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December 31, 2003 |
What was I hoping for in the first place? Well, I think I wanted to believe that microcosmic practices could add up to more than macrocosmic forces; that is, I wanted to believe that the life of a human being wasn’t so completely constrained by a hierarchical procession of power that at least some everyday actions mattered in the collective pattern of existing. It’s not that I think that some people’s lives matter, and others don’t; it’s that people must have the impression that their lives matter, in order to convince them it’s all worthwhile, and the current arrangement is convincing for only the smallest number of people. In other words, I just don’t think the story of our time is a very good one for most of the people of our time.
What did I learn?
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Things are getting worse, not better. Aside from improvements in certain parts of medical science, most of the narratives that control our lives are telling increasingly cynical and despairing stories. Sports: Ruined by capitalism, with no end in sight; who needs another World Series with the Yankees versus whomever? Professional sports just isn’t an interesting story when the financial disparity between teams is so dramatic. Entertainment: Too much product, and the ubiquity of celebrity news has completely destroyed the illusion of the creative process. How can we take our stories seriously (and I think we have to, to keep believing that stuff matters) when the process of storymaking has been so completely deconstructed? Politics: It wasn’t long ago that ideologies mattered; but now there is no difference between the parties, wherever you live, just a question of how much they’re willing to do for the payola.
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The oil barons will determine the fate of my world at least until I am dead. I’ve never questioned the rule of the rich; but it seems like only one kind of rich matters now: oil rich. Even though the supremacy of oil is a story at least a century in the making, the extent of its power has never been so pronounced as it is now (right at the moment its power and sustainability is being questioned). Obviously, the main reason for this is that the Bush administration is composed largely of, and works on behalf of, oil and energy company executives; and since America is by far the most powerful nation on earth, the de facto rule of the oil barons is the natural consequence. Consider this passage from the 1991 Pulitzer Prize winning book by Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power: "It is oil that makes possible where we live, how we live, how we commute to work, how we travel – even where we conduct our courtships. It is the lifeblood of suburban communities. Oil (and natural gas) are the essential components in the fertilizer on which world agriculture depends; oil makes it possible to transport food to the totally non-self-sufficient megacities of the world. Oil also provides the plastics and chemicals that are the bricks and mortar of contemporary civilization, a civilization that would collapse if the world’s oil wells suddenly went dry" (15).
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John Travolta is the key to the entire entertainment industry, and maybe life itself. See my evolving "Travolta Hypothesis" here and here. Then consider this: "In the final analysis, stars are created by the need we have for them, and not by talent or absence of talent or even by the film industry or advertising. Miserable need, dismal, anonymous life that would like to expand itself to the dimensions of cinema life." -- Guy Debord
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Digital piracy is a good thing. People reduce this issue to an economic and legalistic one, but I think if you look at the cultural benefit of digital piracy you will see that fewer movies and records being sold is a good thing. And don't give some sob story about "the end of music": Since when is the commodification of music the natural state of things? I don't think Justin Timberlake needs another obscenely ostentatious shopping spree courtesy of his impressionable fans.
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Religion is a destructive force that promotes ignorance and superstition. This is not news at all, but I put it on this list because I think 2003 was a banner year for religion (and as a consequence, a not-so-banner year for the rest of us). When they're not shooting doctors for performing legal abortions, or denying school children to right to learn the theory of evolution (perhaps the most adequately demonstrated scientific theory around), religious extremists are voting for Republican administrations that militarize this message of hate for the Islamic world (which has done more than its share of spreading ignorance).
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The aesthetic experience is the only site for true meaning in this life. Humans are animals who desire pleasure and try to avoid pain (occasionally the two coincide, when pain is pleasure). Humans cannot be trusted; but the aesthetic experience that gives pleasure can. Interpersonal relations are necessary but ultimately undermined. Watch movies. Read books. Listen to music. Find solace in the beautiful, but don't seek to control the beautiful. Beautiful people are almost always narcissistic assholes. Beautiful natural forms, films, words, images, sounds: find them and enjoy them, because the rest is bullshit.
The General salutes the artists of this world, the people who create instead of destroying, buying, or selling. May you continue to create, to enrich the aesthetic experiences for all of us in 2004.
GS
4:57:38 PM 
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Shatner to Record Another Album [Slashdot]
CBC News Online
NEW YORK - According to the New York Post newspaper, William Shatner is set to release a new album.
Guest musicians on the new disc, which was produced by Ben Folds of the Ben Folds Five, include former Black Flag lead singer Henry Rollins and country star Brad Paisley.
The new album isn't the first foray into recording for the Montreal-born actor best known for playing James T. Kirk, the captain of the starship Enterprise on the original Star Trek series.
In 1968, Shatner released his first album The Transformed Man, which includes spoken-word cover versions of the Beatles' Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds and Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man.
2:02:03 AM
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© Copyright 2004 General Stuff.
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