Mardi Gras

February 28, 2006


Today is Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday. The day that exemplifies everything that is New Orleans: excess, a lack of inhibitions, debauchery and pure unbridled joy.

At least, that’s what New Orleans used to be. Words used to describe the Crescent City now run more along the lines of “horrible,” “tragedy” and “poverty.” A great city sunk by one part neglect, one part Mother Nature, and one part location.

New Orleans waited on the edge of disaster for hundreds of years, fully aware that one bad storm would completely drown the city. That day came last summer, and the combination of botched relief and levees that were never kept up as they should have been took it to a point so close to death that many vowed never to return.

But, as we’ve seen so far this Mardi Gras season, New Orleans is alive. It’s fighting to return to it’s rightful place in the world. It’s celebrating the fact that it’s still around, though that’s really the only thing worth celebrating down there.

Mardi Gras represents one final bash before the sacrifices of Lent. New Orleans’ sacrifices all came this past summer, and everyone involved has been in need of a bash for a long time. I’d say it’s quite overdue — in fact, I’m not sure what else they’d be able to sacrifice when it ends tonight.

New Orleans will return. The spirit and joy that I’ve seen on New Orleans’ residents and visitors this past week are a breath of fresh air to a city that shouldn’t even be around any more.

Tonight, it would be a good idea to raise a toast to everyone that lived through the hell of Katrina. Raise a toast to your family, your friends — those who you care about deeply that will never know, thankfully, what fully happened last summer. And, of course, raise a toast to New Orleans.

And Happy Mardi Gras.

Tags: Travel |

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A cover switch

February 26, 2006


Sometimes being current and topical comes at a price, even in the New Yorker offices.

Bill Joyce, illustrator, was asked a few months ago to create a cover for the Mardi Gras edition of The New Yorker. He did, but it was bumped for a timelier cover featuring George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in a Brokeback Mountain-esqe love embrace, complete with Cheney blowing smoke from an (assumedly) misfired shotgun.

While it’s a clever (though tired) take on politics, news, and pop culture, it’s not as powerful as Joyce’s original cover. In fact, I’d be willing to say we’d all have benefited greatly from a post-Katrina Mardi Gras much more than we’d have with, say, another Brokeback Mountain joke.

Anyway, here are some of Joyce’s comments on his cover:

The image did what I’d hoped. It made people from here sad and proud at the same time.

I was hoping it would, I don’t know, somehow help. Help call attention to our plight. Help people understand us.

Then Dick Cheney shot his friend instead of a bird.

A more topical cover was cobbled together. A clever twist on Cheney’s folly.

I’ve had covers at the New Yorker bumped before. That’s just part of the game. But this one really mattered. The hurricanes have turned the people of Louisiana into activists. We no longer have the luxury of emotional distance with this story.

Louisiana had received its share of coverage lately I was told. They tried to find a place for it inside the magazine. Everyone said they were sympathetic. But nothing happened.
So we’ve been shunted aside again.

Our collective sorrow and tragedy mattered less than a single hunting accident.

I really had hoped that compassion would win out over clever.

Mr. Cheney’s friend is thankfully alive. Meanwhile we’re still finding bodies in New Orleans.

You can read the entire article, with picture, at Cartoon Brew.

You can also read a couple more comments, with the Bush/Cheney cover, at emdashes (a blog about The New Yorker.)

Courtesy The Millions.

Tags: Literature, Politics |

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South Dakota’s biggest failure

February 25, 2006


I’ve read quite a few things about the South Dakota law banning abortion – the one that currently sits on Governor Mike Rounds’ desk waiting to be passed or vetoed. And, quite frankly, I’ll never understand it.

I’ll never be able to understand it as a pro-choice liberal. This act reeks of a vocal minority taking advantage of a spineless Democratic party. It’s an act that overtakes a well-known precedent. It’s horrible to think that any governmental body has the power to choose an actual flesh and blood body’s purpose – to dictate what people can do to themselves.

I’ll never understand it as a fan of South Dakota. I’ve supported South Dakota through Zip Feed-bashing and anti-plains comments, but this is a black eye that I’ll never be able to apply any layer of gloss to.

Ultimately, I’ll never be able to understand it as a caring husband, a possible future father, a friend. If my wife, my daughter, or my friend was raped, there could be no abortion. There could be nothing, unless it was to be done under the table, in unsafe conditions, with the illegality of it hanging over both parties’ heads. You want morality? You tell me the morality of giving birth to a child that was conceived through the most heinous means possible.

My basic beliefs on abortion should be obvious. First off, I don’t believe a man should be allowed to vote on what a woman can or can’t do with her own body. I also don’t believe that life begins at conception – I’m in the party that believes it’s about 26 weeks, when the fetal brain’s higher functions are first activated and the fetus attains consciousness.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not clamoring for everyone to start getting abortions. I’m not an advocate of using abortions as a means of birth control. However, I think it’s ridiculous for some legislative body to have any control over it. And for a state to ban abortions even in the case of rape is enough to make my blood boil.

I can’t expound on this subject any better than any of the other hundreds of articles out there – in fact, I stay away from politics for this very reason: I’m not fully functional as a political speaker. I leave that for the crew at Clean Cut Kid or Dakota War College.

I did read a good opinion piece today, though, that got me to thinking about the abortion bill. There could be some good that comes from this – it might set the Democrats off. Roe vs. Wade was not perfect. Something needs to happen – something to replace the Surpreme Court ruling.

From AKG’s Newsvine piece:

Our mistakes have been many. First, we left it up to the Supreme Court to protect abortion, instead of winning the public debate and protecting the procedure through legislation, as should have been the case. Leaning on the crutch of Roe v. Wade (a bad ruling and an example of what happens when the Court decides to wing it) for 33 years has made us legally, morally, and rhetorically weak, and America’s intelligence has suffered for it.

Now, perhaps by the grace of God, the good state of South Dakota has passed a CRAZY law (yes, in caps!) that tempts our now conservative Court to do what it should probably do anyway: toss out an idiotic ruling. No doubt there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth in the Union tonight. But tomorrow morning we have the responsibility to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps and finish off this culture war once and for all.

America is ripe for an intelligent public debate on the issue of abortion, if for no other reason than it has never been done, and personally, I’m convinced that in an intelligent public debate, Democrats will win handily. I offer my pointers for how to do this:

This could be the deciding factor in creating a stronger liberal presence in this country. It might get the Democrats thinking that they should ultimately be following their party line: compassion, liberalism – an idea that the country could actually work for lower classes, for single mothers, for the artistic, the independent, the non-profit. An idea that this country could still go through it’s own renaissance, where people are treated as they should be: with dignity and honor, regardless of who you are.

If this isn’t the item that can kick the Democratic Party in the ass and get them fired up about taking back control of this country, then I don’t really think there’s any chance in hell that they ever will. And until something happens, you can bet this country will slowly recede like some senator’s hairline – right back over the bald hump of practicality and into the waiting arms of uncompassionate conservatives.

Personally, I think our world might gain quite a bit if people would stop worrying about when life begins and start worrying about the people that are already alive – the human beings that have fallen through the cracks, that have been victims of rape, of racism, of sexism, of a never ending cycle of poverty, and (most importantly) of the indifference of the handful of powerful people that actually rule this country. Maybe something truly intelligent can come from this.

Unfortunately, I won’t be holding my breath.

Tags: Politics |

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Walking on eggshells

February 23, 2006


I’ve been frequenting BKG’s Fresh Glue blog for the past few months, mainly because I’ve found myself more and more interested in well designed advertisements and websites lately. Quite possibly, Kerrie’s newsletter design work is rubbing off on me, or maybe I’m just lured in by sharp lines and bright colors – regardless, Fresh Glue usually throws something at me that blows my mind.

Today, however, it was a comment that led me to something I’d never even considered: advertising on egg shells.

In Fresh Glue’s article on AquaCell Media’s “Coolertising,” a concept that puts advertising on water coolers that are offered free to businesses like Kmart and CVS, a commenter (Joe) mentions EggFusion.

What EggFusion offers is laser etching for advertisers. On eggs.

From the Gadgetopia post:

Eggfusion is making all of this pretty attractive to egg producers; sounds like the producers will actually be paid to allow their eggs to be etched using equipment owned by Eggfusion. The revenue from advertisers and retailers pays for the equipment and makes it worthwhile to add the engraver to the production line. (According to the Producers section of the website, it’ll run at about 250 feet per minute — that’s a lot of eggs!)

Eggfusion also has a website where you can track your egg’s history, ala Bookcrossing.

Go check out the entire post by Dave at Gadgetopia.

Tags: Advertising and Marketing, Random Links |

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I AM THE BEST (though the polls don’t show it)

February 22, 2006


Okay, faithful readers.

Todd Epp at SD Watch has listed a poll: What Are Your Favorite S.D. Blogs?

GO! Head to the site and vote! Remember that we in the non-political world can beat those bully “we’re so smart because we know about the current events of our state” blogs with our sheer numbers! Viva la non-politicato!

Seriously. Go Vote. If you don’t, I’ll block you from the site. I’m already 40 votes behind 1st place, so I’m really just asking for 3rd right now.

Let’s see what power we have in this state.

Tags: Blogging, Meta |

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Adventures in technology

February 22, 2006


Sometimes I just want to give up on computers. I want to go all Office Space and drag this piece of hardware into the field, battering it with a blunt object and cursing its very existence.

In fact, I’m seconds away from doing it now.

An old friend of mine sent me some recordable DVDs full of data. Data that I have not been able to get off of the discs. At all.

Now, I’m not some technological simpleton. No. Far from it. I can hold my own in the world of computers. I’m no über-techie, but I’m no moron either. I learn from everything I do with computers and, with all the new problems I’ve had, I’ve learned quite a lot. I’ve struggled with internet routers (wireless and otherwise), successfully taken spyware off of my hard drive, coached a Gateway representative into giving me the answer I was looking for (there was nothing wrong with my DVD burner, it just needed new firmware, which I had to suggest to him), and discovered most of my own troubleshooting on my own.

Of course, I still have to ask Chris a new computer related question every two weeks, but he loves the attention. At least that’s what I tell myself.

Regardless, this has me so incredibly frustrated that I could spit.

*spits*

There. I feel better.

I know life would be infinitely better without having to worry about technological things like this, but I also realize that without the technology, I wouldn’t have this site and I wouldn’t have my iPod. I wouldn’t be able to microwave my burritos and I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to listen to satellite radio. I’d have to revert back to the horrible local shows on terrestrial radio.

So while I continuously curse this wired box that I type on every day, I’ll also learn to calm down and understand that there’s nothing that can’t be fixed on a computer if you know where to look. That’s reassuring, even if my data is locked onto a small, round, plastic disc with no apparent escape.

Damn it.

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P.S. – I’ve changed the site back to the current layout – the Super Retro site wasn’t as liked as I’d have thought. Now you see why I eventually changed it.

Sorry about that.

Tags: Annoyances |

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One year down, an eternity to go

February 20, 2006


Can you believe it’s been a year?

Today is the one-year anniversary of Black Marks on Wood Pulp’s first post – though, to be exact, the site wasn’t called BMOWP yet. At that time, it was still known as “CDub @ driscocity.com” – a title that was simple, at best.

In honor of the one-year anniversary, BMOWP will be reverting back to the original design for the rest of the week. Revel in the retro-ness of it all. This is BMOWP before the books. Before the red background. Before the fancy gizmos and the myriad of links in the right column.

This is even a few months before I discovered the Ursula K LeGuin quote that I would borrow for a site name:

“The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.”

This is the quote that I thought best represented what I was trying to do – I can write all I want, but unless I make it public no one will know about it. It will continue to be just random words in a notebook until someone reads it.

In my total domination of the phrase, I’ve pushed the actual LeGuin quote down to #8 on the Google search of “Black Marks on Wood Pulp.” In fact, it only makes up two of the top 10 results, while BMOWP results and accompanying satellite results crowd everything else out.

My first post, of course, was titled The First Post. I managed to swear once and make reference to famed faux-messiah Bob Dobbs while succeeding at saying absolutely nothing at all:

Let the shitstorm begin.

Yes, I’m Corey. Why a blog? Because I get bored. Because I love bandwagons. Because, at heart, I’m a self-centered ego-driven monster, who loves to see his name in public, and, additionally, loves to have people comment on said name.

Seriously, though, I just like writing to myself.

You can learn about me more in the future, but for now, I’m simply “Corey” to you. And, since I’m at work, you can also consider me full of “slack.” Bob Dobbs taught me well.

Word.

And that’s how this damned site started.

Since then, I’ve been spouting off pretty consistently. Many of you have been reading since the beginning, or at least, since I pushed myself into the spotlight a few months later. You’ve witnessed one-sided mini-feuds with Radio Shack, my postal carrier, and Ron Artest. You’ve seen my top 100 CDs of all time (plus a few more as time dragged on) and a list of 100 things about me. You’ve heard numerous mentions of Reggie Miller, the Pacers, the Dolphins, and other random sports related tripe.

You’ve been next to me as I succeeded (the “What I’ve Been Reading” column, the Pocket Penguins 70th Anniversary Box Set), stumbled (writing for the Argus Leader) and dreamed (my own bookstore, the Encyclopædia Britannica). You’ve yawned as I’ve pointlessly blathered on about my own writing, and you’ve cursed me as I expressed my distaste for the Winter Olympics.

You’ve read word for word everything that happened to me mentally and emotionally during my grandfather’s sickness and death. You’ve been there to visualize my agonizing fight to come to terms with his passing away, and ultimately, my realization of what he meant to me, what I meant to him, and how we both have fit into each others lives over my short life.

So for this, the 268th post, I want to thank all of you. Without getting stupid and long winded and cheesy, I’d like to thank everyone who has become a regular reader. Truly, if I didn’t get the comments I do, I’d assume no one is listening to me and I’d have quit a long time ago.

Thanks to Todd Epp at South Dakota Watch for spreading the word about me every once in a while. Thanks to South Dakota Blog Watch Man (ex-blogger) for giving me my first blogosphere exposure at his old site. Thanks to PP at Dakota War College for including me on his aggregator and sending me lots of traffic over the past few months.

Thanks to Chris, my site host, for putting up with my constant questions and frequent changes – all work he didn’t need to do, and work for which he’s only been repaid with one spindle of blank DVDs. Thanks to Eric, Wick, and Roberta for being my most loyal commenters, but thanks to all who comment on a daily basis. Too bad you’re all wrong, unless of course you’re agreeing with me.

Thanks most of all to my wife, Kerrie, who has been a great support and a wonderful censor. I don’t know what’s good for me sometimes, and I’ll admit some of the more personal stuff I’ve attempted to put on the site could have gotten me in trouble. Kerrie righted my ship. She’s also hot, and you’re all jealous that she’s my wife.

With that, enjoy the retro-BMOWP for a few days.

And here’s to another year!

Tags: Meta |

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