Normally the picture du jour is one that I take, not one that I steal from the Associated Press (thank you, Louis Lanzano). But how about this poignant shot of bald, portly Boy George sweeping up trash under the watchful eye of New York City’s finest?
Put the blame on Duran Duran.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the 80s lately. The recent 25th birthday of MTV was for me a bittersweet occasion, and not just because it marks those of us who can remember life before MTV as officially Old. It’s also because I feel about those days of the early 80s the way some people feel about the 60s: It was an era when things were changing, the old rules no longer applied, and anything seemed possible. And looking back now with the right set of eyes, you can definitely see the high-water mark—the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
Those bastards at The Onion have done it again: Reached into my brain and plucked out something that’s been rattling around in there unused, then exploited it for their own comedy purposes. I’ve been saying for years that bacon is a condiment, so imagine my surprise this week upon sitting down at the coffee shop and opening up the print version to this story:
Report: Meat Now America’s No. 2 Condiment
Am I saying that The Onion owes me something for this, like a staff job or at least a large cash payment? Absolutely I am saying that. That’s exactly what I’m saying. Those bastards.
What is efficacy? It is effectiveness in submission to what is right, most effective in abiding in faithfulness to rectitude. Only thus is it an auspicious path that is sound in the beginning and sound at the end. One aims for the submission of unruliness, the rectification of error, cultivating oneself and controlling the mind, getting rid of all seeds of vicious circles, not letting any pollution remain in the mind; being utterly empty, serene and sincere, the human mentality does not arise and the mind of Tao comes into being. After rectitude comes creativity, and while flexible is firm, and while receptive one can be strong: Whatever one creates grows, and whatever grows bears fruit, and the fruits are all good. So the submission and receptivity of abiding in rectitude is no small matter.
—The Taoist I Ching
translated by Thomas Cleary