who'll stop the rain

From A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (bold emphasis mine):

"She [Marilyn Monroe] was just like our whole country - not quite young anymore, but not old either; a little breathless, very beautiful, maybe a little stupid, maybe a lot smarter than she seemed. And she was looking for something - I think she wanted to be good. Look at the men in her life - Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller, maybe the Kennedys. Look at how good they seem! Look at how desirable she was! That's what she was: she was desirable, she was funny and sexy - and she was vulnerable, too. She was never quite happy, she was always a little overweight. She was just like our whole country...
And those men, those famous, powerful men - did they really love her? Did they take care of her? If she was ever with the Kennedys, they couldn't have loved her - they were just using her, they were just being careless and treating themselves to a thrill. That's what powerful men do to this country - it's a beautiful, sexy, breathless country, and powerful men use it to treat themselves to a thrill! They say they love it but they don't mean it. They say things to make themselves appear good - they make themselves appear moral. That's what I thought Kennedy was: A moralist. But he was just giving us a snow job, he was just being a good seducer. I thought he was a savior. I thought he wanted to use his power to do good. But people will say and do anything just to get the power; then they'll use the power just to get a thrill. Marilyn Monroe was always looking for the best man - maybe she wanted the man with the most integrity, maybe she wanted the man with the most ability to do good. And she was seduced, over and over again - she got fooled, she was tricked, she got used, she was used up. Just like the country. The country wants a savior. They country is a sucker for powerful men who look good. We think they're moralists and then they just use us. That's what's going to happen to you and me. We're going to be used."



Obamamania says what?

Whisper words of wisdom...

"What's wrong with this country? There is such a stupid 'get even' mentality - there is such a sadistic anger...
Is this country so huge that it needs to oversimplify everything? Look at the war: Either we have a strategy to 'win' it, which makes us - in the world's view - murderers; or else we are dying, without fighting to win. Look at what we call 'foreign policy': our 'foreign policy' is a euphemism for public relations, and our public relations get worse and worse. We're being defeated and we're not good losers.
And look at what we call 'religion': turn on any television on any Sunday morning! See the choirs of the poor and uneducated - and these terrible preachers, selling old Jesus-stories like junk food. Soon there'll be an evangelist in the White House; soon there'll be a cardinal on the Supreme Court. One day there will come an epidemic - I'll bet on some humdinger of a sexual disease. And what will our peerless leaders, our heads of church and state... what will they say to us? How will they help us? You can be sure they won't cure us - but how will they comfort us? Just turn on the tv - and here's what our peerless leaders, our heads of church and state will say: They'll say, 'I told you so!' They'll say, 'That's what you get for fucking around - I told you not to do it until you got married.' Doesn't anyone see what these simpletons are up to? These self-righteous fanatics are not 'religious' - their homey wisdom is not 'morality.'
That is where this country is headed - it is headed toward oversimplification. You want to see a president of the future? Turn on any television on any Sunday morning - find one of those holy rollers: that's him, that's the new Mister President! And do you want to see the future of all those kids who are going to fall in the cracks of this great, big, sloppy society of ours? I just met him; he's a tall, skinny, fifteen year old boy named 'Dick.' He's pretty scary. What's wrong with him is not unlike what's wrong with the TV evangelist - our future president. What's wrong with both of them is that they're so sure they're right! That's pretty scary - the future, I think, is pretty scary."
(bold emphasis mine)


-from A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, written in 1987 and set in the 1970s

Another excerpt to come later. In the meantime, continue to be fucking amazed that the horrid future of this country was so fucking predictable. Or is it just that Irving was an amazing psychic?

Stick it in my yeah

So on this one fine evening this fine young lady decided to finally get her ass in gear and head down to Westheimer to get her totally deep and meaningful tattoo that she has been planning for months, even years. She knew exactly what she wanted: the words "Ancaro Imparo" in a sort of handwritten cursive font (called, quite nicely, Jane Austen) on her right wrist in white or goldenrod. She had searched online for the best tattoo studio around and found one that had rad reviews and seemed super legit for featuring the work of real artists and professionals (Sacred Heart Studio, if you're interested). After taking forever to do the worst parallel parking job in the world, she eventually arrived.

But lo and behold, dear readers...

They are such artists and professionals they refused to do a pale-colored and appropriately subtle tattoo! They claimed that without being in black, or at least outlined in black, it would all blur together and look quite incomprehensible. They offered to refer this fine young lady to another tattoo place that had lower artistic standards, but she figured that a studio that would refuse her business instead of give her a shoddy tattoo probably knew what they were talking about.

And so she headed home, a little relieved after the terrifying buzz of the needles and the thought that they would be anywhere near her wrist, but ultimately disappointed that she is now back at square one with regards as to how to permanently scar her body. Thus she is now open to suggestions. Got any?

In red blue green

If you didn't know I left, I'm back now! I went to Chicago for Lollapalooza, which all things considered was amazing. And it's kind of weird that I would think that, because I missed bands I wanted to see and some bands I wanted to see and did see weren't that great, so I think somewhere inside me my personal growth is growing towards happiness like a sunflower towards the sun. Whoaaaaa.

In light of that fact, I wanted some happy ancaro imparo news to spread. But uhh, everything starred on my google reader is pretty downbeat, and maybe its because of the coffee or the 7am sunlight, but I just don't wanna go there at the moment. So here's a loldog to brighten your day. Have a good weekend!