Using Bees To Effect Vengeance |
||
|
I get to be as self-indulgent as I want without wasting anyone's time. Guilt-free solipsism -- excellent!
Looking for that particular entry? Search Using Bees....
Archives:
|
Friday, November 30, 2001
The New York Times has a superb obituary of George, written by Allan Kozinn (who's written a couple of books on The Beatles). | An interview with George from the early '90s, that shows what an unpretentious, unsentimental chappie he was. | It would take days of writing to do justice to how I feel about George Harrison and his work. I don't have that much time, and I'm unwilling to attempt anything less than that, so rather than express my full appreciation, I'm just going to make a few discrete observations. Something, Here Comes The Sun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps -- sure. But what about I Want To Tell You? The Inner Light? Crackerbox Palace? Heading For The Light? If I Needed Somone? Let It Down? What about sodding Sail Away Raymond?? Whole genres were founded on his guitar playing. Roger McGuinn saw George playing a 12-string in A Hard Day's Night and thought "hmmm". The guitar on "And Your Bird Can Sing" -- that was George Harrison. (The guitar on "Taxman" -- that wasn't him.) George was putting together charity concerts before it was cool. He also brought The Life Of Brian and Withnail And I into the world. For that alone, Western culture owes him a great debt. George was a grumpy fucker. George always kept things in perspective. This is what made it hit home for me: Sonnet and I flipping channels at 8 this morning, and seeing a clip of George, in 1997, asked by VH1's John Fugelsang to play an impromptu song..."maybe a Beatle song?..." George gives him an amused look and says, "I'd rather do one of mine, if that's all right..." and then begins strumming and singing "All Things Must Pass".... It made me feel better, while watching CNN's coverage, to know that there were thousands of Beatles fanatics like me, all around the world who at that very moment were saying in unison "Why in the *hell* are they playing "Baby It's You" under that footage of George?" People whose love of and need for The Beatles' music is the closest they will ever come to religion. Beware Of Darkness (demo) -- George Harrison (3.1MB) | Thursday, November 29, 2001
After seeing the London Times's rendering of Bin Laden's hideout, two things spring to mind: 1) If The Times knows this much, I'm guessing American Special Forces have a preeettty good idea of how they're going to handle this. 2) Someone better get Sean Connery on the phone, stat, because I think this cave was in Diamonds Are Forever. Mishter Conairie can confirm, but I think the hideout has a retractable roof and a big helipad. Hope this info is of some help. | Wednesday, November 28, 2001
A rather interesting report on the recent World Toilet Summit that convened in Singapore. A treasure trove of toilet training, this pissoir pow-wow allowed participants to share interesting research on, among other things, a man who defecated on a tray for 12 months, South Korean bladder-tricking practices and, more soberly, the 40% of the world's population that do not have access to adequate sanitation. I have to agree with Dr. Pathak, who stated, "People think much more in the toilet than elsewhere and with more concentration. They should really be called peace and reflection rooms and designed accordingly." I hope next year they get around to analyzing the world's bog reading material -- an old copy of the Trouser Press Record Guide and The Onion's Our Dumb Century book have long served me well. | Tuesday, November 27, 2001
Keeping a Who's-Naughty List London police are planning to register children who exhibit criminal potential in an effort to prevent them from developing into full-fledged lawbreakers. Kids who tag buildings with graffiti, skip school, or even talk back to adults run the risk of being entered into a database program that will be used to monitor their behavior as they grow up, according to police sources. I'm always shocked by the UK's disregard for civil liberties. If this database had been around when I was 7, Headmaster Flashman's false accusations that I was leading a playground gang -- and my subsequent ill-advised flight from the premises when faced with the sheer terror of a summons to his office -- might have led to stigmatisation as a "problem child", educational discrimination, an unstoppable downward spiral into a life of petty crime and Dickensian squalor, and a permanent sullying of my name. I mean, more than there would have been otherwise. It's also a really stupid idea. Most of England's great personages -- not even counting me -- would have been in that database if it had been around during their childhoods. | Once again, props due to Rafe at rc3.org, not just for tirelessly pointing to the *most* interesting, fresh insights on Afghanistan and America post 9.11, but also for his willingness to discard his presumptions and biases when events warrant. Case in point: as a good historically-aware lefty, he (and I) felt that using the Northern Alliance as a proxy force was asking for trouble. Yet, as he lucidly demonstrates, it was unquestionably the right decision in this case. Hayakawa talks about the 4 ways one can react to a statement: 1. accept the speaker and accept the statement; 2. accept the speaker and reject the statement; 3. reject the speaker and accept the statement; 4. reject the speaker and reject the statement An ability to have responses 2 & 3 is a hallmark of an open-minded person and a sophisticated thinker. There's an analogue for ideologies -- some people need to have totalizing, pure ideologies/beliefs or none at all. When ideologies are challenged by messy realities, many opt to keep their beliefs simple and pure by bending the facts to fit. I think the more appropriate response is to revise one's opinions to incorporate the new insights. This does not usually require abandoning one's beliefs -- just adding nuance to them. Unfortunately wartime conditions are not conducive to this type of thinking, probably because propaganda comprises much of our diet these days, and good propaganda is not nuanced. Prosecuting the war can be A Good Thing yet eavesdropping on attorney/client meetings to this end is A Bad Thing. But as any advertising agency swine can tell you, that is too complex a message to be effective. Whew, what a ramble! Incidentally, I just went to my first .info site. If you haven't been to one yet, click on that last link to relieve your .infoginity. | Monday, November 26, 2001
All right, thanks to the Anagram Genius, I know that anagrams for my full name include: The trendier, relaxed, crack wife Excreted rather dwarflike, nice Extra lechered if wicked ranter [you're getting warmer...] X-rated, refined, heretical wreck [BINGO!] Wottalottafun that was. Now it's your turn. | Sunday, November 25, 2001
"It's tough out there/High water everywhere" -- Bob Dylan A lot of ruminatin' done in the last few days. It's not always easy to find the balance between enjoying what you have and struggling to ensure that you'll enjoy the future. Seems like if you're doing one, you're not doing the other...at least, seems so lately.[end Sam Elliott voiceover] Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.... Note: so far, the new issue of Harpers is a cracker! | Tuesday, November 20, 2001
Rocks-anne hooked Sonnet and me up with last minute Bob Dylan tickets last night (thanks to K-Rad for graciously passing on the tickets and allowing me to bail on seeing the mighty Spoon with him)! What great friends! How lucky are we??! Very! We saw Dylan a few years ago at Jones Beach, and it was magical. This time was just as good. He's positively ebullient on stage these days, singing with passion and energy, soloing beautifully (!)...I put it all down to his band. They're just astonishingly supple, tasteful, and attuned to his sensibility, and he clearly has a blast playing with them. Highlights: a devastating Sugar Baby, a lighter-than-air Summer Days and Summer Nights, a "I don't know why this feels so meaningful to everyone in Madison Square Garden including me, but is sure does" It Ain't Me Babe (during this song I mused on the possibility that it could be about jingoism as well as love -- well, maybe not), a heartbreaking "Just Like A Woman"... NB: The version of JLAW from the legendary 1966 Albert Hall show is probably in my Top 5 Vocal Performances...in fact it will be my next MP3 of the time increment when I can find a version. The bridge in particular is devastating. If you don't get Dylan after hearing that version, then you might as well give up. Anyway.... ...a brilliant Don't Think Twice It's All Right, an obviously charged Blowing In The Wind (in light of 9.11, the Taliban and John Ashcroft, it reveals itself to be a more complicated song than I thought. Or maybe it's the world that's more complicated than I thought. Either way, the audience cheered a little bit louder for the lines about people being free than for the lines about stopping the cannonballs flying)... Rocks-anne also scored us backstage passes!! Surprising Sonnet with them was one of the highlights of the night -- her expression was priceless. It took about 8 seconds to fully unfold. My hopes weren't high for meeting The Man -- I hear he's on the bus and pulling out of the lot before people stop cheering -- and frankly I was a little intimidated at the prospect, but I figured: 1) I had to give it a shot. Not doing so would insult the millions of Dylan fans everywhere who would kill for the chance 2) There would be famous people milling around, which is especially exciting to my LW 3) I was hungry, and there was probably food back there As it happened, once we got through -- we flashed the badges a la Wayne's World; cross another ambition off the To Do List -- we found ourselves in a little ante-hallway with Sheryl Crow, Luke Wilson (sans Gwynny) Jimmy Fallon, Joe Levy (the annoying Rolling Stone editor whose always making a fool of himself on VH1) and some fellow peons. Sheryl Crow is short. Luke Wilson looked really nice. Jimmy Fallon walks around like a hunchback but seems very personable and had a cute girlfriend. My wife was cuter though. I wanted to talk to Luke Wilson about The Royal Tenenbaums and our respective North Texas private school educations, but before I could figure out the angle, a bloke came out and asked Sheryl to come back. She grabbed Wilson and headed back there. They were the anointed. Not long after that, they cleared the hallway, so we all had to leave. No food. No drinks. No starry-eyed audience with Bawb. No Gwynny. Still, lots of fun, and a night to remember. | Pat Robertson was interviewed by Paula Zahn on CNN this morning, and I was gobsmacked when the segment ended without her asking him about his atrocious comments in the wake of 9.11! How could she just ignore it? How could it just not come up?? Instead they engaged in some jocular banter, he defended supervisors' involvements in work prayer groups by disparaging sensitivity training and "gurus teaching transcendental meditation", and then accused Bush of caving to the Dems on economic issues. "Am I supposed to be honest on these shows?" he wheezed, heaving with self-congratulatory laughter, before accusing Bush of being too liberal. I don't think you are supposed to be honest on these shows, Pat -- you get in a lot of trouble when you let the mask slip. Put me off my breakfast, it did. Oh, and Billy Graham's kid has been running off at the mouth too. What's wrong with these people? Where are the high-profile moderate Christian leaders? Why aren't they as prominent as the evangelical nutcases? | Monday, November 19, 2001
Bin Laden: Yes, I did it The most extensive excerpts yet from the videotape bin Laden supposedly had circulated among his followers. "The towers were supposed to be filled with supporters of the economical powers of the United States who are abusing the world. Yes, we kill their innocents and this is legal religiously and logically." Oh, and "it is the duty of every Muslim to fight. Killing Jews is top priority." Hmmm, all this is ringing a bell.... | Konrad was lucky enough to see the recent aurora borealis while driving through the midwest...for those of us who weren't so lucky, there are these beautiful pictures [via fark.com] | Hilarious interview with Jerry Falwell in the Washington Post. This man is such a buffoon, albeit a buffoon of notable scumbagitude. Some choice excerpts: Re: the infamous 9.11 blame comments [listen]: "In my listing of groups and persons who might have assisted in the secularization of America, I unforgivably left off the list a sleeping church, Jerry Falwell, etc. . . . It was a pure misstatement, unintentional, and I apologize for it uncategorically." [Here I wish to point out that there is no such word as "uncategorically"; "categorically" means "without any qualification whatsoever" so "uncategorically" implies "with all kinds of qualifications, evasions and caveats". That may not be the OED's definition, but whatever. -ed.] "A lot of it was weariness and really anger over what happened to the country. And I didn't complete what I was going to say. If I added the church as one of the offenders -- a sleeping church that is not praying enough -- it would have been acceptable." Er, actually, no, it wouldn't have been. "A gay minister named Mel White told the story of how Falwell hosted 200 gay activists for a weekend at Liberty University. "Mel White says Jerry Falwell is the only religious leader to invite us in," Falwell says, proudly. "Then he qualified that by saying, 'He didn't listen to us.' Well, I didn't invite them in to listen to them. I invited them in to talk to them." Heh. That tells you so much about the type of person he is, right there Beavis. "The Rev. Jerry Falwell says even Osama Bin Laden's soul could be saved if he converted to Christianity -- but he would still deserve to be killed." Naturally, Falwell is raising money off the backs of the the country's outrage at his statements, urging followers to send in an extra gift of $50 or $100 to fend off "Satan's darts"...money that could be going to firefighters, victims families, or any of the arts organizations and charities who've seen their funding fall off a cliff since 9.11. | Sunday, November 18, 2001
We've just wrapped up a highly enjoyable cast party -- shout outs to all my party people -- and I've had a few Makers & Coke, but I feel compelled to make one observation at this point in time:
| Friday, November 16, 2001
If you are concerned about the recent executive orders destroying attorney-client privilege and establishing ad hoc military tribunals with no judicial oversight, please click to send a fax to your Congressperson urging Congress to stand up to these flagrantly unconstitutional moves by asserting its authority as a check on executive power. Two clicks, 30 seconds is all it takes. And 30 years from now, when history views these orders as the disgrace that they are, you'll want to be able to tell your kids that you did something to oppose them. | Man, did anyone catch the painfully obvious product placement on Will And Grace last night? How awkward was the shoehorning of the word "XBox" into the scene? What narrative justification was there for setting that scene set in a game room? How lame was the "Oh, there's a game called the XBox" joke? How degrading was it for the actors to partake in such a poorly executed pitch? At least the Banana Republic one a few months ago was woven into the story reasonably well. That was because Banana Republic is believable as a feature of these characters' lives, but gaming on the hot new console is clearly something these characters would have absolutely no interest in. Yet the demographics of the W&G audience were just too compelling for Microsoft, so they tried to jam it in there, no matter how insultingly. | Thursday, November 15, 2001
Military May Try Terrorism Cases Sorry, I'm going to have to quote extensively from this one. President Bush declared an "extraordinary emergency" yesterday that empowers him to order military trials for suspected international terrorists and their collaborators, bypassing the American criminal justice system, its rules of evidence and its constitutional guarantees. The presidential directive, signed by Bush as commander in chief, applies to non-U.S. citizens arrested in the United States or abroad. The president himself will decide which defendants will be tried by military tribunals. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will appoint each panel and set its rules and procedures, including the level of proof needed for a conviction. There will be no judicial review. Let me get this straight. Bush alone decides how these people get tried; Rumsfeld appoints the judges and determines what level of proof is required to convict; there is no recourse if the accused or their lawyers feel that the trial was unfair. How is this different than Taliban justice? If the Taliban had "tried" the foreign aid workers accused of promoting Christianity by these rules, we and the rest of the civilized world would be jumping up and down. Our justice system absolutely provides for the trial of any alleged terrorists found in this country, and the appropriate forum for terrorists captured outside the US is an international court -- especially since we have declared over and over again that this is an action undertaken by a coalition of nations. Either way, the trials need to be transparent and fair -- otherwise we cannot claim to be defenders of liberty. | Wednesday, November 14, 2001
This increment's MP3-Of-The-Time-Increment is a gorgeous version of Embraceable You from the album The Essential Jo Jones (which my lovely wife bought me for my birthday). I'm very familiar with Papa Jo and his dazzling work for Count Basie and others, but some of the other players on this track are new to me -- and their contributions were so enjoyable that I felt compelled to share the discovery. The first thing you'll notice is the gracefully mournful tone of trombonist Bennie Green as he weaves his slidey magic all over the first few minutes of the track. I was not familiar with Mr Green (unless Bennie Green is Urbie Green's nom de 'bone [and I can understand wanting to take a little breather from the name "Urbie"]), but I now know that he recorded for Prestige and Blue Note in the '50s and that a few of his records are available for download/burning via my soon-to-lapse EMusic subscription. Then comes a lovely airy solo from pianist Nat Pierce followed by a sleepy turn from trumpeter Emmett Berry and the smoky tenor stylings of Lucky Thompson. Lucky's one of those peeps that always grab my attention when they waft over the hi-fi, but that I never follow up on. Anyway, Bennie finishes it off with panache and the track is over, Papa Jo having subtly brushed his way through another one. Listening to it again, the performance is not really anything unusual -- just melody and atmosphere, performed by musicians with soul and class. There were hundreds of great jazz sessions like this in the '50s -- not revolutionary, not Important, but nonetheless bursting at the seams with musicality. Anyway, here it is, all 6.2MB of it. Hope you enjoy, and I'll see you next time.... [winks]. | Tuesday, November 13, 2001
Today I've been using Opera 6.0 as my browser. It's still in beta (and I have to admit, it has a few issues with Blogger), but pages load super fast compared to IE5 and it has addressed most of the customization issues that have stopped me from using it as my default browser before. Anyway, give it a whirl...it's only 3.6MB, and you can always uninstall it easily (unlike IE or AOLNetscape). | I bet a lot of people were glad to have their AOL chat rooms in the wake of September 11th, to discuss their feelings, converse with friends etc. I wonder how those people feel knowing that AOL is compiling and publishing their post-9.11 writings without their permission? | Monday, November 12, 2001
Just released: the official version of what happened at the Hollywood war summit. There was some discussion about Hollywood creating public service announcements and entertaining the troops, but both sides emphasized that there was no discussion of the White House dictating the story lines of movies or TV shows. "I will say it up front: There was no mention of content," said Valenti. "That was not the subject. Content was off the table." Attempting to set the historical record straight, Rove added that even during World War II, Washington did not issue Hollywood marching orders." Mr. Rove appears to be misinformed -- at least, according to this book. | If you are curious about the recent interview with Bin Laden conducted by Pakistani newspaper DAWN, you can read it right here. And: a scantily reported rebuttal to Bush's UN speech by Ayman Al-Zhawahiri, bin Laden's #2 and the supposed brains behind the operation. | Drunken rock star assaulted aircraft crew, court told Well done, Mr. Buck. This is a fantastic example of rock star debauchery, involving muffins, a tub of yogurt, and a world-famous guitarist mistaking "the hostess trolley for a CD player as he drunkenly tried to insert a disc into it and also overturned the trolley, sending a pile of crockery, honey, cereals and milk flying across the floor." He was charged with, among other things, "damaging British Airways crockery" (is that an actual criminal offense?) I cannot wait to watch this one unfold. | I truly hope that this morning's plane crash was an accident, and am grateful that no-one I know lives anywhere near Rockaway. It looks like hundreds of people may have been killed -- another tragedy, more grief. I was just reading the NY Times magazine on the train, including a great piece by Colson Whitehead, in which he says that you officially become a New Yorker when you pass by a personal landmark and say, "Oh, that used to be a SoAndSo and now it's a Duane Reade." When your New York no longer corresponds to the extensional world's New York. In a way, 9.11 conferred official New Yorker status upon everyone, no matter how long they'd been here, because our New Yorks feature the World Trade Center and the extensional New York does not. | Friday, November 09, 2001
Bust Magazine's Future in Question Damn. I was worried about this when I saw that Razorfish had become involved. They're King Midas In Reverse. So is my company, of course, but we didn't attempt to drag down all manner of hip semi-underground cultural projects with us. | U.S. Will Monitor Calls to Lawyers Wait, what???? This is one of the most outrageous things I've ever seen. The Justice Department has decided to listen in on the conversations of lawyers with clients in federal custody, including people who have been detained but not charged with any crime, whenever that is deemed necessary to prevent violence or terrorism. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft approved the eavesdropping rule on an emergency basis last week, without the usual waiting period for public comment. It went into effect immediately, permitting the government to monitor conversations and intercept mail between people in custody and their attorneys for up to a year at a time. | White House sees Hollywood role in war on terrorism. A good old-fashioned propaganda powwow. I envision all manner of backscratching and quid pro quo -- Hollywood helps the government maintain support for the war in exchange for White House support on entertainment industry interests on Capitol Hill. Why am I not surprised to learn that chief lobbyist Jack Valenti is "eager to help arrange" the meeting with Karl Rove. Call me cynical. I wonder who will be our generation's Preston Sturges? | Thursday, November 08, 2001
An amazing find from Metafilter: a children's school choir from the late '70s covering pop music in a really cool way. They cover McCartney's Venus And Mars/RockShow, some Beach Boys, Bowie's Space Oddity...not to mention, The Carpenters, Bay City Rollers, Herman's Hermits... I don't why this stuff is so much fun to listen to, but it is! Endorsed by Bowie, John Zorn and Richard Carpenter, but explicitly denounced by the American Orff-Schulwek Association ("It is very evident that the [Orff] instruments were not used as they would be used in the Orff-Schulwerk approach...."). Props to WFMU's Irwin Chusid for reissuing the record. A very interesting example of how recontextualization can bring out the value in something...once you're predisposed to think that something is cool, it's a lot easier to find the merit in it. | Wednesday, November 07, 2001
HoustonChronicle.com:"If we expect to win the war on terrorism, we have to call off the war on drugs. There are three reasons: ·We can't afford both. ·The drug war feeds terrorist networks and diverts law enforcement from focusing on immense new perils. ·The drug war was failing anyway. If we want to reduce drug dependency and the crime associated with it, then intensive treatment programs will be far more effective. | Tuesday, November 06, 2001
Monday, November 05, 2001
The major news for the day is that I escaped the axe and am still gainfully employed. Some friends were not so lucky. | Henry is a 4 year old with a blog (updated by his Dad)...and he's cool enough to like Mark Eitzel! [via the always-enjoyable Mighty Girl] | Friday, November 02, 2001
Tom Waits to release two album simultaneously on April 9th 2002- ALICE is filled with unforgettable haunting opiate songs played by piano, bass sax, Stroh violin, cello and vibes. Lyrically and musically, powerful and surreal, these are dark tunes from an adult fairytale. Song titles include, “We’re All Mad Here,” “There’s Only Alice,” “Table Top Joe” and “Poor Edward.” RED DRUM’s songs were inspired by the dark tale of Woyzeck--a poor soldier driven mad by medical experiments and an unfaithful wife. RED DRUM is Tin Pan Alley meets Weimar Republic. Eloquent, innovative and unique, there are tarantellas, lullabies and dissonant calliope waltzes. Dense, textured and rhythmic, some song titles include, “Coney Island Baby,” “All The World Is Green” and “God’s Away On Business.” Oh. Yeah. Actually I have the songs from Alice, from a bootleg that dates back to the mid '90s -- it was originally a musical performed in Berlin, I believe. There's Only Alice is particularly beautiful. With any luck, these are re-recorded versions. | Yes, This Is About Islam by Salman Rushdie. An Iraqi writer quotes an earlier Iraqi satirist: "The disease that is in us, is from us." A British Muslim writes, "Islam has become its own enemy." A Lebanese friend, returning from Beirut, tells me that in the aftermath of the attacks on Sept. 11, public criticism of Islamism has become much more outspoken. Many commentators have spoken of the need for a Reformation in the Muslim world. I'm reminded of the way noncommunist socialists used to distance themselves from the tyrannical socialism of the Soviets; nevertheless, the first stirrings of this counterproject are of great significance. If Islam is to be reconciled with modernity, these voices must be encouraged until they swell into a roar. Many of them speak of another Islam, their personal, private faith. The restoration of religion to the sphere of the personal, its depoliticization, is the nettle that all Muslim societies must grasp in order to become modern. | Thursday, November 01, 2001
Now woah woah woah. Bekkah got me an early birthday present by discovering an outrageously excellent site. Wait for it. Scary Squirrel World This site is chock full of excellent features -- a ridiculously overstuffed treasure trove of squirrel-related news, squirrel porn ("hot treetop action"), dozens of squirrel-related games (in honor of the Yanks' comeback last night, check out the baseball one)!!! I'm truly at a loss. However, I'm bemused by their insistence on using the phonetic "skwerl" -- everyone knows that it is actually pronounced "Skwi-rrel". Enunciating both syllables is of the utmost importance, surely? I mean, bloody hell, we're not savages, are we? | And lookee here. The west must kick its oil habit Renewable energy has additional advantages to providing strategic freedom of action in the Middle East. It creates jobs. It is decentralised and thus invulnerable to terrorist attack. Unlike nuclear energy, renewables do not bring the risk of catastrophic toxic releases. Many people could make money by selling back to the utility companies surplus energy produced by back-garden windmills and solar roofing tiles. Lastly, the shift to renewables will greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But there are three major obstacles which must be overcome before we can take oil off the list of key objectives for our military and foreign policy. These are the difficulty of changing official thinking, the vested interests of the oil companies and the need for a transition strategy. | An interesting speech by the ever-wise Bill Moyers. One interesting point he makes that I'd also been mulling lately is that the US's dependence on oil constrains our military options when it comes to fighting terrorism. We cannot be as tough as with the shameful Saudi government as our national security interests indicate we should be, purely because economically we cannot afford to antagonize them. Moving to cleaner burning fuels is no longer just environmentally beneficialat this point, it is imperative for national security reasons. The geo-political ramifications of a move away from fossil fuels will be enormous -- what happens to the countries of the Middle East when their primary source of leverage over the rest of the world disappears? | |
|
![[Blue Ribbon Campaign icon]](http://www.mindspring.com/~tinyplace/brstrip.gif){kind=small}
