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Friday, September 18, 2009
Mary Travers, an icon of the protest-with-flowers-and-guitars movement, died two days ago. And there is one song I put on repeat all day yesterday, and you can guess: it's not about white doves sailing and times a-changing: "Puff the Magic Dragon" is about--besides the obvious--nostalgia. More specifically, the death of childhood, growing up and remembering playing on Cherry Lane. This is exactly what America is about. America is nostalgic. Everyone these days is having parties themed by decade, writing books about small towns and small-town politicians, and referencing old toy commercials. They even just released a video game about The Beatles. Why is such a young country stuck in a fleeting past? Britain has been the same empire for a thousand years with only a few minor coups, civil wars, and political beheadings, so they have a right to be nostalgic. Us? We're barely over 200, and we're already calling the new democracies "whippersnappers," even though they, just like us, only like a good roadside fireworks show. After the Soviets gave up and the walls tumbled nearly two decades ago, weren't we supposed to bring about a New World Order, sans Hulk Hogan? America, why are we so stuck in the past? It's because they don't make cartoons like this anymore: Labels: America, History, Midwestern Values, Music, Mythology, Tribute
Monday, August 17, 2009
Hippies took over the world 40 years ago this weekend with something they called Woodstock. This musical festival had a wide reach, wide enough to make everyone this weekend remember the fond days when fire hoses were legal. In hippie tradition, city workers in Chicago got a vacation day... without pay. Whether they liked it or not. So clerks stayed home, libraries closed, and City Hall's ancient air conditioners were turned down. Thankfully, the fire department still had their hoses operating. Get a non-municipal job, hippies! Labels: America, Chicago, History, Modern Times
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Begin the Great Adventure! Okay, so I'm a sucker for space stuff and science nonfiction. And the most important day in that history is coming up Monday, July 20th. We'll be seeing all the tributes, all the videos of Kennedy, and all the videos of Armstrong, but we can't forget what led to the moment. The ambition to press "LAUNCH." And this website, We Choose the Moon, lets us follow that process! In real time! We've still got nearly 22 hours as of this writing, though I'll bet anything this won't be delayed like a modern shuttle! (Craftsmanship was so much better 40 years ago.) P.S. you can even follow the Eagle on Twitter! And I'm going to @ it to give me a shout out or two. Labels: General Nerdiness, History, Science/Technology
Thursday, April 16, 2009
A word about these tax day tea party protests: It's an insult. Our forefathers fought long and hard to not have people make a mockery of them and to keep tea out of this country. I'll be damned if we ruin our great coffee republic with morning cups of earl grey. Why do you think tea was dumped in the first place? As for the actual meaning of the tea parties, I don't really care. I just like the pictures of right wingers in drag! I'm told the picture linked above is not drag, but is in fact colonial garb. So, find more colonial sassiness at the Tribune here! Labels: History, Is/Are the Media?, Politics
Thursday, April 02, 2009
I am appalled at my own title. For I found this today. So I ask: Lewis & Clark, serial killers or victims of a comedic hoax? Oh, and this is a shout out to these guys, who followed me on Twitter. Remember: Twitter: everyone's using it now, so why shouldn't you follow me? This thing really exploded, didn't it? Labels: Comedy, Critters, History, Is/Are the Media? |
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