Alfred Ori News

Why is the alien-social commentary movie “The Invasion” earning bad reviews from film buffs and spelling out bad news for Nicole Kidman’s career?
Nicole Kidman is one of the most beautiful and talented women in the world and she has a reported 17 million dollars in the bank to reinforce her self-esteem. That astronomical sum was paid to Nicole for her performance in The Invasion, a modern day and heavy handed interpretation of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.

The source material, as well as the film technique used by director Oliver Hirschbiegel, effectively capitalizes on the simple yet creepy concept that someone you know and love could be “fine” and yet not so fine internally. A person whose body was snatched would still be “fine” in the physical and logical sense. But his or her behavior would be made autonomous, almost robotic, and this person would gradually start to lose all of that passion that makes humankind a civilization at once great and seriously flawed. Nicole Kidman plays Carol Bennell, a Washington psychiatrist who is at the forefront of this alien epidemic. She is also a concerned mother and believes her gifted son might be the only way that the invasion can be stopped.

This is certainly a familiar plot and one can hardly complain that the movie is cliched, since we all know how Invasion Of The Body Snatchers goes. Unfortunately, this movie was released shortly after 28 Days Later, another body snatcher type movie that was much more effective in its suspense sequences. Feeling the compromised horror of The Invasion will only make you long for better-directed films. Though Hirschbiegel has shown startling maturity in his early film works, The Invasion is ineptly handled. Nicole Kidman alternates between moments of stunted Stepford Wife winces and embarrassingly melodramatic meltdowns. As shallow as Batman Forever was, her performance as psychologist Chase Meridian was spunky and calculating - amazingly, far more complex than Carol Bennell is allowed to be.

Then again, Nicole Kidman’s 17 million dollar performance may be saved by the fact that Kidman is somehow able to keep a straight face throughout this tacky message movie, with a pretentious screenplay by Dave Kajganich more reminiscent of Plan 9 From Outer Space than of Jack Finney’s original 1956 manuscript. Characters who are overtaken by aliens act as if they are born-again Christians with their enthusiasm in check, not so much like hostile impostor humans. In fact, that’s one of the issues the movie raises at some grandiose point: why is everyone complaining about alien invasion, when such mass conformity will result in less violence and more peaceable worldwide solutions?

Why just look at the war in Iraq, the movie suggests - yes, with a straight face. From the moment in The Invasion when you hear that alien imposters have withdrawn U.S. forces from Iraq, you realize that this movie is about as subtle as a South Park episode, and only slightly less preachy for that matter. The only problem is - and most likely why movie is receiving scathing reviews and prophecies of doom for Nicole Kidman’s A-list career - is because The Invasion is a film that lacks not only appropriate humor, but a logical perception of how all of this must feel to a nation of partisan-anarchists. The second most absurd line in the film is when an alien-man makes an impassioned (yet level headed) speech about how body-snatching is not so far removed from psychiatry practice. Nicole still loves you, Tom!

The Invasion follows in the gloomy shadow of Spielberg’s War Of The Worlds, another box office disappointment though one far less abysmal than The Invasion, which cost 100 million to make and only recovered 7.5 million in its opening week. War Of The Worlds emphasized mass destruction against human beings, while The Invasion advocates a more diplomatic resolution. And though the aliens tried to reason with humankind, particularly Americans, it was inevitable that peaceful resolution just wasn’t going to happen with a race this impudent. The message behind The Invasion makes one recall the immortal words of Eros from Edward D. Wood Jr’s own alien invasion-social commentary: “You see? You see? You’re stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!” Grade: D

How can America’s Consumer Confidence “soar” while America’s “Economic Mood” be “gloomy”? I don’t get it. First the confidence:
Confidence among Americans, whose spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, is being shored up by a jobless rate that’s near the lowest in six years and income gains that have outpaced inflation.

“The consumer economy, once again, remains on a firmer footing than it has generally been given credit for,” said Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City Corp. in Cleveland. “Even in spite of the pause in spending, we will see them come back.”Now the gloom:
More than two-thirds of Americans believe the U.S. economy is either in recession now or will be in the next year, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows. That assessment comes despite the fact the economy has experienced sustained growth with low inflation and unemployment and generally rising stock values ever since the recession that ended early in President Bush’s tenure.

*******

“The macroeconomy is reasonably healthy,” said Mr. Corzine, former chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “But the reality for the majority of America is they’re lucky if they hold on….The numbers are different from what the feel is on Wall Street.”
Americans, it seems, have turned into suspicious malcontents:
When those who expressed pessimism were asked to identify a reason, the Iraq war was cited by the highest proportion, 56%. For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a plurality of Americans say the U.S. is less safe than before the attacks. Failures in the health-care system are next on the list at 31%, as Americans continue to struggle with rising costs and coverage gaps. Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey, in Washington yesterday to lobby for higher federal health-care spending, argues that the two concerns feed on each other since Americans “think the war is pre-empting our ability to deal with health care and other issues.”That 56% number seems awfully close to the 50% Democrat voters and the 6% undecided who decide to flow with whichever way the winning wind blows.

As for feeling less safe, this could either be interpreted as just common sense–a reality has crept in–we have a myriad vulnerabilities. Before 9/11 we gave security no thought. After 9/11 there was still some denial. But the terrorist bombings in Britain, the captures here in the U.S. remind citizens that the world has changed. Perhaps this is simply a rational reaction.

Corzine’s blathering about health care is his Democrat projection. The notion that the war is distracting from other issues is a Democratic position. It is the press’ position. It is the activist position. I don’t buy that it is the average American’s position.

As for the economic double-mindedness, I think a lot of people are living way beyond their means. Their world feels fragile to them. If one spouse loses his or her job, the whole family is topsy-turvy.

Finally, I think many people are enraged at the Republicans and they still don’t get it. This is the party of fiscal responsibility and ethics, right? They have shown no spine facing the Democrats. And, they were the problem when they were in power. Congress is corrupt and doing everything they can to continue the corruption. Glenn Reynolds says this about the pseudo-earmark reform:
Can’t we vote for “none of the above”? Plus, will Republican’s appetite for pork keep the Democrats in the majority? “House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio talks a good case for more openness and transparency in government, but what’s he been doing to corral more support for Flake, Campbell and Hensarling among the GOP ranks he is supposedly leading?”Yes, the Republicans will keep Democrats in charge with their two-faced actions. As to why the Republicans join the Democrats: expedience. They must believe that the only thing between them and their power is earmarks for their constituents. They don’t get the overall view, though.

As much as Congressional Republicans might be tempted to blame “Bush’s War” for their precarious re-election bids, they should refrain from doing so. The gluttony of the Republicans has done more to disgust party loyalists than the Iraq war. That and illegal immigration amnesty, but that legislation didn’t pass–lucky for Republicans.

I know this is late, but I wanted to comment on the Schiavo case because it was one of the most muddled events I’ve seen played out in the media recently. Many politicians, like House Speaker Tom Delay are enraged by the decisions made by the judges (some appointed by President Bush) involved in the case to not allow Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube to be reinserted, following her husband, Michael Schiavo’s request to allow her to die because she would not want to live in such a reduced state of living. I suppose when Congress members violate the Constitution, they also expect judges to follow suit. However, Mr. Delay failed to show outrage when his family decided to pull the plug on his father seventeen years ago (CBS News | DeLay Let Brain-Damaged Father Die | March 29, 2005 11:30:08). If Mr. Delay could be any more contradicting, he would be a squared circle. I mean really, right now this guy shouldn’t be arguing over other people not obeying the law.

But beyond the political issues surrounding Schiavo’s case, I think something more fundamental at stake here is the right to death issue. Terri Schiavo’s death is a good example of passive, non-voluntary euthanasia, which is at the heart of the matter (or at least what the politicians seems to be using as such).

‘Euthanasia’ is a term that simply means mercy killing. Questions surround the moral permissibility of both passive euthanasia, where an individual is simply allowed to die, and active euthanasia, whereby a person is forced to actually end someone’s life.

People that argue against removing Schiavo’s tube on religious ground – that it violates God’s will, may not realize how shaky that ground is. Since any course of action dictated by a religion depends on God’s will concerning the issue; difference of opinion on what is God’s will among religions and even among different denominations or sects of a given religion will make it impossible to find a position to which all religious followers can agree. And their beliefs will be of completely no use to nonreligious people, such as me. Positing even that God exists, still gives us no clue what his will would be on this or any other matter.

Despite some religious challenges against the right to death, I think most people intuitively believe it is not only morally permissible to kill others in some circumstances, but also supererogatory – beyond the “call of duty” – to do so.

The recent movie Million Dollar Baby deals substantially with this issue. Warning: this is a spoiler for those who have not seen the movie. When I went to see the movie, people were crying in the theater at the end, not because what the boxing trainer, Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) did was wrong euthanizing the young woman, Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) who he trained. They seemed to be crying because of Frank’s extraordinary compassion he showed for Maggie, after a spinal cord injury she received fighting a dirty boxer left her quadriplegic. One could indeed interpret his actions as superogatory, after seeing her suffer and her failed attempts to end her life.

In fact, he named her Mo Cuishle, which he later revealed to Maggie it meant “my darling, my blood.”¹ Yet, prior to Frank euthanizing Maggie by injecting her with norepinephrine and removing her oxygen tube, his priest told him to assist her death would be a religious abomination and more importantly, Dunn could never live with the guilt. I did not get the feeling that it was wrong from the crowd around me. Most saw it as the most touching moment in the film. Of course, this is a controversial film and it is difficult to decide what would be the best policy in cases like this.

Well, there currently are no policies (of which I am aware) about practicing euthanasia for terminally ill patients. While this event makes the case for living wills, I also think laws that permit active euthanasia and physician assisted suicide should probably be enacted – with effective safeguards, of course. I’d go so far as to assert that people wishing for an easy and painless death, ought not to be forced to continue living well below what philosopher Jack Odell said is their “minimal standards for continued existence.” While these standards are relative to the person, a person may be living well under her minimal standards for continued existence because of the different effects of aging, such as disability, permanently bedridden, or severe psychological distress.

This may sound cold to some, but just the opposite is true when regarding animals. If we failed to take steps to end the life and suffering of a family pet we could be convicted of animal cruelty and incur penalties. This inconsistency is apparent when comparing this to how we treat suffering family members, where we could be convicted of murder and go to jail or face capital punishment for alleviating the suffering of a loved one by ending his or her life.

I do empathize with the parent’s of Schiavo though. I think Schiavo’s husband acted less than nicely towards her parents at the time of Schiavo’s death. However, I think her parents were misguided. It seems obvious to me that Schiavo, the person, ceased to exist in 1990 after cerebral hypoxia from cardiac arrest resulted in her severe brain damage. Physicians, after analyzing Schiavo stated she was in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) – clearly well below most anyone’s (if not everyone’s) minimal standards of continued existence. All her “psychological connectedness”: which is the continuity of a person’s memories, intentions, and personality was gone. Ipso facto, without these things in some sufficient degree, it is probably incorrect to say someone survives as the same person.² Yet, Schiavo’s parents disputed the doctors’ medical assessment, claimed she was not in a PVS, and wished to be kept alive. How they came to this conclusion, boggles me.
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¹Um, Irish speakers this is what I have taken from the movie. I realize this phrase may be incorrectly spelled or I may have misremembered the exact meaning of the phrase.
²In fact, many of us may not survive until our biological death, if many contemporary philosophers are correct in their assertions that psychological connectedness is necessary and sufficient for personal survival. However, the concept of ‘personal survival’ is not exactly synonymous with the concept of ‘personal identity over time’, which requires bodily continuity and numerical identity.
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Update 9/7/06: A recent study suggests that people in vegatative states may have awareness. Click here. If these findings are confirmed, then we’ve reopened this contentious issue with a genuine defeater to current scientific opinion about people in vegatative states. However, I wouldn’t be too quick in reopening this issue yet, since the study is based on soley one patient, and an alternative interpretation(s) of the results don’t rely on the patient having awareness.

~AP

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Currently listening to: 1945 - Social Distortion

Okay, so last night I fell prey to all the hype. All the gurilla marketing and standard marketing alike grabbed me and I not only watched, but made a point to watch the new reality series “The Two Coreys” on A&E. Watching TV that is not completely curtailed to my children is somewhat of a rarity for me. But last night, I went to my son and said “I know you want to watch the Incredibles, but just this once you think daddy can watch something he wants to?” To my surprise, he conceded without a fight or even a negotiation. So there I was for the first time in like 6 months taking control of the TV and I choose to watch the completely contrived lives of Corey Feldman, and Corey Haim. Sad, I know.

On the other hand, I grew up with the Corey’s. Lost Boys is one of my top ten all time favorite movies. In some ways, I at leaste owe them an hour of my time to check in and see what they are up to.

The show, I loved it! I mean I understand how far from reality it really is, but it was quality entertainment. Which made me think a bit about all this damning of reality TV that goes on. Every critic out there as spoken out about it. Rarely does one admit liking the shows, yet we still all watch. Some of us may even feel guilty about it. I think all in all, it is one of the best entertainment out there. Look at the currenty movies, first pull out long belated sequels, then forget remakes of perviously great movies, then pull out the extrodinary far-fetched adult comedys (Lake House anyone?) and what do you have left? a couple of medicrore films. For some reason quality entertainment is no longer easy to find. It is there, but one has to work to find it.

So here is the slew of reality shows. How bad are they, really? I mean the inner lives of foremer decent stars is interesting, I guess, but it isn’t real. SO we are left with some ad lib comedy that is far better then the laugh-track laden sitcoms that came before it. In all honesty I think the idea of making a new reality show is far more difficult then stealing an already successful sit-com and changing the names and locations. Plus if it isn’t funny, there isn’t a room full of writers losing thier job.

All-in-all, I am a fan. The Corey’s well they may have some growing up to do yet, and I definitly think a 20 years later sequel to the Lost Boys is a horrible mistake whether or not it has the Corey’s in it. Yet I find the show to be highly entertaining, not a serious thought provoking type of show but a nice light way to relax.

Talk Hard, Play Harder. This is Pipes signing out!

Bear Grylls, being manly.
As any person cohabitating with others knows, watching television is often about compromise. Nobody understands this better than the saint regular readers of this blog know as The Husband. My poor spouse thinks of himself as collateral damage in television’s never-ending assault on his off-hours.
Except when it comes to series like Discovery Channel’s “Man vs. Wild” and “Deadliest Catch.” Then the tables turn, and my viewing becomes over-run by Dude TV.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy all kinds of TV geared toward the hairier sex. Many an hour has been wasted with G4 and Spike. Mixed martial arts, which is about a dudeified as you can get, is the only sport I willingly tune in. When TV wants to rip its shirt and pound on its chest like King Kong, I’m right there to throw it a banana.
But “Man vs. Wild,” airing Fridays at 9 starting tonight, has me at a loss. Every time I see Bear Grylls dropped into the middle of nowhere with nothing but a flint, a knife and a water-bottle I wonder why anyone would do such a thing. Each episode strikes me as a very high-stakes game of “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?”
Only in the place of a delicious frozen treat is a very large paycheck from Discovery Networks.
The less desirable the task, the more likely The Husband is to watch a show about it. The more unforgiving the landscape, the more exciting it looks to see some adventure-seeker dressed like middle management try to navigate it. Guys love survival shows and series about crappy jobs.
It’s “MacGyver” getting his revenge on everyone who couldn’t stand him back in the ’80s, only through other manly men in a non-scripted vaguely educational series. When I asked — howled, really — why he loved these shows so darn much, The Husband had this to say:
“The standard American guy coping mechanism is wrapped up in denial. Denial sounds like, ‘It’s not a problem, it’s no big deal. I can fix it, it’s doable.’ It’s just this can-do attitude in the face that we’ll provide an answer before we even know what the problem is. That’s our way.”
I should mention here that The Husband is a clinical psychologist. To continue….
“These particular shows….allow us to, first, compare ourselves favorably to another person. We look at the quagmires we have to wade through on a daily basis, then we look at these shows and say, ‘Hey, at least I’m not that guy.’
“Along with that is a respect for guys who can do these kinds of things. Who can demonstrate, as a matter of fact, that you can be dropped off in the middle of nowhere and it can remain no big deal.
“So basically what these dudes do is pepper us with enough survival tips and know-how that we can continue to delude ourselves that we are of sufficient strength and caliber to get ourselves out of any particular kind of jam. Because we are men. And men don’t have problems. Ergo, denial.”
All righty then. Here’s one female’s perspective: The Husband and I used to proudly say we didn’t watch “Fear Factor” because the idea of people eating maggots, larvae and all manner of wriggly things for cash struck us as demeaning.
Yet here we are watching an ex-British Special Air Services guy do just that on “Man vs. Wild.”
Tonight’s untamed destination, the Everglades, is a place I will never visit. That’s coming from someone who loves to travel. The closest I’ll get to that swampland is Miami, and having seen what Bear goes through to make it back to civilization, I’m fine with that.
Apparently some 60 tourists get lost in there each year, which means a handful of viewers might have occasion to call upon the knowledge that you can chow down on any of the tiny, incredibly cute frogs you come across. You’ll also want to wear a long shirt while walking through razor-sharp sawgrass; and you’ll want to use that shirt to strain the gunk out of marsh water so you can drink it.
Maybe you’ll want to avoid the place altogether. Just a thought.
As for Bear’s advice to give alligators a wide berth — if you don’t already know that, you need more help than what this show can offer.
Bear also discovers a muddy sinkhole that acts like quicksand and, to show us how dangerous it can be, jumps in. While our host is straining to get out, a voiceover relates the story of a man who fell into such a hole and couldn’t get out for days. How did he come across this trap?
Because that Darwin Awards contender went jogging in the Everglades.
While the charms of “Man vs. Wild” may be lost on me, I can see why some people might think of the History Channel series “Ice Road Truckers,” premiering 10 p.m. Sunday, as a suitable replacement for “Deadliest Catch.”
I’ll admit I’m much more interested in “Deadliest Catch” nowadays than I was when it first started; if I didn’t fall in love the crew of the Northwestern and the ever-quotable Sig Hansen, my Seattleite status would be revoked.
Like “Deadliest Catch,” “Ice Road Truckers” looks at the grueling, dangerous work of professional truck drivers transporting tons of supplies between Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territory and the diamond mines hundreds of miles north.
The hook is that they only have two months to transport the cargo via a passageway made of ice that’s only inches thick — the layer on top of the lakes that lie between Yellowknife and the mines. Drive too fast and the ice breaks, sending the trucks plummeting into frigid water. Break down, and the standing weight of the rig could cause the ice to shatter too.
Perfect driving makes the ice road crack under their wheels. You see large faults crawling out in front of them. It’s a tense ride, and that’s before you calculate global warming into the equation.
To say “Ice Road Truckers” is strictly for the dudes is a bit of a cop-out; plenty of women are sure to get into it, thanks to the inclusion of several young drivers like TJ, the Ice Road virgin, and Jay, the 20-something father, husband and all-around driving badass. The old timers are terrific too, although none of them has the Hansen family’s charisma.
As for me, hitching along once was enough. Then again, that presumes that it’s up to me to decide whether I’ll watch again. Once my dude gets hold of the remote and wants to satisfy his own sense of denial, I’ll have no choice but to buckle in for the long haul.
(”Deadliest Catch,” by the way, ends its third season Tuesday at 9 on Discovery, with the finale coming on tail end of a marathon starting at 10 a.m.)

Revolution Rumours: Sonic, Nintendo’s Return

“An original Sonic title destined for Revolution, Nintendo claimed to be back in the “race.”

A couple of interesting rumours slash unofficial news have hit the internet, and as such, we’re “reporting”…

IGN have published an article in which they claim to have been informed by “sources close to Sega” that a wholly original Sonic the Hedgehog title is in development for the Nintendo Revolution. A separate, more traditional title, is already underway for the other next-generation platforms and up until now there had been no word on a Revolution version. But, although not official, this claim seems very credible and paints a very good picture for the future of Revolution. Hopefully gone will be the lazy, watered down ports for Nintendo’s console and replacing them shall be original and exclusive Revolution versions of games.

In another IGN-related report, one of the website’s VIP members (apparently these accounts are reserved for industry personell) has said on the IGN message board that they believe “’someone’ is back in the race.” Presumably, they’re referring to Nintendo - here’s the full quote:

“I’d love to talk ‘in-depth’ about next-gen systems too, more specifically PS3 and Revolution but, as you can imagine, we’re under embargo to release any details about those systems. Also, I don’t want to speak on behalf of Ubisoft as to which system is going to win until they’ve all launched. Last thing I need is a NOA/SCEA/MS representative calling Ubisoft saying that I was bad talking their system. All I can say is - I think ’someone’ is back in the race.”" [more]

TheConsoleWars.net

The daily source for all next-generation console news, including: PlayStation 3, Revolution, Xbox 360 & More! As seen on Forbes best of the web!

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First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, TN. Actually, it was the second week I attended — last week we worshiped with the congregation and heard Ergun Caner preach.

Yesterday was to be the first day of a several week sermon series I would be preaching at First Baptist, but something else was more important: their beloved pastor is struggling and is very ill.

Hendersonville, everyone knows him. And when people mention his name, they smile. He has dedicated their babies, married their young adults, and buried friends. He is, in the truest sense of the word, their pastor. And he is very sick.

We sang “It Is Well With My Soul,” praying it really would be. Executive Pastor Bob Landham brought a powerful message on exultation in tribulation. His challenge was that we exult in the glory of God regardless of the circumstances. Powerful.

I know it is a wonderful thing to see a church reaching its community. I am moved when churches get on mission. But yesterday I was inspired to see 3500 people united in their love and prayers for their pastor. Whether it is a megachurch or a house church, it is a powerful thing to see God’s love among God’s people.

Bob said, “Brother Glenn teaches us from his ICU room this morning … many times he reminded us, ‘God is less interested in your happiness than he is in your holiness.’”

Yesterday, we experienced a holy moment as God’s love was evidenced in a church. Please join them and me as we pray for Glenn Weekley.

The service ended with “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” We did that in prayer– but I think when we looked to the left and the right, they would see a lot of Jesus there as well.

Hello Internet,

This is my first real own blog, so I will begin will begin with an introduction, as all good stories have one of those.

My name is Peter Handley, and I am 24 years old. I work for a company called Vertical Leap, and work as whats called a Campaign Delivery Manager. Vertical Leap are a Search Engine Optimisation company based in Portsmouth, but with customers all over the country and indeed the world. I oversee a number of different websites Internet marketing, which involves me working to get them ranked better in search engines for particular words, driving more traffic to their website, and ultimately increasing the exposure and money making potential of the businesses that use our service.

It can be a challenging job, but its also something where I learn some new trick, or find some new tool with an interesting or fun feature. I don’t think its what I envisaged doing a year ago while I was finishing my dissertation at Portsmouth University, but I wouldn’t change it either.

I studied Entertainment Technology at Portsmouth University, which was a great broad introduction to many different forms of media, where I particularly concentrated on Internet Technologies and Music. I like music, but am not a producer. I did however write my dissertation on whether or not Parental Advisory stickers on CD’s constituted censorship. I went in thinking heavily that they did, but came out with a confused opinion, as certainly some people need protecting who are vulnerable and susceptible, but restricting access only makes this more desirable to certain individuals. Anyway I digress…..

I mainly studied Internet Technologies, and having a firm foundation in HTML and CSS has certainly helped in my new job. I launched http://www.peterhandley.com/ primarily as a platform for the websites that I designed whilst at university, but also as an advert for anyone who stumbles across my site when looking for a web designer. I really enjoy creating a website, and happily do this is in my free time if the project is right for me.

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Some “[r]evisionist Beatles history” from Jody Rosen─Everything You Know About Sgt. Pepper’s Is Wrong. The article begins with this true account:Immediately following the completion of Sgt. Pepper’s in the wee hours of April 21, 1967, the Beatles decamped from Abbey Road Studios to Mama Cass’ apartment in Chelsea, where they flung open the windows and blasted an acetate of the album into the London morning at top volume. In the surrounding buildings, windows slowly rose in reply, and neighbors leaned out to listen to the Beatles’ newest songs. It’s a delightful image, a metaphor for the flood of joy and wonderment that the four Liverpudlians loosed on the world, and on England in particular—the windows, the minds, that were nudged open by the Beatles’ sonically questing, love-affirming, sad, funny, irrepressibly tuneful music.LAter, after debunking several myths, the author concludes with the following:Today, the band belongs to the world. But they were an English group, and no album was more local and particular, more steeped in the life and lore of Old Blighty, than Sgt. Pepper’s.

After Revolver, Lennon and McCartney got the idea to write some songs about their childhood in Liverpool. The result was “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane.” With Sgt. Pepper’s, they abandoned autobiography for impish realist—and often surrealist—storytelling. Listen to “Good Morning,” a trip down a middle-class High Street where chatterboxes greet the day with banalities: “Nothing to do to save his life/ Call his wife in/ Nothing to say but/ What a day, how’s your boy been?” Listen to “When I’m 64,” where McCartney’s beautifully observed lines, sung over the song’s most touching minor key lurch—”Every summer we can rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight, if it’s not too dear/ We shall scrimp and save”—resolve with an equally beautifully observed, deadpan-funny rhyme: “Grandchildren on your knee/ Vera, Chuck, and Dave.” Listen to the last verse of “A Day in the Life” (my favorite in the entire Beatles catalog), where Lennon tweaks a found newspaper item into a very British brand of surreal poetry about holes filling the Albert Hall. Even in the kaleidoscope swirl of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” you can discern an English cityscape, with those “newspaper taxis” plying the quayside and commuters moving through train-station turnstiles. And, of course, the Sgt. Pepper’s brass-band iconography and snatches of music-hall pop are an affectionately mocking tip of the hat to the Olde English past—the Beatles gazing back amusedly at Victoriana.

If Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band doesn’t have a concept, it does have a theme. It’s a record about England in the midst of whirling change, a humorous, sympathetic chronicle of an old culture convulsed by the shock of the new—by new music and new mores, by rising hemlines and lengthening hair and crumbling caste systems. In short, it’s a record about the transformations that the Beatles themselves, more than anyone else, were galvanizing. Playing Sgt. Pepper’s for the umpteenth time, you marvel at what generous-spirited revolutionaries the Beatles were. Compare the “Don’t trust anyone over 30″ rhetoric of the Beatles’ 1960s fellow travelers to “When I’m 64,” the sweetest song about old age ever created by a rock group. Then there’s “She’s Leaving Home,” which hitches one of McCartney’s prettiest melodies to a lyric that sympathizes on both sides of the generation gap—with the runaway girl who is “meeting a man from the motor trade,” and with her grief-stricken parents: “We gave her most of our lives/ Sacrificed most of our lives/ We gave her everything money could buy.” It’s a remarkable feat of the artistic imagination, but it may as well have been reportage: Many British parents were saying such things back in the spring before the Summer of Love. Forty years later, if you listen closely, you can hear what Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sounded like that morning at Mama Cass’ flat in England in 1967. It sounds like England, in 1967.[link via LewRockwell.com]