Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Audiofile - File Under: HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Audiofile

jesus h. christ on a discount pogo stick!

Salon is giving away mp3's from the ESP catalog...
and they are starting with AYLER!
AYLER!
AYLER!

go grab ghosts (version 1)...
yes, sit through the ad, or go buy a salon subscription and then you can start exposing yourself to some of the most important recordings of the 20th century...
really...

of course, the sad thing, the people who would be excited about this already have every ESP reissue they could get their hands on, bootleg or not...
and they rest of you, well, if you haven't encountered the little lable inspired by esperanto, it's probably not gonna be your bag...
but I'm pretentious enough to say it should be...

seriously people - this is your chance to expose yourself to some really amazing stuff, fer nothing! whattaya got to lose?

an exceptional weekend...

Friday - Ghost towns with Lisa D. and the IBP posse. Sunburned.
Romance novels free on the porch. DAIRY QUEEN! I didn't get chiggers.

then

Purple Reign at Diverseworks...
amazing...
all of it...

then - The Beer Cellar - too much whiskey and karaoke.
many of my favorite people were there...
why weren't you?
drank like it was the weekend,
which it was,
but then,
9:13 am Saturday -
the phone -
"Mike, you we're supposed to be on shift at nine o'clock."
shit.
ended up working the 11:30-7:30 shift and getting off late -
missed the big range show - Aileen's new piece, and one from Toni with Music by Misha -
got to go home for a few minutes...
then Jeff's surprise party at the axiom.
Wasn't drinking at all,
then had one,
then two,
then I was drunk...
two must've had more whiskey than I thought.
The Misfires rocked.
We showed BLP's latest - "Actorman! a day in the life of Jeff Miller"
and then the Dreambreakers played...
good night...
left around 1 and spent more time running over my monologues before I went to bed...
Sunday got up and worked the monologues till time for co-ops...
co-ops.
what a rush!
crazy crazy crazy...
get home and do nothing (I'm broke)
take a nap,
wait for TDU practice -
get a call - no bill today,
no ryan either,
jim and joe and charlie show up and we decide to blow it off,
so I head to barnevelder - see the show - whoohoo! Aileen is so freakin' talented!
good stuff...enjoyed the whole show! Toni's piece was great too, and Misha's music had some VERY cool stuff in it...I'll see if I still have a program when I get home, if so I'll post more about the pieces. Then to Atomic Cafe for Wayne's 40th birthday - arrive in time to hear the closing lines of the new BLP sketch "Walt goes to Modeling School" - damn! had some bar-b-q and visited with some folks for a while...ran into some peeps who had been in the audience at co-ops - word is I did good - I was told the second one (the pushkin) was not anything like what people expected or had seen me do before...whoohoo!
anyway, then I went home and to bed...
despite having to work hungover all day saturday it was still over all a pretty exceptional weekend...
hope your's was too..

(I'm still working on the Houston Music post...I'll talk more about Purple Reign in it...)

co-ops

Well, I just got back from co-ops...
I didn't get time called on me,
and I didn't make any obvious mistakes...
I did however in the middle of the second monologue
discover that I was more nervous than I'd ever been
performing ANYTHING.
By the time I walked out of Stages I was shaking
and my arms were NUMB. NUMB!
It was all very strange.
Over all it was definitely a good experience
and there were a few friendly faces in the auditing chairs,
so that helped...
Vocally I was pretty on,
but the space did throw off some of the physicality
of the pieces... It was such different circumstances,
that I forgot things like where I'd been looking, etc...
Maybe that just made it more "fresh" and "in the moment"?
who knows?
So, just so I didn't completely waste my time,
I'll do either of my monologues for anybody,
anytime, for a dollar...
how's that for a deal?

Space City or is it Syrup City? music.

This post is totally not done, but it never will be.
Here it is:


after my natural defense mechanism kicked in when Ron dissed Space City's music scene I said I'd post some links to good H-town music -
o.k.
here are some...


Rusted Shut

Here's the thing...even when I don't listen much to Rusted Shut,
I do deep down realize and acknowledge,
this is what Houston sounds like.
They're one of the last links to an age when GIANT BANDS
played the dives of Houston.
No matter what they do
or the personnel changes
they are always
Rusted Shut.

Two Star Symphony

Wow.
If you haven't heard ** Symphony yr really missing something...
They performed at the Purple Rain tribute at Diverseworks last night...
they did a medley of Purple Rain and Pussy Control.
It was the quartet plus Cathy Power, John Dubois, Kirk Suddreath, Chris Bakos, and on vocals none other than Charlie Naked...
and the dancers - Troy, Todd, Sherri, Aileen, and Melissa (as Appolonia)- made it more like a Prince show than anything I'd seen in a while...
or at least like a Prince video...
and there are their collaborations with Bobbindoctrin and their own
amazing stuff...
seriously...
these are some of the most talented and dedicated people I know...


Satin Hooks

The Kants

The Linus Pauling Quartet

Charlie Naked


Poor Dumb Bastards

The Mathletes

The Defenestration Unit

The Kimonos

Jana Hunter

The Sugarbeats

Freedom Sold

ASHS

TV show depicts 9/11 as Bush plot - The Washington Times: World - June 09, 2005

anyone know of any good German TV torrent sites?
TV show depicts 9/11 as Bush plot - The Washington Times: World - June 09, 2005: "According to the plot, which was seen by approximately 7 million Germans, the dead man had been trained to be one of the September 11 pilots but was left behind, only to be tracked down and killed by CIA or FBI assassins.
The woman, who says in the program that the September 11 attacks were instigated by the Bush family for oil and power, then is targeted, presumably to silence her. The drama concludes with the German detectives accepting the truth of her story as she eludes the U.S. government hit men and escapes to safety in an unnamed Arab country. "

The Raw Story | Pelosi interview, part three: The media, the memo, and Iraq

The Raw Story has an interview with Pelosi:
The Raw Story | Pelosi interview, part three: The media, the memo, and Iraq: "Pelosi: Well let me just tell you this first, John. The Republicans in Congress in significant numbers do not support contraception. People find that hard to believe, but I live with it every day here in terms of their votes, and their policy and their statements. And it’s a stunning thing, because if you want to reduce the number of abortions in our country, and we all do, you would say hooray for contraception. But that’s not where they’re coming from on it. And that’s why the Griswold anniversary is such an important one, because it’s not about abortion, it’s about contraception. And you see the numbers which are stunning in terms of what the American people say, so-called pro-life, I think we’re all pro-life, anti-choice and pro-choice alike when it comes to contraception. Sometimes I wonder if these people even know what’s going on in their own families, when I see that they’re willing to hold women, especially poor women in America and in the world, hostage to their radical views on contraception."

She really sounds like a leader...
I'm assuming you never get to hear her on radio or TV...
except maybe C-span, right?

Other than the president do we get to see speeches of any length given by actual elected officials anymore?

anyway, go read what Pelosi has to say, the quote is from and the link goes to page 3, but you should read the whole thing...

praise for the blogroll!

so, I finally updated my blog roll a few days ago...
still trying to keep friend and acquaintances up near the top...
other than that it's like the rest of my life - highly unorganized...

I check all the links to right once a day...even the ones that NEVER update...
some of my favorite blogs are near the bottom, and some are near the top...

For instance, I've been really digging "By the bayou". It's written by a fellow Houstonian (maybe I found it on H-town blogs) and he handles civil rights re: sexual orientation, or "the gay stuff" really well...
There are a couple of things over there right now you should check out (including this story of a teen sent to some scary gay re-education ministry/camp) of course he covers other stuff too (don't mean to be belittling or stereotypical)...anyway, everyday one or two entries, and a good read...


and up near the top, well the linkage shows how I feel about Real Art and Misc. Heathen so I'll tell ya about "Starfucker's Music Blog" first of all let me say that Senor Starfucker is a damned talented individual...knew he could act, sing, play guitar, but does he have to write better than me too? Whether he's writing about music I don't care about at all (read: The Grateful Dead - sorry, but it's true) or ghosts from my own private new wave past (read: The Thompson Twins - yes, I too owned "Sidekicks") his stories are fun to read and his writing is solid...go get an mindful of whatever he's rambling on about today...
you'll be better for it...

I'll try to focus on one or two of the links on the right once a week or so, till I've said nice things about everybody...or I've told them they need to update!!

anyway, try a few of those on the side you've never read...there's a lot of surprises over there...

Daily Kos :: Hollow Army: When Recruiters Attack File Under:OMFG!!!

GO READ THIS!
THIS IS INSANE!
Daily Kos :: Hollow Army: When Recruiters Attack:
"Next thing Axel knew, the same sergeant and another recruiter showed up at the LaConner Brewing Co., the restaurant where Axel works. And before Axel, an older cousin and other co-workers knew or understood what was happening, Axel was whisked away in a car."

yeah, they hate us for our freedom, right...
this sounds like freedom to me...

Click opera

Momus talks about Genie's and Math and Inequality and stuff:
Click opera:
"There's a worldwide ranking of countries by Gini rating here. The most highly unequal country is Sierra Leone (.62 of a genie), the most equal country Belarus (.21 of a genie). Japan is fourth lowest of the nations ranked in this table (dated 2004) at .24 of a genie. Gini is high in the US, about .4 and rising. (In the table, as soon as you go higher than the US you mostly see incredibly corrupt African countries.) The moments you're most aware of America's high Gini are when you're, for instance, passing through the poor parts of Brooklyn on your way to the rich parts of Manhattan, or when you're walking down a street in LA and see that every house has a sign planted in the lawn where a bush should be, a hard-ass sign saying that if you intrude a rapid response SWAT team will be dispatched to fucking fix you. You're aware of it when you see lots of private security guys, or when you're told that X district is safe but Y district is dangerous. People have a tendency to think that these are givens and that they apply anywhere in the world ('you've got to keep your wits about you, know the score, stay safe'). But in fact they're only issues in high Gini places. They're something we organize structurally, and something we can repair politically. The genie can be banished... if you want it."

do you come here often? - June 8th, 2005

Rhodri gets it:

do you come here often? - June 8th, 2005:
"I don't know whether I actually find the endless procession of appalling bands through London venues depressing in itself, or whether it's seeing the faux confidence on their faces, that misplaced self-belief which suggests that they think they're actually going to get somewhere. And where is somewhere? When are bands ever satisfied? If they've started rehearsing, they want to record. If they're recording, they want a record to be released. If they've released a record, they want it to be on the radio. If it's on the radio, they want to be in the press. If they're in the press, they want an agent. If they've got an agent, they want to be supporting a big act. If they're supporting a big act, they want to be headlining. And so it goes on, until they split up. And then what? What mark have they made? All they have left is the music that they've produced. Which is, of course, what they should be doing it for in the first place."

now, go listen to his band.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Cambodian troops Quarantine Quan'su

The possible advances in the field of Zombie technology are amazing...
maybe my zombie army isn't that far off after all...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Cambodian troops Quarantine Quan'su

HEADACHE!!!

all day...
not getting better...
keeping me from thinking...
no posting right now...

M

Events Coming Up!

I'm a devout agnostic, a radical humanist,
and somehow I can't get excited about this...

Events Coming Up!:
"Sat, Jun 18
2:30 pm
The June Monthly Meeting of Humanists of Houston in the Unitarian Univeralist Fellowship at 1504 Wirt Road ...

Our speaker will be Roger Brewin, minister at the First Unitarian Church in Hobart, Indiana, and an impersonator of historic characters. He will appear as Clarence Darrow.

ROGER BREWIN has been portraying Clarence Darrow in his trademark rumpled suit and battered Borsalino hat since 1981.His presentation has been described as 'superb: interesting. educational, and funny.' (University Honors Program, Bowling Green, OH)

After this monthly meeting, those interested may join us at the 59 Diner for informal conversation over coffee and snacks.."

I don't know how to get people involved in humanism, but I'm pretty sure this ain't it....
We need X-treme humanism if we're going to survive in today's marketplace of ideas.

My first suggestion:

Let's meet in a bar.

and at night.

The only thing I like to do on Saturday afternoon
is recover from Friday night.

I need an army of young humanists to get this whole door to door prosletyzing for human potential thing going and I don't think I'm gonna find 'em watching a minister from Hobart playing Clarence Darrow.

Although I'm sure he's very good.

the weekend is over

and I'm here...
at work...

what did I get done this weekend...
a lot, but only a little of what I wanted...
didn't get much studying done.
Got one monologue memorized.

friday night - karaoke and drinking
saturday - recovery - studying - not much else
saturday night - night just before the forests, and danseparc (lots of drinking...lots)
sunday - studying - lunch with Margaret Two-Star - oh yeah and filming for a top secret private BLP production - more monologue work - studying - TDU practice (minus two members) and then waiting for someone to show up who didn't...
then more monologue work...
then not enough sleep...
whoohoo!

Spitzer Takes Down Racist Agencies

If you were wondering who Spitzer is and why I referred to him as a superhero in an earlier post - go read this.
Labor Blog

via Atrios

Eschaton - the job numbers...

are crap!!!
The Job Numbers

Republicans are NOT good stewards of the economy by any measure you care to name...

Halley's Comment: Holding Men To A Higher Standard

Breaking my own rule...said I wouldn't talk about chasing women on the blog, but I have to comment on this, and since Halley has comments locked down on her blog, I'll do it here...

Halley's Comment: Holding Men To A Higher Standard:
"Women are holding men to a higher standard -- the SAME higher standard women have been held to for years.

Women are expected to have:

1. good bodies
2. good clothes
3. cute shoes
4. good senses of humor
5. good manners
6. good jobs
7. good credit
8. nice places to live
9. be good cooks
10. be good in bed"

I'll just address there one at a time..

1. good bodies - yes, but good bodies come in ALL shapes and sizes...
2. good clothes - it's best they don't dress like a scarecrow, but if they can make that work that's even good...
3. cute shoes - um, no...ladies, other women are the only ones who care if you are wearing "cute" shoes...Sexy shoes are nice once in a while...but really I'm more interested in the feet inside...mmm....feet.
4. good senses of humor - well, yeah.
5. good manners - Um, considerate and nice? Yes. Knows which fork to use? couldn't care less.
6. good jobs - don't believe there are good jobs, so obviously no.
7. good credit - um, before I judged anyone on that one I'd need to remove the mote from my own bank account.
8. nice places to live - as long as it is not a bigger sty than my place, I'm fine.
9. be good cooks - nope, that's why there are restaurants...who has time to eat at home anyway? It's a nice plus, but certainly not expected.
10. be good in bed - yes. Nobody should have to accept bad in bed.

in a followup Halley says:
I thought men would be upset to read about women expecting so much more from them, holding THEM to a higher standard. Weirdly, I got push back instead on the notion that men are constantly judging and comparing women. A number of men said they don't do this. Huh!!!!???? This seems really strange to me.

I've heard men. I know a few men. They've told me what they really do when a bunch of women walk by. A lot of them can tell you a woman's bra cup size from 50 feet and I've heard them say it. Get real, guys! We know you're sizing us up. The idea that men are not judging women ... yeah, right, I say.

but what has that to do with good cook? cute shoes? credit?

umm...nothing...

Whiskey Bar: A Cox in the Henhouse

Whiskey Bar: A Cox in the Henhouse

This is awful.
I was a stockbroker
in the heady
day-trading
days.
They made adjustments
again and again to keep
the super-rich in charge
and the rest of us out of the
game entirely.
Still, the SEC occasionally busted up
some bad behavior on the part of the house of Morgan
or Goldman/Sachs...

REFORM people...
The Dems should really start pounding on REFORM,
and they should appoint some kind of superhero like Spitzer
to run the SEC when they get the chance...

this is awful.
They are going to be draining $$$ away from the rest of us
in brand new creative ways...
you won't even feel their hand in your pocket.

File Under: Know Your Enemy: BUZZSCOPE :: Take That! #3 - Understanding Nazis - by Capt. America

BUZZSCOPE :: Take That! #3 - Understanding Nazis:
"Evil, as I see it, is any human activity that doesn’t grow out of purity, goodness, the American dream and not killing people with giant swastika robots. Humans simply cannot spend every waking minute being good and pure, otherwise I’d be out of a job and opening WalMarts around the country. There will inevitably be times when humans just don’t have the American dream in their hearts. And because those humans attempt to assert these evolution-bred instinct of trying NOT to do the right thing, evil is the way they assert their identities as individuals and break out of the narrow role goodness casts us in. This is how we get people like the Serpent Society and M.O.D.O.K.

Heh. M.O.D.O.K. "

Everything you needed to know about Nazi's...
but the #1 Nazi hunter!

houstonpress.com | Culture | Wet and Riled | 2005-06-02

houstonpress.com | Culture | Wet and Riled | 2005-06-02:
"Dark, apocalyptic and profoundly disturbing, Bernard-Marie Koltes's Night Just Before the Forests is kick-you-in-the-ass theater -- just the sort of thing Infernal Bridegroom Productions does so well. Produced in cahoots with DiverseWorks in its spare black-box performance space, the ambitious hour of avant-garde theater rails against nothing less than the terrors of fascism and the steely heart pounding without mercy in the core of our new world order. "

I'm going to see it tonight,
and Saturday...
Troy always kicks ass,
and this sounds like it is right up my alley...

Auditions we Hope to Never See Again

Auditions we Hope to Never See Again

"Choose appropriate material. Pieces of extensive anger and/or vulgarity can cause auditioners to tune out. "

"Don't choose a piece with obscene or offensive language"

Well, I'm a vulgar extensively angry guy.
do you want TRUTH or do you want something else?
If vulgarity is going to make you "tune out" chances are I don't want to work with you anyway...

I can at least say that looking through the "Overdone monologues" list I don't see anything I'd even consider there...
so, that's good...

The Washington Monthly - File Under: Mind Control

The Washington Monthly:
"Ernst Fehr of the University of Zurich and colleagues tested 194 healthy male students in a series of sophisticated games of risk and trust....Some players were given a whiff of oxytocin, some inhaled a vial of air. None of the players knew what they were sniffing and none knew whether the trustees were trustworthy or not: they had to make a decision. Those who sniffed oxytocin showed a greater propensity to trust someone than those who simply inhaled air."

We learned a new song!

whoohoo!
eh.
anyway, The Mathletes worked up "Retarded Futuristic Pinocchio Syndrome" last night.
It's about a robot that wants to be a toaster.

"You don't understand my dream how could you now?
it isn't your dream anyhow."

go hear Joe's recording of it here.

then I finished reading True and False. It was great. Inspiring and full of the kind of attitude you'd expect from Mamet. Stop whining and ACT! Speak your lines clearly and try to do something like the author intended.

timed a few of the monologues I was looking at...
they're all too long.
So, I started going through my stuff (which is what I should have done to begin with) and now I'm looking at a piece from Ionesco's Macbett and Pushkin's Don Juan.

I had Joe take some pictures of me and I'm going to use on of them for my head shot.
Everything I read about head shots seem to say the most important thing is that they look like you. Well, I trust Joe to capture that. He knows what I look like.
I'm not expecting anything to come of this audition really, I just want to have the experience of having done it.

and now back to work or something resembling work.

This is Pop!: "Lost" clues

if yr as addicted to "Lost" as I am yr really not looking forward to the summer...
here's a little something to tide you over...

This is Pop!: "Lost" clues

The Comics Curmudgeon � The Family Circus cavalcade of cruelty continues

The Comics Curmudgeon � The Family Circus cavalcade of cruelty continues:

This is why you should read the comics curmudgeon - even if you don't read the comics:

"“When you came along, Billy,” he thinks, “I lost my youth and privacy, I was no longer first in my wife’s affections, and I was ever more firmly shackled to a white-collar job I hate and a soulless suburban home I loathe. Every day I look at your fresh young face, full of life and vigour, and I’m reminded that I’m getting older and closer to death. But by God, at least you can’t get a fastball by me yet.” "

eh...

didn't see star wars after all...
decided to stay in and read.
made it through the monologues and there are few I'm going to play with before I pick two.
Starting reading the Mamet, and while I'm not sure I agree with anything, it is very practical advice, and has made me laugh out loud more than once...
A good read, and an interesting take on acting for sure.
Tonight is Mathletes practice!
whoohoo!

Dangerous Books

miscellaneous heathen / weirdwideweb

There's a lot of good stuff over at Miscellaneous Heathen today. This one is absolutely amazing though...
Chet says maybe "Mein Kampf" is dangerous...
I'd say it's more dangerous to bury "Mein Kampf" than it is to read it.
We need to know what goes on in "monsters" heads if we're to recognize them and stop them early...
and here's the ideas of one of the biggest in his own words...

The Daily Howler

The Daily Howler:
"Why do conservatives often do better in the nation’s endless spin wars? In part, it’s because liberal interests are often promoted by a wide array of self-involved fops. It’s a problem we’ll explore all this week."

Ahhh...The Howler.
I'll be reading all week...

These Days, Kraftwerk Is Packing Light

These Days, Kraftwerk Is Packing Light:
"To some, it may smack of overstatement to compare Kraftwerk to Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, James Brown and the Beatles as among the most influential pop figures of the 20th century, but their DNA is identifiable in everything from techno, house, trance, trip-hop and synthpop to hip-hop. In 1982, pioneering DJ Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force's 'Planet Rock' blended rap with the melody and beat from Kraftwerk singles 'Trans-Europe Express' and 'Numbers,' respectively, creating a seminal rap recording and one of the most frequently sampled tracks in history. Whether you think of the New Romantics and the synthpop movements of the '80s or today's rave culture, it's hard to imagine what modern music would sound like without Kraftwerk's innovations. What was brand-new in the mid-'70s is no longer an anomaly: Electro culture is everywhere, and Kraftwerk is its daddy."

I hear Kraftwerk almost as often as I hear Eno...
often in the works of people who probably are ripping off someone who ripped off someone who ripped off Kraftwerk (or Eno) and have no idea about the original...
Kraftwerk was/is the real deal.
This is a pretty nice article catching up with them,
and about how technology HAS caught up with them.

File Under: Texas is the reason... "Republican Legislators Unable to Say the 'P' Word"

Andrew at BOR reminds us, in case we forgot, just what the Texas lege accomplished this session:
Burnt Orange Report - Republican Legislators Unable to Say the "P" Word:
"This session could have been a disaster for the poor, but since the Republicans failed miserably in virtually all of their efforts they ended up coming out just beaten and not bludgeoned to death."

the scoop

bad news - failed my CCNA
news - they aren't firing me yet over it
good news - I picked up True and False by Mamet on Miller's recommendation
and a book of monologues which includes a bit of Foreman's President from Symphony of Rats so I'm hoping there'll be some other winners in there too...
good news - dropped off my form for co-ops...
good news - replaced two tires on the trooper...now I'm much less likely to end up stranded or a dead bloody mess!
good news - filmed my last scene in BLP's "MacBeth" this weekend
bad news - Needful Creatures closed this weekend. I miss it already.
news - think I'm finally gonna see Star Wars tonight...
good news - get to see The Night before the Forests this weekend

so, I guess overall, things are good...

TCG - American Theatre - Eyes Wide Shut

Barilla over at the IBP forums points us to this artice in American Theatre:

TCG - American Theatre - Eyes Wide Shut

His legacy is certain. His plays, however, remain open to interpretation. He himself notoriously insisted that The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard were "gay, lighthearted, comedies," but this was ignored by Stanislavsky, who directed the plays, according to Chekhov, as "weepy." The two men were often at loggerheads as a result. The premiere production of The Cherry Orchard, rehearsing in Moscow while the playwright withered in Yalta, gave Chekhov his final chance to decry what he saw as Stanislavky's enduring misinterpretation of his work. As his strength evanesced, he roused himself, fired up his pen and dashed off acid-tinged missives that warned Stanislavsky against employing his familiar, cloying theatrical tricks. These usually involved the offstage sounds of dogs barking, birds singing and frogs croaking. Early in their collaboration, an exasperated Chekhov even exclaimed, "I shall write a new play and the first words will be, 'It's wonderful, this calm! No birds, no dogs, no cuckoos, no owls, no nightingales, no clocks, no sleigh bells, no crickets.'"

I've always thought Chekov was funny.
I hope we get to see new translations/adaptations of everything.

Daily Kos :: PROGRESSIVES!!!??? Like LIEBERMAN!!!???

Daily Kos :: PROGRESSIVES!!!??? Like LIEBERMAN!!!???:
"I am sorry, but if ANYONE actually believed that the Bush Administration was telling the truth, then they are NOT 'progressives.' The whole thing was out there, plain to see, and literally MILLIONS of Americans saw it. People climbing on the bandwagon now who supported this administration in any way whatsoever after it stole the election in 2000 ought to be sent, Cultural Revolution style, out into the working populace and made to mingle with the people until their heads pop on back out of their asses."

Preach on!
That's the thing that keeps getting me...
Folks keep saying, "Well, everyone thought there were WMD's!"

I didn't.
Neither did most of the folks I know.
Neither did most of the folks involved in searching for the programs (Scott Ritter, etc.).
Neither did Colin Powell or Condaleeza Rice if you believe their public pronouncements before the beating of war drums began...
(and yes, I'm too lazy to look for the links right now...)
but yeah, if you've believe Bushco's lies,
it's because you were already inclined to do so,
not because you (in the liberal tradition) looked at the facts on the ground and found your truth there.

Daily Kos :: Professional Women...You're Making Your Man Sick

Daily Kos :: Professional Women...You're Making Your Man Sick:
"In short, men are still geared to a traditional life as the breadwinner. 'We found that the more the man works, the better his wellbeing,' the authors say. "

All I can really say about this is that it's obvious they didn't interview me...
SLACK FOREVER!

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Tale of the tape

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Tale of the tape:
" The stories are endless. There is the guy who in college used the same mix tape to impress three different girls -- his girlfriend, a fling and a prospective second fling -- simultaneously and got away with it. There is the 13-year-old whose musical existence was shaken out of a Sex Pistols-Beatles bipolarity by mix tapes from cooler, older friends. There is the guy who made a romantic tape called 'You Best Believe I'm in Love' with nothing on it but New York Dolls songs. "

My first exposure to Bauhaus, The Cure, The Violent Femmes, Husker Du, and in fact most of the bands that I would spend listening to through most of high school were introduced to me on one mix-tape or another...
From Jertsy To Marxy was a tape my friend Monica made me back in the day that included everybody up there and more...
Some guy I knew in band, don't remember his name, but I remember a tape with The Dead Kennedy's and The Dickies among others...
and later making mix-tapes for girlfriends and possible girlfriends (and ex-girlfriends...is there anything sadder than the mix-tape made for an ex?)...
finding ways to make Dylan, and Dwight Yoakum work with The Clash, Brian Eno, The Cure, and more...it was always about maximum eclecticism for me,
even if there was a definite theme or idea working it's way through...
I've always been musically democratic, "all musics for all people" being my ideal,
and the mix-tape, my mix-tapes, were all about that ideal.
My friend Josh would literally work and rework mix-tapes until you could hear snippets of things he'd recorded over in the background. He could work on one for months at a time...

Maybe we can convince Thurston (or his publisher) to set up a site so that we can ALL tell our mix-tape tales...

Candy Jones article - Mind Control Victim? - the precursor to Cathy Phillips and the Presidential Model

For those of you that have read Tranceformation of America I give you a bit of history...

Candy Jones article - Mind Control Victim?:
"Jensen told her that she would need to be in good health for her undercover work and suggested she needed vitamins, which he injected into her intravenously from then on. These 'vitamins' were actually highly experimental drugs. He also told her about hypnosis and its uses, demonstrating it by hypnotising her, although she insisted she couldn't be hypnotised. It was then that he found Arlene, and developed her into someone he could use. Arlene was brought out and took Candy over, and in reality it was her who was sent on various experimental missions at home and abroad. Candy would become Arlene in appearance too, wearing a wig and different make-up. Of course Candy was programmed not to remember all this, but when Donald Bain talked to her for his book she still had one of the passport photos of her as Arlene ( which Bain published), wearing a black wig and dark make-up."

"Candy as Arlene attended training camps, military bases and secret medical facilities throughout America. She was trained to use explosives, to fight in close combat with improvised weaponry such as a hatpin, and taught about disguise and communications. She learned how to kill with her bare hands, resist pain, and deal with interrogation techniques. She carried and was taught to use a .22-caliber pistol, and was introduced to such devices as a lipstick containing poison, which could be used to commit suicide, if captured, by biting into the stick. She also learned how code numbers could be painted on her nails and covered with nail polish. All Candy Jones knew about all this was that she had occasionally delivered mail for her government. She was not aware of her alter ego Arlene at all, though Arlene knew all about her, and thought her weak."

Does this mean Project Monarch has been going on since the 40's?
Does this mean Mark Phillips and Cathy O'Brien picked up on the Candy Jones story and used it as a model for theirs?

I can't believe I haven't come across this before...
good stuff...
I'll be using this for sure...

corrente / Leah, Lambert, Tresy, the farmer, Tom, Xan, RDF, and Riggsveda

corrente / Leah, Lambert, Tresy, the farmer, Tom, Xan, RDF, and Riggsveda:
"Remember, it's a fucking LIE. When I think of Memorial Day, I think of wasted lives. I think of World War One, with its terrible piles of dead. I recall Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I think of the warmongers among us now, drooling over their maps and new weapons, just sure that their special deity is on their side. And I think of the recruiters. And I think of the obscene 'defense' (read 'imperial war') budget. And I put on a recording of 'Universal Soldier' and read Johnny Got His Gun and cry and then get angry, very angry. I'm sorry, soldiers everywhere--one day this madness must end and there are those working toward it. As Dr. King said, we either learn to live together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools.
Happy Memorial Day. Now there's an oxymoron. "

I think that about sums it up.

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: May 22, 2005 - May 28, 2005 Archives

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: May 22, 2005 - May 28, 2005 Archives:
"Remember, the McClellan/DiRita attacks on Newsweek weren't simply about getting a few facts wrong or weakly sourcing a story. Their claim was that the charges were outrageous, damaging and false, when in fact it turns out they were outrageous, damaging and quite likely true. And even more damaging for the US after McClellan and DiRita spent a couple weeks heaping attention on them."

Meat Beat Manifesto?

Silence Is A Rhythm Too

So, I bought the new DJ Spooky/Dave Lombardo CD recently and was caught wondering...who is Jack Dangers?

turns out he's Meat Beat Manifesto...

My first exposure to MBM was in college...
I was running sound for some band down in the Cougar Den,
and playing Public Enemy loudly before they started...
some guy I didn't much care for came over and started looking through my CD's...

"Where's your Meat Beat Manifesto, dude?"

Laugh, "Uh, Nowhere..."

and I avoided listening to them for years...
up until now really...
now they are on the list of things to go back and check out...
and here's some new stuff, from the blue series...

btw, I dig the spooky/lombardo CD much...there are 4 or 5 tracks with Chuck D reprising old PE songs...so the PE/MBM connection comes around for me 15 yrs later...
go figure.

Achewood - Ray's Place - Doggs here is my advice for the week. - May 17, 2005

Achewood - Ray's Place - Doggs here is my advice for the week. - May 17, 2005:
"* A Gentle Reminder (“Disclaimer”): This is advice from a cartoon cat, and should not be taken seriously. We are not responsible for anything you do based on what Ray says, or otherwise. Do not commit suicide or otherwise interrupt the lives of others. Continue on with your life as though you had never read this column. Erase your browser history. Not for readers under 18 years of age. "

He gives better advice than I would.

I give two kinds of advice...
there's good advice,
and there's what I would do...

Ray however has the smarts for real.
Now I know how to prepare whale meat,
and so much more...

I'm glad I'm not an advice columnist.
People and their problems generally bore me.

Off the Kuff: Report from the Grand Parkway meeting in Spring

Off the Kuff: Report from the Grand Parkway meeting in Spring:
"This 'regional mobility' crap is the same stuff that's been fed to residents and businesses currently displaced by the Katy Freeway boondoggle, and to residents and businesses threatened by the proposed I-45 widening. The subtext is that the need of some people to get from where they live to where they work faster than they are currently able to do is more important than the inconvenience that accomodating them would cause to the people in between. I'm sorry, but my neighborhood is not an impediment to your mobility. I refuse to have my quality of life suffer so you can shave ten minutes off your commute. You made your choice about where to live, you can live with the consequences of that choice. Maybe it's time we looked at alternatives, such as figuring out ways to reduce traffic on overburdened roads, instead of automatically drawing lines on maps and thus rewarding one kind of lifestyle over another."

Right on!
Huzzah!
Bravo!
Etc!

If it takes people in Tomball 1 hour to get to I-45 maybe we should work on public transport that gets them all the way to the city,
maybe they should move closer...
All I know is that building roads that will be mostly empty after the oil peak seems like a real waste.

The Return of the Friday Stunt - Send your picture to Warren

Warren wants you to take a picture of yourself and send it to him.
He's posting them all.

Warrenellis.com

The Stakeholder :: Don't Do It, Tom

The Stakeholder :: Don't Do It, Tom:
"In the episode, a police officer investigating the murder of a federal judge suggested 'put[ting] out an APB for somebody in a Tom DeLay t-shirt.'"
I don't watch Law & Order anymore,
in fact I probably wouldn't have heard about this at all
had not Mr. Delay felt the need to respond.
Now that I have heard about it,
I think it's funny.

p.s. I got this and the Krugman from Atrios...

Running Out of Bubbles - New York Times

Running Out of Bubbles - New York Times:
"But these aren't tiny regions; they're big and wealthy, so that the national housing market as a whole looks pretty bubbly. Many home purchases are speculative; the National Association of Realtors estimates that 23 percent of the homes sold last year were bought for investment, not to live in. According to Business Week, 31 percent of new mortgages are interest only, a sign that people are stretching to their financial limits. "

You know I'm not a big believer in sin,
but if I was I'd be pretty sure that buying a home for investment
would be one...
at least while there are homeless folks...

So I say bring on the bubble bursting...

Arrest Rummy!

Dewey Dell:
"'If those investigations support prosecution, the governments should arrest any official who enters their territory and begin legal proceedings against them,' he added. 'The apparent high-level architects of torture should think twice before planning their next vacation to places like Acapulco or the French Riviera because they may find themselves under arrest as (former Chilean dictator) Augusto Pinochet famously did in London in 1998.'"

I'd love to see it,
but c'mon if they haven't grabbed Kissinger yet
I think it's safe to say this particular band of international
criminals will probably enjoy the same kind of immunity.

Ow. That Hurts. Quit.: Charty

Justin makes with the pretty pictures:
Ow. That Hurts. Quit.: Charty:
"Because I was feeling charty, I whipped up a graph to see just when and how long the various threat level changes were."

It is pretty amazing that more folks are putting these particular twos together...
NO terror alerts since the election.
MANY terror alerts before the election.

oh just go read what Justin has to say...
his version is illustrated.

Why Abortion Improves Society

NathanNewman.org:
"This change didn't happen because of 'anti-busybody' arguments but because feminists of both sexes stood up and declared that abortion -- however sad an option when used -- was necessary to improve the quality of life and equality of women in our society. In 1972, fifty-three prominent women published an open letter declaring that they had had an abortion to demonstrate that good people had good reasons to have abortions."

I should be reading Newman everyday...
This is important stuff, and I think most of us who are pro-choice understand it, but it isn't how we're taught to think about it anymore, even by our own organizations...

This summer... Teen angst comes in five shades of BLACK!

emorangers.com

this makes me laugh.
does that make me mean?
that makes me sad.
does that make me emo?
god,
I hope not.

News Hounds: Save The Date! Aliens Due To Land In Las Vegas Sometime Between June 1 and July 15th.

News Hounds: Save The Date! Aliens Due To Land In Las Vegas Sometime Between June 1 and July 15th.:
"This is the start of their domination."

I still think we've got till at least 2006, maybe 2008 before the aliens/reptiles/demons/cataclysmic climate change/whatever...
but I reckon it could start sooner and be a long and terrifying journey!
CHEERS!

Tips for getting good customer support - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)

Tips for getting good customer support - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals):
"Don’t write overly detailed, wordy support requests. The longer your email the more of a burden it puts on the customer support person. They have to read the entire thing (I’ve seen simple support requests balloon into two printed pages), sift through to find what’s meaningful, and spend more time figuring out exactly what’s wrong. Since they’re trying to help you, you want to reduce their burden. You want to make it as easy as possible for them to help you. So, be clear, concise, and brief. More words often confuses instead of clarifies the issue. Save the wordiness for the thank you email once the problem has been solved. "

Please stop sending me your full show tech with a message saying, "There's an error in here somewhere" or something like that...
send the whole file, we may need it...but please cut and paste your error message into the opening of the case...
PLEASE!

The American Street � Blog Archive � Chayes: “It’s a mistake to focus on the Newsweek article.”

The American Street � Blog Archive � Chayes: “It’s a mistake to focus on the Newsweek article.”: "In other words, it’s a mistake to focus on the Newsweek article as the cause of the recent demonstrations in Afghanistan. Instead, the reason was President Hamid Karzai’s May 8 announcement that Afghanistan would enter a long-term strategic partnership with the United States.”"

Is this the next play?

corrente / Leah, Lambert, Tresy, the farmer, Tom, Xan, RDF, and Riggsveda

whattaya think? We let Israel handle Iran (wow, that sounds like a horrible idea) while we hold down Syria? That's how Xan sees it...

Humanist Network News 25 May 2005

Humanist Network News 25 May 2005:
"The French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre was sitting in a cafe when a waitress approached him: 'Can I get you something to drink, Monsieur Sartre?'

Sartre replied, 'Yes, I'd like a cup of coffee with sugar, but no cream.'

Nodding agreement, the waitress walked off to fill the order and Sartre returned to working.

A few minutes later, however, the waitress returned and said, 'I'm sorry, Monsieur Sartre, we are all out of cream -- how about with no milk?'"

found this from the Humanist Network News diary over at DailyKos...

lost of other good stuff there...
check it out...

Click opera - May 26th, 2005

Momus talks about the kind of guys I work with:

Click opera - May 26th, 2005: "You know, let's go for a malt whisky, but if you're a man you're going to drink as many as me, and be able to pay for them, and hold your drink and not pass out, right, and that's real because you're a real man, right? Hey, let's hang out and let's compete, for Pete's sake!

All my life I've been bored and frustrated by men. Don't get me wrong, men are brilliant, they achieve remarkable things, they master difficult skills, driven often, it's true, by ego and testosterone and sheer otaku obsession. Men want to win, to triumph, to vanquish, to hear their names resound. But these very traits also make them rather difficult people to spend time with. Men talk all through dinner, telling you their achievements or dazzling you with their deep knowledge of a subject. But at the end of it all you feel that no exchange has taken place, no conversation has been had. Superiority has been communicated, something has been vanquished, but it hasn't been pleasant. Like someone forced to a Macdonald's after an unsatisfying nouvelle cuisine meal, you're often tempted to make secret rendezvous with the other dinner guests to do some real talking at some future date."

Ah the fine art of dick-swinging...
it's amazing what men will use as a measure of manliness...
There are folks here on my team who like to turn EVERYTHING into a competition...not just work...
every conversation they have is about gaining the upper hand,
not communicating, sometimes not even proving a point...
Of course I'm sitting here thinking my dick's bigger cause I don't participate in all the dick-swinging...
so we're all infected with the man-thing...
But finding a job that is a little less male-dominated would be great!

Eschaton - File Under: Judges Gone Wild!

Eschaton

An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County judge's unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing their child to "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals."

This judge is telling these parents that they can't raise their kid with their religion becuase the kid goes to Catholic school and the different teachings will confuse him...
It's bad enough the persecution us humanists have to endure...
I can't imagine what it would be like to be a pagan or wiccan right now, right here...
This is a clear case of a judge involving himself in family decisions...
judicial activism of the worst kind...

REAL ART (and politics and culture)

Ron talks about torture, Newsweek, etc...

REAL ART (and politics and culture):
"Look, this toilet flushing thing definitely happened, but for some odd reason Newsweek felt it had to retract the story. Public discourse is at the point such that it is virtually impossible to tell the truth without being dog-piled by the criminals who run this country. And the torture continues."

as usual he says a lot of things I wish I had...

When I was a kid my only thoughts of torture involved Nazi's...
No, I didn't fantasize about torturing Nazi's, but they were the only people I could imagine using torture...
"Ve have vays ov making you tahlk!"
Ya know what I'm saying?
People don't like you comparing Bush to Hitler
mostly cause that makes us like the German citizens who
went along to get along and all that,
but torture is not something you do in the name
of freedom, dignity, etc...
it's something you do because, well,
on some level you enjoy it...
it's not effective as an interrogation technique,
but I imagine in some twisted way it relieves tension
and allows folks to release misplaced anger...

I could go the conspiracy route and talk about the power Bush and his little coven get from sacrifices made in their name...
I could talk about the reptiles feeding off human pain...
I could talk about the cells at Abu Ghraib where the found evidence not of "torture" but ritual abuse...

but I know that when I talk about those things people tune out,
so let's just stick with the above and wonder what exactly WE are becoming....

Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.

Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.:
"At a White House press briefing Monday, Press Secretary Scott McClellan, pressed by reporters and with Afghan President Karzai in disagreement, retreated on claims that Newsweek's retracted story on Koran abuse cost lives in Afghanistan.
He also claimed that he had never said it did, even though a check of transcripts disputes that. On May 16, for example, he said, 'people have lost their lives.' On May 17, he said, 'People did lose their lives,' and, 'People lost their lives' due to the Newsweek report.
McClellan also stated, 'As I said last week, and as President Karzai said today, and as General Myers had said previously, the protest may well have been pre-staged.'
In other words, Scott, and the White House, have had to back down on their charges against Newsweek because the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, as well as the Afghani President, have stated that the charges are essentially wrong. The White House knew that the charges were lies, but made them anyway."

Daily Kos :: The Damnation of the United States by Amnesty International

Daily Kos :: The Damnation of the United States by Amnesty International:
"'Guantanamo has become the gulag of our time,' Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan said as the London-based group launched its annual report. Amnesty International called for the camp to be closed. "

here's the deal...

I'm stressed
to the point
of paralysis

so many things
I have no
control over
that instead of
taking control
of the things I can
I am just sitting here
staring into space

I would like to crawl under my desk
or go back home
and to bed

Achewood - May 16, 2005

Achewood - May 16, 2005

if yr not reading Achewood there is something very wrong with you...
if yr reading Achewood there is probably something still very wrong with you...but at least yr laughing out loud...

start with the link above, or maybe even a few days before and enjoy the story of Trent Reznor's Volvo and the havoc it wreaks...

mathletes gig

Friday night at Super Happy Fun Land!

Cartwheels In Central Park
Take Another Way Home
The Dimes
Buxton
Basil the Mouse (from Alamo, Tx)
The Mathletes


Joe says Basil the Mouse is really good...
I have no idea who any of the other bands are cause I'm just a grumpy old man bass player...

if you need the details on Super Happy itself go to their website.

umm....

so there won't be much posting over the next few days...
I'm trying to study for my CCNA and work has been really busy...

um...

go see Needful Creatures, and Night Just Before the Forests.

that is all.

James Wolcott: I Wish I Could Be There for This

James Wolcott: I Wish I Could Be There for This:
"On June 25th, Patti Smith will perform 'Horses' in its entirety at the Meltdown Festival in London's South Bank Centre. It's the 30th anniversary of her LP debut, and all I can say is, time do fly."

damn...
that sounds amazing...

Cards for cheaters - not cheating at cards...

Love notes for that 'other' special someone:
"When the cards are in stores, they will be discreetly labeled with words like 'Love Expressions' or 'Intimacy,' so it won't be obvious what the cards are for, she said.

'There won't be a big banner that says 'infidelity,'' she said."

nothing says something like a greeting card,

"Sleeping with her, but thinking of you..."

or

"Thanks for not being a nagging bitch like my wife",

or perhaps,

"I tell him size doesn't matter,
but you fill me up..."

Warrenellis.com � America Has Finally Got To Us

Warrenellis.com � America Has Finally Got To Us:

"“I am thinking, well, America has finally got to us,” said one old woman, as she sat on the ground outside her house. "

Now, we're responsible for some heinous, ridiculous shit worldwide...
but I'm pretty sure we didn't steal a lake...
I would blame the people living inside the hollow earth...
but that's me...

By the Bayou: Our Plot to Subvert the Family

A fellow Houstonian that I don't know, but read regularly addresses the gay parenting "issue".

By the Bayou: Our Plot to Subvert the Family:
"I watch my sister and brother-in-law in action, and observe the endless energy of my nephew, and I think: I could not do this. If I had kids, that would be the end of my free time to go to the meetings where we figure out how to make heterosexual marriage illegal and seduce the daughters of the middle class into lives of lesbianism and prostitution. "

The Nation | Essay | On Sartre's God Problem | Norman Mailer

The Nation | Essay | On Sartre's God Problem | Norman Mailer:

"Sartre, however, was comfortable as an atheist even if he had no fundament on which to plant his philosophical feet. To hell with that, he didn't need it. He was ready to survive in mid-air. We are French, he was ready to say. We have minds, we can live with the absurd and ask for no reward. That is because we are noble enough to live with emptiness, and strong enough to choose a course which we are even ready to die for. And we will do this in whole defiance of the fact that, indeed, we have no footing. We do not look to a Hereafter. "

and I'm gonna have to stand with Sartre...
on thin air.

although, the God Mailer posits here is much more interesting and useful than most...
after I think about this and digest it I may post more on it...
but I might not...
either way it's a good read and something to think about.

my inner barfly

so, after the show last night I get in my car with every intention of going straight home.
I get to Elgin, and I turn left instead of right.
I figure one quick drink will do me good.
Chill me out. Allow me to sleep, etc.
So I head to Poison Girl.
I get there and I know 1 guy at the bar, and the bartender.
There were some people on the patio I know I had met,
and I had no idea who they were in my post-show raddled brain...
so I sat and had my drink,
then got in the car to head home...
I got to waugh and turned left
and decided I'd stop at rudz for one more,
and maybe run into somebody who stopped by after Troy's show.
No IBP'ers - I knew one guy at the bar, and the bartenders.
Had my one drink, invited the Brad and Myra to come see the show Monday
and then finally got in the car and actually went HOME.
Made it home by 11:45 or so, not too bad all things considered...

Tonight after the show it's Rudz to see Linus! WHOOHOO!
They bring the rock!

Speaking of, next time yr in Poison Girl, put a dollar in the jukebox,
make the bartender turn their tunes off, and play "Thorn" of the new LP4 Cd...
why? cause it rocks, and I wrote it...and it features guitar solos from John Cramer...and then you can play "Switzer" cause it's named after me and about getting high with Charlie and listening to The Mike Gunn.
PG is the only bar I know of where I can go hear a song I wrote and a song named after me...
don't you wish you were that special?

oh yeah,
and come see Needful Creatures DAMMIT!

The Onion | Yes, Sweetie, Mommy's Heard Of Gil Scott-Heron

Picked this up somewhere...Probably Tbogg:
The Onion | Yes, Sweetie, Mommy's Heard Of Gil Scott-Heron
I know everyone is reading the onion already,
but this is so funny and right on it brought tears of joy to my eyes...

Paul Anka Promo-Playa

While Chet over at the heathen apologizes,
I just have to wonder if SoundEx will special order it for me...
You can hear THE WHOLE THING at the link below:
Paul Anka Promo-Playa � 2005 Verve Music Group � 2005 Powered by ie marketing llc

C'mon...
he does "Love Cats"
you know you want it...

NEWSARAMA - KELSEY GRAMMER IS X3's BEAST

NEWSARAMA - KELSEY GRAMMER IS X3's BEAST:
"While the bulk of the cast for the third X-Men movie is already in place, Variety today announced a new addition to both the cast and the characters that will appear in the film: Kelsey (Frasier) Grammer as Hank McCoy, aka Beast."

hmm...
I'm intrigued...
we're also getting Juggernaut, Kitty Pryde, and Angel this go round...
Singer managed to do Nightcrawler right,
I just hope Vaughn doesn't screw up Beast...
and why still no Collossus?

there...
there's my inner geek post for the day...

New York Post Online Edition: gossip

New York Post Online Edition: gossip:
"JACK Kerouac fans are about to get an unexpected treat — an unpublished and long-forgotten play by the Beat legend, recently discovered languishing in a New Jersey warehouse, will be excerpted in the July issue of Best Life magazine.
'Beat Generation' details a day in the drink- and drug-hazed life of Kerouac's literary alter ego, Jack Duluoz, as he parties and gambles with thinly-veiled characters based on Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady and other Beat era legends. "

I haven't read any Kerouac since college...
but I am excited about this...
don't know if it'll be any good,
but I know I'll read it.

Seattle Weekly: Arts: What a Piece of Plastic Is Man! by Richard Morin

Via Bookslut we discover this review of "Hamlet"
Seattle Weekly: Arts: What a Piece of Plastic Is Man! by Richard Morin

and all I can say is, how do we get Tiny Ninja Theatre down to Houston?

File Under: Serendipity

REAL ART (and politics and culture)

Fellow traveller Ron does a pretty damn good job elucidating my point below that Marx got more right than he did wrong...
whoohoo!

What really turned me on, however, were the Marxist and feminist essays. It’s not that I’m particularly into Marx or feminism, although I am to some extent; it’s that the way these writers approached their subjects opened up an entirely new strain of thought to me—it is important to note that many feminist writers, especially those writing in the 1970s, were strongly influenced by Marxist critical principles. So really, it all comes down to Karl Marx.


There's some great stuff in this essay, and a link to a very nice summation of Marxist critical assumptions...

go read it...

what else ya gonna do?
work?

Labor Blog

I know even the lefties don't like to talk about it,
but Marx got more right than he got wrong...

Labor Blog:
"The New York Times , because of their obsession with individual status, ignore these structural issues of class and the economy. But if they did pay attention, it would be obvious that Marx's prediction of a flattening of class towards a division between a small handful of owners versus wage earners is more true today than in Marx's day. Many of the small capitalists of yesteryear, running small shops in towns across the country, have been replaced by Wal-Mart managers working on salary, while a much tinier group of people control the capital that decides whether other people are employed or not in those big corporations. "

Ezra Klein: Decision Time for the AFL-CIO

Ezra Klein: Decision Time for the AFL-CIO

The labor movement is on the move...
YAHOO!
as a former I.W.W. member (o.k. I paid dues for 6 months...mostly so I could say, as a Wobblie, or former Wobblie), I'm all about one big union, and organizing, so I'm down with Stern...
We can't wait for the legal system to make changes...
Labors battles have always been won on the picket lines,
and there is NO reason to think the battles of the future will be different...
When people complain about me coming to work sick,
maybe I'll start reminding them that if we were unionized there wouldn't be contract workers like me here who are getting the shaft to the degree that we HAVE to come to work sick...
grr...


There is strength in a union...
until labor is as free as capital there is no free market...
open your borders and allow/encourage union organizing and then we'll talk about your precious free market...

not much to say...

had a pay what you will performance last night...
small but receptive crowd...
I felt off but everybody said the show went great...
which I'm sure it did...
it just felt weird to me...
think it was being in a bad mood from working a 10 hour day that just carried over,
but I must've covered o.k.
and the rest of the cast kicked ass as usual...

Tonight I'm working with a couple of ex and possible future magic bullets to do some recording for the tamalalia 10 CD...
and tomorrow night it's mathletes practice...
and somehow I need to study for the CCNA and get some sleep...

yeah, the newsweek stuff is wack...
and moyers speech was great...

we're still doomed...

whattya want from me?

Off the Kuff: Postcards from the labor market

Off the Kuff: Postcards from the labor market

The staunchest advocates say whiners should find new professions. Richard Spitz, who leads the technology division of the recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International, says corporate clients want employees who embrace a 24-hour business cycle.


This crap is infuriating...
you want 24 hour coverage? hire three shifts you cheap bastards!!!
how long did we fight for the 8 hour workday?
how many people made serious sacrifices (some their lives) so that we could have some decent fucking standards in this country?


and this...

No-fault policies eliminate judgments about whether an absence could have been avoided. Instead, they draw a strict line between planned and unplanned time off. Typically, no more than six unscheduled absences are tolerated within a year, although multiday illnesses count as one "occurrence."

Those with paid days off for illness or emergencies still get paid, but these unplanned absences count against their attendance records.



This crap really just leaves me bewildered...
if you don't treat your employees with respect you should expect them to steal, lie, and take a damn day off whenever they feel like it...
treat the right, and they'll work for you...
even lazy fucks like me can be motivated by the proper treatment...
it might not be a carrot, but it sure as hell ain't the stick...

grrr...

Lance Mannion: No damn good

James Wolcott points us to:
Lance Mannion: No damn good

you should go read it.
It's one of those rare pieces that makes me wish I had written it...

"I have been asked how in the face of all that is rotten in the world I maintain my chirpy, cheery, optimistic and generally sunny outlook on life.

Seriously.

I swear.

People have asked me that.

I'm just as surprised as you. Frankly, I consider myself one grumpy, sour, mean and nasty son of a bitch, a misanthropic, malcontented, pessimistic, anti-social bastard and jerk. Cheerful? My guiding philosophy is Murphy's Law, intensified. I believe that it's not just that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. It's that anything that can go wrong already has gone wrong, way, way, way wrong, and you won't even have begun to notice just how badly it's all gone wrong until the paramedics and the police arrive.

I'm not a the glass is half-empty-er. I'm a the glass is dirty and the milk in it has curdled and came from sick cows anway-er."

he goes on to explain, why, at least to some degree, this outlook gives him hope...
it's a good read...

no business - copyright infringement is your best entertainment value

no business

new work from Negativland -

Negativland's current take on issues of file-sharing, downloading, appropriation, and the supposed collapse of the music business, circa 2005. We're looking at the ways things have changed in the last decade and the ways things have stayed the same. And yes, it's going to be funny. Really.

There's a couple of new tracks available if ya follow the link...

Dewey Dell: The Descent of Tom DeLay

Bliss reminds us that DeLay was always a worthless fuck:
Dewey Dell: The Descent of Tom DeLay

just go read it...

REAL ART (and politics and culture)

Ron over at REAL ART brings my attention to the Southern Baptist Convention:
REAL ART (and politics and culture): "The resolution says schools promote acceptance of gays through officially sanctioned gay clubs, diversity training, anti-bullying courses, safe sex and safe schools programs." (Emphasis mine)

So, now the Southern Baptists are pro-bullying? Wow! They've really studied the work of Jesus...
I remember in the gospels when Jesus and the disciples went queer-bashing...
Who can forget Paul yelling, "Turn the other cheek, faggot!"? as he delivered a well-placed kick to some pansy hiding among the pharisees?

oh, wait...
that's NOT in the bible, is it?

anyway, Ron goes on to bash the public school system (as he does, and rightfully so) and points out the result of this will not be fundamentalists fleeing the schools, but pressure on school administrators to make their schools LESS "gay-friendly"...

When I was in the public school system I really didn't think it could get much worse...
I was wrong...
I was a weird kid.
Sophomore year of high school I had my hair permed in the front, wore my beatle boots, a trench coat, polo shirts, plaid pants, and a broach...yes, a broach...
I wasn't gay, (as far as I know I'm still not), but I sure looked it...
and I took a lot of grief for it too...
never got beat up, but several of my confused new wave friends did.
Bullying in the public schools IS a problem, and it is part of what leads to events like Columbine, and it does need to be addressed. Kids should feel safe in school,
whether they are gay, straight, bad dressers, or even Southern Baptists...
sheesh...
this isn't rocket science!
Schools should be kid-friendly...all kinds of kid-friendly...
anything less cheats us all.

miscellaneous heathen / houston - mathletes footage

miscellaneous heathen / houston

See Walt lead us through the end of our piss-poor JW cover,
and then see Paul dance...
he knows your secrets...

thanks to Chet over at Misc. Heathen

so...

here it is...
3.a.m...
too wired from a great day to sleep.
Had a Cisco class this morning that left me much less intimidated by the CCNA exam I have coming up way too quickly...
then straight to midtown arts center for Needful Creatures...
I started getting sick on Wednesday and tonight was the first run we'd had that I wasn't still feeling it...and the show felt great.
I'm real happy/proud/lucky to be working with such good folks...
Everybody in the show just impresses the hell out of me.

anyway, after that headed straight over to Jenni's Noodles to play for the art car crowd. The Mathletes played a rockin' set in the parking lot. We even had to play an "encore". After we played everything we knew (including our Jay-Z/R. Kelley/The Seximals medley) folks (ok, probably mostly people we knew, but still, they count too, right?) were yelling for more...so we played "diaperland" again, and "I Fuckin Love it Man" during which Uncle Walt joined us for a verse or two. This was our first show with the our new drummer (Jeff Mathlete) and he rocked the house...
or the parking lot, as the case may be...and it was the first show we played my song, "never heard of them". It's about hanging out with the kids and having no idea who any of the bands they are talking about are or that experience as a metaphor for something really deep...or something...
anyway, now it's 3.a.m.
and I'm not drunk
(the drinking was last night,
with the karaoke - they go together)
and I'm not tired
in fact,
I'm not sure what I am...

sorry

about the lack of posts...
been sick...
still sick...
catching up on the last couple of days at work...
probably won't be much new posted till monday...
get yr outrage elsewhere.
rock on.

Warrenellis.com � Stories, Drinking And The World

Warrenellis.com � Stories, Drinking And The World

Ellis has updated with the words he spoke at an event in Toronto recently...
good stuff:

"My favourite McKenna story was the vision of a time bifurcation he had. It’s basically a science fiction story, but the level of detail and the obvious reconnection of memory pathways in his drug-scrambled head makes it something remarkable, as does the clear sense that it speaks directly to his perception of the world – that we’re in a world that’s gone very badly wrong.

All he does is subtract Jesus from the equation of history."

almost...

outta here...
just wanted to mention how much brighter my drive home is now that I pass the new Tom Delay Billboard on the way home...

"Corporations gave millions to send Tom DeLay golfing,
and all you got was this billboard.."

make me pump a fist in the air every day...

sometimes it's the little things...

and sometimes it's big billboards.

well...

it's pretty late in the day and I've been busy enough with actual work that I haven't felt the need to rant about anything...

let's see...
saw Medea a couple more times this weekend...
Too late to say too much about it other than if ya didn't see it it's yer loss...
Drank too much tequila at the closing night party,
but not way too much tequila as I was at least able to get a ride home and didn't have to collapse on the bathroom floor, or in the yard of our host...
it was a great party, and it was REALLY nice to see folks from dos chicas and mildred's umbrella and illuminata and bobbindoctrin there...

Sunday I pretty much recovered from Sat night...
caught up on my TV (Enterprise (if only we were back with Emperor Hoshi, ah well), Smallville, Veronica Mars (both sville and vmars were very sappy, but they still advanced the major plots, so I'll forgive em), two episodes of the bill maher show, some daily shows, and Robot Chicken, oh and Lost which kicked ass as usual)...

this week it's all rehearsal for Needful Creatures...
we open Friday...
go to www.mildredsumbrella.com for details.

File Under: Those Zany Christians!

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...

REJECTED 'LOVE IS..' COMICS

REJECTED 'LOVE IS..' COMICS

not quite Disfunctional Family Circus...
but damn funny...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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!

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. "

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!

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...)

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!

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!