22 June 1999
Starr: We're ruled by fools whose only qualification is that a bunch of sheep found them more attractive than the other fools.
Brendel: Not a democrat, then.
Starr: Democracy is for ancient Greeks.
-- Preacher Special: One Man's War by Garth Ennis and Peter Snejbjerg |
I saw Tarzan last night. Quite funny in spots, but with much more death than most Disney films (be aware of that if you're taking small kids). I'd give it a 7 out of 10 or so.
Phil's soundtrack was pleasant but a little too pop-y to be really great IMHO. Still, it was good enough that I might get it.
I could have sworn that the bad guy ("Clayton") was being voiced by an awfully lively Patrick Stewart, but it was Brian Blessed (of Flash Gordon and The Phantom Menace and...).
Good piece by William Safire on government-run lotteries:
- Lotteries Are Losers [NY Times] (requires free registration)
After a decade of feckless harangues in this space, I have accepted reality: at least half the population enjoys betting. So if you want to feed quarters for hours on end to one-armed bandits in Las Vegas, or go broke on jackpot.com, that's your business.
But when the state becomes croupier, that's everybody's business.
It's the only tax increase that conservatives support -- from zero to $43 billion in one generation -- and is the only regressive tax embraced by liberals.
Government is not a game, nor should it be a casino empowered to declare itself a monopoly so it can make a profit by stimulating public avarice.
You may have already seen this, but here's a good bit by "Marilyn Manson" on the Columbine incident.
I honestly don't think I've ever heard any of his music, and I get the feeling I wouldn't like it, but he makes many cogent points about violence, media and influences.
- Columbine: Whose Fault Is It? [Rolling Stone] (Contains profanity)
Man's greatest fear is chaos. It was unthinkable that these kids did not have a simple black-and-white reason for their actions. And so a scapegoat was needed.
Responsible journalists have reported with less publicity that Harris and Klebold were not Marilyn Manson fans -- that they even disliked my music. Even if they were fans, that gives them no excuse, nor does it mean that music is to blame. Did we look for James Huberty's inspiration when he gunned down people at McDonald's? What did Timothy McVeigh like to watch? ... What inspires Bill Clinton to blow people up in Kosovo? ... Isn't killing just killing, regardless if it's in Vietnam or Jonesboro, Arkansas? Why do we justify one, just because it seems to be for the right reasons? Should there ever be a right reason?
This kind of controversy does not help me sell records or tickets, and I wouldn't want it to.
Jason O'Grady reports that the P1's release in July isn't as assured as I had
been led to believe:
MSNBC's picked up the story too:
- Another PowerBook headache? [MSNBC]
Louis Mazzucchelli, an analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co., said he can't imagine that Apple would abandon the project. "I'd attribute a low probability to that -- it's an essential part of the strategy," said Mazzuchelli.
Come on guys, I want my P1 now.
|
