Russian Glue

  Racial supremacists usually don't bother me very much, they only get press on slow news days and even then the liberal media usually manages to show them as the misguided misanthropes that they are, in spite of allowing them the publicity so shamelessly for ratings. I don't have any feelings about the Gaede twins beyond the perception that they are not especially talented but have gained notoriety by way of their subject matter. Exactly the same as mediocre pop bands that get record contracts by turning 'christian rock', NTTAWWT.  

  These girls are 14 years old; so of course they have no idea what they are talking about, someone in their management makes all those decisions for them. So one of them says that they admire Hitler and other white power nonsense - seriously, they just don't know any better. Jessica Simpson sings gospel music yet usually appears in public only as cleavage; at least these girl's message is consistent. (Well, 'Jesus' and 'cleavage' almost rhyme, in a cleft palate sort of way.) The twin girls of Prussian Blue don't like you or want to be around you if you are not white. Simple enough, I'm white and I don't want to be around them.  

  It is what you do that matters, not your motivation, regardless what your shrink says. Sure, it makes a difference to the individual and those in his/her life - but not to the rest of us. If you make lame music and only 20% of it is racially insensitive/provocative; you still make lame music. Or say you are a comedian and all of your jokes are about Jews. If you're not Jewish then you'll probably get a lot of grief but if you are Jewish you'll get a pass; just not from me. You're still a hack if you can't find material beyond stereotypes. Every black comedian has at least 20 minutes of "white guys walk like this" material, the successful ones get beyond using it eventually, if they're any good. Not that Chris Rock is horrible, just one of the top three most overrated anythings ever. That said, everyone should see CB4 at least once. (And yes, it was a black girl that never returned the CB4 soundtrack that she borrowed from me, but you knew that. Anything that isn't nailed down, sigh.)

  The biggest offender concerning Prussian Blue and their music is the ABC television network. People that are active in supremacist/separatist causes already knew about these li'l angels, who do you think their management was selling their records to, Sam Goody? It is some of my neighbors, and probably some of yours, that don't seek out such things yet quietly hold their racist beliefs - these are the people that would have never heard of them otherwise but are now buying their records and visiting their website. Freedom of the press and all that, sure, yeah, but you and I and the mousepad all know that "exposing" basically innocuous unknowns on national television has nothing to do with journalism. It's sensational and controversial, which is all they are reaching for when they do these 'articles' on their magazine shows. Usually I blame the media blamers, but in the case of making worthless trash famous I have to side with them. It works for more well-known acts too, did anyone think Insane Clown Posse were good role models for their teenagers before Bill O'Reilly harassed them? Way to tackle the tough issues, Bill.  

  On the lighter side, if you want to contact Prussian Blue; the Gaede Twins mediocre folk music group, you'll have to have a look around.  Prussianblue.com belongs to a UK-based blues band, which is really one of the funniest things I've seen online in a while. (That they beat the li'l angels to the domain name; I don't mean their music is any better or worse or funny or anything like that.) Oh, BTW, they have also registered the name Prussian Blue®!


  Duty Freebie: Newsfromme -  Mark Evanier is an opinionated print and show business veteran that I have been aware of since reading the Groo the Wanderer comics he wrote with Sergio Aragonés back in the 80s. (They are still doing them.) He writes about everything, he's equally likely to mention something about Jessica Simpson as Dick "Dick" Cheney and updates frequently, very often with video clips and great links. I don't think I've ever read anything there about Squeaky though, hmm?  


You should know by the context of the rest of this entry that I was kidding about black people taking anything not nailed down. If not, now you do. It is a true story, but I have more white people on my 'borrowed stuff and never returned it' list, so whom should I be more wary of, right?  

There'd be days like this she said

  I fully realize that sweepstakes and instant winnings are tried-and-true marketing schemes that aren't likely to end anytime soon . The underlying theme of our society is instant gratification, more so with every passing day, so the idea of something free NOW just gets more and more appealing. Not that it ever wasn't appealing, but the sense of entitlement that we have instilled in our young people over the last 30 years leaves us all with little patience for hard work preceding our rewards. However, there is a line, however fine, between instant winnings and complete schnauzer grade dog offerings.

  I purchased several Butterfinger candy bars a week or so ago, (you know the one, it's like a 5th Avenue but not as good, Bart Simpson eats them); and on the wrappers is a two-tiered sweepstakes announcement. One can instantly win another candy bar, one in twenty will do so. In addition, one can go online and enter a code to play for [up to] one million dollars! Just to be sure before I wrote about it, I went to the site and went through the rather lengthy registering process and played the game. It is not a lottery, by which I mean there aren't million dollar winning wrappers; your number is simply a ticket to gain access to a rather difficult treasure hunt at the website. You can play once per wrapper code #. I didn't get any farther than the first leg of the journey, and I suspect there are several more obstacles on the way to the million bucks. This is pretty standard time-wasting crap that some sweepstakes junkie in Iowa always wins, and frankly, my time is better spent researching Powerball odds.

  The instant win part, the free candy bar; I did win that. It didn't take much effort either, just opened the package and wiped the melted chocolate out of the way to read the glee-inducing news. Unfortunately, my glee was short lived. Instead of printing a simple bar code coupon so that one might visit the candy vendor of their choosing and receive their free candy bar; one is asked to send the wrapper on a 3x5 card along with their name, address, and a daytime phone number to Nestlé and, um, presumably await the delivery of a coupon that one can take to the candy vendor of one's choosing and receive a free candy bar. Not as bad as 39¢ to send it in an envelope, but being glued to that 22¢ postcard leaves my winning wrapper at the mercy of any unscrupulous postal worker that comes across it. All of this wouldn't be quite as comical if the object won were say a flat panel monitor or even a Raffi cd, but we're talking about a candy bar. They say in the odds that it has a retail value of 79¢, but I would never pay that for a bar that is not a particular favorite. Since I paid 25¢ each for mine, it hardly seems worth my time to send away for my winnings, but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I won something. Good self esteem builder that.


Duty Freebie: I've been reading AvenueF for a few months, slowly digging through the archives and enjoying it. Frankie currently attends USC and is having a good time, she is very creative and her journal (several years worth) reflects that.