1985 and Chinese Democracy

So it seems like it took me a year to finish reading 1984, but I'm happy I did. I admit that the ending got me at first, and I read it again to see what happened. I couldn't figure out if he died or not. It wasn't until I asked someone else about the ending (someone who confused it with Fahrenheit 451) and had to explain it again that I saw that that was the whole point.

Does it matter if you're dead, or a completely different being devoid of the emotion and strength that made you a man? The argument that there exists no objective reality is difficult to refute on the grounds that you're each arguing from your own subjective perceptions, and that controlling that perception is akin to controlling actual reality. 2+2 could easily be 5.

Apparently, Axl Rose bought the rights to the GnR name and is going to release a new album called Chinese Democracy. But see, it's not really GnR. No Izzy, Slash, Duff, and no Steve Adler (whole name since I doubt many know who this guy was - he did the drums). Even for Use Your Illusion they were mostly intact, so still legit as far as a name went.

I can't even say that the new band sucks, since they pulled Robin Finck from NiN and got some other excellent musicians, but come on. It's not GnR. Dizzy rhymes with Izzy, but that's not good enough, damnit, not good enough. And a guitar isn't the same as a keyboard, though a piano is a stringed instrument, I suppose.

But he did buy the rights to the name, so all is OK, right?

When I found out the new lineup, my first thought was that it's false advertising. Then it all made sense. That's exactly why it's called Chinese Democracy.

In my world, 2+2 is not the same as 5, and Izzy != Dizzy. But see, they know that. Calling it GnR is the same as calling whatever China has these days Democracy. They know they're not *really* GnR, acknowledge that Axl just wants that same band recognition, and despite the capacity to offer up some pretty good music will never be what they are claiming to be. Such is China, such is GnR.

RIP GnR.