System Of A Down & Michael Pollan

Very few would be as odd as I and enjoy this tandem. But this is what my day has consisted of. It's been a day for reconnecting, and these, two of my companions in days past, have resurfaced with a vengeance.
It's been a while since I spun some SOAD, so I decided today-on a whim-that I'd give 'em a whirl from their oldest album up through their latest. Yeah, I'm strange like that. But as the sonic hatefulness, sarcasm and stupidity echoed in my brain I found myself visiting another old friend because I discovered he's written a new book.
Michael Pollan recently dropped a follow-up to his smashing success The Omnivore's Dilemma, which I read last year with much enthusiasm. This new title, In Defense of Food, reportedly"takes up where the previous work left off." His mantra in Dilemma was a carry-over he's proclaimed for some time concerning dietary advice. "Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants." Perhaps it's fate, but for the record SOAD's Soil is playing in the background as I type this post.
Anyway, seeing I can't get to the bookstore or library today, I've resorted to resuming my path through Pollan's articles on his website. I didn't get too far on my quest last year, but perhaps I'll stick with it this time. I'm reading A Gardener's Guide to Sex, Politics and Class. It's a rip-roaring garden-esque, green-thumb read, but I enjoy it although I've never nursed a single plant to long life. Well, in my mind I have, for there I have planted a garden of flowers and trees and shrubs and plants interspersed with statues, fountains and benches. Oh, and a hammock. It's a quiet place, and the perfect space for me to read the latest Grisham novel.
So, with this fascination and planning for old age garden days, I reverently tread through the vegetative focus of the brilliant Pollan. And, for the record, my plants will listen to rock-and-roll, no doubt plenty of which will be SOAD. Audio A told me they could, and wouldn't go to hell.

Proposing An E-Food Pyramid In The Fight Against Cultural Obesity

Perhaps it's just that I was ripe to be taken with an article such as this, seeing I'd just spent half an hour trying to find justification for an opinion I've been carrying around. No, that's not a long time, but in the time frame of electronic information it's a veritable eternity! Furthermore, it's not that I didn't find my opinion justified, it's just that the opposing viewpoints themselves were so carefully calculated, and well-written, that I almost thought about giving up. Actually, I did. And at the end of these eons of e-time I've wound up right back where I started: uncertain whether or not I should keep my opinion.

Now, I've kept the subject of my perplexity secret for a reason, namely that it's immaterial. Tomorrow will bring another dilemma, and I'll be careening across the web searching for information on some other, completely unrelated, topic. But I digress. The point of it all is this. In searching for answers, it's nigh unto impossible to sift through the information available and come to any degree of satisfaction or conclusion on just about anything these days. I mean, seriously, with millions of opinions at my fingertips, all with slight variations that may or may not be comparable to my situation, how am I to choose? At random, as in select only 10 articles and go with the majority? Perhaps I can consult only the trusted advisers, but then I limit myself and wonder if Mr. Unheard Of over in Topeka might just have a nice little say on the matter that would make matters perfectly clear for me. Who's to say.

This all came about with a quick scan of one of my favorite places on the Internet, Arts & Letters Daily. It's never let down, but, once again, has caused my mind to whirl at a breakneck speed, ready to explode at any moment. The article I read was a book review about cultural obesity. Check it out, and leave me a comment if you want. If no comment seems appropriate, I understand. But, you owe it to yourself to at least let the matter be presented to you. Cheers...

Yellowcard: Paper Walls

This is strictly an album plug, without much in addition. I usually find bands going down-hill after a stellar first album or two, but in the case of Yellowcard, they've trampled that view with this their latest album, Paper Walls. Wow!

The first five songs are absolutely remarkable, in my opinion, with the remaining songs only slightly below that level. The album opens with The Takedown, and the opening line of the chorus is haunting:

"Don't turn your back on me now, you can't do this..."

The second track is Fighting, and since the first or second spin my youngest son, Britain, has frequently been found around the house singing it unashamedly:

"What am I fighting for? There must be something more..."

I could go on and on...what a great production.