In my previous post, I owned up to a foolish public declaration as a teenager that Creedence Clearwater Revival “shat on” The Beatles. That was essentially an adolescent rebel yell in the face of peer authority, clumsy and misdirected, but rooted in a perception that I consider legitimate to this day – that the masses are prone to stampeding. Such was the case with The Beatles. They could do no wrong. Every single was a smash hit, every album hailed a work of genius. The adulation, the mass approbation, was overwhelming and, it seemed, indiscriminate. Lennon’s wry observation at the peak of The Beatles’ fame that they were “more popular than Jesus” sparked outrage, but it wasn’t far off the mark. Continue reading We’re So Pretty, Oh So Pretty…Vacant
Category Archives: Society
A Portrait of the Iconoclast as a Young Twat
One of the refrains of my childhood was my father’s 6-syllable sing-song admonition, “you’re anti-everything.” That wasn’t quite accurate, but I do have to admit to an inbuilt contrariness that asserts itself at the faintest whiff of hype or herd approbation of – well, just about anything. Continue reading A Portrait of the Iconoclast as a Young Twat
Malaysia 2007 – Surprises and Highlights
My Malaysian blogs are almost at an end. I have focused on the aspects of our journey that were of most interest to me, and in so doing have left out much I could have mentioned. I’ll leave comprehensive coverage of “the sights” to the travel guides; the following is but a brief summary of personal highlights and impressions I want to record in closing. Continue reading Malaysia 2007 – Surprises and Highlights