It's weekly theme time, boys and girls, and Rich Robot has asked us each to answer 5 questions:
1. What makes you cringe? Medleys. Especially farewell video medleys that gloss over the bumpier bits of the career of a three-term prime minister and self-styled autocrat. Phrases like: "I am leaving the country more confident, more prosperous than when I came into power." Also, Justin Trudeau as MC. Also, me watching it, if only for the awesome: "My friends I believe in Canada. and it's why I say to youse tonight, au revoir, and vive le Canada! 2. Glass: is it half full or half empty? And if it's half full, what is it half full of? If it's half empty, was it good? Do you need me to top it off for you? My cup runneth over. 3. Are you registered to vote? You know that Billy Bragg album you mentioned, Rich, Talking to the Taxman about Poetry? I really loved that album when I was a teen, and I didn't even really know what socialism was. I would love to hear some Billy Bragg right now, especially the song Levi Stubbs: "She ran away from home in her mother's best clothes she was married before she was even entitled to vote... When the world falls apart, somethings stay in place Levi Stubbs, tears run down his face." I liked the catchy guitar on that song, especially.
Sometimes I wish I were a cool musician/activist like Bragg, but aside from him, I find most musician/activists cringeworthy. 4. If you could be George Bush for an hour, what fun hijinks would you get George into? You know, I think I would hook him up to a Matrix-style machine and feed him the entirety of World History a bit of Comparative Religion and Poetry. He will wake up with a sense of responsibility for the future, an intimate knowledge of the futility of war and empire-building and will promply retreat to the woods to meditate on his karma and compose haikus on birch bark. 5. Is there anything more annoying than politicians running for office? If so, tell me.
Another song I really liked by Billy Bragg was New England: "I loved the words you wrote to me but that was bloody yesterday I can't survive on what you send everytime you need a friend. I saw two shooting stars last night I wished on them, but they were only satellites It's wrong to wish on space hardware I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care I don't want to change the world, I'm not looking for a new england, I'm just looking for another girl"
Whatever happened to another wicked British musical force: The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy. I really liked them around the same time as I liked Bragg. "Does the elephant have any water? Life is short, and it's always getting shorter, so talk to the elephant and see what he thinks."
