Sunday, March 13, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The kids, united!
It's kind of a shame that punk rock appropriations of labor anthems seem really dated, but frankly, current political rock pretty much blows. Feel free to prove me wrong.
These Americans, our Americans
God, Walker Evans just kills me. I should read more about him, instead of just smashing my face up against his pictures, but goddamn.
Also, These Americans is pretty killer. Just archival shots of your fellow citizens.
Friday, March 11, 2011
What Wisconsin is really about
Kevin Drum runs through a brief modern history of labor and the left, why the working class is alienated, and what that means.
Katrina X-Codes
© Cynthia Scott, Faubourg Marigny, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2005.
Katrina+5 is a Southern Spaces exhibit on the search and rescue X-codes used in the aftermath of the Katrina hurricane.
These cryptic, sprayed marks were ubiquitous when I was there, but no one around knew what they meant at the time, aside from the fact that they'd been sprayed by National Guard units.
The exhibition has an excellent explanation as well as great examples of X-codes in use.
These instances of artificial meaning imposed after destruction are just fascinating for me. They're both poignant and abstract, secret and public.
Stand up for Wisconsin!
Stand up for Wisconsin!, a map and list of solidarity events around the country.
Do your part. Stand up for union rights, stand up for labor, stand up for working men and women, working Americans, against the robber barons that are working to enslave you.
Do your part. Stand up for union rights, stand up for labor, stand up for working men and women, working Americans, against the robber barons that are working to enslave you.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
A broader sponsorship
Congratulations, High Life, on reminding me that what we share in common is a love of irony and self-abuse.
Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter, etc. UNION MEMBERS
That's right, AFTRA, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, an AFL-CIO affiliate union.
So, they're calling for a gutting of benefits and negotiating strength that they — and everyone who works on their shows — benefit from.
This is my surprised face.
So, they're calling for a gutting of benefits and negotiating strength that they — and everyone who works on their shows — benefit from.
This is my surprised face.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Welcome to Hell
Inspired by this question on AskMe about Hell in art, I started perusing google and google scholar, looking to see if there was an art theory term for the iconography of Hell. Infernography?
I haven't found anything conclusive yet, no secret codeword to unlock the libraries of the internet, but I have found a bunch of neat art (too much for an easy reply).
The Harrowing of Hell refers to Christ's descent into Hell, an apocryphal bit of the Apostles' Creed that's inferred from Christ's resurrection, also known as the Anastasis. I stumbled onto the phrase by finding this PDF about the Harrowing of Hell relief at Bristol Cathedral.
The Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography (PDF) gives a decent bit of info on the genre, though with fewer images than I'd prefer.
I knew the term for the mythic descent into the underworld, Katabasis, and so searching for that and for famous katabasi (a cod-Greek word I just made up), yielded both Lazurus and Castor and Pollux. (As a side note, I'd like to explore Nekyia a bit in my work).
More as I find 'em.
Monday, March 07, 2011
I drank soup from a boot, no hobo
Hobo Cult Box Set #1 was released for free by Montreal-based Hobo Cult Records.
It's all hazy, ambient techno, reminiscent of The Orb and FSOL.
It's all hazy, ambient techno, reminiscent of The Orb and FSOL.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Monday Morning Link Dump!
MoJo does inequality.
Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, home of Earl Sweatshirt.
Porn machete murders.
Top Six LULZ from Koch punking.
Full text of A History of Jury Trials by Forsythe.
When did kids get stupid, exactly? 1985. Which seems about right to me. I was educated stupid.
Despite somebody lecturing me about how "Beyond the pale" was racist (or at least anti-semetic), it's not.
Ted Serios, charlatan psychic but pretty good photographer.
Another zombie playlist, mostly worth it for reminding me of "Knuck if you Buck."
Bikeroots article in the LA Weekly did Alex no favors but I'm probably voting for Box anyway. I voted for Nader in 2000 too, so I might be too dumb to vote.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
At home he feels like a tourist
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| From Mar 4, 2011 |
Over the last two weeks, two parental visits have led Amy and I through more local culture than we usually see in six months. We even managed to watch the Oscars on TV, out of some reflexive LA suckle.
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| From Mar 4, 2011 |
Amy's parents got in two Sundays ago, late in the afternoon, so our first day out was on Monday. We headed out to Altadena for the Eaton Canyon Nature Area hike, taking us up into the Eaton Falls along the Mount Wilson Toll Road.
The park was packed for President's day, and the recent rains had swelled the arroyo from mostly-dry ditch to a respectable stream, and in getting to the falls there were roughly 15 crossings that had to be made, leaping from rock to rock, which meant usually a wait from five to fifteen minutes as the unprepared tourists squealed and shimmied across wet rocks. Luckily, the hiking boots Amy bought me prior to Yosemite still had plenty of grip, though she ended up taking a splash or two toward the end.
Thanks to Target, LACMA was free too — that and their latest tete a tete with Gaga has me reconsidering my generalized boycott, though their shitty service still sticks in my craw — so got to see the newly-opened Art of the Ancient Americas. I'm not usually that big a fan of ancient artwork; the accumulation of artifacts doesn't interest me much and the vast distance between modern cultures and ancient ones makes pulling meaning out of the work highly suspect, but I will say that the craft was amazing and that I had really under-rated the painting skill of the Maya, even if I still find the whole human sacrifice thing deeply fucked.
We also took another tour through the Lucknow exhibit, and I have to write up something on it for the time-travel blog. Sooner or later, but that's the trouble with time travel, right?
After that, we buffaloed Amy's parents into eating at Loteria, where I had some fantastic mole negro chilaquiles, and Amy had decent potato enchiladas with mole verde — the tortillas and fluffy potatoes felt soggy drenched in the green sauce, but the sauce itself was really tasty. Being stupid tourists, we didn't have a reservation and Amy's folks were moderately surprised at the wait, but it ended up being a blessing — we got seated at the bar, and the 'tender was noticeably quicker than the waitstaff, though it did mean suffering through a douche of brahs maximizing their social media leverage or some shit, one of whom tried to draw me into a conversation about whatever the lime-tequila-beer drink is and how it was the best thing ever, and after I was shruggo (dude, I'm eating here), made some crack about how I looked like I'd drank a lot of beers. Gave him a fuck-you-cheers with my bottle of Chupacabras, which was better than it had any right to be.
 |
| From Mar 4, 2011 |
On Tuesday, we ate breakfast at Home, who shouldn't be judged on their slow, cluttered flash website. I went with the chilaquiles again, this time with red sauce and soyrizo, because I'm a firm believer in the idea of chilaquiles for every meal. We watched Keith Morris eat oatmeal, and luckily, I avoided having to explain who the Circle Jerks were.
After breakfast, we went to Descanso Gardens, a country estate that was planted full of camellias (over 34,000) in order to sell cut flowers; it's now a park and preserve and absolutely gorgeous. We managed to hit the camellias in full bloom, which seems to be the way to go, though neither roses nor lilacs (which they also have) are in yet.
Then we swung down to see Santee Alley, which bills itself as LA's "premier outdoor shopping experience," which is one way of saying, "Full of designer knock-offs, bongs and bootlegs." We managed to pick up a pretty lovely rug for $150 that's already fraying around the edges. You pays your money, you takes your chances, I guess.
For dinner, we hit up Cheech's Pizza, which was decent, and the two-for-one they've got is nice. Solid, average pizza, which Amy's folks appreciated after being threatened with Indian or vegan food, and huge salads. The first time we had Cheech's, about six months ago, it was fantastic, but it's been hit and miss for us ever since. Just glad it came out well while the folks were here.
 |
| From Mar 4, 2011 |
Amy left on Wednesday to go to a conference, leaving me all on my lonesome with Pete and Candy. We went on a leisurely stroll up to Griffith Park Observatory, took in a show at the planetarium (which was a delightful mix of campy, cheesy, science-y goodness), and saw the awesome power of Tesla:
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| From Mar 4, 2011 |
I talked Amy's folks into trying Thai food for the first time, and took them to Tub Tim, meeting up with our pal Amanda. I picked Tub Tim mostly because the Yelp reviews emphasized that their mild dishes were still tasty — Amy's parents don't like spices in general, so I didn't want them to have a full-on Thai pepper freak out. I went with Panang, Amanda got prik king; neither were anything to write home about, but were solid and tasty. I got the mango sticky rice dessert, and it was OK. In general, their sticky rice (which I also got with Panang) was a bit dry. Outside of that, pretty unremarkable.
I then spent Thursday in an insomniac haze…
The next weekend, my folks came in. Which I'll write about next.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Do you have the next million dollar idea?
"Yeah, it's a phone. A phone that punches you in the face."
"No, in the face. It punches you in the face."
"Because it punches you in the face."
"No, not like a TV. Who sits that close to the TV? A TV couldn't punch you in the face."
"Yeah, you could move it away from your face, sure. But then you couldn't hear the call."
"No, in the face. It punches you in the face."
"Because it punches you in the face."
"No, not like a TV. Who sits that close to the TV? A TV couldn't punch you in the face."
"Yeah, you could move it away from your face, sure. But then you couldn't hear the call."
ACLU stands up for Christian students
For the next time some conservative you know pitches a bitch about the ACLU being anti-Christian or never defending Christian expression: ACLU supports Ten Commandments on student lockers.
Sure, the ACLU is organized state by state, so they don't necessarily all agree, but I like to keep things like this in my back pocket so that when someone gets off on, say, the ACLU fighting against crosses on public land, I can remind them that the ACLU backs principles pretty much across the board, regardless of consequence.
Sure, the ACLU is organized state by state, so they don't necessarily all agree, but I like to keep things like this in my back pocket so that when someone gets off on, say, the ACLU fighting against crosses on public land, I can remind them that the ACLU backs principles pretty much across the board, regardless of consequence.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
$20, same as in town
This has to be an allegory for something, but I'm not sure what. German unification? The origin myths of the Prussian people? A parody of Laibach?
The moon, Alice
Selene, a sci-fi hip-hop e-p based on the movie, "The Moon," is brief, fun and strings-heavy. Is it ironic to sound like Atmosphere on an album about the moon?
Boys' club blues
This Recording has a pretty snazzy article on being a woman in a Boys' Club; no word on how to be a woman in a Beuys club, which presumably involves explaining fat and felt to a fictionalized biography.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The definition of over-exposure
That's right, Diddy is the first result for a search of "Nematobibothrioides histoidii." As well he should be.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Galaxy Tab: first 30 days
Galaxy Tab: first 30 days
My girlfriend has a blog; her format makes me think about blogs as social note-taking utilities. I think that's reasonable.
My girlfriend has a blog; her format makes me think about blogs as social note-taking utilities. I think that's reasonable.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Twosquare league results
Carson and Josh played seven league games and two exhibition games, an epic afternoon for twosquare aficionados.
Josh took the best-of-seven, with four games to three: C 24, J 22; C 21, J 18; J 21, C 16; J 21, C 18; J 21, C 19; C 21, J 16; J 23, C 21.
This league game featured both the first off-the-wall shot played fair, but also the first off-the-wall shot to score a point. Carson later said, "I feel like I'm in the Negro Leagues."
The exhibition matches were played with a small green dollar-store ball, with Carson taking the first game, Josh the second: C 21, J 14; J 24, C 22.
Josh's landlord Henry watched several of the games, and expressed interest in betting on them.
Josh took the best-of-seven, with four games to three: C 24, J 22; C 21, J 18; J 21, C 16; J 21, C 18; J 21, C 19; C 21, J 16; J 23, C 21.
This league game featured both the first off-the-wall shot played fair, but also the first off-the-wall shot to score a point. Carson later said, "I feel like I'm in the Negro Leagues."
The exhibition matches were played with a small green dollar-store ball, with Carson taking the first game, Josh the second: C 21, J 14; J 24, C 22.
Josh's landlord Henry watched several of the games, and expressed interest in betting on them.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
What I am reading now
Music for Chameleons, Truman Capote.
I loved In Cold Blood, once I got over the poetic license it contains. It's solidly written, sympathetic and chilling, and gives a prosaic, almost banal view to a sensational crime. Music for Chameleons is shorter pieces, almost always non-fiction, that read more like anecdotes than stories. But Capote was a master of anecdotes, and since I don't like his speaking voice very much, this is a fair place to find them. Reminds me of Patricia Highsmith.
The Gangs of Chicago, Herbert Asbury
This book, originally published as Gem of the Prairie, is a notional sequel to Asbury's previous Gangs of New York, now a major motion picture (the cover advises). As such, it's more an informal history of crime and chaos in Chicago, right down to the first permanent resident (bootlegger) and the first prisoner (a white loafer purchased by a black man). It's full of glittering detail, with hilarious asides rendered in the arch manner of early 20th century journalism. It's somehow comforting to know that where the Wrigley and Tribune buildings now stand was The Sands, America's biggest ever, and one of the worst, red light district.
From Afar to Zulu: A Dictionary of African Cultures, Jim Haskins and Joann Biondi
Like most Americans, I'm woefully ignorant about the cultures of Africa, and Africa's so damn huge that it's easy to get lost. So I'm reading a book aimed at smart middle schoolers or dull high schoolers, which gives basic descriptions (along with maps and pictures) of about 30 different ethnic groups within Africa. It's fun reading, light and it's helpfully contemporary — a lot of African history gets bogged down in the fact that there's 10,000 years of it, but seeing people as they live now is nice.
I loved In Cold Blood, once I got over the poetic license it contains. It's solidly written, sympathetic and chilling, and gives a prosaic, almost banal view to a sensational crime. Music for Chameleons is shorter pieces, almost always non-fiction, that read more like anecdotes than stories. But Capote was a master of anecdotes, and since I don't like his speaking voice very much, this is a fair place to find them. Reminds me of Patricia Highsmith.
The Gangs of Chicago, Herbert Asbury
This book, originally published as Gem of the Prairie, is a notional sequel to Asbury's previous Gangs of New York, now a major motion picture (the cover advises). As such, it's more an informal history of crime and chaos in Chicago, right down to the first permanent resident (bootlegger) and the first prisoner (a white loafer purchased by a black man). It's full of glittering detail, with hilarious asides rendered in the arch manner of early 20th century journalism. It's somehow comforting to know that where the Wrigley and Tribune buildings now stand was The Sands, America's biggest ever, and one of the worst, red light district.
From Afar to Zulu: A Dictionary of African Cultures, Jim Haskins and Joann Biondi
Like most Americans, I'm woefully ignorant about the cultures of Africa, and Africa's so damn huge that it's easy to get lost. So I'm reading a book aimed at smart middle schoolers or dull high schoolers, which gives basic descriptions (along with maps and pictures) of about 30 different ethnic groups within Africa. It's fun reading, light and it's helpfully contemporary — a lot of African history gets bogged down in the fact that there's 10,000 years of it, but seeing people as they live now is nice.
It's just so!
In responding to Are Social Sciences Biased Against Conservatives,, MetaFilter commenter Kyradeamon gives this great quote:
Conservatives themselves offer the reasons why there are so few conservatives in the sciences. They will tell you (often, and at length) that they tend to be far more "family oriented" than liberals. Obviously, the numerical difference can therefore be explained by conservatives dropping out of their universities and careers to raise their children. It would be a mistake to see this as a problem -- conservatives are simply naturally more *interested* in children than they are in careers.
It's probably particularly evident in the sciences, because, meaning no disrepect to them, conservatives are simply not as good at math. The Laffer curve? Trickle-down economics? These are not theories that are developed by people with lots of math skills. This isn't to say that conservatives aren't perfectly good at other things, however; someone has to raise all those families, right?
Now, of course it's not known exactly why conservatives have neither the inclination nor the ability to do science. But some recent studies seem to indicate that there are differences in brain structure between conservatives and members of other political parties. Here's a quote from a 2007 study: "The brain neurons of liberals and conservatives fire differently when confronted with tough ... Conservatives tend to crave order and structure in their lives ... Liberals, by contrast, show a higher tolerance for ambiguity and complexity".
So, clearly, brain structures of those dear dear conservatives are simply not suited for scientific tasks, which are often ambiguous and complex.
The mistake here is presenting this as a problem that needs to be solved. We are blessed with a variety of different political groups that are ideally suited to different tasks --liberals serving as scientists, and conservatives cooking food for them and their children. Vive la difference, I say! It's just the natural order of things, and all trying to mess with it is going to do is make a lot of those poor, order-craving conservatives very upset if they try to perform a task they're simply not naturally suited for.
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
ركلة ذلك! (Kick it!)
Enough Gaddafi's Khalas Mixtape Vol. 1 is explicitly political, anti-Mubarak rap. Shame I don't speak Arabic, right? But still pretty tight.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
(Not) Everybody's Gonna Make It This Time: A Zombie Playlist
IMG from NickshermanEveryone needs something to listen to when you're huddled up in your boarded-over tenement hoping to wait out the end of the world. Or tearing into the living dead with chainsaws. Whatever.
This is mine.
New Year—The Breeders
I Wanna Destroy You—The Soft Boys
Don't Send Me No Flowers—The Breakers
Death Walks Behind You—Atomic Rooster
Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll—Blue Öyster Cult
When The Kingdom Comes—Primal Scream
Girl (You Chew My Mind Up)—The Presets
Reinforcements—Sparks
Heads Will Roll—Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Heartbeat—Annie
Army Of Me—Björk
Search And Destroy—Iggy & The Stooges
[03] Jet Boy Jet Girl—Elton Motello
Safety in Numbers—The Adverts
Everybody Is Going To Make It This Time—Funkadelic
Germ Free Adolescents—X-Ray Spex
God Walks Among Us Now - Jesus Song No. 6—The Flaming Lips
The Silencers—Patti Seymour
The World's a Mess; It's In My Kiss—X
Death Is Not The End—Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Never Going Home—The Stabs
Save Yourself—Make-Up
Neat Neat Neat—The Damned
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead—Warren Zevon
This Town—The Go-Go's
Baptised In Fire And Ice—Bathory
Chase The Devil—Lee "Scratch" Perry
Seconds—Human League
death to everyone—bonnie 'prince' billy
Fuck Off And Die—FUA
James Brown Is Still Alive—Holy Noise
Seek And Destroy—Metallica
slippin' into darkness—war
It's best to be prepared.
Advanced walking
ABLE = Always Be Looking Everywhere
LAA = Locate Assess Avoid
WAIT = Walking Always Isn't Texting
LAA = Locate Assess Avoid
WAIT = Walking Always Isn't Texting
Friday, February 04, 2011
And now, for a competing view
Egypt Upheaval. Tunisia and Yemen Too? from The John Birch Society on Vimeo.
Oh, John Birch Society, don't ever change. You crazy, but don't ever change.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Oh, EDD and the language of permissive bureaucracy
So, I mailed my unemployment claim late and got a weird threatening letter. I had to have a telephone interview today between noon and five (which happened just now, about twenty to five) in order to clear it up.
I know that I mailed it late, in part because I thought that I was going to get a job. After that, it just got lost in the shuffle. But as to the exact date? I have no idea, honestly. Couple weeks ago. Who knows?
The woman on the phone for EDD started out by giving me parameters, saying that if it was mailed before the 22nd, everything was fine. If not, she was going to have to ask me some questions that may result in my losing my unemployment benefits.
I don't like to commit myself to things like this, where there's a verifiable record and legal penalties for lying — blame it on growing up in a co-op. So, I tell her that I just don't remember.
But she has to get a date from me, that's her job.
So she does what good bureaucrats do: She used her tone to make sure that I knew that she didn't really care what the truth was, but that she had to follow through with her duties. She emphasized a couple of times that if I told her that I mailed it before the 22nd, nothing would happen and I'd get paid like normal. Es ging einen licht auf, I told her that in looking at the camera, I was pretty certain that it'd been it'd been mailed before the 22nd (and who knows, maybe it had. It certainly seems likely, given what I know). But she needed me to tell her the date.
"Uh… How about the 19th?"
"Exactly when I thought it was mailed, sir."
The system works!
I know that I mailed it late, in part because I thought that I was going to get a job. After that, it just got lost in the shuffle. But as to the exact date? I have no idea, honestly. Couple weeks ago. Who knows?
The woman on the phone for EDD started out by giving me parameters, saying that if it was mailed before the 22nd, everything was fine. If not, she was going to have to ask me some questions that may result in my losing my unemployment benefits.
I don't like to commit myself to things like this, where there's a verifiable record and legal penalties for lying — blame it on growing up in a co-op. So, I tell her that I just don't remember.
But she has to get a date from me, that's her job.
So she does what good bureaucrats do: She used her tone to make sure that I knew that she didn't really care what the truth was, but that she had to follow through with her duties. She emphasized a couple of times that if I told her that I mailed it before the 22nd, nothing would happen and I'd get paid like normal. Es ging einen licht auf, I told her that in looking at the camera, I was pretty certain that it'd been it'd been mailed before the 22nd (and who knows, maybe it had. It certainly seems likely, given what I know). But she needed me to tell her the date.
"Uh… How about the 19th?"
"Exactly when I thought it was mailed, sir."
The system works!
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Twosquare league results
Today Josh and Carson played six games, with Josh taking four to Carson's two. J 21, C 13; J 21, C 18; J 21, C 16. C 22, J 20; J 21, C 19; C 21, J 17.
Ball is notably oblong, as befits the idiosyncratic sport.
Ball is notably oblong, as befits the idiosyncratic sport.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Twosquare league results
Carson and Josh played six games and split the result at a match apiece. First match: J 21, C 19; C 21, J 18; C 21, J 19. Second match: J 21, C 12; C 26, J 24; J 21, C 16.
It was a day of ups and downs on the newly redrawn court, with both the highest and lowest scores ever recorded in league twosquare and even the closer games were often the scenes of long scoring streaks.
It was a day of ups and downs on the newly redrawn court, with both the highest and lowest scores ever recorded in league twosquare and even the closer games were often the scenes of long scoring streaks.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Dirty, dirty beardos — it's science!
Microbiological Laboratory Hazard of Bearded Men got sent to me by Christa today, and it's awesome (if vaguely dispiriting). Check those pictures!
"Bread! Freedom! Social justice!"
The Atlantic's translation of the protesters' manual
Al Jazeera has a live stream of the Egyptian protests, fascinating stuff.
An eyewitness account of the protests.
Esquire's prescient worry over Egypt's instability.
Finally, MoJo's great summary.
Twosquare league results
Carson beat Josh in two sets. The first: C 24, J 22; J 21, C 17; C 21, J 19. The second: J 21, C 19; C 21, J 19; C 22, J 20.
These were the first sets on a new court drawn by Carson. Josh blames performance dehancing drugs.
These were the first sets on a new court drawn by Carson. Josh blames performance dehancing drugs.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming
The story of a Jew, a Freethinker, France's campaign of banquets, transcendentalism and abolition all came together to create the hymn "Silent Night," coincidentally the first song ever played on radio.
I love discovering that things taken for granted in the tapestry of modern ritual have lefty origins.
I love discovering that things taken for granted in the tapestry of modern ritual have lefty origins.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
New old records
From Record Surplus on the west side, I picked up: Sugarloaf, "Spaceship Earth," a goofball earnest '70s rawk album full of stoner environmentalism and multi-part vocal harmonies featuring a future member of Disco-Tex and the Sex-o-lettes and Four Seasons; The Detroit Emeralds, "Let's Get Together," a cheesy Westbound disco-coke-funk LP with Dennis Coffey's guitars and fantastic breaks that redeem moribund choruses; Tomita, "Mind of the Universe — Live at Linz," the electro-classical noodlings of an egomaniac Japanese visionary, tragically oversold by the liner description (which included glowing lines about speaker systems suspended by helocopters) and just not crazy enough to respect the results.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The nation born at Versailles
In reading about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, both through Juan Cole and The Guardian, I keep thinking about the peace process after World War I, and how France's forcing of an extremely punitive settlement at Versailles basically crystalized German nationalism. Of course, it's not like Bismark did it differently when he beat the French.
But the Fatah/Palestinian Authority faction seems to have already made all the concessions they could without alienating the polity they nominally serve, and without a drastic reduction in American military aid, Israel has no need to consider making real concessions in return, because the occupation of Palestine is an acceptable status quo for them — especially given that any peace process, especially one that is so lopsided, won't likely reduce the amount of political violence from the Islamic nihilists in Hamas.
I realize it's a semi-fatuous comparison, but Israel reminds me the bullied kids often turn around to become bullies.
But the Fatah/Palestinian Authority faction seems to have already made all the concessions they could without alienating the polity they nominally serve, and without a drastic reduction in American military aid, Israel has no need to consider making real concessions in return, because the occupation of Palestine is an acceptable status quo for them — especially given that any peace process, especially one that is so lopsided, won't likely reduce the amount of political violence from the Islamic nihilists in Hamas.
I realize it's a semi-fatuous comparison, but Israel reminds me the bullied kids often turn around to become bullies.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Twosquare league results
On Saturday, Amy quickly took two games against Josh, 21-14 and 22-20, respectively, to win a best-of-three in two.
On Monday, Josh beat Carson in a nine game tournament, two matches to one. The matches were scored as follows:
C 21, J 15; J 21, C 19; J 24, C 22. Result: Josh
J 21, C 18; C 21, J 18; C 22, J 20. Result: Carson
C 21, J 19; J 24, C 22; J 21, C 19. Result: Josh
Carson honed his new super-move, as yet unnamed, in which the ball comes to a sudden and surprising stop. Josh continued good all-around play and emphasized fundamentals. For the course of the game, both wall and ceiling were "in."
A new court is required before future play. Carson was given access to the score documents, and may thereby play league games.
On Monday, Josh beat Carson in a nine game tournament, two matches to one. The matches were scored as follows:
C 21, J 15; J 21, C 19; J 24, C 22. Result: Josh
J 21, C 18; C 21, J 18; C 22, J 20. Result: Carson
C 21, J 19; J 24, C 22; J 21, C 19. Result: Josh
Carson honed his new super-move, as yet unnamed, in which the ball comes to a sudden and surprising stop. Josh continued good all-around play and emphasized fundamentals. For the course of the game, both wall and ceiling were "in."
A new court is required before future play. Carson was given access to the score documents, and may thereby play league games.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
I want to live like (not) Common People
I have mixed feelings about (Not) Common People, where I swiped the image above from.
On the one hand, I really like the dreamy, grainy saturated vibe of the photographers they feature. On the other hand, it all gets to feel really samey after just a few pages of scrolling through. It feels like any one photographer would have a broader range than what the blog hits, and as such, it probably does a little bit of a disservice to the photographers. It's also a bit indie-porny (NSFW sometimes).
The hatness of Depp
| Title of Work | Hattedness | IMDB score |
|---|---|---|
| Nightmare on Elm Street | 0 | 7.4 |
| Private Resort | 0 | 6.6 |
| Lady Blue | 0 | 6.2 |
| Slow Burn | 0 | 5.2 | Platoon | 1 | 8.2 |
| Hotel | 0 | 7.2 |
| Crybaby | 0 | 6.3 |
| 21 Jump Street | 0 | 7.2 |
| Edward Scissorhands | 1 | 8.0 |
| Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare | 0 | 4.6 |
| Arizona Dream | 1 | 7.3 |
| Benny and Joon | 1 | 6.9 |
| What's Eating Gilbert Grape | 0 | 7.8 |
| Ed Wood | 0 | 8.1 |
| Don Juan DeMarco | 1 | 6.6 |
| Dead Man | 1 | 7.7 |
| Nick of Time | 0 | 6.3 |
| Donnie Brasco | 1 | 7.8 |
| The Brave | 1 | 6.3 |
| Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas | 1 | 7.6 |
| Ninth Gate | 0 | 6.6 |
| Astronaut's Wife | 0 | 5.0 |
| Sleepy Hollow | 0 | 7.5 |
| The Man Who Cried | 1 | 6.0 |
| Before Night Falls | 1 | 7.2 |
| Chocolat | 0 | 7.3 |
| The Fast Show | 1 | 7.8 |
| Blow | 0 | 7.4 |
| From Hell | 0 | 6.9 |
| Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl | 1 | 8.0 |
| Once Upon a Time in Mexico | 1 | 6.2 |
| Secret Window | 1 | 6.5 |
| King of the Hill | 0 | 7.8 |
| And They Lived Happily Ever After | 0 | 6.6 |
| Finding Neverland | 0 | 7.9 |
| Libertine | 0 | 6.4 |
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | 1 | 7.1 |
| Corpse Bride | 0 | 7.5 |
| Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest | 1 | 7.3 |
| Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End | 1 | 7.0 |
| Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | 0 | 7.7 |
| Spongebob Squarepants | 0 | 7.9 |
| The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | 0 | 7.1 |
| Public Enemies | 1 | 7.1 |
| Alice in Wonderland | 1 | 6.6 |
| The Tourist | 0 | 6.0 |
When trying to decide whether or not to see The Tourist, a question was raised about whether Johnny Depp, a star widely reputed to wear a lot of hats, was hatted, implying that hattendness would be a reasonable predictor for quality of Johnny Depp movie.
Unfortunately, the data does not seem to support the conclusion that quality of Depp movie can be predicted by his hattedness: Both classic and tragic Depp movies appear in both categories.
Methodology:
Roles were selected from Depp's IMDB page, a binary determination of "significant hattedness" was made (with 1 representing "hatted" and 0 representing "hatless"), and the IMDB cumulative rating as of 1/23/11 was taken. Absolutely no further data processing was attempted. See: Opportunities for future study.
Possible sources of error:
Depp's IMDB page may or may not be correct. All Depp roles were included, even those categorically unlikely to include hats (if hats predicated on Depp's personal love of hats), e.g. Spongebob Squarepants. Degree of hattedness is debateable — for the purposes of this study, headbands counted, as did Depp's hair in Edward Scissorhands, but masks did not. IMDB scores are not an objective rating of film quality; there's no way that Crybaby is a worse movie than Pirates of the Carribean.
Opportunities for further study:
A more thorough survey of Depp's oeuvre may uncover more instances of hattedness. Likewise, a more thorough study may allow us to develop a more nuanced hattedness metric, dependent upon duration and significance of hat wearing, which could be broadly applied to develop a universal hat measurement. The proportion of hattedness within Depp's films could also be compared to the hattedness of other actors, ultimately resulting in predicting the amount that hattedness contributes to the overall quality of a film. The study of hattedness, or hattery, or capology, is young and has many opportunities. With more funding, this data set could also be run through all sorts of pretty graphs and plots. But someone would also have to show me how to do that.
Literature review: Why Does Johnny Depp Wear So Many Hats?
A Degree in Hats
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Strip club of the future
YayTM is a modified ATM that calls over passersby, plays them a song, and rewards their dancing with money. Then it uploads the video (sadly lacking sound) to the internet.
Obviously, it holds incredible possibilities for the tele-freaky.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Updated Twosquare Match Play
In the two league games, Amy beat Josh by scores of 21-16 and 21-19, respectively. She thereby also won best of three.
In non-league play, Josh beat Carson in two games, before it became too dark to play. There was some dispute about "carrying," and everyone agreed the squares were "wonky."
In non-league play, Josh beat Carson in two games, before it became too dark to play. There was some dispute about "carrying," and everyone agreed the squares were "wonky."
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Five "Best" artists
While I was back bullshitting with Chris in Ann Arbor, he asked me to name five artists that I thought were "the best." Not my favorite but "best," which allows me to vest my subjectivity in criteria rather than naked aesthetic judgment.
1) Pablo Picasso
We got onto this because I started talking about some floppy softcover retrospective on Picasso that I just took out of the library. Like every time I read about Picasso, I was struck by his tremendous range and productivity. Something like five canvasses a day when he moved back to Barcelona after his first trip to Paris. He's the name, right?
Picasso has two criteria that I think are important for deciding "the best," that of technical mastery (his earlier portraits are totally solid) and an experimentation that enlarges what art is.
Plus, he never got called an asshole.
2) Gerhard Richter
RIchter hits those same criteria for me, the enlargement of art in general along with technical skill. His Capitalist Realism ties in well with Warhol's commerical Pop, his wiper abstractions are lush and engrossing, and his blurred photo paintings are one of the few series from artists that make me more interested in the biography of the artist and of the subjects (in contrast to the flat iconography of Warhol's Elvis or Jackie Kennedy).
And, frankly, I just tend to like him. Nearly everything I've seen from him, I've enjoyed. That's not even something I can say about Picasso, though I suppose saying it at all shows just how quickly I let go of making any attempt of objective purity in "best" artists.
(I also love this article, right down to the little toes of the author's last name being Kuntzman, not Künstmann or Künstler.)
3) Edouard Manet
What brought me over to being a big Manet fan was seeing an exhibition of pen and ink drawings at the UMMA, which included a lithograph of Le Balloon, along with a handful of sketches that he did for the print. In seeing them up close, I was amazed at his sense of gestural line and the flip and effortless feel of these sketches that managed to sum up so many people in so few marks.
I love Manet's apparent slap-dashery, what with his overt brush work and his lack of transition colors. I like his referentialism and early Modern feeling and his sense of humor. He's a lot more narrow than Picasso or Richter, but he both innovates and demonstrates technique.
I also love to call him Edweird Mayonnaise when no one is listening.
4) Edward Weston
Even more than Adams or Stieglitz, Ed Weston nails Modernist photography. His nudes, the still lifes, the Point Lobo work, everything shot with an immaculate sense of tone and composition and printed brilliantly. I might like more Walker Evans images, but there's no way that I'd call Evans the "better" artist, he just can't compare with the incredible tone that Weston gets on EVERYTHING. He makes green peppers sexy.
He also has a huge range within his career, from early pictorialism through Modernist abstraction and fairly classical nudes; his influence is felt on pretty much every photographer worth seeing… It doesn't even matter that he was a tremendous dick to every woman around him his entire life, because his work covers that up.
5) Marcel Duchamp
Duchamp's here mostly because of the LACMA exhibit last year that featured a huge amount of Joseph Beuys' work. In a lot of ways, what I like about Beuys is there in Duchamp, the puns and gags as well as a real sense of not just moving art forward but moving humanity's ability to conceive forward. Which, of course, is the sort of lofty earnestness that Duchamp loved to skewer. I went with Duchamp mostly because I suspect that my bias toward Beuys is due to how recently I've seen a bunch of his work.
6) Michelangelo
Dude was the best painter, sculptor and architect in the world all at once. Pretty badass. Maybe shoulda put him higher, but I found his performances too pizza focused, and never found his sewer surfing credible.
1) Pablo Picasso
We got onto this because I started talking about some floppy softcover retrospective on Picasso that I just took out of the library. Like every time I read about Picasso, I was struck by his tremendous range and productivity. Something like five canvasses a day when he moved back to Barcelona after his first trip to Paris. He's the name, right?
Picasso has two criteria that I think are important for deciding "the best," that of technical mastery (his earlier portraits are totally solid) and an experimentation that enlarges what art is.
Plus, he never got called an asshole.
2) Gerhard Richter
RIchter hits those same criteria for me, the enlargement of art in general along with technical skill. His Capitalist Realism ties in well with Warhol's commerical Pop, his wiper abstractions are lush and engrossing, and his blurred photo paintings are one of the few series from artists that make me more interested in the biography of the artist and of the subjects (in contrast to the flat iconography of Warhol's Elvis or Jackie Kennedy).
And, frankly, I just tend to like him. Nearly everything I've seen from him, I've enjoyed. That's not even something I can say about Picasso, though I suppose saying it at all shows just how quickly I let go of making any attempt of objective purity in "best" artists.
(I also love this article, right down to the little toes of the author's last name being Kuntzman, not Künstmann or Künstler.)
3) Edouard Manet
What brought me over to being a big Manet fan was seeing an exhibition of pen and ink drawings at the UMMA, which included a lithograph of Le Balloon, along with a handful of sketches that he did for the print. In seeing them up close, I was amazed at his sense of gestural line and the flip and effortless feel of these sketches that managed to sum up so many people in so few marks.
I love Manet's apparent slap-dashery, what with his overt brush work and his lack of transition colors. I like his referentialism and early Modern feeling and his sense of humor. He's a lot more narrow than Picasso or Richter, but he both innovates and demonstrates technique.
I also love to call him Edweird Mayonnaise when no one is listening.
4) Edward Weston
Even more than Adams or Stieglitz, Ed Weston nails Modernist photography. His nudes, the still lifes, the Point Lobo work, everything shot with an immaculate sense of tone and composition and printed brilliantly. I might like more Walker Evans images, but there's no way that I'd call Evans the "better" artist, he just can't compare with the incredible tone that Weston gets on EVERYTHING. He makes green peppers sexy.
He also has a huge range within his career, from early pictorialism through Modernist abstraction and fairly classical nudes; his influence is felt on pretty much every photographer worth seeing… It doesn't even matter that he was a tremendous dick to every woman around him his entire life, because his work covers that up.
5) Marcel Duchamp
Duchamp's here mostly because of the LACMA exhibit last year that featured a huge amount of Joseph Beuys' work. In a lot of ways, what I like about Beuys is there in Duchamp, the puns and gags as well as a real sense of not just moving art forward but moving humanity's ability to conceive forward. Which, of course, is the sort of lofty earnestness that Duchamp loved to skewer. I went with Duchamp mostly because I suspect that my bias toward Beuys is due to how recently I've seen a bunch of his work.
6) Michelangelo
Dude was the best painter, sculptor and architect in the world all at once. Pretty badass. Maybe shoulda put him higher, but I found his performances too pizza focused, and never found his sewer surfing credible.
In Chicago? Want to be a better (vegetarian) cook?
Chicago Vegetarian Catering, run by Dan Boucher (my ersatz brother-in-law) will teach you, or cook for you.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Trish Keenan mix
Care of The Arts Desk, and Sailormom, who tried to put it in a comment (but the terrible blogger engine ated it).
Rapidshare link.
Rapidshare link.
Friday, January 14, 2011
A stream for streaming Stream
My pal Drury's band Stream plays mellow, meditative music, mostly piano and drum.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Two perspectives on the Giffords shooting
Andrew Sullivan reminds us of the cultural climate in '63, and David Newart talks about eliminationist rhetoric and the American right.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Detroit 442
Julian Cope, the last living rock 'em sock 'em journo, compiled a great mix of Detroit RAWK (as Big Daddy P might bellow on the Riff).
It's full of great sides, with a lot of stuff that I remember getting to play around with when I was working with the CousinsVinyl.com guys, like a couple of the Terry Knight sides that are surprisingly awesome given what a tepid catalog the dude has, and there were some new-to-me gems, like the Mynah Birds (a Rick James/Neil Young collabo that sounds mythic). My tastes for Michigan music are a little more eclectic than this sampler, but props to Cope for keeping it tight. It's also a handy reminder for the fuzzmonauts out there as to what Detroit rock used to sound like (just try to listen to Pas/Cal after a diet of this stuff).
My ongoing hope is to one day track down enough of the late 70s/early 80s 45s to make a real No Detroit comp, with The State, Laughing Hyenas, Destroy All Monsters, etc. on it. Oh, and Was (Not Was) from back when they brought the weird funk… But now that Art Lyzak just moved to LA, maybe I should content myself with trying to force him to reissue the Mutants discog…
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
You know, the Internet used to be good for something.
I was watching the Simpsons with my girlfriend, and I had a question about what the English-speaking soap plant employee's t-shirt said. It said, "Champions of Winning Superb!, but I had to scroll past nearly ten bootleg t-shirt results on google before I got there.
Can't we all just have courier text pages? These days, the kids with their .swf and their pudding pops, doh.
Can't we all just have courier text pages? These days, the kids with their .swf and their pudding pops, doh.
Friday, December 31, 2010
In search of the proto-hipster
Back in the June of '59, Mad Magazine nailed the habits of hipsters more than a half century ago. Magic Carpet Burn scanned it.
The menu is particularly funny. Sweet potato fries! What will they come up with next?
Monday, December 27, 2010
Top Ten Gallery Blag Tips
An article I wrote (well, really, a top ten list of snarky half-advice) is up at FreeStuffin.com.
Click through so it looks like I'm popular!
Click through so it looks like I'm popular!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Alter Native
My pal Colin and his buddies have a podcast. Expect (and receive) lots of Pearl Jam. But it's pretty good.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Peanut butter in my chocolate
Wavvment's album Radical Summer for free. Fuzzy, blown out, noisy hum. Used to call it shoegaze, right? Then shoegaze got all pretty. Then they called it shitgaze, which is OK, I guess.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Botanists, get on this
A citrus tree where, if you let them keep going, the limes turn into lemons, the lemons turn into oranges and the oranges turn into grapefruits.
DO THIS FOR ME SCIENCE!
DO THIS FOR ME SCIENCE!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
John Boehner, Ooompa Loompa
Boehner's better known for his weeping these days, a trait that will no doubt assume metaphorical proportions in accounts of him after death, but something that's always struck me is just how amazingly fake his tan is.
I live in California now, but I come from the Midwest, specifically Ann Arbor, which might be the locus for fake tanning —a healthy population of East Coast girls whose exile to Michigan won't keep them from looking like Snooki means that you see plenty of orange-ringed Juicy Couture sweatshirts. And while Indiana's a smidge sunnier, there's no way that Boehner's getting his rays there (and even his proposed two-month winter vacation couldn't get him that orange). At least Rex Hamilton comes by his wallet face honestly.
Boehner denies that his tan is faked, saying that he's never used a product nor a tanning bed; he's just naturally so orange he could be sold by highway exits.
It's just weird to me that the Tea Party doesn't get all wound up about the ridiculous, pompous, fake-baked Republicans… If they were just anti-incumbent and anti-elitist, they'd have pitchforks out for this Oompa Loompa already.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Learn something!
Dahrendorf, The Modern Social Conflict, for free on googlebooks.
I'm only really digging this because I had to print my copy out from an online coursepack a couple years ago, and it was all skewed and everything because the prof was an adjunct so didn't have a grad student to do all his scanning.
I'm only really digging this because I had to print my copy out from an online coursepack a couple years ago, and it was all skewed and everything because the prof was an adjunct so didn't have a grad student to do all his scanning.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Pentax K10d User Manual
I went looking for the Pentax k10d user manual, and it was a pain in the ass to find — the official sites had some sort of error where I was only getting 18k of an (apparently) 5mb file, so I braved the weird Geocities-on-crack file hosters that I saw this file on. It had a 30 or so character numeric string for a file name, so I figured that I'd rename it, upload it to Mediafire, and share it here.
So, Pentax k10d user manual.
So, Pentax k10d user manual.
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