Said Arnie famously.
Or, did he?
He did say "I'll be back" after escaping the unspeakable villainy of a shape-shifting, transmogrifying, transparent - why are villains of the robotic variety transparent? - villain. I should imagine that an essential feature of villainy is a lack of transparency followed by dark shades, a cat on the lap and a German accent. Be that as it may...Arnie promised to be back. I'm quite sure he was indeed back. The issue at hand is did he declare that he was back when he came back?
Some might prefer to split hairs and suggest that that the act of being back is itself sufficient and that it is not necessary to declare that one is back when one is indeed back. There is some merit in that argument, I concede. The initial promise was / is known to all fans of Arnie and his macabre series of movies that involve sticking transparent glass short swords into living people and trailer trucks (semis to American friends) chasing Harleys down storm water run-offs in some megalopolis.
I was and still remain a non-fan of Arnie and his above referred movies. I was perforce introduced to the Terminator (or was it exterminator?) by an enthusiastic salesman selling large screen TV at a trade show decades ago. Those were the days when a 24 inch CRT TV with half-decent sound output was something to drool for. If it was a colour-TV, one died and went to heaven. There was this salesman trying to impress me with his 42 inch TV with booming bass and crystal clear treble via the truck-chasing-the-Harley scene. Every time Arnie fired off his sawn-off shotgun, the bass boomed; and every time the truck driver ground his semi into the the concrete wall of the storm-water run-off, the trebles screamed and screeched. It was a sensory overload. For your information I was unable to take the salesman's offer owing the small matter of money which, with 2 kids in school and a penny-pinching employer, was in short supply. But I digress....
The Arnie situation was not dissimilar to the one involving a forest, falling trees and some who did not see / hear them fall. Those who wanted to know, simply walked into the forest and saw for themselves if trees had fallen or not. Likewise Arnie's promise: if you wanted to know and were not averse to watching people stabbed with transparent glass swords or trucks being driven at reckless speeds down sewers or to the sounds metal being violently torn off by solid concrete from the body of aforementioned truck, you would go see the movie and satisfy yourself if indeed he was back as promised and, more importantly, if he uttered something pithy about his return, like, "I m back".
I digressed a lot. Arnie can do that to you if you are not careful with his movies, now that you have TVs that cover entire walls, are attached to sound systems that can blow the roof clean off your home at full volume, and display high definition pictures with diamond like clarity and sharpness.
I meant to say that I am finally back to my blogging ways before getting distracted by Arnie's famous promise. Since the last time I blogged, I have gained a grandchild, a daughter in law and lost a parent. Omar Khayyam famously wrote,
Or, did he?
He did say "I'll be back" after escaping the unspeakable villainy of a shape-shifting, transmogrifying, transparent - why are villains of the robotic variety transparent? - villain. I should imagine that an essential feature of villainy is a lack of transparency followed by dark shades, a cat on the lap and a German accent. Be that as it may...Arnie promised to be back. I'm quite sure he was indeed back. The issue at hand is did he declare that he was back when he came back?
Some might prefer to split hairs and suggest that that the act of being back is itself sufficient and that it is not necessary to declare that one is back when one is indeed back. There is some merit in that argument, I concede. The initial promise was / is known to all fans of Arnie and his macabre series of movies that involve sticking transparent glass short swords into living people and trailer trucks (semis to American friends) chasing Harleys down storm water run-offs in some megalopolis.
I was and still remain a non-fan of Arnie and his above referred movies. I was perforce introduced to the Terminator (or was it exterminator?) by an enthusiastic salesman selling large screen TV at a trade show decades ago. Those were the days when a 24 inch CRT TV with half-decent sound output was something to drool for. If it was a colour-TV, one died and went to heaven. There was this salesman trying to impress me with his 42 inch TV with booming bass and crystal clear treble via the truck-chasing-the-Harley scene. Every time Arnie fired off his sawn-off shotgun, the bass boomed; and every time the truck driver ground his semi into the the concrete wall of the storm-water run-off, the trebles screamed and screeched. It was a sensory overload. For your information I was unable to take the salesman's offer owing the small matter of money which, with 2 kids in school and a penny-pinching employer, was in short supply. But I digress....
The Arnie situation was not dissimilar to the one involving a forest, falling trees and some who did not see / hear them fall. Those who wanted to know, simply walked into the forest and saw for themselves if trees had fallen or not. Likewise Arnie's promise: if you wanted to know and were not averse to watching people stabbed with transparent glass swords or trucks being driven at reckless speeds down sewers or to the sounds metal being violently torn off by solid concrete from the body of aforementioned truck, you would go see the movie and satisfy yourself if indeed he was back as promised and, more importantly, if he uttered something pithy about his return, like, "I m back".
I digressed a lot. Arnie can do that to you if you are not careful with his movies, now that you have TVs that cover entire walls, are attached to sound systems that can blow the roof clean off your home at full volume, and display high definition pictures with diamond like clarity and sharpness.
I meant to say that I am finally back to my blogging ways before getting distracted by Arnie's famous promise. Since the last time I blogged, I have gained a grandchild, a daughter in law and lost a parent. Omar Khayyam famously wrote,
'Tis all a checkerboard of days and nights
Where destiny for men as pieces plays
Hither and hither moves and mates and slays
And one by one back in the closet lays"
And so it was with my father - he's back in the closet and won't come out to play.
But I, my friends, shall blog again per popular demand.
