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""I used to stand for something, now I'm on my hands and knees." - Trent Reznor
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back 1- Society 2-Videogames 3-Art 4-Society II 5-Society III 6-Society IV 7-Society V 8. Society VI 9. Me Myself & I next |
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(July 2007) I now dislike the French slightly less. |
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(July 2007) Dog fighting is for degenerates |
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Nike
likes street cred,
dog fighting is NOT street
cred. Dog fighting is for degenerates.
I was greatly impressed (and surprised) to see PETA, Al Sharpton, and
Russell Simmons team up to have an immediate and appropriate condemning response.
Suspending him is NOT jumping the gun. He is a star, a role model, and
paid plenty of money to be the face of a team. That should be put on
hold until this plays out. Clinton Portis (Washington Redskins) spoke on the topic in the spring, laughing and chuckling his way through the interview that what "he does on his property is his business". Emmit Smith recently gave an interview that "there is too much focus on Mike, if he bet on 1...5...20 dog fights does not make him that important"...What?! These guys are paid millions of dollars, and they accept that he spends it on dog fights? Is this just a joke to them? Just a few months back there was a huge deal about the NFL players union not doing enough for past players with life disabling injuries. Is that irony? What pension and medical did the dogs receive? Many people are noting that the windfall against Mike is based on his race. I can't deny that in the case of the media. Black athletes are under a microscope more so than whites. But I think two points should be made. first, he brought this on himself...no one else is to blame. This is serious, dog fighting is not only abhorrent, it is illegal. Second, speaking for myself...I am most disappointed by a supremely talented individual. He had the skills of a mythic god, and he wasted them in spreading sexually transmitted diseases, lying about that (errr..."Ron Mexico"), drug connections, poor social behaviors, and now dog fighting. Here is what I have to say: You get paid TOO much money to be this stupid and callous of life. Use your money and fame to do something worthwhile. Be it Michael Vick, Ray Lewis, Ray Carruth, or Pac Man Jones- that's enough! You are acting like a generic movie jock: stupid and childish. The indictment lists 52/54 dogs purchased by Bad Newz Kennels (located on a property purchased and developed by Michael Vick). Where are all of these dogs? Beaten, brutalized, electrocuted, and shot. To steal and slightly alter a Nike commercial tag: Should anyone be like Mike?
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(July 2007) My new crack... |
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After too many years of
saving change and bills in a huge jug, begging for donations on the
street, and selling homemade bottles of my
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(July 2007) The movie 300, Crutches, and Content |
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One step at a time…
The Digital Crutch:
The movie 300 was a visual feast. That translates to beautiful form.
The content of 300 was not only poorly Truth and Exaggeration:
Summing up:
I never intended this
rant to be this long, but this is not a topic to stumble into with a
one-line sound byte. First, art is two-fold. In
July 2008 Alan Moore is wary of the fact that “Watchmen” is being helmed by “300” director Zach Snyder. “I've not seen any recent comic book films, but I didn't particularly like the book 300. I had a lot of problems with it, and everything I heard or saw about the film tended to increase [those problems] rather than reduce them: [that] it was racist, it was homophobic, and above all it was sublimely stupid.” (Excerpt from Ain't it Cool News July 2008 Writer Alan Moore, arguably one of the greatest writers in Graphic Novel history)
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(August 2007) The virtue of politics |
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Back when I was in college, I used to have a professor who after finding
out that I was a registered Democrat ceaselessly pointed out the
corruption of Democrats while extolling the virtues of Republicans.
He would argue with me, not realizing that I was not really
participating. I had a particular point of view then, which I
still hold true to now. I
The Master said,
'In his dealings with the world the gentlemen is not invariably for
or against
I
have always held to the same principles on politics. You can't
change anything without voting, and do not believe what anyone says,
believe what they do. But, if they don't let you vote- then
you have no control. And if they are not held accountable for what
they do- then they can do anything they want. We live in a country
that was supposed to be controlled by the people, and governed by the
people. It's not that way anymore- that is a myth. In my arguments when I was in
college, I was
eternally caught up in the naivety of hope. Eternally following
the myth instead of the truth. Hope for a better world can make
you turn a blind eye, but only if you allow it to cast a shadow across
your brain. The arguments were always focused on money.
Financial gains, retirement funds, jobs, and material goods. I am
as susceptible to that as anyone else (see my TV rant above), but I try
to balance my wants and needs. I try to adhere to my moral beliefs
and look to pursuing my personal virtue as a supreme, lifelong goal.
Occasionally, I have found an honest politician that is trying to do
something good for the world as a "public servant".
The world goes downhill if all eyes are on profits. To paraphrase
another favorite saying: If you can keep your head, while everyone
about you is
What the political "machine" wants, is to keep us out.
They want us "disenfranchised". They don't
want the middle class, the black |
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back 1- Society 2-Videogames 3-Art 4-Society II 5-Society III 6-Society IV 7-Society V 8. Society VI 9. Me Myself & I next |
How did I come to despise
the French? Being American, most readers may jump to the
conclusion that I must be a patriotic drone influenced by 9/11
propaganda (does anyone recall "American Fries"). Not so. I
think that the French were right to question what we were doing in Iraq.
My dislike had a much darker origin. When my son was still a
young infant a pair of onesy pajamas appeared in his wardrobe. I
am not sure who bought it, or how they came into our house...but there
they were- ready to wear. Conspiracy theorists have suggested they
were planted by a CIA mind controlled agent, I think it may have just
been a childless relative who unknowingly bought them as a gift.
Does it really matter how they got there? Now, for a new dad;
baths can be enough of a challenge. Add in bathing and dressing a
baby alone, and you may have the next Armageddon. See my wife was
working evenings, so I was left to give my son his "baby spa" (as I
liked to refer to the bath event as if he were Tom Cruise on a
scientology getaway)
on my own. One evening I pulled out this particular onesy, and
noticed the tag "Le Pajamas". "Hmmm, must be French" I
thought. So I pulled my newly cleaned, shiny, sopping wet infant
out of the tub, and began the drying/dressing event. Then, to my
dismay, I realized a peculiar note to this French baby fashion.
Most onesies unzip
from the neck all the way down to the foot, making for an easy entry.
This "French" pair, unbuttoned from the crotch to the ankle only.
So to put them on, you would have to put the head and shoulders through
the crotch, and then continue to stuff the baby all the way in until the
ankles could be pulled through. Now try doing this with a moist
baby. I narrowly averted Armageddon that evening. I cursed
the French from that moment on. That is until I saw two recent films
called Calvaire
(the Ordeal)
and Les Revenants (They came back). Calvaire can be described as the
films Misery and Deliverance smashed together. Not only was it
disturbing, the mood and settings were some of the best that I have
seen. The tag line was "How bad could it be? Ask the pig."
...I think the pig will tell you it was pretty bad. I
have rarely felt so much mood in a film. I am a big fan of foreign
films, they tend to be more natural than the normal Hollywood
drivel. Les Revenants (literally translated to both they
return and ghosts) is most curiously mis-categorized as a
"horror" film because the story is about "zombies" returning to life.
But, I would not classify this as horror. At the end, I could
almost hear the agony and anguished cries of every dolt who rented this for blood and gore,
instead they struggled through subtitles and not one spot of red death.
Now here are some new French haters. It is instead a very
deep study of death and mourning in society, but also an interesting
take on social groupings and "zombie" movies. A very quiet and
brilliant film that made my head work for the payoff. So... I forgave the French for their pajama Faux Pas, and I
have moved on to disliking the French slightly less. 
Normally, I am a proponent for due process- 
Dog fighting kills and maims animals.
own
blood- I have finally purchased my dream. A slick, glossy 42" plasma
high definition television. Just hook it up to my veins, call in
sick, and forget shaving or interacting with people or society. After a
few trial and errors in hook ups, it was functional. Imagine the
scene in a soap opera where the character has been in a
car/chemical/fire/circus accident and they have their eyes bandaged in
gauze. After weeks, the hot doctor slowly removes the bandages
fearing blindness and punctuated with gasps from the small crowd of
super hot buxomly nurses circling the bed. Then the screen
is from the point of view of the character. Images are blurry,
then ever so slowly everything comes into crystal clear focus. The
characters tearfully embrace, and the credits roll. Well...that's
me. They took the gauze off and I am in a high definition soap
opera. The first movie we watched is a much maligned great
film...Hulk. This movie got slammed for being to heady for the
comic-to-movie genre, but I thought it was definitely one of the best.
The depth of the character studies greatly outweighed the lackluster
digital Hulk. Ang Lee did the Hulk righteous. So now that I have
watched many explosions, and quite a few discovery channel epic
adventures with close-ups of dirt and rocks...I feel strangely complete,
my soul can rest easy. I may not have a cell phone, but dammit- I have
a really freakin' amazing picture on my TV. 
Take
a look at the artist Dave McKean. Arguably, one of the great
illustrators of our time using a mix of traditional and digital
materials. A good example is the 1989 batman book: Arkham Asylum. This
book is commonplace in a good bookstore. He mixes an intense hands on
art (painting and drawing) with photo collage and Photoshop. Jump to
his current work and you can see a progression from hands on and digital
to pure digital art. He begins to replace it with more photography, and
more Photoshop. Make no mistake about it, he is one of the best digital
artists out there...BECAUSE of his hands-on knowledge. But he has
abandoned that aspect for almost all Photoshop, and that leaves his work
with a detached feeling. You can see that within one of his children's
books, the day I swapped my dad for two goldfish, and the
wolves in the walls. Pages are present with these gorgeous loose
ink drawings interwoven with color and texture from Photoshop, and then
there are pages that are 100% Photoshop...they lack a human touch.
Anytime a new material enters the art scene it is overused. Then dozens
of imitators come in and make the innovators have to move in ways that
may not produce the best work. It happened with airbrush in the 80's,
and Photoshop in the mid 90's. Everyone gets swept up with the eye
candy in the form, and forgets to consider the content of
the art. As I have stated before, art that reaches a higher
intellectual status
considers both areas- otherwise it is just a craft.
historically exaggerated, but provided numerous examples of derogatory
viewpoints to various groups. For a “true” story, historical
inaccuracy
and inflammatory propaganda translates to poor content. If you grade
out on these two elements, 300 fails. It’s gorgeous, but that is not
enough (for we all know that good looking and stupid does not make a
well rounded person). If you claim it to be BASED on a true story, keep to
the truth. There were no giants, ogres, or monsters in the Persian
army. The machismo content was over the top with boatloads of bare chested
oily men, and scattered homophobic quips. And the subtle
homophobia is odd considering that the oily men are barely
attired, akin to a hot gay photo shoot. But, this is from
the creator of Sin City...which suffers from the same teen boy mentality
of gender relationships. Another film that looks gorgeous, but
delivers stupid. I am sure the Spartans did not
deliver Arnold-esque one liners with
each new kill, and the juxtaposition of hard rock music with the battle
scenes made me feel like I was watching MTV. Portraying the Spartan
women as pure and just, and the Persian women as whores, is a tool of
propaganda during a time that the current Spartans (white cultures:
America) are deep in tensions with with Persians (non-white cultures:
Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan). The Persians are
represented exclusively by numerous non-white cultures, while the
Spartans look like they are from Detroit. The timing of this movie
is what sparked my thinking. This is
not a new tool of the US war machine. It was heavily used in World War
II in regards to Japan, the Civil Rights movement, and during expansion against Native Americans.
Making your enemy less than human is a way to sanitize the atrocity of
war. A common building block for war is fear. Fear of what you do not
know and understand.
“Why
should history stand in the way of a good story?” (-Frank Miller, the
creator of 300).
I had the same uneasy feeling with
the DaVinci Code. If
you base it on what is supposed to be truth, and you market it as
historically revealing- then it should be accurate. Otherwise, why use
history? Or why not just use history as inspiration, and not mention
that it is based on a true account? If you are changing the facts,
then it’s used to sell the story- NOT to report the story.
This is a marketing ploy. It is constantly used as a way to fill the
seats. Other examples of “true” stories that are hardly true:
Pearl Harbor, The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, Wolf Creek, JFK, American Haunting, Saving Private
Ryan, Mississippi Burning, Evita, and too
many more to list (I am sure that every reader can add one). Creating history to manufacture Hollywood dollars is
in itself a genre. There are many modern books re-evaluating our school
history texts. They detail the huge amounts of history that has been
ignored, or altered in order to further the agenda of a ruling class.
300 smacks of this. It takes a revered Persian leader (Xerxes),
disrobes him of common period attire (velvet robes), and attires him in
what amounts to a scantily clad S&M wardrobe. This revered Persian
figure is a descendent of Darius, who created what may have been the
first declaration of human rights. Imagine if Martin Luther King Jr.
was portrayed in an Iranian film in ass-less leather chaps. How would
America react? The original intent of the graphic novel was to use
history to create a story. It skips huge elements of the Battle of
Thermopylae (480 BC.). I am a life-long fan of comics and graphic novels, and I believe that this is where the great stories are being
told. But, I also know that a graphic novel has to be exciting,
and therefore is not a historical text. A graphic novel reaches a
particular audience, and I don’t believe it could have been foreseen
that this book would be made into a movie. BUT- once that step was
decided, they should have shorn up the history. It would not have been
a detracting element, it would have been a positive inclusion. For
history only stands in the way of a good story when that story is
faulty. 
order
to apply the tag of “art” then it must address a higher
understanding of both Form and Content. Second, hidden
agendas may exist in both an obvious and transparent form.
The United States (as of the writing of this rant in July 2007) has had
serious tensions with Iran (and other countries in the area) for many
years. In addition to Iraq and Afghanistan, we have recently
pondered war with Iran (and North Korea). This is an insult to the
ancient culture of Persia, which is now Iran. Insulting a country that you have
tensions with is a first aggressive step towards war. And
again, the timing and content of this film is very curious. The
United States associates itself as a modern descendent of the philosophy
of Rome and Greece. Our architecture (particularly political
buildings) are a direct result of this influence. Therefore
many US viewers subconsciously identify with the Spartans. 300 was
released during a war with Iraq (close relative), a police state in
Afghanistan (nearby), talk of war with Iran (Persia), and high tension
with North Korea (we need a time-out, don't we?) As I
stated above, war is easier if you are not fighting human beings.
And finally, history and fiction should not be mixed.
Fiction can be influenced by history, but to alter history to suit a
story only creates a subjective agenda. History must attempt to be
objective. Subjective history changes the way a viewer thinks
about a topic. If that topic is supposedly truth based, then the result
of the “story” is complicity deceitful to those in the seats.
was
registered to one party, simply to vote. Not because I blindly
followed any particular viewpoint. I was constantly berated about
"Slick Willy" (Bill
Clinton) and the "liberal" Democrats as if I were in on a conspiracy to
destroy his personal retirement earnings. I felt like a kid being
bullied on the playground. I was (and still am)
amazed how many people become enraged on one side or the other, without
realizing how bad both sides can be. I picked who I thought would
offer some good, or as I used to say "the lesser of two evils".
Sometimes I even go far outside if I think there is something to believe
in...ala Ralph Nader. I recently came across a few words from
Confucius that I find appropriate as another election nears:
anything. He is on the side of what is moral.'
and 'The gentlemen understands what is moral, the small man
understands what is profitable.'
losing theirs, you will be alright. Money is not
virtue. Status breeds hollow respect. They are sexy demons
that lead you away from what really matters, and they leave you with no
fulfillment and no relationships of meaning. I guess that it all
comes down to this: I never miss a vote, and I always try to vote
for what is just, what is moral, and what matters most to me. Believe
it or not, my type of vote is feared by those in power.
and latino, or the youth to vote.
That would mean an end to their power, and a re-birth of democracy in
the United States. Although our country has had decades of
difficulties with politics, in 2000 something else happened.
Something frightening, and we all allowed it. An election was
stolen and rigged, and democracy was lost. This was not about
hanging chads, this is about turning legitimate voters away to the tune
of 57,000+ innocent voters labeled as felons (therefore- no voting
rights) in Florida (97% of whom were black). This is about Ohio in
2004. This is about causing voters to wait in line for 4 or more
hours within the (largely) democratic inner city, but no wait in the
(largely) republican suburbs. How many voters just left? This is about the media ignoring the hard questions.
This is about large corporations and power. This is about a war
that no one wanted. This is about lies. This was about
billions of dollars, and a careless disregard for what our country was
founded upon. This is about respecting that we already marched for
voting rights in Selma some 40 years ago. This is about true
democracy, not the myth. True choice, not bullying. After 7 years, I finally know this
nagging feeling that has shadowed me since 2000. It is fear.
Fear to live in my own country, and for me- that's not OK. But
that won't stop me from voting. Because I believe, even in the
face of thieves, bullies, and villains- that it can change if we all stand up for
what is right, and what is moral.