Ride of the Valkyries

Wagner was a massive anti-semite.  that's a third of what i think of every time i hear that song.  here's the song:



here's what my immediate reaction is, every time i hear it:
1.  kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit
2.  i shouldn't like this song, Wagner really hated jews
3.  i love that scene from Apocalypse Now

it's a beautiful piece.  the intro is thrilling, tense, engaging, and it leads into that triumphant horn part that everyone with a pulse has heard at least once in his or her life.  it's inspiring music, really, it makes perfect sense that the Nazis would want to use it in their propaganda.  it makes you want to go out and conquer something.

it's a question of art versus motive, i suppose.  it's a classic piece of art, one of the most recognizable pieces of music ever made.  but if it's made so Hitler and his buddies can pump up their swastika-sporting brethren, should we still listen to it?  i'm not a very good philosopher, so i'm going going to even try to answer that question.  it's been in my thoughts for a couple of days now, since i saw a car commercial with Ride of the Valkyries hawking a Nissan something or other.  i doubt they worried as much about it as i've thought about it.

i'm not going to vote on tuesday.  i feel bad about it.  forgot to get my absentee ballot.  the last time i voted was in the presidential election in 2008.  i voted for McCain, believe it or not.  that may inspire a lot of gut reactions in you, but i did a lot of research before i voted.  realistically, he was the most liberal republican presidential candidate i've ever seen.  i actually preferred Obama when it came to the issues, but doubted he would have the influence within politics that McCain had, and would fall far short of his grand promises.  McCain sure as hell wasn't going to commit genocide on gay people or whatever people were scared of:  politicians these days are too scared to drastically polarize themselves on hot button issues, they'll get crucified when the other party starts gaining influence again.  hence "don't ask don't tell" and that sort of thing.  but once Obama won, i was fully behind him, i believe that's the way the populace should act unless something happens to compromise the ability of the president to lead (i.e. Watergate-style paranoia).  now, supporting the president does not mean everyone should agree with everything he says; the beauty of a democracy is the ability for people to change their own circumstances as dictated by the government.  but the general Obama-bashing is not helpful at all for the country, i believe that the vocal hatred of Obama by a rightist minority has led republican congressmen to entrench themselves and stop legislation that republicans would normally agree to.  which in turn has led to liberals pointing their fingers at the gop to disguise their own shortcomings, the conservatives pointing back, and a whole lot more squabbling.  i think Obama has done as well as we could expect any president to act in his situation.  i don't believe he is an outstanding president, but he is far from incompetent, an above-average president trying his best.

shit, how did i get started on politics?  this has been a thoroughly un-humorous post, and probably alienating on several levels.  realistically, i doubt i will ever see a candidate with the same mixture of conservative and liberal stances that i have.  i verge on radical on some liberal issues, but still have a conservative side of me when it comes to other issues (typically financial issues).

i have no clue why this ended up in a blog post.  i guess i don't really discuss politics that often.  this was a healthy thing to put in black and white, i suppose.

friday i came into work and realized the Eventric office dressed up for halloween.  not everyone was wearing costumes, but there was some joshing at my blue and white thermal's expense.  we also watched a couple of horror flicks.  i watched Nightmare on Elm Street for the first time.  it was a pretty neat movie, fun viewing.  went to North Avenue Guitars to look for a footswitch, talked to a guitar tech for a half hour, went home, watched Mad Men, and slept.  also wrote a bridge for one of my songs, played guitar for a while.  my electric guitar (a telecaster) is really starting to show some signs of wear from my picking arm and my recklessly un-technical strumming, but it's looking pretty cool so far.  seeing lots of wood through the finish.

saturday, lazed around the apt all day.  watched the rest of Mad Men season 4, then Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter, which was a movie revolving around the Stones playing Altamont in 1969.  that free Altamont show is generally pointed to as the end of the 60s counterculture, with the Hell's Angels killing a guy who pulled a gun in the crowd, and three other people dying from various other causes.  they actually have footage of a guy pulling a gun, and a Hell's Angel stabbing him two or three times.  go to about 4:00 to see the slow-motion video of it, from the film Gimme Shelter.



well, now that i've been thoroughly depressing and un-funny in this blog post, i think i'll just leave it.

turn signals and seething, burning rage

turn signals.  they're simple devices.  a simple switch to close the circuit between battery and blinking light. a person has but to flick their wrist to activate a signal for their movement left or right.

BUT SOME PEOPLE SEEM TO HAVE TROUBLE RECOGNIZING THIS.

if you don't enjoy rants about human decency, or the lack thereof, you may want to stop reading this post.  now.

i have run into an excessive amount of people who seem to have no knowledge whatsoever of that thing sticking out of their steering consoles that clicks whenever they bump it (i know, some people have the fancy ones that they can just click with their thumbs on the front of the steering wheel:  which makes their non-use of turn signals even less excusable).  this sort of ignorance bothers me.

it's not that i have any particular love for flashing lights, or plastic sticks that can make clicking noises, but that i am a fan of smooth traffic patterns.  for instance, i love a four way stop where everyone knows how to drive.

figure 1.1
                 |              |
                 |              |
-----------------|              |--------------
                   car    ^    stopped car
- - - - - - - - -    |      |   - - - - - - - -
stopped car   V   car
-----------------|              |--------------
                 |              |
                 |              |

the two cars opposite of each other move at the same time, while the other two remain stopped.  it's an elegant ballet, complicated only slightly by left turns.

however, this breaks down when people don't use turn signals.  everything breaks down.  because driving is a very visual activity, and if other people on the road can't see what you're doing, you get t-boned.  which isn't a problem for you, you asshole, you simply toss it off to your insurance company to pay for your bmw's repair bill while my insurance goes through the roof and i have to start biking 20 miles to work until you turn right without signaling and total my bike too.  jerk.

this exact scenario hasn't happened to me personally, by the way.  but i see it happening to me every time some drain on society cuts in front of me without giving me any more notice than general sherman gave georgia.

figure 1.2

as you can see, the damage inflicted from not using turn

signals can be immense

in much shorter, simpler words that you can understand, jackass in the bmw...

use your turn signal or i will hunt you down and hurt you badly enough that you won't have to worry about driving anymore.

i also ate chipotle today.

p.s.  it took me like 5 tries to get that four way stop diagram to line up right.  you're welcome.