Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Janis Joplin is so horrible, I wish she had lived.

I have thought this for a few years, but I suddenly felt like sharing it in blog form.

I hate Janis Joplin so much that I wish she had lived. Why? Because had she lived, she would be known as the washed up hag that she truly deserves to be known as.

Janis Joplin is nothing short of wretched and it is only because she died that she has this "legacy". Any screaming homeless woman off the street could have helped pioneer women’s standing in the rock world had anyone bothered to put one on a stage. A few drug busts and bad albums, probably a disco album in the late 70s and her miserable attempt to keep up with the 80s, would have helped see Janis into the oblivion she deserved to be in. The desire to shield the world from her sperm-gagging vocals would have been overwhelming, and so she would have continued only as a train-wreck and public curiosity.

Think about if Courtney Love died in 1995. She was on top of her game then. She was the grunge widow to be pitied, the mother of Kurt Cobain’s only child and "Live Through This" was generally considered to be awesome. Had she died, no matter how it happened, she would have held this legacy of the grunge queen who was taken from us. A suicide to follow Kurt’s would have sealed her as rock royalty for years to come.

But thankfully, she lived, allowing us to see and remember her as she deserves to be. From grunge widow, she morphed into a glamorous movie star. She fueled the fire that Kurt had written “Live Through This” when “Celebrity Skin” considerably failed to meet expectations and the glory of the former. Then down she went into a drug-addled mess, worse than we had ever seen her. Right when it seemed she was on the rise and leaving her rock roots behind for glamour and mainstream superstardom, (which was all she ever really wanted anyway), she crashed and burned more spectacularly than any detractor could have hoped for, with drug arrests, assault arrests, a tanking solo album and humiliating talk show appearances. (See her 2004 Letterman appearance.)


Courtney in her more glamourous times before the fall.



Courtney fell, and fell hard by living



Courtney's disgraceful appearance on Letterman.

Just looking at the rise and fall of Courtney Love, we can see what might, and should have become of the horrific Janis Joplin. From ‘hero’ to ‘hag’ in five paragraphs.


Wednesday, August 09, 2006

So, I'm in love with Superman



I recently went to see Superman Returns. I have been a huge fan of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies since I was a wee thing and he was certainly one of my earliest crushes.



I always thought it was Christopher Reeve I was into, and prior to seeing the latest edition with Brandon Routh, I did not think he was particularly attractive. But once the movie got going and they used the exact same theme from the original film, I was back in Metropolis and before long, I realised that it was not Christopher Reeve I had the hots for, but Superman! I suddenly found myself quite taken with the man of steel in the same way, no matter who was playing him.



In a scene where he emerges from the water, I thought he was totally hot and reminded me of how wonderful Superman looks in the 1978 film when in Lex Luthor's pool, weakened by the kryptonite around his neck. *melt*. I love when that suit is a few shades darker from the water. Oh, and it's also dark when he's bad Superman in Superman III. There's something exciting about such a good guy turned badass, drunkard and dirty.


I'm surprised I didn't figure this out sooner since I never really found Christopher Reeve that exciting in anything else I saw him, or even in Superman II after he relinquishes his power. His hair is soft and shaggy and not all slicked back and out of the way for crime fighting or news reporting.

Yep, it's Superman I love.


Oh, and I can't forget that Superman's personality has a lot to with it too. Probably has the most to do with it. He's just such a great guy! He's a total sweetheart, but in no way a pussy. Gosh, it has to be his personality or how else could I be into a man who wears undies over tights?

What are atheists talking about?


I was at a show the other night and told my friend that another friend from an atheist message board I am on was coming to the show. My friend kinda laughed and asked what we talk about. Not that she didn't understand atheism, but rather, why do we have anything to talk about? We don't believe in God! Why are we going on and on about what we DON'T believe in?

Ricky Gervais put it so perfectly in the first episode of Extras, when, after being asked to defend his atheism he said something like "No, the burden of proof is on YOU," referring to the believer.

What is with us atheists who can't stop talking about how God doesn't exist? I'm sure believers would be quick to say that it's because we feel threatened. There is some truth to that, but not threatened by the power of their God or their faith, as they'd like to think. But rather the oppression that can be foisted upon you as a non-believer. People can think pretty poorly of you if you don't believe in something. Even the most liberal agnostics will frown as if we've gone too far by not believing at all. Like our souls are black holes with no hope for the future. So are we talking about it to justify our position?

Why do I think about it so much? Why do I spend so much time puzzling over something that I don't believe in? I think it's because, believer or not, gods and religions are something we're surrounded in. It poses so many questions that I feel I can't help but think about it. Being constantly confronted with people believing in something you believe to be a grand farce perpetuated by the human ego, is frustrating! It's like sitting back and watching everyone drink the Kool-Aid.

When someone talks about being blessed because they missed in a plane that hit the World Trade Centre, which is indirectly saying that those aboard were NOT blessed, it aggravates me to see someone spouting out such self serving tripe so I can't help but evaluate and dissect why that notion is utter crap.

Furthermore, it's a fascinating topic. What makes such great numbers seek the existence of a god? So it becomes a game to find all the things that don't add up, and still people hold a belief.

I use to think Agnostics were wishy washy people who just didn't believe in organized religion or couldn't be bothered thinking about anything, but said they believed in something "just in case." I've more recently realized that while some are simply disinterested, many think about it but just hold out that there is just no way they can be sure there isn't a god. When I look at that diplomatic stand point, I wonder whether or not I should ease up and open up to the possibility that there is something that I will never be able to understand. But all my logic argues against any existence and I just can't do it. Am I as bad as a determined believer, only determined to disbelieve? I don't want to argue against the unknown, but to me it's like saying, "After all the mechanics that make a plane take off, how do you know that magic isn't behind it?" And I suppose it very well might, but I have a fair idea that magic has nothing to do with it.

Maybe I should become a Buddhist. Then I'm basically an atheist who can just fucking chill out about it.