Monday, January 31, 2005
Don't blame me! I voted for Muhammed Mbalz Al'Hari!
Well, the last post for the first year of operation. Yay! Can you believe a whole year has passed since I started blogging? Have you read every entry yet (it's not too late... but don't blame me for the regret you will feel for wasting so much time). In one year, we had almost 5000 visits, which is huge for my ego! :) Blog Explosion helped that out a lot, and so did word of mouth. Why people wanted to read the thoughts of a man who left the ministry, has an eating disorder, obsesses about evolutionary topics, is addicted to caffeine, hasn't grown up, wishes he was in Japan, and cares too much about video games and movies is beyond me.
Oh, and tell Brody it was I who was first to solve Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu for the NES. He says he did it first, but he's a trashmouth.
For my last post in year one, I wanted to do something big, but I have way too much to do today. But I did want to comment a little bit on the Iraq elections. Who won? Was it a candidate that will help bring change? Is it a puppet of the USA or NATO? Will the winner live to see 2006? Are we going to pull out now that we have played kingmaker? Lots of questions, not a lot of answers yet. I am not one who thinks that democracy is the right system for everyone, but let's hope that it works in Iraq at least long enough to get reestablished as a nation. And, to be honest, I feel that unless the winner of the election was Shiite, then the process is tainted. The Shiites make up the majority of the citizens, yet the US is trying hard to inhibit them from taking power. It should not be up to us which group takes charge... we are instilling democracy, right? Or at least that is what we are being sold. I hope that we leave soon, and let Iraq find and make its own destiny. We can't do it for them.
*** editor's note... Is it Suni or Shiite? I forget? Guess I shouldn't blog when I don't have time to research my facts! : ) I just wanted to have my moment of talkin' without thinkin'! ***
As said in Lawrence of Arabia, "nothing is written until a man writes it."
BTW,
Here's to a great year two! Horns up!
Oh, and tell Brody it was I who was first to solve Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu for the NES. He says he did it first, but he's a trashmouth.
For my last post in year one, I wanted to do something big, but I have way too much to do today. But I did want to comment a little bit on the Iraq elections. Who won? Was it a candidate that will help bring change? Is it a puppet of the USA or NATO? Will the winner live to see 2006? Are we going to pull out now that we have played kingmaker? Lots of questions, not a lot of answers yet. I am not one who thinks that democracy is the right system for everyone, but let's hope that it works in Iraq at least long enough to get reestablished as a nation. And, to be honest, I feel that unless the winner of the election was Shiite, then the process is tainted. The Shiites make up the majority of the citizens, yet the US is trying hard to inhibit them from taking power. It should not be up to us which group takes charge... we are instilling democracy, right? Or at least that is what we are being sold. I hope that we leave soon, and let Iraq find and make its own destiny. We can't do it for them.
*** editor's note... Is it Suni or Shiite? I forget? Guess I shouldn't blog when I don't have time to research my facts! : ) I just wanted to have my moment of talkin' without thinkin'! ***
As said in Lawrence of Arabia, "nothing is written until a man writes it."
BTW,
Here's to a great year two! Horns up!
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Hello all! Just thought I'd pass along a picture of my favorite snack this week... spicy dried cuttlefish (squid jerky) and Diet Coke! Yummmmmmy! The bad side is that it gives me squid breath, and it makes my sweet tooth even worse. But it is oh-so chewy and spicy and cuttlefishy... I love it! Horns up!
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
We Built This Blog On Rock And Roll
Only on 102.5 FM can you hear Marilyn Manson’s “Godeatgod” fade into the glorious first notes of Def Leppard’s “Foolin’.” All rock, no talk. No annoying commercials, and no fluffy morning shows (unfortunately, there are no traffic reports, school closings, or give-aways either). Omaha / Council Bluffs / Blair / Treynor (basically anywhere where meth and Nascar are hot): prepare yourself for the hottest new station… 102.5, “The Carl!”
Thanks to the miracle of modern science, 102.5 FM KARL (“The Carl”) is on the air. My MP3 player (a 40 GB Nomad Zen Xtra) is an amazing toy to a caveman such as myself, but when it is paired with the Belkin TuneCast II (digital) FM Transmitter… well, we have ourselves a radio station. 102.5 FM, the official radio station of The Bubblegoose!
Some how two AAA batteries are enough to allow you to send the signal from any headphone jacked MP3 player to a vacant radio station in your area. In my case, I choose 102.5 FM (now lovingly known by all as Omaha’s own “The Carl”). The Belkin is a small capsule shaped device, the size of a chicken nugget… and me being a caveman, I am completely amazed by the whole process.
So what format is 102.5 FM KARL? Well, it is an open format (like all cool stations), which I will demonstrate below. More or less, if you like Motown, soul, classic rock, punk, modern rock, reggae, anime soundtracks, or metal you are in the right place.
What is the reception area? You probably can’t receive it. It doesn’t work in the ’93 Saturn (due to the Saturn’s omnibus of electrical problems), but can be heard on rare occasions all over the ’00 Intrepid. The best signal so far has been on weekends at Jennie Edmundson Memorial Hospital in the pharmacy, where it totally rocks for six hours (which is how long the AAA’s seem to hold out). At JEMH, the Belkin still broadcasts pretty well at distances of 10 feet from the receiver (a bombed-out bookshelf stereo).
The Nomad itself is an iPod killer. It is 40 GB for under $250 new. Outside of the small, impact resistant case that Creative provides free with the player, the Nomad is approximately the width and thickness of deck of playing cards… not as long as a checkbook, but longer than a baseball card. And it barely weighs anything.
I have 2800 songs currently loaded on the Nomad, and there are 27 GB left! I haven’t even used half of the storage capacity. I even use a high bit-rate, WMA file in favor of MP3. It is stupid how much it holds. The maddening thing is, once I load on the few remaining CDs that are still floating about my brother’s lair, I will still not break the 20 GB mark. It makes me wonder, will I ever fill this thing? One would go broke trying.
The follow up question would be, if one was to not load entire albums, but just worthwhile songs, could you still fill 40 GB? If so, then for $50 more, you can buy the same model, but with 60 GB. The iPod is currently maxed out at 40 GB, and that model costs about $400 or so. For $100 less dollars, you can have a perfect player with 60 GB space! As if anyone would need 60 GB! I can just imagine DJ’s at school dances, wedding receptions, and nightclubs whipping out a Nomad instead of crates of records and a bulky turntable coffin / CD player set up. Isn’t technology amazing? And 102.5 FM (“The Carl” in case you forgot) uses this space-age technology to bring you killer tunes.
Back to the format question. Here is what an actual fifty song commercial-free rock block sounds like emitting from 102.5 FM. (broadcast 11 PM 1/24/05). Look closely, there are some odd coincidences that arise via “random” mode…
1. The Gloaming - Radiohead
2. The Wizard – Black Sabbath
3. No Thugs in Our House – XTC
4. The Girl with the Strong Arm – The Dead Milkmen
5. Girl’s Just Want to Have Fun – Petty Booka
6. Look What You Done for Me – Al Green
7. N-Sub Ulysses – Nation of Ulysses
8. Go Mental – Ramones
9. Bananas and Blow – Ween
10. Over – Portishead
11. Redbone in the City – Bad Brains
12. Codeine – Donovan
13. The Biggest Lie – Elliot Smith
14. Rain on the Scarecrow – John Mellencamp
15. Caffeine – Faith No More
16. An Attempt to Tip the Scales – Bright Eyes
17. Fall on Me – REM
18. Mary – Tori Amos
19. Night By Night – Steely Dan
20. I am downright amazed at what I can destroy with just a hammer – Atom and His Package
21. Lovesong – The Cure
22. Suspension my Love – Scaterd Few
23. Step Up Ghettoblaster – Mindless Self Indugence
24. Sodium Light – Nero’s Rome
25. Face Value – Prong
26. God is in the Radio – Queens of the Stone Age
27. Wooden Jesus – Temple of the Dog
28. Moron – The Dead Milkmen
29. Dirty Mind – Prince
30. Storm in my House – Minutemen
31. I Want Something More – Bad Religion
32. Centre for Holy Wars – New Pornographers
33. Making Flippy Floppy – Talking Heads
34. Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys – T.Rex
35. King for a Day – Jamiroquai
36. Small Man, Big Mouth – Minor Threat
37. Bury Me With It – Modest Mouse
38. Stone Cold Crazy – Queen
39. Destroy Babylon – Bad Brains
40. Sweet and Tender Hooligan – The Smiths
41. The Hardest Button to Button – The White Stripes
42. Ride on Shooting Star – The Pillows
43. Jet Airliner – Steve Miller
44. Sweet Soul Sister – The Cult
45. Where Have All the Good Times Gone – David Bowie
46. Message in a Bottle – The Police
47. Hold Me Now – The Polyphonic Spree
48. Heroin (live) – Lou Reed
49. Maneater – Hall and Oates
50. Fundamentally Loathsome – Marilyn Manson
102.5 FM KARL, Omaha’s “The Carl”… Horns up!
Thanks to the miracle of modern science, 102.5 FM KARL (“The Carl”) is on the air. My MP3 player (a 40 GB Nomad Zen Xtra) is an amazing toy to a caveman such as myself, but when it is paired with the Belkin TuneCast II (digital) FM Transmitter… well, we have ourselves a radio station. 102.5 FM, the official radio station of The Bubblegoose!
Some how two AAA batteries are enough to allow you to send the signal from any headphone jacked MP3 player to a vacant radio station in your area. In my case, I choose 102.5 FM (now lovingly known by all as Omaha’s own “The Carl”). The Belkin is a small capsule shaped device, the size of a chicken nugget… and me being a caveman, I am completely amazed by the whole process.
So what format is 102.5 FM KARL? Well, it is an open format (like all cool stations), which I will demonstrate below. More or less, if you like Motown, soul, classic rock, punk, modern rock, reggae, anime soundtracks, or metal you are in the right place.
What is the reception area? You probably can’t receive it. It doesn’t work in the ’93 Saturn (due to the Saturn’s omnibus of electrical problems), but can be heard on rare occasions all over the ’00 Intrepid. The best signal so far has been on weekends at Jennie Edmundson Memorial Hospital in the pharmacy, where it totally rocks for six hours (which is how long the AAA’s seem to hold out). At JEMH, the Belkin still broadcasts pretty well at distances of 10 feet from the receiver (a bombed-out bookshelf stereo).
The Nomad itself is an iPod killer. It is 40 GB for under $250 new. Outside of the small, impact resistant case that Creative provides free with the player, the Nomad is approximately the width and thickness of deck of playing cards… not as long as a checkbook, but longer than a baseball card. And it barely weighs anything.
I have 2800 songs currently loaded on the Nomad, and there are 27 GB left! I haven’t even used half of the storage capacity. I even use a high bit-rate, WMA file in favor of MP3. It is stupid how much it holds. The maddening thing is, once I load on the few remaining CDs that are still floating about my brother’s lair, I will still not break the 20 GB mark. It makes me wonder, will I ever fill this thing? One would go broke trying.
The follow up question would be, if one was to not load entire albums, but just worthwhile songs, could you still fill 40 GB? If so, then for $50 more, you can buy the same model, but with 60 GB. The iPod is currently maxed out at 40 GB, and that model costs about $400 or so. For $100 less dollars, you can have a perfect player with 60 GB space! As if anyone would need 60 GB! I can just imagine DJ’s at school dances, wedding receptions, and nightclubs whipping out a Nomad instead of crates of records and a bulky turntable coffin / CD player set up. Isn’t technology amazing? And 102.5 FM (“The Carl” in case you forgot) uses this space-age technology to bring you killer tunes.
Back to the format question. Here is what an actual fifty song commercial-free rock block sounds like emitting from 102.5 FM. (broadcast 11 PM 1/24/05). Look closely, there are some odd coincidences that arise via “random” mode…
1. The Gloaming - Radiohead
2. The Wizard – Black Sabbath
3. No Thugs in Our House – XTC
4. The Girl with the Strong Arm – The Dead Milkmen
5. Girl’s Just Want to Have Fun – Petty Booka
6. Look What You Done for Me – Al Green
7. N-Sub Ulysses – Nation of Ulysses
8. Go Mental – Ramones
9. Bananas and Blow – Ween
10. Over – Portishead
11. Redbone in the City – Bad Brains
12. Codeine – Donovan
13. The Biggest Lie – Elliot Smith
14. Rain on the Scarecrow – John Mellencamp
15. Caffeine – Faith No More
16. An Attempt to Tip the Scales – Bright Eyes
17. Fall on Me – REM
18. Mary – Tori Amos
19. Night By Night – Steely Dan
20. I am downright amazed at what I can destroy with just a hammer – Atom and His Package
21. Lovesong – The Cure
22. Suspension my Love – Scaterd Few
23. Step Up Ghettoblaster – Mindless Self Indugence
24. Sodium Light – Nero’s Rome
25. Face Value – Prong
26. God is in the Radio – Queens of the Stone Age
27. Wooden Jesus – Temple of the Dog
28. Moron – The Dead Milkmen
29. Dirty Mind – Prince
30. Storm in my House – Minutemen
31. I Want Something More – Bad Religion
32. Centre for Holy Wars – New Pornographers
33. Making Flippy Floppy – Talking Heads
34. Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys – T.Rex
35. King for a Day – Jamiroquai
36. Small Man, Big Mouth – Minor Threat
37. Bury Me With It – Modest Mouse
38. Stone Cold Crazy – Queen
39. Destroy Babylon – Bad Brains
40. Sweet and Tender Hooligan – The Smiths
41. The Hardest Button to Button – The White Stripes
42. Ride on Shooting Star – The Pillows
43. Jet Airliner – Steve Miller
44. Sweet Soul Sister – The Cult
45. Where Have All the Good Times Gone – David Bowie
46. Message in a Bottle – The Police
47. Hold Me Now – The Polyphonic Spree
48. Heroin (live) – Lou Reed
49. Maneater – Hall and Oates
50. Fundamentally Loathsome – Marilyn Manson
102.5 FM KARL, Omaha’s “The Carl”… Horns up!
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Mao is bitter and angry about cranksters
It is no secret that the “local” news is often the worst place to go for objective information. They are in the business of human interest. The pride themselves in the art of raising eyebrows and keeping interest to help people make it through commercial breaks. This is why all the commercials teasing the news, or the bumpers just before commercials, usually prey on your fear and/or curiosity. If you ever watch the news critically, I think that you will find yourself smiling, maybe even angry at how manipulative it all is.
A story here lately that received a lot of attention was the death of two college kids, who became lost during the last snow storm. They wandered away from their truck, and were found (eventually) dead from hypothermia. The news pulled every stop out to tug at the public’s heartstrings. While I hate to poke fun at anyone’s tragedy, I do want to point out that this story was not worth the coverage it received.
There were a lot of unanswered questions immediately, which made for a sexy story. Why were they in the middle of nowhere on a night that saw one of the worst winter storms we have had for a long time? Why did they get out of their truck? Why didn’t they have coats? When they found a shack/barn to hole-up in, why didn’t they stay there? Why did they make several calls to 911, but never take their advice and stay put? And ultimately, where were they (it took almost a week to recover both bodies)? Why did they find the boy first (why weren’t they together)?
The news was all over this one. There was a huge out-lash against the state of Nebraska because the 911 technology we have does not allow for immediate pin-point location ability from cell calls. There were those who blamed the state for the deaths. Then there was the big “pat ourselves on the back” story of all of the volunteers who mobilized to try to recover the bodies (at first it was a rescue mission, but became a recovery mission rather quickly). Fear came into play as the TV stations started calling in all sorts of experts to explain every last item you should have in your car to survive in such a situation; scaring the public into buying survival blankets, shovels for the car, and car candles. Lastly, the news really played up the “local-tragedy” aspect of the story… which incited candlelight vigils and prayer services.
Then, on the evening they finally found the girl, the truth (that many of us suspected) began to leak out. The couple had been stopped by police the night before under suspicion of driving under the influence. The phone calls to 911 were not entirely lucid and sober. The boy had chemicals not unlike cocaine and meth in his system. There were chemicals in the girl’s system as well. Oh, and a little fact that EVERY news broadcast forgot to mention even though it was known from the start, there was a bag of crank in the truck.
Here are two kids, high on drugs, who unfortunately were out in the middle of a rural county (presumably looking for a dealer) on an incredibly unsafe night. They avoided help from authorities via 911 because their judgments were skewed and they were afraid to be “caught” while stoned.
In my skeptical and callous opinion, the news wasted our time with this story by milking it for everything it was worth. In the end, it was an open and shut case. Two drug abusers, wandering in the cold, with no realistic sense of judgment, who ultimately froze to death. If they want to do groundbreaking journalism (which they don’t or they would have released all the facts at first and not covered up the drugs in the truck), they should do a piece of the proliferation of crank and meth in the area.
The news is always quick to point out when someone is busted cooking up meth. They always show these disheveled, toothless, scraggly people who look the part. But what they aren’t reporting is that the customers for this crap are not just the guy who changed your tires at Wal-Mart. For instance, this girl was a member of a Creighton University sorority. The news played her off as the sort of involved, educated, pretty, and motivated person you would expect to be found in an expensive Jesuit university’s sororities. I don’t know her, and I don’t want to cast dispersions on her, but it turns out that she wasn’t the greatest when it comes to making judgment calls.
The real tragedy is the needless and ignorant waste of life by someone's sister, friend, and daughter. For all the talk about America, and the land of oppurtunity, and about all the doors that are opened to you when you seek a college education... all of that doesn't mean anything when someone chooses to use their body as a chemistry set.
There are many educated, upper/middle-class abusers of this dirty drug. I personally know two bankers, a nurse or two, several mothers, and suspect a few people in even higher positions that use meth. It isn’t hard to find, and it isn’t that expensive. And believe it or not, it isn’t hard to point out a tweeker. I am not as anti-PC as some, but if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…
And speaking of that, I find it hard to believe that none of her sorority sisters had any idea she was into this sort of stuff. As I have said before, once the news of this incident broke, a lot of us Council Bluffs lifers immediately wondered if it had to do with meth. The girls in her sorority had to have had several occasions that may have raised the same question. As girly and as rah-rah as the greek societies are around here, someone had to have an idea. I bet if you dig just a little deeper, you will either find more users in her sorority, or at least a handful of girls that were willing to look the other way. Nice friends.
I don’t know what the answer is to the question of superficial, subjective, and theatrical news broadcasts, but as for this story, shame on them for trying to make these kids victims. All of the emergency blankets and computerized 911 satellite up-link towers in the world wouldn’t have saved them from the garbage they were willingly putting into their bodies.
As for drug use, I am at my wits end hearing about the idiots that get wrapped up in it. Iowa and Nebraska are full of people who are taxing the planet, the system, health care, and society in general by choosing to be nonparticipants, and by likewise choosing to live fast. And most of them do not die in tragic circumstances such as these two, but instead hang onto "life," in and out of programs, institutions, wasting the police department's time and money, and negatively influencing families and friends around them. And the onus is on those of us in the healthcare, ministry, and education systems to try to heal this wound on our country. Frustrating.
I guess what I am trying to say is that while death is always a tragedy; I have absolutely no use, and no sympathy for crack-heads and tweekers. You put that poison in your body yourself. Don’t use the news to make me feel guilty and sad for a week for people who were killing themselves and wasting life anyway. It's this girl's family that I feel sorry for.
Horns up.
A story here lately that received a lot of attention was the death of two college kids, who became lost during the last snow storm. They wandered away from their truck, and were found (eventually) dead from hypothermia. The news pulled every stop out to tug at the public’s heartstrings. While I hate to poke fun at anyone’s tragedy, I do want to point out that this story was not worth the coverage it received.
There were a lot of unanswered questions immediately, which made for a sexy story. Why were they in the middle of nowhere on a night that saw one of the worst winter storms we have had for a long time? Why did they get out of their truck? Why didn’t they have coats? When they found a shack/barn to hole-up in, why didn’t they stay there? Why did they make several calls to 911, but never take their advice and stay put? And ultimately, where were they (it took almost a week to recover both bodies)? Why did they find the boy first (why weren’t they together)?
The news was all over this one. There was a huge out-lash against the state of Nebraska because the 911 technology we have does not allow for immediate pin-point location ability from cell calls. There were those who blamed the state for the deaths. Then there was the big “pat ourselves on the back” story of all of the volunteers who mobilized to try to recover the bodies (at first it was a rescue mission, but became a recovery mission rather quickly). Fear came into play as the TV stations started calling in all sorts of experts to explain every last item you should have in your car to survive in such a situation; scaring the public into buying survival blankets, shovels for the car, and car candles. Lastly, the news really played up the “local-tragedy” aspect of the story… which incited candlelight vigils and prayer services.
Then, on the evening they finally found the girl, the truth (that many of us suspected) began to leak out. The couple had been stopped by police the night before under suspicion of driving under the influence. The phone calls to 911 were not entirely lucid and sober. The boy had chemicals not unlike cocaine and meth in his system. There were chemicals in the girl’s system as well. Oh, and a little fact that EVERY news broadcast forgot to mention even though it was known from the start, there was a bag of crank in the truck.
Here are two kids, high on drugs, who unfortunately were out in the middle of a rural county (presumably looking for a dealer) on an incredibly unsafe night. They avoided help from authorities via 911 because their judgments were skewed and they were afraid to be “caught” while stoned.
In my skeptical and callous opinion, the news wasted our time with this story by milking it for everything it was worth. In the end, it was an open and shut case. Two drug abusers, wandering in the cold, with no realistic sense of judgment, who ultimately froze to death. If they want to do groundbreaking journalism (which they don’t or they would have released all the facts at first and not covered up the drugs in the truck), they should do a piece of the proliferation of crank and meth in the area.
The news is always quick to point out when someone is busted cooking up meth. They always show these disheveled, toothless, scraggly people who look the part. But what they aren’t reporting is that the customers for this crap are not just the guy who changed your tires at Wal-Mart. For instance, this girl was a member of a Creighton University sorority. The news played her off as the sort of involved, educated, pretty, and motivated person you would expect to be found in an expensive Jesuit university’s sororities. I don’t know her, and I don’t want to cast dispersions on her, but it turns out that she wasn’t the greatest when it comes to making judgment calls.
The real tragedy is the needless and ignorant waste of life by someone's sister, friend, and daughter. For all the talk about America, and the land of oppurtunity, and about all the doors that are opened to you when you seek a college education... all of that doesn't mean anything when someone chooses to use their body as a chemistry set.
There are many educated, upper/middle-class abusers of this dirty drug. I personally know two bankers, a nurse or two, several mothers, and suspect a few people in even higher positions that use meth. It isn’t hard to find, and it isn’t that expensive. And believe it or not, it isn’t hard to point out a tweeker. I am not as anti-PC as some, but if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…
And speaking of that, I find it hard to believe that none of her sorority sisters had any idea she was into this sort of stuff. As I have said before, once the news of this incident broke, a lot of us Council Bluffs lifers immediately wondered if it had to do with meth. The girls in her sorority had to have had several occasions that may have raised the same question. As girly and as rah-rah as the greek societies are around here, someone had to have an idea. I bet if you dig just a little deeper, you will either find more users in her sorority, or at least a handful of girls that were willing to look the other way. Nice friends.
I don’t know what the answer is to the question of superficial, subjective, and theatrical news broadcasts, but as for this story, shame on them for trying to make these kids victims. All of the emergency blankets and computerized 911 satellite up-link towers in the world wouldn’t have saved them from the garbage they were willingly putting into their bodies.
As for drug use, I am at my wits end hearing about the idiots that get wrapped up in it. Iowa and Nebraska are full of people who are taxing the planet, the system, health care, and society in general by choosing to be nonparticipants, and by likewise choosing to live fast. And most of them do not die in tragic circumstances such as these two, but instead hang onto "life," in and out of programs, institutions, wasting the police department's time and money, and negatively influencing families and friends around them. And the onus is on those of us in the healthcare, ministry, and education systems to try to heal this wound on our country. Frustrating.
I guess what I am trying to say is that while death is always a tragedy; I have absolutely no use, and no sympathy for crack-heads and tweekers. You put that poison in your body yourself. Don’t use the news to make me feel guilty and sad for a week for people who were killing themselves and wasting life anyway. It's this girl's family that I feel sorry for.
Horns up.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Of all of the days that I have lived, only the ones that I spent with you seem real...
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Walking it off
Hello. Well, I said I would talk about evolution today, mostly because I need to get it out of my head and move on with my life. The problem is I no longer have the notes that I took from the last two weeks of sermons which ignited my anger, so it wouldn't be too fair to lash out too much. But I want to say a little bit. Come back tomorrow if this stuff is boring for you, I will try to be lighter.
There are just a few issues that anger me about the current seven (yes, seven) week sermon series my minister is involved in. He has set out to disprove evolution in seven weeks, and arm his flock with enough information to debate well about the topic, and to have enough understanding to sleep well at night. However, that is only how it is advertised. The presentation has been awful, subjective, and contradictory in many instances. I want to address a few fallacies that have been shared.
The sermon series is based loosely around the premise that if Darwinism is true, then there are 5 things that are inescapable. One is that there is no evidence for God. Another is that there is no ultimate basis for right and wrong. Another is that there is no free will. I forget the other two. But those three are the three that I wanted to address anyway.
But before I do, I want to say that the sermon series started off in a nasty way, as most anti-evolution debates do... with the demonization of Darwin. It is convenient to roll up an ideology (theories of evolution, by the way, are as vast and varied as Christianity is in interpretation and practice) in one persona, so that it is easier to palate. Darwin did NOT invent the notion of evolution, he was not looking for an alternative to God, and he did not think that his theory was the end-all answer to every biological question. Darwin was a minister in training, a religious man, who also happened to be a scientist.
The data that he collected, and that was amassed by his day were so overwhelming, that it begged to be explained by a unifying theory. He presented a mechanism for the gradual change of an organism, and it was presented as a possible vector for speciation. In his books, Darwin pointed out the shortcomings and troubling areas of his own theories. Ministers like to set up the idea that he wrote his book with a smug air, having claimed to have solved the riddle of life. The truth remains that Darwin wasn't even the only person to propose natural selection... it was co-"discovered" independently by a contemporary of his named Wallace, but thats a long story...
As for the implications for God, this troubled Darwin his entire life (mostly because the wife that he loved dearly was a zealous Christian, and his theory challenged the Church, which you can imagine caused some heart ache). Darwin was in a perpetual crisis of faith, and like others of us, struggled to make sense of it all and find peace between his mind and his heart.
Okay, on to the three points I wanted to hit.
1) No evidence for God. This is interesting to me, because it shows a sort of all-or-nothing approach to the science. What is being said is that if Darwin is right, then there is no way we can know God, and that there probably isn't a God anyway. The minister opened the second sermon with the question "Is natural selection an adequate explanation of the origin of life?" The answer is "no." But it is also no more adequate than Genesis. Origins are sticky topics, because we can only allege what happened. Furthermore, if God intended the seven days of creation to stand as testimony to His being, then he would have passed along a better, more detailed account of the purposes behind his design (as to continually affirm his majesty as we discovered more and more about the universe).
When the Bible speaks of fixing lights in the sky to help mark the passage of time, it is obvious that this an ancient mind trying to grasp why the sun is there at all. I am not saying that Genesis isn't true (at least here anyway), I'm just saying that if the account was written to prove God's existence, he would have told all of the facts about the sun. That the sun provides energy into our system so that we can overcome thermodynamics. That the sun allows our plants to provided themselves with "food" and give them energy to fix carbon and release oxygen. That the sun acts as a heater for the earth. All of these things. To say that God hung the sun to denote time's passage and provide light is the sort of thing that people of that day could come up with on their own. God's "proof" of existence is rarely based on physical evidence. He requires faith on several levels, and there are endless ways that we can "know" God.
So saying that organisms can actually develop into a "new" species does not limit evidence for God. Something had to put all of this matter here to begin with, so there is huge room for God in scientific thought. Darwin and the Big Bang are two separate theories, remember. What Darwin's theory did was explain the large amount of biological data that was present, and believe it or not, his theories (with some adjustments) have been upheld with subsequent discoveries. Does it explain origins? No. But does it negate proof of God? No.
2) No basis for right and wrong. This is sort of the eternal question (morality), but let me say one thing. Does God's existence define right and wrong? In some ways, yes. But in order for that morality to be set in stone, we have to agree on one God, and agree that which words of His are for real, and the we need to agree on interpretations of those words. Christianity has done a poor job establishing this unified moral system in the 2000 years it has been around. Some Christians see a permissive moral code, where others expect a strict interpretation. So the presence of God, without sending us stone tablets and plagues, at best only serves to make us desire to pursue morality (as to avoid falling out of favor with him). And in no way does Darwinism negate any of that. Just because environmental factors, mutations, weather patterns, and other selection events cause a species to limit variation in one direction or another, this does not mean that there is no right or wrong. Darwinism is about biology. You can't confuse it with so-called social Darwinism (which has nothing to do with Charles at all). So this being an "inescapable truth if Darwin was right" is laughable. This would be a result of there being no God, and Darwinism does not necessarily negate God.
3) The last one is my favorite. He claims that if Darwin is right, there is no free will. What?! If there is no God (which is what the minister means by "if Darwin is right"), then there is ultimate free will. The minister went on to contradict himself several times on this point, by stating that "if Darwin is right, then I could just do whatever I wanted, and that is attractive to my selfish nature." He went on to explain that the presence of God is intrusive to this free will, and used verses that hinted towards predeterminism of events and purposes. The presence of God actually raises more questions about free will than it answers. Nothing has summed up this problem better than Milton's "Paradise Lost," in which Satan ponders how he can be evil when he was created to rebel and fulfill the role of God's foil (its more eloquent and deep than that in the book). The only way I can bend this argument to make sense is in a pure theological manner... that the free will Christ gives is to live eternally or not (you choose your eternal destiny), and that Godlessness removes that choice because we all end up with the same final fate (death). But this is not the point he was making, and it is a bad point to make when it is worded as it was.
So, from these three points alone, I could tell that the series has not been prepared with the most objective thought. As a scientist, it offends me that the minister used so much anecdote, few "proofs" outside the Bible, and even contradicted himself off and on. For instance, he claimed in his bulletin notes that most scientists doubt Darwinism, and that they are mostly non-Christian. He never qualified how he came up with "most." In his sermon, he changed this to "a lot of scientists doubt... and some of them are not Christian." If you are going to preach on science, you have to use science, or at least some critical editing before you present your sermon.
And then there was the mini-commercials for teaching Intelligent Design in biology texts, and removing evolution from them. Ministers like to say that evolution has reigned in the scientific community and in text books, not realizing that a lot of teachers find themselves scared to present evolution in class, even if they are lucky enough to have a school board that will allow them to have text books with evolution in them. The best case against ID in biology books is the fact that it isn't science. I wouldn't mind biology books having a point-counterpoint chapter, explaining many possible theories of origins (because talking snakes and magic gardens are as believable and provable as RNA originating from clay deposits, and man coming from mold), but the fact remains that religious ideas, like Chirstianity's Genesis account, are not susceptible to scientific method, are not defendable with data, and are not given to being overturned. At best, ID's best proofs come from disproving other theories. Creationism is a sacred cow, which often requires "accept it all or nothing." This is why ID is left out of text books. Evolution is presented because there is data. Is it an immutable law of the universe? No. Few would contend that. But the data is there, and there are a lot of questions out there, but for now it seems to have held up pretty well.
I want to close by saying that my minister is one of the best preachers I have ever heard, and a great Christian minister. He is a pastor in the strictest sense of the word. But it angers me that this is all the better treatment that he could give this topic, and there are 4 more weeks of it. It speaks poorly of Christianity to see something handled so poorly, when an objective presentation would more than suffice for placing doubt in people's minds about evolution (it is not a bulletproof theory). This is why I was upset. Not that the church stood against evolution, but that they did a poor job doing it.
Back to fun stuff tomorrow.
Horns up!
There are just a few issues that anger me about the current seven (yes, seven) week sermon series my minister is involved in. He has set out to disprove evolution in seven weeks, and arm his flock with enough information to debate well about the topic, and to have enough understanding to sleep well at night. However, that is only how it is advertised. The presentation has been awful, subjective, and contradictory in many instances. I want to address a few fallacies that have been shared.
The sermon series is based loosely around the premise that if Darwinism is true, then there are 5 things that are inescapable. One is that there is no evidence for God. Another is that there is no ultimate basis for right and wrong. Another is that there is no free will. I forget the other two. But those three are the three that I wanted to address anyway.
But before I do, I want to say that the sermon series started off in a nasty way, as most anti-evolution debates do... with the demonization of Darwin. It is convenient to roll up an ideology (theories of evolution, by the way, are as vast and varied as Christianity is in interpretation and practice) in one persona, so that it is easier to palate. Darwin did NOT invent the notion of evolution, he was not looking for an alternative to God, and he did not think that his theory was the end-all answer to every biological question. Darwin was a minister in training, a religious man, who also happened to be a scientist.
The data that he collected, and that was amassed by his day were so overwhelming, that it begged to be explained by a unifying theory. He presented a mechanism for the gradual change of an organism, and it was presented as a possible vector for speciation. In his books, Darwin pointed out the shortcomings and troubling areas of his own theories. Ministers like to set up the idea that he wrote his book with a smug air, having claimed to have solved the riddle of life. The truth remains that Darwin wasn't even the only person to propose natural selection... it was co-"discovered" independently by a contemporary of his named Wallace, but thats a long story...
As for the implications for God, this troubled Darwin his entire life (mostly because the wife that he loved dearly was a zealous Christian, and his theory challenged the Church, which you can imagine caused some heart ache). Darwin was in a perpetual crisis of faith, and like others of us, struggled to make sense of it all and find peace between his mind and his heart.
Okay, on to the three points I wanted to hit.
1) No evidence for God. This is interesting to me, because it shows a sort of all-or-nothing approach to the science. What is being said is that if Darwin is right, then there is no way we can know God, and that there probably isn't a God anyway. The minister opened the second sermon with the question "Is natural selection an adequate explanation of the origin of life?" The answer is "no." But it is also no more adequate than Genesis. Origins are sticky topics, because we can only allege what happened. Furthermore, if God intended the seven days of creation to stand as testimony to His being, then he would have passed along a better, more detailed account of the purposes behind his design (as to continually affirm his majesty as we discovered more and more about the universe).
When the Bible speaks of fixing lights in the sky to help mark the passage of time, it is obvious that this an ancient mind trying to grasp why the sun is there at all. I am not saying that Genesis isn't true (at least here anyway), I'm just saying that if the account was written to prove God's existence, he would have told all of the facts about the sun. That the sun provides energy into our system so that we can overcome thermodynamics. That the sun allows our plants to provided themselves with "food" and give them energy to fix carbon and release oxygen. That the sun acts as a heater for the earth. All of these things. To say that God hung the sun to denote time's passage and provide light is the sort of thing that people of that day could come up with on their own. God's "proof" of existence is rarely based on physical evidence. He requires faith on several levels, and there are endless ways that we can "know" God.
So saying that organisms can actually develop into a "new" species does not limit evidence for God. Something had to put all of this matter here to begin with, so there is huge room for God in scientific thought. Darwin and the Big Bang are two separate theories, remember. What Darwin's theory did was explain the large amount of biological data that was present, and believe it or not, his theories (with some adjustments) have been upheld with subsequent discoveries. Does it explain origins? No. But does it negate proof of God? No.
2) No basis for right and wrong. This is sort of the eternal question (morality), but let me say one thing. Does God's existence define right and wrong? In some ways, yes. But in order for that morality to be set in stone, we have to agree on one God, and agree that which words of His are for real, and the we need to agree on interpretations of those words. Christianity has done a poor job establishing this unified moral system in the 2000 years it has been around. Some Christians see a permissive moral code, where others expect a strict interpretation. So the presence of God, without sending us stone tablets and plagues, at best only serves to make us desire to pursue morality (as to avoid falling out of favor with him). And in no way does Darwinism negate any of that. Just because environmental factors, mutations, weather patterns, and other selection events cause a species to limit variation in one direction or another, this does not mean that there is no right or wrong. Darwinism is about biology. You can't confuse it with so-called social Darwinism (which has nothing to do with Charles at all). So this being an "inescapable truth if Darwin was right" is laughable. This would be a result of there being no God, and Darwinism does not necessarily negate God.
3) The last one is my favorite. He claims that if Darwin is right, there is no free will. What?! If there is no God (which is what the minister means by "if Darwin is right"), then there is ultimate free will. The minister went on to contradict himself several times on this point, by stating that "if Darwin is right, then I could just do whatever I wanted, and that is attractive to my selfish nature." He went on to explain that the presence of God is intrusive to this free will, and used verses that hinted towards predeterminism of events and purposes. The presence of God actually raises more questions about free will than it answers. Nothing has summed up this problem better than Milton's "Paradise Lost," in which Satan ponders how he can be evil when he was created to rebel and fulfill the role of God's foil (its more eloquent and deep than that in the book). The only way I can bend this argument to make sense is in a pure theological manner... that the free will Christ gives is to live eternally or not (you choose your eternal destiny), and that Godlessness removes that choice because we all end up with the same final fate (death). But this is not the point he was making, and it is a bad point to make when it is worded as it was.
So, from these three points alone, I could tell that the series has not been prepared with the most objective thought. As a scientist, it offends me that the minister used so much anecdote, few "proofs" outside the Bible, and even contradicted himself off and on. For instance, he claimed in his bulletin notes that most scientists doubt Darwinism, and that they are mostly non-Christian. He never qualified how he came up with "most." In his sermon, he changed this to "a lot of scientists doubt... and some of them are not Christian." If you are going to preach on science, you have to use science, or at least some critical editing before you present your sermon.
And then there was the mini-commercials for teaching Intelligent Design in biology texts, and removing evolution from them. Ministers like to say that evolution has reigned in the scientific community and in text books, not realizing that a lot of teachers find themselves scared to present evolution in class, even if they are lucky enough to have a school board that will allow them to have text books with evolution in them. The best case against ID in biology books is the fact that it isn't science. I wouldn't mind biology books having a point-counterpoint chapter, explaining many possible theories of origins (because talking snakes and magic gardens are as believable and provable as RNA originating from clay deposits, and man coming from mold), but the fact remains that religious ideas, like Chirstianity's Genesis account, are not susceptible to scientific method, are not defendable with data, and are not given to being overturned. At best, ID's best proofs come from disproving other theories. Creationism is a sacred cow, which often requires "accept it all or nothing." This is why ID is left out of text books. Evolution is presented because there is data. Is it an immutable law of the universe? No. Few would contend that. But the data is there, and there are a lot of questions out there, but for now it seems to have held up pretty well.
I want to close by saying that my minister is one of the best preachers I have ever heard, and a great Christian minister. He is a pastor in the strictest sense of the word. But it angers me that this is all the better treatment that he could give this topic, and there are 4 more weeks of it. It speaks poorly of Christianity to see something handled so poorly, when an objective presentation would more than suffice for placing doubt in people's minds about evolution (it is not a bulletproof theory). This is why I was upset. Not that the church stood against evolution, but that they did a poor job doing it.
Back to fun stuff tomorrow.
Horns up!
Monday, January 17, 2005
Blogger's Roll Call: Jan 2005
Currently reading - Why Elephants Have Big Ears, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Rurouni Kenshin vol. 10, Immortal Rain vol. 4
Currently listening to - Burn Witch Burn "At Work in the Factories of the Lord", Queen "Killer Queen", Gwen Stefani "What You Waiting For?", Mindless Self Indulgence "Thank God", Slayer "Raining Blood"
Currently watching - Samurai Champloo, Ikiru, Aragami, House of Flying Daggers
Currently playing - Scrabble, Chess, Final Fantasy 7, .Hack//Mutation
This is a picture of my evening snack. I usually have Japanese green tea (sencha), but last week I was fortunate to have sweet bean buns that were given to me by my friend Minh. The tea in the plastic container is Vietnamese, given to me by my friend Phuong. So I have been drinking it recently, and it is fantastic.
Currently listening to - Burn Witch Burn "At Work in the Factories of the Lord", Queen "Killer Queen", Gwen Stefani "What You Waiting For?", Mindless Self Indulgence "Thank God", Slayer "Raining Blood"
Currently watching - Samurai Champloo, Ikiru, Aragami, House of Flying Daggers
Currently playing - Scrabble, Chess, Final Fantasy 7, .Hack//Mutation
This is a picture of my evening snack. I usually have Japanese green tea (sencha), but last week I was fortunate to have sweet bean buns that were given to me by my friend Minh. The tea in the plastic container is Vietnamese, given to me by my friend Phuong. So I have been drinking it recently, and it is fantastic.
Tina, you fat lard! Get some ham!
Wow. A rare weekend off of work for me. Not much went on, however. So I am at a weird place when it comes to blogging. I have a huge urge to blog about evolution, as my church is doing a seven week series of sermons on it, and they are doing a poor job presenting the arguments. But I may wait until I am at home and can look at the notes I took (I'll do this one tomorrow). Also, I want to blog about Willy Wonka some more, but I am afraid that this blog has taken a turn for the worse lately, being mostly concerned with superficial topics. So, being afraid to be too entertainment minded, and hesitant to comment off the cuff on philosophical matters, I am left to wonder what to write. So, like all struggling journalists (as if blogging was journalism...) and stand-up comedians (as if my blog is ever funny...), I will turn to current events. Namely, a fire at the zoo.
I guess a heater malfunctioned and set fire to a barn at the zoo. The animals that died were sandhill cranes and rare African deer called water bucks. The Omaha Zoo had the largest herd of these water bucks in North America, but not now. At least some of the deer that were saved by the fire fighters were pregnant, so there is hope to rebuild the herd again.
There are a few interesting aspects to the whole "fire at the zoo" topic, so I will use this as mental calisthenics to get back into the blogging mode. It will be lame, but I need to get back into the habit of writing before any good posts will come.
1) The notion of a zoo in the first place. As much as I love the zoo, and love to see all of the animals, is a zoo a good thing or bad thing? The animals are caged and taken from their habitats. I sort of waiver back and forth on this, but I usually conclude that they are okay. The people who work at the zoo are true animal lovers, and so that makes me feel a lot better. The animals get medical treatment, food, and protection from poachers. And the zoo keepers are very good about trying to make the environment enjoyable for the animals. The gorilla complex, for example, is designed with many timed released containers hidden in the trees and walls. These containers are filled with food, and the gorillas have to forage. This is done so that they feel more at home, and so they are using their natural skills. So, I guess zoos are good.
2) The notion of fire fighters saving animals. Fire fighting is a dangerous profession. The fire fighters can never plan for every danger that can arise in the situation. Luckily, no one was hurt fighting the zoo fire, but as all fire fighters will tell you, things can go sour very quickly on even a seemingly routine call. So this begs the question, would you risk your life and the lives of your friends (as fire fighters) for animals? It is easy to say yes, because so many of us are kind hearted, but I wonder what one would really do? When a human risks their own life to save another human, it makes the news and they are called heroes. This is because many humans probably would just stand and watch rather than risk death. So what then when it is an animal, not a human? This time of year, the news often shows deer, dogs, and horses that fall through ice, and in rare occasions people mobilize to save them. I think it is great that animals are treated with such high regard by rescuers, and I would like to think that I would do whatever I could in those situations.
3) How folks look at animals. I suppose your answer to number two would be dependent on how you look at animals. Do you see them as out evolutionary cousins? As our soulful co-inhabitants on Earth? As reincarnations? As dumb beasts? As resource created for our use? The phrase is often heard "it's just an animal." In the freezing winters in Iowa, there are those who leave their pet cats and dogs in the cold (left to die or suffer) because they view even their family pets as "just animals." A fire fighter may save the animals from a sense of duty (vocation) rather than the philosophical reasons, but I am pretty sure that how they view animals influences their decision making in such a situation.
4) Fire fighter vs. tiger. What if instead of deer, it was the tiger house? How in the world do they move these animals to safety? How do you save a beast that is fierce, powerful, confused, and scared? A local radio show told a story about an elderly lady who was sleeping (under the aid of a sleeping pill) whose neighbor's home started on fire. The fire spread to her home while she slept, and the fire fighters burst in to check to see if anyone was in danger. When they saw her, they made a plan to get her to safety. She woke up as they rushed towards her, and she was confused. She though that she was being burglarized. She kicked, hit, cursed, and bit the fire fighters. Imagine what a tiger would do!
5) Pregnant deer. As I mentioned, a few of the deer that were rescued were pregnant. In nature, incidents of extreme stress can cause an animal to spontaneously abort their young. Rabbits do this in times of famine or disease (presumably to conserve resources), and also when subjected to a lot of stress (say, a persistent predator). As humans, the word "abortion" conjures controversy and strong feelings. We use the term "miscarriage" to soften an abortion that was unintentional (or natural). But in nature, these things (abortions) happen. In animal populations, nature has provided a way to eliminate a stressor on the herd (birth of young at a bad time). In human populations, such a notion seems barbaric to many (the abortion of young to benefit a person/group). It is interesting to realize the ability of humans to moralize, and how separate we are from the animal kingdom. The cognitive abilities that make us human can also bring complexities and confusion.
Okay, well I'm done. I blogged, so I am back on track. Tomorrow I will be back in old school form, talking about evolution. Just to clarify in advance, I am not disappointed that my pastor is talking about evolution, and I am not even upset that he is drawing the conclusions that he is... I love the debate (both sides have small groups of nut-jobs with flawed arguments). But I am disappointed at the poor presentation, and the poor research that has been done. All too often people walk away from church and apply the minister's words as "gospel" (so to speak). The onus is on ministers then to give only good and accurate information; this includes having well-informed opinions. So more on that tomorrow. For most of you, it will be boring, but if you know me, you know that this quest for truth and fair assessment of data and faith is a big deal.
Horns up!
I guess a heater malfunctioned and set fire to a barn at the zoo. The animals that died were sandhill cranes and rare African deer called water bucks. The Omaha Zoo had the largest herd of these water bucks in North America, but not now. At least some of the deer that were saved by the fire fighters were pregnant, so there is hope to rebuild the herd again.
There are a few interesting aspects to the whole "fire at the zoo" topic, so I will use this as mental calisthenics to get back into the blogging mode. It will be lame, but I need to get back into the habit of writing before any good posts will come.
1) The notion of a zoo in the first place. As much as I love the zoo, and love to see all of the animals, is a zoo a good thing or bad thing? The animals are caged and taken from their habitats. I sort of waiver back and forth on this, but I usually conclude that they are okay. The people who work at the zoo are true animal lovers, and so that makes me feel a lot better. The animals get medical treatment, food, and protection from poachers. And the zoo keepers are very good about trying to make the environment enjoyable for the animals. The gorilla complex, for example, is designed with many timed released containers hidden in the trees and walls. These containers are filled with food, and the gorillas have to forage. This is done so that they feel more at home, and so they are using their natural skills. So, I guess zoos are good.
2) The notion of fire fighters saving animals. Fire fighting is a dangerous profession. The fire fighters can never plan for every danger that can arise in the situation. Luckily, no one was hurt fighting the zoo fire, but as all fire fighters will tell you, things can go sour very quickly on even a seemingly routine call. So this begs the question, would you risk your life and the lives of your friends (as fire fighters) for animals? It is easy to say yes, because so many of us are kind hearted, but I wonder what one would really do? When a human risks their own life to save another human, it makes the news and they are called heroes. This is because many humans probably would just stand and watch rather than risk death. So what then when it is an animal, not a human? This time of year, the news often shows deer, dogs, and horses that fall through ice, and in rare occasions people mobilize to save them. I think it is great that animals are treated with such high regard by rescuers, and I would like to think that I would do whatever I could in those situations.
3) How folks look at animals. I suppose your answer to number two would be dependent on how you look at animals. Do you see them as out evolutionary cousins? As our soulful co-inhabitants on Earth? As reincarnations? As dumb beasts? As resource created for our use? The phrase is often heard "it's just an animal." In the freezing winters in Iowa, there are those who leave their pet cats and dogs in the cold (left to die or suffer) because they view even their family pets as "just animals." A fire fighter may save the animals from a sense of duty (vocation) rather than the philosophical reasons, but I am pretty sure that how they view animals influences their decision making in such a situation.
4) Fire fighter vs. tiger. What if instead of deer, it was the tiger house? How in the world do they move these animals to safety? How do you save a beast that is fierce, powerful, confused, and scared? A local radio show told a story about an elderly lady who was sleeping (under the aid of a sleeping pill) whose neighbor's home started on fire. The fire spread to her home while she slept, and the fire fighters burst in to check to see if anyone was in danger. When they saw her, they made a plan to get her to safety. She woke up as they rushed towards her, and she was confused. She though that she was being burglarized. She kicked, hit, cursed, and bit the fire fighters. Imagine what a tiger would do!
5) Pregnant deer. As I mentioned, a few of the deer that were rescued were pregnant. In nature, incidents of extreme stress can cause an animal to spontaneously abort their young. Rabbits do this in times of famine or disease (presumably to conserve resources), and also when subjected to a lot of stress (say, a persistent predator). As humans, the word "abortion" conjures controversy and strong feelings. We use the term "miscarriage" to soften an abortion that was unintentional (or natural). But in nature, these things (abortions) happen. In animal populations, nature has provided a way to eliminate a stressor on the herd (birth of young at a bad time). In human populations, such a notion seems barbaric to many (the abortion of young to benefit a person/group). It is interesting to realize the ability of humans to moralize, and how separate we are from the animal kingdom. The cognitive abilities that make us human can also bring complexities and confusion.
Okay, well I'm done. I blogged, so I am back on track. Tomorrow I will be back in old school form, talking about evolution. Just to clarify in advance, I am not disappointed that my pastor is talking about evolution, and I am not even upset that he is drawing the conclusions that he is... I love the debate (both sides have small groups of nut-jobs with flawed arguments). But I am disappointed at the poor presentation, and the poor research that has been done. All too often people walk away from church and apply the minister's words as "gospel" (so to speak). The onus is on ministers then to give only good and accurate information; this includes having well-informed opinions. So more on that tomorrow. For most of you, it will be boring, but if you know me, you know that this quest for truth and fair assessment of data and faith is a big deal.
Horns up!
Thursday, January 13, 2005
When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way.
I am going to try to make today a little lighter. I have been in such a weird mood lately, sort of depressed in spurts, so I am going to try to stay away from too much introspection, lest I bum other people out. Let's have fun today...
I was thinking about how little originality there is in entertainment anymore. A lot of the bands, movies, and TV shows we watch are either amalgams of past successes or direst carbon copies of something else. I wonder, why is that? Is it because we have run out of ideas (the "nothing new under the sun" theory), or are we just lazy?
Music seems to be a discussion for another day, as it has a whole different set of problems than the other entertainment media. The same goes for video gaming. Music is stale because pop music is a science now... before, it was the result of everyone throwing out their songs and seeing what sticks... then a greedy producer would latch on and ride the band/sound into the dirt. Now, with Billboard and Soundscan being able to see the tastes of buyers in real-time, we have a different scene. We see producers looking at data, and going out to either create or find a match for what the public's current tastes are (in sound, topic, style, and even look). Anyway, later discussions for music and games...
It's easy to point a snarky finger at reality TV, the fifty CSI spin offs, or the fact that 50% of the movies that come out of Hollywood are either remakes or sequels... but I want to talk about something that stretches back a little further than the 1990's.
Think about the plots of TV shows, cartoons, books, and movies that you have seen. Where did those plots come from? What did the director set out to show, and what story were the writers trying to get across? It is my contention that so much of the stuff we watch is done like so...
"I want to tell a Rocky-like story about a football team..."
"I want this to be a Psycho-like horror film..."
"I want to explore the heart of a dying man ala Ikiru..."
"I want to make a gritty mafia drama like the Godfather..."
"I want to place total strangers in the wild, like Survivor, but with this twist..."
Anyway, you get the point. The fact is, so much of what we "see" in entertainment is based on older classics. In some cases, it is not hidden. It is clear that some movies are adaptations (Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind) and that others are re-tellings (Apocalypse Now, Westside Story, Throne of Blood). Other movies are pure "hack." Look at the stream of Pulp Fiction-like movies that flooded home video stores in the 90's, or the huge number of Halloween knock-offs that litter cable TV even today.
TV shows, because of their disposable nature, are very bad about this. Sitcoms rehash the same tired plots, mostly stolen from the Honeymooners or I Love Lucy. I remember seeing an episode of Touched By An Angel that was a direct rip-off of the Sunshine Boys, and a CBS made-for-TV movie that was almost line for line stolen from Mr. Holland's Opus. Those two examples, for some reason, have always stood out in mind as a great demonstration of how lazy and unimaginative entertainment has become.
The funny thing to me is that there are a few stories that keep popping up over and over. Below is a list of the stories I see used over and over most often, and I would really like to hear comments from all of you of examples you have come across of reused, retooled, and recycled entertainment.
Romeo and Juliet
A Christmas Carol
Moby Dick
Frankenstein
Maybe in the future I will do a list of the most original movies/shows. Until then... Horns up!
I was thinking about how little originality there is in entertainment anymore. A lot of the bands, movies, and TV shows we watch are either amalgams of past successes or direst carbon copies of something else. I wonder, why is that? Is it because we have run out of ideas (the "nothing new under the sun" theory), or are we just lazy?
Music seems to be a discussion for another day, as it has a whole different set of problems than the other entertainment media. The same goes for video gaming. Music is stale because pop music is a science now... before, it was the result of everyone throwing out their songs and seeing what sticks... then a greedy producer would latch on and ride the band/sound into the dirt. Now, with Billboard and Soundscan being able to see the tastes of buyers in real-time, we have a different scene. We see producers looking at data, and going out to either create or find a match for what the public's current tastes are (in sound, topic, style, and even look). Anyway, later discussions for music and games...
It's easy to point a snarky finger at reality TV, the fifty CSI spin offs, or the fact that 50% of the movies that come out of Hollywood are either remakes or sequels... but I want to talk about something that stretches back a little further than the 1990's.
Think about the plots of TV shows, cartoons, books, and movies that you have seen. Where did those plots come from? What did the director set out to show, and what story were the writers trying to get across? It is my contention that so much of the stuff we watch is done like so...
"I want to tell a Rocky-like story about a football team..."
"I want this to be a Psycho-like horror film..."
"I want to explore the heart of a dying man ala Ikiru..."
"I want to make a gritty mafia drama like the Godfather..."
"I want to place total strangers in the wild, like Survivor, but with this twist..."
Anyway, you get the point. The fact is, so much of what we "see" in entertainment is based on older classics. In some cases, it is not hidden. It is clear that some movies are adaptations (Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind) and that others are re-tellings (Apocalypse Now, Westside Story, Throne of Blood). Other movies are pure "hack." Look at the stream of Pulp Fiction-like movies that flooded home video stores in the 90's, or the huge number of Halloween knock-offs that litter cable TV even today.
TV shows, because of their disposable nature, are very bad about this. Sitcoms rehash the same tired plots, mostly stolen from the Honeymooners or I Love Lucy. I remember seeing an episode of Touched By An Angel that was a direct rip-off of the Sunshine Boys, and a CBS made-for-TV movie that was almost line for line stolen from Mr. Holland's Opus. Those two examples, for some reason, have always stood out in mind as a great demonstration of how lazy and unimaginative entertainment has become.
The funny thing to me is that there are a few stories that keep popping up over and over. Below is a list of the stories I see used over and over most often, and I would really like to hear comments from all of you of examples you have come across of reused, retooled, and recycled entertainment.
Romeo and Juliet
A Christmas Carol
Moby Dick
Frankenstein
Maybe in the future I will do a list of the most original movies/shows. Until then... Horns up!
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Not anti-Bush, or anti-America... just anti-waste.
I have had a busy week when it comes to mental issues… I am back to school, and my schedule is pretty compact this semester. I am already lost in my Physiology class. Also, I was able to attend church this Sunday, and the sermon had me very worked up. I am trying very hard not to blog about it, but let’s just say I was a little upset, not so much by the topic or the conclusion made, but by the poor presentation and research that was done. This is a huge pet peeve with me, and when it is coupled with a sermon relating to science, we have the perfect conditions for a Carl meltdown. Plus, I am a little taxed by the ice and snow that we are experiencing in Iowa... I hate the cold (that is no secret), but I also hate driving in this stuff. I am a poor driver as it is, and ice sort of throws a nasty variable in the mix. Just today I spun out coming down my hill, my car spun completely around. Luckily, no other cars were present, and I did not hit anything. By the time I get to school, the adreneline was wearing off, and I was feeling tired already. Whew.
There. Now the diary portion of my blog is done for the day. Let’s talk about what I want to talk about. I am very disappointed in something that is happening in Washington DC right now… namely, the spending of $40 million dollars for President Bush’s Inauguration.
It’s not that I feel like it is a waste of my tax dollars… that is a cliché and easy argument to make about anything. The truth is that a lot of the money for the celebration is being donated by special interest groups.
I’m not angry that special interest groups are donating the money. It is dirty politics, but it is the way that world seems to work. No matter how offensive the process is to my sense of humanistic government, I just can’t make myself feel outrage over it.
So what makes me angry? At a time when employment is low, soldiers are at war, California is flooded, and Thailand is devastated by the tsunami tragedy, it amazes me that there are $40 million dollars available to throw what amounts to a three day party for America’s elite.
Bush’s first inauguration also cost $40 million, and Clinton’s two added up to over $50 million. I don’t know how much you pay attention to financial states and true “value” on a global scale, but $130 million dollars translates to a lot of life changing power.
The waste of this money is just a reflection of a greater problem, beyond a Republican and Democrat thing, and maybe greater than just an American thing. It is a lack of stewardship with the resources that are available. It is a mis-valuation of services and positions. And it is a total lack of true compassion for those who are worse-off than the majority of us.
Just this week, to add frosting to my argument, the NY Mets agreed to pay a 20-something baseball player $119 million dollars for less than ten years of “work.” Meanwhile, there are many businesses that are laying off hundreds of employees due to a “bad economy.” I don’t think that a business has the right to succeed in America, but I feel very bad for those folks who labor very hard for poor pay who are suddenly without income. At the same time, the CEO’s of their company are embarrassingly wealthy and find the will to okay checks to the GOP to buy streamers, prime rib, and Champaign to celebrate Bush’s election.
The world is full of disparity between haves and have-nots, and it will always be this way. Christians maintain that Jesus was the embodiment of compassion and stewardship, yet even He stated that the poor “will be with you always.” But I find myself more aligned with the philosophical fabric that greater men, Gandhi and Kurosawa, were made of when then lamented the lack of human compassion, and the prevalence of greed over giving that is epidemic in the world’s inhabitants.
So, the solution? I have none to offer. I guess it is up to each of us to do the best “good” we can with what little each of us are blessed with, because we sure as hell can’t rely on those in the upper echelon to act similarly. Shame on those who waste millions on glad-handing and entertainment when every ten dollars can provide food and water for those ravaged by tragedy.
Horns up.
There. Now the diary portion of my blog is done for the day. Let’s talk about what I want to talk about. I am very disappointed in something that is happening in Washington DC right now… namely, the spending of $40 million dollars for President Bush’s Inauguration.
It’s not that I feel like it is a waste of my tax dollars… that is a cliché and easy argument to make about anything. The truth is that a lot of the money for the celebration is being donated by special interest groups.
I’m not angry that special interest groups are donating the money. It is dirty politics, but it is the way that world seems to work. No matter how offensive the process is to my sense of humanistic government, I just can’t make myself feel outrage over it.
So what makes me angry? At a time when employment is low, soldiers are at war, California is flooded, and Thailand is devastated by the tsunami tragedy, it amazes me that there are $40 million dollars available to throw what amounts to a three day party for America’s elite.
Bush’s first inauguration also cost $40 million, and Clinton’s two added up to over $50 million. I don’t know how much you pay attention to financial states and true “value” on a global scale, but $130 million dollars translates to a lot of life changing power.
The waste of this money is just a reflection of a greater problem, beyond a Republican and Democrat thing, and maybe greater than just an American thing. It is a lack of stewardship with the resources that are available. It is a mis-valuation of services and positions. And it is a total lack of true compassion for those who are worse-off than the majority of us.
Just this week, to add frosting to my argument, the NY Mets agreed to pay a 20-something baseball player $119 million dollars for less than ten years of “work.” Meanwhile, there are many businesses that are laying off hundreds of employees due to a “bad economy.” I don’t think that a business has the right to succeed in America, but I feel very bad for those folks who labor very hard for poor pay who are suddenly without income. At the same time, the CEO’s of their company are embarrassingly wealthy and find the will to okay checks to the GOP to buy streamers, prime rib, and Champaign to celebrate Bush’s election.
The world is full of disparity between haves and have-nots, and it will always be this way. Christians maintain that Jesus was the embodiment of compassion and stewardship, yet even He stated that the poor “will be with you always.” But I find myself more aligned with the philosophical fabric that greater men, Gandhi and Kurosawa, were made of when then lamented the lack of human compassion, and the prevalence of greed over giving that is epidemic in the world’s inhabitants.
So, the solution? I have none to offer. I guess it is up to each of us to do the best “good” we can with what little each of us are blessed with, because we sure as hell can’t rely on those in the upper echelon to act similarly. Shame on those who waste millions on glad-handing and entertainment when every ten dollars can provide food and water for those ravaged by tragedy.
Horns up.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Rei Ayanami is my dream girl
Here is another picture from my Japanese toy collection. The characters are the famous females from Evangelion; Rei (L) and Asuka (R). These particular statues represent them in slightly modified outfits than they wear in the anime/manga. However, they are ultra-kawaii. These finely detailed statues are popular and collectible in Japan. Some are commissioned by the copyright holders (in this case, GAINAX) to be designed by independent artisans... this is called Garage Kit. Some turn out very good, as these did, while others turn out very strange. It is not uncommon to find statues/figurines of popular characters in strange and unusual representations. One common representation is in sexy poses and costumes, sometimes themed like "romantic trip to beach," "bath time," or "sexy school uniform." But luckily, these statues are close enough to the real deal, and far from pornographic (otherwise I wouldn't have bought them).
Rei and Asuka are popular characters in toys and collectibles because of the huge worldwide popularity of Evangelion, because they are attractive/cute females, and because GAINAX is very aggressive, and open, with its licensing and product placement. There are even huge amounts of underground products featuring these characters. Of all the products, commissioned and otherwise, these statues are among the best I have seen. There are also a pair of dolls from the incredibly popular Pink St. line that I would like to get, as well as a series of small figures featuring these two (and two other women from the Evangelion world) features as brides, which I wouldn't mind getting for the odd novelty of it.
There are a few clever in-jokes on these statues... notice the animal clinging to Rei's leg. This is, in the series, an embryonic form of a powerful and dangerous being. Here, it is portrayed as Rei's pet. Both girls are given tails and animal ears, which is a common theme in Japanese art (when portraying cuteness). Also, Asuka is holding a creature on the end of a wrench. The creature looks like a monkey (monkey wrench, get it?) and the monkey is white and wearing an odd Noh-like mask. This is a reference to the Adam creature in the series (the next step in man's evolution). Also, I think the monkey theme for Asuka is funny because she is mischievous, where as Rei is solemn and cute (like a kitten). Anyway, enjoy the picture. Horn's up!
Rei and Asuka are popular characters in toys and collectibles because of the huge worldwide popularity of Evangelion, because they are attractive/cute females, and because GAINAX is very aggressive, and open, with its licensing and product placement. There are even huge amounts of underground products featuring these characters. Of all the products, commissioned and otherwise, these statues are among the best I have seen. There are also a pair of dolls from the incredibly popular Pink St. line that I would like to get, as well as a series of small figures featuring these two (and two other women from the Evangelion world) features as brides, which I wouldn't mind getting for the odd novelty of it.
There are a few clever in-jokes on these statues... notice the animal clinging to Rei's leg. This is, in the series, an embryonic form of a powerful and dangerous being. Here, it is portrayed as Rei's pet. Both girls are given tails and animal ears, which is a common theme in Japanese art (when portraying cuteness). Also, Asuka is holding a creature on the end of a wrench. The creature looks like a monkey (monkey wrench, get it?) and the monkey is white and wearing an odd Noh-like mask. This is a reference to the Adam creature in the series (the next step in man's evolution). Also, I think the monkey theme for Asuka is funny because she is mischievous, where as Rei is solemn and cute (like a kitten). Anyway, enjoy the picture. Horn's up!
Carl’s Christmas Break Movie Marathon
Here are a few short reviews of all of the movies I watched over Christmas break. I still have a little stack of DVD's that didn't get watched. So I guess I will have to find some time between studies... :) The worst thing is that most of the movies I want to watch are subtitled, and those are sort of hard to watch when you are supposed to be reading. Anyway, here are the reviews!
Napoleon Dynamite – Sweet. It is impossible to explain the movie, because it is devoid of a true plot. That isn’t to say that it is a bad movie. It is a great comedy about a true nerd; not a typical Hollywood nerd. It shows how so often a nerd is not a victim, but does nothing to help his own case. It shows how one’s family sort of has a damning effect on your social development, and that in the end, being a nerd isn’t all that bad. You can still find friends, happiness, and love. The movie is about how great it is to live unencumbered by society’s sense of normalcy. “Just listen to your heart Pedro, that’s what I do.” To tell you the truth, the movie is so unconventional that my first reaction was that I didn’t like it. But the more I talked about it with my brother and thought about it, I loved it (l-u-v).
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Cowboy Bebop the Movie) – It sort of angers me that the majority of adults in American will miss out on a lot of beautiful and exciting Japanese movies, all because they are animated and not live action. These same adults will sit through Armageddon or Christmas with the Kranks, but find animation too childish. This movie is based on a series by the same name, in which a group of four bounty hunters try to solve crime in a not-too-distant future when mankind has sprawled further and faster than the arm of the law. You won’t need to know the characters to enjoy the movie, because the screenplay does a great job of characterization (but if you know them already, you’ll enjoy it very much). An ex-military man creates a new biochemical weapon that he intends on using on Halloween, all because similar chemicals were used on him in the military. The drugs he was exposed to leave him without true rest or a true sense of reality. The military uses his ex-girlfriend (who thought he was dead) as bait to draw him out, only to find that he is so bent on his revenge that nothing can trip him up. Only a x-factor, namely the misfit “Cowboys,” can find a way to ruin his plan. Sounds pretty cheesy, but the execution of this movie is amazing. You learn about the characters, care about them, and cheer for them. You cringe, laugh, hold your breath… all things you feel odd about doing in an animated movie. The plot is much better and much more deep that I described, and it is well worth a rental. As a matter of fact, while it may not be in the hallowed pantheon of anime movies (such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Spirited Away), it would be a great introductory movie for someone who has never seen Japanese animation before. A lot of the quirks that turn Americans’ interest away from anime are absent in Cowboy Bebop (it is pretty “western” if you ask me). The colors, the music, and the writing are all top notch.
Elf – How great is this movie? It is truly funny, original, and has lots of heart. Buddy is the human foster child of Santa’s elves, and he soon goes on a journey to find his real father, and where he fits in the world. A fantastic movie, and a great one for all ages. Every time I see it I crack up at Will Ferrell.
Resident Evil – Absolutely awful on every level. I was morbidly curious to see what it was like, so I jumped at the chance to catch it for “free” on cable. I love zombies, and really think that the RE video games are very cool and well designed. I had many sleepless nights thanks to the original PSOne game. At one time, George Romero himself was tied to the movie project, but left in a huff. It is easy to see why now. The movie is unwatchable. It is cliché at every turn, needlessly gross and unrealistic, and the acting is terrible. It tries very hard to have some clever subtext as it borrows liberally from “Alice in Wonderland,” but to tell the truth, nothing in the movie ever makes sense. It is like the worst aspects of Aliens, Thirteen Ghosts (the whole movie in other words), and 28 Days Later all rolled into one rubbish heap. And they made a sequel? Amazing. Video games and superhero comic books need to stop being made into movies.
Anchorman – A massive guilty pleasure of mine. I absolutely love this movie. The humor is bizarre and crude, but everything is in the delivery. After watching all of the extra scenes, it is obvious that this movie could have easily been a disaster. The editing of this movie should win an award, because what is left is a quick paced, fun comedy that has a keen sense of its own value to society; it never tries to moralize or have heart. It just goes for laughs. It is fun to think that the egos that wrestle backstage at TV stations are even a fraction of the ridiculous display on this movie. The 70’s era was a great backdrop for this over-macho and faux-hip cast of characters. It’s not early Woody Allen, or even early Mel Brooks, but it is light-years ahead of your other comedy options these days… (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle? Come on!)
Raising Helen – Man… not all of these movies were selected by me. Apparently when they call something a chick flick, they mean that it is a movie for people who will be emotionally manipulated by anything. This movie was stock love story / coming of age story / power of sisters / Lifetime movie of the week crap. The acting was awful, things were resolved way too fast, ala a TV sitcom, and characters never seemed real. I personally found the gentle, hip, Lutheran youth pastor/boyfriend character to be so needless and poorly written that it was almost funny. I like how he totally dropped out of character at moment’s notice. People will like this movie, but then again, people liked Beaches and Pretty Woman also. Compared to this, I don’t feel so bad for liking Dirty Dancing.
Ferris Buehler’s Day Off – I wanted to see if this was as good as I remembered. Yup. A classic. The perfect storm of the 1980’s, a cast that played every part with enough manic quirkiness to wow you, and a plot that was barely there. It is a coming of age picture that actually works because you are rooting against these people growing up. Every moment of this movie maximizes fun. A classic, far better than the Cussak/Brat Pack movies that we tend to think of as the 80’s defining comedies. Oh Yeah!
Old Boy – A Korean psychological thriller with the single best ending to any movie ever. For those of you who tend to only watch what is available on HBO or Showtime, you need to expand your horizons a bit. Suffering through subtitles becomes second nature in time. That being said, Old Boy is about a normal businessman who is kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years. While captive, his captor takes blood from him, and items with his fingerprints, and murders his wife; pinning the murder on him. He then is unexplainably released and allowed privy to clues to who his captive was. He has to choose between truth and revenge, and his quest to reclaim his life is very gritty. It is like a twisted Moby Dick. I highly recommend seeing this movie. I was so entranced that I hardly noticed the subtitles at all. You can order a copy at www.redsundvd.com for under $20, and it will be fun to show your friends who are constantly telling you that you need to see “Spiderman 2” or “The Day After Tomorrow.” Its like a Korean version of Fight Club meets The Fugitive meets The Game. (Two of those are Fincher… weird).
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – If you are new to Wes Anderson movies, you will probably enjoy this movie slightly less, but for the rest of us, this is a must see! It is absolutely brilliant. Bill Murray plays an aging aquatic filmmaker ala Jacques Cousteau. His glory days are fast fading away, and he is struggling to make sense of the life he is left with. His best friend is killed on location, his marriage is flying apart, and suddenly a man appears who may be his long lost son. Again, the Moby Dick theme is invoked, as he goes on one last adventure to get revenge on the Jaguar Shark that killed his friend, and make a new film that will help him once again grab the spotlight he once held. A great movie, with tons of dry humor and outrageous situations. I am not sure who is the best character in this movie… Murray as Zissou or Jeff Goldbloom as his rival in both love and labor. The movie has a great ensemble cast, as do all Anderson movies. It has Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchet, Angelica Huston, and others who I easily forget (it is a lot of movie to take in). Every shot is beautiful, and it is dripping with artistic touch. Not a single moment of this movie seems like old territory. I still like Royal Tennenbaums better, but this one is a creature all its own. I give this the highest possible recommendation.
Easy Rider – I will never understand why this movie is so loved. It has to be a generational thing. I have tried to sit through it probably as many as eight times now, and every time I get very bored. It just seems so stale now, but I am sure at the time it was revolutionary. Much like Midnight Cowboy… they are movies that broke ground, but the market was soon flooded with movies that tread the same waters.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – I wanted to see this again for two reasons. I wanted to see how it shaped up compared to Elf as a movie that all ages can enjoy, and to see how well it has aged. I still loved this movie, although I have seen it hundreds of times (which is more than I can say for Wizard of Oz). There are moments that are too much to handle (the “Cheer Up Charlie” song for one), but in the end, this was another accidental masterpiece. For those of you who are unaware, Tim Burton has remade this film, and it will be out this summer. It will no doubt be a darker and more adult movie, but let’s face it… the story was already dark and aimed at adults. The original book was definitely a morality play, and Dahl (the author) is no stranger to twisted humor and subversive themes. Perfect for Burton, if he is at the top of his game. I haven’t liked a lot of his stuff, but he has a ton of potential. I still worship Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Edward Scissorhands (not sure why I don’t own this one), Cabin Boy, and have a healthy respect for Nightmare Before Christmas. Other than these, I don’t know what to think of him (Planet of the Apes was tremendously disappointing for me, but at least he cut ties with Arnold, who was supposed to be in it). I haven’t seen Big Fish yet… but I digress. Willy Wonka is a classic, and I hope that the new version is as imaginative as odd as the original. It will be hard to see anyone but Gene Wilder as Wonka, but Johnny Depp looks pretty cool in the part. He sort of looks like Marilyn Manson in the promos, which adds a whole new level of creepiness to the whole story.
Dr Strangelove (or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb) – I will really have to stop myself from gushing here. I use the word love so much that I am out of verbs to describe my affections here. Stanley Kubrick will go down in history as the highest profile director to ever be overlooked in his lifetime; despite the accolades he and his films received, it isn’t until years later that they all show their true power (timelessness). In Hollywood, it is painfully obvious that one can’t just set out to make a great movie, let alone a perfect one. Very few directors have the guts to change genres in pursuit of perfection either. But Kubrick did. He tackled everything, and managed to make perfect movies; not just once, but several times. 2001 A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and Dr. Strangelove all stand as perfect in their fields. We can debate Full Metal Jacket, Spartacus, and Clockwork Orange later. But Strangelove will forever stand as one of the smartest comedies and political satires ever. A mad military man launches a nuclear attack on Russia, and no one knows the pass code to call back the planes. Washington is left to scramble to find a solution, but tensions are too high. Not to mention, that there is a fail safe device that is set to trigger massive retaliatory strikes if nuclear bombs are ever dropped on the Soviet Union. Despite all of this tense drama, it is above all a comedy. Peter Sellers plays three roles (almost played four), and each one is unforgettable. George C Scott warms up for his Patton role as a Hawk that has no trust for or desire to work with the Russians. Every line, every scene is pure perfection. Watching movies like this make it hard for me to watch 90% of what Hollywood puts out. And I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to mention for the millionth time that I am still upset over the whole A.I. deal. Stupid Spielberg.
M – That’s not a mistake; the title is just one letter. M stands for Morder, German for murderer. It is Fritz Lang’s 1931 crime masterpiece. The new Criterion edition makes it seem like a new movie. Every VHS copy I have ever seen is very grainy and dark, so dark that there are huge stretches of movie that you strain to see what is happening. For 1931, this movie must have seemed scandalous. It was Lang’s first sound picture, so you can understand how dated it should feel. But it doesn’t. Much like one of my top five movies, The Third Man, it shows the seedy underbelly of European crime. In M, a man is murdering children, and getting away with it. He also is taunting the police; he wants caught. But the police are bungling and ineffective. So the onus is on the local rogue’s gallery to stop this murderer. That’s right, the “hero” of this movie is the underworld crooks and thugs who are sick of the extra pressure that the public and police have put on their trade. This movie was probably as daring as Silence of the Lambs or Seven were in our time, but maybe even more so. The open criticism of authority, the confused roles of good and evil, and the somewhat taboo topic of violence towards children all make this movie a legend. Peter Lorre is just plain creepy in this movie. The new edition, other than the new sound and video quality being worth every penny of $30, comes with a second disk of supplemental material. It ranks up there with the recent issues of Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and Treasure of the Sierra Madre in terms of historical archive value. Anyway, the movie will make your heart race; just try hearing that murder’s tune whistled out of context of the movie and not start! Try not to have your heart sink as you see a child’s ball roll into view and stop cold, as the child’s balloon struggles in the power-lines above, finally to get free and float into the heavens… very powerful stuff. “But I’m not done yet!” Perhaps the most powerful aspect of this movie is the subplot about how the authorities have the public worked up into a fear-induced frenzy, and then are completely powerless to help. Instead they use the fear to establish a sort of totalitarian state, and lash out at straw men where ever they can. Sound familiar? At least Lang’s movie was filmed in Hitler’s Germany (1931), so you expect that sort of tone…
House of the Flying Daggers – I want to try and review this one without comparing it to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero (both 10 out of 10 stars in my book). HOTFD also stars Zhang Ziyi who is incredible talented, and gorgeous by the way (in the movie she is described as a “rare beauty” which couldn’t be said better). She plays the part of a blind geisha-like entertainer who is suspected of being involved with a feared group of revolutionaries. A government soldier is put on the job of outing her and her comrades. Instead he falls for her. The colors and sets used in this movie are incredible vibrant, and every motion has a sort of Zen poetry to it (what else would you expect). The scenes demonstrating Zhang’s dancing and singing seem sort of hard to handle, considering the roles she has played so far (it isn’t bad, just new territory for her. We have to remember that Jackie Chan even sings in some of his Hong Kong films), but her other acting is great. Unlike Musa The Warrior, she is allowed to cut lose a bit… but I wonder when she will stop playing tragic characters. The sort-of-mythical China that is portrayed in this movie is fantastic and cliché at the same time. However, the Chinese are fast becoming the masters of exciting, artistic, romantic folk stories, leaving Hollywood in the dust. The swordplay, which for some is the big draw, is as well choreographed and filmed as ever, but it is the love story and the costumes that make this film great. The only advice I would give the average American viewer is that “kung fu” and wushu (fantastic swordplay) movies are the Asian equivalent of setting a movie in the Old West, Civil War, or Camelot. You have to appreciate their folkways, and suspend disbelief a little. The biggest complaint that I hear is that the fighters too often have special powers, but in Chinese culture to master an art of any sort was to unify your soul with that art, therefore becoming spiritual and superhuman. This unification of the soul with art (even martial arts) are what make these characters bold and lovable. Even some of the cheesiest Shaw Bros. kung fu movies have moments of great heart. If you don’t enjoy the swordplay, then just turn off your brain during these moments, and let yourself get absorbed by the rest of the story. Don’t miss a beautiful movie just because of a few action scenes.
I tried to watch more movies, but just didn’t have time. I “wasted” some valuable movie time working (too much work…), playing Metal Gear on my Playstation and watching TV DVDs, like the 1st Season of Futurama, re-watching all of my Aqua Teen DVDs, and Home Movies. I also caught myself sticking in The Kids in the Hall, Ren and Stimpy, and Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes when I was sitting about. I’ll never get all of these disks watched! I bought a few new DVDs, and I have plenty stacked up already that need attention. I will report back again sometime, and I will gladly accept recommendations and rebuttals! I love to loan out these movies that I am in love with, so ask if one sounds cool to you. The only thing is that I am totally anal about wanting to get it back relatively soon…
Horn’s Up
Napoleon Dynamite – Sweet. It is impossible to explain the movie, because it is devoid of a true plot. That isn’t to say that it is a bad movie. It is a great comedy about a true nerd; not a typical Hollywood nerd. It shows how so often a nerd is not a victim, but does nothing to help his own case. It shows how one’s family sort of has a damning effect on your social development, and that in the end, being a nerd isn’t all that bad. You can still find friends, happiness, and love. The movie is about how great it is to live unencumbered by society’s sense of normalcy. “Just listen to your heart Pedro, that’s what I do.” To tell you the truth, the movie is so unconventional that my first reaction was that I didn’t like it. But the more I talked about it with my brother and thought about it, I loved it (l-u-v).
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Cowboy Bebop the Movie) – It sort of angers me that the majority of adults in American will miss out on a lot of beautiful and exciting Japanese movies, all because they are animated and not live action. These same adults will sit through Armageddon or Christmas with the Kranks, but find animation too childish. This movie is based on a series by the same name, in which a group of four bounty hunters try to solve crime in a not-too-distant future when mankind has sprawled further and faster than the arm of the law. You won’t need to know the characters to enjoy the movie, because the screenplay does a great job of characterization (but if you know them already, you’ll enjoy it very much). An ex-military man creates a new biochemical weapon that he intends on using on Halloween, all because similar chemicals were used on him in the military. The drugs he was exposed to leave him without true rest or a true sense of reality. The military uses his ex-girlfriend (who thought he was dead) as bait to draw him out, only to find that he is so bent on his revenge that nothing can trip him up. Only a x-factor, namely the misfit “Cowboys,” can find a way to ruin his plan. Sounds pretty cheesy, but the execution of this movie is amazing. You learn about the characters, care about them, and cheer for them. You cringe, laugh, hold your breath… all things you feel odd about doing in an animated movie. The plot is much better and much more deep that I described, and it is well worth a rental. As a matter of fact, while it may not be in the hallowed pantheon of anime movies (such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Spirited Away), it would be a great introductory movie for someone who has never seen Japanese animation before. A lot of the quirks that turn Americans’ interest away from anime are absent in Cowboy Bebop (it is pretty “western” if you ask me). The colors, the music, and the writing are all top notch.
Elf – How great is this movie? It is truly funny, original, and has lots of heart. Buddy is the human foster child of Santa’s elves, and he soon goes on a journey to find his real father, and where he fits in the world. A fantastic movie, and a great one for all ages. Every time I see it I crack up at Will Ferrell.
Resident Evil – Absolutely awful on every level. I was morbidly curious to see what it was like, so I jumped at the chance to catch it for “free” on cable. I love zombies, and really think that the RE video games are very cool and well designed. I had many sleepless nights thanks to the original PSOne game. At one time, George Romero himself was tied to the movie project, but left in a huff. It is easy to see why now. The movie is unwatchable. It is cliché at every turn, needlessly gross and unrealistic, and the acting is terrible. It tries very hard to have some clever subtext as it borrows liberally from “Alice in Wonderland,” but to tell the truth, nothing in the movie ever makes sense. It is like the worst aspects of Aliens, Thirteen Ghosts (the whole movie in other words), and 28 Days Later all rolled into one rubbish heap. And they made a sequel? Amazing. Video games and superhero comic books need to stop being made into movies.
Anchorman – A massive guilty pleasure of mine. I absolutely love this movie. The humor is bizarre and crude, but everything is in the delivery. After watching all of the extra scenes, it is obvious that this movie could have easily been a disaster. The editing of this movie should win an award, because what is left is a quick paced, fun comedy that has a keen sense of its own value to society; it never tries to moralize or have heart. It just goes for laughs. It is fun to think that the egos that wrestle backstage at TV stations are even a fraction of the ridiculous display on this movie. The 70’s era was a great backdrop for this over-macho and faux-hip cast of characters. It’s not early Woody Allen, or even early Mel Brooks, but it is light-years ahead of your other comedy options these days… (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle? Come on!)
Raising Helen – Man… not all of these movies were selected by me. Apparently when they call something a chick flick, they mean that it is a movie for people who will be emotionally manipulated by anything. This movie was stock love story / coming of age story / power of sisters / Lifetime movie of the week crap. The acting was awful, things were resolved way too fast, ala a TV sitcom, and characters never seemed real. I personally found the gentle, hip, Lutheran youth pastor/boyfriend character to be so needless and poorly written that it was almost funny. I like how he totally dropped out of character at moment’s notice. People will like this movie, but then again, people liked Beaches and Pretty Woman also. Compared to this, I don’t feel so bad for liking Dirty Dancing.
Ferris Buehler’s Day Off – I wanted to see if this was as good as I remembered. Yup. A classic. The perfect storm of the 1980’s, a cast that played every part with enough manic quirkiness to wow you, and a plot that was barely there. It is a coming of age picture that actually works because you are rooting against these people growing up. Every moment of this movie maximizes fun. A classic, far better than the Cussak/Brat Pack movies that we tend to think of as the 80’s defining comedies. Oh Yeah!
Old Boy – A Korean psychological thriller with the single best ending to any movie ever. For those of you who tend to only watch what is available on HBO or Showtime, you need to expand your horizons a bit. Suffering through subtitles becomes second nature in time. That being said, Old Boy is about a normal businessman who is kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years. While captive, his captor takes blood from him, and items with his fingerprints, and murders his wife; pinning the murder on him. He then is unexplainably released and allowed privy to clues to who his captive was. He has to choose between truth and revenge, and his quest to reclaim his life is very gritty. It is like a twisted Moby Dick. I highly recommend seeing this movie. I was so entranced that I hardly noticed the subtitles at all. You can order a copy at www.redsundvd.com for under $20, and it will be fun to show your friends who are constantly telling you that you need to see “Spiderman 2” or “The Day After Tomorrow.” Its like a Korean version of Fight Club meets The Fugitive meets The Game. (Two of those are Fincher… weird).
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – If you are new to Wes Anderson movies, you will probably enjoy this movie slightly less, but for the rest of us, this is a must see! It is absolutely brilliant. Bill Murray plays an aging aquatic filmmaker ala Jacques Cousteau. His glory days are fast fading away, and he is struggling to make sense of the life he is left with. His best friend is killed on location, his marriage is flying apart, and suddenly a man appears who may be his long lost son. Again, the Moby Dick theme is invoked, as he goes on one last adventure to get revenge on the Jaguar Shark that killed his friend, and make a new film that will help him once again grab the spotlight he once held. A great movie, with tons of dry humor and outrageous situations. I am not sure who is the best character in this movie… Murray as Zissou or Jeff Goldbloom as his rival in both love and labor. The movie has a great ensemble cast, as do all Anderson movies. It has Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchet, Angelica Huston, and others who I easily forget (it is a lot of movie to take in). Every shot is beautiful, and it is dripping with artistic touch. Not a single moment of this movie seems like old territory. I still like Royal Tennenbaums better, but this one is a creature all its own. I give this the highest possible recommendation.
Easy Rider – I will never understand why this movie is so loved. It has to be a generational thing. I have tried to sit through it probably as many as eight times now, and every time I get very bored. It just seems so stale now, but I am sure at the time it was revolutionary. Much like Midnight Cowboy… they are movies that broke ground, but the market was soon flooded with movies that tread the same waters.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – I wanted to see this again for two reasons. I wanted to see how it shaped up compared to Elf as a movie that all ages can enjoy, and to see how well it has aged. I still loved this movie, although I have seen it hundreds of times (which is more than I can say for Wizard of Oz). There are moments that are too much to handle (the “Cheer Up Charlie” song for one), but in the end, this was another accidental masterpiece. For those of you who are unaware, Tim Burton has remade this film, and it will be out this summer. It will no doubt be a darker and more adult movie, but let’s face it… the story was already dark and aimed at adults. The original book was definitely a morality play, and Dahl (the author) is no stranger to twisted humor and subversive themes. Perfect for Burton, if he is at the top of his game. I haven’t liked a lot of his stuff, but he has a ton of potential. I still worship Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Edward Scissorhands (not sure why I don’t own this one), Cabin Boy, and have a healthy respect for Nightmare Before Christmas. Other than these, I don’t know what to think of him (Planet of the Apes was tremendously disappointing for me, but at least he cut ties with Arnold, who was supposed to be in it). I haven’t seen Big Fish yet… but I digress. Willy Wonka is a classic, and I hope that the new version is as imaginative as odd as the original. It will be hard to see anyone but Gene Wilder as Wonka, but Johnny Depp looks pretty cool in the part. He sort of looks like Marilyn Manson in the promos, which adds a whole new level of creepiness to the whole story.
Dr Strangelove (or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb) – I will really have to stop myself from gushing here. I use the word love so much that I am out of verbs to describe my affections here. Stanley Kubrick will go down in history as the highest profile director to ever be overlooked in his lifetime; despite the accolades he and his films received, it isn’t until years later that they all show their true power (timelessness). In Hollywood, it is painfully obvious that one can’t just set out to make a great movie, let alone a perfect one. Very few directors have the guts to change genres in pursuit of perfection either. But Kubrick did. He tackled everything, and managed to make perfect movies; not just once, but several times. 2001 A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and Dr. Strangelove all stand as perfect in their fields. We can debate Full Metal Jacket, Spartacus, and Clockwork Orange later. But Strangelove will forever stand as one of the smartest comedies and political satires ever. A mad military man launches a nuclear attack on Russia, and no one knows the pass code to call back the planes. Washington is left to scramble to find a solution, but tensions are too high. Not to mention, that there is a fail safe device that is set to trigger massive retaliatory strikes if nuclear bombs are ever dropped on the Soviet Union. Despite all of this tense drama, it is above all a comedy. Peter Sellers plays three roles (almost played four), and each one is unforgettable. George C Scott warms up for his Patton role as a Hawk that has no trust for or desire to work with the Russians. Every line, every scene is pure perfection. Watching movies like this make it hard for me to watch 90% of what Hollywood puts out. And I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to mention for the millionth time that I am still upset over the whole A.I. deal. Stupid Spielberg.
M – That’s not a mistake; the title is just one letter. M stands for Morder, German for murderer. It is Fritz Lang’s 1931 crime masterpiece. The new Criterion edition makes it seem like a new movie. Every VHS copy I have ever seen is very grainy and dark, so dark that there are huge stretches of movie that you strain to see what is happening. For 1931, this movie must have seemed scandalous. It was Lang’s first sound picture, so you can understand how dated it should feel. But it doesn’t. Much like one of my top five movies, The Third Man, it shows the seedy underbelly of European crime. In M, a man is murdering children, and getting away with it. He also is taunting the police; he wants caught. But the police are bungling and ineffective. So the onus is on the local rogue’s gallery to stop this murderer. That’s right, the “hero” of this movie is the underworld crooks and thugs who are sick of the extra pressure that the public and police have put on their trade. This movie was probably as daring as Silence of the Lambs or Seven were in our time, but maybe even more so. The open criticism of authority, the confused roles of good and evil, and the somewhat taboo topic of violence towards children all make this movie a legend. Peter Lorre is just plain creepy in this movie. The new edition, other than the new sound and video quality being worth every penny of $30, comes with a second disk of supplemental material. It ranks up there with the recent issues of Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and Treasure of the Sierra Madre in terms of historical archive value. Anyway, the movie will make your heart race; just try hearing that murder’s tune whistled out of context of the movie and not start! Try not to have your heart sink as you see a child’s ball roll into view and stop cold, as the child’s balloon struggles in the power-lines above, finally to get free and float into the heavens… very powerful stuff. “But I’m not done yet!” Perhaps the most powerful aspect of this movie is the subplot about how the authorities have the public worked up into a fear-induced frenzy, and then are completely powerless to help. Instead they use the fear to establish a sort of totalitarian state, and lash out at straw men where ever they can. Sound familiar? At least Lang’s movie was filmed in Hitler’s Germany (1931), so you expect that sort of tone…
House of the Flying Daggers – I want to try and review this one without comparing it to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero (both 10 out of 10 stars in my book). HOTFD also stars Zhang Ziyi who is incredible talented, and gorgeous by the way (in the movie she is described as a “rare beauty” which couldn’t be said better). She plays the part of a blind geisha-like entertainer who is suspected of being involved with a feared group of revolutionaries. A government soldier is put on the job of outing her and her comrades. Instead he falls for her. The colors and sets used in this movie are incredible vibrant, and every motion has a sort of Zen poetry to it (what else would you expect). The scenes demonstrating Zhang’s dancing and singing seem sort of hard to handle, considering the roles she has played so far (it isn’t bad, just new territory for her. We have to remember that Jackie Chan even sings in some of his Hong Kong films), but her other acting is great. Unlike Musa The Warrior, she is allowed to cut lose a bit… but I wonder when she will stop playing tragic characters. The sort-of-mythical China that is portrayed in this movie is fantastic and cliché at the same time. However, the Chinese are fast becoming the masters of exciting, artistic, romantic folk stories, leaving Hollywood in the dust. The swordplay, which for some is the big draw, is as well choreographed and filmed as ever, but it is the love story and the costumes that make this film great. The only advice I would give the average American viewer is that “kung fu” and wushu (fantastic swordplay) movies are the Asian equivalent of setting a movie in the Old West, Civil War, or Camelot. You have to appreciate their folkways, and suspend disbelief a little. The biggest complaint that I hear is that the fighters too often have special powers, but in Chinese culture to master an art of any sort was to unify your soul with that art, therefore becoming spiritual and superhuman. This unification of the soul with art (even martial arts) are what make these characters bold and lovable. Even some of the cheesiest Shaw Bros. kung fu movies have moments of great heart. If you don’t enjoy the swordplay, then just turn off your brain during these moments, and let yourself get absorbed by the rest of the story. Don’t miss a beautiful movie just because of a few action scenes.
I tried to watch more movies, but just didn’t have time. I “wasted” some valuable movie time working (too much work…), playing Metal Gear on my Playstation and watching TV DVDs, like the 1st Season of Futurama, re-watching all of my Aqua Teen DVDs, and Home Movies. I also caught myself sticking in The Kids in the Hall, Ren and Stimpy, and Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes when I was sitting about. I’ll never get all of these disks watched! I bought a few new DVDs, and I have plenty stacked up already that need attention. I will report back again sometime, and I will gladly accept recommendations and rebuttals! I love to loan out these movies that I am in love with, so ask if one sounds cool to you. The only thing is that I am totally anal about wanting to get it back relatively soon…
Horn’s Up
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
The screen is us and we're TV.
Yo! Another fantastic wintry Iowa day. It is 8 degrees F and snow is blowing everywhere. In an hour they expect it to start falling at a rate of an inch per hour. Yikes! I have to work today at 4 PM and I wonder if they won't just close the drug store early. The doctor's clinics in town are all closing early, so even if I do go to work, there won't be much to do.
As I sit here rocking out to Marilyn Manson (which would probably make him mad if he knew), I am still thinking about last night's "The Biggest Loser." That show pumps me up to exercise when I watch it, and then the next day her I am; fat and lazy, and craving every possible bad food that exists. I am really starting to hate myself for not being mature enough to stay committed to my health. I weigh 222 as of this morning, and that is gross. Better than my 230 of last summer, but worse than the 210 I was at in October.
The real stab to the heart came yesterday at the Pott. County DMV. I had to renew my driver's license, and when they asked my weight, I told them 215. I figured that was a realistic weight to put on, because I am bound to shed a few of this winter pounds soon. But, to my surprise, the license says 251 lbs. The girl transposed the numbers, and I did not want to wait in line to fix it. Then I got to thinking...
1) it didn't seem outlandish to the people checking my data that I was 251. :(
2) 251 isn't all that far away from where I am/was recently
3) The folks on Biggest Loser who are around my weight look way better than I do.
So, for the next 5 years, I have this plastic reminder of my eternal gross-ness. Oh well. I guess I can use it as motivation. The thing is, Biggest Loser, despite having a slight mean-spirited undertone when it started, has become a fantastic TV show. Of all of the so called "reality" TV, I think that this is perhaps the most real to me. These people struggle with the things real people do... the will to eat poorly, the laziness of avoiding exercise, the need for some loving support in changing their lives... Far more real to me than beautiful people stuck on an island. When I saw Maurice's audition tape, I almost cried. He was sitting in his car eating fast food on his way home from work... that is me! I do that from time to time... I will stop through Sonic or McDonalds and pull off and eat. That is such a sick behavior, and probably the result of some sort of coping mechanism... but the end result is I have lifestyle that is tearing me down, and it is a serious exercise of dedication and focus to be good for even one day, let alone a month, or year...
I always hesitate to make New Year's Resolutions, but I do want to grow up when it comes to my health. The scary thing is that I am relatively active, and that is bound to slow down... and then where will I be? I don;t want to be ripped, and I don;t think I will ever be my ideal weight, but I want to be 200 or below so badly. My first goal was to get under 100 kg, and when I met that I felt great.. but now I am fluctuating back and forth, I need to get far below it and stay there.
Anywho...
So far today I have tried to be as productive as you can be when locked indoors. I started sorting through last semester's crap and throwing out stuff that is no more use to me or future students I may meet. I also tackled the seemingly insurmountable job rearranging my bookshelves. So this little blog post served as a small break from the work. It's hard to believe my break is almost over, and I am so NOT relaxed and recharged. I am ready to get back to school though, and I miss seeing my classmates. I haven;t many friends in the class, but it is just nice to see friendly, familiar faces daily... and laugh and joke around with the ones I do hang out with.
Well, more later. Horns up!
As I sit here rocking out to Marilyn Manson (which would probably make him mad if he knew), I am still thinking about last night's "The Biggest Loser." That show pumps me up to exercise when I watch it, and then the next day her I am; fat and lazy, and craving every possible bad food that exists. I am really starting to hate myself for not being mature enough to stay committed to my health. I weigh 222 as of this morning, and that is gross. Better than my 230 of last summer, but worse than the 210 I was at in October.
The real stab to the heart came yesterday at the Pott. County DMV. I had to renew my driver's license, and when they asked my weight, I told them 215. I figured that was a realistic weight to put on, because I am bound to shed a few of this winter pounds soon. But, to my surprise, the license says 251 lbs. The girl transposed the numbers, and I did not want to wait in line to fix it. Then I got to thinking...
1) it didn't seem outlandish to the people checking my data that I was 251. :(
2) 251 isn't all that far away from where I am/was recently
3) The folks on Biggest Loser who are around my weight look way better than I do.
So, for the next 5 years, I have this plastic reminder of my eternal gross-ness. Oh well. I guess I can use it as motivation. The thing is, Biggest Loser, despite having a slight mean-spirited undertone when it started, has become a fantastic TV show. Of all of the so called "reality" TV, I think that this is perhaps the most real to me. These people struggle with the things real people do... the will to eat poorly, the laziness of avoiding exercise, the need for some loving support in changing their lives... Far more real to me than beautiful people stuck on an island. When I saw Maurice's audition tape, I almost cried. He was sitting in his car eating fast food on his way home from work... that is me! I do that from time to time... I will stop through Sonic or McDonalds and pull off and eat. That is such a sick behavior, and probably the result of some sort of coping mechanism... but the end result is I have lifestyle that is tearing me down, and it is a serious exercise of dedication and focus to be good for even one day, let alone a month, or year...
I always hesitate to make New Year's Resolutions, but I do want to grow up when it comes to my health. The scary thing is that I am relatively active, and that is bound to slow down... and then where will I be? I don;t want to be ripped, and I don;t think I will ever be my ideal weight, but I want to be 200 or below so badly. My first goal was to get under 100 kg, and when I met that I felt great.. but now I am fluctuating back and forth, I need to get far below it and stay there.
Anywho...
So far today I have tried to be as productive as you can be when locked indoors. I started sorting through last semester's crap and throwing out stuff that is no more use to me or future students I may meet. I also tackled the seemingly insurmountable job rearranging my bookshelves. So this little blog post served as a small break from the work. It's hard to believe my break is almost over, and I am so NOT relaxed and recharged. I am ready to get back to school though, and I miss seeing my classmates. I haven;t many friends in the class, but it is just nice to see friendly, familiar faces daily... and laugh and joke around with the ones I do hang out with.
Well, more later. Horns up!
Monday, January 03, 2005
Neato, Swell, Smashing, Killer, Keen, Sweet, Dope
I’ll admit it; I have no idea what “crunk” (or “krunk”) means. I don’t know if I should care that someone is the King of Krunk or the Princess of Krunk. I don’t know if an album featuring the Lords of Krunk, or that provides me with Krunk Juice is a good thing or not. And I am not sure if I should know, being that I am 30 and tragically un-hip.
Slang is sort of a trap for those of us that are uncool. We know that slang is a sort of code language that allows you to move in and out of certain streams. It helps you gain a certain level of respect and familiarity with generations, social groups, and other fraternities. Slang, as a phenomenon, is an example of a meme; something abstract, made up of pure information that is passed on and evolves as it is distributed. Slang is ever changing, and for most of us, we can be caught behind the wave: the absence of slang knowledge does the exact opposite for your reputation what the usage of slang does.
The problem is this; when you hit a particular age, education level, social status… whatever milestone or waypoint you measure your life by, it is inevitable that you will be privy to certain buzz words and catchphrases. These make up the so-called “shop talk” that people sharing a point of interest can exchange at the expense of the boredom of others who are with them. But the popular slang is a little different; it doesn’t come from any real association (such as a vocation) as it does from an individual being exposed to the right things at the right times.
Take hip hop slang for instance; in the late 80’s and early 90’s, when rap was starting to hit mainstream, and we here in Iowa were getting our first real exposure to it, I was a huge fan. The lingo of the moment was B-Boy. You had to know what words like dissin’ and frontin’ and jammy and wack meant. It was during this time when the word stupid was used a lot, as were fresh and hype. But soon after these words became somewhat common knowledge (thanks to TV sitcoms and such), they were no longer cool. The slang had changed, and anyone using these terms seemed artificial and outdated, therefore behind the wave. (side note; this is a tool for hack writers… they often take a stuffy character, say a rich old white guy, and make him use recent but outdated slang to show his uncoolness) Soon, you needed to know what tight was, and phat, and now, krunk.
Nothing feels better than to be ahead of the slang wave; not necessarily using the most current slang in every sentence, but knowing what all the words mean and using them at choice. Forever fighting to research and learn what the newest slang is only shows your desperate pursuit of coolness, which is so uncool. : ) Maybe this quest for slang proficiency isn’t very bad after all; it beats being blissfully unaware of what is being communicated. Recently the words “skeet skeet skeet” have been used in a lot of songs. “Skeet” is sort of a code word for ejaculated fluids; the joke is that if white station managers and music executives knew what it meant, they’d never be able to play the songs uncensored. Instead, blissfully ignorant folks sing right along. Slang is a reward for moving within certain circles, participating in certain subcultures, and being at the right place at the right time.
You get the picture. Slang carbon dates the exchange of ideas between people in a society with a shared common language. It also serves as marker for where you stand in terms of fashion; are you “in” or not. Slang is yet another tool of mankind to develop in-group strategies.
Thanks for reading. You are all so Rufus for sticking with my blog. : ) Word.
Horns up!
Slang is sort of a trap for those of us that are uncool. We know that slang is a sort of code language that allows you to move in and out of certain streams. It helps you gain a certain level of respect and familiarity with generations, social groups, and other fraternities. Slang, as a phenomenon, is an example of a meme; something abstract, made up of pure information that is passed on and evolves as it is distributed. Slang is ever changing, and for most of us, we can be caught behind the wave: the absence of slang knowledge does the exact opposite for your reputation what the usage of slang does.
The problem is this; when you hit a particular age, education level, social status… whatever milestone or waypoint you measure your life by, it is inevitable that you will be privy to certain buzz words and catchphrases. These make up the so-called “shop talk” that people sharing a point of interest can exchange at the expense of the boredom of others who are with them. But the popular slang is a little different; it doesn’t come from any real association (such as a vocation) as it does from an individual being exposed to the right things at the right times.
Take hip hop slang for instance; in the late 80’s and early 90’s, when rap was starting to hit mainstream, and we here in Iowa were getting our first real exposure to it, I was a huge fan. The lingo of the moment was B-Boy. You had to know what words like dissin’ and frontin’ and jammy and wack meant. It was during this time when the word stupid was used a lot, as were fresh and hype. But soon after these words became somewhat common knowledge (thanks to TV sitcoms and such), they were no longer cool. The slang had changed, and anyone using these terms seemed artificial and outdated, therefore behind the wave. (side note; this is a tool for hack writers… they often take a stuffy character, say a rich old white guy, and make him use recent but outdated slang to show his uncoolness) Soon, you needed to know what tight was, and phat, and now, krunk.
Nothing feels better than to be ahead of the slang wave; not necessarily using the most current slang in every sentence, but knowing what all the words mean and using them at choice. Forever fighting to research and learn what the newest slang is only shows your desperate pursuit of coolness, which is so uncool. : ) Maybe this quest for slang proficiency isn’t very bad after all; it beats being blissfully unaware of what is being communicated. Recently the words “skeet skeet skeet” have been used in a lot of songs. “Skeet” is sort of a code word for ejaculated fluids; the joke is that if white station managers and music executives knew what it meant, they’d never be able to play the songs uncensored. Instead, blissfully ignorant folks sing right along. Slang is a reward for moving within certain circles, participating in certain subcultures, and being at the right place at the right time.
You get the picture. Slang carbon dates the exchange of ideas between people in a society with a shared common language. It also serves as marker for where you stand in terms of fashion; are you “in” or not. Slang is yet another tool of mankind to develop in-group strategies.
Thanks for reading. You are all so Rufus for sticking with my blog. : ) Word.
Horns up!
I need to ease back into the habit of blogging... just one week of break left. Here is a picture of some more of my nerdly treasures. From left to right, Shishio, Sanosuke, and Kenshin from my favorite manga Rurouni Kenshin. These are called "trading figures," and in Japan they come in small cardboard boxes (unassembled), and you don't know which character you are going to get. I had some doubles because of this, but luckily I was able to send some to my friend Yuki, so they were not wasted! :) The Kenshin figure in this picture was actually a gift from Yuki. Thanks! You may wonder why Sanosuke is all grey... in Japan they often have variant figures, or secret characters to increase the urge to buy more units. In this series, there are no hidden characters, but every model has a variant color, which is "unpainted." I have yet to get a painted Sanosuke; as a matter of fact, he is the only one I have got the unpainted figure of, and I have pulled 2 of them! :( Anyway, the collectible market in Japan is incredible... they produce high quality items at decent prices... and they design them in such a way to maximize your desire for the item, even though the items are without any real value at all. All of the time and money that we fans spend on aquiring this stuff is embarassing, because in the end, all you have is a box full of colored plastic that has no value other than to you. But, I do get great joy from my toys. I can't wait to send more photos to the blog, as well as get back to writing stuff with meaning... well, my brand of "meaning." :) Horns up!