Maybe the programmers are aspiring actors?
From Youtube: “The Top 50 Worst Moments in Video Game Voice Acting”
Major General Paul D. Eaton: Old-School Warrior & Patriot
My family ancestry goes back to before the founding of this nation — one of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence — so I am fiercely patriotic. My family also has a long, proud history of military service, so I absolutely hate, with a passion you have to see to believe, cowards that drape themselves in a false cloak of patriotism. They are nothing more than manipulative, Machiavellian jingoists. Major General Paul Eaton is one of those American soldiers willing to speak truth to power. Check out his record of service and the awards he received. He has a proud record of service to our nation, and he didn’t spend his youth trying to avoid military service, like the coward he calls out. He heals much of the disgrace I felt as an American during the Bush years. I salute him.
A Hollow Tension
Whenever I listen to The Smiths’ album Hatful of Hollow I always get a little ferklempt when the song “This Night Has Opened My Eyes” plays. It is a beautifully constructed song; it works because it creates a hollow tension between happiness and sadness, and then it refuses to resolve it. The form fits the content: this is not a black and white issue, and in life there are rarely simple answers or pure and clear emotions. Neat resolutions are for children and Disney. Tension is a truer reflection of the world — not that I think verisimilitude is a requirement for art — and that makes me appreciate the song for it’s artistic skill and value, leading ultimately to a connection with it on an emotional level that would not have occurred had the song said things in a clichéd manner.
Take a listen and follow along with the lyrics. The music kicks in at :23, so don’t make yourself deaf by cranking it up too loudly before that:
In a river the colour of lead
Immerse the baby’s head
Wrap her up in the News Of The World
Dump her on a doorstep, girl
This night has opened my eyes
And I will never sleep againYou kicked and cried like a bullied child
A grown man of twenty-five
Oh, he said he’d cure your ills
But he didn’t and he never will
Oh, save your life
Because you’ve only got oneThe dream has gone
But the baby is real
Oh, you did a good thing
She could have been a poet
Or, she could have been a fool
Oh, you did a bad thing
And I’m not happy
And I’m not sadA shoeless child on a swing
Reminds you of your own again
She took away your troubles
Oh, but then again
She left pain
So, please save your life
Because you’ve only got oneThe dream has gone
But the baby is real
Oh, you did a good thing
She could have been a poet
Or, she could have been a fool
Oh, you did a bad thing
And I’m not happy
And I’m not sad
Oh …
And I’m not happy
And I’m not sad
Oh …
And I’m not happy
And I’m not sad
I discovered, while searching for the lyrics online, the song is inspired by a play titled “A Taste Of Honey.” The play was written by Shelagh Delaney, and, according to one comment on and online message-board, it contains the following lines:
“You can’t just wrap it up in a bundle of newspaper.”
“…and dump it on a doorstep.”
“That river, it’s the colour of lead.”
“I’m not sorry and I’m not glad.”
“Oh well, the dream’s gone, but the baby’s real enough.”
Online message boards discussing the meaning of the lyrics reveal people’s common lack of understanding that art can have multiple and simultaneous meanings, as the interpretation below reveals. However, I still liked the overall interpretation of this person — someone with the internet handle of LessThanZero”:
It’s not about a gay friend.
It’s not about a doctor.
It’s not about rape.
Rapists don’t make promises (“Oh he said he’d cure your ills”)
The song is not about abortion, but giving up the child (“Dump her on the doorstep, Girl”)
What this is is a story of a young girl and a slightly older man. They promise each other the world as their relationship turns intimate. Always promising each other a pure painless future. But in all actuality, their acts of love turn their lives upside down. This love they felt that would end all pain and suffering has only made life more miserable.
Adult acts, a child as a result.
A childish act (giving the baby up), nothing but guilt and memories.
This song is truly about how dumb love makes us.
We think only good imaginative things can come of it.
When in reality, living in this fantasy makes life hell.
Now, they both will live out their lonesome lives bathing in guilt of what could have been had they kept the child.
Everyone has been there.
Fallen in love, thought the world was your oyster.
You THINK you can control the outcome of your life so as long as you have this person beside you.
Always looking to the future, never looking to the past.
The result, a love child neither parent wants to claim.
THIS NIGHT HAS OPENED MY EYES AND I WILL NEVER SLEEP AGAIN.
Love blinds consequences until that night…
Me Likes
New Order can still put out stuff that sounds just slightly different enough from their old stuff to be worth listening to:
Or maybe this one is more your cup of tea:
If you began to think to yourself, “Those bass and rhythm guitars sound exactly like The Cure’s sound,” you’ve got it backwards; those are sounds The Cure stole from New Order.
But then this same album has a crazy dance track like this:
An about-to-be-unemployed justice of the peace
Check out this totally crazy story about an openly racist (but seems oblivious to what racism is) justice of the peace:
Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License By Louisiana Justice Of The Peace.
You might be a racist if…everything you say is prefaced by “I’m not a racist, but…”
