Sunday, 6 February 2011

Missing Google executive Wael Ghonim named symbolic spokesman of opposition group

♪♫ Plan B - What You Gonna Do (3JJJ Version)

♪♫ Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Saturday, 5 February 2011

Two Cups of Tea

Berlusconi Lawyers Try to Block Release of Nude Photos

HA!

pourmecoffee pourmecoffee

Packing up little ACORN guys to make room for new Muslim Brotherhood figurines in my Fear Diorama.

Writer, philosopher, artist, and co-founder of the Beat Generation, William S. Burroughs — who died in 1997 at the age of 83 — continues to be a vital cultural force today. The author of books like Junky, Queer, and Naked Lunch, Burroughs forged the cornerstone of a modern American cultural movement with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other visionary writers and artists. His buttoned-up, three-piece exterior cloaked a dark genius that hungered for hustlers and heroin — way back in the 1940s. On February 5, William S. Burroughs would have been 97, but his spirit undoubtedly lives on, with more about him still coming out.

Yony Leyser’s documentary William Burroughs: A Man Within is due on DVD February 15, filled with Burroughs rarities and interviews with everyone from John Waters, Laurie Anderson, and Patti Smith to Gus Van Sant, Iggy Pop, and Thurston Moore. Slated to be published this summer, Ah Pook Is Here is a collaboration between William S. Burroughs and artist Malcolm McNeill. The “word/image novel” predicted the emergence of the ever-popular modern literary genre, the graphic novel. So if you have $260,000 laying around, you could do worse than invest in the William S. Burroughs Word Horde 2.0, considering the potential publishing rights. But for the rest of us, we’ll just celebrate by pulling out a big, sweet, flaming sheet-cake of love with words instead of candles, each representing one small piece of Burroughs’ life before he finally succumbed to his biggest obsession: death.
97 Things You Didn’t Know About William S. Burroughs

REpost: God's Army! What became of Luther & Johnny Htoo?

A frightening yet fascinating 17 minute film 'Twin Crusade' shot in 2000, can be watched

HERE

Where are they now?

Luther Htoo and his twin brother Johnny were the boy leaders of God's Army, a Karen militant group in Burma. Only nine years old at the time they founded the group, the boys would eventually surrender to Thai authorities in 2001 after the Burmese army had all but destroyed the operational strength of their outfit.

Much of the publicity surrounding the God's Army was a product of its young leadership. The group became famous after a picture (see right) of the two brothers was published in newspapers around the world. Luther is widely regarded as more vocal and gregarious then his twin, but it is possible that this information was simply extrapolated from this famous image.

According to sources within the tribe, in 1997 a local pastor (the Karen believe in a blend of Christianity and animism) brought the two boys to a military commander, saying they had been touched by God and they could bring salvation to the Karen who had been fighting against the Burmese government for nearly 50 years. The story continues that the two brothers then led a successful military operation against the Burmese army, despite overwhelming odds.

The story of the brother's prowess soon spread to the rest of the tribe, and men flocked to join the God's Army from other Karen militant outfits. Rumors spread that the boys had magical powers and were immune to bullets. At peak strength, the boys reportedly commanded 500 militants.

Despite this, the God's Army soon found itself the target of a renewed Burmese crackdown, and by 2001, the boys' supporters had been whittled down to about 20 fighters. Exhausted, the two brothers crossed the Thai-Burmese border and surrendered to Thai authorities in late January of that year. Johnny and Luther were 13 years old at the time.

The Thai government re-settled Johnny and Luther in a Karen refugee camp where they were re-united with their mother. Despite efforts to bring the Htoo's to the United States, the family continues to reside in this camp.

In July 2006, Johnny reportedly left the camp to return to Burma where he promptly surrendered to Burmese authorities. It is unknown why Johnny left the camp, and by all accounts, Luther remains in Thailand.

Some have speculated that Johnny and Luther were nothing more then figureheads for the God's Army. Thai military officials have commented that the boys were a front for older militants in an effort to raise morale and attract fighters. While this theory certainly seems plausible, and a great deal of information surrounding the Htoo brothers is clearly myth, Johnny and Luther are still widely considered the youngest military commanders in history.

(WikiAnswers)

Not a child Anymore: Johnny Htoo has come of age

Kirby Ferguson - Everything is a Remix Part 2

An exploration of the remix techniques involved in producing films. Part Two of a four-part series.

An additional supplement to this video can be seen here:
http://www.everythingisaremix.info/?p=55

To support this series please visit: http://www.everythingisaremix.info/?page_id=14

...and here's part1 if you missed it:

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Downloading the Uprising

WikiLeaks cables: US agrees to tell Russia Britain's nuclear secrets

Roosevelt Franklin Is His Name (Spaceboy - this one's for you!)

When Sesame Street first started back in 1970, it featured a lot of characters that have since disappeared from the show. One of those original characters was a hipster by the name of "Roosevelt Franklin". Roosevelt Franklin (the name was obviously a play on Franklin Roosevelt) attended Roosevelt Franklin Elementary School, where he taught concepts like family, pride, respect, geography and not drinking poison. Roosevelt was a cool kid who loved to scat, rhyme and sing the blues. Matt Robinson, who played Gordon during the first three seasons, created the character and performed Roosevelt's voice. Despite significant popularity, he was dropped from the cast following letters of complaint. The complaints ranged from that he was too black to that he was not black enough to his rowdy elementary school not setting a good example for children. However, before the public naysayers had their way, Roosevelt Franklin did gain a following and even issued an album entitled, "The Year of Roosevelt Franklin". It holds its place in history as the first Sesame Street album to focus on one character. The songs deal with many different subjects, from learning letters and numbers, to traffic safety, sharing, and getting along with other people. The album was so successful that it was reissued three years later as "My Name Is Roosevelt Franklin." The reissue is the record that I own. The album is a work of pure genius and one wonders if maybe it isn't time to bring back that rhyming and scatting school teacher as he would definitely fit into today's world. You be the judge when you listen to "My Name is Roosevelt Franklin". Enjoy!
My Name is Roosevelt Franklin
@'Dartman's World of Wonder'
Via