Walter Bego has asked to use this blog to play tribute to his favorite artist.
He was the only American-born member of Monty Python, and perhaps the most accomplished director of the cast as well, but Terry Gilliam has always been the artist - the man who took us away from the familiar faces of the players and gave us something completely different.
The era leading into Python was a time of Pop, influenced by the Beatles, and by LSD.
It seemed like all the rules were broken already. How is an artist supposed to deal with that? Gilliam found ways of breaking rules we didn't know we had - like art was supposed to either be animated or still. Gilliam refused to follow.
The largely stationary head with one moving part - frequently the jaw, eye or teeth, became something we identify with him to this day.
Gilliam brought the absurd to the spiritual - a favorite theme of Monty Python.
He also held a mirror to the absurdity of modesty.
It was well that he was taken in by Monty Python - American broadcast television in the 60s and early 70s never would have tolerated him.
A little girl harvesting hands from a grave-site would not have meshed well with Mayberry RFD. But Gilliam didn't shock for the sake of shock. In Holy Grail, Arthur and his knights run in fear of a great monster. Gilliam might have created something truly fearsome.
Instead he gave us something so absurd, that the chase scene had no element of terror.
It wasn't because he lacked the talent to do otherwise. Gilliam gave us great landscapes.
And streetscapes.
And interior scenes where the characters are dwarfed by their surroundings.
And, of course, he gave us countless images of the human foot.
And the reconstituted human body.
Why is he relegated to the title of comedian, while Warhol and others are called artist? I don't know. But I think he understands.
I was worried in the third quarter when the score was exactly what I
wrote up for half-time (Ohio State 21 – Oregon 20.) Thank goodness
the rest of the game didn’t go as I predicted. The pressure is
off. You see, I made a side bet. Walter Bego, the head screw-up at
Go Figure Reads told me that picking Oregon was a sure thing. I
said, if you’re such an expert, why don’t you put your pixels
where your mouth is. If Ohio State beats Oregon, you have to do the
pro picks.
He agreed! (sucker)
Now be prepared to go 0-2 for the NFL conference championships (or
just bet against this guy.) So – Here’s Walter (Jockstrap) Bego!
I'm not saying he's old, but...
There isn’t much on the line here. Winning a conference
championship is like buying a Powerball ticket – there’s no
reason to celebrate getting there unless you win the next one. Ask
the Vikings, the Bills, the Eagles, the Chargers, the Panthers and
the Bengals. Still, the victors this weekend have a much better shot
at taking the Super bowl than I had at winning 176 million on last
night’s drawing.
So – how should we pick them? Let’s go by the last game.
AFC
The New England Patriots were pretty much dead, smothered by a
cloud of large carrion-eating birds. Unfortunately for the Ravens,
Bill Belichick snuck the UMass Minutemen onto the sideline and they
added their firepower to pick off the Baltimore Birds.
Why is it that teams from Massachusetts (Patriots, Minutemen,
Revolution) get to carry fire arms? I never thought of Massachusetts
as a big 2nd Amendment state
(excuse me, Commonwealth.)
The Indianapolis Colts had much less trouble with the Denver
Broncos. Colts are just younger and friskier Broncos that haven’t
been regularly abused in rodeos. It showed on Sunday. It might have
been Peyton Manning’s last rodeo.
So… men armed with muskets against a bunch of young horses.
That doesn’t sound too tough to predict – the Patriots win in a
shoot-out (see what I did there?)
New England 41 –
Indianapolis 35
NFC
The whole fire-arm thing didn't work out for the pistol-packing Cowboys. Maybe because Lambeau Field is a gun-free
zone. They ended up with empty holsters in a frozen locker fighting
against meat packers with those nasty hooks they use to make your
steak look like it died in a horror movie. In the end, the third
team on the field (the guys in the old fashioned prison uniforms,)
decided the game. These zebra-striped felons are guilty of stealing
outcomes too often in recent weeks. Ask the Lions whether they, or
the refs belong in a cage.
The Seattle Seahawks watched their opponent blow the game
without any help from the officials, and little help from the Seahawks. Had the Panthers not made so many mental and physical errors
early on, might they have made a better showing in the second half?
We’ll never know. But we do know that the Seahawks have learned
how to straighten up and fly right. They don’t seem to make
mistakes anymore. Is this the same Pete Carroll that coached the
circuses in New York and New England back in the 90s?
If this game was in Wisconsin, the Seahawks might find the
weather and the cheddar too much for them, but as it’s in a stadium
intentionally designed to amplify sound, I expect that the Packer
line won’t hear a thing Rogers says in the second half.
Seattle 24 – Green Bay
17
Thank you, Walter Bego
And now you know why no-one has asked Walter to write a blog. To
wrap up, Walter picks the Patriots and the Sea Hawks. Now where can
I lay down a bet on the Colts and Packers?
Let's see, a football video? The best one will ALWAYS be...
