The Art of Self-Proclaimed Solitude Takes a Break

Sandwiches.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/30/170694962/middle-aged-breadwinners-become-part-of-the-sandwich-generation?guid=1359745276741#commentBlock

I love how most of the comments collected on this page are from people who are absolutely not affected by the above information, and want to place blame on one party or the other. Why are we in this situation? It’s not because of a cowboy or an election. It is because nobody is willing to take responsibility for their fellow human.

I’ve been part of two worlds, I grew up poor, and have worked long hours since I was fifteen. I eventually moved up the corporate ladder to make a comfortable living for myself. Now I’m unemployed, and dependent on those in my life that I’ve helped over the years. I’m in my twenties, and have elected not to have children because I think it’s financially irresponsible to foist more humans on this over-saturated market, and under-saturated humanity.

I’ve let people live off of me, and I’ve lived off others. You have to know how to give and receive help to survive in this economy, and if all of you think you’re only giving, think back to a time when you took.

I’m tired of hearing these self-important rambles about how Obama is destroying this country or about how the wealthy are “holding up” those that will not work hard. It’s all bullshit. I am calling you all on your bullshit. Pull your humanity together and work to be a better person in your community, YOUR taxes aren’t paying for anybody else. We all pay them. If you haven’t ventured into your community to make someone else’s life better, you haven’t done anything for your fellow human.

This economy is bad because we have ALL made it bad. We are all making the wrong choices. We are all working our fingers to the bone. We are all over-tired. There’s nothing setting you apart from anyone else. You are not better than someone without a computer, without a home. If you have the means to help, help. If you don’t, then learn to ask for help. But don’t come on some public forum complaining about the complex issues of this country without at least making an effort to improve it personally.

Thieves and Liars Rule Your TV

Glee has stolen the arrangement and backing track from Jonathan Coulton’s cover of ‘Baby Got Back’. This is not an accusation, it is a fact. Listen to the two side-by-side. It’s pretty obvious.

Now beyond the fact that this is intensely wrong, there’s a larger spectrum and moral quandary that chills me. This corporation is dictating the morals for an entire generation of young folks. And they think stealing is okay as long as it’s for entertainment value. 

And now, their followers think this as well.

They don’t see the harm in this. It’s free advertising for the artist right?

No, he’s never been credited, and is not being paid for his work. They didn’t even ask permission, he had to find out from fans who found a leaked video on youtube.

So the fans called out Fox. And they still haven’t addressed us.

The sad thing is, if they had done this correctly, they would’ve boosted their fan base, and his. All this caused was the very type of turmoil they think makes good entertainment. 

The creators of Glee are stuck forever in high school, and it’s they type that doesn’t send you home for plagiarism.

http://kotaku.com/5978894/watch-the-glee-cast-perform-the-arrangement-they-ripped-off-from-jonathan-coulton#

The Man, the god.

Just a little post from my lit. class.

We have been tasked to choose a hero from the Watchmen graphic novel, and then defend their heroism, this will grow into a full paper, but this is sort of a pre-write activity. I liked it, so I wanted to share.

“God help us all” Edward Blake mutters (on page 15 of chapter II of the graphic novel: Watchmen- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons.) And this utterance leads the reader into a very specific three panel story-line. The comedian has just compared Dr. Manhattan’s ability to intervene to be god-like, and when he says “god help us all” it’s a statement with two simultaneous meanings, a throw-back expression  with roots in a repressive religion as well as a plea to a more human almighty. Dr. Manhattan stands over the body of the gunned-down mother of Blake’s illegitimate child pondering, but changing nothing, in the following panel he poses the same way over the coffin of Blake, two instants in time intertwined ineffably by the recollective power of Dr. Manhattan, our omniscient god-being. In this third panel, there’s the overlay of a preacher’s funerary sermon: “…for as much as it hath pleased almighty god of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of a dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground…” And it is the most apt bit of sermon for this moment because Dr. Manhattan, who Blake calls out as having no mercy, has unending mercy in his rational endeavors despite his knowledge of time, and what will be and what is. He stands perplexed, and almost pleased. Dr. Manhattan was human, and because he is unstuck in time does not mean he is disconnected from his own humanity. It merely means he sees the good in a greater design when simpler or emotion-based characters might despair over the bondage of the human condition in a society with a perceived maximum wickedness or depravity. When discussing the idea of a hero, the Jesus-complex is hard to ignore, and there is nothing more Jesus-like than this large blue man ignoring the pain he must endure to drift through the universe’s plan for him.