prosaic

so i saw this report from afghanistan by some reporter asking people about their music preferences, as the removal of taliban leaders and law has allowed music to once again be played. so she was asking teenagers what they liked and music store owners [i realize it's old technology by our standards, but there must be one load of cassette players in afghanistan. maybe that's where my walkman went long ago when it was supposed to be getting repaired. damn the al qaeda smuggling ring of out of date broken portable electronic entertainment equipment. maybe we should bomb them? nah, the walkman was already broken. silly smugglers, overpriced sony is for americans. actually, if i remember correctly, it was a g.e. product, in which case it wasn't even a walkman, also it was about the size of a phone book, so portable is relative. you may want to reread what came before this long embracketed bit, else breaking into the middle of this sentence may make little sense..] what was selling the most. of course it was someone i had never heard of, but then again, i didn't expect to. whereas this reporter got bold enough to ask what looked like a twelve year old boy, in a country that has just gained some sort of independence, whether he knew who britney spears is or not. he didn't, no shocker there. then, in a completely inaccurate comment i'd expect from geraldo, this reporter tells the boy, via translator, that if he saw her album cover, he'd like her. what kind of crazy ass american reporter is she, you might ask, and i'd tell you one with an apparent stock investment in britney spear's international sales, or just a bloody twit. you might as well tell them to check out norelco's new quadra-action electric shaver. [here is where i indicate that i have slapped my forehead because of having seen this report, as it were..]

speaking of, what is with americans' beauty standards. miss spears for one, the last time i saw pants that low, the doctor told me to turn my head and cough.. and the last time that much crotch was allowed on tv, it was via the codpieces de zeffirelli. i just think there is something wrong when to the same event men are not only wearing a suit, but a coat over it because of the weather, and fashion dictates women must wear little more than a bra and skirt, or be shunned. as much as i'd like to chalk it up to personal choice, there's too much behind it.

speaking of, i am wondering how much of our likes, our opinions, our tastes, our lusts, our etc. are ingrained by some method or another, and how much of it is choice, on whatever level. it seems obvious to me that there is some level of mixture of the two options, but that's not nearly enough explanation. sometimes no matter how hard you try you can't like your friend�s significant other, or someone you went on a date with, or in-laws, or sauerkraut, or a specific type of music or art or food. but other people do, so it is at least likeable, that much is a fact [as much as i'd not like to admit the possibility of that being applicable to sauerkraut.] so why should one tongue, one nose, one set of nerves interpret the flavor so extremely different from another. not just i taste some dill in this. and hmm, i don't. but i would burn this would it not stink up the entire neighborhood. and i will bathe in this. and i am not saying we should all like the same things despite what it may seem like [in this bit as well as last entry], only how can it be, on something so arbitrary yet seemingly fixed as flavor, that there should be such range of reaction. and if it just boiled down to choice, which it can't, then one could just choose to like sauerkraut, or olives or whatever else, not just food, and that would be that. and so my point, i think, is that if one, even admitting the fact that most preferences are neither all-choice nor all-ingrained, can change some things by choice, where is the line? is there a line? if not, can we continue to excuse ignorant people by saying, oh, that's how he was raised, or she can't help it. i'm just wondering is all.

speaking of, the more time i spend with family members, the more i realize [i guess you'd have to have read the last one to get this, sorry, not meant as a cheap plug. i won't link to it, how's that?] that i have more in common with some friends than i do those with similar dna. [recap: je n'ai rien en commun avec mes amis. i exaggerate a bit..] a photographer once joked with us, my siblings and i that is, as she was positioning us for one of few family photos, that we must have been adopted, we almost had her in a nervous breakdown before we left because we kept telling her that we weren't, and then we were, weren't, were.. you see where that goes. i think i really must be though. i could not have been born into this group.

speaking of, i was wondering what would it be like if humans were born from eggs. [here i sighed preturbedly..] yes i realize that we are indeed from an egg biology nerds, thanks. you know damn well that i didn't mean an ovum, or, not as it is, but something like a bird egg. you know, with a shell.] a. pregnancy would be odder, somehow, than i find it already. b. would abortions be as big of a deal? what with it not being an internal procedure. c. even though i am not meaning that these eggs would be the size of a chicken egg, nor am i saying we would crack a human egg into a skillet either on purpose or some sort of stupid mistake, okay? i only wonder if we would still see it as normal to go to the store and buy a carton of chicken eggs for breakfast? i don't know why i thought of this.

speaking of, bands that are named after [sometimes obscure] moments in films i find a rather amusing. not to mention usually high quality [name wise at least..] the quality of the music is pretty much a shot in the dark.

speaking of, i currently have an mp3 download that is at one hundred eighteen megabytes, and is only eighty-two percent done. damn it better be good.

"we can dance if we want to,
we've got all your life and mine
as long as we abuse it
never gonna lose it,
everything'll work out right.." -m.w.h.