Nowhere Man

Psycho killer or folk hero? -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Our popular culture has a strange fascination with bad boys – men who tramp on the law and survive to talk about it. We your have criminal suspects like OJ, or just the badly behaved like Chris Brown and Andy Dick. The fan base lacks rhyme or reason – sometimes the people with a notoriety fan club are psycho killers like Jeff Dahmer or Ted Bundy. Who in any right mind would admire convicted killers? Charles Manson, the ultimate, crazy, 60’s wack job fits some of the patterns above, although he looms larger in some ways. Because of his recorded music, Manson may even be a wack job for the ages. It would fill a volume to tell you completely why. I won’t attempt to cover Manson’s whole biography -- will just try to compress his bio and rap sheet here…

Manson was born to Kathleen Maddox, a 16 year old unwed mother, in 1934. “Manson” is a step-father’s name, a man he barely came to know. Charles spent much of his youth with an aunt and uncle in West Virginia and then in reformatories. He was an incorrigible burglar and car thief who transitioned from juvenile hall directly into prison. He was married briefly to a Rosalie Willis in his early 20’s but she divorced him after a couple of years, impatient to wait for his 5 year car theft sentence to expire. One pivotal prison fact – Manson actually had some musical abilities. During this last incarceration Manson was taught to play steel guitar by 30’s bank robber/legend Alvin Karpis.

Upon his release in the early 60’s, Manson was aimless. He pan-handled, committed petty theft and pimped out a couple of sometime-girlfriend prostitutes. His luck changed dramatically when he moved from LA to San Francisco at the dawn of the hippie era. His shiftless lifestyle, pimping of women, musical forays and Scientology psycho-babble was all taken as guru-worthy – Manson acquired a following of 12 women who cohabited with him in the residence of one of the women. His luck soared higher when two of his female “desciples” hooked up with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson at a night club. They introduced Wilson to Manson and the two actually became friends. Wilson then introduced Manson to Terry Melcher, an influential music producer who liked some of Manson’s tunes.

At this point, it should be mentioned that Manson obsessed over the Beatles. He thought that the Beatles were giving codified instructions for a race war in the lyrics of their songs. The coming race war was going to be called "Helter Skelter” after a Beatles song; one of Manson’s hideouts, a bright yellow bungalow, was dubbed the “Yellow Submarine”. In fact, much of Manson’s ranting would be seen nowadays as the dire symptoms of untreated schizophrenia – a markedly disordered thought process. That so many followers went with him informs you somewhat about the nature of cults and pseudo-religions.

On August 8th, 1969 four of the Manson Family disciples (one man and three women) invaded the LA home formerly occupied by Terry Melcher. Melcher and Wilson had witnessed Manson’s violent outburst toward an assistant and distanced themselves from him. A proposed music contract was canceled and all contacts dropped. Manson was furious with Melcher and wanted revenge. It’s thought that Manson knew Melcher had moved away but still chose his prior residence as an attack point – maybe for shock effect. Melcher was terrified of Manson for months preceding the murders and had extra security to accompany him everywhere.

The Family murdered actress Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring a hair dresser friend, Abigail Folger the coffee heiress and her friend Wojcieh Frykowski. The murders were messy and bungled with victims nearly escaping and the evidence scattered indoors and outdoors all across the property. All the participants were high (victims and killers) which probably added to the surreal nature of it. The title “Helter Skelter” was scrawled on a wall – a reference to the White Album song. The next night a wealthy grocery executive, La Bianca, and his wife were murdered in similar fashion. "Piggies" (also from the White Album) was scrawled on their wall.

There was evidence abounding and the police caught up to the killers in pretty short order. High, schizoid criminals aren’t the most skilled at covering their tracks. The 1970 murder trial was highly publicized due to the Hollywood tie-ins and bizarre behavior of the Family. They carved X’s in their foreheads and intimidated witnesses as a form of solidarity. All the killers were found guilty and sentenced to death. The state of California declared the death penalty illegal in 1972, and all the participants had their sentences commuted to life terms.

AFTERMATH

Much the way that gang-bangers like sinister-looking tattoos and pit bull dogs, musical bad boys have embraced Manson. Marilyn Manson borrowed his name from the killer and also sang Manson’s song My Monkey on one of his albums. Gun N’ Roses has also recorded Manson tunes – in fact Family Jam has released entire CD collections of Manson music. Sick-minded people can still find copies of a Manson CD titled LIE. It’s notable, but not especially admirable that a psycho killer so captured America’s imagination . If my blog’s title ever applied it, is here – it is truly a strange fascination.

© 2009 blogSpotter

The Madman of Lacoste

Who was Marquis de Sade? -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

Marquis de Sade. The very mention of his name elicits laughter from some, and shocked disapproval from others. Sadism is a love that dare not speak its name, except maybe in the “alternatives” section of a singles web site. Marquis de Sade was in fact a French nobleman who lived from 1740 to 1814 – an aristocrat and also a prolific writer. His young life was unremarkable in some ways, promising in others. He went to Jesuit school as a young man and then served successfully as a Colonel in the Seven Years’ War. If only he had gone into the quiet retirement of a well-heeled Frenchman at this point, but he did not. He entered into writing and entertaining other libertine people instead.

De Sade’s first brush with the law was when he kidnapped an English prostitute, Rose Keller, and imprisoned her in the dungeon room of his castle at Lacoste (now owned by fashion designer Pierre Cardin). She escaped and reported him to police – they immediately placed him under surveillance but didn’t arrest him. De Sade was treated with kid gloves in many of his legal scrapes; it’s either a testament to his gentry status or his commanding people skills. De Sade (apparently bisexual) next took up with a manservant, Latour, with whom he had an affair. They were arrested for sodomy but successfully escaped to Italy. De Sade continued to rack up enough “debaucheries” that he was already a legend in his time.

De Sade was frequently incarcerated – in fact he spent 32 of his 74 years either in prisons like Bastille or the Charenton Insane Asylum. During his prison stays he wrote copious novels, novellas and plays. Many of these were destroyed by his own family hoping to avoid a black mark on the family name. His surviving S&M-themed masterworks are:

Justine
Juliette
120 Days of Sodom

His grandest work, The Days of Florbelle, was destroyed by his son upon de Sade’s passing. Justine and Juliette are more in the style of Voltaire’s Candide where they tell of young women’s travails and embarrassments (much of it sexual) in life. 120 Days of Sodom is truly gruesome – it crosses over “the line” (we all know it when we see it). It entails torture, murder and coprophagy among other disgusting things.

De Sade lived through the French Revolution period. He was a savvy man, and knew that his life was at risk as an aristocrat in such times. He renounced his wealthy status and changed his title to “Citizen Sade”. His good humor combined with his culturally rebellious nature endeared him to the Revolutionaries and they even put him in the National Convention, representing the far left. De Sade was appalled by the guillotine however and voiced his concern. He was then placed on death row for his “moderatism”. The Revolution wound down before he could be beheaded, and then he was eventually released.

Napoleon was shocked and outraged after reading Justine and ordered de Sade to be imprisoned again. His family was able to have him declared mentally unfit and moved to a mental hospital. This was where de Sade finished out his life. Even here, he wrote many plays that were performed by fellow patients and he carried on an affair with a 13 year old girl.

Some 250 years later, there is a mixed reaction to Marquis de Sade. His own family tried to suppress his works, and none would use “Marquis” as a title after he left his mark. Some (non-family) have hailed de Sade as a pioneer for personal freedom, existentialism and even Freudian analysis. Feminists have seen him as a dark force who tried to make acceptable the idea of possessing and abusing a woman.

Whatever one might think, he certainly lived an interesting life. Upon scanning passages from 120 Days, I can only say that this was a disturbed man whose dark visions made the world a far different place. In some ways he was a man way ahead of his time – whether that’s a good or a bad thing is left for the reader to determine.

© 2009 blogSpotter

Obama Serves Waffles

Would you like some blueberries with that? -- Picture courtesy of biggestmenu

by blogSpotter
Up to now, I’ve gone pretty easy on Obama – he faces an enormous set of unique issues and I agree with his basic, progressive approach. Coming on the heels of George W. Bush (rated @ fourth from the bottom by national historians), there’s enormous contrast here – an opportunity to set oneself apart.

TRIBUNALS

Imagine my surprise when Obama served up a plate of waffles last week. He decided to “fix”, not revoke Bush’s military tribunals. He also decided to withhold photos of detainee abuse. Doing these things incurred the immediate wrath of the ACLU and Human Rights Watch – the latter group is planning a law suit. Obama described the tribunals as an “enormous failure” during his campaign. These flip-flops are heaped on top Obama’s extension of Bush’s warrantless wiretap program and escalation of the Afghan war. You might say he’s served up a side order of grits and bacon.

His defenders, aka apologists, have rushed forward to say, “Whoa – he’s ending torture, hearsay evidence and closing Guantánamo.” Well 2 of those 3 are a matter of degree and hard to establish. Some GOP centrists (e.g., Lindsey Graham) are delighted to be sitting in IHOP with Obama, who has hopped onto a conservative Bush strategy. “This will afford us an opportunity to forge a comprehensive policy,” Graham says – truer words were never said by Cheney or Ilsa the She-wolf of the Nazis.

Yes I’m disappointed and you could say the honeymoon is over. It’s mid-May so Obama was treated to a long honeymoon. This leads me to another area of colossal disappointment…

CARS

I thought that our national government’s bailout and involvement in the GM/Chrysler travails was to avoid the pain of a national paralysis – paralysis of the nation’s auto supply chain. Imagine my disappointment to see that dozens of factories and thousands of dealerships are being shuttered. We are so NOT OVER this great recession...

We are well past the time for a stringent gas guzzler tax that applies to trucks and SUV’s as well as cars. This measure would do more for a permanent mind-set change than anything else and would even help balance the budget. The only ray of sunshine is that the Obama team has just mandated that cars and trucks must be 30% more fuel efficient by 2016.

In the final analysis, we have to admit something about our glib, model handsome, suave, smooth-sailing President. We have to realize that he’s a mere mortal, subject to the arm-twisting of those around him. How far will he allow the progressive program of his campaign to be twisted? Stick around at the metaphorical IHOP – I have a feeling that some French Toast and hash browns are forth-coming.

© 2009 blogSpotter

Perez in the Springtime

Giving us the scoop and some doodles -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Why do I envy Perez Hilton? Because the nonchalant, 30 year-old publicity hound is one of the world’s most successful bloggers. His real name is Mario Lavandeira and he was born to Cuban American parents in ’78. He’s worn many hats already in his short career. He’s been a GLAAD publicity agent, actor, receptionist and managing editor of Instinct magazine. He finally struck pay dirt with his on-line gossip rag, http://perezhilton.com.

The web site leverages off of Hilton’s LA celebrity connections -- many photos are originals from events that Perez personally attends. Hilton claims the site has received 8.5 million hits in one day, a staggering number. (That would probably bring my site down). His “stage name” Perez Hilton is an obvious play on Paris Hilton -- a devoted BFF who receives a lot of promotional build-up on Perez’s site.

Others are not so fond of Perez -- his site has been drawn into much controversy. He’s been accused various things -- falsely reporting Castro’s death, playing copyrighted music of Britney Spears, and defaming an LA DJ by reporting a drug arrest. One of his biggest ongoing controversies is the outing of GLBT celebrities who aren’t ready for the spotlight. He so far has maintained that the outing is perfectly OK although civil litigation begs to differ.

The latest Perez brouhaha has been the Miss California controversy where he, as a judge, asked the perky bimbette her opinion on gay marriage. She replied that marriage should be between one man and one woman. There was a media storm that followed when Miss California lost the competition (as a result of how she answered the gay marriage question?). Perez poured gasoline on the fire by referring to Miss California as a “dumb bitch” on his blog… The controversy whip-sawed a different direction when it turned out that Miss California had posed for some topless photos earlier in her career. (“It was windy”).

The bombastic "angel of mercy" Donald Trump gave Miss California a break for her tawdriness, probably hoping to quell the prior controversy with a little after-the-fact forgiveness, letting her keep the title.

Stir, stir, stir. What have we with Perez? We have an extreme, successful far-out-of-the-closet gossip maven who knows how to “work it” from a business standpoint. Closeted gays and Christian conservative models would probably do well to stay out of his way. And 5-hits-a-day blogSpotter would do well to capture any part of Perez’s momentum or business know-how.

© 2009 blogSpotter

The Great Burger Sweeps

#1 -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
With today's blog, I'm entering a consumer reporting category that I've not done before. My views here are totally unscientific, opinionated and oriented towards me. However, I know the topic pretty well and have a good sense of what's right, foodwise. I'll also preface this by admitting that I love fast food. I think it can be very convenient and nutritional; those of us who like an occasional visit to "Jack in the Crack" will momentarily need to tune out the food snobs who have such low regard for high calorie, soul-satisfying carbs.

I live in East Dallas, so my reviews are oriented towards the major places close by me. I have an "honorable mention" section to single out great chains that weren't ranked because: they don't qualify as fast food, they're not ubiquitous chains, not big in Texas, or (to be frank) I haven't gone enough to form a good impression. With all that being said, let's get on with the greasy burger ranking...

#1 -- Whataburger
This chain has a fairly limited menu and dated concept. That being said, their food is by far the best, the restaurants are clean and the service is friendly. Caveats: the food is cooked fresh, made to order so it might take a solid 10 minutes to get your food. Go somewhere else if you're "jonesing" for an immediate food fix.


#2 -- Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

#2 -- Wendy’s
Wendy’s has a sprawling menu that allows you all kinds of healthy choices and side substitutions. My blog is focused mainly on burgers so I don't really care all that much about the healthy aspect of it. Wendy's burgers are pretty darn good, the restaurant is clean and the service is lightening fast. This puts Wendy's as a close #2 behind Whataburger.

#3 -- McDonalds
McDonalds used to be the gold standard of fast food hamburger restaurants -- they still have probably the best fries and shakes on the market. They are an enduring emblem of American capitalism, with a worldwide reach and some of the best commercial jingles around. BUT (and you knew it was coming) my last few trips to McDonalds have been frustrating. It's chaotic to tell who's waiting on me or who's next -- the lines are hard to gauge. Also, the one nearest me has had dirty tables and/or whole sections of the restaurant cordoned off (with mops and buckets?) for cleaning I suppose. IMOH, the whole restaurant should be pretty clean, well-lighted and available for seating, if the dining room is open.

#4 -- Jack in the Box
Jack in the Box has terrific commercials let me say. They also have pretty clean restaurants and good service. What they don't have is food that tastes very good, and that's the business they're in. I had a Panini sandwich there that tasted vaguely like Ajax. I've had French fries that were rubbery in texture and in taste. How can you even do that to a potato? There might be something in the recipe our military could use for weaponry.

#5 -- Burger King
How the mighty have fallen -- BK used to be my favorite -- back in the 80's. Since then, I think they had some changes in management, and all did not go well. My past few experiences have included dodgy, nay bad service. The cashier doesn't speak English well, or is bantering with another employee. Restaurant is dirty along with the restroom. I went to one where my tennis shoes made a clicking sound with each step -- there was such an accumulation of spilled catsup and soda pop on the floor. On top of all that, the food was poorly prepared and rashly assembled. They got my order wrong @ 25% of the time. It was bad in every major category. Maybe the BK branches close to me are lacking and I don't have a good sample ... who knows?

HONORABLE Mentions. The following are worth checking out; they just aren't widespread or frequent enough in my own dining experiences...
o Burger Street -- small chain w/ delicious (albeit salty) burgers, limited seating
o Braum's -- Family restaurant, not really fast food, wide variety of items on menu
o Carl Junior's -- California chain, recently come to Texas (not been there myself)
o Dairy Queen -- Delicious food and desserts, but hard to spot one in Dallas close to where I live
o Snuffer's -- Delicious burgers and fries in a pleasant "fern bar" ambience
o Sonic -- Good, but a little put off by the service model. Good food though
o White Castle -- Some people (Harold and Kumar?) swear by this -- not big in Texas

© 2009 blogSpotter