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August 04, 2006
08.04.06 Lost Girls; Theory and the IDF; Stabbed in the Back
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August 04, 2006 Edition |
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THiS WEEK: Partake of some illegal art; Alan Moore discusses the social usefulness of erotic art (and his controversial new graphic novel, Lost Girls); white supremacists enlisting in military; how the organic label doesn't do a damn thing to improve labor conditions for farm workers; why the Israeli Defense Force really likes reading Deleuze and Guattari; victims of the Spanish civil war to receive reparations; a wonderfully subversive computer game teaches you the complex process behind a McDonald's hamburger; the history of the "stabbed in the back" legend, and how the conservative right has used it so effectively; military contractors fight over who gets to police the US border; the birth of Dada; "Faith Days" coming to a ballpark near you; and much, much more in this unusually large edition of Media Picks.
This Week's Picks:
- VIDEO | Illegal Art
Rest assured: All films and videos on this site appropriate intellectual property, whether through the use of found footage, unauthorized music, or shots of copyrighted or trademarked material. Of particular greatness is the political campaign parody ad "Black Thunder," by Brian Spinks, Eugene Mirman, and Bill Wasik.Stay Free!
http://www.illegal-art.org/video/index.html - INTERVIEW | The Porno-Graphic Novel
Alan Moore, the author of Watchmen, V For Vendetta, and From Hell, now returns with Lost Girls, a three-volume hardcover graphic novel produced in collaboration with Melinda Gebbie. Lost Girls teams up three icons of children's literature—Alice from Alice In Wonderland, Wendy from Peter Pan, and Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz—and re-tells their stories with the fantasy elements stripped away, replaced by real-world sexual experiences. Unsurprisingly, the book has stirred some controversy. Says Moore: "One of the reasons we started this was because we were sick of the approach to sex in the culture. It seemed to us unhealthy, unproductive, and unbeautiful.... I think if you were to sever that connection between arousal and shame, you might actually come up with something liberating and socially useful."Alan Moore interviewed by Noel Murray | Onion AV Club
http://www.avclub.com/content/node/51180 - Cost of Iraq war to Top Vietnam and Korea
The Iraq war is to overtake Korea and Vietnam as the second-most expensive overseas military operation in US history, with spending expected to top US $500 billion by the end of the decade.The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19812076-2703,00.html - White Supremacists Enlisting in Military
A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.John Kifner | New York Times
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/07/MNG6TJRC1G1.DTL - Us vs. Stem
While the USDA organic seal covers a range of environmental practices, it says nothing about labor conditions. Contrary to most consumers' beliefs, the organic sector largely replicates the abusive conditions of conventional agriculture.Jason Mark | Grist
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/08/02/mark/index.html - Bush Grants Self Permission To Grant More Power To Self
"Previously, the president only had the power to petition Congress to allow him to grant himself the power to grant more power to himself," Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez said shortly after the ceremony. "Now, the president can grant himself the power to interpret new laws however he sees fit, then use that power to interpret a law in such a manner that in turn grants him increased power." - CARTOON | If Only...
Mr. Fish | Harper's
http://www.harpers.org/art/cartoons/mrfish/AlGore_350.jpg - The Art of War: Deleuze, Guattari, Debord and the Israeli Defense Force
When the military talks theory to itself, it seems to be about changing its organizational structure and hierarchies. When it invokes theory in communications with the public—in lectures, broadcasts and publications—it seems to be about projecting an image of a civilized and sophisticated military. And when the military 'talks' (as every military does) to the enemy, theory could be understood as a particularly intimidating weapon of 'shock and awe', the message being: 'You will never even understand that which kills you.'Eyal Weizman | Interactivist Info Exchange
http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid=06/08/01/2112203&mode=nested&tid=1 - Spain OKs Reparations to Civil War Victims
The government Friday approved a divisive bill allowing reparations for victims of the Spanish civil war and the ensuing dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, some of the darkest chapters of Spain's modern history. All victims of the civil war launched by Franco's revolt against the republican government and his dictatorship—including exiles, former prisoners and relatives of those executed—would have a year to request reparations. A total of $25 million would be made available for payments.Mar Roman | AP/Anarchist News
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/594 - TIME WASTER | McVideoGame
Making money in a corporation like McDonald's is not simple at all! Behind every sandwich there is a complex process you must learn to manage: from the creation of pastures to the slaughter, from the restaurant management to the branding. You'll discover all the dirty secrets that made us one of the biggest company of the world.Molleindustria
http://www.mcvideogame.com/index-eng.html - Stabbed in the Back!
Every state must have its enemies. Great powers must have especially monstrous foes. Above all, these foes must arise from within, for national pride does not admit that a great nation can be defeated by any outside force. That is why, though its origins are elsewhere, the stab in the back has become the sustaining myth of modern American nationalism. Since the end of World War II it has been the device by which the American right wing has both revitalized itself and repeatedly avoided responsibility for its own worst blunders.Kevin Baker | Harper's
http://www.harpers.org/StabbedInTheBack.html - Congo's Abandoned Miners
An angry crowd of men and children surrounds each new delegation as it arrives at the Ruashi mine in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The miners are thin and their faces white with dust, but their voices are strong as they sing: "This land belonged to our ancestors, its copper belongs to us". Mwambe Kataki, Remy Ilunga and Pierre Kalume used to work for the powerful Gecamines mining company; now they dig for themselves and speak for all the miners when they insist that they will not be moved. They want to keep out the big companies which, after years of war, are returning to Katanga (Shaba) encouraged by the privatisation programme of Joseph Kabila's government.Colette Braeckman | Le Monde
http://mondediplo.com/2006/07/06congo - AUDIO | Border for Sale
Five major military contractors are competing to design a system to tackle up to two million undocumented immigrants a year in the United States. Boeing, Ericsson, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are working on proposals that focus on high technology rather than high fences, but ignoring some of the fundamental problems of immigration.Joseph Richey | CorpWatch
http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/joe_interview_good.mp3 - Making It New
The war of 1914 divided the sympathies not only of intellectuals of various European countries, but of their avant-garde movements as well. "We will glorify war—the only true hygiene of the world—militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of anarchist, the beautiful Ideas which kill, and the scorn of woman," the Futurist Marinetti wrote. Quite the reverse, the poets and artists who were to call themselves Dadaists were pacifists and internationalists. Most of them were draft-dodgers on the run from military authorities in their respective countries. Their revulsion at the butchery of the Great War, in which about ten million men died, over twenty million were wounded, and several hundred thousand lost limbs and sight, had a lot to do with what Dada was to become.Charles Simic | New York Review of Books
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19191 - You Can Keep the Faith
Bobble-head Jesus? A crucifix in your Cracker Jacks? This is the valley of the shadow of greed Major League Baseball hath begun to venture into after the July 27 debut of "Faith Days with the Braves" at Turner Field in Atlanta. Faith Days is a spectacle, as the New York Times wrote, where "churches will get discounted tickets to family-friendly evenings of music and sports with a Christian theme. And in return, they mobilize their vast infrastructure of e-mail and phone lists, youth programs and chaperones, and of course their bus fleets, to help fill the stands." But Faith Days is about more than family-friendly Christian entertainment with a twist of commerce. Beneath the veneer, it represents the ugliest edge of right-wing evangelism and its advancing influence.Dave Zirin | The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060814/zirin - INTERVIEW | Redefining Our Relationships
An interview with Wendy O'Matik, author of Redefining Our Relationships; Guidelines for Responsible Open Relationships.Full Circle | KPFA
http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=15355
Posted by erin at August 4, 2006 04:34 PM