Maybe Nellie Oleson was really a sweet girl

My cyberfriend Frances Garrood over there in Jolly Olde Englande has indicated in a post that she is is outraged over...well, here, just read it for yourself:

“I’m Outraged” by Frances Garrood.

I left the following comment (more or less; I have expanded it a little for this post) :

I know just how you feel, but with me it’s Little House on the Prairie. Mrs. RWP and I have been watching reruns of it every evening for several months now, just before reruns of The Waltons.

I know. It’s sad, isn’t it?

This week I decided to look online for some information about the real Laura Ingalls Wilder and Charles and Caroline and Mary and Almanzo and discovered that their names may have been used in the series but not much else in it is true. I am outraged, just like Frances. The last time this happened was when Mrs. RWP and I saw the film made of John Gresham’s book The Firm and the whole second half of the film had Tom Cruise running around Memphis, Tennessee, instead of fleeing all the way to Florida one step ahead of the bad guys, and it was filled with F-bombs galore when not one curse word appeared in Gresham’s book. I understand about literary license and all that, but I prefer that films at least try to resemble the original works. To Kill A Mockingbird did a good job of that, in my opinion.

Even in Zefferelli’s Romeo and Juliet (which Frances mentioned in her post), Romeo said, “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?” but DID NOT THEN SAY, “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” No, he didn’t. The film may have “stuck faithfully to the original words” but it inexplicably left out a few I was expecting.

That’s the real Charles and Caroline Ingalls in that photo. He doesn’t remind me in the least of Michael Landon.

And here’s the real Mary Ingalls:

She doesn’t look a thing like Melissa Sue Anderson. And although she did attend the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton, Iowa, between 1881 and 1889 and graduated, there is no evidence whatever that she ever married a blind teacher named Adam. She returned home and lived with her parents until their deaths, and then with her younger sister Carrie, and then with her even younger sister Grace. At least they got the names right. Wikipedia reports that Mary was able to contribute to the family income by making fly nets for horses.

And the annual Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant that has been held annually since 1971? Is it held in Walnut Grove, Minnesota?

No, it is not.

DeSmet, South Dakota.

I simply can’t go on.

The rant is ended. Long live the rant.

Maybe this blog has jumped the shark

Tracie in Florida who calls herself “Rosezilla” read my post on voter registration and commented, “Okay, I’ll bite, what does ‘jumping the shark’ mean?”

Well, Rosezilla (and anyone else who may be wondering the same thing), basically it means I watch far too much television.

Rather than explaining it in my own words, however, I suggest that you check out this article from Wikipedia, which will tell you far more than you will probably ever want to know about “jumping the shark.” But you must read every word of it just to make sure you are fully informed, and by “fully informed” I mean you must also click on the “nuking the fridge” and “jumping the couch” links in the article, because only then will you be able to gather enough information to decide for yourself whether actor Tom Cruise is gay (Warning, Spoiler Ahead: he isn’t).

By “Tom Cruise” I mean Thomas Cruise Mapother IV:


And just as Pat Boone is no Yul Brynner, Tom Cruise is no Henry Winkler.