And now for something completely different ...

“Monty Python’s Personal Best,” a series of six outrageous one-hour specials showcasing the groundbreaking comedians with new footage and original clips, will premiere on PBS February 22, 2006. Each of the five living Pythons — John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin — produced and wrote his own episode, and collaborated to create the sixth special in honor of deceased member Graham Chapman. The episodes will air over a three week period in two-hour blocks on PBS on February 22, March 1 and March 8.

» Tags: Monty Python

: Permalink

Published: (2006-02-24 16:24:34.0)

Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, formed in 1990, was a San Francisco based duo of Michael Franti and Rono Tse. They attacked issues such as homophobia, misogyny, and racism. Smart cutting lyrics, sampling and scratching, beats from various musical styles and Franti's Chuck D like vocals were weaved together to produce an amazing debut album, Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury. Too bad they didn't last. Michael Franti is still active and putting out good music with Spearhead.

Usually people will point to "Television, The Drug of the Nation" when you mention Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. But I'm going with ""Language of Violence" for the Song of the Day.

"The first day of school was always the hardest
The first day of school, the hallways the darkest
Like a gauntlet, the voices haunted
Walking in with his thin skin, lowered chin
He knew the names that they would taunt him with
Fagg*t, sissy, punk, queen, queer
Although he'd never had sex in his 15 years
And when they harassed him it was for a reason
And when they provoked him it became open season
for the fox and the hunter, the sparks and the thunder
that pushed the boy under, then pillage and plunder
It kind of makes you wonder how one can hurt another

But dehumanizing the victim makes things simpler
It's like breathing with a respirator
It eases the conscience of even the most conscious
and calculating violator
Words can reduce a person to an object,
something more easy to hate
An inanimate entity, completely disposable,
no problem to obliterate

But death is the silence
in this language of violence
Death is the silence
But death is the silence
in this cycle of violence
death is the silence

It's tough to be young, the young long to be tougher
When we pick on someone else it might make us feel rougher
Abused by their fathers but was at home though
so to prove to each other that they were not homos
The exclamation of the phobic fury
executioner, a judge and jury
The mob mentality, individuality was nowhere
Dignity forgotten at the bottom
of a dumb old dare and a numb cold stare
On the way home it was back to name calling
Ten against one they had his back up against the wall and
they reveled in their laughter as they surrounded him
But it wasn't a game when they up jumped and grounded him
They picked up their bats with their muscles straining
and they decided they were gonna beat this fella's brain in
with an awful, powerful, showerful, an hour full of violence
Inflict the strictest brutality and dominance
They didn't hear him screaming, they didn't hear him pleading
They ran like cowards and left the boy bleeding

in a pool of red 'til all tears were shed
and his eyes quietly slid into the back of his head
dead...

You won't see the face 'til the eyelids drop
You won't hear the screaming until it stops

The boy's parents were gone and his grandmother had raised him
She was mad she had no form of retaliation
The pack didn't have to worry about being on a hitlist
But the thing they never thought about was that there was a witness
to this senseless crime, right place wrong time
Tried as an adult one of them was gonna do hard time

The first day of prison was always the hardest
The first day of prison, the hallways the darkest
Like a gauntlet the voices haunted
Fagg*t, sissy, punk, queen, queer
Words he used before had a new meaning in here
As a group of men in front of him came near
for the first time in his life the young bully felt fear
He'd never been on this side of the name calling
Five against one they had his back up against the wall and
he had never questioned his own sexuality
but this group of men didn't hesitate in their reality
with an awful, powerful, showerful, an hour full of violence
Inflict the strictest brutality and dominance
They didn't hear him screaming
They didn't hear him pleading
They took what they wanted and then left him bleeding in the corner
The giant reduced to jack horner

But dehumanizing the victim makes things simpler
It's like breathing with a respirator
It eases the conscience of even the most conscious
and calculating violator
The power of words, don't take it for granted
when you hear a man ranting
Don't just read the lips, be more sublime than this
Put everything in context, is this a tale of rough justice
in a land where there's no justice at all ?
Who is really the victim ?
Or are we all the cause, and victim of it all ? ..."

Additional info:

• Wikipedia: The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
• Song at iTunes: Language of Violence
• Album at Amazon: Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury

» Tags: Song of the day, iTunes

: Permalink

Published: (2006-02-24 15:51:51.0)