Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Democratic Party fucks itself in strange new way
And by that I mean this primary debacle, written of here among other places.
If the logic of holding the Florida and Michigan primaries earlier was to speed up the nomination and more firmly defeat the Republican candidate then it has failed.
If that isn't the logic, then what is?
Anyone?
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Mr. Meier's first name wasn't really Mr; It was Art.
This website offers really affordable prints of interesting works by a diverse group of artists. If you live in the middle of nowhere without access to good art fairs and local galleries (like I do) and have no money whatsoever and even less time (like me) it can be a good way to make your environment more beautiful. http://www.thumbtackpress.com/
Wired magazine featured thumbtack and other sites like it in this next article. Try not to hate the sites for the fact that you can sort by price, and instead just love them for the fact that you can sort by size. (I have a weird little nook of a space that I have been dying to beautify, and I am not an artist, so this kind of feature makes me happy). http://www.wired.com/culture/art/magazine/16-03/pl_arts
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Jon Kessler
This piece was put together for vbs.tv as part of their ongoing series called Art Talk! where, as you may have guessed, they talk to artists about their work and topical issues. i find this guy's work fascinating, for example he constructs what appears to be a slideshow from postcards of the WTC, depicting what it must have looked like for the attackers to have flown into the building. another installation that was pretty cool was a commissioned work for a restaurant of a fountain, the fountain is an old boat made to appear as if it were being rowed. topped off with a taxidermed duck walking the plank.
below is the second on the series of four, which includes the fountain piece.
Monday, March 10, 2008
the giant white glove
from the video description:
This is an experiment for the White Glove Tracking project, made with Java and processing.
the white glove tracking project is here: http://www.whiteglovetracking.com/
other examples of the white glove tracking project's implementation are here: http://www.whiteglovetracking.com/gallery.html, like the speed = height video Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Bush vetoes anti-torture bill, McCain makes cowardice, hypocrisy locus of presidential campaign . . .
. . . and Republicans cheer. From the NYTimes article that, yes, I also emailed. I could not help it.
Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has been an outspoken opponent of torture, often referring to his own experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. In this case he supported the administration’s position, arguing as Mr. Bush did Saturday that the legislation would have limited the C.I.A.’s ability to gather intelligence.Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Dyson on Obama
I have liked Professor Dyson's punditry for a long while. He articulates truth where it is often glazed over, and in a straight to the point, matter of fact way that is impossible not to appreciate. This is moment from the state of the black union held this year in New Orleans.
worthy obama criticism from naomi klein
from the Nation:
The orgy of hate that is "the Muslim smear" is unfolding in real time, and it promises to greatly intensify in a general election. These attacks do not simply "smear Barack's Christian faith," as John Kerry claimed in a campaign mailing. They are an attack on all Muslims, some of whom actually do exercise their rights to cover their heads and send their kids to religious school. Thousands even have the very common name Hussein. All are watching their culture used as a crude bludgeon against Obama, while the candidate who is the symbol of racial harmony fails to defend them.and later in the article...
Pushing candidates on the issues during a campaign can have a real impact, so can we please move beyond superfandom? I have also heard from people who think that saying Arabs and Muslims are worthy of exactly the same rights and protections as other minorities is just too high-risk a position for Obama during the campaign. If that's the position, so be it, but don't pretend the campaign is doing something it is not. It is precisely because he has been so strong on other issues of discrimination and racism that his trepidation on this issue leaps out.this is a great example of what i've always felt about obama. he is a very charming, incredibly intelligent, and impassioned speaker. but, he has seemed a little vacant at times and merely says what his supporters want to hear, playing it safe. (ms. klein's reference to "superfandom" is spot-on.)
when it comes down to taking tough stances like this one, speaking out for muslims, he just doesn't do it. what ms. klein is pointing out is that he had the perfect opportunity to stand up for muslims, in america and elsewhere, and has totally failed to do so. maybe he feels that doing so would only fuel "obama is a muslim -- obama is a closeted supporter of hezbollah -- obama would become allies with iran" claims, but fuck, it's still the right thing to do. c'mon, obama, why not make a real change and stop worrying about your PR at the cost of your ethical responsibility? Sphere: Related Content
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