BetterMost Community Blogs > Daniel's Strange Connections
Strange Connections
Daniel:
I went in to our local Barnes and Noble earlier this evening where there was a full cardboard standup display of Josh Groban's new CD. As I have absolutely no money right now, I wonder why I went in. Loreena's new CD won't be released until Nov. 21, but I found out today that if you purchase her CD at B&N, it includes an extra track (Raglan Road or something like that.)
I hope you all are beginning to see why this thread is entitled Strange Connections. Josh Groban and Lorenna McKennitt have nothing to do with one another, except that they are both musical artists, and yet I go into Barnes & Noble on a day shortly after discussing some of the deeper meanings that her music has for me, and I find promotional materials for both CDs near the front of the store... Absolutely fascinating.
I noticed with a little tugging smile that the Josh Groban cardboard display had a "Reserve for Scott" post-it stuck to the back of it. Yeah for Scott.
Before I left B&N, I got my free tall hot beverage (A Chai Latte with added nutmeg powder) and an almond biscotti (only 94 cents after the 10% discount), and sat down to enjoy my beverage, noticing that a customer near me was reading "The Dummy's Guide To Communicating Effectively", and had a stack of books near him: "The Inner Fire of the Soul" and "Life Coaching" among them. I had previously purchased "The Inner Fire of the Soul" at Half-Price Books, and knew what an extraordinary accomplishment that book was. I left bemoaning the fact that People Magazine seems to have gone down the trendy road and focused upon celebrity gossip instead of any stories of particular human interest. That in turn led me to realize that so much of what is offered in our media in this current day and age (as opposed to 10 or even 5 years ago) is the maggot infested remnants of a materialistic, sadistic, voyeuristic society, and that shows such as "Jerry Springer" and the various courtroom shows cater entirely to this society. To be honest, I cannot even be in the same room as someone watching one of those programs without feeling my brain slowly turning to mush. If I can, I insist that it be turned off, otherwise I leave.
injest:
sneaking on to tell this
I have a scroll across the top of my computer screen with headlines...one of them is: Lohan calls Paris a four letter word
this is news? what is wrong with us?
Daniel:
Loreena McKennit's new CD is entitled "An Ancient Muse" and makes reference to Homer's invocation to the muses in the telling of his tales. What is arguably one of the greatest Homeric epic is of course the Iliad, which was portrayed relatively correctly in the film "Troy", a film which was ultimately unsatisfying because it does not portray the homosexual relationship between Achilles and his shield-bearer Patrocles. To a reader of the Iliad, the absence of this passionate union takes out the main source for Achilles' anger, so in the film he looks like an idiot, or worse, just a plain ***hole.
I suppose this can be compared with "Alexander", the theatrical release that painted a human standard so Homeric that the American audience had difficulty connecting with it and which spawned a Director's Cut where the scenes make even less sense than the theatrical version. In other words, I suppose there are some things that should remain in the written or oral traditions because they make the most sense there and not converted to a theatrical rendition.
Overall, both films failed to incorporate the ancient Greek or Hellenistic ideals that made the stories so great for their time period, and wondrous for those that can grasp even the barest hints of those ideals: masculine softness, emotionally complex subtlety, a ponderous or inquisitive nature, and the most important one of all, human fallibility. The films paint the Greek and Hellenistic armies as savage, trained warriors and while some may have had a little military training, it is more likely that the armies would have been composed of civilian conscripts. This is made very clear in the Homeric epics, where he does what he can to paint the warriors' private and civilian lives in addition to their military ones. These are not bloodthirsty savages but gentle country folk being forced by their kings to fight against those who were previously trading partners and competitors.
Daniel:
Today I heard two interesting songs on the radio, and I find this strange because it was not my favorite type of music or even a station I listen to regularly. The song "Unwritten". It took me a moment to realize that that was the title of the song and not just that the artist had never given it a title... lol. And the song "Waiting On The World To Change"
Unwritten
I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
Oh, oh, oh
I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten
Oh, yeah, yeah
Waiting On The World To Change
me and all my friends
we're all misunderstood
they say we stand for nothing and
there's no way we ever could
now we see everything that's going wrong
with the world and those who lead it
we just feel like we don't have the means
to rise above and beat it
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
it's hard to beat the system
when we're standing at a distance
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
now if we had the power
to bring our neighbors home from war
they would have never missed a Christmas
no more ribbons on their door
and when you trust your television
what you get is what you got
cause when they own the information, oh
they can bend it all they want
that's why we're waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
it's not that we don't care,
we just know that the fight ain't fair
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
and we're still waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting waiting on the world to change
one day our generation
is gonna rule the population
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
-----
Between these two songs I managed to find a sign advertising man purses (I didn't realize that was a legitimate term for business bags), and was surprised to find a recipe for Black Gold (1/4 Coca-cola, 3/4 Dr. Pepper) in a very unusual location. Considering that these two products are made by different companies, it is indeed surprising to find any public endorsement of a combination of the two. But then I recall that I live in Texas, where Dr. Pepper is the milk and honey. People still drive 150 miles or more to get the original recipe Dr. Pepper in Dublin, Tx. (It comes in the glass bottles and is made with pure cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.)
Are these connected? - not really. It's only interesting to note that strange things keep cropping up one right after the other.
In fact, there have been little connections that have occurred today, so I am still waiting for that strange and bizarre moment which will connect all the other strange and bizarre moments to provide a trail of hidden potential. I have them pretty regularly, so I'm certain that my signpost will come today at some point.
Front-Ranger:
I was just reading Scott (moremojo)'s words about Dr. Pepper on this same forum. Great minds think alike!!
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