The Cat Inside

(excerpt)

I am selecting cat food at the pet shop in Dillon's supermarket and I meet an old woman. Seems her cats won't eat any cat food with fish in it. Well, I tell her, mine are just the opposite. They prefer the fishy foods like Salmon Dinner and Seafood Supper.

"Well," she says, "they certainly are company."

And what can she do for her company when there is no Dillon's and no pet shop? What can I do? I simply could not stand to see my little cats hungry.

William S. Burroughs 1986

When my grandmother was still alive, and we would pass the time talking about things gone or lost, her dead husband (my grandfather) or my dead mom (who grandma and I missed desperately), the conversation would always turn to my cats, Walter and Truman. I would share with her the latest account of their mischief, cuteness or devotion. She would always follow, after a pause, with the statement:

"They're good company."

They certainly were.

War President

This makes me weep from laughter. Amidst all the sturm und drang over the lack of liberal purity of our current President (I don't necessarily disagree), it is helpful to recall how impure (on every fucking conceivable level) the previous President was/is.

13th Floor Elevators (1966)

These guys were fantastic...a psychedelic jug band.
The trippy jug is a blast.

Top:
Bad audio, lip-sync performance.
Bottom:
Good audio with poster stills.

My Boys

It is helpful to remember these guys when they were younger (and slept less).

Although entirely different in character, they did have a very close bond. They wrestled and romped throughout the day when I was away at work. A neighbor, on the first floor of the apartment building in this photo, would complain regularly about the commotion above him. He was, at first, convinced that it was me, but soon accepted the fact that it was actually Walter and Truman galloping and tackling between naps....monkeys.

I miss them terribly.

UPDATE: I was reminded by a friend, that in addition to this raucous tumult, Walter had taught himself to turn on the TV (a pull-out knob that also controlled the volume). Initially this was a mystery (returning home to the blaring TV); something wrong with the set, mischievous intruders,...no, just Walter.

Truman R.I.P.

My sweet, squeaky boy (18 years old, but always the baby).
He had a heart attack last night.

11 days after Walter passed.

What a fucking soul punch.
Absolutely shattering.

Killer Cover and P-Funk Original

Sad, but the stupid still burns...

Walter R.I.P.

My brave and beautiful boy...

For so many years we looked after each other...
I feel lost.

Goodbye Walter.

COLAB

From one of my favorite sites UbuWeb.
An old COLAB piece from 1978. At 22 minutes long, it covers a lot of territory.

All Color News (1978)

The film's blurb:

A remarkable collection of clips from the feature news program for cable TV. Hard, gritty, this is the early political and socially oriented work by artists now well-known as sculptors and filmmakers. Includes John Ahearn, Tom Otterness (Subways, Golden Gloves Boxing and Rats in Chinatown);Scott and Beth B (NYPD Arson and Explosions Squad vs. FALN); Charlie Ahearn (Bums Under the Brooklyn Bridge). Also includes Virge Piersol and Alan Moore (Bombing of JP Morgan) and Michael McClard.

It's a kick to see clips of New York from a time that coincides with my first visits; when the city was still Koch(ed) and before it was Giuliani(ed). At that time, the city "looked" like what it still is, an overused people's city.

Come and play with us, Danny

This is one of the most potent "SCARE" images in film. The malignant signposts from a disturbing past, pointing to a dark and violent future.

Still brilliant.

Sam Seder cuts to the chase.

As we approach 2012

This is almost un-watchable, but it does illustrate the attitude of the newly liberated and lionized dumbass. Free floating bigotry and non-cogent debate; for the political media these "white working class Americans" will become more financially lucrative than reality television (Cheaters, American Idol, etc.).

It is interesting to think about the ideas that actually penetrated the fat layer that shields this guy's brain. A mash-up of xenophobic propoganda of the past century; American Exceptionalism, anti-civil rights (any minority consciousness) and a non-ideological subjectivity that is reflexively hostile to science, history and objective fact.

This on-going spectacle will be as soul-killing as a Sarah Palin interview, any Ayn Rand novel, or this guy.

When things get fantastically shitty and impossibly stupid...

I miss WSB.

"Country Simple"

What's missing from this?...these people (Birthers, Deathers, Tenthers, Birchers, LaRouchers) will aggressively work against their own self interest because liberals like gays and the President is black.

Gus Porter, American Legend with Thomas Haden Church from Thomas Haden Church

"Forcing prisoners to wander in an infinite labrynth, living in fear of being torn limb from limb, may seem harsh to some people now, but..."

Barney Frank Rocks (sometimes)

Time Capsule

The only friend of mine who was "gainfully" employed (Jeff H., as a mailroom clerk at the GE plant in Louisville, KY) purchased PIL's Metal Box in 1979. At the time, there were 5 of us who hung out together (me, Bob V., Jimmy T., Andy C. and Jeff), all in our late teens, early 20s, unhappy and living on the cusp of the Reagan era.

We were disillusioned in an existential way, anxious about what was next in our undefined lives and generally pissed about it all. We had embraced punk rock because musically it was satisfying, but also a clear "fuck you" to the people around us (high school acquaintances, family, etc.). At this point, through music and literature (William S. Burroughs, etc.), we tried to whittle away at the things that appeared to tie us down. We didn't have another place to go, I think we just wanted to cast off with the dark hope that something else would turn up.
My memory of listening to Metal Box at Jeff's apartment (the rest of us uncomfortably lived with our parents) was that its move away from "rock" was both thrilling and a bit terrifying. We all dug it, but it was an uneasy pleasure. There was madness in the music.

At the time, we regularly flirted with a kind of lunacy that was part of the un-tethering process that we had begun. In addition to a wreckless love of drugs and alcohol, we would play games that involved sitting around in the wee hours drinking beer and smoking weed while we tried to chip away at each other's already fragile identities. The goal was to find psychological weak spots, examine them and test whether the other guy's sense of self was strong enough to acknowledge his own flaws and hidden anxieties. I believe we called these "truth" games.

Good times.

Gog and Magog

In Genesis and Ezekiel Gog and Magog are forces of the Apocalypse who are prophesied to come out of the north and destroy Israel unless stopped. The Book of Revelation took up the Old Testament prophesy:

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."

Bush believed the time had now come for that battle, telling Chirac:

"This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a New Age begins".

h/t Clive Hamilton, CounterPunch.
http://www.alternet.org/authors/10693/


The murderous narcissism of those malignant dickheads is almost impossible to grasp...but there it is. I'm certain the cable news outlets will program their newscasts around this earth shattering revelation...no?...ah, maybe the NYTimes or the Washington Post, no?...(crickets)

I Hate These People.

"The goverment would rather kill babies than pay for my penectomy!"

Holy Crap!

Should we alert the Teabaggers, Birthers and Deathers?

Two Great Things Rolled Into One

I'm surprised this movie wasn't banned in the Bush Era.

Senator Jefferson Beaureguard Sessions III

Posted almost without comment...what an assclown.

And, also...

h/t http://www.rumproast.com/

Yer Yella! (Du er Fej!)

One of my favorite wrongheaded scenes from a Hollywood western: Nevada Smith, 1966 (with Dutch subtitles?). A good illustration of the american psyche that must indulge in unspeakable cruelty before it decides to choose another approach, and in this case, because it's not worth it.

But what has stayed with me over time is the anguished and absurd taunt from Karl Malden at the end, "Ya haven't got the guts! You're yella!"

They're more comfortable talking about Area 51 and how the discovery of Noah's Ark has been covered up by the liberal media.

It is hard to look away from the clusterfuck that is "teabagger's nation."

A variety of mixed up, half remembered talking points fed to them by conservative think tanks, wingnut blogs, wingnut radio and Fox News.
Keep it up.








h/t bloggerinterrupted.com

A simple argument

The Bush Administration tortured detainees because they were scared shitless and never really cared about the rule of law. Period. 912...912...912...912...912...912...912...912...912...

Nuff said...

I'm not going to address the vapid dishonesty of the astroturf "tea bag" movement, or what it really means in 2009...others do it much better.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Morning Sedition Nostalgia

One of my favorite bits from Air America's long lost Morning Sedition...revived on http://airamerica.com/breakroomlive.

Rev. Lowery's benediction was mean.

He blew a dog whistle that the right wing couldn't hear.