We are the makers of music, we are the dreamers of dreams.

Just thinking a bit about the nature of artistic creation in this world, and how much of an effect it has on who we are as a people. Art gives our lives some perspective with which to make some kind of sense of it all. I for one do not know where my life would be without Matisse, Hesse, Radiohead, Fellini, and the Cremaster weirdness.
Plus there's all the paint, the cameras, the typewriters, crayons, paper, clay, wall space, sculptures, figurines, movies, all of it. Cave paintings. Imagine a world where there is naught but mathematics and engineering. I for one would go crazy.
And our results oriented society does not value art as it should. Art is the celebration of the rituals of the process of living, and should thus be given a more important place in our politics. If you haven't already, perhaps you should sign this petition, created by Quincy Jones, to recommend to President Obama that there be a cabinet level position for Secretary of the Arts.
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/esnyc/.
That is all.
Wait. The picture. My beloved pickup truck went over 100,000 miles recently. Thanks Travis. Congratulations Grizzly!

Thoughts on the Minnesota Vikings playoff loss.

I'm a lifelong Minnesota Vikings fan, and these are my reactions to their first round playoff loss to the Eagles (I'll post more about myself at a later date):

The way this team was built this year they had to play a perfect game in order to win, or near perfect.
my thinking going in to today was that the over/under on turnovers was 1.5, below, vikings win, more, vikings lose. I believe there were two, both very costly.
and as you say, this is not an offense that can come back in a game. there needed to be a defensive score. the game really turned on that play early in the 3rd when they had McNabb in the endzone for a safety, but he managed to elude and hit avant. it set the tone, and it seemed they kept doing it for the rest of the game. would have tied the game, and given the d a rest.
the westbrook play was caused by jackson not being able to keep the offense on the field. so the defense was gassed, a step slow, and westbrook gets away. it's the same reason games one and two were lost, and yes, frerotte would have given them a much better chance. that second half seems to be the default tarvaris, and that will never win a playoff game. this league is much too tough, you need a qb with a winning attitude and some real intelligence to go along with the cannon and the mobility. if the 4 td effort vs. the cards won him back the starting job, the second half should lose it for him for good. i like the idea of him coming off the bench, and possibly using him as a sort of wildcat formation type guy, receiver/back/qb to mix up the looks.

first: fire the special teams coach. should have happened after the saints game.
second: do what you must to keep frazier from getting the lions job. he can do better in a year or two. keep that d growing and gelling.
third: fire bevell or whoever is running the offense. bring in somebody who understands and can teach clock management. why they just burned the last minute of the first half rather than throwing down the field to try and get 3 is totally beyond me. risk-averse bullshit.
fourth: new qb. mcnabb may want to leave philly. cassel is the only one on that list i would want. warner is too old, and i think the cards give him another year if he don't retire. farve needs to get his ass down to mississippi and shut the fuck up. the vikes need a rookie like ryan or flacco, who can win games against good teams who play defense, or they need to find some kind of project qb from another team who may be able to come in and be great.
fifth: don't be stupid, re-sign matt birk. great, smart centers are hard to come by.

in the draft, i think that with a pick in the mid 20s we could get the best right tackle available. later in the draft shore up the both sides of the line, grab tebow if he's around in the 3rd round. maybe matt grothe from usf?

sharper will be gone, but I like tyrell johnson and madieu. another shut down corner would never hurt anyone.

childress deserves another season, but there's a lot of holes to plug. good to have gotten into the tourney, but went out with the same questions we had going in to the season.