Carrying over from comments:
Amen, Lee.
Well it seems like we're going to have a tough time disagreeing. Hmmm... Let's go farther then.
Doesn't the fact that Schiavo got into this condition following years of bullimic purging imply that her "will to live" can't have been all that strong in the first place?
And does it matter who is more ghoulish: the husband or the parents? If we're to follow the rule of law, doesn't that require us to respect the husband's wishes, even if he was having sex with another women in Terri's Hospital bed? Legal guardianship is a pretty important part of the law, and if you're worried about how your husband/wife would behave if you became unable to make your own decisions, then perhaps you should have considered that pre-vows.
So had Easter dinner with my parents yesterday, which was nice. We had a Polish meal, which has been semi-traditional for quite a few years now. It's interesting because we have no real ethnic "identity", as between my parents we encompass every major European ethnic group there is.
So we tend to seek out those ethnic cultural experiences in pieces, a sort of cafeteria style ethnicity. Which is fine, I think. I've occassionally wished I had some genuine ethnic identity to claim, but there's not much point in faking it. So I've just gathered the bits that are interesting to me along the way.
Really, I think much of ethnic culture comes down to family tradition anyway. And we've always established traditions as a family, either made new or carried over from our own relatives. Oatmeal dressing at Thanksgiving. Pierogi at Easter. "A Child's Christmas in Wales" on X-Day eve. I suppose that is its own ethnicity.
For those of you into depressing playwrights and absurdist flash cartoons, here's the best of both worlds.
(Thanks, Sid!)
So I spent several days in Nashville last week, which meant I got to spend a lot of time with Country radio. And while I like country music just fine, I can't stand country radio. I tend to like classic country and alt country, which are the two things are seem to never be played on country radio.
There are a few newer things out there I dig. Alan Jackson is fun, and Clint Black has some good songs. I like the Dixie Chicks, especially when they're getting a little more bluegrassy. But most of what Nashville puts out right now is absolute crap. Its way more formulaic and overproduced than even the pop queens are, as Timbaland and the Neptunes and such are quite creative.
Here's the modern county formula.
--Take any pop culture or homespun country wisdom catch phrase.
--Use the music from one of your other songs, or one of somebody else's songs. It helps if it sounds "country" although, that's not even all that important if you've already got some singles on the charts, like Shania Twain.
--Write some kind of lyrics that roughly approximate the idea of the phrase you've stolen.
I miss both Hanks. I miss the Man in Black. I miss Patsy. I miss Willie. I miss Waylon and Merle and Loretta and June. Hell I miss David Allen Coe and Johnny Paycheck.
Which isn't to say there isn't anything new happening in country to keep it alive and interesting. There is: it just doesn't come through the Nashville filter. Alt-country bands like Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt and BR5-49 and 16 Horsepower and many others I'm not thinking about are doing lots of cool stuff with country. (I've deliberately left off Wilco as I'd say they've crossed all the way over by now, although the early stuff still applies. This is defintely not to say I don't recommend Wilco's new albums. I absolutely do, they're fantastic, they just don't really fit alt-country anymore.)
Which is all just a long-ass way to introduce this central point: "Nashville Star" should suck. It should suck much more fiercely than American Idol and deserve its USA Network status. But in the little I've seen, I love it.
The number one reason is Miranda Lambert. Miranda was a contestant last year and came in third, for which she (and I) is grateful. Because coming in third allowed her the exposure to get known and have record companies be interested, but had she won the 1st place recording contract she would have been expected to release the album in a few months to take advantage of the timing. And having the extra time allowed her to put together an incredible band and write almost all of the songs on the album (with help from her dad, next door neighbor, and fellow Nashville Star contestant Travis Howard).
As can be seen from several profiles, she's very driven and spends no time pretending to be unconcerned about her music career. Which doesn't bother me at all, as anyone who has a chance to set themselves up for life with a job playing music in front of people, but claims to not be paying attention is either faking or a fool. But what she hasn't done is made a "typical" country album, and I've really enjoyed it.
Which isn't to say its perfect. Of the 12 songs on
Kerosene, there are about 5 that really get me ("Kerosene", "What about Georgia", "I can't be Bothered", "Me and Charlie talking", and "Mama, I'm alright" for those of you keeping score at home. Actually, "I wanna die" is pretty good too, so that's 6.) and parts of the album drag. To be fair, though, I've never been much for country ballads anyway, and that's most of what I'm leaving off. But its such a delightful surprise to see something like that come through the system, and to see it actually working that I can forgive some inconsistency. By all rights, I should expect an album with this background to be a straight Shania ripoff.
Which is what made me even more surprised when I was in my hotel room in Nashville, watching Nashville Star on USA to see Jody Evans, a young rockabilly cop from Arkansas, with a love for Elvis and Buddy Holly, absolutely rocking out.
He's my favorite on the current competition, which is extra ridiculous as I don't get cable and as such can't actually see any of the episodes besides the one that I watched.
In all the show is pretty fun to watch anyway. For one thing you get the brilliant commentary of country expert Bret Michaels from Poison. (Excuse me? you say. Yep, I don't get it either, but it is funny.) And there's no shortage of excitement. From the vomit incident in Episode 1 to the incredible embarrassment of one poor bastard being determined less entertaining than vomiting onstage, to Bret Michaels repeatedly hitting on the *just* 18-year-old 12-grader in the competition there's fun for the whole family. Extra fun is the super-snarky reviews found on launch by Lyndsey Parker, with lots of swipes at the competitors and judges alike. The show is worth existing just for the recaps, I swear. (Read them here.)
So anyway, if you've gotten burned out by modern country the way I have, give it a shot and see what you think. And consider picking up "Kerosene", too.
In case there is any doubt, in light of recent media developments, then I will state it now, before God, the Internet, and the Federal Government: Please don't allow me to carry on in a pitiful approximation of "life", just for the sake of it. When I'm gone, let me be gone, and pull the plug.
Not that I'm terribly worried. My parents already understandthose wishes, and they've expressed the same thing to me. My mother sits on the ethics board at the hospital and so has to deal with issues like this all the time. As such, I think she's had the best comment I've heard on the Schiavo case yet. Isn't it funny how the same moralistic pricks that said gays shouldn't be allowed to marry because it threatens the "sanctity" of marriage are happy to throw away that sanctity when it doesn't suit their purposes?
All issues of the specific case aside, I agree with Chuck. I can't understand how this has anything to do with the federal government. And every court has agreed that a spouse is the legal guardian. It's a rant I've hit before, but again, these are REPUBLICANS? The people who want to keep government out of our lives?
I don't know what the right decision for the family to make is, and its unfortunate that her husband and her parents can't agree. But let me just say on a personal level: If I haven't talked or sang or laughed or done something ridiculous for 15 YEARS, then pull the plug. 'Cause that's obviously not me in there.
OK, its been a long time, because of business, laziness and beingoutoftowniness. So with the intellectually lazy shotgun approach of "hrowing thoughts out randomly" that only a college education can provide I will update all at once.
1) Terrain + Water
That's seems to describe all the places I like. I love lower Michigan for being my hometown, and it certainly has the water part covered, but it is a little lacking on terrain. I love cities built around impossible and crazy terrain on major bodies of water. See Pittsburg, Cinncinati, San Francisco, and yes, even Houghton-Hancock, MI. There's something about the combo that is just fun to be around for me. And it definitely describes my annoyance with Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, and Iowa, which have very little of either. From my short trip this week, Nashville comes close with a very nice river downtown and interesting terrain just short of the craziness of the Cumberland plateau area of Kentucky/West Viriginia.
2) More cars
Got a pretty nice trip this week. Road trip in a Cadillac XLR which is an lovely car. I'd still rather have the Corvette, but mighty fine nonetheless. Not a lot of time for sightseeing or enjoyment, with long days and 1200 miles covered in three days. But its was nice to be out of the office and somewhere new for a change.
3) Radio Radio
Well, what the hell else are you going to do with 30 hours in a car? First, Miranda Lambert. More on that later. Second, listening to the connection on my way back into town I heard Avishai Cohen. Wow. He's an Israeli bass player (as in the double bass) I'm not typically much for the mania of turning pop songs into jazz or classical arrangements, but when its done just right its trancendant. And that's what you'll hear when you get to Avishai's Beatle's cover (start around 35 minutes).
4) Andy is still wrong
Officially and in type, this whole debate over nauseous / nauseated is grammatical (technically etymological I guess) snobbery at its worst. And the usage history shows that Nauseous was used to mean "affected by nausea" when the word was first written and used at the beginnings of modern English. Not that I really care. Language is dynamic and is only useful when we understand each other. Language is democratic. If usage is obeyed in the same way by 90% of its speakers, that *is* the correct usage, by definition. Trying to enforce strict limits on a living language is counterproductive, not to mention nauseating.
And what's the problem? Is anyone genuinely confused about the meaning of the word when used in a sentence? Never, or else they wouldn't be able to correct it smugly. So why does it matter?
Although, I think he missed an opportunity. He could be taking donations at the same time in favor of grilling. And then saving would have to outpace grilling. Twice as much money. Ah well, brilliant anyway.
I've admired the writing of Aaron Sorkin for quite a while, most notably with the Sports Night series. Like most people, when I saw the ads I had no interest in the show, but once it came on the TV while I was doing something else and I didn't feel like stopping to turn it off. And after that first episode I was hooked.
So really, I knew I would probably like "The West Wing" quite a bit, combining Sorkin's fantastic writing with modern American politics and a great cast. And I knew several people who were hooked and watched it every week as an event. But somehow, I never got around to it. I've never really been good at scheduling my life around watching a TV show. OK, fine, I'll admit, I've never really been good at scheduling my life around *anything*. But TV shows are included. So usually I discover great TV well after it actually appeared, on DVD (or more recently through P2P).
But my cousin went to do some work on Kurt's house and Kurt happened to have the first season DVDs. They were looking for something to watch and figured it would be OK. So, before crashing, they watch Episode 1. Then Episode 2. It became a regular thing, one episode at the end of the day, and then it was one first thing in the morning, until by the end of a 6 day job they had seen 15 episodes. Jeff bought the Season 1 DVDs for himself and brought them back to the house and over the last 6 months we've been watching regularly. I've just finally made it to the current season, and am about 6 episodes behind.
The show definitely misses the loss of Sorkin since Season 5, but the new directions are interesting. The writing isn't quite as crisp as it was, and we've lost some of the attention to the personal that was there in Season 4. But in its stead is a little more attempt at balance, at looking more deeply into the Republican side of Washington, and with less of an attempt to paint them as a faceless enemy, like the Injuns in a John Wayne movie and more like the complicated people they are.
And it definitely seems like the show could become an American Institution if they are able to maintain interest and renew in the post-Bartlet era. It is overdramatized in many ways, certainly and fictionalized in others. For example, not only do they have a President that I wish we had for real, but in their upcoming elections there will be two moderate candidates from either party, both of which I respect. This is clearly fiction. But if things carry on the way they have thus far, it may provide a dramatic foil to reality, so we can see how elections and the business of government and international relations might take place if people really did spend a little more time on principle. Fiction or not, its nice to see what we might be capable of someday.
Note:
I'm only on Episode 10, so please don't tell me just yet why somethign I've said is totally wrong because of what happened last week (or tonight).
For those who are curious, most popular TV shows can be located in a quasi-legal manner online. Of course, any show that is available on DVD should be purchased legally (which gives much better quality as well), but that leaves many shows that one would never be able to watch otherwise. If you're willing to do the work, this can be used as a "geeky poor-man's Tivo". I was able to get the latest episode of Boston Legal the day after it aired. Which means I can now catch up with shows that are broadcasting now, without having to schedule my life around them.
Anyone interested in duplicating this should be told that the legality of all this is not clear yet. So I certainly couldn't describe my own methods. However, if I provide a couple links and you are able to discern a method for yourself, that can't be helped.