August 2007
Decades After War Trials, Japan Still Honors a Dissenting Judge
The New York Times:
A monument to the judge — erected two years ago at the Yasukuni Shrine, the memorial to Japan’s war dead and a rallying point for Japanese nationalists — provides a clue to his identity: Radhabinod Pal, the only one out of 11 Allied justices who handed down a not guilty verdict for Japan’s top wartime leaders at the post-World War II International Military Tribunal for the Far East, or the Tokyo trials.
“Justice Pal is highly respected even today by many Japanese for the noble spirit of courage he exhibited during the International Military Tribunal for the Far East,” Mr. Abe told the Indian Parliament.
I hope Japan’s nationalist populism comes to an end soon, because I really like Japan. I’m guessing that the attraction to the Liberal Democratic Party lies in their logo.
Viacom Steals YouTube Content, Then Claims It As Own
Christopher Knight:
“Chutzpah” is a Yiddish word meaning “unbelievable gall or audacity”. An example of it would be the story of the kid who murders both of his parents, then throws himself on the mercy of the court on the grounds that he’s an orphan.
That’s chutzpah. So is this: multimedia giant Viacom is claiming that I have violated their copyright by posting on YouTube a segment from it’s VH1 show Web Junk 2.0… which VH1 produced – without permission – from a video that I had originally created.
Viacom used my video without permission on their commercial television show, and now says that I am infringing on THEIR copyright for showing the clip of the work that Viacom made in violation of my own copyright!
The clip in question was pulled by YouTube earlier this morning, at Viacom’s insistence.
Thanatos and The World Without Us
Alan Weisman wrote a book recently called The World Without Us, which is what this website summarizes in the form of an interactive graphic. It seems to me that this goes in line with a recent trend about the modern society’s “death wish,” so to speak; the fantasy of “what would happen if we all died.” I wouldn’t be surprised if a CGI version of this was featured at the end of another big Hollywood eco-disaster film.
Useful Mutants, Bred With Radiation
The New York Times:
“Spontaneous mutations are the motor of evolution,” Dr. Lagoda said. “We are mimicking nature in this. We’re concentrating time and space for the breeder so he can do the job in his lifetime. We concentrate how often mutants appear — going through 10,000 to one million — to select just the right one.”
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Bleu”
I watched this movie last night and really enjoyed it. This clip isn’t very telling, since it doesn’t really say anything about the movie and doesn’t have English subtitles, but nevertheless…
Online Ballots: Let The Clicker Beware
Gary Langer over at ABC Blogs posts a well-worded response to rabid Ron Paul supporters’ insistence that the results of online “polls” are being purposefully ignored by the mainstream media. It’s pretty obvious to anyone with some sense that these polls are far from scientific, and even the scientific ones are rarely accurate (like Zogby’s prediction of a Kerry-Edwards victory in 2004) or worth reporting (like the aforementioned). (Via Freakonomics Blog.)
Bob Dylan Announces Additional Fall Tour Dates
And here are first two locations on the new list:
Thu 10/11 - Pittsburgh PA - Univ. of Ptts. Peterson Events Center Fri 10/12 - Ypsilanti MI - Eastern MI University Convocation Center
What are the odds of that. Even though I already saw him play last year at The Palace in Auburn Hills, I think I’m going to go again.
Towards A Politicized Notion of History
This kind of goes along with some of the links I’ve been posting throughout the past couple of months, most of which stem from a lot of ruminating and critical thinking prior to writing my (completely theoretical at the moment) thesis.
Bring the Funk: Sly and the Family’s Stand
Is Sly even more chaotic than P-Funk? Amazingly haphazard performance of a radio stand by. Hope this makes up for the Sheena E.
Sheena Easton’s 9 to 5
I heard this on Seinfeld last night and was struck by how amazing it is….
The Crystal Goblet, or Printing Should Be Invisible
I once was talking to a man who designed a very pleasing advertising type which undoubtedly all of you have used. I said something about what artists think about a certain problem, and he replied with a beautiful gesture: ‘Ah, madam, we artists do not think—-we feel!’ That same day I quoted that remark to another designer of my acquaintance, and he, being less poetically inclined, murmured: ‘I’m not feeling very well today, I think!’ He was right, he did think; he was the thinking sort; and that is why he is not so good a painter, and to my mind ten times better as a typographer and type designer than the man who instinctively avoided anything as coherent as a reason.
Psychoanalytic Political Theory and Original Sin
Larval Subjects has posted another really interesting essay exploring the conservative argument that human nature is corrupt and rooted in “original sin,” and therefore leftist social experiments like communism are doomed to fail. The question posed at the end by Dr. Sinthome doesn’t seem to have an easy answer either.
Hegel, Zizek & Substance As Subject
I came across this article by Davie Maclean a while ago, but just got around to posting it now. The best part is under the section “Hegel, Zizek & The End Of History.” Here’s an astoundingly insightful excerpt:
Hegel’s history therefore is a backwards teleology — history has a goal, an end, and this end is where we are now, so that what defines a past event as historical is that we are now able to identify it as one of the events that led up to the present…What is required is to kickstart history again, and the way to do that is by doing the impossible, by carrying out an act that rewrites history, that redefines what is possible politically and what is not.
Against Philanthropy
I just finished reading the sixth issue of the breezy, two shoes magazine Good. While at times it is preachy and overreaching (see the fluff piece about several design graduates who spent a month in a town coming up with the idea to make a newspaper and a website) it is generally like its title: good. Of course the real beauty of the magazine, and its website for that matter, is the simple pleasing design, this editorial by Jenny Price, “Against Philanthropy,” also caught my eye.
Alberto Gonzalez Quits
At this rate no one will be left, except maybe Barney and Miss Beazly. Oh, and the link goes to Wonkette this time—not the Times.
The Great Iraq Swindle
Rolling Stone:
George W. Bush’s war in the Mesopotamian desert was an experiment of sorts, a crude first take at his vision of a fully privatized American government. In Iraq the lines between essential government services and for-profit enterprises have been blurred to the point of absurdity…
(Via Larval Subjects.)
Foresight 20/20: Dick Cheney Is An Evil Man
This video leaves me grasping at straws. I still feel that Wolfowitz and the main agitating neocons were true believers, and really expected to be greeted with flowers. That kind of thinking reflects an ignorant and naive world view of black and white where “good” will triumph over “evil” (nevermind Abu Ghraib). But at least its not evil. If Cheney was able, in 1994, to eloquently and matter-of-factly outline the disastrous scenario that is unfolding as we speak, then what could have possessed him to go along with it?
Patti Smith Sings “You Light Up My Life” on a Children’s TV Show
This is surreal.
How about Anne Hathaway for a Patti Smith biopic?
YouTube Philosophy: Jacques Derrida (Part III)
This is amazing. Apparently it’s part of a movie called Ghost Dance, which I can’t seem to locate anywhere (insert frowny face).
Excerpt From “O Shit: A Survival Guide About What to Do When You Realize The Government’s Gone Sour”
If you ever find yourself in a situation were you can’t find your body, don’t worry, you’re not dead—you’re just in a sensory deprivation tank at a classified “black” site. For those readers who know nothing about the information extraction “technique” of sensory deprivation by tank, the victim is first tranquillized, covered in a desensitizing gel, placed in a wet suit and then suspended in a tank of water with oxygen. When the damned regain consciousness, they do not receive any sensory input—they see, smell, touch, taste, and smell absolutely nothing—and due to this minor alteration in brain activity, their brain will put these neglected regions to use in completely new ways, creating a super-introverted reality. This introverted orientation allows simple thoughts (i.e. Am I dead?) to become immense encyclopedic realities of their own. A direct consequence of this unknown, dynamic restructuring of brain activity is a massive surge of anxiety, which then compounds upon itself causing the victim’s very thoughts, and therefore their newfound sense of reality, to collapse inward in an unimaginable, subjective hell.
Upright Citizens Brigade: Season Two
I was certain season one would be the only thing to ever see the light of a DVD release, relegating seasons two and three to YouTube videos, VHS rips or “lost episodes.” But thankfully Comedy Central has finally decided to release the second season! It comes out on September 18th, 2007.
Why Hillary Will Be King
This poem was inspired by the beautiful Italian Poem “I Shitteth on Thou”:
It’s probably not because she’s married to America’s “First Black President”
It’s probably not because she fits in at a gay parade
It’s probably not because she’s a woman
And it’s sure as hell not because she’s all ‘bout the family
So why will Hillary Clinton win?
I mean who votes for a woman so bent on becoming the epitome of sin?
Like Dubya before her she stands for something… well at least something else
A change of pace?
A different dynamic?
A new door?
NO!
See Who’s Editing Wikipedia - Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign
WIRED:
Inspired by news last year that Congress members’ offices had been editing their own entries, Griffith says he got curious, and wanted to know whether big companies and other organizations were doing things in a similarly self-interested vein….For now, he has just scratched the surface of the database of millions of entries. But he’s putting it online so others can look too.
Marmaduke Explained
Perhaps the single best analysis of an incomprehensible subject, rivalling even St. Thomas Aquinas. Freudian psychoanalysis is alive and well.
Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007
Diane, this is fascinating. (Via Wonkette.)
Are Man-Made Tornadoes the Answer to Global Warming?
Steven D. Levitt:
Technology and human ingenuity have solved just about every problem we’ve faced so far; there is no obvious reason why global warming shouldn’t succumb as well.
I have to seriously disagree with Mr. Levitt here. This sounds like that old joke about introducing a group of rabbits into a foreign environment to kill off a certain type of weed, but the rabbit population begins to grow too fast, so wolves are introduced to kill the rabbits, and so on and so forth.
Karl Rove Quits
Bye bye!
Coke and a Smile
It’s summer, so get out your smiles and get out your cokes. And while you’re at it make that two, I’m thirsty.
Terror-nomics
The Freakanomics blog on The New York Times has been intensely interesting the last few days. Steven Levitt started analyzing the most affective ways to terrorize the public and the readers went nuts in the comments section. His response post was also insanely interesting and made me jealous of his insight. At least a lack of original idea generating ability leads to some great links to fill the gaps.
Exclusive Sneak Peek: Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan film, ‘I’m Not There’
Some excerpts from the list:
- Cate Blanchett as Dylan, meeting Brian Jones at a party and calling the Rolling Stones a “groovy covers band,” then screaming “play your old stuff” at a statue of Jesus Christ alongside David Cross as Allen Ginsberg.
- Christian Bale as the late-’70s born-again Dylan, sermonizing about Christ and delivering the hidden Dylan gospel classic “Pressing On,” from Saved, sung by John Doe.
As a poet once said, I can’t wait to see this film.
Facebook Is The New Panopticon
Foucault Blog:
Counterpunch argues that the Facebook phenomenon is pretty much Bentham’s panopticon made real:
Facebook has ushered in a revolution, and a failed one at that. It is much like the panopticon – ‘all-seeing’, that surveillance device the English utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham pioneered in the nineteenth century for penal reform.
…Personally I don’t buy it. Sure there are surveillant qualities but it is largely voluntary.
Diane, while I’m tempted to agree with Jeremy, I think he is wrong on that last point. At least on college campuses, there is a tremendous amount of social pressure to join the website, to “be a part” of the online community, that it is really more of a forced choice. That is why people who are not on it are considered to be either Neo-Luddites or social outcasts.
The Hoax of the Global Warming Hoax
Larval Subjects:
Every story on the news has to present “both sides”, assuming that there always are two sides to a story and that both of these sides have equal credibility. One suspects that were a discussion about Copernicus to emerge, our media outlets would feel compelled to insure that both the geocentric and the heliocentric hypothesis were given equal time and that it was emphasized that both positions were “theories” and that it was therefore up to personal judgment to decide which one is true. This is something I encounter in my students as well (i.e., the idea that everything is an opinion, interpretation, or belief and that all beliefs are on equal footing appears to be trickling down through all of American culture), that manifests itself in sentence structures that have the form “I think”, “I feel”, “I believe”, “It is Socrates’ opinion that…” In short, everything has to be expressed with a minimal subjective distance or skepticism, implicitly suggesting that any claim is already simply a matter of opinion that can then be summarily dismissed…
INLAND EMPIRE
I just watched David Lynch’s INLAND EMPIRE last night. I would have to pronounce it as his most incoherent film to date (probably a result of his writing parts of the script immediately before the filming of each scene), and possibly his most disturbing, but that’s debatable. Here’s a theatrical trailer:
I think if I were to rank all of David Lynch’s films that I’ve seen, the order would probably be the following:
- Blue Velvet
- Eraserhead
- Lost Highway
- Mulholland Dr.
- Inland Empire
- Wild At Heart
- Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me
Bush Signs Law Widening Reach for Wiretapping
President Bush signed into law on Sunday legislation that broadly expanded the government’s authority to eavesdrop on the international telephone calls and e-mail messages of American citizens without warrants.
And a little later:
By changing the legal definition of what is considered “electronic surveillance,” the new law allows the government to eavesdrop on [international telephone] conversations without warrants — latching on to those giant switches — as long as the target of the government’s surveillance is “reasonably believed” to be overseas.
I think what’s interesting about this isn’t so much the obvious point about the government intruding into people’s private lives (there’s always a minimum of “intrusion” in a modern nation-state), but rather that people in general aren’t that upset about it, like those people in reality TV shows who willingly submit themselves to 24 hour surveillance.
So maybe we should reframe it: perhaps this law isn’t simply an outgrowth of the “war on terror,” but that instead this and the “war” are more deeply connected to today’s sociopolitical dynamics than we’d like to think…
Revolutionary Desire
Diane, I read an interesting critique of Zizek and Badiou’s notions of revolution through an analysis of Deleuze and Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus at Larval Subjects today. At the very least, it makes me want to read Anti-Oedipus.
David Lynch’s Anti-Litter Ad
Don’t do it man, just don’t do it. The rats!
Scarlett Johansson Recording an Album
And it’s all Tom Waits covers (read his reaction.) And it’s being produced by David Sitek of TV on the Radio… and it features members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Celebration. (Via Rolling Stone.)
The decision to do Tom Waits covers seems pretty Advanced, but it remains to be seen whether or not she’ll start sporting cut-off leather jackets, aviators and a mullet. Also, I still think it’s possible that this might just be extremely Overt, but I guess we’ll have to wait until the album’s released. She wasn’t that bad at karaoke in Lost in Translation.
The Psychotic Animal: From A to Ž
An und für sich analyzes Agamben and Zizek’s conceptions of the primordial void of pure potentiality.
Perhaps Agamben’s enigmatic vision (taken from a medieval Bible) of the messianic humans who have animal heads but nonetheless sit down at a table to eat is a way of getting at what Zizek might mean by the possibility of a big Other that would be somehow free of the obscene superego supplement.
Bring the Funk: The Time’s Jerk Out
I was looking for some Prince on youtube, but it looks like all of his videos have been removed. I guess Prince doesn’t want his stuff on there… Anyway, here’s Morris Day and The Time, not to be considered second-hand to Prince, but well, aren’t we all?