Reviews Roundup: Younger Than Jesus
16 years ago
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
writers are smart
okay, here's the deal. i'm a bit tipsy now... on (of all things) chocolate stout beer mostly from young's double chocolate stout (reaaaaly smooth and drinkable). i went out tonight to a reading in a certain Park Slope book store (unnameable books, if you're wondering) and i was instantly struck with the serious old skool scene that was unfolding before me. first of all, we were in the basement of the anarcho-socialist bookstore (don't shoot me for that very vague and unintelligent description)--and when i say basement, i mean basement... falling crooked wooden stairs and rope light lighting the place. well, it was housing the contemporary queer literary scene. i was impressed that i found myself there. not sure how yet, but who cares, right?
anyway... then it got me thinking about how with it the literary scene is and how blatantly blind and dumb the art scene is (now i'm really going to get shot)... and a bit of snobbery washed over me that i was there instead of an art opening... or art show... or my own art studio... or anything at all art related. these people look inside and then outside and their success is destinctly linked to the OUTSIDE world. in the art scene it is not linked to that at all. in fact, the less the outside world gets your art, the smarter you are assumed to be. you've 'one upped' them.
tell that to the beat poets.
anyway...
that got me thinking of my awkwardness... and how i don't empower my own eccentricities... when for fuck's sake, the whole world nearly trips over itself for anyone else's craziness... as long as they're famous.
yep.
okay. enough said.
tomorrow i'll talk about my angst over something else.
yah.
good night.
okay.
anyway... then it got me thinking about how with it the literary scene is and how blatantly blind and dumb the art scene is (now i'm really going to get shot)... and a bit of snobbery washed over me that i was there instead of an art opening... or art show... or my own art studio... or anything at all art related. these people look inside and then outside and their success is destinctly linked to the OUTSIDE world. in the art scene it is not linked to that at all. in fact, the less the outside world gets your art, the smarter you are assumed to be. you've 'one upped' them.
tell that to the beat poets.
anyway...
that got me thinking of my awkwardness... and how i don't empower my own eccentricities... when for fuck's sake, the whole world nearly trips over itself for anyone else's craziness... as long as they're famous.
yep.
okay. enough said.
tomorrow i'll talk about my angst over something else.
yah.
good night.
okay.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
a comment on civil liberties
I'm writing this short post before I head to work. It is a response to a New York Times article covering the riot that has broken out from the shooting of Oscar Grant by Oakland transit police.
The article doesn't mention a thing about the inhumanity suffered that night. It barely mentions that the cop, Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant in the back when he was lying face down -- sorry, while cops were pulling him to the ground face down after he was asking cops to calm down because everyone was complying. Click on the title of this post and watch the video--everyone was complying with cops. Oscar Grant just may have been murdered because he talked directly to the officers, perhaps tried to bring some logic to the situation, perhaps he was telling the cops the truth and the cops were agitated and needed a reason not to let the people they were detaining go. Perhaps Oscar Grant was doing what anyone faced with an aggressive, armed person would do--try to calm them down.
Then they restrain him, shoot him in the back at point blank and then handcuff him.
And so the last line of the New York Times article goes as such:
"Federal law enforcement were also reported to be looking into whether Mr. Grant’s civil rights were violated in his killing."
Excuse me while I throw up.
What's left of his civil rights?? His right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness? He was killed. For nothing. For being black. For being a young black man in the face of a young white male cop.
The article doesn't mention a thing about the inhumanity suffered that night. It barely mentions that the cop, Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant in the back when he was lying face down -- sorry, while cops were pulling him to the ground face down after he was asking cops to calm down because everyone was complying. Click on the title of this post and watch the video--everyone was complying with cops. Oscar Grant just may have been murdered because he talked directly to the officers, perhaps tried to bring some logic to the situation, perhaps he was telling the cops the truth and the cops were agitated and needed a reason not to let the people they were detaining go. Perhaps Oscar Grant was doing what anyone faced with an aggressive, armed person would do--try to calm them down.
Then they restrain him, shoot him in the back at point blank and then handcuff him.
And so the last line of the New York Times article goes as such:
"Federal law enforcement were also reported to be looking into whether Mr. Grant’s civil rights were violated in his killing."
Excuse me while I throw up.
What's left of his civil rights?? His right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness? He was killed. For nothing. For being black. For being a young black man in the face of a young white male cop.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Hear Ye Hear Ye! Mark Your Calendars! A Cure For AIDS Has Been Reported!
In case you didn't weed through nytimes.com today and navigate all the way down to the almost obscure second bullet in the Health section...
Or in case you didn't read the Wall Street Journal article about it last week: a doctor in Germany has successfully cured a patient of AIDS.
What it takes to make the front page is a complete baffle to me.
Or in case you didn't read the Wall Street Journal article about it last week: a doctor in Germany has successfully cured a patient of AIDS.
What it takes to make the front page is a complete baffle to me.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
soo... i got to thinking... that economic philosophy that i dreamt up to dictate US economic policies... looks like it had some flaws... hmm.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME MR ALAN GREENSPAN?!?!! you have stolen. you have led wall street to steal. you have BLINDLY led investment capitalists to STEAL STEAL STEAL. you fucking moron. any liberal leaning (i think the new word for the just barely left of center is socialist) nobody coulda toldja you were leading this ship into an iceberg... but i'm sure it gotcha tuns of favers... (i hear the new american vernacular is wasilla-speak.)
the guardian decided to (rightfully if you ask me) put this article as it's headline. the nytimes thought it was important enough to make the front page... but something about joe biden was headline.
this should be smeared on every american newspaper.
'oops, i made a slight mistake... i didn't factor in that a completely unregulated economy can create deeply greedy situations'. did you not read lord of the flies? did you not have a glimmer of doubt that money creates greed? or did someone skip you through high school straight to your NYU phD... or did you just skip the phD and get the piece of paper?
no wonder you got along with ayn rand. toxic ideologies.
we are witnessing the fall of capitalism. may we all dance with joy. wave fists in the air. sing hallelujah. and pray we can put food in our mouths tomorrow.
the guardian decided to (rightfully if you ask me) put this article as it's headline. the nytimes thought it was important enough to make the front page... but something about joe biden was headline.
this should be smeared on every american newspaper.
'oops, i made a slight mistake... i didn't factor in that a completely unregulated economy can create deeply greedy situations'. did you not read lord of the flies? did you not have a glimmer of doubt that money creates greed? or did someone skip you through high school straight to your NYU phD... or did you just skip the phD and get the piece of paper?
no wonder you got along with ayn rand. toxic ideologies.
we are witnessing the fall of capitalism. may we all dance with joy. wave fists in the air. sing hallelujah. and pray we can put food in our mouths tomorrow.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
so my question is this...
so... under our new patriot act(s), if one gets caught saying s/he wants to 'kill' the president... that person is suspect, no holds barred. so, let's say that person says it and his/her phone just happens to be tapped... or email read... or... say they wrote it in a blog.
now suppose someone yells it at a political rally about someone who is looking likely to become president. does that count as being suspect? anti-american? un-patriotic?
and since when has chanting 'off with his head' at a mccain/palin campaign become okay (same link... click above)? are we really going to take our fear to the level of the french revolution that executed some 20000 odd people by guillotine? oh, right. the republicans' pillar of power usurpation, i'm sure, was also inspired by the Sartre-ism 'by any means necessary'. wasn't that what cointelpro was during the 60s? and today's patriot act? by any means necessary.
thank you malcom x for bringing jean paul sartre to the american people. you meant to empower the african american community--but the white folks stole the idiology and used it for the fiercest battle cry imaginable.
race.
you can't say in anti-george bush rallies 'off with his head' lest some cia agent is standing next to you. he's an old, rich white dude! besides, you'd look like a lunatic--like some witch from 1692 salem.
but the conservatives can say it. sure, they can say anything. kill iraqi monsters. kill afghani war lords, kill japanies, kill russians, kill chinese, kill them all! wipe them off the map.
john mccain is dividing our nation and pushing the average conservative into a frightening realm. i guess conservatives have no ethics.
it's conservative white dudes who rule our wall-street class (that class that has raped our economy and taken every penny from our mouths). it's conservative white dudes who rule our business class--whatever is not offshore these days. and it's by in large conservative white dudes who've run this country from the very beginning. in fact, you look it up! our god damn country "land of the free, home of the brave" is the most racist, conservative, undiplomatic, anti-intellectual country in the west today. and lest we forget, every square foot of our so loved and coveted country is soaked with the blood of the indigenous.
thank you capitalism.
i have to puke now. i'm ashamed of you, my fellow americans who chant 'off with his head' about obama or ANYONE. absolutely ashamed.
now suppose someone yells it at a political rally about someone who is looking likely to become president. does that count as being suspect? anti-american? un-patriotic?
and since when has chanting 'off with his head' at a mccain/palin campaign become okay (same link... click above)? are we really going to take our fear to the level of the french revolution that executed some 20000 odd people by guillotine? oh, right. the republicans' pillar of power usurpation, i'm sure, was also inspired by the Sartre-ism 'by any means necessary'. wasn't that what cointelpro was during the 60s? and today's patriot act? by any means necessary.
thank you malcom x for bringing jean paul sartre to the american people. you meant to empower the african american community--but the white folks stole the idiology and used it for the fiercest battle cry imaginable.
race.
you can't say in anti-george bush rallies 'off with his head' lest some cia agent is standing next to you. he's an old, rich white dude! besides, you'd look like a lunatic--like some witch from 1692 salem.
but the conservatives can say it. sure, they can say anything. kill iraqi monsters. kill afghani war lords, kill japanies, kill russians, kill chinese, kill them all! wipe them off the map.
john mccain is dividing our nation and pushing the average conservative into a frightening realm. i guess conservatives have no ethics.
it's conservative white dudes who rule our wall-street class (that class that has raped our economy and taken every penny from our mouths). it's conservative white dudes who rule our business class--whatever is not offshore these days. and it's by in large conservative white dudes who've run this country from the very beginning. in fact, you look it up! our god damn country "land of the free, home of the brave" is the most racist, conservative, undiplomatic, anti-intellectual country in the west today. and lest we forget, every square foot of our so loved and coveted country is soaked with the blood of the indigenous.
thank you capitalism.
i have to puke now. i'm ashamed of you, my fellow americans who chant 'off with his head' about obama or ANYONE. absolutely ashamed.
what a day
today, october 10, 2008--what a day. i'm not sure how it will go down in history. i know i went to work this morning. biked there and back (total 25 miles--yah). that's monumental, isn't it? left early and came home... because no one was there and monday is a holiday--so i essentially had a longer weekend than most. that's cool, right?
well, and then there's the event up in alaska where they ruled officially that sarah palin did abuse her powers to fire her ex-brother-in-law. hmm... is that how they do it up in 'main street wasilla'?
oh, yah... and the stocks ended down *again*. today ended the worst week of both the down jones and the S&P 500--EVER. this year is the 3rd worst year since 1929. depression? hmm? i can't believe we're living through this.
and the guardian reports, if the vote was today, thankfully obama would win w/ a landslide. sorry, mccain. you're so no good for this country. and all the war talk is *SO* 2004. and... what the hell were you thinking w/ sarah palin?!?!?! i mean, conservative/liberal aside--you've managed to set us back as women some 35/40 odd years. fine she can shoot a gun. fine she can skin a moose. but she has no idea how washington is run--and it seems like her maverick-self needs to kick her own ass in anchorage. sorry, sister, your full of shit.
but the real news that i'm reading right now... at 12:51 in the morning on the next day is that Connecticut ruled gay marriage legal!
holy shit...
too bad my girlfriend and i don't believe in marriage. it would be fun to hop over there and get married--ya know--just cause.
*phew* what a day.
i'm exhausted...
well, and then there's the event up in alaska where they ruled officially that sarah palin did abuse her powers to fire her ex-brother-in-law. hmm... is that how they do it up in 'main street wasilla'?
oh, yah... and the stocks ended down *again*. today ended the worst week of both the down jones and the S&P 500--EVER. this year is the 3rd worst year since 1929. depression? hmm? i can't believe we're living through this.
and the guardian reports, if the vote was today, thankfully obama would win w/ a landslide. sorry, mccain. you're so no good for this country. and all the war talk is *SO* 2004. and... what the hell were you thinking w/ sarah palin?!?!?! i mean, conservative/liberal aside--you've managed to set us back as women some 35/40 odd years. fine she can shoot a gun. fine she can skin a moose. but she has no idea how washington is run--and it seems like her maverick-self needs to kick her own ass in anchorage. sorry, sister, your full of shit.
but the real news that i'm reading right now... at 12:51 in the morning on the next day is that Connecticut ruled gay marriage legal!
holy shit...
too bad my girlfriend and i don't believe in marriage. it would be fun to hop over there and get married--ya know--just cause.
*phew* what a day.
i'm exhausted...
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