Miscellany – Page 334

YOU AND ME AND A COUPLE OF WWII MARINES

Saturday, January 21, 2006

no explanation for this.

MARTIN LUTHER KING

Monday, January 16, 2006

…nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time – – the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression. Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts….[N]onviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

He also said:

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today’s motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaimed the rule of the land. “And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid.?? I still believe that We Shall overcome!

Hint: it’s not about black and white, it’s about the haves and have-nots. And along the same lines, a press release from PRKA written by George Saunders.

My fiction teacher in undergrad bugged me for almost three years about 24. He would pound on the table during lunch and say, “If you’re not watching 24 you’re missing the best show on television!” And then, after reading twenty or so plotless workshop stories written about drinking and vampires, he passed out photocopied reviews of the show and said, “You want to learn about plot? Watch 24!”

We’ll, I’m hooked now. Two weeks ago, Meg and I watched the whole set of season one in a week (that’s something like four episodes a night). Knowing there would be no time to watch all the rest of the seasons before the fifth season started, and knowing that my blood pressure couldn’t survive another marathon, we devised an ingenious strategy to get up to speed:

First, skip season 2. (Don told us there was too much annoying crap about Kim in there, anyways.) Just read the episode guides. Then, get ahold of season 3 and season 4. Watch the first couple of episodes of season 3, then skip the rest by watching the “Previously on 24” clips before the rest of the episodes. (Watching all the “Previously on 24” clips in a row is ALMOST as stressful as watching the actual shows, because you’ve got all these plot twists crammed into 2 or 3 minute segments…) Then watch the finale. Rinse and repeat for Season Four. Throw the season five prequel in there, and you’re good to go.

The four-hour premiere of season five starts at 8 o’clock Sunday, and continues on Monday at the same time.

REMEMBER! THE ONLY WINNER OF A RAT RACE…IS A RAT!

Friday, January 13, 2006

B00000J5QC.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg I’ve eaten two Christmas dinners with Murray Saul, and I can tell you, he’s a helluva guy.

Murray’s going on 78 now, but back in the 70s, when WMMS-FM was the #1 station in Cleveland, Murray used to do this thing called “The Get Down.” Legend has it that Friday night at 6 o’clock, everybody in their right mind would tune their radios to WMMS and listen to him announce the weekend with a rant about everything from slavedrivers to chocolate sundaes, topping it all off by screaming, “It’s Friiiiday!”

I saw Murray at the library recently, and he showed me his new column with the FREE TIMES, “Ask Murray.” It’s like “Dear Abby,” but with Murray. You can e-mail him a question, here, and if it’s the best one of the week, you get a free copy of his CD, THE GET DOWNS: VOL. 1.

Here’s a transcript of one of his “Get Down” monologues:

Oh, the slavedriver brought out the meat grinder and the stomper this week, and after they pushed us through, grinding the shit out of us, they threw us on the grill, salt and peppered our wounds, and laughed as they squeezed the onion in our eyes. They make us go to work in the dark, and we end up going home in the dark. We’re lucky if we have five minutes to peek at the sun. We can’t even look out the windows…it’s just like the third grade. The only time they smile is when we’re locked inside, but remember, the only winner of the rat race…IS A RAT.

Listen to it on MP3 at your own risk. Rock on, Murray…see you at dinner.

DAVID LYNCH ON MEDITATION

Sunday, January 8, 2006

From an article in Arthur Magazine:

Transcendental Meditation is the way of the householder in that it allows you to stay in the world. Some people like the recluse way and want to go into the cave, and there are mantras that will take you right out of the activity and put you into that cave. But Transcendental Meditation is a way of integrating these two worlds….In the West people think, yeah like I’m really gonna give up my dental practice and go to the cave, but you don’t have to quit dentistry. Meditate before you go to work and you’ll start liking the people that come in and you’ll start getting ideas about dentistry. Maybe you’ll invent something and get into the finer points of a cavity and honing that bad boy.

Lynch talks more about TM and The David Lynch Foundation, his attempt to bring Transcendental Meditation and Conciousness-Based Education to the children of the world, in this Newsweek interview.

Dale Cooper would approve.