Decadence. A Sermon.

The aged movie star rose late on that particular day. The interviewer was not to arrive until noon, and in the meantime the star was reflecting on the grooves between her toes and the curious sound her icebox made when it needed fixing. There used to be someone around to fix it, at all times. They took care of her icebox, and set her table, and cleaned up her crumbs. There never used to be any crumbs afterwards.
On Saturday she would go for a ride in the country with her friends and lovers. They cavorted until lunch, then had a picnic and tried not to pester the ants. Sometimes, they’d get lost and have to fight their way back. It was on occasions like this that the aged movie star would remove her skirt, stare at the stars, and prepare for the onslaught. After a brief initiation, she would parlay all day. Saturdays now are dull. Rarely anyone comes around, and when they do, the aged movie star is usually too tired to parlay.
Between meals, she used to lie on a huge velvet couch, wearing eyeliner and mascara and other things that went “shine.” All the boys would flock to her, and she would flock back in droves. The girls would flock too, and to them she’d coyly flirt. The secret meetings were a blast, and she delighted in subverting the neophytes.
When she was in the torture chamber, she’d erupt into a fury of pure energy and excitement. The aged movie star was pale on screen, but nebulous in the torture chamber. She would take it and give it, and relished both. She owned her own rack, but had to borrow the thumbscrews.
The moonlight would accompany her post-film studio excursions. Seclusion was their law, and revealing one’s identity was forbidden. The gate was underground, and the key was ecstasy for all involved, except a select few picked for their less ecstatic eccentricities. The aged movie star misses these types most. The way they agonized and extended themselves really made the post-film studio excursions exciting.
The morning has gone, and the icebox has stopped growling. The interviewer rests his case as the aged movie star relaxes. She has not been listening, and when questioned concerning her attention, rolls her eyes and apologizes. The fun she could have had with this man in the old days, she ponders, but dares not to say aloud. Instead, she offers an anecdote concerning the fate of one of her late co-stars and proclaims sadness for the family. If only they knew how many times she’d encountered him in full body suit, coated in apple cider and wearing a blindfold. But, the movie star thinks to herself, the old days have passed, and the ecstasy has been replaced with brittle bones and orange bottles.
Some nights, though, in the twilight hour, she sees an apparition of some former transgressor, and together they dance through the night. Someday, the decadence may return. Someday, she dreams, while the interviewer, strapped to an ironing board, screams in agony.

Dracula and Louisville Sluggers: Making Connections in a Chaotic World (By way of James Burke's K-Web)

The theme of this post is connections, the way in which things interact and make up our universe. The universe is, after all, a huge and massive topic to tackle. And what is intelligence if not the ability to make connections? Random trivia, the type of stuff that Ken Jennings is so adept at, can get you only so far. Facts, by themselves, mean nothing: the trick is to be able to take these facts and form a complete and coherent picture of something bigger. The way in which the facts combine can show how everything in the world is connected, and it is at times when this becomes apparent that you can truly appreciate the depth and brevity of the world we live in. This is something which British historian James Burke has been keenly aware of for many years now, and, through his televison shows Connections and The Day the Universe Changed, has tried to make clear to the rest of the world. Two things, seemingly nonrelated, can each be essential to the other. A development in one area hundreds of years before can cause events to happen hundreds of years down the line. In one way, this is the study of history at its most basic. Things may not always progress or get more advanced, but things always build on what came before, even if the buildings sometimes tumble. Dracula, immortalized by Bela Lugosi in Universal's 1931 classic on the one hand, and the louisville slugger, that sturdy baseball bat that made major league history, on the other. A connection between the mythos of modern vampires and the popular American sport of baseball can't surely exist, and yet between these two things, which on the surface seem to be at complete opposite ends of the spectrum, a vital connection exists. The louisville slugger was, in fact, made in 1884 for professional baseball player Pete "The Old Gladiator" Browning, uncle of Tod Browning, director of the 1931 horror film classic Dracula. Just imagine, in one corner, pale faced goth punks listening to obscure heavy metal rock bands singing about vampire lust and, across the room, beer bellied middle aged men with baseball caps taking bets on the night's baseball defeats and losses. Between these two groups, a connection exists, and neither is aware of it. It is a small world after all, but is it one that can be analyzed and graphed, with the connections filled it? This is what Mr. Burke is attempting to do with his new internet project, the K-Web or Knowledge Web. The projected plan calls for a large, global like map, filled with encyclopedias full of information and browsable not alphabetically or by subject but by...connections. Starting with baseball, you can find yourself staring next at a biography of Tod Browning. As xenophobic and as much as we would all like to stick within out tightly defined groups and clics, the world is large, and we've all got undiscovered connections to make. Click on the link to go to James Burke's K-Web . I highly recommend you read the section "The Vision" and watch the introductory film under the section entitled "The Project".

A Vision for this Blog

Before I begin my intentions for this blog, I'd like to make a few apologies. To begin, I'm lazy and, despite good intentions, will probably never update this thing as much as I should. I can say that I intend to add something new each day, but I'm sure I'll never do it. In fact, don't be surprised if this blog just gets abandoned at some point. It is bound to happen eventually. It will be a miracle if it can last a week.
Apologies out of the way, we can finally move on to the content of this blog. This will not be a political ramble. This will not be a simple list of movies and bands I like. This will not be a logical and coherent journal of my life. I do not really have interest in sharing every detail of my life with an internet audience, so when I choose to do so I will almost always lie. Now that you know what this blog is not, I shall tell you what it is. It is simply a place for me to share my thoughts and feelings on a variety of subjects. Occasionally, I will discuss political issues. I will also sometimes share movies or music that have had a profound impact on me. And you may learn a bit about me in the process. But don't expect a consistent format, a new post every evening at 6:00, and please don't check this blog regularly. You will be dissapointed.
If this is all beginning to sound somewhat pretentious, please don't let it. I'm really just talking out of my ass. I have no idea what this thing is going to be. I guess we'll just wait and see. I've included a picture of Donald Sutherland for your general amusement.

donald_sutherland
Originally uploaded by ebyitems.

Test Post

Please disregard this post. It is merely a test. Pay no attention to it. The time taken to read this post can instead be put to productive use in a number of other areas. I might recommend a long bubble bath or a quiet day at the park. Perhaps you'd prefere to share some milk and cookies with a loved one. All fine uses of time, more so than reading people's random thoughts on the internet. Seriously, I'm no more special than you. My own thoughts aren't really that interesting and I'm sure you can come up with euqally good thoughts if you try hard enough. I find that long showers really help immensely in stimulating brain activity. Something about the water beating slowly on your back. So go, read this no longer. A world awaits you, and I'm sure if you've taken the time to stumble onto this thing then you've been on the internet too damn long. Computers can cause brain damage (especially if you smash yourself over the head with them). I shall return later with a more proper first post and explain my vision for this blog. (I am an incredibly good visionary).