Month: March 2006

Rolling Stones Deny Allegations of Moss Gathering

I took my mom and sister to see the Rolling Stones last night at Alltel Arena, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the level of energy these old guys put out. Mick Jagger is 63 years old and he’s still a bundle of angular electricity. Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards mosey around more slowly, but have still got the juice, defying all laws of human physiology. By all rights these men should be dead, and look as though they are, yet they continue moving. Perhaps a zombie curse keeps them alive, because they don’t appear to have aged much since the 1980’s. They’re apparently frozen in time, and skinny as the day they started playing guitar. Charlie Watts is the eldest and ironically looks the healthiest.

And they rocked. These old bastards have been playing arenas for 30 plus years, so they have more experience at it than anyone else. The new tunes sounded as good as the old ones, and the highlight was a cover of “(Night Time Is) The Right Time” by Ray Charles. I have a whole new respect for these cats. Lord knows they’re not on tour because they want money (they have more than anyone could spend); they do it because it’s what they love doing, and they’ll do it ’till they drop. Here’s to you, boys.

We also had a great deal of fun people-watching. A Stones show is a cavalcade of white people and their fashion atrocities. Many people just aren’t honest with themselves about what types of outfits work for them. And oh, the sad aging rock chicks. The ones with voices of ash, who still think drunkenness is a requirement and tight clothing a must, despite the hasty departure of all their sexual weaponry 20-odd years ago.

New Plog

I know the question on everybody’s mind is, “why hasn’t there been a new plog since December?” Well, I haven’t been taking many pictures, sadly. It’s probably because my battery life is getting so low that I can only take a few pictures at a time. I’ll be sure to get a new battery before next week’s trip to Austin, where I will more than likely take a zillion pictures and post them here or on Flickr while I’m down there. I have to admit, the ease of use and popularity of Flickr may kill the plog. People who come to my journal barely seem to notice the plog’s existence anyway.  I may start referring to it as Sneaky Photography, because I recently acquired that domain name and pointed it to the plog. I just have to get the link out there.

Google and the New Economy

Here are some very enlightening quotations from a recent article on Google at Time magazine:

ERIC SCHMIDT (CEO): “The company isn’t run for the long-term value of our shareholders but for the long-term value of our end users.”

LARRY PAGE (Founder): “If we were motivated by money, we would have sold the company a long time ago and ended up on a beach.”

Bravo, boys. Here’s to what I hope will begin a revolution toward an economy where profit is secondary to the greater good and to personal satisfaction.  If that sounds ridiculously optimistic, consider this: a hundred years ago industries thrived because they filled a need, a necessity, and profit was derived from that, but today it seems like the tenor of business in this country is one of want, of convenience. We are finding ever more luxuries with which to fill our lives. The middle class is doing much less physical labor. We’re getting to a point where necessity is no longer the mother of invention, convenience is. Our lives are so convenient now that many more of us have the option of taking a job we enjoy versus a job we’re forced into. I feel like trade skills are falling off while interchangeable office skills are on the rise. In that environment, there exists more freedom to choose a job you enjoy. Your daily aim then becomes doing your job well because you care about the work.

I’m not saying this is widespread right now, nor will come to pass for the entire populace any time soon, but I really think it might be possible. Give it a thousand years and we’ll see. The danger between now and then becomes finding something enjoyable for everyone to do. Today there are so many members of my generation and younger who are so affluent that they’re bored to tears and psychologically abused by an army of marketers trying to sell them unnecessary trinkets and pleasures. They have no idea where to start looking for something about which they can be passionate. They need mental, emotional and spiritual food and they’ve got Kelly Clarkson and MTV. We’ve traded in physical hardship for psychological stress. For everything you gain, you lose something I suppose.

Anyway, that all just popped in from out of nowhere. Not sure if it’s coherent but oh well. Thinking about those two statements and how they run completely counter to traditional capitalism brings me a great deal of joy. Maybe change can start at the top for once.