tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36676477837100765432024-02-07T17:59:40.852-08:00CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSEsolipsism and the confidence man by hostage lifeHOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-75689672646251845632009-11-19T18:49:00.000-08:002009-11-19T18:52:50.484-08:00last show<div>Last show is tomorrow night at Sneaky Dee's in Toronto. 431 College St. 2nd floor.</div><br /><div>Hope to see a lot of you there.</div><br /><div>For those that can't make it: we wish you all the best, and thanks for 7 years of awesome. </div><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406013061125747154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPboakR_Romrw9Cx1NmUOtIhtMhB4t2Pv4OJ9JFPT_ZydeQol7l_WfoBTqjKVMqdHBZbLKqCVuls3xwoQoFjLf0hNx8Xd-nojqK4y6Zmor64DA4F2FmzB1x3Acd4V4VrAGo1iXdhHQZE4/s320/n513091844_1431919_3381.jpg" border="0" /></div><br /><p> PS - we will be posting the last stuff we ever recorded right here very soon. </p><p>xoxoxox</p>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-44871786592561602242009-11-18T17:20:00.000-08:002009-11-18T17:36:22.601-08:00FORM/FUNCTION/EXECUTION or THE ART CRITIC OF WAR<span style="font-size:85%;">each and every subject's<br />easily erased<br />each model reduced<br />to black and white figures on a page<br /><br />portraits of new monsters<br />an old image retraced<br />paint it all with numbers<br />a distortion of common shapes<br /><br />broken down and rebuilt<br />servitude in relief<br />sculpted to be ruins<br />for a landscape of pride and belief<br /><br />two thousand feet above<br />a thousand miles away<br />nemesis needs no face<br />for this reconceptualization of space<br /><br />may good fortune strike us blind<br />may we see not their eyes<br />may they wear our masks so bold<br />may these young hearts beat cold<br />that we may destroy all our enemies<br /><br />I don't see or understand<br />why or where these men stand<br />but empathy alonecould stay this failed artist's hand</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><div align="justify"><br />I didn't want to write a song about how war is wrong. That's been done a lot. And I don't really have much in the way of a fresh compelling argument that would make me want to write one; much less think the world needs one. I completely agree with Edwin Starr's (and before him, The Temptations') answer to the question of, "War, what is it good for?" So much so that I feel reiterating it, with only subtle variations in phrasing, would do nothing but render a simple idea unnecessarily complex. </div><div align="justify"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/01-2pNCZiNk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/01-2pNCZiNk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div><div align="justify">So, this is not an anti-war song. I'm anti-war...well anti-modern war. There's been no armed conflict involving Canada or America during my lifetime that I think were justified. I say during my lifetime because WWII, of course, is a gray area. I mean, Hitler was trying to take over the world and kill a lot of people in the process. But I digress. This is not an anti-war song. Nor is it a commentary on the necessity for violence when faced with violent attack. This is a slightly different beast. This is about the how of war - particularly how you get people to kill. </div><div align="justify"><br />About a year ago, I bought a copy of Gwynne Dyer's WAR, for three bucks at the used book store by my work. In the 80s (when the book was written) a documentary series about it had been produced. I saw portions of it at school (several times in varying grades) and had even used the text for a report in the days long before I ceased to be a virgin, but not much of it's information had survived my later party years. All I remembered was some cool pictures and the utter horror that the idea of nuclear holocaust awakened in me. When I reread it though, I discovered that the cold war sections were far less interesting** and that the book's overall theme regarding the evolution of warfare, particularly the evolution of combat training, was far more engrossing. </div><div align="justify"><br />The most interesting part of the book deals with Dyer's claim that the vast majority of human beings are not born killers. This isn't to say we lack the capacity to be killers just that most of us do not want to kill and find the idea both repugnant and terrifying. This characteristic is not something that the common soldier lacks, as the research of SLA Marshall demonstrated. During WWII, Marshall conducted interviews with soldiers from hundreds of different battalions of the US infantry. What he found was that in any given battle only 25% of the men were actually firing their weapons at the enemy because they did not want to kill. Their dispersion in foxholes allowed them to neglect their duty with little to no ramifications, simply because no one was close enough to observe them. When the US military was informed of this statistic the methods they had been using to train new recruits changed drastically. They military took Marshall's study very seriously. </div><div align="justify"><br />In the past couple of decades Marshall's findings have been the centre of quite a bit of controversy. Both his conclusions and testing methods have been called into question. Regardless of whether his work is legitimate or spurious, the affect that his research had on the military provides a partial answer to this song. The post-Marshall army had to think very seriously about how to make a soldier. As Dyer points out, the primary method they introduced was desensitizing recruits to the suffering of their enemy and to indoctrinate them, "in the most explicit fashion (as previous generations of soldiers were not) with the notion that their purpose is not to just to be brave or to fight well: it is to kill people." There's a joke here that a funnier man could make which would illustrate, in a far wittier fashion than I am capable of, that the army figured out that the best way to make a soldier was to just tell a soldier the truth about what he is being trained to do. Of course, the same 'duty to your country' stuff was still used to great affect, but it was the emphasis on killing that was the newest tool to be used. Stripping the young man of his compassion for the enemy, and essentially transforming him, both physically and mentally, into a killing machine, is the object of boot camp. </div><div align="justify"><br />Back then the first step in creating soldiers was making sure that they know exactly what it is they are supposed to do. The form of the soldier dictated its function. But that isn't the first step, anymore. With the days of conscription long gone, the first step is getting someone to enlist. The recruitment propaganda that takes the form of commercials, with all the excitement and feel of a summer blockbuster, is one of the techniques used to attract young recruits. Trolling economically under privileged neighborhoods for youth with minimal career options is another popular method. The oldest and truest method, of course, is to project the image that the young recruit would be taking on the role of the protector, and in order for that to be effective, a threat must be introduced. The creation of a new enemy is essential for the military recruitment process, and the enemy changes often.*** The past century saw us slapping Japs, bombing Gerry, and fighting terrorists and communists of all different types the world over. In each instance the importance of overcoming these enemies through violence was fully stressed. The humanity of each force we opposed was stripped, be it through racism, or through the introduction of the enemy as an idea - we're not fighting people on the battlefield, we're fighting communism, or terrorism. These aren't humans we're shooting at; they are representations of all that is in contrast to our way of life. They are the thing that will take away our freedom and comfort, or worse still, our lives. </div><div align="justify"><br />The dehumanization of the enemy, as we have already seen, carries on into boot camp. And, as we have also seen, this is where the dehumanization of the recruit begins, as he is slowly molded into a killing machine. But all the propaganda and training in the world won't necessarily spurn a person to kill. There are other factors involved. The military's institutional structure helps to perpetuate the execution of a soldier’s duty. Soldiers are inducted into the lowest rung of the military hierarchy and from there on they're trained to respect and obey every form of authority above them. It is their job to take orders before anything else. And the primary order they are given in war time is to kill. Humans that have difficulty making decisions in a crisis look to authority figures to make those decisions for them, as is evidenced in the controversial Milgram experiment of the 1960s. The experiment's creator, Dr. Stanley Milgram, was basically trying to find out how far people would follow an authority figure (as well as how much pain a person could inflict on another.<br /><object id="veohFlashPlayer" height="341" width="410" name="veohFlashPlayer"><param name="movie" value="http://www.veoh.com/static/swf/webplayer/WebPlayer.swf?version=AFrontend.5.4.5.1008&permalinkId=v18688074hgZdg5Dt&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0&id=anonymous"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.veoh.com/static/swf/webplayer/WebPlayer.swf?version=AFrontend.5.4.5.1008&permalinkId=v18688074hgZdg5Dt&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0&id=anonymous" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="410" height="341" id="veohFlashPlayerEmbed" name="veohFlashPlayerEmbed"></embed></object><br />During his testing, he would hire an ordinary citizen to be his test subject, and then pair him with an actor who would pretend to be the second test subject. The real test subject was told that the experiment was to study memory and that the other test subject (the actor) had been told to memorize a list. The actor was in a separate room, and while he could not be seen, he could be heard. The real test subject was then told to administer an electric shock to the actor every time he made a mistake reading back the list. With every wrong answer the intensity of the shocks increased. So, here you have this ordinary citizen being told to inflict pain on a complete stranger, the effects of which (the screaming and begging for him to stop) are completely audible. At all times a scientist was present to ask the test subject to continue administering the shocks whenever he voiced misgivings or guilt about proceeding. It's really kind of an asshole trick to play on someone, and there have been a lot of questions raised about the ethical implications of the study. What is interesting, however, is that Milgram found that about 50% of the test subjects kept on administering the shocks - most did it begrudgingly, but they did continue. At the end of the study he concluded that human beings are capable of committing horrible acts of cruelty as long as their instructions were coming from a legitimate source. The test subjects essentially saw themselves as tools for carrying out the orders of an authority figure. If we transfer this scenario to the battlefield, the same type of behaviour is present. Soldiers are expected to obey their commanding officers, and the majority complies with little to no resistance. Those commanding officers, after all, are part of the military establishment and thus employees of their particular country’s government. And it is difficult for most people to conceive of a more legitimate symbol of authority than the government. </div><div align="justify"><br />The advances in military technology we have seen in the last few decades have changed the face of warfare dramatically and produced yet another method of reducing the enemy to something less than human. We've all seen footage of soldiers in Iraq using video screens to launch attacks on their enemies, and most of us have noticed the eerie similarity between what we were watching on the news and the video games that we've wasted hours of our lives playing. And while, I have no experience in actual combat, I can only imagine that it would be easier to pull the trigger on a two-dimensional figure on a video screen than it would be to pull the trigger on someone standing directly in front of you in the vivid colour of reality. This sense of disconnection that technology creates within a soldier is comparable to the desensitization that distance creates. As Dyer notes, bombers often have fewer reservations about firing on the enemy because they are so far removed from them. In short, it's easier to believe that you aren't really killing people when you don't actually see them. </div><div align="justify"><br />I've never read "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. As a guy who doesn't appreciate the genius of creating ways to destroy people and parts of the world, I was never too interested.**** It seemed like the kind of book aggressive, young, hot-shot stock market goons would read and declare as their mantra. Maybe I'm being too literal, or too much of a hippie, but I find the notion of killing and conquering as an art form to be kind of unsettling. Oddly enough, the experience of war for humankind has spawned an abundance of brilliant artworks, from Goya’s "Execution of the Defenders of Madrid, 3rd May 1808," to Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" to Coppola's "Apocalypse Now." As we continue to invent new ways to take each other apart we create new works to express our horror and to condemn the whole ordeal. An emphasis on the latter seems long overdue. The shape of war is always changing, as are the methods used to mold its combatants. What won't change is man's mortality and the permanence of death.<br /></div><div align="justify">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*Yes, I’m lumping Canada and the US together as a couple, but only because we go to a lot of the same parties.<br />**This does not reflect the insight or the narrative poetry of the text....no, it's just not as interesting to me because the cold war is over.<br />***I’m not trying to suggest that the military industrial complex is picking its targets based on efforts to increase recruitment numbers. but obviously the idea of defending the freedom of Americans from liberty hating terrorists in the middle east is enticing to a great deal of young recruits.****Given my initial statement regarding my ignorance of the book's contents, I am in no way trying to diminish it as a work with immense historical</span> </div>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-84336872440097755722009-11-18T13:52:00.000-08:002009-11-18T14:01:51.615-08:00NEW DRUGS or COLIN LICHTI AND THE NEWS<span style="font-size:85%;">I need a thicker cloud<br />need a heavier shroud tonight<br />I need a newer, faster, longer lasting high<br />I need a cure of uncut purity<br />rescue me from security<br />need a reason to shake<br />I need a wonderful mistake<br /><br />I need a boozecan night-train, moonlight or rain, yeah<br />I need to borrow your piss because tomorrow’s the test, oh yeah<br />I need alibis and reasons why<br />a new excuse to make you cry<br />I need to go off track<br />I need to crack and never come back<br /><br />new drugs, new loves, and better scars<br />don’t know yourself until you’ve fallen apart<br /><br />I can't feel my face<br />don't want to feel my heart ever again</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br />Witness the proof of our unoriginality:<br /><br /><div><object height="485" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x20fpi&related=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x20fpi&related=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="485" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20fpi_huey-lewis-the-news-i-want-a-new-dr_music">Huey Lewis & The News - I Want A New Drug</a></b><br /><i>Uploaded by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/jpdc11">jpdc11</a>. - <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/ca-en/channel/music">See the latest featured music videos.</a></i></div>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-82060023015751787632009-11-16T17:43:00.000-08:002009-11-16T17:53:11.878-08:00PAPER CITIZEN or THE HOLICO ENERGY CONCERN<span style="font-size:85%;">no one says it's their blood speckled in the sink<br />it's kind of hard to say since we're all looking sick<br />and the last man standing ain't going to draw no breath<br />paper citizens know nothing of fault or regret<br /><br />there's flames on the river again<br />that dance as we're both shivering<br />they burn through the snow, rain and wind<br />and the match holder ain't ever going to sort it out<br /><br />my risk, it has been determined for me<br />with these legal fictions we keep the poorest company<br />this was given to many<br />it was taken by some<br />this was given to many<br />this - it was taken by some<br /><br />the punishment is always cheaper than the crime</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><br /><div align="justify">I was taking a shit at my friend's house and reading her latest issue of MacLean’s magazine when I got the idea for this song. I’m not really friends with this particular publication - it takes an unexpectedly time-consuming bowel movement or a walk-in clinic waiting room for me to even consider picking it up. So needless to say, I don't remember the cover story, what I do recall of this 50-some-odd page magazine is a short editorial near the back. It seems the fine people of Guelph Ontario had been attempting, with limited success, to keep a Wal-Mart from being built in their city. They weren't eager to subject themselves to the local-economy-killing-retail-juggernaut and sought to preserve their city's cultural essence by vocalizing and acting upon their distaste for what they considered to be a potential threat. They won at first, but eventually their elected officials allowed a store to be built. After a period of success, the owners of Wal-Mart wanted to expand the store but, again, the people of Guelph let it be known how much this pissed them off. This is where the story stopped and the editorial began. John Whiteman, or whatever the fuck his name is, was there in MacLean’s magazine to defend poor Wal-Mart. the way he saw it, Wal-Mart’s rights were being infringed upon. Sure, a large number of Guelph's citizens opposed the erection of a new outlet, and its subsequent expansion, but didn't Wal-Mart, as a store, have the right to grow up in Guelph too? I immediately found this notion to be both absurd and frightening. This nimrod actually believes that the rights of a corporation (a fucking idea on a piece of paper) are equal to those of an actual human being. Astounding, but understandable. Corporations, after all, are legally viewed as people. It’s how they're designed. a bunch of dudes incorporate a company, thus relieving themselves of any personal responsibility for the company's actions, and imbuing this company with all the legal rights of an actual human. It’s crazy but it's true. And as melodramatic as it sounds, this is how Exxon, shell, Monsanto, Syncrude, Wal-Mart et. al have been able to fuck over the people of this planet, and the plane itself so successfully. Physicist and environmental activist Dr. Vandanna Shiva once said, "the corporation, as a legal person, is really the beginning of all the treachery of our time." I, for one, think she's right. The problem boils down to the fact that the corporation is the dominant institution of this day and age, and it is an institution with one goal: to make money. And, by now, it is common knowledge that as a result of this institution's legal standing and agenda, millions of people have been hurt, and the basic things we require to live (air, water, soil) have been either spoiled or outright stolen. </div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br />Now, don't get me wrong. This song is not intended to be some high and mighty rant. I’m not suggesting we should all stop buying coffee and clothes and just move up to north and build ourselves cabins and try to subsist on an ethically informed system of hunting and gathering. that would be silly. how could we afford to purchase the land from the men that already own it? if I was saying that, then I would just be another leather-jacket-clad hygienically challenged punk singer screaming, 'down with corporations' on a CD that just happens to be distributed by a multinational corporation. Because Hostage Life has already released two CDs on Underground Operations, and those CDs were distributed by Universal music (perhaps you've heard of them). We get royalty cheques and mechanical cheques from Universal, small ones mind you, but we get them. We, as a band that drives a gasoline fueled automobile to corporate-sponsored music festivals, are entrenched in this system. In my real life I work for a multinational corporation. I purchase products and pay for services provided by corporations. We all do, because there is little choice in the matter. It is almost impossible to live day-to-day without being affected by the most intrusive and pervasive entity of our time. This, however, is a good reason to pay attention to what is going on and to speak out and act out when we disagree with what we are seeing happen. From the abuse of workers to the degradation of the environment, and subsequent health ramifications that affect the public, the current system we have built is in dire need of an overhaul. </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404883950273095058" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 248px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2zKXwjrokVJRsPmJwwwBH-b5R_ISz6C7YikwHj_DAum80tUOYc4vuAyMkgCL2zvW2cXtJ-UZiwtKgKTEBDpYQuhNXLFlfX3E6j5EZz8DWS0p5zd0Dxwx8KPVkToQqqzGlXS_JIGMp9lA/s320/11031952Fire.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="justify"><br />The Cuyahoga river, for example, has long been a symbol of corporate indifference. more than once (please note - more than once!!!!) the river caught on fire (please note - caught on fire!!!!) due to high levels of industrial pollutants. yes, a fucking body of water caught on fire. all because several different corporations chose to dump their raw waste into that river. doing this, of course, made perfect sense for the people who actually made the decision. it was a pretty common practice around the time the Cuyahoga caught of fire. in fact, the Cuyahoga fires were hardly isolated incidents. plenty of rives caught on fire during the 20th century. the Cuyahoga fires were just the biggest and provided the most photo-ops. </div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br />The job of the corporation is to make money for its shareholders. treating the chemicals that these companies were dumping into the river, or finding an alternative way to dispose of them, would diminish the companies' profits. that's a big a no-no. when an institutions' sole motivation is the bottom line, it makes sense to embrace practices that will cause harm - as long as you make money. it doesn't even matter if those practices are illegal. In the corporate world, breaking the law is justifiable if the punishment is less than the profits that can be acquired. just look at Syncrude and how much of Northern Alberta they have destroyed with their oil sands project. Over the several years that the company has been mining and refining bitumen they have produced miles and miles of toxic tailing ponds - some of which are now visible from space. In 2008, about 500 ducks landed in one of the ponds and suffered brutal, agonizing deaths. Photographs of the birds c<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhf28gExsXx0AlTGTXbIvnV3CwhVMfl6KjIg8tRisfZkFYyZaKLI4yFcle4_RTgvhH8iVv3eJj4PhWNls4ux26sb2Fo4kL371nT5LAS3_5nkgTndX8uUZBBIfdcSLl-bI4_9s8Cd-_aKM/s1600/alberta-tar-sands.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404884238724268674" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 226px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhf28gExsXx0AlTGTXbIvnV3CwhVMfl6KjIg8tRisfZkFYyZaKLI4yFcle4_RTgvhH8iVv3eJj4PhWNls4ux26sb2Fo4kL371nT5LAS3_5nkgTndX8uUZBBIfdcSLl-bI4_9s8Cd-_aKM/s320/alberta-tar-sands.jpg" border="0" /></a>overed in toxic sludge were seen around the world, forcing the provincial and federal governments to react by laying charges against Syncrude for their degradation of the environment. Now this is a nice sentiment, and our elected officials should be praised for trying to make an example of this company. Unfortunately the punishment hardly fits the crime. Under provincial law Syncrude faces a maximum fine of $500,000. Under federal law it faces a maximum fine of $300,000. That's $800,000 if they are found guilty and receive the maximum penalties for their actions. Now, to me, you, and most of the world, that's a huge fucking number. But it is literally peanuts to the company facing the penalty. In 2008, Syncrude reported $1.5 billion in profits. It is ridiculous to think that a measly 800 grand is going to force them to clean up their act, much less their mess. </div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br />I’m not going to sit here and try to convince you that corporations are evil. why should I? corporations are not living things. what they are is a tool that allows men to realize their greed. they are a fictional construct that shields selfish men from the responsibility of their actions. they are institutions that have been given the same rights and freedoms as people so that a limited number of individuals can make obscene amounts of money. even when the law isn't on their side, the heads of these corporations have been able to use their wealth and influence to plunder the world. and it is all done in the name of greed. some of you reading this will point out that capitalism is the real problem here, and you'd be right to do so. this song, and the poorly structured essay that accompanies it, however, are smaller in their focus. This song is about one part of the problem. This is about the corporation as person - the paper citizen - and how its rights and status should be revoked. </div>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-17118536133324766972009-11-13T10:15:00.000-08:002009-11-13T10:31:40.471-08:00PURPLE HANDS or OF MARRIAGE AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION or DO YOU, CHARLES MCVETY, TAKE THIS...<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 1.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFFDbXUpVfxJsmp0yjgUlsxsBoAtR7ogW-0frbf3JS5T9mMok9W6XryedbPCFdhnQoHRlhQ4GzWu1VZFnR6V7XHmHkTnQZrJnsrRCO2SWrvd4HpqeyZfyIreNcvq5Ikv7SQorwODix4Go/s1600-h/purple-hand.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFFDbXUpVfxJsmp0yjgUlsxsBoAtR7ogW-0frbf3JS5T9mMok9W6XryedbPCFdhnQoHRlhQ4GzWu1VZFnR6V7XHmHkTnQZrJnsrRCO2SWrvd4HpqeyZfyIreNcvq5Ikv7SQorwODix4Go/s320/purple-hand.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403657029200495666" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">so sick of fools<br />who </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">refuse to recognize<o:p></o:p><br />that love could never be so rigidly defined<o:p></o:p><br />so sick of the argument of tradition<o:p></o:p><br />one of inequality should be met with derision<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 1.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>because they ruined this bed before it was made<o:p></o:p><br />the notion of freedom so utterly betrayed<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 1.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>we're still waiting <o:p></o:p><br />for you to catch up with the rest of us<o:p></o:p><br />and stop greeting change with disgust<o:p></o:p><br />there's purple hands everywhere<o:p></o:p><br />'69, Halloween again<o:p></o:p><br />no lives need beg for acceptance<o:p></o:p><br />(no lives begging to be let in)<i><u><o:p></o:p></u></i><br />there's purple hands everywhere<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 1.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>so sick of the lies assigned to us at birth<o:p></o:p><br />you're straight until you ain't <o:p></o:p><br />and it determines your worth<o:p></o:p><br />so sick of the reverence of good ol' days<o:p></o:p><br />their majorities of hate and the shelf life of those ways<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">this ain't yours to deny<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="">this ain't yours to give</span></span><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=""></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="">I’m not really one for national pride. As anything other than an identifier for the playground or the battlefield, flags have always seemed like an unnecessary indulgence - the boastful advertising of a child too self-absorbed to see its own shortcomings. every year, without fail, I am sent into cringing hysterics at the sight of a person wearing the old maple leaf like a cape and bleating out the national anthem with a red and white whistle as she/he roller-skates down to harbour front for July 1st fireworks.* the idea that I am somehow special because I dropped out of my mother's vagina and landed on this stretch of soil is foolish. I’m no better than a Mexican or an American, an Iraqi or a Russian. Thus the alien sense of national pride that rippled through me when Canada legalized gay marriage was a bizarre sensation to say the least. But it happened, on July 20th 2005 I felt proud of my country. Well, it's government, anyway. We were the fourth country in the world to declare that a human being's sexual orientation should not preclude them from the liberties enjoyed by their fellow citizens. It was a great step forward for social progress, but, of course, not everyone sees it that way. Like their partners in hate down in California, a vast majority of Canadians still oppose marriage equality. They feel that it will devalue the importance of heterosexual union. Marriage, these bigots claim, is a heterosexual institution - it as an arena of love that only the straight may enter. Allowing others to enjoy the same freedom as the professed straight, will diminish the quality of our lives, and will diminish love. To me, this is the most childish of arguments. It’s like saying, "if everyone can do it then my ability to do so doesn't seem as special." grow the fuck up. Two people with the same sex organs saying, "I do," doesn't mean you don't love your wife or husband. It doesn't render the bond that you have chosen to express through a legal action meaningless. If that were true then marriages like my parents do as much to devalue this sacred union.**<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style=""> </span>The most successful opponents of gay marriage have been affiliated with church organizations. The prop-8 campaign was primarily funded by the Mormon Church. This is no big surprise. Most religions regard homosexuality as a sin, or at the very least, a deviation from nature. Of course, this idea doesn't appeal exclusively to the faithful, there are plenty of secular homophobes out there spouting similar nonsense. But when you boil down both of their arguments, all you're left with is the belief that homosexuality is, for some flimsy reason, wrong, and therefore those who practice it are less than those who do not. Now, I say, 'practice,' because what we find here is the idea that homosexuality is a choice. As far as I have been able to find, there is no universally accepted scientific evidence that homosexuality has a biological cause, however, several biological factors, such as genes and brain structure, have been identified as possibly relating to sexual orientation. the prevalence of homosexuality throughout human history, as well as it's prevalence within the animal kingdom, leads me to believe that sexual orientation does not spring from a conscious choice. Nobody chooses to be gay, bisexual or heterosexual. Nobody wakes up one day and decides that they'd like to endure the alienation and persecution that accompanies a gay lifestyle in most of the world. This is not to downplay bi-curiosity. Many a heterosexual (and, I’m sure, homosexual) has fantasized about how fun it might be to play scrimmage with the other team.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style=""> </span>But let's stop for a second and pretend that the homophobes are right. Let’s say that homosexuality is a choice. Let’s pretend that every human being is born heterosexual. Gay people are really just straight people that, for whatever reason, prefer to fuck people with the same genitals that they have. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style=""> </span>Fine. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style=""> </span>But why should that prevent anyone from experiencing the same level of freedom as heterosexuals? The cornerstone of any democracy is it’s its citizens’ right to choose. So, if homosexuality is a choice, it is one that should never lead to a loss of freedom***<span style=""> </span>If you think that it should - if you think that homosexuals do not deserve the right to be married then you do not believe in the idea of liberty. You do not believe in equality. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style=""> </span>by now, you might be thinking, "ok, Colin, what the hell does this have to do with purple hands?" and you'd be right to be doing so, as I have neglected to incorporate the song's title and chorus into it's explanation. Here goes: the purple hand was one of the earliest symbols of the gay liberation movement. It never really caught on, but the story of its creation is pretty awesome. On Halloween night of 1969, a group of people, comprised mostly of members of a few different gay rights advocacy groups, staged a protest in front of the office of the San Francisco Examiner. The paper had recently run several homophobic articles that had outraged the gay community. At some point during the evening, employees of the newspaper decided to dump printer toner onto the protestors below. Their prank backfired, however, when the protestors used the purple ink that covered them to smear slogans like, "gay power," all over the building. After that, the police moved in, and as the legend goes, those that weren't arrested or beaten up too badly proceeded to walk through the entire city, leaving purple handprints wherever they went as a symbol of solidarity. The protest would come to be known as the night of the purple hand. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style=""> </span>As I mentioned earlier the symbol never really took off and was pretty much forgotten. And while I do question the plausibility of the entire city being covered in handprints (I mean c'mon, the ink on their hands would have dried up after a few blocks) I do still love this story. And I do think it is still relevant considering that on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots**** Chad Gibson was beaten by law enforcement officials in Fort Worth, Texas for what seems to be no other reason than his sexual orientation.***** Also because, here in Canada, assheads like Charles McVety make it their mission to restrict the liberties of humans who have sex differently than him. Fuck that guy and his ridiculous commitment to hatred.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="">*Not that I have any problem with fireworks. I like fireworks - everyone does, save for my step-grandmother. Every time she hears an M80 explode, she jumps with fear, painfully reminded of the bombs that rained down on her childhood home in London during WWII. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="border-style: none none dotted; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;"><span style="">**see NUCLEAR.<o:p></o:p><br />***If we are to believe what we are taught about this country and the one down south on their respective birthdays.<o:p></o:p><br />****http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots<o:p></o:p><br />*****http://www.365gay.com/news/forth-worth-resident-breaks-his-silence-about-rainbow-lounge-raid/ and<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/06/30/fort-worth-police-chief-that-faggot-had-it-coming">http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/06/30/fort-worth-police-chief-that-faggot-had-it-coming</a></span></p></div>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-67508631862048437772009-11-10T15:05:00.000-08:002009-11-10T15:45:45.463-08:00THE CON MAN'S GUIDE TO QUANTUM MECHANICS or WHAT ABOUT POST HOC ERGO PROPTER HOC, DICK?<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">I didn't ask for these chains to fit<br />I didn't ask for the end of this whip<br />and it's no secret<br />I don't believe this misery<br />is somehow justice for betraying a dream<br />but it's no secret<br /><br />there's no law that says my will<br />has the power to attract<br />and that I’m solely to blame<br />for what I get back<br /><br />dance all night because it's so easy<br />ask, believe, receive<br />but what you give ain't always what you get<br /><br />these tubes and these bloody sheets<br />weren't invited to the party by me<br />and it's no secret<br />and how I wish that I could believe<br />that a thought could make this pain retreat<br />but it's no secret<br /><br />there's no law that says my will<br />has the power to attract<br />no one gets to decide<br />between the cancer ward and the throne<br /><br />no, I didn't ask for this<br />and no one deserves it<br /><br />there's no key to</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">the universe</span><br /></div><br /><div align="justify"><br /></div><br /><div align="justify"><br /></div><br /><div align="justify">This song is about this idiotic book/movie:</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402616196261837426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 254px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAIjoKtrQltWj8g2mMC_y5G7P4BjIp7wdo7rII0nNWmabpOk78PGDVqocTIdAuzDiB5epmHlNaZ8rjfTygAONDWsDrF-v515I4rLkiIoyc8Ax0OZG0w-Fgi-7d7gt5aMosJ-7X3owzXOM/s320/secret-2.jpg" border="0" />Which became very popular thanks to this woman: <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402616705542264018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 270px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyZ-QCXKga_sf715BYb40iencvf4_FVWxrMf16zDkh2honUHdn8GC0EVSkBgtpU5h8MNHvMd9l5pd9NV0Fga3njLFeCZGJaNzYVLHsJmLifTYWJCppxr6CkkecW1lyYjGYaSWNeNy87kU/s320/oprah.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p align="justify">It is also about this ridiculous movie: </p><br /><div align="justify"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402617373804015682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 229px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq0fyKFwS7c-_XfYOuqll9Bs1N8S6xNY2Uu8plJ76yEL3A3AStq7nfcCSzvRwalmjhmSkrD1CtVwzh0d4nbTwdiOuGaIi2IdwtUI2LES65rZ-uUxRHEyXyI6uSQCkdLkQmvKp0_ZPc_Po/s320/poster.jpg" border="0" />which features this woman:</div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402618018362659186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 230px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 196px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtOfjf_PCWlUkIyXw-92O00VttMYC5jzOvbnFJvj9GuzSINtfTH1VNInVHFp5slV1TQFyDm9BwT6J2__CQ2KW7yHBt1rhDt71vnxXA2rTn9FzQ6eHs34WWq_fBcTNVRv-v6cVo5a1Fi68/s320/ramtha.jpg" border="0" />who claims to be channeling a 35,000 year old former resident of Atlantis.<br /><p align="justify"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402618959744198690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 224px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMWJae3wIMs6-a4dCm0eokBRityezo7joCN76pZqQRF9rfYhC_Y3jz-urklD4KHypfd8maIbjfALwzYD8z1eZoRh1eLLSxps5icyWia6_xwwYInJqjjsZpedUNpqi7M526nEOTrpQM8T8/s320/Atlantis%2520(2001).jpg" border="0" />The problem with writing a song like this is that you inevitably provide the dickheads you are talking about with some much undeserved publicity*. I’ve already done this enough with the refrain that appears in the first and second verse of the song, and also through this blog entry. So to try and curb this trend, I will now use this space to direct you to some brilliantly laid out refutations and critiques of the aforementioned books/movies and their philosophies. Because, truthfully, anything I would continue to write would just be a remedial version of what these people wrote:<br /><a href="http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2005/04/what_the_bleep_.html">http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2005/04/what_the_bleep_.html</a></p><br /><p align="justify"><a href="http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/07-03-07">http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/07-03-07</a></p><br /><p align="justify"><a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-other-secret">http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-other-secret</a></p><br /><p align="justify"></p><br /><p align="center">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></p><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">*And let's face it, any press is good press. Even if I’m calling the purveyors of this nonsense liars and con artists, I’m still spreading their message - their work is still enjoying the benefit of my attention, and yours if you're still reading.</span><br /></p>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-3654135164834390732009-11-04T08:18:00.000-08:002009-11-04T08:20:41.913-08:00AN INTENTIONALLY VAGUE POST REGARDING THE DISSOLUTION OF HOSTAGE LIFEThe last Hostage Life show ever will take place at Sneaky Dee's on November 20th. This may seem like it is coming out of left field, but one of us had some personal problems that needed to be taken care of and the rest of the band decided it would be better to break up than to continue a man short. Thanks to everyone that helped, watched, hated, loved, and listened.<br /><br />The remaining essays for the Centre of the Universe songs will be posted on this blog.<br /><br />xoxox HL.HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-59180967033712977802009-11-02T04:44:00.000-08:002009-11-02T05:20:00.136-08:00EXHALE<div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">with stick and stone this beat was forged<br />without a god man’s soul was born<br />and no biped could ever dispute<br />that nature functions without a mute<br /><br />and we took our time<br />with these tools designed<br />to manipulate vibrating molecules<br />such genius from fools<br /><br />I’m the first instrument<br />took my cue from the winged<br />and I can’t catch my breath<br />my gift is persistence<br />when talent is scarce<br /><br />from imitation to patterned speech<br />we cultivated our morning shriek<br />by the midday skin, wire, wood and brass<br />could be employed for a gentle whisper<br />or violent clash<br />by the evening we stripped our fingers<br />and vocal cords<br />for tomorrow my muse<br />my bane<br />must be stored<br /><br />and this is everyone<br />and this is everywhere, all shapes that we take<br />count it down<br />penetrate<br />these waves will shake the air<br />until these drums break<br />shines light on our place in nature<br />cuts down these deity’s ladders<br />hell and back to resurrect my baby<br />sang my song and touched the hearts in Hades<br />this time I ain’t looking back<br /><br />cut out my sex so we’re elevated<br />cut these piano legs so my hearing’s aided<br />stand up, stand tall on innovation's shoulders<br />yesterday’s tune will loop at dawn tomorrow<br />over and over<br /><br />morning whistles spawned our symphonies<br />while wind coerced applause from the trees<br />same current that's hummed for centuries</span></div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="justify">50,000 years ago an understandably uncongenial ancestor of ours decided it would be fun to imitate the sounds of the birds that called to her/him from the trees. She/he was pretty good at this and, since it was fun and sounded good, it caught on. Thus music was born. Of course, no one knows that this happened for sure. Or rather, how it happened. It's just a pretty good theory. As a singer (or a close approximation of) I'm quite partial to it. It also could have started when some bored ancestor of ours absently beat on a rock with the stick she/he had been picking their feet with. For reasons of ego and artistic license I have adopted the voice theory over the rock theory for this song. </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><br />Regardless of how music was born, the place of its origin is fairly certain - music began in Africa....the same place where humans began. Why did it happen? I have no idea. Maybe we just like the sound. Perhaps we are innately musical. It was with us long before we began writing things down, and subsequently its complexity, as well as the tools we use to create it, have evolved with us. At first music was produced internally, with the musician's body as the only instrument. After a while we began incorporating different external tools, inventing and altering them as our tastes expanded. We beat sticks against rocks, carved wood into flutes, stretched the guts and skins of animals, and shaped metals in order to make different, more challenging music. Not only did we figure out that we could manipulate sounds with our body, we figured out how to manipulate objects in our environment in order to make structured noise. We are built to do this. And we are built to enjoy it. Most importantly though, we are built to share it. Like the tools that become an extension of the art within us, so becomes the actual art as it extends to those listening. Music, like all sound, penetrates and interacts with the listener, regardless of whether or not they are paying for a ticket or calling the cops to complain about a neighbor's party. Hearing is a physical reaction. Sound waves vibrate our eardrums, causing chemical and electrical reactions in our brains, all of which leads to physical and emotional responses. We either tap our feet and bob our heads, maybe just awkwardly mouth the words we don't know, or we tense up our muscles, screw up our faces and ask, "Who put this shit on?" </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><br />In so many ways we are made for song, and entire genres are based around our sheer physical capacity. The opera singer requires a hyoid bone, a flexible diaphragm, and healthy vocal cords. A broad chest cavity doesn't hurt - all the more room for the sound to reverberate from. (Don't take it as a fact, but the way I see it, opera and gospel are the only current genres that encourage a female artist to be heavy). Through trial, error and rigorous practice we have turned the art of singing into a science. When you do it right there are no problems....when you do it wrong you get nodes and cysts on your vocal cords and a very short career. But we keep doing it because we love it. And for this love there have been casualties. A million voices lost. A million ears deafened. Carpal tunnel syndrome all over the place. And a million artists ripped off or exploited. At one point young boys were volunteering to have their balls cut off so they could sing higher. (A great number of these boys had castration forced on them, but that doesn't work too well with my argument so we'll just forget I brought it up.) Singers, drummers, guitarists have been fucking up their bodies for years just to experience the joy of playing. That kind of drive can't be forced. </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><br />My lack of musical ability, combined with my love of music is what led me to join a punk band. There were other factors too, but mainly it was my shittiness as a singer that got me this gig. The thing that drew me to most of the bands I listened to as a teenager was the fact they made it seem like anyone could do what they were doing. The Ramones weren't technically proficient. Ian Mackaye's voice wasn't beautiful. What made those bands good, however, was their style and their passion. In my mind, blitzkrieg bop, in all of its simplistic glory, was far more urgent and compelling than anything I was hearing on the radio. And if those four pasty creeps could do it, than so could this one. In punk rock, talent is eclipsed by passion. And while it may be true that this is nothing more than an arena for the tone deaf, lazy and undisciplined, it serves to illustrate that music is more than just a form of entertainment within our species - it's a compulsion. One so intense that even when we lack the ability, we still find a way to sing and to play. </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><br />Our physical capability, and our drive to stretch beyond our limits, is matched by our technological capability. Considering the great number of musical styles and genres that have been built around technological innovations our capacity for invention is staggering. Rock N Roll wouldn't exist without the electric guitar. Hip hop was born when some guys in New York realized that the turntable (a tool that had been exclusively used for playing other peoples music) could be transformed into an instrument.* Countless musical subgenres grew out of the vast array of sounds provided by foot pedals, noise gates and computer programs. It blows my mind to think that this varied pile of shit and genius came from one forgotten and seemingly insignificant human doing her/his best impression of a bird before anyone even knew how to write. We went from one method and one genre to thousands of methods and thousands of genres. We went from a dude doing a bird impersonation to Beethoven, Chuck Berry, The Clash, RUN DMC and Wolf Eyes. We went from having only one Friday night show to having a show almost every hour of every day. More songs exist on the average person's portable music player than a human could ever dream of producing. Last time I checked the player on my computer had something like a week of continuous music. </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><br />Like the cave paintings that they served as the soundtrack for, these idiotic and brilliant songs have haunted the imagination of our species for centuries. There is no culture on the planet that is devoid of music. Working with a limited number of notes, every culture in the world has produced music unique to its people. It showcases our differences, and in doing so highlights our similarities. It is the sound of our story as a species. And while differences in taste may divide us on small levels, a natural byproduct of music is unity. From a song's inception it is meant to be heard, the musician may have given it life, but it is through an audience that it breathes. In most cases musical pieces require many different hands, if not to create it, then to perform it. Without the other members of Hostage Life COTU would be an acappella release. In order for the album to exist, the five of us had to work together. Unity within the medium is not just an aesthetic pursuit, it is a necessity.** Great music often arises out of conflict - think of all the great songwriting teams of the last century and the legendary battles over artistic direction that most of them endured. But those arguments, those struggles took place because the artists involved were drawn together to create. It is an art form that binds us together even when we disagree. And we can't agree on all of it. Why would we want to? Most, if not all of us, have tried to educate some wiener at a party about the merits of a certain composition that made us feel complete as a human being. Or we have tried to convince a similar wiener that their favourite 'tune' was trite, contrived and boring to the point of being insulting. Both times, we have had completely engrossing and fulfilling moments, because one of the great things about taste as it relates to music is that we get to be fucking nerds about it. We get to defend it and attack it. And most importantly share it. And we'll continue to do so because it is in our blood. It is one of the many things that make us what we are. To limit it and try to silence it would be a crime.<br /><br />Carrying on with this theme of music as a force that unites, we enlisted the talents of our buddy Paul for a second drum track for this song, as well as the talents of his band mate Chris to do some singing. Both did a great job and helped to make this song one of my faves on the album. Go buy their band’s new 7 inch.</div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399487580970676386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3i4L1nRgwOj_dHRRPvNqFQgHJvkzmhcYb1jzxojux__IoYPYagvenZrgL1aMVIOcdHERJPjcdAvuAzejZshhWXSDEGZPfGoFtbpqo9m1XU_H5OmDYNuNtX423vp9UVUpXzUotc7IduOI/s320/173789.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="justify">Below is a clip of Alessandro Moreschi, The Last Castrato***, singing Ave Maria. Witness the creepiness:</p><p align="justify"></p><p align="center"><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6VgdKmDhgCU&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6VgdKmDhgCU&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------<br /></p><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">* Debate about the invention of turntablism rages on in some circles. I’m no expert on the subject and admit that this information may be incorrect.<br />**Sure the typical band model can be subverted by technology, but this does not take away from my point.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">***The last singer to literally have his balls removed in order to fashion a musical career. </span></div>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-73265986919114962612009-10-29T17:48:00.000-07:002009-10-29T18:05:16.282-07:00GHOSTS OF THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC or RONALD WRIGHT, X-CLAN AND WALT KELLY SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE HOMINID<p align="justify"></p><br /><br /><br /><p>started with hammers and we moved to spears<br />each step punctuated with fear<br />we went from gunpowder to wiping this whole planet clear<br />steady driving the herd towards the cliff<br />tomorrow’s starving hunter’s gift<br />haunted by the ghosts of our best mistakes<br /><br />every outward thrust and every forward stride<br />progress and our survival collide<br />the truth's new face is the same old lie<br />haunted by the ghosts of our best mistakes<br /><br />fire, water, air, and earth, I am the fool*<br />burned through the sky and its shield<br />and salted the roots in every field<br /><br />like a mother feeding on her yet-to-be-young<br />is the smoke of convenience<br />that I’ve forced into tomorrow's lungs<br />haunted by the ghosts of our best mistakes<br /><br />we have met the enemy and he is us**<br /><br />each of us is at the mercy of a sunrise<br />regardless of portfolio size<br />or race or faith or tongue<br />for we are, every one, parts of a greater sum<br />and our kingdom has come<br />but for some problems nature finds solutions<br />perhaps the next step in our evolution<br />will find us with no more than eight fingers<br />lacking the digits to pull a trigger***<br />stripped of arrogance, filled with foresight<br />fully understanding there’s but one life<br />and there’s never going to be another one<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*X-clan, Verbs of Power<br />**Walt Kelly, Pogo (earth day, 1971)<br />***too bad evolution doesn't really work like that Colin. nice try though.</span></p><br /><br /><br /><p align="justify">The problem with writing an album about humankind's arrogance is that you run the risk of sounding misanthropic, and not just a little cynical. I don't really want to come off like that. I'm hardly a misanthrope - everyone I love is human. And while I may harbour some cynicism in these aging bones, it's not a part of me that I like. Cynicism, after all, is the brother of hopelessness. And me, I’m crawling with hope for the future. With this album, I'm not trying to suggest that humankind is inherently selfish or egotistical. We undoubtedly have the potential to be better. Evidence of this is everywhere. From the people that have spent the majority of their lives feeding and nurturing those less fortunate than themselves to the men and women who choose running into burning buildings as a career, compassion, intelligence and charity are as much a part of us as greed, ignorance and hatred. My point is just that we have done a great job of championing the latter three traits.</p><p align="justify"><br />Now, I'm no zoologist, but I think it's pretty safe to say that human beings are the most successful species on the planet. We're at the top of the food chain, and we're masters of our environment, in that we have been able to manipulate it like no other animal. Our current status on the planet can be attributed to several unique characteristics, but primarily it is our ability to problem solve and our capacity for invention that has set us apart. We were hungry so we figured out how to hunt more proficiently. We were cold so we made clothes. We were comfortable and bored so we invented television. Along the way, however, we made some bad choices, ones that had painful ramifications. Early on, for the most part, we didn't realize what we were doing, and couldn't see how we were fucking ourselves. Any step forward seemed like a good one, even when we weren't looking ahead. But a lot of our most destructive mistakes have played out a multitude of times during the short period that we have been around. For all our advancement, and professed superiority, we are slow to alter our behaviour and abandon our more destructive pursuits. Progress is a word that, for most of us, brings with it positive connotations. When we consider social progress we think of the movement towards an egalitarian society in which race, sex and age do not limit a person. When we consider medical progress we think of the discoveries that will ease pain, cure disease, and extend life. Progress isn't always so pleasant though. The combustible engine seemed like such an awesome, practical and helpful invention last century. But now as we choke on the air it has spoiled and send our children to die in fuel wars, this scientific advance doesn't seem so great. The splitting of the atom was an enormous leap forward for science, a milestone on our road to understanding the universe. It unfortunately led to the advent of nuclear weapons and made it possible for humans to erase all life from Earth, save for a few cockroaches. A great deal of the important decisions our species has made regarding this planet and its resources have been made with only a concern for the present. With an alarming frequency, all we've cared about is how something will affect us here and now and how we will benefit from it as individuals. Forget the future. Forget our neighbors and the creatures we share this space with. Often what has been lofted as progress has done more to set us back. With only a concern for the immediate, we have made decisions that have destroyed our habitat, stunted our learning, and threatened all of our lives.<br /></p><p align="justify">This selfishness and lack of foresight has seemingly been with us all along. The first 'modern' humans, Cro-Magnon man, drove entire herds of animals over the edges of cliffs, killing them all and providing the hunters and their families with an abundance of food. It seemed like a great hunting technique, the only problem was that after a few days all the corpses began to rot and became inedible. Without the knowledge required to cure the meat or store it, the hunters and their families were rendered hungry once again and left with little to hunt. A parallel between this behaviour and our current treatment of food resources is easy to draw. We've over-farmed, over-hunted and over-fished. It's that simple. In order to make a quick buck some of our fellow primates have polluted landscapes beyond recognition and wiped entire species from existence. Convenience spurred us to embrace an addiction to a fuel that has corrupted the very air we require to exist. What's worse is the fact that we know all of this - nothing I am discussing here is hidden knowledge. We've poured ourselves three fingers of poison and demanded a refill and a chaser.<br /></p><p align="justify">Our concern with the present and our own well being is most apparent in the human being's lust for material wealth. Most of our fucking over of the planet has been done, and continues to happen in the name of greed. So many of us have caused irreparable harm to the planet and each other just to make a buck; to live in bigger houses; to drive faster cars; to eat more food. The joke of it all is that the effects of our greediness and disregard for the planet's well being will be felt by everyone. Pollution does not care how much money you have. Every person on this planet, from the richest to the poorest requires clean air and clean drinking water. Granted, wealth can help you avoid the affects of famine and drought, but it will not protect you from skin cancer when the last bit of the ozone layer vanishes, and it won't help you much if the polar ice caps melt.<br /></p><br /><br /><p align="justify">This type of blundering was a part of us long before we worshipped any gods. Before we invented the idea of pleasing a man in the sky, we were consumed with pleasing ourselves solely. We had to be. Life for our oldest ancestors was no doubt littered with fear and confusion. Every morning ushered in new obstacles that needed to be overcome in order to survive. Imagine how frightening lightening must have seemed. How mysterious and awe-inspiring the sun must have been. How twigs breaking just beyond the glow of a campfire would have rippled the flesh with fear. The success of our evolution as a species is measured in our unraveling of these mysteries, and understanding of those fears. The most cynical of us like to think that humans are inherently savage and concerned only with their personal well being, but that isn't even what our ancestors were really about. They learned, through experience, that it was easier and safer to live in a group and share their daily spoils than it was to sleep unaccompanied in the wilderness and take on entire herds of game alone. Solidarity is part of our shared history and indicative of the type of animal we are. Our ability to work together made us efficient hunters, then farmers and builders. The amount and sheer variety of ways that we have learned to communicate with one and other is testament to our evolutionary need to be united as a species. Don't get me wrong, I don't see human history as some long, monotonous hippie drum circle with everyone hugging and sharing icy treats and fruit drinks. I'm well aware that we have a great capacity for brutality, hatred and violence. My point is that we're still working on it. We're still trying to figure out ways for us all to get along. Life now is infinitely less shitty and brutal than life in the dark ages*. It is our fear, and the misconceptions we have about each other and our place in the universe that encourages us to fuck everything up so drastically.<br /></p><br /><br /><p align="justify">To digress for a moment - I'm not talking about immediate situations. I'm not suggesting that the guy who commits murder when he walks in on his spouse having sex with his best friend does it because he believes that he is god's favourite person. I'm talking about a much larger story. The one about us as a species. I'm talking about our big, big, big decisions. And our predilection for making the wrong ones.<br /></p><br /><br /><p align="justify">A lot of our bad decisions can be chalked up to ignorance. The Cro-Mags (species, not band) didn't really have the capacity to look too far into the future. They didn't realize that their hunting technique would fuck them over so badly in the long run. The same can be said about us, in the present, and our overabundance of fuel consumption and fishing. Of course, we know better, now. But we keep on with the same destructive habits, too convinced of our own immortality to see that killing off all of our food resources and destroying the air will eventually erase us from the planet - that is, if we don't blow ourselves (oh yeah, and everything else) out of existence first. It's staggering to think that, in a time when prolonged exposure to the sun can riddle a person's skin with cancer, and millions go hungry daily, men are working day and night with no other purpose than to invent newer, faster ways to obliterate human beings. And it's horrifying to think that the demand for these inventions increases daily.<br /></p><br /><br /><p align="justify">We've done pretty well as a species in terms of surviving. But we're such slow learners that our successes may prove to be failures.<br /></p><br /><br /><p align="justify">Again, these recurring blunders can be traced to the common belief that life on Earth is just a stepping stone to a bigger, better and brighter eternity. It's easy to accept the fact that we are slowly poisoning ourselves, as well as our children's children, if you've accepted the notion that there is another life after this one, and that the dude who made all of this wants you to be there. It's easy to take your environment for granted, and subsequently destroy it, when you don't really think that you are a part of it. It's easy to kill off other species if you believe you have no connection to them other than being sculpted by an architect that placed you at the top of mount importance. It's easy to hate, not to mention kill or torture, your neighbor if she/he doesn't give sufficient thanks to your particular creator. I suppose the real joke is that it is our arrogance that does us the most harm. It is our belief that we are the centre of the universe that will, should we continue on the same destructive path, wipe us from existence (long before the sun does).<br /></p><br /><br /><br /><p align="justify">We owe a huge thanks to our buddy Neil for coming out and just killing it on the third verse of this song. Everyone should check out his band.<br /><br /><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wogMoDGoJQo&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wogMoDGoJQo&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ffffff;">The alternate title to this song refers to this awesome book by Ronald Wright:<br /></span></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398190342194853554" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtBrvqSPUFHjSt8pOak40Keb9DmVF3oDkVBPNIMcKgzwahs6Q5gkcqLNLQRyhWUD10TCCS2uqp2VQErnKoc4PYYNgHuda5F-0IsOQdSW5P88qtJ8PU2jJW863jQIAqDof5xUbARfKX0P8/s320/ashop.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">This amazing song:<br /></span><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/t9voMCiwCDY&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/t9voMCiwCDY&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">And this classic cartoon strip:**</span><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398191253817967442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 262px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqbdBDQYqYJnQxLkuM63BrEqotzymgcmvjeA3y3Uu6-3OXdnxdPJHR5qavyohUydWVPcRTBcABzNomioL3OcmHAFaBuvBX_8J2DBn9r44PyO2PRb9gunWonULIiJlVUdpLfQ7aWYGOVwg/s320/pogo-earth-day.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Hostage Life dances on the shoulders of giants.<br /></span><br /><br /></p><p align="center">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /></p><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">*I realize that this is a culturally sensitive statement. It relates to my experience in the western world. I am well aware that there are a great deal of people on the planet suffering through conditions that are not that different from the aforementioned time period's squalor.<br /><br />**The line “we have met the enemy and he is us” originally appeared in this song but the guys cut it out during mixing because they thought it didn’t fit. I wasn’t there so couldn’t bitch about the decision until after. The finalized lyric sheet had already been sent in to the artist so the line still appears even though you never hear it.</span></p><br /><br /><p></p><p></p>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-7335181872595846532009-10-21T06:18:00.000-07:002009-10-22T13:54:56.051-07:00NUCLEAR or WAIT ‘TIL YOUR FATHER LEAVES HOME<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mbsEYoKm9X8&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mbsEYoKm9X8&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">she said, ‘sometimes<br />I can’t bear to punch in<br />how I’d love to push this cig<br />right into his skin’<br />so she sucked back 10 more<br />and she scorched her lungs sore<br />she was staring daggers<br />at their bedroom door<br />'and my rage doesn't come from neglect<br />it comes from regret'<br /><br />he said, ‘at the next sunrise<br />I’m quitting this franchise<br />3.5 pink slips<br />for that look in her eyes’<br />and so he closed his workshop<br />when it was long after dark<br />with all those projects<br />that he could only start<br />'and I can't pretend for one more day<br />a coward would stay'<br /><br />I said, ‘I don’t want this job<br />because I never applied<br />all the bosses’ problems<br />always become mine’<br />so I hid my best drugs<br />and let loose a flood<br />a stomach filled with pills<br />stained the welcome rug<br />and we 4.5 are set to go<br />set to explode<br /><br />blow the roof from this institution<br />turning the key was my contribution<br />the wind will scatter all of our remains<br />I pray they don't come to lay too far away<br /><br />we 4.5 are set to go<br />set to explode<br /></span><br /><br /><br /><div align="justify">My parents are good shits. They got married just five years before I was born, then, after two decades of fights, reconciliations and counseling, they called it quits. Needless to say, at fourteen, I hated their fucking guts for it all. And everything I seemed to do in my teens was a reflection of that. Too much boozing and too many half-assed suicide attempts put me in front of half a dozen shrinks, and landed me in drug and alcohol counseling. a youth's understandable lack of understanding about what his parents were going through during this period, had me fist fighting my dad on more than once occasion, and avoiding my mother's company for six years straight.<br /></div><br /><div align="justify"><br />Two decades later, I don't feel like being such a little cunt about it. Forgiveness is much more enjoyable than resentment and bitterness. Dealing with what you have is much more beneficial than longing for what never was. </div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br />Sure, I’ve got bones to pick with both of them, but who doesn't have issues with their parents? Mine tried their best, they fucked it up, and it exploded all over them, my older brother, and me. I fought all of them over it for a long time, with varying degrees of intensity and blame. But I had to get past that shit, I had to get past the notion that their failed marriage meant they were failures as parents, and that, by default, we were a failure as a family. Everybody makes mistakes. I’m a better son for realizing that this applies to my mom and dad as well. I can't comment on how in love they were, or weren't, when they first got together. All I know is what I saw growing up - a relationship that was light on affection and passion but heavy on resentment and spite. They had to work to stay together, so much so that near the end the whole thing probably just felt like a shitty job. I’ve quit a lot of shitty jobs in my day, how can I blame them for doing the same?</div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br />The pressure for them to stay together must have been excruciating. My dad is a Mennonite, and like most sects of Christi<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5wn77dWJOYsGM0h6nW7Bz7rCfiGq2Z4u6ogaTf2Pc2DxxalwYTKclBVdTi8KX1m9fXjgS1nggL1KBOHWwIwTXxxSftzyGxydeb6Iy286Lot1SRE6YfUM8MPzEvwDSQ3y2rfrIlwVsFM/s1600-h/nuclear_family.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395044854441038258" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 237px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5wn77dWJOYsGM0h6nW7Bz7rCfiGq2Z4u6ogaTf2Pc2DxxalwYTKclBVdTi8KX1m9fXjgS1nggL1KBOHWwIwTXxxSftzyGxydeb6Iy286Lot1SRE6YfUM8MPzEvwDSQ3y2rfrIlwVsFM/s320/nuclear_family.jpg" border="0" /></a>anity, they're not too keen on divorce. Likewise, my mother was the only one of her siblings to ever file for one. None of the other families on our block, as far as I could discern, had fights that matched my parent's in volume and frequency. No one else's parents separated as often. As far as I knew we were the only fucked up family around. TV never showed me husbands and wives that screamed at each other every morning over scrambled eggs, and every night over pork chops. Ward cleaver never threw June through a set of bi-folding doors. Elise Keaton never threatened Michael with a knife. None of the Brady kids chickened out the second a razor blade drew blood. That, of course, is because none of those families were remotely realistic, and the image of the family that was being perpetuated by popular <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjmy6asz5iBi7fek3DhXf_-UfUfPFx7Ej_HeMTVAsCi7inFFQcWaoLIMpfSDVeWm-8L2iMU9njW8-CGM8DKT_S-0FuFwxkT4PMzkYLVq_weXqUq9GNP_iZ9zXwKg1UZCN8TNwOltSIzwY/s1600-h/_MG_0165.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395529778189022418" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 171px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjmy6asz5iBi7fek3DhXf_-UfUfPFx7Ej_HeMTVAsCi7inFFQcWaoLIMpfSDVeWm-8L2iMU9njW8-CGM8DKT_S-0FuFwxkT4PMzkYLVq_weXqUq9GNP_iZ9zXwKg1UZCN8TNwOltSIzwY/s320/_MG_0165.jpg" border="0" /></a>culture and religion never took into account that the people involved are, in fact, human beings capable of making mistakes that aren't fixed in 22 minutes or cured through the recitation of a few archaic verses. </div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br />I don't want to make light of the emotional ramifications that a divorce can have on a child. The notion of living in a house with one parent while the other cooked dinner alone in some other town was terrifying to me. It was a concept so alien that it felt like my entire understanding of the world was being called into question. But the unease and pain I endured had just as much to do with the loss of stability in my life as it did with this idea that the divorce was some sort of failure - one that I, even as the youngest member, played a role in. In my mind, what was happening when they called it quits wasn't what was supposed to happen. Moms and dads stay together. Those are the rules; families live in one house, no matter what. I had internalized the definition of family that religion and television had shown me. I was thinking about our family in terms of how things should be and not how they actually were. This is a problem that a fair number of us encounter every day. Humans aren't terribly fond of change, and we have distaste for those of us that steer away from tradition. Divorce, rather than being an altering of the family unit, is viewed as a destruction of it. Marriage is supposed to last until death and families aren't supposed to split up. </div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br />Things have changed a lot from the time my parents called it quits. My family's situation is fairly common these days. Even I think it was a good thing they got divorced. They had fallen out of love and couldn't stand to be together. Forcing themselves to endure day after day of disappointment and contempt just to fulfill some cultural standard they could never live up to, would have been brutally cruel for them and for me and my brother. They both needed a new start, and the daily structure of our family had to be altered if either of them were ever going to start enjoying their lives. The traditional definition of family has been expanded to include ones like mine. Not by everybody, but by most. </div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br />Stepping out from such strict guidelines about how life should be, found us all doing a lot better in the long run. My brother and I became comrades in the trenches. The divorce messed with both our heads, but it was on common ground of confusion and pain that we finally set aside all of our differences and actually began to be friends. My mother went back to university and got her MA, living all over the country in the process. My dad rediscovered romance and remarried, providing me with a new batch of siblings that I’ve grown to love and am happy for knowing. Letting go of the rigid definition of family that had burned all of our eyes to tears for so long, allowed us to reshape what we are, and truly appreciate it. </div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br />Now, don't get me wrong, I think marriage is pretty awesome. Even when they don't work out, the two people involved still had one moment in their lives so full of joy and passion that they were convinced it would last forever - and they wanted everyone to know it. Those moments are what we should all be longing for. Even if it only lasts a short time, and comes back to bite you in the ass and make you feel like a fool, love is the only thing you'll want to remember on your death bed. </div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br />And, as horribly fucking corny as it sounds, love is all you need for marriage. regardless of other traditional definitions of what marriage is - sex, race, religion and gender mean nothing when two people are in love*. Marriage is not a domain exclusive to heterosexuals. It is the domain of the love drunk embracing permanence. It belongs to anyone willing to roll the dice. If homosexuals can't be legally married simply because some people think that they aren't supposed to be, and that their union will make a mockery of such a sacred institution, then my parents should be forced to shack up again. And trust me, no one wants that. Culture isn't stagnant; it is constantly occurring; shifting and changing. Our intellectual evolution as a species continually presents situations that bring into question the very customs we have created to define ourselves. And each one of these situations only proves that there is so much about us that we still have to figure out.<br /></div><br /><br /><div align="center">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*It should be noted that this essay is in no way in opposition to polyamorous relationships - yeah, that's right, polygamy. Love is a many splendored thing and it is constantly changing and needing redefinition - culturally and personally. my reference to the 'two people in love' relates strictly to the type of marriage that I am most familiar with - it is not meant to imply that love must be limited to two partners.<br /></div></span>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-32422351787209271662009-10-15T07:09:00.000-07:002009-10-15T07:16:09.118-07:00RATLINES or ALTERNATE TITLE WITHHELD DUE TO AN ABUNDANCE OF CHEMICAL INSPIRATION<div align="justify">they gave wings to this devil<br />stripped me of my shackles<br />set to fly just like an angel<br />this loser of the battle<br />along with mass graves<br />filled collection plates<br />with the most righteous of aid<br />I struggled to get away<br /><br />on these ratlines, holding hands with Odessa<br />baptize your most violent son ratlines, holding hands with Odessa<br />sanctuary that helped me to run<br /><br />they looked away and lofted no blame<br />I’m rescued in spite of my hate<br />the same sentiment was conveyed<br />(they preached) run it!<br /><br />my war will not be lost new name and I’m across<br />we’re the first ones off the ship, now<br />always first ones off the ship<br />and these men of the cloth<br />exploited the red for the twisted cross<br />to help me<br /><br />I'm hard pressed to think of a more destructive, corrupt and, well, pardon the severity, evil institution than the Catholic Church. Now before I go any further, I feel the need to clarify* - I am not saying that Catholics are evil. By now you know where I stand on religion, but my unbelief has nothing to with thinking I am superior to anyone with faith, nor does it imply that I think a person's worth or intellect should be based on their religious views. That would be stupid. What I'm talking about is the Catholic Church as an institution and the 'they' that I am referring to are the racist, sexist, greedy, vicious, bureaucratic assholes that have been running the ....Vatican.... for centuries. I have nothing but sympathy for people who would put so much trust and love into an institution that has time and again cheated them, lied to them, and harmed them. My mind and heart quiver just trying to imagine the feelings of pain and betrayal the parents of molested children must feel when they learn that the church they have been members of their entire lives actually protects and enables their children's abusers.<br />But let's move on, this song has nothing to do with the hundreds of thousands of children that have been raped by priests. Good bit of anti-theist propaganda though. How scummy of me. No, Ratlines is about an entirely different fucked up thing the Catholic Church did. To some of you this is old news, I only learned about eight months ago. In post WWII Europe it <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">wasn</span>’t that easy to be a Nazi. Chances are that if you were an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Eichman</span> or a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Mengele</span> you were wanted for your crimes against humanity. That’s what happens when you try to kill several million people but fail to win the war. After Hitler took the pussy’s way out and plastered his brains to a wall, the majority of his underlings tried to run to South America, and a number of them (particularly the higher profile douche bags like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Eichman</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Mengle</span>, and Barbie) were able to, thanks to the system of escape routes that came to be known as Ratlines. Some of the most successful Ratlines were run out of the Vatican, the most well known of which were operated by Bishop <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Alonis</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Hudal</span> (the first priest to dedicate himself to the cause of saving Nazi war criminals), and later by Father <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Kurnoslav</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Draganovic</span>. The Vatican denies that its higher ranking officials knew anything about what men like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Hudal</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Draganovic</span> were up to but fairly recent courtroom testimonies from US Intelligence officers and recently uncovered documents indicate that Bishop Giovanni <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Battista</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Montini</span> (yes, that’s the cunt that became Pope Paul VI) not only knew about what was going on, but can be linked to the theft of Holocaust victims’ property.<br />This is not the only sketchiness surrounding the Catholic Church and WWII (Pope Pius XII did remain notoriously silent during the holocaust, essentially ignoring the cloud of burnt flesh that hung over ..Europe) but the Vatican Ratlines, for me anyway, take the cake. Here, you have some the most evil men of the 20<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">th</span> century, committing what is regarded to be one of, if not the, most evil crime of the 20<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">th</span> century, and the fucking church helps these assholes escape from punishment. That’s just fucking brutal – they helped Josef <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Mengele</span> (a man that dissected live infants, injected blue dye into the eyeballs of prisoners, and castrated men and young boys, all without administering a drop of anesthetic) escape. That’s just evil, plain and simple. What’s worse is it made the Vatican rich, as millions in stolen money found its way into their bank.<br /></div><div align="center">------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*Morons are prone to miss the point. If I don't explain myself thoroughly, the next thing I know our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">MySpace</span> inbox will be crammed full of hate mail. Experience tells me these messages would read something like this: 'fuck you, you bald fruit. I’m a fucking catholic and I’m not fucking evil. Fuck your boyfriend and die of AIDS and burn in hell, you fucking homo!' so, yeah, here I’m talking about the institution and its hierarchy - the shepherds not the sheep. </span></div>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-70859499894793631542009-10-06T10:11:00.000-07:002009-10-22T16:04:18.199-07:00SHAKE, BABY, SHAKE OR FREEDOM SUCKS A GLASS DICK OR A SINCERE TIP OF THE HAT TO TRACY “ICE-T” MARROW<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">six in the morning, police at my door
<br />dirty feet squeak across the bathroom floor
<br />
<br />all night long we were hiding from our neighbors
<br />we feel much safer living as strangers
<br />
<br />and out the back window, there ain’t no escape
<br />didn’t even get a chance to set myself straight
<br />
<br />c’mon and shake
<br />shake, baby, shake
<br />you’re never going to stop
<br />it ain't ever going to stop at all
<br />
<br />sign in east Hastings saying ‘no’ to me
<br />they fight against keeping my blood clean
<br />small town to Lansdowne saying ‘no’ to me
<br />darling, I’m in this cage for my disease
<br />and I’m in here for a dozen years
<br />
<br />I got two knees in my back and a gun in my face
<br />they’re dragging you by the hair as they search apart our place
<br />and they pull you from my side with the haze from my eyes
<br />I’m shivering through the sweats, baby, on this concrete floor all night
<br />
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;"></span> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">For as long as I can remember people have been telling me that drugs are bad. Not just bad for me in terms of my physical and mental health, but bad for society, bad for humans as a whole. Just by smoking a joint I would be simultaneously destroying my brain and funding terrorism. All of the evils in the world were somehow linked to drug use. Well, illegal drug use anyway. The majority of the anti-drug public service announcements I watched were on television stations that didn't balk at the advertising dollars alcohol and tobacco companies were throwing at them.* Only certain drugs were deemed bad, and using them was not only a crime but it could lead to the downfall of society as we knew it. The anti-drug propaganda I grew up with isn't much different than what youth today are subjected to - it is filled with the same lies and misinformation. The central themes remain the same: humans should not get high; in a perfect world everyone would abstain from using drugs; the increase in drug use among the population (particularly youth) is representative of the immoral attitudes and trends of the modern age. I was told, and kids today are being told that using a drug just once can get you hooked on it for life. Being the skeptic that I am, I've since tried most of those drugs and while I liked a few of them, I developed a physical addiction to none, and didn't even like most. I am not trying to imply that drugs aren’t addictive. They most certainly are, and addiction can ruin a person’s life. My point is simply, not all the information we have been told about drugs is true, and using drugs does not make you a bad person. Habitually snorting or smoking meth will fuck up your life – there’s little question about this. Smoking weed daily may increase your lethargy and appetite but it will not destroy your life. Pot and meth are two completely different beasts that have been lumped together as equally destructive. This simply isn’t true.
<br /></p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify">
<br /><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p>What I find so amusing about all of this isn't the fact that some people rally so hard against something as harmless as, say, weed smoking, it's the fact that as old as these anti-drug myths are, the use of narcotics by human beings predates it all. In 2008, archeologists working in the Gobi desert uncovered the 2,700 year-old remains of a shaman that had been buried with 2 pounds of marijuana. Up until this discovery, experts thought that the ancients of this region only grew the plant as hemp in order to make clothing and rope. The strong psychoactive properties they found in the still green marijuana, however, implies that it was grown as an inebriant as well. Also in 2008, archeologists conducted studies on the hair of mummies found in the Andes Mountains which revealed that in 1200 BC, pre-Hispanic South American people were taking hallucinogens. In addition to the medical evidence of their drug use, ancient drug paraphernalia like pipes and snuffing kits have been found as well. None of this should be too much of a shock – as far back as 5000BC the Sumerians were smoking opium. The first alcohol was brewed in 3500BC by the Egyptians. Humans have enjoyed getting high for centuries. <o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal">
<br /></p></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">The movement to prohibit the use of drugs has been around for quite a while too, the earliest of which occurred in 2000BC when an Egyptian priest forbid his pupils from consuming alcohol. But that just underlines what a pointless effort prohibition is. For all the attempts that have been made to stamp out the use of intoxicants, it has never worked. No one will ever be able to stop people from getting high. Prohibition has never, and will never work. What it does do is allow for a brutally violent black market to exist. Evidence of this can be seen with the rise of gangsterism in major American cities in the early 20th century during the days of alcohol prohibition. And it can also be seem now, as wars between rival cartels and dealers play out on streets around the world. Making drugs illegal has never stopped people from doing them, but it has allowed for some morally bankrupt dickheads to make a fortune off of them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal">
<br /></p></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">Now, I’m no fan of physical confrontation. I lack the strength, determination, and hand-eye coordination to be a successful pugilist. Even when I see some sort of injustice unfolding in front of me I’m too much of a weakling and a coward to intervene. Such was the case last spring when, on my way to work, I happened upon my neighborhood crack dealer punching the shit out of one of his more frail male clients. The junky’s girlfriend was screaming for assistance but no one on the street, especially me, was running up to offer it. I crossed to the other side to avoid getting involved and continued on to the subway. Later that night, on my way home, I witnessed the same crack dealer issuing a similar beating to a different, yet equally helpless, addict. I would feel much better were this douche bag not living in my neighborhood, but running him out vigilante style not only seems unbelievable but also silly. The cops have done very little about his operation, which is understandable because I’m sure there are hundreds just like it all over the city. The best way to run this prick off my street would be to take his livelihood away. <o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal">
<br /></p></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">But what about the junkies you say? Taking away the drug dealer** doesn't mean that the neighborhood is going to be a nicer cleaner place. There are still going to be crackheads and junkies running about shitting in alleys and begging for change and stealing bicycles. I would argue, however, that we have the same problem with drunks running around doing similarly unpleasant things all the time, and yet very few of us rail for the LCBO to be shut down. Crackheads, junkies, and drunks are all pretty annoying people to live around, but they're still people. They just have some pretty big fucking problems, ones that will not be fixed with the existence of a black market. Drug prohibition pushes drug addicts to the margins of our society, dehumanizing them in the process. Shooting galleries and needle exchange programs do not encourage drug use - they exist in order to protect the most at-risk members of our society from the harm that their disease can cause them.*** This song is in no way and endorsement of drug use. This issue is a human rights issue, as far as I am concerned. No institution or government should dictate what I can or cannot put into my body. We all have the right to make bad decisions. A truly compassionate society will allow each of us our fuck-ups and never deny us help when we are at our most vulnerable. The money used to treat recovering addicts is peanuts compared to the resources used to fight the 'war on drugs.' Because this war - this war we are losing - is fucking expensive. Every year more and more money is spent on police and prisons for the purpose of locking up our neighbors. If history has taught us anything, it's that there will always be a demand for drugs, and trying to keep them away from those who want them is all but impossible. Legalization is the only intelligent option.<o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal">
<br /></p></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">I didn’t want to make this little rant a bunch of statistics and numbers. That would have been pretty dull to read. I do suggest you check out these sites, however, for some more info. <o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"><p align="justify">
<br /></span><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" equiv="Content-Type"><meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"><meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Generator"><meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Originator"><link style="FONT-FAMILY: arial" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CZONECU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C02%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"><link style="FONT-FAMILY: arial" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CZONECU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C02%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"><link style="FONT-FAMILY: arial" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CZONECU%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C02%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style>
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"><span style="font-size:100%;">whyprohibition.ca</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal">drugfacts.org</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal">lectlaw.com/files/drg09.html
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"></div>
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<br /><div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">*Once upon a time cigarette ads were on TV. Beers ads have, of course, always been idiotic.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial; TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">**It should be noted that I do not believe all drug dealers to be violent sociopaths to be feared. The example I am using is extreme, and I have known many a drug dealer that has no desire to pummel their clientele.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial; TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">***Yes, addiction is a disease, and no one should be put in a situation where they might contract HIV or hepatitis. </span><span style="font-size:0;"></span><span style="font-size:0;"></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<br />HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-57890048576594909342009-10-01T05:34:00.000-07:002009-10-01T06:21:37.553-07:00WHITE JESUS<div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">OR</span><br /></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">ATTEMPTING TO PINPOINT RATIONALISM’S EXACT TIME OF DEATH</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">OR</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">WHEN HOSTAGE LIFE ASCENDED TO HEAVEN ON A WINGED HORSE </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">OR<br />SEEKING A FATWA<br />OR </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">AT THE VERY LEAST A PLACE IN THE ‘INDEX LIBRORUM PROHIBITORUM’ (SHOULD IT EVER BE EXTENDED TO INCLUDE SONG LYRICS)</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">We in Ho-Life are guilty of rerecording some songs for this album. Doing this is always a tricky undertaking as a band is trying to either live up to the previously great version of a song, or make up for a shitty version. Which one applies to us? I don’t know. What is certain is that this song (as well as new drugs) was recorded and released on the EP of the same name on Black Pint records about a year ago. At that time I wrote an essay explaining the song. So in the spirit of recycling, here is that essay with some minor adjustments (and, of course, the lyrics).</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">show me the pale phantom of Bethlehem<br />we run, we run from reason<br />no crackers born in the house of bread<br />the west paints nails through lily white hands<br />for the nonsense our egos demand<br /><br />canvasses covered with apostate blood<br />for more portraits of the prophet’s love<br />race didn’t draw this battle line<br />this hate was an intelligent design<br />and it’s a fucking lie<br /><br />white Jesus<br />the coward’s redeemer<br />that lies to believers<br />betrays the healer<br />every page and brush’s stride<br />so successfully divides<br /><br />we’ve held tight these mythologies<br />and their subsequent iconography<br /><br />we invented our architect<br />we run, we run from reason<br />and we placed that lie on a mortal neck<br />made a one-way mirror of the planet’s roof<br />let fear fuel our every tribute<br /><br />share the same worldview as medieval minds<br />heeding the threats of forgotten scribes<br />slaughter and slave for paradise<br />and cry intolerance when criticized<br />and it’s a fucking lie</span></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Perhaps the most popular argument in favor of religion is the one that puts forth the notion that it provides people with a moral compass and thus serves to unify humanity as a whole. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"></div></span><span style="font-family:arial;">It keeps us good and brings us together. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />A nice idea, for sure.<br /><div align="justify"><br />The raw truth of it, quite unfortunately, is that few of humankind's inventions have caused so much division, bloodshed, and sexual mutilation in the world. Crack open a history book, use an internet search engine, it's hard to miss the centuries of religious inspired hatred and warfare - book burnings and people burnings abound. Embracing the love of a god has time and again lead to segregation and murder.<br /><br />The depiction of a White Jesus is perfectly indicative of religion's divisive nature. For centuries the west has worshipped its own image, used the son of god's face to buttress the racism and injustice that has infected every aspect of its society. Without a concern for reason or truth<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4-O55pbNQTQ4FidWZc-hlrLpEnABtUcDjwGbNjxfibmUzLCLDnPz2Kp6gCenBR80KKKL_bxg_RFzXlrNs9IIhGaiZoi4wUu6Yi2ldDWftLP68XSusZLnuK0uXlJE2ORkkSBbLI_LOy6M/s1600-h/d80e1_the-10-greatest-movie-messiahs-04-430-75.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387613274181074130" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 201px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4-O55pbNQTQ4FidWZc-hlrLpEnABtUcDjwGbNjxfibmUzLCLDnPz2Kp6gCenBR80KKKL_bxg_RFzXlrNs9IIhGaiZoi4wUu6Yi2ldDWftLP68XSusZLnuK0uXlJE2ORkkSBbLI_LOy6M/s320/d80e1_the-10-greatest-movie-messiahs-04-430-75.jpg" border="0" /></a>, we blocked out the probable race of our messiah, and used the church to reinforce a racist power structure. And could we be any more insulting to our 'savior'? Supposing for a moment that he did exist,* as an inhabitant of the Middle East his skin tone is more likely to have been olive or brown rather than white, so is it not a slap in his holy face to alter his appearance in visual representations because he was of the wrong color? When posed, this question is greeted with a grand, "whatever," simply because the image of a blonde haired, blue eyed Christ has always been the norm. Reason has no place in religion, and as a result critical thinking is downplayed and submission is embraced. Bigotry and stupidity are sure to follow from this recipe. </div><div align="justify"><br />It would be stupid to suggest that all racism in the world stems from religion, people can be barbaric and irrational without God. But it would be stupider however to ignore the fact that religion fuels and ignites racial, ethnic, and cultural division. The Catholic Church's role in Rwanda's 1994 genocide is pretty solid evidence for this claim. For decades leaders of the country's Catholic Church perpetuated the racial conflict between Hutus and Tutsis. Rather than try to unite the two tribes with their doctrine of eternal love, church leaders called from the pulpit for the Hutus to engage in ethnic cleansing, and when the massacres began, Bishops and Nuns alike conspired with the murderers, leading innocent victims into the machetes of angry mobs, or locking them in churches to be burned alive or bulldozed. Several members of the clergy have been indicted and convicted in international court. So much for religion uniting the community and causing humans to act 'good'. </div><div align="justify"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmxGkHJdkZt_nwekW-riE2Bi1ZePaKyqB6jehTKsPqNWLFnSO0L6hq4XEkXBH2je16BwJnZsLSNtcXMe9swpwP1Kqi2CGPcq3kEs3-tVMhFGQ6D_NaUSqjc-Z-smDoZavQupJ4IAFqAnI/s1600-h/Barzoni-Black-Jesus-Montage-Vincent.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387616162916930658" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 253px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmxGkHJdkZt_nwekW-riE2Bi1ZePaKyqB6jehTKsPqNWLFnSO0L6hq4XEkXBH2je16BwJnZsLSNtcXMe9swpwP1Kqi2CGPcq3kEs3-tVMhFGQ6D_NaUSqjc-Z-smDoZavQupJ4IAFqAnI/s320/Barzoni-Black-Jesus-Montage-Vincent.jpg" border="0" /></a>This horrific example aside, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSsmTvM3FT_2BrPa21yZddRIFALTGgQ7zX3wIw69MaoIOamiathO-tepErtFVcHIKM5TrAE8LZPSpsvMq779voGbblM71vIOvJ2RuIski-Vu3mL8iWnbzhcTNBF-ruk4pTUzpfLJZu6Q/s1600-h/Barzoni-Black-Jesus-Montage-Vincent.jpg"></a>the ways in which religion helps to advocate racial division is demonstrated, not only in the vicious actions of the faithful, but through religious iconography. From the endless debates that have been waged regarding which colour of acrylic should be applied to a canvass to represent the pigment of Christ's skin, to the violence that explodes when someone draws a shitty cartoon of Mohammad, mere drawings surrounding the topic of religion divide us. Faith only brings together like minds. Doubters, skeptics and the unfaithful (not to mention sinners) are pushed away, and often, if you look at the historical frequency of the event, killed. And there in lies the real problem. The books of the three popular monotheisms tell their followers that they are God's chosen, and that the rules they obey as believers apply to everyone on the planet. It is the duty of the faithful to ensure that God's word is spread and observed by everyone. Therefore, gays can't marry. You can't doodle pictures of the prophet. Scientific observation has no merit. It goes on and on and on and on and on until I'm tired of typing.<br /><br /></div><div align="justify">But let's back up for a moment and contemplate the good that religion does for mankind. Proponents of Christianity love to point out the church's positive involvement in social justice movements, particularly the American civil rights movement of the 1960s. And they're right in the sense that, yes, some facets of the Christian church did help (quite successfully) to mobilize oppressed African Americans, and did champion the notion of equality for all. Martin Luther King was a reverend after all. The largest protest for equal rights in the 60s was the march on Washington, and it was largely organized by religious organizations. Surely this is evidence of religion's ability to unite human beings and create a better world. Unfortunately it isn't. At the time of the march, author James Baldwin was the most popular and critically acclaimed black author in America. Baldwin was outspoken about the racism that poisoned American society, and this made him a superb candidate to join Martin Luther King, among others, in making a speech at the march on Washington. The problem was, however, that while Baldwin was an outspoken opponent of racism, he was also very gay and an outspoken opponent of homophobia. His lifestyle didn't mesh with the Christian beliefs of the march's organizers and as a result Baldwin was not permitted to speak. The message here is very clear – yes, the church wanted to fight for the rights of African Americans…but only for the rights of some African Americans. Homosexuals couldn't join in because they were sinners and could potentially damage the image of this anti-oppression movement. </div><div align="justify"><br />The myths of all three major monotheisms need to go the way of humankind's older myths. Bellerophon didn't ride a winged horse, neither did Mohammad. Jesus was no more real than Hercules (ok, maybe Jesus was an actual person, but he wasn't of divine lineage, and he couldn't walk on water or change the molecular composition of liquid any more than baby Herc could strangle two serpents in his crib).All gods are the product of human invention - they can't simply be thought or wishe<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtbBkiu0JWf-5Ucm4Q-891Hkt_pqUtffXV9chOhB1-frkXBRISAtjo2D7tpHGFrg8QPB544kMJlkUXheCO12lE02a_bDuMfnXhSk7Jl2wEDRcYUFs-ilfoMRiLNlnNYETWe0a7r-1h5ac/s1600-h/pat+christ.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387615525786893362" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtbBkiu0JWf-5Ucm4Q-891Hkt_pqUtffXV9chOhB1-frkXBRISAtjo2D7tpHGFrg8QPB544kMJlkUXheCO12lE02a_bDuMfnXhSk7Jl2wEDRcYUFs-ilfoMRiLNlnNYETWe0a7r-1h5ac/s320/pat+christ.jpg" border="0" /></a>d into existence. Beliefs without proof, no matter how sacred someone told you they are, require questioning, and, more often than not, unapologetic opposition. Consider claims put forth within our society that do not have the sanctity of religion but are based on beliefs that are as divisive and cannot be supported with proof. How about racism? We've already ventured down that road so let's keep going. White supremacists love to purport that people of darker skin are genetically inferior to Caucasians. Any person with a moron's understanding of modern science knows that there is no evidence to maintain this claim, and wouldn't hesitate to challenge it. Compare the nature and idiocy of the racist's argument to that of the Christian, or Islamic, fundamentalist's (and don't forget the orthodox Jew's) belief that women are inherently inferior to men, and the similarities are obvious. There is no evidence for this outlandishly sexist claim aside from some books that were written thousands of years ago by men who were afraid of the dark and thought that the earth was flat. Questioning and refuting religious claims such as these, no matter how hateful or illogical, however, is considered more than impolite, it is considered intolerance. Kind of funny that you are labeled intolerant for attacking and refusing to respect groundless claims that reinforce intolerance and foster division. Why, that's as irrational as the belief that homosexuals should be stripped of basic human rights and civil liberties because an archaic, outdated, misanthropic book said two people with the same genitals shouldn't fuck. </div><div align="justify"><br />The White Jesus embodies all that is wrong with religion and overshadows anything that is right about it.** Its proponents may sing and scream and testify that the message is love, but violence and segregation have always been the bastard children of religion. The history of warfare, torture, and mutilation that hangs over the heads of all three monotheisms cannot be ignored. The apocalyptic threat posed by insane (yes, killing someone for an invisible man you've never met is insane) zealots around the world cannot go unaddressed. Religion kills, has killed, and will kill again. Questioning it and challenging it without fear, calling it on all its shit is of the gravest importance. To be tolerant does not require silence. Better to offend the self-proclaimed righteous than to become one of their casualties or allow someone else to be. Compassion, empathy and solidarity do not spring from gods, they are born of humans. We no longer need these myths - the answers they once provided us with have been disproved. All that remains are untruths and fictions touted as facts. The White Jesus is the great divider, the champion of the irrational. It is the perpetuator of a medieval and hateful value system. It is the enemy of truth and of life. It's a fucking lie.<br /></div><div align="center">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div>*Reliable records from this era are spotty at best.<br /><br />**No, fuck that, there is little to nothing 'right' about religion. At its core is revulsion for critical thinking and inquiry, and a hatred of sex and the human body. It tells the believer that submission is the key to paradise. A lie this big has no redeeming qualities.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-11395486026929202842009-09-30T16:50:00.000-07:002009-09-30T18:07:14.931-07:00BONFIRES or IRREFUTABLE PROOF THE WORLD IS INDEED FLAT<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiOxAQDYH0Gr6fiEJdKUYDk8WU9PgjHEVgmv07RUbCIuTS3kvnbuFjCFfSKoRIgpHLedm8W92D_4H7HUm45lkm1OI_XUaq4NiiDETu8iZ-UkRyv9U_gtAv7mAaHTpCq0N9l6hPX1cPFmo/s1600-h/image_preview.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387414517246400674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 225px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiOxAQDYH0Gr6fiEJdKUYDk8WU9PgjHEVgmv07RUbCIuTS3kvnbuFjCFfSKoRIgpHLedm8W92D_4H7HUm45lkm1OI_XUaq4NiiDETu8iZ-UkRyv9U_gtAv7mAaHTpCq0N9l6hPX1cPFmo/s320/image_preview.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />we’re offering proof you can’t refute<br />the world is flat and the sun is our slave<br />a backward leap ten centuries<br />blurring the line between fact and faith<br />one source has the information<br />a literal interpretation<br />every metaphor's ignored with every bone<br />that’s underneath this floor<br />heresy in stone<br /><br />we only discuss what fits for us<br />distrust (disgust) for he who hasn’t found the way<br />same frightened old world<br />reason unfurls<br />a new age for the righteous (credulous) and the afraid<br /><br />those rules are clear:<br />no pork* and no queers**<br />shellfish, no***<br />wool and linen can’t be mixed****<br />celebrate a plague that culls the strays*****<br />compassion’s another of Satan’s tricks<br />one source has the explanation<br />no faith in these excavations<br /><br />Lucy looks nothing like eve<br />no Scopes will taint what my child believes<br /><br />just give me that ol' time intolerance<br />blind faith in a confused text<br />that was written and rewritten with mortal hands<br />all in for the bonfires</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></div></span><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">*Leviticus 11:7<br />**Leviticus 20:13<br />*** Leviticus 11:9-12<br />****Leviticus 19:19<br />***** and who could forget godhatesfags.com?</span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrH2Umw0Sgr4GEeqoRTDnIWclQTY6ssTc0rsObRRwPRqjOPUWpfk-xvt_U-bIGaVWP9GfKNq-ae32RhlXyiJRTYWR8ZjeGS4srK0iHo-Rmnr0mPq8J9ajtD3UhClaXnNbAEV_UKnw8E5U/s1600-h/celestial_4use+this+one.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387414072333757826" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 286px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrH2Umw0Sgr4GEeqoRTDnIWclQTY6ssTc0rsObRRwPRqjOPUWpfk-xvt_U-bIGaVWP9GfKNq-ae32RhlXyiJRTYWR8ZjeGS4srK0iHo-Rmnr0mPq8J9ajtD3UhClaXnNbAEV_UKnw8E5U/s320/celestial_4use+this+one.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">As a species, we're pretty fond of ourselves. One need only take a look at the monuments of staggering size that blot the globe, or between the pages of the millions of philosophical and literary tracts that we've written about ourselves, to get a sense of how truly great we think Homo Sapiens are. And we've had this opinion for quite some time. Roughly two thousand years ago, Ptolemy wrote a treatise on astronomy called the Almagest. In it he declared that the earth was the centre of the universe, and that everything, including the sun, orbited it. Needless to say, it was an extremely popular model for more than a century. It wasn't until Copernicus stepped in, somewhere in the mid-1500s, with his theory of a heliocentric solar system that challenged the accepted geocentric model, that human beings were faced with the notion that not everything revolved around them. It caused quite a stir too. The church had a big problem with it, and that led to a shit load of persecution: the imprisonment of Galileo, his forced renouncement of the Copernican system, and Giordano Bruno being burnt at the stake.* The way the church saw it, humans were God's crowning achievement - it says so in his book. To suggest otherwise was to spit in the face of the creator. And because of this kind of thinking, there is no better example of how our arrogance as a species manifests itself, than in the realm of religion. All three of the monotheisms of our time assure their followers that they are God’s favorite. Even today, Christians, Jews and Muslims all hold tight to the notion that in an infinite universe, on a tiny planet teeming with life forms, the actions of a few billion bipeds would warrant the attention, much less the adulation and wrath, of an all-powerful deity. It may sound ridiculous, but this is a very popular worldview. People (lots of people) still believe that the creator of everything spends his time reading the minds of creatures whose entire lifespan as a species won’t register as anything longer than a pussy fart on the universe’s timeline. The question is why? </span></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><div align="justify"><br />Worship of our respective gods stems from our awareness of our mortality. Quite simply, we invented God because we are afraid to die, and we long to be immortal. And that's just what religion offers. Submitting to this or to that impossible being (or to his emissaries on earth) will allow you to purchase real estate in heaven and live forever - just as long as you don’t step out of line. While this may have been a seemingly rational system of belief centuries ago, when the superstitious writers (and rewriters) of the holy books were constructing their texts, our more recent history of inquiry, critical thinking and observation has proven such groundless notions to be mere foolishness. Simply put, we’re not that important and there isn’t a shred of proof that our actions in the corporeal world will gain us eternal life in a supernatural paradise that no one has ever seen. </div><div align="justify"><br />We can debate faith vs. fact, but it’s a pretty one-sided argument. In order for me to accept any theory (theological or scientific) there needs to be some evidence provided that supports it. One book, the author’s of which are shrouded in mystery, is a pretty poor foundation for a system of belief. The credulity that is necessary for religious faith is not a virtue, and it makes for a weak argument. There is no evidence that a super being helped write the Bible.** There is no proof of divine inspiration. Christ's biographers Mathew, Mark, Luke and John were human, and never even met him (Jesus had been dead for several decades before they even began writing about his life). The New Testament is a very human book. If you love Christ, that’s cool, but you should realize that the recorded accounts of his life that survived and made it into the canon, which you, as a Christian, must believe to be factual to a certain degree, are suspicious in terms of their consistency and historical value. The gospels are so riddled with inconsistencies (only two of the Gospels mention a virgin birth) and contradictions (in the gospel of Mathew Christ heals two blind beggars outside of Jerusalem, but in Mark he only heals one blind beggar)*** that, had they actually been divinely created, they prove that god is a horrible writer/editor and far less perfect than we could have imagined. These problems that plague the first four books of the New Testament are made that much more apparent when one learns that for every word in the Bible there is a textual variation among the thousands upon thousands of manuscripts that have survived the ages. These textual variations are mostly the result of how books used to be produced. Printing presses didn't make an appearance until the 1400s. Everything before that was written by hand. It's understandable then that scribes would make errors while they were copying the text. And once those errors were written down they were later copied by someone else and so on and so on. Thus, you have a lot of variation within the same text. Not all variations were the result of some scribe’s fuck up, however. There's evidence that some would deliberately alter the text, adding and omitting certain tales about Jesus that meshed with their particular notion of Christianity. Because of this, some ancient manuscripts contain the story of Jesus and the adulterous woman****, and some don't. And once again, as soon as the new tales were added or the old ones erased, that particular version of the New Testament was reproduced, adding to the confusion and hassle of modern day textual critics. It is impossible to sort out which Bible is the true word of God, simply because there are just too many different versions. God's various books then raise some pretty big questions about his existence. Why are there so many different versions of his masterpiece? Why couldn’t an all-powerful deity keep his words intact? Why didn’t he protect them from scribes who accidentally or deliberately altered the text? It was a book about his son for fuck's sake! The answer is obvious – He didn't write it. He isn't watching. No one (except for those who have been suckered by this myth) cares if you masturbate, eat pork, or have bum sex. We are not that important. </div><div align="justify"><br />I spend a lot of time writing and singing about religion, and, to the chagrin of many (including my band mates) babbling about it on stage in between songs. If you're at all familiar with the band, that's no secret, and it will come as no surprise that this topic is raised frequently on our album. I've been asked, quite a lot actually, what the fuck is it all for? What's your beef with God? Why all this religion bashing? My primary reason is pretty unromantic - I just find the topic interesting. I'm fascinated by people who really believe that there's a man listening to their thoughts! Seriously, that's fucking fascinating to me (not to mention, hilarious and horrifying). I have no atheist agenda, beyond speaking my mind. I'm not out to convert anyone to unbelief. That would be, above all else, silly. I suppose I do feel a moral imperative to speak out against something I see as being a source of great pain, stupidity and misery in the world. But that smacks of self-righteousness...the last thing anyone needs to do is act more like me. I got problems, man. Bearing that in mind, however, I find it pretty much impossible to hide the anger, frustration and derision I feel when I see the Scopes' Monkey Trial re-enacted on the evening news; or when I’m delicately accosted on the bus by smartly dressed homophobes that want to tell me about John smith and Jesus; or when I read about a young girl having acid thrown in her face for trying to go to school. Tolerance of other people's beliefs does not mean I have to accept those beliefs, or remain silent for risk of offending. This world thrives on ideas and this song is far less offensive than a woman being whipped for committing adultery (yes, that still happens on this planet), or a person being denied basic civil liberties, or a book being burned for asking questions. </div><div align="justify"><br />I would never suggest that people should be denied their right to believe in anything. Every human being should be allowed to think freely and speak their mind as they see fit. This does not mean that their claims about the machinations of the universe, and the meaning of life, automatically demand respect and are exempt from criticism. If you're going to tell everyone you have the answer to all of humankind's questions then you had better be able to back it up. Groundless claims, no matter how intensely you believe them to be true, deserve criticism and ridicule, particularly ones that have formerly been defended with torture and the live cremation of skeptics. The burning of heretics (i.e. free-thinkers) at the stake is a pretty infrequent event these days, but the claims of religion are still having an impact on our pursuit of knowledge. The propone<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3dxGE7zkTL9J_R3m0R_3ZSX_iIuOtDo250ysFffALchQ13gfRPyfwLw96XBkMtW-aBnQ2anDaV2yLUX2rzto__qwUX7INjuiAwMUwRfdiePJd4lcDZtQ39uTU6k5NXl5FFsSVVO2NVLE/s1600-h/MM2-295.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387415729541015954" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 260px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3dxGE7zkTL9J_R3m0R_3ZSX_iIuOtDo250ysFffALchQ13gfRPyfwLw96XBkMtW-aBnQ2anDaV2yLUX2rzto__qwUX7INjuiAwMUwRfdiePJd4lcDZtQ39uTU6k5NXl5FFsSVVO2NVLE/s320/MM2-295.jpg" border="0" /></a>nts of intelligent design are still lobbying to have it taught as an alternative to the theory of evolution in classrooms across North America. This is a pretty big problem. It is nothing short of arrogant to think that we have all the answers to our biggest questions about life and the universe, but beyond that, it is utter intellectual laziness to simply attribute all the things we don’t yet know or understand to the actions of a supernatural being. Just because there is a gap in our knowledge about things, does not mean that that gap can be filled with God. Anyone that tells you they know the meaning of life and the answer to the question, “why are we here?” is lying. They may be deluded, and actually believe that they know these things, but more often than not, they are offering you their answers in order to control you or to take your money. The easy answer is not always the right one. Teaching a child that everything in the universe was created with the snap of some fingers and the molding of some clay places that child on a path leading backwards through time, away from all that we have come to understand, and have yet to understand, about ourselves and what surrounds us. Our fantastic beliefs about our beginnings and our place in the universe may seem harmless, but it is precisely this willful ignorance that has guided us to destroy ourselves and our environment for centuries. With the exception of the thinkers that have worked to expand human understanding, a great deal of our species has clung to a vision of us that is completely false. There is no evidence, aside from a few archaic manuscripts, that proves we are not the vanity project of a supernatural being. We are not separate from, or superior to, nature. We are not going to live after we die. All of these claims have no proof. They're simply not true. We are (as far as we know) the product of a chemical/electrical reaction that happened millions of years ago which instigated a slow process of evolution. But we don't know for sure, and here is where we see the division that exists between science and religion. Science admits when it doesn't know something. It is constantly changing, challenging and refuting theories of the past, expanding upon them and altering them as new information is acquired. Religion, on the other hand, is stagnant. It claims to know everything and refuses to change its central theories in spite of what new information is presented. </div><div align="justify"><br />There is so much that we don't know about, well, everything. And a lot of it will never be revealed. We should, of course, keep trying to learn more about ourselves and the universe, and we should stop accepting the easy solutions to tough problems that we have been championing for so long. Paradise is not beyond the clouds; it is underneath them and has been for thousands***** of years. Our gaze and concern needs to be redirected from the heavens to the biosphere. The bonfires that have burned throughout our history are still raging, perpetually fanned with superstition, fear, and arrogance. These flames may provide comfort for some, but their fuel has been the theft of freedom, the destruction of art and literature, and the silencing of voices whose only concern was learning the truth.<br /></div><div align="center">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </div><em><div align="left"><br /></em>*There is some debate about whether or not Bruno was burned alive for defending the Copernican system, or for some other offense. Regardless of what his actual crime against God was the Catholic Church still executed him in a particularly brutal fashion. </div><div align="left"><br />**I am, by no means, an expert on theology. I've read a great deal about religion, but to be honest, most of it was criticism. I've tackled the bible, but have always found myself skipping the genealogies of the Old Testament, and struggling to remain awake through the repetition of the New Testament. I made it through the Gospels, but Paul, or Saul, of Tarsus is such a boring, hate-filled read that I just gave up. I enjoyed a fair chunk of the Psalms, particularly how they begin:<br /><br /><em>"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked."(KJV)</em><br /><br />That’s a beautiful line. What a great way to say, "The guy who doesn't hang out with dickheads is pretty smart and is probably going to have a pretty good life.” I think this one form the 69th psalm is pretty awesome as well, and not just for the irony:<br /><br /><em>"More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause." (NRSV)</em><br /><br />Had I the ability to come up with something as poetic, Hostage Life may have had a realistic shot at winning some of the awards we were nominated for a couple years ago when the radio decided to like us, and we seemed like a band that deserved some kind of nomination.<br />I grew up in a small town that was home to 14 churches and 1 library. On Sunday afternoons the only movie theatre at my disposal became a Sunday school that played exclusively Christian movies. My grade six teacher told our class that people who were never baptized (people like me) were doomed to spend eternity in pain, bobbing in a lake of fire. That teacher was eventually dismissed for slapping a student that took the lord’s name in vain. Regardless, her threat of never ending torment kept me awake at night for a long time. All of these factors are the reason that the focus of my ranting is aimed at Christianity. Geography and experience make it the most familiar faith. This does not mean, however, that I am trying to frame it as being worse than the other two monotheisms. I consider all three to be equally vicious and ridiculous. But Christianity drew first blood. </div><div align="left"><br />***This may be a small inconsistency but it nevertheless illustrates the existence of said inconsistencies. </div><div align="left"><br />****"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." (John 8:7 KJV) It's actually a great story, and Jesus comes off as brilliant and awesome as he totally outwits and exposes as hypocrites the Pharisees and Scribes that are persecuting the adulterous woman. </div><div align="left"><br />*****For the thousands of years that we've been here, at least. 2 billion years ago this place wouldn't have been so great for us. </span></div>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667647783710076543.post-24016065936142770552009-09-29T10:30:00.000-07:002009-09-29T11:34:06.113-07:00GREETINGS and SALUTATIONS<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UrXY4PJEV7zB3_trKS-9yOb9Ao-sp8hUTGuczlxqVSBYSBf_tDnH2jZDdVXIwkCNBDLtohyphenhyphenOnTsFmIyQRswxd60OKp42o6WLLB1EnC25soqF2fpz2pWnyKqc4ys03Wy6oSYblnXqCJ4/s1600-h/centre.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386949498901368114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UrXY4PJEV7zB3_trKS-9yOb9Ao-sp8hUTGuczlxqVSBYSBf_tDnH2jZDdVXIwkCNBDLtohyphenhyphenOnTsFmIyQRswxd60OKp42o6WLLB1EnC25soqF2fpz2pWnyKqc4ys03Wy6oSYblnXqCJ4/s320/centre.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">As someone that never made friends with an instrument, but needed to contribute something other than a marginal singing voice to his bands, I have always felt that a song's lyrics were incredibly significant. I used to love it when I went to shows and bands that I had never seen, much less heard of, were handing out lyrics sheets at their merch table. (Keep in mind I'm old and the internet wasn't always as accessible as it is now.) I loved it even more if the lyric sheets contained little blurbs about the writer's motivation or inspiration for what she/he had written. Only at punk rock shows have I ever seen this behaviour in musicians. And while I know that punk rock hardly has the market cornered on socio-political commentary, it's prevalence in the genre, and the accessibility of these ideas, was one of the things I found so appealing. I haven't come across many handouts beyond political pamphlets and gig flyers at shows in more recent years. I don't have anything against political tracts, or necessary self-promotion, but when I started writing the lyrics for <em>Centre of the Universe</em> I knew I wanted to get back to this tradition of expanding upon the ideas contained in a song and sharing it with the listener - one nerd to another. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Hostage Life doesn't give out lyric sheets at shows, of course. Photocopying is too expensive, I'm too lazy to haul my ass to the copy shop, and really the last thing the world needs is more ready-to-discard paper products. It's much easier, and far less wasteful, for me to post lyrics and their accompanying essays in a blog and let anyone with internet access and an interest in witnessing some self-indulgence have a look.<br /><br />Every day or so we'll be adding song lyrics and essays...until we run out. From then on we'll find something else to type about. If you've found yourself here and have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, then go to myspace.com/hostagelife and download our new album <em>Centre of the Universe</em> for free. Cheers.</span></p><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"></span></p>HOSTAGE LIFEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04137474005637073439noreply@blogger.com0