From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V16 #158 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Wednesday, April 18 2007 Volume 16 : Number 158 Today's Subjects: ----------------- cool video sample ! [HwyCDRrev@aol.com] Re: by any other name... ["Michael Sweeney" ] Creem redux (0% Clapton/Baker/Bruce content) ["Michael Sweeney" ] Re: by any other name... ["Michael Sweeney" ] Re: reap x 33 [craigie* ] Re: QEH: Games for May tickets on sale! [hssmrg@bath.ac.uk] Re: QEH: Games for May tickets on sale! [Sebastian Hagedorn ] Re: QEH: Games for May tickets on sale! [hssmrg@bath.ac.uk] Re: QEH: Games for May tickets on sale! [Sebastian Hagedorn ] Re: reap at virginia tech [FSThomas ] Re: reap x 33 [FSThomas ] Re: robyn update [Rex ] Re: by any other name... [Rex ] RE: robyn update ["Bachman, Michael" ] Re: Creem redux (0% Clapton/Baker/Bruce content) [2fs ] RE: Gays, guns, and guts made the Feglist free... ["Bachman, Michael" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 03:00:15 EDT From: HwyCDRrev@aol.com Subject: cool video sample ! _http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=143269_ (http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=143269) Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians Gaston Hall Georgetown University Washington D.C. May 17, 1993 NTSC DVD 720 x 480 AUDIENCE SHOT VHS to DVD (authored by duckstab) unknown lineage (low generation) run time: 1:33:21 Audience shot show from the Respect tour. Enjoy. 1. Driving Aloud (Radio Storm) 2. Madonna of the Wasps 3. Railway Shoes 4. The Yip Song 5. Queen Elvis 6. Arms of Love 7. Airscape 8. When I Was Dead 9. Vegetation and Dimes 10. If You Were a Priest 11. A Globe of Frogs 12. The Moon Inside 13. Only the Stones Remain 14. Oceanside 15. Moussaka Song 16. Surgery 17. Wafflehead 18. The Wreck of the Arthur Lee 19. Egyptian Cream 20. Kung Fu Fighting video sample *audio in sample got distorted in google. actual sound on dvd is clear: ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:10:27 +0000 From: "Michael Sweeney" Subject: Re: by any other name... Jeff said: >On 4/17/07, Michael Sweeney wrote: >> >>...Eh, it's all grist for some mill or another... >We're milling through the grinder >Grinding through the mill >If this is not an exercise >Could it be a... ...Good one...made me -- somewhat unfortunately -- recall: When the night is cold and still When you thought youd had your fill This is not a test, its not a drill Take no prisoners, only kill ...yikers. Michael Sweeney In addition to all the RH news that's fit to comment on, filling all your Lindsey Buckingham- and Lou Reed-related content needs since 2006... _________________________________________________________________ Mortgage refinance is Hot. *Terms. Get a 5.375%* fix rate. Check savings https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035&url=%2fst.jsp&tm=y&search=mortgage_text_links_88_h2bbb&disc=y&vers=925&s=4056&p=5117 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:33:22 +0000 From: "Michael Sweeney" Subject: Creem redux (0% Clapton/Baker/Bruce content) ...BTW, forgot to comment on this before (after I mentioned Creem magazine - -- no, Lauren, not anything I had to hide from my GFs -- and someone recalled Robyn having been on the cover*), but I had/have (somewhere) that issue...and apparently that post/fact lodged in my subconsciousness, since last night's dreaming line-up included this scenario: I was looking for the RH Creem in a box of other articles and mags...and I kept finding other RH pieces (including concert previews I had written for NewCity when Robyn toured and I was still writing for them)...and then there it was...except it wasn't from Creem -- it was Robyn on the cover of Oprah's magazine (!) with some unIDed older woman (who was also not Oprah)... ...And somehow it segued from there to me hanging with Conan O'Brien (who I actually don't care for that much -- always seems to be directing interviews back to his own jokes) when he was writing for SNL and we had an idea to pitch Lorne about having Robyn on as a musical guest...which Michaels liked, but wanted to know who the hell I was and why I was on the set (and in some live shots, too, apparently)...and Conan freaked and said he didn't know (although he had brought me), and...well, it broke down from there (something about trying to come up with other show ideas to justify keeping me around as a writer or something), and, sadly, as we know from history, Robyn never did appear on SNL... Sigh...and I wasn't even drinking last night... Michael Sweeney "Here is a dream / Here is a sweet and terrible dream / Here is a dream / And we're in the middle of it..." *also BTW, it was Creem's Bill Holdship who wrote the extensive liner notes for the "Soft Boys: 1976-81" compilation... _________________________________________________________________ Mortgage refinance is Hot. *Terms. Get a 5.375%* fix rate. Check savings https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035&url=%2fst.jsp&tm=y&search=mortgage_text_links_88_h2bbb&disc=y&vers=925&s=4056&p=5117 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:38:13 +0000 From: "Michael Sweeney" Subject: Re: by any other name... Lauren said: >p.s. do any of the old folks remember "bad idea"-brand jeans? "Normally I wear protection, but then I thought, 'When am I gonna make it back to Haiti?'" Michael "Not an SNL performer or writer (except, apparently, in my dreams -- literally)" Sweeney _________________________________________________________________ Mortgage rates near historic lows. Refinance $200,000 loan for as low as $771/month* https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035&url=%2fst.jsp&tm=y&search=mortgage_text_links_88_h27f8&disc=y&vers=689&s=4056&p=5117 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:46:23 +0000 From: "Michael Sweeney" Subject: Re: by any other name... Ben wrote: >On Wed, 18 Apr 2007, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: >>p.s. do any of the old folks remember "bad idea"-brand jeans? >Of course--man, does 31 really count as "old" these days? :) >This is the line that really stuck with me: >'Normally I wear protection, but then I thought, "When am I gonna make it >back to Haiti?"' >http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90abadidea.phtml Crap! I really should start scrolling down before I respond, eh? But...on the other hand, it IS worth hearing more than once... Michael Sweeney (And, from the precipice of 45, 31 sounds positively fountain-o'-youth dewy...I could waste time...) _________________________________________________________________ Mortgage rates near historic lows. Refinance $200,000 loan for as low as $771/month* https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035&url=%2fst.jsp&tm=y&search=mortgage_text_links_88_h27f8&disc=y&vers=689&s=4056&p=5117 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:47:33 +0100 From: craigie* Subject: Re: reap x 33 we already have that over here in Britain, and it doesn't seem to be working... c* On 18/04/07, 2fs wrote: > > Oh - a friend thought of another item to add to this list: > > On 4/16/07, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > > > > 2fs says: > > > On the other hand, even assuming concealed-carry laws would apply to > > > students or faculty on college campuses (many such laws have > > exemptions), > > > for "an armed citizen [to] have dropped that toll a lot lower," such a > > > citizen would have had to have (a) been on the scene, (b) ID'd the > > gunman, > > > (c) not be seen first by the gunman, (d) have the will to shoot the > > gunman > > > (people talk macho talk - but you're still in the position of taking > > another > > > person's life, even if you realize that in doing so you might save > > others' > > > lives), (e) shoot well the first time, so as to avoid (f) being > targeted > > > directly by the gunman after the citizen misses the first shot. Long > > odds, > > > if you ask me. > > > Add (g): hope that the cops don't arrive - not yet knowing the identity of > the shooter - shortly after you've pulled the trigger on the gunman, after > which you die in a hail of bullets. > > See, one good thing about that "if guns are outlawed only outlaws have > guns" > thing: it makes it easier to tell who's the outlaw. > > One more tragic element of this situation: that campus police could > dismiss > as a "domestic dispute" an incident involving a gun (see < > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18142745/>) - presumably because there's > nothing > illegal about owning a gun, so why think anything's particularly wrong > when > someone threatens someone with one? > > Here's my not-so-modest proposal: attach serious prison time to any > offense > involving use of a gun, deployment of a gun (whether fired or not), even > *imitation* of a gun (fingers in the pocket, toy gun for real). The first > condition does exist fairly commonly, i believe - but the others might do > some good. > > -- > > ...Jeff Norman > > The Architectural Dance Society > http://spanghew.blogspot.com > - -- first things first, but not necessarily in that order... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:59:55 +0100 From: hssmrg@bath.ac.uk Subject: Re: QEH: Games for May tickets on sale! >> Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 10:19:16 +0100 >> From: Jim Davies >> Subject: Re: Games for May >> I called the Queen Elizabeth Hall, but they don't know about it yet. >> I mean, I assume that there's someone there who knows that the >> 26th has been booked by someone (or some agency) for something, but >> there's no internal confirmation, the box office have no >> information, and there's nothing on the website. Give it a week or >> so, they said, then call again. >> I'll call Wednesday. If anyone hears anything from them before then >> - - or has better information than this - I'd love to know. x Jim * Jim, they're on sale now! But be warned - searching for Robyn Hitchcock on the list of forthcoming attractions doesn't work. You could try robynhitchcock, but I went to the date and tracked it down there. - - Mike PS to Sebastian: I galloped Dirk galloped we galloped all three - I wonder if I can make it to Ghent? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:29:30 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Re: QEH: Games for May tickets on sale! - --On 18. April 2007 11:59:55 +0100 hssmrg@bath.ac.uk wrote: > PS to Sebastian: I galloped Dirk galloped we galloped all three I'm sorry to say that I don't know what that means :-) > - I > wonder if I can make it to Ghent? That would be kinda cool, of course, although I'm guessing that you didn't mean that entirely seriously!? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:37:06 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: reap x 33 craigie* wrote: > we already have that over here in Britain, and it doesn't seem to be > working... But the level of gun-related crime is pretty low in the UK still. It was traditionally low in the Glasgow gangs because carrying a gun was a sign of cowardliness. Stewart (who must read "No Mean City" again; a trash classic) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:44:42 +0100 From: hssmrg@bath.ac.uk Subject: Re: QEH: Games for May tickets on sale! Quoting Sebastian Hagedorn : > --On 18. April 2007 11:59:55 +0100 hssmrg@bath.ac.uk wrote: > >> PS to Sebastian: I galloped Dirk galloped we galloped all three > > I'm sorry to say that I don't know what that means :-) * It's Robert Browning 'How they brought the good news from , famous for the metre replicating the rhythm of the galloping horses: >> - I wonder if I can make it to Ghent? > > That would be kinda cool, of course, although I'm guessing that you didn't > mean that entirely seriously!? * Well, we got to Paris by Eurostar for a couple of nights last month, so it isn't totally out of the question. I think you can do Bruges by Eurostar and TGV, so maybe Ghent is possible too? - - Mike PS There must be a technical term for that metre, but fortunately I never studied lit... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:17:39 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Re: QEH: Games for May tickets on sale! - --On 18. April 2007 12:44:42 +0100 hssmrg@bath.ac.uk wrote: >>> PS to Sebastian: I galloped Dirk galloped we galloped all three >> >> I'm sorry to say that I don't know what that means :-) > > * It's Robert Browning Ah, poetry is not my strong suit. The only Browning poem I'm familiar with is "My Last Duchess", because I has it in a reading course lecture. > 'How they brought the good news from , famous for > the metre replicating the rhythm of the galloping horses: > That's neat. Ah, you shortened the title, it's "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix". So now I also get why it was an approprate quote. >>> - I wonder if I can make it to Ghent? >> >> That would be kinda cool, of course, although I'm guessing that you >> didn't mean that entirely seriously!? > > * Well, we got to Paris by Eurostar for a couple of nights last month, so > it isn't totally out of the question. I think you can do Bruges by > Eurostar and TGV, so maybe Ghent is possible too? Could be. > PS There must be a technical term for that metre, but fortunately I never > studied lit... I did :-) It's "heavily anapestic", but no, I did not really know that, even though I know the term. - -- b. Sebastian Hagedorn b Hagedorn@spinfo.uni-koeln.de b' http://www.uni-koeln.de/~a0620/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:18:57 -0400 From: FSThomas Subject: Re: Guns Stacked Crooked wrote: > Libertarians are for things that are completely antithetical to the > Republican party. Things like drug legalization, gay rights, civil rights, > and all the other stuff that falls under the banner of personal freedom. > And libertarians no longer even seem to agree with the Republicans on the > issue of government spending.> > > they're also opposed to the united states' military adventures. On a whole the Libertarians have an isolationist bent. Common sense, however, would dictate at least a passing interest in international affairs. And recommending people not pay their taxes? I get it that it's not bound by the Constitution and the laws on payment are a bit of a gray area, but best of luck defending charges of tax evasion with "I don't like what you were doing with my money, so I decided to stop giving it to you." - -f. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:36:15 -0400 From: FSThomas Subject: Re: reap at virginia tech great white shark wrote: > I cannot > imagine what it is like to go to school in the states and pass > through metal detectors , I cannot comprehend that so many yanks > stand up for your ' freedom" to bear arms , its a fucking blight on > your international reputation if you ask me ..... amend your > constitution folks - it sucks ! Metal detectors in schools are there for any type of weapon, not just guns. The need for the metal detectors aren't because of lax gun laws, or how easy it is to buy a knife, or how violent video games/movies/television/music is, but how we've got a nation of shitty, shitty parenting going on. As for the Constitution, that amendment is there for a reason. The country was founded out of revolution from an over-bearing government and the second amendment is there to allow a check and balance should revolt be required again. Take away that right, get rid of the guns, and there's nothing to stand between the government and absolute power. > ... In 1999, a gun store in the > Milwaukee area was found to be the leading seller of guns in America > that later turned up in the hands of criminals. The shop cleaned up > its act, observed the laws and there was a 44 percent decrease in new > guns going to local bad guys. The store where the VT student bought (at least one of) his guns has sold weapons before that were implicated in homicides, and has actually been investigated by New York authorities. Apparently it's trendy to drive to Virginia and buy weapons because the laws are more lenient. What's important to note, though, is that the guidelines followed in the sale of the gun to the VT student met every state and federal ordinance. The store didn't do anything wrong in selling him the gun(s). To ward of any semantics pissing contest: By "wrong" I mean they followed the law. Their selling him the weapon(s) under that context is no more wrong than the car dealer who sells Grandma a Buick. At the time of the sale the gun shop had no idea the kid was going to supernova and kill/wound almost fifty people, and the car dealer no idea Grannie was going to mistake the gas for the break and mow down a family of four. > Toys are > regulated with greater care and safety concerns. Your right to keep and bear toys were strangely omitted from the Constitution. .f. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:51:49 -0400 From: FSThomas Subject: Re: reap x 33 2fs wrote: > Here's my not-so-modest proposal: attach serious prison time to any offense > involving use of a gun, deployment of a gun (whether fired or not), even > *imitation* of a gun (fingers in the pocket, toy gun for real). The first > condition does exist fairly commonly, i believe - but the others might do > some good. Absolutely. (With one caveat.) I've long held much the same belief when it comes to punishment for crimes committed with deadly weapons. Rob a liquor store using intimidation? 5 years. Use a knife? 7. Use a gun? 15. Discharging a weapon committing a crime? Double it. Hit someone? Triple it. Sentencing guidelines should be revisited and doing so wouldn't require any restrictions on weapons. It's blatantly obvious to me that identical actions (robbing a shop) differ greatly when you're wielding a bat or a Glock. The difference is the level of danger to you and the community. Should we go around knocking over shops? No, that's foolish. Should those who do be penalized based not only on their crime but their potential to do further harm? I'd buy that. And I'm against the "fingers in the pocket" idea because it's essentially hearsay whereas a gun (or replica) recovered from the scene is concrete. - -f. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 06:53:27 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: robyn update > June > Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 European Tour > 1 Racecourse "Wychwood Festival" _Cheltenham, UK _ > (http://www.wychwoodfestival.com/) 2 Primavera Sound _Barcelona, Spain > _ > (http://www.primaverasound.com/index.php?idioma=en) 9 Ha! _Ghent, > Belgium _ > (http://www.handelsbeurs.be/concert.php?c=192) 10 Paradiso > after Patti Smith in main hall _Amsterdam, Holland _ > (http://www.paradiso.nl/index2.php) 11 Tivoli Helling _Utrecht, Holland > _ (http://www.tivoli.nl/) > 13 Debaser _Stockholm, Sweden _ (http://www.debaser.nu/) 14 Sticky > Fingers _Gothenberg, Sweden _ (http://www.stickyfingers.nu/default.asp) > 16 > Norwegian Wood _Oslo, Norway _ (http://www.norwegianwood.no/) 17 TBC > Finland Through June... the Venus 3 lineup sure has some staying power. How long ago did this tour start (discounting short breaks, I mean)? This certainly feels like the longest Robyn has continuously kept one lineup on the road for a long time, with no intervening solo tours or extended breaks... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:03:01 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: by any other name... On 4/17/07, Sebastian Hagedorn wrote: > > -- Jason Brown is rumored to have mumbled on 17. > April 2007 15:01:11 -0700 regarding Re: by any other name...: > > > BTW I think Ben is misreading Heinlein's intent with Starship > > Troopers. He doesn't agree with attitudes of the government in the > > story and it is meant as a cautionary tale. > > If that's true he hid it damn well! This extends to the movie adaptation years later. Some claim it is brilliant satire, and I have no doubt that that was its intent, but it doesn't come through as such, and thus is poor satire. Folks then counterclaim that that very sly inscrutability is what makes it such brilliant satire. I then mention that the film otherwise sucks in almost every possible way, from the acting to plotlessness to the idea that the hive-mind "brain bug" leader of an insectoid race should look like a human brain on wheels. But it's one of those films where its adherents insist that if you don't like it, you don't get it, dismissing the possibilty that you could very well comprehend it fully and still find it shitty in other areas (see Neal Labute films, Fight Club, Falling Down... hmm, all arted-up machismo fests, aren't they?) Now, Battlefield Earth... there's a film! - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:23:38 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: robyn update - -----Original Message----- From: owner-fegmaniax@smoe.org [mailto:owner-fegmaniax@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Rex Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 9:53 AM Cc: fegmaniax@smoe.org Subject: Re: robyn update > June > Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 European Tour > 1 Racecourse "Wychwood Festival" _Cheltenham, UK _ > (http://www.wychwoodfestival.com/) 2 Primavera Sound _Barcelona, Spain > _ > (http://www.primaverasound.com/index.php?idioma=en) 9 Ha! _Ghent, > Belgium _ > (http://www.handelsbeurs.be/concert.php?c=192) 10 Paradiso > after Patti Smith in main hall _Amsterdam, Holland _ > (http://www.paradiso.nl/index2.php) 11 Tivoli Helling _Utrecht, Holland > _ (http://www.tivoli.nl/) > 13 Debaser _Stockholm, Sweden _ (http://www.debaser.nu/) 14 Sticky > Fingers _Gothenberg, Sweden _ > (http://www.stickyfingers.nu/default.asp) > 16 > Norwegian Wood _Oslo, Norway _ (http://www.norwegianwood.no/) 17 TBC > Finland Rex: >Through June... the Venus 3 lineup sure has some staying power. How long ago did this tour start (discounting >short breaks, I mean)? This certainly feels like the longest Robyn has continuously kept one lineup on the >road for a long time, with no intervening solo tours or extended breaks... I love their staying power! Although I miss Morris. Anyone have an idea when the next studio album is being released? MJ Bachman NP The Horrace Silver Quintet - Doin' The Thing at The Village Gate ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:36:23 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Creem redux (0% Clapton/Baker/Bruce content) On 4/18/07, Michael Sweeney wrote: > > ...BTW, forgot to comment on this before (after I mentioned Creem magazine > -- no, Lauren, not anything I had to hide from my GFs -- and someone > recalled Robyn having been on the cover*), but I had/have (somewhere) that > issue...and apparently that post/fact lodged in my subconsciousness, since > last night's dreaming line-up included this scenario: > > I was looking for the RH Creem in a box of other articles and mags...and I > kept finding other RH pieces (including concert previews I had written for > NewCity when Robyn toured and I was still writing for them)...and then > there > it was...except it wasn't from Creem -- it was Robyn on the cover of > Oprah's > magazine (!) with some unIDed older woman (who was also not Oprah)... Clearly a dream: Oprah's always on the cover of _Oprah_ magazine. I can't imagine what a boundless ego it must take to publish a magazine named after yourself with yourself on the cover every month. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:09:46 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: Gays, guns, and guts made the Feglist free... > Ayup, as a buddy of mine once summed it up as "they're just pot-smoking > Republicans," which was funny if not totally accurate. I believe that actually originates from P.J. O'Rourke (my favorite Republican), but I may be wrong. >> Eeewww, please - not the L-word! I feel about libertarians the way a lot of gay people feel about bisexuals - they're just Republicans who're stuck in the closet... Wait... I know a lot of gay people, and I have never heard any of them call a bisexual a homosexual at heart. Or do you mean a heterosexual at heart? Or do you mean that gay people actually think that bisexuals are Republicans trapped in closets? What? And... Yeah, many people go to Virginia to buy guns. It's way too easy there -- from what I understand (uh...from George Pelecanos and "The Wire," to be fair, but my dad was also a cop) many of the guns in DC come from Virginia. As a person who has Libertarian tendencies and owns several guns, I have to say, I agree with the Feg who said that this is actually the *perfect* time to questions gun laws. The NRA is off the deep end, and it's ridiculous how easy it is to obtain a gun somewhere in the United States. I am not naove enough to think that this kid wouldn't have found another place to acquire a firearm, but do we really need to make it so damn easy? It's harder to get a drivers' license or a marriage license. And I'm not talking waiting period, either -- I doubt that would have worked for this guy. But rigorous background checks, mandatory training courses that require instructor approval, and limitations based on psychiatric records are not a bad start. As far as the concealed weapon law...well, if you are going to murder people, you are going to conceal your weapon regardless of a permit. Bur it would be nice if more restrictions allowed police to bust someone they find concealing a gun during an otherwise non-gun related offense. And I agree with FT -- penalties for the use of a gun during a crime should be draconian. And as a former teacher, I also agree with him that metal detectors are there ultimately because of shitty -- or nonexistent -- parenting. (Not to mention poverty and the crime it breeds.) - --Quail PS: I have no idea if this kid had terrible parents -- it seems not. Rather, and most tragically of all, he seems to fit the mold of the pure psychotic, just one of those terrible, broken, irredeemable people. It's just appalling he should have been sold a gun so easily. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:28:32 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: Machismo Festapalooza > This extends to the movie adaptation years later. Some claim it is > brilliant satire, and I have no doubt that that was its intent, but it > doesn't come through as such, and thus is poor satire. To you, Rex, to you. To the rest of us who thought it was brilliant satire, it remains...brilliant satire. > But it's one of those films where its adherents insist > that if you don't like it, you don't get it, dismissing the possibilty that > you could very well comprehend it fully and still find it shitty in other > areas (see Neal Labute films, Fight Club, Falling Down... hmm, all arted-up > machismo fests, aren't they?) It seems to me you are making the same flaw. You feel that you are armed with an objective truth about these films (full comprehension), and it is *we* who do not really "get" them (by "ignoring" all the "shitty" bits). And by the way, "Fight Club" is one of my favorite films. Where Rex sees "machismo fests," I see satires and critiques of various levels of intelligence that speak to the growing feeling of malaise and anxiety in post-capitalist White Male America, that once-mighty bastion that, even as we speak, is undergoing the death throes of an empire about to Change Into Something New and Scary. If I was younger, and perhaps in college or film school, I would think an interesting paper could be written about the genre of films that captures the anger of the Young White Male who is facing his eventual disenfranchisement. "Falling Down," "The Company of Men," "Fight Club," even "The Matrix" and maybe "True Lies" would all be worked in brilliantly, and I would earn an A+++, immediately rising to the top of my class, from whence I would garner fame and earn the right to kick Roeper away from Ebert's side, where I would settle my fat ass down into the long-languishing Chair of Greatness and thereby finally redeeming it -- all as Brother Siskel smiles indulgently downward from the Great Beyond.... And then I would declare that all fans of "Rent" and "Crash" would have to battle to the death in a giant steel cage match suspended above an active volcano. And then, right as the winners raise their bloody fists for my tribute, a minion pulls the lever and triggers the trap-door floor. - --Quail ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:17:47 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Gays, guns, and guts made the Feglist free... TGQ sallied forth with: >And... >Yeah, many people go to Virginia to buy guns. It's way too easy there - -- from what I understand (uh...from ?>George Pelecanos and "The Wire," to be fair, but my dad was also a cop) many of the guns in DC come from Virginia. Wasn't the guy an absolute nut case by all counts before the shooting? If true, it sure backs up your point of the ease of buying a gun in Virginia, and it's failure to check into the mental state of potential gun buyers. Shame on Virginia. MJ Bachman NP Lambchop - Is A Woman ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:22:04 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: reap at virginia tech On 4/18/07, FSThomas wrote: > > great white shark wrote: > > > I cannot > > imagine what it is like to go to school in the states and pass > > through metal detectors , I cannot comprehend that so many yanks > > stand up for your ' freedom" to bear arms , its a fucking blight on > > your international reputation if you ask me ..... amend your > > constitution folks - it sucks ! > > Metal detectors in schools are there for any type of weapon, not just > guns. The need for the metal detectors aren't because of lax gun laws, > or how easy it is to buy a knife, or how violent video > games/movies/television/music is, but how we've got a nation of shitty, > shitty parenting going on. They're certainly *primarily* for guns. As for the "shitty, shitty parenting": that may be part of it, but why are those folks such shitty parents? Perhaps education that warehouses and doesn't educate students (for a good insight, see Jonathan Kozol's "Still Separate, Still Unequal": ), jobs that pay less than people need to afford decent housing, lack of decent housing, poisonous police/citizen relations, etc. Of course that isn't all - or these shootings would take place only in poorer, urban schools: Columbine's a good counterexample. But I doubt "shitty parenting" is really relevant to extreme examples like Columbine and VA Tech. At any rate, parents are not the primary influence on people after early childhood: peers are, followed by schools and the media (see Judith Rich Harris's _The Nurture Assumption_). More relevantly: by far most parents are aware of, and teach that, shooting people is a bad idea. Finally: assuming "shitty parenting" *is* the problem, what's to be done about it? As for the Constitution, that amendment is there for a reason. The > country was founded out of revolution from an over-bearing government > and the second amendment is there to allow a check and balance should > revolt be required again. Take away that right, get rid of the guns, > and there's nothing to stand between the government and absolute power. Except the minor matter of their need to be re-elected. Or do you genuinely believe that most elected officials, were it not for the "threat" of an armed citizenry, would take "absolute power" in a heartbeat? If you do: why haven't they done so most everywhere else in the world, where there *are* stricter gun laws? If their likelihood of doing so is higher, what is it about this country that makes that the case? > > > > Toys are > > regulated with greater care and safety concerns. > > Your right to keep and bear toys were strangely omitted from the > Constitution. Without going into the whole "what's a 'militia'?" pissing match, I will note that the phrase "well regulated" is also in the Second Amendment. Even if you argue that a single, private individual can constitute part of a "militia," you must concede that said militia is supposed to be "well regulated." - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V16 #158 ********************************