take A Visit to Old Los Angeles ... (thanks Metafilter)
Friday, May 21, 2004
"Stain # 9" 2003 Digital C-print 80 x 95 cm and the two below from "Selected Works" by Vancouver's Evan Lee
A happy 100th to Fats Waller (here with Willie "The Lion" Smith). The new "Centennial Collection" on BMG is well-chosen, cheap and has a bonus DVD.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
The View from Pakistan's DAWN
"The weapons were never found; America's democracy project looks increasingly shaky and the sexual abuse scandal has stripped the mask from the face of human rights. Now like the helpless prisoners in Abu Ghraib what we are left with is a naked bony skeleton of an imperialist order trying to hide itself under the sheath of the United Nations.
President Bush and the people around him never stop talking of the need for winning 'the battle for hearts and minds' in the Muslim world. In reality, the only 'battle for hearts and minds' that matters to the Muslims, and to the world at large is the one that is being fought inside the United States. And recent events for the first time have touched the soul of America.
If the American people got rid of those like Rumsfeld, Ashcroft and Cheney along with their president there may be some glimmer of hope for the future. If the struggle of the people of Iraq changes the hearts and minds of the American electorate then it will be a victory not only for the people of Iraq but for the whole blue planet. America will still be in Iraq but with different goals and a different vision. "
"The weapons were never found; America's democracy project looks increasingly shaky and the sexual abuse scandal has stripped the mask from the face of human rights. Now like the helpless prisoners in Abu Ghraib what we are left with is a naked bony skeleton of an imperialist order trying to hide itself under the sheath of the United Nations.
President Bush and the people around him never stop talking of the need for winning 'the battle for hearts and minds' in the Muslim world. In reality, the only 'battle for hearts and minds' that matters to the Muslims, and to the world at large is the one that is being fought inside the United States. And recent events for the first time have touched the soul of America.
If the American people got rid of those like Rumsfeld, Ashcroft and Cheney along with their president there may be some glimmer of hope for the future. If the struggle of the people of Iraq changes the hearts and minds of the American electorate then it will be a victory not only for the people of Iraq but for the whole blue planet. America will still be in Iraq but with different goals and a different vision. "
The religious warrior of Abu Ghraib
"Boykin told an evangelical gathering last year how this fostered his spiritual crisis. 'There is no God,' he said. 'If there was a God, he would have been here to protect my soldiers.' But he was thunderstruck by the insight that his battle with the warlord was between good and evil, between the true God and the false one. 'I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.'
Boykin was the action hero side of his boss, Stephen Cambone, a conservative defence intellectual appointed to the new post of undersecretary of intelligence. Cambone is universally despised by the officer corps for his arrogant, abrasive and dictatorial style and regarded as the personal symbol of Rumsfeldism. A former senior Pentagon official told me of a conversation with a three-star general, who remarked: 'If we were being overrun by the enemy and I had only one bullet left, I'd use it on Cambone.' "
"Boykin told an evangelical gathering last year how this fostered his spiritual crisis. 'There is no God,' he said. 'If there was a God, he would have been here to protect my soldiers.' But he was thunderstruck by the insight that his battle with the warlord was between good and evil, between the true God and the false one. 'I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.'
Boykin was the action hero side of his boss, Stephen Cambone, a conservative defence intellectual appointed to the new post of undersecretary of intelligence. Cambone is universally despised by the officer corps for his arrogant, abrasive and dictatorial style and regarded as the personal symbol of Rumsfeldism. A former senior Pentagon official told me of a conversation with a three-star general, who remarked: 'If we were being overrun by the enemy and I had only one bullet left, I'd use it on Cambone.' "
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
blissblog on "faceless techno bollocks"--
"The thing about this stuff, the reason I can see it might actually gain ground on the pirates and with the massive, is a/ the danceability and uptempo NRG b/ the dependability. See, stuff that has vocal and lyrical content, when it's mediocre, it's a helluva lot more aggravating than mediocre instrumental/tracky stuff. Something about average MCing with samey lyric content (that overdose of guntalk/misogyny thing simon silverdollar was complaining about a while back), it's really fucking grating in the way that samey sublow/croydon sound just isn't. somehow the verbal element really rams the impoverishment of imagination right in your face. At the same time--and everybody knows this, don't they?--when you compare each style's highest heights and absolute peak exponents, the MC stuff (proper grime, as commonly understood in other words) is just a whole level above the tracky stuff. "Hard Graft" (here excellently reversioned as "industrial graft") was one of my faves last year but you compare it with "boys love girls" or "birds in the sky" and it's like... nah. The return of vocals (songs, song-fragment, MCs, whatever) is THE defining post-rave paradigm shift from circa 1998 on -from 2step to folktronica to green velvet to electro/nu-wave to (some) microhouse to grime to... -- and I don't seem much sign that's about to change any time soon. "
"The thing about this stuff, the reason I can see it might actually gain ground on the pirates and with the massive, is a/ the danceability and uptempo NRG b/ the dependability. See, stuff that has vocal and lyrical content, when it's mediocre, it's a helluva lot more aggravating than mediocre instrumental/tracky stuff. Something about average MCing with samey lyric content (that overdose of guntalk/misogyny thing simon silverdollar was complaining about a while back), it's really fucking grating in the way that samey sublow/croydon sound just isn't. somehow the verbal element really rams the impoverishment of imagination right in your face. At the same time--and everybody knows this, don't they?--when you compare each style's highest heights and absolute peak exponents, the MC stuff (proper grime, as commonly understood in other words) is just a whole level above the tracky stuff. "Hard Graft" (here excellently reversioned as "industrial graft") was one of my faves last year but you compare it with "boys love girls" or "birds in the sky" and it's like... nah. The return of vocals (songs, song-fragment, MCs, whatever) is THE defining post-rave paradigm shift from circa 1998 on -from 2step to folktronica to green velvet to electro/nu-wave to (some) microhouse to grime to... -- and I don't seem much sign that's about to change any time soon. "
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
shameful censorship
"In March 2003, a teenage girl named Courtney presented one of her poems before an audience at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Albuquerque, then read the poem live on the school's closed-circuit television channel.
A school military liaison and the high school principal accused the girl of being 'un-American' because she criticized the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's failure to give substance to its 'No child left behind' education policy.
The girl's mother, also a teacher, was ordered by the principal to destroy the child's poetry. The mother refused and may lose her job.
Bill Nevins was suspended for not censoring the poetry of his students. Remember, there is no obscenity to be found in any of the poetry. He was later fired by the principal.
After firing Nevins and terminating the teaching and reading of poetry in the school, the principal and the military liaison read a poem of their own as they raised the flag outside the school. When the principal had the flag at full staff, he applauded the action he'd taken in concert with the military liaison."
"In March 2003, a teenage girl named Courtney presented one of her poems before an audience at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Albuquerque, then read the poem live on the school's closed-circuit television channel.
A school military liaison and the high school principal accused the girl of being 'un-American' because she criticized the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's failure to give substance to its 'No child left behind' education policy.
The girl's mother, also a teacher, was ordered by the principal to destroy the child's poetry. The mother refused and may lose her job.
Bill Nevins was suspended for not censoring the poetry of his students. Remember, there is no obscenity to be found in any of the poetry. He was later fired by the principal.
After firing Nevins and terminating the teaching and reading of poetry in the school, the principal and the military liaison read a poem of their own as they raised the flag outside the school. When the principal had the flag at full staff, he applauded the action he'd taken in concert with the military liaison."
Monday, May 17, 2004
Quaint Provisions
" 'As you have said, the war against terrorism is a new kind of war,' Gonzales wrote to Bush. 'The nature of the new war places a high premium on other factors, such as the ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors in order to avoid further atrocities against American civilians.' Gonzales concluded in stark terms: 'In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions.'"
" 'As you have said, the war against terrorism is a new kind of war,' Gonzales wrote to Bush. 'The nature of the new war places a high premium on other factors, such as the ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors in order to avoid further atrocities against American civilians.' Gonzales concluded in stark terms: 'In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions.'"
The Tyee: Politicians Behaving Badly
"For years, the media--and many voters-- celebrated our brand of Xtreme Politics as just another example of B.C.'s distinctive lifestyle. Welcome to B.C., where the mountains are bigger, the bud is stronger, and the politicians are completely unhinged."
"For years, the media--and many voters-- celebrated our brand of Xtreme Politics as just another example of B.C.'s distinctive lifestyle. Welcome to B.C., where the mountains are bigger, the bud is stronger, and the politicians are completely unhinged."
Happy Birthday Dennis Brain--his definitive version of the Mozart Horn Concertos (in the Seraphim pressing) greatly beloved by Dad.
Ultra-red--Alan Gilbert has an interesting piece on these artist/activists in this month's Artforum, not online...
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Pig-devouring bear at large in Maine
"Johnson said he went inside and got a flashlight. By the time he returned, the bear had grabbed the pig again and headed for the woods.
Johnson said he alerted all his neighbors, including a nearby dairy farm and some people who keep rabbits.
'I've lived here seven years and never had a problem,' he said. 'Oh, sometimes someone would see one in the spring and then again maybe in the fall. But nothing like this. The kids aren't sleeping too well.'
'This is a hungry bear,' Eaton said, guessing that it is a large male. "
"Johnson said he went inside and got a flashlight. By the time he returned, the bear had grabbed the pig again and headed for the woods.
Johnson said he alerted all his neighbors, including a nearby dairy farm and some people who keep rabbits.
'I've lived here seven years and never had a problem,' he said. 'Oh, sometimes someone would see one in the spring and then again maybe in the fall. But nothing like this. The kids aren't sleeping too well.'
'This is a hungry bear,' Eaton said, guessing that it is a large male. "
Brian Cox
"But Cox, as Lecter - in Michael Mann's Manhunter - he did nothing. Nothing. He just showed up a couple of times in a bright white cell, speaking with that enviably precise diction that Scottishness often confers, in that deep, rumbling voice of his - and scared the crap out of everyone who saw him. "
ambitious, thorough "Mulholland Drive" review--
"But before the song ends, the singer slumps to the ground, and we realize she's been lip-syncing to a recording. Slowly but knowingly, Betty reaches into her purse. There, as if precipitated from the shimmering blue light, is a new object: a smooth blue box with a triangular keyhole."
(thanks Plep)
"But before the song ends, the singer slumps to the ground, and we realize she's been lip-syncing to a recording. Slowly but knowingly, Betty reaches into her purse. There, as if precipitated from the shimmering blue light, is a new object: a smooth blue box with a triangular keyhole."
(thanks Plep)
happy birthday Henry Fonda (I thought about Frank--the character Fonda played in Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West"--a lot watching Rumsfeld's testimony the other day, not just the flat midwestern affect a thin skin over capital 'e' Evil, but the sense that though Frank himself is finally killed, his interrupted transformation from hired gun to bureaucrat would be completed by others.)
new Sy Hersh
"According to interviews with several past and present American intelligence officials, the Pentagon's operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld's long-standing desire to wrest control of America's clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A. "
"According to interviews with several past and present American intelligence officials, the Pentagon's operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld's long-standing desire to wrest control of America's clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A. "
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