August 2005

I am not sure if you are aware of this but Barry Manilow was the brains behind the State Farm jingle: “LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR STATE FARM IS THERE.” I know you’re speechless and you’re shaking your head, thinking to yourself, “That Mr. Manilow is a pure lyrical genius.” The same guy behind the smash hits “Mandy” and “Copacabana??!?!?!” Unbelievable.

Just look at him. Wow. What a guy.

Although I personally have AAA insurance, I have to admit, it is a catchy jingle that does get stuck in my head from time to time. But lately, I have secretly been thinking about switching to Geico. (I think Tony Little did me in.)

In regards to a past post I wrote about loving your life, I have to say this CD cover of Barry’s is maybe one of the most ultimate “I love my life moments” I have ever seen.

What a pose.

But of all the BM pictures floating around out there, this one just sums it up for me.

Here is one of his biggest fans, a middle aged woman, whom he pulled up on stage at a concert back in ’92. Although she looks petrified, it’s definitely a moment for her. A BIG moment. Something I bet she is still talking about as I write this.

Who is this woman? I haven’t got a clue. But I’ll bet a few Pop Tarts that she is from some place like Tippencanoe, Indiana and listens to “Mandy” on repeat, especially on Tuesdays. What is even more frightening about this picture is Barry’s grip on this poor woman.

Look at his veins!! Barry needs to lighten up on his grip! He needs to know that this is no staged Courtney Cox Arquette/Bruce Springsteen “Dancing in the Dark” moment, this is the real thing and the poor woman’s heart is probably in her throat.

It is very obvious this woman had no clue she would be the one among the 50,000 plus arena to be in the arms of Barry that night. A few hours before, her night was probably as normal as could be as she chatted with her lady friends over a potluck at her house prior to the concert. As they twirled the Lazy Susan around they chatted about their favorite Barry song, his lovely eyes, and how excited they were for the BIG SHOW! Nobody would have ever imagined in a million years one of them would be the one to steal the show that night. By the look of the picture you can really tell Barry’s got a hold on her, physically and emotionally.

By the way…who the hell was Susan and why was she so lazy?

Good night and just remember that like a good neighbor state farm is there. (And by a “good neighbor” I am not talking about my neighbor Lyle who sent pit bulls after me when I was five years old riding my bike in the cul-de-sac.)

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Searching the web is no different than searching for sea glass if you really think about it. Sometimes you start out with a purpose, sometimes you just go for a little stroll. If you go out searching for a certain piece, chances are you’ll come home with something completely different than you had in mind. Most of the time it’s better than you imagined and sometimes, it’s a real gem. An inimitable stone that appears before you as it’s washed up out of the vast sea. It’s so unique you stare at it for a moment and think about where it has traveled and if anyone has ever held it before. As you examine the piece closely, you can’t help but wonder if you found it or it found you.

A few months back I came across the most unique stone I have ever seen, only this time it came from a different ocean. An ocean we are all familiar with and have been known to surf from time to time. The ocean that we all know as “The Internet.”

It was early March 2005 and I was in need of a picture of an old man for something to do with my screenplay. Since I have long ago stopped asking Jeeves any questions at all (except Are You Jealous Of Google?), I went straight to Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s masterpiece, known to the world as Google. Before I go on, I have something to say to Larry and Sergey. THANK YOU!!

Thank you for being brilliant and coming up with the search engine of all search engines. Without you two I would have had to Ask Jeeves for a picture of an old man and would have never gotten a straight answer. (By the way, nice balls guys.)

I opened up Google and I typed in OLD MAN. Within a few seconds hundreds of images popped up. Page after page I saw images of old men and other bizarre things.

I saw Cuban 80 year olds sucking on cigars…

The cover of Old Man and the Sea….

Faces like this that made me nervous…

A bobble head in honor of the classic movie, A Christmas Story…

Even old men making fire…

Oh Google. What would we do without you?

Then out of nowhere, I saw this picture of an old man holding a peculiar looking stone.

Although the man was not old enough for what I was looking for, I was intrigued by the stone and clicked on the link that it came from

I would soon be taken for a ride around the world through the website of Hans BIWI Lechner, an Austrian artist. The picture of the old man holding the black stone was part of his art project called The Rolling Stone, just one of his conceptual art projects documented on his site.

To quote his website Hans “found the thirty pound heavy stone at the banks of the Danube river in Austria and painted it with a symbol he created as the graphic representation of the question for the meaning of life, in the shape of a genderless human figure looking up to a triangle. For over 18 years Hans has been “rolling” the stone all over the world to places and people he photographs with his stone. He has traveled to 48 countries of the world and photographed more than 2000 people holding the rolling stone in their hands. This conceptual art project is a work in progress that connects and unites people, beyond religion, color, money or nationality. People are united in their common search for the meaning of life. They are connected with each other in their quest.”

Below are some images from Hans’ website of the Rolling Stone in the hands of people from all over the world.



(yes that is Dennis Hopper.)

Those are only a handful of pictures amongst the many others on the website. It’s quite amazing how many places that stone has been to and how many individuals have held it.

Below are some images of Hans with his Rolling Stone. (These are from his project called Sisyphus, another project involving the rolling of the stone around the world.)

To read an explanation of this project go here:

After looking at these images of the stone, I was so intrigued to learn about the stories behind the pictures that I had to contact Hans. Although thousands of miles away in Vienna, Austria I was able to get in touch with Hans through a click of the mouse thanks to Ray Tomlinson.

Mr. Tomlinson, the brains behind that thing we call E-mail.

Within a few days Hans wrote me back and we exchanged stories. I explained to him that I also had an object I documented at different locations and I sent him some pictures of Ardy the rubber duck. When he informed me of a planned trip to Southern California in August, we agreed to meet so that Ardy and the Stone could be documented together.

Well, a week ago today, it happened.

Everything came full circle.

Here is a picture of Hans and Ardy getting acquainted.

Joining the get together was Catherine, Hans’ partner, and their friend Harold whom they were staying with in LA.

All Quality Individuals deserving of a Quality Hat.

And he’s not kidding that the stone weighs thirty pounds. I can attest!

We all enjoyed a nice evening drinking Brazilian coffee and eating Catherine’s famous blueberry curry complimented with some Australian wine. A nice cultural meal, a mile from Sunset Blvd.

Catherine and Hans had just arrived into LA after traveling around the east coast of Canada and the United States leaving stones like this for people to find.

Leaving these stones around the world is part of another conceptual art project called: The Common Denominator. The project is based around the idea of trying to connect people through a series of coincidences. When someone finds a stone, they will turn it over and on the back they will see the words, “You are now a part of my art. www.getstoned.cc.” On the website there are many testimonials from people who have found stones in some random places around the world.

When you have a minute and feel like doing some surfing, grab your surfboard and take a look at Hans’ website. Believe me you will not be disappointed.

On that note, I suggest you keep your eyes open because there are thousands of stones placed all around the world just waiting to be found. One of my favorite comments on the website is from a person named Toasty Jackson who found a stone back in 2003. The comment read: “I found your stone in Jacksonville, Florida in the parking lot of a Chinese Restaurant off San Jose Blvd.”

Yeah, you never know when one will wash up at your feet.

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After yesterday’s plane crash in Toronto my mom said something to me. She said, “Lisa, if I were one of those passengers on board I would be drinking champagne all night long tonight.” So true, Mom. So true.

Later that evening, Larry King was on and he was interviewing one of the passengers via telephone. With those striped suspenders, Larry looked into the camera dead on and asked the passenger what he was going to do tonight. The male passenger answered, “I’m going to drink champagne, Larry!” He had just had a near death experience (NDE) and he was going to go celebrate his life! Time to appreciate waking up in the morning…

I personally have never had an intense NDE before but I do know that the most common thing that people say after they have one is that they “really appreciate their life more than ever.” Although I am not speaking from experience, I can completely see where they are coming from. While the saying “it changed my life” is beyond cliché, it really rings true when analyzing NDE’s. Having a near death experience does change your life. It makes you wake up and start really appreciating what you have. It’s the time to celebrate your life and the people that make your life that much better.

Here is my question…Why should we wait for a NDE to happen to start appreciating and celebrating life? Why not now? Why wait to pop that bottle of champagne open…why not pop it now? I am not trying to tell everyone to become lushes in light of this miracle of a plane crash where there were no casualties; I am just saying that we should go out there and celebrate life no matter what. Seek out the details in life…the little things that make even the biggest grouch (Lyle my neighbor) happy.

As I was organizing my pictures from the past year in folders last night, I started noticing little moments that capture the little things in life that I think can sometimes get overlooked. I am not trying to go all Chicken Soup for the Soul on you, I am just sharing with you my thoughts on how to celebrate life, NDE or not.

Take a moment to relax and feed the birds.

Do the limbo whenever presented with the opportunity.

Hug a stranger. (High fives work, too.)

Take a bath!

Perform handstands as much as humanly possible.

Call in sick on a Tuesday and go play Dominos with your friends. If there is a beach around…even better!

Eat Ice Cream (especially on Vanilla Ice Cream Day… July 23rd)

Play Sports…

But never take them too seriously and start throwing milk jugs on a hockey rink when you lose.

Wear clogs at least once in your life.

Indulge…every once in awhile.

Seek out a thrill…

Smile…Especially before you go and drink red wine and stain your teeth.

Appreciate a perfect strawberry. Sometimes they are hard to find.

If you’re up…bring food to all night security guards. It will change their lives.

Try something new.

Jump!

Drink Sparky’s bold root beer at least once.

Re-watch Steve Guttenburg’s performance in Three Men and a Baby. (He’s the one on the left.)

But most importantly…

Love one another…

Love your Life….

And don’t forget to take a little time to smell the roses.

(Yeah so that last one had a hint of Chicken Broth in it… but you know what…it’s one of those days.)

ps. I have no clue who that person in the rose picture is with me.

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