Category: morthos

Congrats to our Josh, who has finally decided to legalise his co-existence with a woman. We will all be anxiously awaiting his first reports on that thing legal-bound couples are allowed to do; sexual intercourse. I fully expect his first post to start:

‘Why, if we were designed by a benevolent and loving god, would he put it in that location and at that angle?’

Boomkat are/were a brother-sister duo whose chief claim to fame is that ‘The Wreckoning’ was the theme song to the short-lived ‘Birds of Prey’ TV series. I have to say that I like their album; it’s one of those guilty pleasures I could never defend in a court of law. Still, ‘What U Do 2 Me’ deserves accolades because:

a) It’s a duet between siblings where one sings to the other:

I aint to proud to beg
Come on lets bump and grind
All the way straight into bed
Your place or mine?

b) It contains the line:

I just can’t keep my eyes of you baby

which, due to Karyn’s accent, sounds like:

I just can’t keep my eyes off your baby

Which, seeing that they are related, must have been a vertitable sight worth beholding.

Unfortunately the director of the music video must have realised that incest doesn’t sell so the video is nowhere near as interesting as it could have been.

Morale to the story: It might seem innocent when you first wrote it but think again.

I came to music late. The first album I bought was Elastica’s self-titled CD in 1995 and the first album I hunted down was Artificial Joy Club’s ‘Melt’ in 1996.

The key moment in the want to purchase these albums was the TV (let us now shed a tear for the long-gone, fondly-remembered JuiceTV, killed by capitalism and TVNZ (the most unlikely combination)). Now that the Internet is capable of doing everything I decided to go back in time and rewatch these music videos; the trip has been most informative.

One: Artificial Joy Club’s ‘Sick & Beautiful’

She can’t dance. I can’t believe I had sexual fantasies about this woman. She.

Just.

Can’t.

Dance.

Two: Elastica’s ‘Connection’

Why the long faces, girls? I know one of you is having trouble with the band but another of you is having sex with Damon Albarn. You’re the darlings of the British Press and whilst it takes you forever to produce a sub-standard follow-up to your debut album at the moment you are gods. Give us a smile. Just one.

Also, the guy appears to be on drugs.

Moral to the story: Never use time machines.

After the success of the last Public Service Annoucement I’ve decided to direct your attentikons to the following Adult Education course at the University of Auckland. Mr. Dentith, sometime transpersonal entity, is teaching a version of the accolade-garnering, award winning Stage I Critical Thinking course, and some of you should probably be thinking of coming along. Details follow:

Critical Thinking

Tutor: Matthew Dentith

When: 6 sessions, Tuesday 17 April – 22 May, 10.30am – 12.30pm

Course Description: Critical thinking is a skill we all like to think we have, but how often have you found yourself wondering just how critical your reasoning is? In this course we will uncover many of the basic skills a good thinker requires and then put them to use in analysing arguments you might come across in newspapers, on television and in everyday conversation.

You can find out more about it here.

So, death. I’m beginning to think that my increasing experience of dead people and dying people is a stochastic oddity. It’s easy to know what to do with the dead and sympathy to the bereaved is not difficult, but the dying? The pragmatist in me says ‘We all die’ but the realist in me says ‘Yes, but most of us aren’t aware that it’s likely to be in the next few minutes.’ I’d be much happier about the world if there weren’t people who knew they were dying. Or, at least, I’d be much happier about the world if I didn’t know people who knew they were dying. In fact, I’d be much happier about the world if I didn’t have to say ‘people’ but could, instead, say someone. Multiple future fatalities just isn’t fair.

Lust. Well, its happening again. I’m so far away from being a Casanova that some days I am resigned to the fate my Mother thinks I will have; dying alone (potentially with Alzhemiers). I’m also impatient, so any time I start the process that moves me away from ‘Lived with cats. Died with cats. Excreted by cats three days later’ I start being overbearing and usually drive said object of lust away. Usually by this point I’m seeking advice from friends, but every single piece of advice they have ever given me has being totally and utterly useless. The ‘Be yourself, except less gay’ and ‘Why not play up the Hugh Grant angle?’ worked wonders. Not in the ‘He’s now happily engaged to be married’ sense but rather the ‘And now he’s emotionally scarred and she’s pretty sure he’s a cannibal’ way that makes for good anecdotes and a terrible sex life.

Television. I had lunch with a doctor today and she confirmed what I already knew; medical professionals find ‘House’ laughable. I’ve somewhat given up on ‘House.’ It seems to be the same plot every week and why he and his idiot cronies haven’t been sued for malpractice I really don’t know. It also seems to reinforce some weird stereotypes about medecine, stereotypes we should be working to eradicate. It just isn’t true that giving someone the wrong medical proecedure will, more than likely, kill them. Usually it just makes them a little ill or has no effect whatsoever. On ‘House’ however its usually terrible (except that it doesn’t seem to cause much in the way of stress on the cardiovascular system so patients with three botched procedures don’t have to worry about heart attacks. Which is nice).

Also, on roughly the same subject, why does everyone persist in believing that Science is an open process and that if a research programme is wrong someone will be out there proving it? Does no one follow the news? Gah.

Next week: I go back to pornography, someone (probably) dies and Richard Dawkins finds God.

Mr. Ransome, that purveyor of fine delights philosophical, is giving a seminar next week. one that you want to go to (or, so he tells me). Here be some details:

Conspiracies then, now and tomorrow: How do past instances affect the likelihood of similar events now?
21 March 2007

4:00pm to 6:00pm

Venue: Room 202, Fisher Building, 18 Waterloo Quadrant

It is an historical fact that conspiracies have occurred but does this tell us anything about whether there are any conspiracies going on here and now? In this presentation I seek to explain how past instances of historical conspiracies may not be a reliable indicator of the likelihood of conspiracies here and now. I will look at the works of such philosophers as Charles Pigden, who has argued that the past instances of conspiracies does give us positive warrant about the existence of conspiracies today and Lee Basham, who has argued that the increasing openness of modern Western society counsels us against believing that conspiracies are as common as once they were. In sorting this issue out it will be important to draw a careful distinction between actual conspiracies and the theories about whether such conspiracies are occurring, to whit conspiracy theories.