SemiConscious Dot Org

In the midst of the unfolding horror that the Most Foul Year of Our Lord 2008, there are a few rays of light. It has occurred to us that several things are, in fact, Not Quite Dead Yet, and would like to go for a walk. For instance:

The New England Patriots are Not Quite Dead Yet. After losing the NFL’s best player to a season-ending injury last week, many (including yours truly) fretted over their future, but the sight of them shutting up an entire stadium of 78,000 knuckle-dragging troglodytes Jets fans was beautiful beyond measure. The whining and carping in the NYC sporting press this morning was even sweeter. Still Enjoying those t-shirts you shelled out $18.99 for? Boy, that shirt sure had a long shelf-life, didn’t it? You fucking pathetic losers.

Metallica is Not Quite Dead Yet. The band that revolutionized heavy metal and released the greatest album of the entire 80’s decade had since launched into a death spiral so long and uninterrupted that I wrote them off completely years ago. Ditching their distinctive style to dabble (badly) in pop-metal, grunge, alternative, and Southern rock…the lawsuit against Napster…the rehab stints…the haircuts...all culminating in one of the worst albums any band in any genre has ever released…yeah, I thought they were done.

But then they hired Rick Rubin, who basically told them “You had the perfect sound in 1986. What the fuck have you been doing for the past 22 years???” And against all odds, they’ve recorded what should have been the logical followup to the impeccable triumvirate of Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice For All. Is Death Magnetic as good as those classics? No, not really. But it’s easily the best thing they’ve done in more than two decades. They may not be all the way back, but they’re finally headed in the right direction, which, considering how far they fell, is a miracle in itself. It’s certainly far more than I ever expected at this late date.

New Orleans is Not Quite Dead Yet, despite the best efforts of our government to kill it. The City That George Bush Forgot miraculously dodged not one, but two potentially fatal hurricanes in the past two weeks.

This Friday, the Special Lady Friend and I will be flying down to N’awlins for a few days of vacation. It will be my first time visiting since 2002, long before Katrina hit. If there’s post-Ike cleanup that needs to be done, we’ll volunteer to pitch in where we can. The post-Katrina cleanup, I fear, may take decades… but it will get done.