Entry tags:

firefly, music, rachel maddow, star trek, vidding

Was Ist Aufklärung?
I've been thinking about the Enlightenment lately (dreaming about storming the Bastille, even), specifically how various series are/n't heirs to the Enlightenment project—i.e., that the natural world is knowable and the social order, perfectible. Star Trek, particularly TNG, embraces it uncritically, while Firefly, particularly Serenity, reminds us of the inevitable(?) conclusion. If someone hadn't already used The Flobot's "Handlebars" for an Iron Man vid, I might do something with it:

And I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
'Cause I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite, by satellite
And I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope, through a telescope
And I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust, in a holocaust...

My black-and-white, 4th generation iPod started to go wonky after four years of faithful service, so after spending a week or two establishing that, yes, the hard drive is failing and, no, I can't do anything about it, I bought one of them new iPod classics. Pythia II is about the same size as Pythia, but her hard drive is 100 GB larger and she plays video. I wasn't quite sure what to do with this (if 4th gen iPods were still available and comparatively cheap, I would've happily bought a new one) until I discovered that The Rachel Maddow Show is syndicated via video podcast. Now I can do more during my commute than torment myself with songs I don't have time to vid! (But I recently upgraded to Premiere CS3 and it, to paraphrase Xander, is a dream. It's a miracle. It's like a dream about a miracle.)

Thursday's show started out boring (pirates = old meme), but got good: there was a flash of the old queer activist when Rachel described HRC as "the gay rights group notable for not having the word gay in their name"; the widely linked teabagging segment; one of her guests called her Dr. Maddow. (It takes so little to brighten my day.) Also, in the April issue of Dossier, Rachel reveals that she got drunk and bought a TV (but fuck whoever did the makeup for that photo shoot. Fuck them right in their eye [and Margarita thinks I swear too much]).

More recommended free MP3s from Amazon:

• Beirut - My Night with the Prostitute from Marseille
  
• Flight of the Conchords - Hurt Feelings
  
• Great Lake Swimmers - Pulling on a Line
  
• Jens Lekman - The Opposite of Hallelujah
  
• Mavis Staples - Freedom Highway
  
• Throw Me The Statue - Lolita