"Down in a Hole"

Why not? One of the my favorite songs by one of my favorite artists, this performance of "Down in a Hole" captures the genius of Alice in Chains like nothing else. Recorded live in 1996, the clip shows the band at their zenith, just after Layne Staley had plunged into his six-year long spiral of addiction and death.

I remember when the song was first released, during my senior year of high school. For some reason, you relate to the symbolism described in its lyrics much better when you're that age; when you're that young. I played it for one of my three girlfriends that year on the day that some asshole cut me off as I had turned into an intersection. He ended up totaling a truck approaching us in the opposing lane of traffic.

She probably cared more about me and would have done more for me than the other two, and that's the kind of person for whom such words were written: "Bury me softly in this womb. I give this part of me for you." Sexual exchange as a form of both death and sacrifice makes sense at a certain time in one's life. The years wear on, and eventually the genders learn to accept more and more about each other. But when you're young enough, all you seem to comprehend is the sense of division, desire and need that compels you to break through it, and to give to, and to take, from each other.

Although Staley's appearance is absolutely chilling, I wonder if I can still find a way to relate to this video. Pale white zombie face and stone-drug red orbits, he is in the throes of losing himself, the beginning of the point where he has given away his will to live in exchange for white powder. The grunge-rock style of music he rode to stardom was in full swing, and six years later he would die in relative obscurity, a rotting corpse discovered in its apartment weeks after life left it, a nation too consumed by war and terror to fully remember the halcyon days that he and so many other musicians gave us. Writing and reflecting about life, death, love and transformation was by then a luxury that could in no way parallel the fighting spirit and stark call to collective paranoia ordered up by our country's leaders.

But by now even more time has passed, and the wisdom of time and the maturity of aging comes to you regardless of the pace of the advancing years - if you're lucky. If you learn. I wonder if anyone can relate to it now, if anyone feels as alone, as powerless and yet as drawn to what calls them. If they do, I can only hope that they reach a destination less risky and illusory - no matter how god-damn beautiful - than the thrill of a young crush, or a psychological novelty, and that they find something lasting, comforting and worth the journey.

Obama Saves Economy from Long-Term Ruination, Recovers Political Capital

With such a precipitous decline in favorability and approval ratings, it must be easy for some people to forget why President Obama was elected in the first place. But that's precisely the kind of short-term thinking that created the messes we've been in since long before he ever took office.

I get the impression that the president doesn't mount an effective case often enough to counter criticisms that are sometimes understandable, but more often than not, reflective of the sort of national attention deficit disorder that held our politics and culture prey to such disastrous, potentially calamitous scenarios.

One thing stands out, however. Ever since I did myself the favor of getting rid of that greatest purveyor of our national attention deficit disorder -- my cable television service and the outrageous monthly bill that furnished it -- I've enjoyed going on-line every now and then to check out whether any programming that truly caters to the national interest or other redeeming interests is available. Luckily, it is.

Unlike Bush, it seems that Obama favors relegating his truly effective speeches to his weekly addresses to the nation, as you can see below. Every time I've checked one out, I got the impression that someone truly intelligent was still in charge, fully aware of the extent and detail of all our country's problems, and as on top of them as you could expect any president to be.

Further, in politics as in all other things, timing must be close to everything. Could Obama have truly committed the White House and Capitol Hill to any big steps before the economy stabilized somewhat? Why do people assume that to be the case? (Other than for reasons of narrow partisan gain, of course). But our labor force is getting loud, the taxpayers becoming angrier, and we have to make sure that the economic picture is corrected. And reform of the financial sector is a crucial precursor to that, but it won't come easy - lest aficionados of the last decade's bubble economy forget.

So here is Obama's master stroke. These egregiously infantile jerk-offs on Wall Street are finally getting the drubbing the electorate has called for, and it will come, at first, in the form of a tax. This way, Obama gets to deflect criticism of his deficit spending (despite the realization among every sane economist that such Keynesian measures are absolutely warranted), while reminding the country that money doesn't grow on trees. The Bush/Rove-led GOP attempts to weaken your government by institutionalizing a political culture that seeks to bankrupt the nation will now be effectively reversed.

And what's more, Obama divides the banking community by singling out the institutions large enough to have played this irresponsible game with our economy. Your smaller, local, community banks -- the ones who didn't risk our futures on a Ponzi scheme -- won't be affected. Prudence is rewarded and the consequences of irresponsible risk allotted its proper price. Should the institutions "too large to fail" stick around for perpetuity as they intend, they will remember this episode and the consequences of their sorry actions for a long time to come.

So, enjoy the video - the one that's titled, appropriately enough, Your Weekly Address". Take the opportunity to remind yourself of how every political success ever came to "No Drama Obama". With a presentation both calm and collected, insightful yet determined, this president intends to get things done. He just doesn't do it for the benefit of the 24-hour news cycle. And that might make the rankled Tea Partiers reach for their Ritalin. But hey - fuck 'em. It's their kind of disordered and reckless, short-term thinking that helped get us all into this mess in the first place. And when the smoke clears, remind me to upload some interviews with Steven Chu and Francis Collins. This government's in good hands and the country will be going places once again.

Happy 2010!!!

The revolution will not be televised...

As we welcome a new decade, I thought I'd post a tribute to the millenium closed out by the last decade. In some ways, it feels like the last millenium was still with us during the "aughts", and that the last ten years were a bit of a transition period. New technology came to dominate the way we communicate, but it took until 2008 for our politics to catch up.

Let's hope that the next decade ushers in a greater synthesis between technological innovation and a consistent affirmation of humanity's most ancient values.

And the explanation for the clip? Well, it's, uh, The Bloodhound Gang. A favorite band of mine that I think is becoming less important to me as time wears on. The nineties were a crazy time, but the backlash against the repressive 1980s reached a nearly ridiculous tenor with a president whose constitution was evenly split between a rare sense of political competence and a deep well of raging libido, but otherwise, spiritually, empty. Similarly, I think these guys perfectly capture the "loser/slacker" ethic of the time, while simultaneously never fully embracing it and, hence, rebelling against it.

Let me explain.

The moving image made actors famous, women into objects, and interesting men into losers. In short, it turned society inside out for a few decades. Feminism sought to reverse at least one of these developments, but corrupt idiots and beautiful bimbos still ruled the day while actors retained their clout.

Enter the internet.

No longer is geekiness a flaw. No longer are the thoughts of actors privileged and granted greater access than those of anyone else with a Twitter account. No longer is a woman, promoted to - for reasons of physical beauty - magazine cover status, presumed to have a better shot at happiness and sanity than one who isn't. There has been a great leveling that re-establishes the order that existed before the days when a man's status resided in his hair gel and what was underneath his scalp a quaint reminder of virtues long forgotten.

So let virtue reign, and let a more literate civilization flourish. And let honest and eloquent geeks feel less socially and sexually frustrated. A new millenium has finally begun.

Enjoy. Oh, and very NSFW - (esp. at the end).

My favorite bits, BTW:

0:11: DJ Q-Ball's stance
0:15: Cowbell
and, of course, at 0:21... FUCK THE MILLENIUM!!!

Let's Get Stoked

Great video from... The Onion.

Report: Most College Males Admit To Regularly Getting Stoked

It's nearly 2010. Don't you think it's time to get stoked?

Miley Cyrus, The Great Reconciliator

The interesting thing that just struck me about this tune, other than the fact that it's been playing non-stop - both at my work and everywhere else, is the way it fits into a theme of reconciliation.

Miley Cyrus, Nashville-born teen sensation, daughter of the formerly mulleted Billie Ray Cyrus (he of country-pop crossover Achy Breaky Heart fame), sings about coming to Hollywood, listening to her favorite superstars, and the homesickness prompted by, among other things, not being cool enough in her newfound surroundings to realize that stilleto heels are all the rage.

But it's ok. All is right in America - even for this daughter of Dixie. Cause we're going to have a party in... not New York... not Los Angeles... but all over the country. That's right! It's a Party in the U.S.A.!

Only a Southerner could have the credibility to make something this extraordinary happen. So sing it, Miley! You're everything Palinism wishes it was. Take away the political pretension, pour on the patriotism, find the most talented songwriters in the biz to supply you with a catchy tune, and you're off! Red state, blue state, the state of confusion, and everything in between.

The most exceptional thing about America apparently is that anyone can find unity in celebration. E pluribus unum. And party on.

UPDATE: Cyrus' namesake derives from that ancient king of Persia, who liberated the Hebrews, "embraced all civilized states of the ancient Near East," and "attributed his success to 'diversity in counsel, unity in command.'" This from the Wikipedia article that results as the 2nd Google hit for "CYRUS", just barely ahead of Miley's own 3rd place return.

I think her destiny as The Great Reconciliator is hereby assured.

If You're Going to See ONE Show While in Vegas...

See Bite.



Just because there's nothing cooler than watching acrobats who swing to and fro while topless vampires prance around to rock tunes that charted no later than 1986.

And because the Stratosphere could use some business and because Cirque du Soleil's supposedly erotic incarnation of Zumanity might not be running yet. And because Zumanity might be a whole lot less sexy and entertaining than the decidedly uncouth Bite.

What can I say? I like my eroticism to feel accessible! I mean, I wish I could find entertainment in watching people swim around in life-size fish bowls. But for some reason vampirism seems a whole lot less extravagant to me. Too much extravagance ruins the eroticism. If it's less primal it's less credible. At which point all bets at achieving genuine entertainment are off.

Apropos of my interest in letting you in on the incredible amount of preparation that goes into crafting these posts, here's the other interesting hit yielded by a Google Images search of the terms "Bite" and "Vegas":



Pretty cool, huh!? Now try biting into that!

What can I say? I aim to please my readers.

And when I say "readers" I mean the both of you.

I Saw Obama in My Coffee Mug!

More goofy Obama art here.

I guess inspiration will do that to someone!

This one I thought was actually pretty respectable
while still staying true to the themes of the campaign.



It almost looks like it should go on one of those
commemorative plates that people used to order on TV.

I suppose we'll see which of these withstands the test of time.

Just Because

I've been up all night doing basic web re-design and felt like balancing out the classical antiquity and Western knowledge themes with some more modern, American and colorful stuff. Althouse's Traditional Guy was starting to wonder if I was from Cambridge. And because the Phillies deserve it. And because Blake's a good guy and we're both from here.

Things You Pick Up On in the Bookstore

It's best to avoid titles with the word "piece" in them. Especially if the word "piece" is in reference to yourself.

Great Ad

For the public health care option.

(Featuring Heather Graham).