Greg Burgas Archives - Page 3 of 3

More Sunday Random Meanderings

Day o’ rest:

RELIGION

I was reading my parents-in-law’s Guidepost magazine (March 2005) when I came across the name Len Wein. He was described as a “comic book writer and creator of the new X-Men.” I don’t have the magazine, but Googling, I found this quote attributed to him: “A friend is someone who is there for you when he’d rather be anywhere else.”

I saw spray-painted on the wall of a church parking lot last weekend: “Blinded by Patriotism, Silenced by the Dollar.”

On a church sign on Route 28 between Oneonta and Cooperstown: “There’s no point being a pessimist, because it won’t work anyway.”

TRUTH

A radio talk show pundit said on the air that he thought that the reference of Karl Rove as Turd Blossom in Doonesbury was verisimilitude, when in fact W actually DOES call Rove Turd Blossom.
Verisimilitude. I love that word.

Someone recently turned me on to the The Borowitz Report. Where else could you read:
July 28, 2005 KIM JONG-IL DEMANDS IPOD
Latest Twist in Nuke Talks Raises Eyebrows, Concerns
July 27, 2005 DEBRIS FALLS OFF CHENEY
Scientists Study Videotape of Vice President Disintegrating
July 24, 2005 SWIFT BOAT VETS MISS ATTACKING KERRY
Life Without Negative Ads Devoid of Meaning, Vets Complain
July 21, 2005 ROBERTS PROMISES STRICTER CONTROLS ON FOUR-YEAR-OLD SON
Child’s Rampage Through D.C. Prompts Nominee’s Conservative Stance
July 18, 2005 NEW HARRY POTTER BOOK DESTROYS PRECIOUS RAINFOREST
652-Page Tome Ignites Ecological Catastrophe, Sierra Club Warns
Of course, these are “humorous” stories, but they COULD be true! They have verisimilitude!

These postcards ARE supposed to be true.

SEX

I went on a “next blog” meanering. Usually, they’re new sites that pop up, but this week I came across the blog of Marshall Brain. He is the founder of one of my favorite websites, How Stuff Works. He has some insights into porn. And it’s clean! Honest!

NOT CLEAN: One of my least favorite people is U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. The readers of sex columnist Dan Savage came up with a new term, and they named it after the junior senator from Pennsylvania. You may find it crude, but it seems to have caught on.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

I saw this on a news program, and then Brother IH sent me the info:
Store the word ” I C E ” in your mobile phone address book and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted “In Case of Emergency”.
In an emergency situation, ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them.

Remember that Mars is getting closer. If the Martians are going to launch the invasion, this would be a good time.

Blogger Greg seems to think the current President isn’t all that bright. I mean he REALLY thinks W is dumb. I don’t know how he could say such a thing. Just last month, he acknowledged that global warming exists and that it is at least partially a function of human behavior, only a year after his own administration had reached that conclusion, and only several years after just about everyone else had.
So this is what I’m trying to figure out:
If global warming is human-made,
and if global warming heats the oceans,
and since hurricanes thrive on warmer waters,
so that more hurricanes will occur,
are hurricanes still acts of God or, increasingly, acts of human insensitivity to our environment?

Which takes me back to
RELIGION, which is where I started this.

Blog Poem

This is an exercise stolen from Greg. The last one was a disaster, so I thought I’d try again.

Not only are these title lines from blogs, but they are from the MIXED Bag CD bloggers from what is currently on their pages. Only one is from mine. There are 11 titles that I put in the 10 lines.

Look for the ridiculous in everything, and you will find it.
SOULLESS RELIGIO-MANIACS
SPIN out of control
You People Are Weird Creeps
A bit more modern horror lamenting.
I have an Idea!
When I’m dictator …
Gonna Make You Behave…
Because I’m petty and can’t help myself
Kicking myself in the bootstraps

SPIN out of control

Greg Burgas over at Delenda est Carthago noted the recent list from Spin magazine of “the 100 best albums of the past 20 years,” then made comments about them. That was SO intellectually lazy that I decided to do the EXACT SAME THING. Then I noticed that Tom the Dog had ALREADY RIPPED OFF THE IDEA. You’d think that would dissuade me. But NO! I’d already started, so what the hey…

The ones in italics I own. The ones I didn’t own and had no comment on, I deleted:

1. Radiohead – OK Computer (1997). I feel like like I should like this more than I do.
2. Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988). Greg wrote: “I should own this, shouldn’t I?” So should I.
3. Nirvana – Nevermind (1991). When I first heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, I thought it was very funny. I didn’t realize it was a REAL expression of existential angst. First time that I felt old in terms of listening to current music.
4. Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted (1992). I own no Pavement, don’t know that I’d recognize a Pavement song if you played it for me.
5. The Smiths – The Queen is Dead (1986). I have a Morrissey album, which is as close as I get.
6. Pixies – Surfer Rosa (1988). Own a different Pixies album.
7. De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising (1989). I have different de la Soul
8. Prince – Sign O’ the Times (1987). Ah, an album I’ve actually played in the last 60 days.
9. PJ Harvey – Rid of Me (1993). She’s always intrigued me when she’d show up on other people’s albums, but I don’t own any of her work.
10. N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton (1988). Oughta get this, too, I suppose.
11. U2 – Achtung Baby (1991). There’s a Wim Wenders film Until The End Of The World that came out in 1991, which utterly confused me, but made me intrigued by the U2 song of the same name.
13. HÃ¼sker DÃ¼ – New Day Rising (1985). Have other HÃ¼sker DÃ¼.
15. Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville (1993). I have “Whip-Smart.”
16. Beck – Odelay (1996). I’m old enough to actually have been confused by his name (with Jeff Beck).
18. Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction (1987). No big fan of theirs.
19. Hole – Live Through This (1994). A whole song or two on compilation. Not my cuppa.
22. My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (1991). This group showed up on these Sire Records compilation series Just Say Yes.
24. Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out (1997). I admit, I’m not at all familiar.
25. Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral (1994). I suppose this is backward, but Johnny Cash’s version has made me want to seek out the original.
26. BjÃ¶rk – Post (1995). Have an early Sugarcubes album.
27. The Cure – The Head on the Door (1985). They make me depressed, though I have a remix of theirs that ain’t bad.
28. Oasis – Definitely Maybe (1994). Have different Oasis.
32. The Replacements – Tim (1985). I think I was given this CD. Hardly ever play it.
36. Pixies – Doolittle (1989). I have on VINYL, one of the last LPs I got.
39. Lucinda Williams – Lucinda Williams (1988). I share Greg’s affection for “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.” Saw her in Washington Park in Albany.
40. Run-D.M.C. – Raising Hell (1986). Most of the rap I own was given to me.
44. Green Day – Dookie (1994). I think I have an irrational like for this band, because of its name.
45. Kanye West – College Dropout (2004). I’ve heard the tunes; I shoulds put it on my want list.
49. Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998). I was “supposed to” like it, and didn’t at first, but it’s really grown on me.
50. New Order – Low-Life (1985). Have earlier New Order, which was sleep inducing.
51. Nirvana – In Utero (1993). Play it every February, for Kurt’s birthday.
52. Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill (1986).
53. Rage Against the Machine – The Battle of Los Angeles (1999). Probably will get some Rage sometime.
54. The Breeders – Last Splash (1993).
55. The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole (1997). Have one of their discs.
57. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells (2001).
58. Metallica – Master of Puppets (1986). I have never wanted to own any Metallica.
59. Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West (1997). He shows up on some compilation discs I own.
64. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). Greg said: “I never liked Eminem.” Me neither.
77. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002). This has been on my wish list for three years.
79. Moby – Everything is Wrong (1995). I own “Play.”
84. Soundgarden – Superunknown (1994). I love Weird Al’s version of “Black Hole Sun”.
85. R.E.M. – Automatic for the People (1992). I have a LOT of R.E.M.
86. Meat Puppets – Up on the Sun (1985). On some compilation I have. Not my style.
88. Stereolab – Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996). I think I have a song or two on a compilation.
89. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell (2003). Ditto.
90. Sonic Youth – Sister (1987). Ditto.
91. XTC – Skylarking (1986).
93. Pearl Jam – Ten (1991).
95. Elastica – Elastica (1995). Totally missed them.
96. The Pogues – Rum, Sodomy and the Lash (1985). I should get some Pogues.
97. Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998). Don’t know.
98. Cornershop – When I Was Born for the 7th Time (1997). Don’t know.

14 out of 100. Not very cool by SPIN standards.

Then Tom came up with a missing 25, plus the last three “worth fighting for”:

Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes
Bad Religion, Stranger Than Fiction
Barenaked Ladies, Gordon
Ben Folds Five, Whatever and Ever Amen
Johnny Cash, American Recordings
The Cure, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Faith No More, Angel Dust
Peter Gabriel, So
Indigo Girls, Rites of Passage
Lemonheads, It’s a Shame About Ray
Metallica, the black album
Metallica, …And Justice For All
Alanis Morrisette, Jagged Little Pill
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, She’s the One soundtrack
Rage Against the Machine, the first album
The Refreshments, Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy
R.E.M., Green
R.E.M., Out of Time
Soundgarden, Badmotorfinger
Bruce Springsteen, The Rising
Sugar, Copper Blue
Therapy?, Troublegum
They Might Be Giants, John Henry
Weezer, the first album
Neil Young, Harvest Moon
Foo Fighters, The Colour and the Shape
Green Day, American Idiot
Tom Petty, Full Moon Fever

13 out of 28. NOW I’m getting cooler.

Then correspondents of Tom offered up some others; I’ll list only the ones I have.

Sting’s The Soul Cages
Tracy Chapman’s Tracy Chapman
U2’s The Joshua Tree and Pop
Cassandra Wilson’s Belly of the Sun
Elvis Costello’s King of America
James Hornerâ€™s Glory
Bob Dylanâ€™s Time Out of Mind and Love & Theft
Bruce Springsteenâ€™s Tunnel of Love
Paul Simonâ€™s Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints

I’d also consider albums by Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Loretta Lynn (produced by Jack White) and what the heck, the Beatles and Elvis Presley’s greatest hits. Or can a GH be a best album? I always thought that the Sly & the Family Stone’s GH, with several songs not otherwise available on LP, was one of the great albums of its time.

Gee, Greg, this SEEMED like a good idea at the time…

USA News

I’ve been musing over the London bombing fall week. Not about why. One of my fellow bloggers, Greg Burgas has an interesting theory on that. He’s kidding. Sorta.

It’s more about what is the news and why do we respond the way we do. It was the late House Speaker Tip O’Neill that famously said: “All politics is local.” And in THIS country, it seems that almost all NEWS is local. Oh, yeah, there’s an international segment in the broadcast, but it’s so often about OUR soldier in Iraq or OUR local celebrity. When Ismail Merchant of the Merchant-Ivory films’ fame died, it was a LOCAL story in the local paper, because Merchant had a farm in nearby Columbia County. (Two mentions of Columbia County in three days. Gads.) Of course, it does not always have to be positive. The Houston trucker who transported illegal immigrants in his vehicle, several of whom died, is a local story because he used to live in Schenectady.

Bombings

Some guy I read was complaining, and this is a heavy-duty paraphrase, “London was bombed. Why is the second lead, ‘Is America next?’ Why is it always about us?”

If someone conducted a poll, and the responses were honest, I’m betting that the 7/7 bombing in London was more palpable to most Americans than…let’s take a comparable example, the 3/11 bombing in Madrid last year. Both attacks likely the work of the same organization, and twice as many people died in Spain than in Great Britain. So why IS that? Is it because the Brits speak our language? (Actually, we speak THEIR language, but let’s not complicate things here.) Is it because of our common heritage? (They’re more like US.)

Who’s she?

I remember seeing a story on ABC News about a young black woman of 22 who disappeared in Illinois, and her mother, who was NOT well-spoken, trying to get the media involved in her disappearance. Her mother was told, “No, she’s 22. NO one would be interested.” Then Dru Sjodin, a 22-year old blonde student from North Dakota goes missing, and it’s national news. Indeed, now there’s Dru’s Law, the National Sex Offender Public Database Act of 2005 being offered up in Congress. Meanwhile, I don’t even remember the name of that young black woman or know whether she was ever found. Was it that Dru Sjodin looked more like US (well, not me specifically…)

Why Laci Peterson and not other victims of violent crimes have something to do, I’m told, with identification with Laci – heck, we call her by her first name, as though we KNEW her.

Their disasters

Bam, Iran was destroyed by an earthquake on December 26, 2003. The initial reports said that 30,000 were killed, later upped to 43,000. It barely made two news cycles. I had initially thought that the reason that the Christmastime tsunami of 2004 was so newsworthy, long before anyone knew the death toll, was because there were so many people with video cameras showing the devastation, and that may be true. But inevitably, there were those stories about how Americans and people like US lost their lives because we can RELATE to them.

Indeed, there have been floods in Bangladesh and China over the past 40 years that have taken more lives than the tsunami, but that barely hit our consciousness, if at all. Maybe it was also the novelty of the tsunami. Or maybe it’s that news people like to say “tsunami” and hope that the graphics department spells it correctly.

When I’m close to the border with Canada and watch the CBC news, it seemed to be more…balanced. When I watched the news in Barbados in 1999, the same thing- a greater awareness of the whole world picture.

How is it that the Great Melting Pot can be so xenophobic? I ask, not out of anger, but out of concern.

(I always hate posing questions that I really can’t answer.)

Mixed CD-Greg Burgas

For some obscure reason, I was singing “Istanbul (not Constantinople)” in the locker room of the Albany Y a few weeks ago. I noted to one of my compatriots, Phil, that the original came out in 1953, the year I was born, but I didn’t know who performed it. (It turned out to be the Four Lads. It entered the charts on 10/17 and went to #10.) Please know that I don’t USUALLY go around singing “Istanbul”.

I’m involved in this CD exchange among two dozen bloggers, organized by Chris “Lefty” Brown (May 23). The first disc to arrive was on that same day from a guy named Greg Burgas, and what’s on it? “Istanbul”! It’s the They Might Be Giants version (which I own), but still pretty spooky.

It’s a pretty eclectic mix from Delenda Est Carthago, the name of his blog. Some of it I liked a lot. The title cut is a relatively obscure Diana Ross and the Supremes hit, “Forever Came Today,” a fine song (though how that defines the theme of the disc, I’m not quite sure yet.) Only two songs I didn’t care for, and I attribute that to a generational thing. (A Fred Hembeck lets me know that I’m the second oldest one in the exchange; he has 5 weeks on me.) One was Ugly in the Morning, an apt description of the Faith No More song, and the other some Jane’s Addiction song that would have driven me to drugs if I didn’t have willpower.

On the other hand, a lot of stuff worked. Alison Krauss’ Down to the River to Pray (the second O Brother cut on the disc) oddly segues nicely with the guitar noodling in the beginning of a song by the hard rockin’ Cinderella! Who knew? There are other links like that throughout.

But for me, THE find was: “Somewhere between a 1930s Cuban dance orchestra, a classical chamber music ensemble, a Brasilian marching street band and Japanese film noir is the 12-piece Pink Martini. Tasty. I want MORE.

(Oh, and I just figured out WHY Greg was first – his wife just had a baby. Congrats, Greg, but did you think having a baby might interfere with blogging and making mixed CDs? Can’t understand THAT.)

OK so I wrote that, but now I have two dozen MORE CDs I should address. Four I haven’t heard, and – fortunately – a few I haven’t received yet. Don’t know that I’ll be as verbose in the future. BTW, I expect that, eventually, the song lists of all of these bloggers will show up on Lefty’s page. If Chris’ list shows up on the page, I’ll link to that. MY list will show up on THIS page, also eventually.