Sun Apr 18, 2010 (Politics) Comments

[An e-mail to my sister A.]

This reminded me of your story about your townhouse association meeting, where people complained their monthly fee was funding "more things than I use." (The bold text is my emphasis.)

Kind of like your neighbors' argument that they should only pay for snow removal from their part of the sidewalk.

[My sister A responds.]

I don’t understand why these people say "taxation without representation" like it applies to them. It doesn’t. They are citizens and voters. They have representation. Taxation without representation referred to English colonists living in America who did not have a voice in their government, because it was a monarchy. But this is not a reasonable conversation to have with a tea-party member.

You're exactly right, Erik, by the way. I don't want to pay to repair the retention pond because I don't live anywhere near it. I don’t get any benefits from it. Ahem...yes you do. Your streets or your basement aren't flooded because there is a communal place for the water to collect and drain. People!

Sun Apr 18, 2010 (Religion) Comments

[My brother in law forwarded a humorous article to me. In it, the screenwriter of Battlefield Earth apologizes for writing "the suckiest movie ever." I took this as an opportunity to say a few words about one of my favorite subjects, Scientology.]

I Penned The Suckiest Movie Ever - Sorry!

Funny stuff. Though The Greatest Story Ever Told is not exactly thrilling cinema either.

I am fascinated by the subject of Scientology. Absolutely fascinated by the questions it provokes when juxtaposed with the world's major religions.

My interpretation is that Scientology was invented by a bitter and misanthropic man as a big joke on humanity- a joke intended to expose middle-class sensibilities as nothing more than hollow received wisdom. Middle class society believes implicitly in its order. A person's station in life is an indication of their work ethic. There's nothing more to it than that. If a person is rewarded or punished, or an idea is promoted or suppressed, well it must be because he or she or it deserves it. L. Ron Hubbard played by the middle class rules and was not rewarded, was not so much as even noticed. "Well, fuck 'em", he must have said. "Let's invent a new world order with me at the top."

It's a fun game guessing who's in on the joke and secretly laughing at the masses as they condemn Scientology's "misguided, crazy, fictional, cultish, and heretical" beliefs. And guessing who's been duped into thinking Scientology is actually serious.

I mean isn't there some perverse pleasure in watching the same people who scoff at a genesis theory based on aliens, volcanoes, and vaporized souls dutifully nod their head in agreement on Sunday when the priest discusses the holy ghost, Noah's ark, and the pearly white gates? And what state of mind allows a person to characterize Scientology's recruitment efforts as "brain washing" and its congregation "a cult" and yet entices the pagan with promises of eternal life (John 3:16) and cosmic justice? Seriously, the Beatitudes preached by Jesus were used by the privileged class to justify the feudal system in the Middle Ages. And Scientology is a cult?

It all seems crazy to me. Pick your crazy- a long established one or hip new one. Scientology, Christianity- they're both based on believing many things a priori, without any need to test or verify the knowledge. I can't relate to that. I mean, I understand why religious belief persists to this today- it alleviates anxiety. But I can't understand the criticisms different congregations hurl at each other. There's no sense of self-awareness in any of it.

[See my previous essay on Scientology.]

Sun Apr 18, 2010 Comments

[My brother in law forwarded this article to me. We had discussed it over lunch with some friends from work. I replied with my comments after I had a chance to read the article.]

Why is the illness always diagnosed as social pressure? What about biological impulse? Maybe the mother feels the father is robbing her of time to bond emotionally with her baby- time she feels is rightfully hers. I don’t know. I’m just saying there’s more than one possibility here.

Sun Apr 18, 2010 Comments

[I saw this article on CNN and had to vent to my sister and brother in law.]

Brooklyn Brewhaha: Babies In Bars

You have got to be kidding me! No smoking in bars. Now it’s no swearing in bars? Pretty soon it will be no flirting. How about no drinking?

"...where the cost of baby sitters can be prohibitive." That’s your f'n problem. Mental.

Sun Apr 18, 2010 (Music) Comments

This is the best video I've ever seen on YouTube. I have it on DVD. But the fact that it's available for all the world to see on YouTube somehow makes the whole Internet- warts and all- worthwhile.

Stevie Ray Vaughan may have been the most naturally gifted blues guitarist the world has ever seen. He may not have been as inventive as Jimi Hendrix but there's no denying the raw emotion with which he plays. In his hands the guitar seems an extension of the human heart.

I will never forget the day he died. I was in Drafting class in high school. It was late August so I had only been in class a few days. I was just getting to know the teacher and fellow students. Most of us were freshman or sophomores but there was one senior in the class. He always wore a black gaucho hat and kept mostly to himself.

The day after Stevie Ray Vaughan died the senior walks into the Drafting classroom. It was obvious to anyone remotely observant that he was upset about something. He heads to his desk and starts working on his assignment in silence.

The kid across from me, as was his wont, starts singing while working on his drawing. Some stupid pop tune- important in the moment to those who follow the fads but utterly disposable in the long run. A Vanilla Ice rap or similar hip-hop nonsense.

"Will you shut the hell up?!" the senior bellows to the wannabe rapper. Normally the teacher would intervene to keep order in the classroom but I think he had an inkling of what was to come. He let the scene play out. The senior proceeded to lecture all of us underclassmen about how we had no taste in music- that we were all slaves to the trends and ignorant of anything beyond the Top 40 garbage played on pop radio. That we would do better to educate ourselves about the man we lost yesterday.

It was because of his lecture that I made an effort to learn about Stevie Ray Vaughan's music. I went to the local record store that week and bought one of his albums. Remember when every neighborhood had a cool record store filled with vinyl albums, import CDs, and bootleg Zeppelin concert tapes? Ah, good memories!

Anyhow, I've been a fan of Stevie Ray Vaughan's music to this day.

Read this video's comments. Have you ever seen so many positive comments on YouTube?

Sun Apr 18, 2010 (Music) Comments

A seventeen year old Dutch girl plays Metallica's Blackened.

Oh my God. This girl can play.

Original video found on YouTube. Predictably, the comment section is overrun with marriage proposals from adolescent boys. As awkward and funny as these comments are, there's something in the back of my mind (any man's mind who's a fan of metal) that says after watching this video, "That's hot."

I mean how many women have you seen that can play guitar this well?

Sun Apr 18, 2010 (Music) Comments

A German amateur plays Crossroad Blues on dobro. I love his slide guitar technique and how he keeps time by tapping his boots on the wooden floor. This is low-down blues at its best. I can imagine Robert Johnson singing this in a Mississippi juke joint back in the '30s- pleading for forgiveness from God in front of a drunk and lecherous crowd.

It makes me think of Dostoevsky's assertion that true believers exist only among the wicked.

Isn't it interesting how fascinated we humans are with the Faustian Pact? From the uneducated blues guitarist to the most erudite writer of high fiction, we love to tell the tale of the man who sold his soul to the Devil.

Original video found on YouTube.