the US smells the scent of jasmine
there's a heady wind blowing in from the cradle of civilization. the people there are fed up with dictators and kings. they want to have their voices not only heard but obeyed. protests in the streets of cairo have engendered a boquet of similar blooms across northern africa and the sudan pennisula. what's interesting to me is hearing the US responses.
officially: surprisingly restrained."we support the people's right to choose". but i'm sure there are plans brewing to install the correct candidates when elections role around.
unofficially, from the mouthpiece of the right- fox news-the postulate is "some people aren't ready for democracy. people like muslims-they don't like freedom like we do". i find myself almost falling victim to this thinking for one reason-shiriah law. that reason is honeycombed with cells of honor murdered, burqa clothed women, infidels, forced conversions and oh, all the delectible meals associated with vengance, crusade & jihad.
one by one, the kingdoms , fiefdoms & puppet governments of the middle east are going to tumble to real democracy and then who will supply the us with cheap oil? canadians? venezuelans? socialist countries, both! let them sell to china. we like our resource suppliers to be ruled by god appointed business men, able to sign contracts and subjugate their people without pesky things like due process and habeus corpus {a state of affairs the us is working hard to achieve, witness the recent congressional extension of the patriot act's warrantless surveillence in direct violation of the fourth ammendment}. it hasn't mattered to our rulers whose god did the appointing. similar to rome's use of religious tolerance, road & aqueduct construction and the military to keep its tributes coming, the modern US hegeonomy uses tv and the internet as its main weaponry . if you win the hearts and minds of the people, control of the ballot box isn't far behind. but we have our military in the middle east, just to make sure...
what worries the foxheads is the power of radical islam in the voting booth. frankly, it worries me too. but not being a foxhead i think that elections are the only correct thing to do. the frightening thing about democracy is rule by the rabble. well, you can't have it both ways. if majority wins, then it's up to the minority to make its case. if one studies the results of the revolution in iran, mercifully absent of any direct military intervention by the powers of the west, one can see the seeds of discontent are blooming even there. once a concept like "power to the people" is promulgated, trying to tamp it down or short circuit it leads only to more and more unruliness & unrest. what worries foxheads and the powers that be (is that a redundant statement?) is that soon the flower's scent will overpower their own control. sweet, no?
officially: surprisingly restrained."we support the people's right to choose". but i'm sure there are plans brewing to install the correct candidates when elections role around.
unofficially, from the mouthpiece of the right- fox news-the postulate is "some people aren't ready for democracy. people like muslims-they don't like freedom like we do". i find myself almost falling victim to this thinking for one reason-shiriah law. that reason is honeycombed with cells of honor murdered, burqa clothed women, infidels, forced conversions and oh, all the delectible meals associated with vengance, crusade & jihad.
one by one, the kingdoms , fiefdoms & puppet governments of the middle east are going to tumble to real democracy and then who will supply the us with cheap oil? canadians? venezuelans? socialist countries, both! let them sell to china. we like our resource suppliers to be ruled by god appointed business men, able to sign contracts and subjugate their people without pesky things like due process and habeus corpus {a state of affairs the us is working hard to achieve, witness the recent congressional extension of the patriot act's warrantless surveillence in direct violation of the fourth ammendment}. it hasn't mattered to our rulers whose god did the appointing. similar to rome's use of religious tolerance, road & aqueduct construction and the military to keep its tributes coming, the modern US hegeonomy uses tv and the internet as its main weaponry . if you win the hearts and minds of the people, control of the ballot box isn't far behind. but we have our military in the middle east, just to make sure...
what worries the foxheads is the power of radical islam in the voting booth. frankly, it worries me too. but not being a foxhead i think that elections are the only correct thing to do. the frightening thing about democracy is rule by the rabble. well, you can't have it both ways. if majority wins, then it's up to the minority to make its case. if one studies the results of the revolution in iran, mercifully absent of any direct military intervention by the powers of the west, one can see the seeds of discontent are blooming even there. once a concept like "power to the people" is promulgated, trying to tamp it down or short circuit it leads only to more and more unruliness & unrest. what worries foxheads and the powers that be (is that a redundant statement?) is that soon the flower's scent will overpower their own control. sweet, no?
psychotic memories
heard it about it on new years eve 2010 or rather , maybe, it finally came into my consciousness . i'd seen the ads and promo shots but didn't understand its influences, or recognise implanted inferences, on our 21st century western zietgeist.
a deeply gatsbyan lesson, american psycho lets irony stage its grand ballet on the fronts of business cards while absurdity stays tightly bound in theatrical makeup. i found my attention constantly commenting on the detail to the mask throughout most of the movie. the protaganist, philip bateman( a nod to hitchcock) is scrubbed with organic compounds to better preserve frail skin, then draped in the finest tailored silk suits. silk, because linen wrinkles. his morning ritual to vessel is as detached as the voice-overs describing his state of mind-- sampled in the film's first five minutes when bateman says to a barmaid "You're a fucking ugly bitch. I want to stab you to death, and then play around with your blood." her silent mask of service is so entirely devoid of any reaction, i turned to my companion and asked "did he just say that outloud?" a question which must become the character's by the movie's third act.
i'm using theatrics as analog because staging is a central theme. from the scocietally-matchmade psuedo fiance to the random victim/ homeless man each role is a perfectly coifed caricature. five- star staged food is the screen shot as the dialog opens. the film-making was nominated for an award but not the makeup. too bad. the makeup of every character-even bit parts and walk ons- is perfect but heavy. faces used as canvas reinforces the puppetesque. a nostalgiac look at the most recent excesses of the last is a fitting way to open the century, especially with such a gorgeous stage.
the 1980s, in which this movie is set, was a period of excess for the rich. when isn't it a period of excess for the rich, you may ask. ok, fair enough. it's always a period of excess for the rich. so, i suppose by using the 80s, the film was claiming a fair amount of distance from the events. yet the feel was only distant within a technological standpoint: bateman's repeated excuse of "i have to return some movies" ; the huge walkie talkie mobile phones of the best connected; the location and use of a pay phone (definitely an endangered if not extinct species) by a wall street executive all serve to give period to what is, in essence, a timeless malaise. what makes this version different from, say, walter mitty's or gatsby's is ...well....the trappings. the stage. perhaps a sense of irony in that each of the characters seems to understand that they are playing a role, and most embrace that role with the fervor of the faithful. bateman's is the sole character to whom we have intimate access and he has , as he states to his victims and in the voice overs, ""no empathy with you". this theme is echoed again and again , in all the characters. they seem to have no empathy with even themselves.
the movie won the international horror guild's best of 2001. its horror exsists not in cheesy fake- blood splattered scenes but in the tableaus in the men's club over discussions of dinner reservations and in the making of amateur porn movies with a threesome for hire. its horror lies in, as the title states, the nature of pyschosis--american style.
well this is supposed to be a review, not a thesis. i give it five stars. definitely worth the watch. watch it again if you've seen it before. it's timeless.
deaf, please
i will name my firstborn after whomever can find me a poetry audiobook that isn't read by someone with all the emotion and feeling of the local traffic report. the world needs more poets to read poetry and record it. normal, bland, boring people can't do it justice, and i ache every time i hear a good poem slaughtered. i can't find a single audiobook of poetry on itunes or audible that i feel is worth downloading. can anyone help? do you have any favorites?
i hate squash and other squash-type vegetables; i don't like to run, my empathy is usually more of a curse than a blessing, and sometimes i am better at rationalizing than i am at actualizing.
numbo
jangled gladmess - tight sealed goodness - it did happen, one time
the world is moving far too slow for my taste - maybe the magic is around another bmw contour, maybe it's in an air force one contrail, that's the right idea anyway, bishop takes queen
the world is moving far too slow for my taste - maybe the magic is around another bmw contour, maybe it's in an air force one contrail, that's the right idea anyway, bishop takes queen
10 seconds in
itunes needs a preview mode for songs. like you put your library on shuffle and it only plays the first 10 seconds of each song, until you stop it and play the one you actually wanted to hear, instead of having to hit skip a brazillion times a day. just throwing that idea out there.
psych is pretty hilarious. i'm almost done with season 2. kinda crushing on james roday. i'll admit it.
anyway, merry christmas, y'all. have a fabulous cover of "baby, it's cold outside" by allo' darlin to celebrate - just the female vocals, puts a great spin on it, i think.
i think i'm crushing on this chick too. she's got a gorgeous voice. i'll ask for that for christmas.
i hate squash and other squash-type vegetables; i don't like to run, my empathy is usually more of a curse than a blessing, and sometimes i am better at rationalizing than i am at actualizing.
village inn's revision of their chocolate cream pie
totally sucks. what'd they do, put gelatin in it, like... extra gelatin? that's chocolate jell-o, not chocolate pudding. and don't try to tell me otherwise. fucking with a completely fine pie already. what's wrong with you, village inn, besides the obvious? at least you're not a waffle house.
i hate squash and other squash-type vegetables; i don't like to run, my empathy is usually more of a curse than a blessing, and sometimes i am better at rationalizing than i am at actualizing.
4 loko
it's the bad boy
the slutty girl
the deal on the corner gone
amazingly, right.
so of course it's about to be universally banned
i'm sure though, we can all make a cocktail resembling it if we ever feel the need to get, quite quickly and cheaply, thoroughly wasted. i apologise to those of you taking 12, but really, you're not missing anything you haven't already been thru before. i suppose i like it for the premix & price. 4 loko does take some acclimation, so beware of guzzling. it might seem like soda pop made made by an aglossiac. it may get better, like with most alcohols, the more you ingest . but this drink's a trickster. convinces you you're sober enough. until you try to actualize that desire to stick your hand thru the top of the teakwood coffee table to grab the magazine stored underneath, you just don't realize how startingly drunk you are.
i think it's the combination of caffeine, guarana, taurene and fd&c blue no.1 more than the 12% alcohol content, that makes it especially delusion inducing. i tried this stuff called tilt the other night, and i just couldn't ingest enough of it to catch a buzz. full disclosure: alcohol is not my d.o.c. tilt has only the blue and the 12% . the toxic- sludge- masked- with- aspertame flavor of the mix did not dissipate over time. that's the beauty of four loko. it removes taste from the equation. like bad coffee you'll slug down anyway, 4 loko is something i drink because i want that buzz.
the grape, blue, lemonade and fruit punch varieties all taste like cough syrup. but the lemon lime with its bright green pan galactic gargle blaster glow , when poured over ice, is completely palatable by the third swig. if you're going to go off the wagon, couldn't be a cheaper way. if you imbibe on an empty belly, be sure to hide the keys - all of them- before beginning.
the slutty girl
the deal on the corner gone
amazingly, right.
so of course it's about to be universally banned
i'm sure though, we can all make a cocktail resembling it if we ever feel the need to get, quite quickly and cheaply, thoroughly wasted. i apologise to those of you taking 12, but really, you're not missing anything you haven't already been thru before. i suppose i like it for the premix & price. 4 loko does take some acclimation, so beware of guzzling. it might seem like soda pop made made by an aglossiac. it may get better, like with most alcohols, the more you ingest . but this drink's a trickster. convinces you you're sober enough. until you try to actualize that desire to stick your hand thru the top of the teakwood coffee table to grab the magazine stored underneath, you just don't realize how startingly drunk you are.
i think it's the combination of caffeine, guarana, taurene and fd&c blue no.1 more than the 12% alcohol content, that makes it especially delusion inducing. i tried this stuff called tilt the other night, and i just couldn't ingest enough of it to catch a buzz. full disclosure: alcohol is not my d.o.c. tilt has only the blue and the 12% . the toxic- sludge- masked- with- aspertame flavor of the mix did not dissipate over time. that's the beauty of four loko. it removes taste from the equation. like bad coffee you'll slug down anyway, 4 loko is something i drink because i want that buzz.
the grape, blue, lemonade and fruit punch varieties all taste like cough syrup. but the lemon lime with its bright green pan galactic gargle blaster glow , when poured over ice, is completely palatable by the third swig. if you're going to go off the wagon, couldn't be a cheaper way. if you imbibe on an empty belly, be sure to hide the keys - all of them- before beginning.
Dumb Luck by Dntel
just don't forget that it's dumb luck that got you here
don't fool yourself
misfortune's waiting for the best time to appear
to make it clear
that all the courage and the talent that you have
was just in dreams
and when you wake up
you will beg to get it back
to get it back
you can't trust your friends
they will betray with a love less blinding
and then at the end
they may admit that you were missing something
and no one remembers
even one word that left your mouth
all the melodies were stolen
from songs by someone else
you're out of time and inspiration
filled with self-pity and fear
and all the dreams that haven't dried up
are slowly drowning in your tears
in your tears
just don't forget
that it's dumb luck that got you here
don't fool yourself
misfortune's waiting for the best time to appear
to make it clear
that all the courage and the talent
that you have
was just in dreams
and when you wake up
you will beg to get it back
to get it back
How's that for a Monday morning song? It's cold and morning and I'm at work (at a job i hate) with a headcold. So, to wallow in something miserable and depressing, here's the soundtrack. Thank you, Jimmy Tamborello.
i hate squash and other squash-type vegetables; i don't like to run, my empathy is usually more of a curse than a blessing, and sometimes i am better at rationalizing than i am at actualizing.
Balls
So this morning, I find out, while looking for some music to share, that I have missed the farewell tour for Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, a.k.a. Owen Ashworth. I didn't even know he was calling it quits! I'm quite bummed. But I don't blame him. He'll do something else, just under a different name.
So thank you, Owen, your first two albums are some of the very favorite albums in my music collection. You were music I found myself. Music I shared with people, music I still want to share with people. Thank you for taking an icon from growing up in the 80s like a casio keyboard, and adding more depth and feeling to it with your music than anyone probably ever realized was even possible. You did with it what John Darnielle couldn't ever quite do. And I love you for it.
(P.S. Had to add the first song I ever heard of his: "Jeane, If You're Ever In Portland.")
But honestly, I was more heartbroken when The Delgados split up and died.
So thank you, Owen, your first two albums are some of the very favorite albums in my music collection. You were music I found myself. Music I shared with people, music I still want to share with people. Thank you for taking an icon from growing up in the 80s like a casio keyboard, and adding more depth and feeling to it with your music than anyone probably ever realized was even possible. You did with it what John Darnielle couldn't ever quite do. And I love you for it.
(P.S. Had to add the first song I ever heard of his: "Jeane, If You're Ever In Portland.")
But honestly, I was more heartbroken when The Delgados split up and died.
i hate squash and other squash-type vegetables; i don't like to run, my empathy is usually more of a curse than a blessing, and sometimes i am better at rationalizing than i am at actualizing.
Lemon Harangue
When did Family Guy start this stupid tradition of re-making movies shot for shot? It was bad enough when they did that extra-long two-episode star wars tribute. They must've thought they were hot shit for pulling that off, cause now they're doing it every other episode - why? Okay, so you can replicate Rocky III as a cartoon with Family Guy characters in it. How about putting some satire in there while you're at it, or even some jokes? Or would that get in the way of your respectful homage to classic cinema? Fuck it's boring.
I hate to say this, but they seem to be going the way of the Simpsons, around season seven. There's these moments, of utter dead weight that remind me eerily of how the feel changed on the Simpsons. It was subtle though. I knew the voices sounded different, there was some kind of "upgrade" done in visual and sound production, but it just made everything too clinically detailed, like CBC radio. And it was like the warm ambiance that pervaded past episodes had been thrown down the incinerator.
It was never the same after that. And the "dead weight" thing - it's filler, lines that are obvious from the subtext and add NOTHING. Was thinking of the boxing match on the latest episode, between Lois and Deirdre. She says: "You goin' DOWN tonight Griffin!", and Lois screams back, with pointless dramatics: "Nat TONITE I'm nat!" or something. Totally vacuous, no significant inflection, no joke, nothing. Filler is death for shows like these. When the Simpsons were at their best, they had no filler - same with Family Guy. Oh man, it's a Wonderful Day for Pie! But that hilarious Disney parody was just a couple years ago, wasn't it? Maybe it's a temporary backslide, but there aren't many of those in TV land.
I hate to say this, but they seem to be going the way of the Simpsons, around season seven. There's these moments, of utter dead weight that remind me eerily of how the feel changed on the Simpsons. It was subtle though. I knew the voices sounded different, there was some kind of "upgrade" done in visual and sound production, but it just made everything too clinically detailed, like CBC radio. And it was like the warm ambiance that pervaded past episodes had been thrown down the incinerator.
It was never the same after that. And the "dead weight" thing - it's filler, lines that are obvious from the subtext and add NOTHING. Was thinking of the boxing match on the latest episode, between Lois and Deirdre. She says: "You goin' DOWN tonight Griffin!", and Lois screams back, with pointless dramatics: "Nat TONITE I'm nat!" or something. Totally vacuous, no significant inflection, no joke, nothing. Filler is death for shows like these. When the Simpsons were at their best, they had no filler - same with Family Guy. Oh man, it's a Wonderful Day for Pie! But that hilarious Disney parody was just a couple years ago, wasn't it? Maybe it's a temporary backslide, but there aren't many of those in TV land.
Sorrow - Pink Floyd (live)
Ruh roh. She's busting out the Floyd. That must mean boy trouble. My only trouble with boys is that none of them are David Gilmour. Or John Keats. Or some miraculous twist of both.
Don't date men who aren't poets or musicians. They're not worth it.
Today, I will say that I hope he gets his leg blown off for joining the army and being a douchebag. Tomorrow I might regret it.
I guess that's not really a review, or a critique. But doesn't it say something about the music, or my connection to the music, that every time I'm feeling shitty about something, Pink Floyd is the only thing I can listen to that fits? Not the plateau, the plateau music (everything else I've shared here, pretty much) is for everyday. I think I'm a generally lull person, morose. A facade of moroseness. I'm bright red in the center and grey on the edges, and it comes across as mauve. The plateau music is mauve.
Pink Floyd is a deep red vein. Pink Floyd is the only music epic enough, that I have a personal relationship with enough to echo or express my heartache. When your world implodes, when your paradigm shatters, when you realize you've spent two years on nothing in the grand scheme of things, you need vast, echoey, deep, rich, classic, original music. For me, that is Floyd. It will always be Floyd.
I've got it repeating right now, this song. It's music to drown in, that's what it is. Marooned was for my first real attempt at, well, perhaps it's better not to say. Sorrow is for this, Sorrow is the long, smoky bar I can drink myself under and stop time in.
Or, well. Yeah.
i hate squash and other squash-type vegetables; i don't like to run, my empathy is usually more of a curse than a blessing, and sometimes i am better at rationalizing than i am at actualizing.
Matthew Dear, Gem
Song: Gem
Artist: Matthew Dear
Album: Black City
Year: 2010
Found this (heh) "Gem" last night, and downloaded the whole album. I have precious few electronica albums in my collection, but the ones that I have are really, really good. This album is on repeat for me for the rest of the day.
i hate squash and other squash-type vegetables; i don't like to run, my empathy is usually more of a curse than a blessing, and sometimes i am better at rationalizing than i am at actualizing.
Ferocious Oaks - Musical Dogs
My neighbors, Justin & Christel, and their band Ferocious Oaks... playing their song Musical Dogs (which you can hear a better recording of on their MySpace page) outside.
i hate squash and other squash-type vegetables; i don't like to run, my empathy is usually more of a curse than a blessing, and sometimes i am better at rationalizing than i am at actualizing.
"Apartment Story" by The National
This song doesn't need me to say anything for it.
i hate squash and other squash-type vegetables; i don't like to run, my empathy is usually more of a curse than a blessing, and sometimes i am better at rationalizing than i am at actualizing.
the 'Visit Canada' commericials on American TV-
I love them. Very, 'The Blair Witch' ish cuts & takes.
GREAT Bowie interview about Scary Monsters
A lot of interviews I read, especially with musicians, are disappointing, they tend to reveal their shallowness and stupidity. Bowie casually augments his own work with brilliant explication.
"I Was Only Going Out" by Loney, Dear
Listen to this one, it deserves it. It's got everything that, to me, makes a great song. Environment: Some songs, you know the kind, invade your space. This is one of... those songs that makes a space for itself to exist in; Emotion: Emil Svanängen, who IS Loney, Dear, always writes such great English lyrics - for being Scandinavian, which if you listen to Nikola Sarcovic, you know can be difficult sometimes - especially if you don't play metal. And I am such a fan of Emil's composition - in this song especially; Individualism: it's a song that doesn't sound like anything else I've heard lately. The feel of it is very plateau, I guess, but this one is wound different. True, the music video isn't too-too original, but the music itself is, I think. And, last but certainly not least - I can listen to it 10 times in a row and still want to hear it again. I admit I've had it on repeat all week.
i hate squash and other squash-type vegetables; i don't like to run, my empathy is usually more of a curse than a blessing, and sometimes i am better at rationalizing than i am at actualizing.
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