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dry land

NP: Marillion - "A Piss-up in a Brewery" (Bass Museum, Burton-on-Trent 11.16.00)

Ugh, I don't know quite what's going on with my body right now, but whatever it is, it doesn't seem particularly pleased. Gurgle. Perhaps it was the Indian food I ate last night. Which would be particuarly ironic, considering that was hands down the least spicy vindaloo I've had in my entire life. In any case, in retrospect, drinking that coffee earlier probably was a mistake. I'm banking on this tomato juice to help reverse the trend.

Michael Moore won an Oscar last night for "Bowling for Columbine". I didn't watch the ceremony, but it would appear that for his acceptance speech, he launched into a diatribe against Bush and against the war. Most of the crowd booed him and the rest cheered. All I can say is "good for him", both on the award and on speaking his mind. It's becoming increasingly clear no-one else is going to.

Media coverage of the war has begun to take a typical swing towards the flag-waving side of things. I mean, for all of the conservative howling about this mysterious "liberal media", even the most liberal of mainstream TV and print media is moderate, at best. I tend to almost sense a fair shake in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, though our local CBS affiliated AM station (the massive KMOX, to those in the know) has been sponsoring "Showdown with Saddam" billboards even before bombs started raining on Baghdad, and last time I checked (which was last week sometime), the station had become a steady stream of hawkish propaganda and bullying anyone who isn't waving a flag 24/7. CNN is interesting -- it's like it wants to be objective, like it wants to be more than what it is, but it usually gets bogged down in "woo, the generals say we're winning, and here's a USA Today-esque map graphic of recent military activity" stuff. Plus it doesn't much report on the overall bloodiness of the combat so far. Fatalities get a "scrollbar" mention, but there's no footage, and not much about the POWs. The BBC is a step up from that. It's still biased, since it's government-owned and the UK is part of our wonderous "coalition". But it has that tradition of a mostly balanced standard, so I find it a bit more palatable than CNN. Fox News is a bit scary, it doesn't even seem to pretend to be objective, and it has a similarly hassling, goading tone that the AM radio station has. I'd have to say, however, that at least so far my award for "most shameless war coverage" has to go to local TV news. Last night there was a news bit about some protestors who were staging an anti-war demonstration outside of a local Boeing plant that makes components of smart bombs. In any case the protestors were out there doing there thing, and eventually some "woo, America!" type anti-protestors came out and started getting in the protestors faces. And of course, the TV news plays up the anti-war protestors reacting to the flag-wavers, and also plays up the shouting "shut up and support this war" faction of the newcomers. What really gets me is this recent trend towards condemning any anti-war protest or sentiment as "anti-American", or that is somehow makes you "against our troops". I don't agree with the Bush administration's foreign policy, and I certainly don't believe this war is just, or that we should be doing what we're doing in Iraq right now in this manner. But I support the troops over there. I don't want them to die. I want them out of there as soon as possible. I support our troops every day by coming in to work and doing my job. So yes, I support our troops war or no war. But I don't support the people who sent them on this mission in the first place, and I certainly don't support that policy. Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that it's possible to be anti-war and pro-troop. And to say that if you are anti-war you are also anti-troop or whatever is just misguided reasoning. It's comparing apples to oranges.

Also, please lay off the French. Seriously. They are not our enemies, they are our allies. The USA wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for French support in the Revolutionary War. I forget where I heard this bit, but someone (maybe it was Bill Maher) was talking about France not only not being our enemy, but them also being a true best friend. Think about it -- a real best friend will tell you when you're full of shit, when you're not thinking things through all the way. To me, that's what France has been doing here. So please stop with the fucking "freedom fries" (fries are Belgian anyway, geniuses), stop with the French jokes, stop with the "cheese-eating surrender monkeys". Has it occured to you that maybe France doesn't like war because they've seen what it's like and it's terrible? I'd like to see my own country's reaction towards rushing into war after a major conflict gets fought here on American soil, OK? I mean, I'm not an apologist for anything or anyone. It just saddens to me to see this ridiculous, not-thought-out-at-all backlash against an ally who had the good sense to say "hey, don't be so hasty here".

Like I've said before, I'm tired of being this ranty freak all of the time here, but at the same time, it feels like outside of Erin, and oustide of some of my friends who feel the same way I do on this, I feel shouted down by the media and by society. And I feel alienated in this culture for believing that this country should strive to be a part of the international community, respect the UN process, and realize that just because we can do something doesn't mean that we should do something.

Had an excellent weekend -- the fish was great, beers tasted particularly crisp on a mild Friday night, Zwan rocked on Saturday (their LP was good but the live show was excellent. The three-guitar attack came more to the fore in the live setting), post-show Denny's was great, and Sunday was a nice mix of family time, Tower Grove Park, coffee and hanging out on South Grand, and such.

Speaking of South Grand, we were in this coffee shop/pool hall/internet station/cafe, and at one point I needed to use the bathroom. So I hunted around the not-that-large place, finding a pay phone but no bathroom door or sign. I eventually had to ask the woman working the counter where the toilet was. She pointed me back to the alcove with the phone that I'd just been at. Sure enough, there was the door. The reason I hadn't found it the first time? That part of the shop was painted in this makeshift camouflage. The patterns had actually done their job of hiding the outline of the door from me. Of course, there's always the very likely possibility that I'm simply thick. But it was like some magic eye type thing, having the outline of the door appear to me where it'd previously just seemed like a solid wall.

Also hung out with Erin's friend Eric (aka Speed) at the coffee place, and then at dinner. I have to say, the very first time we met, he was passed out on his couch after drinking a huge thing of wine, and then proceeded to throw beer bottles out his window at various cars (including his and a cop's), and also attempted to throw a chair out the window. Kind of a rough first impression. Though this time, nicely sober, he was very nice and pleasant company.

I was just wondering -- do you think that people who were really into ska-punk and swing music in about 1997-98 still listen to Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Squirrel Nut Zippers? Just curious.

I'm tired right now. Half of it is general Monday morning type gear-shifting, and I suppose the rest is me having one of those nights of sleep where you keep waking up a lot, never really falling deeply asleep. In any case, I wish I didn't have to leave Erin this morning, I wish that I was back in bed with her right now. I'll be very happy when this day is done and I can head home and curl up next to her.

We just had a fire drill, which is weird. Stupid Monday morning meeting is coming up in a bit, as well. At least after that the day will be halfway over.

Anyway, time to end this. Later gators.

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