REAL ART (and politics and culture):
"Last Tuesday morning, we did a performance of the play I'm currently doing for some local high schools. One high school, a private 'Bible' (i.e. fundamentalist) school, decided to leave before even a single line was uttered because of a cartoon like caricature of a Picassoesque nude (if not actually by Picasso--I'm not really sure) that's part of the set. Of course this was ridiculous: the picture is utterly unrealistic; it's cubist for god's sake! I feel certain that this painting made no teen hormones spike wildly. But 'whatever,' I thought. I had encountered insane, paranoid, anti-sex religious freaks numerous times when I was working in the public schools myself. This seems pretty standard. 'There they go again,' I thought."
Ron goes on to talk about the outrage of another actor, and how that was actually the proper emotional response.
and then he quotes a great bit I heard on Democracy Now the other day...
about the dominionists...
scary stuff...
I just wish the rapture would hurry up so I could get myself a cadillac...
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Friday, May 06, 2005
Daily Kos :: Democratic Church Purge Part II: Action
Daily Kos :: Democratic Church Purge Part II: Action
This is completely insane.
Really.
and you wonder why I'm Godless...
Their have been a lot of outrages lately...
but I think this is the toppermost.
makes me just a little crazy...
This is completely insane.
Really.
and you wonder why I'm Godless...
Their have been a lot of outrages lately...
but I think this is the toppermost.
makes me just a little crazy...
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman:
"I think that the punk ethos of you don't need anything, you just need to do it and figure out what you're doing as you go, has probably informed everything I've done since. It seemed a pretty sensible and refreshing idea at the time. Likewise the idea that you ought to be enjoying what you're doing and be doing it because you think it's cool and fun. The idea that mistakes are part of what make things interesting, and it's probably wisest to get it right and move on and not spend the rest of your life polishing it."
right on...
when I try to explain to people that the punk aesthetic informs pretty much everything I do, this is a large part of what I am talking about...
"I think that the punk ethos of you don't need anything, you just need to do it and figure out what you're doing as you go, has probably informed everything I've done since. It seemed a pretty sensible and refreshing idea at the time. Likewise the idea that you ought to be enjoying what you're doing and be doing it because you think it's cool and fun. The idea that mistakes are part of what make things interesting, and it's probably wisest to get it right and move on and not spend the rest of your life polishing it."
right on...
when I try to explain to people that the punk aesthetic informs pretty much everything I do, this is a large part of what I am talking about...
for the record
I'm in one of those inexplicable good moods today...
full of energy...
it's beautiful out too! so walk away from your desk for awhile...
go outside and be happy to be alive!
I COMMAND IT!
(did that work? cause if so there are some other things I'd like to command...)
just picked up the new Marc Ribot CD "Spiritual Unity"...
an amazing quartet (including Henry Grimes) doing Ayler tunes...
and I picked up the new Out Hud CD too...
already had most of it d/l'ed and was feeling guilty about not having bought it yet...
if you like new bands that sound like the 80's only newer then you'll dig Out Hud...
think they share some members with !!!.
anyway, I'll be listening to it as soon as I finish the Ribot,
but since I'm at work I won't be dancing around...
full of energy...
it's beautiful out too! so walk away from your desk for awhile...
go outside and be happy to be alive!
I COMMAND IT!
(did that work? cause if so there are some other things I'd like to command...)
just picked up the new Marc Ribot CD "Spiritual Unity"...
an amazing quartet (including Henry Grimes) doing Ayler tunes...
and I picked up the new Out Hud CD too...
already had most of it d/l'ed and was feeling guilty about not having bought it yet...
if you like new bands that sound like the 80's only newer then you'll dig Out Hud...
think they share some members with !!!.
anyway, I'll be listening to it as soon as I finish the Ribot,
but since I'm at work I won't be dancing around...
File Under : Scaring Charlie!
corrente / Leah, Lambert, Tresy, the farmer, Tom, Xan, RDF, and Riggsveda:
"Natural gas extraction will peak a few years after oil, extraction rates for coal will peak in decades, nuclear energy is dogged by unresolved problems of waste disposal and solar and wind energy will have to undergo rapid expansion if they are to replace even a fraction of the energy shortfall from oil. And the enthusiasm about a hydrogen economy comes from politics rather than science, he said."
I for one am ready for my new third world existence...
I can play my trombone without any power...
and I can do it for scraps...
mmm...scraps...
"Natural gas extraction will peak a few years after oil, extraction rates for coal will peak in decades, nuclear energy is dogged by unresolved problems of waste disposal and solar and wind energy will have to undergo rapid expansion if they are to replace even a fraction of the energy shortfall from oil. And the enthusiasm about a hydrogen economy comes from politics rather than science, he said."
I for one am ready for my new third world existence...
I can play my trombone without any power...
and I can do it for scraps...
mmm...scraps...
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Radio
Ok...
when did my "good time oldies" station become "hits of the 60's and 70's"...
they've replaced little richard and chuck berry with steppenwolf and three dog night and I am not happy.
Everytime I turn over there now it's some white guy playing a wanky guitar solo...
grrr...
I useta be able to turn the dial over there and here old motown, occasionally some good 50's early rock/r&b, vocal groups, etc...
now it's SKYNNYRD DUDE!!
pisses me off.
on the good side KPFT is playing Democracy Now! twice a day. I get to hear it at 6 when I leave work...
So I go out to my car tired and grumpy...
and then turn on the radio and get angry and riled...
gets the blood pumping...
Monday they had the mayor of Hiroshima on talking about his work to rid the world of nuclear weapons. They mention Blair says they are going to start work on a new generation of nukes to replace the trident subs... The mayor makes his plea to Blair and it is very diplomatic... Meanwhile I'm screaming, "Blair! You worhtless fuck! stop this anti-humanist madness RIGHT THE FUCK NOW! We need a lot of things but we DO NOT need sharper rocks!"
grrr...
Tuesday I got to hear how the CIA is working on normalizing relations with the gov't in Khartoum. Hey, what's a little genocide among friends, right?
grrr...
and tonight as I drive home I'm sure I'll get to hear some new infuriating atrocity...
whoohooo!
when did my "good time oldies" station become "hits of the 60's and 70's"...
they've replaced little richard and chuck berry with steppenwolf and three dog night and I am not happy.
Everytime I turn over there now it's some white guy playing a wanky guitar solo...
grrr...
I useta be able to turn the dial over there and here old motown, occasionally some good 50's early rock/r&b, vocal groups, etc...
now it's SKYNNYRD DUDE!!
pisses me off.
on the good side KPFT is playing Democracy Now! twice a day. I get to hear it at 6 when I leave work...
So I go out to my car tired and grumpy...
and then turn on the radio and get angry and riled...
gets the blood pumping...
Monday they had the mayor of Hiroshima on talking about his work to rid the world of nuclear weapons. They mention Blair says they are going to start work on a new generation of nukes to replace the trident subs... The mayor makes his plea to Blair and it is very diplomatic... Meanwhile I'm screaming, "Blair! You worhtless fuck! stop this anti-humanist madness RIGHT THE FUCK NOW! We need a lot of things but we DO NOT need sharper rocks!"
grrr...
Tuesday I got to hear how the CIA is working on normalizing relations with the gov't in Khartoum. Hey, what's a little genocide among friends, right?
grrr...
and tonight as I drive home I'm sure I'll get to hear some new infuriating atrocity...
whoohooo!
Salon.com News | The atheist
Salon.com News | The atheist:
Just in case you were thinking it's a big hassle to read anything at salon I wanted to pull one more quote from Dawkins...
this is good stuff...
"How would we be better off without religion?
We'd all be freed to concentrate on the only life we are ever going to have. We'd be free to exult in the privilege -- the remarkable good fortune -- that each one of us enjoys through having been being born. An astronomically overwhelming majority of the people who could be born never will be. You are one of the tiny minority whose number came up. Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one. The world would be a better place if we all had this positive attitude to life. It would also be a better place if morality was all about doing good to others and refraining from hurting them, rather than religion's morbid obsession with private sin and the evils of sexual enjoyment. "
Just in case you were thinking it's a big hassle to read anything at salon I wanted to pull one more quote from Dawkins...
this is good stuff...
"How would we be better off without religion?
We'd all be freed to concentrate on the only life we are ever going to have. We'd be free to exult in the privilege -- the remarkable good fortune -- that each one of us enjoys through having been being born. An astronomically overwhelming majority of the people who could be born never will be. You are one of the tiny minority whose number came up. Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one. The world would be a better place if we all had this positive attitude to life. It would also be a better place if morality was all about doing good to others and refraining from hurting them, rather than religion's morbid obsession with private sin and the evils of sexual enjoyment. "
Salon.com News | The atheist
Salon.com News | The atheist:
Salon interviews Richard Dawkins:
"You delve into agnosticism in 'The Ancestor's Tale.' How does it differ from atheism?
It's said that the only rational stance is agnosticism because you can neither prove nor disprove the existence of the supernatural creator. I find that a weak position. It is true that you can't disprove anything but you can put a probability value on it. There's an infinite number of things that you can't disprove: unicorns, werewolves, and teapots in orbit around Mars. But we don't pay any heed to them unless there is some positive reason to think that they do exist.
Believing in God is like believing in a teapot orbiting Mars?
Yes. For a long time it seemed clear to just about everybody that the beauty and elegance of the world seemed to be prima facie evidence for a divine creator. But the philosopher David Hume already realized three centuries ago that this was a bad argument. It leads to an infinite regression. You can't statistically explain improbable things like living creatures by saying that they must have been designed because you're still left to explain the designer, who must be, if anything, an even more statistically improbable and elegant thing. Design can never be an ultimate explanation for anything. It can only be a proximate explanation. A plane or a car is explained by a designer but that's because the designer himself, the engineer, is explained by natural selection. "
I still stick with agnosticism. Hume would too (I think). Although mine and Hume's agnosticism definitely leans toward skepticism. Anyway, Dawkins still rocks...
go read this and do your part to fight the new dark ages!
Salon interviews Richard Dawkins:
"You delve into agnosticism in 'The Ancestor's Tale.' How does it differ from atheism?
It's said that the only rational stance is agnosticism because you can neither prove nor disprove the existence of the supernatural creator. I find that a weak position. It is true that you can't disprove anything but you can put a probability value on it. There's an infinite number of things that you can't disprove: unicorns, werewolves, and teapots in orbit around Mars. But we don't pay any heed to them unless there is some positive reason to think that they do exist.
Believing in God is like believing in a teapot orbiting Mars?
Yes. For a long time it seemed clear to just about everybody that the beauty and elegance of the world seemed to be prima facie evidence for a divine creator. But the philosopher David Hume already realized three centuries ago that this was a bad argument. It leads to an infinite regression. You can't statistically explain improbable things like living creatures by saying that they must have been designed because you're still left to explain the designer, who must be, if anything, an even more statistically improbable and elegant thing. Design can never be an ultimate explanation for anything. It can only be a proximate explanation. A plane or a car is explained by a designer but that's because the designer himself, the engineer, is explained by natural selection. "
I still stick with agnosticism. Hume would too (I think). Although mine and Hume's agnosticism definitely leans toward skepticism. Anyway, Dawkins still rocks...
go read this and do your part to fight the new dark ages!
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
This, That and The Other Thing
Had a great weekend...
Saw Medea, For those Who Live in Cities and Danse Macabre II again...
All of them were even better the second time.
I was going to write about why each of them seemed better the second time,
but ya know what? I don't feel like it right now...
eh, whatcha gonna do?
Last night I went to Diverseworks and saw a show I'll only get to see once :(
Diverseworks had one of there "Monday Night Footfalls", and this time it was two theatrical pieces...
The first one, Let There Be Water by Eleanor Colvin, was powerful. Good strong language, and a good strong performance.
The second show was the one I was there for though. Gypsy Baby. Lindsay Kayser's the movement in the bed on the brink of awake or asleep and how it’s all worked out with threadcount . If any of you saw Trappakeepa and Girth at The Axiom a while back then you know why. Lindsay is an absolute wonder with language. I don't have the words to tell you how amazing her words are. It's true. And with the other incredibly talented (and grrrgeous) Gypsy Babies bringing her words and images to life I knew I was in for quite a treat...and then they went and added live music from IBP's on Tony Barilla (he and Lindsay are writing an opera together, and as much as the concept of opera normally makes me cringe, I'm terribly excited by the prospect of this one). I could rave about this piece and the ways it worked, but you'll most likely never get to see it, at least not like this. Lyndsay is moving to Houston to work on the opera, and Gypsy Baby are going their separate ways for now...
bottom line, if you weren't at DiverseWorks last night you REALLY missed out.
Tonight I have Kama Sutra rehearsal, tomorrow Mathletes practice, Thuersday is Kama Sutra again...Friday I'll try to hit Stages for The Mineoala Twins or try to see Theater Collide's newest production of which all details escape me right now...
Saturday is closing night for Medea, so I'll go see it one last time (it really is that good folks, if you don't go then you'll never know...)
Saw Medea, For those Who Live in Cities and Danse Macabre II again...
All of them were even better the second time.
I was going to write about why each of them seemed better the second time,
but ya know what? I don't feel like it right now...
eh, whatcha gonna do?
Last night I went to Diverseworks and saw a show I'll only get to see once :(
Diverseworks had one of there "Monday Night Footfalls", and this time it was two theatrical pieces...
The first one, Let There Be Water by Eleanor Colvin, was powerful. Good strong language, and a good strong performance.
The second show was the one I was there for though. Gypsy Baby. Lindsay Kayser's the movement in the bed on the brink of awake or asleep and how it’s all worked out with threadcount . If any of you saw Trappakeepa and Girth at The Axiom a while back then you know why. Lindsay is an absolute wonder with language. I don't have the words to tell you how amazing her words are. It's true. And with the other incredibly talented (and grrrgeous) Gypsy Babies bringing her words and images to life I knew I was in for quite a treat...and then they went and added live music from IBP's on Tony Barilla (he and Lindsay are writing an opera together, and as much as the concept of opera normally makes me cringe, I'm terribly excited by the prospect of this one). I could rave about this piece and the ways it worked, but you'll most likely never get to see it, at least not like this. Lyndsay is moving to Houston to work on the opera, and Gypsy Baby are going their separate ways for now...
bottom line, if you weren't at DiverseWorks last night you REALLY missed out.
Tonight I have Kama Sutra rehearsal, tomorrow Mathletes practice, Thuersday is Kama Sutra again...Friday I'll try to hit Stages for The Mineoala Twins or try to see Theater Collide's newest production of which all details escape me right now...
Saturday is closing night for Medea, so I'll go see it one last time (it really is that good folks, if you don't go then you'll never know...)
Monday, May 02, 2005
I Blame The Patriarchy: Profiles in Minionhood: The Penis Police
I Blame The Patriarchy: Profiles in Minionhood: The Penis Police:
"It all started when some early Christians got their breechclouts in a bunch over homosexuals because they (the early Christians) were keen to preserve their patriarchal social order. Patriarchy is an institution that can survive only through male cohesion, which in turn depends on subordination of women. They knew that if men were allowed to stick it to other men instead of women, the whole dudes-rule system would buckle under the weight of its own internecine melodramas. Policing the penis became a Christian passion."
simply brilliant!
"It all started when some early Christians got their breechclouts in a bunch over homosexuals because they (the early Christians) were keen to preserve their patriarchal social order. Patriarchy is an institution that can survive only through male cohesion, which in turn depends on subordination of women. They knew that if men were allowed to stick it to other men instead of women, the whole dudes-rule system would buckle under the weight of its own internecine melodramas. Policing the penis became a Christian passion."
simply brilliant!
MAY DAY!
REAL ART (and politics and culture)
I didn't do anything this May Day!
I'm such a bad revolutionary.
anyway,
Ron does all the May Day blogging that I should have...
go edumacate yrself!
I didn't do anything this May Day!
I'm such a bad revolutionary.
anyway,
Ron does all the May Day blogging that I should have...
go edumacate yrself!
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