A quote and a thought

I was just reading an online interview of Tom Robbins and I came across a quote from him I found very interesting.

What at this point, for Tom Robbins, is the ultimate goal?

Actually, what I’m interested in right now is the idea of having some kind of moratorium on the belief in an afterlife. Much of the world believing in an afterlife leads to much of the world’s primary ills. An ending to this belief would increase the quality and sanctity in the life we already know we have. Nobody has proven that any of the ideas of an afterlife are true. No one knows for sure. Therefore, as long as you believe in an afterlife, you’ll be willing to accept suppression, repression in this life. It would be much quicker to press the red button. I think that’s one of the problems.

It does seem that some people treat “life” as a dress rehersal. This seems very sad when to the best of my knowledge this very likely is all we get. If God came down today and told everyone, “There is no heaven or hell. You have 60, 70, maybe 80 years and then it’s over”. Would people be making the same life choices? Certainly some people would continue on their path, but I think a lot of people would have to take a hard look at their life.

Well that is just something to think about. I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween!

Everything is borrowed

The Streets came out with a new album recently, called Everything is Borrowed, and I have been listening to it off and on for the last few weeks. It quite a bit different from his other work. At one point on the album he talks about getting married and having a kid so I guess it’s not like he is going to make another record about smoking spliffs on the couch and trying to pull girlfriends on the weekend. Still the bigger change is that he has recently been quoted as saying that he is “fucking sick of the name (The Streets) and the conotations it brings”. Basically the album sounds sounds a lot like someone who has come to terms with the fact that he is sitting on a winning lottery ticket that he can’t stop himself from cashing in. On his last album he wrote a song that goes step by step how to pull off a fairly simple but well thought out con, and then finishes the song saying that making beats is a very similar con. He has also said that next album will be his last, which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it sounds like he already has a name and has begun making the “futuristic synthesized mix” record. And a curse because I could be without Mike Skinner beats for awhile after that album.

 

On the current album he seems to be focused on making the songs more meaningful, and on the other hand it sounds like he is focused on making Robbie Williams style London pop hits.  However the reason I wrote about the album is because of some of the lyrics. Though they lack some of his self proclaimed “(quick) white hot wit” which defines his first albums, his sharp tongue is used in this album as more of a scathing contrarian commentary which I relate to. Here are some of my favo(u)rite lyrics:

On the Edge of a Cliff

(chorus)

For billions of years
since the outset of time
every single one of your ancestors survived
every single person on your mums and dad’s side
successfully looked after and passed onto you life
what are the chances of that like?
it comes to me once in a while
and everywhere i tell folk
it gets the best smile

 

The Way of the Dodo

 

Everybody do the dodo

Everybody do the dodo

I can’t imagine the day when things have actually faded away
But the day i may not be able to pay my way could be today
It’s not that I don’t care, just that I’m way too caught up with breathing air to grieve for the trees and air or how breathable air is
You go first, I’ll follow suit
Make the mistakes I’d probably make
I’m right behind you but don’t expect me to ride like it’s a race
Cos you’ll be back there picking scraps while I’m Mr. Mug, do-gooding around and I’ve lost my rank and base
I’ve got to manage my little space

(chorus)

It’s not earth that’s in trouble
It’s the people that live on it, no no
Earth’ll be here long after we’ve all gone the way of the dodo

 – OK, not that great of a lyric, but still… how many times have a tried to make that point before? a million times.

Alleged Legends  (from a song about a certain all-time best selling book)

(2nd verse)

There’s a bloke in the book who made everything
He knows every individual and every trick in them
Way above emotion, never getting stressed
But when men choose against him, gets jealous
People fight for him in crippling wars
But since he has the power of infinite awe
We’re merely itching on futilities floor
Should we really be needing to assist him at all?
If he loves us all, knowing all we think
Should he only like people with faith in him?
Given I can’t control what I truly believe,
Can I be forgiven for only believing who I see?

 

I will try to upload the mp3’s of the above songs soon…

Cool Hippie Video

Here is a video I took while I was in Byron Bay, Australia. I realized today that 8,500 people have now viewed it so I took decided to check it out again. It is actually pretty cool. If you want to read the entire story of this video and the second most fun day of my life you can check it out here http://www.usaroadtrippin.blogspot.com/.

Sarah Palin and Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live

This is very funny. You know what is not funny is the fact that Tina Fey is actually more qualified to be vice president of the United States of America. Also Jason Sudeikis’ Joe Biden is hilarious.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/vp-debate-open-palin-biden/727421/

I can’t figure out a better way to put this video up. Parker please figure this out.

How can anyone not hate Sarah Palin???

I on the whole try to keep the emotion of hate out of my life, but everytime I hear someone say they like the choice of Sarah Palin for Vice President it takes all my power not to go into a murderous rage and kill them on the spot. How the fuck can you like this woman. I just spent 15 minutes looking at information about her and I had to stop before I killed our secretary just for being a woman. Here are just a few (of unnumerable) reasons to hate this woman.

1) Here is her fucking academic resume:
“Palin attended several colleges and universities. In 1982, she enrolled at Hawaii Pacific College but left after her first semester. She transferred to North Idaho community college, where she spent two semesters as a general studies major. From there, she transferred to the University of Idaho for two semesters.[11][12] During this time Palin won the Miss Wasilla Pageant beauty contest,[13][14] then finished third (second runner-up) in the Miss Alaska pageant,[15][16] at which she won a college scholarship and the “Miss Congeniality” award.[17] She then left the University of Idaho and attended Matanuska-Susitna community college in Alaska for one term. The next year she returned to the University of Idaho where she spent three semesters completing her Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism, graduating in 1987″ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

Wow are you fucking kidding me?

2)

Wow are you fucking kidding me?

3)

Wow are you fucking kidding me? She seems to not know the name of a single fucking news paper.

4) This quote from LA Times

Soon after Sarah Palin was elected mayor of the foothill town of Wasilla, Alaska, she startled a local music teacher by insisting in casual conversation that men and dinosaurs coexisted on an Earth created 6,000 years ago — about 65 million years after scientists say most dinosaurs became extinct — the teacher said.

Palin told him that “dinosaurs and humans walked the Earth at the same time,” Munger said. When he asked her about prehistoric fossils and tracks dating back millions of years, Palin said “she had seen pictures of human footprints inside the tracks,” recalled Munger, who teaches music at the University of Alaska in Anchorage and has regularly criticized Palin in recent years on his liberal political blog, called Progressive Alaska. (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-palinreligion28-2008sep28,0,1440865.story)

Wow are you fucking kidding me?

All that great info in only 15 minutes.