I'm going to say something here and it might offend the other people of my generation... I've never really been that into Obama. I've always felt he was a bit too "politician" and not enough "person." I think that he's not as left as people say he is.
I really like him as a symbol, though. Everything that his election represents is incredibly powerful. And I'm not just talking about the election of a minority to the shittiest most powerful job in the country. I'm talking about electing someone with moral standards, someone who represents change. Someone who represents America for the People and not America for the Corporate.
Obama has always represented Change. That's something that interests me.
And I must say I'm incredibly impressed.
His precedent-setting first 100 days are off to a great start. America is working on redefining stances on torture, terror, the environment and human rights. We'd developed a draconian image in a lot of ways there. We're becoming a moral, upright nation.
I'm still not certain he'll live up to "the hype." But I am certain he'll provide change. And I don't think anyone seriously expects him to live up to "the hype."
Hrmm. This post is poorly written. Maybe I'll edit it. I have a poor track record at that, though. So, I'm posting it.
So, this one is for all my homies who had to drive across upstate New York for four years.
The comic in question is Octopus Pie. I've tried to get into it before and failed. This time, however, it seems to have stuck and I'm quite digging it.
Also, at the recommendation of a dude who plays at Blue every now and again, Craig Mathieson, I have scoped out The Bowerbirds. Now it is I who will do the recommending.
And last week was a cool week at Blue. I went on Thursday as I normally do - generally because Sam James is playing - and saw a different act. Jesse Ray Carter. I was the only person there, apart from his lady and the owners. We chatted after his set and I found out that he was trained by none other than John Hammond! How sweet is that?
So, all of that stuff is cool.
Then the next day was Death Match VIII. Death Matches are always Sam James versus Meantone. They play to the death. I only made it for two songs, but Mr. Carter was there and pointed me out, so I got a wave out of Meantone. I'm looking forward to the next one.
This is Big Bird singing "It's Not Easy Being Green" at Jim Henson's memorial.
Personally, this is one of the sweetest, saddest videos I've ever seen. I was moved to tears. I'd like to say it's not often that I cry, but that's not completely true. It is true, however, that I don't often cry like this.
I think part of that - the tears, that is - is because I hold Jim Henson in extremely high regard. He did a wonderful thing with both The Muppets and Sesame Street. There's some ineffable quality to them that makes them both child-likable-yet-adult-relatable. He created something that doesn't talk down to children but does cater to them.
If I lived my whole life and created something half as wonderful as The Muppets, I would die a happy man. And Big Bird's ode is perfect. Just perfect.
This video is a really good sort of cry, you know? One that truly honors the memory of the mourned. Like John Cleese's eulogy at Graham Chapman's funeral. It doesn't reek of over sentimentality. It just is. And that you can hear Big Bird's voice breaking up a bit just makes it all that much more perfect, more honest and more true.
This is the sort of thing you'd like for your own funeral. And I don't mean Big Bird singing, I mean the emotion, heart and honesty. The devotion. The truth. It's not easy being green. But it does have moments of wonder and awe and sometimes people really do recognize that being green is awesome. Jim Henson was green, you know? People loved him but they didn't Get him.
I don't know. I'm still getting weepy eyed just thinking about the video ten or fifteen minutes later. Maybe I'm biased. But when I think of the gods of humanism, Jim Henson is at the top of the totem pole.
So, I've blogged before about Portland being the start of the Temperance Movement and how funny I find that. Not "Ha ha" funny, mind you, but "huh" funny.
Switch Magazine - a publication I generally detest - has a pretty great article about a Portland Prohibition Tour.
Also, Salty Buddies of Age, we should take advantage of this guide. What are we doing next Tuesday 'noon? We're taking a walking tour of Portland's intolerant past.
I've got a lot of pride in Maine. In Portland. In Sebago.
It has blossomed since moving out to Portland. I can't put my finger on quite why. I love The City, that's one part of it. I think another might be the fact that I'm working for the news and get to hear about The State every day.
I feel connected to it.
Every day I'll hear something that reminds me of growing up here. Of the "magic" - if you will - that brings thousands to The Pine Tree State every year. Every day is a new day with new stories and yet, it's all strangely the same. Everything has a root somewhere back in Maine History. It's a strange spiraling sort of thing. I'm not really sure I can explain it. But I do love it.
Anyway, I found an article that speaks to that very "magic" sort of feeling that can be found throughout the state. It's the same everywhere here, but it's different because every part of the state is different.
The article was written by one Heidi Julavits for Slate.com. Julavits is a native but not quite. She explains it quite artfully in her article, I think.
To wit:
But non-natives—"From Aways" in native parlance—aren't the only ones indulging in gross acts of distortion. Maine's state slogan, recently changed from "Vacationland" to "The Way Life Should Be," represents one of the boldest moves in the annals of intentional misrepresentation, depending on your notion of ideal living conditions. There are more obese people in Maine than in any other New England state. In Maine, it's illegal to bait bears with donuts and then shoot them (presumably, people, and bears, should be less fat because of this law). Maine has more cat owners than any other state. Maine's drug of choice is coffee brandy. If you want to grow your own food, which an astonishing number of people in Maine feel compelled to do, you have 122 days to accomplish this between frosts. The annual mean temperature on the coast, where I live four months per year, is 46 degrees (40 degrees up north). If you spend a year in Maine, you'll enjoy 128 days of rain, 48 days of fog, and 17 days of snow. The only state poorer than Maine in 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina, was Louisiana. Meaning, the only state worse off financially was a state that suffered the most crippling natural disaster in the history of this country. In Maine, meanwhile, 2005 was business as usual—just a lot of fat people hanging out in the rain with their cats, drinking coffee brandy and trying, without cheating, to kill a bear.
