I really have to apologize — mostly, perhaps, to myself — for being such a slacker on the blog front in recent weeks. There are lots of reasons, but it still pains me to suddenly realize I haven’t written in a week, and that I have nothing substantial to add to anyone’s discussion. 

That hasn’t changed today. But, in lieu of actual thought, I’d like to give you a few glimpses at the things that are making me tick right now.

1.) Pictures of dead people. That sounds weird, I’m sure. But today’s Israeli attack on Hamas — the bloodiest single event in decades of the conflict — has me thinking about fallen man in fallen world; and how in the world we, America, can presume to know anything about these people in a land far, far away; and how thankful I am to live in such a peaceful place; and how spoiled I am to live a life so detached from the real struggles being dealt with by most of the rest of the world.

2.) Hip-hop as mood-altering drug. I’ll leave 98 percent of rap on the shelf, but I still have some love for thoughtful lyrics with interesting production behind them. A particular favorite right now is Erykah Badu’s “New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)” — here’s a track that’s particularly gripping. (Disclaimer 1: The overdramatic narrative at the end of the song is dumb, so feel free to stop the track once that starts. Disclaimer 2: It’s rap. There’s profanity. Deal with it.)

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I use this stuff to get through nights like tonight, when every piece of “news” I edit seems utterly disposable. Other favorites include Outkast and the first two albums by Goodie Mob.

3.) Civilizational declines, circa 2000 and onward. A brief list:

a.) I hate “ringtones.” If you have one, well, I’m not apologizing to you. Because it’s obnoxious! If I wanted to listen to your favorite song, I’d ask you what it is, then go home and buy in on iTunes (or, more likely, look it up on YouTube). But being assaulted in public by some jerk’s phone playing only the chorus — today, it was “here I go again on my own!” — is audial rape of the worst kind. Seriously, people, go through your phone’s settings… I promise there’s some sort of alert on there that just makes a beep or a ring or something.

b1.) Voice mail slackers. You know who you are… you choose not to answer the phone — which is fine — but then you don’t return the call after listening to the message! You are almost as bad as…

b2.) Voice mail harassers. Now THIS kills me. You call me, and for whatever reason I don’t answer. So you don’t leave a message. Then you call again five minutes later, and I still don’t answer; this time you do leave a message. Then, five more minutes later, you call AGAIN! What part of “leave a message and I’ll call you back” do you not understand? Seriously, this strikes me as subhuman.

c.) The Snuggie. In case you haven’t seen it, I’ve embedded a clip below… basically, it’s a blanket with sleeves that’s being marketed as the best thing since sliced bread. In reality, it makes its wearer look like an Imperial Guard (and they suggest you wear them to sporting events!!) and is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. I get hit with depression every morning, when I open my email with 10 new messages and soon realize nine of them are spam for The Snuggie. What makes me more depressed is that I haven’t come up with an equally dumb idea upon which to get rich.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xZp-GLMMJ0[/youtube]

Tags: attack on Hamas, Israel, Palestinians, The Snuggie

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 27th, 2008 at 10.26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.