Sheer insanity.

I've been watching a new series on the History Channel covering all aspects of the SS--the Waffen-SS, the Order of the Death's Head, etc.--and even though I've been morbidly fascinated with this psychotic organization for years, have read quite a few books and watched at least a hundred different documentaries analyzing their actions, history, and fate, I still cannot possibly wrap my brain around the abject insanity of the whole deal. It boggles the mind that something like the SS could ever have been created in the first place, much less allowed to flourish....There's just no understanding how everyday people could, thanks to a uniform and a handful of power, become such completely mechanical murderers. I mean, I can partially understand the psychological conditioning at work with the SS: soldiers were conditioned to swallow their horror and dismay because, well, what they were doing was supposed to be hard, but it was ultimately all supposed to be for the best (much like the current occupation of Iraq) and sacrifice was necessary in order to bring about the Grand Ideal...and besides, being given absolute authority over the lives and deaths of people you are convinced are traitors and national threats certainly does go to one's head. Yet...there seems to be more at work than just simple blind duty and hysterical delusion. I'm beginning to think that some kind of strange contagious mental pathology was released in Europe in the 1930s, some kind of catchy madness that some people were extremely susceptible to.

One thing that bugs me about a lot of what I've read and seen about the SS is this: so many sources continually ask the question of surviving ex-members, "Why, when you saw what the fuck you were doing, did you not try to do something about it?" To which I ask: do what? A lot of the SS rank-and-file were completely ordinary men who joined up because they were suckered in by SS recruiting propaganda that promised them honor, glory, and a totally bad-assed uniform...and then made them a part of a rigid, totalitarian military structure that required them to basically kill or be killed. Honestly, what could one man, or a group of men, or even a whole goddamned army of them possibly do to stand up against the crushing weight of the Reich's authority? These men weren't soldiers in the US Army, where desertion or even rebellion might be treated with a slightly more level hand--if you bucked the Reich and the psychotic bureaucracy of the SS, you vanished. Besides, the damned organization itself stressed blind obedience.

Sick thing is...in some ways, I can see the vague seeds of that same kind of mindset being promulgated in this country now, backed up not by a doctrine of racial and moral superiority but by a hysterical fear of terrorism. Fortunately, the general psychology of the United States is not one in which blind obedience can happen to the depth that the CIA could turn into another SS, but nonetheless there's the chance for trouble on the horizon. Damned human sheep.

The Great Fun

On a much lighter note, this weekend in aKron with arvin and Nicole was Massive Fun(tm).

I arrived in good time on Thursday, the first day of the New Year, and got the whole shebang started off right: we consumed some most excellent Indian grub in Cleve Land, and then went to see Lost in Translation at the Cedar Lee theatre, a lovely old theatre that unfortunately has the smallest movie screens I have ever seen. Nonetheless, the film rocked my ass entirely. ARvin had seen it twice already, and though thanks to his description of the film I was pretty sure I would like the film--I mean, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson...how bad can it be?--I didn't honestly think it would impress me so much. I'd seen The Virgin Suicides and was mildly impressed by it--a good movie, but certainly nothing revolutionary--so I figured that I'd probably like Lost in Translation about as much. WRONG! It wiped the floor with my ass. First of all, Bill Murray is a seriously funny guy, and to see him in such an understated yet hysterical role was just amazing. Second...Scarlett Johansson. I believe I am now obsessed with her. Any movie that opens with a nice, prolonged shot of her lovely butt is bound to be good, but thankfully she is also a hell of an actress. So put her and Peter Venkemann together in a great movie about existential crisis in Japan and you've got a winner in my book.

After the movie, we tooled around Cleve Land a bit, looking for open clubs or places to perhaps rock it out a bit...but most places were closed, and those that were open were more of the frat-boy date-rape arena nature, so...we just went back to aRvin's and then he and I watched Ichi the Killer.

The highpoint of Friday was a long evening at Bill's place in Wadsworth. I'll tell you, aRvin is one hell of a synth wizard: that boy can shape sounds and create new audio textures like no other. We worked on one song that I swear is the best work he has ever done: clanging noises, skittery dancebeats, weird noises....Holy crap. Nothing short of impressive. I sincerely hope he finishes this one soon, because I totally want a copy of it.

Saturday, aRvin and Nicole took me to their hair-stylist in downtown aKron and got me a new doo. Nothing too radical, mind you, but quite fresh nonetheless and a good bit different than what I'm used to. That really made me feel great, as though I'm starting the new year off with an entirely new persona. Other than that, I spent a ton of money on CDs, books, comics, toys...the usual. I finally got the comic series Fort, about good ol' Charles Fort and his interdimensional alien buddy, as well as Caitlin Kiernan's new book, Low Red Moon, for which there will very likely be a new soundtrack. Then, that night, we ended up back at aRvin's place just watching Wild Zero, a completely cheesy but eminently lovable Japanese zombie/rock-n'-roll movie for which there is a most excellent drinking game. Let's put it this way: we ended up killing off two bottles of wine, and getting completely smashed, no more than twentyfive minutes into the film. It was wonderful. It's been a loooooong time since I got smashed on wine. In fact, I wasn't even certain it was possible! Nonetheless, it was incredibly fun.

All in all, a grand weekend, full of creativity, relaxation, new clothes, new hair, and all manner of other freshness. Once again, I must thank aRvin for being such a wonderful host, and for all the posters and the Dave McKean prints--but most of all, for the Kenwood stereo receiver and speakers. Wow. Those things fucking rock it out.

Well...that said, I am now going to read most of Cait's new book, play with Christy (whom I missed very much), and then sleep.

Tomorrow, back to my usual plans for world domination!

I'm starting to think this year might not suck.