Winner winner chicken dinner! According to urban legend years ago a casino had a chicken dinner that cost $1.79. Back then a minumum bet in 21 was $2 so if you won you would have enough money to pay for dinner when an old chinese man hit blackjack he yelled "winner winner chicken dinner" the phrase stuck...it has since become synonymous with a cheap win, its what the southerners would say as jeff gordon takes the checkered flag.
I spent this last weekend at the threshold of a place where the cheap get cheaper and the dirty get dirtier. Its a place where you can feel like you re in paradise at the pool and at a jenny craig convention at the same time. Its where waiters are high rollers and truckers get all the women. Where truth is irrelevant and facts are as well.... everyone has a different story to tell. This place i speak of if you dont already know is the beloved gateway to vegas called Mesquite.
Having watched the movie 21 the day before i was anxious to use my newly acquired gambling technique of counting cards. I even joked with the dealer letting him know my intentions and oddly enough he even gave me a few helpful pointers about the odds and how i should play them. An old timer sitting next to me said forget all that you cant play the odds because the odds are set against you. He continued to explain his rationale in betting high even against the odds and not hitting on 15s and 16s when the dealer is showing a 10, but as his last chip fell and before he walked towards the sunset out past Beaver Dam he offered his last pearle of wisdom... "be sure to stay in the game no matter what, your here to gamble win or lose if you dont enjoy it dont play!"
The pitboss walked up to the table and I playfully gave the signal to my friend Chad that the table was hot. It wasn't. The pitboss laughs, he was unfased for he was watching the signs and signals that showed I was not counting correctly... me reaching into my pocket to exchange my green cash for their red chips and doing so on a consistent basis. Losing became enevitable and even accpeted. Even tho the signs and signals...green go...red stop... are very concious to me and constantly echo in my mind.. well the probability factor just never seems to set in... the variables may be different and ever changing, but the truth is the equation is always the same... you may win here and there but ultimately you re gonna lose, so just sit back forget about all the absolutes and try to enjoy all the plausibilities. Just give me the illusion of paradise. Make me feel like I could be a winner!
In this years election we are deciding our president from a limited pool of congress whos approval rating as of this morning is at %21. What does the dealer have to say about those odds! We now have left the democrats Queen of diamonds and the King of clubs and the republicans ace in the hole the Ace of spades. Even tho once a fighter pilot this self proclaimed maverick was never an ace and is hardly a spade. Hes more of a club juggernaut and acts more like a goose then a maverick. The queen of diamonds is as avertised but now wishing she looked more like a heart and a little less like a diamond. Which leaves us the king of clubs. The odds on favorite to win it all. Which makes me wonder how a man who has accomplished as little as he has has risen to the top of this club. What makes him different and better then the rest? Is it really his message and his inspiring speeches? Or that combined with the fact that hes black? Hes a "rockstar" they say at the podium. His speaking skills has given him an edge against his rivals. But what is his message? Can anyone really tell me what he stands for, what he wants to do with our country besides bring our troops home? Or do we even care as long as it sounds good?
socrates, an old timer, once said:
The aspiring speaker needs no knowledge of the truth about what is right or good... In courts of justice no attention is paid whatever to the truth about such topics; all that matters is plausibility... There are even some occasions when both prosecution and defence should positively suppress the facts in favor of probability, if the facts are improbable. Never mind the truth -- pursue probability through thick and thin in every kind of speech; the whole secret of the art of speaking lies in consistent adherence to this principle.
Obama has mastered this principle. The club leader is starting fulfill his role. The variables are a little different this time but the equation is still the same. Truth is irrelevant and the facts are as well... Just let me play my game and give me a nice sense of plausibility. The nation is starting to place its bets... the dealer is showing a King of clubs and the world awaits its new leader. He will have his enemies even some for the wrong reasons of course... the southerners will say "hes black jack" ....but somewhere in some cave you can almost hear the echo... "winner winner chicken dinner!"
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The Irony of Irony
hmm.. my first blog... so of course it has to be about the irony of irony. I dont know what that means exactly but it is worthy to note at this time that i absolutely hate writing yet im writing...
i dont know much about blogs either or really what purpose they serve us but after a brief discussion about them with my friend ashley we ve concluded (well she did) that they seem to be the way we chronicle this day and age. Makes sense to me so i better get with it if i want my two cents to be worth anything these days(two cents is virtually worth nothin even in these days for those of you lookin back on this day and age from the future...virtually of course)
So this is how we exchange ideas and information to one another during the information age... we make up an interesting name that we hope is catchy so others remember where to find us (virtually), we pick a title hopefully one that is intriguing that one would actually want to read it... and then we inform... or entertain... or inform.... see this is where you lose me or i lose myself. The information age to me seems more like an entertainment age... while our means to receive information is constantly evolving i fear our information has deteriorated into constant entertainment. Are we really an informed society or just an entertained population?
I guess im just not feeling too smart these days... and i feel the same way about our society in general. We think we re enlightened with all our modern conveniences and our ever evolving labels we place on one another and different cultural eras to help keep us organized but i dont see it. To me this world just gravitates towards entertainment. And entertainment is fueled by irony. Webster’s dictionary defines irony as:
1. Witty language used to convey insults or scorn
2. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs
3. A trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
not exactly the most flattering definition but it seems to be what we all expect and crave.. We re all lookin for that twist that sweet sensational bit of information that changes everything! The suspense of irony keeps us intrigued and attentive. Irony is the blueprint of every popular movie we see...."Im not a smart man" remember that movie? The one of the retard finding success in everything he does? yup best picture! or the one about the general who was suppose to be the leader of a great nation but became a slave yet as a slave he saved the nation? yup best picture! It seems like all our news agencies has adopted this format for telling their stories... Did you hear about the attorney general who broke up all those prostitution rings, became governor and then got caught with a postitute? kind of ironic dont you think? I mean the fact that one of the great sources for our information uses this technique to inform us...entertain us...inform us... yeah you get the idea...
Even the courts of justice today are played out through the media our so called great information provider. Remeber the Duke lacrosse players? We all do because of the irony of it all provided a good story. The white all American boys at a prestigious college raping the down and out black stripper. This story provided plenty of entertainment and hardly any truth yet we were informed daily about it. We created our opinions and our labels and organized them all in our mind and then when fianlly proven wrong when that sweet sensational twist scattered them all... we peaked we climaxed... then we simply forgot them... onto steroids and the homerun record and more opinions and more labels....
Justice and injustice is argued everyday. Truth is accepted and rejected in every way imaginable. While pain and anguish is always on display. So really what is the value of being informed of all of this...??? Irony is an addiction like sex and drugs we constantly need more and more of it to keep us satisfied...entertained! The information age? Ha more like the great impotence if you ask me! So bloggers beware im searching for some viagara! ...this of course is my opinion my blog which i have now been able to organize under my label (virtually) . I guess the real question should be which the Gladiator himself asks, “Are you not entertained?”
i dont know much about blogs either or really what purpose they serve us but after a brief discussion about them with my friend ashley we ve concluded (well she did) that they seem to be the way we chronicle this day and age. Makes sense to me so i better get with it if i want my two cents to be worth anything these days(two cents is virtually worth nothin even in these days for those of you lookin back on this day and age from the future...virtually of course)
So this is how we exchange ideas and information to one another during the information age... we make up an interesting name that we hope is catchy so others remember where to find us (virtually), we pick a title hopefully one that is intriguing that one would actually want to read it... and then we inform... or entertain... or inform.... see this is where you lose me or i lose myself. The information age to me seems more like an entertainment age... while our means to receive information is constantly evolving i fear our information has deteriorated into constant entertainment. Are we really an informed society or just an entertained population?
I guess im just not feeling too smart these days... and i feel the same way about our society in general. We think we re enlightened with all our modern conveniences and our ever evolving labels we place on one another and different cultural eras to help keep us organized but i dont see it. To me this world just gravitates towards entertainment. And entertainment is fueled by irony. Webster’s dictionary defines irony as:
1. Witty language used to convey insults or scorn
2. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs
3. A trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
not exactly the most flattering definition but it seems to be what we all expect and crave.. We re all lookin for that twist that sweet sensational bit of information that changes everything! The suspense of irony keeps us intrigued and attentive. Irony is the blueprint of every popular movie we see...."Im not a smart man" remember that movie? The one of the retard finding success in everything he does? yup best picture! or the one about the general who was suppose to be the leader of a great nation but became a slave yet as a slave he saved the nation? yup best picture! It seems like all our news agencies has adopted this format for telling their stories... Did you hear about the attorney general who broke up all those prostitution rings, became governor and then got caught with a postitute? kind of ironic dont you think? I mean the fact that one of the great sources for our information uses this technique to inform us...entertain us...inform us... yeah you get the idea...
Even the courts of justice today are played out through the media our so called great information provider. Remeber the Duke lacrosse players? We all do because of the irony of it all provided a good story. The white all American boys at a prestigious college raping the down and out black stripper. This story provided plenty of entertainment and hardly any truth yet we were informed daily about it. We created our opinions and our labels and organized them all in our mind and then when fianlly proven wrong when that sweet sensational twist scattered them all... we peaked we climaxed... then we simply forgot them... onto steroids and the homerun record and more opinions and more labels....
Justice and injustice is argued everyday. Truth is accepted and rejected in every way imaginable. While pain and anguish is always on display. So really what is the value of being informed of all of this...??? Irony is an addiction like sex and drugs we constantly need more and more of it to keep us satisfied...entertained! The information age? Ha more like the great impotence if you ask me! So bloggers beware im searching for some viagara! ...this of course is my opinion my blog which i have now been able to organize under my label (virtually) . I guess the real question should be which the Gladiator himself asks, “Are you not entertained?”
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