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SERPENTINE_KISS
March 19, 2007
The infamous Gene Simmons/
Terry Gross smackdown:
[ref]
Simmons is (or claims to be)
an "epicurean hedonist".
DIONYSIAN_SOAP
He justifies himself
in quantifiable terms: (Why he feels the need
money and women. for justification is
the obvious question.)
He makes the claim
that "money is the
most important thing
in the universe",
and proves this by
pointing out we need
food to survive, and
in the world as SURVIVAL
constituted, we need
money for food.
This skips the
question of why we
would want to be
alive, but we can
infer he would say Or perhaps he
it's to experience would say that At one point, he
pleasure. that's just his hedges, claiming that
answer. what he says always
It also ignores has an implicit "for
the question of me" attached.
quantities: the
amount of money one
needs to survive is Given enoughmoney,
no where near the one would think that
Gene Simmons level. money's importance
would dwindle. Kim Stanley Robinson
And arguably, while proposes slogans:
having rock star riches Money would "Enough is enough",
would have it's uses, then be "Sufficieny is
it would also have regarded as sufficient".
it's drawbacks -- it only one thing
makes you a target, you of import ANARCHIC_ROBINSON
need to worry about
kidnap, lawsuits, And even the
con-artists... minimal amount
needed for
Finding trustworthy survial is
staff you can pay a prerequisite,
to manage your finances not a motivation
strikes me as a nasty in itself.
problem all in itself.
The interview leaves a lot of
issues open -- Terry Gross I find myself wondering
keeps getting put off of the how he feels about
scent by his macho posturing. someone like David Bowie:
a similar figure -- doing
4000 plus women sounds "rock n' roll with
less like fun to me, lipstick on" -- but
and more like someone *both* a popular and
stuck in a, uh, rut -- critical success.
indulging a habit.
Presumably the appeal of huge numbers
lies in novelty -- if it's not just in
bragging rights -- but how much room for
it is there in the life of the mega-star?
Your staff vets (and
auditions?) the candidates,
the candidates recieve The instructions, in
strict instructions, and the Simmons case: no drugs How many
candidates have a culture of including cigarettes rockstars
their own, and already know and alcohol, and with actually
largely what to expect, and this I can sympathise. skip the
what is expected... chemical
I would guess excess part
that this is a of the job
Lost in a house prerequisite description?
of mirrors. for making it
past 4000. You hear
about them
UNINTENDED every so
often, e.g.
DRUGS Frank
Zappa...
Probably
even more
are in the
closet.
Simmons is one of
those entertainers
that likes to insist But he also says that with
that his art is all KISS he was trying to
just a matter of become something "larger Yes:
entertainment. than life", using motifs thick
from various pieces of platform
"Americana", e.g. Black shoes.
Bolt, the Marvel comic book
character.
Black Bolt: This reaching for
the leader of the mythic, this
(yet another) attempt at becoming
society of something heroic
super-beings and monstrous...
named The
Inhumans. I submit that there
is more going on
When introduced, there than an attempt
Black Bolt seemed a at finding an engaging
rather passive piece of schtick.
figure... stately,
restrained. The "art is just entertainment"
line is no less reductionist
He communicated via than any thing else he says...
a sign language and
interpreters, and Why is something entertaining?
didn't seem to be What makes one thing bore and
able to speak. another resonate?
He had very little And what motive is
in the way of there behind the
"super powers" on impulse to deny
display. What makes that there are
it entertain- mysteries here?
But later, when ing to pull
The Inhumans are the chain of
challenged by a an NPR drone?
serious threat, he
faces it alone,
and orders his
people to hide in
bomb shelters.
He responds to the
attack by speaking
a single word--
which effortlessly
destroys the enemy, But Black Bolt's costume
and everything else is a basic Batman cowel
in sight. (albiet with and odd tuning
fork on his forehead):
He is not mute: how does one get from that
When Black Bolt to Simmon's bat mask makeup?
speaks, cities crumble.
(I suspect a retcon).
He has a voice that destroys, and
hence can not be used for ordinary
speech.
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