An Experiment

This blog has been a blast to write for. Anytime I can attempt to make someone laugh, I'm all for it.

But here lately, with the rise of Facebook and Twitter, there's been an outlet to share personal and humorous moments with family and close friends directly. The majority of my readers here are my friends on either Facebook or Twitter.

So, that begs the question: what to do with BAN?

What would I want to center the website on, while using the title and keeping it in an arena where humor could still be used?

I love video games, but there's an army of blogs for every system and type of game (ArsTechnica is my favorite). I love books, but there's people out there with great literary blogs (Amazon's Omnivoracious Reader, and a slew of other ones that are great.)

History is another love of mine, but it's difficult to drum up excitement for the ingredients to Lincoln's last meal.

That leaves another area I love to talk about: ethical dilemmas. So, my plan in short is to--temporarily at first--make BAN into The Blog About Nothing: Ethics in America. The goal will be to have a non-political look at ethics in the news, media, and everyday lives of Americans. I think, if it is presented in an entertaining way, that it may be quite a trek.

So, instead of taking a summer hiatus as planned, I'll be converting to posts on ethics during the rest of the summer time. Let me know what you think in the comments or by emailing me at Justin.Tyler@yahoo.com.

I'm at facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/jjtyler
I Twitter Here: http://twitter.com/jjtyler

I still have a few posts that are more fitted towards Blog About Nothing, that are truly just random rants, one against Pitt Bulls.

Thanks for reading the blog, the subscriptions, and the comments.

Take Luck

Brian Regan, Take Luck

Cedar Park Police and Me

Image by Eric Rice via Flickr

We had our fireworks confiscated tonight.

The officer said: I need to take your fireworks, so we handed them over. As he was taking them I asked, you don't need a warrant for that?

He said nope, by city ordinance.

Cedar Park City Ordinance >= U.S. Constitution.

Now I understand the fine. We are under a burn ban, and that's why we were just doing small firecrackers in the middle of the cul-de-sac, however the whole confiscation thing is still a little strange to me.

But the only criminal law I've ever learned is listening to Jay-Z.

The officer was super nice while taking our property though. While he was writing us a fine, I asked him what the firework policy is in Tehran. He said when he was posted there in the military, he could set off whatever he wanted.

Officer 1, JT 0.

Cross-Promotion Album

I should also mention a member of my entourage's, Ken, new album: by request only. Not only is Ken the pioneer of the hair-helmet, he's also a wood paneling enthusiast.

New Album Dropping:

My new album is dropping tomorrow entitled: all cried out, indicating that I am both sentimental and deficient in my tear ducts.

Also, I will be rolling out my new fashion trend, the hotel towel. Not sure what to wear to work today? Go bare-chested with a hotel towel around your neck. Not only does it sop up any extra sweat, its scratchy surface can be used to sand antique furniture.

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy

I read this book twice now, finishing an audio version just recently. I know I will read it again, and I know that ever after that reading, I will still wonder what all I have missed in this complex and compelling read.

A quick google search of the book will let you know what people think and feel about this book about the expanding west and a lawless time. Some will say that it is satirical and holistically symbolic of the violence regarding the western expansion of the young US. Some will say it is a detailed account of men with no inhibitions, that become collectively scarier than any monster ever created in the horror genre, or some will say that it is a deep and symbolic book with Gnostic overtones and other historical accounts on every page, dripping with violence.

But this book, quite simply, is about satan on earth. This is a book about the devil, and it is a detailed account of how he takes a group of men and ravishes the country side. This devil is not a brute or some stereotypical baddie, but personifies science, law, modern philosophy, culture and at times even civil behavior. But this is all without love, faith or god. He exhibits all qualities that society holds dear and strives for, but leaves out what makes us our best.

Blood Meridian implies that no matter how advanced we become, no matter what new technologies we bring, and no matter how just we make ourselves out to be, that without love, we are nothing and we are inherently evil.

The amount of violence in this book is appalling, and it is not for the squeamish. But after that qualifier, if you can get past it, this is a marvelous read that is difficult to get out of your mind once you put it down. Others have made this comparison, so this is not original here: but this book reminded me of first time that I read Moby Dick, in that the details of an expedition were given in such real and brutal words, that the violence and conflict don’t seem out of place or they don’t seem to be used simply as a plot device, but as a central and necessary part of the story. The story is violence.

Judge Holden is by far the scariest monster ever put to fictional page, and you are left with a want for justice once this book is done, but McCarthy doesn’t give it to you, like in many of his reads, he won’t let you off easily.

Justice isn’t served, and you are left with your fists clenched and your teeth grinding, but you want to read it again.