• 6Aug 08

  Old Dudes Rock!

  I offer this as a tribute to Jethro Tull - a great band I just saw live on their 40th Anniversary Tour at Wolf Trap. Ian Anderson is amazing, and still prances around the stage like a goon on Red Bull as if he weren't 61 years old. Except for the very embarrassing bald dude "rockin' out" in the first row, the concert was extraordinary.
  
  So, in honor of a guy who was "green" before it was cool:
  
  Heavy Horses
  
  Iron-clad feather-feet pounding the dust
  An October's day, towards evening,
  Sweat embossed veins standing proud to the plough
  Salt on a deep chest seasoning,
  Last of the line at an honest day's toil
  Turning the deep sod under
  Flint at the fetlock, chasing the bone
  Flies at the nostrils plunder.
  
  The Suffolk, the Clydesdale, the Percheron vie
  With the Shire on his feathers floating
  Hauling soft timber into the dusk
  To bed on a warm straw coating.
  
  Heavy Horses, move the land under me
  Behind the plough gliding - slipping and sliding free
  Now you're down to the few
  And there's no work to do
  The tractor's on its way.
  
  Let me find you a filly for your proud stallion seed
  To keep the old line going.
  And we'll stand you abreast at the back of the wood
  Behind the young trees growing
  To hide you from eyes that mock at your girth,
  And your eighteen hands at the shoulder
  And one day when the oil barons have all dripped dry
  And the nights are seen to draw colder -
  They'll beg for your strength, your gentle power
  Your noble grace and your bearing
  And you'll strain once again to the sound of the gulls
  In the wake of the deep plough, sharing.
  
  Standing like tanks on the brow of the hill
  Up into the cold wind facing
  In stiff battle harness, chained to the world
  Against the low sun racing
  Bring me a wheel of oaken wood
  A rein of polished leather
  A Heavy Horse and a tumbling sky
  Brewing heavy weather.
  
  Bring a song for the evening
  Clean brass to flash the dawn
  Across these acres glistening
  Like dew on a carpet lawn
  In these dark towns folk lie sleeping
  As the heavy horses thunder by
  To wake the dying city
  With the living horseman's cry
  At once the old hands quicken -
  Bring pick and wisp and curry comb -
  Thrill to the sound of all
  The heavy horses coming home.
  
  Rock on, Mr. Anderson.
  • Posted Aug 6, 2008 10:17 pm GMT
  • Category: Music
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• 25Jul 08

  I Wanted to Believe

  Readers are Strongly Cautioned: The following blog contains major spoilers for The X-Files Movie.
  
  The X-Files was an iconic television series loved by conspiracy theorists and fans of plot twists and good writing. The team of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully was irreplaceable (as was made evident by the last two seasons) and encompassed the perfect combination of frenetic thinking outside the box and calm scientific investigation. The secrets, the cryptic messages, alien abductions, secret government organizations, UFOs, fake UFOs - nothing has come close to the creativity shown by Chris Carter and the others responsible for this show. It was something to look forward to every week.
  
  The first X-Files movie was good, but it did resemble a slightly longer X-Files episode. Nothing wrong with that - when a television show makes a feature film that is often what happens. These types of films are usually fan favorites, but rarely appeal to a wider audience.
  
  I just got home from seeing The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Ten years after the original X-Files movie, and fifteen years after the series' premiere, and I'm still fascinated to find out just what Fox is going to get involved with this time. Oh yes, it has to be Fox. Scully is an excellent straight man - uh, straight person - but it is Fox who drives the investigation.
  
  The movie had some great moments. The possible psychic was beautifully played, directed, and filmed. The pencils in the ceiling were classic. The scene with Scully and Skinner in the car was excellent. The plot was completely reminiscent of a great episode, and Fox's "reunion" with the FBI was believable. It was an entertaining two hours catching up with two old friends and getting pulled into a great caper with enough weirdness to weird out an X-Files weirdo. Weird.
  
  But then there were the other parts. The completely over-played angst of Dr. Scully. The not-very-bright FBI agents (apparently the HR department at the FBI has been going through a dry spell). The heavy-handed juxtaposition of the straits Dr. Scully will go through to experiment on her young patient to possibly save him, and the experiments Dr. Franken-whotheheckwasthat was performing on his abducted patients to save his dying friend (at least I think I got that part right). The illogic of Scully's rationale for getting Fox back to the FBI/leaving him because he's gone back to the FBI. Yep, all quite disappointing, but still not enough to ruin this movie for me.
  
  What completely turned me off was the huge honking love story between Mulder and Scully! Double yuck on a stick! Yes, there was a relationship between Mulder and Scully hinted at (especially with the little bambino) in the television show, but, seriously, not what I tuned in to see on the big screen! It just didn't make any sense - Scully makes fun of Mulder living like a hermit, but she's actually living with him? Oy. Okay, I did like the CGI row boat at the end of the credits...
  
  Good movie. Fun, entertaining on a slow Friday night. But genius? Um, I've gotta say no.
  • Posted Jul 25, 2008 7:35 pm GMT
  • Category: Opinion
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• 4Jul 08

  Whatever Happened to Free Speech?

  US Bill of Rights, Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
  
  The rights of the individual have been sorely debated during the 232 years of this country's existence. One of those rights which was considered so important, so vital to the safety of its citizens that it was protected in the very first amendment to the Constitution, is the right of the individual to raise his voice in protest. Since the government of George III precluded the people of the colonies from speaking against oppression, unfair taxation, and in favor of revolution, the founders of this nation understood how fundamental this right was to the essence of freedom and democracy.
  
  This right allows us to say that we object to the statements of a candidate or an office holder, it frees us from fear of government retaliation if we hold an opinion that is contrary to the popular one, and it clearly indicates that the liberty of the individual would be the essence of this new government.
  
  However, memories are short. What was first envisioned as a fundamental necessity to ensure a government that was required to listen to those that it governed, has now become nothing more than a catchphrase mouthed by ignorant and uneducated grumblers looking for carte blanche to say anything, anywhere, at any time.
  
  Vulgar words and phrases that once only peppered talk in locker rooms and on military vessels are heard on every street corner and deemed acceptable in our schools and offices. Demeaning insults and rude, threatening comments are considered "clever" and "witty" in a way that Oscar Wilde never would have imagined. And if one objects, calling for a general level of respect that is necessary to any meaningful discussion, well, he is considered a "dinosaur" - and is often stamped with the label that has become a synonym for evil and totalitarian control: a censor.
  
  Censors are those people who burn books, who want television programs to limit nudity and gore, who ban music because of violent or aggressive images. These people are the past, they are prudes, "fundamentalists," they are repressive, gagging artistic license and smothering creativity. Censors actually try to tell people what they can and cannot say. Imagine.
  
  Polite, reasoned, respectful discourse which abides by accepted standards is no longer required - in fact, those who continue to set a minimum criterion of behavior in their own speech and expect others to do the same are ridiculed and satirized, told to mind their own business, and to stop interfering. There are no rules, these "speechers" proclaim, their battle-cry ringing through the air: "Whatever happened to free speech?"
  
  This right, this vital ingredient for liberty, was not intended to protect every utterance of our ignorant lips. It was not proposed so that we can swear as creatively as possible in every public arena, nor so that we can insult and denigrate those we feel strongly about. It was not put forward to ensure that we could threaten to maim and torture others, or feel free to share vivid descriptions of our sexual exploits with children. There are limits. Yes, if we don't censor ourselves, we will be censored. As well we should be.
  
  This right was penned by those who had actually endured oppression, and knew that individuals needed a voice. People in horrible situations facing death and torture every day around the world are pleading for a chance to change their governments, begging for an opportunity to tell their stories to those who are in a position to help. These are people who need a right to freedom of speech. Those under totalitarian regimes who are jailed if they speak one word of protest may cry out against oppression. I hazard to guess that no one participating on these forums has anything like this about which to gripe.
  
  Do not complain to me that you are being "censored" simply because you called someone stupid. Do not whine that the mods are obsessive about eliminating obvious vulgarity from this site. And do not pout about your right give yourself permission to pronounce any insulting, threatening, or off-topic item, nor yell about the constant harassment you receive from other right-thinking members of the community who report you for your abuse of this "right." Don't expect us to agree with you, hold your hand, nor join your little band of bleaters.
  
  Above all, do not appropriate the term "Freedom of Speech." Especially not today.
  • Posted Jul 4, 2008 8:24 am GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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