I don't get it. Because Creed would have been kneeling in penitence to God?
  
Also, the timeline seems wrong. I remember buying Creed's "My Own Prison" on the same night I purchased "Yield" (2 February 1998, if I remember correctly.) That was the release date for "Yield", and "MOP" was just gaining popularity; only one or two singles had been released. "Yield" must surely have been complete for months (as in, before Creed ever got any airplay.)

Would you help me sort this joke out?

- Josh

Since I probably won't be posting anything tomorrow, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th of July.

Peace. You are loved.

-Mike

Hey, Bob Mike. Have a great holiday weekend.

Josh, I assume Stone must have heard MOP before they finished Yield-- if even just because somebody was bound to say "Hey, listen to this band that wants to be you." It may have been a little premature to be mocking them, so I'll give you that on the timeline issue.

"My Attica" is specific, but pushed out a layer it's "My Prison." "The static in my prison shoots pain through portions of my body", is a possible reading of this line. So, push another layer and it's easy to justify the misunderstanding. Oh well. :)

~Jenn

Edited by author 07-03-2002 05:51 PM
My dear wife keeps signing on to QuickTopic on my computer and not signing out. That was the second of my postings that say they are from "Jennifer McGee". I keep being excited that she has joined the discussion, but then I see it is just I.

Regarding /m78: maybe. By "my Attica" he may be referring simply to his personal prison; in the context of this song this would be his fame. Assuming we are understanding all of the words correctly (that is, the words themselves, not even the general meaning) we have:

All the static in my Attica
Shoots down my sciatic nerve
To the ocean of my platitudes
Longitudes, latitudes
It's so absurd

"Static", something shooting down a nerve, and shooting to an ocean all suggest electricity. So maybe he's describing a buildup of something akin to static electricity within his prison of the public eye, something that keeps being added to but will only be relieved with a spark, a flash, a bang. Having this shoot down his sciatic nerve, in particular, might be a clever way of saying that it is literally "a pain in the ass." :-) The ocean that provides the "ground" for the discharge is an ocean of Stone's own statements which he sees as trite or banal but that are seen as significant. I have read interpretations of "longitudes, latitudes" as just a nonsense rhyme to match with platitudes, but I disagree. It is a nonsense rhyme, but it rather exists to demonstrate Stone's perception of his thoughts as inconsequential. This whole stanza meshes well with the song's general message: the story of one who has given up on using his public exposure as a vehicle for positive change, and instead now wants only the close companionship of someone as support.

That's my interpretation, anyway.

I had a roommate in college who would (intentionally) mis-sing the line as "To the ocean of my platypus." He was also the one who sang the line from Red Mosquito as "I was bitten, must have been a chicken, it was just KFC." (For the uninitiated, the line is actually "I was bitten, must have been the Devil, he was just paying me [a little visit]")

Re /m77: Happy 4th! Like most years, I will celebrate this day largely as the day Henry David Thoreau set out own his Walden project (the fact that it was Independence Day was an accident.) Out of curiosity, did you find SeanBaby.com through my site or did you stumble upon it yourself? My guess is the latter. :-)

- Josh

It's interesting that we would have such conflicting opinions on a song we both love.

Your take on the stanza's meaning is sound, but I disagree with your assesment of the song as

"...the story of one who has given up on using his public exposure as a vehicle for positive change, and instead now wants only the close companionship of someone as support."

I think that the words "No Way" in the song (actually, it turns out, it's the title of the song too) negate the previous statement. I read it more like this:

"I'll stop trying to make a difference.
 I'm not trying to make a difference.
 I'll stop trying to make a difference -- No way."

As if the thought as crossed his mind to give up on changing the world, but realising that's an impossibility.

He may say he just wants someone to be there for, and someone to be there for him-- but stop trying to make a difference? No way.

Edited by author 07-03-2002 07:07 PM
To bring in outside information, Stone did not pen the words "No Way". He submitted the demo the band as

"I'll stop trying to make a difference.
 I'm not trying to make a difference.
 I'll stop trying to make a difference"

So if the "No way" does indeed negate the preceding statements, it is Ed's negation, not Stone's. Presumably he did not title it "No Way" either, although I cannot prove that.

Edited by author 07-03-2002 07:23 PM
Right.

Intriguing, that. Stone submits a song and Ed inserts two words into the lyrics which negate its entire meaning. That then becomes the title of the song.

Bizarre dynamic over Pearl Jam Way...

Oh yeah-- did you take a look at my posting to the political spectrum page?

Yes, I did (he's talking about this, by the way.) I look forward to talking with you further about your economic policies..

- Josh

Josh,

I'd known about seanbaby for quite some time before finding your site. I found a link to it at the always entertaining x-entertainment.com.

-Mike

Josh,

I didn't know if you'd seen this yet. Man, Russia is a scary, scary place.

-Mike

Guys,

I just thought that I'd add something that might be of use, since the place of religion in the modern world has often been discussed here. Here's a short article by my friend Chris.

Peace. You are loved.

-Mike

Very, very funny. Thank you for this.

- Josh

I'm quite bored at work today, and it's got me thinking about beer. I like beer. That's all I have to say.

-Evan

Hey Evan, you know who else likes beer?

David J McGee....




thats rigth kids, I've broken out of my cage!

muahahaha!

Speaking of David J McGee, is David J McGee still out in California for the summer? I'd like the chance to see him (and Josh, as well, but Josh lives out here) before he leaves for New York. What's the story, yo?

"Women in Refrigerators" was an interesting read, but it took me less than a minute to find some serious flaws in its logic.

1.) Although I have no solid statistics on the matter, I find it hard to believe that a higher percentage on female characters (as opposed to male characters, natch!) have been killed over the course of comics history. Of those who have been killed, such deaths make for little effect one way or another, based upon the extremely temporary nature of death in the superhero genre. Even aside from that genre, death often loses a bit of its sting, as deceased major players often return (see Sandman, Preacher, Hellblazer, etc.). Jean Grey alone should have made the list for death and/or power loss about seven or eight times.

2.) Although power loss does often occur to female characters, I would guess that it occurs to an equal number of male protagonists. It's one of the best-known superhero stories for either gender, and (in my mind) is usually the sign of a lazy writer re-treading a path that's been walked a dozen times before. Virtually any character who's lasted more than a decade has lost his or her powers at least once. Superman seems to do it a couple of times a year. Power loss is the great equalizer. It's hard to get behind the "struggle" of somebody who can move small planets. Power loss is an attempt to humanize a godlike character, and is usually (for males and females alike) only a temporary setback.

3.) It is true that a disproportionate number of rapes occur against women in comics vs. their male counterparts (although Mark Millar's dismal run on The Authority seemed determined to shorten that gap a bit). Unfortunately, this seems to be a reflection on a societal problem. In a world when one out of every four women has been sexually assaulted/abused/harassed, it's unsurprising that comics reflect a gender discrepancy between the amount of sexual violence directed at each gender.

This is not to say that women don't have a ways to go before being fairly portrayed in the comics medium, I'm just saying that WIR presents a pretty weak argument.

As long as we're discussing fictional women, I might as well just say it: "Medea For PTA President!"