Friday, May 15, 2009

Friday Ramblings: Philosophers, Brazen Bulls and (of course) Green Day...

I was robbed of my rainy day yesterday. I got out of work to discover the betrayal of the sun who had stolen the rainy day away and conquered. Currently, the sun is shining this morning even though the rain is supposed to move in later. We'll see. I think the only true way to predict the weather is to stick your head out the door and see what it's currently doing. Predicting any further than the current minute is a bit iffy.

Not to worry. It's Friday and it's sunny. I can't exactly complain about either of those two facts. As an added bonus, Green Day's new album has been released. If you haven't bought it/downloaded it, do it now. If your computer is anything like mine at home, if you start on iTunes now, you might have it by this evening. I was hoping to put the, uh, 'full' version of the album on my iPod instead of the sneakily obtained version I got last week. However, for now, I'll have to settle with that version. By this evening, I can put my pre-ordered iTunes version on my iPod along with the four bonus tracks. This is a good Friday.

As always, I'm glad it's Friday. It's been a rather long week for some reason. It's been TV season finale week for some of my shows which means as of next Monday after 24 finishes, I'm done with TV until Fall. I might watch some on DVD but since I dislike almost all reality-TV, I barely tune in for anything during the summer. It's rather liberating, actually. It means I can focus on getting my stuff packed up to move. It means I'll have more time to write. And yes, sadly, there are some nights where I'd rather watch TV than write.

Speaking of writing, I've noticed I'm not the only post in response to Nathan Bransford's blog. A lot of writers seem to be disagreeing with my point of view. I like that, actually. I still stand by my claim that writing is a craft, not a profession but it's interesting to hear other writers disagree. For the record, I also will claim 'blogger' as part of my identity. I don't get paid for that, either. I was thinking about that...where does the craft end and profession begin? What about philosophers? People are philosophers but...there aren't many professional philosopher jobs out there. Do you ever pull up Craigslist or Monster.com and see "Wanted: Philospher?" Does anyone ever want a philosopher? And yet....almost every university offers a degree in it. Interesting.

Sorry, I'm digressing. Well, actually I'm not sorry. It's a Friday post. I always digress and ramble on Fridays. I think it's because I stay up too late on Thursdays. Last night it was because of the stupid Grey's Anatomy season finale. Which, in my opinion, was pretty awful but I have a TV blog for ranting about that. I suppose its inevitable that even the good shows go downhill at some point but...I was hoping it wouldn't happen to Grey's which has suddenly decided it wants to be ER when it grows up.

Anyway, moving on...I've discussed philosophers, Green Day, TV and weather...I suppose I could throw politics in but I'll leave that to those that know more than me. I confess, I'm not terribly political. I want to make up stories for a living, would you really want to hear my opinions on politics?

I do keep hearing about waterboarding though. Apparently that's a hot topic along with the discussion of torture. I watch 24, waterboarding seems like a mild torture method after seeing Jack Bauer grab a hacksaw or use a hotel lamp and bowl of water to electrocute a suspect into talking. Also, I found an article on the website "How Stuff Works" the other day about ten brutal torture methods from the days of yore. Wow, people were cruel! The worst was this giant bronze bull, called the Brazen Bull, in which they'd trap their victim, lock him in and then heat the bull over a fire so the victim would roast to death, literally. When he screamed, his scream would be modulated so it sounded like the bull was roaring. There were others. I won't spoil your dinner with them but wow...when it comes to punishing people, we humans are creative. And brutal.

Ok, I think that might be enough random thoughts for one Friday. You might start thinking I'm a little dark and twisty since I seem to be fascinated with torture methods. Not that I support torture but I am fascinated by creativity in doing so.

Perhaps I ought to talk about something happy and bright like...butterflies and flowers. There are some lovely lilacs beside the entrance to my apartment building. They smell heavenly, even when it rains. There, you can have that as the image with which to finish reading my blog, not the giant bronze bull. That I just brought up again. Oops.

Have a great weekend!

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