Skiing, Guitar Hero, Chris Buttars
Sorry for the lack blogging this weekend. On Monday, the Cornell Family was busy tearing up the slopes at Brighton Ski Resort, and yours truly demonstrated that he is the living embodiment of Darwinian natural selection. Four of my five children are probably better skiers than I am, and two of them are six years old. It’s deeply depressing.
I am now, however, better than they are when it comes to Guitar Hero III, though, due to my wasting an inordinate amount of time to increase my fake guitar skills when my real guitar skills could use some brushing up. I’ve completed 7 songs on Expert, and I’m almost done with Hard. I only have two more songs to go – Metallica’s “One” and Slayer’s “River of Blood,” which is every bit as pleasant as it sounds. The Slayer song came out in 1986, the year I graduated from high school. I thought I knew every song from 1986, but I’d never heard this one.
That’s because it’s not a song. It’s aural vandalism.
There’s just nothing pleasant about listening to hardcore metal music. Nothing at all. No melody, no rhythm, no humor. Just noise. Ear-splitting, ugly, vomitous noise. Thankfully, it has all but disappeared, only to be replaced by hardcore rap music, which is infinitely worse. (Did I say “thankfully?” I meant “horrifically.”)
Most of Guitar Hero songs are classic rock oldies, but as you get closer to the end, more metal is inflicted on you. It’s somewhat disturbing to have songs like Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” sneak into your home as a result of this diverting little game, but at the same time, you also get to see how deeply silly the posturing, pseudo-Satanism really is. And the Maiden song actually has a melody, albeit a simple, stupid, repetitive one. Not so with the Slayer abomination, which, to quote Utah State Senator Chris Buttars, is a dark, ugly thing.
Oh, wait. That’s not all of what Chris Buttars said. He said that black babies are dark, ugly things. And then he sort of apologized but said that this wasn’t a racist statement. And amid calls for him to step down, he announced today that he is seeking reelection in November.
He insists that he was taken out of context. So, in the interests of fairness, I’ll put him back into context. See, they were discussing a bill to split Buttars’ school district, and somebody termed the bill an “ugly baby.”
To which Buttars’ responded “This baby is black, I'll tell ya. It's a dark, ugly thing."
Now I'm not one to call for someone's head for saying stupid things, even stupid racist things. Americans are wildly oversensitive when it comes to race, and people produce verbal blunders that don't necessarily mean they're Goebbels at heart. Indeed, one could make the case that Buttars was trying to use words to describe something as foul and loathsome. Without thinking of the implications, he was unfortunate and awkward enough to use the word "black" as a synonym for "foul," which, when not describing human beings, is not all that controversial. I actually think that probably was the case, and Buttars should have apologized profusely, explained himself, and taken his lumps.
That's not what he's done. Yes, he apologized, but with little or no explanation beyond "It was a poor choice of words." Then he belligerently announced it was "over," and he started to belittle the folks who called for the apology in the first place. Today, he labels anyone who sees no non-racist way to interpret his statement as members of a “hate lynch mob.” Yeah, that's smart, Chris. Use overtly racial language to try and diffuse a racially charged situation.
I don't think he should be forced to resign. But I’m tempted to move to West Jordan to run against him.
Oh, by the way, the MPAA admitted that they were the reason the Indy trailer was edited to give Ray Winstone gelatinous pants. Apparently, there’s a rule that “no gun can be pointed directly at someone in the same frame in a trailer.” Oooookay. The international trailer makes a whole lot more sense without the digital wonkery, and you can see it now in HD if you want to.
Here the link.
To sum up: I wish I could ski better. The end.
I am now, however, better than they are when it comes to Guitar Hero III, though, due to my wasting an inordinate amount of time to increase my fake guitar skills when my real guitar skills could use some brushing up. I’ve completed 7 songs on Expert, and I’m almost done with Hard. I only have two more songs to go – Metallica’s “One” and Slayer’s “River of Blood,” which is every bit as pleasant as it sounds. The Slayer song came out in 1986, the year I graduated from high school. I thought I knew every song from 1986, but I’d never heard this one.
That’s because it’s not a song. It’s aural vandalism.
There’s just nothing pleasant about listening to hardcore metal music. Nothing at all. No melody, no rhythm, no humor. Just noise. Ear-splitting, ugly, vomitous noise. Thankfully, it has all but disappeared, only to be replaced by hardcore rap music, which is infinitely worse. (Did I say “thankfully?” I meant “horrifically.”)
Most of Guitar Hero songs are classic rock oldies, but as you get closer to the end, more metal is inflicted on you. It’s somewhat disturbing to have songs like Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” sneak into your home as a result of this diverting little game, but at the same time, you also get to see how deeply silly the posturing, pseudo-Satanism really is. And the Maiden song actually has a melody, albeit a simple, stupid, repetitive one. Not so with the Slayer abomination, which, to quote Utah State Senator Chris Buttars, is a dark, ugly thing.
Oh, wait. That’s not all of what Chris Buttars said. He said that black babies are dark, ugly things. And then he sort of apologized but said that this wasn’t a racist statement. And amid calls for him to step down, he announced today that he is seeking reelection in November.
He insists that he was taken out of context. So, in the interests of fairness, I’ll put him back into context. See, they were discussing a bill to split Buttars’ school district, and somebody termed the bill an “ugly baby.”
To which Buttars’ responded “This baby is black, I'll tell ya. It's a dark, ugly thing."
Now I'm not one to call for someone's head for saying stupid things, even stupid racist things. Americans are wildly oversensitive when it comes to race, and people produce verbal blunders that don't necessarily mean they're Goebbels at heart. Indeed, one could make the case that Buttars was trying to use words to describe something as foul and loathsome. Without thinking of the implications, he was unfortunate and awkward enough to use the word "black" as a synonym for "foul," which, when not describing human beings, is not all that controversial. I actually think that probably was the case, and Buttars should have apologized profusely, explained himself, and taken his lumps.
That's not what he's done. Yes, he apologized, but with little or no explanation beyond "It was a poor choice of words." Then he belligerently announced it was "over," and he started to belittle the folks who called for the apology in the first place. Today, he labels anyone who sees no non-racist way to interpret his statement as members of a “hate lynch mob.” Yeah, that's smart, Chris. Use overtly racial language to try and diffuse a racially charged situation.
I don't think he should be forced to resign. But I’m tempted to move to West Jordan to run against him.
Oh, by the way, the MPAA admitted that they were the reason the Indy trailer was edited to give Ray Winstone gelatinous pants. Apparently, there’s a rule that “no gun can be pointed directly at someone in the same frame in a trailer.” Oooookay. The international trailer makes a whole lot more sense without the digital wonkery, and you can see it now in HD if you want to.
Here the link.
To sum up: I wish I could ski better. The end.
posted by Elder Samuel Bennett | 8:48 AM
11 Comments:
It's being reported that Buttars also thinks Brown v. Board of Education was wrong. Do you have context for that? Because that sounds pretty darn racist to me.
Of course, I don't live there anymore, so I can't do anything about it.
I can't ski well, either, but of course, I don't live there anymore, so I don't have to apologize for it anymore.
Buttars is a bananhead (I've been following the story from afar on sltrib.com). I don't think he explained himself properly because I don't think he's smart enough to understand the underpinnings of the issue. He doesn't understand the difference between describing, say, an act or a place as a black, dark, ugly thing, and a baby as a black, dark, ugly thing (even in metaphor). For this he must SUFFER!!!
And I must congratulate you on the resurrection of your skiing career, which I had assumed died on the slopes as a youngster at Mountain High in Wrightwood. Clearly, I was mistaken.
Skiing is much better than ice-skating. While skiing, it doesn't hurt as much when you fall flat on your face.
Buttars is a bigot, buffoon and blight on any area he represents. What an abominable face of the Church and the State! This is one case where duct tape really could help save the world.
Amen, Heather. Snow was meant for creative crashes; ice was not.
hey there you free speech phony, yeah right...YOU!!!and pull your pants up!!
you are a hypocrite liar who publicly preaches free speech (except when it is something with which you disagree)but who really hates open discourse.
let's see how stupid you people really are: (rules of the truly stupid souless morons):
1. anyone who might say, "hey, you have a black mark on your {record}{shirt} {soul}" is a racist devil to be destroyed.
If i say "that black mark on your record is one ugly baby" I should have my gonads removed by a team of man hating lesbian trasgendered half elf midgets with a speech impediment.
Pay attention to which media outlets are pumping up this story. These are the enemies of free speech.
2. Only black people can use the word "lynched", even if they live in Lynchberg, Tenn. or Lynchberg, Va. And they should be fired if they aren't black. All whites who are named Lynch must be sent to a concentration camp run by .... you get the idea.
3. If i say "white lie" I am a racist who must be destroyed, unless I am a homo, woman, oriental, indio, or....anything besides a white male.
This reminds me of the lynching of Don Imus. And that was concocted to discipline the talk show host roster to not speak ill of Hillary.
Seems this current operation is designed to derail buttars efforts (may god bless him) to stop the deviant marriage registry in slc.
Anonymous Andrew has spoken.
I think black babies are cuter than white babies.
Anonymous:
Did you notice the part where I said he shouldn't be forced to resign? Did you notice when I used your own "black mark" argument in my post, i.e. "black" as a synonym for "foul?"?
Did you even read my post?
Free speech means the government can take no action against people who say stupid things. It doesn't mean that people who say stupid things will suffer no consequences for them.
It also means that a truly, remarkably stupid comment gets left on this blog by someone who was called a free speech phony in that abysmally ludicrous comment. It just doesn't get any more ironic than that.
... and sarcasm is a virtue in my family.
*sigh* Buttars is at it again. After being reelected.
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