Chavez' 95 theses

i love a good Reformation joke as much as the next man
Chavez and the national assembly have tabled about 70 changes to the constitution. The change getting all the press is one that would allow him to be reelected to the presidency an indefinite number of times, but there are some other interesting proposals to consider. He wants to cap the work day at 6 hrs (a 34 hr work week), lower the voting age to 16 and extend social security to what is ambiguously referred to as the "informal sector" but also end the autonomy of the country's central bank.

So what does this mean exactly? Is Chavez using the labor initiatives as the proverbial carrot to get his questionable electoral and bank reforms passed? Possibly, but Chavez always comes off as a strange mix of dangerous and progressive. He runs one of the wealthiest countries in the world on account of their massive oil reserves. Therefore, depending on how the wealth is redistributed, it could be a great step in shortening the work week and extending social security. The wealth of Venezuela actually makes it possible for these reforms to be implemented without throwing the entire system into deficit, but the question is where this his new found power would lead Venezuela. These reforms would leave Chavez in a much stronger position to control the economy and you get the sense that the democratic process isn't as transparent as it should be. The combination of increased control for Chavez, combined with the oil profits of Venezuela makes for a very volatile situation.

The really interesting part will be the reaction from the White House. He all remember Chavez calling Bush the devil at the UN and accusing him of smelling of sulphur.

Bukowski and Peanuts

Charles Bukowski is one of those poets that's really grown on me. He's great, he's raw and he's really really crude, but in context almost anything is forgivable, especially in poetry lol

so, I stumbled upon a series of poems he wrote about the Peanuts gang, they're quite good. here's one of the tamer ones lol

Snoopy

The Daisy Hill Puppy Farm was way up in the Hollywood Hills. When Charlie Branaski’s parents drove them all in their beat-up sedan it took about two hours to get there. Charlie jumped out of the car and ran right up to where all the pups were playing. He saw a white beagle playing the mouth-harp. The pup had a black spot on one side and black ears, a little pot belly and a big muzzle. Charlie pointed out the cur with one chubby finger and that was that. . .

“This God damned dog.”

Charles Branaski worked the crank of the cheap metal can opener and watched the can of dog food slowly rotate. He cut his finger on the lid, just like he always did, and cursed and sucked on it as he dumped the slop into the dog’s bowl.

He carried the bowl outside and thumped it down outside the doghouse. Snoopy was, as usual, sleeping up on the roof, not a care in the world. He smelled the food and sat up and yawned, hopped down and started eating.

“You’re a real piece of work,” said Charlie. “You stupid dog, you get invited out every night, stay out till all hours, come home when you please. It’s enough to drive me crazy. You don’t care a lick about me, cooped up in my shack drinking alone all night.”

The dog finished his supper and disappeared into the doghouse. A minute later, he walked out wearing a leather jacket and dark glasses and padded right past Branaski and out the gate.

“You ungrateful son of a bitch. I oughta let you starve.”

Moby Dick

the greatest American novel? It just might be.

We all know the story of Ahab and the Whale, but there's an incredible level of characterization in this book. Ahab is obsessed beyond all reason, his first mate, Frank Starbuck, is reason personified, the only one who objects to the quest, but stands by his captain never the less, duty over reason (the classics student can't help himself here lol pietas over logos). All the harpooners hired on for the quest are "heathen savages" but best of all is the narrator, Ishmail, who as an educated, former school teacher, observes all the members of the crew through a lens of archtypes, which I fully relate to.

The book introduces us to the story of Jonah and the whale far more fully than I ever was in church. The idea that even within a whale, far beneath the sea, one can never escape God. So powerfully articulated by Melville, then of course it because a great metaphor for the book as Ahab chases the whale as far as the antarctic, moving the earth itself in his quest. He chases the great whale, forgetting any sense of humility, and if that weren't enough to make us wonder what this says about him as a christian, his harpooners, the tools of his vengeance, are all unchristian heathens.

Plus, it's like reading Shakespeare in more ways than one. Melville uses soliloquies in the context of a novel and gods help me if it isn't the most quoted book that you never read. "from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee", "I'll chase him (Moby Dick) round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up."

just a post scriptum, my grandfather was a Norwegian whaler, perhaps not exactly in the same fashon as a 19th century Nantucker, but still, makes the tale even more interesting.

the mixed blog

not really sure what form this blog is going to take, I just tossed off a poem, off the cuff as it were.

My last blog kinda kept away from poetry and creativity and focused more on news, sports, music etc... I'm going to try not to shy away from the creative writing part as well.

We'll see how it goes lol

lou reed and the killers

Love the Killers, love em...now that I've outed my bias I can get on with my rant about their latest compilation. There's some bizarre take on hero worship going in at least two bands I'm quite fond of, and those who are idolized are tied together by a 35 yr old collaboration.

Basically Lou Reed and David Bowie seem to have gotten themselves entrenched into the careers of the Killers and the Arcade Fire respectively. But this link goes back longer than this decade.

Way back in '72 Lou Reed's second solo album, Transformer, which was also his first solo commercial sucess, was produced by David Bowie who was recording Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I love both these albums, they're fantastic, but they're catchy pop at the same time. They are what they are. I've read a few things about this period of collaboration and it sounds like it was a big self-love fest with Bowie (who was just getting his career started) in awe of Reed due to his work with the Velvet Underground and Reed was similarly smitten by Bowie, the next artist pushing those boundaries (arguably in the same vein (no pun inteneded) as the Velvet Underground).

So fast forward 35 years to 2007 and Bowie has been instrumental in helping our favorite band from Montreal get signed on a label (around '04) and has been appearing in concert with them intermittently. And now the Killers have collaborated with Lou Reed on their latest product. The video for this song is unbelievably idolatrous. Brandon Flowers, the front man for the Killers, spends the video looking for Reed in an empty house. While Reed periodically appears in a messianic motif, mouthing words of the chorus as they are sung by Flowers. Is it 72 all over again?

So what does this mean? I'm not sure it means a whole lot, other than I wouldn't expect an artist forth his salt to let his career fall to the wayside like Bowie and Reed seem to have, in favor of pushing younger acts. Though, to be fair, Bowie and Reed aren't exactly known for producing consistantly excellent albums. They're not exactly of the Dylan, Neil Young, or Lightfoot calibre. Perhaps it's not so much about them letting their careers falter as dragging down two of pop music's brightest lights. The killers may not be the most original band but there's a lot of passion there, and they really do remind me of Queen (in all the right ways), and the Arcade Fire are so talented and so unique compared to everything else out there.

here we go again

well, I'm going to give blogging another go. Really, it's just to save people an earful as I rant to them over e-mail about politics, music, film, tv etc...

so, instead I'm going inflict my opinions on the internet...neat, eh? lol