April 8, 2002
Nambla unearthed...
Nambla unearthed... Watch out gay community - you'll soon be under attack (once again) and for all the wrong reasons. An association that was initially intended to be an outreach program to young gay men - and was instantly iconoclized (?) into the realm of socially deviant folklore is the foucs of the current Catholic Priest Witchunt. I'm not sure what angers me more... the fact that priests violated the sanctity of their religion (i.e. trust in a relationship) or the fact that EVERYONE KNOWS THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS!! Come on, you KNOW you've been joking about priests and boys since before high school.
South High School Sucks
South High School Sucks but not for the normal reasons that most students give. Apparently four students were suspended for a poll on their website, "the multiple-choice topic of whether a certain assistant principal at the school most closely resembles a witch, Big Bird, or a dead body." David tells CityPages.com that school officials told him the poll is a "death threat."
So they've taken the ball and done something positive with it. They've been mentioned in the WSJ opinion pages, and they're starting a coalition that's attempting to help kids practice free speech in their schools.
"Choose Life" license tag gets tentative nod from Kansas House.
"Choose Life" license tag gets tentative nod from Kansas House. You pay an extra $25 for the tag when you register (hopefully it's optional), and the money goes to "crisis preganancy centers." Isn't this a bizarre, and rather vague, way to advance the cause?
David Brock's book "Blinded by the Right" chronicles the laundry list of illegality he took part in as a part of the conservative machine, smearing both Anita Hill and Bill Clinton during the 1990's. He claims all the ridiculous things you've heard about "vast right-wing conspiracies" were true, and that it's time the truth come out. Is this guy for real, or blowing smoke up our collective asses?
Margaret Wise Brown.
Margaret Wise Brown. Margaret Wise Brown, the author of Goodnight Moon and dozens of other children's classics, all but invented the picture book as we know it today. Combining poetic instinct with a profound empathy for small children, she knew of a child's need for security, love, and a sense of being at home in the world—and she brought that unique tenderness to the page. Yet these were comforts that eluded her. Brown's youthful presence and professional success—as an editor, best-selling author, and self-styled impresario—masked an insecurity that left her restless and vulnerable.
My favorite children's book author. The Runaway Bunny is my favorite title of hers that I've read--I've run her name in Search before but never saw this site before:I had no idea she'd written so many titles. Nor how important she was to the genre. A biography. An autobiographical essay. Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon by Leonard S. Marcus looks interesting, too.
And here's a fan page. And, just for the heck of it--a 1957 Little Golden Books display.
French politicians polish cultural credentials.
French politicians polish cultural credentials. France's presidential hopefuls have begun pledging to defend the country's cherished culture, hoping to drum up support from artists worried that American films and music will steamroll finer French productions.
This rhetoric makes it sound like American films are picking up guns to massacre poor defenseless French culture. Maybe American films are so successful because they give people something that the "finer French productions" don't, and if so, then is that such a horrible thing? After all, we are just giving the people what they want, right? And if that takes money away from more artsy productions, then whose fault is that anyway?
Real World Studios
Real World Studios If you were a recording musician, how could you not want to record here at least once? A gorgeous environment that's inspiring on mulitple levels. Peter Gabriel deserves more credit than he gets. He's a forward thinking, decent guy who never stops trying. Now - release "Up" dammit.
Under 5,000 Xboxes sold in Japan last week.
Under 5,000 Xboxes sold in Japan last week. This is compared to 100k Playstation2s and 25k Gamecubes. Since its launch, the Xbox has sold 190k units in Japan versus the Playstation's 980k units sold in the first 3 days.
Is the Xbox doomed in the notoriously tough Japan gaming market, or does the Xbox just need a price cut to stay competitive?
Is the Xbox doomed in the notoriously tough Japan gaming market, or does the Xbox just need a price cut to stay competitive?
"It's the ring. It's getting heavier".
"It's the ring. It's getting heavier". This site is offering a 20Mb Quicktime download of the trailer for LOTR: The Two Towers. Very obviously a bootleg filmed in a theatre -- it's got an annoying flicker and the sound is a bit mussy -- but pretty decent quality otherwise.
The Pulitzer Prizes 2002.
The Pulitzer Prizes 2002. The New York Times gets 7; Richard Russo's "Empire Falls" gets Best Fiction; and Best On-Screen Kiss goes to Britney Spears and the guy from "Crossroads" because it made jurists William Safire and Henry Louis Gates Jr. "all teary-eyed."
Why aren't ghostwritten works considered frauds? Pop historians are on the rack for using unattributed passages, Milli Vanilla were shamed off the charts for lip-synching, Joe Klein was pilloried for playing coy about a book he did write. Yet Reagan's autobiography, Clinton's "It Takes a Village", and recent works by V. C. Andrews and Lawrence Sanders weren't written by the names on the jackets. Kind of odd, no?
Beer makes me smart...Beer, me make art.
After trying to make little "Golden Child" men out of Bud Lite cans Saturday, I checked the web for other beer inspired artforms. The results are range from the folky-Beer Label art to cozy beer bottle homes and dangerous beer can guns. Even cash can be made...for hilarious rent woes... to Big $$$ as with David Hockney's Pearl Blossom Highway currently at the Getty Museum. Anyone else inspired by beer?
Is this the script to Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones? It seems to be the same film Harry Knowles claims to have watched. (If you prefer, there's a .txt file version here.)
U.S. Foreign Policy: Attention! Right Face! Forward, March.
U.S. Foreign Policy: Attention! Right Face! Forward, March. "...with no foreign policy experience, Dubya was essentially a blank slate, and U.S. foreign policy has been up for grabs since he took the oath of office. As everyone now knows, the main contestants consisted of two factions: one headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who represents continuity of policy with both Bush's father and Clinton; the other, led by Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney, whose vision is far more sweeping, not to say Manichean. Since September 11, the latter faction has emerged as dominant and is using the 'war against terrorism' to impose its own, quite radical ideas on U.S. foreign policy and the global order. At their core, those ideas call for a world order based on U.S. supremacy and enforced by U.S. military power--a unipolar world in which the U.S. imposes the rules but, because of its own self-evident goodness, is not necessarily bound by them."
Ah, not quite lebensraum (yet), but "benevolent" Bushists bearing bratwurst abound.
Ah, not quite lebensraum (yet), but "benevolent" Bushists bearing bratwurst abound.
Disgusting.
Major muckraking - Greg Palast on C-Span. God I love C-Span, sitting here in the UK with a broadband connection, going thru the archive. You'd never see an anti-corporate author given a polite 50 minutes to explain his book in Britain. I'm only wondering when the Homeland Security hawks will get round to rapping the knuckles of Mr. Lamb's outstanding operation.
Does this explain ghosts and 'divine' visions?
Does this explain ghosts and 'divine' visions?
Charles Bonnet Syndrome is a degenerative sight disorder that plunges sufferers into a surreal world of hallucinations and visual distortions. Can it help us to explain many cases of 'divine' visions, ghost-sightings, UFOs and other other-worldly phenomena?
(requires registration 4 main link)
What's the oldest MP3 on the web? Not the first MP3 created by the Fraunhofer Institute, but the oldest recorded sound that's been turned into an MP3? Audio restorer Art Shifrin has a 1931 detective show; PBS offers some early recordings, including a 1919 track by Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band; but the reigning champeen seems to be Tinfoil.com, a website dedicated to early recordings, which features a largely unintelligible recording ripped from an 1878 "talking clock" recording.
Mindvox:
Mindvox: The original cooler-than-thou online community. What is it now? What was it then? Anyone else here still searching to discover the person ahead of you in the grocery store line is 3jane or Simonmoon?
well don't you know the bible was right all along
well don't you know the bible was right all along Just what I was looking for absolutely irefutable and empirical evidence that the earth is indeed flat courtesy of a expert in the field (remove tongue from cheek).
An African Pope?
An African Pope? Rock on. (Via Fark.)
Hell freezes over.
Hell freezes over. MSN coming to the Mac this summer.
That's one crazy mofo.
That's one crazy mofo. A bizarre look at one man's obsession with cinema villians. Would Terl (of "Battlefield Earth") really get his ass kicked by the Chucky doll? And what's with General Zod in the #6 spot? Has he missed your favorite crazy mofo?
The Universe on a Paper Plate.
The Universe on a Paper Plate. Complexity -> Simplicity for kids.
This will teach you:
This will teach you: Saddam halts oil shipments to protest Israeli and American treatment of Palestinians.
McDonald's 'collector' conquers North America
McDonald's 'collector' conquers North America Peter Holden may well be the true burger king, having dined at 11,000 of the more than 13,500 McDonald's franchises in North America. Surely this has to be damaging to your health? I mean, can the human body really sustain two Maccas "meals" a day?
We should get to know our nearest neighbors. Especially when some are potentially hazardous.
We've blown a kiss to 433 Eros and she has revealed some of her secrets.
Who really killed Daniel Pearl?
Who really killed Daniel Pearl? According to Tariq Ali, Pakistan's Secret Service was involved. Which might explain Musharraf's reluctance to extradite the suspect to Washington...
Internet Killed The Porn Magnate?
Internet Killed The Porn Magnate? "...but the explosion of pornography on the Internet in ever more customized ways may accomplish what the Meese commission on pornography, the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Andrea Dworkin, the antipornography activist, failed to do: the shuttering of Penthouse.
"I'm delighted that Mr. Guccione may be going out of business," Ms. Dworkin said. "The problem is that he is being replaced, quite possibly, by something that is much worse.""
Stupid URL. Stupid Site.
Stupid URL. Stupid Site. GREAT gfx. and don't look for any content - there isn't any. warning: bandwidth!
Going, going, gone.
Going, going, gone. Despite royalty costs that are lower than for commercial stations, numerous college and community radio stations have either shut down their Internet streams or on the verge of doing so. It's not just royalties killing these webcasts -- there are also regulations that require college stations to report every song they play and restrictions that would force college stations to police how often they play any given artist. Stations are trying to unite and fight these restrictions, but is it too little, too late? Nearly twenty webcasts have already gone under...
exso
exso - Epinions for ex-significant others? This public service (?) gives you a forum to tell your ex and the world how you rate him/her -- wonder if this can be used for good and not evil. They also offer interesting e-cards to send to your ex. The site seems pretty new, but would you use it?
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