Shooting nature in the face

Now that the weather has turned a corner into consistent pleasantness, why not take a walk and see what I find? Pics from April 22 & 23, 2009.

Adventures in Overthinking: "Mr. November"

Today, I felt a bit closer to the many anti-P.C. natured people in America. You know, the ones who laugh at Larry the Cable Guy and Carlos Mencia and think things like "developmentally challenged," is just "retarded" with too many syllables. Just when you think the things you love to watch, listen to and read are nothing more than entertainment, someone else comes along and makes you think again.

No one told me my favorite song, "Mr. November," by my favorite band, The National, had something not-P.C. in it. I can only claim ignorance to what being "the great white hope," actually meant. Sure, I had heard the phrase before, but it was one of those phrases that at my age was simply in the public knowledge without any idea as to where it came from.

Enter Ken Burns, and his documentary, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. For those who immediately thought of the terrible surfer/singer-songwriter, Jack Johnson was the first black man to win a heavyweight title in boxing. But in doing so, he brought on him an almost national racially charged hatred. This was the early 20th century, and black people weren't supposed to be flamboyantly wealthy and dominant like white people were.  So in an effort to take back the title, there was a search for "the great white hope," the caucasian who would beat the black Jack Johnson. 

Flash-forward to 2005, and the Brooklyn indie-rock band, the National close out their breakthrough album, Alligator, with a song called "Mr. November," a powerful rock song with a pre-chorus that reads, "I'm the new blue blood / I'm the great white hope." I'd always heard those lines as mantras of self-encouragement - something a batter could get himself pumped up with before he goes to the plate. But now, it feels like every time I say it, I'm saying, "I'm going to be the guy from the superior race who shows the rest of the world what for."

The National are as white as they come, but my super-fandom makes me want to believe that they weren't trying to convey any racial superiority. Part of what makes the song great is how the lyrics are all about past glories and pick-me-ups while singer Matt Berninger delivers it in his sad-sack baritone. You get the impression that no matter how many times he screams "I'm Mr. November," he's still going to find a way to mess things up. Maybe, by using a dated term, he's widening the disconnect from merely picking himself up to actual redemption. Or maybe he just likes boxing.

Ten, two, one.

Has it really been ten years since the Columbine shooting? ... I don't want to this post to devolve into some cliche, can't-we-all-just-get-along rhetoric. It's just that sometimes, I can't believe that the world doesn't just stop whenever acts of violence occur.... I wish I had something more to say on the subject.

Quote of the day: 4/14/09

Not sure what I'm looking forward to more... the kid getting here and I officially become a Father, or the kid getting here, and I get a week off work.

- From a friend on facebook.

On watching Eminem's new video...

A lot has changed since Eminem was a relevant and prolific force in both hip-hop and popular music. It's been ten years(!) since his break-through Slim Shady LP. Back then Clinton was in the White House. The economy was booming. The internet, DVDs and video games hadn't become popular enough to prevent the music industry from seeing their crop of stars sell millions of CDs in a week. 

So it's strange to see how little of Marshall Mathers's schtick has changed in the years since he retreated from the spotlight. To watch his new video, "We Made You," is to watch someone plainly trying to remind the public of his existence ("Guess who's back? / Did you miss me?") and take down a few of today's tabloid cover stars; in the video he talks about fucking Sarah Palin, Kim Kardashian and turning both Lindsay Lohan and Portia de Rossi back into heterosexuals. It could be nostalgic if it weren't so clear that Mathers has no idea that his best days are behind him.

But what of those days? When The Marshall Mathers LP hit the airwaves, it was also a critical success, despite the many outspoken critics and politicians who said he was too violent, misogynistic and homophobic for anyone to enjoy. 

I never really paid attention to reviews when the album came out. I was in eighth grade and firmly entrenched in my nu-metal, rap-rock phase. So what was it about Eminem's filthy mind that had me crossing over to one of the usual forbidden genres of my upbringing? Swear words of course.

I thought about how as a kid gets into the double-digits age bracket, there's a naturally longing for him or her to not be considered a kid anymore. Ideas and personalities start to develop and the time comes to let go of the Nickelodeon cartoons for something more mature. But here's the catch - that kid is still a long way from mature, and unless they are decidedly gifted, like a certain girl in my class who did a sixth grade project on the Bronte sisters, the next steps are just equally juvenile takes on adult humor. Along side South Park, Eminem was the cartoon for the kid who wanted to seem more adult and mature, the stepping stone towards being able to handle violence and profanity in entertainment, without being too challenging intellectually. 

I doubt this new crop of pre-teens will feel the same way about Eminem as I did when he first started taking down easy targets on MTV. South Park at least continued and adapted through the years, consistently taking down easy targets week after week like a cruder, animated version of Saturday Night Live. But Eminem's been out of his game for some time now, settling down with rote party-songs like "Ass Like That." To find him treading old ground again, it's hard to believe he was considered one of the greatest MCs ever.