THE DAILY DIVERSION

Well, the weekend is over, again... As usual, it was way too short, and, as usual, I didn't sleep for shit last night. It wasn't because of the car alarm though. That only went off once this morning, and I'm not even sure it was the same car.

Adrianne went to sleep without me at 10:40 last night. I made it in there right at 11, but I wasn't even remotely tired. I just knew that I needed to go to bed, or I'd be paying for it today. Well, I'm paying for it regardless. I tried to watch TV for a while, but there was nothing on. So, I put on one of the relaxing "wave" sounds that I used to sleep to all the time. I tried to concentrate on it, but I kept singing the stupid song "Lonely No More" by Rob Thomas to myself. It's one of Adrianne's favorites, and we had just finished watching an interview with him on TV before she went to bed. I don't know if that was exactly why the song was in my head, or if me wanting to ask Adrianne the ever important question, "Does that song mean a lot less to you now that you know it's just a joke and not some super romantic ballad?" I say that because, during the interview, he commented on the song "Yeah, I had so many songs containing the words 'lonely' and 'angry' so I threw them in there to poke fun at myself". I thought this was hilarious, yet I didn't want to interrupt the show by asking Adrianne about it then. By the time the show was over I had forgotten about it, until the song popped into my head.

So, finally, I dozed off. I think it was around 2 am, but I'm not sure. I know it had been a while since I put my head on the pillow though. I had just fallen asleep when the hand-held shower head (that I had mounted earlier that day) fell off the wall (again). With a loud "whump" I was wide awake, again. Yes, this is how most of my nights of sleep go.

I'm not sure how long it took me to fall back asleep, but I think I quickly began dreaming. I had a really, really cool dream that was actually about the next Superman movie. I'm not sure how this got in my head, but I thought it was only going to be the trailer for it, but before long it was a full blown movie. It was pretty cool stuff too. You want to hear all about it? No?

Too bad! Here it is...

It begins with General Zod, flanked again by Ursa and Non (from Superman II), standing in front of an entire legion of Kryptonian evildoers, who are hell-bent on taking over Earth. Superman is face to face with Zod, while there are troops of Earthlings behind him with laser weaponry that can take down the enemy.

Before long, I'm actually Superman, but no one knows it. The evil forces have done tons of damage and forced most humans into hiding. I'm with an elite group of trained combatants and we're getting ready to start our last offensive. Before we go, some woman gives me a new set of golf clubs. For some reason, it's the greatest gift ever. However, our enjoyment quickly ended, when Zod's troops start attacking.

We're sent running for the hideout. I leave my clubs behind in the haste of running for the hills. However, as we're running, the person who gave me them tells me to go back to get them and meet them at the place. We get split up and they end up at the hideout. I run back, grab the clubs and have to make my way back to the hideout.

Somehow the hideout is underwater now, and the only way to get there is to flatten myself to the thickness of a sheet of paper, which I somehow can do. I do this and slip into the ventilation system. Most everyone is underwater (and breathing, nonetheless) when I join up with them.

I don't know what happens next, as I was woken out of my slumber by a buzzing sound. All I know is that if the next Superman is half as good as my dream, then we're in for another great movie. Did I mention that I truly loved "Superman Returns"? I can't wait for it to come out on DVD.

Before I get into the next thing... Here is the latest edition of my "Rules". This one is for my boy PT.

Now, onto to some ideas I had this weekend. As a forewarning, I have my opinion on things (obviously) and I'm not saying my opinion is correct. However, I've been thinking about this for a little while now, and I have to get this out there.

This may become a multi-part expose (missing the accent mark there), because it might become long. Anyway, I don't know if this is government sanctioned or not (but it easily could be), and that would be very paranoid of me to say so, and, thus, could be the end of this blog if they find out I know the truth, but...

Could it be that the government has intentionally pushed certain types of music into the mainstream in order to "dumb us down" as a nation?

If you look through the history of music there have been many types that were socio-political, yet never lasted. The hippies tried to push their agenda of peace through music, but that didn't last (drugs were part of the problem there). During the late 1980's, hip hop groups like Public Enemy were pushing the envelope with anti-political statements, yet never were widely accepted, nor played on the radio. Bob Marley consistently tried to battle the evils of the world through music, and there are a thousand conspiracies about his death (at a young age). The list goes on and on.

However, what types of music have endeavored and actually grown? First off, we have "pop" music. We're constantly bombarded with teen beauty queens that are all fluff and no substance. We get to hear the "catchy" hooks and rehashed beats and rhythms. That's great! Please play the same songs 1,000 times a day. I appreciate it.

Now we have something called "pop"-country. I have never liked country music. Period. However, I gave the pioneers their credit because, at least, their music had "soul". Their songs were about hardships and trying to overcome obstacles in their life (mostly alcohol abuse, but who's counting?). Now I'm asked if I "want a little yang in my ying-yang". Whatever the fuck that means?

Lastly, and most importantly, we have hip-hop. The greatest culprit in this melee of our intelligence. Single-handedly, hip-hop has destroyed the English language and millions of urban and suburanites ability to speak it. It has penetrated so deep into the entire culture of the world (not just the United State) that you can hear "Yeeeaaah!", "Holla", and "Grrrrl" all across the globe.

I pick hip-hop out the most, because it's what I hear the most, and I must listen to the people that are influenced the most by it trying to speak on a daily basis. Personally, I am a big proponent for the use of contractions. I don't enjoy speaking sentences that are forty words long, really (no matter how I type). However, what used to be people using "don't" for "do not", "shouldn't" for "should not", "couldn't" for "could not", "wouldn't" or "won't" for "would not", have been replaced with "do'n", "sho'n", "co'n", and "wo'n".

Then we have the lack of creativity in the new hip-hop lifestyle. They talk about how hip-hop is pushing the envelope and is being so ingenious. However, it doesn't take talent nor creativity, to completely remake a song that was done 30 years ago (and with some "soul") and call it new and fresh. Wearing a hat crooked isn't creative either. Great! Your eyes aren't shield from the sun anymore. I get it! Wearing clothes that are 6 times too big for you, so that they fall off is a great idea. I could understand this one, if, and only if, the person was buying the clothes so that they could wear them for 30 years, thus growing into them as they get fat and old.

I thoroughly enjoyed hip-hop back when the performers were singing the praises of their forefathers (Malcolm X, MLK, etc) and trying educate and make things better for themselves and their race (actually all races, through understanding the differences in us). However, those artists (Public Enemy, De La Soul, Afrika Bambaataa, Eric B. & Rakim, etc) never enjoyed hearing their hit single played nationwide, five billion times a day. However, just a few years ago you could hear Nelly talking about a fucking pair of sneakers (actually just repeating the same few words over and over) at least twice an hour on almost any radio station across the world (not just the hip-hop stations).

The norm now is to rap about "bling", "bitches", and how much money you have. The reality of it is this... Most Hip-hop artists don't have shit. The producers and record executives get all of the money. Most of what the artists have is rented and shines only in their videos. I won't even get started on that!

These "new" artists are pimped by the exec's that pick them, knowing they have no clue how the industry works. The exec signs them to some deal (probably a guarantee of some sum of money that is extraordinarily large to the artist-like $100,000, but, in reality is chump change to the exec, who's going to make millions off of the artist), then makes the artist bust their ass writing (if you call it that), performing, and getting face time on TV or at radio stations. For the exec it's a wise investment, but for the artist, it's just a new form of slavery (because they have to live up to the lifetime of the contract-multiple records, etc). The plantation is optional.

To wrap up this section of my rant... Music, in and of itself, is a beautiful thing. So much of it has "soul" and bleeds emotion where people can relate to it. However, this music isn't what is sold to the population via the radio, TV, and internet chat boxes. It must be found and put out there for everyone, so we can dispense with the idiocy.

So, do yourself a favor... Turn off the radio, stop watching the "booty shakin' " videos the CMT, BET, MTV or any other three letter channel wants you to see, and find yourself some real music. If you're a country fan, go look up the "ol' timers". If you like hip-hop, search out the roots of the genre (i.e. Grandmaster Flash--Go to IMDB.com and put that in the search bar at the top. It'll give you a list of similar artists and who influenced him and who he influenced. It's a good start.) If you like rock, well, there are so many places to start. First off, don't listen to anything that's played on the pop stations (i.e. Nickelback, Coldplay, Staind, etc). If you like pop... Well, I'm sorry, because you have to start from scratch.

I'll try tomorrow to enlighten you some more, if you've actually made it this far.