Many folks I’ve encountered have a distinct tendency to romanticize the past. Everything was more pure and carefree, and times were far more simpler. Truth is this nostalgic-tinged view of times gone by is something of a crock. While there are a number of factors involved, I think the driving factor behind this phenomenon is human nature – very few people actively choose to dwell … Continue reading The Track Less Traveled
Call me angel and take my handWishing you could be my manBut I can tell if its truth or liesWhen you’ve got bourbon in your eyesTell me something that I don’t knowThen I dare you to prove it soI’d ask you to try this on for sizeBut you’ve got bourbon in your eyes“Bourbon in your Eyes” – Devil Doll Last-second substitutions played a role in … Continue reading Lull-ville Lullaby (Part 2)
“Take me back to Louisville,Take me ‘neath that southern sky,Long to hear the whippoorwillComin’ home, Louisville,By the railroad track.For the choo-choo train to take me back.I’m so happy I could cry!Here I come, Louisville.”“Louisville K-Y” – Ella Fitzgerald My father-in-law, who has spent a fair amount of time in Kentucky, calls The Derby City Lull-ville. I had no idea if that was a personally quirky … Continue reading Lull-ville Lullaby (Pt. 1)
Facebook, or the company formerly known as Facebook and would like you to forget it ever was Facebook, has tried to go the Prince route. Like his Royal Badness, they still have a bunch of asses like we have always seen. And the ride…and the ride…ain’t so smooth. If you haven’t been paying attention, Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been under fire on several … Continue reading Mo’ Meta Blues
Graphic from The History Channel
Since 2010, “Ancient Aliens” has proven to be a solid ratings winner for both The History Channel and the A&E Network. This is despite the show’s reliance on unique and often unproven theories; in fact, one of the show’s biggest criticisms is how the show presents these theories as if they were indeed factual in nature (the low-end production values didn’t help, as noted in this review published in the McGill Tribune.)
I admit I’ve watched a few episodes of “Ancient Aliens” with a sense of bemusement on random late nights. But as my interest in history grew in my later years, I realized there was a deeper undercurrent of something more disturbing within shows like “Ancient Aliens” – the whole concept that ancient peoples (especially those of indigenous or non-Caucasian societies) couldn’t have possibly built all the fantastical structures themselves.
This concept is hardly a new one – despite their own encounters with savagery, disease, and superstitious beliefs, European societies developed a sense of superiority which led to a cultural imperialism – in the four centuries between 1500 and 1900, European powers had conquered 84 percent of the globe.
In reality, what was presented to them in lands outside their borders was merely different. The judgment of inferiority was strictly their own creation, and it led to laughable, dire, and sometimes fatal consequences for the eventual colonists.
Continue reading “Aliens unto Aliens”
“I’m in love with modern moonlight128 when it’s dark outsideI’m in love with MassachusettsI’m in love with the radio onIt helps me from being alone late at nightHelps me from being lonely late at night” “Roadrunner” – Jonathan (Jojo) Richman & The Modern Lovers In terms of raw numbers, Massachusetts outdid all the states we traveled through in terms of overall activities. With that said, … Continue reading Jojo’s Playground: Massachusetts
“Three forms the soul to a positive sumDance to this fix and flex every muscleSpace can be filled if you rise like my lumberAdvance to the tune but don’t do the hustleShake, rattle, roll to my Magic NumberNow you may try to subtract itBut it just won’t go awayThree times one?(What is it? – One, two, three!)And that’s a Magic Number” “The Magic Number” – … Continue reading Alook at Atrio of States (CT/NH/RI)
“In my car sweating like a dogBeers and chairs no frontiersOn my way from the ‘Frisco BayDixieland, soda-pop man High five! More dead than aliveRocking the plastic like a man from the CatskillsHigh five! More dead than aliveRocking the plastic like a man from the Catskills” “High 5 (Rock the Catskills)” – Beck Traveling east on I-90 from Ohio, the Empire State, New York, is … Continue reading Gettin’ Our Feels in The Catskills
“Yeah, here’s to allTo all this culture’s rules and your pretty thingsHow dirty, wild, blurry, juvenileWe ain’t got no time for what tomorrow bringsAnd the choir sings To all the lows and every highThe hellos and the goodbyesIn this moment, I could die with you” “Don’t Come Down” – The Maine We really explored only two places in depth in the nation’s 23rd state (the … Continue reading The Maine Event
We’ve been slowly but cautiously breaking out from underneath the COVID bubble in our travels, but we were both a little wary when it came to anything that wasn’t beyond a short little day trip. Our trip to Minnesota in 2020 was more of a working vacation (helping a friend move out into a new house) so we didn’t jam and cram all that we … Continue reading An Old Routine in New England
criticalricetheory.com 