A sunny day! At long last. Actually 2 in a row. When you get sun like this after a long spell of gray, snowy, cold days, it seems like a godsend. Everything looks better. You feel better. In a Zippety Doo Daa kind of way. Pardon that non PC allusion to the old Disney classic movie "Song of the South," based on the Uncle Remus stories. Remember those great stories. We read them to our son back in the '60s. That they're now in the PC dustbin is a literary tragedy.
Read a couple of things that kinda shocked me in this week's Entertainment Weekly mag. These are not exactly signs of Armageddon, but they do continue the pop cultural slide into the undifferentiated mud of oblivion that we've been headed for since Timothy Leary and Che were recognized as pop culture role models and leaders.
First, there's a new book that EW reviews with the title The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore; it's narrated by a chimpanzee named Bruno. He has been taught to read and write and speak. He falls in love with one of his handlers, a girl named Lydia. Yeah, you're right. His love is apparently reciprocated (I haven't read the book), but the quotation the review supplies indicates that this couple do the nasty. I can imagine Hollywood will be on this like GM on those bailouts. Wonder who they'll get to play the female part? Who would want this part?
Second, I read that in the Grammy's 53 year history, there have been no songs nominated with the word f--- in the title. A not unexpected fact. But guess what? This year there is a song nominated with the word f--- in the title. As a matter of fact, the title is "F--- You." It's by Cee Lo Green, a guy I've never heard of, but in the pic in the magazine he looks a little like the Goodyear blimp covered in a fashionable gold lame. (I wanted an accent on that last word "lame" but couldn't figure out how to do it.) EW calls Green's song "irresistibly profane." They also wonder if Hollywood will be soon to follow this trend. I can see it now. George Clooney and Michael Moore nominated for an Oscar for their performances in "The F---ed Up Assassin." One of them will be gay. Not a faggot. But gay. You can't say "faggot" in a movie or song. That's bad. (Ask Mark Knopfler.) But you can say f---. Wait a minute. Isn't that a double standard or something? A word that offends the mainstream is okay, but a word that offends a small minority is like the most horrible hate crime or something.
C'est la vie.
BTW, Bob Seger is gearing up for a tour.
The Cumberland Post
My Backyard, Six Miles from the Cumberland River
The "F" word.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in the 2nd grade I heard the older boys using the word on the playground. It sounded neat, but had no idea what it ment, so that night, I dropped the F bomb on my brother.
The folks heard it, and I was promptly taken to the bathroom to get my mouth washed out with soap. I think I ate a half a bar of Lifeboy that night. cured me for a while!
Well, liberal use (heh) of the f-bomb is part and parcel of every good sergeant's persona... it's a mission/military requirement. I've cleaned up my act since leaving the Air Force to the point where it's not an integral part of every sentence, thus: improvement. Which is prelude to this: I'm shocked by its casual use in the mainstream culture today. Perhaps this is a case of pot calling kettle black, but I think not. Set and setting, and all that.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the sunny day! We had the same here but things are gonna go downhill rapidly beginning the middle of next week. It was very nice while it lasted...
Scooney, Ugh, The old washing the mouth out with soap. I had that punishment threatened once, but it scared me so, I kept my foul mouth outside the house.
ReplyDeleteBuck, The f--- word has been a part of my experience too, though probably not nearly as much as you used it and heard it in your military situation. But, like you said, it's all about "set and setting." Your military work: the word is expected; my work in construction: the word is expected; the first word of a title of a grammy nominated song: unexpected. A shock, actually.
I just remembered old Holden Caulfield in Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. What he said about this issue:
"If you had a million years, you couldn't rub out even half the f--- you signs in the world."
They used to be on restroom walls, now they're in song titles.
Scooney and Buck, I apologize for being so slow to answer your comments about my novel in the post below. I hope you'll read what I wrote there, and thanks for taking the time to comment.