Tuesday 25 August 2009
UK set to ban 'legal-highs'
So they go back to taking drugs that you have deemed illegal and just tell me again, how many people die of alcohol related causes each year?
Monday 24 August 2009
Dean Turner RIP
@ 'SMH'
Could Afghanistan become Obama's Vietnam
To be sure, such historical analogies are overly simplistic and fatally flawed, if only because each presidency is distinct in its own way. But the L.B.J. model — a president who aspired to reshape America at home while fighting a losing war abroad — is one that haunts Mr. Obama’s White House as it seeks to salvage Afghanistan while enacting an expansive domestic program.
@ 'NY Times'
We have said it before, the British couldn't win in Afghanistan. The Russians couldn't win in in Afghanistan and neither will the US.
Sunday 23 August 2009
Us shifts policy, giving names of detainees to the Red Cross
@ 'NY Times'
Saturday 22 August 2009
Mexico decriminalizes small-scale drug possession
@ 'Raw Story'
A sensible move, even if the amounts are ridiculously small.
The only problem is now they will have to put up with even more idiotic young Americans heading down there at the holidays.
Friday 21 August 2009
Black Cab continue to make concept albums cool again!
Why this band aren't bigger is beyond me.
Oh, and do read Anna Funder's 'Stasiland', the book that the album is 'loosely' based on.
Video appears in paper magazines
The first-ever video advertisement will be published in a traditional paper magazine in September.
The video-in-print ads will appear in select copies of the US show business title Entertainment Weekly.
@ 'BBC'
The land of the free
"You're not allowed to smoke
or tell a dirty joke
And whistling is prohibited
If chewing gum is used the chewer is pursued
And in the hoosegow hidden
Whatever form of pleasure are exhibited
Report to me and they will be prohibited
It's as I say, so shall it be
This is the land of the free."
(Thanx Kathie)
Gil Scott-Heron - Re-Ron 12"
Format: Vinyl, 12", Single
Country:US
Released:1984
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop
Style: Electro
Mixed By - Robert Stevens
Produced by Bill Laswell for Material OAO
Recorded by Rob Stevens at Evergreen Studio
Assistant: Han Rowe
Mixed by Rob Stevens at RPM Studio
Assistant: Mike Krowiak
Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk
Bernard Fowler: backing vocals
Bernie Worrell: synthesizers, clavinet
Anton Fier: DMX
Bill Laswell: DMX, radio
Aïyb Dieng: cowbell
Chant: Bernard Fowler, D. ST, Shevin Conway, Nicky Skopelitis
(Discogs)
Thursday 20 August 2009
Black Cab ('Call Signs' launch) The Esplanade 29th August
Ron Peno will perform with Black Cab at the launch of their third album Call Signs at the Esplanade Hotel in Melbourne on August 29. The legendary Died Pretty frontman, who lends his considerable pipes to album track ‘Ghost Anthems’, recently appeared with Black Cab (sans hat) at the Northcote Social Club in July.
Out now through Sydney label Laughing Outlaw, Call Signs is loosely inspired by the state-sponsored climate of fear that pervaded East Germany in the 1970s. “We’d read a book by Anna Funder called Stasiland that really captured the mentality of living at a time when around 50 percent of East Germans contributed intelligence information, often about their neighbours,” explained singer Andrew Coates in a recent interview with M+N. “There was so much distrust and paranoia and it really interested us.” The album was produced by Woody Annison who worked on Black Cab's debut Altamont Diary.
Supports from The Sand Pebbles and Sun Blindness.
BLACK CAB LAUNCH ‘CALL SIGNS’
Saturday, August 29
The Gershwin Room, Esplanade Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Mona says: "See you all there."
Is LSD good for you?
HERE
The science of sport
A very interesting and informative blog post here.
I feel very sorry for Caster Semenya and Athletics South Africa should have had this sorted out a long time ago, so this situation need never have arisen for an 18 year old girl.
Gil Scott-Heron - 'B' Movie
Well, the first thing I want to say is…”Mandate my ass!”
Because it seems as though we’ve been convinced that 26% of the registered voters, not even 26% of the American people, but 26% of the registered voters form a mandate – or a landslide. 21% voted for Skippy and 3, 4% voted for somebody else who might have been running.
But, oh yeah, I remember. In this year that we have now declared the year from Shogun to Reagan, I remember what I said about Reagan…meant it. Acted like an actor…Hollyweird. Acted like a liberal. Acted like General Franco when he acted like governor of California, then he acted like a republican. Then he acted like somebody was going to vote for him for president. And now we act like 26% of the registered voters is actually a mandate. We’re all actors in this I suppose.
What has happened is that in the last 20 years, America has changed from a producer to a consumer. And all consumers know that when the producer names the tune…the consumer has got to dance. That’s the way it is. We used to be a producer – very inflexible at that, and now we are consumers and, finding it difficult to understand. Natural resources and minerals will change your world. The Arabs used to be in the 3rd World. They have bought the 2nd World and put a firm down payment on the 1st one. Controlling your resources we’ll control your world. This country has been surprised by the way the world looks now. They don’t know if they want to be Matt Dillon or Bob Dylan. They don’t know if they want to be diplomats or continue the same policy – of nuclear nightmare diplomacy. John Foster Dulles ain’t nothing but the name of an airport now.
The idea concerns the fact that this country wants nostalgia. They want to go back as far as they can – even if it’s only as far as last week. Not to face now or tomorrow, but to face backwards. And yesterday was the day of our cinema heroes riding to the rescue at the last possible moment. The day of the man in the white hat or the man on the white horse – or the man who always came to save America at the last moment – someone always came to save America at the last moment – especially in “B” movies. And when America found itself having a hard time facing the future, they looked for people like John Wayne. But since John Wayne was no longer available, they settled for Ronald Reagan – and it has placed us in a situation that we can only look at – like a “B” movie.
Come with us back to those inglorious days when heroes weren’t zeros. Before fair was square. When the cavalry came straight away and all-American men were like Hemingway to the days of the wondrous “B” movie. The producer underwritten by all the millionaires necessary will be Casper “The Defensive” Weinberger – no more animated choice is available. The director will be Attila the Haig, running around frantically declaring himself in control and in charge. The ultimate realization of the inmates taking over at the asylum. The screenplay will be adapted from the book called “Voodoo Economics” by George “Papa Doc” Bush. Music by the “Village People” the very military “Macho Man.”
“Company!!!”
“Macho, macho man!”
“ Two-three-four.”
“ He likes to be – well, you get the point.”
“Huuut! Your left! Your left! Your left…right, left, right, left, right…!”
A theme song for saber-rallying and selling wars door-to-door. Remember, we’re looking for the closest thing we can find to John Wayne. Clichés abound like kangaroos – courtesy of some spaced out Marlin Perkins, a Reagan contemporary. Clichés like, “itchy trigger finger” and “tall in the saddle” and “riding off or on into the sunset.” Clichés like, “Get off of my planet by sundown!” More so than clichés like, “he died with his boots on.” Marine tough the man is. Bogart tough the man is. Cagney tough the man is. Hollywood tough the man is. Cheap stick tough. And Bonzo’s substantial. The ultimate in synthetic selling: A Madison Avenue masterpiece – a miracle – a cotton-candy politician…Presto! Macho!
Put your orders in America. And quick as Kodak your leaders duplicate with the accent being on the nukes – cause all of a sudden we have fallen prey to selective amnesia – remembering what we want to remember and forgetting what we choose to forget. All of a sudden, the man who called for a blood bath on our college campuses is supposed to be Dudley “God-damn” Do-Right?
“You go give them liberals hell Ronnie.” That was the mandate. To the new “Captain Bly” on the new ship of fools. It was doubtlessly based on his chameleon performance of the past – as a liberal democrat – as the head of the Studio Actor’s Guild. When other celluloid saviors were cringing in terror from McCarthy – Ron stood tall. It goes all the way back from Hollywood to hillbilly. From liberal to libelous, from “Bonzo” to Birch idol…born again. Civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights…it’s all wrong. Call in the cavalry to disrupt this perception of freedom gone wild. God damn it…first one wants freedom, then the whole damn world wants freedom.
Nostalgia, that’s what we want…the good ol’ days…when we gave’em hell. When the buck stopped somewhere and you could still buy something with it. To a time when movies were in black and white – and so was everything else. Even if we go back to the campaign trail, before six-gun Ron shot off his face and developed hoof-in-mouth. Before the free press went down before full-court press. And were reluctant to review the menu because they knew the only thing available was – Crow.
Lon Chaney, our man of a thousand faces – no match for Ron. Doug Henning does the make-up – special effects from Grecian Formula 16 and Crazy Glue. Transportation furnished by the David Rockefeller of Remote Control Company. Their slogan is, “Why wait for 1984? You can panic now…and avoid the rush.”
So much for the good news…
As Wall Street goes, so goes the nation. And here’s a look at the closing numbers – racism’s up, human rights are down, peace is shaky, war items are hot – the House claims all ties. Jobs are down, money is scarce – and common sense is at an all-time low on heavy trading. Movies were looking better than ever and now no one is looking because, we’re starring in a “B” movie. And we would rather had John Wayne…we would rather had John Wayne.
“You don’t need to be in no hurry.
You ain’t never really got to worry.
And you don’t need to check on how you feel.
Just keep repeating that none of this is real.
And if you’re sensing, that something’s wrong,
Well just remember, that it won’t be too long
Before the director cuts the scene…yea.”
“This ain’t really your life,
Ain’t really your life,
Ain’t really ain’t nothing but a movie.”
“This ain’t really your life,
Ain’t really your life,
Ain’t really ain’t nothing but a movie...”
'B' Movie (Full length version)
Musicka Mystica Maxima
21 and 22 September 2009
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.Two nights of musick made by practicing magicians or practicing musicians whose work celebrates the magical lifestyle, as well a public performance of ceremonial magic ritual.
Blackwater were hired as C.I.A. planned to kill Jihadists
Executives from Blackwater, which has generated controversy because of its aggressive tactics in Iraq, helped the spy agency with planning, training and surveillance. The C.I.A. spent several millions dollars on the program,
which did not capture or kill any terrorist suspects.
@ 'NY Times'
Dj Spooky + Sussan Deyhim – Azadi (The New Complexity)
This collaboration is a single on Dj Spooky’s next album “The Secret Song” that will be out in October, 2009.
Azadi (The New Complexity) is a song based on a very old poem by Rumi, one of the poet laureates of Iran’s ancient tradition of poetry. The word Azadi itself simply means Freedom.
Here is the original poem translated into English
SHOW ME YOUR FACE
i crave
flowers and gardens
open your lips
i crave
the taste of honey
come out from
behind the clouds
i desire a sunny face
your voice echoed
saying “leave me alone”
i wish to hear your voice
again saying “leave me alone”
i swear this city without you
is a prison
i am dying to get out
to roam in deserts and mountains
i am tired of
flimsy friends and
submissive companions
i am blue hearing
nagging voices and meek cries
i desire loud music
drunken parties and
wild dances
one hand holding
a cup of wine
one hand caressing your hair
then dancing in orbital circle
that is what i yearn for
i can sing better than any nightingale
but because of
this city’s freaks
i seal my lips
while my heart weeps
yesterday the wisest man
holding a lit lantern
in daylight
was searching around town saying
i am tired of
all these beast and brutes
i seek
a true human
we have all looked
for one but
no one could be found
they said
yes he replied
but my search is
for the one
who cannot be found
Wednesday 19 August 2009
WTF? Ignorance is bliss? HMMMMM!
In another interview here she says:"I don't care what they do with this health care bill. It will not pay for abortions. If somebody wants to go out and have wild sex, for the fun of it, then they can pay for the consequences. I'm not going to."
Dearie, dearie me.
Thanx as always Fifi
Barney Frank confronts woman at Town Hall comparing Obama to Hitler
Frank responds: "On what planet do you spend most of your time?" He then calls her approach "vile, contemptible nonsense." He closes by saying: "Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table."
@ 'HuffPo'
Limbaugh's response.