Word: Anomie.

From dictionary.com and the American Heritage Dictionary:

an·o·mie or an·o·my, n.

1. Social instability caused by erosion of standards and values.
2. Alienation and purposelessness experienced by a person or a class as a result of a lack of standards, values, or ideals: “We must now brace ourselves for disquisitions on peer pressure, adolescent anomie and rage” (Charles Krauthammer).

George Bernard Shaw.

Despite being an advocate of Marxist Socialism, George Bernard Shaw made a few very good points in his time, many of these points about the linguistic trends that shape our world. Here are a few quotes that I've found enlightening in one way or another:

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

"Do not do unto others as you expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same."

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality."

"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."

"No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means."

"The secret of success is to offend the greatest number of people."

Music: Elliott Smith.

Currently listening to: 'Roman Candle' by Elliott Smith.

Elliott Smith is by far my favorite singer/songwriter ever. Roman Candle, his second album, was one of his best.

Music: Stiff Little Fingers,True Sounds of Liberty.

Currently listening to: 'Nobody's Heroes' by Stiff Little Fingers.
20 minutes ago, I was listening to 'Dance With Me' by True Sounds of Liberty.

Two great tastes that taste great together. I found out about the Stiff Little Fingers last year, and True Sounds of Liberty just recently. Punk is not a music genre. Punk is a state of mind. Fuck you if you believe otherwise.

Music: Mike Ness.

Currently listening to: 'Cheating at Solitaire', by Mike Ness.

Wow. This is my first listen to this disc, but I'm really getting into it. Angry music for lost drifters. The track 'No Man's Friend' is my favorite so far. The title track is really good, too. Production quality is solid, and Ness has lost none of his energy.

Mike Ness is also the lead singer of Social Distortion.

The influence of friends...

Here I present to you three of my friends. One a philosopher, one a technologist, and one a riot in human form. Really, each of these three gentlemen has a bit of the philosopher, a bit of the technologist and a bit of the whirlwind in them.

Once upon a time I looked for people who were a reflection of myself, those who agreed with me on all things. Now I have a different understanding of what makes friendship work: Loyalty, honesty and the willingness to help each other at some personal cost. Friends add to you, by providing a fresh and sometimes differing perspective.

The angry philosopher, the controlling technologist and the whirling dervish. I know you all hate labels. Deal with it. There are others, too, these friends of mine. The big-hearted father, the eccentric wanderer, the ambitious politician, the jolly neuroscientist and the musical linguist.

My friends have got my back.

Music: ELP.

Currently listening to: Emerson Lake and Palmer's self-titled debut album.

In the 70s, these guys were somewhere between the edgy insanity of Jethro Tull and the intelligent dream rock of Cream. The track that everyone knows from this album is 'Lucky Man', but the album itself isn't bad, even it suffers a bit for not having aged well.

Music Video: Granddaddy.

Apparently, before Jed left us, he wrote some poems.

I remember having this track on repeat for a week or so, right around the end of 2k1. This beautiful homemade video was programmed on an original Apple II computer, with 48k ( !!! ) of RAM.

Here's the site, and here's a direct link to the video.

Music: Korn.

Currently listening to: 'Take a Look in the Mirror', by Korn.

Released as Korn's popularity and creativity were beginning to wane, this album was pretty solid, with a very production heavy sound. With this album, the boys stopped reaching quite so hard for the shock factor in an attempt to gain a more mainstream audience. Not their best album, but it makes pretty good background music.

'Life is Peachy' and the oft maligned 'Issues' are my two faves by these guys.

Film: Syriana.

I just saw the George Clooney political thriller 'Syriana' at the theatre. This movie was as vibrant as 'Munich' was vacant. I actually cared about the motivations of the characters in this film in a way that I haven't in anything since last year's 'Crash'. The politics of this film, though admittedly fictional, were relevant enough to be genuinely scary. If you want to learn something, or just care about something, check this movie out.