SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. The series chronicles the adventures and endeavors of the title character and his various friends in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom. The series' popularity has made it a media franchise, as well as Nickelodeon network's highest rated show, and the most distributed property of MTV Networks. The media franchise has generated $8 billion in merchandising revenue for Nickelodeon.

Many of the ideas for the series originated in an unpublished, educational comic book titled The Intertidal Zone, which Hillenburg created in the mid-1980s. He began developing SpongeBob SquarePants into a television series in 1996 upon the cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life, and turned to Tom Kenny, who had worked with him on that series, to voice the titular character. SpongeBob was originally to be named SpongeBoy, and the series was to be called SpongeBoy Ahoy!, but these were changed, as the name was already trademarked.

The series was previewed on Nickelodeon in the United States on May 1, 1999, following the television airing of the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards, and officially premiered on July 17, 1999. It has received worldwide critical acclaim since its premiere and gained enormous popularity by its second season. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, a feature-length film adaptation, was released in theaters on November 19, 2004, and a sequel is currently in production, with a projected release date of February 13, 2015. On July 21, 2012, the series was renewed and aired its ninth season, beginning with the episode "Extreme Spots".[2][3]

Despite its widespread popularity, the series has been involved in several public controversies, including one centered around speculation over SpongeBob SquarePants' intended ****** orientation. The series has been nominated for a variety of different awards, including 17 Annie Awards (with six wins), 17 Golden Reel Awards (with eight wins), 15 Emmy Awards (with one win), 13 Kids' Choice Awards (with 12 wins), and four BAFTA Children's Awards (with two wins). In 2011, a newly described species of mushroom, Spongiforma squarepantsii, was named after the cartoon's title character.

Scene one, Childhood

I never really learned to emotionally regulate,
Taking clues from Nickelodeon more than parents who set good examples,
Screaming fights and bruises and broken glass
Too much drinking, the smell of cigarettes
Moms broken bones
Make yourself small, make yourself gone
They may not notice you.

We played family a lot, curtaining blankets over a bunk bed to block the outside, and in family, I always took care of my babies.

Scene two, 18

I never really learned to emotionally regulate, taking clues from the friends around me more than parents who set any example.
A false father leaving, a mom losing her cash cow
The smell of Arbor Mist and ***** still makes me sick, mom’s incoherent fists still make contact in my sleep, I still wouldn’t have given her the keys.

We don’t play anymore. We’re mostly estranged. But we work. And in family, I always took care of my babies.

Scene three, 28

I’m trying to learn to emotionally regulate, the slideshow of couches and faces of therapists trying to set an example.
A son born to trauma, a marriage of consequence, I’m still learning to love myself, please, the sound of yelling still makes me sick,
I don’t know how to do this.

We are grown now, we are mostly put together. And now we live. But this is my family, and I will always take care of my babies

I.
A gentle rivalry
Hung in the hallway that night
As you tried with all your might
To come face-to-face with that
Girl in the mirror.
I remember you stood there
And cut off all your hair,
Saying:    “It won’t let me go,
                   It won’t let me go,
                   It won’t let me go,
‘Til I let go first.”
I bit my tongue, said,
“Well, those times are the worst…”
And so I let you go,
And boy, did it show
When you let go first.

II.
A soft collision
In the middle on the night
Shook your whole family awake.
Fools, they made the mistake
Of trying to hold you down,
And you had no more hair, but
Still, you turned haughtily around,
Gathered your belongings,
And drove out of town.
Knowing it had to be so,
                           We let you go,
                           We let you go,  
                           We let you go,
Because you let go first.

III.**
A silly sort of train wreck,
One of those ancient, nickelodeon types,
Took place, as clockwork,
Before our very eyes.
But, much to my surprise,
When the smoke cleared
I saw a rose petal floating in oil,
Too precious to be spoiled.
Not a word was spoken,
The bonds of the universe were broken,
But you picked it up, quite motherly,
With blackened, blistered hands…
Now, suddenly,
Beware the smallest tear,
Measure each breath, count every hair,
Keep it pretty, keep it clean,
Keep it beautiful, keep it new,
And remember:
                    You don’t have to let it go,
                    You don’t have to let it go,
                    You don’t have to let it go,
Even if it lets go first.
Keep it beautiful, keep it new,
And remember:
                     You don't have to let it go,
                     You don't have to let it go,
Even if it lets go of YOU.

I never knew his last name
But I still remember his face
I still remember
The way he grabbed my neck
And pushed me down
Because he loved me
He got off
And I got scared
Because he loved me
And I was desperate
In his ****** apartment
On the tan colored L-shaped couch
While Nickelodeon played in the background
Covering up the sound of my painful moans
"I'm tired"
I say
"I've never done this before"
I say
"I haven't shaved in a while"
"I don't feel ****"
"I just got off work"
But I'll do it if I love him,
He says
He'll even wear a ******,
He says

I can't muster up the courage to cry
Even though you're supposed to cry when it hurts
He doesn't look at me when he's done
Just tells me to go
He loves me
But doesn't want me around
In case his roommates come home
That would be kind of awkward
To catch someone in the middle of ****** a girl
A girl who's tired
Who's never done this before
Who hasn't shaved in a while
Who doesn't feel ****
Who just got off work
Yeah, that would be kind of awkward

Once we lived in a steam-punk wedding cake

the walls tasted like crème cheese icing

everywhere dripped chocolate rust

wheels and gears- pumping out bliss

the house would tick us to sleep

a quiet tock that snuck into our hearts

we beat together-our 3 tiered home and us

and we hung pictures of mixed historical value

the first time someone held our hands

the names of flowers we invented

and the towers twinned together- breathing in city air



Once we lived in a steam-punk wedding cake

The universe kissed our toes

In our rose petal beds

As we nibbled our marshmallow pillows

And greeted the cooler side with the grip of tiny fingers

We wore silly hats

And talked in accents no one could identify

We made our own curse words

That sounded more magical then rude

And we hung pictures of mixed historical meaning

Cartoons from before nickelodeon was bullocks

Our middle names in Braille

And the Kennedys on their wedding day



Once we lived in a steam-punk wedding cake

The home of chocolate fortitude

Where some days we wouldn’t turn on a light switch

And let the candles guide our imaginations

Down dark tunnels and secret gardens

There was never any hunger

Tears only came from happiness

We made capes out of our bed sheets

Chased each other under beds and hid in closets

Peeking out because being caught was our goal

And we hung pictures of mixed understanding

The 8 dirtiest jokes found in ancient art

That day when the sun felt like it would never stop playing with the moon

The day we stood still long enough to know the color of our eyes and the outline of our toes on wet grass

Seven slugs ******* beer
from a bowl in their garden of Eden
rocking out to Miley Cyrus.
XM top 20 on 20
radio and gardening and slugs
swim like Phelps
but opposite
like life rafts
shriveling drunks
contorted and slimy
old school nickelodeon
green slime on your head
washing off in water
crossing bridges
entering temples

where the **** is the shrine of the silver monkey?

Love doesn’t rely only on the sentence
Love in my childhood home was said
A lot
And the kids meant it.
She was the only love we had
Or knew or wanted.
Her love was diluted,
Spent across many things.
Herself mostly,
Her wants, ideas, hobbies,
Her luxuries that we could enjoy…
Sometimes.
Maybe selfish or naive
We thought it was her devotion to us.
But we only watched Nickelodeon
To satiate her longing to watch tv rather than work,
Or raise us.
Or love us.

I learnt young that love isn’t just
The sentence.

But mourning a mother daughter relationship
Is a lifelong sentence.

I am fat and I know I will die soon but I also know that I will come back to life in Adelaide or the USA in an expensive apartment over looking the sea
You see I would like to play footy or appear in the Movies
Or go onto the Disney channel
To be a really cool kid
I could be a nickelodeon kid
That wouldn't be bad at all
Because I was an adult trying to be a kid
I want to go to acting school
To learn how to popular
I would like to play for Norwood or Glenelg and I would keep fit every day
All that I care is that I reincarnate into someone I would like to be
Not a fat man not a disabled man not a poor man
I suffered too much like that
Mind you I would like to help the poor but not as a poor man
I would like to be famous and help the poor by donating to charities around the world by being a contestant on a celebrity version of a game show
I don't want to be a man who is ready for a fight
I don't **** people off for that
I just want to live my life and come back to life as someone more famous than I am
So I can afford to go to the dentist and I can afford to go around the world on a cruise ship performing music to keep the people on the ship entertained
You see I would like to perform in a musical where I can have a lot of fun
You see I can't get rid of my flabby gut
So I can do all that in my next life and I will get a next life
I just know it

The Packrat has morphed into a hoarder
I tried to removed the monkey in a suite off his back and put it in he barrel with the rest of them even though it wasn't my business, although I was its uncle

Get in

A quaint little bungalow
Where sweltering heat is a constant
"There's coffee on the back burner, ya want some?"

It was a blessing in disguise
A bona fide  slice of paradise

We read up on the complex of Oedipus Rex and the debate of moral fiber when talking about Ped Xing

We hopped on to a plane going to Pismo Beach and joined the mile high club then enjoyed clams on the half shell  

We listen to a dollar fifty nickelodeon
And talked about how music is dead because everyone is just na na naing and yeah yeah yeahing their way to the top of the pop charts  

Over a *** pie
I confessed my love
His rebuttal seemed abysmal to my sleeve dwelling heart

He said this was an unnatural habitat for him
And if we were to be together it would raise eyebrows
Tarnish his illustrious reputation

It was an unanswered prayer
After all the whatnots and whathaveyous
He got sick and died of AIDS about a year and a half later
He never came out

Dodged a bullet there on that one

I could say I'm the result of my parents:
I'm organized because they raised me to be,
Intelligent because they gave me those genes,
Short for the same reason- at 4' 10' I'm as tall as I'll ever be.
But I know there's more than just that to make me Me.

I could say the thoughts in my head were influenced by the books I've read,
That my way of thinking is directed by all the words in someone else's head,
And that even though half of these people are dead
They live on with the readers like you and me.
But I know there's another reason my mind thinks as Me.

I could say all the little habits I live every day
Were first watched when I saw someone else do them that way.
I saw my mother’s reserved behaviors and made them my own,
I watched Nickelodeon and learned how to crack a joke,
And all my memories as I acted upon these things could very well be what made me Me.
But I know I'm the only person who truly acts like me.

I know that genes made up my body,
But do genes decide how I cut my hair?
Or chose the color I paint the finger nails my body grows,
Decide what clothes my body will wear?

I know books influence my way of thinking,
But who decided which books I want to read?
Wasn’t that Me?

I know there's not a habit in this world for me to pick up that wasn't someone else's first,
But when I saw someone bite their nails I didn't bite mine too.
Instead I paced around my room, not even knowing where I got it from.
No one chooses my habits any more than my clothes or my books.


I chose those things because I liked them.
Because I wanted to.
I chose the things that make me.
So then if you asked me, "Why are you, you?"
I'd say, "Because I want to be."

My pose is gathered this Saturday morning because I made a pancake and bacon breakfast. We're listening to a Britney Spears song, off one of Leong’s playlists. “I remember when I was about 8,” I say, “I was drawing and singing a Brittney song and I got to the line - “I make no apologies, I’m into phonography,”” and my mom sharply says, “Don’t say that!” And I’m left trying to figure out what I said.”

“People are harsh with her, but Britney is timeless,” Leong says.

“Everyone at Yale fancies themselves a music critic,” Lisa says. There are numerous vocal agreements. “I’m like, “Ok, Pop-off then queen, go complicated,” but in my opinion, you need to have fun with music - that’s the main purpose - just to have fun.”

“That’s like the difference between Cardi B and Niki (Minaj). You can just stroll a Cardi B song, you don’t have to interpret,” Anna adds, “but with Nicki I feel I have to listen to see the point.”

Lisa, surfing on her iPad asks, “Did you guys see that Jojo Seawall wasn’t invited to the kid’s choice awards - because she came out as lesbian?”

Sophy says, “Nickelodeon’s been trying to seem MORE accepting, working in more black artists.”

“Yeah, but they’re fake.” Anna pronounces. Everyone nods agreement.

“He hasn’t called all WEEK,” Sophy moans, holding her iPhone up to her ear like she expected to hear ticking, “I made a ghost of him,” she says, flopping the phone on the couch.

“Should I call the Po-po?” Anna asks, distracted as she searches the kitchen cupboard to be sure the pancakes were gluten free.

“I had a dream,” Lisa begins, “I was a child in a family I don’t know. We were criminals. We stole a car and robbed a store. My dream mom ran the operation. And wouldn’t let me watch TV until I emptied the loot out of the car. Then the police arrived, we saw the flashing red and blue lights through closed venetian blinds, then there was a banging on the door, in the dream, that woke me up.”

“That’s way off track but It’s fine, so fine, I see how it is.” Sophy said, “I’m bleak and no one CARES.”

“Is love something you find, or something you believe?” I ask no one in particular.

“That’s a coffee-cup inscription.” Anna pronounces.

“Aaggh,” Leong says, “An email from my professor - it’s TLTR.” We think it's a policy that professors at Yale have to send incredibly long emails - almost too long to read (TLTR).

There’re only three weeks left of our freshman year, so emails are flying and everyone’s trying to nail things down for a smooth ending.

Take me back to the times when I didn’t know what I know now.
Take me back to the days where I didn’t know that I existed in a cruel world.
Take me back to where the only faces I naturally smiled at were the people
who truly loved me.
Take me back to the days when my Queen-sized bed was a white crib
and slept for as long as I wanted.
My parents did everything for me while I just smiled and giggled.
Take me back to the times when my car was a stroller and the gas that
kept it going was my parent’s arms.
Take me back to the time when having fun meant riding my bike or scooter
around the park.
Take me back to the days when the only things worth chasing were bubbles
before they got away.
Take me back to the times where the only games I was used to was Dragon Ball Z or Tekken
or Mortal Kombat.
Or games on the websites of Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, or Nickelodeon.
Take me back to the days when the only words to describe boys were annoying or cute.
Take me back to the days when the only friends I knew I had was my teddy bear
or my blanket.
Take me back to the days when the only color I was concerned about was the my favorite one.
Take me back to the days when my devices of entertainment were dolls, toy cars, and
an easy bake oven.
Take me back to the days when the only puzzle pieces to put together were ones my
parents purchased for me.
Take me back to the days where my thoughts were what was for dinner or what I was
going to wear the next day.
Take me back to the days of nap time.
Take me back to the days where the only stories I enjoyed hearing were from Dr. Suess or Eric Carle.

I know I couldn’t wait to grow up.
But I’d give anything for one day of the simplicity I wasn’t thankful enough for.
#OWL'S WORLD
#OWL'******br>

I’m 19 years old
I’m ambidextrous
I hate bell peppers in my food
I still don’t have a driver’s license
And for as long as I can remember
I’ve had a fascination with hugs, Ginger Ale, and other people’s names
I believe there are only two people in the world:
Those who like spoken word
And liars
I’m not religious
My faith in God died before I could even figure out who He was
But in June 2019 I saw my nephew’s face for the first time and thanked whoever created humans that day
I go to a pretty standard college
Where thankfully my disabilities are taken seriously
And I don’t cry so much anymore
I know the best way to lawfully cheat to make your essays longer
Hint: the font size
But I don’t know the last names of any of the ladies who serve me food every day
I’m the transgender son of a man who still doesn’t want to believe it and would rather I be non-binary
The son of a woman who finds happiness in putting her children’s hopes and dreams down
I’m only 5’5”…on a really good day
But being built like a haiku in a poetry book is a lesson in finding ways to be seen as the tallest in the room
I don’t know what it means to be a man
And for a while, I thought dressing like a ******* could tell me
I’m still learning to unlearn the self-hatred inside me
Reminded every day that the ******* I have on my chest can be seen as male body parts if I had the humor to see it:
******* can be my misplaced ball-sack
I know that we all carry an addiction to property in our blood
I know that love cannot be owned in any way shape or form
Somedays, I am still the fourteen-year-old on the ground with my wrists pinned, being told to “shut the **** up” every time I see someone who looks like Him
I only watch two shows now but I know deep-down, iCarly and WOWP will always be the best **** Nickelodeon or Disney created
I know that the best actual company is not Disney or Pixar but DREAMWORKS
Because I like owning the fact that I am a male Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove
I like being the first person in my life to go to a human rights march and actually WANT to be there
I was the tree that fell when no one else was looking and dared to make a sound
I am the Thanksgiving buffet that depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder tried to take apart piece by piece
I am living proof that those ******* didn’t know what they were getting themselves into
I am both survivor and boy
Every night, the sky opens its mouth and swallows the sun in a single gulp just to make room for the room
What a terrifying but amazing way to see our lives
To be so full of so much light but always hungry for more

The nickelodeon for two
was a dime,

Stella from Frith street
sat with me
on
the back seat

don't remember the feature
but she said,
'I'll meet ya
same time
next week'

it's hard to wait
when you're sizzling
at eight
but
I'll be nine
next time

the next show
will be mine.

I'm making faces at my own reflection
Eating toll house cookies , acting
like a monster on brittle knees ,
watching Nickelodeon for the first time
in years , turning sugar cookies into
Christmas trees ..
Watching every leaf spiral , then slowly
light upon the ground , taking in the
outside world with the eyes and ears of a child* ..

The nickelodeon for two
was a dime,

Stella from Frith street
sat with me
on
the back seat

don't remember the feature
but she said,
'I'll meet ya
same time
next week'

it's hard to wait
when you're sizzling
at eight
but
I'll be nine
next time

the next show
will be mine.

D'Israeli's take on truth's stats, history, id est

It is I who leave the mark on this  trail
through ever upto now, you and I,
amble in minds, fetterless, no one to bump,
or breathe upon, or directly into,
no crowds on a concrete path
overlain with chewing gum
and skoal stains, and stubs of smokes
with no filters

-- ******* flash, smoking a Camel, with Joe, he sees this needle,
lying in the sun, and bends to see its point,
it is one of the latest in embroidering tools,
gold plated carbon steel, super sharp.
I see this by the rustlessness,
when my finger's tiny thing lifting edge

picks this sharp, single-eyed needle
from the hay left after the weeds
have been eaten,  hold it -look
through the eye of the needle, see

Joe blows the smoke from 'is Camel,
through the eye of my needle, and winks.}

so we must be, in time, circa
1970's version of the 1950's, emerging
in mind's exposed to ideas leaked
from academia, via TV.
--- here comes the pitch
Now pre posting in 2021, Atomic Rooster
Lee Michaels and the Moody Blues,
waddayagoddaloose  to use the mind blown

to filter sense from puffs of smoke
signaling each of us to grow on and pass,

as smoke that once made you cry,
but you don't remember why.

Hey, rich man,
We gotta show -
it's for kids, it causes them to groupthink
it puts the individual child in a we.
A safe global age appropriate wedom.
-- Yes, as Nickelodeon and Mickey Mouse club
-- and NRA VBS and Madrassah Basic Bomb Camp
-- hate apportioned on international stats
-- complied by Intel engineers, in their spare cycles.

Awe, shucks, it's easy. We act as if
life needs no sense,
senselessness is so simple six esses
yeses of x divided
into a subset after cable
another after AOL
then… events proceed through Netscape
to now. G5, and still alive, that’s some survival.
Or we can say re vival,
we return several instances
constanding point in terms of piercing
ancient eber's story told literally says

shaw maw yim, three sounds thought to mean

heaven, thought to mean a place,
attainable through a stacking of things,
as a safe place,
a hiding place, when we were two, me
and you, then the smallest we
in any history, she said, with a wink

come think of wisdom as a she,
and tell me of your trinity, from all you
know is so,
for some who say they/we read the right book,
told you so.
and unbelief of what's been told,
grave danger lieth thence
done seen it done,
excommunicative lock out of those
who, upon completion of proper
basic servant, general labor,
read, write sufficient to lead,
abacus or algorist skill enough
to measure tribute and pay.

Investment and contravallation,
sappers and miners,

take down the imagination exalting
itself against the knowledge of

the script, history has a script, see
they say they
know this story true, and so shall you

as we prebend your ear to hear it
as it is, we say, the world works this way,

we know, and you do not.
All children must be taught, tamed
broken, like a dog, or an ox, flummoxed

finally willing, by self-will alone, to be
in the we, a we we form on oaths,
sworn on the book.
yes, as we all are or must become
people of the book.

Well, look, there are said to be
several sorts of lies, using d'israeli approach to truth's oppostion:

Plain lies, ****** lies, and statistics.

That is my AI's favorite abacus joke,
but I don't get it.
--------- distraction asreal as imagined, at the time
Moody Blues:
Just what is happening to me
I lie awake with the sound of the sea
Calling to me
Old man, passing by
Tell me what you sing
Though your voice be faint
I am listening
Voices in the sky
Smoke blown through your why, life in after
all is strange as you may imagine, never dull.

weather! weather! GOD it hits the spot
watch it whether i weather the weather or not
day and night and rain and light amidst the Earth's rotation
i'll put up a FIGHT if you try to deny the weather is a boring station

nickelodeon can take a hike
cartoon network was never that great
can you really say you're living life
without the local on the 8's?

Jim Cantore you never ever bore me
and as your number one viewer i know you just adore me
Mike Bettes is the best it gets
when he's on air my body starts the sweats
Stephanie Abrams is just so amazin'
when her forecasts are right my **** gets a-raising

with shaft in hand through the hole in my flannel
predicting some RAIN TONIGHT ON THE WEATHER CHANNEL

smste2
Eeezy on da Haardware!
smste2's Avatar
Who owns CNN, NBC, MSN, FOX? Some facts...
So ya think we have a "free press" eh? Check out who owns who, and who owns what you think...

GENERAL ELECTRIC --(donated 1.1 million to GW Bush for his 2000 election campaign)

Television Holdings:
* NBC: includes 13 stations, 28% of US households.
* NBC Network News: The Today Show, Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, Meet the Press, Dateline NBC, NBC News at Sunrise.
* CNBC business television; MSNBC 24-hour cable and Internet news service (co-owned by NBC and Microsoft); Court TV (co-owned with Time Warner), Bravo (50%), A&E (25%), History Channel (25%).
The "MS" in MSNBC
means microsoft
The same Microsoft that donated 2.4 million to get GW bush elected.

Other Holdings:
* GE Consumer Electronics.
* GE Power Systems: produces turbines for nuclear reactors and power plants.
* GE Plastics: produces military hardware and nuclear power equipment.
* GE Transportation Systems: runs diesel and electric trains.
==================================================

WESTINGHOUSE / CBS INC.
Westinghouse Electric Company, part of the Nuclear Utilities Business Group of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL)

Whose #1 on the Board of Directors? None other than:
Frank Carlucci (of the Carlyle Group) - Those who have seen Fahrenheit 911, or any other Bush-Investigation flick knows the Carlyle group well.

Television Holdings:
* CBS: includes 14 stations and over 200 affiliates in the US.
* CBS Network News: 60 minutes, 48 hours, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, CBS Morning News, Up to the Minute.
* Country Music Television, The Nashville Network, 2 regional sports networks.
* Group W Satellite Communications.
Other Holdings:
* Westinghouse Electric Company: provides services to the nuclear power industry.
* Westinghouse Government Environmental Services Company: disposes of nuclear and hazardous wastes. Also operates 4 government-owned nuclear power plants in the US.
* Energy Systems: provides nuclear power plant design and maintenance.
================================================== ==============

VIACOM INTERNATIONAL INC.
Television Holdings:
* Paramount Television, Spelling Television, MTV, VH-1, Showtime, The Movie Channel, UPN (joint owner), Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Sundance Channel (joint owner), Flix.
* 20 major market US stations.
Media Holdings:
* Paramount Pictures, Paramount Home Video, Blockbuster Video, Famous Players Theatres, Paramount Parks.
* Simon & Schuster Publishing.

=============================================
DISNEY / ABC / CAP (donated 640 thousand to GW's 2000 campaign)
Television Holdings:
* ABC: includes 10 stations, 24% of US households.
* ABC Network News: Prime Time Live, Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America.
* ESPN, Lifetime Television (50%), as well as minority holdings in A&E, History Channel and E!
* Disney Channel/Disney Television, Touchtone Television.
Media Holdings:
* Miramax, Touchtone Pictures.
* Magazines: Jane, Los Angeles Magazine, W, Discover.
* 3 music labels, 11 major local newspapers.
* Hyperion book publishers.
* Infoseek Internet search engine (43%).
Other Holdings:
* Sid R. Bass (major shares) crude oil and gas.
* All Disney Theme Parks, Walt Disney Cruise Lines.
================================================== ====

TIME-WARNER TBS - AOL (donated 1.6 million to GW's 2000 campaign)
America Online (AOL) acquired Time Warner–the largest merger in corporate history.
Television Holdings:
* CNN, HBO, Cinemax, TBS Superstation, Turner Network Television, Turner Classic Movies, Warner Brothers Television, Cartoon Network, Sega Channel, TNT, Comedy Central (50%), E! (49%), Court TV (50%). * Largest owner of cable systems in the US with an estimated 13 million subscribers.
Media Holdings:
* HBO Independent Productions, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, Castle Rock, ****** Tunes, Hanna-Barbera.
* Music: Atlantic, Elektra, Rhino, Sire, Warner Bros. Records, EMI, WEA, Sub Pop (distribution) = the world’s largest music company.
* 33 magazines including Time, Sports Illustrated, People, In Style, Fortune, Book of the Month Club, Entertainment Weekly, Life, DC Comics (50%), and MAD Magazine.
Other Holdings:
* Sports: The Atlanta Braves, The Atlanta Hawks, World Championship Wrestling.

================================================== =====
NEWS CORPORATION LTD. / FOX NETWORKS (Rupert Murdoch) (donations see bottom note)
Television Holdings:
* Fox Television: includes 22 stations, 50% of US households.
* Fox International: extensive worldwide cable and satellite networks include British Sky Broadcasting (40%); VOX, Germany (49.9%); Canal Fox, Latin America; FOXTEL, Australia (50%); STAR TV, Asia; IskyB, India; Bahasa Programming Ltd., Indonesia (50%); and News Broadcasting, Japan (80%).
* The Golf Channel (33%).
MEDIA HOLDINGS:
* Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight.
* 132 newspapers (113 in Australia alone) including the New York Post, the London Times and The Australian.
* 25 magazines including TV Guide and The Weekly Standard.
* HarperCollins books.
OTHER HOLDINGS:
* Sports: LA Dodgers, LA Kings, LA Lakers, National Rugby League.
* Ansett Australia airlines (Since bankrupt), Ansett New Zealand airlines.
* Rupert Murdoch: Board of Directors, Philip Morris (USA).

(Phillip Morris donated 2.9 million to George W Bush in 2000)

Gotta love the free press!!

In his reveries, there is no furtive glancing around corners,
No skulking and scraping to hide from scowling gendarmes.
He is huge, *******, a proto-Kong of the wrong side of the tracks,
(Indeed, more than that—beyond the corporeal,
Something elemental, Master of Nature’s laws
Yet subservient to none of them)
Strutting down the boulevards and byways,
Marching through the very midst of graveside services,
Feasting on the floral tributes,
Fornicating with the freshly dug earth.
And he races onward, unconstrained and uncontrollable,
Forcing himself upon matchstick girl and street urchin,
Misusing them in horrible, unspeakable ways,
(His appetites creatures unto themselves,
Not subject by the boundaries of propriety or biology)
Taking for himself their sad collections of pennies,
Tossing them heavenward to rain down in a copper cacophony
Before he steals upon an unsuspecting bobby,
Slitting his throat and setting the corpse afire,
Proceeding then to urinate upon the ashes.
As these tableaus unfold in the nickelodeon of his sleep
(Not accompanied by some tinkling version of Hurry No. 26
Jangling uncertainly on some hayseed the-ay-ter untuned upright
But rather by some Dada-esque concoction
Bereft of consistent key or time signature)
He laughs unrestrainedly, bereft of cause or context
Without a trace of mirth or simple humanity.

She's the most beautiful woman
     In the room
I lick the air as she passes
       Rife with perfume and subtle *******
Languidly, in soft sultry motions
       She moves like a cheetah
       With poise and deliberation
Like nickelodeon 1920  
       She goes about in flickering frames
Never quite as she was the moment before---
       now seductive
       now demure
       now flirtatious
       now unsure
                                
She moves effortlessly through
       myriad poses of amorous delight
All eyes stealing a lecherous glance
       without exactly looking

I feel the radiant fire
       Of her scarlet bodice gown
A sweeping, flowing train
       Following at her heels
A circle of pearls around her
       Long, delicate neck
       Borrowing their radiance from hers

Her hair a flaxen crown of glory
       Tickling her bare shoulders
       Like a rippling veil
Her eyes, lustrous azure
       Meeting mine for an infinite instant
       Speaking an unspoken nexus
       Of shared pasts and an undefined future
Sturdy haunches taut and tenacious
       Legs treacherous and long
       Leading me into a liaison
       With flowers and blood

Take me then, scarlet strumpet
       To moments of rapture and regret
       To nights that help us to forget
That the time is of transient embrace
      A defined time and propitious place
      To be repeated under a different sun
Where you lay waiting
      Sprawled beneath an indifferent sky
The absent touch of your paramour
      Reflecting in your eye.

Rosary clutched in stigmata death-palm
coughed-up contrition of flies,
saints of jazz
doo-*** prophets
scrying the future
from the crumbling platforms
of terminal subways
Desolate taxis
hijacked by hobo lords spewing dysentery,
harvest moon waxing
ever-expanding translucent womb
of hostile intentions left to die
Barricades of broken dreams
stockpiles of regret
"Remember the pox of '26?"
"****** your sister"
"Not a prayer--***** priestess ****-altar
in terminal subway"
"Believe it"
Desperate shadows
of neon slave-kings
flutter by like nickelodeon
stuck on 1920
New feasts in empty rooms
served by ******* children
of obsolete gods
Highways filled with
dispossessed shadows
harvested from toxic
curdled telepathic fusion
of soft spiritual resonance
upon flashback landscapes
Jew street-vendors
hustling new flesh
for old scars
New breeds of
the same old crooners
gurgling asymmetric odes
pining over angry youth
and necromantic daydreams
Hostages taken by silent armies
Locust women nesting
virulent seeds in catacomb brothels
Starlight suicide casts silhouette
upon hungry playgrounds
Cruel magic, discarded taboos
fetal totems
Piano plays itself
in spectral ghost town saloon
Iridescent window fragments
of hollowed-out Mardi Gras trailer park
Lazy wolves move
in slow maddening orbits
The meandering scent
of virginal ***** girls
strewing violets with hymeneal joy
The final trumpet
bleating agony of soft pearls
like death needing a friend
Now the seals the scrolls the bowls
and diaries of Hebraic nightmares
"Remember the pox of '26?"
"I'm tired"
"Do you remember Heaven's frozen depths?"
"Can't feel my legs"
"Perilous matrimony
dowry of blood and skin--rest now"
the last of our tears
fall into Hell as rain.

Social Recliner
By Steven L Herring

Powder puff power trip
Words are weapons
and my two cents
won't cost you a dime

It's time
Let's climb to the top
of the digital podium
and break this soapbox
over the heads of anyone
who would listen
to the nickelodeon

A quiet man lives a quiet life
and I love him for it too
Too many traps yammering
and stuttering Stanley's clamoring
Keep walking and you'll
get **** on your shoe!

Trust me
I work for the government
I'm just here to help you
Grab a pen and pad
and gather round
the broken brick establishment

We are the embodiment
of eye stabbed with stick
in Novembers
and bitter winter cold
in December's ice slick

Sick and saddened summer's loss
Incarcerated in a Bradburian
*******
in an endless
loop like who licked
the back of this toad with my tongue, because I am TRIP PING!

Every day's dawn drowns dreams
and nothing hardly ends up
being what it seems
But in the end none if it really matters
Right, but we're still stuck wiping
blood and mud on our jeans

So yeah.
Say all the things!
I'm just gonna head out
because I spent the last
couple of years trying to untangle
but in the end I had to
cut all my strings