Spontaneous Musings

1. On CBS THIS MORNING - there was a blurb on how in about 10-20 years, we would be traveling by electric automatic cars or computer driven cars. And it could be illegal to drive. This would do away with gas stations (they'd be charged and electric), oil consumption, traffic tickets, traffic accidents, death by motor vehicle, and drunk driving.
Also cars would be redesigned - you wouldn't need windows (I don't know, regardless of whether or not I'm driving the thing - I need windows) because you don't need to see where you are going (yes, but air is nice and it is nice to see where one is going), and there would be no need for a steering wheel.

Personally? I don't mind this idea at all. Sounds like a mini-train. Plus, as you all know by now? I hate driving. I could blissfully live my life without ever having to get behind the wheel of a car again. Done the whole driving thing - short distances, in heavy traffic, no traffic, long ass distances, and all sorts of weather, and no sorry - be very happy to go without. Driving is highly overrated.

But somehow, I can't see the vast majority of the world agreeing with me on this point. They'll fight for their God-Given RIGHT to DRIVE, if it kills them. (Honestly, how is this god given? God had absolutely nothing to do with cars or the creation of cars. But whatever.)

There was also a blurb on Larry Flynt, former publisher of Hustler magazine, who was paralyzed in his 30s when a man shot him through the spine. Recently Flynt waged a campaign to waive the death penalty for the man who shot him. The guy was getting the death penalty for a separate offense. Flynt lost, but he did everything he could to get rid of the death penalty. Stating - that human beings should never have the right to take another's life, even if it is government sanctioned. That government's should never have that right. We should not have the right to kill one another for any reason and that's what the death penalty is. (I agree with him. Say what you will about Flynt, he has consistently stood up for others rights.)

2. Rather liked this essay on slate that is critiquing the whole http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/01/do_what_you_love_love_what_you_do_an_omnipresent_mantra_that_s_bad_for_work.2.html

Blurb below:

Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life! Before succumbing to the intoxicating warmth of that promise, it’s critical to ask, “Who, exactly, benefits from making work feel like nonwork?” “Why should workers feel as if they aren’t working when they are?” In masking the very exploitative mechanisms of labor that it fuels, DWYL is, in fact, the most perfect ideological tool of capitalism. If we acknowledged all of our work as work, we could set appropriate limits for it, demanding fair compensation and humane schedules that allow for family and leisure time.

And if we did that, more of us could get around to doing what it is we really love.

Reminds me vaguely of my father's post-graduate thesis in American History - his thesis was on the history of the leisure class. He hated the topic, it was chosen by his adviser, who was an expert on intellectual history, my father, from dirt poor roots who used the GI bill to get to college, was a social historian focused on African American History in the US, and had done his master's on the Philadelphia Race Riots. Needless to say they clashed, and he dropped out, married my mother, a speech pathologist, became a successful compensation consultant and well the rest is history. At any rate, a lot of the things stated in this article, my father told me about his research in the "entitled" or "privileged" class. Historically, CEO's of company's would take 6 months vacation, then complain that their employees weren't working hard enough and were slackers. Now, that's not quite the case, CEO's can't afford to do that any longer. But there is a view that if you are not putting in 12-13 hour days, you aren't working hard. Which is of course bull-shit. Few people who put in 13 hour days are productive. They burn out. They are tired. It's crazy.

There are days in which I think my workplace is turning me into a libertarian, others in which I think its turning me into a communist. I realize the two are highly contradictory.


3. Watched Justified - that is well written. Amongst the best written series on tv.
There's a handful, and unfortunately they are all insanely violent. What's up with that?
No one can write a really good tv show that isn't violent? I think the closest that I've seen is The Good Wife. (I admittedly have not watched Treme, so can't comment on it.)
The other one might be Parenthood, which is consistently well-written, without falling too deeply into sentimentality or melodrama...yet not as well written as Friday Night Lights.
Actually Friday Night Lights was the other one.

Hmmm...time for lists.

Top 5 Best Written TV Shows Currently On (which I've seen, I don't get Showtime!)
* Breaking Bad (okay it ended this year)
* Justified
* The Good Wife
* Game of Thrones
* Mad Men (granted it was a bit weak this year and drug)

Top 5 Best Written TV Shows:
1. Breaking Bad
2. The Wire
3. Homicide Life on the Streets
4. Prime Suspect (UK Version - Helen Mirran)
5. Justified

(Damn it, they are all crime dramas...)

4. Even though this post is coming across crankier than it should, I am in a good mood. Did various acts of kindness today, which made me feel good. They weren't major - small things, but there's no act that's tiny or so I'm told. One was picking up a wheel that feel off a woman's cart (her cart not the grocery cart) in Whole Foods and giving it back to her. Another was giving a homeless man five bucks, outside my church. Nothing makes you feel better than being kind to strangers. Highly recommend it. Even if it's nothing more than telling someone to keep the change. Also decided to get a bottle of wine for my downstairs neighbors, the one's directly below me, who took such good care of me this summer. Between my neighbors and my church - and to a degree live-journal flist, family, and my work colleagues, I managed to survive the summer from hell. Thanks to all.

5. I am now reading two books simultaneously.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, which is a fascinating bit of narrative, she interweaves a sci-fi novel within a story of two sisters, and various mysterious deaths. It's a bit bleak though. Beautifully written. Say what you will about Atwood, the woman can write poetic prose.

And, an odd somewhat racy, and a wee bit out there m/m slash sci-fi erotica novel about a prince who has lost his memory, been turned into a interstellar sex slave, and the Space Captain, who has tracked him down. Reminds a lot of slash fanfic to be honest, also a wee bit of The Captive Prince, except more sex scenes. M/M slash is odd - mainly because one of the two male characters is written in the traditional female role - so there's all sorts of interesting things going on with well-established gender tropes. I'm not sure I can recommend it though - it's a bit racy. Entitled An Uncommon Whore - I discovered it on Good Reads, when I was looking for items similar to The Captive Prince and Swordspoint.