Musical Monday - I believe Kesha

Kesha is 28 years old.  She is surrounded by extremely intelligent people, who support her, and want to help her make good decisions.

She is a VERY public figure.  Kesha has filed a lawsuit claiming that Lukasz Gottwald sexually and emotionally abused her starting at age 18.

I don't know the details of what happened, but since the "window of discover" doesn't end until January, 2017, you bet your ass the next twelve months are going to be an open book, with every sleazeball pouring over every bit of dirty laundry in Kesha's entire life (going back to childhood), and Dr Luke's life for the last five minutes.

Yeah, I said that.  Every sleazeball wants to see Kesha's underwear, because she's young, hot, and a woman.  Only a handful of diehard justice seeking liberal treehuggers and well-paid mercenary private investigators and lawyers are going to give a rat's ass about Dr Luke's history.  Double standards never die.

He's a music producer for Sony - he's a dirtbag by definition.  Sony - as a logical representation of collective decision making of hundreds of people, since corporations are not people - has one of THE worst reputations in the music industry for treating artists like chew toys.

So, any asshole who claims Kesha is "just trying to break contract" is an asshole.  No one throws her entire fucking life away "just to break a contract."  And that's what is about to happen.  Her next ten years are going to be a nightmare, and if she's really lucky, she'll be able to rebuild a music  career in her mid-30s, once the assholes of the world stop trying to get a look at her underwear.

Frankly, I think it's awesome that other artists like Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga had show such tremendous support.  Both of those artists are extremely image conscious - they know how to work the business right back on itself, which means they are taking a huge risk siding with Kesha, and I admire them as business women.  They obviously believe Kesha, and they obviously want to stand up for women, and they obviously want to stand up against the music industry.

And for fuck's sake, why is she know as "The 'Tik Tok' Singer"??  She's got so many better songs, and that one is clearly years ago.  I barf on the mindless media for treating this as somehow her only success.

Whatever happens next to Kesha, I wish her the best of luck. I think she is a talented artist, and a brave woman.

Mad Max Fury Road - NOT F*ing Oscar Worthy

Okay, let's get this over with. "Mad Max Fury Road" was a fun and entertaining movie.  I liked it.  I love Charlize Theron, and that dude was hot.  I thought the "villains on sticks" and even the giant speakers with flames and a rock band was cool.  It had some really great freaky-screwed-up imagery of a world gone mad.  Those elements were totally within the scope of the fucked up, dystopian, everyone-has-gone-insane-so-why-not word that is Mad Max.  I mean, you had "bungee cords and chain saws in a cage" in "Beyond Thunderdome," so mounting a heavy metal band stage show on a truck in the desert actually worked.

NOT FUCKING OSCAR WORTHY

Any movie that has a premise of "water is the most precious commodity in the desert, or we all die," and still throws in the gratuitous "pale white chicks having wet t-shirt contest" scene, automatically caps out at "bubble gum amusing," and is stricken from the Oscar contention.

Actually, the fact that "Fury Road" is - in fact - UP FOR TEN (10) FUCKING OSCARS is really a commentary on modern society, and the fucked up value system of modern society, more than it is any kind of comment on the film itself.

Really?  All you could find was pale white chicks? In the desert?  And how precious is water, exactly?  It's called a "gratuitous wet t-shirt contest," because sex sells. End of discussion.

Charlize Theron is Weeping

You just know, deep down, Charlize Theron is weeping -  "I won an Oscar for Monster, and Fury Road is up for ten fucking nominations!?" she whimpers into her pillow at night.  But, she's also a Professional, so publicly she supports the film and congratulates everyone involved. Yeah, she is that good.

And the whole "Mad Max makes men look like pussies" is total bullshit.  Only sad little boys think this is an issue.  Actually, it's again a contrived controversy that is a commentary on modern society that men are losing their privileged status to the scrapings of gender equality and their fragile egos are falling apart.  If you think "Fury Road" was "feminist propaganda," then your world view needs an enema, because your head is in the way.

When Binary Is Invalid Syntax

What is this thing with people commenting "NO" to a 200 word blog post that doesn't even propose a "Yes/No" question?

What is this with people typing in sentence fragments?

I'm highly intuitive, but I'm not a fucking mind reader. Throw me a frickin' bone.

Mobile device is no excuse. I'm an orgre who lives under a bridge. 90% of MY text bleed is written on a mobile.

Please put a little effort into your side of making communication clear. Thanx!

The PSA brought to you by #IAmIcarus :)

It's a Gun, Not a Condom 8: The NRA is not your friend

Jon Tunnell wrote

Did anyone ever say that the NRA did not offer training? No. What I said was the NRA does not think it is necessary nor should it be required. It seems incongruous given that it was founded to train gun owners.

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20140417/louisiana-mandatory-training-bill-fails-to-advance-from-committee

http://m.host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_b709aa76-f84d-59bf-a140-b6963ec16797.html

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/04/16/464729/nra-concealed-carry-training/

The N.R.A. objected to the letter’s support for a federal ban on the sale of assault weapons and ammunition, a buyback program to reduce the number of guns in circulation, limits on the purchase of ammunition, mandatory safety training for gun owners, and mandatory waiting periods before completing a purchase.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/opinion/the-gun-lobbys-latest-bizarre-crusade.html?referer=

The NRA likes the idea of training so much that it's floated the idea of mandatory firearms training for school children. On the other hand, it's opposed laws requiring mandatory training for gun purchases.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/07/28/watch-what-happens-when-regular-people-try-to-use-handguns-in-self-defense/

Sometimes stupid just needs love

Every time I see one of those "Home owner shoots gun at intruder, kills loved one by mistake" memes or stories, I have two thoughts:

1) Well, shit, that's only going to get worse, and blah, blah, blah.  You've seen my rants about irresponsible gun owners, so you know where I stand. The point is that I "blah, blah, blah" cut myself off, because there is no value in flogging the dead loved one. Seriously. That's just adding insult to inury.

2) This person will probably never forgive himself, or herself, especially if that person was gung-hu macho about taking ouut an intruder.  This person needs a bit of compassion, and I'll give that by not spreading the story, and allowing the person to grieve in what peace she can get. These poor people made a horrible mistake - they don't need every asshole on the Internet sending them "way to go dumbfuck!" emails or letters.

Sometimes, the best way to make a point, is to just say nothing at all.