==pla|\|ing lakes==

Sunday, April 30, 2006

R.I.P. Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Also here.

Books:
The Mute's Soliloquy : A Memoir
This Earth of Mankind (Book One of The Buru Quartet)

Recent article on his essay "The Great Post Road" in the International Herald Tribune.

Although long lost in the mists of history, Pramoedya conservatively estimates that the construction of Daendel's "Great Post Road" cost the lives of more than 12,000 workers who toiled as forced laborers in indescribable conditions to build a seven-meter-wide road so that the wheels of commerce fueling Dutch wealth could grind more efficiently.

Pramoedya follows the Great Post Road as it winds itself across the island of Java, using every town and district along the way as a marker of colonial excess and corruption.

For example, to drive through the mountains of West Java, a corvee labor force of 1,100 workers was conscripted; 500 died along the way.

There's more than historical curiosity at play here. For Pramoedya has consistently argued in his writing that the ordinary people of Indonesia, the "pribumi," were never fully liberated.

After independence, the promise of liberty was snatched away by selfish and corrupt native rulers who borrowed techniques of exploitation from the Dutch. For Pramoedya, the unreconstructed Marxist, Indonesia's history is a long continuous tragedy dominated by injustice and corruption.

Hopefully a film illustrating this essay will achieve at least DVD distribution sometime soon.

A comprehensive-looking research page.

4:00 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Speaking of unorthodox economics that might actually make a difference in people's lives:

Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba form economic/political alliance

Cuba promised to send Bolivia doctors to provide medical care to poor people, and teachers to conduct literacy campaigns. Venezuela will send gasoline to the Andean nation and set up a $100 million (€80 million) fund for development programs and a $30 million (€24 million) fund for other social projects.

Cuba and Venezuela also agreed to buy all of Bolivia's soybeans, recently left without markets after Colombia signed a free trade pact with the United States.

3:16 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness"

R.I.P. John Kenneth Galbraith

Mr. Galbraith was admired, envied and sometimes scorned for his eloquence and wit and his ability to make complicated, dry issues understandable to any educated reader. He enjoyed his international reputation as a slayer of sacred cows and a maverick among economists whose pronouncements became known as "classic Galbraithian heresies."

But other economists, even many of his fellow liberals, did not generally share his views on production and consumption, and he was not regarded by his peers as among the top-ranked theorists and scholars. Such criticism did not sit well with Mr. Galbraith, a man no one ever called modest, and he would respond that his critics had rightly recognized that his ideas were "deeply subversive of the established orthodoxy."

"As a matter of vested interest, if not of truth," he added, "they were compelled to resist." He once said, "Economists are economical, among other things, of ideas; most make those of their graduate days last a lifetime."

Nearly 40 years after writing "The Affluent Society," Mr. Galbraith updated it in 1996 as "The Good Society." In it, he said that his earlier concerns had only worsened: that if anything, America had become even more a "democracy of the fortunate," with the poor increasingly excluded from a fair place at the table.

Mr. Galbraith gave broad thought to how America changed from a nation of small farms and workshops to one of big factories and superstores, and judgments of this legacy are as broad as his ambition. Beginning with "American Capitalism" in 1952, he laid out a detailed critique of an increasingly oligopolistic economy. Combined with works in the 1950's by writers like David Reisman, Vance Packard and William H. Whyte, the book changed people's views of the postwar world.

Mr. Galbraith argued that technology mandated long-term contracts to diminish high-stakes uncertainty. He said companies used advertising to induce consumers to buy things they had never dreamed they needed.

Wiki entry.

3:01 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Saturday, April 29, 2006

I'm not an iTunes person since I still have a caveman WIN98 PC, but most of you probably are, and know you can now download episodes of The Office, The Daily Show or The Colbert Report for $1.99 a show or $9.99 a month, which is the first time the service has done something that might work for me in terms of content anyway

I wish I had the first couple of seasons of TDS recorded. I always figured the best of it would show up on disc or that I'd d'l it somehow. Don't watch it anymore, but back in '03 it was pretty much the only ray of hope on US TV.

I also don't have a DVD drive and only a 20GB HD (!), so I don't know all what's BitTorrent-available. Even so, if it weren't for my girlfriend, I'd have dropped cable a while ago if I could get Family Guy online -- even if I couldn't really. The only channel I watch with any regularity is TCM, and I don't watch it nearly as much as I used to.

I would like a widescreen TV and 5.1 sound for the movies I watch, but that's all I need a TV for now. And when netflix starts their downloading service in the next year or so, that'll probably be the way I go over the hard copy rentals unless I can't access extras I want to see -- providing there's no problem with transmission interruptions etc..

3:28 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Nepal's weirdass political scene

In the end history may show that it was a very unremarkable man that led Nepal towards a republic.

Basu Ghimere was, according to his wife, a "simple" carpenter who loved his four-year-old son.

He was beaten and shot dead on the streets of Kathmandu in the volatile Kalanki neighbourhood when police opened fire on what had started out as a peaceful demonstration.

Mr Ghimere was not the only one to die and it was not his actual death that marked a potential tipping point.

It was the desecration of his funeral rights in what is the only country in the world where Hinduism is the official religion that enraged the crowds in Kalanki to commit the worst acts of rioting of the whole protest movement and ultimately force the monarch to retreat.

The king of Nepal is supposed to be an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu. It is for that reason the kings have been so revered down the ages by their subjects.

But this king instructed or allowed his security forces to carry out one of the grossest insults to the Hindu faith one can imagine.

His police in full riot gear snatched the lifeless body of Mr Ghimere and cremated it without the consent or knowledge of his wife and family.

I was in Kalanki when this news came through and I saw the effect it had on what had until that point been a peaceful crowd. It was then that King Gyanendra lost his godliness in the eyes of those present.

It was at that moment, perhaps, that King Gyanendra's rule undermined the monarchy perhaps beyond the point of redemption.

Rubbing his hands over all of this must be the Maoist leader Prachanda. . .

There's something positively heraldic about how the lack of an opposition leader -- any leader -- has stalled reform in Nepal.

And how a supposedly "Maoist" leader could take control only by allowing a mad king some place in the government.

It's got the mythic charge & simplicity of a Greek tragedy or a Beckett play.

8:41 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Friday, April 28, 2006

Mexico set to legalize personal amounts of pot, cocaine, heroin

6:42 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

10 overlooked noirs by Jonathan Rosenbaum

I don't think some of these are so overlooked, but I'm something of a noir fan.

All of them are well worth a look though (a few like Fuller's Park Row & Abraham Polonsky's Force of Evil I never got all the way through myself, but that's me) -- and he actually mentions many more than 10.

Among those he mentions, I can certainly recommend In a Lonely Place, Scarlet Street, The Lady from Shanghai, Angel Face, Le corbeau, Sweet Smell of Success, The Killing, Point Blank & Pickup on South Street without reservation to anyone.

9:34 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Behind Ahmadinejad's posturing (reminiscent of another swaggering national leader), Iran's political climate is less unified and strident than many realize

Iranian economists warn that the country's economy is heavily dependent on selling crude oil and importing vital goods, and sanctions could be deeply damaging.

Already, the threat of sanctions has affected economic activity and many investors are holding back to see what happens in the UN Security Council.

Iran is the world's fourth largest oil producer, but it is already suffering from spiralling inflation, chronic unemployment, lack of investment and serious social problems such as drug addiction, prostitution and homelessness.

[...]

No-one knows how the Iranian people would react to economic measures against their country.

[...]

The imposition of sanctions could make Mr Ahmadinejad's opponents even more vocal and precipitate a power struggle in Iran.

The ruling conservatives are already divided on how to run the country, especially on economic issues.

9:12 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Developers using fractals & Arabic script to design offshore subdivisions in Dubai [Ballardian]

5:30 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Yes, it DOES happen

Man dies when large hole opens in home

11:00 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

"The army has specific requirements for its officials with regard to personality and mental health. The test will help teenagers make the right decision"

Drug use, non-tribal tattoos and snoring no-nos in the new Chinese army

Having just finished Jonathan Miller's delightfully dark BBC film of Alice in Wonderland, this item seemed quite logical. The remarkable cast includes Michael Redgrave, Peter Sellers, John Gielgud, Leo McKern and Peter Cook, but it's only funny in the most mordant, Kafkaesque sense. Fascinating.

9:21 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

John Waters must be proud -- or else his eyes are watering from laughter. . .

Japanese cinemas bring back Smellovision for -- of all films -- Terence Malick's epic The New World which reverse shot has recently proclaimed the best movie of 2005 [cinemarati]

Maybe this is the film that will turn me onto Malick, scented or otherwise.

6:59 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Dropped a dead link to a page on Burroughs and added a few more; these seem more than usually evanescent (a number of links on the link pages I list are dead too) so I'm just throwing what's current out there -- plus this piece from The Beat Page, which is not listed at the left

Quick Fix

To put the country simple, earth has a lot of things other folks might
want...like the whole planet. And maybe these folks would like a few changes made. Like more carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, and room for their way of life. We've seen this happen before, right in these United States.

Your way of life destroyed the Indian's way of life.

The Indian reservation is extinction.

But I offer this distinction. I'm with the invaders, no use trying to hide
that. And at the same, I disagree with some of the things they are doing.

Oh were not united anymore than you are
Oh we're not united anymore than you are.

Conservative factions is set on nuclear war as a solution to the Indian
personality.

Others disagree
Others disagree

I don't claim that my methods are one hundred percent humane, but I do say, if we can't think of anything quieter, and tidier than that...

We are all not that much better than new earth aches.

There is no place else to go
The theater is closed

There is no place else to go
The theater is closed

Cut word lines
Cut music lines
Smash the control images
Smash the control machine.

Also here's an interview with Ballard on Burroughs, and here are ubuweb's sound files, streams & mp3s of the man himself speaking to you: the recordings (this link is at left, #9).

9:45 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Saturday, April 22, 2006

"Software tracks mood swings of blogosphere" [via disinfo]

MoodViews website.

10:34 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Some contemporary Tibetan painting

10:16 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Thursday, April 20, 2006

A pretty damn good summing up of the fascination/repulsion complex some of us (Altman fans mostly I guess) have for the justifiably obscure 80s train wreck of a "teen comedy," O.C. & Stiggs, courtesy of Nick Pinkerton & reverse shot online

When trying to diagnose what went wrong with O.C. and Stiggs -— and literally nobody outside of Janet Maslin seems to deny that something did -— you don’t have to look past the film’s title; Oliver Cromwell Ogilvie and Mark Stiggs never crackle as a twosome, consistently muffing their back-and-forth, more shrill than snotty, and usually upstaged by their matching get-ups (loud tourist duds, sombreros, tuxes-and-tails, American flag button-downs, sheik headdresses). It seems like someone behind the scenes, presumably Altman, wants his audience to dislike these appallingly self-satisfied twerps. . .

Though the enduring -- and also somewhat ambivalent - appeal of Sunny Ade's music had something to do with it for me.

7:54 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Have to say I have less than high expectations for the new Dick film adaptation in the works, Next, based on the short story The Golden Man and starring Nick Cage, Julianne Moore & Jessica Biel, directed by xXx: State of the Union's Lee Tamahori

Urp.

7:48 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Nice site featuring the artists who contributed to A Scanner Darkly, like Nathan Jensen, whose homepage includes a tutorial on building an artist's website for beginners

Quicktime trailer for A Scanner Darkly.

UPDATE: Should mention the artists' link is via the official Philip K Dick site, well worth your time if he piques your interest, or if you're an old fan.

8:16 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Easter fertility martyr story

Little girl: Do you have HBO DIRECTV?
Little boy: I don't know.
Little girl: If you have HBO, you do. My favorite movie is on there: Titanic. It's about a girl who loves a boy and they're all frozen at the end.
Little boy: Who gets slapped? [Overheard in New York]

No neither did the holiday.

Who left this cake out in the rain?

10:08 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Saturday, April 15, 2006

R.I.P. Muriel Spark

Don't know much about her except that she wrote The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, but I'm intrigued by my search on the web.

More here &, well, I couldn't find much else in complete form, check out amazon reviews.

7:42 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Dig at site of ancient pyramids in Bosnia to yield results in next weeks

7:30 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Increasing ranks of Sufis in Iran a thorn in the side of hegemony of fundamentalist Muslims

The definition of the sufi: the sufi is one who is a lover of Truth, who by means of love and devotion moves towards the Truth, towards the Perfection which all are truly seeking. As necessitated by Love's jealousy, the sufi is taken away from all except the Truth-Reality. For this reason, in Sufism it is said that, "Those who are inclined towards the hereafter can not pay attention to the material world. Likewise, those who are involved in the material world can not concern themselves with the hereafter. But the sufi (because of Love' s jealousy) is unable to attend to either of these worlds."

Concerning this same idea, Shebli has said, "One who dies for the love of the material world, dies a hypocrite. One who dies for the love of the hereafter, dies an ascetic. But one who dies for the love of the Truth, dies a sufi." [link]

More on Sufism here and here and here.

7:04 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Friday, April 14, 2006

"All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

Dublin's month long celebration of Beckett's 100th birthday underscores his continuing -- and essential -- relevance

Samuel Beckett is sui generis...He has given a voice to the decrepit and maimed and inarticulate, men and women at the end of their tether, past pose or pretense, past claim of meaningful existence. He seems to say that only there and then, as metabolism lowers, amid God’s paucity, not his plenty, can the core of the human condition be approached...Yet his musical cadences, his wrought and precise sentences, cannot help but stave off the void...Like salamanders we survive in his fire. -- Richard Ellman [link to Beckett stuff]

So exquisitely reflective of our time one barely needs -- or can stand -- to read him.

Yet we must.

9:54 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

"Warhols of Tomorrow Are Dealers' Quarry Today" [NYT entry info at left]

For most Wall Street collectors, the investment is minimal; prices for student art seem cheap when compared with the seven figures some contemporary art is beginning to fetch. At a recent student show at Mr. Tilton's gallery, prices ranged from $2,000 to $16,000, depending on the work's size and complexity. If one of these students suddenly becomes a star, it could mean a large return on the buyer's investment.

9:33 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Lord knows I'm glad ANY Edward Yang film is getting the push here in N America -- but Yi Yi has been out on disc for a while and on tape before that -- where are A Brighter Summer Day or Mah Jong?

I suppose Yi Yi is his best (it's the only one I've seen, and it's definitely worth seeing, though I like the work of Hou & Tsai more), but jeez.

10:49 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Sounds to me like Elem Klimov's Come and See might be a little too much like experiencing war first-hand -- which may be why I'm posting about it: Americans in particular seem to need a reminder right now

netflix has it, and as the article linked above mentions, there's a 2-disc re-mastered version coming out in the UK on the 24th (PAL Region 2).

10:30 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Saturday, April 08, 2006

oil-based audio

Also added new section in left column for those of you looking for hard copies of music

11:42 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

from the Criterion newsletter

3 film sites/magazines I'm adding to my list: reverse shot, stop smiling, & DVD Times

Already added Cinema Scope last week.

11:12 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Friday, April 07, 2006

desire arjuna

Somehow we drifted off too far
Communicate like distant stars
Splintered voices down the 'phone
The sunlit dust, the smell of roses drifts, oh no
Someone waits behind the door
Hiroshima mon amour

Riding inter-city trains
Dressed in European grey
Riding out to echo beach
A million memories in the trees and sands, oh no
How can I ever let them go?
Hiroshima mon amour

Meet beneath the autumn lake
Where only echoes penetrate
Walk through polaroids of the past
Features fused like shattered glass, the sun's so low
Turns our silhouettes to gold
Hiroshima mon amour

Ultravox, RockWrock HaHaHa (thanks Nancy) [link]

11:03 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

I'm no fan of musicals (as you might deduce from my viewing lists), but this list of Jonathan Rosenbaum's favorite offbeat musicals has already added 1 title to my queue (Hallelujah I'm a Bum!)

8:14 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Movies I haven't finished lately, for various reasons

Lacombe, Lucien
Zigeunerweisen
Tropical Malady
Werckmeister Harmonies
The Best of Youth
Artaud, The True Story of Artaud the Momo
Battle Royale
Somewhere in the Night
Unfinished Piece for the Player Piano
Punishment Park
Leolo

9:48 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

The p|\|l Art Gallery

Some photos of paintings by a friend of mine, who goes by Maverick Gonzalez

You can email him at mavericksatire2000 at hotmail.

He's currently without representaion, as they say in the ArtWorld (I imagine...).

I like these a lot, and know that he'll find an audience soon.

9:16 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Who'd a thunk it? file

Darpa's Walrus program -- to build an aircraft-carrier-sized super blimp for, well, movin' shit around, has been kaiboshed

A sad day for the Jules Verne fan in us all...

7:12 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Just got a note from amazon about a new book called One Reason to Live: Conversations About Music With Julius Nil from errant bodies, a purveyor of "sound, auditory issues, spatial arts and design, and cultures of experimental audio and art"

I recently bought a used copy of David Toop's Haunted Weather: Music, Silence, and Memory through their marketplace, so you get the sense of whether this would appeal to you.

2:08 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

BBC reporter's diary on tour of Chernobyl 20 years later

We're in the zone, heading for the plant. In our pockets we have radiation metres (dosimeters), a bit smaller than a packet of cigarettes.

The zone is an area the size of Greater London where ordinary life came to an end 20 years ago. Inhabitants were evacuated, checkpoints and fences went up, and nature took over. It's full name, literally translated from Ukrainian, is Zone of Alienation.

When I last did this drive in 1993, the overgrowth was beginning to engulf an abandoned village on the main road. It was probably waist high. Since then birch trees have shot up everywhere. The village is already becoming woodland again. In a month, when the trees are in leaf, the houses will not be visible at all.

12:58 AM - [Link] - Comments ()