The Road (book Report)

I read “The Road,” by Cormack McCarthy.

This book is the abomination of what humanity could become… what humanity is without a biosphere. The book is about a man and his son scavenging and traveling across a barren apocalyptic waste land formerly known as America. Its about the love and humanity of the two of them even through the savage, suffering and cannibalism that is left of mankind.

It is a beautifully written story about a tiny flicker of hope in the pitch dark of a dying species.

There is a movie being made of the Road. It looks like an instant classic with Viggo Mortensen and a great although tragic plot.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/

Popularity: 89% [?]

1927 earthquake of China

Extreme damage in the Gulang-Wuwei area. Landslides buried a town near Gulang and dammed a stream in Wuwei County, creating a new lake. Large fissures and sandblows occurred in the area. Damage occurred from Lanzhou through Minqin and Yongchang to Jinta. It was felt at Xi’an and as far as 700 km (440 mi) from the epicenter. This area along the base of the Qilian Shan (formerly named Nan Shan, which is why this is sometimes called the Nan Shan earthquake) was part of the Silk Road connecting China with Central Asia. Some sources list the death toll as high as 200,000, but this may be a confusion with the much-bigger Ningxia quake of 1920. Also, Gu et al. report that over 250,000 livestock were killed by this earthquake.

Popularity: 53% [?]

Hip Hop is Dead

When I first heard Run DMC performing Tougher than Leather as a teen, I knew something special was happening.  It was beyond cool. Joseph “DJ Run” Simmons, Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels, and Jason “Jam-Master Jay” Mizell were expressing a life style that had evolved on the streets of New York City, something that would take the world by storm. Rick Rubin and Russel Simmons, the founders of Def Jam, had taken a snap shot of that raw energy that was exploding in the grity urban life of the inner city. In the begining it was rough and unapoligetic like punk rock.

Hip Hop has evolved beyond mere culture and into a multi-billion dollar franchise bought and paid for by the corporate elite that control all the major record labels. Rap songs that are played in mass media only do so under the scrutiny of representatives of corporate share holders. Most mainstream hip hop is soulless because it is created for the sole purpose of making money.   There is nothing wrong with making money.  But music used to mean more.  Like most of the world’s important works or art, it used to be a reflection of life, but now it has become a cheap imitation of hip hop… a copy of a copy, faded out, watered down and pre-packaged for the listening pleasure of young adult males between the ages of 17 and 28.

Hip Hop is dead.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Kings X: Ty Tabor, Doug Pinnick and GasKill

The first song I heard from them was called “Dogman” in the ’90s.  The video was cool.  I recall a dingy black man with a dread-lock mohawk belting out scorching rock lyrics with plumes of fog pouring from his lungs and into the cold night of some inner city. 

I was blown away by the vocals of the man I know now as Doug Pinnick, one of the lead singers of Kings X.  Kings X has a sound that was (and is) totally original.  Grunge frickin’ OWNED the early to mid-90s and in the middle of all that was a Texan band called King’s X; no one else sounded like them. 

Pearl Jam’s bassist Jeff Ament declaring that “King’s X invented grunge” but that is complete bull shit!  Call me crazy but King’s X sound NOTHING like grunge.  I mean they have a couple of grungy songs, but Ty Tabor complex musical arrangements move them way beyond grunge. 

The more I hear of these guys the more I like them.  The band consists of Doug Pinnick, Jerry Gaskill and Ty Tabor.  I heard Ty’s solo album, Rock Garden and it is easy to see who is behind the BRILLIANT King’s X musical arrangements.  Ty’s vocals remind me of Paul McCartney, but his AX skills are all his own… simply incredible.  Jerry is clearly the rhythmic backbone of the group, holding the three together like the beads on a string. Doug’s vocals and passionate lyrics in songs like “Over my head”, “Run” and “Big Picture” have brought tears to my eyes.  He is like a post-modern gospel singer spilling out his heart over heavy rock riffs.  He doesn’t compromise his soulful pipes.   They belt out very deep lyrics that often have a spiritual feel.  It is easy to see why so many Christians have been fans of the Kings X. 

Ty Tabor and Gaskill actually started off in a group called “the edge” opening up for christian rock bands like Petra.  From what I understand Kings X used have a much larger christian following and even sold in Christian stores (which is surprising since many of them are extremely uptight and Kings X doesn’t sound “religious”).  Christian Stores started pulling their albums down after Doug announced that he was gay. 

I don’t understand why this is so important.  I mean, if the christian argument is that “gays are sinners so every christian should distance themselves.”  Jesus didn’t distance himself from so-called “sinners”.  He embraced the down trodden.  The church has, in my personal oppinion, completely swayed from the original teachings of christ into something all their own, but that is a whole different discussion.

Popularity: unranked [?]