“101 GOOD Things” by Richard F. Yates (Holy Fool)

["Bad Bird." Digital drawing. Today 18 Sept. 2020. Not that it matters. By me. I guess that does matter, so that you don't assume I'm stealing someone else's brilliant art!]

The world is going to shit. All the bad… Difficult to deal. It’s time for Pollyanna Grandpa to make an appearance. Instead of listing all the horror in the world right now, I’m going in a different direction. I’m going to list 101 things that I like or enjoy! It’s a “Positivity in the Universe” thing… (Like a form of WRITTEN MAGIC---although I don't believe in magic, but I still PRACTICE it all the time!)

The following are all GOOD. They all make me happy. These aren’t in any particular order---just how they came to my head…

1. My family. (I have to say this, so they don’t beat me up or burn me…but it’s also true. My number one is my family.)
2. The movie Ghostbusters (1984)
3. The Cure album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987)
4. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer t.v. show (1997-2003)
5. chocolate milkshakes
6. The documentary How to Draw a Bunny (2002)
7. making art
8. The television show The Mighty Boosh (2004-2007)
9. The television show The Young Ones (1982-1984)
10. The television show Soap (1977-1981)
11. The art and stories of Edward Gorey
12. The writing of Alan Moore
13. The comic book art of Jack Kirby
14. The art of Jean-Michel Basquiat
15. The documentary The Radiant Child (2010) about Jean-Michel Basquiat
16. The Ms. Pac-Man arcade game
17. The Donkey Kong arcade game
18. The novel Ubik (1969) by Philip K. Dick
19. The short essay “Borges and I” (1960) by Jorge Luis Borges
20. new socks
21. The Blondie album Eat to the Beat (1979)
22. The Blondie album Plastic Letters (1978)
23. The poetry of Allen Ginsberg (particularly Howl and Other Poems (1956))
24. The movie Popeye (1980)
25. The movie A Christmas Story (1983)
26. memories of when I used to ride skateboards. (I’m old and broken now, so I can’t do it anymore.)
27. everything by Monty Python (t.v. show, movies, record albums…)
28. The arcade Ground Kontrol in Portland, Oregon
29. The Devo album Freedom of Choice (1980)
30. The Adam and The Ants album Dirk Wears White Sox (1979)
31. The Prodigy album The Prodigy Experience (1992)
32. The short story collection Citizen in Space (1959) by Robert Sheckley
33. The novel Status Civilization (1960) by Robert Sheckley
34. The Harry Potter novels and movies (really!)
35. The Stonehenge replica in Maryhill, Washington
36. The Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris
37. The Skinny Puppy album Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (1986)
38. The Legendary Pink Dots album Any Day Now (1988)
39. The documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001)
40. The poetry and art of William Blake
41. The poetry of Robert Browning
42. The writing of Douglas Adams
43. The standup comedy of Eddie Izzard
44. The first season of the Mork & Mindy (1978) t.v. show
45. a good root beer (like River City or Henry Weinhard’s)
46. The Urgh! A Music War (1982) concert movie and soundtrack
47. The Haunted Mansion ride in Disneyland, Anaheim, California
48. The artwork of Josh Agle (aka SHAG)
49. lighting at dance clubs
50. memories of a few of those REALLY GOOD raves (the ones I kinda remember)
51. The movie Monsters University (2013) (yes…really…)
52. The movie Wonder Boys (2000) (but not so much the novel… Film was funnier!)
53. sugar cookies at Saturnalia
54. everything that Jim Henson ever did
55. The album Official Version (1987) by Front 242
56. my cool UE Megaboom speaker (which we’ve used the SHIT out of…)
57. The Enchanted Forest amusement park just south of Salem, Oregon
58. my memories of dancing at Confetti Club in Portland, Oregon in the late 1980s and early 1990s
59. The Playstation 2 game Darkwatch (2005) (Why wasn’t this ever remade on a later system?)
60. The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
61. The Far Side comic strips (1979-1995) by Gary Larson
62. The comic collection Snake ‘n’ Bacon’s Cartoon Cabaret (2000) by Michael Kupperman
63. The play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) by Tom Stoppard
64. The movie Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) directed by Tom Stoppard
65. making zines (either paper or electronic)
66. most things that Robert Anton Wilson was involved in (He was funny!)
67. The album Tired Eyes Slowly Burning (1987) by The Tear Garden
68. sending and receiving postcards
69. The t.v. show Supernatural (from 2005…)
70. View Master slide viewers, projectors, and slides
71. Pez dispensers
72. The MonsterTalk podcast (The science show about monsters)
73. The In ReSearch Of podcast
74. Whoppers candy…and chocolate in general (“Because, you know, Dementors,” says my wife!)
75. The terrible movie Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)
76. The terrible supernatural kung-fu film Death Mask of the Ninja (1982) (It’s brilliantly bad…and there are no ninjas OR death masks in the movie!)
77. Christmas lights (all year)
78. getting to sleep in
79. The album Love’s Secret Domain (1990) by Coil
80. The UbuWeb Archive curated by Kenneth Goldsmith
81. The original Twilight Zone (1959-1964) t.v. show
82. dancing (even though I do it very badly)
83. The Robotech: Macross Saga (1985) t.v. show
84. 3-D comics from the ‘80s
85. The movie The Big Lebowski (1998)
86. The Depeche Mode album Black Celebration (1986)
87. Halloween decorations (all year, as well…)
88. The Asteroids arcade game (I have a replica!!!)
89. The WWI era DADA movement (art, poetry, plays, puppets…)
90. The movie Tron (1982)
91. spinning records
92. writing
93. glow in the dark stuff
94. black-light reactive stuff
95. the incense from Marsh’s Free Museum, Long Beach, Washington
96. vanilla ice cream (or frozen yogurt) in a waffle-cone
97. attending comic conventions with my friends and family
98. taking photos of interesting places
99. Powell’s Book Store in Portland, Oregon
100. NFT Showroom
101. making people laugh

And that’s 101 things that make me happy. Some of them might make YOU happy, too. (Luckily for YOU folks, you’ve got this fancy INTERNET thing, so it’s easy for you to get to know these things that I had to dig through creepy music store used bins and catch films at 1:00 A.M. in the days before INFOMERCIALS. It was DIFFICULT to find WEIRD stuff when I was a kid, especially living in a small town.) I feel better now (especially having drunk a chocolate shake and watched a few episodes of Buffy.)

Now, I’m off to read more comics, again, until I get sleepy…

---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Holy Fool)

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