Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Thursday, January 12, 2006

"A detailed preview of what was to come"

Posted by Mickey Z on 01/12 at 05:29 AM

Bravo, man-- 7 Deadly Spins is such a cool book that you can repost stuff from it here and I’d never get tired of it. If you can reissue Private Power, I wish you could do the same for Spins, too.

Off topic of course, I was up websurfing idly and was digging back a week or so ago, came across the post about Duchamp’s toilet installation, the Fountain, and the article linked mentioned that some poll of artists listed it as more influential than Guernica.

Um, I don’t know about that, dude. I have a four-foot print of Guernica that I bought after I heard about it being covered up at the UN like that, but I don’t think I’ll be hanging a replica of the Fountain anytime soon.

All the best wishes again to JOS and Joe and Mudge and everybody else who might need them…

Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/12 at 06:16 AM

i have no doubts that you (and ward) are right about cointelpro but the nature of secret services is frequently misunderstood.

take MI6 for example. mention them and what comes into most peoples minds is james bond. it would make for a very different sort of film if james bond really did what most of mi6’s work is, which is going around bribing people in central banks around the world to find out when interest rates are going up and down in order to give UK companies advantage in the market. all countries do this to each other.

i am just wondering how they would fit the parachute jumps, the tanks and the crashing through sheet glass windows into that story.

Posted by michael on from scotland 01/12 at 06:27 AM

and for the lurkers out there....

Posted by michael on from scotland 01/12 at 06:39 AM

Thomas Pynchon´s Vineland has wonderful plot threads about COINTELPRO (coughing into fist, future-book-club)

Here´s a fiveminute clip a friend sent me of newsreports on 911, it´s funny what those dern newsreaders will say before the script pages get handed out. http://www.loosechange911.com/lc2e_explosions.wmv

Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 01/12 at 06:59 AM

Good morning, Expendables.

Great video, Owen. It’s hard to know what to believe, re: 9/11...but the standard story is riddled with holes, isn’t it?

Michael: I agree, but such bureaucratic work was probably a major part of COINTELPRO, too.

James: I’m sure you and I could hardly care what some so-called experts say about art, but I will attempt to defend their choice...just for the hell of it. Guernica is amazing but certainly not the first artistic statement against war and not unique to Picasso’s body of work. Duchamp’s diverse art, on the other hand, is (in my not-so-humble opinion) more important in the long run. Picasso is a brand name with a much-deserved rep but Duchamp’s influence runs deeper and longer...even if those being influenced never heard of him. That’s my “two” cents.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/12 at 08:31 AM

Hmmm… I can easily stare for way too long at Guernica otherwise I’d never have spend money I don’t really have on it, buuuuut I can kinda see your point about the precedent each work set or didn’t set.

Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/12 at 08:39 AM

hi

this is mainly for Mew and chris and other UK MZer’s (though the rest of you might find it funny).

Blair has been going about a lack of respect in society, vandalism and such like, and has launched a new campaign about it. i would just like to ask the UK MZer’s to consider signing thhis petition.

To: Tony Blair
We, the undersigned, totally recognise the need for individuals to show respect for their community and the general public.

However, as things stand, we feel we must add following condition to your recent ‘respect in society’ proposal(s):

YOU FIRST.

(We are fed up with draconian laws, detention without trial, rendition, torture, murder, and other forms of anti-social behaviour that are undermining our society. And, if you’ll excuse us for saying so, we also feel rather insulted that someone with your track record should wish to lecture us on the matter of ‘respect’.)

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

http://new.petitiononline.com/respect1/petition.html

Posted by michael on from scotland 01/12 at 09:02 AM

Good morning James, Mickey, Owen, Michael, and all the Expendables who’ll follow. A nice sunny and warmed globe sunny morning here.

Great post today. Equally fascinating as the cointelpro existance and activities is the effect that it has on general society. So many trust blindly and no doubt accept it’s existance as necessary. Too many trust that the govt will take care of their best interests.

Off topic, but of interest is that yesterday was the first court appearance in Guantanamo of a young Canadian named Omar Khadr.

This young man was 15 (who speaks perfect english) when arrested in Afghanistan. He’s now 19 years old.
http://tinyurl.com/7anrg

His family in Canada are pretty much considered parriahs because of their very staunch support for their rights and the rights of any independant Muslim state to exist under it’s own sovereignty.
Various family members have said a number of things that I would consider as bordering on hate speach; however I wholly support their determination to defend their rights in the face of such monumental opposition from society and the state(s).
Very difficult situation since the parents immigrated to Canada and their citizenship and it’s inherent rights, seem by many to be taken for granted.

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/12 at 09:07 AM

On the topic of UK Expendables…

Freedom Clothing Project
http://tinyurl.com/8pjzd

Michael I would presume that Tony is calculatedly omitting the words ‘for authority maintaining the status quo’ from the lack of respect he points out.
I’d agree there are a lot of kids these days (I scare myself just a little when I consider how often I say that) really could do well by exhibiting more respect...for themselves, for their potential, for their rights and those of others. BUT I doubt that that would preclude vandalism altogether. Why should it? I don’t think that it needs to.

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/12 at 09:13 AM

The folowing article was pointed out to me this AM. Interesting idea for the trolls that visit, scary for the rest of us:

http://tinyurl.com/czaml

Posted by Rev Joe on from 01/12 at 10:58 AM

Hello, good morning, guten tag, ciao, etc

Duchamp, I would argue, hasn’t had a GREATER impact on art than Picasso...Les Demoiselles d’Avignon revolutionized what art “could” be about before that stupid urinal saw the light of day...but each man greatly expanded the scope of artistic expression. /$0.02

The mortgage investor, Robb, and I chatted Wednesday. He’s actually being a gentleman about this...he’s paying a helper to come and do my bidding for 5hrs each day on this Friday and Saturday. He had no obligation whatever to do it, and I’m grateful.

I’ve offloaded over 20 boxes of books already! I gave the tick-tock clock to my friend Andrew and his new bride Amanda last night at their reception. A few other things have gone to a friend here and there. This isn’t a pleasurable thing to go through, but I find myself weirdly peaceful. Not numb, just...okay with it. When the worst happens, I guess the wise course is to learn how to be okay with it, so here I am!

Owen #4: Oh no! Not Pynchon! Please don’t hurt me any more, I’m sorry for whatever I did! I reviewed The Crying of Lot 49 like this: “Og think nasty writer-man laughing at Og.” So I’ll sit that book club out.

Amelopsis #8: “...the rights of any independant Muslim state to exist under it’s own sovereignty.” Why should its Muslimness enter into the discussion of rights to soevreignty? Afghanistan wasn’t attacked BECAUSE it was a Muslim state, it was attacked becuase it was handy, had (by harboring bin Laden) given us a (flimsy, to be sure) casus belli, and the cynical, amoral MFs who run this place needed blood to satisfy the yowling idiot rabble. Iraq? Oil, not Muslimness, occasioned that attack...and the current attempts to impose a governemnt that’s not Islamic fundamentalist are based on oil security, not Muslimness. Fundamentalist governments of other religions (I consider the US Govenrment a fundamentalis Christian horror) tend not to like us much, and when that government sits on about 10% of the world’s oil reserves, it’s our money that’s at stake. Threats to our money CANNOT be tolerated.

Religion just acts as a smoke screen for one side or the other, as always. Read about the First Crusade. Talk about cynical!

Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 01/12 at 11:03 AM

Mudge I agree wholeheartedly with you re Muslim or any other religion having nothing to do necessarily with sovereignty - I was (feebly) attempting to give a little insight to the Khadr family’s rantings here. In my opinion of what I’ve heard from them, they have some very relevant points to make but they make them poorly and ineloquently. This does not strengthen their position in defense of their rights as Canadian citizens.

Sorry it seems that I confused the very topic I was bringing up.

I feel very conflicted about Afghanistan myself - I don’t agree with the force used etc.... but I can recall feeling absolute hopeless wretching horror at the news of the Buddha’s statues pending destruction.

...moving preparations...I’m glad to hear that you sound relatively at ease with all the purging of goods and various packing and planning required. Nice mortgage investor, I think it’s your own good mojo coming back to visit you; karmastyle.

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/12 at 11:36 AM

Rev Joe #10: “Our esteemed politicians can’t seem to grasp this simple point, but the First Amendment protects our right to write something that annoys someone else.”

Scary, scary stuff! Will the First Amendment be sharply curtailed by this latest cynical cloaking of the war on individual rights?

>shiver<

Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 01/12 at 11:48 AM

Empress #12: “I was (feebly) attempting to give a little insight to the Khadr family’s rantings here. In my opinion of what I’ve heard from them, they have some very relevant points to make but they make them poorly and ineloquently. This does not strengthen their position in defense of their rights as Canadian citizens.” I see! It was my misunderstanding of your point, not the way you expressed it, that was at fault.

I don’t know anything about these folks, so I can’t comment intelligently on specifics, but I make a general observation: “Leave teh media to professionals.” If I was in their shoes, in the USA, I would say bubkes to a TV camera and hie my hiney to the ACLU to talk for me. I would get flustered, scared, mad, whatever and end up doing my cause more harm than good!

Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 01/12 at 12:01 PM

Rev Joe that is indeed scary news, as Mudge says.
I wonder how, if at all, this might apply to foreign users of US sites? My assumption is that if you’re using a US based service, or commenting on one, then the same law would apply?

Eesh.

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/12 at 12:21 PM

Really like the format of the post today Mickey, and the content of course.

I went looking for Fight Club (the book, not the club) today and ended up with a 1 euro used copy of Samuel Beckett’s Malone Dies. It starts like this: “I shall soon be quite dead at last in spite of all.” Jeez.

As an Expendable deep in The Arts (ugh...) I’d like to weigh in on the Duchamp question---certainly not as an expert but I have thought a lot about this kind of thing. I have no doubt that the urinal, turned upside-down, named, and signed, is “art” (the question annoys me, the way some people question whether experimental music is music). And I have no doubt that it is “influential”. But I think it is miserably irresponsible, and I hate it. Does anybody else see the importance of this admittedly witty move as a sign of the worst kind of decadence?

Maybe it takes all kinds, but I like my artists to be of the Camus/Orwell/Vonnegut/Bartok/Fela Kuti/KRS-One variety, that is, fundamentally socially conscious and interested in improving things.

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 01/12 at 12:33 PM

Amelopsis #9, I was hoping for somewhere I could get ethical boots and such (that could tell me to kick mean people), but t-shirts, ok… do any fellow UK’ers know of more substantial ethical boutiques in our grey unpleasant land?

My prime source of information on Brit intelligence has always been Our Man In Havana. No clue how accurate a depiction that was.

Posted by Mew on from England 01/12 at 12:48 PM

try this mew..there r some things they say that i don’t agree with but there r some good t-shirts as well
http://www.proletariart.com

Posted by michael on from scotland 01/12 at 12:57 PM

Mew my “friend”
There’s No Sweat Apparel
http://tinyurl.com/d6ycj
I think MZ mentioned them once upon a time, but this one’s not in the UK.

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/12 at 01:23 PM

Hello everyone. I just walked in and wow, it’s warm outside. I’m heading back out to read Fight Club on the “steps” on my building...in the sun...without a jacket.

I just want to quickly join the Duchamp fray. If we view Duchamp’s work (prior to the urinal came the groundbreaking Nude Descending a Staircase, for example) with 2005 eyes, it does seem almost like one long gimmick. However, this does little justice to the tenor of his time. I liken him to Muhammad Ali. When Ali first burst onto the scene, no fighter (least of all, a heavyweight) fought with hands at his sides, on his toes, etc. At the time, it was astonishing. But, in 2005, we have thousands of (bad) Ali imitators and therefore, even Ali looks almost mundane. In other words, fighting like Ali or deeming a urinal to be art is irresponsible...except in the hands of an artist like Duchamp or Ali.

Then again, maybe I’m wrong.

Gotta run. January sun is calling.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/12 at 01:40 PM

i like Picasso’s Bull’s Head myself.

I used to refer to Duchamp as the snow shovel guy because of this, he called it In Advance of the Broken Arm he done it twice one in 1913 and another in 1945:

I like his brother’s, Duchamp-Villon’s Horse:

Who’s that other guy that like’s to shrink wrap buildings and such and take pictures of it? Glad, Reynolds oh yeah Christo. I think you Mr. Z took a photo in front of one of his art works, do you recall?

Hey JOS

Posted by tm on from in a grove 01/12 at 01:57 PM

On the no sweat-shop clothes subject, does anyone have a strong opinion of American Apparel? I got a t-shirt as a gift and it is super comfortable, but something about the image of the company is too “Gap” for me.

Nude Descending a Staircase is a great work of art, stands up today. But the urinal stuff still bugs me--maybe it’s just because someone compared it to Guernica, and there’s no comparison. As for comparing Duchamp to Ali, I have to claim ignorance. Did Duchamp lead as principled a life as Ali has? (Not that being principled in itself is a value, but I happen to empathise with some of Ali’s principles.)

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 01/12 at 02:13 PM

I agree with James: Bravo, Man/Mickey! Quite a ‘tour de force’ re COINTELPRO - and ‘Seven Deadly Spins’ is on my list of books to order - from the author some time later this month or early February.

It is Friday 13th today: thank God Helga is not superstitious! The job interview yesterday went quite well IMHO but then that ‘feeling’ is rarely an indication of things to come in my experience. Apparently there were ‘only’ 30 applications as against more than 60 applications for a second job at the local council. Will know in the middle of next week.

OT: Mrs Alito CRIED during the nomination hearings? Will these people stop at anything? So transparent .. If you cannot stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

And a hearty ‘hi’ to all of you expendables on this Friday 13th January @ 6:18 am.

Captcha: ‘defence’. Watch your backs!

P.S. Like your plaques, Michael, and like those arty bits, tm!

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/12 at 02:18 PM

What have I started? We were supposed to talk about domestic spying! For everyone’s benefit, here’s the Duchamp link from Mickey’s post last week: http://tinyurl.com/afca4

As for Kier’s mention of influential author’s, this article-- http://tinyurl.com/7mxmx leads me to think that I have more to learn from Sartre. Damn, as if I needed more motivation to get some writing done! Mickey’s married, so I have no idea why he writes books…

Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/12 at 02:23 PM

Artwise I have to claim ignorance full stop. I managed to get halfway through one floor of the Tate Modern (the British MoMA!) before my brain cramped and all I saw was, well, stuff, arranged such and how. While I don’t envy wankers who can talk shit about any old installation, I do quietly envy those who genuinely have some artistic sense.

Michael, Empress, thanks for the links.

Posted by Mew on from England 01/12 at 02:43 PM

Re the comparative value of Duchamp’s urinal and Picasso’s ‘Guernica’: I think Picasso’s work is more important - must say I was somewhat unimpressed, though, when I saw the original ‘Guernica’ at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, and so was Mr Helga. And when I saw a Matisse/Picasso exhibition at the MOMA in April 2003, it became clear to me yet again that Matisse is my favourite painter.

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/12 at 02:46 PM

Hey well Guernica sure does brighten up my living room, and that’s the important thing. Okay, maybe brighten’s not the word, but you get the idea.

As for art in general, it sure can be confusing. It’s like they say, I don’t know what I like, but I know it’s art. That’s how it goes, right?

Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/12 at 02:50 PM

Again, I wasn’t only comparing one work by each artist. I merely said I believed Duchamp’s influence was deeper and longer than Picasso’s.

Duchamp sez:
“I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.”
and
“The individual, man as a man, man as a brain, if you like, interests me more than what he makes, because I’ve noticed that most artists only repeat themselves.”

I remember going to the much-hyped Picasso-Braque show at the MoMa in 1990 and, after a while, it felt like it all looked alike. Go ahead, call me a Philistine…

If there’s an FBI guy lurking, could you please weigh in on this?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/12 at 02:54 PM

Somewhat suprising that cointelpro didn’t have Guernica removed or covered up long before the US Imperial administration took over the joint.

I’m really not well versed enough to pretend to analyse the relative significance of Picasso vs. Duchamps; personally I think I’m more along the lines of Mew’s perspective - my brain cramps if exposed to too much avant garde or alternative or whatever you want to call it style of art. I can appreciate the revolutionary significance of turning a urinal into art, but my appreciation of it pretty much ends there. I don’t even care for Picasso’s work all that much. My personal preference tends to be for a wide variety of Candadian art like Bill Reid’s work. I also like the work of Emily Carr and Lawren Harris along with most of the Group of Seven’s work. There are many native artists who’s work I find mindblowing. Anyone familiar with any of those?

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/12 at 03:33 PM

I hear that. I just brought up Guernica due to the mention in that Guardian article. And ‘cause it’s on my wall.

Man, all this global warming in New York is making it hard to take an afternoon nap. When is the big snowstorm gonna “start”?

Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/12 at 03:34 PM

I would never call you a philistine, Mickey! You can call me one if you want to ..
Re art, I’ll paraphrase James: if I like it, it’s art and if I like it a lot, it’s great art.

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/12 at 03:49 PM

Fun conversations, this day. You expendables are wonderful, as always.
Amelopsis, I’ve not heard of the artists you mention. I’ll try to google `em up, however. Thanks. Always open to more beauty. ( I hope. )

Just to add to the blab, I’ve spent a lot of time in art museums. I really love painting - and sculpture.
When I have the opportunity to pause and appreciate, I most enjoy -
Picasso’s Blue & Rose periods
Van Gogh
Vermeer
Frans Hals
Rembrandt
Most of the French Impressionists, much of the time
Lautrec
Mary Cassatt
Goya
Ingres
MC Escher
RODIN
Whistler
Constable
DaVinci
Caravaggio
Edward Hopper
Sometimes - Dali, Giacometti
Many others, of course, but these, I think, are my favorite people…

Can’t talk much about art… but I know what I like, and why. Art is so incredibly subjective - painting, writing, sculpture. Who knows how it happens that we love what we love…

C Uz all in a while.

Posted by joe on from Oregon 01/12 at 04:15 PM

MZ #28: Philistine.

Keir #16: Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnameable in one swell volume is the ticket. I think the Calder edition should be knocking around Amsterdarn (in case someone’s offended by “dam"). His short novels are, bar none, the most brilliant things Beckett did.

Amelopsis #29: I like Arthur Lismer’s Georgian Bay paintings a lot. Heart-hurtingly beautiful blues. AY Jackson and JEH MacDonald and their endless snowbound vilages all sort of blur together for me. That’s what I know about the Group of Seven.

Helga #26: I’m with James on the impact of Guernica on me personally. I’m not a huge Picasso fan in geenral, and Matisse’s church windows in France (cudgelling my brain’s filing imp for the name of the town, too lazy to Google) gave me the second-best religious experience of my life (best was in Sainte-Chappelle in Paris, one Storytelling Saturday I’ll tell that one), so on balance Matisse is The Man for me, too.

James #24: Bizarre form of sublimation, writing books....

It’s 84F and I need to get back to work, hello each and all whose names I haven’t “called,” I’m sending love!

Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 01/12 at 04:15 PM

Did Picasso ever liberate Washington “Square”?
http://tinyurl.com/bfquy

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/12 at 04:48 PM

That’s some nifty art in action.

Picasso must have been preoccupied with a woman and a paint brush.

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/12 at 05:02 PM

That’s a cool story. Did they ever remove those bodies? I hope they’re not buried under the dog run… Some of the crazies that hang out there seem like they might still have yellow fever.

And hurray-- on Wednesday I start a job that’s scheduled to last an entire 4-8 weeks! That’s like an eternity…

Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/12 at 05:19 PM

Joe I missed your #32...Have a look and I’m sure you’ll like them. I realise my ‘likes’ fall woefully short of complete, lots of your listed preferences are shared.

Here’s some Bill Reid:
http://tinyurl.com/8q7fr
And some other stuff I mentioned and really like:
http://tinyurl.com/ahm4u
http://tinyurl.com/bvkps
http://tinyurl.com/76qa2
http://tinyurl.com/9dogl

As many of you’ve said, I know what I like, and it is such a subjective experience to observe the art and then observe the effect it has on one’s self.

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/12 at 05:26 PM

Hello MZ and the expanding expendables… Is it me, or has the discussion moved from intelligence to art?

1. Art is a form of creativity, but not necessarily rational.

2. Creativity is a form of intelligence, and likewise, not necessarily rational.

In this sense, religion may be considered an intelligent art form which presupposes a rational set of ideas in order to justify the existence of the indescribable or unexplainable (i.e., a god).

Which leads me to…

3. Presuppositions and assumptions are not always rational.

That’s all I wanted to add (for now anyway)...

Posted by RT on from The Buyou City 01/12 at 05:40 PM

Michael re 7 - rock on mate! Will happily sign the bugger.

Hope you’re all having a good Thursday. Have just got in & am shattered, but I thought a little post wouldn’t hurt. Just to say good will to y’all, & the best to Mudge, JOS, RMJ, Joe, & any other of you vital Expendables needing a shout out.

Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/12 at 05:53 PM

Mickey (#34)---that link to a post from last April reveals that you had Zero comments on such an interesting set of funfacts. Unimaginable in these glory days of the Expendables. Definitely cool funfacts, too. Duchamp was a bright guy with a good sense of humor. But I’m gonna be bitchy for a sec and say that since Picasso influenced Duchamp, isn’t Picasso’s influence always one percentage point greater than Duchamp’s?

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 01/12 at 05:57 PM

Keir, this guy calls it a draw, sort of: http://tinyurl.com/7e6pv

Excellent Duchamp site: http://www.understandingduchamp.com

Hello RT...you gonna read Fight Club with us?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/12 at 06:14 PM

*COMMENCE DELURK*

Hello and greetings from Scotland. Michael, you finally inspired me to delurk - it was the loch ness monster, fair tugged at the old patriotic heartstrings!

So hello in particular to Mickey, been reading and enjoying the site for a while now, been unable to comment as only had access at work where I couldn’t see the captcha word to allow me to post and then they totally blocked your site (not supposed to get any net access apart from strictly work related stuff anyway). But online at home now.

So Mickey does the US FOI Act only release paper based records, even today? If so that’s ridiculous. I think we’re covered (in theory) by Data Protection and last years FOI Act for paper and electronic media. But why does it seem like more is known about the nefarious inner workings of the US Govt than here?

Oh, just finished a great book “Bear v Shark” by Chris Bachelder, highly recommended. It’s about a family who win tickets for the big nationwide spetacle of “Bear v Shark” and their travel to Las Vegas to see it. It’s a vicious satire on the modern age, of advertising, TV, malls, fast food and the inherent emptiness of advanced capitalism.

Posted by Paul M on from Scotland 01/12 at 06:36 PM

Welcome, Paul. Any friend of Michael’s… Hope to see you hear more often (if possible) and your book suggestion sounds like a good group reading idea.

P.S. Good question, re: FOIA. I’ll have to look that up.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/12 at 06:42 PM

Thanks Mickey, hope to visit here quite often. The book would be great for a book club, rather short with some chapters only a few pages long - but it has a lot of depth.

Someone described on the blurb as “A cross between Fight Club and No Logo”. That was probably his mate that wrote that (I’m always reminded of the quote on the back of Irvine Welsh’s book Trainspotting “deserves to sell more copies than the bible” - it was allegedly him!) but I’d endorse it.

It reminded me once again (shouldn’t need told really) how fucked things are and inspired me to do more to improve them.

For UK people and ethical type clothing:
http://www.howies.co.uk/
http://www.vegetarian-shoes.co.uk/

International:
http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotsneaker/

Must be more?

Posted by Paul M on from Scotland 01/12 at 07:10 PM

Hi All....just a few irrelevant thoughts....about FOIA, a lot of important information is not available because of the Black Budget/Black Prison System. A while back, I tried to get info about USA secret prisons around the world. Even Congress is kept in the dark about the really important stuff.

About art, I was surprised when I moved up here (to the middle of nowhere) to learn that there is a fairly good art museum right across the border in Massachusetts. The Clark Art Museum has a nice collection, especially of French Impressionists. When you all come to visit, we can go there.

Anyone else watching the Alito Hearings? I have never before seen someone talk so much and say so little as the Judge. His biggest flaw is that he has so often made decisions on the side of power and against the ordinary citizen.

How about three cheers for Harry Bellafonte for his recent comments.

Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 01/12 at 07:26 PM

Hip hip hooray.

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 01/12 at 07:40 PM

Re 42 - Paul M - good point. More than one commentator has noted that we (in the UK) seem to be directed toward US abuses rather than those closer to home - here writers like John Pilger and Mark Curtis would appear to be needed (haven’t read Curtis yet, but have only heard good things).
Otherwise our curiosity is misdirected and we find plenty wrong overseas, but if we aren’t careful our searching takes us (absorbingly) away from home. I’ve fallen into this trap before & found myself clueless when a variety of local subjects were relevant - please take note of this. I still know more about US current issues than UK ones, not that I’m anywhere near expert about the US.

Also we should listen to the voices from comedy - Mark Thomas, Rob Newman (recent tours have been astounding - I heard a CD of one tour which was excellent) and Rory Bremner (who has a splendid journalistic content). These guys are very important. Mark Thomas in particular has a great way with the arms trade - he arranges the most ridiculous deals! Apparently you can arrange the transfer of some incredibly nefarious weaponry around a few borders with very easy to acquire paperwork - anyone who can go to a few easy places can put some very nasty shit in some massively dubious hands. He arranged a crate of H & K rifles to go to a dictatorship via Zurich, if memory serves - oh my ears & whiskers!

It should be remembered that certain types of information, which seem to be so important, are also allowed us. There is certainly real real news that is being buried constantly. And at this point, a great many subjects need be remembered. So, maybe what we can get through FOI & similar acts (all too scarce, I should say!) is also a sop to us, the inquisitive ones who have #### all political power apart from our own will to say “#### off, I won’t have that!”

Thanks for the great links.

Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/12 at 07:41 PM

PS Please delurk regularly - you have some great light to shed.

Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/12 at 07:42 PM

Re 45 - RMJ, you’re doing a creditable thing in pointing out (& precisely!) where FOI is shying away from the truth - more power to your elbow, lady.

Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, England 01/12 at 07:44 PM

Thanks for the kind words Chris.

I wholeheartedly agree about getting distracted towards other countries (particularly the US) and this is something I do all the time.

Surely the place where we have a realistic chance of affecting change is in our immediate locality? Not that we should avoid global issues, but let’s try local first as we can be DIRECTLY involved.

eg I was speaking to Michael about finding out what planning applications are in for my local area.

That’s why the discovery of things like Schnews (http://www.schnews.org.uk) is invaluable. Pilger is great as is Monbiot and the comedians you mention are superb also. Private Eye is really good as well, some of the investigative journalism and corporate reporting is second to none.

Blogs like this one and Michaels are excellent tools and places of inspiration as well. As I said I’ve just got a PC at home (after about 5 yrs of absence) so I’m out of the loop somewhat as to good websites/blogs/lists etc, but sure I’ll catch up.

Time for bed now (1:15am here)!

Posted by Paul M on from Scotland 01/12 at 08:15 PM

G’night, Expendables.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/12 at 10:46 PM

Welcome, Paul - y’all come back, now - hear?

A big hello and hugs to all -

About half done with Fight Club, Mickey.
Interesting read, but it’s put me into an odd mood… I’ve known several (not-so-philosophical) Tyler Durdans, so I keep spinning out into experiences in Schenectady, in the 60’s.
Palahniuk definitely peers into a lot of dark corners, and sees more than most. ( I grew up in dark corners, so the muck and murk is familiar. )

Mudge - I’ve been rereading a book called “The Holographic Universe,” by Michael Talbot. Fascinating read. He has a chapter on Mind-Body, which you might well find interesting and useful… Anyway, thought I’d toss that out, your way. Hope you’re well, my friend…

Amelopsis - thank you very much for the links. I’ll spend some time on them, a bit later, after the fambly goes ta bed. If I owned any great works of art, I’d have to put them into a museum so I could look at them in a quiet, sane environment. Home is often a great place, but…

Rosemarie - as usual, you’re focused and thoughtful. Those “Black Budgets,” and “Black Ops” should be renamed “Caucasian Budgets and Caucasian Ops,” after those who create and run the shows, eh? The image of a rich white guy in a real nice suit should be one that immediately fills people with terror, and prevents children from sleeping…

Chris - I’m still chuckling about Knackers O’Griffith. Great stuff.

Owen - I’m glad to meet another “grown up” Calvin & Hobbes fan. Yesterday I watched as he was repeatedly attacked by a horrible space alien who’s face looked almost exactly like the face of his grade school teacher…
Can this stuff qualify as great art?

“life”

Sweet.

Posted by joe on from Oregon 01/12 at 11:16 PM

“Can this stuff qualify as great art?”

Joe, I think so. My favorite artist (after all that) happens to be Berke Breathed, mid 1980’s. Can I get an amen?

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 01/13 at 07:22 AM