It’s Brueghel with bling, everybody!

And it’s even from someone whose first name just happens to be Damien!

Love it.

Why does an album have to be “political” in order to matter contextually? Oh, I know, it’s because all this “provocatively alternative” criticism is about as relevant and clever as counting the hairs on the chins of elderly babushkas.

There’s no such thing as a perfect marriage or relationship, and high expectations might doom you.

I think that many people are stuck between two extremes on this one. There is the idea that a love marriage is tasteless and foolish, and marriage is a contract that either brings two families together or, at the very least, provides security. Different cultures approach this issue differently. Many people in today’s world continue to have arranged marriages, for a variety of reasons. Proponents of arranged marriage are quick to point out soaring divorce rates in the U.S. and other comparatively liberal nations. Of course, what’s not often factored in is the notion that socially conservative communities gladly sacrifice individualism over the perservation of family ties, no matter how strained those ties may become. A low divorce rate is not an indicator of marital happiness – nothing is, really, because happiness cannot be measured (don’t get me started on self-reporting, it’s a bloody sham and you’re a fluffy little sheep if you buy into it).

On the other hand, there are those people who enter into marriage with the idea that they can pretty much bail at any moment. This attitude is reinforced by the notion that marriage (and love in general) is a shampoo commercial in slow-motion (I’ve stolen this metaphor from friend Lawrence Toppman, may he live long and prosper). If you’re not supremely giddy in your every waking moment around each other, if you’re not having mind-blowing, delicious, yummy sex all the frickin’ time, if you’re not walking on air and sleeping on rose petals or the nearest equivalent of – you somehow have the right to be pissed off.

Popular culture contributes to this, because we rarely see portrayals of happy, messy marriages. A marriage is often either one or the other. Interestingly enough, comedy often does a much better job at this – although comic actors and storylines are dancing monkeys to the culture snobs: entertaining, maybe, but certainly not worthy of a deeper look (we do a much better job at picking apart comedic stereotypes). Too many of us still have the Jane Austen syndrome while growing up: happy ending = marriage (or another form of commitment), and to hell with what may or may not happen next.

I’ve seen both extremes up close. At this point in my life, I am more affected by the “love is a trip to happy candyland” disease. It’s not particularly awesome and I don’t recommend it. In fact, I recommend daily viewings of “Battlefield Earth” over this.

On the other hand, even as we bemoan the high divorce rate – several other issues come into play. Among them is the idea that human beings are not naturally monogamous (and by human beings I mean everyone), as well as other, disturbing insinuations regarding human relationships and their power dynamics. The freedom to divorce, for all the stigma still attached to it, is a moral good in light of how horrid we can be to one another.

Enduring love (and no, this isn’t a reference to the freaky Ian McEwan book), on the other hand, is also a moral good.

One should not negate the other.