August 10, 2007
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Upgrade Hell: When The Abyss Winks Back
The sneezy tickling sensation in your nose is the dust of my dessicated corpse ambling Euridicye-like back from the pit. Unfortunately, I have about a hundred Orpheuses in front of me, any one of which might, at any moment, look backward, throwing me back as I scream the soulful wail of the damned.
Well, slight exaggeration. But only a little. After a long, tiring week and one migraine later, I'm eagerly looking forward to my weekend.
So, my former home state: nostalgic tipper of the 2000 election to Bush (as opposed to tipping it to Tipper's husband), today home to virulently homophobic assholish mayor of Ft Lauderdale, and now Bob "I tried to make myself look meek" Allen. Ah, Florida, and your penchant for nutty elected officials. (Yes, folks, Carl Hiassen did not make up (nearly enough of) the wackiness in his portrayls of my birth city.)
I realize that it's mostly because the GOP was in power for so long that their excesses are more apparent now, but the irony is so much more schadenfreude-licious when their dicks are hoisted by their own family values petard.
I'm . . . not sure that made sense, and frankly the image of Bob Allen's anything being hoisted is not an image I wish to dwell upon. Anyhoo, no one does schadenfreude better than John Stewart. "Correspondant" John Oliver defends Allen's even more bizzare statement that he offered to blow the cop out of terror:
. . . Oliver defended Florida State Rep. Bob Allen because, "black people are terrifying."
"I remember the Million Man March back in 1996," he said. "White people were lined on both sides of East Capitol Street, and out of sheer terror were (blowing) everyone who walked past them."
Heh.
Finally, meet the Bulgarian Boy George -- Azis! I'd seen him around as quite the European sensation, and I'd been incredibly wary of finding out anything about him let alone listening to his music. He is, against all probability, amazingly popular in Bulgaria and his shows pack huge crowds. Most of what else I've heard is way too pop-py for my tastes, but I secretly dig this one.
Comments (7)
I'm not sure if I followed all that or not. Personally my vocabulary generally deteriorates when I get exhaused and I'm left making wild gestures and grunting.
You on the other hand, sound a bit like someone tipped a dictionary over in your head and it's spilling out all over. I'm pretty sure you get bonus points for using dessicated, ambling, and Euridicye all in the same sentence. I have no idea what schadenfreude-licious might mean, but it sounds like it might be German, deep fried, and covered with a sweet sauce.
Mmm, schadenfreude! That guilty pleasure one sometimes experiences at the misfortune of others!
He so stole that outfit from one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. I'm pretty sure I saw Sister Helena Handbasket wearing that.
There's a whole word for the guilty pleasure one experiences at the misfortune of others?
huh. I guess I tend to either feel pleasure at their misfortune or I don't. Guilt doesn't factor in.
Is this one of those religious things where you believe one thing and do another?
How can you feel guilt and pleasure at someone else's misfortune; doesn't one cancel out the other and if it doesn't, what kind of person does that make you? Ah, well...tworavens said it better and with more panache...love his commentaries!
If it weren't for guilty pleasure, I'd have very few pleasures left.
Yes, it's entirely possible to feel guilt and pleasure simultaneously. In fact, I'm under the impression that most people operate under the premise of actively seeking such pleasure out. Sometimes one might be stronger than the other, but the whole breadth of human emotion is a complex tapestry.
It's closely allied with "grim satisfaction," "fascinated horror," and "compassionate conservatism." (Okay, not really that last one. Since it doesn't actually exist.)
hah! It's funny, you and I are so similar and so different at the same time.
I guess I just don't run that way much. Sure I seek out pleasure as much as the next person. And I often feel multiple emotions regarding a given situation.
But guilt generally requires a sense of a conflict between what the self wants, and what societal moors tell us we should do. I don't much care what society thinks, I make up my own mind on topics based upon thinking them through. So finding pleasure in the forbidden isn't a real draw. It isn't forbidden. It's just something that may or may not have consequences that may outweigh my own private pleasure.
If I'm really determined, I try to follow two basic principles. Don't harm others, especially small children and kittens, and the Eleventh Commandment: don't get caught.
btw: you should post more, I'm bored and need entertaining.
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