update

New postings? Perhaps. If time allows. We shall see.

Dave Matthews and birth control

So for a week or two, Planned Parenthood was running these print ads in alternative weeklies. I think I must have come across these ads when I was back in Seattle, since here in Indy there really isn't an "alternative weekly" worth the name (but don't get me started on this topic). Anyway the ad was mainly annoying (but a little clever): on the left-hand column it listed a bunch of apparently common (?) "male" habits (pissing in the shower, calling girls "dude," etc.) that females (some anyway) find quite annoying. In the right-hand column, it said something like "proactive birth control," which of course meant that "if you do these things, guys, you're never getting any action" or something along those lines. All of which of course was meant to be cheeky and something that could generate laughs (or at least tepid chuckles) among members of both genders. Or at least the twenty-something readers of these alternative weeklies who wouldn't find the ads extremely lame (i.e. nobody I know).

So where was I going with this...? Oh yeah. This weekend at a very fine club was a very fine benefit for an organization I support: Planned Parenthood. What's wrong with this picture? The headlining band looked ok, but supporting them was an act that claimed Dave Matthews as an inspiration. Uh-oh. Immediately I thought back to the ad in the Stranger: "proactive birth-control," and so forth. The thought of someone actually having sex, or even THINKING about sex while listening to Dave Matthews makes me almost....ill. Surely they're the most unsexy band in the world. Well, maybe behind Styx.

And the most sexy band in the world: Kraftwerk.

Wow -- how long has it been?

Ahem,
OK yes it's been a long time since the last post. I've been very busy and working on lots of other things: a book review, an article, my job, improving my 5k time (my new slogan: 5k a day). Also, it's not like I have millions of readers. I'll probably put this blog to bed at some point in the near future, but till then at least one more post. Probably more, even.

1. On pain: on my 5k run today my quadriceps muscle just gave out. It was hurting the whole time anyway, but I'm stupid and I tried to ignore it. About 3/4 of the way through the run it just tore, and I had to hobble off the track. My time this week is now under 25 minutes. But right now I can barely walk. Ugh.
2. A friend of mine here is having girl problems, which deepens my cynicism even more about the possibility of any lasting harmony between the sexes. But of course this is the material from which fine novels and great songs are made, so I won't theorize too much about it here. The best that can be said about this tension, perhaps, is that it makes things interesting. But I sometimes wonder whether others feel so deeply skeptical and cynical about the whole enterprise, or (conversely) whether I just flatter myself for thinking that I'm the only one who thinks this way.
3. Goddamn my leg hurts!
4. Spring Vacation a few weeks away. A respite from the cold is becoming necessary. It's only 14 degrees right now I think.

blog neglect

Yes I know, no posts in a while. It's not like I'm getting millions of comments anyway.

Thinking just now of something I remember, from Transformer (the excellent biography of Lou Reed). This is something that Moe Tucker also mentioned in a VU documentary I saw a while back. Lou is one of these big record collectors, and apparently well into the 60s he'd saved up all his old 45s of doo-wop, Johnny Ace and other R+B, Ornette, god-knows what else. Some awesome awesome stuff I'm sure. Mostly doo-wop I guess though, and other early rock and roll. Anyway, of course at this time Reed was living dangerously down on the Lower East side, and someone broke into his place and stole *all* of his records. It boggles the mind. Can you imagine what kind of value this would have today? Right now? Lou Reed's record collection?

equipoise

In the ancient world, the Epicureans valued a state of self-containment and autonomy, freedom from strong passions (whether positive or negative). To them, this was "happiness," properly understood. Equipoise, or something like it. For them, this was something always attainable by the human person even under extreme pressure, and yet it seems to me (an ordinary person) pretty hard to achieve and fleeting. It's also linked pretty closely with events and how they turn out. Perhaps I'm just a bad philosopher; I know I'd make a pretty bad Buddhist for this reason (because as hard as I try, I can't think of appetites and desires and fears as something that can reasonably gotten rid of).

more posts soon...

It's the beginning of a new term, much work to do, little time for reflection. Or rather, much reflection in the classroom but not much beyond that. More posts soon though.

word of the day, from wordsmith.org (Thanks Anu!)

"malkin (MO-kin, MAL-kin) noun 1. An untidy woman; a slattern. 2. A scarecrow or a grotesque effigy. 3. A mop made of a bundle or rags fastened to a stick. 4. A cat. 5. A hare.[From Middle English Malkyn (little Molly), diminutive ofthe name Maud or Molly/Mary.] A related word is grimalkin, referring to an old female cat or an ill-tempered old woman" (my italics).

-Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org)

Hmm. Old female cat and ill-tempered old woman. Those both describe Pico.