Southpaw Jones

You now have 7 days to live your life without CRUELTY!
How shall you spend them?
CD Release Tuesday, July 29 @ Cactus Cafe.

To reward myself for a mad rush of promotion and mailings yesterday, I finally took Sweet Maggie to see WALL-E. Several friends told me I would enjoy it, and several enemies tried to keep me from seeing it. That’s always a good sign, and they were right to do it. I loved it. Critics loved it, too, as it now has a 96% fresh rating at rottentomatos.com.

If you haven’t seen it, just go. Go now! I’ll try not to spoil anything, but I do want to type about the themes a bit, so you might want to scroll down if you seek an untainted viewing.

WALL-E is supposed to be a mainstream, animated, robot, Disney/Pixar movie for families, but I have never seen a bolder fictional exploration of Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. That book is over twenty years old now, but it holds up well. The idea is that the very means by which we receive information are slowly chipping away at our ability to be serious or relevant or truly informed. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to believe that well-entertained, over-stimulated people are the easiest to control and the least likely to start a revolution. I’ll put it this way: Parents use television as a babysitter, and so do The Powers that Be.

The “people” in WALL-E are obese, boneless, infantile lumps who have never done anything but watch screens and eat meals through straws. They are under the spell of 100% entertainment and comfort, and it is not a pretty sight. Again, it really impressed me that a major summer movie like this would show the dark side of getting everything we want. The film has the audacity to express that maybe moderation is wise, and doing something is very often better than watching something.

Of course, we got a full dose of American irony, as the teenage girl sitting next to Maggie sent text messages on her bright little open cell phone throughout the entire film. Yes, even through the scene where WALL-E inadvertently knocks a personal screen away from an immobile woman who seems to see the world around her for the very first time. I so wanted Maggie to knock the phone out of the girl’s hand and whisper, “You’re at the movies, sweetie.” I think that young lady would have been grateful for the clarity.

I’ll say this, in case any of the younger generation happens to stop by this site: Your life and your friends and your school are not that interesting, and you’re going to have horrible neck problems if you don’t stop tinkering with that stupid phone. Just try living in the moment for once, you wet bananas!

Ahem. I realize I am old, but so is WALL-E, and he’s pretty rad. The film is a true piece of art, because only art has the guts to suggest that the viewer cut back on his/her entertainment intake. I will remember this movie every time I think, “Man, I wish I could just watch TV all day today.”

as reported in The New York Times

July 22, 1908
WOMEN LETTER CARRIERS.
Acting as Substitutes for Their Husbands, Away on Vacation.

One clue whose answer consists of two rhyming words:

That’s no minor bet you just made! You, my friend, have placed a…

Highlight here for answer: [major wager]


World’s Worst Comic Book Museum

Remember that no matter how selfish, how cruel, how unfeeling you have been today, every time you take a breath, you make a flower happy.
Mort Sahl

EVERY DANG THURSDAY
8:00 PM
Flipnotics at the Triangle
4600 Guadalupe
AUSTIN, TX
(512) 380-0097
www.flipnotics.com
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TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2008
Cactus Cafe
The Texas Union, 24th & Guadalupe
AUSTIN, TX
CD Release Celebration for CRUELTY!
(512) 475-6515
www.utexas.edu/txunion/ae/cactus/index.php