EonBlue

One Million Dollars!

Actress Jamie Lynn Spears and her mother, Lynne, were paid about $1 million by OK! magazine for the exclusive story on her pregnancy, with options to purchase additional material, including first pictures of the baby. “Lynne knew OK! would pay the most,” says a source. “It was her decision”

So who are the pathetic little trailer trash monkeys that buy these craptastic media whores magazines and listen to her big sister’s dying-mule-braying noise that passes for mainstream music? How many of them voted for Dubya? I could see an interesting thesis here.

An interesting tangential note on this is a recent article I read in my local newspaper. The article was describing how the religious-right were in a bit of a bind over this issue. One the one hand, they are elated that she didn’t abort. On the other, they want to stress responsibility. That’s great. Don’t tell kids about birth control, “just say no” to primal urges hardwired into our primate bodies. Then, when the inevitable happens, provide no assistance to the mother who will now have to drop out of school because she wasn’t responsible. The ones who need to be taught responsibility are these wingnut bible beaters, the responsibility of society to help prevent pregnancies in the first place with policies that actually work, provide all the services needed (including abortion), and if the child is born, provide education and other assistance to the mother so that the cycle can be broken in the future.

And how much responsibility does some as rich as this person and her family have to have to take care of this kid? Nothing will change for her, since she will hire the nannies and other people who will actually take care of the child. Before long, I bet she will be on the front page again for some other dumb stunt, just like her sister. Rinse and repeat. I would love to be wrong about that, but I’ll take the odds.

From CNN:

Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests attacked each other with brooms and stones inside the Church of the Nativity as long-standing rivalries erupted in violence during holiday cleaning on Thursday.

If they were really serious about their religions, then guns and explosives should have been used.  Perhaps some hostages taken, tortured, and executed.

Oh well, I’m sure Jesus would have been proud of the two sects sticking up for what they believe in, in his birthplace no less.

This past Friday (21 December 2007) I finally received the new video for the song Vicarious from Tool. I consider Tool to be one of the few transcendent musical bands in modern history. Their music is technical genius, combined with power imagery and symbolism in the lyrics. Now, it goes without saying that I’m no fan of all the meta-physical New Age-y woo woo, but I find other meaning in the images. I also really like the art work of Alex Grey, whose images feature prominently in this video. He is even listed as a co-director. I guess I maintain a cognitive dissonance, liking the art but ignoring the woo behind it. But is it cognitive dissonance if I’m aware of it? Hmm, but I digress.

First, I need to comment on how I acquired the DVD. I decided to be a good member of the Tool Army and purchase this from the online store on the members-only site. I won’t be doing this again. Why? Because I paid several dollars more for the DVD than if I went to my local Best Buy and bought it, and I had to wait an extra 4 days after the official release before I received it in the mail. Without a good reason as to why I should send my money to Tool Army, I will purchase future DVDs from a local store. I have purchased pre-sale concert tickets and they were great! But as far as this DVD purchase is concerned, I have to give the online store a thumbs down.

Anywho, on to the actual DVD. The packaging is similar to the 10,000 Days album, with a built-in stereoscope viewer. There are 5 double-sided inserts that have stills from the video in 3D, which you can insert into a handy-dandy slot in the cover for easy viewing. The images are fantastic through the viewer, with a great 3D effect. Beyond this, there are no liner notes or any other documentation.

The DVD menu is not too cryptic, with options for the video and extra material. I’ll tackle the extra material first. There is audio commentary by David Cross. I first became a fan of his from Mr. Show, and his commentary here is quite funny. There are actually two different commentaries by Cross. Basically, he is sitting at home with his dog watching the video. Nothing more to be said about this, but I think this quote from the first commentary gives a good summary of what you will find:

It’s all about windows, uh, are the eyeballs to the soul. Or something like that. The soul is the window to the eyeball, I believe.

There is a short documentary of how the video was created. It goes into the background of Adam Jones, and his move from stop-animation to CG. This Tool video is the first one that is done entirely in CG. There is also background of some of the other important persons responsible for the video, including Alex Grey. It is quite interesting to watch.

The video itself, as mentioned before, is completely done in CG. However, I don’t think this takes away from the presentation at all. It doesn’t have the earthy feel that earlier Tool videos have, but I think that is part of the message here. The song Vicarious is about the addiction to technology, to the mass media, and especially to violence. As humans, we haven’t evolved very far from the hunter-gatherer primitive that lived in fear of death all the time, but for a lot people on this planet that fear has been assuaged. We still need the thrill, though, and so we turn to television and other mass media to get it.

The video contains lots of symbols, some familiar to Tool fans, and some new. We see the “Twitching Man”, which is noted by Cross in his commentary as present in every single Tool video ever. We have tons of eyeballs. The Alex Grey painting Net of Being features prominently last third of the video in a very nicely done adaption to CG with a heavy 3D effect. The end of the video shows Transformation to Enlightenment, like in the Parabola video from the album Lateralus. Familiar themes to be sure, but a tinge of a heavier, despondent feel to most of the video: A parched, dessicated earth, the blood sucker flea, the three tentacled floating eyeball destroying everything it touches. But in the end, the being is able to see through the “reality” presented and reach Enlightenment by the union of the sperm-like extensions of the being with the knowledge from the Net of Being.

I believe the message in the song communicated effectively.  I’ve only viewed the video a few times, so I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the more subtle aspects.  Obviously, the main theme is that we are capable of breaking through from this terrible reality that drains us and can reach Enlightenment.  Reminds me of a Bill Hicks saying that “Watching television is like taking black spray paint to your third eye.”  I tend to agree with this sentiment, though there is some good media out there to watch.  But what passes for mainstream television these days, like American Idol or Survivor, is pure unadulterated crap.  It appeals to the lowest common denominator and has nothing of value.  It could pass for pornography.

In summary, I very much enjoyed this video, and really shows off the animation talent that Adam Jones possess, and I think this is his finest work to date.  I highly recommend this video to any Tool fan, or any fan of great art.