"Garfleck" by Mr. Banana Hammock (not Omari)

Omari two-fer...

I was reading “People” magazine the other day and they had a nice photo and short story about newlywed couple Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, affectionately called Garfleck. As you might recall, Affleck and pop diva Jennifer Lopez, who were dubbed "Bennifer" by celeb watchers, called off their September 2003 wedding after an intensely publicized romance. Was it because of the amazingly bad film “Gigli”? Or was it because of Affleck’s reported gambling addiction? Who knows?

The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders describes pathological gambling as an addiction in the sense that the person can't stop, is done to the exclusion of friends, and feels obligatory. Those that are addicted to gambling continue despite knowing that they cannot afford it, and that they will lose overall. And according to Gam-Anon or Gambler’s Anonymous, its purpose is threefold: "To Learn acceptance and understanding of the gambling illness; to use the program and its problem solving suggestions as aides in rebuilding our lives and to give appropriate aid to the gambler; and, upon our recovery, then to give assistance to others like ourselves. The symptoms and treatment seem very similar to other forms of addiction like shopping, alcoholism, and drug dependency.

One of my fonder memories of television was this campy made for TV movie starring Helen Hunt, who did a nude scene in the film “The Waterdance” and later went on to play Jaime in the TV hit “Mad About You,” co-staring with Paul Riser. The movie, “Angel Dusted,” was an early 80’s anti-drug propaganda piece. In it, Helen Hunt smokes a PCP laced marijuana cigarette, screams, and jumps through a plate glass window. Truly a memorable experience.

This reminds me of an incident long ago. We had this motivational speaker come into High School one day. His name was Otto Molton. He had a thick Boston accent. He came to talk to us about the dangers of drugs, which he did all over the country after his son died taking drugs. A very sad situation indeed. He drew this thing on the chalkboard that looked like a football helmet and throughout the talk would point to it and say things like:

“These ah ya smats” and “This is wea ya smats lie.”

It was very amusing, me and my friends being stoned and all.



He gets letters:

"I must admit, I am a fan. I search for your blog everyday to enjoy and smile at your observations. What's a girl to do except just say thanks!"