Why Can't I Update This Blog?

Next (and hopefully, final) question: Why can't I update this blog on a regular basis?



Is it because I can't stand talking about the human race, because so many things that humans do are so stupid and cruel and vile, that just thinking about it makes me sick?



Is it because I can't form words to explain why I feel that way?



Is it because none of the questions I think of daily are worth more than a fleeting acknowledgement?



Is it because I always forget the address of this site and it takes forever to load on my computer?



Is it because it's easier to create fictional people with random obsessions and homosexual tendencies than write about the real world?



Is it because I'm not witty enough to keep my entries from sounding like humanitarian whining?



Or is it because I'm just too dang lazy?

Third Question -- Cruelty

All right. I have to get this whole topic out of my head. So bear with me.

Why do people hurt each other?
It really bothers me. I'm not saying that I've never been cruel. Of course I have. We all have. But I want to know why. And cruelty has its levels. I might have made someone cry but I've never started a nasty rumor. I've slapped someone but I've never thrown rocks at a dog. I believe that some acts of cruelty are worse than others, but they are all cruel and they all bother me.


Domestic Squabbles
Why didn't you call and say you were going to be late? I've been seeing someone else. How could you forget something so important?
Really, it's inevitable. Couples fight all the time. Some get over it within a matter of hours, some end it in a messy divorce. But where does it all come from? Why is it inevitable? Why can't we remember to call when we're stuck in traffic or working overtime? Why can't we end one relationship before starting another? Why can't we write our anniversary date down on every surface we come in contact with until its engraved in our minds? It's as if once we get something really good, something inside us goes "okay, now it's time to mess everything up!" And maybe we'll fix it later and maybe we won't. It's as if we have no consideration for anyone but ourselves sometimes. You'd think that having a relationship would teach us to be more selfless, but it seems it only serves to make us more selfish.



Labels and Outcasts
Well, I heard she had an abortion. He's a faggot. You can't sit at our table. Did you know they totally worship the devil?
It seems that young people are some of the meanest creatures on this earth. It must be because of the newness of adolescence, the changes occurring inside and outside the body, the hormones and testosterone... Middle school, especially, becomes like its own society with its own social ladder. And the kids on the top can be as mean as they want to the kids on the bottom: the outcasts, the ones who received the more unfortunate labels ("freaks", "faggots", etc.) and those with mental or physical problems/disabilities, or those with weight problems (be it that they are overweight or anorexic). A lot of kids who come from homes less open-minded than others are particularly cruel to their peers. They may not even know them and they may not know what's so "bad" about them. All they know is what they hear their parents say and what the media says and what the majority of society says. They can't form their own opinions and the unfortunate victims can't defend themselves. All that matters is that difference is bad and as long as we aren't different we can be as mean to the different people as we want. (American society is so into being superior, too. That aids to the cruelty, I think. We feel that since we're a world power, we can do whatever we want to those below us, the inferior people in other countries. Even the inferior people in our country.)

War
Oil. Terrorism. Holocaust. Atom bomb.
First off, let me say that war upsets me more than almost anything. I don't see the point of it. I don't see how we benefit from it. I don't see how death, mass death and suffering, can be worthwhile. I can don't see how you can look at another human being and kill them. I don't see how you can drop a bomb and wipe out houses, towns, treasured objects, lives. Nothing can make all that okay in my mind. I will never support war, ever. I will never accept it. And I don't have to. Because there are other ways. There are better ways. There's negotiation. Why can't the leaders just sit down and talk things out instead of sending troops out to blow the others away? It's true that mankind has been warring for years. But mankind has also progressed and evolved through the years. And I firmly believe that mankind is beyond all this unnecessary killing. It's like the Star Trek episode I saw recently when there's this planet that's been at war with another planet for years and years and years and there's no longer a point to the war itself, but people are still being killed. Captain Kirk agrees that fighting has lasted a long time and that men are killers. And then he goes on to say that now--after all this progression and evolution--what we have to do is say, "but I will not kill today." And that is what we have to do. That is what we CAN do. Human beings CAN tell themselves that they will not kill today. And that is why I won't accept war. That is why I won't accept cruelty. Because we can stop hurting people. All we have to do is tell ourselves that we won't.

War is stupid.

Second Question -- Aging rock stars

So, I’m going to this Billy Joel concert next month (I discovered my unconditional love for 80s music a couple of years ago). I didn’t – and still don’t, really – know anything about Billy Joel; I’m just crazy about his music (this song in particular) so I never stopped to really think…”wait a minute. This guy was a star in the 80s, right? And you’re going to see him perform…now? In 2007? Isn’t he, like, old?” There’s nothing wrong with rock stars getting older, mind you, but I have to wonder…how far can they really push it?

So I started thinking about all these singers I adore and how old they really are: Billy Joel is 57, David Bowie is 60 (as would be Freddie Mercury, God rest his soul), Deborah Harry (Blondie) is 61, Prince and Michael Jackson will be 50 this summer… And they’re still going, even though their generation has technically been replaced. Aging rock stars – admirable or pitiful?

On the one hand, they’ve been doing this for years so, consequently, they keep getting better and better.

On the other hand, it may matter that they get better and better because their fans will eventually die out, drowned out by this generation’s pop and rap and hip hop. They keep on for years, singing and moving their aging bodies like it’s 1985…but it’s 2007 and while some people are still cheering them on, others are laughing at them.

Mitchell Stephens wrote in The Washington Post in 1993 about aging rock stars Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, and Eric Clapton: “Old rockers too often leave us with Robert Frost's sad question: ‘What to make of a diminished thing?’ Most have drifted off into nostalgic anonymity or become mere ‘entertainers,’ working nightclubs, supper clubs or, recently, inaugural balls -- reprising the old hits once again, reduced to singing songs written when they were still battling acne. The creative juices -- or the yearnings that set them flowing -- have dried up. …But let's not be too quick to dismiss or pity Dylan, McCartney, Jagger, Richards and Clapton. Once upon a time, these men reinvented what it meant to play rock-and-roll. Is it not possible that they might also be capable of reinventing what it means to be ‘old’ and still playing rock-and-roll?”

He goes on to mention what I’ve already briefly mentioned, that these years of practice have made them better musicians and singers. Also that with age comes wisdom, “even upon rock stars”.

It’s sad, though. With the tabloid-infested, commercial, scandal-hungry world we live in, we’re more likely to hear about Michael Jackson’s presumed child molesting and Billy Joel’s alcoholism, than we are to hear about their newest recordings. These are not their glory days anymore, to say the least. But I, for one, find it commendable than this hasn’t stopped them in riding out the aftershocks of their musical climax. I see nothing wrong in letting them live out their passion for as long as they can. And hey, we’re still buying tickets to their concerts, aren’t we? …Or maybe that’s just me. Well, that's all right, too. : )

The First Question

Knowing myself as well as I do -- and that's quite well, I assure you -- the Random Questions I'll be posting and pondering on in this blog will be fairly serious, raw, sometimes unsettling, and personally meaningful. Therefore, my first question will be downright weird and silly and, well, pointless.

Okay, ready?

What's the deal with the phrase "brand-spankin'-new"?

It isn't like I see people going around spanking every new thing they buy. "Shiny and new" I can understand. A new CD is round and shiny and glinting; it isn't scratched up or smudged from overuse or abuse. But "brand-spankin'-new"? As in, it looks so good and new I just want to spank it?

I'm thinking that maybe it comes from doctors spanking newborn babies. I've always understood that -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- doctors do this to make sure the baby can cry, or something like that. (Personally, that seems a little masochistic to me, but hey, I get the idea.)

Still...I don't really get it. It makes no sense, much like this post. Anyway, this is the only question I've had all day. (Which might be saying something...)

Testing...1,2,3...

Fake post with a pretty picture. Soon to be followed by real posts. That may also have pretty pictures, if they're lucky.