Geek Diatribe

As always, thanks for visiting “Raging Against the Dying Light,” all dozen of you. ( : I have a lot of loose threads in this one, my main articles for November and December are in formation and so now’s the time to spew out what I refer to as a “Geek Diatribe” to touch on all the incomplete facets of interest I write about on this site. This time it’s all light too, no politics or religion!

First off, the 2009 Baseball season is over. I find it a very depressing of an end at that…I’m not a vehement Yankee hater, I have extreme love for the history of the team and readily admit the talents and watchability of most of the current Yank roster, but I always have a bit of anger over the unrestrained budget the team has to work with and the idea that they can “buy’ the championship…and the fact that A-Rod alone earns a higher salary than several combined teams. So, there’s always the hope that they will be shutdown and it will be proven that money can’t suppress the drive to overcome that thrives in the underdog teams; the Phillies would have been a much more satisfying win. But the whole thing got me thinking about the structure of the current season; it’s November, and Baseball is just now wrapping up. It’s cold, grey over much of the country and well on the way to winter. Now, I never thought I’d specify that the season should be shorter since Baseball is really the only sport for me, but the season should be shorter! It’s a spring and summer game, and the now extended season length drags it into competing too heavily with football broadcasts and ticket sales, and the game just doesn’t seem appropriate this time of year for whatever reasons. I say, start it in early spring as is done now, start the post-season in September and have the World Series the first week of October. Anyway, as many people thrive for the play-off season when things heat up, as fun as that can be I prefer two other key baseball phases—the opening game through the first two weeks of the season and the events of and games leading up to July’s all-star game and home-run derby. A lot of this ties in with many of the teams still having a shot, but just as much at factor is the time of the year and the way it perfectly fits with the game. I imagine football fanatics feel the same way about fall and February.

Item two on the geek docket is the best music of the 2000s. I’ve pretty much got the 50 picked out for albums and almost for songs, I just have to properly rank them which requires listening to them and making the call on order. It’s a compulsive geek trait for any type of list like this, but you can’t just arbitrarily throw them together. There’s a distinctive reason why item A is at 17 and item B is at 16…or at least there should be. As I was working on my list I noticed that “Paste” magazine already has their “50 albums of the 2000s” on their site. I really like “Paste” and they’ve turned me on to a lot of good music over the years, but their list was off (in my mind) on several accounts—for one thing, it’s early November, there’s still 2 months of music yet to be released. Related to that, their “Best of ‘09” list isn’t up yet—it seems fairly backward to sum up a decade before the last year of the decade. As to the selections, there’s the obvious nerd-centric private idols that the publication adores and will rank highly and mention continuously even if no one else does as highly—everyone does this, my lists are guilty of it as well. “Paste” is very noticeable for adoring a core 5 bands that can never do wrong, as is Rolling Stone and AMG and it’s interesting because these core 5 never overlap in the same regard between these publications. That’s a very signifying factor that when it comes to art and pop criticism, there is no great science. There may be general critical consensus that something new and groundbreaking is “excellent” but it often differs from group to group and certain styles and personalities latch on to certain sounds. I won’t ruin the article for you, but the #1 album of the decade for “Paste” sums up their stance and personality as a publication, and that’s not a bad thing. I’m pretty sure my “1 choice does the same thing for me, as will RS and AMG’s. Another observation on “Pastes” selections is that they was heavily eschewed towards music made by bands established in the ‘00s, with a few ‘90s bands new work thrown in but very little attention paid to career artists releasing very notable work in the decade. No mention of critically acclaimed and massively entertaining work by Dylan, Young, Springsteen, U2, etc. Jazz, Hip Hop and Blues were almost completely overlooked as well, and although Indie is a major focus for “Paste,” they’re an eclectic publication so I expected more variety. The 2000s, looking at them as a whole, may very well have produced the bulk of music that will stay with me the longest. I was a junior in High school at the beginning of the decade and as it draws to a close I’m a first year grad student working on a Masters. In between there was college, work, marriage. I’ve moved several times and grown a lot, and the music I’ve heard that’s stuck with me from each phase of this decade is formative and memorable. Granted, most of my all time favorite albums were made long before this time, but there’s something to be said for what was new and vibrant amidst the average, waiting just to be found.

On to the next one; I always cap up the year’s best in graphic art and prose– comics and graphic novels—with a top ten list at the end of each year as well. This year has been phenomenal with trend breaking literate work in Graphic Novels- – “Asterios Polyp” by David Mazuchelli, The illustrated book of Genesis by R. Crumb, pretty much the entire Vertigo monthly catalogue, creator owned and controlled titles by Jeff Smith and Terry Moore (“RASL” and “Echo,” respectively) and notable work from indie publishing houses IDW (“Locke and Keye“), Boom Studios (“The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh“), etc. As far as mainstream work, generally meaning the “big two” (Marvel and DC), it’s become clear that despite cornering 65 percent of the market and being host to millions of loyal fans who refuse to read books published by anyone else, Marvel is far inferior to almost every other publishing company, especially DC. It just hasn’t been Marvel’s year. They sell out to Disney for a big paycheck. They opt for raising the majority of their titles to a higher price point– an entire dollar more, making most of their mainstream titles 3.99, a price DC reserves for special events and “important” stories. Unlike Marvel, when DC charges 3.99 they provide ten additional pages of story as well as better paper and ink quality. Marvel heads (here’s looking at you, Joe Quesada—by the way, stay retired from penciling, your art is atrocious) originally stated that this was the result of a tighter economy and to combat mounting paper costs but later Quesada admitted in an interview that it was really because “this is a business” and they wanted to see how much profit they could make if the cost of the titles continued to go up and sales didn’t dip accordingly. To make matters worse for Marvel, their output hasn’t been good enough to justify such tactics anyway. The only really smart move they’ve done recently is re-tool “Amazing Spider Man” last year, shedding the excess titles, hiring a great staff of rotating writers and artists for it, releasing it thrice monthly and generally making it the best popcorn, fun-for-everyone-over-13 book as possible. They have even (thus far) kept it price-pointed at 2.99 and the stories from it all year have been great escapist fun. Other than that, they’ve consistently dropped the ball. Big tie-in events and mini-series? DC’s “Blackest Night” is far better than Marvel’s “The List” or whatever they’re calling it now (since it’s an ever continuing fall-out tale from last summers “Secret Invasion” which was far inferior to DC’s “Final Crisis” at that). Thor? An Eisner-winning surprisingly smart book by Stracinzski is now moving on without Stracinzki and staying at 3.99 (without the extra ten pages). Then there’s the it-just-won’t-die slew of “Marvel Zombies” mini’s that get worse with each sequel. Or dumb ideas like “Marvel Apes” or “X-Babies.” There’s the never-reveal-the-ending-to-the-mystery compost-heap “Hulk,” which gets ever more ridiculous and stopped being fun half a year ago. They were building up steam with “Uncanny X Men” each issue after 500 then lost it having each issue be part of an asinine tie in to an asinine concept series. The only other worthwhile Marvel title right now is “Fantastic 4,” while DC has been on a run with their mainstream work as well. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank are producing the best Superman mini in years, “Secret Origin,” and their entire run on “Action Comics” was terrific last year. Since Batman’s death, every tie-in Bat title has been excellent., notably, “Batman and Robin,” with Grant Morrison and initially Frank Quietely but “Detective Comics” as well if only for J.H. Williams III’ impressionistic and unconventional art. “Green Lantern” and every “Blackest Night” tie in has been great sci-fi and “Wednesday Comics” was a truly original and successful idea. Of course, “JSA” has fallen off and “JLA” seems to never work, but the point is that much of their mainstream work is great and most of it is approachable and more affordable than their competitions. Most importantly, where DC has it’s “Vertigo” imprint which puts out a lot of great, intelligent adult-geared work and DC utilizes that imprint heavily, Marvel’s “Icon” imprint which allows creator funded work to be released doesn’t get nearly enough emphasis. “Criminal” by Brubaker and Phillips is back again with another miniseries, and it’s great. “Kick Ass,” is always fun whenever Mark Millar bothers to get it out (he’s late on everything lately), but what else does Icon have? And why no funding from Marvel? Why not more emphasis?

Okay, last up (and briefly) is “The Wire.” Harvard recently announced a college course that will utilize “The Wire” in its curriculum. If any show has ever been worthy of this, it’s this one. The smartest, most important and best produced television show of all time. Five seasons, so check them all out. That’s all for now.

Prelude to the Best of the ’00s…Bands that Defined the Decade

The end of the year is a few months away but I always start ordering my top 10 albums, movies and the like about this time each year. I try to place everything in the spot it stands as of now and wait to see what upsets the list will have based on end of the year releases.

This year while starting on that, I’ve decided to also do a top 50 albums and top 50 singles for the entire decade of the 2000s, seeing as it’s over come January. In doing so I’ve noticed a lot of older, established artists from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s made seminal, career-worthy work over the past ten years across all genres and many of those will factor into the list. There are also plenty of great albums that popped up unexpectedly from bands who had never before and haven’t since managed to recreate the magic.

But thinking about artists who’ve come to the forefront during the 2000s, releasing all of their work in the new millennium or just the bulk of it, a few come to mind that simply define the decade in terms of consistently excellent album, songs and live performances.

Wilco- Wilco released three very entertaining alt-country albums in the ‘90s and then got extensively creative and genre abandoning in the 2000s. The best example of the bands melding of experimental and approachably warm is their decade defining “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” in 2002. From there they got weirder – “A Ghost is Born,” then scaled way down with “Sky Blue Sky” and followed that with this year’s “Wilco: (the album) the most straightforward folksy album they’ve released this decade.

Drive by Truckers-  Although DBT released a few independent, small press albums in the late ‘90s, they really didn’t emerge notably until 2001’s “Southern Rock Opera.” Released on Universal (and then dropped by Universal and left labeless until New West signed the band), SRO was a critically acclaimed yet initially low selling work but a masterpiece nonetheless.  They haven’t released a bad album since – ““Decoration Day,” The Dirty South,”  “A Blessing and a Curse” and “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark”  are all tremendous records and DBT was one of the best live shows you could catch this decade, which it was usually possible to do up close in a relatively small venue. If you’ve never been able to make a show, “Live at the 40 Watt Club” and “Live from Austin TX” are two wonderful rock concert DVDs you can catch.

Ryan Adams- Adams was an alt-country pioneer with Whiskeytown in the ‘90s. His first solo record, “Heartbreaker” from 2000 remains his best work. He’s a consummate songwriter, with the potential to be one of the greatest but despite his surplus of recordings his personal quirks and indulgences dampen that potential sometimes. But, with the exception of “29,” any of Adam’s 10 albums is a great listen.

Neko Case – From 2000s “Furnace Room Lullaby” to 2009s “Middle Cyclone,” Neko has put on record the decades best voice. A perfect singer capable of traditional country, blues, power-pop or gothic, none of her work is to be missed. The record on which her best lyrics and her best singing match up is “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” from 2006, but arguably her best single song is from “Deep Red Bells” from 2002’s “Blacklisted.”

Lupe Fiasco – So far we only have two official Lupe albums, 2006s “Food and Liquor” and 2007s “The Cool,” but one more is due by the end of the year. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Lupe’s not released a weak track yet, or a weak verse for that matter. He touches on every imaginable social issue in his songs and could very well be the best and brightest political commentator rap has had since Chuck D–and not nearly as suspect as some of D’s propositions. Lupe’s ethical intelligence is never suspect in his songs.

The Hold Steady – With 4 studio albums and 1 live album over the past 5 years and tremendous live shows to boot, The Hold Steady are the best bar band in America. The lyrics are consumed with parties, scripture, drugs, God, sex, death, Mass, angels, love, chill out tents and interesting characters. Like a punk Rock-Springsteen-Tom Waits milkshake, The Hold Steady get better every year.

Death Cab for Cutie – Sure, they’re a bit pretentious and a lot of those emo kids dug them a bit too much for comfort. Yet they’ve captured a lot of this entire decade in their sound. The use of the title track of “Transatlanticism” in Six Feet Under with the characters stonily singing along was a generational signifier. Every album they’ve released in the 2000s has been good, but their last three have been  classic – “Transatlanticism,” “Plans” and “Narrow Stairs.” Even on years without an album they’ve stayed present- this year with a great EP and nice singles.

Ghostface Killah – Okay, in the context of Wu Tang Clan, Ghost is very much a 90s rapper. But aside from his solo debut “Iron Man” in 1996, every solo albums he’s released has been in the 2000s, starting with “Supreme Clientele” in 2000. He’s been pumping out an album a year almost, and you won’t get any Lupe worthy socially conscious moments on any of it. Check all that at the door–there’s nothing morally redeeming in the lyrics, there’s just insanely killer flow. Ghost constructs rhymes that are so hilarious, sad, exciting, repulsive, and sensory observing that it’s a little miraculous. He can make a good agreeable point from time to time, but mostly you’re going to get urban poetry steeped in vivid detail– crime narratives more cinematic than any movie as well as jokes, double entendres and metaphors with a lot of tongue in cheek.

Sufjan Stevens – Stevens may be the decade’s best songwriter if only people could fully understand him without looking up the lyrics. That’s a turn off for many, but for the rest of us his hushed, frail and almost whisper like melodies backed by a slew of sounds uncommon in pop music (he’s a wildly talented multi-instrumentalist) are engaging, addicting and reveal just a bit more each time you hear them. Then there’s his ambitious project to make a concept album depicting the history and culture of every American State. “Greetings From Michigan” is his best overall work, followed by the close second “(Come on Feel the) Illinoise.” The “Illinois” track “Casimir Pulaski Day” may be the most heartbreaking yet beautiful song of the decade with lyrics about God, love and teenage loss by death and disease.

Kanye West- Hate him love him, or simply be sick of him due to his latest string of rude shenanigans, but some of the 2000s best hit singles were from ‘Ye. Three Grammy winning albums that actually deserved a grammy and one flop of an album that can’t be criticized in terms of ambition at least. Here’s hoping he takes a break and comes back down to earth a bit.
So, that’s the big ones. Some of the albums by these folks will rank high on the top 50 list when I post it toward the end of the year. Others by artists who managed just one great album, and albums by already established artists will all intermix with them.

Vertigo 2009: Cancellations and Launches

Vertigo consistently makes the smartest, deepest and most diverse comics for adult readers in the mainstream market. Whereas some publishers used the “adult” rating to merely amp the violence and sex, Vertigo allows the freedom such a rating gives them to explore thematic depths, philosophical concepts and ambiguous character traits that more approachable fair shies away from. Of course, using “Scalped” or “Preacher” as an example, the violence and sex isn’t shied away from either when necessary to the story. Yet it’s never the main goal or method in a typical Vertigo work. The problem presented by Vertigo is evident in last month’s cancellation of “Young Liars.” These are not books that fit a wide variety of tastes and preferences. Being funded by a subsection of a mainstream company, in this case DC comics, means that only so much money will be allocated in support of an artistic venture. With creator owned and distributed works like Jeff Smith’s “RASL” or Terry Moore’s “Echo,” low sells and limited appeal is overcome if the author has the time, money and passion to devote to a work that may take years to catch on. DC can always pick another up-and-comer to give a 2 year shot to with Vertigo, or they can move some money back to their main stable and release a new Superman ongoing title.

So, even though there is a tremendous history of smart, great works in Vertigo that got to start, run and come to their natural culmination in the beforehand planned “final issue” like “Sandman,” “Preacher” or “100 Bullets,“ the still ongoing “Hellblazer,” the going-past-originally planned “Fables,” or a host of other books that look like they’re in good shape to end their tale correctly, there are also a lot of books that get the axe before their time. Most recently this is the case with “Vinyl Underground” and “Young Liars.” Both of these titles launched about 2 years ago– “Underground” lasted 12 issues, “Liars” made it to their 16th last month. “Young Liars” is a frustrating example. It was the full work of writer/artist David Lapham, who never got around to wrapping up his creator owned “Stray Bullets” but who looked fired-up to tell this mind-bending, fully involved head-trip adventure through Vertigo in an on-going that never shipped late, often was set on the day it shipped to stores, and always delivered the goods. Axed before its time, we’re left with a hastily thrown together ending that tells us pretty much nothing…we have no idea where this would have really ended up and what detours it would have taken along the way.

So, that said… There are a few very promising works kick-starting this year, all a few issues into the story now. These three books all started around the same time, so the odds on all of them making it to the usual 70 some-odd books it takes to fully wrap a Vertigo tale aren’t tremendous…but if the numbers are decent, they will make it. So as a fan of these, I’m doing my part to get the word out. Buy the monthly…buy the trade too, and, if you like at which point you can sell the “floppies,” but you must buy the monthly if these series’ are going to last. It’s a gamble you take, sure, but you’re certain to be entertained along the way even if the ending never comes. We’re talking about an 8 or 9 dollar a month commitment; dig for some change and take the plunge.

First off, “The Unwritten.” This is a literary fans dream; if you’re a classics dork, check out the entire premise and especially the great detour this past months issue, Issue #5, takes. The basic story follows Tom Taylor, son of a famous author who has died. Taylor is the basis for his fathers best selling books about “Tommy,” a teenage wizard with animal cohorts and adventures. The series is written by Mike Carey and billed as a “literary conspiracy mystery.“ Last month’s issue  # 5 tells an alternate history of Rudyard Kipling and features his encounters with Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). There are things that have occurred in the first 5 issues of this book I haven’t seen done since Neil Gaiman ended “The Sandman,” and I don’t mean to imply any overt similarities other than artistic ambition and non-pandering to popular taste.

Next, “The Unknown Solider.” A fully researched and prepared book by a former self-proclaimed pacifist struggling with the concept of war and “just” violence in the pursuit of peace. It’s set in Uganda and is complete with child soldiers, corrupt governments, agencies with misplaced priorities, humanitarian fervor and real, vivid- yet- dark, life.

“Sweet Tooth,” a post-apocalyptic story of a half-human/half-deer teen in the company of a hunter on the way to the promised land. Bizarre and although entrenched in an overly-used archetype of a setting, wholly invigorating and unconventional enough to make that setting new again.

Okay. I’ve pitched them and if you’ve ever been a fan of comics or graphic novels, pick them up. Support them, lets see them through to their natural conclusion.  Don’t forget “Scalped,” either— Vertigo’s best series which seems to be going strong, winning awards and in no danger of cancellation. It’s modern noir at its finest and hopefully one of the above three titles live up to it in time.

Balance, Compromise, Action, Apathy

I hear a lot about balance and compromise lately, especially in light of the ever increasing polarized political climate we find ourselves in.

Recently, parents across the country became angry when the President wanted to address the nation’s schoolchildren via television. Right-wing parents screamed that this was an attempt to “indoctrinate” their children in “socialism” and pulled them out of class in droves. That the President only wanted to speak of the value of education and hard work was irrelevant. Then came the infamous “You lie!” shout during Obama’s health care address. Even though the point Obama was making was proven true by independent political watch groups, reform opponents refuse to deny the “liar” claim even if many of them do agree that the way it was voiced during the speech was inappropriate.

So why rehash this now? Everyone else has already mentioned these things. I noticed a few facebook friends had linked an article by Pat Buchanan to their pages, and normally I’d avoid Buchanan’s opinion at any cost but I decided to give it a read. The piece, published on the web on September the 10th is titled “Is America Coming Apart?”  Buchanan makes a few good points, rightly pointing out that when G.H.W. Bush went to a school in 1991 the left freaked out, and went on to mention that those of us on different sides of the “big issues” (like abortion, gay rights, environmental protection and conservation, etc.) tend to label our position much more nobly than our opponents label it and term their position in a much more derogatory term as well. Buchanan goes on to make various observations about cultural and political issues he feels further polarize us today. Oddly enough, he at one point laments that we’ve replaced “heroes” like Robert E. Lee with people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I have major problems with the idea that it’s a bad thing to replace Lee with King as a modern hero, and I find it silly that King should be considered “polarizing” when the things he stood and worked for are good for all of us, but that’s another issue altogether.

 Buchanan seems to think that we now have diversity but not unity. Those of us who feel drawn to do work that seeks to help people, to help society, to build things up and those of us with spiritual and/or religious lives, feel a need to be open, tolerant and to seek unity. But some people seem to think this means we must be more “balanced.” I follow that we should speak with respect, debate with care and love those we don’t agree with. Yet I feel it’s worth pointing out that we can’t seek peaceful balance at the cost of mediocrity or apathy. Buchanan asks “where is the unity?” in a way that suggests that we once all got along much more civilly from both sides. I grant him that with the advent of openly biased 24 hour news networks like Fox News and MSNBC, the proliferation of politics on the internet and a slew of amped up anger and judgment, things are more vocally polarized. Yet there have always been universal differences in the right and the left. If in the past those that strove to bring about equality and justice through the civil rights movement, the women’s movement and various peace movements in our country had been too concerned with peaceful balance, progress would never have been made. I stress that peace was necessary– Dr. King used pacifism and nonviolent protest to accomplish his mission. Yet the idea he should have had to “compromise” with the Alabama government without offending their beliefs that African Americans shouldn’t have the same rights as whites seems absurd.

We can have respect for others as people without compromising our beliefs on issues that are very important-take the health care debate. There are hard facts involved. The World Health Organization ranked the US 37th out of 191 on the list of all health care systems in the world in 2008. France was ranked at number 1. Yet despite this FACT, those on the right argue we have nothing to take from the system France uses and that the system they use is really worse than ours because it is “socialism,” the latest hip disparaging word used by a sector of the right that really have no comprehension of what socialism. The struggle to be bi-partisan, to reach across the aisle and to compromise in this health care debate is seemingly fruitless. There is no compromise, because those on the right don’t see a need for reform.

I struggle with knowing how to draw the line. There are people that I love and respect that I don’t see eye to eye on over many issues. Yet when it comes to speaking out on, writing about and working towards positive change and progress on these issues, I feel I can’t be overly concerned with being “balanced” if it means balancing fact, compassion, justice, hope and progress with misinformation, hysteria, prejudice, greed and selfishness. The current health care debate affects the health, wealth, well-being and security of millions of Americans. Any of us making less than $50,000 a year, even with health insurance, aren’t secure under the current system because one serious injury or illness could easily result in bankruptcy for us. Yet to speak these things is considered “polarizing.” What about the environmental issues, as Buchanan mentions? Despite conclusive and repeated studies and warnings from every major scientific mind in the world that state that unless major changes are made we will irreparably harm the planet, must we still “debate” and compromise over that as well, at the cost of all future generations? What about issues concerning women, immigrant, minority and gay rights? Must we compromise that some of these people simply do not deserve all of the rights the rest of us have?

 That ‘s where I see the urging for balance as being misguided. I wholeheartedly agree that we should speak to those on the other side of issues with care, respect and compassion. I agree we should be friends with those that share completely different political and religious ideals than us. We can always learn from them, they can always learn from us. A dialogue and a friendship can provide all of us with a better understanding of the “Other.” Besides, outside of politics and religion, surely we have plenty else to talk about with our fellow human beings in friendship. But, on these issues that affect health, justice, love and equality we must not be afraid to speak, write and work towards a better tomorrow. When facts don’t work to persuade the opposition, non-violent action and devotion might. I remind myself that, according to the Christian scriptures and ideas, even Jesus got angry. When? Anytime an issue of justice came up. Jesus loved and spoke with all, regardless of their personal sins and flaws. He befriended and cared for everyone on a human level. Yet he had no patience for any system , belief or practice that oppressed the “other.” If government, religion or marketplace devalued the rights of the poor, the different, the immigrant, the overlooked, Jesus spoke out. Most other major figures from the enduring world religions and philosophies did this as well. Would they compromise their opinion on justice so as not to trouble or offend anyone?

4 Innings of Great Baseball Sparking an Economic Question

The first four innings of the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox September 2nd game contained everything I love about baseball. Oddly enough, it caused me to think about some of the major problems I have with Major League Baseball despite my sincere fandom of it.

Since I’m not really a fan or opponent of either team, I just happened to begin by rooting for the Sox but soon began to root for the Rays upon seeing their entire team exemplify to the audience and the viewers at home how to do everything right on the field and at the plate.

A depressing sight, however, occurred anytime the cameras panned the stands—which were practically empty. The commentators stated that it was unusual for a team playing very successfully and that had just been to the World Series the previous year to draw such dismal numbers. The Rays have been drawing several thousand under the average MLB team attendance this season. The sportscasters suggested that the local Florida fans had already fled for college football. While narrating they reiterated the oddity of local fans not supporting such a winning team but said that (to paraphrase) “however you wish to spend you disposable income in such an economy is up to you, but it’s just odd.”

So despite the excellent baseball I was seeing, I began to wonder how the national pastime would continue if the recession lasted a significantly long period of time. I could go on yet another rant about baseball being better than football in a historic, artistic and cultural manner and digress that it’s simply symbolic of short attention spans and degraded culture that has caused the almost usurpation of baseball by football. I’d do so primarily in jest, even though I can’t help but believe small aspects of those arguments, but that’s not the direction I thought in nor where I am going with this now. No, here I was watching Major League Baseball on a public television set—I don’t even have cable so unless the game’s on a network available by antennae I’m not getting it at home. I also quite clearly wasn’t at the park paying the ticket price to see it. So the organization wasn’t making a dime off of me no matter how much I enjoyed it. If the recession continued a long time, the general public simply wouldn’t have time or money to spend to go out to the big game. By the time a family pays for gas to the park, tickets to the game and a few concessions, they’re looking at over a hundred dollars for an afternoon’s entertainment.

How could we bring down the cost to see the big game? Of course many will still pay their large cable and satellite prices. Many will pay the additional dozens of dollars a month to expand that to get things like “Season Pass” to catch all the games no longer available for the general public on basic cable. Eventually, though, if there aren’t enough people in the seats something has to give.

How would the cost come down? Well, let’s see….these players are making millions of dollars to play this game. When that much money is going to the people playing, the tickets have to be expensive. If this game is truly a national pastime, how about we lower the ticket prices and fill the stands?

Here the argument becomes one very comparable to a complaint many have over health care reform (believe it or not). A common fear expressed by some Health Care Reform opponents is that if we pay doctors less we won’t have doctor’s that work as hard, we won’t have the drive for technological and medical breakthroughs and we’ll fall behind. A recent AP article took on 5 common health care myths and in addressing this one, mentioned many of the products, techniques and breakthroughs we use in the US that emerged from medical communities in France, Germany and Canada under socialized health care plans. Well, when it comes to baseball, the argument is that salary caps and cut pay rates for players accustomed to lavish lifestyles will result in the greats dropping out and the powerhouse years coming to a close. As much as I love many of the players raking in big money and I do recognize that many of them devote decent chunks of their money to needed community programs, I feel that even if they were to leave, there’d still be those that are just hungry to play the game. Look at the minor leagues alone. Ninety percent of those playing in AA and AAA teams will never see the big leagues. Granted, most of them have the hope or even the confidence that someday they will and that in that day they will make millions. Yet many, if not most, players in these leagues probably realize the odds say they won’t and yet continue to play very hard every time. These players make less than most middle class workers. They also spend their time shuttled around on the roads playing in out of the way parks for sometimes uninterested viewers. They wear their bodies out and live pretty hard. Yet many of them play the game with complete heart. So, say the average Major League player goes from making millions a year to making $400-500,000 a year. That’s still quite a bit more than an AA player making $20,000. Add fame, recognition and all the perks and do you really think the average AA or AAA player will struggle less to make the jump to the big leagues?

If we really want to return Baseball to its rightful place as a national Pastime and a populist sport, a drastic cut in salaries and restructuring could do that. I say this begrudgingly I guess, because I love the game and I love the big name players, the World Series, the entire thing and it’s so big scale now that a drastic restructuring would shake it up completely. Will this happen? Almost certainly not. Should it? Yes. Will I continue to watch either way? Yeah.

I love MLB, movies, music and entertainment. Yet hearing the sportscasters lament that the stands weren’t full and that our expendable income was our choice (but “hint-hint” we should probably spend it at the baseball park) made it appear even odder to me that in a recession, we the fans are asked to show our support. We the fans who make between 20,000 and maybe $200,000 a year are to support those that make 2 million and up a year? I hope the amount these players are giving back to the community and the world has gone up tremendously in these hard times, yet I doubt it’s gone up enough. Why do we pay those that entertain us so much better than we pay those that protect us, save our lives, treat us in clinics, educate us and serve us?

Throwing Another Two Cents in on the Health Care Reform Debate

 

The news has been full of coverage concerning the health care reform debate. Now with the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy, we see clips of a young Ted giving speeches calling for health care reform, stating that the availability of universal health care for every American should be a right rather than a privelege. The clips date back 30 years and put the current debate in a sobering context. Many have fought for reform for a long time, in great depth ever since the profit-gleaning shift in the insurance business that occurred during Richard Nixon’s presidency. An excellent clip from Michael Moore’s documentary “Sicko” plays a recording of Nixon approvingly admiring a move to “great financial profit for private investors as a result of a new system of health care” (to paraphrase). So, it’s been a long time coming and it’s still not here.

So we see this continuous coverage. An excellent summation of what’ s happened, what is currently happening and what will likely occur at the end of this strain of the debate is laid out in the most recent issue of Rolling Stone. “Sick and Wrong: How Washington is screwing up health care reform and why it may take a revolt to fix it,” by Matt Taibbi is a comprehensive, stomach churning and head shaking look at the mess we find ourselves in today.

Granted, Taibbi makes Moore look look understated and unbiased. Taibbi writes in an almost Hunter S. Thompson-like gonzo, over-the-top and expletive laden vitiriol concerning social issues. Yet he nails every pressing point that gets swept under the rug on the mainstream television and radio. Tellingly, he lists that the so-called “Gang of Six,” the “bi-partisan” group of senators that are supposedly working towards a compromise on this issue all received major donations from the health sector in amounts ranging from $600,000 to a whopping $2,034,000 for Sen. Grassley, a leading Republican senator in the “gang.”  Do we really expect that such major donations don’t entail a “favor for a favor?” Each member of the gang has financially backed reasons for keeping the current system in place. Insurance companies make large profits under the current system, as do private investors and Wall Street bankers. Senators are untouched since they already have their own “public option” through the government simply by being senators. The only people that suffer under the current system are everyone else that have no, little or untrustworthy coverage.

Taibbi points out, like everyone else with clear reasoning in this debate including the 41 witnesses recently barred from testifying in a government review in favor of a universal plan, that the only option that is likely to work and make sense is one with a public option.  A public option will give everyone who is unable to purchase coverage in the current market and affordable means to do so. A public option will force the insurance companies to bring down their astronomical rates in order to be more competitive with the public option. Any universal plan without a public option will not do much of anything to sovle the current problems. In fact, any plan that passes without a public option as a “watered down” version of universal health care will simply leave the openents currently screaming “Socialism!” feeling vindicated and have them shouting “I told you so.”  If such a disaster occurs this country may never have a chance to pass a real and valid universal plan again. The major complaints voiced by senators in regards to the public option concern the existence and profits of the insurance companies. Taibbi quotes Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as saying that “private insurance companies will not be able to compete with a government option” and Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson as complaining that the public option will “win the game.”

So how have the opponents of the public option and of health care reform in general succeeded in what looks to be excising the public option from any possibly passing act?  By complaining– loudly, threateningly and accusatorily in hostile, misinformed and sensationalistic ways. Those on the other side share the blame by not addressing these loud and incorrect complaints fully. An excellent feature article in the Sunday, August 23rd edition of the Louisville Courier Journal compared the current struggle for health care reform to the many reform struggles faced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt over a half century ago. The difference now? FDR spoke out over the radio in a series of “fireside chats” to address the loud and false shouts of “fascism!” “socialism!” “communism!” and “total government control!”  that were hostilely being thrown at his administration. He decried the simple and shallow labels and fully explained that his reforms were in continuing with the American legacy of progress, reform and steady work to make this country a place where all have an equal chance and in which we can truly grow as a nation and as a people. Obama thus far has played it too safe in taking on his opponents in this issues. Now is the time to act, for there may not be an opportunity like this again.

2009’s Music So Far + DMB’s “GrooGrux King…”

It’s not yet August and I’ve already begun thinking about some of what will make my year end best of 2009 music list. The reason? There has been a surprisingly large amount of great new music this year already. If there is as much great material in the last half of the year it’s going to be hard to narrow and rank ten singles and ten albums. As for films, there’s plenty of room on my list for those since the greats usually hold out until the year’s almost up. But music? I’ve raved over Patterson Hoods “Murdering Oscar and Other Love Songs” as well as the new albums by Phoenix, Passion Pit and Morrissey.  Earlier in the year, two of my all-time favorite bands released albums that were okay for me then but have steadily grown better and better the more I hear them – U2’s “No Line on the Horizon” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Working on a Dream.” Two of my favorite ‘00 bands have released live album DVD combos– The Hold Steady and The Drive By Truckers. Green Day put out another great rock opera album. Neko Case released her second flawless album in a row. Steve Earle released a hauntingly good Townes Van Zandt covers record and his son Justin Townes Earl released a great county music album himself. The lead singer of My Morning Jacket, Yim Yames, took time from recording his first solo album to release a George Harrison covers album that is sheer beauty (not to mention the first ever George Harrison single disc career overview, “Let it Roll,” came out this year as well). Mos Def made his return to pure, low-key but high-talent hip hop with “The Ecstatic.” Jay Z and Lupe Fiasco released great hip hop singles to tease their up-coming fall and winter albums. I discovered the indie band “Grizzly Bear” through a performance they gave on David Letterman and found their pop-collage art rock album “Veckameist” to echo Steely Dan and Paul McCartney just enough to bring the listener in through familiarity to discover the most creative and original pop album in years. I’m still digging those Passion Pit and Phoenix albums as well.

You like James Brown? No one really makes jam-heavy, funked out R&B anymore, right? Wrong. “Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears” left Nashville and went national with their tight, funk rhythms’ and hardcore R&B in “Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is.”  On tour with my favorite current rock band The Gaslight Anthem is British folk rock and singer-songwriter Frank Turner, formerly of the punk band The Milkmen now his own solo act trying to prove modern male singer-songwriter acoustic music doesn’t have to suck. Death Cab for Cutie released “The Open Door”  EP with 4 new songs as good as anything that was on last years “Narrow Stairs.” Wilco, who have never make a bad album, made their most accessible and enjoyable album in ten years with “Wilco (The Album).” A columnist for Paste magazine said not voting for a Wilco album in a top ten list in the 00’s is like passing on a Stones or Beatles album in the late ‘60 and early ‘70s and she may be right.

Then, biggest of all for me so far this year has to be “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King” by the Dave Matthews Band. Now, I’m not a DMB fanatic. I don’t swap bootlegs and jam to 11 minute alternate takes of “Rapunzel” or anything. In fact, although I’ve always recognized them as good I’ve sometimes thought maybe they were a bit over-rated as to how hardcore of a following they seem to have, like Phish or something. I take it back. I loved “Broken Stuff” back in 2001 because the lyrics and songwriting were so fantastic and the religious observations are always a sell for me. I love some of their live albums for the great multi-layered band Matthews has to show off. But I love every thing about “GrooGrux.” Every song. From the sad sax notes that lead in on the intro (sad in that great DMB sax player LeRoi Moore died in an ATV accident before this album came out) to the sax outro at the end of the very last song.  “Shake Me Like a Monkey” is the best pure, energetic rock song DMB has ever released. “Funny the Way it Is,” and “Dive In” (among others) offer biting, relevant social commentary. The religious observations are back and poignant in “Lying in the Hands of God,” and “Time Bomb.” “Alligator Pie” is pure funk and fun. Every single song is good. I actually had a stack of coupons (I know, I’m cheap) while I was on vacation at a record store and stocked up on a few physical CDs (instead of free or discount downloads per usual) and I’m glad this was one of those because I love the artwork and the booklet/liner notes. I stared at the art and listened to the entire thing through at least twice and it’s been years since I’ve done that with any album. Get this album. There’s not a single wasted moment on it. It’s currently my front runner, but who knows what can happen musically in 5 months.

That’s all for now.

Summer Plugs

On a more trivial note, I suppose, I have to plug a few things. I haven’t posted on new albums and things in awhile, so I’ll take a few lines to spread the word on some notable releases.

First of all, if you’re a Drive By Truckers fan (and if you aren’t you should be), it’s a pretty good time to be one. Patterson Hood, co-founder and one of the lead singers/guitarists for DBT released his second solo album two weeks ago, “Murdering Oscar (and other love songs)” and CNN is already calling it the best record of the year so far. It’s a great album, backed by a full band on most tracks (unlike the at home solo recordings of Hood’s last non DBT outing). All are great sounding fully formed songs that are lyrical character studies of a wide range of humanity. Great music with good lyrics. Pick this one up the old-fashioned way (you know, at a record store), because the packaging is nice and the liner notes are very insightful. The record should hold you off until July’s CD/DVD combo release of DBT’s “Austin City Limits” live show and the upcoming fall release of a DBT B-sides, rarities and outtakes compilation

Also noteworthy recent music albums are the great power pop rock songs from French rockers Phoenix’ third album, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.” Also, for seriously bouncy perfect pop music check out “Manners” by the band “Passion Pit,” a throwback to 80s synth pop that remains sounding fresh. And, Morrissey’s latest album “Years of Refusal” may very well be the best and most cohesive work he’s put out since leaving the Smiths almost two decades ago.

In other mediums, if you are even a casual comic or graphic novel fan and you aren’t reading writer Jason Aaron and artist R.M. Guera’s excellent “Scalped” series from Vertigo/DC, you are sorely missing out. It’s available in 4 collected volumes (Indian Country, Casino Boogie, Dead Mothers, Gravel in Your Guts) and new single issues come out every month. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever read, a completely new and wholly American noir tale. The only thing giving “Scalped” a run for it’s money on intensity, depth and originality is the relatively new “Unknown Soldier,” another Vertigo title by writer Joshua Dysart and artist Alberto Ponticelli. “Soldier” is a thoroughly researched and eerily visceral take on Uganda and Congo political, war and civilian issues complete with child soldiers, violent civil wars and the re-imagining of the old DC character, the soldier clothed in full bandages. It’s available monthly, the first collected trade is scheduled to come out on September 1st, so mark your calendar and earmark your ten bucks because it’s more than worth it.

Last of all, with movies like “Star Trek,” “Wolverine,” “Angels and Demons,” “The Hangover” and “Transformers 2” raking in dough hand over fist, (good as some of them may be) it’s evident that the months of big, dumb, summer movies are upon us as the critical darlings are held back for the fall and winter. These big flicks are usually fun popcorn fare (Wolverine and Hangover were, I can’t speak for the others I haven’t yet seen them), but if you’re an indie, old-school horror or ‘80s underground film fan don’t forget to show director Sam Raimi a little love for “Drag Me to Hell,” his messy grand return to B horror schlock. I’m catching it this weekend hopefully, we owe him a bit of support for the “Evil Dead” films (even if he did drop the ball on a few aspects of the Spider Man films when he went big budget).

That’s all for now.

Salvation

Recruitment. Conversion. Uniform lifestyles, in-line opinions, conformed worldviews. Membership, belonging, being part of the in-group, tribe, community or church. Salvation?
In case you don’t know, I do not believe that last term belongs in a list of the terms that precede it. Meaning, “salvation” is not synonymous with belonging to a group or adopting an exact worldview.
I would argue that salvation is not a term for a momentary singular moment in which suddenly someone is adopted into a large spiritual family either. Salvation isn’t the reward for praying the right prayer or reciting the right doctrine or interpreting a religious scripture in the exact way as another has.

“Salvation” is a blanket term for something that is hard to describe succinctly. Salvation merely captures the essence as best as an English word (a human word for that matter) can. Yet it also means exactly what it infers. It’s a transformation, a lifted burden, a successful rescue. It’s when one finds what one has been missing, that moment or series of moments when the culmination of searching, pondering, questioning and struggling to make sense of life and the world all line up to give that person a sense of fulfillment, peace, guidance and direction.

It’s not about heaven, not really, at least not entirely. It’s certainly not about escaping a literal, physical place called “hell.” When I was a child I was scared to death of hell, so many church sermons and Sunday school classes convinced me that even as a young kid I was so rotten and misguided that I was hell bound, and that no matter how many times I prayed the right prayer, walked the aisle or got baptized, I never felt secure that I truly believed deeply and rightly enough to dodge the flames of hell. Then I got older, became more cynical, more doubting, a little more rebellious. I soon stripped all of those fears and spiritual insecurities from myself and for a time got over religion altogether. For many, that’s where it ends. A lot of people that are exposed early on to the “hellfire and brimstone” style of preaching turn away. They find such simplistic concepts of heaven, hell, salvation and damnation as out-of-touch and unrealistic and cringe over such stark black and white legalistic codes of morality. They don’t really know of any other version of Christianity, many probably assume the more liberal versions of it are just a softened and more PC version of what they grew up with, and these people are often pretty sure that since the supposed “pure” form of it that they were exposed to is hogwash, any “diluted” form of it is as well.

So as not to recap a lot of impertinent information for this article, I’ll briefly say that despite periods of doubt, cynicism, skepticism and anger at the establishment of modern American Christianity, I’ve always been interested in religion, theology and philosophy and that my searching eventually led me back to it, yet in a much different manner. I’ve written on this site many times about differences between moderate, liberal or traditional Christianity versus conservative, fundamentalist and legalistic Christianity. I’ve written of the multiple Christs that people create from their studies and worship. Yet as I grow deeper into my personal spiritual life, through study, reflection, education, worship and thought, I find a more solid, real perception of salvation, one in which I never fully grasped as a younger person. Salvation as I’ve said here and in other pieces, isn’t a “get out of hell free” card.

If you read my recent post, “The Church as it Could be: Social Justice Hub,” parts of this may sound like I’m beating that same topic to death, but I can’t help it, it seems so important to me. In the past two centuries Christians in America have been the primary “in group,” the group of folks who had such status that any negation of rights seems treasonous. Yet Christians started out as a subversive, alternative and persecuted group. After the Roman Empire, who had been the primary persecutor and opponent of Christ followers adopted Christianity as official national religion, the violence that Christianity so opposed suddenly began to be used to expand it. Now, of course in America it hasn’t been done that way. Yet in a land of civil liberties, religious freedom and encouraged tolerance most Christians haven’t experienced true persecution, intolerance and the like. So, fundamentalist preachers invent that sense of persecution. “The Government doesn’t support us.” Well, they shouldn’t. Separation of church and state is good for both church and state and historically supported by both. Not to mention that even when the government that is in power is a just, morally responsible one that most church members would be supportive of, the church still must exist wholly outside of government. Government and empire are polar opposites in that they are the established normalcy of civilization that the church is called to stand outside to urge toward just action and criticize for unjust action, always remain apart….remember, Rome was “the beast numbered with 666.” Empire is a form of antichrist….nothing more, nothing less.

The imagined persecution as perceived by the fundamentalists goes further. “The education system doesn’t respect us. We send our Christian children to college and they become liberal, anti-Christian.” This perception has created an irrational, eerie fear of education amongst religious fundamentalists. It’s gone so far that fundamentalists churches refuse to consider anyone who has received religious training, education and preparation from a seminary or state university as an applicant for a pastor at their church. Furthermore, in many areas of the country churches have formed “Kingdom Schools,” alternative “Christian” schools that they state exist to train their young to have the same beliefs, share the same doctrines and work in the same manner that they do. No longer do these schools attempt to prepare their children for state universities, universities that will “liberalize” and change them and send them away from their communities. Now they prepare them to step into their own community with the same opinions and values as their parents, right or wrong.
“The Media and pop culture deride us and persecute us.” Well, even though I am an ardent fan of quality pop culture, music, film, television, books or magazines I realize that pop culture and mass media are a reflection of society and it’s people. So, not even accounting for the poorly made garbage containing bad values or poor quality, even the best and most entertaining work still exists as a product of “normal” society. So although Christians may very well enjoy and love much of what comes to them through pop culture, they should always realize that it’s not supposed to express their values, beliefs and perceptions. It may echo them occasionally, sometimes it may capture the heart of it completely (and almost every time I’ve ever seen this happen in art, music or film it has come from established mainstream media and culture, not from so-called “Christian entertainment’ which usually exists to reinforce a small portion of Christianity and to exclude and separate Christians from the rest of the world rather than incorporate them with their fellow human). Christians in America, at least in fundamentalist camp, have forgotten that they aren’t meant to be the “in-group.” They shouldn’t depend on society, government, media or pop culture to prop them up, reinforce their opinions and applaud them.

The past few paragraphs probably seem like a detour since I’m discussing the concept of salvation, but I think it’s central to the issue. Christians that look for acknowledgement, respect and support from all of the above listed institutions are missing the point. Salvation is a release from desiring the support of those institutions. Salvation is a freeing of the mind, a renewing of the spirit. It’s a dying to the old ways of empire, society, wealth, and war and a rising to the ways of love, compassion, peace and nonviolent justice. In the early years, Christians faced real persecution. The kind that consisted of being beaten, beheaded and crucified, not made fun of in a Hollywood comedy film. The law of the land was stacked against their best interest, they were downtrodden, seen as threats to Roman security. Much different than a mere senate ruling that goes against a conservative pet issue (and then gets inflated and badly exaggerated from the pulpit).

A lot is made of England and western Europe being “post Christian” now. In England, only about 13 percent of the population attends any sort of Christian church on any type of basis. After decades of swelling, some have predicted that things would begin moving in that direction in the states as well. I can’t help but think that 13 percent, in England and in the states, is probably much closer to reality anyway. True Christianity is a minority, because it’s demanding, difficult and alternative. It’s a minority mindset, practice and lifestyle. Now, I don’t say this in the sense that some fundamentalists do. Many famous fundamentalists have stated that only a small percentage of their congregations are actually “saved.” I’m not stating that. I don’t consider only 13 percent “saved” in that sense. Of course, I don’t consider evangelicals, conservatives, fundamentalists or traditional Christians as “damned to hell,” but neither do I consider spiritually sound and loving Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews or Agnostics as damned to hell either, but that’s another issue altogether. No, I think 13 percent is more accurate because most of us who are raised in the Christian tradition make a public proclamation of faith at a very young age. I consider most of those early times I traipsed down the aisle more akin to the infant baptisms done in certain religious traditions. That infant baptism is a sign that parents will raise the child in that tradition. That young plod down the aisle and recited prayer was, at best an early sign that I would be raised in the tradition (at worse, and more close to the truth in my personal case, it was an overwhelming fear of the burning fires and gnashing demonic teeth of hell).

The point is, most people in America that walk down the aisle and proclaim the Christian faith really don’t understand the concept fully. It’s hard to understand that the normal machinations of society are built on war, greed, consumption, division, prejudice, violence, destruction and “peace through victory” and to feel a call to an alternative system of peace, love, compassion, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, unity, inclusion and “peace through nonviolent justice” at a young age; for many it’s hard to grasp that at any age. It’s hard to imagine that the majority of young converts feel the weight of societal pressures, personal failure, self-doubt and the incomplete feeling that one gets by being led to believe that happiness can only come from money, power, respect and adoration and thus find that deeper meaning, the sense of real fulfillment that results in realizing true
happiness comes from being at peace, working for justice, displaying love and compassion, and getting in touch with yourself through personal reflection and meditation. That all being said, I’m sure there are young converts that do just as I’m sure that there are many older people who never grasp the issues either.

I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day. We talked about the concepts and forms of Christianity that differ from our personal feelings and beliefs. I mentioned that I am consistently trying to be at peace with other beliefs, respect others positions even when I disagree. Yet my friend and I both agreed that certain aspects of Christianity as it’s expressed, falsely in our opinions, just angers us. My friend said he thought of why that was. “I don’t get angry at Buddhist, Jewish or Hindu doctrines, forms or thoughts I disagree with. Why do I with Christian opinions I differ from. Then I realized its because I am a Christian.” He gets angry at perversions of the central core of Christianity that he sees in popular, conservative thought because it is being done in the name of Christ when he sees no Christ in it.

So although I can peacefully and silently disagree with or politely debate with Christians who hold different opinions and doctrines from my own on a whole host of issues, and I can most certainly work side by side with them doing the actual physical social and community work that needs being done, there are certain issues, thoughts and perceptions that lose Christ so badly that I simply can’t help but feel angry at what is being marketed to huge populations of people who want to do what’s right and our truly seeking God yet are being shoveled something else. It makes me angry that such misperceptions have spread so much that the world at large thinks these misperceptions are generally what Christianity is and so they scoff at it, conversely making many of the intelligent and respectable liberal thinkers to write it off as well and state their own misperceptions towards it.

So I’m ending with a few key statements that set me and those like me far apart from many who claim to be the new mainstream Christians.

My God is not a vengeful God of wrath. My God does not look forward to some great raining down of fire and blood upon humanity, nor does my God prepare to be the cause of the destruction of all creation.
My perception of Christ is that of a Lamb. Jesus defeated evil and injustice through suffering, love, forgiveness and peace. He did not do this through violence, military might, the sword or battle. I am not waiting on a violent return of a Christ clothed in battle gear who will punish the world and accomplish his rule in a manner inconsistent with his teaching and living.

My God doesn’t expect me to wage a holy war on non believers. I am called first and foremost to look for Christ in the heart of the poor, the homeless, the sick, the children, the incarcerated, the forgotten, the war torn, the displaced, the immigrants, the prejudiced against, the discouraged.
I do God’s work by serving and helping others, giving others a kind word, encouraging and supporting, teaching and learning, living and loving. Not by seeking to conform others to a universal thought, opinion or lifestyle.

The Kingdom of God isn’t a future tense far removed place set outside of this world and I do not seek to rescue people from this world and lead them to set by and wait for either their death and removal from the world or some downpour of violence and Armageddon so that this world can be destroyed and replaced by something better. No, if I’m able to at all I point others in the direction of the kingdom of God by showing them help, love and consideration so that they can enter it here and now as a way of living in peace, working for peace and spreading peace wherever they go.
God does not hate. Jesus is not a violent warrior. I am not a Christian soldier.

The “Understanding Comics” Book Review

Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics” is the best critical analysis of the comic medium ever written. Equally as  important, it’s also a very entertaining comic in its own right. McCloud points out that all mediums and art-forms have a long history of self examination and exploration from within the movement itself, yet comics have only done that very minimally, with the work “Comics and Sequential Art”  by the master of comics Will Eisner being a notable exception, yet that work was written a half century ago, leaving much room to be covered.

“Understanding Comics” is part history lesson, part art criticism, part psychology, part sociology and part science. He breaks everything down to the root, the origins and the methods. How do comics work? What differentiates them from every other medium? What are they capable of and what should they strive to be?

The art is tremendous here as well. It’s very simplistic and “cartoony” predominantly, McCloud notes later that basic, “cartoony” work is adaptable and perceived to be very relatable to a wide margin of people. In a sense, we can all place ourselves in the shoes of a more simplistic looking cartoon or comic character more than a very detailed realistic looking picture which will automatically exclude many people on physical matters alone. Yet in McCloud’s exploration of artistic styles and methods comics use, sudden panels will look photo-realistic, or impressionistic, or even of a “high art” quality. McCloud is seemingly capable of any sort of art style he should desire to use, which makes his use of more supposedly “simple” methods all the more admirable. In the chapter on motion, the art runs and jumps and spins through the pages like a film, and in chapters on layout and composition the material will slow to a freeze point so that every important matter can be dissected.

The entire work is highly readable, never does it become dry, dull or overly like a textbook. This book deserves to be used in art classes, literature classes and sociology classes across the board because it is very bright, very academic, very deep yet unpretentiously so. A critical analysis that is utterly entertaining, at times humorous and informative of many broad areas that can be appreciated by those familiar or totally unfamiliar with the medium, with pieces of information that can teach even the most sophisticated and knowledgeable fan a thing or two new, it’s hard to beat this book with any remotely similar.