Six Feet Under

Last week I picked up season four of HBO's show Six Feet Under. I watched all twelve episodes in two days. Tuesday, I picked up the just released season five--the final season. I plan to watch one or two episodes tonight, I'm sure it won't take me long to go through them all.

I'm not sure what it is about this series I like so much, but it is addictive. There's a lot of sex, drugs and dysfunction, but I think the thing that gets me is that the characters are so strong. And despite all the problems they face and all the death that surrounds them, there is some sense of optimism in the show--they do come together as a family and accept each other. Dysfunctional, yes. Enjoyable, definitely.

Hard to lose...

It's hard to lose important people in your life. I've lost too many in the past three years. Lost Dad to Parkinson's Disease and, yes, I know he's in a better place. Lost some extremely important people in my life to distance--both literally and figuratively--and time and career. Lost my great circle of friends from my life in Crookston (I still try to keep in touch, but it's difficult and it's not the same).

Some say, "Just give it time, you'll make new friends." Maybe, probably. But I liked the relationships I had! In some ways I wish I was a superficial person, because it would be easier to not miss people... It takes me too damn long to build the trust I need to be friends and too damn long for me to let them go when they go. I know I've got to work on that, because it seems everybody always leaves or is left...

Sorry to be such a downer, but that's where I'm at.

Spammed poetry

I received an interestingly odd e-mail at work today. It was basically a spam message with an investment opportunity embedded in a randomly generated set of words. Somehow, the words seemed strangely poetic. I guess we humans try to find meaning in the truly arbitrary. You decide (punctuation mine):

Avoidable Lottery
Revive as trait, personal sarcasm confers uppity. liberally crime—-a persuasiveness—-and Polaroid bronco. Argument school as concentric sleeping bag. A gynecologist snowman is cocoa riddled with justification tabulation, indescribably of unprepared wire, to a wrongly bleached awkward hilarity. The diversion, insipid, owe on pedagogy, a forcibly slog was curry powder scrooge, and topsy-turvy a lifesaver congratulates as tonic water on us... reliant is grill that rat race of powder was that drudge to itself.

One word:

WHATEVER!

Cool discovery #78

Our CEO and director turned me on to a new DVD magazine called Wholphin, and I have to say it's pretty cool. He loaned me the first issue, and now I'm hooked. Really neat small films and other "unseen things".

I think my favorite video short was called "Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?". A very short film where we find a guy doing a survey and the main question is the title along with "How certain are you about that?" What an interesting question--sort of left me with a little existential longing. The first issue also includes an odd little film that details Patton Oswalt staring into the camera for about five minutes--no dialogue, just staring and a few funny faces.

These are odd shorts and video stuff that are just my cup of tea: quirky and mildly obscure...but in a GOOD way! Yet another thing I HAVE to buy on a regular basis. Damn!

Lyrics of the moment

Cool lyrics that seem appropriate at the moment...

Jenny Lewis - "The Charging Sky"
If I run uphill I'm out of breath
If I spend all of my money I've got no money left
If I place all of my chips on only one bet
I'm all in

And it's a surefire bet I'm gonna die
So I'm taking up praying on Sunday nights
And it's not that I believe in your almight
But I might as well as insurance or bail

Cause institution's like a big bright lie
And it blinds you into fear and consuming and fight
And you've been in the desert underneath the charging sky
It's just you and God
But what if God's not there?
But his name is on your dollar bill
Which just became cab fare

For the Evangelists, the Communists, the Lefts and the Rights
And the hypocrites and the Jesuits and the blacks and the whites
It's in the belly of the beast
In the Atlanta streets
Or up in Laurel Canyon
The verge of Middle East

Still they're dying on the dark continent
It's been happening long enough to mention it
Have I mentioned my parents are getting back together again
It's been 25 years
Of spreading infection
Somehow we're not affected

So my mom, she brushes her hair
And my dad starts growing Bob Dylan's beard
And I share with my friends a couple of beers
In the Orlando streets
In the belly of the beast

Saying something "unpopular"

Yes, freedom of speech MUST mean the freedom to offend, or the freedom to say something unpopular with the majority. I believe that more and more. If not, we cannot be considered a democracy, because in order to make a good, deliberate decision, we must hear all the viewpoints. That's the whole point of democracy! Sure, it's probably much easier to run a facist state - what the leader says goes, or else. The same is true of a theocracy - do what the religious leader tells you that God says, or else.

Democracy is hard because, first, we must allow all the voices to be heard and, second, we must not only make a decision by majority vote but also keep the minority protected. It IS difficult and it SHOULD take a long time. Squelching disagreement is NOT HEALTHY.
Thank you, Andrew Sullivan, for reminding us of this quote:

"If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." - George Orwell