While these haven't been retouched or edited, yet, and so, feature not so very flattering portraits of us, I hope they at least convey how much fun we had!
]]>Cool stuff, that I wish I could do.
But there's lots of cool stuff out there.
]]>While these haven't been retouched or edited, yet, and so, feature not so very flattering portraits of us, I hope they at least convey how much fun we had!
]]>I don't quite understand why people are making the Iraq war an Election issue. Does anyone truly believe that depending upon the candidate, we can truly have a massive pull out within two years? I mean really, do you believe that if, say, Obama gets elected in November, that by July of next year we'll have less than 100,000 troops in Iraq? Do you think we'll close down the massive embassy we have there? Do you think that we'll be about to spend anything less than billions of dollars there? That's the thing about massive failings like this one. They don't just go away. But, i think you know that, don't you? So, why is anybody acting like this is a bigger issue than our environment, our economy, or our domestic counter-terror programs?
]]>My reasons for this aren't to do with her platform, or with any kind of support for Barack Obama, but Hillary should drop out, now.
See, first her Husband puts me and others like me out of work and now, did you notice how much of her non-payment was to event staff? She's stiffing people exactly like me. She's loathsome for that.
]]>Last night I didn't watch the WWE hall of fame induction ceremony. I was with family, and that's more important. But, I do love wrestling. Certainly, it's a cartoon soap opera. Certainly, the fights are scripted. Certainly, it caters to some base instincts. But, it's also got the finest production values of any form of entertainment. It's action is less scripted than the average action film, and there are some truly sublime moments that come through. So, it should surprise no one that I got this DVD set. Roddy Piper is one of my top 5 favorite wrestlers of all time, and might just be my all time favorite. He also was in a fantastic movie called They Live, featuring an unbelievable fight scene. He also put on quite a show in the ring. He played a "heel", a bad guy, but he played with humor and heart. Much like Darth Vader, and Dracula, he was a bad guy who is more interesting than the hero.Maybe wrestling isn't the most important thing in the world, but Roddy Piper is important to me.Here's to the Hot Rod!
]]>So, the gossip columns are talking about how maxim magazine declared Sarah Jessica Parker the "unsexiest" woman.
I think I'm let down by her. Yes, by her. Maxim is basically a crude variation on a men's magazine. It's like Esquire for 13 year olds. So, such a list would be part and parcel to their "appeal". But, ever since Square Pegs Sarah Jessica Parker has traded upon a certain kind of feminism. It's that "smart girl' thing. Not a "smart person", "smart girl'. There's a certain kind of retro-shallowness to her appeal.The idea is that she's playing girlish characters who are 'quirky" and "different", but not quite "alternative" or challenging. Of course, when the paycheck is right, she'll play just another dumb blonde. So, "sexy" has never exactly been her calling card. I see two possibilities, one likely and the other, interesting.
The likely scenario is that, emotionally, she doesn't care. She just worries that the "unsexy" label will hurt her branding opportunities.
Here's the interesting scenario: what if she really cares whether 27 year old men find her "sexy" or not? Doesn't that speak to a world of shallowness beyond even Maxim's? Ms. Parker is two years older than me, I think. I might be shallow, but I'm nowhere near so shallow as to care whether random strangers of any age, much less random strangers more than ten years younger than me think I'm "sexy". Twenty years ago, people made fun of Sally Field for being excited that the judges at the academy awards "really liked' her. Have we devolved so much that now, the rough equivalent Sally Field, as she was then,cares not whether we like her, but whether we find her Sexy? Never mind if we find her smart, or funny, or good, if she doesn't cause lust, is she not worth our time?
There's also some sexism at play, here, in ways you might not think: People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" whether it's George Clooney, or Brad Pitt, or Matt Damon is usually played off by the winner as a bit of a joke: like they really don't care. So, are we equating being sexy with being a woman? If so, what's so great about being a sex object? Why would you be upset at not being a sex object? Yet, every time some starlet gets called anything other than sexy, they have an angry tirade.
So, here's a thought: How sexy do we really need to be? Why should we care whether we're "hot or not"? Is anyone, outside of Hollywood and preteens so frivolous as to really think that a Paris Hitonesque "That's hot" is really the ultimate validation? But, here's the even bigger challenge: if you're with me on all of that, then why blame models for Anorexia? Why blame pornography for bad behavior? Maybe, just maybe, we've all got a little soul-searching to do about how much we want to deny who we really are?
]]>I just got this one, so I don't know it inside out.For those not familiar, Mark Lanegan is the former singer for the Screaming Trees, and a part-time member of the Josh Homme posse.
He's got a voice that could melt butter, though. Imagine something about half way between Tom Waits and Michael Buble. Like crushed diamonds, it's very pretty but could slice you up.
This is probably his least "folksy" record. Much like the aforementioned Tom Waits, Mark likes a ramshackle sound, even on this, his most 'rock" record.
The thing is, this is a blues record. Not blues in that neutered Baby-boomer kinda way, where some watered down drek accompanies some skinny white guy who listens to more James Taylor than John Lee Hooker. No, this is a collection about when it all goes wrong, crooned by a guy who really has screwed up more times than most people get chances. Keep in mind, this is the guy who taught Kurt Cobain about both drugs and Leadbelly. This guy knows some serious hard times, and he doesn't seem particularly ashamed. Like the best in real blues, it's his talent that overcomes his own songs.
See, if I hear one more supposed "blues" record made by some little guy who looks like he'd be more comfortable at a seminar discussing the "folkways" of canadian stamp collectors, I might just see if I can't get Mark Lanegan to show up and inject them between the eyes with a syringe full of mexican black tar and lethal bacteria colonies. Like Johnny Cash, like John Lee Hooker, and like Miles Davis, this is tradition-based music that is anything but safe.
]]>
A family friend has passed on. Since it was kinda known, and there are a million reasons to keep quiet about it, I won't say anything about that beyond what I've already said, however it does spark a thought:
I've said this to folks around me, but I'd like this posted. I am completely serious about all of this, by the way.
I don't want a funeral, I don't want a coffin, and I don't want people to hang on to me, after I'm gone. I don't know what happens after we die, but I'm unshaken in my belief that wherever we go (even if it's nowhere) it's not here. I've seen enough death to confirm this for me: if we survive death, we do not stick around. So, I won't be here to care. Still, if you want to do something, here's what I'd suggest: First, I like the "Be a tree" concept. If it can be arranged to make me into fertilizer for a nice hardwood tree, I'd be keen on that. But, if any organs can be used to extend someone else's life, yes, by all means, that's important. Second, if you have to have a memorial of any kind, make it a nice wake. Some kind of gathering without the heavy proceedings. I don't need speeches, and neither do you. Related to that, I definitely want a notice in the paper that reads (at least in part) "In lieu of flowers, please drink heavily". People read the obits, and get way, way too morbid. Wouldn't it be great if somebody got a chuckle from the obituary page, for once? I also really don't want flowers. They seem like a horrible thing for a funeral: let's kill a bunch of plants, robbing them of their reproduction cycle, in ordfer to celebrate the life of a dead person? No thanks. I'd prefer if people killed a few brain cells instead.
As for stuff? Heck do whatever you want with it. I really don't care. I just hope you try to make sure that folks get some use out of it.
So, there you go. Those are my wishes, such as they might be. I hope I live for another couple hundred years, but if i've got to go, then, please keep as much life going as possible. Life is much much more important than anything else.
]]>I changed a few things about the blog a week or so ago. Here's why: I believe in the Long Tail . So, the name serves for that, quite nicely. It's a reference to The New Fast Automatic Daffodils who had a song of the same title. Which was a riff on The Pop Group . Which was a situationist name for a band. So, naming my blog that is kind of like a Dennis Miller reference: it just gets more obscure the more you look into it. At the same time, the sentiment is somewhat revolutionary, in a pop culture way, in that "mass" culture, where everyone watches the same TV programs, hears the same Radio programs, and so on, is getting replaced by the infinitely more satisfying "niche" culture. With Netflix bringing us movies on demand, and Amazon stocking everything under the sun, and the rise of Etsy, Ebay, crafting, etc, etc, etc, nothing has to be 'mass" anymore. If long tail economics work (and I think they do) everything can be "bespoke". So, how much longer do we tolerate mass culture, before that detritus is lost to history?
]]>I actually agree with McCain. I don't think that it's the place of government to assume risk, unless government can regulate against risk, in the same action.
]]>