There are times I really, really loath living in the here and now. Sure we have antibiotics and sliced bread, but as far as I can tell some days we live in a cultureless black hole, peopled by idiots and ostriches with their heads in the sand.
Had a bad moment a few months ago when I referred to Shakespeare as "The Bard". Blank faces abounded. "Who's that?". I thought maybe they were kidding, but there really are people out there that claim they've never heard of him called that.
Bad moment today when I was trying to explain why one of my classmates is cutely intellectual and yet still a punk: he has an Atlas Shrugged tattoo on his arm. "A what?". You know, the book by Ayn Rand? "Who?". The books are massive, the covers are striking, and I was under the impression they were iconic. Not, you know, Romeo and Juliet type iconic, but we all know the "Marriage of Figaro" thanks to Looney Toons. And before you think I've read Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead, I haven't. I've only read Anthem.
The whole Captain America/Joe Quesada/Myspace fiasco. It's just preposterous, and maybe I'm too much a student of history, but I think it's an insult to the past to kill a character that has been beloved for as long as Captain America has. He's not outdated, he's the embodiment of an era's ideals, ideals that don't age. For god's sake, he's a million people's favorite character, and even if you want to only look at it in a business way, you don't just cut off your profits because he "doesn't watch American Idol" or "have a myspace". I don't watch American Idol, and I don't really like myspace because it seems like it's full of hookers who want to be friends with me; does that mean I deserve to die? Maybe Captain America isn't now, but that's his charm. He's not hard like the rest of us, and he gives us something to believe in.
And then, tonight, just when I needed that little ray of light of reason and intelligence, I find this. It's not a question. IT'S NOT A QUESTION. DON'T EVEN ACT LIKE IT'S A QUESTION, OR THAT YOU BLANKED ON THE ANSWER. THE EARTH IS ONLY FLAT IF YOU'RE A WEIRDO WHO THINKS SATELLITE PHOTOS ARE CLEVER TRICKERY. WHYYYYYYYY??????!!!!!!!
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Well the good thing is, Cap, the real Cap, is still right there in the Marvel Masterworks and Essentials, just the way Jack Kirby and Stan Lee left him. The heck with Joe Q and his band of morons. Joe's time will pass and Cap will be back. Not to worry.
As far as the rest of it goes, I am often baffled by how little the average person knows about literature. Just be glad you have a lot of friends who are writers and know what you're talking about.
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