Two things. I've just come across a fantastic blog that I think you all should read. It's called "Samizdat." Dissidence is hot. One might call it anti-religious (especially if you are religious) & radical. Others might call it reasonable. I call it good. What this guy has that so many atheists like myself are missing is a patient tone. Often, atheists explaining what they see as clear as day tend to take on a tone that belittles religion & religious people. But Samizdat manages to steer clear & stays respectful while being firmly critical & logical. Props.
Second, Newsweek was on the ball with their most recent publication. The cover said something about aliens &, despite myself, I picked it up. Check it out if you haven't. On the website, I found this article about "District Six," a real place in South Africa that clearly set the outline for the recent blockbuster "District 9." As I said in an earlier post, I thought the film's metaphor about apartheid Africa wasn't perfectly clear (though when it comes to literature & film I usually need to be hit over the head with such metaphors). Had I not read an article cluing me in beforehand, I probably would have left the theater thinking "Poor aliens" instead of "Poor dehuamnized, disinfranchised, divided African nation." But the true story of District Six & the Cape Flats is a very real & clear example of our ability to destroy others' livelihoods over petty differences in appearance. & it's one that more people should hear, so spread it around. Qitaal fee sybil Momo [MdG]
Friday, August 28, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Gimmy Gimmy Heaps
Yesterday all of the Europeans, azns, & a few Africans were allowed to legally purchase an album titled "Ellipse" by a certain Imogen Heap. But IN YOUR FACE entertainment industry that keeps putting "You wouldn't steal a dog from a pet-store" ads at the beginning of my illegally downloaded porn music videos. Imogen (or Immy as she is known) actually put the whole thing online for FREE. Not for download, but, like the makers of Enzyte, she was sure that once you'd tried it, you'd buy it. How very democratic of her.
As a contemporary dancer, I figured I'd have to be up on my vocabulary (contemporary dancers know what I'm talking about), so I checked it out. I've also been reading a few reviews, the first of which was rather scathing & set the tone for the rest of them. I believe this was an unfortunate endeavor on the part of the critics as it's hard to evaluate her work on the day that it was released. Immy's one of those artists that, a year after you've started listening, you're walking down the street with your iPod & say "Oh that's what this song's about." & then you keep walking & realize that you were probably wrong & don't think of another coherent yet equally wrong theme for a few months.
I'm sad to say that I was non-plussed by the album for a long time. I've since gone back & listened to some of it again & found that it hadn't gotten any better. While listening I got the uneasy feeling that she was somehow trying to mimic herself... breaking down & rebuilding what she'd made in albums prior. (She's also completely abandoned the "1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2" time signature that gave so much of her music such momentum & tension.)
That was until I got to the last 3 tracks where she started taking off my clothing & rolling me into a little ball. Raw g l i t t e r. I'd say more about about it, but see for yourself. (Ahahahah--her fans will get it.)
^^^ Democracy ^^^
Judging by the play-counts about 3,000 (& climbing) people stopped before they got there. Their loss. There are always a few gems in the back corner of the room, just have to have the patience to get there. But give the whole thing a listen... you won't be mad. Bismi-mohi r-rahmani r-rahimi. [MdG]
As a contemporary dancer, I figured I'd have to be up on my vocabulary (contemporary dancers know what I'm talking about), so I checked it out. I've also been reading a few reviews, the first of which was rather scathing & set the tone for the rest of them. I believe this was an unfortunate endeavor on the part of the critics as it's hard to evaluate her work on the day that it was released. Immy's one of those artists that, a year after you've started listening, you're walking down the street with your iPod & say "Oh that's what this song's about." & then you keep walking & realize that you were probably wrong & don't think of another coherent yet equally wrong theme for a few months.
I'm sad to say that I was non-plussed by the album for a long time. I've since gone back & listened to some of it again & found that it hadn't gotten any better. While listening I got the uneasy feeling that she was somehow trying to mimic herself... breaking down & rebuilding what she'd made in albums prior. (She's also completely abandoned the "1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2" time signature that gave so much of her music such momentum & tension.)
That was until I got to the last 3 tracks where she started taking off my clothing & rolling me into a little ball. Raw g l i t t e r. I'd say more about about it, but see for yourself. (Ahahahah--her fans will get it.)
^^^ Democracy ^^^
Judging by the play-counts about 3,000 (& climbing) people stopped before they got there. Their loss. There are always a few gems in the back corner of the room, just have to have the patience to get there. But give the whole thing a listen... you won't be mad. Bismi-mohi r-rahmani r-rahimi. [MdG]
Friday, August 14, 2009
A Sympathetic Note
Last night at midnight I was dragged to the movie theatre to watch the film District 9. It was a fine enough film. There was a non-readily apparent metaphor about apartheid Africa going on that I guess was good, but it left me with that sinking feeling I get whenever I watch movies containing social commentary; a certain disdain for some of our baser instincts & our habitual (& now celebrated) lack of sympathy for one another.
Unforunately for the film, I was displeased before it started. Why? The previews. It's not that there were too many of them or the movies all looked bad. I don't mind previews... & I like good ones.
What bothered me was what the films were about. The films advertised were Haloween II, The Final Destination, Shutter Island, & a comedy about zombies. See a trend? They were all about murder &, more than murder, about suffering & torture. Here, I take the European position. What is appealing about watching a guy terrorize, torture & murder innocent people? Can't one of the characters in Final Destination just go into old-fashioned cardiac arrest? Is the stake-through-the-eye a must?
Whenever I watch or hear of someone being tortured, my first thought is, "This is unpleasant." My next thought is, as with most things I find unpleasant, "I should stop." & I usually do. For instance, my mother makes it a habit of recounting graphic details of terrible stories she hears & I usually cut her off halfway through. After suggesting we watch it, my friend described a scene from Saw II to which I could only reply, "Why would anyone (note: not just 'I') want to watch that?"
This sentiment is one of the many things that separates me & RdG from those many of those arond us. When I see someone suffering for whatever reason, I can't help but empathize & want to end my own suffering &, thereby, theirs. (Odd how I've never thought to just stop empathizing in the first place, but I'll hold on my empathy over a Rob Zombie film any day.) We're allowed to disregard the similarity of experience... just because the pain is not mine, it's OK if I don't deal with it, if I don't take it up as my own.
This is not to say that we have to be perpetually nice to one another or that it's never appropriate or in good fun & even affectionate to be a little mean. But one must have a sense of propriety. What good roommate doesn't pull a prank or two? Waking up & finding all of your shoelaces tied together is funny. Wrapping someone in toilet paper while he's sleeping is funny. Pouring bleach on a woman because she asked you to quiet down in a movie theatre & fundamentally destroying an important part of her livelihood is not. (& no, she's not just being up-tight.)
I think that that's my issue with these films & a culture that enjoys them. If I can watch a man have a hole drilled in his ankles & told "You're free to go now" with nothing more than an "Eww!", I can't say I'm "shocked & appalled" to hear about businessmen abusing the un-infranchized around the world or that a teenager reacted to a minor embarrassment with an atrocious attack. If I get some sense of enjoyment out of watching people tortured (& it must be some form of enjoyment -- or people wouldn't attend), do I not tacitly condone it in real life?
Here is a film that decries the human ability to disregard the suffering of others being funded by & promoting films that revel in it. I'm one who does not like inconsitencies & I see a big one. Bismomo Hir Mehran Nir Rahim. [MdG]
Unforunately for the film, I was displeased before it started. Why? The previews. It's not that there were too many of them or the movies all looked bad. I don't mind previews... & I like good ones.
What bothered me was what the films were about. The films advertised were Haloween II, The Final Destination, Shutter Island, & a comedy about zombies. See a trend? They were all about murder &, more than murder, about suffering & torture. Here, I take the European position. What is appealing about watching a guy terrorize, torture & murder innocent people? Can't one of the characters in Final Destination just go into old-fashioned cardiac arrest? Is the stake-through-the-eye a must?
Whenever I watch or hear of someone being tortured, my first thought is, "This is unpleasant." My next thought is, as with most things I find unpleasant, "I should stop." & I usually do. For instance, my mother makes it a habit of recounting graphic details of terrible stories she hears & I usually cut her off halfway through. After suggesting we watch it, my friend described a scene from Saw II to which I could only reply, "Why would anyone (note: not just 'I') want to watch that?"
This sentiment is one of the many things that separates me & RdG from those many of those arond us. When I see someone suffering for whatever reason, I can't help but empathize & want to end my own suffering &, thereby, theirs. (Odd how I've never thought to just stop empathizing in the first place, but I'll hold on my empathy over a Rob Zombie film any day.) We're allowed to disregard the similarity of experience... just because the pain is not mine, it's OK if I don't deal with it, if I don't take it up as my own.
This is not to say that we have to be perpetually nice to one another or that it's never appropriate or in good fun & even affectionate to be a little mean. But one must have a sense of propriety. What good roommate doesn't pull a prank or two? Waking up & finding all of your shoelaces tied together is funny. Wrapping someone in toilet paper while he's sleeping is funny. Pouring bleach on a woman because she asked you to quiet down in a movie theatre & fundamentally destroying an important part of her livelihood is not. (& no, she's not just being up-tight.)
I think that that's my issue with these films & a culture that enjoys them. If I can watch a man have a hole drilled in his ankles & told "You're free to go now" with nothing more than an "Eww!", I can't say I'm "shocked & appalled" to hear about businessmen abusing the un-infranchized around the world or that a teenager reacted to a minor embarrassment with an atrocious attack. If I get some sense of enjoyment out of watching people tortured (& it must be some form of enjoyment -- or people wouldn't attend), do I not tacitly condone it in real life?
Here is a film that decries the human ability to disregard the suffering of others being funded by & promoting films that revel in it. I'm one who does not like inconsitencies & I see a big one. Bismomo Hir Mehran Nir Rahim. [MdG]
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Sing to Me, Muse
EVERYONE STOP. For your own edification you're going to have to research several things.
First of all, 900+ plays later, I just stumbled upon the Marcussen Album Version of Black & Gold for the first time ever. For a few months now, I've been listening to the single version basically all the time. The difference would only be noticed by someone who had listened to one version of the song 900 times -- as if a new wrinkle had shown up on the back of your hand -- but it struck me & I spent the next two hours listening to it. It was like listening to the same song from the opposite side of a window pane... I'm still on the fence about it.
Project #2: The quest for the song led me to Last.FM where I listened to the song numerous times & somehow ended up listening to Sam Sparro Radio. Last.FM > Pandora. So if you don't listen to Last.FM, -- I was probably the only one left -- start. & Sam Sparro Radio is that ish.
While listening, the song "Give Me Danger" by Dangerous Muse came on & I went
into a seisure. I have since come to, but I did my research on Dangerous Muse & I LURVE it. They're a gay American band fronting as a British pan-sexual band from ambi-sexual America. I can feel the black glitter pumping through my veins & out of my sweat glands with every beat. They & many of the other groups popping up on SS Radio are part of a growing trend where musicians stop pretending they're not gay, & it's about time. If the masses stopped consuming gay products (particularly art) we'd probably be left with a box of crackers & a watered down Cistine Chapel. So the homos pulling the strings may as well own up to it... no one understands the strings as well as those being hung by them.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled cruising. La ilmomo ill-Momo. [MdG]
First of all, 900+ plays later, I just stumbled upon the Marcussen Album Version of Black & Gold for the first time ever. For a few months now, I've been listening to the single version basically all the time. The difference would only be noticed by someone who had listened to one version of the song 900 times -- as if a new wrinkle had shown up on the back of your hand -- but it struck me & I spent the next two hours listening to it. It was like listening to the same song from the opposite side of a window pane... I'm still on the fence about it.
Project #2: The quest for the song led me to Last.FM where I listened to the song numerous times & somehow ended up listening to Sam Sparro Radio. Last.FM > Pandora. So if you don't listen to Last.FM, -- I was probably the only one left -- start. & Sam Sparro Radio is that ish.
While listening, the song "Give Me Danger" by Dangerous Muse came on & I went
into a seisure. I have since come to, but I did my research on Dangerous Muse & I LURVE it. They're a gay American band fronting as a British pan-sexual band from ambi-sexual America. I can feel the black glitter pumping through my veins & out of my sweat glands with every beat. They & many of the other groups popping up on SS Radio are part of a growing trend where musicians stop pretending they're not gay, & it's about time. If the masses stopped consuming gay products (particularly art) we'd probably be left with a box of crackers & a watered down Cistine Chapel. So the homos pulling the strings may as well own up to it... no one understands the strings as well as those being hung by them.We now return you to your regularly scheduled cruising. La ilmomo ill-Momo. [MdG]
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