Guess my icon
Jun. 30th, 2006 07:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vicarzI have lips
I have wet
and I have wind.
Yet I cannot whistle.
But man, can I blow. Oh man can I blow. Listen to this...
Sweet salvation has found me. Radio. This whole thing is about radio.
I was going to write about how stupid Israel is, after just the other day I was trying to defend them as not maniacs. Crazy perhaps, but far less crazy than the civilian stomping yahoos around them. Then they kidnapped the opposing party, right as they were making moderate statements about admitting Israel could exist. They also blew out the power supply for about half the Palestinians. This after an attack on Israeli military - not civilians, military. Sigh. So I started between angry and ... that sort of hopeless sad you get when you can't see an answer or an end to the pain. WETA had some good interviews and opinions on the conflict from both sides.
I hopped onto a station I loathe, WTOP. I know they play traffic and I need the report, plus I like to stay balanced. So I've had a revelation about WTOP, thanks to their own ad. At first I just noticed that everyone on there is mean - every speaker is attacking someone, calling them stupid - never putting forth any direction or ideas, just tearing down others. The ad for WTOP really drove home their message though - it promised that IN CASE OF EMERGENCY they will have up to the minute information. They have the best information feeds IN DISASTERS NO MATTER HOW GREAT. They cater to fear, to the weak, to the ignorant. Listen to us and we'll protect you. Fear, fear, and turn to us for comfort.
WETA had a great guest speaker, an essay read, where a linguist (a cunning linguist?) explained that the partisan hatred we hear today actually pales in comparison of that from years ago. He said that it was brilliant to turn an anti-viewpoint into an entire business - that Fox and the like, noting Ann Coulter, are not supposed to be educating. They're a new breed of satirists, well that's not the right word. They intentionally voice opinions for the sheer sake of aggravating people - and if you react, then they mock you for not getting the joke. There really isn't a defense to this, other than to shrug them off. He compared the whole thing to Archie Bunker, where the politics were really just there to show the interesting reactions of the characters. The news wasn't important, but the look on Archie Bunkers face was. So is Ann Coulter trying to make a funny expression on your face? Did you do it?
I was thinking about all this, and trying to listen to WETA. I prefer the NPR stuff to the TOP stuff as it's just nicer, but by the time you get to writer's almanac it gets so sugary sweet you want to wretch. Yesterday I nearly wept when they described the sad life of the author of "The little Prince." I was in no mood for this today - for some reason I'm not shouldering the weight of the world well. I heard a brief interlude with guitar, and started to seek out such. All the rock stations were playing talk. Everyone wants to hear talk. I wanted an instrument. Another one.
I flipped stations, and was blessed with WPFW. I loved the song, the singer, and the strange haunting familiarity of what I was hearing. I...it wouldn't...it couldn't be. It was. I was listening to the song I've heard by Tom Waits "Tem. Tay. Shun." Only sung by what sounded like a black woman. Oh sweet sweaty jebus, what a sound. Granted, I understood the lyrics much better when not sung by Waits - my confusion was much more clear. I sung along, hoping my voice didn't kill any wildlife along the parkway. This was exactly what I needed.
God, I'm hearing song after song I already know. Now they're playing a song I know from Bronski Beat. It aint necessarily so. This is a funny issue with popular music - many songs I thought were written by the artists I loved were remakes and covers of songs from whom I never heard the original artist. Jazz seems to be like reggae - playing songs you already know, only changed into their style.
I'm weary of the world. I'm weary of work. Hell, I'm weary of me. I'm taking a break. I'm listening to http://www.wpfw.org/ and probably not going to stop anytime soon. I think I'll have some port. I want to hear this sound, this crunchy organic dirty sound. I want to smell grass, smoke, and booze in humid air. I want dogs to bark and kids to yell. Let the phone ring. I want to wash myself clean of all these...of all of this.
I have wet
and I have wind.
Yet I cannot whistle.
But man, can I blow. Oh man can I blow. Listen to this...
Sweet salvation has found me. Radio. This whole thing is about radio.
I was going to write about how stupid Israel is, after just the other day I was trying to defend them as not maniacs. Crazy perhaps, but far less crazy than the civilian stomping yahoos around them. Then they kidnapped the opposing party, right as they were making moderate statements about admitting Israel could exist. They also blew out the power supply for about half the Palestinians. This after an attack on Israeli military - not civilians, military. Sigh. So I started between angry and ... that sort of hopeless sad you get when you can't see an answer or an end to the pain. WETA had some good interviews and opinions on the conflict from both sides.
I hopped onto a station I loathe, WTOP. I know they play traffic and I need the report, plus I like to stay balanced. So I've had a revelation about WTOP, thanks to their own ad. At first I just noticed that everyone on there is mean - every speaker is attacking someone, calling them stupid - never putting forth any direction or ideas, just tearing down others. The ad for WTOP really drove home their message though - it promised that IN CASE OF EMERGENCY they will have up to the minute information. They have the best information feeds IN DISASTERS NO MATTER HOW GREAT. They cater to fear, to the weak, to the ignorant. Listen to us and we'll protect you. Fear, fear, and turn to us for comfort.
WETA had a great guest speaker, an essay read, where a linguist (a cunning linguist?) explained that the partisan hatred we hear today actually pales in comparison of that from years ago. He said that it was brilliant to turn an anti-viewpoint into an entire business - that Fox and the like, noting Ann Coulter, are not supposed to be educating. They're a new breed of satirists, well that's not the right word. They intentionally voice opinions for the sheer sake of aggravating people - and if you react, then they mock you for not getting the joke. There really isn't a defense to this, other than to shrug them off. He compared the whole thing to Archie Bunker, where the politics were really just there to show the interesting reactions of the characters. The news wasn't important, but the look on Archie Bunkers face was. So is Ann Coulter trying to make a funny expression on your face? Did you do it?
I was thinking about all this, and trying to listen to WETA. I prefer the NPR stuff to the TOP stuff as it's just nicer, but by the time you get to writer's almanac it gets so sugary sweet you want to wretch. Yesterday I nearly wept when they described the sad life of the author of "The little Prince." I was in no mood for this today - for some reason I'm not shouldering the weight of the world well. I heard a brief interlude with guitar, and started to seek out such. All the rock stations were playing talk. Everyone wants to hear talk. I wanted an instrument. Another one.
I flipped stations, and was blessed with WPFW. I loved the song, the singer, and the strange haunting familiarity of what I was hearing. I...it wouldn't...it couldn't be. It was. I was listening to the song I've heard by Tom Waits "Tem. Tay. Shun." Only sung by what sounded like a black woman. Oh sweet sweaty jebus, what a sound. Granted, I understood the lyrics much better when not sung by Waits - my confusion was much more clear. I sung along, hoping my voice didn't kill any wildlife along the parkway. This was exactly what I needed.
God, I'm hearing song after song I already know. Now they're playing a song I know from Bronski Beat. It aint necessarily so. This is a funny issue with popular music - many songs I thought were written by the artists I loved were remakes and covers of songs from whom I never heard the original artist. Jazz seems to be like reggae - playing songs you already know, only changed into their style.
I'm weary of the world. I'm weary of work. Hell, I'm weary of me. I'm taking a break. I'm listening to http://www.wpfw.org/ and probably not going to stop anytime soon. I think I'll have some port. I want to hear this sound, this crunchy organic dirty sound. I want to smell grass, smoke, and booze in humid air. I want dogs to bark and kids to yell. Let the phone ring. I want to wash myself clean of all these...of all of this.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 03:07 pm (UTC)Not like anyone WE know...
no subject
Date: 2006-06-30 04:48 pm (UTC)But that said, touché
and you say you can't write
Date: 2006-06-30 04:38 pm (UTC)Re: and you say you can't write
Date: 2006-06-30 04:51 pm (UTC)I can't write real pieces, I can't make myself create a subject of worth and do significant work on it. I have some talent, but it's not developed.
Still, I do write a bit better since I started this law school thingy. I've practiced...something. Hell, even LJ has me voluntarily writing essay after essay.
PS thanks for letting me know I didn't miss a thing last night. I suspected as much, and after paying dearly two weeks in a row, decided not to risk it a third time. You confirmed my fears.