Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Read this. It's brilliant!

Stephen Fry's letter to his 16-year-old self @ The Guardian



(Via { feuilleton }.)

Your assignment...

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Learn this by Friday
(or, better still, find a decent English translation!)



L'Internationale



Debout les damnés de la terre

Debout les forçats de la faim

La raison tonne en son cratère

C'est l'éruption de la fin

Du passe faisons table rase

Foules, esclaves, debout, debout

Le monde va changer de base

Nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout



Chorus

C'est la lutte finale

Groupons-nous, et demain (bis)

L'Internationale

Sera le genre humain




Il n'est pas de sauveurs suprêmes

Ni Dieu, ni César, ni tribun

Producteurs, sauvons-nous nous-mêmes

Décrétons le salut commun

Pour que le voleur rende gorge

Pour tirer l'esprit du cachot

Soufflons nous-mêmes notre forge

Battons le fer quand il est chaud



Chorus



L'état comprime et la loi triche

L'impôt saigne le malheureux

Nul devoir ne s'impose au riche

Le droit du pauvre est un mot creux

C'est assez, languir en tutelle

L'égalité veut d'autres lois

Pas de droits sans devoirs dit-elle

Egaux, pas de devoirs sans droits



Chorus



Hideux dans leur apothéose

Les rois de la mine et du rail

Ont-ils jamais fait autre chose

Que dévaliser le travail

Dans les coffres-forts de la bande

Ce qu'il a crée s'est fondu

En décrétant qu'on le lui rende

Le peuple ne veut que son dû.



Chorus



Les rois nous saoulaient de fumées

Paix entre nous, guerre aux tyrans

Appliquons la grève aux armées

Crosse en l'air, et rompons les rangs

S'ils s'obstinent, ces cannibales

A faire de nous des héros

Ils sauront bientôt que nos balles

Sont pour nos propres généraux



Chorus



Ouvriers, paysans, nous sommes

Le grand parti des travailleurs

La terre n'appartient qu'aux hommes

L'oisif ira loger ailleurs

Combien, de nos chairs se repaissent

Mais si les corbeaux, les vautours

Un de ces matins disparaissent

Le soleil brillera toujours.

Ted Shawn (1891-1972)

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pe-jota (click above) has just posted a marvelous pictorial biography of Ted Shawn. Including this picture which I've always loved but was never able to identify, until now:

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The Ted Shawn Ensemble

Nor did I know he was a graduate of the University of Denver. Nice to know then, that he "demanded that (his dancers) be gentlemen in public, comport themselves with dignity, and never, ever show one touch of effeminacy."

(Via Bajo el Signo de Libra.)

Saturday, April 25, 2009

I am-too romantic!

Music video by Matt Alber performing End of the World
(C) 2008 Silver Label, a division of Tommy Boy Entertainment, LLC

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Tabloid Culture

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WHO WAS BEHIND THE HIT?



Swedish tabloids are in a ferment over a startling gun attack in broad daylight. Speculation is rife over who was behind the shooting on Wednesday of a Swedish aristocrat and his girlfriend in Stockholm’s Old Town.


The man, a Swedish Count, is still unconscious after the shooting although in no immediate danger. His girlfriend was also wounded but managed to call the police and also name someone she believed to be involved.


Great secrecy surrounds this case, but it is known that the man initially held is a prominent figure in Sweden’s media advertising circles. He was, however, released without chanrge after presenting a solid alibi.


Now tabloid Aftonbladet reports that the ex-wife of the Count has been arrested on suspicion of arranging the murder attempt.


The heady mix of media connections, links to the nobility and violent crime involved in this case mean that it will continue to attract strong tabloid attention in Sweden and abroad for some time.
"



(Via Sveriges Radio International - English -- Engelska.)


Update from Francis Strand: "As my friend the policeman says, Stockholm's Old Town seems to be reverting back to the 18th century: Count Carl Piper and his pregnant girlfriend were shot in the schoolyard of the Great Church School during the late afternoon on Tuesday. It turns out that the prime suspect is the former Countess, Carl Piper's ex-wife. It's downright operatic." (23 Apr 22:21)

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Bjørn Wiinblad

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Danish painter, designer and artist in ceramics, silver, bronze, textiles, and graphics, was one of my mother, Kay's favorites. This poster was hanging in her room on Martinez Lane in Santa Fe for as long as I can remember. It was difficult to find on the web, and I had to do some tricky digital editing to bring it back to life. But now that I see it again, it makes me just as happy as it always did.

There were a number of posters in this series. But I always think of it's companion as this one:

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and that's the artist, himself, beside it. He's a part of
her generation: 20 September 1918 - 8 June 2006.

Monday, April 20, 2009

RIP

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15 November 1930, Shanghai – 19 April 2009, London

My Generation

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Robert La Tourneaux (1945–1986) was an American actor best known for his role of Cowboy, the good-natured but dim hustler hired as a birthday present for a gay man, in the original Off-Broadway production and 1970 film version of The Boys in the Band. (But) La Tourneaux’s career stalled after the film version of The Boys in the Band was released.

The openly gay La Tourneaux blamed being typecast as a gay hustler for his inability to receive worthwhile roles. (Finally) in 1978, (he) starred in a one-man cabaret act at the Ramrod, a New York City theater showing gay pornography films. In 1983, he was arrested for assault and was incarcerated at the Rikers Island prison.

During this time period, (he) contracted AIDS. (There was) news coverage when he sought legal (means) to prevent being evicted from his apartment (after) his landlord objected to the presence of a live-in caregiver. He won the court case, but died on June 3, 1986.

Summarized from Wikipedia
Thanks to The Queer Online Database

Consider...

Is There Any Wonder Some People Snap Like in Binghamton and at Columbine? | AlterNet:

"In a country that ascribes hubristic 'exceptionalism' to itself and berates self-analysis as 'hating America,' we seek absolution via scapegoat..."


"When a winner-take-all economy tortures society, should we be shocked that a few lunatics go over the edge?"

By David Sirota, Creators Syndicate.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Really?

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I have no idea where this is, but I couldn't resist.
I knew they all had to go somewhere!

HUGOdesktop

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I'm inordinately pleased with the pseudo-bulletin board arrangements I can make with PhotoDesktop 2 - it's endless hours of wasted time. I never really paid much attention to the desktop before - usually hidden behind scores of open applications. But now I methodically hide unused windows just so I can revel in my latest assemblage. The current incarnation includes: Pavel Thelitchev, Lincoln Kirstein, Dale Lazarov, Hugo circa 1950, and a number of unidentified clips. The weather indicator in the corner is by the same Dutch software author Alwin Troost, and the list on the right is JournalX by Carsten Schäfer, where I dump text clippings as I find them on the web - it's invaluable. Overall, it gives the impression of a methodical mind which can, almost, persuade me it's true.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Haruki Murakami 村上春樹

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Books in English


1987 Hear the Wind Sing
1985 Pinball
1989 A Wild Sheep Chase ✓
1991 Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
1993 (The Elephant Vanishes)
2000 Norwegian Wood
2000 (after the quake) ✓
1994 Dance Dance Dance
2000 South of the Border, West of the Sun
1997 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
2001 Sputnik Sweetheart ✓
2005 Kafka on the Shore ✓
2006 (Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman) ✓
2007 After Dark


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Exhaustive bio/bibliographic information can be found at Wikipedia,
including links to numerous fan and promo sites.

"Without Struggle, There Is Nothing"

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Speaking to Amy Goodman from his Pennsylvania jail cell, Abu-Jamal calls the recent Supreme Court decision to deny his appeal to overturn his conviction “Kafkaesque.” He goes on to say, “The fight goes on…without struggle, there is no progress…without struggle, there’s nothing.” To hear the interview, click the poster.

Poster by Josh MacPhee, courtesy of Just Seeds.

Just because...

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(Amy Camus?)

Monday, April 13, 2009

Innocent

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An interesting conjunction of Velásquez, Bacon, and Kundera at pe-jota's Bajo el Signo de Libra.

The Last Word...

Mike Whitney: "So, why is Geithner being kept on at Treasury when his plan has already been thoroughly discredited and his only goal is to bailout the banks through underhanded means? 

That question was best answered by the former chief economist of the IMF, Simon Johnson, in an article which appeared in The Atlantic Monthly:

'The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming... is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government - a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF's staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation; recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression we're running out of time.'  (The Atlantic Monthly, May 2009, by Simon Johnson)

The banks have a stranglehold on the political process. Many of their foot soldiers now occupy the highest offices in government. It's up to people like Elizabeth Warren to draw attention to the silent coup that has taken place and do whatever needs to be done to purge the moneylenders from the seat of power and restore representative government. It's a tall order and time is running out.



* Elizabeth Warren's 8 minute video summary of the COP report


(underlines mine)

(Via Is Geithner's Game Up? Damning Report Calls BS on His Smoke-and-Mirrors Bank Rescue Plan | AlterNet / Counterpunch.)

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Amazon DeGays Itself


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For more information, go here.
(for updates on the situation check { feuilleton }, 090413HH)

What's happening:

THEY'RE STRIP-MINING THE PLANET

of all resources, material and financial



Because:

1) It's the End-Times, anyway, OR

2) If not, their ("elite")* progeny



WILL SURVIVE THE CATACLYSM

To rule again.



At least that's the most sense I can make of it. But note that it all pivots on one's interpretation of "elite" and "them," with a kind of off-hand nod towards Religion and the assumption that 'they' must be the Chosen Few (since, obviously, they have more than anybody else). Bear in mind, this is not the first time the greedy and power-drunk have run amok and, one assumes, it won't be the last. I'm speaking as the scion of a earlier generation of despots, so I have some little authority in this matter. My conclusion is it's just as silly, mean-spirited and vicious as it seems. Nothing ever works according to our contrivances, especially those of a pampered power elite. All they'll do is make a bigger mess for the rest of us to clean up.

Then, of course, there's the socio-mechanistic argument that this is the way capitalism has always functioned since the first Venetian bankers began to charge interest. Only now it has grown so monstrously successful that it seems to have metastasized into a kind of rapacious creature, a great unstoppable eating machine. Either way, men in their greed, have set in motion things which have grown too big to be sustained. Prepare for the shock waves as beasts 'too big to fail' come crashing to Earth, victims of their own appitites. Then they'll eat each other, each convinced he'll be the last and greatest monster of them all. Well, we'll see...

*(At first I wrote "their (WASP) progeny" but then changed it to "elite." Both are equally repellant concepts and pseudo-words. Both are equally descriptive of what I was trying to say, from somewhat different angles. 'WASP' (white, anglo-saxon, protestant) seems to have fallen out of journalistic favor in these more confusing times. "Elite," which was stolen from the French to grace laundries and pastry-shops, is now on it's third incarnation (thanks to C. Wright Mills) as the American equivalent of "upper class" (since the whole subject of class is taboo in the United States; otherwise we might have to recognize it). In general I was trying to encapsulate a sense of 'pop-culture racist gentry,' which is a tacit assumption in all these discussions. HH 10:37am)

We've heard this before...

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Hey, they were just following orders.
CIA Director Leon E. Panetta

Thanks, Uncle Bill

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After one look at this planet

any visitor from outer space would say,

"I WANT TO SEE THE MANAGER."


- William S. Burroughs

and thanks to Slava Mogutin

Saturday, April 11, 2009

New World Order

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from Dissident Voice by Stephen Lendman

This article addresses Washington’s financial coup d’etat in the context of discussing Michael Hudson’s important, very lengthy and detailed April 5 Global Research.ca one titled: The Financial War Against Iceland - Being defeated by debt is as deadly as outright military warfare....



(Catherine Austin Fitts, Federal Housing Commissioner under GHW Bush), in her latest quarterly review, predicts that “Obama will do more to help bankers achieve centralized control and one world government than any (previous) US politician.” In less than three months in office, he’s shown bankers they can count on him to the tune of trillions of dollars, further open-ended checkbook amounts on request, and global “diplomatic” pressure on targeted nations to surrender. It’s (time for) tiny Iceland, and other over-indebted nations to demand “no more.” Hopefully enough of them have backbone to do it.

Emphasis mine.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Nota bene

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

see also: Ralph Nader, The Road to Corporate Fascism

Hey, America,

Let me explain something to you:



Once you've had a coup d'etat;


Electing a pretty spokesperson

With a catchy slogan and nice manners,

Doesn't really change anything!


Even if it was a "landslide,"

Even if he's sort-of black and

has a sort-of Muslim name.


Underneath it's all the same:

Democrat, Republican...

Corporate Lackey!

flim·flam

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Pronunciation:
\ˈflim-ˌflam\

Function:
noun

Etymology:
perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse flim mockery

Date:
circa 1570


1 : deceptive nonsense

2 : deception , fraud



(Via Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.)



From Wikipedia: A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, hustle, scam, scheme, or swindle) is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence.



The first known usage of the term "confidence man" in English was in 1849; it was used by American press during the United States trial of William Thompson. Thompson chatted with strangers until he asked if they had the confidence to lend him their watches, whereupon he would walk off with the watch; he was captured when a victim recognized him on the street.[1]


The term 'scam' is often used to describe the 'confidence trick' employed by a 'confidence man'. The origin of this word is thought to come from the Irish phrase 'S cam é (pron. s'cam ae) meaning 'it is a trick' [2]

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Quote of the day

"Securitization is dead, and yet, Bernanke and Geithner want to shovel another $2 trillion into this black hole hoping to lure investors back to the market. Why? Because Wall Street financiers and bank mandarins see securitization as an efficient model that can be exported into any market around the world. The repackaging of debt into complex instruments, that can be stealthily created in off balance sheet operations requiring smaller and smaller slices of capital, is the essential flimflam product that Wall Street intends to use to dominate global financial markets. Keeping securitization alive is ultimately about power; pure, unalloyed economic power. That is why Bernanke will spare no expense trying to resuscitate this failed system."

by Mike Whitney



(Via Dissident Voice : Bernanke’s Financial Rescue Plan.)

Trolldrycka

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"Djävulskandalösaktigastronomiskalasigalopperandemoniskaönske-punschen"

is a drink prepared by the devil 'Belsebub (his symbolic familiar above) Kvackman' and the money witch 'Tyranny Vampire' (I'm not making any of this up!) in the last seven hours of New Year's Eve.


Otherwise known as "Trolldrycka" (Trolls' Drink) this epically long "perspektivord" contains seven combined words: satanic, scandalous, promiscuous, gastronomic, banquet, galloping, and demonic; which is perfectly permissible in Swedish.

(Via Swedish Wikipedia.)

Sister Unity on Berdache

I highly recommend this:
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A talk by sister Unity Divine, Bootysattva, on the Two Spirit or berdache, the traditional role of the cross gendered, gay, male shaman or spiritual functionary found in many early civilisations. Homosexuality goes deeper and much further than sexuality as evidenced by historical sociology. There is evidence of a "gay" presence in the structure of nature. Click to view.

HUGO recommends!



Sources include:

The writings and talks with Harry Hay

"The Other Face of Love" (c)1964

"Gay Spirit" (c) Mark Thompson


Sister Unity was born when the radioactive remnants of a comet passing through Earth's path around the sun filtered through our atmosphere and struck a vat of orange mylar in a Massachusetts glitter factory. She can be found here.

How do you Become ’Properly Swedish’?

Swedish journalist and writer Maciej Zaremba has written a series of articles for Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter called ’Waiting for Sweden’. Originally from Poland himself, he investigates in six articles why it is so difficult to become Swedish in Sweden.



Radio Sweden’s Rebecca Martin met with him to find out more.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

This is so familiar!

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Olle Eksell (1918-2007) was the first modern graphic designer in Sweden. Already in 1956, he created his famous design program for Mazetti, the country's first modern corporate image program. With his many designs and books, he was admired far beyond Sweden's borders. Just last year the monograph "Olle Eksell Swedish graphic designer" was issued by the Japanese publisher PIE Books. Designer/illustrator Olle Eksell died April 11, 2007. He was 89 years old. (tidied-up Google translation of the biography from his website)



His designs were omnipresent in 1957 Stockholm, when I was here as a child. The scene is the changing of the Guard across Strömbron. Stockholm Slott (the Royal Residence) is in the background. ⓗ



His own web page is Olle Eksell

and his book can be found at PIE Books


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Logo: Ögonblick* Chocolate, for Mazetti
(ögonblick = the blink of an eye)

Happy Birthday, Tony

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Tony Perkins, April 4, 1932 - September 12, 1992.
To quote TJB: "Moody, conflicted, and gayer than a Maypole!"

Via: Stirred, Straight Up, with a Twist

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Quote of the day

"Their philosophy reflects their own world. By their social nature they are intellectual semi-bourgeois. They feed upon half-thoughts and half-feelings. They wish to cure society by half-measures. Regarding the historical process as too unstable a phenomenon, they refuse to engage themselves more than fifty percent. Thus, these people, living by half-truths, that is to say, the worst sort of falsehood, have become a genuine brake upon truly progressive, i.e., revolutionary thought." Leon Trotsky The Priests of Half-Truth, 1938


Referring to The Nation magazine, but equally true of most American "philosophies of Change:" a castrating fear of real revolution.

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Words Lost by by Miroljub Todorović
"For poetry there exists neither large countries nor small.
Its domain is in the heart of all men."—Giorgos Seferis

One of ten visual poetry posters from this small but excellent press in Pennsylvania: Paper Kite Press

Do Not Support Queer Bashing... anywhere!

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Excuse me, I'm obsessing..

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The way it used to be



I'm here, you're there

Come closer, tonight I'm lonely

Come here with me

I want it the way it used to be



What is left of love?

Tell me, who would even care?

So much time has passed

I'd still meet you anywhere

Water under bridge

Evening after day

What is left of love

Here that didn't drift away?



I can remember days of sun

We knew our lives had just begun

We could do anything, we're fearless when we're young

Under the moon, address unknown

I can remember nights in Rome

I thought that love would last, a promise set in stone



I'd survive with only memories

If I could change the way I feel

But I want more than only memories

A human touch to make them real



Another day, another dream

Over the bridge an empty scene

We'd spend the weekend lost in bed and float upstream

I don't know why we moved away

Lost in the here and now we strayed

Into a New York zone, our promise was betrayed



I was there, caught on Tenth Avenue

You elsewhere with Culver City blues

Then and there I knew that I'd lost you



What is left of love?

Tell me, who will even care?

So much time has passed

I'd still meet you anywhere

Water under bridge

Evening after day

What is left of love

Here that didn't drift away?



Don't give me all your love and pain

Don't sell me New York in the rain

Let's leave our promises behind

Rewind and try again



What remains in time that didn't fade away?

Sometimes I need to see

The way it used to be



(Tennant/Lowe/Cooper/Higgins/Coler, ©Parlophone)


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Original design: Gerhard Richter

Visual poem

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(Via grain edit · Four Bold Types to Build Dense Word Images.)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

FABULON is amused...

and so are we.

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The number of possible captions for this picture is almost infinite, and mostly impolite - what is going on in her mind? ..."Oh, dear, I forgot to water the bougainvillea."



Via: FABULON

Gays Win Marriage Rights

Sveriges Radio International - Engelska: "Same-sex couples in Sweden will be allowed to marry as of May 1st. Following a parliamentary vote Wednesday afternoon, MPs voted by a huge majority to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in civil ceremonies. If they want to get married in a church, however, then they will have to find a vicar who will agree to marry them."

(Swedes may take their time, but the results are usually so logical and gracious, one wonders what all the fuss is about. ⓗ)

Huh?

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"knulley personnel"??
Is that an epithet or some new rhetorical attempt to make these bonuses seem less egregious? To be kind, my only guess is that someone got lost in Swinglish between "key" and "nyckel." But, in fact, "knulley" is startlingly close to the Swedish for "fucking." In either case, it's a remarkable thing to come across in the dull Daily Topics of the fairly conservative SR (Sveriges Radio).