Monday, December 09, 2002

Okay, I do have one more thing to say, since it seems to be hate and loathing day here at the old rhizomat:  I do not like this Michael Moore character.  Where is the thoughtful, intelligent, populist discourse of the Left, and how in the world did this illogical, hypocritical buffoon get the job as spokesperson for my political proclivities?  I love class warriors of the 37% tax bracket.  Here's a random quote from his website, discussing the motivations of the Columbine shooters: One reason the film is called "Bowling For Columbine" is that, after the massacre, all the pundits and experts started blaming all the usual suspects that are wheeled out for blame whenever a school shooting occurs—evil rock music (in this case Marilyn Manson), violent video games, and bad parenting. My point is that those scapegoats make about as much sense as blaming bowling. After all, Eric and Dylan were bowlers, they took bowling class at Columbine—was bowling responsible for their evil deeds? If they bowled that morning, did the bowling trigger their desire to commit mass murder? Or, if they skipped their bowling class that morning, did that bring on the massacre? Had they bowled, that may have altered their mood and prevented them from picking up their guns. As you can see, this is all nonsense, just as it is nonsense to blame Marilyn Manson. I will refrain from taking potshots at this attempt at 'reason', as it is like a bullseye painted on the side of a ruminant, a great sprawling target turgid with the muddy waters of mystical ideation and sloppy thinking, and therefore unworthy of my time.     8:43:04 PM

Oh, I had a nice weekend, but now I'm back at work, and therefore have no delightful links to share with you.  I spent some time on Sunday observing the vocal recording techniques for a short CD my band is in the process of completing.  Recording technology, even at the level of the home studio, is simply amazing.  The engineer was seamlessly splicing together a vocal track from seven different takes.  And it sounded great.  I work in the computer industry, but my knowledge of software is abysmal, and my patience for the almost overwhelming learning curve present at the outset of tackling a new application approaches zero.  Which is, in some way I suppose, a vague apology for my ugly and unadorned website.  Expect no improvements - I cannot envision a future in which I spend vast swaths of time reading some poorly-written, purposefully obscure software manual.  I prefer to dangle, sloth-like, from the tree of willful ignorance, at least in this regard.  And, just to close in a fashion that ensures complete tangentiality, utter disconnectedness, and lack of a unifying vision for this entry, I'll mention that I spent Sunday morning reading Plato's Republic.  Man, I could just shake that smug bastard Socrates.  Damn him and his blasted, self-important "dialogues."  I'm all about Thrasymachus in that first section - I just wanted him to lean over and smack Socrates upside the head. I was reading the dialogue while sitting in the tub, and experienced an almost overwhelming desire to thrust the book beneath the water, it annoyed me so.  I mean, is there anything worse than reading a bloated, turgid discussion meant to define Justice, when, at the end of forty-odd pages, the conversants giggle about the fact that oops! they just plumb forgot that part? Urgh. After that introductory section, however, the book gets very fine, and I'll have more intelligent things to say about it in the coming days. 8:15:20 PM