Most people have some form of “comfort activity.” Some people will go do something athletic, others will indulge in the escapism of movies or music, and some people will just buy themselves a favorite dessert and chow down. While I can understand the level of reassurance inherent in these activities, and do participate in them to a certain degree as a means of restoring myself emotionally, I’ve discovered recently that when I’m as lonely and depressed as I can get (which is to say not much, but it does happen), I have to fight back the overwhelming urge to buy another car. Some people buy a pint of ice cream, others will rent a movie or go to a concert; I browse the online car classifieds and eBay Motors for prospective projects. And whenever I find a possible vehicle, I’ll immediately bookmark the page. It got to the point last week where I had to just put a stop to it all, go into my “favorites” folder, and clean out the half-dozen or so links, just getting rid of everything. I don’t know why that is. Maybe our ingrained desire for something “new” in our lives as a means of suppressing discontentedness manifests itself in me in automotive fashion. Maybe it’s something else. All I know is that when I get in a certain state of mind the desire overwhelms my rational sensibilities in a way few other things do. But at least I’m self-aware, right?
Paul and I went to see The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie yesterday afternoon. I think we were the only two in the theater in between the ages of 10 (kids) and ~35 (parents). We laughed our heads off, though; it was great. Very entertaining film. There’s this part where they visit The Goofy Goober (kind of an undersea Chuck-E-Cheese’s, except with ice cream instead of pizza and a giant dancing peanut for a mascot) that had us in stitches for the better part of a couple of minutes. Goodness, it was hysterical.
Read a halfway decent article about U2 in the latest issue of SPIN (Rebekah got Donald a subscription a while back). Doesn’t really crack the surface of the band and their motivations, except in a few isolated places, but I suppose it’s good enough for casual fans. Bono says this, but I have an overwhelming premonition that the new album is not going to adhere to this philosophy, much like the previous album:
“I write feelings, not thoughts. […] Feelings are much stronger than thoughts. We are all led by instinct, and our intellect catches up later. This album proves that point. I would have certainly preferred to take on the issues that I deal with politically, but what came out of me was the other things in my life I wasn’t tending to: My family, the hypocrisy of my own heart, and my father’s death. I mean, why am I not spending more time with my kids? Why am I trying to save other people’s kids instead? How can I sing about love when I’m never at home? There are a lot of things that need to be addressed in the world. But those other things just came pouring out of me.”
I dunno. I think I tend to view expressions of feelings in more abstract, poetic terms, like those employed on Achtung Baby or Zooropa. To me, abandoning concrete imagery and describing specific situations in bits and fragments of one’s train of thought or emotion just seems to be a much more effective conveyance of the impact of that situation, as opposed to the ponderously wordy approaches they’ve favored more recently. But I think Bono has a different approach in mind when he describes “writing feelings.” It’s just that when you build your songs around complete sentences and expressions and employ only the sparest minimum of irony or metaphor, like most of the songs on ATYCLB, it seems to an overwhelming degree like the songs hinge on thoughts rather than feelings. But I have a feeling I’m nitpicking. Will wait for a listen of the new album before making definite proclamations, but in the meantime this review articulates my premonitions perfectly.
Speaking of U2, I received your CD in the mail yesterday. I’ll be listening to it this next week a little more heavily, and I’m looking forward to hearing all your anecdotes!
When I’m feeling depressed, I tend to spend exorbitant amounts of money on food. Steak is usually a pretty good bet, but Italian or Mexican food probably works, too.
Oh good! I’m glad it made it there. I don’t remember exactly what I wrote you in the note, but yes, do let me know if you want an anecdote or two :)
i’d say that was a fair review.