Monday, August 14, 2006

The M.E. Times

I would like to humbly apologize to all my readers for the shockingly long delay. For a while I had nothing to say, then I had no time, and eventually the resnet system in my building went on the fritz and i havn't been able to write or read posts. Fucking annoying, I can tell you.

So!

All the news that's fit for the shitter:


Front Page

The USA and France hammer out a treaty to end fighting between... the USA and France? No, that would make sense! The USA and France have decided to end the fighting between Israel and Lebanon. Does anyone else find this utterly laughable? The absurdity of the very notion makes me snark my coffee. Last I heard a ceasefire was supposed to go into effect this morning, and then Israel announced that no, in fact they would like to keep shelling Lebanon please and thank you. There's a big fucking surprise.


Sports

I have of late been learning the game of cricket. The Pirate, you see, is quite the cricketer. This past Saturday and the Sunday before that I spent watching various of his matches. He plays for 4 clubs just for kicks and for 2 professional teams. (!!!) I love watching him bowl; his run-up is like a steam locomotive. And I can testify that the man has rhythm. Ahem.

At the first match I saw I had the pleasure of overhearing the conversation between some of his opponenents who were padding up to bat. One said to the other, "Do you have a bigger helmet? This one won't go over my head." The other replied, "But you never wear a helmet." Said the first, "I know, but if I get out there and they send McWheels at me, I'm not facing his fast balls without a lid on." HA! I relayed this bit of entertainment to Himself after the match, and we both found it endlessly amusing.

I must confess it did please me rather a lot to hear his team mates speak so well of him and hear them cheer him while he was bowling. To be admired by your comrades and feared by your opponents is, frankly, a good way to be.


Business

This week is my last week of work at the temp agency. Yay.


Entertainment

Saw Cars. Cute flick. Though, frankly, not Pixar's best. The animation and voices were undeniably superb, yes. And yes, I laughed my pants off. But I have a problem with the larger message. On a fundamental level, it's a backwards-facing film. It seeks to return to the glory days of yore, the good ol' days. The basic, overriding theme of the film is that the advancemtns of the past 60 years have come at too hight a price, and we'd all be better off if the universe just turned back the clock about 6 decades or so.

Are you kidding me?!? The glory days? Of what, the 1950s? Of McCarthyism, the Cold War, the days before the Sexual Revolution and the Civil Rights Movement??? Those good ol' days? News flash, people: the Good Ol' Days weren't that good.

I know that in a troubled world there is a natural tendency to look back with longing on what we perceive to be a simpler, happier time. But every era has its problems, and the only way to genuinely improve society for the betterment of all her citizens is to look to the future. Think about the difference between Cars and Monsters, Inc. The messages here are perfect, beautiful, diametric opposites. M.I. looked to the future, drove home the idea that if we want to change things for the better we have think creatively, allow our minds to be open to new ideas and innovations. Cars tells us to bog ourselves down in the past, to better our lives by hiding in our memories, a mindset which is inherently limiting and stultifying. It is a frame of mind which is tantamount to stuffing your head in your sandy ass, and it is that same mode of thinking which is responsible for most of the woes from which we are all trying so desperately to hide.

Also, the short at the beginning wasn't all that funny. I liked the one with the birds better.


Horoscopes

Capricorn: This weekend you will meet the parents of the man you love. Embrace your new family with an open mind and heart. Bring them pie.


Crimestoppers:

Authorities are currently seeking information leading to the identity of a new anonymous M.E. lurker. The lurker is flirtatious, has a poetic streak, and is presumed to be male, between the ages of puberty and pensioner. Any information leading to the outing of anonymous's identity should be submitted to the usual comments space.


(Personal to Anonymous: Thanks for the offer, but the, er, position has been, um, filled. Yeah.)

6 comments:

Billy said...

Can't help you with your lurker, but thought I ought to let you know the quiz is this wednesday at 8pm if you're still interested.

*shudders at blatant blog-pimping*

Sid said...

Heh. What was I going to say?
Oh yeah! Cars. Weird film. Where are all the people? Who makes the cars? Who builds the houses? WHERE ARE ALL THE PEOPLE?
Tis creepy. And sending out a v. odd message about fossil fuels...

ZB said...

"The Good Ol' Days weren't that good."

They never are. That doesn't stop us hankering after them though.

Nutter.

Anonymous said...

If Israel doesn't recognise the error of its ways then it needs to be forced to do so. The fact that the USA and France were able to agree on a resolution gives it a lot of power. Why? The USA and France come at opposite ends the spectrum of international opinion on the matter with France concerned mainly for Lebanon's interests and the USA for Israels. The ceasefire does now seem to be working and Israel is withdrawing its troops. I thought the fact that the resolution was passed unamimously was very significant.

Other countires deciding how to end wars they are not directly involved in? That is the idea behind the UN for good or bad. It seems to have prevented the third world war (Let us hope I don't speak too soon). I class that one in the good category.

realdoc said...

Aaah the endless comic possibilities of cricket.

FirstNations said...

i saw a cricket once. it was brown. it made a noise. snakes eat crickets. tarantulas eat crickets. crickets are a bug. they do not live near cricks. they live near rocks. rocks and sofas.

if crickets are bigger than you you should run from them.

that is all.