Category Archives: zombies

On mystery

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Human beings are intrigued by the unknown and strive endlessly to know more, to clear up the mystery. Yet, we are also plagued by the unknown, the inexplicable, the mysterious. Modern manifestations of pop culture delve deeply in the mystery genre, and weird pop culture delves into cryptozoology and make-believe monsters, trading in ancient astronauts and Bermuda Triangles. Many mysteries are not mysteries at all when seen against the background of real science and rational empiricism. A person disappears, a bank is robbed, someone lies dead in their own living room, a painting is stolen, the power goes out, a window get broken, the car won’t start, your stomach hurts, and you don’t have an explanation for any of it. A letter is lost in the mail, the washing machine breaks, the roof leaks. We have a hundred mysteries around us all of the time: a strange noise in the night, a familiar looking face at the mall that you haven’t seen in twenty years, a ringing phone but no one answers. We are constantly trying to solve one mystery or another. One of the greatest fictional detectives of all times, Sherlock Holmes, is the modern model and poster boy for mystery solving and rational empiricism. Holmes’ success drove his creator, Conan Doyle, to distraction because he had no idea his detective would turn into one of the wildly successful characters of all time. The mystery genre publishes thousands of new titles every year–the reading public can’t get enough. Mysteries are probably popular because the mirror the chaos of daily life, and since we can’t bring order to real life, we live vicariously through the detectives that bring order to their fictional world. We feel better about our own chaos as order is restored when the detective lets us know that the butler did it.

On mystery

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Human beings are intrigued by the unknown and strive endlessly to know more, to clear up the mystery. Yet, we are also plagued by the unknown, the inexplicable, the mysterious. Modern manifestations of pop culture delve deeply in the mystery genre, and weird pop culture delves into cryptozoology and make-believe monsters, trading in ancient astronauts and Bermuda Triangles. Many mysteries are not mysteries at all when seen against the background of real science and rational empiricism. A person disappears, a bank is robbed, someone lies dead in their own living room, a painting is stolen, the power goes out, a window get broken, the car won’t start, your stomach hurts, and you don’t have an explanation for any of it. A letter is lost in the mail, the washing machine breaks, the roof leaks. We have a hundred mysteries around us all of the time: a strange noise in the night, a familiar looking face at the mall that you haven’t seen in twenty years, a ringing phone but no one answers. We are constantly trying to solve one mystery or another. One of the greatest fictional detectives of all times, Sherlock Holmes, is the modern model and poster boy for mystery solving and rational empiricism. Holmes’ success drove his creator, Conan Doyle, to distraction because he had no idea his detective would turn into one of the wildly successful characters of all time. The mystery genre publishes thousands of new titles every year–the reading public can’t get enough. Mysteries are probably popular because the mirror the chaos of daily life, and since we can’t bring order to real life, we live vicariously through the detectives that bring order to their fictional world. We feel better about our own chaos as order is restored when the detective lets us know that the butler did it.

On Halloween

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Costumes, candy, horror stories, parties, and lots of strange behavior mark the final day of October. I think that most mainstream religion visibly cringes at the religious tones of the holiday, or just relaxes and accepts it openly as one of those strange manifestations of supernatural belief that can neither be denied nor dismissed. There exists a carnivalesque atmosphere that draws people in who dress as zombies, politicians, monsters, superheroes, or whatever as an expression of the innermost desires to be heard and seen as something other than what they are during a routine day. Halloween is definitely a break from the routine, a break from the established social orders, a break from the sadness that often crowds into our daily lives. People wear masks, or perhaps they take one off. They eat candy–lots of it. Perhaps what people are doing with Halloween is confronting their fears–of the darkness, of the unknown, of the future, of economic ruin, of joblessness, of death. The dark, festive nature of Halloween is attractive because it speaks to the repressed desires that lurk just off camera for most people. Whether those desires are sexual, or violent, or perverse, or gluttonous, or lazy is the thing that brings out the ghosts and goblins on the last day of October. The year is winding down, summer is over, and the year is drawing to a close, boredom is creeping in from all sides. Halloween is a salute to our darker natures, the hidden ego, which, for one day a year, gets a chance to go out on the town and play.

On Halloween

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Costumes, candy, horror stories, parties, and lots of strange behavior mark the final day of October. I think that most mainstream religion visibly cringes at the religious tones of the holiday, or just relaxes and accepts it openly as one of those strange manifestations of supernatural belief that can neither be denied nor dismissed. There exists a carnivalesque atmosphere that draws people in who dress as zombies, politicians, monsters, superheroes, or whatever as an expression of the innermost desires to be heard and seen as something other than what they are during a routine day. Halloween is definitely a break from the routine, a break from the established social orders, a break from the sadness that often crowds into our daily lives. People wear masks, or perhaps they take one off. They eat candy–lots of it. Perhaps what people are doing with Halloween is confronting their fears–of the darkness, of the unknown, of the future, of economic ruin, of joblessness, of death. The dark, festive nature of Halloween is attractive because it speaks to the repressed desires that lurk just off camera for most people. Whether those desires are sexual, or violent, or perverse, or gluttonous, or lazy is the thing that brings out the ghosts and goblins on the last day of October. The year is winding down, summer is over, and the year is drawing to a close, boredom is creeping in from all sides. Halloween is a salute to our darker natures, the hidden ego, which, for one day a year, gets a chance to go out on the town and play.

On dystopia in the movies

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In no particular order, these are my favorite dystopia movies: On The Beach, Logan’s Run, Soylent Green, Omega Man, The Stand, The Hunger Games, Silent Running, Planet of the Apes, Blade Runner, Fahrenheit 451. A dystopia is a society with little or no order or too much order-anarchy or fascism. Democracy as we know it has disappeared in some sort of horrific way and either the government controls everything or there is no government at all and it’s every person for themselves. All of these dystopias have suffered some sort of catastrophic occurrence which has wiped out the government as we know it today. Some arevery futuristic, such as Blade Runner or Logan’s Run, while others, such as The Hunger Games or Fahrenheit 451 are timeless. On the Beach is about the Earth after a nuclear war as is Planet of the Apes. The Stand is about the world after a bad case of the flu. I am fascinated as to why people (or myself) like to watch such films of disaster, depression, isolation, hopelessness, and tragedy. 1984 could just as well be on this list, but the fascism depicted inthe film is so depressing and horrific that I cannot bear to watch it a secondtime. Are these films warnings? I think that a film like Silent Running, an eco-dystopia, is indeed a warning against our unbridled use of the planet, but against what does Blade Runner warn us? Many of these films are tied to the out-of-control use of technology, which the inventors do not understand fully. There is always an element of nostalgia tied into each film, which harkens back to a legendary golden era of happiness in which all was perfect and correctly ordered. I would give the movie “V” an honorary mention for its cruel depiction of fascism. Curiously enough, though not a true dystopia, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” leaves the viewer with lots to think about as well.

On dystopia in the movies

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In no particular order, these are my favorite dystopia movies: On The Beach, Logan’s Run, Soylent Green, Omega Man, The Stand, The Hunger Games, Silent Running, Planet of the Apes, Blade Runner, Fahrenheit 451. A dystopia is a society with little or no order or too much order-anarchy or fascism. Democracy as we know it has disappeared in some sort of horrific way and either the government controls everything or there is no government at all and it’s every person for themselves. All of these dystopias have suffered some sort of catastrophic occurrence which has wiped out the government as we know it today. Some arevery futuristic, such as Blade Runner or Logan’s Run, while others, such as The Hunger Games or Fahrenheit 451 are timeless. On the Beach is about the Earth after a nuclear war as is Planet of the Apes. The Stand is about the world after a bad case of the flu. I am fascinated as to why people (or myself) like to watch such films of disaster, depression, isolation, hopelessness, and tragedy. 1984 could just as well be on this list, but the fascism depicted inthe film is so depressing and horrific that I cannot bear to watch it a secondtime. Are these films warnings? I think that a film like Silent Running, an eco-dystopia, is indeed a warning against our unbridled use of the planet, but against what does Blade Runner warn us? Many of these films are tied to the out-of-control use of technology, which the inventors do not understand fully. There is always an element of nostalgia tied into each film, which harkens back to a legendary golden era of happiness in which all was perfect and correctly ordered. I would give the movie “V” an honorary mention for its cruel depiction of fascism. Curiously enough, though not a true dystopia, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” leaves the viewer with lots to think about as well.

On sleepiness

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Is there a more powerful feeling in this life than overwhelming sleepiness when your body aches for sleep, but you fight it, fighting to keep your eyes open and stay awake? We’ve all felt it after a particularly large meal, or during the Sunday morning sermon, or in a boring lecture class (with a boring powerpoint on the screen and the lights turned down low), or at a boring play, concert, or ballet. Your eye lids are heavy and want to swing down and turn off your lights. Sometimes there is no known force of will that can keep your consciousness from slipping off into the dark abyss of sleep. Your body knows you better than you do. There are times when your mind wanders, you start to think of waves lapping on the shore, of a clock’s regular ticking, of sheep jumping over a fence, of a soft wind blowing gently through the trees, of the regular whine of a huge jet engine, and before you know it, you have detached yourself from reality. You can no longer hear the pastor’s voice, you don’t know what song the orchestra is playing, you no longer care what day it is or where you are, you realize you are fishing on some unknown lake and sunlight glints gently off of the waves. You fall asleep, and the transition from awake to asleep has occurred seamlessly, realities intermingle, drift apart, mix, but you are now constructing a different reality, and the body is ignoring what is going on around you. You can try to fight sleepiness by drinking coffee, sitting up straight, focusing on what is being said, but most of that fight is just putting off the inevitable. I don’t think there is a person on earth who hasn’t fallen asleep at the wrong time at some point in their life. I am particularly bad because I like to stay up late, but this has got to change. Falling asleep during the sermon is particularly bad, but I fell asleep at the dentist office the other day while I waited for the dentist to finish some part of the procedure. What can I say, I didn’t get enough sleep the night before and the weather channel was boring that morning. I have fought sleep while listening to conference papers that were a little less than interesting. The thing is that we run from thing to thing like crazy people, but when we stop for two minutes to sit down and listen to some complicated rhetorical argument, the body takes advantage to shut down all systems for a short restorative nap, whether we like it or not. That’s the problem with sleepiness: it isn’t something that one can always control. People are killed, tragically, every day because they have fallen asleep at the wheel of their vehicle. They never intended to do that, kill themselves, but sleepiness is a stealthy adversary, and we are often asleep before we ever realized we were sleepy in the first place. I would like to say that this never happens to me, but it’s happening to me right now, and the only thing that is keeping my eyes open right now is writing this short note on “sleepiness.” If I were to put this down and walk away from the computer, I’m sure I could sleep for a good hour before ever noticing.

On sleepiness

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Is there a more powerful feeling in this life than overwhelming sleepiness when your body aches for sleep, but you fight it, fighting to keep your eyes open and stay awake? We’ve all felt it after a particularly large meal, or during the Sunday morning sermon, or in a boring lecture class (with a boring powerpoint on the screen and the lights turned down low), or at a boring play, concert, or ballet. Your eye lids are heavy and want to swing down and turn off your lights. Sometimes there is no known force of will that can keep your consciousness from slipping off into the dark abyss of sleep. Your body knows you better than you do. There are times when your mind wanders, you start to think of waves lapping on the shore, of a clock’s regular ticking, of sheep jumping over a fence, of a soft wind blowing gently through the trees, of the regular whine of a huge jet engine, and before you know it, you have detached yourself from reality. You can no longer hear the pastor’s voice, you don’t know what song the orchestra is playing, you no longer care what day it is or where you are, you realize you are fishing on some unknown lake and sunlight glints gently off of the waves. You fall asleep, and the transition from awake to asleep has occurred seamlessly, realities intermingle, drift apart, mix, but you are now constructing a different reality, and the body is ignoring what is going on around you. You can try to fight sleepiness by drinking coffee, sitting up straight, focusing on what is being said, but most of that fight is just putting off the inevitable. I don’t think there is a person on earth who hasn’t fallen asleep at the wrong time at some point in their life. I am particularly bad because I like to stay up late, but this has got to change. Falling asleep during the sermon is particularly bad, but I fell asleep at the dentist office the other day while I waited for the dentist to finish some part of the procedure. What can I say, I didn’t get enough sleep the night before and the weather channel was boring that morning. I have fought sleep while listening to conference papers that were a little less than interesting. The thing is that we run from thing to thing like crazy people, but when we stop for two minutes to sit down and listen to some complicated rhetorical argument, the body takes advantage to shut down all systems for a short restorative nap, whether we like it or not. That’s the problem with sleepiness: it isn’t something that one can always control. People are killed, tragically, every day because they have fallen asleep at the wheel of their vehicle. They never intended to do that, kill themselves, but sleepiness is a stealthy adversary, and we are often asleep before we ever realized we were sleepy in the first place. I would like to say that this never happens to me, but it’s happening to me right now, and the only thing that is keeping my eyes open right now is writing this short note on “sleepiness.” If I were to put this down and walk away from the computer, I’m sure I could sleep for a good hour before ever noticing.

On food and cooking

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The local fast food joints are busy, lots of vehicles of the folks who don’t cook, won’t cook, never cooked for themselves, refuse to learn. Cooking does take both skill and know-how, energy, utensils, desire, time,and primary ingredients, a long list of impossibilities for many people. Those who cook for themselves don’t go to all-you-can-eat buffets. Perhaps the biggest challenge for most people who cook is the planning of distinct menus, followed quickly by the acquisition of ingredients, shopping. Those who don’t cook, don’t know their way around their own kitchens, have made a decision about not participating anymore in the age-old tradition of food preparation. Almost every society that has ever developed has/had traditions and dietary rules about what foods are viable, how they should be acquired and prepared, how they should be served and eaten. The fast food crowd cares about these things, but they are not interested in anything but consumption. To say that fast food restaurants cater to the lowest common denominator in food marketing and consumption is to grossly misunderstand the situation: pizza, burgers, fries, chicken, and sodas make up 90% of fast food menus. The traditions and conventions of food preparation that are lost due to the success of fast food are myriad and diverse: bread making, soups, baking (all kinds), roasted meats, pickling, sauces, gravies, vegetables. Perhaps it was the introduction of the tv dinner back in the fifties that heralded the arrival of the fast food generation, taking out the hassle of food preparation from the daily routine of millions of families. Today, where both spouses, indeed, if there are two spouses, work, food preparation is difficult because time is at a premium. No one has time to go to the store to buy food. Time poverty, perhaps more than any other factor, kills our cooking traditions. When people had all day to cook a stew or a soup, bake bread, or make cookies and doughnuts, the younger people also learned to cook and bake. The art of cooking is a skill that must taught by those with experience and learned by the youngsters. Cooking even a simple dish such as steak has its details that must be observed in order to avoid producing unchewable shoe leather. You have to know how to choose your meat, know if it needs any preparation before cooking, know what the appropriate cooking method might be. Effort must be expended in order to produce edible food. What makes endless all-you-can-eat buffets so attractive is the unlimited supply of already produced, cooked, prepared food, and all you have to do to consume it is pay for it. No effort. People now pay a premium for traditionally prepared and baked breads, shunning the popular industrially produced supermarket breads, looking for flavors and textures that remind them of home-baked breads of their youth. Home-cooked food probably has less weird fat, less salt, and less sugar. Fast food seems to have rewritten the four major food groups: fat, sugar, salt, and caffeine. Yes, a few of the larger chains now offer a salad or two, but buying milk is infinitely more expensive than sodas, burgers are cheaper than salads, and fries come in ever larger bulk sizes, taking the place of real nutrition and sensible portion sizes. Original recipes with variations have been substituted by the massification of an industry with one set of flavor profiles, and no one dares to vary from that list. And besides, if you decide to graze at the alter of fast food and unlimited buffets, you don’t have to do any dishes or clean the kitchen.

On contemporary culture

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It is hard to know what to think of contemporary culture. I know I am an old foggy, and that the current generation has left me behind, but am I really that much of a fifth wheel? The kids today can handle computers as easily as they handle breathing. They can’t write a full sentence without breaking thirty-three grammars rules, but the can text like the wind–150 words a minute, or at least they call them words. I won’t give them any points for originality, but they are persistent and fast. Creatively, they are stunted, and are often surprised when one their own comes up with a great idea, only to find that someone else already did it fifty years ago. Originality is not their strong suite. Today’s generation is pretty much addicted to cell phones, ignorant of Vietnam and Watergate, willing to spend megabucks on coffee and sandwiches, and are convinced of their own importance, which means they are just like we were thirty years ago. I have never lived under the illusion that I am either important or original. The sixties, Flower Power, ecology, Vietnam, the Domino Theory, the space race, hippies, the Manson murders, several assassinations, and Watergate burst my innocence bubble, and left me foundering in the fetid waters of the Disco era, Studio 54, platform shoes, bell bottoms and big hair. I think that contemporary society is stuck on itself, obsessed with consumerism, and buying everything, ignorant of most politics, addicted to digitally mediated communication, isolated and afraid, sleep deprived, malnourished, and impatient. I think that we live in a nation of gluttons who want their next super-sized meal now and are totally unprepared to either wait or compromise. They don’t want fast food; they want instant food, and they wouldn’t know how to cook it if they had to. There fix for instant communication has taught them to be impatient and nervous, like junkies waiting for their next fix. I think the current generation eats too much, and eats out too often, unwilling to learn to cook or to buy food that needs preparation, and the only exercise they get is walking from the car to the table in the restaurant. Yes, I am cynical about the current generation, and many of my generalizations are exaggeration that are untrue and unkind. Yet the rise of big box retailers, which put the little guys out of business because they cannot compete, is also another sign of the times, and although I see nothing ominous in the big box retailer per se, I do think those places have become a part of the national landscape and are now a part of our national past-time and our identity: we go to those places to have fun shopping. Contemporary culture shops to have fun, but I’m not sure that is either healthy or sustainable. Again, I pass judgment on an activity for which I don’t care. I would be nostalgic and say that the past was somehow better or more ideal, but I know that is also untrue, but I feel the current society drifting on a tide of consumerism that is directionless and pointless. All most people do is fill up their garage with a lot of junk they don’t need, but they aren’t happier, or richer, or better off than they were before. The current season, the Christmas season, always seems to drag out my worst thoughts about how superficial and facile our culture has become, unwilling to discuss its direction or the black hole it has become. Christmas carols have become horrible caricatures of the wonderful hymns and songs of my youth only because people want to sell more junk. Perhaps that is the key, our contemporary culture has become a desolate landscape of detritus, flotsam and jetsam, because it’s all junk. Now I’m beginning to wonder if I drinking too much coffee.