Word Freak

"I'm a word freak. I like words. I've always compared writing to music. That's the way I feel about good paragraphs. When it really works, it's like music...I found out then that writing is a kind of therapy. One of the few ways I can almost be certain I'll understand something is by sitting down and writing about it. Because by forcing yourself to write about it and putting it down in words, you can't avoid having to come to grips with it. You might be wrong, but you have to think about it very intensely to write about it. So I use writing as a learning tool."

-Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, 1990

Try to look at this and not cry

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/images/2009/01/05/legsabidkatibgetty.jpg

The legs of a small dead Palestinian child.

Yes, I know, I don't live there.
Yes, I know, if buses were blowing up in my town, I might feel differently.
Yes, I know, if rockets fell on my brother's house, or my mother's, I might feel differently.

But I don't know.

The Magic WHAT?

Another brilliant Dan Carlin this week (www.dancarlin.com) about the Arab-Israeli problem. The dead right certainty of both sides, the fiendish merchants of death on both sides, the senseless waste of human life…like Dan, like all thinking beings, it sickens me. Dan points out that, to Americans, the struggle is nonsensical-what is worth sacrificing, and slaughtering, anyone’s children, especially one’s own?

Dan cleverly links it to the old Kinison routine about feeding Ethiopians-why pay money to feed people who live in a desert? Why not pay them to MOVE TO WHERE THE FOOD IS? Thus, why not move the decent people, the people not bound by ancient historical grudges,

I think one of the factors here is that, as Americans, we have always had more room, more land, more everything. If you don’t like life in Houston, you move to Fort Lauderdale, or Portland, or Flint, or Sacramento. Palestinians and Israelis can’t do that.

Dan’s second half was a brief disquisition about presidential power, how powers that appear tyrannical and dictatorial in the hands of President McFlightsuit look downright reasonable in the hands of President Obama, or, alternatively, powers that are right and just now, under Obama, appear oppressive. I have to admit he has a point here-I oppose expanded presidential powers, but I feel more comfortable with these powers in the hands of Obama. Dan’s conclusion is an excellent one-in order to fix the problem of presidential authority, he not only has to give up the power, he has to get Congress to TAKE the power-and the corresponding responsibility.

I can’t believe it took me this long to notice this story-apparently a candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee circulated a CD of Christmas songs on which he sung a parody of “Puff The Magic Dragon” which was called “Barack The Magic Negro”. I don’t think I have anything to add except, to borrow a phrase from Bill Simmons, ladies and gentlemen, your 2008 Republican Party!

Well, no, maybe I do have something to add. The traditional defense in these matters is to note that the speaker/writer “was just trying to be funny”. Uh…no. Not funny. Sorry. Unless you’re referring to a defunct baseball league, that word is not uttered in polite company. Not because it’s politically incorrect, just because it’s rude.

As John Oliver points out on The Bugle this week, there wasn’t somewhere in the process of creating this musical masterpiece that someone said, “Hey, wait a minute.”?

Unbelievable.

Then again, that word doesn’t really apply when applied to the Republican Party in 2008. As someone smarter than me wrote, not so much a political party as an organized criminal conspiracy.

Culture Slagfest

I listen to the Slate podcast feed (www.slate.com), at least partially out of habit, but mostly because I enjoy hearing people smarter than me talk about things that I only partially understand.

After the success, I assume, of the Slate Political Gabfest, they introduced a "Cultural Gabfest", which is a similar format-three Slate writers tackle three topics, engaging back and forth in a semi serious, semi snarky way for about 25-30 minutes.

The Culture Gabfest has always bothered me, partially because I am an ignoramus about much of modern culture, and partially just because, like a lot of critics, they assume a very snide, cutting tone towards works they consider unworthy. My ire started with a discussion of "Beautiful Children", a novel which I adored that they ragged on for no discernable reason, but this week's podcast was especially egregious.

They first of all mock Tom Cruise. Now, Tom Cruise has many things about him that are mockable. After crediting him for films like "Magnolia" and "Jerry Maguire", they see "A Few Good Men" as campy and ridiculous, and dismiss it as somehow impossible that Cruise can play his role in the new film "Valkyrie".

I love "A Few Good Men". Maybe I'm stupid, but I don't see how that film fits the definition of "camp". And Tom Cruise's character isn't taking "batting practice" at the beginning of the film, he is hitting balls for his team to practice fielding. You don't have batting practice in slow pitch softball.

They then move on to mock Bruce Springsteen for selling his upcoming greatest hits collection exclusively at Wal Mart. Now, first of all, Bruce Springsteen's fans are no longer just blue collar-but if they are, they shop at Wal Mart because they're broke, not because they're happy about their labor policies. And, as far as I can tell, Wal Mart is one of the few places selling CDs anymore, so if selling them at Wal Mart is what you have to do, then you sell them at Wal Mart.

Then "film critic" Dana Stevens complains about having to make a Top Ten List for 2008. Really? Really? Isn't that pretty much what you DO, for pity's sake?

Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe criticism is all subjective, and I should stop getting antsy about people whose opinions I disagree with. Or maybe Slate's Cultural Gabfest is simply being hosted by a trio of effete snobs.

Still Watching, Still Reading

WATCHING (Well, Watched): "Gonzo, the life of Hunter S. Thompson", a documentary about the Good Doctor. Well worth your time.

READING: "The Baseball Forecaster 2009", still, "The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers" (a reread), "Sporting News Fantasy Baseball 2009". I have Roberto Bolano's "The Savage Detectives" on my shelf, too, that I have been meaning to get back to. I also have "New Moon", the second novel in the "Twilight" series, waiting for me. I'm actually afraid to start it, a little bit. I read "Twilight" so passionately, experiencing it so viscerally, I don't want to start it if I don't have time to finish it, because I know I will be mad if I can't. Isn't that stupid?

MLB Network

An all baseball television channel, the MLB Network, started yesterday, and I have been spending an alarming amount of time, so far, watching it. Naturally, I am hooked.

Documentaries, studio shows, replays of classic games...it's just a little patch of heaven.

Sometimes I'm glad to be alive in these times.

We Were So Much Older Then...We're Younger Than That Now

via www.poopreading.com:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/22/50-things-we-know-now-we-didnt-know-time-last-year/life/


An interesting article about 50 things we know now, that we didn't know then.

Here's something I should do more of...

I have trouble remembering what I've read, so I should probably record them here.

WATCHING: "The World Is Not Enough"
READING: "The Baseball Forecaster 2009", this week's "New Yorker"