Slicer's Slivers of Being

I DRINK Therefore I Am

Given the name and nature of this website, you might reasonably ask why Slicer has neglected the famous quote of Descartes for so long. Slicer confesses that he is not a trained philosopher and has felt that he doesn't have the necessary skills... but has now seen an opportunity to take a tangential approach, where expertise is not restricted to the elite of academic philosophers.

For the rest of us, isn't it interesting how often serious philosophical discussions happen late at night? Is it that the later the hour, the more relaxed we are; or the later the hour the more disinhibited we are? Social lubricant may contribute to either or both states of being. Slicer has referred previously to the remarkable abilities we acquire to solve the worlds' problems when we quench our thirst. Although he hasn't seen a randomised controlled trial to prove it, his impression is that only some beverages are effective in providing these extra skills. Milk is unlikely to do so, whereas some fermented drinks seem to be effective. He acknowledges that this is merely anecdote rather than real evidence. Then there are the paradoxes..... like yoghurt...

Those who remain agnostic, in the absence of what they deem to be hard evidence, can always take a trip "down to the doctor's" and hedge their bets or come up with a cocktail to cover all options

 

However, at least on this issue, most people aren't agnostic - they choose one or the other, or else compartmentalise the two: milk on cornflakes, wine in the boeuf bourguignon. Slicer is a fan of burgundy and isn't too choosy about what he pairs with it... but he prefers it poured into a glass rather than into a saucepan. He also tends to avoid it in the mornings so there's no real conflict with the cornflakes.

Down at the doctor's, there is now a huge and growing demand for healthcare resources to deal with the consequences of alcohol-related disease - the scale of which those not directly involved in healthcare are likely unaware. And the old definition of excess alcohol intake (drinking more than your doctor) is clearly not great protection. Lack of self-esteem/self-worth is a huge ill affecting society, and many vulnerable folk self-medicate with alcohol in a futile attempt to repair the lack of self-esteem - an approach which might be called "I drink therefore I am." Slicer suggests the best solution is not berating folk for drinking too much (although education regarding safe limits is no bad thing) - but rather finding a way to identify and treat the underlying lack of self-esteem/self-worth. Sometimes the circumstances people find themselves in erode their sense of self-worth and it would be good to tackle those circumstances.

Whew! After that last paragraph, you guys are probably craving some Comic Relief. Slicer's going to save that for another day, and highlight a related but alternative form of relief, which you might enjoy. Even if it too is riddled with paradox, it may actually go a little further in alleviating some of the world's problems than many of us have achieved in late-night discussions. In the last post, whisky was juxtaposed with an effort to provide charitable relief to some needy folk, by the sale of what was described with great humility by the poet as "inebriational dialogue." So Slicer was delighted to discover a link between drinking wine and helping those in need. This effort has been going for over a decade, but he only discovered it yesterday through the wonderfully-named blog "Drinking Outside the Box." The subtitle to the site is "wine for people who have a life" and it seems to be aimed at those with a few quid/bucks to spare (as well as some self-worth). It's the creation of Simon Woods, who won the Online Wine Columnist/Blogger award at the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers Awards in 2010.

The enterprise Slicer discovered on Woods' site is Wine Relief. It was founded by Jancis Robinson, Master of Wine and internationally-recognised wine writer. What's less well known is that she's a graduate of St Anne's College, Oxford. The subjects she graduated in? Maths and Philosophy! I imagine she wouldn't approve of the corruption Slicer has used as the title for this particular blog entry. Nevertheless, Slicer approves of her creation, and intends to get some direct anecdotal experience. You can read more detail here, but it'll come as no surprise to you that this is closely associated with Comic Relief. Buy some wine, and a proportion goes to the same charitable causes. A little analogous to how Fairtrade products became widely available in mainstream supermarket chains, big name companies have been persuaded to participate in the venture. This year six companies are involved, amongst them Laithwaites, Waitrose, Virgin and Marks & Spencer. What's more, Woods is working his way through tasting all the wines available to save you the trouble... and he'll post his findings on his site. You could of course do your own tasting, but watch out for a boozy erythematous nose.... if you do get one, maybe those nice Comic Relief folk will give you something to cover it up with. Just remember to take it off again before your next tasting - the video on Woods' site does raise questions about the credibility of his wine recommendations in helping you separate the wheat from the chaff.

If you drink wine, and need a further nudge to give this a go, how about one from the old guy they asked to front the new young folk heroes on the Grammy Awards the other night:

"You've got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend

When I was down, you just stood there grinning...

...Yes I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes

You'd know what a drag it is to see you."

 

- Which resonates with a challenge in an older composition.

 

Smells Like Tom Waits' Spirit

Tom Waits is a funny bloke - irreverent, cynical, eccentric, witty, often given to dark humour, but full of surprises. His music identifies with "low-life" characters. They often populate his songs. The residence of colourful characters in his lyrics is a style he shares with Bob Dylan. However, in the case of Waits he seems really to inhabit their zone. Indeed the New York Times labelled him "the poet of outcasts." It can seem like he gets down in the gutter with them, or at least in a "4 dollar room." His voice sounds like it's been soaked in the Chivas Regal that at least one of his characters drinks instead of paying for a room upgrade. 

 

Slicer is a big fan of Waits. So he was intrigued to find that, again like Dylan, Waits has decided to publish some writing other than song lyrics. Similarities don't end there. In 2009, Dylan released a Christmas album (which divides opinion), and donated the royalties to benefit those who have fallen on difficult circumstances: specifically via agencies helping the hungry and the homeless - in the USA, the UK and globally. Just after Christmas 2010, Waits has chosen to print a limited edition (1000 copies), first release of a poem entitled "Seeds on Hard Ground."

It's being released in conjunction with Anti Records, and his website states that the purpose is "to raise funds for homeless services... and to bring attention to a growing problem in today’s hard times." Slicer has his pre-order in already. At the time of writing it is possible to view the poem here but Slicer encourages readers to be amongst the first 1000 to give £20 or so* to own the limited edition hard copy and benefit a worthy cause. The poem has been inspired by photographs

 

of Michael O'Brien, who shot the cover photo of Waits' Glitter & Doom live album. It seems that there will be a subsequent publication of an abridged and rearranged version of this poem, and others, together with some of O'Brien's photographs in a book entitled "Hard Ground."

O'Brien is a highly respected freelance photographer whose work has been published in Life, National Geographic and Esquire, to name but a few. Some of his work is housed permanently in the National Portrait Gallery. Visual art can be a powerful influence:

“What we need is a critique of visual culture that is alert to the power of images for good and evil.”  W. J. T. Mitchell. Picture Theory (1994).

Apparently the book is modelled on a prior collaboration between poet and photographer, published in the 1940s, entitled "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men," which depicted depression era farmers - but clearly there are influences from multiple sources in this most recent effort. The publisher (University of Texas) has stated that the book "impels us to look into the eyes of people who live on the hard ground and recognise our common humanity." The title of the limited edition has a fairly overt resonance with the Parable of the Sower. The poem is highly empathetic with the plight of the homeless (as was the author of that Parable), and it's been described as "a long lyrical ballad in the voices of those who walked, fell or were pushed to the margins of society." The plight that some find themselves in may be a result of lifestyle choices, or harmful habits and addictions - ie problems of their own making. However, Slicer considers that this is no excuse for a lack of compassion for them. Those of us who do not find ourselves in such circumstances probably have lots of reasons why that is the case. And those reasons are often not ones for which we deserve any credit; but rather they are a consequence of good fortune/providence (birthplace, genes, nurture, example, innate gifts and talents).

Alongside reference to a "boner," (!) the poem contains the recurring question "How long?"- which U2 incorporated into '40' (their adaptation of Psalm 40), from the book of Revelation, where it is the cry of the martyrs for justice. It encompasses the notion/aspiration that suffering is only temporary. However, the solution/answer may lie in another Parable - that of the Talents. With privilege (genetic, birthplace, financial well-being) comes responsibility. Perhaps we need to do better than toss the odd coin at the homeless in a charitable fashion. Perhaps we need to take a lesson from healthcare - prevention is better than cure. Slicer thinks we need to get serious about initiating structural change to society to address better the causes of homelessness. This would be the real "Big Society," described in David Cameron's rhetoric, and one not driven by a need to limit governmental expenditure. That is not to be disparaging about the motives and methods of some of those behind the Tory vision; merely an observation that current societal notions of 'charity' fall short of the original broader meaning, as expressed in the phrase "faith, hope and charity."

Slicer confesses ignorance on how best to go about fixing root causes, but presumes there are enough folk out there with academic and practical credentials in social & political sciences (and in preventative healthcare) to set the direction, if we made it a political priority for government. This will, of course never happen if we avert our gaze (like the priest and the levite in yet another Parable). Waits and O'Brien have made it just a little more difficult for us to avert our gaze. As the acclaimed photographer from a previous generation, Dorothea Lange, put it:

"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."

Despite the subtitling on the cover of Hard Ground, it's been reported that Waits isn't too keen on the term 'poetry' applied to his work, preferring instead the description "inebriational travelogue." Slicer thinks that Waits' published verse (and his music) may do something akin to Dorothea Lange's thoughts on photography:

"He who has ears to hear..."

 

 

*it's a pity that, in the UK, the actual cost is inflated by DHL courier being the only choice of delivery method - at a further £11. Slicer would happily have paid £30 for this limited edition with the proceeds going to charity but it certainly takes the shine off it to have to pay such a large sum for delivery which will not go towards charitable purposes. The UK retailer should have adopted a similar approach to delivery costs as Amazon, or joined the charitable exercise.

10 Slivers of Dislike

When Slicer started this blog, he described it as including not only things he enjoys, but also things he dislikes. So it's about time to cover some dislikes. Here's a list of ten, in no particular order:

1. bits of cork floating in a glass of red

2. failure to appreciate the true genius and contribution of Bob Dylan

3. the demand by politicians for evidence-based practice in healthcare when they see no need for it in determining political practice and priorities/targets, whether in healthcare or in education.

4. judgmentalism in liberals

5. folk so preoccupied with their own self-interest that they don't notice or even disregard the needs of others, at home or abroad

6. Slicer finding the characteristics in himself that he dislikes in others

7. 30mph speed limits on main arterial routes into/out of the city (too low); 30mph speed limits in residential areas (too high).

8. liver on a plate

9. the disproportionate amount of tax inflating the price of petrol in the UK

10. a new loud click when Slicer digs out and plays some of his cherished vinyl

Is Pepsi the Elixir of Youth? Was Andy Warhol right? Did Abe Lincoln pinch his lines from William Wallace? Slicer ponders youth and the march of time.

What is it with time? Must it continue inexorably, ravaging as it goes? Slicer commented in his first post that there never seemed to be enough of it. After that he observed that it’s part of the fabric of the universe (and therefore part of us). Its effects can be good and bad: things mature (crops, humans, wine) and then deteriorate. Most of us agree we’ve got to make the best use of it.

Slicer is sure he must have lost some along the way – one minute he was a skinny kid with brown hair who could sprint a hundred metres in 11.2 seconds*; the next he had kids of his own, his hair had got a definite silvering at the sides and, while he can still produce a respectable sprint, he wouldn’t want to find out just how much those 11.2 seconds have slipped as a result of skinny no longer being entirely accurate. Still, he gets to do things now – in work and play – that he didn’t then. He also sees things as less black and white than he used to, and he hopes he’s a bit less arrogant than he used to be. As Dylan put it: 

“I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.” Dylan also said: “Time is an ocean” but Slicer has been reminded that the tide is coming in pretty fast.

George Bernard Shaw said: “Youth is a wonderful thing.  What a crime to waste it on children.”

Napoleon Bonaparte put it this way (Maxims, 1815):  “There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men:  time.”

Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide...) reckoned: “Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.”

Maybe we should see time as a motivator. The great composer Leonard Bernstein considered: "To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time."

We can’t stop the march of time, so we often wish each other well for the future. One of the most memorable sets of good wishes given to Slicer was on the day of his wedding during a speech by his best man. After public comment about Slicer’s anatomy and critique of Slicer’s dress sense, his best man closed his speech by reciting a section from Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young.”

 

A young Roger Daltrey sang, purportedly on behalf of a generation, “Hope I die before I get old.” Either he’s changed his hope, or he’s more flexible with his definition of what “old” is than he anticipated he would be when he... er... wasn’t.

As William Wallace said some time around 1300 AD (according to the movie “Braveheart” at least): “Every man dies. Not every man lives.”

 

 

So Wallace beat Abraham Lincoln to Lincoln’s famous (and overused) quotation by 500 years. I don’t imagine Braveheart would have had much in common with Andy Warhol, but they would likely have agreed on Warhol’s maxim: "They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."

There is something within us that wants to resist the ageing process, and many try to disguise the signs, if not the reality. This is well treated in the black comedy Death Becomes Her, where Goldie Hawn & Meryl Streep bravely play women who are losing their looks through age, and who resort to various methods to fight it including plastic surgery and drinking a secret potion.

There is a legend in Ireland that a long lost bottle of triple distilled Arran whiskey holds the Elixir of life...However, outside movie-land and folklore, the idea of an elixir of life, or a modern version which involves tinkering with molecular biology, still remains attractive and is an area of active research.

 

Richard Dawkins has mulled over why religious faith has persisted for so long, assuming it’s not rooted in reality. An obvious explanation is the offer in many faiths of “the life everlasting,” as the Apostles’ Creed puts it. Of course this reasoning of the appeal of faith neither confirms nor refutes the reality of "the life everlasting." The quest for immortality is one of the oldest subjects of literature, being a central theme of The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is thought to be at least as old as the 22^nd Century BC. A few species have been considered to have “biological immortality” (eg the Hydra, forming a neat link with Slicer’s last posting).

Dylan’s “Forever Young” is a father’s wish for his young son, and appeared on his 1974 album Planet Waves. Countless other artists have covered the song, and many parents identify with the theme. Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders clearly did, and released a great “Pretenderized” version.

found at bomb-mp3 search engine

Those with savvy for what’s current, and what might influence the “youf of today,” recently saw fit to release a remix of the song to promote a fizzy drink:

 

But the song contains so much more than a desire to halt the ageing process. It wishes for insight, wisdom and character, suggesting that these are associated with quality of life:

“May you grow up to be righteous, may you grow up to be true”

“May you always know the truth and see the light surrounding you”

“May you always be courageous, stand upright and be strong”

It highlights that quality of life and character are defined by acts of grace (and being gracious in receiving them too):

“May you always do for others, and let others do for you” (Dylan returned to this notion 5 years later in another song – clearly he felt there was more to add).

He wishes fulfillment in life:

“May you build a ladder to the stars, and climb on every rung”

“May your hands always be busy 

 (and Slicer particularly identifies with the next line)

May your feet always be swift”

He suggests that a strong footing (and perhaps some flexibility) is necessary to avoid being swept away by new circumstances:

“May you have a strong foundation when the winds of changes shift.”

And finally he wishes joy in all things, and a personal contribution to the world which will not fade away:

“May your heart always be joyful, may your song always be sung”

 

Slicer really can’t think of a better way to wish the best for the future to anyone.

 

 

*This was when Jim Hines held the world record for 100m at 9.9 seconds. Many things are relative, but that 1.3 second difference is enormous, and spanned the gap then between respectable schoolboy athletics and Olympic excellence.

Steak and guitar - both tasty

The Slicer is pleased to see that his favourite guitar pedal manufacturer, Boss, has produced a cool pedal named after him. Meat Slicers are OK but Slicer prefers his meat thick and a little bloody. This pedal slices up the sound in a good way, and serves it up with all sorts of permutations, including thick and possibly bloody.

Slicer would love one and thinks there might be one with his name on it...