The play is the thing

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust?

Hamlet - Prince of Denmark

The Bard

Solid Frank Rich column in that godless rag, The New York Times

The God Racket - (registration required - but then, it is the Paper of Record)

On a brighter Easter note (not)...

After all the Left Behind dimwits move far out into the "exurbs" where they feel safe and secure surrounded by their McMansions, Olive Garden's, Wal-Mart's and Megachurches, and thus that much farther away from any weird foreigner/alternative-lifestyle types, then perhaps the rapid depletion of the world's energy supplies will in essence strand them way out there on the exurban periphery, as if out on some intellectually deserted & resource depleted island; a morally & racially pure fenced-in-area with no "dirty-secular-liberal" ideas to weigh them down; a place where they can all proudly vote the straight GOP (God's Own Party) ticket and collectively and intolerantly pass judgment on the things/ideas they don't understand; a place where they can get drunk, slather around in hot tubs and swap spouses like they do on reality TV; a place where they can lovingly gaze at their internet porn while railing against it in public; a place to hide real sexual preferences in their closets; a place to cheat on their taxes because taxes are evil; a place to trim their rootless hedges in rows of cubic sameness and a place to mow their freshly sodded lawns after soaking them in chemicals; a place to ignore their speed-addicted-death-obsessed-latch-key-goth-clad kids; a place to polish their recently un-banned assault weapons; a place to watch the weekend gladiator contests and other "dain-bramaged" retarded shit like WWF Smackdown and The Bachelorette on their plasma screen TV's - with which they overdrew their credit to the limit to buy in order to keep up with the other pork bellied sows who they call friends; and a place to continually fret about their oh-so-sketchy-outsourced-to-Mumbai gigs down at the human filing cabinets where they sell their "once saved-always saved" black-hearted little souls each and every day - all the while exhibiting an outwardly "chipper-like" bearing concerning their Sysiphistic little white bread Purpose Driven Life (the purpose being: to ruin a good thing, ie; the "original" American Dream - which was in theory to live and let live, because they knew no better, because dreaming requires an imagination, and their imagination was sucked out through a skinny PVC tube clogged with the collective refuse of a mass-produced factory sealed nightmare).

Whoah, did I write that? On Easter? My goodness, but really, if this were to really happen, it would give a much appreciated wide berth and a long sought after break to those of us who believe the world is a little more than 5,000 years old. A real break for those who give a damn about helping (instead of hating) the less fortunate, who hate (instead of embrace) war and environmental & human exploitation and who truly believe that the word "Freedom" means to be FREE from intolerant spirit-sucking-sheep, instead of a catch-phrase for a so-called patriotic war-mongering propaganda campaign that thinks slapping a cheap yellow ribbon magnet to the ass-end of an SUV is the bold high-water mark of civic duty.

So, as many people across the world "celebrate" Easter today, I can't help but think that Jesus, if he really is who they say he is, came back, he would probably just shake his long-tressed, hippy locks and sadly walk away from the soul-depressing company of a vast majority of his so-called "believers", and he would probably mumble something like, "...this isn't what I was talking about. I got strung up on a cross for this?"

Happy Easter - now go hug a tree before the aforementioned cut it down to build something stupid.

Black Gold Fantasyland

After spending some time riding the rails and getting stuck in traffic in Japan, a country of 127 million people, stuffed on a geologically unstable piece of volcanic real estate a little smaller than the state of California, it hit me; these people, though still dependent on foreign oil (hence their involvement - unpopular involvement - in our Iraq adventure) for industry and their very small cars, have an incredible infrastructure of rail and just plain peddle power to fall back on. So while people drive, they drive extrememly fuel efficient cars as gas is sold by the litre for a little less than what we pay for a gallon. Tolls on their highways hover around 5 dollars and they come upon the driver with an astounding regularity, so as you can imagine, there isn't much gridlock on their highway system. Not so on the surface streets.

For example, to travel between two of the towns I was staying in, Yokkaichi and Tsu, takes a quick 30 minutes by express train (fewer stops than taking a local) though to drive the same distance took an hour, no matter what. Why? Traffic. So, as we move into this new millenium and try to build a better plan for our future, perhaps what we really need to be looking at is how to pull that rusty needle of oil out of our arms and truly seek better ways to fuel our crazy lives. I saw a lot of solar panels on peoples roofs in Japan - I never see this here in the USA. Anyway, here is a good piece I found in the Atlanta Creative Loafing concerning our current situation and how soon we might see a complete reversal as the suburbs become the new slums due to rising oil costs.

JUNKY TOWN

Also, check out this month's Wired magazine if you are interested in Hybrid technologies and how the Chinese may in fact leap frog all of us due to their willingness to accept hybrid and new eco-technologies. This is not out of any great tree-hugging love or respect for mother earth, but due to the economic damage that dependence on fossil fuels will do to their economic miracle. The Article. Our mother earth will not be spared due to any altruistic need to save her, the dementia of greed is far to powerful to ever harbor feelings for the well-being of "the other" but it is that same greed that may actually save her in the end, as the self serving industries of the world, being no slouches when it comes to seeing the bottom line, understand theoretically at least, that they have got to get off the dope and find new drugs to sate their apetites for money.

More Weirdness from the Land of the Rising Sun

As I go through my Japan pics, I keep finding gold.


I have finally found the magazine I want to write for!


Or maybe one of these colorful rags?


a manga vending machine for the man on the move.


What would Jim Morrison say about this particular shrine?

Alaska!

Here is another reason why I think flying is so cool. It always blows my mind how 300 plus people can be glued to headsets and watching some inflight shit like Bridget Jones II when this sort of landscape is whizzing by underneath their feet. It's one thing when the landscape could be seen as rather "blah," like the American midwest or long stretches of the ocean or flat clouds, but this view is amazing.

Oh well, I looked and it blew my mind. My first glimpse of ALASKA! (all of this was totally socked in by cloud cover on my trip over to Japan, so this, for someone so in love with the mountains, was what they call a "special")




River's of Ice

I'm home, but here are some more pics

I'm still nursing a serious jet lag (way more wicked coming back) but I think I'll be back on track by the morn. Anyway, I took over a thousand pics on this expedition to the East, though I've picked some that struck my fancy, enjoy, I did.


One Night in Kyoto - Gion district




I'm really gonna miss conveyor belt sushi


Yukio Mishima's Golden Pavilion




Spinning the Trance at Japanese gin joint


Getting these Membership cards was half the fun of this 24 hour-a-day indoor amusement park freakout, plus "Lobster Girl!"


Joe bringing the Knowledge to the future of Japan


Zen


Pah-Go-Dah!




Big Wave English School - Joe and Libby's home in Tsu, Japan

Wilkommen to Kyoto Mr. Rob-san!

Kyoto!

Joe and I just rolled in on the Kintetsu line from Tsu into Kyoto. Looks like the whole town is booked as it is a three day holiday here and the city is packed. We'll either roam the streets till dawn or find a capsule or love hotel. The weather is perfect, so this should be no problem. Spent the other night way out in the country at the home of a Trance DJ/Pig Farmer (DJ Frog) in a commune after hitting some clubs and a 24 hour a day Japanese indoor amusement freakout (video, bowling, baseball, etc.) The people who worked there wore lobsters on their heads. I'm flying home tommorow, but what a trip, and I mean TRIP!

Nagoya bound

Shooting up a flare! I'm in Yokkaichi train depot on my way to Nagoya for the day to see a shrine I was told about and to just check out the scene again (I was there yesterday too, it's only 30 minutes by train). Our brit pals we met in Osaka are rolling in tonight so that should be a big hoot. Tommorow, Kyoto bound and then home to my love on Sunday. Am I coming back here? Oh yea. Kanpai!

Unleashed in the East!

So it's been a whirlwind since touching down at Kansai International in Osaka. Joe and I hit the ground running once we got settled in the Hotel Dotombori and within no time found ourselves wandering the wild streets of Osaka and making pals. I'll let these pics speak for themselves right now. I am now in Yokkaichi, where Joe and Libby have thier old apartment still (after moving to Tsu - about 30 minutes down the tracks but an easy hour by car, which we are travelling around in). We are meeting a gang of their pals out tonight but since this apartment still has the internet connection, I am able to post. I went to Nara yesterday, saw one of the largest Bronze cast Buddha's in the world, which is housed in the largest wooden structure in the world, it was very, very impressive. Actually I am still quite overwhelmed by Japan, it is daunting, the line between old Japan and New Japan is blurry to say the least. Though I will say that the Japanese we have met (this is in a variety of social situations - young punks, cool kids, a doctor, the president of a university, hotel & restaurant staff, etc.) have been the most incredibly gracious and wonderful people I believe I have ever met. It is a Japanese characteristic that I truly wish we could import to the USA.

Pics for now:






Some of the gang at the Merseyside Mojo bar, our home away from home in Osaka


For relaxing times...make it Suntory time.


We met the local Tony Montana. Joe is impressed.






Neil and Rob (from England) with Joe and I outside our digs, Hotel Dotombori - early morning, returning home from a great night out in Osaka.


Found this cave in Osaka at 5 in the morning, still rocking out to the Misfits


Harmonica's Unite!


I fit through this, thus insuring enlightenment, Joe fit too. Very tight squeeze. It's the exact size of the nostril of the Nara Buddha (see pic) and if one can make it through, well, there is hope.












Kanpai! From Osaka with Love.

Wow!

I am in japan.　writing to you from the hotel lobby, the computer keeps trying to turn what I　ａｍ　ｗｒｉｔｉｎｇ　ｉｎｔｏ　ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ　ｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｓ．．．ｓｏ　I will write more later.　So far, very cool, fun roaming the tiny streets of Osaka．
ちぇええｒｓ！

George McGovern's take on the late Doctor

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 is still the best book ever written about the landfill that is American politics and is THE definitive goto guide for anyone EVER thinking about dipping their little toe in the cuisinart of back-slapping bullshit that is the modern political arena. Anyhoo, you probably can guess how I feel about the game but here is a nice tribute about HST from George McGovern (one of the lead characters from that book). This was in the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis but they require registration so I figured I'd save you the hassle and just print it here:

George S. McGovern: He was a genuine original
George S. McGovern
Published March 6, 2005

As the candidate who lost 49 states to Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential election, I have always been pleased that among the precious few who thought I would have made the better president was Hunter S. Thompson, who went to his untimely grave saying that I was "the best of a lousy lot."

Thompson's position was that I was "honest" -- except for one "wicked moment" when I attended Nixon's funeral and said a few sympathetic words to his family and friends. "Yeah," Hunter told me, "you went into the tank with that evil bastard."

Hunter relished such frightful words. "Evil,"wicked,"fear and loathing." These were the words that described the world best for him.

Once, when he was pressed into the back seat of my car with three other people, he tried to escape to a nearby bar when I slowed for a red light in heavy traffic. Foiled by the baby lock that had been inadvertently clicked on, he raged at me: "Get me out of this evil contraption before I start killing."

On the jacket of his now-classic book about the 1972 election, "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail," he printed a photograph of the two of us with the following caption: "Pictured above is George McGovern urging Dr. Hunter S. Thompson to accept the vice presidential nomination."

In retrospect, I wish I had. Perhaps then Hunter and I might both still be alive and well instead of dead and wounded, respectively.

It's true, as many have noted in recent days, that Hunter did not devote his energy and talent to the pursuit of factual accuracy. But accuracy isn't everything.

Frank Mankiewicz, the political director of my campaign, was right to call Hunter's book "the least accurate and most truthful" of the campaign books that appeared after the 1972 race.

Hunter was disheartened after the campaign, and it fell to me on several occasions to try to persuade him not to give up on the country.

What I didn't get to tell him was that one of the reasons we should never give up on America is that from time to time, as we have been reminded recently, this country produces a genuine original -- a Katharine Hepburn, a Ray Charles, an Arthur Miller, a Johnny Carson, an Ossie Davis, a professor Seymour Melman, or an inaccurate and irreverent and truthful Hunter Thompson.

George S. McGovern was the Democratic presidential candidate in 1972. He wrote this article for the Los Angeles Times.

weird scenes inside the gold mine

Today, as I was racing solo down a long, lonely stretch of desolate confederate blacktop, whipping by the tall skinny pines, the swamps and the wiregrass (not too far west from the little narcoleptic town of Waycross Georgia, where it has been said that the late, great Gram Parsons came into our world) I came across this fantastical scene...







...what could it mean?

Choicepoint CEO's home number & address - why?

...because he has gotten rich selling yours. So, why not give him a call or better yet, write him a letter.

Make a Point

It's medication time...

Could this rather suspect establishment have something to do with the neighbors complicity in the keeping their mouth's shut and not talking about the THING referenced below? Mmm.

I want to believe! But really, do I?

Lately Stacy has been infusing me with a righteous dose of old X-Files episodes on DVD (courtesy of Netflix) and specifically seasons 4 & 5, which you Mulder & Scully fans out there may remember as being VERY heavy on the "mythology" - you know, the cigarette smoking man, the lone gunmen, Scully's implanted cancer, etc. Well, I never watched the X-Files in its original run, so it's all new to me, but I've got to admit that I've come to be a real fan.

So maybe, just maybe, all this double-secret-hidden-agenda stuff being perpetrated against you and I by the nefarious government suits on TV is starting to have an effect on me, becuase I've been driving by THIS THING for over a year and a half now, on my way back and forth to school, and I have always wondered, "just what the hell is that thing?"

Then I got to scratching my head and thinking, what would Fox Mulder say this thing is, that is, if he were a real person? An geodesic array for the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) project? Rabbit-ears for NORAD? Just another friendly neighborhood highly-tuned listening post controlled by "them" aimed at keeping an eye on "us"?

I mean LOOK at it, it practically screams Secret Government Project don't you think? It's hidden in plain sight, but in the seedy part of town where the neighbors all learned long ago to ask "the man" no questions and "the man" will tell them no lies. As a bonus, it also sits right next door to an overgrown cemetary, which could be construed (by a natural paranoid with abduction fantasies) as a dire warning perhaps to nosy intruders?

Mmm.

behold the power of this fully operational battle station!

I love this pic I took a year or so ago off the back porch of our former home during one of our wild Southern storms. I was reminded of it tonight, because it's quite windy out right now; rumbling wave-like bursts of cool gusting air have got the spanish moss dancing and swaying off the limbs of the old live oaks up and down our street. It's just one of those great, cinematic Savannah nights.

There is always a reason to walk the hounds in Savannah

The world may be run by a mob of beef-witted cro-mags stone-drunk on hubris and greed, but I still live in a lovely town and the hounds love to get out and romp in it. In the photo, our loyal curs relax in Monterey Square, which is a few blocks from our abode. Note the Mercer House in the background - this is the Jim Williams shack, where all the killin went down, which set the stage for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil which changed the fortunes of this sleepy old town forever. The house was also used in Clint Eastwood's film - where Kevin Spacey played Mr. Williams.