The Bleat

Lileks talks about his book, then the inner bouyancy of Jackie Gleason. Which leads him to this:

You won't find that sort of spirit in this Mahler I'm listening to; the man would have scored a children's parade as a funeral march. Or at least dropped a funeral march into the middle. The Fifth is one my favorites, though; the first two movements, which might as well be interchangeable, are Mahlerian in every sense but their length. When you want to get ambitiously depressed, the fifth actually works better than the 6th. Of course, I do not want to get depressed; it no longer has the romantic connotations it does when you're a teen. (Followed by that all-important crucial emotion of the 20s, Anger. Just as Teenage Depression means you're sensitive, 20something ANGER means you're smart. Anger pays little, though, which is why so many choose its hipper cousins, Cynicism and Irony, the Olson Twins of the lazy mind.) Actually, the times in your life when you don't feel a particular need for Mahler are the times you should give him a fresh listen. It's a coming-attractions reel for the 20th century. Among so many other things.

"Cycicism and Irony, the Olson Twins of the lazy mind." We're not worthy.