The video of Elvis Presley playing the 1956 open air concert in his home town of Tupelo in the green velvet shirt is mom supposedly been made for him has been aired over and over, but I’ve never seen one with the original audio. (Click here)
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
MY HATRED FOR LEAF-BLOWERS IS IMPLACABLE
I normally sleep between approximately 4am and noon. I always have, and don’t feel like arguing with anyone who thinks early rising is a virtue. Lately I have roused no less than three mornings each week between 7.30 and 8.00am by a piercing motorized metallic screaming like the sound of some cacophonous ensemble that Brian Eno might have devised had he developed a deep aversion to humanity. The cause of the noise is the massed leaf-blowers of guys who like to be called landscapers. The idiotic machines do nothing but blow the dead leaves of autumn off one property and onto the one next door. Rakes would be infinitely more efficient, but it seems the mechanization is everything. How all this goes on in a wretched economy and in what is a modest neighborhood of bungalows and three and four storey apartment buildings is a mystery. It is, however, driving me crazy. I need my sleep. So if you hear of a mass homicide of contract gardeners, you’ll know I’ve cracked.
(I would even seem to have green support. Seemingly each backpack engine pumps out as much smog-forming pollution as 80 cars, each driven 12,500 miles, according to a government air quality management agency in California. Click for facts.)
(I would even seem to have green support. Seemingly each backpack engine pumps out as much smog-forming pollution as 80 cars, each driven 12,500 miles, according to a government air quality management agency in California. Click for facts.)
HOW DARE THEY MEEP?
Our pal Joly sent the following, knowing it would provoke a response …
"MEEP!
Don't know what it means? Don't worry -- most people over the age of 22 don't either.
But the nonsense word -- which apparently started with the 1980s Muppet character Beaker -- is causing a lot of teeth-gnashing for adults at one Massachusetts high school. They have gone so far as to threaten suspension for students caught meeping.
But just what does it mean to "meep?" No one really seems to know -- even those who use it as part of their daily vocabulary. Bob Thompson, a pop culture professor at Syracuse University, said he first heard students meep about a year ago during a class screening of a television show. "Something happened and one of them said 'Meep,'" he said. "And then they all started doing it." The meeps, he said, came from all of the students in the class in rapid-fire succession. When he asked them what that meant, they said it didn't really mean anything. "It's almost like they look at you like it's a silly question," he said." (Click here for the rest of the non-story, but…)
The truth is that the word Meep was coined in 1969 by my old and dear friend and partner in crime, the late lamented Edward Barker. He was the creator of the cartoon alien species (with no arms) called The Largactalites whose one word vocabulary was the single word “meep”. They were named after the antipsychotic drug Largactil (Chlorpromazine) the UK brand name for what was sold in the US as Thorazine. The Largactalites ran in the underground paper IT, from 1970 to around 1973. I was also picked up by the national Sunday paper The Observer, but this raised profile brought the name to the notice of Smith Kline & French, the makers of Largactil, who threatened a lawsuit, and the name was changed to The Galactalites. Edward was finally fired when he turned in a strip that consisted of four frames with nothing but a blank, single-line horizon, with no characters and no dialogue. We all thought that was pretty damned Dadaist, but The Observer didn’t see it that way.
Don't know what it means? Don't worry -- most people over the age of 22 don't either.
But the nonsense word -- which apparently started with the 1980s Muppet character Beaker -- is causing a lot of teeth-gnashing for adults at one Massachusetts high school. They have gone so far as to threaten suspension for students caught meeping.
But just what does it mean to "meep?" No one really seems to know -- even those who use it as part of their daily vocabulary. Bob Thompson, a pop culture professor at Syracuse University, said he first heard students meep about a year ago during a class screening of a television show. "Something happened and one of them said 'Meep,'" he said. "And then they all started doing it." The meeps, he said, came from all of the students in the class in rapid-fire succession. When he asked them what that meant, they said it didn't really mean anything. "It's almost like they look at you like it's a silly question," he said." (Click here for the rest of the non-story, but…)
The truth is that the word Meep was coined in 1969 by my old and dear friend and partner in crime, the late lamented Edward Barker. He was the creator of the cartoon alien species (with no arms) called The Largactalites whose one word vocabulary was the single word “meep”. They were named after the antipsychotic drug Largactil (Chlorpromazine) the UK brand name for what was sold in the US as Thorazine. The Largactalites ran in the underground paper IT, from 1970 to around 1973. I was also picked up by the national Sunday paper The Observer, but this raised profile brought the name to the notice of Smith Kline & French, the makers of Largactil, who threatened a lawsuit, and the name was changed to The Galactalites. Edward was finally fired when he turned in a strip that consisted of four frames with nothing but a blank, single-line horizon, with no characters and no dialogue. We all thought that was pretty damned Dadaist, but The Observer didn’t see it that way.
You can guess the secret word.
APOCALYPSE WHEN?
I’ve can’t count the number of times I’ve seen the movie Apocalypse Now, and you can add 50% if to count Apocalypse Now Redux. Now MrMR has sent me what I guess you might call a fumetti graphic novel of the film. I'm not sure I like it, but the work by Eduardo Saboya is pretty amazing considering the hundreds of stills and acres of dialogue he’s used in its creation. Definitely worth clicking here to check it out.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
BRAZIL HACKED INTO DARKNESS?
Back in the formative days of the web, you heard lurid and grandiose tales of super-hackers – based in Albania or Uzbekistan, and working on old Red Army computers – who were poised to take out airports, hospitals, TV networks, entire banking systems, and generally hack us back to the stone age. Legend claimed that someone called The Black Avenger had shut down an entire hydroelectric project in Ethiopia. But none of the worst case scenarios ever materialized, and hacking turned out to be no more epic than identity theft and an occasional viral freakout. Until yesterday, that is, when the Brazilian power grid went out and the world and its uncle started screaming hacker. The Brazilian central government now blames the outage on bad weather but the world continues to wonder if maybe the Son of the Black Avenger is on the loose.
The secret word is Lurking
Click here for news story. Click for video.
The secret word is Lurking
Click here for news story. Click for video.
THE HUMAN PARASITE
Mother and Doctor from the Bangalore Film Society sent this and I’m posting it as is...
“The pilgrim stood in the great void of the seventh city, the city of the revelations, muttering prayers that announced the completion of his arduous journey and beseeching that he now, be swept away by he blinding light of truth and redemption. Nothing happened. Silence remained, as thick and impassive as the walls. Bent at the knees, the pilgrim collapsed. Snatches from his own life, memories of his long pilgrimage to the seventh city now convulsed and throbbed in the hollow of his body. The mind and the soul snapped and he howled. The silence and the walls echoed the scream, twisting it into a grotesque wail of agony and in the darkness of the void; he saw a vision of flesh and pain- a grotesque structure of countless flailing limbs, mouths and torsos. At the top were the heads- pig-like and mindless, mouths that knew only to consume with knowing any limits. At the bottom lay the diseased- the screaming and abscessed, the entrails. And in the middle, lay the torsos and the bellies, blind to ecstasy, beauty, agony, disgust, all human feeling and seeking only continuous sedation and numbing. The red furnace light of the vision tinged the walls and the pilgrim, fallen on the ground, recognized the sanctum sanctorum of the seventh city, the womb, l’originie du monde. Fear gripped him, a fear whose seeds lay in a sense of betrayal and later morphs into terror when the betrayal announces itself in the form of an unnatural and mutant monstrosity. There would be no redemption. The source itself had been parched, poisoned and forgotten by the prodigal offspring who in a delusion of misguided intelligence and hubris had turned itself into a parasite- the human parasite.”
- Ibn Al- Nahati, The Final Journals
- Ibn Al- Nahati, The Final Journals
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
GODDAMN IT, IS NO SPECIES SAFE?
Obviously Doc40 will do everything to spread the word about the threats to wolves, polar bears, tigers, grizzlies, and any other endangered species, but I am so tired and angry about the constant need to do it. What is wrong with the human race? Are we a fucking virus? And, if so, when will Gaia find a vaccine to eliminate us?
“Australia's koalas could be wiped out within 30 years unless urgent action is taken to halt a decline in population, according to researchers. They say development, climate change and bushfires have all combined to send the numbers of wild koalas plummeting. The Australian Koala Foundation said a recent survey showed the population could have dropped by more than half in the past six years. Many have been killed by the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia. Previous estimates put the number of koalas at more than 100,000 - but the latest calculations suggest there could now be as few as 43,000.
The foundation collected field data from 1,800 sites and 80,000 trees to calculate the numbers. In one area in northern Queensland estimated to have 20,000 koalas a decade ago, a team of eight people could not find a single animal in four days of searching.
The foundation said as well as problems caused by deforestation, hotter, drier conditions attributed to global warming had reduced the nutritional value of their staple food, eucalyptus leaves, leading to malnutrition. Koalas, which are confined to forests in Australia's east and south, are notoriously fussy about what types of the leaves they eat.” (Click here for more plus a video.)
The secret word is Cease
“Australia's koalas could be wiped out within 30 years unless urgent action is taken to halt a decline in population, according to researchers. They say development, climate change and bushfires have all combined to send the numbers of wild koalas plummeting. The Australian Koala Foundation said a recent survey showed the population could have dropped by more than half in the past six years. Many have been killed by the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia. Previous estimates put the number of koalas at more than 100,000 - but the latest calculations suggest there could now be as few as 43,000.
The foundation collected field data from 1,800 sites and 80,000 trees to calculate the numbers. In one area in northern Queensland estimated to have 20,000 koalas a decade ago, a team of eight people could not find a single animal in four days of searching.
The foundation said as well as problems caused by deforestation, hotter, drier conditions attributed to global warming had reduced the nutritional value of their staple food, eucalyptus leaves, leading to malnutrition. Koalas, which are confined to forests in Australia's east and south, are notoriously fussy about what types of the leaves they eat.” (Click here for more plus a video.)
The secret word is Cease
SPACE OPERA
"If you're lost in the rain on Mongo and it's Eastertime too..." (Map supplied by MrMR.)
Monday, November 09, 2009
GET READY TO PARTY
Did somebody say a riot of their own? Now they have a party of their own. And maybe it spells the beginning of the end for the GOP. Early this year, I hoped/predicted that extreme right of the Republican party would fragment into what I laughing called the Raving Looney Shotgun Hillbilly Jesus Party. And now, so help me, it’s actually happened. According to the website Politico, “A Florida conservative has registered an official "Tea Party" with the office of the Secretary of State, and is promising to run candidates against Republicans and Democrats in state and national races. ‘The current system has become mired in the sludge of special interest money that seeks to control the leadership of both parties. It’s time for real change,” says Orlando lawyer Frederic O’Neal, the new party's chairman, who couldn't be reached immediately by phone. A spokeswoman for the Florida Secretary of State, Jennifer Davis, said the party had registered in August, and that its qualified candidates will appear on the ballot in the state.”
The secret word is Jubilant
The secret word is Jubilant
THE FLUGELRAD IS BACK
Regular readers will know my deep fascination with Nazi flying saucers – especially the famed Flugelrad – and how that affection came to fictional fruition in Underland, the last book of the Renquist Trilogy (big hint-buy the book.) Thus, when I discover this picture of a confrontation between Soviet Kalinin K-7 (that never actually worked) and a possibly Vril powered Nazi saucer (that may never have existed) I was very pleased. Except I couldn’t find the source, but will keep you all posted.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
ANOTHER DECADENT SUNDAY
"I've tried to escape from this planet on a number of occasions."
"No shit."
"Each time the aliens caught me and brought me back."
As the woman talked, apparently without end or continuity, the man drew dreamily on the long ornate ivory and hardwood opium pipe, with its carved gods and dragons, and brass mouthpiece. "Motherfuckers those aliens. I hope you avoided the anal probe."
She didn't appear to hear him. On the other hand, the man may not have actually spoken, only fantasized that he did. She frowned. "I also escaped from the nuns. A number of times. But they always caught me too."
The man shook his head as if to clear it. He had totally lost the thread. "Nuns?"
The woman gestured with stoned impatience. "I was raised by nuns in a Catholic orphanage of great barbarism. The benefits were few and the penalties severe. They administered enemas for our health and cruelly whipped us for the most minor infraction. I'm not sure which was worse, the nozzle or the cane."
The man didn’t feel he was obliged to say anything. He merely contemplated the opiate enhancement of the images the woman was creating.
"Those nuns..." She shook her head in search of a word strong enough to express her contempt. Her English was poor and her vocabulary small. "...those bitches in black and white were enjoying themselves. I used to wonder what they did when we couldn't see them."
GRATUITOUS JANE BIRKIN
What else for a decadent Sunday? And click here if you really have a need to listen to her whisper her way through four minutes of the dubious “Je t'aime... moi non plus.”
Saturday, November 07, 2009
JOBLESS TOP 10%
Not much fun for the weekend, but here at Doc40, we take a great deal of notice of the unemployment figures, if for no other reason that a lot of our friends are writers and precious few are working. (Thank heavens I have a book to do.) Thus the news evoked nothing but dismay. The unemployment rate has topped 10% -- the first time since 1983. Per the AP, "The Labor Department says the economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October, less than the downwardly revised 219,000 lost in September." But the unemployment rate increased, from 9.8% in Sept. to 10.2% in Oct. (And that not counting those who can’t claim benefits.) I can only agree with Paul Krugman when he argues the White House hasn't been aggressive enough. "President Obama came into office with a strong mandate and proclaimed the need to take bold action on the economy. His actual actions, however, were cautious rather than bold. They were enough to pull the economy back from the brink, but not enough to bring unemployment down." The sun ain’t yellow, it’s chicken.
The secret word is Dole
The secret word is Dole
GOING POSTAL
John Ratzenberger was the guy who once played the mailman on Cheers. Now he’s a cohort of the ludicrous Michele Bachmann. At her absurd rally in Washington a couple of days ago, he told the crowd that the health care bill advocates were “Woodstock Democrats” like Abbie Hoffman and Wavy Gravy. Gail Collins in The New York Times commented – “The crowd seemed on the old side, but is it really possible that any of them are still worrying about Abbie Hoffman? That any of them knew who Wavy Gravy is? Wasn’t his main claim to fame giving out free granola? Is this a problem we need to deal with at the present moment?” (Story supplied by Munz.)
OUR WHACKY AUNT AYN
Aunt Ayn reacts badly to a quote in The New York Times by Adam Kirsch that reads. “The plotting and characterization in her books may be vulgar and unbelievable, just as one would expect from the middling Hollywood screenwriter she once was.”
Friday, November 06, 2009
FROM BLOCKBUSTER TO OBSCURE
Yesterday my cool was impugned because I expressed mild anticipation regarding John Cameron’s Avatar. So here’s a movie that going to be real hard to find. It’s supposedly a true story, so I can even raise some trepidation that the guys pictured above might be the founders of “the next great American religion.” Don’t we have enough goddamned religions already? There’s a showing of The Object on Sunday at The Cinefamily on Fairfax here in Hollywood, but, otherwise, you’re on your own.
“Between jobs and at loose ends in his hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky, part-time tile layer Todd Walker headed to Nashville for a job, left home late, blew off the job, wandered through a Goodwill store, and for sixty-nine cents purchased an object that he feels is an Old Testament oracle with which he can communicate with God. The Object traces his life-changing experience with what he calls "God's computer chip." Todd and his brothers-in-law, Dale and David, see visions when peering into their find. Sharing their experiences with other seekers, they build a following of believers, ranging from a former "Jeopardy!" champion to a wrestling preacher. This documentary may be the first ever to chronicle the founding of, as one religious professor put it, the next great American religion. Come along on this riotous, often unbelievable, but always thought-provoking spiritual quest. The Object takes us to the intersection where Borat meets Flannery O'Connor, except this is for real!” Click here for a trailer
The secret word is Relic
“Between jobs and at loose ends in his hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky, part-time tile layer Todd Walker headed to Nashville for a job, left home late, blew off the job, wandered through a Goodwill store, and for sixty-nine cents purchased an object that he feels is an Old Testament oracle with which he can communicate with God. The Object traces his life-changing experience with what he calls "God's computer chip." Todd and his brothers-in-law, Dale and David, see visions when peering into their find. Sharing their experiences with other seekers, they build a following of believers, ranging from a former "Jeopardy!" champion to a wrestling preacher. This documentary may be the first ever to chronicle the founding of, as one religious professor put it, the next great American religion. Come along on this riotous, often unbelievable, but always thought-provoking spiritual quest. The Object takes us to the intersection where Borat meets Flannery O'Connor, except this is for real!” Click here for a trailer
The secret word is Relic
FANCY PAGEANT GLOATIN’
As you all may have probably realised by now, I have zero tolerance for dumb-as-a-post beauty queens who figure it’s a double-plus, super-ace celeb-making career move to sashay their cute bikini asses into extremist homophobe bigot-rousing. Thus, when the execrable Carrie Prejean’s political career was fatally impaled by a recently surfaced, commercial-porn, masturbation-for-camera video, with Prejean as the solo performer, I couldn’t restrain grinning like a gloating fool. And why not, huh? One day Palin will also fall. Click here for the less salacious but more detailed mainstream account of Prejean’s descent from grace.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
AVATAR? (No thanks, I’m trying to give them up.)
Up to now I’ve been ignoring it, but, as someone who has the TV perpetually mumbling on the other side of the room, I have now watched a few commercials for James Cameron’s upcoming megaflick Avatar, and they were sufficiently compelling to send me to IMDb to watch the trailers. I don’t have any overflowing sympathy for corporate franchise movies that cost more than the GNP of multiple third world nations. On the other hand, it sure looks like something important. I detect ideas that were mooted in Aliens that seem to have been brought to advanced resolution. And is this a whole new generation of CGI I see before me? It’s been a while since the LOTR trilogy and I’d like to have a massive epic movie to make me an eleven-year old once again. I just hope it’s not a crushing disappointment. Click here for trailers.
OR WOULD YOU RATHER STAY IN A SPACE MOTEL?
Our pal Faux Smoke contributed this story about a planned orbital hotel. I guess smoking a joint in your room might be a problem, and you probably couldn’t order any hookers. (Click here for the whole story.)
MEANWHILE, IN THE REAL WORD
My mumbling TV just informed me that Wall Street heavies like Goldman Sachs and Citibank have all the N1H1 flu vaccine they need for their employees while regular folk stand in line because New York hospitals, clinics, and private doctors are suffering from major shortages and cannot immunize even all the at-risk patients. Click here for the whole fucking absurd story.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
DOLPHINS ARE EVEN SMARTER THAN WE SUSPECTED?
The days seem to be creating an order of their own. Yesterday it was psychdelics. Today it’s animals. Our homeboy Aeswiren sent us this story about revised estimates of dolphin IQ…
“At the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, Kelly the dolphin has built up quite a reputation. All the dolphins at the institute are trained to hold onto any litter that falls into their pools until they see a trainer, when they can trade the litter for fish. In this way, the dolphins help to keep their pools clean. Kelly has taken this task one step further. When people drop paper into the water she hides it under a rock at the bottom of the pool. The next time a trainer passes, she goes down to the rock and tears off a piece of paper to give to the trainer. After a fish reward, she goes back down, tears off another piece of paper, gets another fish, and so on. This behaviour is interesting because it shows that Kelly has a sense of the future and delays gratification. She has realised that a big piece of paper gets the same reward as a small piece and so delivers only small pieces to keep the extra food coming. She has, in effect, trained the humans.” (Click here for the whole story.)
The secrey word is Flipper
“At the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, Kelly the dolphin has built up quite a reputation. All the dolphins at the institute are trained to hold onto any litter that falls into their pools until they see a trainer, when they can trade the litter for fish. In this way, the dolphins help to keep their pools clean. Kelly has taken this task one step further. When people drop paper into the water she hides it under a rock at the bottom of the pool. The next time a trainer passes, she goes down to the rock and tears off a piece of paper to give to the trainer. After a fish reward, she goes back down, tears off another piece of paper, gets another fish, and so on. This behaviour is interesting because it shows that Kelly has a sense of the future and delays gratification. She has realised that a big piece of paper gets the same reward as a small piece and so delivers only small pieces to keep the extra food coming. She has, in effect, trained the humans.” (Click here for the whole story.)
The secrey word is Flipper
BUT NOW WE GOTTA SAVE THE PUPPIES
I received an email from the Humane Society US asking me to sign a petition demanding that the pet store chain Petland stop selling live animals. “Thousands of animals across the country are suffering in puppy mills each and every day. This inhumane treatment is unacceptable—and we need your help to put an end to it.” It may surprise many readers to learn that I come from a dog breedin’ family in which petshop pets were an anathema, being generally unwell, ill-nourished, and frequently very messed up in the head. I signed the petition. Click here to do the same.
SOMEBODY CALL PETA
I keep wondering if this image is Photoshopped or real. I suspect the former. I mean, I know the woman’s a dangerous ditz, but could she really be that stupid? (Comments in two words or less.)
And on the subject of Klondike Barbie…
“Yeah, I'm disappointed, too. I thought we were sweeping into power; I thought change meant Change. I believed all that talk about another First 100 Days, a la Roosevelt. Well, that didn't happen. .. That said, I do not forget that if the election had gone the other way, we'd right now have a barter economy and be at war with Honduras.” – Bill Maher
And on the subject of Klondike Barbie…
“Yeah, I'm disappointed, too. I thought we were sweeping into power; I thought change meant Change. I believed all that talk about another First 100 Days, a la Roosevelt. Well, that didn't happen. .. That said, I do not forget that if the election had gone the other way, we'd right now have a barter economy and be at war with Honduras.” – Bill Maher
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
FABULOUS NEWS!
The Japanese language version of my autobiography Give The Anarchist A Cigarette will be published in Japan on November 6th. It has been translated by the amazing Yukiko Akagawa. The psychedelic cover art is by Kojima, who also plays guitar with the band Tale Soup. (Click here for information in Japanese)
The secret word is Happy
The secret word is Happy
TRIPPING WAS GOOD FOR US?
Seems to be a day for the psychedelic. Our goodbuddy Arsydd sent us this story how all this acid we used to take might actually have been good for our mental and physical health, although maybe it’s illegality and general lack of overall quality control may have somewhat negated the benefits.
“A growing number of people are taking LSD and other psychedelic drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy to help them cope with a variety of conditions including anorexia nervosa, cluster headaches and chronic anxiety attacks. The emergence of a community that passes the drugs between users on the basis of friendship, support and need – with money rarely involved – comes amid a resurgence of research into the possible therapeutic benefits of psychedelics. This is leading to a growing optimism among those using the drugs that soon they may be able to obtain medicines based on psychedelics from their doctor, rather than risk jail for taking illicit drugs." (Click here for more.)
And while on the subject of acid, I have to register how it pisses me off that The Beatles 1967 anthem "All You Need Is Love" is now being used in a Blackberry commercial. Is this the work of Fab McCartney or the Michael Jackson estate? I was never a huge fan of the tune, but WTF?
“A growing number of people are taking LSD and other psychedelic drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy to help them cope with a variety of conditions including anorexia nervosa, cluster headaches and chronic anxiety attacks. The emergence of a community that passes the drugs between users on the basis of friendship, support and need – with money rarely involved – comes amid a resurgence of research into the possible therapeutic benefits of psychedelics. This is leading to a growing optimism among those using the drugs that soon they may be able to obtain medicines based on psychedelics from their doctor, rather than risk jail for taking illicit drugs." (Click here for more.)
And while on the subject of acid, I have to register how it pisses me off that The Beatles 1967 anthem "All You Need Is Love" is now being used in a Blackberry commercial. Is this the work of Fab McCartney or the Michael Jackson estate? I was never a huge fan of the tune, but WTF?
Monday, November 02, 2009
THUGLIFE OF THE WARLORDS
Another rant from the every-forceful Chris Hedges…
“The warlords we champion in Afghanistan are as venal, as opposed to the rights of women and basic democratic freedoms, and as heavily involved in opium trafficking as the Taliban. The moral lines we draw between us and our adversaries are fictional. The uplifting narratives used to justify the war in Afghanistan are pathetic attempts to redeem acts of senseless brutality. War cannot be waged to instill any virtue, including democracy or the liberation of women. War always empowers those who have a penchant for violence and access to weapons. War turns the moral order upside down and abolishes all discussions of human rights. War banishes the just and the decent to the margins of society. And the weapons of war do not separate the innocent and the damned. An aerial drone is our version of an improvised explosive device. An iron fragmentation bomb is our answer to a suicide bomb. A burst from a belt-fed machine.” (Click here for the whole thing.)
The secret word is Poppy
“The warlords we champion in Afghanistan are as venal, as opposed to the rights of women and basic democratic freedoms, and as heavily involved in opium trafficking as the Taliban. The moral lines we draw between us and our adversaries are fictional. The uplifting narratives used to justify the war in Afghanistan are pathetic attempts to redeem acts of senseless brutality. War cannot be waged to instill any virtue, including democracy or the liberation of women. War always empowers those who have a penchant for violence and access to weapons. War turns the moral order upside down and abolishes all discussions of human rights. War banishes the just and the decent to the margins of society. And the weapons of war do not separate the innocent and the damned. An aerial drone is our version of an improvised explosive device. An iron fragmentation bomb is our answer to a suicide bomb. A burst from a belt-fed machine.” (Click here for the whole thing.)
The secret word is Poppy
AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY
The following email arrived from our pal Thomas Paine...
"Christopher J. Christie - a former US Attorney in George W. Bush's administration who is running as the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey in Tuesday's very close election race - has been exposed as a copyright thief - stealing a Monty Python skit for an election commercial. Compounding his theft - after his piracy was exposed in an exclusive news story on Huffington Post - his campaign tried to cover up the crime by scrubbing his campaign website and YouTube. Unfortunately for him - the illicit commercial was captured as evidence for a possible lawsuit. The full story - the pirated TV ad that he tried to bury - and responses from members of Monty Python can all be seen here" (Now click here)
Sunday, November 01, 2009
HALLOWEEN AFTERMATH
The glut of horror movies on my TV once again started me reflecting on how shock entertainment can only escalate. The first horror flicks I ever saw were Hammer classics in which Christopher Lee’s bloodshot vampire eyes were enough to set the joint jumping. Now it takes a woman diving into a tub of syringes, and I can only wonder whither we go from there? Richard Holmes in his book The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, illustrates how far we have come since Mary Shelley wrote the novel Frankenstein in the company of Lord Byron and her poet husband.
"On the bleak Mer de Glace glacier in the French Alps, the Creature appeals to his creator [Dr.] Frankenstein for sympathy, and for love. 'I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator would not call it murder, if you could precipitate me into one of those ice-rifts ... Oh! My creator, make me happy! Let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit! Let me see that I excite the sympathy of one existing thing. Do not deny me my request!'… "His terrible corrosive and destructive solitude becomes the central theme of the second part of Mary Shelley's novel. Goaded by his misery, the Creature kills and destroys. Yet he also tries to take stock of his own violent actions and contradictory emotions. He concludes that his one hope of happiness lies in sexual companionship. The scene on the Mer de Glace in which he begs Frankenstein to create a wife for him is central to his search for human identity and happiness. The clear implication is that a fully human 'soul' can only be created through friendship and love."
AND FOR A HALLOWEEN HANGOVER HERE’S JERRY LEE…
What better way to follow a drunken spook fest than by clicking here for nine minutes of a magnificently drunken Jerry Lee Lewis? (This is lifted from the splendid Houndblog where they’re running a special on rock-drunk videos.)
The secret word is Shaking
Saturday, October 31, 2009
ALL HALLOWS’ EVE AND ZOMBIE STRIPPERS
I have always been somewhat ambivalent regarding Halloween and all the nonsense about demons and pumpkins, hell houses, and it being the celebration of Satan. The event seems – to one who looks like that all the year round – to be a very serious case of amateur night on any level you care to chose. It ain’t the Day of the Dead by any manner of means, and no Beltran fires burn. All too often it appears little more than an excuse for the squares to pretend they aren’t. Being raised in England also didn’t help. When I was a kid, October 30th meant being in full anticipatory mode for Guy Fawkes and November 5th -- Bonfire Night – when we got to run riot with legal fireworks and pyromania became an artform. The day found me planning later mayhem, not trolling the streets in a plastic costume begging for Milky Ways.
I used to enjoy Halloween more when I lived in Lower Manhattan, if for no other reason that the costumes on Christopher Street were outrageous in the extreme, and you could see nothing like them this side of Venus. The Boys’ Town parade here in LA just can’t compare, and it also turns the my neighborhood into one vast, cop-controlled parking lot which is damned irritating. My other problem – aside from ever cable channel being jammed with Saw movies that I really dislike – is that Halloween is a so firmly attached to Christianity and candy that it simply cannot qualify as the kind good hearty pagan death-rock Saturnalia for which I would have every sympathy.
But click here anyway for the clip from Zombie Strippers.
I used to enjoy Halloween more when I lived in Lower Manhattan, if for no other reason that the costumes on Christopher Street were outrageous in the extreme, and you could see nothing like them this side of Venus. The Boys’ Town parade here in LA just can’t compare, and it also turns the my neighborhood into one vast, cop-controlled parking lot which is damned irritating. My other problem – aside from ever cable channel being jammed with Saw movies that I really dislike – is that Halloween is a so firmly attached to Christianity and candy that it simply cannot qualify as the kind good hearty pagan death-rock Saturnalia for which I would have every sympathy.
But click here anyway for the clip from Zombie Strippers.
The secret word is Boo!
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