Hot Shyte

1. Spin writes, about R&B powerhouse Prince:

"In an interview with Dick Clark following a 1980 performance on American Bandstand, the Minneapolis iconoclast responded to a question about his career by inexplicably holding up four fingers and saying nothing."

Now that's some great research.

Also, download or buy "I Would Die 4 U".

And "Raspberry Beret".

While you're at it, maybe even check out "Diamonds and Pearls".

Actually, yes definitely check that and "I Wanna Be Your Lover".

2. Please check out this link and freak the fuck out. (Includes gnarly photos that may not be permissable for the work enviornment.)

3. Bad Religion have put out a new album The Empire Strikes First. Bad title, great pop-punk. I missed listening to this band. They sound like 7th grade (in a good, non-awkward, gonna-try-to-skateboard-and-meet-chicks way).

(I will be writing more in about a week after I visit my honey dips in Winston-Salem. I have found a job and will start work the day after Labor Day which will settle me into more of a schedule.)

Nationalism Whut, What?

[I recently finished reading Walter Abish's fantastic How German Is It for a second time. It is a book that deals with the issues of a country 30 years past WWII attempting to embrace a new attitude while still retaining something that is altogether German. Of course, there are problems with this, and Abish masterfully deals with exploring these inconsistencies, unavoidable Germanisms, and those things that aren't specific to any culture, but, at times, considered "German" or "American" or "x-ian". The following are some thoughts that I had while and after reading the book.]

-Nationalism is an idea used out of both pride and convenience. Something may be declared "German" when there is a group of people wanting to share in something. That is, when one is considered timely or precise, it is often times considered a distinctly German characteristic. But cannot another be as precise as a German engineer? Surely, these national characteristics are often times complicated by those who embrace them because they enjoy seeing themselves as exactly that. Convenience also becomes a simple way to explain things nationally that may not be done in more complex terms. It is a simple way of not thinking: "Why precision is a German trait!"

Nationalism is a difficult idea because many people subscribe to it on these blind terms that may be misleading. More and more, people in our contemporary society are seeing themselves this way, that, nationally, people act a certain way, that it is written into their DNA. This eliminates deviation and embraces stereotype, a difficult and dangerous notion. Also, anyone of any power can manipulate this idea of nationalism, hence, the way this novel ends with a hypnotism.

-Capitalism and democracy are two conflicting ideas that need to work together idealistically, but never do. The working force, responsible for daily labor and helping our country run, never exist in a visible manner until their voices are combined. Those that are in more vocal and powerful positions, of course, are more wealthy and always have the benifit of being heard. Therefore, democracy is essentially not in effect, capitalism is. (This is not to say I think its wrong. It just exists this way.)

-The nature of a thing: what is it composed of?:

"...What is omitted?
What is distorted?
What is clarified?
What is sensed?..."

Seemingly, all these things (plus many more) tend to comprise the actual make-up of something. But usually, something will remain left out, misunderstood, not comprehended, etc.:

"The passer-by took it for granted that Ulrich spoke German. He also, Ulrick assumed, took it for granted that what he had just witnessed was an accident, just as Ulrich took it for granted that it was not."

This miscommunication of sorts leads me to believe an absolute existence of something may not be true. How may we know of something if not everyone agrees, when there are multiple angles to view, when no one can be correct?

Now, there must be some absolutes. But are there? Is not a car a automobile, a lump of metal, a sculpture, and many other things? So particularly, with notions of personality, such as nationality, how can one be labeled German when they may, in fact, be American, but act stereotypically German, or be a German ex-pat? This labelization is not proven effective or necessary. This shows the limits of an imperfect language--the only possiblity is to encounter all possibilities, which, of course, is impossible.

Wake up!

"Three Flags"

So, I recently (on Tuesday) got back from traveling throughout Europe. It was a hell of a trip. I started in London and went to Brugge & Oostende (Belgium), Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Interlaken (Switzerland), Paris, San Sebastian (Spain), and Madrid. Two of my friends (BC and Jason) and I made the trip in about a month meeting up with two other friends of mine for about two weeks (Jesse and Anthony). We had a blast full of drinking great beer, seeing great things and meeting great people.

The best part was definitely meeting people. Since we were unknowing Americans, never having spent a signifigant amount of time outside the United States we felt it to be out duty to meet as many local people as possible from each place. While each person had a different outlook on life, most held the same view of the US: They fucking hate Bush.

Don't get me wrong: I hate him too. Only, mostly, their ideas are formed from a media very opposed to Bush, much like our ideas were formed around a Bush-biased (or used to be) media. That is, much of Europe is consuming their media in the same way people here watch Fox News: only, the stance is more lefty than ridiculous. It's incredibly interesting to see this happening all while these people proclaim that "most Americans are stupid".

That last comment gets to me. Fuck you! Europeans are just as uninformed as many Americans. Most of the Europeans I met were only concerned with bashing the current state of America without knowing enough to actually make intelligent arguments. Rather, it was a popular course of America-bashing most likely due to the fact that we are the most powerful country in the world, 30 years ahead of everyone, and they are not.

Repeatedly we would hear, Americans need to "get out of their bubble". I agree, but its not so simple. Other cultures and countries are not a short, cheap train ride away. We live on a different continent where plane rides are extremely expensive and only a very lucky few can experience what I just experienced. We don't have media outlets that prefer to cover international happenings because, really, the national media is concerned with what is happening nationally. That's what sells papers and gets viewers. (I didn't forget: the media's angle on fear is horrible and misleading. But that is an issue for another time.)

So, when I talked to a kebab cook about his feelings about his opposition to the Bush empire I started to understand something: it is now our time to step up to the plate. If you are informed (that means both sides of the political spectrum!) you must speak to people about politics. We cannot have blind agreement, we must be learned. America is a place that first made this possible, we must follow through. America is still beautiful, we cannot view our country as lesser because of one man. Don't listen to Michael Moore (though his movie has some very skewed points), read the newspaper. It's all there. Talk to people about this, make them listen, create an argument, admit when your wrong, and make your opponent submit when you outweigh him.

No one paying any attention to many forms of media these days will vote for Bush. So get them to do just that. Pay attention.