Did you know that half of all cigarettes bought in the US are purchased by people with a history of mental illness? At least that's what the introductory-level psychology textbook I am skimming for work said. I suspect bias though - in the introduction to another chapter, the same book reports that 50% of
all USians admit to having been "mentally ill" (mostly depressed or paranoid) sometime in the last 12 months, 80% at some point in their lives. Granted, the number of people who've had periods of suboptimal mood (the basis for point #2) is less than the number who've been in therapy or state-mandated treatment (the basis for point #1), but still.
Another claim in this book is that cigarette-smoking may not be just a form of self-medication for the depressed, but may actually
cause depression. There's no proof, but we suspect this to be true, the book says, because the frequency/duration/severity of bouts of major depression in suseptible individuals is so closely correlated to the total number of cigarette smoked. Personally I think that coming after a paragraph that links depression to
any kind of unhealthy activity -- like drinking or not getting enough exercise -- the claim is dubious at best.
I don't even know why I'm defending cigarettes, it's not like
I smoke (or even have too many friends who do). But I hate unsupported claims.
Shows:
Spring Awakening - Saw this Broadway musical with a friend from college last Wednesday. If we'd spent 20 or 30 dollars (each) it might have been worth it, but half-price tickets were
sixty-six dollars. $132 at full price! That's
crazy. Anyway, the premise of the play is that in a provincial German town in the 1890s, teenagers are oppressed by parents, teachers, and the church, but nonetheless have Urges. Urges represented by 1950s rock'n'roll monologues while the other actors freeze and the lights go crazy. XD; Eugene didn't approve: he thinks that people in musicals shoud sing to each other, not to the audience. Otherwise, you might as well see a rock show! I like rock shows, though, apparently, because I had a pretty good time -- up to and including the point where the two leads sleep together (the culmination of an
entire act of foreplay, omg).
Then the second act happened.
( Cut for spoilers and WTF-ery )Mixed messages/wacky plot aside, the play was good. By which I mean, the staging was nice, the leads were attractive, the music was good (if not particularly memorable), and the vocal performances were
very good. But next time I'll see
either a musical,
or a rock show,
or a play -- none of this hybrid nonsense.
Empires and Mark Rose - Saw these bands in Hoboken with
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summertea last Friday. Empires is an unsigned band -- on a national tour. But! You're thinking. Without a record label and management team etc etc, how are they getting people to come to their shows? You can be an unsigned and have a strong local following, but once you leave your home town, probably no one has heard of you. The answer is The Internet -- Empires spreads the word through their
website and
myspace; the band members blog; one member is an ex-member of The Academy Is..., the band that built a following through amateur-looking webskits. (Althogh we're not supposed to talk about that: I was looking for interviews and downloads, right, in preparation for this show, and I found one radio interview where the members spend like three minutes explaining that which bands they were in has no bearing on what they're doing now, while the host tries to tell them that he understands, no really, he does, but couldn't they just please namecheck the bands already, he's trying to help them out here. XD)
In
theory, using the Internet to build support is a great way to sidestep managerial interfere and develop a rapport with fans. In practice, it means your fans look like people from the Internet. ^^; Not that I can talk. Anyway, the audience was 95% female and 100% nerdy -- attractive guys mostly belonged to the bands and attractive girls mostly wandered in from the bar.
The music was okay. It was loud, and there was a lot of distortion, but you couldn't really dance to it. (It's better for singing along to, which of course was impossible.) I surprised myself by liking Mark Rose a lot more -- I reallllly don't like his old band, Spitalfield -- boring music for boring teenagers like Something Corportate, but without SoKo's sense of humor (just look at their
name!). But Mark Rose as a solo act had a little more kick, was slightly more interesting. Mostly, though, I think it was because of
this (the first article on eye contact. Sean from Empires had his eyes closed the whole time).
Speaking of shows, I kind of really want to go to
this on Wednesday. The Cure! The Smiths! $12! Only in the Alternate Reality of cover band shows would Coldplay open for
either of these two bands, let alone
both. XD; And Wednesday is the perfect day, too, since I don't work until late afternoon on Thursdays. Unfortunately (?), I'm already driving to Upstate New York, thence Montreal, on Wednesday after work.
...Did I mention that I'll be in Montreal this weekend? Thursday afternoon through Sunday morning. Dropping my brother off at school and mini-vacationing. I, uh, must have forgotten to mention it.
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