June 6, 2010
Egyptian men married to Israeli women can be stripped of citizenship
Experiments in Torture
The Torture Papers. "In the most comprehensive investigation to date of health professionals' involvement in the CIA's 'enhanced' interrogation program (EIP), Physicians For Human Rights has uncovered evidence that indicates the Bush administration apparently conducted illegal and unethical human experimentation and research on detainees in CIA custody. The apparent experimentation and research appear to have been performed to provide legal cover for torture, as well as to help justify and shape future procedures and policies governing the use of the 'enhanced' interrogation techniques. The PHR report, Experiments in Torture: Human Subject Research and Evidence of Experimentation in the 'Enhanced' Interrogation Program, is the first to provide evidence that CIA medical personnel engaged in the crime of illegal experimentation after 9/11, in addition to the previously disclosed crime of torture." [more inside]
Move any mountain
Director Guillermo Del Toro has announced that he will no longer be directing The Hobbit, and has made a follow up statement today. Speculation is rife as to what he might work on next, having given up that massive commitment. Some are speculating, based on this AICN interview promoting the movie Splice, that going forwards with his adaptation of HP Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness may be on his mind again.
"We Con the World"
The YouTube clip, set to the tune of the 1985 charity single We Are the World, features Israelis dressed as Arabs and activists, waving weapons while singing: "We con the world, we con the people. We'll make them all believe the IDF (Israel Defence Force) is Jack the Ripper."While the Israeli government has apologized for distributing links to the video, Israeli government spokesmen nevertheless maintain that the video is "fantastic" and "what Israelis feel." And not just any Israelis: the video was produced by and stars, among others, the Jerusalem Post's deputy managing editor Caroline Glick.
Over The Edge
The Wipers were a tight and catchy post-punk band founded in Portland in 1977. Today they're best known for covers by The Vivian Girls and Nirvana (Return of the Rat, and esp. D7 - studio, live 1 2 3 4). But the originals are pretty interesting too. John Peel said of their first album "Is It Real": " 'It is one of punk's great albums by perhaps the most unappreciated band of all time'." [more inside]
ricky and fats
Fats... I'm walking and, helping out, is Ricky Nelson
The Nativity of Tyrone Slothrop
If not otherwise specifically mentioned, do characters in epoch-shaping novels have birth dates, nativities? Did the author, for whatever literary reasons, or just for the fun of it (“mindless pleasures”), create the protagonist of the novel based on the astrological implications of some pre-imagined nativity, if not actually a definite birth date, time, and place?! Could the scholarly, serious, or curious reader benefit from knowing the horoscope of the character in question?
Paperware to Vaporware, The Nativity of Tyrone Slothrop
Hand-drawn Tyrone Slothrop Birth Chart
Paperware to Vaporware, The Nativity of Tyrone Slothrop
Hand-drawn Tyrone Slothrop Birth Chart
Break out the calipers
Reverse Engineering McDonald's French Fries Although not good for you, one dedicated man determines how you can make them at home, and improves on the recipe.
Banana Split
Wild and Wonderful
Y’all know Jesco White, right? Maybe you’ve seen one of the two documentaries about the Dancing Outlaw, following in the footsteps of his tap-dancin’ dad and trying to keep away from the influences of his no good, rabble-rousin' family. Well, now they’ve got a documentary too.
metaphorical realism
Slow Down 50%
In a time when people can carry computers in their pockets and watch TV while walking down the street, Typeface dares to explore the twilight of an analog craft that is freshly inspiring artists in a digital age. The Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, WI personifies cultural preservation, rural re-birth and the lineage of American graphic design. At Hamilton, international artisans meet retired craftsmen and together navigate the convergence of modern design and traditional technique. [more inside]
You Thought Dorm Rooms Smelled Bad Before
So your parents gave you a puppy when you were 10 years old. Now you are graduating and feel condemned to going to a local school and spending the next four years living with your parents because you can't leave Lassie behind. Think again. Colleges are are going beyond the traditional use of dogs as mascots.
I thought I was in a polyamorous relationship, and there was a... misunderstanding.
Last night, I attended Roll Out, Cowboy (trailer) with friends. The film, a documentary currently on the festival circuit, follows musician Chris Sand, aka Sandman, the rappin' cowboy, a trucker and performer who is based in his hometown of Dunn Center, North Dakota. He's been recording for years and has longtime ties to the Olympia, Washington music scene. Of course, he's on Twitter, Facebook and Blogspot (since 2003). Why not listen to some of his songs, or watch some videos. Also, in February, Chris asked you to host a house concert!
College Football Selling Out, In Real Time
"It's a storm only a game theorist could love..." In the next few weeks, the NCAA College Football landscape may change completely. Or not. Either way there's a massive power struggle unfolding among college football conferences for big TV money, and an increasing gulf between the haves and have nots. [more inside]
The Curse
"The Curse," by Josh Ritter. SLYT music video (5:05) with marionettes, about an archaeologist and a mummy and what it is to fall in love. Via Archaeopop.
Girlzone
Old. Tired. Sick. Alone. Broke.
David Markson has died. David Foster Wallace called his Wittgenstein's Mistress "pretty much the high point of experimental fiction in this country"; but Markson also wrote, earlier in his career, an oddball Western, hardboiled detective fiction (Here is a tribute constructed entirely from text from Epitaph for a Dead Beat), and some uncommonly lusty stuff for a dedicated experimentalist. [more inside]
Must Read Soccer and other soccer blogs
Must Read Soccer has one aim: To bring you the best writing in English on football, wherever we find it, fresh almost daily, and without favor. [more inside]
The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead is an American monthly black and white comic published by Image Comics beginning in 2003. The comic was created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore (replaced by Charlie Adlard from issue #7 onward; Moore continued to do the covers until issue #24) and chronicles the travels of a group of people trying to survive in a world stricken by a zombie apocalypse. Read more over at The Walking Dead Blog.
A television series was announced to be in production on August 11, 2009.
First look at The Walking Dead
, with some amazing new photos of some of the zombies done by KNB.
Entertainment Weekly highlights The Walking Dead behind-the-scenes video.
Interview with The Walking Dead Author Robert Kirkman on His AMC Show, Plus the Worst Idea for a Dead Movie He’s Ever Been Pitched
Urban Exploration of urban deprivation
Abandoned Detroit Public Schools "People tend to have a visceral reaction to the sight of books piled ten feet high and left to rot in a windowless warehouse or strewn about a classroom floor. They seem to have more sympathy for books than for the children who’ll never have the chance to use them. Half of Detroiters cannot even read. Unemployment is above 20 percent and our streets are filled with hopeless people. When I see schools left like this, I know exactly what waits for many of these kids. I see it every day on the streets." [more inside]
Beyond Left or Right
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