Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

A very peculiar item...

Posted by Mickey Z on 11/15 at 06:04 AM

“time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so” - douglas adams

Posted by michael on from scotland 11/15 at 06:51 AM

The recruitment book is a wonderful idea. The name Antirecruitment, though I appreciate the good spirit it is done in, sounds a little too combative for a book trying to help avoid combat, I suggest could call it the Irrecruitment Handbook.

Here´s my favourite quote about time, William Blake.

“To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.”

Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 11/15 at 06:56 AM

“Beauty is a spark that flashes when, suddenly, across the distance of years, two ages meet [...] beauty is an abolition of chronology and a rebellion against time.”
-Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“Oh time, strength, cash, and patience!”
-Herman Melville, Moby Dick

Owen, how abou the Non-Recruitment Handbook?

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 11/15 at 07:09 AM

i also like this by einstein, which is sort of about time…

“there are only two things that are infinite - the universe and human stupidity, and i am not sure about the universe.”

Posted by michael on from scotland 11/15 at 07:22 AM

“Tiii--iii--iimee is on our side...yes it is.”

Mick Jagger, Rolling Stones

Little did people know how true that would be as I just found out that they are coming here to Puerto Rico for a show soon. That’s almost 40 years after the song came out. Here are some interesting song facts:

http://tinyurl.com/axhr3

I have to say that this is pretty significant news about the Iraq war. Perhaps proof that people/protesters/activists/Rosemarie Jackowski/etc can make a difference:

http://tinyurl.com/7q4jy

At least, I “want” it to be significant.

Posted by JOS on from mi orgullo, Puerto Rico 11/15 at 07:59 AM

Throw him to the lions?:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10045146/

Posted by JOS on from mi orgullo, Puerto Rico 11/15 at 08:25 AM

Looks like I missed this last night, great idea:

INFORM THE TROOPS: an Anti-Recruitment Handbook (and all those other things Mudge said it will be), edited by the Expendables.

Posted by JOS on from mi orgullo, Puerto Rico 11/15 at 09:56 AM

MZ, --->of course<--- no one’s interested in the idea of an anti-war book. It’s not *new* but just like everything else, *fresh* but unthreatening to the straights, *kicky* in the not-in-your-metaphorical-balls way. You don’t think lilke these folks. Don’t try, it’ll just get in your way. Let your agent do that thinking, you create.

I have a very favorite aging quote:

“And then, not expecting it, you become middle-aged and anonymous. No one notices you. You achieve a wonderful freedom. It is a positive thing. You can move about, unnoticed and invisible.” --Doris Lessing

More about time itself, I guess:

“I do not think I will ever reach a stage when I will say, ‘This is what I believe. Finished.’ What I believe is alive, and open to growth.” --Madeleine L’Engle

One more, from my Sapphic sister-in-spirit:
“Living in the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causes you to bump into people not going your way.” --Edna Ferber

What, nobody liked my novel idea from last night? >pout<

How about this as a subtitle? “INFORM THE TROOPS: 50 Reasons You Don’t Have to Go”

Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 11/15 at 10:19 AM

Then there’s the Stones’ “Time Waits for no one, and won’t… wait for me.

Also Tom Waits’ star role as Renfield in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula.

And as I lead the increasingly frustrated and sleep-deprived life of the legal temp proofreader, it’s a line from a different Melville story that comes to mind.

I would prefer…

“wish”

Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 11/15 at 11:08 AM

“Time is the longest distance between two places.”
Tennessee Williams

Hello Expendables. By odd coincidence, I just got another rejection (via e-mail) for my “Inform the Troops” idea.

Gotta run...never enough time.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 11/15 at 11:13 AM

James said: “the increasingly frustrated and sleep-deprived life of the legal temp proofreader”

And I thought I had it bad...GAWD. Horrors!! The captcha-oracle says what I think here: “How”?

Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 11/15 at 12:02 PM

Mickey, again you are interrupting my normal schedule of work because there is so much happening here. So many good ideas coming from all. I am still trying to catch up from yesterday’s comments. One thing that I want to mention is that there has been some talk of the government prosecuting Anti-recruiters on the grounds of treason. I don’t know if that will ever happen but some groups that I work with have changed their word from “Anti-recruiting” when they go in to high schools. They now call what they are doing “Truth in recruiting”. ///////// JOS, I have been following the events on the floors of the House and Senate. I still have not heard any one acknowledge the dead civilians and the whole thing looks like a political ploy. But it is one tiny step in the right direction. Thanks for the link.///////
Mickey, do you mean a rejection from a publisher?///Mudge, I like the title “Truth in Recruiting:50 Reasons Why you Should Not Go” or “OOps, Why the Hell Did I believe the Recruiter’s Promises”. BTW, sadly, I don’t know of many groups that are anti-recruiting on the grounds that the killing is wrong. Most groups that I have contact with have argued with me and say that it is more effective to just expose the lies about veterans benefits. I don’t agree.

Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/15 at 12:32 PM

I forgot to say that the photo of Michele is a portrait of gentleness. Her goodness shines through. The camera likes her.

Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/15 at 12:36 PM

One reason that we should not have troops in Iraq, is because they are making all of us less safe. That is one argument that might appeal to the average US citizen. Drudge is now reporting on the woman who was almost a bomber and her motivation. http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3.htm

Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/15 at 12:49 PM

Hi,a day late and a dollar short.
Well since I couldn´t stay up as long as you guys yesterday since I reply in this forum today instead...it´s 20:17 pm here now by the way.

Mickey Z,nice to see those quotes inspire and come to use.

Mudge,thank´s for the tip about Abbey books,gonna look closer at them.

Owen, Jack Endino a producer for many “grunge"-bands (what a silly term!) once said “If it´s to perfect it isn´t going to rock” and I think he´s right not just concerning a bands sound because the first or two three takes of a song is often more playful and energetic than going for perfection into absurdum.

Some more Edward Abey quotes for you “in the land of the free” then:
“Democracy--rule by the people--sounds like a fine thing; we should try it sometime in America.”

“If America could be, once again, a nation of self-reliant farmers, craftsmen, hunters, ranchers, and artists, then the rich would have little power to dominate others. Neither to serve nor to rule: That was the American dream”.

“Keep America Beautiful, Grow a Beard, Take a Bath, Burn a Billboard.”

Posted by Old Glen on from 11/15 at 02:17 PM

Hello again, everyone. Yes, RMJ, a publisher rejected the idea. Getting a book published is not unlike playing Lotto and then once it’s published, getting it to a wide audience is virtually impossible.

Perhaps this “Inform the Troops” idea would be better as a self-publshed chapbook? You know, I’m wondering if anyone is reading these comments and promptly stealing the idea. If so, well...so be it. If it’s done right, it shouldn’t matter who gets the credit.

Stan Goff calls is “counter-recruitment,” btw.

My captcha oracle reads “hell.” Time to go.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 11/15 at 03:27 PM

Mudge, I like your story about Rosamonde Jarree. Tell me more.
Mickey, your idea about a weekly anti-recruiting day here sounds very interesting. I think that all of us could do a lot with that. Could even turn it into a contest. See who comes up with the most innovative ideas. It also would be an important way of showing support for all of the CO’s out there. It helps the cause when we attract the attention of right wing media and this might do it. This is the kind of an idea that could make O’Rielly spin.

Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/15 at 03:33 PM

I think you’re right, Rosemarie. We could start it as a weekly post and each of us would have the responsibility of luring visitors here. If it catches on, a book or chapbook is the next logical step...or maybe we get Luna to create http://www.informthetroops.com?

Mudge, I agree. The novel is great...just not feasible at the moment.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 11/15 at 03:40 PM

Glen, I´ve heard of Jack Endino, I have some Mudhoney records he worked on in Ireland and must bring em over when I go back for a couple weeks in december. Yeah grunge is a silly term, basically twas introduced by the record companies wanted to wean suburban white kids off hiphop like Public Enemy and KRS-One who were singing about stuff important to them, hence it was You´re Generation X now, you don´t care about anything anymore! and all of a sudden Chris Cornell is a deep thinker.

My favourite Tom Waits scene (and one of my favourite scenes) is Fisher King where he has a monologue as a disabled veteran (hey, thematic resonance!) in Grand Central Station: Well, he’s paying so he don’t hafta look. Guy goes to work eight hours a day, seven days a week. Gets his nuts so tight in a vice that he starts to question the very fabric of his existence. Then one day about quitting time, boss calls him in the office and says: “Hey, Bob, why don’t you come in here and kiss my ass for me, will ya?” Well, he says to hell with it. I don’t care what happens, I just want to see the expression on his face as I jam this pair of scissors into his arm. [sighs] Then he thinks of me. He says, wait a minute, I got both my arms, both my legs, at least I’m not begging for a living. Sure enough, Bob’s going to put those scissors down and pucker right up. You see, I’m what you call kinda of a moral traffic light really. I’m like, (robotically) “RED! Go no further! Beep beep beep beep beep beep...”

Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 11/15 at 03:58 PM

Interesting quotes about the passage of time, Mickey! I have found that the older I get, the more time seems to ‘fly’ - people tell you as much when you are younger, but you don’t believe them until .. you get to a certain age yourself.
And nice pic of the birthday girl!
And before I forget: hi to all of you MZ’ers at the dawning of a sunny day in Daylesford, Australia - it is now 8:05 am on a Wednesday morning.

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 11/15 at 04:05 PM

And thanks for more great quotes on this comment thread. I especially like the Lessing and Einstein quotes.

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 11/15 at 04:09 PM

Tis ten o´clock at night here for all of us back in Tuesday, I just got home from quoteunquote work. There´s a most pleasant autumn bristle about the town, I´m going to write for the night and afterwards maybe watch a Woody Allen film I got from the library called Scenes From A Mall.

Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 11/15 at 04:10 PM

Off topic///////On Dec 6 in London an Appeals Court will hear the case of the original inhabitants of Diego Garcia...remember these were the people who were thrown off their land, deported, and prevented from even going back home to visit the graves of their ancestors. This has been going on for 30 years. Talk about crimes against humanity ! This all happened because the US wanted a base there. Great Britain was complicit in this crime. I don’t know if letters to London newspapers would help, but maybe it is worth a try. These people need our support. http://www.chagossupport.org.uk/

Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/15 at 04:12 PM

Fast notes only, my ride’s on his way here to the Tuesday writer’s group:

MZ, novels are completely unfeasible anyway. The art form’s been dead since James Joyce gave it a great huge BONK[//i] on the noggin with that nekkidest-Emperor-ever-was [i]Ulysses. So? Poetry’s been a dead art form a lot longer than that, folks still read it and write it. Just think about it.

RMJ, that’s all the farther I got...I was writing humorous catalog copy for its imaginary publisher.

Chapbook. Hmmm. gimme a minute.

xoxo go “figure”

Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 11/15 at 04:27 PM

Owen,
may I ask where in Barcelona you live exactly? Both Mr and Mrs Helga LOVE this city - it really is so much more dynamic than Madrid. We have visited twice - in 1999 and again in mid-April 2003 - I still remember all those anti-war banners and posters hanging from every second balcony on and around the Ramblas. What an uplifting experience! I read somewhere that even the Catalonian branch of the Conservatives who were then in power had ‘seceded’ and passed a resolution opposing Spanish involvement in the war on Iraq.
And Rosemarie, here is a very interesting article on Diego Garcia taken from ‘Granta’: http://www.granta.com/extracts/1225.
Auf Wiederemailen,
Helga

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 11/15 at 04:32 PM

Mickey, yeah: I think a chapbook would be the way to go. This could be decentralized a bit. The book is designed and made available for easy downloading and printing from a website/websites. Are you all familiar with http://www.coldtype.net/ ? Interesting concept.

I would love for the movement to raise the threat to power to such a level that, whatever we call what we do, they call it treason. Meanwhile, Rosemarie, I think it takes all types and some are repulsed by the lies about veteran benefits and some are repulsed by the violence and some just don’t like how much it costs. I think we shouldn’t keep any secrets from anyone; we should talk about it all.

Counter-recruitment, anit-recruitment, non-recruitment, irrecruitment, truth in recruitment.....

peace.

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 11/15 at 04:37 PM

Good Morning, Mudge… which is almost all that’s necessary to explain why I don’t like my job(s). Don’t want to end up like Bartleby…

‘have’... as in the thin line btn them and the have-nots.

Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 11/15 at 04:53 PM

Lots of great ideas here. Let’s do them all.
Here is something else that just popped into mind. Is it time yet to remind the mainstream media that GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS AN INSURGENT.
Helga, thanks. I am going to your Diego Garcia link right now.

Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/15 at 06:40 PM

Hello everyone. Just wondering: Why am I suddenly getting so many lurkers from Illinois?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 11/15 at 06:56 PM

A title with “anti” in it is not a good idea I feel. “Truth in recruiting “ is much better. Or “How Do You Feel About Killing ..... Yourself”

Because that is what they are embarking on whether it’s physically (bomb, bullet or DU), emotionally/mentally (PTSD), or spiritually (needing more and more violence to relieve the stress caused by the violence in the first place!)

Posted by Jim on from 11/15 at 07:16 PM

This conversation today reminds me of what it says on one of the buttons I sometimes wear, “Join the Army. Travel to distant, exotic lands. Meet interesting people. Then kill them.”

Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/15 at 07:24 PM

Here’s another reason not to enlist. You might wind up with glow-in-the-dark sperm.
http://www.sfbayview.com/110905/radioactivetank110905.shtml

Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 11/15 at 07:33 PM

Helga, I live on Paral.lel just west of the Ramblas, it´s like the old Broadway of Barcelona full of old clubs and theatres. I came here first in June 2003 and those banners were still everywhere, quite a few around these days too, there´s a healthy amount of pacific people in this country so I´ll be here for a while.

Mudge,
maybe the novel is dead, I don´t call what I write a novel but if anyone else wants to call what I write a novel that´s fine. All I know is sometimes I make stuff up, sometimes I steal stuff and sometimes I write what I´ve seen or heard and giving it a title is as far as I´ll go with classification.

Rosemarie,
George Washington, as well as being the wealthiest man in America and a slaveowner, was of the most curdled of aristocratic blood: one of his ancestors was an English knight of the 12th century and another was a relative of the Duke of Buckingham who had fought for the Crown in the English Civil War. Burke´s Peerage, the official aristocratic and royal genealogists based in London, every American election since and including George Washington has been won by the candidate with the most European royal genes. 3/4 of them are genetically related to just two people Charlemagne (742-814) and Alfred the Great (849-899). BP also predicted Bush v.02 would “win” the 2000 election 6 months beforehand because he had the most blue blood in an election notable for having the most prestigious genes in two candidates. Texas doesn´t get the blame for Bushes either, the family used to be known as the Percys in England and they fled after the Gunpowder Plot (attempt to blow up English houses of parliament) and they were pirates back then too. These genealogies you can find with BP and they allow stuff like this be public knowledge because they love it, they feel it´s their birthright. US independence in 18th century was no bold experiment in freedom - tyrannical regimes take a long long time to set up because you have to wheedle the power from the people in babysteps, and George Washington was the first acting CEO of the worlds´ first perfectly corporate state, heavy emphasis on the acting.

Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 11/15 at 09:15 PM

Yo O:

Novel’s a dead form, what you’re writing is probably best categorized as a novel, and none of it matters a whole lot if you’re enjoying writing it chances are some will enjoy reading it.

Am reminded of Oscar Wilde’s review of Henry James’s work: “Mr. Henry James writes fiction as though it were a painful duty.” Brings to my mind writers like Mary Higgins Clark and Danielle Steele.

Anybody seen Big Country around lately? He hasn’t been here since thi morning early. Wnated to know about his NaNovel.

Good night to each, to all, and flights of non-sectarian irrelgious angels sing thee to thy separate sleeps.

Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 11/15 at 11:15 PM

Thanks for your reply Owen! Barcelona sounds like THE place to live - and if the Fremlins ever get back to Barcelona (highly unlikely), we have to meet in one of those great bars or tapas places. On the other hand, if you visit Australia, don’t hesitate to contact us.
http://travelvictoria.com.au/daylesford/

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 11/16 at 03:37 PM

the quote above by kundera is from “the book of laughter and forgetting” not “unbearable lightness....” it’s a great quote! i just wanted to inform you of the error!

Posted by lauren on from massachusetts 05/08 at 10:38 PM