“My mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general; if you become a monk, you’ll end up as the Pope.’ Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.”
— Pablo Picasso

Retsyn. Did any of us really believe in this marketing nonsense? Did any of us even know it wasn’t spelled Retzin? Did any of us even care?

From wikipedia.org:

Retsyn is a Warner-Lambert Company trademark for the active ingredient in Certs, Cool Mint Drops, and Certs Power Mints. Retsyn consists of a combination of copper gluconate and hydrogenated cottonseed oil.

According to a Pfizer FAQ Page, it is Retsyn, in addition to the flavor, which is responsible for the efficacy of CERTS against breath odors. The hydrogenated vegetable oil and the copper gluconate absorb odors in the mouth.

>> ’80s Certs Commercial

Is it just me or is that Monica Lewinsky before she packed on the ’90s poundage?

The inset appears to move.

*A kind of spider

Source: A. Kitaoka

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
— John Lennon

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”
— Thomas Jefferson

“A successful work of art is not one which resolves contradictions in a spurious harmony, but one which expresses the idea of harmony negatively by embodying the contradictions, pure and uncompromised, in its innermost structure.”
— Theodore Adorno

The yellow segments appear to move horizontally.

*Japanese pronunciation of McDonald’s.

Source: A. Kitaoka

We just lost Auntie Mema, the last sibling of my paternal grandfather’s generation. Below are a couple photos I was lucky enough to snap recently at our Albao reunion in Honolulu on the evening of August 19 and afternoon of August 20, 2005.

Rest in peace, Auntie. Give our hugs to Grampa, Uncle Eddie, Uncle Willie, Uncle Henry, Uncle Joe, Auntie Mary, and Auntie Jo for us. Tell them we’re all doing well, we miss them, and we’ll see them soon enough. Love always.

ps: Tell Uncle Eddie I just bought a pick-up truck last night. I chose blue to match his.

Q: Why do critics love Elvis Costello?

A: Because they all look like him.

— Anonymous