So I was driving to and fro pricing dressers, (so I don't have to live with my clothes strewn across the floor any longer) and I was listening to one of my tapes, this particular one is newly pressed and named "More, More, More, How do you Like it?" Let's not get into the whole "your still using audio tape to make mixes" discussion and suffice to say that for my part and the means that I have available, its the still the best option. Anyway, "More" cranks away, I've been making good tapes lately, which is always a good sign for me personally, and "More" is no different. As I pull into a strip mall parking lot, (no free advertising here), the song "A Certain Romance" comes on from my favorite band of the moment the "Arctic Monkeys." Now when I first picked up the album on the strength of a Bart Blasengame review I listened to it straight through. It immediately became a mofo favorite, in fact I listened to the album straight through later that evening after listening to other purchases. Along with other highlights on the record was the aforementioned "Romance," which upon the initial listen was instantly a favorite. And since that point I had listened to it profusely. But it wasn't until yesterday that it occurred to me that the song is about America and Americans. The "Monkeys" are British, and in this day and age regardless of how you feel you cannot deny that the rest of world thinks we're a bunch of dickheads. Obviously this just one man's humble interpretation a song, but listening to the lyrics, and sitting in the parking lot of a strip mall that contained,(and again no free advertising for these faggots), a large chain store that makes cash hand over fist but pays its employees an alarmingly low wage, it struck me that this country has digressed to such a great degree in the post 9/11 era. We've become a country of paranoid or frightened (take your pick) zombies who don't really do anything. Ands when I say we don't do anything I mean just that. There has been this rush over the past four years to puff our chests out in patriotic thunder and I just don't get it. What our we proud of, the fact that China's economy is booming while ours languishes or the fact that the Iranian government is actually taking their cocks out and pissing all over us. Maybe it's our indifference to the gentrification in the Sudan. I don't know, but I can only imagine how foolish we looked to the rest of the world the day Moussaoui was sentenced to all those life sentences, I mean, he didn't do anything--really, he didn't. But we paraded him out there for the whole world to see, and the sad thing is the dude was right when he uttered his last words in the public arena, they are still going to come at us until we figure out why they hate us, and believe it's not because we have McDonald's and porn and whatever the fuck, it's because the only thing this country still does well is stick it's fucking nose where it doesn't belong. Having him all over the news was like what Pearl Harbor did for WWII, a bunch of young misguided muslims asking where can they sign up.
As a people we've become lazy again, like the eighties, we've let big business take ovber and call the shots. It's the problem with Capitalism, gone unchecked the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, but pay no attention just support the troops, buy the newest in new, just don't you fucking dare look behind the curtain. We're a country of consumers that has been electro-shocked into submission. Instead of thinking and creating we're reacting and destroying. This is not a cheap poke at our government, I mean we all know how I feel about that, this is a call to all.
You see, after that all ran through my head, I too began to feel a little worthless. I went home rearranged my living space, set an agenda for my sunday, and developed some film for the first time in while. I think people get into grooves and slumps, and you have to accentuate the groove and fight off the slump. Jump out of the box when you feel useless. Now, I'm writing this, I hadn't written on the blog since...(whatever the archives say) and it's good. It's good to be writing something , anything, again. Maybe I'll get over the hump on the current idea I have rolling around my skull or I'll get some lyrics down for those musical phrases that keep dancing back and forth. I used to do a lot of writing. I have sketch books filled with ramblings that when put all together may just mean something. It's what I've always done better than anything else i've tried. It's the way I know i can help change the way people think for the better of mankind. I'm going to keep ranting about our government, discussing our plight on this planet, railing against pop culture, and to be your street philosopher, you can chose to listen or pay me no mind. But, I'm going to write something, what are you going to do? 'Cause I think the "Arctic Monkeys" are onto something even if it isn't what they meant, it's a shame that there is no romance around here.
mofo
10 comments:
i'll actually respond to this in greater detail but i'm still mulling how i feel about it without being completely myopic. i don't completely disagree with your take on american pop culture but our paranois is older than 9/11. we could go back to the monroe doctrine but settle for michael douglas in falling down as a good pre 9/11 watermark on american paranoia. more to come when i get my head out of my ass
—b
also. personally, i prefer riot van from that album right now
You're free to disagree, and my comments were general, as always.
We actually need not go further than the Eisenhower administration for the real paranoia, the Monroe Doctrine doesn't really fly with me because there was no television. And no Industrial Revolution. Paranoia is good for big business, cause big business feels safe, that's why conservatives like big business.
Falling Down was made during the elder Bush's reign.
Just you wait, like a roulette wheel you love of the "monkeys" will move towards "a certaion romance." It was only two weeks ago you lauded "Fake Tales from San Fransisco."
i was just citing "monroe" as an example, not as the standard. information wasn't as viral back then. the paranoia thing really hit its full swing with liberal icon edward r. murrow if we're going back to that era. while could argue that mccarthy was a man that used paranoia of a perceived real menace, murrow exploited the same paranoia for liberal gains. say what you will about mccarthy but, while some hollywood screen writers did get the shaft, he did out some genuine threats to our national security in those days. i think paranoia is a thing that anyone in a position of power either politically or informationally speaking
falling down was about a paranoid man lashing out out perceived wrongness in society on his way through the wrong part of town. hell it could be about societal collapse. it strikes me funny that you link it to bush I. you almost make it sound like south central l.a. and compton sprung up during his presidency. but i know that you're smarter than that
i will only listen to the monkeys on monkey tuesdays which is a random tuesday on the penn gillette show. IT'S MONKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE TUESDAY! put on your dancing shoes.
—b
Agreed the McCarthy/Murrow duel was completely born of paranoia. But it all went down under Eisenhower.
There is, has, and always be a direct correlation between a society and it's movies. It's usually a little more subtle, a lot of horror movies, or disaster movies, denote a world out of control and on the brink of its end, at least in the mind's eye of the creators. That's why the seventies and this current decade you're seeing your share of work like this. Also, Douglas finds his way walking through Compton, which yes, has been like that for many years ensduing, but the film is not about his walk and subsequent breakdown through Compton, it's about why he's walking and why he broke down and what it drove him to eventually do--his fragile homelife and his being downsized from his white collar job. The who, where, and when are details. It's also a commentary on middle aged white folk (circa 15 years ago) dealing with the incredible changes the world is going through and how he is being left behind. In hindsight, he's a bit of a pussy, I've had luekemia and heart surgery. I've had to build myself back up mentally and physically, twice! He got fired, poor him.
You really do set them up and sometimes I really knock them the fuck out of the park. You can't fuck with my B.S. in Communications, Go St. John's!
I bet you look good on the dance floor.
two important questions... how old is MOFO and is he married?
M
i have to get on board with your movies/commentary thing. unfortunately, one can see when society bucks back. clooney made no bank with syriana or good night and good luck. and the day after tomorrow, well i actually don't know the money on that one but i do recall pissing off this liberal couple in front of me in the theatre with my action jake gylenhall jokes (look the cold is chasing jake!). but speaking of jake, i bought the directors edit of donnie darko. good stuff.
while i sympathize with you almost dying twice, don't knock firing. the nice lady's uncle lovesthejesus described it to me as taking part in a slow moving funeral and when it happened to me, it was.
and i DO look good on the dance floor.
the mofo isn't old enough to drink or drive and he totally shuns the institution of marriage. mostly because he's been institutionalized.
actually merry, if we chopped him in half, we would count 33 rings next month and he doesn't have any jewelry on his fingas. but he IS available for parties
—b
Hey, I was fired too.
Clooney has forgotten that he used to slum with Jo Polnecheck on Facts of Life.
The Action Jake thing, well, fuck that couple in front of you, good comedy is good comedy.
Party?! That reminds me of the moment in Wierd Science when Wyatt and Gary open the door and all of Shermer Ill. is outside the house, there is complete silence and then one dude in the back yells "Party!, one of my all time favorite moments on film.
And the Bastard forgot to mention my rugged good looks.
i love that bit in "weird" but i love the homage to fast times at ridgemeny high when the bald post apocalytic biker asks to keep this between them, he'd hate to lose his teaching job.
i did forget that and the mofo forgot to mention how your good looks got so rugged when i dropped you on the concrete when you were a kid. besides, it's better if it comes from me. it's good for the karma
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