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I may surprise a few people that I am a very big fan of comedy.  I mean real comedy.  Puns.  Slapstick. Good clean humor.  I still watch the Honeymooners.  I have a collection of 3 Stooges shorts.  I still remember the day I met Sid Ceasar in the lobby of the Drake Hotel back in the 80′s. We talked for several minutes while he bemoaned the “potty mouth, drop your pants” humor that had become so popular.   One of my favorite films of all time is “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”  And I have been a big fan of Mel Brooks movies (at least up to “Silent Movie,” after that he kind of went off the deep end, I think).

I just read today where another great “Golden Age” funny man had passed on.  Soupy Sales died at 83.  Even some baby boomers may not remember Soupy.  I watch the old kinescopes on You Tube and I still laugh.  It was when TV was young and they sort of made it up as they went.  Soupy would improv and joke and you could hear the cameraman and director laugh.  It was Soupy and 3 puppets, White Fang, Black Tooth and Pookie.  And I loved them all.

What he was most famous for was the old pie in the face routine, that became a staple of slapstick comedy.  Truth be told, I always wanted to experience that.  I even wrote up a skit for my Sunday School class where I would get a pie in the face, but it never got off the ground. 

There’s one more for the bucket list.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to see the UniverSoul Circus here in Chicago.  It was as great as the first time I saw it a few years ago.  That first time, I was expecting a fun and entertaining African-American themed program, and it was.  But I was also impressed by the fact that it was a also just a great circus!

This morning, I awoke to the amazing news that our president had won the Nobel Peace price, only the third sitting president to do so.  In the many reports that I saw heard and read, no where was it mentioned that he was Black.  He is simply the President of the United States.  And we are all quite proud of him.

Just returned from the first annual Chicago TechExpo.  They had a raffle where they gave away, among other things, Nintendo Wii and other videogame consoles.  Of course it all brought back memories for me.  The first home video game that we owned was the ubiquitous “Pong.”  We played it so much that the image of the game was burned permanently into the TV screen (that’s what screen savers were invented to prevent.)

Even more interesting; in 1971, I was one of the first people to play the very first coin operated video game.  A monochrome “Asteroids” game, it was in a colorful, futuristic case, and was installed in the recreation center at IIT.

I remember the students being impressed with the technology more than with the actual game.  Hey, had to start somewhere!