no, not about the makings of dynamite, but rather about TNT the television station and the empire of Ted Turner... and art... and respect... and right and wrong... and about apple pie...

and memories...

maybe even about your grandmother...

think about this

you bake an apple pie with your old family recipe and you love it and your family loves it and friends and neighbors love it and it becomes so popular cuz it is just so good cuz it is baked with your uniquely wonderful family recipe that you sell it and it becomes famous and loved all the world over...

you call it by your name, or any name you choose, because it is yours, your memories, your treasure, your masterpiece, your work of art, your old family recipe...

years go by and a generation or many generations come to love your old family recipe and your family for creating it and giving it to the world... your name is famous, your family is respected and loved by millions, and your old family recipe, just as your family created it, is an integral part of the culture...

and then someone else comes along and buys your old family recipe and sells it as your old family recipe, which is ok cuz you and your family and your grandmother or great grandmother or whichever member of your family created the recipe in the first place deserves the respect for creating your old family recipe...

and you make some money on the deal...

but what if then...

the person who bought and sells your old family recipe changes the recipe and doesn't tell anybody... or maybe he puts this tiny label that turns invisible after two seconds that says recipe was changed, a label that rarely gets noticed because it is so tiny and only visible for two seconds?... and then the whole world buys and judges your old family recipe not by the wonderfully unique apple pie taste your beloved family member created, but by the different flavor of the changed recipe that is labelled your old family recipe...

after a generation or two, people do not even know what your old family recipe ever even tasted like, but instead come to believe that the changed recipe is what your family gave to the world... the apple pie your grandmother made, her legacy, her dear memory, the gift your family gave to the world is forever altered by someone else's standards (very possibly not to your liking at all) and still it represents your beloved grandmother and you and your family because it is still sold as your old family recipe...

what if it was your grandmother?... or your mother?...

what if your name was on that new changed recipe?...

or what if it was your mother's or grandmother's and your old family recipe was all you had left to remember her by and the world came to respect and even love her because she created this beloved unique recipe for apple pie called your old family recipe...

how would you feel about the guy who changed it and sold it as if it was still your old family recipe, huh?...

might even think that guy ruined your old family recipe...

well, that is what Ted Turner does to movies... not what I think, what he does... he changes art and fools us unto believing we are seeing the real thing... the thing someone took time to create... I know he is not the only one, but he will probably go down in history (are you listening, godhead?) as the man who single handely changed (and to my mind, and perhaps yours too, ruined) more works of art than anyone in humanity...

personally, not something I would be proud of...

as I see it, he (ol' Ted Turner) single handedly (or else let others do it while he controlled the power and money that did it) ruined (yes I know ruined is a strong word, perhaps destroyed would be more accurate, but then, I don't know if there is an appropriate word for what he did) the work of many many thousands, maybe millions of people... if you don't have a clue as to what I am talking about, maybe you don't care about art or creative work or maybe you don't pay attention to what happens to films when Ted Turner gets a hold of them, but he is either a frustrated artist (one who can't do, so he steals and copies and at the very least alters other people's art) or someone with no idea of what art is and no respect for anyone... or maybe he things he is god, since every film that passes through his hands is remade in his image of what a film should be...

now I am not one who goes out of my way to look for violence or graphic sexuality or any sort of harm... in fact, if you've read anything about the person I am (the writer of these words), then you might alrady know my basic tenet and only rule is honesty without harm... and yet, I do not pretend that the rule I live by should be the rule you live by and I do not pretend that I should try to control how you live... that, to me, is beyond arrogance, it is beyond what some call sinful, it is just plain wrong (you can say it defines wrong for me, since the word and concept {wrong} is relative)... that doesn't mean it should be wrong for you, but this is my rant, not yours...

heck, I rarely even find the need or inspiration to use the seven words you can't say on television (for those of you who do not understand that reference, see George Carlin... and then see Lenny Bruce... and then if you still don't understand, nevermind, go watch TBS)...

the bottom line is if you create something, if you give your heart or soul or blood or sweat or tears or any part of your energy to do something that produces something that you give to the world as a work of art (or even if you just want to call it a product or entertainment or something to do), then it has existence... it has worth... it is...

and then if you sell it as it is and people buy it as it is and enjoy it as it is, well then, I think that's cool...

but what I do not think is cool at all, what I think is wrong and an insult to my intelligence (and yours, trusting you have some too) and whatever else I might have respect for about myself or you is for someone to take what you created and sold as is and change it while still selling it as if it was the same thing you created and sold...

anyway, I was just watching a few movies I enjoyed in their original version and found them laughably diminished and even stupid in their Turnerized versions... I seldom watch TNT or any Turner station for this very reason... and the sad thing is Ted bought libraries of old movies and altered them and sold them to other broadcasters and even on video so you never know when you might be buying a Turnerized version of an old favorite recipe, or rather, film...

and I just had to say something...

. o O ( NOTES ARE THE NEW HAPPY PILL ) O o .
(just let me know you were here)