Timing Is Everything

Okay, this was pretty fucking wierd.

I was at the library today to do that routine of combing the local papers and the internet for jobs. And after a cigarette break, I was looking over the magazines on the shelves. And I grabbed this month's Vanity Fair because Hilary Swank is on the cover and I still can't forget Roger Ebert writing in his prediction that she'd win her second Best Actress Oscar, but her not being the best-looking actress. And I remember thinking how totally out-of-place that mention was. Even more so than Jamie Foxx coming out this year and referring to the nominees as four lovely ladies and "one great Dame," which I took to mean he was calling Judi Dench, essentially, a fucking dog. And especially since I remember while watching this year's past Oscar ceremony, another fellow and myself agreed that, lately, Hilary Swank's been looking pretty fucking good lately.

And while I was flipping through for Hilary's photo shoot, I came across a rather interesting little article about a little film called "Loose Change."

I should've noticed the "9/11 CONSPIRACIES" thing on the top of the cover, but, hey, I'll admit I wasn't really looking at the words.

Nonetheless, I spent too much time today glossing over filmmaker Dylan Avery's site. Then, of course, I went and sought him out as a friend on MySpace.

And while I'm awaiting the final cut of this film, and I've previously expressed my hesitance to jumping at the numerous conspiracy theories about 9/11, I really couldn't stop going through all the material. I have long been suspicious about how much the government tells us in the interest of basic damage control. It's hardly ever honest or the truth we'd want, but that makes sense. I'd cover my ass too if I was hiding information from the public.

Naturally, there's the right-wingers who've long dissected "Loose Change" and similar theories. But there's also some other organizations that are similarly critical (more or less so by specific group) of what's been reported as the explanation ... and there are actually an awful lot of them.

But I've also noted before being equally hesitant to go fully off the deep end about the government actually being directly responsible for these deaths. I know that tragedy struck us all in a significant way, but there's a difference between your officials suffering from willful ignorance (more likely) and having a blatant hand in the attacks (less so).

But, at the same time, I can't ignore a good question. And with 9/11, there's still an awful lot of them ... unanswered.

This, of course, is not to mention that the news today was dominated by the whole matter of a plot to blow up American-bound airliners. So, don't plan on bringing your iPods, BlackBerrys, or, well, anything aboard a plane ever again. We're at war, we'll always be at war, and basically, I'm expecting a day to come soon that we're all just going to have to just fly naked with one another in order to secure our nation's security. Otherwise, you're a threat.

I had a nightmare recently about planes sharply falling from the sky. As a person who rarely recalls their previous night's dreams, you could say this one stood out. But when the vision turned into a canoe (or some other boating vessel) whisking by my head while my friends and I were seeking cover in our moment of panic, I realized this was not happening. I sat up, in my bed, shook my head, and went back to sleep.

And, no, I hadn't done any drugs that evening.

The only other dramatic end-of-the-world scenario that unfolded in my mind before that was one in which I was downtown in Geneva and buildings were inexplicably collapsing. But those were nightmares, and the only actual thing that came close to being real images of such was 9/11. Those visions probably wouldn't have occurred without that unbelievable day. But if that horror rooted anything deeply in me, it's probably not the rush to blame the whole day on a conspiracy ... rather, to demand answers to an awful lot of questions that should have, at the very least, better explanations.

I won't jump to conlusions, but I'll never stop listening to others' ideas either. You can do both, you know ...