Some Random Notes And Opinions
1. The Superbowl is boring the hell out of me this year. I guess it has something to do with the fact that I don't really care about either of the teams. Sure, Big Ben is hot and Kurt Warner is ancient but aside from that, there is just nothing there for me.
I suppose another side of that is the whole grand spectacle of it is just so damn mainstream and carefully tailored to be so. In spite of my fondness for the sport (and all sports, really), I am just being drawn more towards more diverse and underground dorms of entertainment. I mean, why spend 4 hours of my life witnessing something that really will not show me something different. Its a painful waste of time, if you ask me.
I would rather spend that time watching Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten and Global Metal and hopefully learn to see the world a little differently.
2. Michael Phelps is a bitch (in the worst possible connotations of that term). Someone took a photo of him lighting up some weed and sold it to a tabloid in England. He is now scrambling to apologize for his bad judgement.
Now, I don't smoke weed myself but I have perspective on it and respect it's significant contributions to our world. Its impact on music, art, film, literature, philosophy and spirituality is undeniable.
But what really pisses me off is the same thing that pissed me off about Janet Jackson's nipple-of-doom. The fact alone that there are people out there who feel like they are owed an apology because another human being smoked some weed is infuriating. And worse yet, the fact that he caved and grovelled proves that he has conceded his sovereignty to them.
If everyone who got caught smoking a little weed stood their ground and refused to aplogize, things would at least move forward.
3. I didn't say anything at the time because, as a Canadian, I didn't feel it was my place but I wish the gays would let go of the whole Rick-Warren-inaguragtion-prayer thing.
Granted, he's a bigotted pig who should not be encouraged. However, if you step back from the situation, you see that there was a broader goal at work. After many years of having the conservatives work the divide between the religious and the secular in America, Obama understood that including Warren was an opportunity to show the religious population that they will not be left out. Ultimately, this will pay off as its much easier to have a rational discussion about gay rights with an opponent who isnt so bitterly opposed.
And while I'm at it, there's the issue of the Cinemark boycott which was put in place after the CEO of Cinemark contributed to the 'Yes on Prop 8' campaign in California. The boycott has spread to Vancouver and a couple of weeks ago, it was suggested that my insistance on seeing movies at the Cinemark Tinseltown here was an act of treason. However, in Vancouver, the Cinemark cinema is the only big theatre showing smaller, independant, critically well-received, and yes, even gay-friendly films. Boycotting Cinemark would mean denying worthy filmmakers the success they need to grow and change the industry...all at the cost of making a point to an already-wealthy executive who will likely get his millions in annual bonuses regardless.
When did gay activism become so damn myopic and reactionary? At times we're like petulant children throwing elaborate tantrums with signs when we don't get our way....even if getting our way isn't necessarily the best thing overall.
4. I'm kinda done with the Oscars. The films I like never get nominated and I'm REALLY tired of the hype surrounding the fashion on the red carpet and the obvious Hollywood political machinations that drive the winners. It all bores me now and I do not intend to watch this year.
5. I may be depressed, frustrated at my own lack of development or just an ill-tempered misanthrope but I am loving anything right now that tears down modern culture to its most basic elements and puts it back together differently. Black metal, documentary films, the writing of Burroughs and Mller...
it seems to me like so much of what passes for culture these days is just a layer of pancake makeup applied to all the previous layers until the original face is impossible to recognize and everything is garrish and unnatural. Anything that scrubs it all back down to the raw surface and starts all over again really appeals to me right now.
Perhaps I should be applying that to myself as well...
I suppose another side of that is the whole grand spectacle of it is just so damn mainstream and carefully tailored to be so. In spite of my fondness for the sport (and all sports, really), I am just being drawn more towards more diverse and underground dorms of entertainment. I mean, why spend 4 hours of my life witnessing something that really will not show me something different. Its a painful waste of time, if you ask me.
I would rather spend that time watching Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten and Global Metal and hopefully learn to see the world a little differently.
2. Michael Phelps is a bitch (in the worst possible connotations of that term). Someone took a photo of him lighting up some weed and sold it to a tabloid in England. He is now scrambling to apologize for his bad judgement.
Now, I don't smoke weed myself but I have perspective on it and respect it's significant contributions to our world. Its impact on music, art, film, literature, philosophy and spirituality is undeniable.
But what really pisses me off is the same thing that pissed me off about Janet Jackson's nipple-of-doom. The fact alone that there are people out there who feel like they are owed an apology because another human being smoked some weed is infuriating. And worse yet, the fact that he caved and grovelled proves that he has conceded his sovereignty to them.
If everyone who got caught smoking a little weed stood their ground and refused to aplogize, things would at least move forward.
3. I didn't say anything at the time because, as a Canadian, I didn't feel it was my place but I wish the gays would let go of the whole Rick-Warren-inaguragtion-prayer thing.
Granted, he's a bigotted pig who should not be encouraged. However, if you step back from the situation, you see that there was a broader goal at work. After many years of having the conservatives work the divide between the religious and the secular in America, Obama understood that including Warren was an opportunity to show the religious population that they will not be left out. Ultimately, this will pay off as its much easier to have a rational discussion about gay rights with an opponent who isnt so bitterly opposed.
And while I'm at it, there's the issue of the Cinemark boycott which was put in place after the CEO of Cinemark contributed to the 'Yes on Prop 8' campaign in California. The boycott has spread to Vancouver and a couple of weeks ago, it was suggested that my insistance on seeing movies at the Cinemark Tinseltown here was an act of treason. However, in Vancouver, the Cinemark cinema is the only big theatre showing smaller, independant, critically well-received, and yes, even gay-friendly films. Boycotting Cinemark would mean denying worthy filmmakers the success they need to grow and change the industry...all at the cost of making a point to an already-wealthy executive who will likely get his millions in annual bonuses regardless.
When did gay activism become so damn myopic and reactionary? At times we're like petulant children throwing elaborate tantrums with signs when we don't get our way....even if getting our way isn't necessarily the best thing overall.
4. I'm kinda done with the Oscars. The films I like never get nominated and I'm REALLY tired of the hype surrounding the fashion on the red carpet and the obvious Hollywood political machinations that drive the winners. It all bores me now and I do not intend to watch this year.
5. I may be depressed, frustrated at my own lack of development or just an ill-tempered misanthrope but I am loving anything right now that tears down modern culture to its most basic elements and puts it back together differently. Black metal, documentary films, the writing of Burroughs and Mller...
it seems to me like so much of what passes for culture these days is just a layer of pancake makeup applied to all the previous layers until the original face is impossible to recognize and everything is garrish and unnatural. Anything that scrubs it all back down to the raw surface and starts all over again really appeals to me right now.
Perhaps I should be applying that to myself as well...