'Loud Family' Week 3 of '50 New to Me'

Loud Family - Interbabe Concern
1996
Recommended by Dem McCarthy

At it's heart this album seems to be almost equal parts homage and parody of a cavalcade of alt-rock icons from over decades. From the psychedelic rock side of the 60's through the quirky alternative 80's up to the grungy 90's this album melds them all together. Vocally I think Scott Miller shares the most similarity, at least in tonality, with J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr, but at turns he seems to funnel the spirit of everyone from the Beatles & Bowie to Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips) or even Shannon Hoon (Blind Melon) to name a few. He doesn't sound like any of these people it is more like the cadence he uses evokes the memory of them.

Musically the band does the same sort of thing, you can be in mindset 'strawberry fields' one minute and a flannel ridden grunge fest the next. I think the heaviest sound similarity comes down to a Sonic Youth meets Flaming Lips sort of feel. They are a tad bit on the experimental side, but they always keep it in some semblance of check. Their experiments rarely wander into the far left field of the musically bizarre, it is more like they walk up to the fence and have a nice pleasant picnic next to left field.

RIP Gil Ray, Loud Family's drummer, who passed yesterday 1/24/17

Into the Rotation -
This album is more than the sum of its parts. It is better taken as a whole rather than pulling a song or two out, as such it is an album I may throw on every now and then when the mood strikes. (Though on that note I did feel that the album, at 18 songs, was a few songs longer than it needed to be.)

Kanga, week 2 of '50 new to me bands'

Kanga - Self titled 2016 release

My second request went to DJ Black/Mail.

Kanga is a generally down tempo synthpop-ish album I'm not sure where exactly I'd categorize it and that is always a good thing. Upon the first listen it had some good hooks that drew me in and subsequent listens it only got better. Her voice is really hard to define, sometime breathy, other times pure and clear, sometimes tinged with regret other times fierce. It reminds me, at turns, of Bliss Blood of 'Pain Teens', Meg Lee Chin, Ayria, Katiejane Garside of 'Daisy Chainsaw', and Tina Root, but her voice is all her own. Musically I see it as kind of like a synthpop child of  NIN and Switchblade Symphony with 'Evil's Toy' as the godfather. The lyrical content and the vocal styling is often complete opposites creating a great juxtaposition. Many songs that would be great for a dance floor as well as simply listening for enjoyment.

This is a solid album, I liked almost every track though some certainly stuck out.

Going into rotation:

    Something Dangerous - a slow electronica grind, low in tempo. Almost seems like a musical                      homage to NIN 'The Becoming'
    All goes red - Steady driving beat with a breathy confident vocal track.
    Honey - Hard hitting song, dark & fierce undertones that really drive this song.
    Viciousness - This song has a great groove to it and dark sensual lyrics.
    Tension - Probably my favorite track, her voice is often haunting while a slow steady beat swirls               around it like a heartbeat.
 

Band 1 of new to me 50.

Posies: Frosting on the Beater

http://theposies.net/

   It is band 1of my personal quest to listen to 50 new to me bands in a calander year.

   For my first request I went to longtime friend Wally Fenderson. Over the years he has expanded my knowledge of music on so many occasions that he seemed the natural choice to select my first band to gain a new familiarity with.

   He selected the Posies album 'Frosting on the Beater' a '93 release. I'll be honest on my first listen I wasn't impressed at all. Much of that probably came from coming of age in the early 90's. There was nothing about this album that was a surprise to me, 30 seconds into the first song I could tell exactly when it was made. It is wholly a product of it's time. However, I give every album suggested 3 listens. Here is the analysis that unfolded.

   On my first listen I was just hearing the era it was from, it was such a familiar era to me that I was dismissive of it more than it deserved. This album is a complete amalgamation of those that came before, maybe not in a brilliant new way, but at least in a solid homage. It also is a bit of a herald of what is to come. Looking at the album as a whole its influences are simply dripping off it, and it is wide and varied, a cornucopia of greats had their influence in the making of this album. The overall sensibility is that of pre-Sargent Pepper's Beatles pop mingled with the alt-rock/grunge of the day, but mixing in the vocal timbre of the 80's alt-boys like Elvis Costello & Robyn Hitchcock. I think their biggest influence was probably Blue Oyster Cult, their overall song structure and harmonies hearken back to this 70's popular rock aesthetic. Now while all of this is going on you still can place it firmly in time due to the definite grungy Alice in Chains hints and Ned's Atomic Dustbin alt-rock styling. One of the interesting things about this albums is you can see hints of things to come, like the Foo Fighters and Silversun Pickups, I'm not implying that they influenced them, but this album is a prime example in music history of how you can hear musical evolution.

   There was one major issue that occurred throughout the album. The choruses were almost always great, but the verses were hit or miss. It was not uncommon to have a song where the choruses were spot on, as was the first verse, but the subsequent verses seemed to get away from the singers vision. It felt like he had the capacity to sing it right, but not the artistry to know what was properly fitting to the song.

   Overall, after the requisite 3 listenings, I like the album, it will never be my favorite, but it is a competent piece of music. The first listen was far less impressive than subsequent listenings though.

   Going into the rotation:
      Dream All Day - a great genre mash up. Half a grungy version of Jesus Jones, half Blue Oyster              Cult 'Don't Fear the Reaper' sort of rock ballad.
      Coming Right Along - great song all around. this song would fit in as a B-side from Alice &          Chains 'Sap' or some other more modern band that is on the tip of my tongue but I can't quite              place...
      Honorable Mention - Burn & Shine, a solid alt rock song, though it ends rather abruptly.

Thoughts on Trust.

Periodically I’ll see posts from friends saying things like ‘I’ve learned my lesson, I now know to never trust people again!’ or some other melodramatic bullshit about how they cannot ever trust their fellow humans again.

These sorts of comments irritate the fuck out of me, for several reasons.

First because most times it simply isn’t true, they are having a knee jerk reaction to an incident where they feel their trust was betrayed. Many people who shout about ‘never trusting again’ fall into this category, and they will repeat this cycle: trust, become ‘betrayed’, shout on high about how they will never trust again.

Secondly these statements bother me because they are so thoroughly stupid things to say. (Even if you are not actually going to follow through with it.) I understand that people saying this have been hurt, but to say they will never trust again is foolish. It is in effect saying ‘in response to being hurt I shall emotionally cripple myself, forever.’ We humans are social beings who interact on an emotional level, which requires trust to be fulfilling. If you have no fulfilling relationships due to lack of trust you probably are not going to be happy. So you are in essence saying ‘I want to be miserable forever’ in response to this relatively fleeting moment.

Thirdly, frequently the problem here isn’t actually trusting people; it is the ‘betrayed’ person’s lack of ability to judge someone else’s character. You believed that they were worthy of your trust and they weren’t. Rather than accept the responsibility of your own poor judgment you scapegoat it to all mankind being untrustworthy. Bullshit.

And finally, very rarely, sometimes someone trustworthy betrays a trust; for whatever reason.  They may be trustworthy and this is an aberration. If that is the case then forgive them and move on.

Regardless, put on your big boy/girl pants and fucking deal with it like an adult. Realize that we are all dealing with the human condition here, and mistakes will be made, by everyone. Also while you are  remembering things - remember that shouting on high about ‘ I’ll never trusting again’ makes you look like a whiny moron with the emotional maturity of a stoned teenager.

-off
DH8

(NOTE: In some circumstances the person shouting about having their trust betrayed is actually the person who is the problem. This is rarer and these folks are fairly toxic individuals to be around. They are by and large people who use others and pull out the ‘betrayed my trust card’ whenever people catch on to their bullshit and refuse to be used any longer. I tend not to be friends with these people and when I lose these ‘friendships’ I usually tend to be better off.)

Long time no see.

Haven't posted here for several years, look to start again maybe.

Goth Fly a Kite IV

Goth Fly a Kite IV
Originally uploaded by DeHuman8.

I HATE people.

(preamble: ok, so one of the major thorns in my side is the whole evolution/(un)intelligent design fiasco.)

anyway, i was surfing ebay looking for a neat little boxed set on evolution that i've been wanting for a while and i stumbled across this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-SCIENCE-OF-EVOLUTION-DVD-Christian-Ray-Comfort_W0QQitemZ6467600770QQcategoryZ617QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

here's (one of)my major point of irritation:

it's called 'the science of evolution'

and THIS is part of its description

This DVD is unique in that it doesn't follow the usual format of Christian experts exposing the theory. Instead, it lets evolutionary believers put their own foot in their own mouth simply by asking them probing questions. Join Kirk and Ray as they take an orangutan to lunch, and call major airlines and ask if a "relative" can join them on a plane. The graphics on this DVD have been designed so that there is no indication that it is Christian or anti-evolution.

this asshole specifically attempts to hide all association with the fact that this is a wholly christian endeavor. (isn't lying one of your fucking mortal sins? you fucking bastard).

now if you set out to disprove evolution, fine, disprove it.

I dare you to.

but to specifically set out to hide who you are & discredit a valid scientific theory through contrived interviews?

Ray Comfort is the lying sack of shit behind this disgusting bit of propaganda.

and he is now added, by name, to the ever-growing list of fuckheads that i hate.
when the universe decides to wipe this asshole out i shall rejoice.

hell, i think a bunch of evolutionists (i.e. fairly rational human beings) should make a presence at his funeral. (much like several asshole 'christians' do when high profile gay folk die) with big signs say loud & clear 'thank mighty fuck you're gone'

so i reiterate....I HATE people.

-De

I Want to Thank God...

that god can't be taught in school... well in PA anyway.i love what the judge(jones) had to say (a republican christian no less)
Jones decried the “breathtaking inanity”
&
"(intelligent design)presents students with a religious alternative masquerading as a scientific theory, directs them to consult a creationist text as though it were a science resource and instructs students to forgo scientific inquiry in the public school classroom and instead to seek out religious instruction elsewhere."
&
In his ruling, Jones said that while intelligent design, or ID, arguments “may be true, a proposition on which the court takes no position, ID is not science.” Among other things, he said intelligent design “violates the centuries-old ground rules of science by invoking and permitting supernatural causation”; it relies on “flawed and illogical” arguments.
and did the proponents of (un)intelligent design take it well, no the main party (dover) had this to say:
“I’m still waiting for a judge or anyone to show me anywhere in the Constitution where there’s a separation of church and state,” he said. “We didn’t lose; we were robbed.”
well sir though technically right, the constitution also doesn't say 'right to a fair trial' so you can blame it on that....

warninglabel

warninglabel
Originally uploaded by DeHuman8.

We're All Monkeys!

So here’s another evolution vs. (un)intelligent design post. Now I know that no moron in support of teaching (un)intelligent design is going to read this post & come around to a sensible way of looking at things. By the very act of believing, in (un)intelligent design, it shows that they do not have the capacity to reason much higher than the apes. (that we descended from by the by.)

So first we’ll look at what a theory is in the scientific realm;

‘A theory is an established paradigm that explains all or much of the data we have and offers valid predictions that can be tested. In science, a theory is never considered fact or infallible, because we can never assume we know all there is to know. Instead, theories remain standing until they are disproven, at which point they are thrown out altogether or modified to fit the additional data.’

Evolution is the only theory that fits all the information that we have. It is a theory that is not fully complete, thus not yet scientific law, but it is on par with the theory of relativity for reliability (maybe even more so, it’s had an extra 50 years of refinement). However everything about the theory fits neatly within all of the data. Almost every single day we humans come up with new data & knowledge and ALL of it point to evolution. There is not one bit of data that makes evolution an invalid theory. Every day that we unravel another genome, breed a new funky mouse, discover some new variation of life, it all makes the theory of evolution stronger.
(and for any of you fucking monkeys out there who think ‘well, it just doesn’t make sense to me’. It doesn’t have to make sense to you, if all of the scientific theories had to ‘make sense’ to you then we still wouldn’t have figured out to bang the fucking rocks together.)

(un)intelligent design does not fit any data. There is not a single set of datum which points toward ‘a guiding hand’ in life. (un)intelligent design is just fucking hope & a smile, hope you didn’t blink because if you did you missed our ‘proof’.

Well, here it is, the (un)intelligent design proof;
‘well, it makes sense, I mean come on guys, there’s just no way something as complex as me could be made any way other than by god, oops, I meant (un)intelligent design!’
(hey monkey-boy, this seems a bit vain & prideful? Aren’t those sins? You ignorant fuck!)

But there is one thing on sciences side (not including some of the best minds this world has ever known, facts, reality, et al.), there is a legal definition of what constitutes science here america:

1)The theoretical underpinnings of the methods must yield testable predictions by means of which the theory could be falsified.
2)The methods should preferably be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
3)There should be a known rate of error that can be used in evaluating the results.
4)The methods should be generally accepted within the relevant scientific community.

Hmmmm…….looks like (un)intelligent design doesn’t stand up to a single one of them, so if it can’t stand up to any of the criteria for what makes science, then why should it be taught in science class?
Should we teach about the ‘ether’ & how fire is made because of phlogiston as well?

So please, for love of the (un)intelligent designer, shut up, go home.

You’re going to lose, don’t waste my tax money on lengthy trials that only prove you’re an idiot.

FUCKING!
MONKEY!

-De

Oust the Bastards

So many things have been altered in the wake of Katrina, one of them is the tens of thousands of displaced families. As these families move to new areas at the start of the school year they’ll be enrolling their children in new school districts. I was listening to NPR the other day and they were doing a short about how this was going to affect already under funded schools. They then went on to say ‘under funded schools are primarily in rural and urban areas.’

So what I want to know is what schools are not under funded?

Some people have noted that possibly the ‘suburbs’ are the only area with good schools, however the federal funding program does not have such a designation. There are only urban & rural areas. (specifically referred to as metropolitan & non-metropolitan counties).

So as near as I can figure, correct me if I’m wrong, if neither metro & non-metro areas are receiving proper educational funding, then doesn’t that mean that basically no one is getting a good education? I think it’s interesting (in a morbidly fascinating sort of way) that our politicians love to restrict so many of our freedoms under the guise of ‘it’s for the children’, yet they seem utterly unable to proactively educate these children. To me it seems much more valuable to teach a child basic math & reading than to ban HBO from having swearing & violence.

Somehow, no matter how much lip service the politico pays to the need to educate our young, I don’t believe they mean it. For if all americans were properly educated (especially the poor) then the ad machines the politicians use wouldn’t fool people. Politicians would need to be more honest, be held accountable, in essence they would lose their modern aristocracy. If you don’t think a modern aristocracy exists, then explain the bushes & kennedys. & those are just the big 2 families, our royalty.

A better educated public would demand higher standards from their politicians. The current administration realizes obtaining these standards would be detrimental to them. They realize that what is good for the public, and even the future of this nation, is not good for them. And so they have slowly been eroding the education system, knowing that as america becomes dumber their positions become more secure & richer, with less accountability.

Now is this a concerted, sinister conspiracy by this nations politicians? Probably not, but the politicians are taking advantage of america’s sad state of ignorance, and the measures they are taking to teach the next generation are filled with more photo-ops than teachers.


But they tell me it’s for the children.

-De

Another Katrina Post

Sorry. Got to do it.

I was lucky enough to have visited New Orleans before it sank. And I’m glad. I wanted to move to New Orleans after I visited, and I’ve always wanted to move there since, but never let myself.

New Orleans was a city forever on the edge of it’s own destruction. Many of it’s people seemed to live with a frantic air about them, as if they knew that any day a Katrina could swoop in a wipe it all away.

It was the masochist of cities.
Drinking itself to death every night, only to wake bleary eyed the next afternoon the hangover preventing it from dealing with the heat, so it would wait for the night once again.

It was the wonton hedonist of cities.
breasts flashing everywhere, public lewdness was good fun. It was living the fantasies that most can only dream about.

It was the freak of cities.
Sporting the wildest of fashions & hairstyles, every day was a new look for it, & every look it pulled off.

It was the musician of cities.
With a passion for music that only can come from a true love of music.

It was the chef of cities.
Mixing their spices with the flair that only a true artist can do.

It was the street performer.
It was the entertainer.

It was the friend who lived every second of their life to the fullest.
The one you are better off financially than yet you secretly envy their spirit & wish you could be that care free.

I’ll miss the old New Orleans, but hope it’ll be reborn just as vibrant & full of life.

-De

Stronger than a speeding bullet...

Well, it’s been awhile, 2 months 2 days in fact.

Why haven’t I been here blogging faithfully?
Why haven’t I been chugging out the words for all of your eager eyes to consume?
I understand that without my words, a shining beacon guiding you to salvation, then you are lost.
And so you have been my faithful Fridays, but worry no longer I have returned from my leap into the void, and as proof to my steadfastness I am neither stronger nor wiser, merely older.

Anyway.

Things are going on, and I shall endeavor to shout against human stupidity once again.

-De

Hope, Compassion & Bullets

Bush said in his remarks on the London bombings. "We will find them. We will bring them to justice. And at the same time we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion that will overwhelm their ideology of hate.”

All I can think of, when I read this quote, is bush sitting in the oval office carving the words ‘hope’ & ‘compassion’ on bullets to be sent to afghanistan & iraq. He’s thinking to himself ‘job well done’ smiling proudly.

Honestly, we’re fighting terrorism with hope & compassion? So that detention center in cuba has nightly sing-a-longs? Do They roast marshmallows & talk about their troubled up-bringings? Or how about that little Abu Ghraib fiasco? Were those just ‘trust exercises’ that got confused because of a cultural differences?

Last I knew we were trying to fight terrorism with guns & bombs. Those aren’t even anagrams for hope & compassion.

So in an open statement to bush….

Bush, please don’t be a fucking jackass. Hope & compassion don’t kill & torture people, and by all rights right now, americans do. So shut the fuck up.

ah well

-De

Help, I'm being Opressed.

Writing has become difficult.

I’ve been wanting to blog lately, but just haven’t been able. I’ve been wondering why, there are plenty of things going wrong in this great nation of ours, and abroad, that piss me off. Too many things in fact. Never in my life have I seen america filled with so much oppression of mind. We are allowed to say what we want (mostly), but every day it seems there is some new legislation regulating the world. Porn being over-regulated on the net, Kansas arguing against evolution, and ‘winning’, artists arrested for terrorism, property legally stolen for private enterprise. And it doesn’t stop there, the list goes on.

Too many things weighing on my mind, and I’m realizing I feel oppressed. I’m a fairly law abiding citizen, yet I live in more fear of my own government than I do of terrorists. If I were the worrying type I’d be worried that one day I’d wake up in jail for thinking the wrong thought.

Our freedoms are consistently being eroded, but what can I really do?

Protest? Done that, to no real avail.

Boycott stores that I don’t agree with their policies? wal*mart doesn’t seem to care.

Vote for someone better? Done that, and realizing that voting doesn't work.

Recycle? Do it, bums get some change from that, better than nothing.

Fight back? Love to, but against who?
The christians up the street?
My republican neighbors?
The army, navy, air force & marines?
The police?
My boss?
The ceo of my company?
The ceo of any company?

Get real, fighting any of these groups seems fairly pointless, it’ll change nothing, or, make me them, only from beyond the looking glass.

Ministry sums it up best, we're in ‘the land of rape & honey’

So fuck ‘em

-De

Just Complaining

So this is just a blatant bitch.

I know this chick, and I was thrown into the unfortunate situation where I actually had the displeasure of having to talk to her the other day. She’s a fairly attractive individual, so long as she doesn’t open her mouth. And it’s not that she has an unpleasant voice either, it is that she is unbearably stupid.
But what makes it worse is she is a college graduate, looking to go into grad school, and there are several species of bats that have higher evolved intellects than this girl.

So anyway she was studying for a test, the math test you need to get into grad school. And she asks a question aloud ‘what the hell is a prime number?’.
I should have ignored it. But math is an interest of mine, and I like to be helpful.
‘a prime is any number that can only be divided by itself & one.’ I supplied helpfully.
(for those who don’t know me it might be helpful to add I have green hair as I think it was a factor in her responses)

She gave me a look, like a monkey had learned to talk. And then proceeded to ask someone else, who said the same thing I did.

Now that is pretty insulting, but I figure what the hell.

So out of some desire to be nice I ask what she got her degree in.

‘economics’ she says.

Well now I’m kinda confused, I mean I always assumed economics would require some sort of math competency, so I asked her about what kind of math she had to take for that major.

‘well,’ she says ‘we deal with formulas.’

I’m thinking to myself ‘no fucking shit? I recently heard the English language dealt with words, but I can’t be fucking sure!’

But I say ‘umm, well, yes, but what sort of formulas?’ I genuinely want to know out of curiosity for the field of economics, not interest in this vapid waste of space.

‘it’s kind of complicated’ she says looking at me like I’d never be able to comprehend anything that had to do with higher education, ‘it deals with slopes & stuff.’

again I’m thinking ‘no way, really? Next you’ll be telling me the English language uses nouns!’

at this point I’m annoyed, so I retort ‘most formulas involve things like slopes, I was wondering what sort of math background was required for economics, I was a math major so I’m curious about these sort of things.'

She finally catches on to what I’m asking, and that I’ll understand the answer.

Now this was an odd sensation, I’ve never actually talked to someone who assumed I was ignorant based upon a physical characteristic. Even odder for it to come from one of the dumbest people I’ve met. I weep for the university system that decided that her mind was of a high enough caliber to be considered ‘educated’

Mostly I was annoyed that she could afford college when smart folk everywhere can’t.

Fuck it

-De

Shut Me Up...

Haven’t been posting lately, why?
the pointlessness of existence has been weighing me down.

I’m phenomenally frustrated with my life & my country.

Why do you ask? (I can sense your suspense from here.)

I could point to the weather, it’s sucked around here pretty regularly for the past 2 months. Or, I could point to never having enough money to do as much as I’d like to do.

Or I could point to the impotence I feel as this country(and world) goes right straight to hell.

We are no longer a nation of the proud, the strong. Now we are a nation of victims, weak and pathetic. Yet at the same time we are a bully in the world field. Americans would rather sue someone than own up to their own mistakes. We are regressing into an adolescent nation. We are spoiled rich bastard children, wanting everything handed to us, not understanding that things need to be earned.
Yet at the same time there are quiet multitudes who do just that. They work hard, only to get fucked by some asshole who would rather take the quick handout, demanding ‘their right’ while taking what has been earned from those who have earned it.

We’re, as a nation, forgetting what the true freedoms are, the ones that really matter. Being able to get something super-sized is not a freedom our forefathers fought for. Being able to speak your mind in public is. But now we have segregated ‘free speech zones’ at any function that may be controversial and have protesting. Last time I checked, I thought we were supposed to have 50 full states which were considered ‘free speech zones’. But apparently I was mistaken.

And I don’t think Jefferson penned the bill of rights with the right to sue someone who ‘made my coffee too hot’ in mind. But I’m pretty sure he was serious about that protection from ‘unreasonable search & seizure’ bit.

And I feel like we are entering into a new epoch of religious fervor, where logic & protection from the bigotry, that swarms around religious institutions like flies around a bloated carcass, are becoming luxuries of the past. But hey, why should I complain? We got a few good centuries, out of the whole of human existence, relatively free from assholes who feel it is their ‘god given right’ to dictate how you and I HAVE to live our daily lives. Maybe nazi’s will be back in vogue soon too.

And every day I hear about another environmental horror visited upon this nice little bit of fluff. And watch as our great leader, with his ‘mandate’, sits back to take a bold lead of indifference, or better yet, proactively helping with the destruction of all other life on earth.

6+ billion of us fuckers are crawling around on this ever depreciating pile of dirt, spreading our noxious disease, and making sure no territory goes unmarked by our filth. And I’d be lying if I said I did much myself to make things better.

But, I’m impotent. Erectile dysfunction of the progressive action. Like my fellow americans I’ve mastered the art of turning a blind eye to the bigger picture, wrapping our heads in a fuzzy blanket of the mundane. Blowing up our personal drama, as if they actually matter. Maybe it’s a defense mechanism, maybe it’s just not possible for someone to try & comprehend just how fucked up this world really is.

Oh, and I know what I could do and just how fucking futile it is.

-De

Hot Topic Killed the Subculture Star

I hate ‘the mainstream’.
Not necessarily for the products it produces, but for what it represents. It represents mediocrity in arts, one of the areas it is most desirable to have creativity & difference. (well I hate most of the products as well.) the problem is ‘the mainstream’ is backed by big bucks, big bucks that realize that ‘youth movement’ & ‘underground cultures’ can grow quickly. So, if they want to make the $ then they have to have the goods for these up & coming creative movements.

Look at all the money lost by letting hippies make their own tie-dye for so long. So along comes ‘hot topic’ or other chain store that feeds upon these sub-cultures. But by making the nick-nacks & doo-dads of an up & coming subculture available, coast to coast, from day one, they rob the creativity from the movement.

By this I mean that a sub-culture gains its identity not by where the people shop, but by the energy people put into creating ‘the looks & the lifestyle’. By making the looks & lifestyle pre packaged off the shelf in cookie cutter molds, it reduces the drive for people to create their own unique styles within that culture.

Now one could say that ‘no, it gives people more time to focus that creativity elsewhere!’
And one would be wrong.

creativity, like anything else needs to be practiced. A simple thing like making a tie-dye shirt starts the creative process. Then you start hanging out with people who have made similar items of adornment. In doing this you start to talk about what you all have created. Ideas start to be shared back & forth and the next time you make something it is greater than the first.

Through this growing & changing the various subcultures are formed & can become something large. As the creativity grows & feeds upon itself artists & musicians start to come together. All striving to be creative above & beyond an already creative subculture.
They want to impress people, people who they are creatively impressed by.

Ta-da quality entertainment, great looks, amazing art, it all becomes the norm. because someone made a t-shirt. Or spiked collar. Or whatever accoutrement fits that particular sub genre.

Now the problem enters when a corporation comes in and realizes that one of these groups are forming. And they mass market things that appeal to these groups, before the groups have time to mature on their own. This stunts the creative growth of the community, so the music, styles & art never have a chance to mature, they remain at a sophomoric stage. Which is fine, when you are a sophomore.

Now I realize that the corporations are not going to get the hell out of anything that makes money. So how does creativity get cultivated on a mass scale in today’s world?

anyone? anyone?

ah well..

-De

Who is this God Guy Anyway?

So it’s the 25th anniversary of Mt. St. Helens blowing its top. And here’s what was said at a commemorative ceremony:

"We commemorate the 25th anniversary of an act of God, and we remember those who died," Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told visitors.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but haven’t we know for quite some time that volcanoes are not god jizzing on us? I mean at least have the decency to say it was due to ‘intelligent design.’
It certainly didn’t happen due to anything like, oh, I don’t know, plate tectonics.
That smacks of science, and, as we all know science is bad.

I really don’t like the whole ‘act of god’ being used to describe natural phenomena. Hell, insurance won’t cover certain ‘acts of god.’
As far as I’m concerned they may as well be saying ‘acts of boogiemen’ are not covered.

And another thing, if Mt. St. Helens blowing its top really was an ‘act of god,’ then wouldn’t it be blasphemy to hold a commemoration of the people he struck down with fiery vengeance? Wouldn’t we all by risking his wrath by being ‘saddened’ by the loss of these obvious heretics?

So either it wasn’t an ‘act of god’, some stupid people died because they refused get out from under an erupting volcano.
Or it was an ‘act of god’ and they were evil, so god gave them a redeye straight to hell.

Either way I’m glad they’re out of the gene pool. Which has nothing to do with where I started.

Fuck it.

-De

Uninspired

Inspiration is an odd thing. Sometimes, like today, I’m thoroughly uninspired. Nothing at all today has caught my fancy, irritated me, or even mildly amused me. And for some reason my mind doesn’t feel like having any real thoughts. The only reason I’m even commenting upon this is I want to stay in the habit of writing in this nether void. It leads me to wonder at what the hell inspiration is. What causes the desire in some to create something? I know, one of the oldest questions mankind has. So I sure as hell am not going to come up with an answer, especially when I’m this thoroughly apathetic to my entire surrounds.

Ah well.
Fuck it.

-De