Rent

I finally got the movie version from Blockbuster for a trip, and I will be buying it. Maybe it’s because of everything I was dealing with in the summer of 1997 when Stacy, Erica, and I saw this on stage. Maybe it’s the message. Or both. Definitely – both.

525,600 minutes. 525,600 moments so dear.
How do you measure a year in the life?

There’s a lot of this movie that I don’t agree with politically. But this is just one of those where the politics just don’t matter to me. It hits me somewhere many other things (music, movie, stage, whatever) don’t.

There is no future
There is no past
Thank God this moment’s not the last
There’s only us
There’s only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss
No other road
No other way
No day but today

And the voices! Those voices. It just takes my breath away every time I listen to it. Yeah, I bought the Broadway recording immediately after I saw the show almost nine years ago. I still can't believe it's been nine years.

Traveling...

My recent and future schedule, April 14 through May 10.
two days - Charleston, SC - personal
one night, one day - Austin - work
(I really wish I could have stayed longer)
one day home
four days - Boston - personal
half day home
two days - Cleveland, OH - work
a week home
five days - Key West - personal
three days - Orlando - work
HOME

I'm not complaining, just a bit overwhelmed. Yikes. I'm also happy that it's split work and personal. Of course, I'll be working during some of the personal. Oh well. It's still a kick-ass life.

New web addiction

Previously my web addiction, besides the blogs and political commentary, has been the Internet Movie Database. I can hardly watch a movie at home without the laptop open and IMDB pulled up online.

For a few months, I've been lamenting the lack of a music version of this kind of database. I don't know why I didn't just do a google search before tonight, because when I thought to do that, I found AllMusic (by AMG - the guys who keep all the CD information that shows up on your burned CDs).

This is fantastic! Enter a name, and it pulls up several tabs, including Overview, Biography, Discography, Songs, Credits, and Charts & Awards. Within the overview tab, you'll see links to similar artists, influences, other writers whose songs they've performed, a timeline of their musical life, genres, pictures, etc. etc.

Don't question an arrogant 20-something year old "man"

Tonight, Dave and I decided to go try a sushi place down the road that we'd heard was great. It was good, but we still prefer the place close to our house.

We were enjoying ourselves, and the atmosphere was nice and relaxing. That is, until two guys came in and sat next to us at the bar. The first impression came when they sat down, leaned back in their chairs, and put their knees up against the sushi bar. Sure, I've done this before in some places, but never in an austere sushi restaurant.

Then the conversation begins. The one who monopolized the entire conversation begins talking about work (sounds like he's a sales manager), and lamenting the disrespect he feels is directed his way "because he's in his twenties." I'm sure that's it. It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that he's an arrogant jerk. No, that couldn't be it. His view...

"There's this woman at work who's like 55, and tells me how she has 25 years of experience in the industry. Listen, anyone in their fifties and still working in the same industry - no, anyone in their fifties who doesn't own their own business is a schmuck."

Seriously, this guy's enourmous ego is so fragile that someone discussing her experience in the industry (I do know time doesn't necessarily translate into knowledge and success) is immediately percieved as disrespect.

The definition of schmuck:
Shmuck: another of the many Yiddish words for "penis." Although it has the same basic meaning as putz, a shmuck often refers to someone with greater power or social/emotional status; someone who's intentionally nasty or uses their power for ill, whereas a putz is more ineffectual, easier to dismiss because he's beneath consideration or has no real effect on your life. (It's the difference between "jerk" and "total a$$hole.") (It's a very subtle difference, I grant you, and the line is often blurry...)

Turns out he's the schmuck.
Hehe.

Tishamingo

Hey, I've heard of them, but would love to know if any of you have heard their music or seen them live. We're thinking about going to see them at The Windjammer on Isle of Palms tomorrow night. For $8, I'm sure we can't lose, but I'd like to have some ammunition, if I need to convince my dad to go, and our friends to meet us there. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

And have a wonderful Easter.

How hard is it to understand?

Some people just don't get it, but Gunner does.

I think that most of you who read this will certainly appreciate Gunner's response to an editorial writer at Athens' student-run (not affiliated with the University) Red and Black newspaper.

Well-said, Gunner.

One Nation

Issues of the Patriot Post are emailed a few days each week. This is a conservative newsletter with which I agree more often than not. Their newsletters are heavy, chock full of well-researched and interesting information. Though I don't always agree with the opinions in the larger essays, they are consistently well-reasoned and detailed.

Today's essay covering immigration was particularly good, though. I believe it requires a subscription - well worth it.

E PLURIBUS UNUM?

Out of many, one.

That was the national motto proposed by Benjamin Franklin, John
Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1776. Both simple and elegant, it
embodied the notion that all who had come to America's shores, and
all who would come, must be united---must all form one front---in
defense of freedom and liberty. For 200 years, we were, largely,
one people united behind constitutional republicanism. But soon
after the social turbulence of the '60s and the economic woes
of the '70s, that unity began to crumble. This was the era in
which multiculturalism emerged---the era in which ethnocentricity
became chic.

Arthur Schlesinger, a former Harvard professor and senior advisor
to JFK, published a retrospective on this era in 1991 called
"The Disuniting of America." Schlesinger wrote primarily about
the orthodoxy of self-interested hyphenated-American citizen
groups---who, rather than unifying to become one, were diversifying
to become many. He warned that the cult of ethnicity would result
in "the fragmentation and tribalization of America," the natural
consequence being that these special-interest groups would be
co-opted by the political parties...

Security Concerns...

... A formidable security wall along our border with Mexico would also
provide a measure of safety against terrorist incursions, but there
are already serious security problems brewing within our borders.

...The Hispanic reconquest movement is on the verge of violent
nationalism---if it hasn't already become just that---with all its
terrorist implications. If they do in fact resort to violence, all
bets are off in regards to the status, guest worker or otherwise,
of any illegal alien in this country from south of the border.

Economic Concerns...

The essential protectionist argument against the provision
of guest-worker permits is that these workers take jobs away
from Americans and reduce wages for everyone. There is, however,
little factual basis for those arguments. As Former House Majority
Leader Dick Armey was fond of noting, "Demagoguery beats data." In
other words, an emotional rant tends to be louder than a reasoned
analysis.

With U.S. unemployment now at 4.8 percent (with most of these
being the chronically unemployable), we need immigrant workers
regardless of the ruckus that protectionists might raise...

Social Concerns...

... We are now beginning to bear the social consequences of
multicultural politicization in both American and immigrant
minority populations. "Progressive" policies---bilingual education
being the worst offender---have the effect of insulating and
ultimately ghettoizing otherwise hardworking and well-intentioned
immigrants. For fear of appearing "culturally imperialistic"
by forcing newcomers to learn our language, history and laws,
we've condemned them to permanent impoverishment. But then,
such policies have always bred Democrat votes.

Conclusion...

... Additionally, we strongly endorse free enterprise and free trade,
including the regulated in-sourcing of low-skill labor through
time-limited guest-worker visas.

I can't possibly quote all that I want to from this without just copying the entire piece, which isn't fair to its authors or the site on which it was originally published.

Iraq

Oliver North provides a point by point rebuttal to John Kerry's the-Iraqis-must- have-a-functioning-government-in-30-days plan here. Good stuff.