3.21.2012

Traction Control

Why do I run?

Theories abound.

"You're probably one of those health nuts."

I gulp fats and sugars like air.

I don't exactly avoid beer or bourbon, either.

"It's a vanity thing."

I'm ridiculously good-looking by nature.

"You're an addictive personality."

I'm compelling—but "addictive"?

Oh—and I don't run if I don't feel like running.

"It's therapy."

It really isn't.

"OK—so why DO you run?"

Because I enjoy it.

Period.

Don't—just...don't.

3.19.2012

Ego East (And West)

"Flyover Country is so boring."

So boring.

Sobering

When you're boring.

An ESPN pundit mocks Indianapolis because of its produce selection.

"Where's the organic starfruit?"

So boring.

An actress friend, an LA transplant, laments a Cincinnati bar's 2am closing time.

"They should close when the sun breaks through the dark—to clean and prep for the next round."

Sobering.

Coast Dwellers.

They love it.

They love it.

Days spent chasing the Latest Latest Latest Shiny Idol.

Nights spent eating out and drinking out and dancing out.

Floating from "happening" to "happening".

Always on.

Always being.

Someone.

Else.

Musicvoicesthelatestmartinigropingmusicvoicesthelamestmartinifucking.

Distractions.

At home, in a tiny overpriced studio walk-up, they sit in their underwear.

Stare out the one window with a half-decent view.

Scarf cold lo-mein.

Shovel warm Ben & Jerry's.

Self-satisfied.

Self-loathed.

So boring.

Sobering.

Alone.

Meanwhile, life in Flyover Country continues.

Still haven't tried to find a place that sells organic starfruit.

That favorite burger joint closes well before the sun breaks through the dark.

Days spent forgetting to chase the latest latest latest...whatever.

Nights spent eating out occasionally and drinking out rarely and dancing out only at weddings.

Never floating, but walking.

Calmly.

Wherever I am.

Always.

So boring.

Sobering.

Alone.

Me.

3.17.2012

Cabbage Patch

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Not that the average reveler really cares about the true (or at least truer) story of St. Patrick and his official day.

Most of them have more pressing concerns.

Like scarfing down too many savory slabs of melt-in-your-mouth delicious corned beef.

And going to town on too many steaming sides of boiled-to-perfection delicious green cabbage.

And mindlessly tossing back too many pint glasses of (not quite) delicious (cheap) green beer.

That last one is particularly pressing.

So—no more edification today.

Instead, a blessing:

May you dance with Lady Luck and embrace her Bountiful Harvest of Fun...





































...and may you repel the Evil Leprechaun and stave off his Mother Of All Hangovers.





































ÉIRINN GO BRÁCH!

3.16.2012

La Liste Noir

"...CUNT..."

*cue laughter*

"...SLUT..."

*cue lawsuit*

"...NIGGA..."

Just keepin' it real, dog!

"...NIGGER..."

Just banning Huckleberry Finn, kid!

"...HATE SPEECH..."

DELETION!

(then)

INDOCTRINATION!

(then)

CONFORMATION!
   
(but what about)

FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

*cue Lenny Bruce*

Are there any niggers here tonight? Could you turn on the house lights, please, and could the waiters and waitresses just stop serving, just for a second? And turn off this spot. Now what did he say? "Are there any niggers here tonight?" I know there's one nigger, because I see him back there working. Let's see, there's two niggers. And between those two niggers sits a kyke. And there's another kyke— that's two kykes and three niggers. And there's a spic. Right? Hmm? There's another spic. Ooh, there's a wop; there's a polack; and, oh, a couple of greaseballs. And there's three lace-curtain Irish micks. And there's one, hip, thick, hunky, funky, boogie. Boogie boogie. Mm-hmm. I got three kykes here, do I hear five kykes? I got five kykes, do I hear six spics, I got six spics, do I hear seven niggers? I got seven niggers. Sold American. I pass with seven niggers, six spics, five micks, four kykes, three guineas, and one wop. Well, I was just trying to make a point, and that is that it's the suppression of the word that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness. Dig: if President Kennedy would just go on television, and say, "I would like to introduce you to all the niggers in my cabinet," and if he'd just say "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" to every nigger he saw, "boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie," "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" 'til nigger didn't mean anything anymore, then you could never make some six-year-old black kid cry because somebody called him a nigger at school.

Life is too short to be enslaved voluntarily by a fear of uttering the wrong noun.

So I live free.

Part Jap.

Part Jock.

Part Limey.

Part Moke.

Part Mick.

Part Frog.

Part Boche.

Part Portagee.

Part Cloggie.

Part Redskin.

Hapa Haole.

Mixed Plate.

Mixed Breed.

Muttiest Mutt.

Ugly American.

Free.

You?

3.15.2012

Apoplectic Hermeneutic

Eyes widen.

Lips purse.

Heads shake.

Silent disappointment.

Bricks are shit.

Bricks are thrown.

Threadbare insults.

Limp-wristed smears.

Maximum bitching.

Politics?

Aesthetics?

Biology?

Chemistry?

Shrug.

Words.

Sexy is sexy.

"Come on baby show me what that loaded gun is for..."


3.14.2012

610

To Those Who Are Convinced That A War Against Women Is Being Waged:

Actually, there is a war being waged.

Centuries-old, yet slowing not.

The One True War.

Its warriors are everywhere.

They have but a single objective.

Submission.

Women.

Men.

Children.

Right.

Left.

Straight.

Gay.

Believer.

Infidel.

Submit.

Or else.




3.13.2012

Free Agency

Ever listen to Nick Cave?

What I admire most about him is his unwillingness to break his one and only rule:

"Be yourself at all times."

The fleeting whims and fickle desires of pop(ularity) music?

Let the wind blow them.

Away.

3.12.2012

Textual Criticism

Sexting?

Taking pictures.

Typing words.

What poor substitutes for building the perfect beast...

...with two backs.

"How do you think you got here, kiddo?"

Rubber

The modern car is utilitarian.

Its purpose is safe, economical, Point A to Point B transportation totally devoid of fun.

Fun is not safe.

Boring is not safe, either.

Thus is life.

Have a safe trip?

Pass.

You can keep your Volkswagen.

The Killer

She smelled exciting—I wanted some.

There's no better one line assessment of instant attraction than that lyric.

Deep analysis misses the point.

Sometimes, you just want what you see.

Even if it'll ruin you.

Eventually.

Until then...

"I get it, doll."

Uniqueness

I prefer it over all else.

Because it's truly self-defined.

Because it needs no other agent's approval or validation.

Because it endures.

The good kind of bad.