Tuesday, 8 March 2011
The Evolution of Androgyny in Music Videos
There’s something very compelling about androgyny, as we all know. But the theme resonates particularly, it seems, for those fashion-forward expressionists known as popular musicians. Architecture in Helsinki’s new video, featuring an ambiguous protagonist being groped by body-less limbs, got us thinking about the trajectory of androgyny in music videos — we tend to associate the trope with the ’80s, but in truth, the look seems to cycle in and out of fashion and it never quite loses its grip on our imagination. Though, let’s not lie, 1983 was a really big year for androgyny. We’ve also noticed that something about androgyny works especially well for redheads. Click through for a brief and incomplete look at the evolution of androgyny in music videos, and let us know what we’ve missed!
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Emily Temple @'Flavorwire'
♪♫ CCM Steel Band - Alberto Balsalm
"Alberto Balsalm" by Aphex Twin
Arranged by Ben Wallace for the CCM (College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati) Steel Band directed by Rusty Burge
June 2010
(Thanx Luke!)
Interestingly enough my (extreme) right wing dad had a set of steel drums in the garage! He had been regularly to the West Indies when he was in the Merchant Navy and had an amazing collection of calypso 78's and he also took a bit of a shine to the reggae and dub stuff that I was playing outta my bedroom as a teenager...not the usual reaction that my music got LOL!
(RIP you old bast'rd XXX)
China Deputizes Smart Phones to Spy on Beijing Residents’ Real-Time Location
The Chinese government has announced plans to track the real-time location of all cell phones in the city of Beijing, purportedly to ease traffic problems that have plagued the city. Human rights activists have expressed concerns that this plan may well be the newest attempt by the Chinese government to surveil its citizenry against any attempted uprising. As Wang Songlian of the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network told the Guardian:
This means that Beijing citizens have few choices when it comes to protecting their location privacy from the government, an especially problematic scenario considering China passed a law last year mandating that people register their cell phones in their real names. Currently, the only solution for true location privacy, whether in China or anywhere else, is turning off the mobile phone and removing the battery. Unfortunately, there’s no feasible and easily achievable consumer-facing software or hardware anywhere that can effectively circumvent location tracking while leaving modern smart phones functional.
There are, however, some hacktivists and academics beginning to explore creative solutions to this problem. Among the ideas being circulated is the possibility of a “mobile mesh network” connectivity – having cell phones connect directly to one another, rather than routing signals through cell phone towers. While there may be other security concerns around mesh networking, such communication methods hold promise for maintaining communications in "Internet blackout" scenarios such as those seen recently in Egypt and Libya. We look forward to future developments in this arena.
For ordinary people, the government is worried about social unrest. Often there's a spark somewhere and everyone gathers and puts out information. By registering people and tracking them, it enables them to find out about particular protests and punish individuals.Location privacy is an endangered concept. As technology evolves, many networked devices are becoming increasingly more portable and affordable — and increasingly sharing one’s real-time location data without a users’ explicit knowledge or consent. The threats to location privacy in the era of the smart phone are multifarious, including applications that leak private data and obsolete laws that fail to protect civil liberties. As the situation in China demonstrates, modern smart phones may also act as a mechanism for governments to vacuum up data on citizens who might protest authoritarian regimes. While EFF continues to champion cell phone location privacy in U.S. courts and on the Hill, the fundamental privacy conundrum posed by modern cell phones is that they cannot function properly without simultaneously exposing locational information.
This means that Beijing citizens have few choices when it comes to protecting their location privacy from the government, an especially problematic scenario considering China passed a law last year mandating that people register their cell phones in their real names. Currently, the only solution for true location privacy, whether in China or anywhere else, is turning off the mobile phone and removing the battery. Unfortunately, there’s no feasible and easily achievable consumer-facing software or hardware anywhere that can effectively circumvent location tracking while leaving modern smart phones functional.
There are, however, some hacktivists and academics beginning to explore creative solutions to this problem. Among the ideas being circulated is the possibility of a “mobile mesh network” connectivity – having cell phones connect directly to one another, rather than routing signals through cell phone towers. While there may be other security concerns around mesh networking, such communication methods hold promise for maintaining communications in "Internet blackout" scenarios such as those seen recently in Egypt and Libya. We look forward to future developments in this arena.
Rainey Reitman @'EFF'
Anonymous Hackers Target Alleged WikiLeaker Bradley Mannings’ Jailers
As army private Bradley Manning suffers for his alleged megaleak of secret documents to WikiLeaks, one group of hackers seems determined to make sure that others feel his pain.
Over the weekend, the loose hacker collective Anonymous declared that it will go on the offensive against those who are currently detaining Manning in a Quantico military brig, keeping him in solitary confinement and forcing him to strip nightly and stand at attention naked each morning.
In a crowdsourced document used to coordinate the group’s actions, Anonymous members name Department of Defense Press Secretary Geoff Morell and chief warrant officer Denise Barnes as targets and call on members to dig up personal information on both, including phone numbers, personal histories and home addresses. The goal of the operation, for now, is to “dox” the two officials, the typical Anonymous method of publishing personal information of victims and using it for mass harassment.
“Targets established,” reads the document, before naming Morell and Barnes. “We’re in the ruining business. And business is good.”
The group, which is calling its attack “Operation Bradical,” also lists demands as follows:
“Manning must be given sheets, blankets, any religious texts he desires, adequate reading material, clothes, and a ball. One week. Otherwise, we continue to dox and ruin those responsible for keeeping him naked, without bedding, without any of the basic amenities that were provided even to captured Nazis in WWII.”
One member of Anonymous, who tells me he’s not associated with the action, says that doxing will likely include “ruin life tactics” such as “ordering them pizza, sending them thousands of boxes, reporting them to police for drug abuse, sex offenders list, tricking their ISPs into canceling the Internet, messing with their social security numbers, false flag, fax harassment, phone harassment, email bombing, subscriptions to magazines, diapers, tampons.”
Nasty as they may be, those tactics seem relatively harmless in comparison to the attack that Anonymous recently launched against the security firm HBGary Federal in retaliation for one executive’s threats to unmask leaders of the hacker group. HBGary Federal chief executive Aaron Barr had his email archive hacked and published online along with that of his colleagues. HBGary Federal’s website was defaced and Barr’s Twitter account hijacked. After a series of scandals were revealed in the company’s published emails including a plan to launch cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns against WikiLeaks, Barr resigned last week.
Anonymous spokesperson Barrett Brown told the Tech Herald that harassment of Quantico officials will be just the first step in a “media war” against those detaining Manning. “Manning is an absolute hero,” Brown told the news site. “If this means me going to fucking prison, then that’s fine.”
Last week Manning was hit with 22 charges for his alleged role in a massive leak of classified information to WikiLeaks, including a charge of “aiding the enemy” that can carry a penalty of death. Since those charges were filed, Manning has been forced to strip naked nightly in a tactic that Quantico officials say is legal and aims to prevent suicide attempts, but others claim is designed to degrade and punish the young private. According to Manning’s lawyer David Coombs, Quantico officials have declined to state their full reasons for Manning’s stripping publicly to avoid “because to discuss the details would be a violation of PFC Manning’s privacy.”
“The Brig’s treatment of PFC Manning is shameful,” Coombs wrote in a statement Saturday. “It is made even more so by the Brig hiding behind concerns for ‘[PFC] Manning’s privacy.’ There is no justification, and there can be no justification, for treating a detainee in this degrading and humiliating manner.”
Andy Greenberg @'Forbes'
NaomiAKlein Naomi Klein
Attacks on union, net neutrality, even PBS, r all about destroying any possible counter weight to corporate power
♪♫ Partition 36 - Cyberpunks (Leaky Mix)
"Cyberpunks (Leaky Mix)" by Partition 36 from the single "The Optic Nerve". This mix was specifically created in support of WikiLeaks!
The vocals in the middle of the song are derived from a work called The Cyberpunk Manifesto, while the clips at the beginning and end are from President Kennedy's Address to ANPA.
Purchase Partition 36 albums on CD or listen for free online at http://www.partition36.com/
Via
Monday, 7 March 2011
Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band - La Maroquinerie, Paris. 17 Fevrier 2011
“Heartaches and Pain”
“No Time For Dreaming”
“This World is Going Up in Flames”
“Heart Of Gold” (neil Young cover)
“Golden Rule”
via
After Patricia (Highsmith)
Let’s be honest.
I rue the day I didn’t have my late stepmother whacked.
I’d rather eat dirt than talk to my larcenous cousins.
I haven’t forgiven my father for disinheriting me.
Iran's supreme leader accused of abducting key opponents
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was directly involved in the disappearance of the two main leaders of the Green movement, an opposition website has claimed.
Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi have not been seen in public since being put under house arrest following renewed street protests in mid-February when thousands of Iranians, inspired by the uprisings in the Arab region, took to the streets in defiance of warnings from the regime. They are believed to have been arrested on 26 February.
Karroubi's official website, Sahamnews.net, said Khamenei had ordered what it described as "the abduction of Karroubi and his wife, Fatemeh".
The site said Khamenei's administrative adviser, Vahid Haghanian, commanded the security forces which raided Karroubi's house in north Tehran and confiscated his belongings.
"On the night of the kidnapping, Vahid, a top official in the supreme leader's office, was present in Mr Karroubi's house and he personally commanded the whole operation of evicting Mr Karroubi and his wife from their own house and taking them to an unknown location," the website said.
"We believe that the supreme leader himself is responsible for this kidnapping and Vahid was appointed by him to carry out the operation."
The website said Haghanian advises the supreme leader on internal affairs.
Since the disappearances, Iranian officials have given vague and often contradictory statements about Karroubi, Mousavi and their wives.
A spokesman for Iran's judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Ejei, confirmed initially that restrictions had been imposed on opposition leaders but later denied they had been arrested. "Reports ... about the transfer of Karroubi and Mousavi to a prison are not correct and are rejected," he said on Tuesday last week. Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said talk of imprisonment was a "sheer lie" and added: "Mr Mousavi and Karroubi, along with their wives, are in their homes."
Meanwhile, Mousavi's daughters wrote on opposition website Kaleme.org that they cannot visit their parents. "We read the news that our parents are not under house arrest and they are not prisoners ... which meant that we, their children, can see them ... But this was not the case. We went to our parents' home, and from the iron gate installed at the entrance of the alley to their home we were stopped by the security, who said that 'you can't go, the news [that you can visit] is wrong'."
Karroubi's sons told Sahamnews.net that they have repeatedly visited Karroubi's house but no one was there. They also said that neighbours claim they have witnessed Karroubi and his wife being taken out of their house.
Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand, a spokesman for Mousavi, told the Guardian: "Their situation is worse than a prisoner because when someone is jailed, at least you know who has jailed him or where he has been taken to. But in the case of Karroubi and Mousavi, no one takes responsibility or even admits they have been arrested."
Rumours were rife in recent weeks that the two had been taken to Heshmatieh prison in east Tehran.
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
The changing face of fame
The most well known composites are of nationalities, but he’s also generated and reposted composites of other classes. For example, the average Bollywood actress is Aishwarya Rai. Not literally, but the resemblance is jaw-dropping (compare to the average Indian woman). But most interesting to me were the comparisons of American film actors, male and female, then and now (“Golden Age” vs. contemporary). I’m pretty sure you can pick out which one is which if you’re American. There seem to be two correlated trends here: 1) more feminine features for both males and females, and 2) more youthful features for both males and females. Correlated, because neoteny and masculinization seemed to generally push in opposite directions of trait value. Projecting in the future I assume that the Global Human Celebrity will converge upon a 14 year old girl?
Addendum: One difference between the “Golden Age” and modern celebrities is the attention to a rather buff physique. So though the actors of yore had more rugged faces, their physiques were often rather flabby in comparison to today’s leading men. So I might correct and assert that the future global celebrity will be a baby-faced 14 year old girl with abs to die for!
Razib Khan @'Discover'
Greg Barns: Assange extradition fears are real
But the reality is that the Swedes will succumb to political pressure and undermine or sidestep the rule of law and allow the US ‘to land their quarry’.
The claim by Assange’s legal team that one of the prime arguments against their client being extradited to Sweden to face investigation over alleged sexual assault charges is that he will end up being tortured in a high security American prison, are not simply hyperbolic advocacy.
Under Swedish law the extradition of an individual to a non-Nordic or non-European Union country can only occur if the following conditions are met.
Firstly, the principle of dual criminality applies. That is, the act or alleged crime for which extradition is requested must be equivalent to a crime that is punishable under Swedish law by a jail term of one year or more. So you can’t be extradited for traffic offences for example.
Secondly, extradition will not be granted for the prosecution of “military or political offences”.
And finally extradition will not be granted if the person being extradited runs a risk on account of his or her religious or political beliefs, or ethnic origin of being persecuted. And if he or she faces the death penalty the Swedes will not hand the person over to another state.
If it is assumed Sweden has an equivalent to an American official secrets or espionage law and therefore the issue of dual criminality is settled, the US could not possibly satisfy the Swedish government that Mr Assange would not face all manner of cruel and unusual punishment by security agencies and US police. Even keeping Mr Assange isolated from other detainees and locked in his cell for 23 hours a day - a common penal American practice - should be enough to stop Swedish cooperation in an extradition. Then there is the fact that US federal law in respect of the offences of espionage and treason both carry the death penalty as a theoretical sentence. Theoretical because there is no-one currently on death row who has been convicted of these offences. But Mr Assange’s hosting of a website which carried an unprecedented number of US government documents might have prosecutors arguing for the death penalty.
In short, it is hard to see how Sweden, acting strictly in accordance with its own laws on extradition, could contemplate acceding to any US request to hand over Mr Assange.
But Sweden’s track record in recent years in cases where extradition or forcible return to another country would result in human rights abuse is not one that would give Mr Assange any comfort.
In 2005 the European Court of Human Rights intervened to overturn a Swedish decision to deport two Syrian men, brothers, who were wanted in Syria over alleged ‘honour killings’. The Swedish authorities, having received information that the death penalty was unlikely to be imposed on the brothers, ordered that they been returned to Syria. The European Court upheld the brother’s argument that they feared persecution on return to Syria and noted that the Swedish government had been prepared to act on incomplete information and vague assurances from the Syrian embassy.
Four years earlier in December 2001, the Swedish authorities, again acting after obtaining assurances from Egypt that two asylum seekers would not be subjected to torture and would receive a fair trial, handed over Mohammed al-Zari and Ahmed Agiza, to the Americans who transferred the men to Cairo.
There is also the political overlay in the Assange case which taints the extradition process. As we saw in this country in relation to David Hicks and Mammoth Habib it did not matter what domestic or international law conventions and rules should have been applied to their cases, the overriding consideration by the Howard government was to cooperate with the Bush White House.
As Australian diplomat and writer Tony Kevin pointed out in a briefing to federal MPs last week (at which I also spoke) the current Swedish government of prime minister Fredric Reinfeldt is a centre-right coalition heeded by the Moderate Party “which has close ties with the US Republican right. Reinfeldt and Bush are friends. Reimfeldt is ideologically and personally close to the former Bush Administration”. And, Kevin noted, that Bush’s former right hand man and Republican strategist Karl Rove is a consultant to the Swedish government on political issues.
Sweden projects an image of liberalism and determined independence but it is an illusion. So the chance of Julian Assange being whisked away by CIA operatives from Sweden is a very real one. If it happens Assange will face the same fate as Hicks and Habib - physical and mental torture over a sustained period.
Greg Barns is a barrister and writer. He is a Director of the Australian Lawyers Alliance.
@'ABC'
WTC Attack September 11, 2001 from New York Police Helicopter
Video obtained by FOIA to NIST by an anonymous person who directed it be sent to Cryptome. Excerpt of the NIST letter.
Via
Via
Soundtrack to the MENA uprisings - Khalas Mixtape Vol 1
"In 2009, in response to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s first speech to the United Nations, a group of Libyan exiles created an organization called Khalas, which means “enough,” the goal, to bring awareness of the struggles again Libya’s dictatorial regime not only to other Libyans in the western world but to the English-speaking world at large.
In the wake of revolution in Tunisia and Egypt and protests elsewhere in North Africa and the Middle East, the Khalas team recognized one surprising common thread in the voices of discontent, rap music. Across the region, rap artists were providing the soundtrack to protests in the street. Khalas has curated a mixtape of some of the best new protest music and is now hosting the mix on its website."
- From NPR's On The Media's interview with Abdulla Darrat, one of the founders of Khalas. http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2011/02/11/02 (The interview is available as a download and transcript)
"Khalas Mixtape Vol. 1 is a compilation of songs created by North African hip hop artists from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria who have emerged as voices of recent uprisings and calls for protest. Mish B3eed, or ‘Not far,’ refers to the sense of solidarity that these youth feel across borders, the similarities of their causes and the oppressors they face, their physical proximity and the sense that our ultimate goal is within sight. Each song describes the unique circumstances of each artist’s country, carrying with it the subtleties of local dialects, but also highlights the extraordinary similarities of their struggles."
- From the official website, http://enoughgaddafi.com/
This website is down at the time I make this torrent. Hopefully it will come back up again at a later time.
FEATURED ARTISTS:
El Général [Tunisia] http://general-74.skyrock.com/ / http://www.facebook.com/general.offciel
Mr. Shooma [Tunisia] http://www.facebook.com/Shooma
Mohamed Ali Ben Jemaa [Tunisia] http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mohamed-Ali-Ben-Jemaa/41674371426
Ramy Donjewan [Egypt] http://www.facebook.com/RamyDonjwan
Ahmed Rock [Egypt] http://www.facebook.com/revolution.ahmedrock
Revolution Recordz [Egypt] http://www.facebook.com/revrecordz
Lotfi Double Kanon [Algeria] http://www.facebook.com/doublekanon
Ibn Thabit [Libya] http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ibn-Thabit/173888819302085
SOURCES AND MORE INFO:
Music and cover art in this Torrent downloaded from: http://www.bboykonsian.com/downloads/
It can also be downloaded from: http://secretarchivesofthevatican.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/north-african-revolution-hiphop/
List of artists and their websites taken from: http://shocklee.com/2011/02/khalas-mixtape-vol-1-north-african-hip-hop-artists-unite/
Another interview with Abdulla Darrat (stream, download, transcript): http://www.pri.org/arts-entertainment/north-africa-s-hip-hop-revolutionaries.html
HERE
Via
Prison Terminal
Prison Terminal is a feature-length documentary that breaks through the walls of one of America’s oldest maximum security prisons to tell the story of the final months in the life of a terminally ill prisoner and the trained hospice volunteers—they themselves prisoners—who care for him.
The film draws from footage shot over a six-month period behind the walls of the Iowa State Penitentiary entering the personal lives of the prisoners as they build a prison-based, prisoner-staffed hospice program from the ground up.
Prison Terminal demonstrates the fragility, as well as the holistic benefits, of a prison-based, prisoner-staffed hospice program and provides a fascinating and often poignant account of how the hospice experience can profoundly touch even the forsaken lives of the incarcerated.
Caught singing for tyrants? Don't be embarrassed. Do what 50 Cent does: embrace it
Yeah! Take that, you mainstream douche bags! Feeling pretty stupid now, huh?
Well, no. They weren't. Partly because they knew not what it meant, but largely because Cobain foolishly gave the song a catchy melody, and then compounded this error by including it on an album of other catchy melodies called Nevermind, which became such a massive mainstream success that he never truly lived it down, at least in his own head. And it soon turned out the despised jock fan wasn't the only one prone to discharging the occasional firearm.
Still, if Cobain was tortured by the presence of the occasional macho numbskull at his gigs, imagine how awful he'd feel if he looked out and saw a member of the Gaddafi dynasty moshing to Smells Like Teen Spirit. Chances are he'd have beaten himself to death with his own guitar right there and then.
But many of the planet's current pop stars are clearly made of sterner stuff. They're so unconcerned about the suitability of their fans, they'll put on a private show for the Gaddafi clan at the drop of a hat. A hat full of money.
Now the blood's started flowing they're getting contrite about the whole thing. First Nelly Furtado outed herself, announcing on Twitter that in 2007 she'd been given $1m to perform for the Gaddafis, and was now donating the sum to charity.
Other stars who attended Gaddafi dynasty parties include Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, and Jay-Z – who, thanks to the bad publicity, now has 100 problems.
Mr Z's wife, Beyoncé, reportedly received $2m to perform at a New Year party thrown by Hannibal Gaddafi, but subsequently gave the money to Haiti. "Once it became known that the third-party promoter was linked to the Gaddafi family, the decision was made to put that payment to a good cause," said her publicist. Fair enough. She probably didn't realise the Gaddafis were behind the bash, although her husband reportedly attended an identical party at the same venue the previous year – at which, it is claimed, Mariah Carey sang four songs in exchange for $1m. The Gaddafi link was exposed in the press at the time, but only in small-circulation newspapers such as the Sun, so it's fair to assume Beyoncé's advisers had no idea where the cash was coming from.
Libya would be a good growth market for Beyoncé, incidentally, as, thanks to the Gaddafi regime, it now contains far more Single Ladies than it used to.
Another famous star who reportedly performed for the Gaddafis is notorious pussy 50 Cent, the crybaby pant-shitting wuss whom I could definitely have in a fight. (Did you know his real name is Fifi Millicent? Don't tell him I told you, because he's terribly sensitive about it, and weeps huge cowardly tears out of his gutless baby eyes whenever it's mentioned. Also, he was born a girl.)
Fifi was paid an undisclosed sum to sing and dance like a fey little puppet in front of Mutassim Gaddafi at the 2005 Venice film festival. But while the other stars have been embarrassed by their (possibly unintentional) connection to a despotic regime, Fifi seems to have used his as the inspiration for a startlingly violent video game called 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2009.
The game opens with Fifi Millicent performing a gig in an unnamed war-torn Middle Eastern country, in exchange for a $10m fee. When the mysterious promoter shows signs of not coughing up the money, Fifi and chums storm backstage, call him a "motherfucker" and shove a shotgun in his face. Terrified, he hands them a priceless Damien Hirst-style diamond-encrusted skull. Fiddy and co then bravely head for the airport in their armoured Hummers, only to be ambushed by armed insurgents. During the gunfire and confusion, a sexy woman appears from nowhere and steals the precious skull. "Bitch took my skull," whines Fifi, before embarking on an awesome odyssey of violence across the troubled Arabic nation, shooting and murdering anyone who gets in his way.
Who'd have thought someone like 50 Cent could lend his name to something so crass and stupid? It's almost as if he's an idiot. Still, perhaps openly embracing the despotic crossover in a video game is the way forward. How long before we see a game called Gaddafi Hero, in which you perform a series of upbeat numbers for Middle Eastern tyrants by pushing coloured buttons on a plastic guitar in time to the beat, while trying to drown out the nagging voice of your own conscience and the furious chants of the oppressed?
Suggested tracklisting: While My Qatar Gently Weeps; Gimme Gimme Gimme Oman After Midnight; Insane in the Bahrain; Here Comes Yemen; and 50 Ways To Libya Lover. Recommended retail price? $2m and counting.
Charlie Brookner @'The Guardian'
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