Wednesday Wickedness

(Link in meme-roll)
John Lennon--Each of [the] questions will be based on [his] quotes

1. “Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak.” Who was the last celebrity that you thought was bright until you saw them interviewed?

Now this is a quote I can get behind 100%!  But anyway, I don't normally assume celebrities are bright, rather the reverse in fact. I am occasionally surprised to find that a celebrity is smart when interviewed. As for the last to prove my usual guess, let's go with last week's Guest Star in this meme: Taylor Swift.

2. “Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.” Do you get upset and do you think you're being lazy when you do nothing?

I feel guilty, but rarely do I get upset about it. On the other hand it's very unusual for me to literally "do nothing." I can't sit still for long.

3. “If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliché that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal.” Do you think that the U.S. and our wars seem to just ignore our history?

I don't have the faintest clue how this sentence would be parsed into something meaningful, so I'll just answer the question I want to answer that might be the right one by accident. [Thus creating my own impossible-to-parse sentence!]  Yes, every generation seems to need to prove to itself that war is not an honorable ideal. I don't get it. As Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe said, "(What's So Funny) About Peace, Love, and Understanding." HOWSOMEVER! I would argue rather vehemently against the idea that this is a U.S. problem alone.

4. "I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I'm one of those people." Do you feel you conform just to fit in?

John Lennon was not a freak, though I'm sure he felt like a freak, and acted--frequently intentionally--like a freak. He was really a fairly normal guy from the lower working-class in England. On the other hand, I agree that conforming isn't always the be-all and end-all of existence, even though a little protective coloring can sometimes be very relaxing.

5. "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." Do you feel that you at times do not enjoy the moment because you are worried about what comes next?

Yup. Often.

6. "The more real you get, the more unreal everything else is." Does it seem that when you learn more about yourself, that others' opinions of you are more likely to seem stupid?

When I am faced with other peoples' opinions of myself, they frequently make me laugh, sometimes embarrass me, and almost always have a small kernel of truth. I don't think, however, that this is what Lennon meant at all in this quote.

7. "A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality." Do you feel that when you share beliefs with someone, there is more likelihood in accomplish a goal?

Oh, Johnny. This must've been in your Weirdo-Plastic-Ono phase. A dream is a dream is a dream. A dream acted upon is no longer just a dream, however, whether you act on it alone or with someone else. Knowing that you aren't the only person to feel a certain way is freeing, but it don't mean dick if you just sit around talking about it.

8. "God is a concept by which we measure our pain." How religious or spiritual are you? Or how cynical are you? (Pick your question.)

I believe in God, but I'm not pie-in-the-sky about it. I could probably go on and on about my beliefs about God and our place in the universe, but I won't because I have a headache already and I doubt very much that anyone really cares. Is the opposite of religious cynical? Hmmm, must think on this....

9. "Before Elvis there was nothing." Do you think as rock 'n roll history is concerned, that Elvis had that big an impact?

PHOOEY! Dude, no: before there was Elvis, there were no (or damn few) white musicians playing black music and getting paid (too much) for it.

10. "Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that." Do you feel after what has happened on Wall Street and our financial institutions, that his quote is more relevant today?

I agree with the first sentence. The second sentence was clearly disproven--he wasn't 'put away' after all, just killed. I think anyone who doesn't agree that society is a construct frequently created by and for people with, shall we say, a loose grip on reality and morality, is CLEARLY insane.