For those that march to their own drummer

When I was downtown today I watched a homeless man cross the middle of a very busy street as cars sped and swerved around him, he could not run for he was on crutches, he could not wait to cross the street because he was obviously disturbed; this fact was confirmed by the fact that he was shouting Harry Krishna as he struggled across the busy road. Several people watched his progress not sure exactly what to do, fortunately no one had to do anything because he made it to the other side and continued on his way.
Watching this man got me thinking about rogues those that break from the pack to do something unexpected and often fairly uncomfortable for those around them. We as individuals may not engage in rogue activity ourselves, but like those standing on the street corner watching a man cross the oncoming traffic--we are fascinated by it.Here is my Wednesday list of Rogues interesting rogues, some are nice, some are a bit disturbing, yet the presence of rogues makes the world much more interesting and unpredictable...

1) Rogue Ales


First and foremost we must discuss Rogue Ales, a micro brewery based out of Newport Oregon.
The concept of Rogueshness is more than branding for this wonderful little company. Rogue believes that beer should come in many flavours, Rogue has 60, and that brewing should be done on a small quality controlled scale. Nowadays I suspect that most of us take Microbreweries for granted, it is important to remember that until the 1980's legislation in Canada and the United States made it virtually impossible to brew artisanal beer on a commercial level. The product and packaging reflect Rogue's commitment to moving away from mass produced generic lager and creating something a little out of the ordinary, I would argue that no Oregon surf session is complete without a post wave bottle of Rogue on the beach.




2) Rogue Waves

Rogue waves are large spontaneous ocean surface waves that happen spontaneously. For hundreds of years there was plently of anecdotal evidence from mariners about freak waves appearing out of nowhere, but their existance was always debated and cloaked in stigma. Given the number of ships that mysteriously disapear and the evidence that is now available through satelites, the existance of rogue waves are now excepted by the scientific community.

3) Rogue Elephants

Recently I have become very fascinated with elephants. I think this fascination was sparked when I watched BBC's Planet Earth series and saw the elephants swimming under water.




Unfortunately elephants are not always this serene. It is not uncommon for one male elephant to permanently leave the herd and go on a rampage. Rogue elephants become very aggressive and often attack human settlements. There does not seem to be a clear understanding of what exactly causes elephants to go rogue, but I would suspect that the increasing encroachment on elephant habitat by Humans may have something to do with it. The reading I have been doing on elephants says that they are incredibly sensitive, all you have to do is look into those intelligent eyes and you realise that they feel a wide range of emotions and could easily succumb to grief.

4) Rogue Chef

If punk rock has a culinary equivalent than it is Anthony Bourdain. Part chef, Part writer, rose to prominence when he wrote Kitchen confidential, a gritty expose that dealt with the under belly of American cookery. Although Kitchen Confidential is interesting, Bourdain did not appear on my radar until he released his book and television series A Cooks Tour. The concept involves Bourdain traveling to some of the grittier places on the planet and partaking in some very gnarly cuisine. The thing I really appreciate about Bourdain and his culinary exploits is the honest way in which he approaches food. If he is eating a leg, or testicals or a stomach he does not try and pretend that is pretty or stylish, he just presents it for exactly what it is. Critics often critisise Bourdain for resorting to shock value; but the reason we as North Americans are shocked by these ingrediants is that we have become completely removed from our food, we don't want our food to be real we want it to be clean contained and unrecognizable and in this age of trendy food stylists it is comforting to know that some one out there is using a little punk rock in the kitchen.

5) Rogue States

According to international theory a rogue state is any that has strayed from the international community and posses a threat to world peace. During the Clinton administration the white house replaced this term with a state of concearn. When Bush was elected, his administration quickly readopted the term rogue state and started using it to suit their own agenda. The idea of a rogue state shifted from states that were a threat to peace, to states that were out of favor with the U.S. Although I am in know way saying that the governments of the supposed rogue states treat their people well, it is interesting to watch them challenge the Americans. Of all the rogue states that have existed I am the most puzzeled by North Korea, from an outsiders perspective their actions don't seem to make a lot of sense, but never the less if ever a country fit the profile of rogue it would be them.