Saturday, March 12, 2011

Japan, International Women's Day, Firefly, Smashing Pumpkins, and more.

It's been a hell of a week. It was physically and emotionally draining, and that was before yesterday's news about the earthquakes in Japan. Continue reading for a roundup of the last few days, and a bit about Billy Corgan speaking to my soul again.

Tragedy: After yesterday's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, my thoughts and prayers go out to the affected people and their families around the world. For just one of the ways to help out, you can donate to the Red Cross.

The 100th anniversary of International Women's Day: I missed the previous 99, so it was quite the experience, and very illuminating to read the various opinions and reactions to the day's issues. The two best things of the day:

1) Why International Women's Day Matters. There's a lot that I'd like to quote from it, but the section near the end about the majority of women in the world knowing nothing about this day felt really poignant. Or, referring to women in the West: "Women are working in high-paying professions [...], we can vote, our voices can be heard. At least, if we’re white, cisgendered, middle to upper class, and heterosexual. Oh, and if we manage to not get sexually harassed or raped." By the time I got to read the article, it was closed for commenting, so I'm putting in my support for it here.

2) A video featuring Daniel Craig and Judi Dench. At first I wondered if using a man to represent IWD was the best idea, but after watching it I think that using 007's character was brilliant. Now, who thinks the next James Bond movie will have fewer disposable women?


Book news: Stephen King's next book will be about JFK. I'm looking forward to this, at least in part because King referred to the president as a true gunslinger in the Dark Tower series. (I think it was in The Drawing of the Three.)

I'm a little more apprehensive about the other Stephen King news from this week. It seems there is more Dark Tower material on the way. The good news is that it isn't a continuation. The bad news is that the new material sounds like it has more to do with Mid-World than Roland & Co. What? Stevie, I hope you know what you're doing.

Comics: Remember Marge the pregnant cop from the movie Fargo? Thanks to Kate Beaton, Marge was able to take down Charlie Sheen. Thank goodness.

Drawing: Captain Kirk/Chris Pine. (I don't usually have two drawings in a row that I kind of like. Excuse me while I pat myself on the back.) Uhura/Zoe Saldana is also drawn but can't be scanned until Monday.

Music: She Don't Like Firefly. The music is completely beside the point. What I want to know is *SPOILER ALERT* how anyone could not cry when Wash died?


Album of the Week: The choice is a bit of a surprise to me. It is Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins. This is an album I loved, but I hadn't listened to it all that much in the last ten years. Sometimes songs are so familiar to me that I've memorized every detail--drum beat, bass line, guitar solo, vocal tic, etc. That was the case with Mellon Collie; it held no surprises.

A chance hearing of Bullet With Butterfly Wings changed all that. All of sudden I heard new meaning in Billy Corgan's words, screams, and music. The lyrics especially! There was a time when I accused Corgan of being pretentious (his poetry, for one), but so many of his lyrics are cutting through to my core. (It feels corny to write that.) I have a new appreciation for Muzzle. I'm playing Zero so loud that I might be damaging my ears. Even a song like Tonight Tonight has new depth and meaning, and that song was cemented in my All-Time list ages ago. Mellon Collie isn't a new or original choice for Album of the Week, but that's just how things played out.

Since there is also an awesome music video for Tonight Tonight based on the first science fiction film ever made, I'll just post that to bring this day's entry to a close.

The impossible is possible tonight, tonight. Believe in me as I believe in you...

1 comment:

ibeeeg said...

Smashing Pumpkins is not really for me; did not care much for them when they first came out, and still do not. However, Tonight Tonight is a good song, and one that I could listen to without feeling the urge to switch songs. Whichever song works for you, it is always fun to have one that you like to crank the volume up to drown out everything else in life. errr...at least that is how I feel about the songs that hit a core with me.
Intersting tid-bit: I looked up Billy Corgan and learned that the man grew up in the chicago-land area, and is close to my age. I like random info like that. weird, I know. Still, it does not make me like them any better. ha.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...