Pointless Man

That magazine has unfortunately become a rag under its current editor in chief.  However!  Is a crazy cover-picture (and title) choice, which gives even greater excuse for right-wingers to complain about the 'liberal media', excusable if it leads to something awesome?  As a principle, probably not.  But in this case, maybe so.  Observe: Mitt Romney with Michelle Bachman's eyes-from-the-cover-of-Newsweek.

It is easy for a TV series to lose me.  When House became more interested in poorly written interpersonal relationships than silly practical jokes and Holmesian medical mysteries, I stopped watching.  When Burn Notice focused several episodes on its incredibly talented spy lead (who had handled murderers, con men, gangs, the FBI, and a host of foreign operatives) having trouble because a cop was harassing him, it took me a year to decide to give it another chance.  When Dexter botched its second season, killed its best character, and then opened its third with Dex acting like an idiot for the convenience of the writers, I dropped it.  When Madmen slowed down in the middle of the third season, I simply lost interest.  These are shows I loved at one point. A lot of people won't just let go of such things.  Even those sympathetic to my reactions will usually have just kept watching.  I've been trying to figure out why my reaction is different for a ...

There would be no zombie apocalypse. One of many reasons I want smart zombies, or no zombies at all. Please, and thank you.

The back of a page from a sketchbook, with minimal editing, featuring a silly attempt at developing a personalized hanko , eventually resulting in an abstract of a hamster in a wheel, as seen at the bottom left, a few odd sketches, and this rather long sentence fragment. Note that, in that link which sort of explains what a hanko is, you can save one cent by purchasing a square stamp, rather than a round one.

I posit: A cup is half full if you are filling it. A cup is half empty if you are emptying it. If it is just sitting there, it is half a cup of whatever's in the damn thing.

I came across the odd statement, "Though many of the themes are similar, Beckett had little affinity for existentialism as a whole." Right. Name me an existentialist for whom that isn't true. How many grains of salt must one have before one is prepared to read an encyclopedia?

Drawn at a small concert some months ago, coloured on my computer a few days ago, this is a (belated) dirge for indoor, public smoking in Seattle. The show's venue was an indoor courtyard in what felt like a cross between a public theatre and somebody's house which just happened to be tucked between two bars and a couple doors down from a tattoo parlour. The club had no sign, no bar, and allowed customers to bring their own booze to the party. Smoking was also allowed inside. Scandalous, I know.

Maybe people would be more interested in following through with their moral convictions if those beliefs were themselves more stylish. Adding colour just makes sense, damn it.

Given that there are often at least two people with authorship over a comic, and that these comics sometimes star franchise characters, it becomes hard to sort comics in a meaningful way. Going alphabetical-by-title will split up the works of authors, and often break up series. Alphabetical-by-author splits franchises and (sometimes) series, as well as leaving one to decide whether to sort by writer or artist. Switching between styles leaves a bookshelf with no logic, which can even confuse the person who placed the tomes there, and almost defeats the purpose of sorting in the first place. Like the earlier Beck problem , there is no easy solution to this petty issue, which arises from something I enjoy, albeit indirectly.

Nevermind his stage name messing with my attempts to talk about Jeff Beck from time to time. I can live with that. But I cannot stand Guero or 'Loser', and can only tolerate Odelay due to distance of time. On the other hand, I like Modern Guilt , and think Midnight Vultures , Sea Change , and Mutations are brilliant. Beck is, therefore, one of my favourite and least favourite musicians. He presents a problem when filling out lists for sites like this or Facebook. Should I just list his albums I dig? And if I do that, should I do so for other artists? I know I'm overthinking this, but there is no way to happily solve this matter, as far as I'm concerned.

Some will counter by calling humanity a cancer upon this earth. Fie. Nature, for all its beauty is not ethically pretty. Life feeds on life. The world-without-man is no guide for moral living. It is, by and large, amoral. The awesome power of humanity is only further evinced by its impact upon the globe. Consider its scientific feats, its aesthetic achievements, its incredible willingness to crash in upon itself through war and economic strife. Humanity's arm is as God's. It's voice thunders across the globe. It is decked in majesty and excellency, arrayed with glory and beauty. It casts abroad the rage of its wrath. It looks upon every proud beast, and debases him, bringing him low, and hiding him in the dust; binding his face in secret. Even the Christian God would confess man is capable of bringing about his own salvation. --Further rambling which may readily be ignored:-- But, while the human race is amazing, most humans are less impressive. Most humans kind of suck. So...

The city of Toronto apparently thinks I can stop violence. So why not give it a go? There can't be much there, right? Nevermind the drawing of a (rather one sided) fight in the post below this. Better on computer screens than on the streets, right?

Even though I wasn't alive at the time, I miss the days when I could trust Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground to tell me what women were saying. No more will Lou supply us with creatively entitled songs such as, 'Lisa Says', 'Stephanie Says', or 'Candy Says'. Why has no one picked up the slack? Does no one speak to women anymore?

In response to something somewhere else: I consider 'taste' as personal, but 'good' as intersubjective. What appeals to any one person is largely dependent on their circumstances and exposure, and may not be readily changed by reasoning. But it is not necessary to base one's idea of 'good' wholly upon one's tastes. After all, one can be told how and why slices of sharp cheddar and tart apple complement eachother, and thus recognize this as a good combination worthy of recommendation to others, yet still not enjoy it (much, if at all) personally. One can recognize a good banjo player without especially enjoying the sound a banjo makes. And so on. Of course, not everybody is capable of or interested in being able to appreciate or understand things which do not particularly appeal to or please them. It is something of an acquired taste, and bias can get in its way. Everybody has their limits. I still cannot quite hear why Charles Mingus is so revered in jaz...

I do it readily and without shame. This bothers my youngest brother, Benny, who is just 15. That's understandable. In most high-school settings--and pretty much everywhere until somewhat recently--'nerd' is a serious insult. This amuses me. Benny asks me, "Why do you call yourself that?" Well, why lie?

Nevermind this whole 'first black man' thing. I think Barack is the first serious presidential nominee to give someone daps on live TV. The senator shared a fist-pound with his prospective First Lady just before stepping to the podium and delivering his victory speech following the close of the primary season. Giving daps is nothing new, but I don't see Bill and Hillary sharing a secret handshake on stage. Does anyone else think this is a bit like Kennedy refusing to wear a top hat to his inauguration? I'm speaking more to the generational shift, than the effect on popular culture...I think. But it would be interesting if Obama were to have the same sort of impact the Kennedys did at their height. --A Correction-- I have been informed rather forcefully that Kennedy actually wore a top hat to his inauguration. Fair enough. *Ahem.* Does anyone else think this is a bit like James Bond not giving a damn how his martini is made?

Damn you and your well intentioned cover of 'China Girl'. I want to like the original version you worked on with Iggy Pop. It is, uncontestably, awesome. But you, with your poppy remake, recorded to help Iggy straighten out his finances... you just make it impossible. I can't listen to the original without hearing the later version in my head. This is all your fault!

Having been conceived over ten years ago, it has long puzzled me that no other accounts of these events have been published. Yes, it was more than a decade ago when I first set out with my friend, JB, to write the story of the Beatdown Squad and its fateful encounters with that infamous Mass Murder Guy. We got so far as a rough script detailing the Squad's misadventures in a nameless prison--a tale which housed the origin of the Squad's interest in Mass Murder. After accomplishing an outline of what would follow, the project foundered. However, my involvement did not end there, nor did I cease involving others. I cannot say how many people I have regaled with the Squad's exploits, but surely it was enough for someone else to take up this task. The Beatdown Squad and Mass Murder Guy will not leave me alone. They insist their story be told. I cannot express how bitter their persistence has made me. Their demands can be resisted no longer. Well, fine then. In some measure of v...

Crows are ubiquitous, intelligent, and often mean spirited. They have decent memory, can fly, and fashion their own tools . Having been attacked by crows before, seemingly apropos of nothing, I realize the danger they represent. The Birds , man. The Birds .

Really. I find, when I download or burn new music to my computer, or when I'm discussing it, I want to be able to pin it down, if only a bit. In conversation, I don't mind imprecision, because there's room for it, and it can be explained. But when it comes to MP3 labels or the like, where they want a single entry, damnit. That is so frustrating. How the hell am I supposed to label Joy Division (who straddles punk, post-punk, new wave, and proto-goth) , Television (with similar and even wider conflicts), or the vast swath of R&B/Jump-blues/Rock-&-roll artists? Bah. It gets worse dealing with small scene stuff, with all the crazy sub and cross genre work. And the silly thing is I don't even think genre classification matters all that much. I think arguments about whether electronic music should be called 'house', 'techno', 'drumb and bass' (all genres or sub-genres unto themselves, as well as blanket terms in certain communities), 'EDM...