I find myself in a spectacularly bad mood these past few days. Possibly it's from imagining the U.S. ruling class is actually going to attack Iran, the neo-con wet dream made waking nightmare on the bloodied backs of Iranians. Possibly it's too much time spent at www.iraq-kill-maim.org, a photo gallery of atrocities visited upon both sides. Or it could be this cloudy, cold weather.



In any event, when the boot is stamping on the human face and all you can do is admire the polish, here are some tips:

1) Get a free haircut. If you live in a city with a Vidal Sassoon hair salon, you can ask for a cut by one of their apprentices. They have a work-study program that indentures stylists for 3 years, during which they teach high-end hair design. The stylists need models, and if you can be flexible with your time, you'll get a free cut. True, the tip costs as much as a bog-standard Supercuts visit would, but there's really no comparison. Vidal Sassoon is a ruling class salon, and you get a ruling class cut. Colour is free too.

They do have attitude. From the dragon lady at the door, to the primadonna stylists, down to the apprentices themselves, who know they're top-of-the-line and will let you know, too. But if you find it funny, like I do, it's worth it.



2) Contemplate the future utopia. The title attracted me to George Orwell's cautionary tale, Can Socialists Be Happy? Good question. He argues that utopias - literary, religious, political - are insufferably dull. Much like Erich Fromm, he suggests we're not fighting for happiness, but for the conditions of happiness: love.

the real objective of Socialism is human brotherhood [sic].... Men[sigh - everyone] use up their lives in heart-breaking political struggles... not in order to establish some central-heated, air-conditioned, strip-lighted Paradise, but because they want a world in which human beings love one another instead of swindling and murdering one another.

I'd add that the future socialist society will be formed from an unleashing of human creativity: by its very definition, it can't be defined. But we can fight to create the conditions of that unleashing.

3) Rouse the proletariat. Chinese propaganda posters crack me up: muscular farmers, cheery smiles as the latest 5 year plan comes to pass, strange melds of traditional and revolutionary iconography that would have the most seasoned cultural theorist scratching their heads. For example:


Lenin as Santa Claus? What's not to love?

4) Listen to some hurting music. From 1969, at the cusp of psychedelia and funk, here's a smoking track from:

The Isley Brothers - Was It Good To You?

Hear Ronnie Isley tear out his heart, asking his girlfriend if she enjoyed cheating on him. Presumably she's not put off by the passive-aggressive questioning, or the large horn section he brings with him.


The mothership must get a bit chilly - The Isley Brothers

I feel happier already!