The Weekend Eudemon ”“ Saturday
Welcome back to The Weekend Eudemon. You apparently made it here without the benefit of an e-mail reminder. We don't send them out on the weekends, primarily because we don't want to be a pest, but also because TWE (with the exception of The Punchy Journal) functions more as a normal blog on the weekends, mostly providing short blurbs and updates. There might be one post, there might be five. Maybe Saturday only, maybe on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
By the way, The Weekend Eudemon frequently provides good fodder for dates or cocktail parties. Not sure what you'll have to talk about? Flip over here before going out and you'll likely find something for those awkward voids. Booze is a better way to fill those voids, but if you haven't had enough to eliminate that nagging self-regard that makes you conscious of awkward situations, TWE is a decent substitute.
Just What We Need, More Lesbian Stuff
"The L Word" returns Sunday evening to Showtime. What's the "L Word"? Lesbian, of course, and "The L Word" is a show about lesbian friendships and relationships. But it's not sexual, says actress Leisha Hailey. "The fact that these women are lesbians is the last thing you think about when watching the show," she said. "The story lines and the characters are so great, it becomes less about who they're sleeping with, although that is part of the show. It's fun and it's entertaining, and that's what's important." LINK.
And Hustler doesn't need naked women, at least during Larry Flynt's religious tour of duty (which lasted what, one issue?). And men subscribe to Playboy for the articles. And pole dancing is an art form. The purveyors of lasciviousness always try to downplay the lasciviousness. They flaunt it, then hide it. Expose and cover. They never want to admit it's just about sex. After all the breasts and sex and immodesty are laid on the table, Shame is still sitting there. Why doesn't she leave? We suspect she can't. She's nailed to the chair and no one can throw her out, no matter how hard they try.
More "L Word" Stuff
As long as we're talking about lesbianism, we found interesting this week's piece by New York Times Op-Ed writer and homosexual Dan Savage about Maya Keyes's lesbianism. Alan Keyes, says Savage, brought "cosmic retribution down on his own head." LINK. You see, Keyes opposes the spread of homosexuality, deemin' it "selfish hedonism." This contradicts homosexuals's political agenda, which is--obviously, obviously--the cosmos's agenda. Who can't see that?
"Cosmos," of course, is just one step away from saying God, but Savage apparently doesn't want to go there. Better to keep it vague, just like they will when trying to reconcile this week's federal court decision upholding the ban on polygamy with the homosexual marriage agenda.
The Punchy Journal
(What's this? See 2/12/2005 post.)
. . . But the Amish do kill people.
They killed my former driving instructor and drinking friend. Killed him with a horse.
The Amish don't accept most modern conveniences. It's not out of a feeling that inventions are evil, but rather it's from the notion that the less complicated the amenities, the simpler one can live. Now I think the goal–simplicity–is good and the idea that modern contraptions stifle simplicity has merit, but overall, I think it's a rather Puritan notion. Puritans think certain things on Earth are evil. This is wrong, of course. Nothing on earth is evil, and anything taken in moderation can be a great good.
Anyway, as part of their rejection of modern amenities, the Amish reject the automobile and use horse-and-buggies instead. That's fine.
But they don't reject the fine roads that are made with heavy-duty machinery. So they take their horses and buggies on the roads. This occasionally causes traffic problems. Get behind a horse-and-buggy with oncoming traffic when you're in a hurry, and you'll see the demon in your soul.
This buggy-on-the-highway thing occasionally causes huge traffic problems. Like the death of my driving instructor, who was killed when a horse bolted from the side of the highway lane to the middle, in front of my former instructor's car as he tried to get around the slow-moving buggy. The horse came through his windshield, thrusting the metal bar that holds the windshield in place through his head.
I drove past that mortal spot during my countryside drive and it made me reflective on the ephemerality of life.
For an ephemeral fifteen seconds.
Then I floated to my previous state of mind: Digging my new car, a Buick LeSabre with ten years and 100,000 miles on it. Got it for $1,900.
It gives me the best of the Amish (no complicating my life with paying for it) and the best of modern life: stereo, cruise control, power windows and seats and doors, automatic starter, remote lock. It has it all, and it all works, and it cost me nothing. I was able to sell my compact car for $2,000, so it was a wash; after tags and license plate, I actually cleared $37. . .
