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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 an almost daily basis, so check back to see what the most recent things on my mind are.
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Read something interesting today- it's called "A Leftist Bestiary." It pretty much solidly bashes the left & their way of thinking. Keep in mind, that I tend to consider myself a Conservative Liberal (for lack of a better title, & please note that I am not registered to any political party), & usually find myself leaning towards the left on most issues. But, since 9/11, I'm finding it difficult to lean either left or right, because it seems like people that are so far gone on both sides, are completely missing the point, & refuse to see any other viewpoint other than their own. But, that's another topic for another time. In any case, if you're a right wing conservative, you will probably find yourself wholeheartedly agreeing with what's said. Or, if you're an open-minded leftist with a sense of humor, you may even find it amusing to a point. I found it to be fairly accurate myself.
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There's a sculpture that's been placed in Dewitt Park, here in Ithaca & it's raised a little bit of controversy. The sculpture was erected as a remembrance to the tragedy of 9/11. It's an interesting piece of work- it's a combination of steel girders & (what's supposed to represent) rubble, along with a 360 degree pictorial view of the wreckage of the World Trade Centers. The pictorial was taken on 9/12, the day after everything happened. There's a picture of the sculpture along with the story (see above) if you want to take a look at it for yourself. I thought it was very creative, very thought provoking & very tastefully done. But, like so many other things since 9/11, the sculpture is going to be removed because of concerns that it may upset people, both adults & children alike, who visit the park. While I certainly do not advocate forcing anyone to have to view something they may find objectionable for any reason, I believe this is yet another case of overreaction to anything that directly points out that something horrible happened recently in our country. In the past six weeks, we've all become so super sensitive about the events of 9/11, that we seem to be going to great lengths to avoid any reminders that provide any type of direct association with anything of a grim nature related to the tragedy. I'm of the opinion that we should have things like this in our midst, to remind us of what did occur, in the hopes that maybe we can help & try to avoid anything like this ever happening again.
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Haven't posted in a bit & the month is coming to a close. Been busy running my mouth on Plastic.com lately.
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Looks like Jason Newsted (former bassist for Metallica) is keeping plenty busy these days, without his former bandmates. It's good to hear that he chose to leave the band for some of the same reasons that fans (like myself) have begun to doubt Metallica. It's really a shame that he felt like there wasn't enough to keep him there, because whenever you've seen them live, Jason was great onstage, not to mention the fact that he was an amazing bass player. It's really their loss, not his. I'm sure he's set financially for the rest of his life, just based on past & future royalties alone, so now he can pursue his interests in playing & recording with other bands, as well as producing. Good for him. I kind of started to doubt Metallica ten years ago with the release of the Black album. I thought it wasn't "metal" enough, & was a little too slickly produced. (Or, it could just be due to the fact that I'm an elitist & didn't like the idea that suddenly everyone & their brother had become a "metalhead" after the August 1991 release of that album.) It's really too bad to see a band that really had been true to its roots & fans, decide to pursue a whole new direction that didn't seem to be consistent with what they'd always said about themselves & their music. But again, that's just me being a snob. Regardless, I say good for Jason Newsted, & hope that he's happier without Lars looking over his shoulder now.
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Well, as of Sunday 10/7/01, it's on. The proverbial "other shoe" mentioned below has dropped, & we are "at war." Where will this all go if/when they find Osama bin Laden & oust the Taliban? Only time will tell at this point.
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Like everyone else right now, I am doing my best to make sense of the world around me. Like everyone else, I am very scared right now, in light of the very true uncertainty that is enveloping us on a daily basis. I think it's been made pretty clear that something is going to happen. Exactly what that "something" is going to be, no one is really quite sure right now. All of us know that this "something" will happen (we've supposedly declared war on terrorism on a global level, right?), & we are just waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop right now. So what happens when that "shoe" hits the floor? There are seemingly an infinite amount of theories out there now that anyone can subscribe to. I am trying to make an effort to keep myself as informed as possible right now. By doing this, I am making an effort to keep abreast of many differing opinions, from the left, right, & center, in the hopes of maybe combining the best of all the information available. Maybe this is naive, but right now, I'm not really sure what else to do. Have you ever seen the move, "Terminator II?" The main plot of the movie, is that our world's future is a bleak, post-apocalyptic wasteland due to a global nuclear war, & armed with this knowledge, the heroes of the movie are attempting to change the events of the present, in the hopes that it will change the outcome of the future. There is one scene in particular that I find very disturbing. While at a roadside gas station, the teenaged John Connor (who will go on to lead a resistance in this supposed bleak future) & the Terminator (a cyborg, sent back from the future), watch as two young boys playing with plastic guns, begin to argue over who "killed" who first. As the teenaged Connor watches, the ironic futility of what they are trying to do by changing mankind's self-destructive fate hits him, & he turns to the Terminator & says in reference to what the two young boys represent on a much larger level, "We're not going to make it are we," (meaning the human race). The Terminator says in response, "It is your nature (as humans) to destroy yourselves." It's been ten years since I've seen that movie for the first time, & that scene has always haunted me. It's been ten years, & that statement seems more relevant now than ever. I hope to God that it's not true.
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I came across this pretty cool site called Plastic.com recently. It's a site that encourages & relies on its' readers' participation. Basically, once you create a user account (it's free), you can post a link to an article that you think is interesting along with your comments on it, & then others can post their own comments on the article itself, or what others have also posted in response. I thought it was a pretty cool idea myself. In any case, I just recently created my own account, & submitted an article along with some brief comments of my own. Within less than 24 hours, there were 42 comments posted & when I logged onto the site today, what I'd submitted was on the very top of the home page. I know this probably isn't any big deal for most people, but I thought it was pretty cool.
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Happy Birthday to Gordon Somner!! 10/2/01 is his 50th birthday!!
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This should be interesting- the season premiere of The West Wing on 10/3 is going to be a special episode written after the September 11th attacks, which while not specifically addressing what has happened, it will deal with terrorist issues. To make things even more interesting, this particular show will not follow in the same sequence as the normal storyline. Meaning, that this episode won't have anything to do with Martin Sheen's character having to address the fact that he lied about having MS & also whether he will run for re-election or not. That storyline will continue on what would have been the "normal" season premiere, on Wednesday 10/10.
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Decided to try something different & bought the latest Slipknot CD "Iowa." With their masks & matching jumpsuits, their appearance is what you would think is their primary gimmick for drawing attention to themselves. Not really knowing what to expect, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at what I heard. These guys are more "metal" than most, if not all, of the "nu-metal" bands that are popular today. Personally, I think most of that stuff is garbage- it's a bunch of mid-tempo, formulaic, tedious crap full of whiny, self-important lyrics. Slipknot goes beyond that, & thank God for it. At the very least, these guys are loud, heavy & fast. Fast, being one of the key missing ingredients in metal these days, in my opinion. To me, a big part of the attraction of most of the heavy metal in the late 80s was their aggressive sound. (Note, I am NOT referring to those wimpy, permed, moussed, poseur glam bands that flooded the market & ruined the metal scene, I'm talking about the thrash & speed metal bands that you never heard on the radio or only saw on the Headbanger's Ball, after midnight on a Saturday night.) Slipknot are an odd mix- 9 guys, some of them just play percussion, there's a DJ, & all one guy does is sampling. Whatever happened to 2 guitars, bass & drums, is beyond me these days... In any case, even with such a bizarre mix, they rock heavily. Their drummer does a lot of sixteenth note double-bass drumming, which is something that I think is really missing in metal currently. One thing I noticed, is there seems to be a noticeable lack of ego-driven guitar solos, which I found somewhat refreshing. Their lyrics are some of the usual trite stuff that you'd expect from a metal band (you know, no-one-understands-me-at-all, rebellion-is-good, etc...), but at the very least, they are better than a lot of the crap out there right now. Since when did it become okay for heavy bands to become so whiny? Slipknot is bringing back the aggression in metal, & I'm all for it. If you're up for some well produced, good old fashioned metal, check these guys out. They are definitely not for the faint hearted though, so buyer beware. _________________________________________________________________________
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