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The World According to Scott
This is the section of my site that is strictly reserved for my opinions, my beliefs, and whatever I feel like talking about at the moment. It's updated generally on a fairly regular basis, so check back to see what the most recent things on my mind are.
The views and opinions expressed on this page do not reflect that of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department or Cornell University.
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My buddy Paul & I went to see the mighty Rollins Band play last night at the Magic City Music Hall in Johnson City, NY. First time I've seen them & I must say, I was not disappointed. The band was super tight & played very well together. The sound was also very clean too. I'd never been to the Magic City Music Hall before & was very pleasantly surprised to find out that it wasn't a theater, but actually a large club. This was cool, because I ended up about 20 feet from the stage. I'm pissed because other people had brought cameras & I didn't know that I could. Too bad, because I was very close & could have gotten some great shots. Oh well... Anyway, they played for an hour & completely rocked out. Rollins himself was super intense & was watching him was worth the price of admission alone. That man just gets into his music. He posted the following in the "Dispatches" section of his site that he updates daily:
"#229. 08-20-06 Johnson City NY: 2147 hrs. On the bus. The audience was great. At times they were a little too great. The front row sang every word and that’s cool but it makes it really hard to sing well because they’re always off because they’re singing from the front of house sound, it’s not their fault. I had to get away from them to get the songs sung but still they were great. We have a long drive to Norfolk VA and when we get there, we have a day off. Virginia is one of my favorite states, I am looking forward to it."
After their set was done as we were going to find a table to sit down at, I walked by the soundboard & Theo Von Rock (longtime soundman & producer of the Rollins Band) was just about to walk away & I noticed a copy of the set list on the board. I asked him if I could please have it & he smiled & said "Sure, go ahead." So I got myself an authentic souvenir from the show. Also bought a poster of the image below. We were going to stay & see X's set, as they were scheduled to play next, but after a couple of songs, we decided to call it a night & headed home.
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Poster for the "As The World Burns" tour, Summer 2006.
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Just ordered my copy of “Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier” from Amazon. I’m pretty psyched to get this. It’s a 2 DVD set that contains both the original version of “Apocalypse Now” & the re-edited version of “Apocalypse Now – Redux” that contains additional footage. The extras look great. There’s commentary by Francis Ford Coppola that’s new, there’s more behind the scenes stuff on the making of the film, the editing, the sound & the soundtrack (featuring Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead).
Also, there’s deleted scenes that never made it into either version of the film. Some of them that look pretty cool are an extended scene of Colonel Kurtz reading the entire poem of “The Hollow Men,” a scene that features Scott Glen’s character Colby (always wanted to hear more about him) & also additional footage of what supposedly happened to Dennis Hopper’s drugged out photojournalist character as well. About the only downside to this latest version, is that it doesn’t include Sofia Coppola’s outstanding documentary of the making of the film, “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.” Unfortunately, this is now out of print & has never been available on DVD. I read somewhere that there’s legal issues why this wasn’t a part of the package.
“Apocalypse Now” is my all-time favorite movie ever. God knows how many times I’ve actually watched it. It never fails to interest and/or challenge me in some way. I’m really looking forward to checking out all of the extras on this DVD set.
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Season finale of Hell's Kitchen last night, & the big winner was Heather. We watched an episode a while back out curiosity & became interested in the show. Generally, we're not really big fans of "reality" TV shows, but this one seemed a little different. We came into this year's season a bit late, & probably only saw the better part of half of the shows, I think. In any case, it's been cool to watch. I can't believe that Virginia made it as far as she did (she was so lame, even though she was very talented). As we watched over the course of the past couple of months, it was pretty clear that Heather was going to do well. She was the right choice.
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Just finished reading a really interesting book - "Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War." The book is about a platoon of soldiers, referred to as Tiger Force, in Vietnam that became part of an experiment that went horribly wrong. The idea behind this experiment, was to create a small, fierce group of soldiers who would take the fight directly to the North Vietnamese & the Viet Cong, sort "out guerilla the guerillas," as one commanding officer put it. They were known as a "recondo" unit, as they would carry about both reconnaissance as well as commando types of missions. The notion was to have a small, mobile group that could stay out in the field for extended periods of time, to carry out search & destroy missions. Eventually, the soldiers began to break down & essentially became an assassination squad of sorts that ended up being responsible for the death of hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians. In addition to their high body count, some of the members of the platoon were responsible for a number of atrocities, including cutting off ears & in some cases wearing them as a necklace. I thought that the book was extremely well written, & while I couldn't help but just wonder how these soldiers could have done some of the things that they did, the book gave you the opportunity to see how they evolved into senseless killing machines, due to the conditions under which they were living. And, that the commanding officers that were ultimately responsible for this platoon, not only consciously overlooked their vicious behavior, but also encouraged it by egging them on for higher & higher body counts.
All of this occurred between May & November of 1967. Eventually, starting in 1972, a three year long investigation into Tiger Force's activities resulted in a cover up by our country's officials, & it essentially went away for the next thirty years or so. In 2003, two reporters for the Toledo Blade, a small Ohio newspaper, happened to stumble across some old documents that hadn't seen the light of day since the 1970s. Curious, they began to dig deeper & then eventually realized what they'd found. After extensive research, they published a multi-part article in the Blade that ended up becoming the book. I've read quite a bit about Vietnam, seen a number of movies & documentaries, as well as even having taken a course on the history of the Vietnam War in college. It's one thing to see cliché characters in movies based on stereotypes, but it's another thing all together to read about "normal" men who not only succumbed to their most savage & ruthless instincts, but also in some cases reveled in it. Many of the soldiers of Tiger Force suffered from agonizing guilt, nightmares, post traumatic stress syndrome & were genuinely haunted by what they had seen and/or done during their time in Vietnam once they returned to "the world." Having read this book, it's not hard to see how these men had been used & were allowed to become monsters. All I can say, is I hope that we've learned something from it, & that future generations of soldiers that have been deployed to both Iraq & Afghanistan, won't find themselves in similar situations.
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After seeing an ad for the second season premiere for Weeds, we decided to check it out. We rented the entire first season, which is ten thirty minute episodes, & liked it enough that we blew through all of it over the course of a weekend. An interesting premise for a show - a woman with two kids has her husband unexpectedly die & she's forced to figure out a way to continue supporting her family & the lifestyle they're accustomed to & does so by becoming a pot dealer. Mary-Louise Parker plays the main character Nancy & is great. Watching her trying to live a normal life, while continuing to grow her new business & increase her client base, is sort of like waiting for a car crash to happen. The new season begins this week, which may just force us into having to get Showtime, as that's where this show originated. The writing for this show reminded us both of something similar in the vein of Six Feet Under. The music they use for the show is also very good & worth checking out. Funny how in order to find some of the best shows these days, you have to go to the pay channels to do so.
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Well, it's official - Snakeoil Salesmen have their first ever gig. We were asked to play with some other very nice folks including Forget Carbon, Dub Astronauts, Under Construction, War On Mars & Woodchuck. Should be very cool.
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Oliver Stone's new movie "World Trade Center" opens on Wednesday 8/9/06. The trailer for the film has been playing in theaters & on TV for a while now. I'm not exactly certain how I really feel about the whole thing as of yet. I don't know if I necessarily feel like some people who continue to say "It's too soon for a movie about September 11th," but I am cautious about seeing this event in our history become trivialized - or worse, politicized even more than it already has been by shameless people running for public offices, trying to capitalize on a tragedy for their own personal gain. I read a review of the film by Jim Emerson & thought that the final paragraph he wrote very eloquently put this into perspective. See below.
"A closing voice-over states the movie's theme, to the effect of, "I saw good that day." And it's true -- catastrophe can bring out the best in people, more than they even knew they had in them, and 9/11 witnessed countless heroic, compassionate and selfless acts. But perhaps the most emotionally resonant moment in "WTC" comes in a passage after the collapse of the towers, when the movie flashes to televised reactions from all over the globe. In addition to remembering the victims and the many who risked -- and gave -- their lives trying to help others, it's important to remember the intense, "We are all Americans" outpouring of grief and sympathy that united so much of the world on that day, and for just a few days or weeks afterwards, before politicians had reduced 9/11 to an election slogan. And it's a sad, terrible reminder of the enormous good we've lost in the five years since. Had we been able to build on those feelings, it would have been the most constructive and meaningful tribute to those who were killed, and to their families, and to those who survived. Maybe this is a political movie after all."
Amen & well said.
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Tuesday August 8, 2006 - the new Slayer album "Christ Illusion" hits stores today. Go out & buy a copy for someone you love.
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Just finished reading two different books.
The first, was "The Battle of Mogadishu," edited by Matt Eversman & Dan Schilling (two of the members of Task Force Ranger who were deployed in Somalia for Operation: Gothic Serpent). The book is a collection of six first-person accounts of October 3, 1993, written by six of the soldiers who went through what has been hailed as the largest firefight in American military history since the Viet Nam war. As a big fan of both the book & movie Black Hawk Down, I was very curious to read this book. The detail & heroism of these men & what they had to deal with was pretty incredible. If you are a fan of modern military history, I highly recommend this book.
The second book was "Goat," written by Brad Land. The book is written as a memoir of Land. The story begins with the vicious attack that follows a bad choice of giving two strangers a ride & how it changes his life. After recovering, he chooses to follow his younger (by one year) brother to Clemson University after spending a semester at home. Feeling alienated & suffering from what appears to be a sort of post-traumatic stress syndrome, Land thinks that if he goes to Clemson & follows his brother's identical path, which includes pledging a fraternity, he will then be "normal." The story chronicles how he reacts to being a pledge & being hazed, on top of the mental baggage that he's brought along with him from his attack months earlier. I found the book to be very interesting & was able to identify with & understand his character's point of view. Having gone through the pledging experience myself, it all seemed like familiar terrain. Plenty of food for thought on why people feel the need to align themselves with certain groups, to be able to feel like they fit in, or to be able to increase their social status. To this day, I'm still not entirely certain why I did it myself even though I've made some of the closest friends I've ever made in my fraternity. Good book, a bit depressing, but still a good read.
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I sent a copy of the review of The Joshua Tree's gig at Sundancer's on 7/26 I posted in July's Rants to the guys in the band, & I heard back from Joe Wilson (bass) & John Perkins (drums). It was cool of them both to take the time to write me back. They also posted the text of the email I sent to them along with a copy of the review I posted on their Reviews page of their site. Turns out they have played in New York state in the past, & hopefully will be doing so again in the future. I can say for certain that if they do, we'll be making the effort to catch them again. These guys are great.
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Caught Slayer on the Henry Rollins show on IFC last night. They played their new tune "Cult" off of their new upcoming album "Christ Illusion," which is due out on Tuesday August 8th. Great new song, sounds just as loud, fast & crude as their other stuff. I have no doubt that the new album will kick major ass. Their last release, "God Hates Us All," has been played repeatedly by me over & over. Slayer rules.
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Heard from my buddy Roz that the Black Crowes are going to be playing at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse, NY on 9/13/06. He's buying the tickets when they go on sale on 8/4/06. Can't wait, should be another great show from them.
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It would appear that Metallica has finally seen the light & are now offering their music for sale on I-Tunes. Oh, the irony.
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Hmmm, so do you think that Mel Gibson has learned that you don't run your mouth when you drink too much? What a dolt...
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Be sure to visit kathryncoldren.com to see her Photography Portfolio!!
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