Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Nuts...

Thus begins the diminished quality and value of my posts, but I must press on until Danny cries "uncle."

Anybody here like peanuts? You know, I think I've officially reached the "you might want to call an 800 number because you have a problem" stage with peanuts. No kidding, I simply can't stop eating them. I'm burning through about a pound a week. Is that a problem?

I've read that certain nuts, including peanuts, can contain aflatoxin, a carcinogenic poison. The jury seems to be out as to whether or not eating raw nuts is therefore a risk.

Favorite nuts, anyone? My top three are peanuts, cashews, and pistachios. Almonds get an honorable mention, whereas walnuts are a disgrace to the nut family. Macadamia have been overrated since Higgins did those Mauna Loa adds in the 80's. Pecans? They're the Michael Bolton's of the nut world: sure there's plenty of avid fans, but most are older women.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The End of Netscape

What happened to you Netscape? You used to be cool. Remember the days when your logo was just that flashing "N" in the corner of the browser and people thought that Mosaic was better? Well, I stuck by you. For almost a decade me and you were best buddies. You were the cheese, I was the macaroni. What happened? Why did you have to go run off and get mixed up with that floozy AOL? For shame!

Frankly, this hurts me more than it hurts you. We had some good times, you and me. You were the vehicle through which my wife and I arranged our first date; you were there to confirm my Ebay bids on potato chips that look like Tony Danza; you were there to protect me from 800 daily e-mails about Viagra, and multi-millionaire Kenyan diplomats who needed to deposit $10 million in my bank account while fleeing the country.

What happened? Now you're all AOL'd, and G-mail never looked so good. And your home page...I don't even know where to begin. "Today's Hot Stories Voted by You"??? "Netscape anchors recommend..."??? I thought you were above jumping on the social news site bandwagon. Do we really need another DIGG? Sigh. I don't think I can even talk about this anymore...let me collect myself, and maybe we'll talk later.

Monday, August 28, 2006

The Power of Spite

Shouts out to Danny who has been kind enough to shout me out on his worthy blog. All the same, there's a whiff of condescension in said shout out: Brian, the cute newbie to the blog world, all unawares of the trials of posting daily? The (ostensibly) seasoned blog veteran shakes his head and clucks his tongue. "Oh, he'll learn. He'll start posting once a month in just a few days, tell you what."

Enter the power of spite, as the cute newbie officially vows to post five times a week, if for nothing else but to say "In your face, once-a-month-ers!" :)

Caring for the Widows

One thing that has always struck me about the Old Testament (one among about 50 million other remarkable things) is the Lord's oft repeated call to care for the disadvantaged, typically expressed as "the widows" and the "fatherless" (e.g., Dt.14:29; c.f., Ps. 68:5). This is culturally remarkable in that the laws of other ANE cultures largely disregarded anybody save the wealthy. The same string runs through the New Testament (e.g., Jas. 2:27).

The notion of caring for widows hit home with me this Sunday when I went to pay a visit to my grandmother (a.k.a., NaNa). NaNa is 94 years old now, her mind is well afflicted now with age related dementia, and she needs full-time care to make it through her day to day. My wife and I paid her a visit yesterday, which is always very hard.

For sure, it's difficult to see the grandmother whom I love in such a different state. She's so quiet, and the conversations are naught but a few exchanges of simple thoughts. From time to time she'll wreck me by holding my face (in the way only an Italian grandmother can) and tell me that I'm a good boy. Since we can't talk much, the visit is mostly me and my wife sitting by her, holding her hand, and just letting time pass by. The way she holds my hand leads me to believe that this is all the visit she needs or wants.

Thinking of my grandmother always brings verses like James 2:27 into my head, and I question my obediance thereto. Is my grandmother being cared for? How do you know for sure, when the person in question cannot express their own needs? Is she suffering? Is she in pain? I don't suppose I'll ever know. And how do I care for her? I can pray and I can visit, but thus ends the list, so far as I know.

I think with it all comes a double dose of helplessness: On the one hand, I see and experience a woman who is three times my age yet helpless as an infant. On the other, I experience my own helplessness to do anything about it; my own inability to do anything but sit next to her holding her hand and looking out the window, or watching the second hand on the clock.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Whence Arises Musical Anger?

On my commute in this morning I was listening to what I believe is the high-point of Dave Matthew's career: Listener Supported. For my money, this is his best offering since Remember Two Things and Under the Table and Dreaming. Much as I have loved DMB, and especially drummer Carter Beauford, the issue of violin/fiddle player Boyd Tinsley has always been somewhat of a stumbling block for me.

On the one hand, to the best of my knowledge, the list of massively popular bands that feature a fiddler is short. Few other pop/rock tunes feature this instrument, so adds a certain uniqueness to DMB, though I'd hardly call them pioneers. They just happen to be wildly popular, and if you've ever attended a DMB concert (I've been to six), Boyd is a crowd favorite.

On the other hand, I don't think Boyd is much of a fiddler. This first occurred to me when I started paying more attention to his solos. Rhythmically, there is scant variety, he seems to just saw back and forth; effectively just playing 16th's up and down. This didn't bother me that much, since my previous exposure to fiddle was largely confined to Charlie Daniel's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." It started to bug me some more when I heard Jake Armerding play with Christopher Williams for the first time. If I may mix country and hip-hop lingo, homeboy can fiddle. Fid-izzle, fo' shizzle even.

Now, Boyd bothers me some more, which, after such unecessary background information, brings me to my point: why do people (myself included) get angry over certain music and musicians? You mention certain musicians or bands to people and it truly evokes visceral anger from them, "Oh, man, I can't stand Lisa Loeb," "I hate Vanilla Ice," "The Rolling Stones stink; they're so overrated," etc.

I therefore ask my titular question, whence arises this anger? Why does it bother us so much for a musician who does not appeal to our particular tastes to enjoy popular acclaim? We could even broaden the notion to include any celebrity at all. Anybody here annoyed by Paris Hilton? Perhaps that sets the bar too low, but aren't there actors or other celebrities that you hate, or more mildly, can't stand? People upon whom you are quick to heap insults?

This presents an interesting conflict for me as a Christian. For sure, I oughtn't hate any man or women (doubly-so if my doing so is a mere matter of my own artistic tastes) because we are each one created in God's image. James 3:9 comes to mind. Perhaps, then, I simply hate what they represent. So did I hate Guns 'N Roses because I didn't care for their music, or because I disliked the sex, drugs and rock 'n roll lifestyle they lived and therefore glorified? Well, therein lies the rub, because in actuality, I like Guns 'N Roses. I'm diametrically opposed to the message they send and lifestyle they live(d), but when the guitar solo for "Sweet Child 'O Mine" is on the radio, it's all air-guitar.

So, animosity towards an artist because I dislike their work is not justifiable (nay, sinful), and I live a double-standard if I claim said dislike is strictly due to their behavior. But this doesn't exhaust my reasons for hating artists.

When Stone Temple Pilots first came on the scene, they were wildly hated by many of my peers because they were perceived as a Pearl Jam knock-off. Well, if being unoriginal is criminal, we'd have very few bands out there at all. So what about lack of talent? Cry-baby personality (paging Axl Rose...)?

The answer is probably a mixed bag. If something rubs us the wrong way, and it's also enjoying massive popularity, it annoys us. Fair enough. I don't much care for chewing noises, and if there were chewing noises on the radio all the time, I'd be irked, or in fibrulation, or both. And, for sure, to some degree the lifestyle or message of a certain artist can be just cause for dislike. No matter how catchy I find Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People," it's *really* hard for me to run out and buy the album, let alone say that I "like" Marilyn Manson (forgive the trite example.)

For myself, I think there are two things involved that run a bit deeper and darker: jealousy and identity. Of jealousy, I might simply confess that part of the reason Paris Hilton annoys me is because she has millions of dollars for which she did nothing honorable. Me, I have to work hard for my money (Donna Summer, anyone?), and I'd love to not have to do that, and enjoy the immense creature comfort that Paris does. Do I not also feel a pang when I see all the attention and admiration certain celebrities get? Touche. Herein lies the "lack of talent" problem. A classically trained guitarist dry-heaves at the thought of Eddie VanHalen. Is this not because (at least, in part) because Eddie VanHalen can print his own money while the (arguably) more gifted and devoted musician has to use non-quilted toilet paper?

Of identity, I must confess that a certain part of who I am is wrapped up in my artistic tastes. Think "Fight Club": I am my sofa. I am my musical taste. Asking somebody what kind of music they like is probably one of the most loaded questions we have, which partially explains why so many people answer, "I like everything," or "All kinds of stuff." Who wants to pigeonhole themselves into just one genre? We dare not mention simply one band, because, like our identity, our artistic tastes are complex. We are complex, so follows our likes and dislikes.

For my money (sorry to say that again), I think our identities are a little too closely wrapped up in our tastes. Take any band that has risen from obscurity to mass-popularity. DMB is a good example, or even The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Their first fans, the local ones, the ones who thought they were awesome before 10 million other people did, often feel a pang when they become popular. Now they've "sold out." Or, "I just like their older stuff." Liking a popular band steals a bit our your uniqueness, see? So it's on to more obscure stuff, stuff that's new and insteresting and different, because you want to be new and interesting and different. Fan of DMB? Yawn. That's so 10-years and 10 million albums ago. Fan of Brian Funck? Never heard of him; who's he? Interesting...

Okay, I've hit my rambling quota for the day. I guess in the end, music brings to mind a common series of struggles I have as a Christian: (1) Love all people equally because God loves them and created them in His image, (2) Flee from jealousy and comparison, (3) Remember that I've been given unmerited favor and blessing, too, not just Paris Hilton, (4) Root my identity in Christ, as a child of the Living God, not in my tastes. The apostle John comes to mind here. He is not John, he is "the one whom Jesus loved." How wonderful if that was the starting place for my identity!

Hmm. Nothing new there. Yawn. That is so 10 sermons ago...

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Over the past few weeks I have reaquainted myself with Mystery Science Theater 3000, a show which, like Seinfeld, broke my heart at its close.

I was watching an episode called "Space Mutiny," which mocks the eponymous Sci-Fi B-film wherein a buffed, high-school-football-star-looking "hero" (see below) runs around a large boiler room (ostensibly the bowels of a large space ship) and shoots people.

Mike and the 'bots proceed to assign him phony action hero names throughout the movie, all of which absolutely kill me. I was able to put together a list of all the names they call him during the film (with a little Google help...I don't have that much time on my hands). N.B., names are best enjoyed when spoken out loud in your best movie trailer voice-over voice: "This summer, Tom Cruise is [insert name here]." I guarantee a few chuckles at best, 10 minutes of wasted time at worst. Enjoy!


Slab Bulkhead
Fridge Largemeat
Punt Speedchunk
Butch Deadlift
Bold Bigflank
Splint Chesthair
Flint Ironstag
Bolt VanderHuge
Thick McRunfast
Blast Hardcheese
Buff Drinklots
Trunk Slamchest
Fist Rockbone
Stump Beefgnaw
Smash Lampjaw
Punch Rockgroin
Buck Plankchest
Stump Chunkman
Dirk Hardpeck
Rip Steakface
Crud Bonemeal
Brick Hardmeat
Rip Sidecheek
Lump Beefbroth
Punch Sideiron
Gistle McThornbody
Slate Fistcrunch
Buff Hardback
(Bob Johnson)
Blast Thickneck
Crunch Buttsteak
Slab Squatthrust
Lump Beefbroth
Touch Rustrod
Reef Blastbody
Big McLargehuge
Smoke ManMuscle
Beat PunchBeef
Pack Blowfist
Roll Fizzlebeef

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Willkommen

...and so Brian posts his first blog ever, and with each keystroke, a little piece of him dies.

Are my thoughts, opinions and rantings worthy of rearranging tiny bits of rust on an aluminum platter tucked away in some server somewhere? Time will tell, though I predict that the answer is a hearty "no," perhaps amended with "loser," or some variant thereof.

Thus ends my first blog ever. Stay tuned...