NIN Oeuvre Blog: Sin
Editor’s Note: This entry originally appeared on the blog Ten Thousand Lies on June 11, 2007.
I gave you my purity
my purity you stole
As I mentioned in my post on “That’s What I Get,” my obsessions with certain songs are often the result of a particular lyric striking a chord with me personally. My obsession with “Sin,” from Pretty Hate Machine, began in just that way.
I had always liked “Sin” as a song. Like many of the tracks on PHM, it’s eminently danceable, the driving keyboard line simply compelling you to move. And it’s an amazingly hard-edged song, almost heavy metal song, too, which is especially impressive, given that it features hardly any guitars. But it was the kind of song I listened to and forgot about, early on. It wasn’t talking about money being like God, or God being dead, or people fucking like animals—my particular lyrical interests in those early days—so I wasn’t paying nearly as much attention to it as I should have been.
Then, in 1997, years after I’d first heard this song (which was first released in 1989), I went ahead and gave someone my “purity”. And two days later, with my stolen purity in tow, she dumped me. All of a sudden, “Sin” held a lot more meaning than it ever had before.
The anger present in both the lyrics and the instrumentation—if anyone has ever played an angry keyboard, it’s Mister Michael Trent Reznor—is a bit scary at times, especially given Trent’s demand, at the end of the chorus, that the “you” of the song “take in the extent of [Trent’s] sin”. This could be seen as a sort of “revenge rape” song, if looked at in a certain way. But I don’t think the narrator would seriously harm the person he’s singing to. I think it’s an empty threat, albeit a harsh one. And I think the threat of violence is a sin to be forgiven here, especially if we consider the pain of lost purity.
Beverly Hills Breakdown: The Donna Martin Top Five
I present to you the first in my series of 90210 top fives. There is no secret formula or logic behind these lists, only my continuing obsession for the best teen drama ever (not including Buffy, of course), and whatever plot lines stick out most in my mind. So here are my top five Donna Martin-centric episodes.
5) “Ode to Joy” (2000) - The season finale, in which Donna and David get married. A lot of people don’t enjoy the final few seasons of the show, when the characters are all grown up, having babies, working, getting hitched. But these are my favorite seasons. I ended up totally in love with David and Donna, and shed many tears during their nuptials. Even if Brandon was so rude as to only appear via video tape. Whatev.
4) “The Girl Who Cried Wolf, Law and Disorder, Making Amends” (1998) - Donna gets addicted to painkillers! After a bad car accident! She steals pills! From her dad’s office! She steals fashion designs! She passes out on the floor! She gets taken to the hospital! Then she’s okay. Phew.
3) “P.S. I Love You Part 2” (1995) - Donna’s bad-boy musician boyfriend Ray shoves her down a flight of stairs. She ends up with an injured arm, yet continues to date Ray for a good portion on season 6. Good judgement, Martin!
2) “Graduation Day Part 2” (1997) - Donna gives up the big V to David. Incredibly uncomfortable scene involving white lingerie and candles. I don’t want to think about it any more than I have to. But in a Donna Top Five, you have to include this pivotal moment.
1) “Something in the Air” (1993) - Donna gets drunk at the prom and gets in big trouble at school: she can’t graduate, and has to go summer school. But never fear, the gang’s all here! The student body marches on the school board meeting, and voila! Ms. Martin graduates with the rest of the class of 1993. Say it with me: “Donna Martin graduates! Donna Martin graduates!”
Zack and Miri’s Trailer Is Coming Very Soon?
The first Internet trailer for Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno was supposed to debut on April 28, my seventh wedding anniversary, but Kev decided it wasn’t necessary to send Stephanie and I a gift this year, and on April 28 there was, sadly, no trailer to be found.
But there is hope! News Askew is reporting that the trailer is coming very soon. According to their report, Kevin and his cohorts have been having some trouble with the audio portion of the trailer, but as soon as they have that figured out, the trailer will be out and ready for our viewing pleasure.
Last Week on Lost: There’s No Place Like Home, Part One
I don’t know about you, but when I first heard about Lost taking a week off between parts one and two of the season finale, I was okay with it. That news accompanied the news that the second part of the finale would be two hours long, so it was easy to justify the break in my mind. They couldn’t have a two hour finale of the season finale if they were airing it last night, on the same night as the finales of Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy, so the producers did what they had to do.
Boy, I’d like to go back in time and slap around the version of me who thought this week off would be okay. The wait is unbearable, and because I’m one of the sillyheads who read the season finale spoilers the moment they were posted online, the wait seems even worse. There has also been some speculation that the spoilers that have been posted are, in fact, foilers—that is, fake spoilers meant to trick all us naughty boys and girls who can’t wait for Christmas morning. And me, I can’t stand not knowing if what I know is what’s actually going to happen, or if I’ve been duped. Either way, I think the season finale is going to be awesome, but I’m dying here as I wait to find out.
In the meantime, to help ease our suffering, let’s talk (below the fold) about last week’s episode, “There’s No Place Like Home, Part One.”
Beautiful iTunes Ad Featuring Coldplay
I happen to be of the opinion that the advertising campaigns Apple has used to promote iPod and iTunes are genius. And lately they’ve been taking the classic silhouette concept and evolving it by leaps and bounds. The latest ad, which features the band Coldplay, also happens to thematically resemble the packaging and advertising campaign used to promote the release of Leopard, the latest version of Mac OS X. The Unofficial Apple Weblog calls this theme space-esqe, and I suppose that’s a pretty accurate description, but I’ll just stick to calling it beautiful.
And kudos to Apple and their advertising agency for subtly trying to influence potential switchers even in ads for their platform-agnostic products.
