This Web Blog was haphazardly produced without using Spell Check one danged time. We like it that way.

ESOTERICA: In the coming weeks, expect our partnership with CinemActivist.com to provide you with reviews of great documentaries from Cinema Libre Studio, PBS, the History Channel, the Visioneerng Group and Working Films that provide you knowledge and move you toward activism. Just so you know.

17 August 2007: Well, it's Frivolous Friday once again. I'm feeling a bit lazy this week. So I thought I'd open by sharing some shared humor with you my pal DC in Florida:

latest 'Stella' awards...--------- ALL ARE TRUE!!!

For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico where she purchased the coffee that she spilled in her lap.

That's right, these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts that happened in the U.S. during 2006. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy. Here are the "Stellas" for the past year:

To kick things off the right way, there was a three-way tie for 5th place.

Kathleen Robertson of Austin , Texas , was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.

Also in 5th place is Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California - you knew California had to be in the list somewhere, right? - who won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps. Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.

The last of the 5th Place winners was Terrence Dickson, of Bristol , Pennsylvania, who was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door conn ecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to subsist for eight -------- count 'em, 8! - days on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish. Keep scratching.

There are more...

Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered 4th Place in the "Stellas" when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in it's owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun. Grrrrr scratch, scratch.

Third Place went to Amber Carson of Lancaster , Pennsylvania , because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on soft drink and broke her tailbone (coccyx). The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions? Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Hang in there, there are only two more Stellas to go...

Second Place : Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware, sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000 ... oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure.

Finally, (may I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please) this year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home - from an OU football game, no less - having driven onto the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich.

Don't look so incredulous. Remember, we're talking about Oklahoma here.

Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned.

Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her - you are sitting down, right? - $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might buy a motor home.

Thanks and a tip of the hat to Florida's DC Stultz.

Meanwhile, over at my pal Robin "roblimo" Miller's Blog, you'll find this bit of drollery. Check it out.

Right here. Enjoy Gokh-bi from Senegal.

And because I know you're greedy as the weekend approaches I have a list for you, too, my lovelies.

This weekend's list is "Overrated and Underrated Actors and Actresses." You can fight with me about this one for days! Oh joy!

Overrated Actors & Actresses

1. Keira Knightly
2. Jack Black
3. Winona Ryder

Underrated Actors & Actresses

1. Christian Slater
2. Mary Louise Parker
3. Jennifer Jason Leigh

Talk among yourselves.

Finally, a general comment. A reader in Europe wrote me privately to make the observation that, since I'm no longer editing and publishing a magazine, my tone has become "nasty and harsh."

Well, for the record, I don't believe that true. Yes, when acting as a publisher, I felt a responsibility to my writers to be "the voice of reason" and always express my personal opinions. As the headline says above, this is now my personal Blog and I don't need to defend other people or moderate anything.

You can't believe how liberating that is.

Rather than being nasty and harsh, I believe I am simply taking the liberty of being blunt. Tactless, perhaps, but I was never very good at tact.

It was quarter past time that I struck out on my own and started to express both my frivolity and my true opinions, don't you think?

Cheers!

Keep me in your prayers as I keep you in my own.

Thanks for visiting.

Talk to you in a day or so.

Be well.