EL ORÅCULO DEL SAN GENNARO
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SUMMON ST. JANUARIUS
Mustfinish at gmail dot lol
“ [T]otalitarian states’ propaganda is that you better accept it, or else… Democratic societies use a different method: they don’t articulate the party line. That’s a mistake. What they do is presuppose it, then encourage vigorous debate within the framework of the party line. This serves two purposes. For one thing it gives the impression of a free and open society because, after all, we have lively debate. It also instills a propaganda line that becomes something you presuppose, like the air you breathe.
“We Own The World” by Noam Chomsky, 1/1/008
LONE WOLF BACK IN THE LONE STAR
This weekend, the LBJ of IDM (that’d be CEX) returns to Texas. I will be doing #2s on the toilet while discussing important matters of state with you through the wide-open bathroom door.
- FRIDAY 8-15: Houston @ The Mink
- SATURDAY 8-16: Austin @ Emo’s
- SUNDAY 8-17: Denton @ Rubber Gloves
“ I have a kind of bipolar attitude towards how the audience respond to what I do. I’m far more comfortable with an audience reacting negatively to what I do, than reacting positively. Like if I’m DJing and people start to nod their heads or move about a bit, I really find it quite unpleasant. And with music making, there is a definite emphasis on trying to disappoint the audience… With my colleague Mat Steel, we are constantly under pressure to produce events that are more immediately enjoyable. But I find an alienating experience far more rewarding… I find the whole idea of play or embodied understanding in the context of interactive art completely distasteful.
Mark Fell of snd, in this interview
“You have green hair,” he told me. “Did you know that?”
“No,” I said.
“Why not?”
“I look in the mirror. I see my hair is black.”
“That’s uh, interesting. I guess you understand that you have green hair about as well as you understand that you’re a terrible reporter.”
“What do you mean? What did I do?”
“That’s a very interesting reaction,” Fortuny said. “Why didn’t you get so defensive when I said you had green hair?” If I were certain that I wasn’t a terrible reporter, he explained, I would have laughed the suggestion off just as easily. The willingness of trolling “victims” to be hurt by words, he argued, makes them complicit, and trolling will end as soon as we all get over it.
From the NYTimes article about trolls (via blissblog) which is maybe more interesting than you would suspect
"All US adults could be overweight in 40 years"
This article provides plenty of lulz sans-analysis, but the sneaky subtext is kinda staggering imho: the government (and the media, via Reuters) entertaining the idea that 100% of the population is a part of the shit-munching mainstream, that consumer skepticism about fake food will have a statistically insignificant effect on our path to omnifatness. I understand that these scientists probably don’t really believe in the “100%” number & are simply trying to draw attention to the alarming increase in lardstyle, but it seems significant to even accidentally imply that fairly soon there won’t be any Americans at all who think about what they put in their mouth.
I really find it interesting that this news story appears at a time when virtually every brainiac I know is hyped up on either Michael Pollan or Sandor Katz or both…
COMiCS TALK
So BLACK SUMMER is over… wtf. The only reason anyone got amped about this title— the ballsy opening scene of a blood-spattered Oval Office—- gets basically recanted, all the boys die and all the girls get sentenced to a life of charity/custodial work way off in the background.
If DOKTOR SLEEPLESS gets to preaching any of this tame, fence-sitting booshit, I’m sending Warren a couple of my turds in the mail.
Might have done so already if I didn’t have good old GRAVEL to boost my spirits. Love the new look, & any random line from that grizzled shepherd had more meat on it than anything said in the last BLACK SUMMER.
Not sure what to make of CROSSED… I was hoping for some kind of Catholic maniac anti-hero based on the pictures of the dude who seemed to have a cross branded into his face, but turns out it’s a zombie title. Hopefully Ennis will get to a little of that imaginative theological anarchy he does in the full-sized issue 1…
And, in case you think I’m some kind of viral Avatar employee, my strongest recommendation for you this evening (especially if comics aren’t [yet] your bag) is to get the two ARMY@LOVE trade paperbacks. If you like dark, funny, and razor-sharp commentary on the absurd excess of modern America, and you like it delivered to you in the form of addictive & deftly-scripted soap opera, ARMY@LOVE is your best friend this side of The WIre.
Sandcats/Car Clutch split 7” now available from Wildfirewildfire, the first in a exquisitely-packaged split series… might be the thickest seven I own, too!