Soft Drinks Again

Following up on my previous comments on the types of Dr Pepper (because this is something I'm sure everyone is dying to know), I tried that new Red Fusion Dr Pepper stuff a few days ago. I give it a big rating of "eh." It tastes like Dr Pepper going down, but leaves a not-bad-but-not-that-great-either cherry-ish aftertaste. Nothing to write home about. I probably won't be getting any more any time soon. Still tons better than the Caffiene Free DP, though.

Welcome to the Family-Unfriendly Buffy Fan Club, Rusty!

Think of the Children!

Wow. Worst family show. I'm glad we have people like that protecting us and our kids. They're so nice to us.

My most recent Buffy dream: Giles loses his Watcherhood (which he's probably done by now for all I know, but I'm only through the middle of the 3rd season) and hits rock bottom in various other ways too, and I think maybe Buffy also is no longer the slayer. Giles is kinda wasted-looking and he starts taking Buffy's clothes off and she says he shouldn't do that and he says something like "What does it matter now?" and she has to fight him off a little to make him stop. In the dream, it was actually me watching the show, and I said to myself, "I liked it better when they just had a father/daughter relationship, but I guess they have to throw every complication into the mix." It didn't make me happy at all.

My previous Buffy dreams were about Angel-as-vampire. He was pretty scary stuff.

Did I mention that I'm officially a Buffy fan now? Only I still won't watch the new shows, because I want to see them all in order. I might even get the DVDs one day. Maybe I should already so I won't have to spend a billion dollars at one time.

This appearance on the robot is dedicated to Buffistas everywhere

In my Buffy dreams, Buffy was rated the worst show for families. But get this: then it really happened. Because I'm mystic like that. Also: I am concerned for the families. And for the children. And for the familes with children. Etc, etc. And so on.

Put On the Aaron Copeland, Cuz I'm a Cowboy

What's Rusty's Ranting Robot without Rusty? Nothing, I tell you. So I'm back. Actually, I'm here: in Texas. Practically Mexico, though. I'm in the Rio Grande Valley. It's very pretty and very hot. It's a strip of cities where to the south of us is the Rio Grande and to the north of us is many, many miles of what looks like oil and farms and nothing much from what I can tell, until you get to San Antonio. But here is cool: Edinburg (the city I'm in) and the surrounding ones.

I'm teaching, by the way, at The University of Texas Pan American, composition and literature. I'm the one who looks like an undergraduate. Some people only know about my life through this robot, so I have to say this.

I'll tell my Buffy dreams later.

Odd Dream

I was sitting at my computer when I heard a commotion outside. I looked out the window, and there were two giant dogs running around out in the street. I mean giant dogs... lion-sized, maybe larger. Maybe the size of small elephants. One was all black, one was orange-brown, sort of non-descript shaggy breeds. They looked sort of lion-ish, and I kept wondering if maybe they really were lions, but they looked too much like dogs, so maybe they were part-dog-part-lion. My sister happened to come over to visit, and when she came in I asked if she knew if those were lions or dogs out there. She said she didn't know, but commented that it was weird seeing them running around out there.

Jason, you're funny. I enjoyed this post too much.

Thank you.

Tylenol Sinus Nighttime Formula

(A.K.A. Tylenol Coma)

It's the medicine that cures your sinus-related headaches and stuff by knocking you unconscious almost instantly, and keeping you that way until your sinus troubles have long passed. I just took some, so I'll see you all again sometime after I regain consciousness this weekend. Hopefully I'll finish typing this before I pass ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuiloihbnjb,'rbn b,

It's raining outside.

I keep trying to tell my dogs that the scary noises they hear during thunderstorms can't come inside and get them, but they just don't seem to understand for some reason and continue to hide under the bed...

Why? WHY?!?

Why do people say "Is it raining outside?"

Where else is it going to rain?

Dream I Had Last Night

I dreamed last night that I had just found out about the existence of a small outdoor movie theater near here in Clinton, Mississippi. It had a fairly small screen, and the seats were just concrete benches, and the ground was really overgrown with plants and wild vines everywhere (which was kinda neat and gave it an airy garden-like atmosphere), and they would only have one movie showing every day, but the cool thing about it was that it was The Star Wars Theater. Every day they'd have one screening of one of the original, pre-Special-Edition Star Wars films. (They even had the original version of Star Wars without the "Episode IV: A New Hope" subtitle on the opening text crawl.)

Um... German?

I like overdubs. I can't help it. If I want to watch a movie, I don't want to read it too. I like to look at the screen, because -- you know -- it's a visual medium. I can't understand German or any other language except English. I'd rather have a bad overdub that allows me to watch the movie than to "preserve" the language of the movie (which might as well be people speaking like The Sims) with subtitles.

Rusty Does Want To Rant... A Little

I think that they confused "bad" TV with "interesting" TV. Not just for Tom Green, but for most of the shows on the list. Look at all of them, and what makes them not bad (even if they were, technically, bad) is that they stood out from other TV shows. I mean where were the shows like Family Matters or Who's the Boss?? Those are the truly bad ones, along with a zillion others just like it, that are just vomit-ups of already-existing shows. You have to give something like Sheriff Lobo credit for originality.

I would write another We Like Media article, but it might just sound too much like my Tom Green Gets Razzied one. The general public is so f*cking boring to me. Thank God for individuals.

Com Pew Tah

It's fun fixing computers, once you're fixing them and not just cursing at them.

For those who are now scared to play The Sims because it supposedly killed Liza's computer: don't worry. It didn't kill Liza's computer. The Sims is one of the best games ever made, and you should probably play it once or twice to see if you agree. If you don't like computer games, you might like this one.

Gateway's "service" indeed sux. I've called them two times, and both times I eventually just had to figure out the problem by myself. They kept suggesting things that would indeed kill the computer. They're basically just kids with a troubleshooting guide on their desks.

I'm just home for lunch, so this will have to be brief.

Thank you

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Rusty for fixing my broken computer.

The Sims killed my computer

For those of you who don't know, I was installing some Sims expansions Sunday night after we got back from Jackson, and my computer had a meltdown. We were up until 2 a.m. Sunday night, on the phone with Noby from 1-2 a.m., trying to fix it, but Rusty ended up having to reformat my computer yesterday.

Everything seems to be in perfect working order, although I'm still missing several games and programs, but I'll get around to downloading them in the next few days.

Thanks, Again

So, once again, I'd like to publicly thank Rusty for saving me from doing something crazy, like taking my computer to Gateway to be fixed. Who needs places like that when you've got Rusty and Noby? (Thanks to you, too, Noby!)

Rusty wants to Rant, I know it

The Tom Green Show was rated #41 on TV Guide's list of the 50 worst television shows of all time. See the whole list of shows here.

Where's Tommy?

Tommy, I'll assume that since we neither saw you or heard from you this weekend, you stayed in wherever it is you live in North Mississippi with Danny and rocked the boat with recordings of music and what not. It was a generally slow weekend, so you didn't miss much.

Run Noby Run

Noby, let me take this opportunity to thank you for watching Run Lola Run, in German, with me.

Since you offered no comments during or after the movie, I'll ask you now what you thought. I know you'd seen it once before, but the second time around brings new thoughts, usually.

I feel the need, the need, for speed

Oh, and despite my comments to the contrary, I made the drive from your house to mine in 1 hour, 10 minutes. That's a record for me, I think. Of course I was driving 80mph half the time.

Ah...memories

When I was in college, I used to try and see how fast I could get from point A to point B (usually from Memphis to Birmingham/Birmingham to Memphis). I grew out of that eventually, the fear of speeding tickets helping me along. Hopefully I won't fall back into my evil ways of high speed highway behavior.

Balance

Actually, I think I've struck a strange balance...my highway driving has slowed down to just above speed limit speed while my in town driving has increased to about twice the speed limit. I often wonder at the fact that I haven't been pulled over on Hardy Street or 4th Street and been given a big, fat ticket.

Later

Okay, I've got things to do and things to do, so I'll bid farewell for now.

Rock Is Dead. Long Live Rock!

You ain't gotta defend nothin'. And, yes, you are Pete Towshend.

I had a similar affirmation moment when I first went to a Magnetic Fields show and saw people who liked his music as much as I did. Before that, I felt pretty alone. It wasn't a thousand screaming fans, though, but maybe 60 quiet fans. That was enough for me. And Tommy was there, too. And Ben Lee. And Ancient Chinese Garden.

Double-Meanings

I tend to think the skirting and flirting in lyrics is just people trying to hard not to say anything because they don't know how to say it or because they don't have anything really to say or because they're trying to make the thing they're saying more deep than it really is. I don't appreciate complete abstractions too much. One way they work are in some of the better R.E.M. songs, though. Like "Losing My Religion." The song is just about not wanting to say to much to someone you have a crush on, but the not-quite-saying-it makes it a better song (where you can ignore the "real" meaning altogether and make it about religion or whatever you like). However, the reason it works is because of the specificness of the lyrics. It's not the abstraction. In fact, it's pretty darn specific: "Oh no, I've said too much. I haven't said enough." Early R.E.M. songs are good like this too. Like "Fall On Me." It's an environmental song, and it addresses the issue straight on, but it doesn't use the common words. It doesn't use words that the EPA would use. That's what makes it art in addition to being a environmental song.

So I dislike songs telling you what to do, too, but I think it's bad songwriting when it's just too abstract to mean anything, or when it uses symbols (usually symbols) so common the song can mean absolutely anything. Like "I'm sinking in a sea of darkness and my eyes are blind to the light that would bring me up into the sky so I have to keep falling forever and forever" or shit like that.

Neutral Milk Hotel

Neutral Milk Hotel is a perfect example of using very very specific words and images to get across meanings that couldn't possibly be told in a "normal" language. But listen to the specifics: "And she was born in a born in a bottle rocket, 1929, with wings that ringed around a socket right between her spine, all drenched in milk and holy water pouring from the sky" to pick one random line. They do what myth-writers do. But all myth-writers use specifics too. They're never abstract.

The Royal Tenenbaums

I still like Rushmore the best of the Wes Anderson movies (you know, Tommy's favorite movie). I liked The Royal Tenenbaums a little better the second time, though I'm still annoyed by the same things I was the first time: the nothing-but-symmetry shots and the way that everything is so overly-precious so that the real problems these people have are just kind of being toyed with and snickered at with intellectual snickering. But, yes, I think it's a good movie too.

Nerd?

Am I a dork for reading "Tommy Said" as Tommy Sah-eed at first?

Farto McTurdstink.

Tommy said

Tommy said I should post more often to the robot, and as his loyal and obedient servant, I am doing so.

Unfortunately, all of my internet time has been spent job searching lately. Jobs suck. Looking for jobs sucks more.

The Royal Family

In case anyone was wondering...I bought the Criterion Collection of The Royal Tenenbaums yesterday.

That there is a pretty good movie.

In other news

I don't really have any other news. Job searching, movie buying/watching, work, and sleep take up most of my time these days.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to quit posting now, bathe, and watch some tv in preparation for sleep. Ah, sleep...

And keep writing I shall...

I really don't feel my need to defend rock or its meanings. I'm just trying to imply its importance to many people (including myself). Rusty, you are indeed one of the lucky few people in this world that can bury stuff and let it go. Most people in this world cannot, therefore, they end up doing all sorts of crazy things. It depends on how much they let go and how much they hold in. The Beatles were magic. Plain and simple. They managed to walk that perfect line of being so many things to all people. But, The Who's music may actually may mean more to me in the larger picture. I know that it's really a matter of personal taste, but that's me. The reason why is because I relate. I think music should be able to be related to. You relate to ABBA, I do not, but it certainly doesn't diminish their quality. Same goes for 'Nsync, for that matter. I appreciate your clarification on the reasons you dig Destiny's Child. I understand the issues that are being addressed in the big Who songs. It may be because I'm just an overgrown teenager. I understand Pete Townshend's duplicity and contradictions. I'm full of them, too. Somehow, they all add up in the end to me. The great thing about a song is one that can be listened to in headphones and speak directly to your soul, then, you can sit in a room full of people and play it and have everyone sing along, and then, the next level is having it affirmed with thousands of screaming people in a stadium somewhere. Waving your fist in unison to that great anthem. It is important. You are made to not feel silly for turning up the volume on "Won't Get Fooled Again." You've affirmed it with many, many like-minded people. Rock shows can be those kinds of releases. As I seem to remember, Rusty, you're not a big fan of those either. Church, anyone? Why do people attend church? Maybe it's the same reason kids attend rock concerts. It's probably wrong. The Beatles were more popular than Christ, after all. I know for those of you that stand on that good old Rock of Salvation will win out in the end and I will be left with nothing but damaged hearing, but by golly, it's almost all I've got these days to confirm that I am real. Maybe that can change. Alot of folks have commented on The Who's decision to continue their tour a couple of days after Entwistle's death. The more I've thought about it, I know that it's the right thing to do. The only thing to do. The release. It's all about the release. So, whereas you feel that Mr. Townshend is merely trying to get at the big problems, I think he succeeds. Quadrophenia works on so many levels because of this. Eddie Vedder (another purveyor of angst that I happen to like, and Rusty happens to dilsike) was deeply moved by Quadrophenia as a youngster. And, I know as a writer, you feel that his stories has many holes in them (they do). You can't get past the structure. This is precisely why they work for me. Rock music should never actually tell its audience what to feel. I usually don't like the stuff that does. It should always be open ended. This can always be a problem when words are brought into play. Another fine line that bands like The Beatles were perfectly able to walk.

Lyrics

I get really irritated today that if in a rock song you actually mention anything specifically. Hit something head on. You're upposed to skirt around it and flirt around it in a way, say, that a Stones lyric would, and maybe mention it in a sort-of double meaning, double edged way. I've always been frustrated with this aspect of rock, I don't get anything from that type of song. Like you sit down and listen to a piece by Debussy, one person can see the Arctic and another can see the Russian Revolution, you can see anything you like because there's nothing suggested by it than in a musical way. When you've got words, "I walked into the room and I picked up my spade, and I worked for the Revolution" type of thing, it's enough to kill anything stone dead.

In rock and roll, what you don't do is make people's decisions for them, you share their ideas and you share their difficulties and you share their period of frustration, but you don't say "the thing that you have to do now is get yourself a job, get a retirement plan. You don't do that stuff. You say, "Let's go get a drink and talk about it." Drawing a conclusion should never be the job of a good rock songwriter.

Maybe I make no sense whatsoever. I make sense to me, though. Again, it's the reason why people like certain things and other folks don't. It's the difference between me and you, Rusty. But you know I love you all the same. Rock music is my release. I think you have different releases than mine. And perhaps I do harbor too much angst and really don't realize it all yet. My favorite movie is Rushmore, after all...

Tommy Fischer

And I like flowers too, almost as much as The Who.

I like flowers.

They are pretty.

Angst

I'm not carrying anything from my teen or pre-teen years. I feel I'm a minority in this. I had problems, of course, when I was growing up, since everyone has problems at all times of their lives, but nothing I'm still carrying with me. Basically, when I look back now, it feels that I had no problems at all. I don't feel I had any real problems until I became an adult. And I am still carrying some things from my earlier adult years, but I imagine those will go away before too long to make way for new ones. But, no, I don't really even feel there was anything from my youth to get over. It was all pretty nice.

So maybe that's why I don't like rock music. I do think lots of it is immature. I feel this way about a lot of stuff, though: that few things are adult. Lots of adult moviemakers, for example, seem to be re-treading their teen or college years. I know some of them are made for that audience, but many are not. And even the movies "about" adults are about what I consider immature adults.

So take like The Who (just to make Tommy want to write more): when I listen to it, I think it's trying to get at the "big problems, deep stuff," but that it's not. It's presenting it as if it is, like in the Tommy album. To me, even the stuff that Pete Townshend sings about in his solo career (or at least what I know of it) seems like stuff that people should have figured out and been over by, say, age 17.

But take like The Beatles: I think they were pretty adult. I think they covered deep stuff without blinking, not making a big show of it. George and (less so) John's solo stuff was like this too. Even their early stuff about boys and girls had a certain maturity to it. Once again, The Beatles win.

So the stuff I like is either "adult" or "candy." In the case of Merritt, both. Adult music is mature, and candy music isn't but it knows that it isn't: therefore it's not like immature rock music trying to sound mature while not being mature at all. I like the honesty of candy music. This is why I can like Destiny's Child better than Pink Floyd.

Maybe nothing traumatic happened to me when I was young, and that's all it is. Maybe more people have traumatic childhoods and teen years. I'm a lucky baaaa.

Rusty.

Response to Rusty

I never questioned your intent on recording music. I think I could make an entire covers album, and might like to do so. I think it's magic that you rerecorded an entire album and I love you for it. I don't have the patience to do that. I like your 69 Love Songs. I like them better than Merritt's. And I said that I understood the feeling behind destroying an intsrument. It's all about the emotion. One of the differences between me and you, Rusty, is that you somehow remove the raw emotion behind music and there's something far deeper (or spiritual) motivating your tastes. Or maybe it simply strikes different nerves in each of us. This is why I can listen to Pet Sounds and weep while you simply may think that it's very nice, but "not all that." Again, we have common occurences, such as Neutral Milk Hotel. I think that album moves us for the same reasons. Same with Weezer's Pinkerton. But I do know that it totally tees you off when guys like Stevie Ray Vaughn are making faces or whatever while playing ("Does that help them play better?"). It's emotion. I don't jump around and act like an idiot because I think it's fun (it is), but because that's simply what the music does to me. And if I whack the shit out of my bass or throw it on the ground, I do it because sometimes because simply playing it isn't enough for me. Rock music goes that deep for me, I guess. And that's the fundamental difference between me and you, Rusty. You simply do not like Rock Music. You never have. You like some music that may rock, but not Rock Music on the whole. You don't like the new Weezer record as much because it a rock and roll album. But you do like pop music (I do too).


Pop Versus Rock
Pop music is wonderful, it's essential, it makes the day go by, it makes us happy, it makes us sad, it's good stuff. There's never been anything wrong with it...But Rock always set itself a slightly higher target which was to try to share big ideas, big problems, deep stuff. Particularly the problems that you tend to carry with you from your teenage years. I think we carry alot of teenage stuff with us to our deathbed. I don't think we let it go and I think we're formed in our teenage years to some extent. The person that leaves home is the person that becomes an adult whether they're ready for it or not.

And then there's the other difference. You've got God and I've got music. Maybe music really is my God. You don't need it because you've that the real deal. I've just got these loud guitars and broken instruments.

Tommy Entwistle