Ramblin' with Roger

Altruism? Bah!

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “It is held as a truth that man serves himself in serving his fellow-creatures, and that his private interest is to do good.”

I went to a party last month, and the hostess and I were kvetching about the pain of homeownership. She will be getting her bathroom redone and would be without a bath or shower for some unclear period of time. Meanwhile, her next-door neighbor, who is a friend, has TWO bathrooms. “How,” she mused, “can I get my neighbor to invite me over to shower?” She thought that maybe she should be particularly nice.

I joked that she had to appeal to the neighbor’s enlightened self-interest. To wit, remind him that he REALLY didn’t want some smelly neighbor with stringy, matted hair bringing down property values and scaring off visitors. I riffed on that for quite a while.

At some level, many of us operate, not out of altruism, but rather a sense of what’s best for us. People often contribute money to fighting diseases from which we, or someone we care about, have suffered because we selfishly don’t want to hear about other people suffering the same fate.

I contribute to my church because it believes in making a better, more tolerant world, which of course, is better for ME. Stating the Golden Rule negatively: You don’t do to others the crap you don’t want people to do to you. Selfish motivation.

Too often, people try to convince others to “do the right thing”. But they mess up because they want them to do it for the “right reasons.” “Can you find it in your heart to contribute?”

Nah, many people are motivated by more base instincts. “Contribute to my environmental group because you don’t want to cough your lungs out from all the pollutants that are spewing out.”

Yes, this was a cheeky exercise. But there is also a grain of truth to it.
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Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “It is held as a truth that man serves himself in serving his fellow-creatures, and that his private interest is to do good.”

S is for Sesame Street

Do I watch Sesame Street on TV? Not really. But I DO watch the videos.

Back in the early 1970s, I used to watch Sesame Street. I don’t think I really have to explain Sesame Street, do I? It’s this kids’ show that started in 1969, broadcast on public television in the United States, ostensibly to educate children, with the extensive use of puppets, or, specifically, Muppet characters designed by the late Jim Henson. The program has spread to a couple of dozens of countries, in a number of languages.

The “trouble” was that I didn’t have any children to give me cover; I just liked watching it, even though I was in my early twenties. I wished that there was a show so cool when I was growing up. and I liked the songs, such as Rubber Duckie, and, naturally, Bein’ Green. I even own the 10th-anniversary album from 1979, though I had pretty much stopped watching by then.

Skip ahead a few decades, and I have a child of my own. Over the years, the show has tackled issues such as language differences, disabilities, hunger, and, notably bullying. Do I watch Sesame Street on TV? Not really. But I DO watch the videos.
Sesame Street has always been cool, offering famous grown-ups the chance to participate. The video by Feist may be the one that reminded me that Sesame Street was still doing the celebrity thing.

Here are some videos I’ve watched recently, now that the site is no longer being hacked.

Issues
Change the World, featuring the same Muppet who loves her hair
Hunger

Celebrity
Adrian Grenier: Season
Jon Stewart: Practice
Liev Schrieber and Naomi Watts: exchange things
Mark Ruffalo: Empathy
Michelle Monaghan: Fascinating
Mila Kunis: Include
Neil Patrick Harris: Curly
Seth Rogen: Embarrassed
Terrence Howard: Incognito

Parody
30 Rocks
G – a parody of Glee
(And a parody OF Sesame Street: Occupy Sesame Street Gets Violent

Music
Monster Went and Ate My Red 2 with Elvis Costello, which makes more sense if you’ve heard his original. I love this.
Arrested Development: Pride
B.B. King: The Letter B
The banned Katy Perry video – too risque for some
Jaquandor also put together some singing videos

BTW, there’s a new movie documentary featuring the puppeteer of Elmo, Kevin Clash.

There are a couple of videos that made me more than a little sad:
The late Chris Reeve to the library
Goodbye, Mr Hooper. When actor Will Lee died back in 1983, so did his character. Watch especially starting at the 7-minute mark.

ABC Wednesday – Round 9

Of Anger, Polyester and other things

There was a movie in the 1980s by John Waters called Polyester which a bunch of us went to.

This is a combination of two Sunday Stealing posts from here and here, but I decided to answer only the questions I felt like answering. Besides, I don’t HAVE a favorite mall store.

1. What has been your longest love relationship?

Actually, my current one. We started going out -again – in late 1998. And I’m not even counting the 1.5 years we went out earlier in the 1990s.

4. If you could live anywhere would you live?

I seem to be fine where I am. I fantasize that Madison, WI or Portland, OR might be a mecca for me, and I did like Madison the one time I was there in 1987 or 1988, but I’m unmotivated to change at this time.

7. What’s the longest job that you’ve had?

That would be the current one, where I started October 19, 1992, three work addresses ago. The second-longest was FantaCo (8.5 years). The third place was 13 months.

8. If you won the lottery, who’d you call first?

My wife.

9. If you won, how would you spend your money after investments?

An ever-expanding list of social and cultural programs. Surely the Red Cross would be one.

10. When was the last time you went to church (or a religious house)?

That would be yesterday.

14. What food do you hate?

Canned beets.

16. What’s the longest shift that you worked at a job?

11.2 hours in a factory job after high school, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. But I regularly worked 10 hours, 5:12 p.m-4 a.m., then worked Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.

17. What was the last concert that you attended?

This one. Well, unless you mean classical concert, which was in the spring of 2011.

21. Do you ever sleep in the nude?

Seldom. I want to be able to leave quickly in case of a fire or whatever.

22. Have you ever had a long-distance relationship?

Yes, and it was not good.

24. What’s you’re favorite lyric quote from a song?

“Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.” Which I don’t do nearly enough.

25. Tell us something random about yourself.

I used to have some anger issues, I suppose. Occasionally, it still flares up. It was after church a few weeks ago, and a few of us were in the kitchen. I noted that one of the songs we had sung that morning had a different arrangement from I had sung it previously several times, specifically, a harmony line in the original that was unison in the newer version; inferior, from my point of view, BTW. Apparently, someone else in the choir had made the same observation. So another singer declared that our observation was “stupid,” that we read music and should sing what was there, rather than assuming what was on the page.

I yelled at her that I didn’t appreciate her crap, I didn’t need her crap (and I didn’t; my tooth was still hurting at the time.) I realized later that I got so enraged because I dislike the fact that she, who has also been a school teacher, didn’t understand the fact that we all learn differently.

When I was in the high school choir, we couldn’t even use the score for our twice-yearly concerts. I’ve long tried to get out of the music, keeping in front of me mostly for lyrics and pauses.

And, though I’ve been in choirs for decades, I only read music in relative terms. If note A is this, then a third up must sound like that; I don’t think, “Oh, that’s a C.”

But I suppose the yelling was unnecessary. Though I disliked being called “stupid.”

26. Have ever attended a theme party? If yes, do tell.

There was a movie in the 1980s by John Waters called Polyester which a bunch of us went to. Afterward, we all went to someone’s house, and we had to bring polyester (unreal) food, however we defined it. Marshmallow Fluff, Cheez Whiz, TANG beverage…I don’t remember what else.

27. What is your favorite thing about winter?

Its demise.

28. What was the name of your first pet?

Peter. He was a cat we had for about six years.

30. Has your humor ever been called “sick”?

No. Corny. Obtuse. Situational. Unfunny. But not sick.

100 years of Chevy: music

Here’s a couple versions of the famous See the USA in Your Chevrolet commercial.

Chevrolet, the car company, is 100 years old this month. In honor of that milestone, there’s a dedicated Chevy station on Pandora.com, with 100 songs mentioning the Chevy; they are listed below.

But two fairly obvious choices are left off:

409 by the Beach Boys and Little Red Corvette by Prince. Little Red Corvette [listen] might have been left off because the Purple One can be fussy when it comes to licensing. But the exclusion of 409 [listen] is surprising.

Here are a couple of versions of the famous See the USA in Your Chevrolet commercial:
Dinah Shore – 1952
Glee – Super Bowl 2011

Here’s that list on Pandora:

99 In The Shade, Bon Jovi
All The Best, John Prine
American Pie, Don McLean [here’s The Grand Rapids, Michigan LipDub version]
Amy’s Back In Austin, Little Texas
Ball And Chain, Social Distortion
Blitz, Audio Adrenaline
Blue (Da Ba Dee) (Remix), Eiffel 65
Blue Jeans, Silvertide
Captain Jack, Billy Joel
Chattahoochee, Alan Jackson
Chevrolet, ZZ Top
Chevy Van, Sammy Johns
Chrome, Trace Adkins
Contact, Citizen Cope
Crazy About Her, Rod Stewart
Crocodile Rock, Elton John
Dare To Be Stupid, “Weird Al” Yankovic
Don’t Forget To Remember Me, Carrie Underwood
Dr. Feelgood (Live), Motley Crue
Drive South, John Hiatt
El Camino, Ween
El Tejano, Cowboy Troy
Everytime It Rains, George Strait
Fall In Love, Kenny Chesney
Family Reserve, Lyle Lovett
Fightin’ Words, Trace Adkins
Girls With Guitars, Wynonna Judd
Go ‘Head, Mystikal
Go Lil’ Camaro Go, The Ramones
Going Back To Cali, LL Cool J
Here I Am, Lyle Lovett
Here’s To You, Rascal Flatts
How Bizarre, OMC
Hustlin’, Rick Ross
I Can Only Think Of One, Dierks Bentley
I Go Back, Kenny Chesney
I Got You, Dwight Yoakam
I Learned That From You, Sara Evans
I Won All The Battles, Tracy Lawrence
I’ll Be Your Johnny On The Spot, Ween
I’m Customized, The Cramps
I’m Just A Girl, Deana Carter
I’ve Got A Rock N’ Roll Heart, Eric Clapton
If I Stay, Tracy Byrd
Jesse Went To War, Marcy Playground
Joe Rey, Fountains of Wayne
Keeping The Faith, Billy Joel
Less Than Zero, Elvis Costello
Let You Go, The Clarks
Metropolis, Trace Adkins
Miss Popularity, Jordan Pruitt
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song), Billy Joel
Mud On The Tires, Brad Paisley
Natural Beauty, Neil Young
Neutron Dance, The Pointer Sisters [listen]
Night Moves, Bob Seger
One Bud Wiser, Gretchen Wilson
Paint The Town Redneck, J.M. Montgomery
Pickin’ Wildflowers, Keith Anderson
Picture Perfect, Nelly Furtado
Putting The Damage On, Tori Amos
Racing In The Street, Bruce Springsteen
Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy), Jim Croce
Real Gone, Sheryl Crow
Renegade, Tim McGraw
Repetition, David Bowie
Ridin’ In My Chevy, Snoop Dogg
Riding With Private Malone, David Ball
Right Time Of The Night, Jennifer Warnes
She’s In Love With The Boy, Trisha Yearwood
Small Town Girl, Kellie Pickler
Something On, The Tragically Hip
Song Of The South, Alabama
Still Love You, Rod Stewart
Superstar, Sheryl Crow
Suzy And Jeffrey, Blondie
Tannin Bed Song, Shawn Mullins
The Greeting Song, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man, Rolling Stones
Three Marlenas, The Wallflowers
Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen
Thundering Hearts, John Mellencamp
Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift
Twentieth Century Fox, 38 Special
Unappreciated, Cherish
Uneasy Rider, Charlie Daniels
Union Sundown, Bob Dylan
Water, The Who
West Texas Highway, Lyle Lovett
When I Think About Leaving, Kenny Chesney
When You Close Your Eyes, Night Ranger
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?, Paula Cole [listen]
Why Do We Want What We Know We Can’t Have?, Reba McEntire
You Never Know Just How Good You’ve Got It, Tracy Byrd
You Win My Love, Shania Twain
Young Blood, Rickie Lee Jones

Running for Office QUESTIONS

For some reason, the city of Albany holds its school board vote in November, rather than in May, when most other locations do. In fact, the school BUDGET IS voted upon in May, along with the library board and the library budget.

Anyway, someone called me up a few months ago and asked me if I wanted to run for school board. Last year, someone I knew told me that “people” were discussing having me run, but I never got a call. This year, I got a call from a local official who I knew before he was elected to his office. I said, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

It’s not that it’s an unpaid position that takes a lot of time. It’s more that school boards are handcuffed by No Child Left Behind/Race to the Top. Moreover, in the city Albany, the nine or ten charter schools, which are far less transparent financially than they ought to be, are paid for out of the school budget. In other words, I don’t know how to make the situation better, or even maintain the status quo.

A few years ago, I was also asked to run for the library board; THAT position I thought about for a while before declining for time reasons. Someday, I might run for that.

1. Have you ever thought of running for political office?
2. Have people requested that you run?
3. Have you run? For what office(s)?
4. Have you served in elected office?

I was in student government in high school, college, and grad school, but it’ll be a while before I try again.

There were more than a half dozen countywide positions for which there was no opposition candidate, only the Democrat. That is distressing, but I’m still not running.