Saturday, September 27, 2008

A Warm Place

Been listening to this song a lot today. Over and over. Man, it still drives a nail of emotion straight into my heart, almost a decade and a half after I had first heard it. Never seen this "official" video before; the only visual representation that I was previously familiar with was the amazing video montage (Trent worked "A Warm Place" and "Hurt" into one amazing song) when I saw NIN back in December of 1994. I can still remember images from off the gigantic screen, this far removed.

It blows me away how music remains (for me at least) an amazing rendition of the fabled "time machine." I can listen to this song and be taken back to my shabby first apartment in college, putting this song on repeat and wondering what the heck I was doing with my life and why my hopes and dreams of what my college experience were inexplicably different for how they turned out. I've often wondered if the music that is being made these days that teens and folks in their early twenties will affect them the way "my music" does to me. I'm not always convinced that being taken back is a good thing... but I suppose anything that makes you feel emotion is good in it's own right...

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

"Now that I've totally enraged you, can I sell you some religion?"

I just don't get it.

You ring the doorbell once and I don't get it... you should be able to hear my two hysterical dogs going crazy at the door. AFTER you hear me scream from the back of the house "NOT INTERESTED!!!" (mainly because I'm in the middle of changing out of my work clothes and just don't feel like answering the door), you have the audacity to ring my bell a SECOND TIME. (Insert dogs going even more hysterical here)

Then, to blow my mind, you ring it a THIRD time. By now, I'm practically foaming at the mouth... begging for your sake that you're a long-lost northernly friend who's popped south of the Mason-Dixie for a visit or a Federal Agent from the FCC about the flurry of telemarketing calls that I can NOT STOP NO MATTER WHAT I DO!!! But you're not.

SO, to completely blow me out of the water as I try to manage two rabidly barking and curious dogs while opening a heavy front door AND doing all this in a wheelchair (not usually one to throw the gimp factor into anything, but I think this one actually applies) you have the audacity to greet me with a condescending smirk and valueless "HELLO!!!!" (think Jerry Seinfeld) and DARE to try to sell me some crackpot religious gimmick? (Sorry man, your manner of dress and that bright and cheery pamphlet gave it away by a mile and I am most definitely resolute in my Faith enough... if not in my church attendance... to go toe to toe with you in a debate of all things spiritual; trust me, my Dad's a minister).

Yeah. I'm a jerk. I know. Been told that my whole life. But yes... I still will dramatically bellow "WE'RE NOT IN-TER-ESTED" if you come back tomorrow.