Nietzsche vs. Sandman

I'm at the point now where Fast Freddy attacks the scientists. Jeesh. HoraceMann TSWAS's comment is right, by the way; you need both hard and soft sciences (and frankly, I prefer to dabble in the latter while I wish I were better at the former). Fast Freddy, meanwhile, just becomes progressively more of a pain in the patoot. Last evening while all hell was breaking loose meteorologically (I refused to turn on the computer during this latest example of G.W.Bush's ineptitude -- yes, I blame our Commander in Chief and Global Warming Naysayer for all bad weather) I sat reading a Sandman book. I got to the part where Dream has decided to help Delirium find Destruction. Later I started reading FF on the errors of science. Gaiman was sooooo much more fun. Better illustrations, too.

While planning my weekend's entertainment, I noticed that Fountainhead is on TCM Monday morning. 6:00 am. It's worth getting up for. By my lights, this is the unintentionally funniest movie ever made. Just watch Coop and Neal go at each other like rutting dogs. And that final scene with the elevator! There haven't been that many laughs since Little Nell died. I always claimed that the movie would make for a wonderful HI piece. And it beats reading the book (but, for that matter, putting your head in a meat grinder beats reading the book too, but that's neither here nor there). In a strange way, Fast Freddy reminds me of Ado Aynie. He's a much better writer, of course, but the two of them make seductive claims to their audience that, by being their audience, you are somehow better than the herd, a head above the common rabble. Everyone, regardless of how egalitarian one claims to be, likes to think that he or she is somehow just that slight bit better than everyone else. Even if I thoroughly worship the common man as paradigmatic, well, I'm more common that you are, you blatherskite. The messages of Ado Aynie and Fast Freddie are different, of course, in their intent if not their result, but I would suspect that both have an especial attraction to a younger audience that does uniquely value its individuality. Life is nothing but a series of phases we all go through; I am presently in the phase of seeing life as a series of phases we all go through, whereas a large proportion of the VCA, having not that long ago come through the phase of pre-adolescent conformity, is now going through the phase of adolesecent self seeking that pretty much demands a sense of the non-existence of phases. (In other words, I'm like some old guy telling you that you're just a teenager, and that there is nothing new under the sun but I only say that because I'm old and you only scoff at it because you're a teenager.) Many people are especially vehement in their detestation of Aynie because she encourages young people, who are prone to be egomaniacs, to overvalue their egomania. Not to mention that her message is one that demonstrates little love of humanity. Anyhow, if you don't want to watch it before school, set your recorder to stun. I assure you that it will.

Speaking of stun and Wil, I now remember why I didn't like TNG when it first came on. I mean, is Wil Wheaton the worst young actor ever? I guess the producers felt that he would somehow bring in the young audience, unlike all those aliens and space ships and androids, which notoriously appeal to the nursing home set. Thank God they eventually got rid of him. I mention this only because last night, after the storm blew over, I watched an early episode. That missing L in the first name is a dead giveaway. Show me somebody who can't spell their own name, and I'll show you a stinker.