacher

Quotation #3547 from Cole's Quotables

Great Duct Tape Picture
I'm in the market for some living room furniture. Lucky for me I just found a super idea for refurbishing a gently-used couch.

[Source: Jeff T's Duct Tape Page]

Word of the Day
Thanks to Wordsmith.org, I'm featuring a past word-of-the-day:

floccinaucinihilipilification = "Estimating something as worthless."

Here's an example of the word in a sentence:

People who don't value fine art might resort to floccinaucinihilipilification when reading this blog, but those among us with highly cultivated tastes will at once appreciate the column for both artistic and intellectual appeal.

The July 4 News from Walker, LA

I hope you had a great 4th of July. It's only 7 p.m., but the holiday is winding to a quick close in my little corner of the globe. The rednecks on my street (said with a respect they would both understand and appreciate) are defying the local officials' "no fireworks" mandate.

The Parish President thought fireworks would be a bad thing given that we are currently experiencing the worst drought in over 40 years. As much as we love giving chase to a blaze with the volunteer fire department, the President has banned firecrackers lest we tempt the Lord our God, or at least nature, with dry grass and smoking fuses.

But there's something sacred in shooting fireworks on July 4 just the same as letting loose with both barrels of your double-barrel shotgun at midnight on New Year's Eve. So my neighbors are lighting it up with what sounds like about a trillion hundred dollars worth of fireworks. Like setting a pile of money on fire, one dollar bill at a time, my conservative grandfather used to say.

Our dogs don't like it either. They are catahoula curs, the state dog of Louisiana I might add, and one of their claims to fame is baying hogs. "They got a good mouth on 'em," my Dad assures us when we question the necessity of five dogs in addition to the racoon and the horses we currently share our estate with. I believe him as I listen to the dogs vocally express their amazement, or perhaps disapproval, of the light and sound show going on right now.

It's only too uncanny that the local news featured fireworks safety specials, ban and all. I can almost hear the admission, "We know you are going to obey the law and go downtown to watch the professionals shoot fireworks for you, but just in case you happen to light up one little sparkler, here are some safety tips."

They know my neighbors all too well. We are not wait-and-see people, and we despise the notion that any professional is more qualified to do something than we are. These are the same people who took their boats down to New Orleans the day after Katrina and helped pull people out of attics and off roofs. The biggest insult in the whole ordeal was that officials asked it be left up to professionals for the sake of safety and organization. It is for precisely this reason that official mandates like that and this firework ban are largely ignored with the belief that they don't apply to us since we have just as much (or more) sense then the powers that be.

At 9 o'clock I made a pass down the main drag of town. Imagine my surprise when our fire truck flew by while I was waiting on my extra-long chili cheese coney at the drive-in. They even turned the siren on. Must've been for effect since there were only two other cars on the strip. No word yet on if it was a false alarm or not. I really thought about calling my friend and having her give me an update. (She has a police scanner--we don't ask how.) But I considered it poor taste and thought better of it.

So now I'm back to listening to the dogs, who seem to chat it up the most over Roman candles. If I were to start feeling really crazy, I'd make one more pass down Hwy 447 to see if I could spot the fire truck. But like my neighbors who are starting to knock off the fireworks, I'm feeling the back-to-work-tomorrow factor kicking in.

What's our next holiday? Labor Day? What are the odds we can do fireworks again then? I'm not sure what qualifies fireworks as patriotic, but it sure is downright entertaining. And that's the news from Walker, LA, where the dogs are baying and the fire truck is probably still riding around with the siren on just so people will come to the window.

Happy Independence Day!

Minutes ago another calendar day ticked away and the official 4th of July holiday began. Americans, ready those barbeque pits and fireworks, and somewhere in the middle of it all, refelct on the meaning behind the celebration.

Time for Families
This holiday finds me spending time with my Mom. In my thinking, what better way to celebrate than to enjoy time with the people most precious in your life.

Time for Thankfulness
Certainly while family and fun is a part of the holiday, the ultimate cause for Americans is to recognize national heritage, history, and identity. I tend to merge Independence Day and Memorial day in my mind. Both of my grandfathers were in WWII in the days when it was called "the service", one of them driving a Higgins boat made famous in the movie Saving Private Ryan. Regardless of your politics, I believe today is a great day to honor those past and present who sacrifice to contribute to the continued freedom of America and her allies. In a way this could be seen as a global holiday in that we should all be thankful for the universal liberties and freedoms we all share, our international friends included.

Meaningless Drivel
Since I can't be completely serious for an entire post, please let me share these two revelations I had yesterday:

1. Oliver North is a perfect physical composite of CNN's Anderson Cooper and Pres. George Bush combined. If you have ever played the "who does that person remind you of?" game, you'll get where I'm coming from. North looks just like a cross between the Prez and Cooper.

2. As far as world leaders go, I've decided Prime Minister Tony Blair is the most handsome. ....Maybe it's the accent?