You Down With CPVPV? Yeah You Know Me.

Disclaimer: The following blog is not meant to specifically discredit or demean the Islamic faith. I indiscriminately believe that all religions are tribal, superstitious nonsense that should be publicly ridiculed and exposed for the sham on humanity that they are. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Enjoy.

Note to self: don't flirt in public while in Saudi Arabia.

While reading this BBC news item, I came across my new favorite government agency name--the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice--courtesy of the ever benignant Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It's right up there with Nazi Germany's Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda and the US Department of Homeland Security. Funny stuff; not ha-ha funny, but funny nonetheless.

On the heels of banning red roses on Valentine's Day (along with VD altogether), it seems that the gravely named bureau of Islamic religious police took issue with 57 men allegedly wearing English laden t-shirts while publicly dancing to loud pop music in order to attract the attention of girls (btw, I'm not sure how discriminate these guys were in their taste in women since the CPVPV is also the agency that makes sure that women are properly covered head to toe and not wearing make up). The men were promptly arrested and are now under investigation and awaiting trial.

Needless to say, the CPVPV would have their hands full in any American high school parking lot at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on any given weekday (god knows I do--ZING!)

But alas, interaction between the sexes before marriage is forbidden and highly punishable in Saudi Arabia. And as much as I love restricting personal freedoms--and I really do--I find this example of religious fervency a tad bit ghastly (much like the backward law that says that you can't buy alcohol at the grocery store on Sundays in Georgia; this inconveniences me greatly).

Incidentally, this debacle coincided with George W's irony filled reaction to Fidel Castro's historic step down from power this week. His complete silence regarding the unsatisfactory human rights record in Saudi Arabia makes this speech so much more displeasing and aggravating. Not to say that I haven't grown accustomed to completely ignoring everything that comes out of that idiot's mouth, but I still occasionally find the time to be outraged.

I think the embargo against Cuba is just about the dumbest, most outdated piece of foreign policy left over from the Cold War. It is designed solely to hurt the Cuban people and has never been effective at doing anything else. I always faulted Clinton for not only perpetuating the embargo but for expanding it in 1996; it was definitely a black cloud on his presidency. I thought there was a bit of hope in 2002 when Jimmy Carter visited Cuba and met with Castro but it proved quite unsuccessful at making headway.

Maybe Raúl Castro's proposed changes towards a more democratic approach will help, but I doubt it. Oh, if only Cuba could sit on top of a shit ton of oil, then they would have license to do whatever the hell they pleased.

At the very least we could get a direct flight from the US to Havana to go on vacation.

One Thing I Love About Japanese People

Japanese culture has always fascinated me. I think this is mostly due to the fact that it seems so palpably foreign to a Westerner like myself that it might as well be from another planet. Some aspects of it appear utopian, some seem alien and extrinsic, and others are downright wacky.

There's a Japanese television show on G4 that you might have seen called Ninja Warrior (Sasuke is the original title) that I find fascinating on several levels and taught me a thing or two about our Asian friends. If you haven't seen it, it's basically a game show where 100 people attempt to complete a set of increasingly difficult physical challenges in order to be crowned the ultimate Ninja Warrior.

The 4 Stages involve obstacles that test the competitors' agility, strength and stamina, all characteristics vital to a stealthy feudal assassin. Most stages are stringently timed in order to weed out the unninja-like weaklings and ensure that only the Darwinian cream of the crop advance. The contestants range from Olympic athletes, to common working folk, to downright crazy people seeking some notoriety. The show has been very popular in Japan since its inception in 1997 and some of the recurrent contestants have become local celebrities.

Here's one of the show's more colorful elderly contestant, known as The Octopus, going through Stage 1:

As you can see, watching people fail is a pretty entertaining part of the show. It's also the typical outcome since only a handful of the original 100 contestants even make it to Stage 2, and it only gets exponentially harder from there in Stage 3 and Stage 4. This is what really fascinates me about the mindset of the show (and, in turn, of Japanese culture) because over the course of nineteen seasons, only two men have ever completed all four stages, Kazuhiko Akiyama and Makato Nagamo.

100 contestants have competed for every one of the show's 19 seasons, so that means that there have been 1,898 failed attempts at becoming the ultimate Ninja Warrior. Only 0.00105% of the people that participate reach the ultimate goal.

This ratio of success to failure would never fly in the United States, where the ostensibly trivial Ricky Bobby motto, "If you're not first, you're last", is pretty much the raison d'être and the basis for all state sponsored propaganda. It's so American that it might as well be on the tail side of all the coins and engraved on the crown of the Statue of Liberty.

In the U.S., after one season of no one reaching the end, the producers would have certainly made the stages progressively easier until someone could reach the ultimate goal and sate the audiences' intrinsic appetite for a conventional victory at the end of every show.

But this is where the Japanese are different. Not only did they NOT make the stages easier after multiple seasons of failure, but they kept making them intensely harder. This is why no one even finished the challenge until season 4 and not again until season 17.

I love this irreverence to the notion of what it means to succeed and what a true challenge should be.

Could you imagine this approach to competition in American game shows?

It's inconceivable.

If a show is deemed too difficult on American television, the bar is lowered until someone wins. This is why we get the "Million Dollar Mission" on Deal Or No Deal where they keep changing the odds in favor of the contestants until someone eventually wins. This is why most of the current game shows don't involve any skill whatsoever but merely rely on chance--or in the case of Fox's Moment of Truth, just telling the truth gets you money.

American Gladiators is the closest in spirit to Ninja Warrior (they actually lifted a few of the new challenges from it), but there's always a winner and a loser at the end of every show and the challenges are reasonably winnable by most contestants. If they weren't, people would not watch it.

The American audience seems content with the perception of success even though the reality is only made possible by establishing lower standards. So in this case, the means are inconsequential to accomplishing an end. In Japan, it's all about the difficulty of the means, therefore making the end more fulfilling when it finally materializes.

Which viewpoint do you think is a more favorable approach to progress and benefits the advancement of the human race?

The answer is pretty clear to me.

If game shows are a barometer for the values of the culture itself, we're in deep trouble. It's yet another sign of the dumbing down of America to appeal to the lowest common denominator, and evidence to the growing glorification of ignorance. Instead of giving people something to aspire to, we're given something that's easily accessible but ultimately less substantial. Without the challenge, the rewards are less meaningful.

And I, for one, can't get behind that.

The Japanese, however, are setting the bar high and not only that, they're constantly raising it. They seek and glorify the perpetual pursuit to produce perfection. And that puts them ahead of us as a culture.

It is also worth noting that the Japanese seem to revel in public humiliation and, as far as competition goes, favor a good effort and humility over domination and boastfulness. Ego takes a backseat. This is evident in Ninja Warrior as the audience always seems to laugh with, instead of at, the contestants that epically fail, and always applaud their efforts, feeble as they may be.

Contrary to this, in the U.S., seemingly every reality show is based on ridiculing people's shortcomings and pointing out their flaws with no redeeming value whatsoever to the viewer, except maybe for a cheap laugh. This only perpetuates the importance of the individual over the masses and the lowering of expectations. It's easy to see that in turn an individualistic world view is only self-serving and does not lead to betterment of the species.

And again, I can't get behind that. I want to be inspired by true greatness, I don't want to be appeased by mediocrity.

You should want the same for yourself.

You can start here with sailor Makato Nagano making his glorious run through the various stages and proving to us that he is the ultimate Ninja Warrior:



Amazing.

Exhibit "A"

So we have new upstairs neighbors.

My reconnaissance abilities have determined that it's two college-age white males. Their interests include yelling for no apparent reason, stomping their feet while walking and playing Rock Band at high volume for several hours.

All of these became apparent mere minutes after they moved in.

The latter really became apparent when an ailing Adrienne and I were violently woken up from our NyQuil-induced slumbers by the sounds of Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" at 1 o'clock in the AM, complete with strained, atonal, gang vocals provided by our new archenemies.

That unequivocal infraction prompted the first unleashing of thee ol' hickory stick which I banged vigourously on the ceiling so that they might discriminately discern our deep displeasure with their dastardly deeds (can I get a "whoot-whoot" for that alliteration?).

And this is on the first day of residence. So much for first impressions.

Today, as the sacrilegious sonic transgressions extended to songs such as "Blitzkrieg Bop", "Wanted Dead or Alive", and "Sabotage", the only thoughts that crossed my head were how I could procure myself a pistol equipped with a silencer so that I could regain the peace I once knew a few short days ago.

A few, carefully placed bullets to their center mass and head would do the job just fine. Nobody would miss them. It would take weeks before anyone would even know. The world would be a better place.The words "bro", "brocifer", and "brocifus" would be heard a little less frequently.

The future would be a brighter vision of hope.

All right, I better stop; this has already proven incriminating enough. I've shown copious amounts of intent and I don't need those extra years added to my forthcoming, imminent double murder sentence.

Maybe I'll find some peace in solitary confinement.

The Greatest Living Actor

To extend my streak of seeing movies with central themes revolving around deserts and ruthless men, I saw There Will Be Blood last night (okay, two in a row is not much of a streak--the other being No Country For Old Men--but the similarities were worth noting).

Apart from having seen a pretty outstanding movie, I came away from There Will Be Blood with the certainty that Daniel Day-Lewis is the greatest living actor. I had suspected this after his portrayal of Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs Of New York, but now I'm sure that he's at the top of the profession. His dedication to staying in character even when the camera isn't rolling is borderline crazy¹ but it definitely pays off because he's always really convincing. And the fact that he only makes a movie every two years or so keeps the quality of his work elevated.

A huge part of his impressive portrayals is always his accents. He has a knack for finding these über-regional accents that are ambiguous yet quite distinct. He doesn't really do many interviews so I'm not even sure if I know what his real accent sounds like but I suspect it's something resembling Irish. So when he does a peculiar American accent, he's that much more remarkable. He also always seems to have a different build to his body for his characters, as if he has a kit of interchangeable torsos and limbs that he picks through and rebuilds himself like a human Mr. Potato Head.

My respect for Daniel Day-Lewis is noteworthy for I'm usually not one to overtly praise actors because I believe they already garner a bit too much reverence from the public. I mean, most actors are basically animatrons that are given words and actions to act out by writers, told how, when and where to act by directors and made better looking by hair and makeup people and costume designers.

For the most part, actors have surprisingly little to offer other than a face and the ability to remember lines. In a way, they're not much different from the monkeys they sometimes share the screen with, in that they're only as good as their handlers.

We have to keep this in mind when the writers' strike seems to be keeping us from enjoying new episodes of our favorite shows. Without them, Steve Carell is probably only as funny as Evan Almighty (although he was a writer for the Daily Show so he can probably hold his own; I just wanted to make a cheap Evan Almighty joke). So, Hollywood, let's pay the writers accordingly for their contributions.

Oh yeah, before I forget:

There was blood, but not that much.

¹He insisted on staying in character 24/7 when he played a severely paralyzed man in My Left Foot by having the crew of the film push him around the set in a wheelchair. When filming The Last Of The Mohicans he lived off the land and carried a rifle everywhere he went. When he played a boxer in, huh, The Boxer he trained for 2 YEARS(!!!) as, huh, a boxer. He apprenticed under a butcher for Gangs Of New York and refused treatment for pneumonia because it was not in keeping with the period. Needless to say, the dude is serious about method acting. I'd hate to see what he would have done had he been cast as Hannibal Lecter.

You Lost Me At Hello

The fourth season of Lost premieres tonight and saying that it's a big deal for a lot of people is an understatement. I've never seen the show and I'm certainly not going to start tonight because I have no idea of what's going on (although this puts me on par with people who watch the show religiously, apparently). But I have seen the previews of the new episode and I've been aware of the show for its duration so I'm perplexed by a couple of trivial things:

I'm assuming that after three whole seasons of the show, some time has gone by since they all crashed on the island. If this is true then why do all the characters still have the same haircuts and facial hair? Is there a barber on the island? Are the male characters still habitually shaving even though the fundamental norms of society have clearly broken down?

And the fat dude does not appear to be losing any weight. Is he eating other characters? I'm pretty sure he'd lose some weight if he was suddenly thrown in a Darwinistic survival situation and didn't have regular access to processed cheese. But maybe that's just me.

If you have answers to any of these questions, please enlighten me.

Best Of 2007

Hello friends,

It's the end of the year so it's an obvious, psychologically satisfying time to list all of the best that 2007 had to offer in music, movies and television (in my not-so-humble opinion, anyway). Disagreements are to be expected, so feel free to post any comments or your own picks below. Just know that you're probably wrong and that I am, in fact, always right.

"How can it be bullshit to state a preference?"

Rob (John Cusack) in High Fidelity

Best Records (in no particular order)

-The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
-Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
-Feist, The Reminder
-Radiohead, In Rainbows
-Menomena, Friend And Foe
-Elvis Perkins, Ash Wednesday
-Kanye West, Graduation
-Avett Brothers, Emotionalism
-Jay-Z, American Gangster
-Okkervil River, The Stage Names
-Sondre Lerche, Phantom Punch
-The White Stripes, Icky Thump
-Ryan Adams, Easy Tiger
-Iron & Wine, The Shepherd's Dog
-Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha

Best Reissues, Soundtracks & Compilations

-Elliott Smith, New Moon
-Various Artists, I'm Not There O.S.T.
-Elvis Costello, My Aim Is True Deluxe Edition
-Eddie Vedder, Into The Wild O.S.T.
-Counting Crows, August And Everything After Deluxe Edition
-Sondre Lerche, Dan In Real Life O.S.T.

Good Albums, But Not Up To Par To Previous Achievements (try harder next time, please)

-Bright Eyes, Cassadega
-Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
-Band Of Horses, Cease To Begin
-Pinback, Autumn Of The Seraphs
-Devendra Banhart, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

Best Japanese Psychedelic Pop Album

-4 Bonjour's Parties, Magpie Will Peck A Hole In My Plaster Cast

Best Comedy Album

-Patton Oswalt, Werewolves And Lollipops

Most Overrated Albums

-The National, Boxer (Somehow it still made it to 1 on Paste's list; I tried to stop them...)
-Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam (Not *actual* music!!)
-Panda Bear, Person Pitch

Albums That Would Have Made The "Best Of" List Had I Actually Listened To Them All The Way Through More Than Once

-Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
-Rogue Wave, Asleep At Heaven's Gate
-The Shins, Wincing The Night Away
-José González, In Our Nature
-Beirut, The Flying Club Cup

Best Albums I Haven't Heard Yet

-PJ Harvey, White Chalk
-Wu-Tang Clan, The 8 Diagrams
-Ghostface Killah, The Big Doe Rehab

Best Songs

-"Intervention" by The Arcade Fire
-"1234" by Feist
-"Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John
-"You Are My Face" by Wilco
-"Two" by Ryan Adams
-"All I Need" by Radiohead
-"Roc Boys (And The Winner Is...)" by Jay-Z Featuring Kanye West
-"Myriad Harbour" by The New Pornographers
-"Smile" by Lily Allen
-"Girls In Their Summer Clothes" by Bruce Springsteen
-"Lake Michigan" by Rogue Wave
-"Good Life" by Kanye West featuring T-Pain
-"Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe" by Okkervil River
-"Plaster Casts Of Everything" by Liars
-"You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse
-"The Underdog" by Spoon
-"Rag And Bone" by The White Stripes
-"The Heinrich Maneuver" by Interpol
-"Sinking Soon" by Norah Jones
-"Florida" by Modest Mouse

Guilty Pleasures (I must be getting pretty secure in my tastes 'cause I could only come up with a few that I truly feel guilty about this year)

-"Umbrella" by Rihanna (Enjoy it while eating paella, ella ella eh eh eh. Or while watching Cinderella, ella ella eh eh eh)
-"Walk It Out" by Unk (I actually had to look up who did that song; now I know)
-"Crank That" by Soulja Boy (I still don't understand a single word of it)
-"Makes Me Wonder" by Maroon 5 (This one I feel really guilty about)

Best Cover Songs

-Elliott Smith, "Thirteen" (Big Star)
-José González, "Teardrop" (Massive Attack)
-Alison Krause, "Trampled Rose" (Tom Waits)
-Devendra Benhart, "Little Boxes" (Malvina Reynolds)
-Regina Spektor, "Real Love" (John Lennon)
-Jeff Tweedy, "Simple Twist Of Fate" (Bob Dylan)
-The White Stripes, "Conquest" (Patti Page)
-Sondre Lerche, "Let My Love Open The Door" (Pete Townshend)

Best Mash-Up

-DJ Axel, "Guns N' Hovas" (Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" v. Jay-Z's "Dirt Off Your Shoulder")

Coolest Aging Alternative Icon I Met This Year

-Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips at the Echo Project in October. He's slender and quite handsome. He was also wearing a bitching custom suit.

Band That I Once Loved But Should Have Stayed Broken Up For Its Own Good And The Good Of Humanity

-Smashing Pumpkins (Billy, just stop and let me still enjoy your first three albums in peace)

Best Singer-Songwriter That I Drove To A Gig In My Car Through Atlanta Rush Hour Traffic From The Paste Offices

-Josh Ritter on November 1st; we talked about Dylan and girls walking in the sunshine (he's weird)

Best Movies (I didn't see that many movies in the theater again this year so forgive me for my crappy selection)

-The Darjeeling Limited (probably my favorite)
-Knocked Up
-300
-Sicko
-Superbad
-Ocean's Thirteen
-Grindhouse: Planet Terror & Death Proof

Movies I Really Wanted To See But I Probably Won't Until I Can Netflix Them

-Zodiac
-Eastern Promises
-Lars And The Real Girl
-Into The Wild
-The King Of Kong
-Sunshine
-American Gangster
-Control
-Shoot 'Em Up
-Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten
-I'm Not There

Movies I'm Going To See For Sure In The Next Two Weeks

-Juno
-Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
-No Country For Old Men

Worst Movie To See In A Theater Full Of Teenagers Who Feel Compelled To Talk On Their Cell Phones And Scream Advice To The Actors On The Screen Without Considering The Fact That It Might Ruin The Experience For Other More Mature Moviegoers

-Rob Zombie's Halloween (never again!)

Best Television Shows

-Entourage: Season 4 (HBO)
-The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 2 (HBO)
-Big Love: Season 2 (HBO)
-Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO)
-Flight Of The Conchords (HBO)
-Weeds: Season 3 (Showtime)
-Dexter: Season 2 (Showtime)
-The Office: Seasons 3&4 (NBC)
-Survivor: China (CBS)
-It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: Season 3 (FX)
-The Henry Rollins Show (IFC)
-Iconoclasts (Sundance)
-No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain (Travel Channel)
-Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares (BBC, not the shitty FOX Version!)
-Gordon Ramsey's F Word (BBC)
-The Soup (E!)
-Best Week Ever (VH1)
-Pardon The Interruption (ESPN)
-Top Chef: Season 3 (Bravo)
-Attack Of The Show (G4)

Best Excuse To Get Digital Cable With DVR

-Being able to have a life that is not dictated by television schedules. That, and to instantly replay people getting hit in the nuts on American Funniest Home Videos. Oooh, and fast forwarding through commercials; watching an hour long show now only takes 41 minutes!

Best Unabashed Display of "Scarm" (Scar + Arm) On Television

-Padma Lakshmi on Bravo's Top Chef; disfiguring scars have never been so damn sexy.


So there you have it, I hope this list will inspire you to draft your own selections or perhaps encourage you to pick up an album or watch a show you otherwise wouldn't have.

See you next year!

A Stubborn Notion: "Jesus Camp" Fails To Shock

Adrienne and I watched Jesus Camp tonight. I'll spare you the set up of this documentary by letting Netflix do the work:

This riveting Oscar-nominated documentary offers an unfiltered look at a revivalist subculture where devout Christian youngsters are being primed to deliver the fundamentalist community's religious and political messages. Building an evangelical army of tomorrow, the Kids on Fire summer camp in Devil's Lake, N.D., is dedicated to deepening the preteens' spirituality and sowing the seeds of political activism as they're exhorted to "take back America for Christ."

So basically it shows the indoctrination of kids into the evangelical way of thinking (or lack thereof) at this summer camp in the Midwest through tactics right out of the Hitler Youth¹ playbook. The best description of the design and purpose of the camp is made by Becky Fischer, the founder and organizer, who equates it to an extremist Muslim training camp where children are molded into good little Jihadists --except she does it without a hint of sarcasm.

She sees her ministry as a sort of counterweight to other extremist religious groups and the godless liberals who she thinks are ruining America. Essentially, these kids are routinely and systematically transformed into little rhetoric-spewing mouthpieces of the Christian Right and encouraged to spread the message by any means necessary.

The documentary is anything but biased or preachy, choosing instead to let the subjects do the talking, most of which is done by the kids themselves. The only discernible "voice of reason" present in the film is of Air America's own Mike Papantonio (a Methodist who often criticizes the Christian Right) who at one point interviews Becky and calls in question her "teaching" methods and the glaring hypocrisies of her sect of Christianity.

Regardless of the apparent lack of persuasiveness and cajolery by the filmmakers, the inherent tone of the film is meant to incite outrage and/or utter terror at these events, which astonishingly take place in modern-day America.

I, however, was not affected in such a way.

I don't know if there's anything comparable to the "five stages of grief"² that applies to dealing with the Christian Right as a modern thinking person who values reason, but I feel like I've gone through several different stages myself.

I certainly used to get angry at this type of thing; it made me visibly resentful to see any type of commitment to the proliferation of ignorance and disinformation. I associated this rage with being passionate and I reveled in it without ever actually using it as a sort of catalyst for action.

And that, of course, is typical teen angst fare.

It's pure, carnal and self-serving. It's downright fun. It's rock n' roll. It's a Black Flag song. It's what teenagers are put on this earth to do.

But that type of unbridled rage gets old after a while (it starts looking forced and a bit naive and definitely stops helping you get laid) and I eventually moved on to trying to rationalize why certain people just don't get "it", almost to the point of making excuses for their way of thinking.

I blamed it on their upbringing, their surrounding environment, the encompassing establishment, morally bankrupt corporations, the traditional Puritanical culture of the U.S. and anything else that could be a sphere of influence on their soft, amorphic minds. In other words, it's not their fault, they are the product of what they themselves are sadly propagating.

But that logic is only applicable to a certain point. Even my extremely liberal mindset can't wrestle with the notion that people aren't somewhat responsible for their own predicaments. The intimation of the effects of upbringing and environment has a definite cut off point.

It certainly pertains to kids and young adults, much like the ones being programmed in Jesus Camp; they, after all, have a limited amount of inputs. But in this age of accelerated processes and open-ended information very few people in America live in a bubble, a suspended state of cryogenic storage. At some point of adulthood these people choose to be willfully ignorant and spiritually incurious for whatever reason --be it convenience, or perhaps the need to be antagonistic, headstrong or perversely indifferent.

So now I'm left to believe that they are just stubborn, ignorant douche bags for whom I should feel relatively nothing. That's why I wasn't outraged when in Jesus Camp a mother home schools her son to reject science as merely another belief system, global warming as something not to be worried about and that the earth is a mere 6,000 years old. I didn't wince at the sight of a man praying that George W. Bush finds the strength to appoint a Supreme Court Judge to overturn Roe V. Wade. I didn't even laugh when they all started speaking in tongues and wailing uncontrollably.

Not me, not anymore.

It must be a sign of the start of my curmudgeon stage when I become an empty shell of a man, too knowledgeable of life to learn anything new and too dead inside to care --ironically sharing the very qualities of the people I once despised.

But there is hope.

After a little girl described her favorite music as Christian Hard Rock and proceeded to dance and sing along, I still felt a silent, murderous rage for her display of bad taste in music.

Suddenly, I felt unbridled rage making a comeback.

¹The Hitler Youth, incidentally, increased by great numbers when it joined with the Evangelische Jugend (Evangelical Youth, a German youth organization with upwards of 600,000 members) in the mid 1930's. Coincidence?! I think not.

²In case you need a reminder of what these are: 1. shock followed by initial denial; 2. denial replaced by anger, rage, envy, and resentment; 3. bargaining (with God or the like); 4. depression; 5. ultimate acceptance.

The Echo Project

On Friday, I got to go to the opening day of the first annual(?) Echo Project Festival which took place just South of Atlanta this weekend. The whole thing is modeled after all the big three-day festivals that are now a mainstay of summer, but with an ecologically minded proclivity. Basically, Al Gore's¹ wet dream of a concert concept.

They picked out a great location on a 350 acre farm just minutes outside of the A-T-L; a broad, ample field surrounded by rolling hills, placid lakes and a rippling (albeit, contaminated) river. And they also picked a great time, mid-October, when it's not so god damn² hot and clothes-drenching humid. Even the infrastructure and layout of the festival seemed to have been well thought out.

The gripes I had with it were that 1) tickets were way too expensive and 2) not enough good bands were booked to justify the price of the ticket, so 3) not as many people as were expected showed up.

Of course I got to go for free so why should I give a fuck, right?

Right.

Some of the more interesting bands playing on Friday, all brought together by their love of smoking weed (or ganja, where it may apply): The Flaming Lips, The Polyphonic Spree, GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan with Slick Rick, Cypress Hill, Stephen Marley, Les Claypool and Secret Machines.

The bad (or utterly obscure) bands that played on Friday: all the other 67 bands that played on various stages to tens of people throughout the day and night.

But even they couldn't ruin a good time. I definitely can't complain, I got to hang backstage drinking free beer and I met The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, a personal hero of mine. And best of all, I got to watch him and the other guys in the band (as well as a couple dozen folks dressed as Santa Claus, aliens and superheroes) send thousands of people into sensory overload and epileptic seizures with their amazing show. If you've never seen The Flaming Lips in concert, you're seriously missing out. This was my third time and even though their show is always basically the same, it's one of the most fun things I've ever been a part of every time.

Good times.

¹Note to Al Gore: if you entered the race for presidency right now, it would be a slam dunk, a home run and a 95 yard touchdown pass all wrapped into one. To put it plainly, you would win --handily. I'm just saying.

²I usually think it's more satisfying to write "goddam" instead of "god damn", but I'm giving it a try to see if it grows on me. Also, are you supposed to capitalize the word "god" or is that just if you're specifically talking about the Judeo-Christian God? Oh, goddam it all.