Friday, September 13, 2002

Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo YO! You can't mess with my Yo-yo, YO! Who is the man with a master plan? A nigga with a mutha fuckin' gun, Git Down!
A hip hop, a hippity hop, to the hip hip hop and ya just don't stop.

It's MLK and I'm comin your way, with a fat cheeseburger and I'm here to stay
Ya can't get rid of me, are you Uripide? It's serendipity, we meet infrequently

The sleek Brazilian jaguar
Does not in its arboreal gloom
Distil so rank a feline smell
As Grishkin in a drawing-room.

Whispers of Immortality, T.S. Eliot, 1920

The Filthy Critic on the movie Swimfan,

"It takes monster nuts to have absolutely nothing to say, write a whole movie to prove it, and find a director and studio who share your lack of vision. Then you must have the conviction and strength of belief to see your ass-ripping turd through to completion. You have to wake up every morning and be excited to think "Today's the first day of the rest of my life barfing up someone else's ideas." You have to know that your story is entirely implausible and laughably absurd, but not care for one second. You have to be willing to cave in to every studio demand to make sure that the final product is as compromised as possible. You have to pretend you care, yet put something on the screen that shows you don't.

Despite Swimfan's cornhole-clogging shittiness, it inspired me. The handful of you who have read my reviews for a while know I've been listless; unemployed, mostly drunk, pissed at objects animate and inanimate and feeling personally insulted by the WB's fall lineup. I've been like a boat set adrift with no direction, blaming everyone but myself for the fact that I will die alone, poor, penniless and wearing someone else's old clothes. That's not a bad thing, really. I mean, it beats working. But having a reason to live is better."

This is why I love this guy. The Filthy Critic inspires me, fills me with hope, and washes me in cynicism. God Bless America. I Love the world, I love you all. Good night and good day.

I believe I said, "Good day!!!!!!"

P.S. I can't believe no one snatched up the domain, www.turdfest.com. I'm gonna have to buy it before some wily entrepaneur does. Peace!

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

Monica Maher's Inner Child is The Enfant Terrible


Maybe you should write to "Dear Alice"
Maybe she can help.
Pee Wee is getting a lot of action today then because i watched him this morning too. Mike, Exhibitionism is defined in the dictionary as "a perversion marked by a tendency to indecent exposure" or "the act or practice of behaving so as to attract attention to ones self." Do you fit the profile?
I'm sitting in a specialized publications class, putting together a magazine, and I can't stop looking up erotic artwork on the web. I have no shame. Everyone in back of me can see all the "smut" I'm pulling up, and I'm kind of getting off on it. I'm like an exhibitionist. I'm thinking about changing my major to erotic artwork. nude means naked. bathers means naked chicks. It's great.
I commemerated the day by watching Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Americana Baby! At its best.
Admitting it is the first step Matt. I'm proud of you.
Pretty girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like to look at pretty girls. And pretty boys too. I am not ashamed to admit it.
i truly think you guys need to take a step back, relax and forget about the day. Pick up the latest edition of the COSMO and just take a gander at pretty girls in trendy clothes. They aren't even thinking about the events from a year ago. What a refreshing way to pass the time.
Scattered Notes from Tuesday, September 10th's Panel discussion on Peace
A diverse panel of UIS professors provided thoughtful discussion about peaceful avenues to local and global conflicts and the complexities therein.

Religious pluralism, also ethnic and political pluralism.
Extremists in each religion thinks that their religion is the one true religion.
"Religion is wonderful until it is placed between two covers."
On the idea that all religions have something to offer, "All rivers flow into the same ocean."

Included was a screening of a 15-minute video, Steps to Peace: The Journey of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.
Our grief
is NOT
a cry
for
WAR


Message on sign carried by families of victims of Sept. 11, 2001 during A Walk for Healing and Peace, DC to NY, in November 25, 2001 - December 3, 2001

"Terrorism is here to stay. It is the weapon of the weak." Dr. Proshanta Nandi, Retired Professor said, speaking on the fact that terrorism is something we will always be dealing with throughout the world now. The question was asked, How can we stop terrorism? Dr. Nandi pointed to the words of Mahatma Gandhi for direction. "Violence breeds violence...Pure goals can never justify impure or violent action...They say the means are after all just means. I would say means are after all everything. As the means, so the end....If we take care of the means we are bound of reach the end sooner or later."

"Violence cannot be defeated by super-violence," Dr. Nandi stated. Teaching nonviolence instead of violence was another point he brought up. Nonviolence is not a passive process, it is an active process. Nonviolence must be a relentless as a military campaign. Indeed, if we spent 1 percent of 1 percent of the Pentagon bugdet on nonviolence programs, permanent stable solutions and peace would come out of that research and action.

Terror can only be destroyed through LOVE. (Possible slogan for a sign)

Ends do not justify the means. Every step to an ideal must fall in line of the ideal itself. As Martin Luther King, Jr. eloquently stated, "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." Other quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr., which went along with the theme of the discussion, yet were not directly expressed:
"Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the 'fight with fire' method which you suggest is bitterness and chaos, the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community. Physical force can repress, restrain, coerce, destroy, but it cannot create and organize anything permamnent; only love can do that. Yes, love--which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one's enemies--is the solution to the race problem."
Martin Luther King, Jr. 1957

"Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty setimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one's whole being into the being of another."
Martin Luther King, Jr. 1957

"I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical realism. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love."
Martin Luther King, Jr. 1957

"In struggling for human dignity the oppressed people of the world must not allow themselves to become bitter or indulge in hate campaigns. To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can be done only by projecting the ethics of love to the center of our lives."
Martin Luther King, Jr. undated

For more on the writings, speeches, and messages of hope of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project website, http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/

If Iraq does finally acquire Weapons of Mass Destruction, especially nuclear weapons, that only makes them a part of the world community. The moral authority of the United States telling another country not to build or buy nuclear weapons is weak, because America is the largest stockpiler of nuclear weapons.
Jan Droegkamp's peace activist friend Gale taught a class in Afghanistan about gender equity and steps to facilitate the education of Afghani girl's. The remarkable fact was that 20 men from the Taliban, some high ranking, participated in the seminar. This is stunning because of the propaganda in America declaring that all Taliban are "evil". This is also hopeful.

Economics as a barrier to peace. Gandhi once said that poverty is the worst form of violence. Gandhi also said, "Economic equality is the master key to non-violent independence...A non-violent system of government is impossible as long as the wide gulf between the rich and the hungry millions persists....A violent and bloody revolution is a certainty one day unless there is a voluntary abdication of riches and the power riches give and a sharing of them for the public good....All
have not the same capacity...I would not cramp talent...I want to bring about an equalization of status...."
It is not just war talk saturating the media. It is also an exploitation of the September 11th events. It seems to me the all the networks are competing for coverage. I don't mind watching the reading of the victims' names during the ceremony at Ground Zero, but I do mind the "commentary" by historians or news anchors. Let it speak for itself.

Turn off your TV. Turn off your radio. I have come to realize the amount of propaganda that is in the media, and their is a lot. Read Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent, or Profits over People. That is the role of media, along with the government, to manufacture consensus on issues, to create public opinion that really does not exist. Public polls are bullshit too. That is why I signed Arianna Huffington's petition to ban polls - The No Poll Pledge.

Now let's take a poll.
  • Should we ban polls?
  • Should we take more polls?
  • Have you ever even been polled?
  • Do you frequently lie to pollsters and say what you think a good person would say?

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Since I've gotten television I've avoided watching news programs because of war talk. I don't want to think about war and I don't want our counrty to go to war. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I've ever felt this way.

The problem I have is that I don't feel informed or educated enough to make a decision one way or another. An ever bigger problem I have is that I don't think our president is either. There's been plenty of talk about how our president is stupid. And as far as that goes, what does Bush really know about Irag's ability or intentions of unleashing biological or neucleur warfare on anybody? From what I've heard outside of politcal rhetoric, Iraq is incapable of creating nukes, and even further from ever lauching them at anyone. Why is there such a discrepancy between what politicians are saying and what experts on the subject are saying?

The only testimony I've heard, however, concerning Iraq's inability to wage nucleur war have been former weapons inspectors and people I've talked to who are in the miliitary? Should I need more? (not a rhetorical Q)
"only an American would make a game where you steal home and win the game"

I was talking to a friend of the beavers' a couple of weeks ago in a bar in chicago about art. it was about 3 in the afternoon and the bar was buzzing about the uncoming baseball strike. my friend and i were swilling down pbr's and he was talking to me about art.

he was wondering when the "new" art movement would come about, and what I thought would be like. i don't know too much about art. i know a little history, and i know the big leaguers, but i don't consider myself literate in that field.

i'm still reflecting on that question weeks later, and i think that art - as far as paintings and what not - has somewhat become obsolete. why would anyone go and see a painting if they could see the movie instead? i wonder if anyone would go to see Renoir's Beach Party if that scene were taken out of a movie.

There's a french movie out now titled "Amelie". which has become quite popular world-wide. Part of that movie focuses on one of the inhabitants of Renoir's Beach Party painting. If Renoir were alive today -and his painting was actually a still frame of that movie (a pause during the DVD) - I don't think anyone would look at it twice.

So getting back to the question: What is art? In a sense, what do people admire? What do people stop to gaze at, and wonder the compleixites of?

Car crashes. Not just the smashed cars themselves, but the cop and ambulance lights as well. I think the emergency lights are what make crashes - especially during the night - so beautiful. At least at a distance.

Moments after a bad car crash in a neighborhood like mine, the cops and their emergency ligths enter the picture. Slowly after that, the drunks enter the picture, followed by the kids. Everything happens in very slow frames. Even from a second story window you can still see the fright and intrique in the faces of the kids. Looking around into other windows you see more people like me.

I don't know if that's what I think art has come to, or even if you could even consider a near-fatal car crash art. It does fit the description though. When was the last time you were at a museum and stared intently at a painting for more then a half hour, and feel as many emotions as watching the aftermath of a terrible car crash?

The beaver's been a bit slow lately. Let's talk about terrible car crashes.

Castoreum

Animal scent markings are notorious for smelling terrible. But castoreum is different. It has a musky smell that some people describe as van...