Take a listen to The Green Car Motel. They're a new favorite.
Other than that... yeah, I've been feeling the helpless depression too. The schaedenfreude of the Trump trials can only counter so much. The guns problem can trace its roots to the old western movies with black hats vs white hats, but how do you reprogram an entire society away from seeing the solution to threats as a blast of hot lead? And Hamas... fucking hell, I have no idea how to sort that. The grievances on both sides go back generations. Even if you wiped out the Zionists and Hamas tomorrow, someone would pick up their respective mantles.
Another musical recommendation- Warren Zevon, "My Shit's Fucked Up". Or maybe Tom Lehrer's "We Will All Go Together When We Go".
Nov 5, 2023·edited Nov 5, 2023Liked by Michael Marshall Smith
Well said; everything, everything. Everyone is so ANGRY. I’m listening to Anima by Thom Yorke, and the last song Runwayrunaway. Also just finished a week on a ballet that was dancing to Ravel’s Bolero, although after hearing it 3x a day the repetitive motif started getting to me. The snare plays the same part 169 times.
Thank you for this. The world is a mess and we don’t seem to want to fix it. So much suffering. Wars wars wars. Here, we are having a rental crisis and one bedroom apartments have soared from affordable sub1-G/month to 2500 and up. Homelessness is at an all time high with seniors out on the street as well as entire families.. and the politicians shrug and wring their hands. Is this our Brave New World? Where is our Star Trek future? What have we done. …Tonight at work my supervisor was angry and hostile. I called her on it and asked, Why are you so angry? It’s just how I am she said. This is not acceptable. We need to be kind now more than ever.
Thank you, Mike. What a fucking depressing time we’re living in. People’s brains have become so stupidly binary that they can’t hold more than the simplest version of an idea at a time. The Gaza tragedy is keeping me awake at night, and all the grandstanding by politicians unable or (in most cases) unwilling to grasp the complexities of the situation is hideous. If you march for peace in the UK, the Home Secretary brands you as hate-filled, while her government scrambles to sell yet more arms. Obama spoke well yesterday, but having suggested there are two sides to the matter, is getting attacked by both. I truly despair. This is one of humanity’s darkest hours.
Wow. This piece is so articulate and unfettered ( by conventional propaganda) I love it. It’s so hard to achieve any personal clarity on some of these issues, and reading works like yours at least provides grist for the mill.
Accurate... concisely described complexity... the best writing always flows from the heart, and yours is an expansive kettle able to contain the heat, ... the fire 🔥 required for the Phoenix. Thanks for sharing your time, energy, life force ...with language 💫
I like to distract myself with ‘Kali’s Dream’ music by Alex Jones and Douglas Cutler (1982.... not sure if link below will work ).
Reading this from a warm, comfortable space near London it is hard to imagine the realities of the wars, even though they are on the front page of many news outlets daily, but not one has laid the position out with such clarity. There is a clear need to identify the middle ground and to steer the opposing factions into it. I read a lot about the US election and Trump’s indictments as I know that the outcome of the next election will have terrifying consequences across the globe if he wins.
Hello. So much hate going on. A couple of thoughts came to mind. I do know this will not be in any way a popular disc. If by law, for the last 20 plus years, you get to build a home to raise your children in, and that home, MUST have a “safe” room included in the building of that home, consider not living on that land. Just my personal opinion. Opinions are like butts, everyone has one. We don’t get to go back in time to 1947 or whatever fucking year to rethink the carving up of lands for a safe haven. In hindsight, I think Alabama or Mississippi would have been a better idea. World Kitchen, Doctors Without Borders are just two of the many viable candidates for what is good in this world.
The FUCKING guns, if one more gun owner tries to bring up his or her right to own an AR15 based on their interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, I will personally slap them naked and hide their clothes. Hope you got a visual on that.
The videos of the atrocities that were shown to countless journalists two weeks ago, should be shown to every war monger on this planet. Again, my personal opinion.
I would like women to run the whole shabang. We get shit done and by goddess, we aren’t mass murderers, locally OR on a global scale. Also, I always wanted a third arm available after child raising, right in the middle of my chest, just to smack the fucking dumbasses of this world. Just for smacking. Last piece is true fantasy, someone clever, could make a visual of that (you) show up and make me laugh for once this month. Michael, thank you for letting me vent. Susie
Well said. All of it.
Take a listen to The Green Car Motel. They're a new favorite.
Other than that... yeah, I've been feeling the helpless depression too. The schaedenfreude of the Trump trials can only counter so much. The guns problem can trace its roots to the old western movies with black hats vs white hats, but how do you reprogram an entire society away from seeing the solution to threats as a blast of hot lead? And Hamas... fucking hell, I have no idea how to sort that. The grievances on both sides go back generations. Even if you wiped out the Zionists and Hamas tomorrow, someone would pick up their respective mantles.
Another musical recommendation- Warren Zevon, "My Shit's Fucked Up". Or maybe Tom Lehrer's "We Will All Go Together When We Go".
Oh fuck it. I have mezcal to drink.
Well said; everything, everything. Everyone is so ANGRY. I’m listening to Anima by Thom Yorke, and the last song Runwayrunaway. Also just finished a week on a ballet that was dancing to Ravel’s Bolero, although after hearing it 3x a day the repetitive motif started getting to me. The snare plays the same part 169 times.
Thank you for this. The world is a mess and we don’t seem to want to fix it. So much suffering. Wars wars wars. Here, we are having a rental crisis and one bedroom apartments have soared from affordable sub1-G/month to 2500 and up. Homelessness is at an all time high with seniors out on the street as well as entire families.. and the politicians shrug and wring their hands. Is this our Brave New World? Where is our Star Trek future? What have we done. …Tonight at work my supervisor was angry and hostile. I called her on it and asked, Why are you so angry? It’s just how I am she said. This is not acceptable. We need to be kind now more than ever.
Very well thought out and compassionately said. And thank you especially fir the very lucid take on the Israel-Hamas situation.
I’m chilling out to Melbourne locals Surprise Chef - https://music.apple.com/au/album/friendship-ep/1674255460
Thank you, Mike. What a fucking depressing time we’re living in. People’s brains have become so stupidly binary that they can’t hold more than the simplest version of an idea at a time. The Gaza tragedy is keeping me awake at night, and all the grandstanding by politicians unable or (in most cases) unwilling to grasp the complexities of the situation is hideous. If you march for peace in the UK, the Home Secretary brands you as hate-filled, while her government scrambles to sell yet more arms. Obama spoke well yesterday, but having suggested there are two sides to the matter, is getting attacked by both. I truly despair. This is one of humanity’s darkest hours.
Dude… given today’s social/political climate, you probably took a risk by posting this.
But I admire the hell out of you for doing so. And will 100% back you up.
In a world of black-and-white, imagine…. a gray area.
Imagine.
A gray area.
A territory that, once upon a time, existed.
Currently enjoying ML Buch - her new album is stunningly good - and also Swimming Bell
Thank you for this.
The right take on an appalling topic, thank you.
We’re going to see Kristin Hersh in Sydney this week so I’m listening to her and Throwing Muses (90s child).
Wow. This piece is so articulate and unfettered ( by conventional propaganda) I love it. It’s so hard to achieve any personal clarity on some of these issues, and reading works like yours at least provides grist for the mill.
Accurate... concisely described complexity... the best writing always flows from the heart, and yours is an expansive kettle able to contain the heat, ... the fire 🔥 required for the Phoenix. Thanks for sharing your time, energy, life force ...with language 💫
I like to distract myself with ‘Kali’s Dream’ music by Alex Jones and Douglas Cutler (1982.... not sure if link below will work ).
https://alexmeditation.com/products/kali’s_dream.pho
Reading this from a warm, comfortable space near London it is hard to imagine the realities of the wars, even though they are on the front page of many news outlets daily, but not one has laid the position out with such clarity. There is a clear need to identify the middle ground and to steer the opposing factions into it. I read a lot about the US election and Trump’s indictments as I know that the outcome of the next election will have terrifying consequences across the globe if he wins.
Hello. So much hate going on. A couple of thoughts came to mind. I do know this will not be in any way a popular disc. If by law, for the last 20 plus years, you get to build a home to raise your children in, and that home, MUST have a “safe” room included in the building of that home, consider not living on that land. Just my personal opinion. Opinions are like butts, everyone has one. We don’t get to go back in time to 1947 or whatever fucking year to rethink the carving up of lands for a safe haven. In hindsight, I think Alabama or Mississippi would have been a better idea. World Kitchen, Doctors Without Borders are just two of the many viable candidates for what is good in this world.
The FUCKING guns, if one more gun owner tries to bring up his or her right to own an AR15 based on their interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, I will personally slap them naked and hide their clothes. Hope you got a visual on that.
The videos of the atrocities that were shown to countless journalists two weeks ago, should be shown to every war monger on this planet. Again, my personal opinion.
I would like women to run the whole shabang. We get shit done and by goddess, we aren’t mass murderers, locally OR on a global scale. Also, I always wanted a third arm available after child raising, right in the middle of my chest, just to smack the fucking dumbasses of this world. Just for smacking. Last piece is true fantasy, someone clever, could make a visual of that (you) show up and make me laugh for once this month. Michael, thank you for letting me vent. Susie
A thoughtful read, thank you.
David Rudder: Hallelujah, 10,000 flowers bloom (after the coup attempt in T&T) or the Ganges meets the Nile (2 thoughts! this 1st!).
I admire your bravery Michael, the Middle East is turtles all the way down.