...and before Louis Brookes, were - The Dolly Sisters

"...they were the first show business personalities to be accepted as equals by international society" (http://www.classicimages.com/past_issues/view/?x=2000/january00/dollysisters.shtml).

Just recently heard about this 1920s dancing-duo from Hungary, Rosie and Jenny Deutsch - Amazing identical-twin sister act, indeed.

One of the first vaudeville/burlesque groups popularized, they were an exciting sign of the times ahead, not only because of their unique act but the fact that they weren't your typical voluptuous-blonde-next-girl-kinda gals - they were short, petite, with onyx black hair.

They even sported a boyish type of hairstyle that was never before seen, but would be ten years later during the flapper era - "The Bob," donning themselves also in long, slinky robes, covered with exaggerated jewelery.

You could say these charmers dished out a new kind of exotic-erotica to mouth-watering masses!

A young Bjork back when She was in the Sugarcubes

Distractions from the Nutshell.

Recently I posted some pictures from my past on a social media site. Don't worry. I didn't do what most people do - post something stupid and then later kick myself for doing something so stupid.

The pictures weren't anything vulgar or what a boss would consider scandalous. They were just a handful of pictures back from my old clubbing days...so I wore a lot of black. What can I say?!? Black's a color, also :)

Shortly after this posting I realized a friend of mine - a colleague I'd academically competed with in college - removed herself from my friends list, and even blocked me! Wow! Very painful, it was.

I had always known she was incredibly conservative. She'd always say things like, "I just don't belong here, everyone so liberal!" Her husband, you see, was a Marine, and she was from a small town near San Diego.

This brings me to something of an unsolved mystery; something that is misused; something misinterpreted; something most of the time is misunderstood. A definition us folks like to call - "friend".

Ask yourself - how many friends DO you really have? But before you answer, think past those places I like to call "collection sites" such as Facebook, Myspace and Friendster.

Now cross out all those you see on a weekly basis in the local coffee shops, bars and clubs - the "frequenters," I call 'em. Really? Who's left? And are they your drinking buddies? How many of these - friends you say that are left - you spent time with in a museum or at a play?

If think along the lines of acquaintances, I bet it's long and winding. A friend is far and few between.

You see, I thought she was my friend. I mean, we knew each for years and had many discussions at school. But when I really began to think about it, after graduation, our discussions were ALWAYS on Facebook.

Guess I bought into the illusion - a friend on Facebook doesn't necessarily make them a friend. My bad!

So now I ask you, and myself - what's up with all the acquaintances? I'll admit it, I've gotten carried away with the social networking sites. I lived a lot of places so its been real convenient. When I was in school and holding a job, I only had some much time to spare.

All this brings me to this - is it really that we just don't have the time to invest or devote to another; and, if this is true, for some of you - like it was once for me - why are we so let down when someone else cannot give the same to us?

Don't lie - your human! Emotions are something, no matter how hard you try, will not wither up away and die.

I know what you're thinking - so what; who cares! It is what it is! But sometimes, I can't help but wonder if all this "acquainting" spills into our nationwide rising divorce rate of 50%. Pretty embarrassing I think. This issue we're speaking of is how we communicate with we each other, right?

And it gets even worse - 67% that try at marriage again will fail, and 74% will fail at a third try: "according to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri."

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans," John Lennon once said. So what happens when you're not busy anymore?

Or are we too scared to slow down and see the error of our ways?

Making the wrong friends and getting into the wrong relationships because it was quick and didn't demand a lot of our time.

But in the end, my friend - time is all we'll have.

Time has become a phenomenon that's defining our lives in this age of instant gratification.

Simply stated, there is none.

So we've become, frankly, lucky to get what we can get, right?

We need to reconnect in this age that feels the need to travel faster than the speed of light. We've become sociopaths; collectors - friends that are never there; marriages that are failing; children with homes and no parents; so much stuff we can't really afford yet buy and never use.

...they're all distractions; a collection of distractions.

So now, I'll end this rather long - hopefully triggering - rant with some wise words by Will Rodgers, who said, "half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save."

What will you do with yours?

Work on it now; collect wisely :)

Love's in Bloom

This year, thus far, has been a good one. New evaluations and relationships. Did I mention that I also won the lottery? That's right - that man of mine. It's like I got everything, I thought, would be impossible to find in someone. Yes! being picky all these years did finally pay off. The impossible really is - possible...

Anne Bancroft

Love her! Though, I'm only familiar with her as an actress - nevertheless - the air about her is something to be reckoned with - class, confidence and charm - supported by a force driven with solid strength.

Peter Fonda in the Wild Angels (1966)

Words by the Wise Wilde

Taken from A Picture of Dorian Gray

Don't squander the gold of your days,
listening to the tedious, trying to improve the hopeless failure,
or giving away your life to the ignorant, the common,
and the vulgar. These are the sickly aims, the false ideals,
of our age. Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you!
Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for
new sensations. Be afraid of nothing. . . . A new Hedonism--
that is what our century wants. You might be its visible symbol.
With your personality there is nothing you could not do.
The world belongs to you for a season. . . . The moment I met
you I saw that you were quite unconscious of what you really are,
of what you really might be. There was so much in you that
charmed me that I felt I must tell you something about yourself.
I thought how tragic it would be if you were wasted. For there is
such a little time that your youth will last--such a little time.
The common hill-flowers wither, but they blossom again.
The laburnum will be as yellow next June as it is now.
In a month there will be purple stars on the clematis, and year
after year the green night of its leaves will hold its purple stars.
But we never get back our youth. The pulse of joy that beats in us
at twenty becomes sluggish. Our limbs fail, our senses rot.
We degenerate into hideous puppets, haunted by the memory
of the passions of which we were too much afraid, and the
exquisite temptations that we had not the courage to yield to.
Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but
youth!"