This six part series on philosophy is presented by popular British philosopher Alain de Botton, featuring six thinkers who have influenced history, and their ideas about the pursuit of the happy life.
[6 Episodes/24min.
Each]
Episode 1: Socrates on Self-Confidence - Why do so many people go along with the crowd and fail to stand up for what they truly believe? Partly because they are too easily swayed by other people's opinions and partly because they don't know when to have confidence in their own.
Episode 2: Epicurus on Happiness - British philosopher Alain De Botton discusses the personal implications of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270BCE) who was no epicurean glutton or wanton consumerist,but an advocate of "friends, freedom and thought" as the path to happiness.
Episode 3: Seneca on Anger - Roman philosopher Lucious Annaeus Seneca (4BCE-65CE), the famous and popular philosopher of his day, took the subject of anger seriously enough to dedicate a whole book to the subject. Seneca refused to see anger as an irrational outburst over which we have no control. Instead he saw it as a philosophical problem and amenable to treatment by philosophical argument. He thought anger arose from certain rationally held ideas about the world, and the problem with these ideas is that they are far too optimistic. Certain things are a predictable feature of life, and to get angry about them is to have unrealistic expectations.
Episode 4: Montaigne on Self-Esteem looks at the problem of self-esteem from the perspective Michel de Montaigne (16th Century), the French philosopher who singled out three main reasons for feeling bad about oneself - sexual inadequecy, failure to live up to social norms, and intellectual inferiority - and then offered practical solutions for overcoming them.
Episode 5: Schopenhauer on Love - Alain De Botton surveys the 19th Century German thinker Schopenhauer (1788-1860) who believed that love was the most important thing in life because of its powerful impulse towards ..'the will-to-life..'
Episode 6: Nietzsche on Hardship - British philosopher Alain De Botton explores Friedrich Nietzsche's (1844-1900) dictum that any worthwhile achievements in life come from the experience of overcoming hardship. For him, any existence that is too comfortable is worthless, as are the twin refugees of drink or religion.
I didn't think that this day would ever come. It's official. I'm completely OVER "Stairway To Heaven". I heard the song for the 3 billionth time in my life on my way home at around 3:30 last night. Having only left the house at 11 to go out, have a couple of pints and shoot some pool (not at all meaning to be out so late). I didn't bring my I&Ipod for the ride and was forced to listen to the radio. On the way home, the local classic rock station (funny how I default to that station when no CD or mp3s are available...) was playing a block of Led Zeppelin; 3 songs. There was a point in time when I went through an intense Zeppelin phase and would have been thrilled to have had similar luck.
The DJ played 3 songs, the last of which was "Stairaway To Heaven". There were times when I was mesmerized by that song (i.e. the first couple of Marijuana Renaissances of my young life) and used to rock out to it every single time I heard it FOR YEARS. All of that ended at around 3:30 am Eastern Standard Time on January 13th.
As though a switch was clicked on in my head, one of my all time favorite songs became a furry old dinosaur - an irrelevant relic, a joke; a curiously conspicuous and gawdy monument to a bygone era. What caused it, or, more appropriately, caused me to realize it? I think it was the Tolkien-esque lyrics and a mental image from the concert film "The Song Remains The Same" of a coked out Robert Plant; screaming, skintight bell bottoms threadbare from the bulge - a caricature of himself, even then. I thought of a Zeppelin cover band that I saw in SF a couple of years ago. They called themselves "Heavy Hindenburg" and each band member had studied the aforementioned film to capture the essence of their Zeppelin counterpart. They were campy and really funny. At one point, I remember the Faux-Plant waving around a plastic sword in a very theatrical manner and saying quite matter of factly to the crowd in a fake British accent, "I 'ave an 'obbit in me pants!". Whatever I was drinking at the time came gushing out of my nose.
I still like Zeppelin a lot, but it's official; I'm totally over "Stairway To Heaven". I guess that it had to happen sometime.
(incidentally, the other 2 songs they played were "Hey Hey, What Can I Do?", the next zeppelin song that i will get sick of, and "Trampled Underfoot" which i never really cared for to begin with)
Currently
listening
:
Led Zeppelin III
By
Led Zeppelin
Release date: 16 August, 1994
About 13 years ago, I dated a woman who had an upstairs neighbor with whom we were moderately friendly. The neighbor's name was Dawn. Dawn had a boyfriend named Phil. Dawn and Phil liked to drink - A LOT. We suspected that Phil liked the cocaine - A LOT. Every time I saw them, they were either drunk, hungover or on their way out to the bar or liquor store. They were nice enough people. They were a youngish couple of misfits who were just fucked up enough on their own to form a two component voltron of dysfunction. Dawn told anyone who would listen that she went to high school with Toni Braxton. She showed us the yearbook and everything. They were in the same class, but you could tell from their pictures alone that Toni had no idea that Dawn ever existed. Although she didn't pretend that they were friends, she was very proud of the fact that the 2 of them shared the same school at the same time. It was more than just a little bit sad. Phil, on the other hand, was just a loserish kind of guy with an ex wife and some estranged kids. He was kind of a lovable loser and I did feel pity for him.
It wasn't long before Dawn started to show her ass, almost literally. She would come downstairs to borrow sugar, or shoot the shit wearing nothing but panties and a t shirt. She only did this when I was around. Naturally, my girlfriend wasn't having any of it and told Dawn, quite frankly, to chill the fuck out with that shit. Fearing the wrath, she made herself scarce for a while. Personally, I think she was just a bit humiliated upon having been called out on her super retarded attempts at scheming on her neighbor's boyfriend. Dawn never had a chance, by the way.
We didn't see Dawn for a few weeks, but we did hear her and Phil. We heard them coming home wasted. We heard them arguing. We heard one or both of them crying. We heard them fucking.
One Saturday night, she knocked on the door, she was staggering drunk and was almost radiating waves of intoxication. Slurring, she asked if one of us could help her park her car, as she was too wasted to parallel park. I was the only one who could drive stick, so I got the job. It was the middle of January and freezing cold. I put on shoes and a jacket but was still wearing pajama pants. When I sat down in the driver's seat, it was soaking wet. SOAKING wet. Dawn, on drunken auto pilot, had thoroughly pissed the seat of her car. The cloth upholstery was dark, so I didn't see it; I didn't know until it was way too late. I did park the car for her, though. Ever tried to parallel park a car with a manual transmission while simultaneously hovering your ass off the seat to avoid sitting in piss in the dead of winter? Let me tell you, friends, it ain't easy.
When I went back in, picking piss soaked jammies out of my ass crack, Dawn was in her underwear in the hallway. She tried to hug/grind on me/kiss me/thank me in one sloppy movement. It was disgusting. Her panties were wet with piss and she didn't seem to notice. I wished her a good night, told her to go clean her car and went to shower and throw my piss soaked pants in the washing machine. My girlfriend was beside herself with shock, enough so that she didnt care that Dawn had just thrown it at me right in front of her. I felt so bad for her that I couldnt even be mad that I just sat in a puddle of her piss. It would be frozen solid and stinky by morning, anyway. We didn't laugh about it.
Dawn moved out about a week or 2 later. I heard through the grapevine that Phil comitted suicide by drinking a cupful of drano shortly after Dawn dumped him.
Sure he was a racist piece of shit, but dammit, his short stories are amazing. I guess that this has presented a moral dilemma of sorts for me over the years. Well, he did die penniless, alone and bitter, so it's not like I'm actually supporting him with the cash I've spent on his books over the years...
If you're a fan of either Neil Gaiman of H.P. Lovecraft, you'll enjoy this:
I think it was Kiss "Alive II"or AC DC "Back In Black".
2. Last record/tape/CD you purchased:
Sleep "Volume 1" from the iTunes Store
3. Worst musical album you've ever purchased:
I bought a KC And The Sunshine Band CD as a gag gift for someone once.
4. Last album you purchased for someone else?
It was probably that KC And The Sunshine Band CD. I'm in the habit of burning CDs for people, these days.
5. What albums do you own that your friends might not expect you to have?
Enya "Watermark", you know, for when I take relaxing, new-agey bubble baths.
6. If you could listen to only 6 albums for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Sleep "Sleep's Holy Mountain" Black Sabbath "Master of Reality" Interpol :Turn On The Bright Lights" Grandaddy "The Sophtware Slump" Gordon Lightfoot "Sundown" Sleep "Dopesmoker"
7. What album have you probably spent more time listening to than any other?
Probably The Cure "The Head On The Door" or any Radiohead CD
8. What's in your stereo right now?
Middian "Age Eternal" and Om "Variations On A Theme"
9. What's the next "must buy" album on your list?
Sunn o))) "Flight of The Behemoth"
10. Do you have a singular "favorite song of all time"?
I have about 200 of them and they change all the time.
11. What songs do you own that your friends might not expect you to have?
My friends know I listen to anything and everything, so they wouldn't be surprised about much.
12. What are your top ten favorite songs of all time?
See question ..10.
13. What song gets you pumped up?
Lately, it's "Without MSG, I'm Nothing" by Mclusky
14. What song mellows you out?
"Untitled" by Interpol
15. What songs makes you think of early childhood?
"The Letter" by The Box Tops
16. What song reminds of you a good time in a relationship? (past or present)
"It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" from the Hustle And Flow Soundtrack
17. What song reminds you of a relationship that fell apart?
"A Million Reasons" by Stellastarr* (google the lyrics)
18. What song made you feel better after a breakup?
"Big Pimpin'"
19. What song reminds you of your best friend?
"Jesus Built My Hot Rod" by Ministry, because we saw that tour.
20. What's a song that blew you away the first time you heard it?
"Seek Knowledge Before Vengance" by Midnite, Paul played it for me at work one night and it COMPLETELY blew me away.
21. What song breaks your heart?
"If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot
22. What song makes you smile?
"Kiss You All Over" by Exile
23. What song inspires you? "Searching With My Good eye Closed" by Soundgarden
24. What's the last song that got stuck in your head?
"Evil" by Interpol and "Dragonaut" by Sleep are presently stuck in my head.
25. What song are you proud to have memorized the lyrics to?
"B.O.B." by Outkast
26. What song are you always impressed to hear people have memorized?
"Step Right Up" by Tom Waits
27. What 3 songs would you want played at your wedding?
"I Wanna Get Next To You" by Rose Royce, "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey and "Ol' 55" by Tom Waits
28. What 3 songs would you want played at your funeral?
"Flashlight" by Parliament, "Troglodyte" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch and "Let It Whip" by The Dazz Band.
29. Name a band you wish more people listened to.
Sleep
30. Name an album you would suggest to almost anyone.
I've been scheduled to attend a week long training at work. It started yesterday. Admittedly, it's about as gay as 5 guys blowing 7 guys, but it's a welcome respite from the daily rigors of my actual job. It begins at 8am and wraps up at 5 every day. Normally, I work from 10:30-7:30, so I never have to deal with any kind of rush hour. Anyone who knows me knows that if nothing else, I am punctual. I typically leave for work at least 45 minutes before I'm scheduled to arrive, I like to leave myself about 20 minutes to a half hour to sit in my car, listen to music, talk on the phone, or in some other fashion, get my mind right for work. Today, I didn't factor shitty weather, a Benadryl hangover and HORRIBLE morning traffic into the equation. I arrived 15 minutes late and thoroughly stressed out. Thankfully, the woman who facilitates the class likes me and isn't terribly stringent about tardiness, so long as it's not a recurring issue.
In any case, we were all issued copies of the book listed below under "currently reading". At first glance, it looks like some self help-ish/motivational drivel - the type of stuff that I loathe with every atom of my being. While this isn't too far from the truth, I found it interesting, insightful and relevant. Ironically enough, the "lessons" I gleaned from it after having read it cover to cover on my lunch breaks over the last 2 days will serve me far more efficiently in my personal life than it ever will in my professional life. I know next to nothing about the author, but I'd be willing to bet that he's studied Buddhism. I barely know enough about Buddhism to even make a statement like that in the first place, but I'm going to anyway. His ideas smack of things like living in the moment, right thought and right action, which are all worthy pusuits, in one man's humble opinion. One thing is for certain, and that's the fact it seems to have struck a chord with me. I suddenly find myself thinking about things like personal accountability, which almost NEVER happens, as I (like most people, I suspect) are prone to bitching, passing the buck and blaming. I'm definitely not about to run out and join a monastery, stop eating meat and living the life of an ascetic, but I am going to step up and accept responsibilty for the things that I should and see where it takes me.
As many of you know, I obsessively check Wikipedia on a daily basis. I look at histrically significant, or otherwise interesting events for a given day as well as birthdays. Today, I noticed that it was Big Daddy Kane's 39th birthday.
When I realized this, I was at work. I notified my good friend Jason The Magnificent Bastard to share the good news. We exchanged a series of messages speculating as to how a man of Kane's prodigious awesomeness would celebrate the big 39. Ideas spanned a spectrum including, but by no means limited to, the following: snorting coke off of some white girl's tits (dismissed because he probably does this everyday), going to see a musical with his mom, going out for sushi or taking a trip to Thailand for sweet, sweet nubile prostitutes.
All jocularity aside, he did revolutionalize hip hop. When he first came out, flow like his was never before seen.
Here's what Ice T has to say about him:
To me, Big Daddy Kane is still today one of the best rappers. I would put Big Daddy Kane against any rapper in a battle. Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem any of them. I actually met Jay-Z with Kane. Kane brought Jay-Z over to my house. But nobody wants to see Kane. I could take 'Raw' right now and put it up against any record [from today]. Kane is one of the most incredible lyricists, the most real cat if you ever get a chance to meet him. Straight out of Brooklyn, soft-spoken and he will devour you on the mic. I don't want to try to out-rap Big Daddy Kane. I may out-dress him, but I'm not gonna try to out-rap him. Big Daddy Kane can rap circles around cats.
enlightened
contemplative
