Greetings all! I hope you're hungry for one heavy sandwich today. Again, sorry for those of you who wait with baited breath for me or Richard to post something, but when you think about it....shouldn't you be doing something more productive anyway?
Time for updates: I've decided to enter Script Frenzy for the month of April. The idea is that you spend the month of April to write a 100 page script. There's no prizes or anything, but it will force me to write. I can never work without a deadline. In fact, that's when I do my best work. Plus there's plenty of people who are participating in it so it will be a good chance for me to meet other writers. Even if they are amateurs like myself; the more I'm around it, the better my work will come out. That's been true for me even back in the ol' college days, my best work is always a reflection of those around me working as well. I'll keep you posted with that. Here's the link to Script Frenzy
For those of you on Facebook and happen to my friend on Facebook, I started doing that 30 Day Song Challenge. I won't waste my time with the rules but I'm having fun. Probably because many of my other friends decided to join with me on that game. My favorite way of interacting with my buddies is sitting around pontificating about each others' taste in music/movies/politics whathaveyou. What else if Facebook good for.
And speaking of blowhards: Boruff and I recorded the upcoming Film Concussion Podcast and it's a doozey of an episode. Stay tuned for more information on that.
Today's post will be a reflection of my childlike excitement for the upcoming month of June. I'll have THREE amazing shows in the NYC area and wouldn't ya know it, they sandwich themselves quite nicely. If you ever seen any of these bands listed or just a huge fan, then this explanation will be redundant to you. But for those who have not seen the light, allow me to give you some idea of what is going to be involved.
Let's do this in chronological order:
Starting with the Melvins. Recently, they announced two shows in Brooklyn. June 6th, they'll be playing the albums Lysol, Eggnog, and Houdini and then the very next day on June 7th, they'll be playing Bullhead and Stoner Witch. I decided to go to the first night. Partially because I'm barely familiar with Bullhead or Stoner Witch but mainly because Lysol and Houdini are two out of my three favorite Melvins albums. The last time I saw the Melvins was my first time seeing them back in 2009 during the 25th Anniversary of Houdini. So this will be a fine sequel.
I consider Lysol to be their best album. And by *best*, I mean it's the album that sets this band apart from other bands. It separates classics from legendary. You really need to hear the album all the way through. If you haven't, do so. Turn off the lights. Before you realize 7 minutes of your life has just been squeezed out of you by the crushing, slow and heavy riff of King Buzzo, the song gets new life by the head-smashing rhythm of Dale Crovers toms. And he hits those fucking things hard.
By the time Hung Bunny turns into Roman Bird Dog, it will be worth the trip. The whole album flows like this. Fantastic. I hope I feel it in my guts. I'm sure I will.
So for the video segment, here's an old video of a Melvins show back in 1992 with the mighty Joe Preston on bass. Fuck yeah!
Melvins - Hung Bunny/Roman Bird Dog from 1992
Earth is finally coming back to NYC. I've been waiting over a year to see this band ever since they opened for Sunn O))). This band is the roadmap I've used to find my way to this evolutionary step of my musical taste ever since I heard the first chord progression on Pentastar: In the Style of Demons album. Earth has been talked about on this blog before, but for the laymen out there, they are the drone kings. But, in reality, there's only one king. Dylan Carlson uses harmony in his distortion in ways that trap reality and enhance it that is rivaled by very few in the music world. Sometimes beautiful, some times scary, and always awesome.
Although I do long for those halcyon days of Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions and Pentastar when he was using that distortion pedal with a lot more reverb in the 90's, Earth has changed gears for the new millennium. And they don't show any signs of looking back. Which is good for them. They're more simple, direct and specific. But to the laymen, infinitely more tedious unless you're in to this sort of thing. Which, without a doubt, I am.
It's nice that this show is in between the sandwich because my neck will surely need a rest after the Melvins snap it off. Plus I like shows that are heavy and uber-introspective at the same time because it's rare these days. Earth is one of those bands on my "like to see before I die" list. Barring any unforeseen emergencies, I will shortly be able to cross it off my list.
This video is Earth playing one of their early songs, but updated with their new sensibilities and identity. The trombone is a nice touch too.
Earth - Ouroboros is Broken live
SLEEP. Gods of our time. Legendary riffers of the Weedian realm. What can honestly be said. I caught both shows last fall. If they'd have played a third, I'd have gone for that one. Amazing show. So much to my surprise when I found that they are returning again. Once again with Neurosis drummer Jason Roeder. Too great. I know a good deal of the readers here made it on their last tour. You can now be jealous of the return of the return of the marijuananaut.
This video will brings those who saw back to that moment when the first riff of Dopesmoker drops (y'all know what I mean), and to those who did not, this will make them wish they had. SLEEP!!!
Sleep intro
So there you have it. Three legendary bands. One great month. I love living in NYC for this. All I'd need is Neurosis to play in June (ha!) and I'd be set and probably wouldn't wake up from the coma. Enjoy and envy me!
Anyone who has had a five-minute conversation with me knows that I’m a pretty out and proud atheist. I don’t believe in the supernatural. God, gods, and “Quantum” gods (See: Deepak Chopra) all fall into the same pile of bullshit for me.
However, I do acknowledge the spiritual need. By spiritual, I suppose I really should say psychological, because that’s really what is. It’s a need for emotional and intellectual fulfillment. I call it spiritual because it’s easier. The soul essentially means the same thing to me, it’s not a separate part of a person, rather it is the person. It lives with me, and it’ll die with me.
I do believe that folks get their spiritual needs fulfilled in many different ways. Some get it by reading an ancient holy book. Some get it by praying/meditating/chanting. Some do it by making sure evolution isn’t taught to schools. There are many ways to skin a cat.
For me, my spiritual means are met by a different way. Music. Heavy, psychedelic, beautiful fucking music. That’s right, I am an atheist, but I’ve been attending the church of the riff since high school.
This sounds silly, linking music to my emotional and intellectual fulfillment. To be truthful, I can’t really explain it, but something clicks for me. Nothing compares to seeing Neurosis live, watching the band come together to form an avalanche of trance inducing tones. Nothing compares to watching Matt Pike demonstrating a baffling amount of control over the power over his own riffs, or Wino playing solos like he was working on a doctoral dissertation.
Every time I witness such events, something is spiritually awaken. It feasts on the sound and atmosphere, and subsequently feeds my soul with enlightenment and understanding. I feel the pseudo-genes in my body tingle as they remind me that I am connected with every living thing on the planet.
Sometimes I need an entire spiritual re-working. The last time this happened was in 2001, in San Francisco. Beyond the Pale. The memories of those four days alone are sometimes enough sustain me, but the more I think on it, the more I long for another experience like that again.
The dramatics in my life not withstanding, it has been far too long. It is time to make another pilgrimage. For evangelical fuzz heads who need riffs to worship, there is really only one place to go, Tilburg. The Netherlands. Roadburn. The biggest, heaviest, riffiest, stoneyest, doomiest, sludgeyist, droneist festival to ever threaten the planet and crack the skies. Last year a volcano erupted. Just saying.
I have decided that I’ve held back my own life long enough. 2012, I am going to Roadburn. That is a promise.
Now, for the record I haven’t the slightest idea who is playing at next year. Hell, people are still anxiously awaiting this years (and why wouldn’t they be?) I have no clue who is going to be there and that is kind of the point. When we went to Beyond the Pale, we only knew Neurosis and Isis. We had some concepts of bands like Tarentel and Zeni Geva, but no idea who Michael Gira, Joe Preston or Steve Albini were.
The point is, it doesn’t matter who’s going to be there. It’s going to be awesome. Roadburn has a rich history of heaviness, check out their lineup since 2006:
2011 edition
Thursday, April 14
Godflesh (playing Streetcleaner in its entirety) Pentagram Wovenhand Buzzov*en Soilent Green Alcest In Solitude Zoroaster Naam Quest for Fire Carlton Melton Hallows Die Cough Wardruna Acid King Circle Blood Ceremony The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble Count Raven Ghost Today Is the Day Year Of No Light Winterfylleth The Atomic Bitchwax
Friday, April 15
Sunn O))) (curator) Corrosion of Conformity (Animosity line-up) Winter Earth Keiji Haino Voivod Incredible Hog Pharaoh Overlord Place of Skulls Year Of No Light Caspar Brötzmann Massaker Scorn Mamiffer Beaver Sabbath Assembly Hooded Menace Menace Ruine Aluk Todolo The Secret Void ov Voices Trap Them Grave Miasma Summon The Crows
Saturday, April 16
Swans Candlemass (playing Epicus Doomicus Metallicus in its entirety with Johan Längqvist) Shrinebuilder Voivod Weedeater Liturgy Lonely Kamel Wolf People Stone Axe Ludicra Imaad Wasif Ufomammut (playing Eve in its entirety) Circle Dragontears Rwake Master Musicians Of Bukkake The Gates of Slumber Ramesses Evoken Yakuza White Hills Black Math Horseman
Sunday, April 17 : Afterburner
Black Mountain Dead Meadow Blood Farmers Black Pyramid Sourvein Coffins Dragontears Sungrazer Samsara Blues Experiment Spindrift 2010 edition
Thursday, April 15
Goatsnake Enslaved Kylesa Yob Eyehategod Jarboe Sons of Otis Shining Monkey3 Bong Russian Circles Earthless Mouth of the Architect Ancestors Firebird Troubled Horse Monarch! Magnus Pelander Øresund Space Collective Samsara Blues Experiment The Wounded Kings Night Horse Eagle Twin
Friday, April 16 : Tom G Warrior’s Only Death is Real
Triptykon (curator) Sarke Thorr's Hammer Trinacria Comus Karma to Burn Church of Misery Master Musicians of Bukkake Death Row Bohren & der Club of Gore Pagan Altar Witchfynde Valborg Altar of Plagues Shever Noneuclid Eagle Twin (extra set) Suma Long Distance Calling Dive Dream of an Opium Eater
Saturday, April 17
Enslaved / Shining (The Armageddon Concerto) John Garcia plays Kyuss Nachtmystium Sons of Otis Witchcraft (replaced Shrinebuilder) Brant Bjork & The Bros Astra Jex Thoth Yob Sons of Otis Karma to Burn (extra set) Moss Altar of Plagues Death Row (extra set) Fatso Jetson Los Natas Horisont Mother-Unit (extra set) The Lamp of Thoth Totimoshi The Machine (extra set) Ahkmed
Sunday, April 18 : Afterburner
Eyehategod (extra set) Graveyard Church of Misery (extra set, 4th show in three editions) Orange Sunshine (added on 17 April) Jex Thoth (extra set) Oceana Company Capital Sentimental The Machine
2009 edition
Thursday, April 23
Motorpsycho Amon Düül II Orange Goblin Baroness Ufomammut The Devil's Blood Wolves in the Throne Room Zu Minsk Radio Moscow Gomer Pyle White Hills Alexander Tucker Black Sun Rose Kemp Farflung Burial Hex Aderlating
Friday, April 24
Saint Vitus Cathedral Mono Colour Haze Angel Witch Bohren & der Club of Gore Church Of Misery Scott Kelly Dragontears The Outskirts of Infinity Atomic Bitchwax Steve Von Till / Harvestman Negura Bunget Saviours Omega Massif Shora Roadsaw Vibravoid The Winchester Club Seven That Spells
Saturday, April 25 - Neurosis presents "Beyond The Pale"
Neurosis (curator) Om The Young Gods Earth Grails Tribes Of Neurot Skullflower Guapo Zeni Geva Six Organs of Admittance A Storm of Light Amenra US Christmas Nadja Eugene S. Robinson Grey Daturas The Outskirts of Infinity DJ's Kosmik Ken & Astro
Sunday, April 26 : Afterburner
Wino Firebird Dead Man
2008 edition
Thursday, April 17
Down Grand Magus Capricorns The Devil's Blood Taint Diagonal Litmus Serpentcult
Friday, April 18
Isis Trouble Witchcraft Earthless Blood Of The Sun Mos generator Scott Kelly Tony McPhee's Groundhogs Witch Black Shape of Nexus Baby Woodrose Danava Church Of Misery La Ira de Dios Gentlleman's pistol Zone Six Assemble Head
Saturday, April 19
Enslaved Cult of Luna Acid Mothers Guru Boris Cephalic Carnage(playing Halls of Amenti in its entirety) Long Distance Calling Kongh Dixie Witch Tia Carrera Wolves in the Throne Room The Heads Jesu (solo) Electric Orange Year of No Light My Sleeping karma Nadja Kruger Lesbian
Sunday, April 20
Current 93 Baby Dee Hush Arbors
Afterburner
Graveyard Repomen The Glasspack Orange Sunshine Dzjenghis Khan Beehoover
2007 edition
Friday, April 20
Melvins / Big Business Blue Cheer Clutch Orange Sunshine Volt Causa Sui Guru Guru Sun Dial Porn (The Men of) Pharaoh Overlord The Sword Rotor Josiah Siena Root Earthling Society On Trial
Saturday, April 21
Neurosis Om Red Sparowes The Hidden Hand Acid King Colour Haze Pelican Orthodox Circle Growing Black Cobra Stinking Lizaveta Thrones Amenra Monkey3
Sunday, April 22 : Afterburner
Sunn O))) Bohren & der Club of Gore Fear Falls Burning
2006 edition
Friday, April 21
Astrosoniq End of Level Boss Spaceship Landing Toner Low
Saturday, April 22
Hawkwind Orange Goblin Ozric Tentacles Colour Haze Witchcraft Ufomammut Solace Leaf Hound The Heads Abramis Brama The Bevis Frond Gorilla Orange Sunshine Capricorns Brant Bjork & The Bros Spacehead
Some, if not most of those bands I’ve never heard of, but those that I have make this goal all the more promising. The expectations are high, but Roadburn never disappoints. In fact every year appears to get better and better. I know it will be worth it.
For now, there is no goal higher than that of Roadburn. It won’t be easy, the tickets for this year sold out in 17 minutes. It won’t be cheap, plane tickets never are. But that’s the point of a spiritual pilgrimage, a long, hard journey to reach that coveted enlightenment. I will chronicle my journey via text, audio and video. To be continued.
Today was a good day at work. I was actually tasked to do some actual writing for a potential ESPN TV spot and I literally couldn't sleep at night I was so excited.
Let me start from the beginning.
The company I work for does work on does various branded material for ESPN. Meaning that we make commercials for various products and tie them into something sports related, typically whatever is the biggest sporting event that would be covered at that particular point.
In the case that they asked me to "give a stab at" was some NBA playoff spots for a upcoming summer blockbuster. Again, I feel weird getting too specific at work. You can never tell in show business what is supposed to be under wraps and what is okay for general broadcast on some dumb blog that no one reads. So I'll leave it at that.
But what I can tell you is how the format generally works. Let's say we want to do a spot for a new Doritos flavor. The idea is for a thirty seconds of content to cover both the chips and the sporting event. The company I work for produces the material that connects the two. So, as I understand it, the layout goes as follows:
15 seconds: our stuff 5 seconds: ESPN branded stuff for whatever sporting event 10 seconds: while your watching ESPN for whatever sporting event, why not chow down on some Doritos. Now with a kidney drying flavor of Max-a-MSG.
You get the drift. It was my job today to come up with some ideas for the first 15 seconds. Not exactly Shakespeare but a challenge nonetheless. But if there is one thing that I know, all I need is the format and I can fill in the blanks. That's part of my problem as a writer, without a pipeline like that, it's usually just a mess, hence this blog. (Richard has a good water/cup analogy for that.)
The important thing is that this is a kind of a step that I've been working towards for years now. Getting paid to generate ideas. As the wise sages of AC/DC once said: "it's a long way to the top if you wanna rock n' roll." Any step up is a reason to call it a good day. Especially when they liked my ideas.
So consider yourself lucky, dear audience, you getting the milk for free. Suckers.
Anyway, time to call it a night. Sarah and I have had our nightly ritual of watching Lingo reruns on the Game Show Network and giggle at how many times Chuck Woolery uses the combination of the words: grab, stroke, and balls.
I'm starting a segment on Lack of Command called web video sandwich. Where it will consist of three posts from my random digging around on the web and it will usually connect in some form or fashion. I figure this will be an easier way to keep posting on this thing without having to do an excess amount of work.
So here's my middle east web sandwich:
Starting with the bottom bread of your friend and mine, Jello Biafra. For those of you not familiar, Jello Biafra, former front man of the Dead Kennedys and political and social activist. I credit him for getting me at an early age to be interested in the news. So he posted this in the height of the Egyptian protests.
I'm choosing this report for the meat of this sandwich. Because the Taliban is still around and only growing in Pakistan. Gaining popularity without any of the legitimacy. I use this as the meat because I think it's important when we're dealing with the Middle East that this kind of theocracy must be addressed and resisted around the world. And watch out in the future when we start beating the drums of war again and put our target on Pakistan. After all....they have the bomb.
To top off the sandwich I'm posting a deplorable video of one of the reasons why they hate us so. Watching this makes me hate the xenophobic, christian bullying in America where religion is still trumped by secular law. When the hard lined lunatics see shit like this, it only strengthens their resolve. Keep this in mind during the theater of the republican Congressman from New York Pete King farce of a Congressional investigation about the radicalization of Islam in the United States. If we were serious about that question, we'd start with Guantanamo Bay. Because anyone living in those conditions if they weren't radical when we nabbed them, they are now. Treating Arabs and Muslims like dogs or sub-humans is the problem. If we can't get over that, we're doomed to be in this war for a very long time.
One of these days I'll find something other than social and political issues to bitch about, but so far, nothing doing.
Sorry for the long break folks. But I've amended the command sequence for this blog. I've realized that ramblings don't really count as writing. Hell, that's what Facebook and Twitter are for. So I'd rather take my time with this shit and make quality posts for ya'll to read. In short, one post a day isn't worth the the stress, so I'm changing it to three posts a week. Three good ones, not just "Russell watches the news." But don't rule that out, depending on the news week (like last week was a doozy).
But I'd like to get personal if I may. For Sarah and I, Sunday was our anniversary. 7 years (off and on). That's a loooong time. But when I took the day to look back, it sure didn't feel long.
Sarah and I have come miles from when we were young. She has at least. I'm still measuring my retrospect but I'm sure some progress has been made. That's the thing about literally growing up together. You get to reach those all-important "life lessons" at roughly the same time. Luckily for us, she's got a steep learning curve.
Anyway, I'm done boring you with my half-baked romantic ramblings of my relationship. But it was worth mentioning because it's important to me. Anyone who knows anything about knows how devoted I am to Sarah. And I'm lucky to have made it this far with her. Here's for seven more years. I love you.
Props to my friend Chris for this picture.
Now, lets talk about Libya.
I hate to break it to you folks, but the drums of war are beating. This time, we're not the ones beating it but nonetheless we're required to dance to it. In all of the mainstream news the question is: Is it in US interest to intervene in Libya? The answer has to be yes in some form or fashion. Doing nothing is not an option with Qaddafi. Christopher Hitchens in a recent Slate piece said it best: "'neutrality' will only benefit the side with the biggest arsenal." We're seeing his style of vengeance that he's taking and once he does fall that style will become more nightmarish.
The problem with 9/11, our forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and our unusually committed alliance with the continuously stubborn and expansionist Israeli administration is that we have painted ourselves as the "savior of the middle east." That's what we sold the world on after 9/11 to go into Iraq. Whether you agree with our presence in the middle east at this point is almost irrelevant. We've made it so it will be decades before we're able to leave, but now it appears we might have to be more mobile in our forces. It should bare no surprise that Qaddafi is calling his rebels "al-Qaida." A lot of these despots (Mubarak included) were counting on military funding for helping America fight al-Qaida. The reason why we suck at most things like foreign policy and military intelligence is that we let the despots in some cases define who is al-Qaida, which leads to megalomaniacs jailing and torturing people who they don't like and just justifying it by calling them terrorists. Sound familiar?
So the way I see it, if doing nothing is not an option, and I truly believe that it isn't. If you disagree with me, I suggest you brush up on Bosnia and Rwanda to show the results of inaction.
If action must be taken then the next question is what kind of action. Well, there's all sorts of talk of a no-fly zone. That seems almost inevitable to me at this point if Qaddafi keeps up his bombings, but I don't think that's going to deter him from continuing his assault from the ground. In fact, count on that.
So we're left with two options in the way I see it (which should be taken with huge grain of salt). Either a) Arm and support the rebels (Bad idea, more on that below) or b) NATO intervenes (Worse idea).
The reason why arming and supporting the rebels might eventually bite us in the ass is because EVERY TIME WE DO, IT DOES. Dig into the Wikileaks Cables a little bit and you'll find that some of our sub-contracts in Pakistan being funneled accidentally to none other than the Taliban (who are not being very quiet these days). And after all, Qaddafi is hated by al-Queda and Iran as well. How long do you think it's going to take for these mad men to infiltrate the rebels to steal themselves some guns that our own forces are shipping in? You think it's going to take long for either side to be looking at those oil fields to goat the trigger happy US into another fight?
The problem with Libya is that nothing good is going to come from this except for Qaddafi leaving. Which is great, but I wonder how many people he's going to take with him. Either way, the United is looking into the horizon of a future third world war that we didn't ask for but got anyway. It's front line won't be Libya, but it's a conflict like Libya that tests our foresight and moral fortitude. When every outcome sucks, what do we do?
Sweet dreams.
PS: RIP Mike Starr from Alice in Chains.
Command Image: Mike Starr's Killer Riff Command
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
So you haven't guessed, I've given up on my initial premise unofficially of writing a blog post at least once per day. I figured that I do need a weekend to not do anything and I don't regret. It's not that I'm not going to try to post on my weekends, but I'm not going to whine about not getting any thing done. On the other hand my ACTUAL writing on this screenplay has reached really new heights. I've actually started the first act and the plot point is in the horizon.
So there's that.
Last I left you with a legitimate blog it was right before I was heading to the Weedeater show in Manhattan. It was awesome and massive. I think I gave myself whiplash. If you are any fan of this style of music I "high"-ly recommend that you a) see them live and b) cop their new album Jason...The Dragon. They are probably the best act this year that represents the genre honestly. If I were to chose an ambassador for the genre, it would be something like Weedeater. It turns off a lot of people, but the few that it does appeal to, you'll know what I'm talking about.
I can't believe the hacker group Anonymous these days. I wrote a blog post many moons ago about this group and I still remain fascinated and it has only grown. Now they're starting to go after targets that are not just jokes (like Scientology), but now they're taking on some serious hornets nests. Even they're tactics have changed from attack to defense. Creating internet connections to people and helping getting the word out to the people of Egypt and Tunisia (and those are just the ones I know about). As well as defending Wikileaks. Now, they're sticking their heads out more and more. They also kind of stole my idea for this movie I'm writing. Connecting a cultural icon like Stephan Colbert to virtual sub-culture of hackers. Anyway, I know it's criminal activity, but there are very rich people who do far worse things with incalculable consequences. Two wrongs don't make a right for sure, but you'll forgive me if I don't weep when Visa, Bank of America, Church of Scientology, those cross-eyed inbreeds at Westboro Baptist Church, and the Koch Brothers have too keep buying ink cartridges or restart their computer constantly. In my opinion, a little irritation is justified.
As Jello Biafra once said: A prank a day keeps the dog leash away.
But now Anonymous just released a letter to the world. More of a statement of their long term goal. Which is really all of our goals. We the generation that got totally ripped off. What kills me is that we know who did it and why. And it's because they've trapped us haven't they? Who has time for a revolution when there's rent to pay? Who can fight the power when there's groceries to buy?
The cool thing about the Internet is that we are the revolution. Or at least pretend we are. We've been doing it for years and we didn't even realize it. Even those of us who knew it's potential used it play video games and jerk off to each other pictures. The more clever of us chose to make money off of it. The even more brilliant have been using it as a weapon.
Shit is quiet in Libya. But we need to honest about what this has become in that country. It's Civil War. All started by a little protest. Keep that in our revolutionary eager minds. The reality of a grim fight.
In order to participate in a revolution, the simplest thing one can do to help is show whose side your on. As they start fielding republican candidates to win our broken hearts and minds, the eye rolling cynics like myself can buckle up for the endless rectal exam of election season. Let's all try to remember there's a larger picture here. It's a tale as old as time. The haves and the have nots.
Anyway. Sarah and I continued our way through the first season of Veronica Mars. It honestly had me for a good chunk of the season but it reached a brick wall with me when the show became more about her soap opera relationships. Yawn. Sarah still likes it because it reminds her of Gossip Girl and the OC.
Anyway, it's late.
Command Image: Dream street artist gimmick command
I'm going to make this fast because I'm going to see Weedeater, ASG, and Naam tonight at Santo's Party House. I've been excited for this show for a while, although the original announcement for this show was Zoroaster instead of Naam, which I would have preferred. Not because I don't love Naam, which I do, but they play here all the time and I'm dying to see Zoroaster live. One day it will happen I'm sure.
I know I promised you guys a story a week and so far I'm a day late. And it will be a short one in any case. But I do have an idea of what I want to do.
In other news, I've started reading Matt Taibbi's book called Griftopia. It's about the 2008 financial crisis. Depressing stuff. When you really think about who's ripping us off and why, it makes you wonder if those Wisconsin people are protesting at the wrong buildings. They're downtown from where I'm at now.
Well, my friend from jersey is about to land at Penn station and she still needs someone to hold her hand through the subway. I do not understand her. She's lived in NJ and visited NYC more times than I can count and she still panics when it comes to this whole train thing.
I hope everyone else is doing well tonight. Sorry for the briefness of my posts these days but I'm busy and more tired these days. I'll buck up.
In case you want some rocking to hear tonight, here's a the band I'm seeing tonight. WEEDEATER!!!
Today was a good day. It started with me giving Sleepy Sun's new album Fever.
But a strange thing happened at work today. Last night I got an e-mail from my boss about a meeting regarding the marketing strategy of this web series we've been working on. The e-mail was addressed to two other co-workers. My boss walks in and says that three of us are the best options the company has about pop culture. Here's the thing. I have no idea what gave him that impression about me. I would lying if I said I don't know ANYTHING about pop culture, but to call myself an expert in any way would be shocking. But nonetheless the meeting went on and my ideas were heard and discussed.
I guess I bring this up is because I find it strange when people give me credit for something that I had no idea I deserved credit for. I mean sure, I'm hip to things but only because other people had turned me on to such things. I don't think trends are in any way mysterious, they just have a funny speed to which they are revealed to people. Some are quick to the take, others have to play catch up, and the rest just ignore it. This statement is relative to the persons taste and the longevity of said trend.
Anyway, the point is I have no idea what pop culture even is. I'm sometimes inclined to think that it doesn't actually exist, but I'm more likely to believe that it is forced on us in some way. Take Lady Gaga (please). It seemed like within a few months she was an unstoppable phenomenon. Or Justin fucking Bieber. Seriously, where did that kid come from? One day he's nowhere and the next he's everywhere.
Too busy today to go much further. Tune in tomorrow where I will no doubt have an angry comment on watching Inside Job in regards to that Wisconsin governor.
So I didn't get a chance to sleep last night. One of the reasons I hate waking up so early is 9 times out of 10 I spend the night worrying about being able to wake up. Its the worst kind of cycle. Working as a Production Assistant without any sleep wears shard on your mind and body. My only solution is to keep going as hard as I can, fueled by a coffee frenzy. Luckily the shoot is easy enough. Easy in production world means low maintenance. And low maintenance in a Production Assistants' world means a good amount of down time. It's the down time that is killing me right now. But that gives me a perfect time to bitch and moan to you folks.
When you're sleepy and you're on the subway you have to perfect a very rare skill. To be asleep while being completely aware of your surroundings. Its a necessity in New York City for countless reasons. There are way too many dangers in falling completely asleep. Relaxing your body and mind while at the same time keeping your nerves sharp. So you have to fake this weird sort of half-sleep. You don't feel fully rested but you have to take solace in the fact that that's the only respite you're going to get for a while.
To give you some context this is the third shoot I've had at this location (Old Saint Patricks Cathedral) and for the third time in a row the weather has been shitty. Perhaps my ramblings against god have gone noticed...? Or god has a beef with my production company. Probably neither. In any case it's starting to wear on me. Winter in New York City sucks in general. But this winter has been soul crushing.
I will say it's fun working with real acting talent. I feel weird announcing who I'm working with on this blog. Call it professional courtesy. Or you can call it gutless. I'll just say today it's two Lost Boys and a stand-up comedian. But you give any performer a script and some time to play with the rhythm of speech, you can really feel what it takes to do what they do.
Last night, while tossing and turning trying to sleep, I did finally have a major breakthrough in a movie script I'd like to write. I was able to see the act breaks very clearly. That's a huge speed bump for me to get over. As I mentioned on the maiden post of my Lack of Command re-launch, that I have a problem with structure. I think the problem is knowing where and how to start structuring the hurricane of people, places, and platitudes. But once I see the structure and see the pattern that makes the most sense, its easier for me to run with it. So I think this blog is helping in that respect.
But I am tired. So tired. I took a picture of Sarah and Coco sleeping on the bed to remind myself where I actually want to be today.
In writing that response to my Uncle Tom, one of the reasons I actually enjoy doing it is because it is the most important question isn’t it? Not just the god question, but the question of existence and reality. One of the worst parts of secularism is that there is an inherent requirement to admit a notion that nothing is written in stone and therefore nothing is sacred. But I think the best part of humanity is the ability to hold things sacred. Not just things like art, architecture and literature, but not excluding them either. I’m talking about morals and ethics. Notions of love and even notions of hate are the whirlwind of emotions that surround those things. I for one don’t need the words of god to determine what’s legitimate morality, but I’m willing to agree with some of their ideas. The one about forgiveness is pretty groovy but there must be a limit. But where also can come to an agreement is the improbable nature of existence. Meaning, we're all lucky to be here.
But I digress. It gets me thinking about what I value. As a human my most transcendent of emotions moments come from music. A buddy of mine once wrote "music is history." Probably one of the reasons I hold music so sacred is because I myself am unable to make music. Not without trying, but nonetheless I don't have it in me. But I sure do love it.
So I decided to make a mix of songs that better demonstrate my more than irritated views on religion but also invoke the same kind of awe and humility that I feel their gods should better represent. Track list after jump, comment for link.
Anyway, it's Sunday. Which in my house hold means Meet the Press, laundry, cleaning, Brooklyn Bagel. Those being the typical rituals being the only share day off that Sarah and I share. But today is Hockey Day and NBC is showing hockey all day. Got to see my girlfriend team The Capitals win in a squeak.
Also Meet the Press quoted the New York Times in asking: Is Wisconsin the Tunisia of collective bargaining agreements?
Booya.
So for tonight, Sarah and I decided to give Veronica Mars a shot on Netflix. So far 4 episodes in season one, I'm getting less and less impressed. More mystery solving stuff and less whiney teenage relationship crap. Before that we watched Winters Bone. Not bad, but I get the sense from the surreal atmosphere and the disappointing climax probably translated better in the book (which I don't know because I haven't read), but I liked it more than Sarah did. But it's about bedtime. I've got a very busy day tomorrow with a 6am call. Yo-ho, yo-ho, a PA's life for me.
Tracklist: 1. Rwake - Intro track to Voices of Omens 2. O Magnum Mysterium 3. James Carter and the Prisoners - Po' Lazarus 4. Rabbia E Tarantella 5. Sleep - Holy Mountain 6. Alice in Chains - Get Born Again 7. Dead Kennedys - Moral Majority 8. Alabama Thunderpussy - Twilight Arrival 9. Dalek - Opiate for the Masses 10. Final Fantasy - The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead 11. Johnny Cash - Man in Black 12. Flood - Water 13. Neurosis - Prayer 14. Om - Pilgrimage 15. Radiohead - Paranoid Android 16. Sparklehorse - Its a Wonderful Life 17. Star Fucking Hipsters - Death or Fight 18. Temple of the Dog - Hunger Strike 19. Ufomammut - Eve pt. V 20. Tarentel - For Carl Sagan 21. Pink Mountaintops - While we were dreaming 22. The Arcade Fire - Intervention 23. Slim Cessna's Auto Club - In My Arms Once Again 24. Iron and Wine - The Trapeze Swinger
So the purpose of this blog was to get me to get off my ass and start writing again. Which has worked. But I didn't get to post something yesterday so you'll get two posts today. Because I did indeed write, I just didn't write with the blog in mind. But I'll post what I wrote for the hell of it.
For the past few months my uncle and my three brothers have been in correspondence over an argument. My uncle Tom asked us for a positive argument for atheism. It's a trick question because atheism isn't a claim to something, it's the opposite. Atheism in it's nature can't be a positive argument. The link to the discussion is below if you really care: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=182986355048235&comments#!/notes/tom-godfrey/finding-and-facing-a-killer-argument-for-atheism/182986355048235
I should say as a disclaimer that I'm agnostic on the god question. I don't know and very likely will never know. Which is fine by me. If I were to believe in a god, I certainly couldn't believe in any of the gods clearly invented by man (the Western ones especially). But one of the reasons why I argue against Tom is his denial of evolution. To me, no matter what you think on the god question, that is the equivalent of saying that the earth is flat. It shows a denial of basic facts and it's something that I'll fight about.
So this is a long one and I don't blame anyone you for not reading this, but I spent a good deal of time on it. It will also be confusing because you're jumping in the middle of a chess game and my response is a point/counter-point, which would be difficult to read. If you need context you can grab it. But here it goes anyway.
Start Transmission:
Thanks for the compliment on my writings. I really wasn’t even trying but yes, it is my craft. A better written conversation about this subject by the way is the play and recent HBO movie The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy. I think god has a thick skin. If I were to believe in a god, I’m sure he can handle a little ribbing every now and then. At least a god I could see myself believing in. More on that later.
But I’ll open with a quote from your friend and mine, Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson regarding people who don’t believe in climate change or evolution: “the beauty about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe it.”
On the video: Tom: “What we got in the video was an unsupported suggestion that God fails on all counts. I don’t buy this claim either. Of course, even if someone were to conclude that God is deficient in any of these areas, it really would not help make the case that God, whatever his true attributes are, could not have created the universe. Our humble opinion about what it must take to be a creator is quite irrelevant.”
I’m assuming you’re talking about the amount of stars mentioned in the bible as opposed to the amount of stars that are actually there. If not, you may proceed to ignore this paragraph. But the video’s point is that if God really did create the universe, you’d think he’d at least get the number of stars right in his own book. Just saying.
Tom's analysis of my agnostic position: "Creation is one giant question mark. I was not a witness to the creation of the universe, so I know nothing about it. I don’t even know what questions to ask about this. Please join me in throwing away all of the knowledge you have of alleged eyewitness testimony. It is only hearsay. Instead, let’s rely on books written by modern scientists who were not witnesses either. At least they keep trying to figure it all out and updating us with their latest ideas. They may eventually get it right. Who knows? Come on. Trust me."
Against your conclusion in which god says, “Read this book. It’ll answer everything.”
Yep. I’ll take the question mark. At least that’s honest. Testimony of god in the bible is suspect because by your own logic, we cannot know the mind of god and therefore, perhaps he conjugates verbs differently or maybe the guy didn’t get the whole message (a la Coleridge in Kubla Kahn) and just made it up to fill in the blanks. ALL OF THESE ARE POSSIBLE to say that they are not possible is disingenuous. Because you yourself have to take it on faith. That is something that I cannot do when it comes to the god question. In your words: it’s too important. If I burn in hell for that (in most monotheistic religions I would), all the citizens in heaven (yourself included hopefully) can know that one burns because I couldn’t see belief as an option because god had “created” probability. In other words, I was tricked into hell by god himself. Some justice. Or as Issac Asimov said: the harshest punishment should be reserved for those who would slander God by creating hell. I as a secular agnostic would give a supreme being worthy of my faith a lot more of a sense of humor.
Either way, booya. Question mark.
And as far as a new holy book, I hope you could infer from here. I’m all for that. I don’t see why god stopped writing and according to some he hasn’t (see: mormons). But I dare say that you would roll your eyes (as I’m seeing with Brandon’s brilliant counter-point to your constant nagging about “argument of ignorance”) if anyone wrote a new chapter of the holy book claiming it was the word of god. That’s another beef I have with religion: each claim to be the final revelation of god, but that’s all part of the doublethink (more on that later). In fact, I’m not sure why Christianity chose to keep the barbaric Old Testament in their doctrine in the first place. But I digress.
I would never be in favor of trashing the bible. In fact, none of my brothers would. But there seems to be a misconception that if we remove the myth and the mysticism that the bible will lose it’s power and resonance. Well, that shipped sailed long ago, the bible is here to stay. The bible is an important book. It, like many books, has been crutch for civilization in the darkest of times and I wouldn’t take that away from anyone. But it is only a book, and it’s not the only book. Written by primates for primates. You asked me what I would replace the holy bible with. Well nothing, but there are other sides to the story (of humans, not the literal story in the bible, but I’m sure there are plenty of books that offer something to that respect) that are just as valid and just as awesome. Luckily, some of them don’t even call for a fascist theocracy at the end of the world (thank you old testament and revelations) and twiddle their thumbs until Armageddon or in the more orthodox practices, actively work to bring about Armageddon.
We only want religion to not pretend to be science. And creationism is doing just that. Pretending it’s science or at least claims that it deserves the same credibility as science. That’s like saying astrology is just as credible as astronomy. And I’ll never understand how you can accept micro-evolution, but some how macro-evolution is crazy. I guess the theory of relativity doesn’t enter into evolution? Why not? Are they not governed by the same laws of physics?
Try not to read too much in to that as I’m out of my depth here.
Let me ask you, what would convince you that evolution is true. What missing piece is lacking for you? We’ve all given our cry for evidence of god (all prayers unanswered thus far), and even given a list of requirements. What would convince you that evolution is true? Is it the same method of deduction you would use for the creation myth? What makes yours true? Science isn’t the one pushing on the scales, only making a call on available evidence.
Which brings me to your favorite subject: Big Brother. And it is becoming clear to me that you have not read 1984 (which all things aside, you should, it’s a fantastic book that raises the consciousness of realty). But I’ll go into your “counter-points.”
Tom:“S has the freedom to disagree regardless of the facts. What really matters is the fact of the matter—the truth. If S really is a fat slob, he may later regret this disagreement and irrational reaction. If he was right all along, he will never regret it. You may find church attendance boring and not consider yourself a sinner, but the same logic applies. What is the truth?”
Now why would S be lying? If the only evidence of S weight is judged on his stating that he is not a fat slob. (also, it’s never stated he’s a male, but what the hell, let’s throw caution to politically correct wind) Should we trust him? I say, why not. We’ll give him the same credence that you seem to lend the people who wrote the bible because THEY certainly were telling the truth. Just ask them.
Tom: “This reflects the perspective of an outsider. Insiders testify to a personal, spiritual encounter with our Savior, but you will never have this while you are still running away. It is not like shaking hands with a gym manager, all right, but it is just as real and much better. It is life changing—for the better. How hard can it be to believe? Millions have already done this. Ask around. A child can do it.”
Millions have done it. Does this make it true? Everyone thought the earth was flat until they were wrong. What if I demanded to shake hands with god before I throw my hat in with him. Would he love me enough to grant me that request? What will your response be? “Well you just have to FEEL him…”
A child can also believe in Santa Claus and the boogyman.
Tom: “Belief really is a requirement (John 3:16; Heb. 11:6), but where did you ever hear that our love and lack of questions are required to be saved? This is pure paranoia. Any love we may have for God is pitiful compared to the love he has for us, even while we are still sinners (Rom. 5:8). Whatever love we may have for God is rendered cheerfully because we recognize that it is well earned. And questions? Consider the questions coming from Nicodemus in John 3. “What? You’ve got questions? That’s it buddy, I’m out of here!” No, that was not the response of Jesus at all. Consider Thomas and others who doubted testimony of his resurrection (John 20:25; Matt. 28:17). They were not locked out either.”
Eh. Fair enough. But not really relevant. Again, why do I assume god loves me? Because the bible says so yeah? Well…He has got some funny way of showing his love of man to the world. And orthodox followers through out history have carried out his “love of man” according to his command. Just like the ministry of love in 1984, where the practice is torture. The beatings will stop when the morale improves.
But you mean to tell me that even if I did obey the word of the god of Abraham, or accepted the word of Jesus and legitimately believed in him but held in my heart a deep seeded resentment and anger for him up until my last breath, god would be cool with that? That my only goal in getting to heaven is to look god in the eye and call him a jerk, he’d be alright with that?
I doubt you believe that, but if you did, I dare say at least the god of the bible would have a sense of humor or at least I’d have more respect for the guy.
Tom:“Here you go off on a tangent. This has nothing to do with Big Brother oppression. You are just uncomfortable believing testimony, preferring the speculation of scientists trying to figure out how lifeless chemicals could have naturally turned into a living cell without any help from God. It may seem crazy, but there are probably many Christians in this same boat.”
I would like to quote 1984 in the description of Big Brother: “At the apex of this pyramid comes Big Brother. Big Brother is infallible and all-powerful. Every success, every achievement, every victory, every scientific discovery, all knowledge, all wisdom, all happiness, all virtue, are held to issue directly from his leadership and inspiration. Nobody has ever seen Big Brother. He is a face on the hoardings, a voice on the telescreen. We may be reasonably sure that he will never die, and there is already considerable uncertainty as to when he was born. Big Brother is the guise in which the Party chooses to exhibit itself to the world. His function is to act as a focusing point for love, fear, and reverence, emotions which are more easily felt toward an individual than toward an organization.”
I hope I don’t have to spell it out for you. Big Brother = god, Party = religion. If you disagree with this analogy, I would love to hear arguments opposed.
But don’t you think, as a clear man of logic and reason, doesn’t it sound odd to you that the whole of creation was created in only 7 days? How doesn’t it make more sense that the system is more complicated and grander than that? That holy doctrine is still doctrine of humans and there is something more transcendent about the facts of reality, than the delusions of old desert mythologies. It is because having god too far out of reach of humans is the point. His words are complicated and simple. His history vast and compact. Black and white. This is the precise definition of what Orwell termed as doublethink. Doublethink is the mental practice of manipulating reality to hold two contradictory facts and to accept both as true. It’s a way of hijacking and arresting history and strangling the irony out of human nature. It’s not as obvious as brainwashing, but a shade above compulsive. When the word of god says: No matter what. This is the absolute truth. Always justified and everlasting. No further inquiry is required.
This proof is never more obvious than in the amount of “absolute” truth’s there are. In Western religion especially, all three claim to be the final revelation of a roughly similar god. While at the same time, all three claim legitimacy on each other by accepting or even borrowing from their rival myths. But is it not at each one of their core belief that the other two are heretics? Much like the three super powers in 1984, war is peace.
And this is really just scratching the surface.
Tom: “Whoever it was, he wanted the place to be populated with free people, not robots, but with freedom comes responsibility and sometimes a need to face consequences, sometimes the satisfaction of making wise, reasonable choices. A God who wants people to be free is no Kim Jong-il in my book.”
I am free because god says I’m free. Freedom as a gift isn’t free. Because according to him, I owe him for the trouble. A god I could picture would never punish me for exercising such freedom. And I think the crime of disbelief is unjust.
Moreover, I should say that this argument is by no means new by me. I’ll post this youtube video of Christopher Hitchens, who is smarter than I and therefore ultimately more brutal in his criticisms.
End transmission.
Thanks for your patience folks. More bullshit later today.
Hello. Sorry about last night. Not really. Good thing about this blog is it gives me a deadline. I can't work without one.
If you don’t give any thought to global politics, you really should. The middle east is pissed. CNN is showing the Bahraini military just killed people protesting. Guardian reports at least a dozen on the body count. Caught on tape.
Now, contrast that coverage happening right now on MSNBC. They've been covering this impressive union protest in Wisconsin. I call it impressive only because I haven't seen a labor movement covered with such a positive light in the corporate media in any recent memory. MSNBC has no doubt tried to infer what I'm about suggest, in that there is a connection between this side of planet and the other.
It's a huge stretch I admit, but in reality there are similarities in atmosphere. Not nearly the conditions in the middle east, by a lot, which is why people are dying right now for the "offense" to do what the people in Wisconsin are doing now. I by no means wish to demean what the middle eastern people and countless other are dying for what I believe a noble cause; I only bring it up to honor them. That while the talk among the people in Wisconsin freezing right now is probably how far are we going to take this, all they have to do is flip the channel and see what real dedication means. And they can rest easy knowing that the only opposition they'll face tomorrow is only the corporate Tea Party and another channel's news studio stage.
But poor people every where are pissed. And it's time that we be honest of that connection. That the problem of class and labor is global and has been for a long time. So far the only solution we've had in this country is: as long as it ain't commie.
But I wanted to share caused me to jump on this thought. Noam Chomsky was on Democracy Now yesterday and here's what he had to say when someone asked about the connection. Here's a transcript:
"Well, that was very interesting. In fact, I urge people to take a look at the February 12th issue of the New York Times, the big front-page headline, you know, banner headline, "Mubarak Leaves," its kind of subheadings say, "Army Takes Over." They’re about 60 years late on that; it took over in 1952, but—and it has held power ever since.
But then if you go to an inside page—I don’t know what page it is—there’s an article on the Governor of Wisconsin. And he’s pretty clear about what he wants to do. I mean, certainly he is aware of and senses this attack on public workers, on unions and so on, and he wants to be upfront, so he announced a sharp attack on public service workers and unions, as the questioner said, to ban collective bargaining, take away their pensions. And he also said that he’d call out the National Guard if there was any disruption about this. Now, that’s happening now to Wisconsin. In Egypt, public protests have driven out the president. There’s a lot of problems about what will happen next, but an overwhelming reaction there.
And I was—it was heartening to see that there are tens of thousands of people protesting in Madison day after day, in fact. I mean, that’s the beginning, maybe, of what we really need here: a democracy uprising. Democracy has almost been eviscerated. Take a look at the front-page headlines today, this morning, Financial Times at least. They predict—the big headline, the big story—that the next election is going to break all campaign spending records, and they predict $2 billion of campaign spending. Well, you know, a couple of weeks ago, the Obama administration selected somebody to be in charge of what they call "jobs." "Jobs" is a funny word in the English language. It’s the way of pronouncing an unpronounceable word. I’ll spell it: P-R-O-F-I-T-S. You’re not allowed to say that word, so the way you pronounce that is "jobs." The person he selected to be in charge of creating jobs is Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, which has more than half their workforce overseas. And, you know, I’m sure he’s deeply interested in jobs in the United States. But what he has is deep pockets, and also, not just him, but connections to the tiny sector of the ultra-rich corporate elite, which is going to provide that billion or billion-and-a-half dollars for the campaign. Well, that’s what’s going on"
He is a smart guy. And it's one of the few times I've seen him be optimistic about ANYTHING! So I'll take that for a spark of hope.
I'll leave you with a song from my high school days:
Had a few too many tonight and can't make a decent blog at this moment. So I'll leave you with my new signature so you can know when my heart isn't in it.
Hello there my commandless legion. Yes it is I. I have returned to the wonderful world of blogging. And not a minute too soon. The truth of the matter is, that I've grown lazy in my writing. Too lazy. But luckily that innate desire to write can't help but boil over. I'm overwhelmed with ideas, but there is apparently a connection problem between my brain and the pages on which I intend to write on. I haven't kept up with any sort of conditioning for my craft at all. I can't expect to complete a marathon without doing a few stretches.
So this is me stretching.
So here is the goal. To write a blog post every single fucking day. Without exception. I think this is the only way that I can't get through the mental exhaustion of actually writing a screenplay.
This is going to require a good deal of dedication on my part to begin with, but as I get used to it, it should get easier and easier. At least I hope so. Truth be told, I already feel better by writing this much. But this is just me ranting. That is another problem that I have. When I write on this blog, it tends to be a rant rather than a coherent comment, story, or anecdote. So I'm thinking another part of my writing work out is structure sit-ups. Not writing to just to write, but writing with purpose. So what comes with that? For me it will be to tell stories. News stories, true stories, music stories, or made up stories. So here's my soft idea of writing one story per week.
So this is me trying to do sit-ups.
Richard, my twin brother and partner, will join me in segments as usual. His contributions and extremely clever insight into things are invaluable to me. And I'm going to try to other people to contribute as well, friends of mine that are better at this than I am.
Now comes the problem of what to write about. Well, there you have no worry. Although times have changed, my interests and hobbies have not. For the sake of updating loyal readers as well as introducing new ones, here's the bullet points: I live my girlfriend Sarah and dog Coco in Queens, NYC. I grew up in Colorado. I work as a Production Assistant in Manhattan I co-host a film review podcast called the Film Concussion (we're on a retooling hiatus, but you can check out the show on this blog). I want to write for television for a living. I'm a hockey fan. (Colorado Avalanche, and my "girlfriend" team for the 2010-2011 season is the Capitals) I'm a huge music fan with varying but specific tastes.
That's probably enough self-aggrandizing no?
Anyway, I'll wrap this proclamation up with saying thanks to all of my family and friends who even take a few seconds to read this. I will keep this as a conversation so feel free to post comments, ask questions, or insult me with amusing quips. It's all in good fun. The most fun I'll ever have on the internet is being able to communicate with my friends and other like minded people.
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