Andrew Griff, London
Andre Gide, Paris
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
No Adam, No Jesus
A letter in the May issue of Christianity Today responds to Stan Guthrie's March article "Living with the Darwin Fish," which discussed the willingness of some Christians to accept the validity of Darwinian evolution:
Stan Guthrie's "welcome aboard" to evolution reminds me of how a landlubber bails water out of a boat: by drilling a hole below the waterline. Along with evolution presumably comes a denial of a literal Adam and Eve as the fallen father and mother of the human race. But a historical Adam is as necessary to our salvation as a historical Jesus.
Paul writes, "For if, by the trespass of the one man [Adam], death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:17).
No first Adam, no second Adam. No death, no life. Sir, your vessel sinks.
DEAN BRUCKNER
Commander, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.)
Athens, Ohio
Monday, June 25, 2007
So Why Are All the Staff Blind?
An article in the May 7 issue of Maclean's discusses the University of Toronto's new "porn library," also known as the Sexual Representation Research Collection. Cue the smutty comments:
. . .
Fuck.
To be considered for entry, scholars must submit a formal request letter. "I don't think undergrads should be let loose in the collection," says Mariana Valverde, a criminology professor and member of the review committee. "This isn't the Archives of Ontario. A trained eye is required."
. . .
The holdings of the Sexual Representation Research Collection, a.k.a. the porn library, consist of more than 1,000 skin flicks (like Knights of Thunder and Dreaming about Dick), hundreds of well-read magazines -- from Wild West F------ to In Touch (the original version) -- along with a bookcase filled with dozens of examples of erotic fiction from the '40s and '50s, various sex-related texts, and hundreds of computer disks packed with images collected from the Internet. About 400 copies of Playboy are stacked in seven neat piles on the top shelf. Important research tools, apparently -- and not just for the articles.. . .
administrators hope that as the Centre gains international exposure, people will begin donating material that's been tucked away in their attics and basements. Valverde thinks the library may benefit from people living in sexually repressed countries who want their collections used for research and kept "out of the hands of the local cops." This will also help diversify the collection, which is currently almost entirely white gay male porn.
Fuck.
Friday, June 22, 2007
More Quality Art!!
Since none of you poor fools challenged my bid last time out, I was able to secure the first Neko Case poster by Kathleen Judge up for auction on eBay to benefit the Chicago Women's Health Center. Judge sends another message of new items up for auction this week:
Don't miss out this time!
Two more poster items up for bid on ebay -- all proceeds to benefit The Chicago Women's Health Center:
Signed (by Neko) hand silkscreen Australia 2007 tour poster by Judge (me!):
http://cgi.ebay.com/Neko-Case-SIGNED-Limited-Edition-Poster_W0QQitemZ320129735477QQihZ011QQcategoryZ20148QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
RARE ITEMS (these sold out last fall!!) a set of TOUCH & GO 25th ANNIVERSARY POSTERS. One poster is by JAY RYAN of The Birdmachine and the second poster is by me. Both posters are signed, numbered & Jay & I did extra little drawings in the margin: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:11&item=280127382003
Please feel free to pass this info on. Auctions end within the next week.
Yours-
Judge
Don't miss out this time!
Who Needs Babelfish? Primavera Band Profiles #3
Herman Dune
Ten albums and almost a decade of winding path by bizarre rock ways have been needed by the brothers David-Ivar and Andre Herman Dune to reach the superlative "Giant", a dyed soul wonder folk in which resound echoes of Bob Dylan, Ray Charles and Ottis Redding, amongst many others. Nomads by defintion and musically brought up in New York, Berlin, Paris, and Switzerland, Herman Dune debuted in 1998 with "Glow in the Dar", predicting the birth of anti-folk and, just right now that rudder of pop music is handled by the more eccentrics freaks of the new folk, they have left the main way to claim the 70's pop in great detail.
Ten albums and almost a decade of winding path by bizarre rock ways have been needed by the brothers David-Ivar and Andre Herman Dune to reach the superlative "Giant", a dyed soul wonder folk in which resound echoes of Bob Dylan, Ray Charles and Ottis Redding, amongst many others. Nomads by defintion and musically brought up in New York, Berlin, Paris, and Switzerland, Herman Dune debuted in 1998 with "Glow in the Dar", predicting the birth of anti-folk and, just right now that rudder of pop music is handled by the more eccentrics freaks of the new folk, they have left the main way to claim the 70's pop in great detail.
As God Is My Witness . . .
No Rapture here:
The obvious question: Where was god?
A jury on Thursday awarded about $314,000 to a woman who sued her former church and pastor.
Jurors found Delta Township-based Mount Hope Church and its pastor, David Russell Williams, responsible for injuries Judith Dadd sustained when she was "slain in the Spirit" at a church rally in 2002.
. . .
Dadd went to the altar during a July 18, 2002 rally for church leaders and was "slain in the Spirit," according to testimony.
She fell backward and struck her head on the floor. Dadd, who was a member of the church for 12 years but left in 2003, claims she still suffers from the effects of the fall, including increased symptoms of depression, memory loss and difficulty concentrating.
Dadd said the church, which has about 2,000 members and 6,000 attendees, was negligent because no usher was there to catch her.
The obvious question: Where was god?
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Mekons Exit City Varieties Stage in a Maxist Fashion
Yes, Maxist, as in Max Wall, one of many ghosts haunting the rafters of the home of The Good Old Days.
Why Should Atheists Have All the Fun?
A selection from "Fisting and God's Will" at the very wise Sex in Christ.
So far we have only discussed a husband fisting his wife, but some couples may wonder if it is appropriate for a wife to fist her husband if he enjoys anal stimulation. In most cases, a wife indulging her husband’s desire to receive light anal play is not problematic in the context of a healthy sexual relationship. A wife may even anally penetrate her partner with a strap-on dildo if he enjoys this, and if their respective roles as husband and wife are secure outside of the bedroom.
However, because of the intense nature of the act of fisting and the degree of surrender and submission involved in being fisted, a couple should first look deeply into their own hearts and pray for guidance as to whether it is wise for the wife to fist the husband. They should undertake this only if their relationship is such that the husband can assume a submissive and passive role during a sexual act, while afterward still maintaining his role as the spiritual head of the household and leader in the marriage. Our article on Christian BDSM also addresses this issue.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Soylent Green Redux
300 oilmen at the GO-EXPO in Calgary, Canada witnessed an unusual presentation about turning human flesh into fuel by 'representatives of Exxon and the National Petroleum Council'.
The two 'representatives' turned out to be pranksters from the civil disobedience group The Yes Men.
. . .
The fake speech, delivered by 'Shepard Wolff' (aka Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men), unveiled a new Exxon oil product called Vivoleum.
'We need something like whales, but infinitely more abundant', said 'Mr Wolff' as he showed 3-D animations of human flesh being rendered into the fuel.
The rest is here.
The two 'representatives' turned out to be pranksters from the civil disobedience group The Yes Men.
. . .
The fake speech, delivered by 'Shepard Wolff' (aka Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men), unveiled a new Exxon oil product called Vivoleum.
'We need something like whales, but infinitely more abundant', said 'Mr Wolff' as he showed 3-D animations of human flesh being rendered into the fuel.
The rest is here.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Moby-Dick's Older Brother
BOSTON (AP) -- A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt - more than a century ago. Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.
. . .
"It probably hurt the whale, or annoyed him, but it hit him in a non-lethal place . . . He couldn't have been that bothered if he lived for another 100 years."
The rest is here.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Friday, June 08, 2007
Stick with Me. Stick with Me. Stick with Me. Stick with Me.
If you haven't already discovered Steven Aylett, regard yourself as having been enlightened. Or warned.
His latest project, Jeff Lint, will provide you with hours of mirth, discomfort, surrealism. Here's an acccount of Lint's short story "Dawn of the Swans," some of which, we are told,
" . . . ended up in Chris Caccamise’s crappy but successful novel-length plagiarism, Empire of Flamingos (not to mention the appalling British feature-length cartoon Attack of the Piglets, voiced entirely by Bernard Cribbens)."
And while you're at it, check out the credits sequence for Catty & the Major.
If only . . .
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Who Needs Babelfish? Primavera Band Profiles #2
The Durutti Column
Vini Reilly, survivor of the golden age of Factory Records and an anomaly appeared in the limits of mancunian post-punk, does not give up approaching the experimentation from every possible angle. The British guitar placer still amazes by adding new feel to his sound and improving those crystal clear Joy Division. The Manchester musician, with more than 20 published albums and a name inspired in the militia that tried to reconquer Zaragoza during the Spanish Civil War, gives a turn of screw to his career in "Keep Breathing" to come closer to traditional Jew music and African rhythms.
Vini Reilly, survivor of the golden age of Factory Records and an anomaly appeared in the limits of mancunian post-punk, does not give up approaching the experimentation from every possible angle. The British guitar placer still amazes by adding new feel to his sound and improving those crystal clear Joy Division. The Manchester musician, with more than 20 published albums and a name inspired in the militia that tried to reconquer Zaragoza during the Spanish Civil War, gives a turn of screw to his career in "Keep Breathing" to come closer to traditional Jew music and African rhythms.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Perhaps "Chutzpah" Isn't the Best Word to Use
The summary of an article from the April issue of Art News:
In a decision upholding a longstanding German law, the federal court in Leipzig recently ruled that heirs of a Nazi doctor were not entitled to claim restitution of artworks impounded by the Soviets following World War II. The suit had been filed by six heirs of Gustav Schuster, a gynecologist and Nazi Party member from Chemnitz, in an effort to prove that they were eligible to reclaim the confiscated paintings, drawings, and etchings. Although German law prohibits the return of property to the descendants of Nazi criminals, the heirs argued that because Schuster, as an individual, constituted only a fraction of the overall number of Nazis in Germany at the time, he could only be blamed for 0.006 percent of the country's war crimes. In court, however, the city of Chemnitz was able to demonstrate that Schuster not only joined the Nazi Party and storm troopers early on—in 1930—but also that he headed the local Nazi medical association, ordered the sterilization of schizophrenics, and even carried out some procedures himself in the name of the Nazi "superrace" ideology.
In a decision upholding a longstanding German law, the federal court in Leipzig recently ruled that heirs of a Nazi doctor were not entitled to claim restitution of artworks impounded by the Soviets following World War II. The suit had been filed by six heirs of Gustav Schuster, a gynecologist and Nazi Party member from Chemnitz, in an effort to prove that they were eligible to reclaim the confiscated paintings, drawings, and etchings. Although German law prohibits the return of property to the descendants of Nazi criminals, the heirs argued that because Schuster, as an individual, constituted only a fraction of the overall number of Nazis in Germany at the time, he could only be blamed for 0.006 percent of the country's war crimes. In court, however, the city of Chemnitz was able to demonstrate that Schuster not only joined the Nazi Party and storm troopers early on—in 1930—but also that he headed the local Nazi medical association, ordered the sterilization of schizophrenics, and even carried out some procedures himself in the name of the Nazi "superrace" ideology.
Like "California Uber Alles" Never Happened
From the April 30 issue of Maclean's, I give you, Punk Rock Yoga:
Invented by Seattle-based Kimberlee Jensen Stedl, Punk Rock Yoga classes, which are held to the sound of punk music, are being held in places as far apart as Toronto, New York, Beijing, and Louisville, Kentucky. Beyond altering the music, converting a standard yoga class into a Punk Rock Yoga class involves such democratizing changes as holding the classes by candlelight, avoiding mirrors to negate body image issues, arranging the participants in a "sunburst" semicircle instead of rows that suggest hierarchy, and finishing the class with an "anarchist mantra."
Invented by Seattle-based Kimberlee Jensen Stedl, Punk Rock Yoga classes, which are held to the sound of punk music, are being held in places as far apart as Toronto, New York, Beijing, and Louisville, Kentucky. Beyond altering the music, converting a standard yoga class into a Punk Rock Yoga class involves such democratizing changes as holding the classes by candlelight, avoiding mirrors to negate body image issues, arranging the participants in a "sunburst" semicircle instead of rows that suggest hierarchy, and finishing the class with an "anarchist mantra."
Remind Me Again Why I Left Academia?
From the Journal of American Studies:
Elizabeth Klaver, Sites of Autopsy in Contemporary Culture (New York: State University of New York Press, 2005, $22.95). Pp. 180. ISBN 0 7914 6426 1.
The body—whether living, dying, autopsied, objectified or subjectified—has fascinated for centuries. Michel Foucault’s work on the body and medicine in The Birth of the Clinic (1963), Jonathan Sawday’s examination of the Renaissance body in The Body Emblazoned (1995), the essays in Donn Welton’s two-volume Body and Flesh (1998) and Steven Shaviro’s illuminating readings of bodies in film in The Cinematic Body (1993) are only a few examples of the array of work that has been undertaken on this subject.
Elizabeth Klaver contributes to this debate in many ways, first and foremost by offering new ways of reading contemporary culture’s relationship with the dead body. Talking of the Y-shaped incision that a pathologist performs on the cadaver to open the abdomen and chest (an act that she and a graduate student saw with their own eyes in an autopsy room in 2001), Klaver reflects on the meaning of tracing the shape of Y on a body, how it “etches the very point of the autopsy on the outer surface, enculturating the body as text” and how it “opens the book, authorizing the readability of an interior structure.”
This book indeed considers many sites of autopsy in novels, painting, theatre, film and television, inclusing Samuel Beckett’s Play, Patricia Cornwell’s novels and the O. J. Simpson trial. It explores autopsy as performance—as an action as well as an act for an audience. Apart from this theatrical aspect, the book also examines autopsy’s relation to the social. The use of the autopsy of John F. Kennedy’s body shortly after his assassination is appropriate, allowing Klaver to look into unorthodox sources such as the JFK autopsy diagram in the US National Archives and Records Administration, as well as fictional accounts of the autopsy such as Oliver Stone’s 1991 film JFK.
Klaver uses the idea of autopsy to explore our relationship with the body as a cultural sign, as a type of speech act, as myth and construct, as a philosophical problem, as a kind of subjectified material object and most importantly as one of the most contested sites of popular imagination. This book is an invaluable contribution to this still expanding field.
Elizabeth Klaver, Sites of Autopsy in Contemporary Culture (New York: State University of New York Press, 2005, $22.95). Pp. 180. ISBN 0 7914 6426 1.
The body—whether living, dying, autopsied, objectified or subjectified—has fascinated for centuries. Michel Foucault’s work on the body and medicine in The Birth of the Clinic (1963), Jonathan Sawday’s examination of the Renaissance body in The Body Emblazoned (1995), the essays in Donn Welton’s two-volume Body and Flesh (1998) and Steven Shaviro’s illuminating readings of bodies in film in The Cinematic Body (1993) are only a few examples of the array of work that has been undertaken on this subject.
Elizabeth Klaver contributes to this debate in many ways, first and foremost by offering new ways of reading contemporary culture’s relationship with the dead body. Talking of the Y-shaped incision that a pathologist performs on the cadaver to open the abdomen and chest (an act that she and a graduate student saw with their own eyes in an autopsy room in 2001), Klaver reflects on the meaning of tracing the shape of Y on a body, how it “etches the very point of the autopsy on the outer surface, enculturating the body as text” and how it “opens the book, authorizing the readability of an interior structure.”
This book indeed considers many sites of autopsy in novels, painting, theatre, film and television, inclusing Samuel Beckett’s Play, Patricia Cornwell’s novels and the O. J. Simpson trial. It explores autopsy as performance—as an action as well as an act for an audience. Apart from this theatrical aspect, the book also examines autopsy’s relation to the social. The use of the autopsy of John F. Kennedy’s body shortly after his assassination is appropriate, allowing Klaver to look into unorthodox sources such as the JFK autopsy diagram in the US National Archives and Records Administration, as well as fictional accounts of the autopsy such as Oliver Stone’s 1991 film JFK.
Klaver uses the idea of autopsy to explore our relationship with the body as a cultural sign, as a type of speech act, as myth and construct, as a philosophical problem, as a kind of subjectified material object and most importantly as one of the most contested sites of popular imagination. This book is an invaluable contribution to this still expanding field.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Bid High, Bid Often
Message from Kathleen Judge:
Posters I made for some recent Neko Case tours are being auctioned (on EBAY) by the Chicago Women's Health Center to raise money for the center.
Please go & bid. Tell any friends you think may be interested.
If you bid & win, know that your money will be going to a great organization that provides affordable health care for women and children in the Chicago area. 100% of poster sales go to CWHC.
First poster up for bidding is from the recent February tour.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320122094403
They have 5 different posters they'll be auctioning, consecutively.
Check back every week or so to see what new one is up for auction:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZchicagowomenshealthcenterQQhtZ-1
read more about CWHC:
http://www.chicagowomenshealthcenter.org/about.html
Thanks- BID HIGH & BID OFTEN -- it's a great organization!
Kathleen
Monday, June 04, 2007
Who Needs Babelfish? Primavera Band Profiles #1
The Fall
Indisputable legend of the post-punk and hidden personage in the interior lining of the rock history, Mark E. Smith remains pawned in contradicting the laws of the genetics and, at almost three decades of his debut, gives reasons to believe in a present as resplendent as his past. To "Reformation Post-TLC", his last album, it is necessary to add his collaboration with Mouse On Mars and an endless rosary of concerts that continue presenting The Fall as the great brut diamond of the British post-punk. Repetitive melodies, unintelligible bellows and lessons of history. Almost nothing.
Indisputable legend of the post-punk and hidden personage in the interior lining of the rock history, Mark E. Smith remains pawned in contradicting the laws of the genetics and, at almost three decades of his debut, gives reasons to believe in a present as resplendent as his past. To "Reformation Post-TLC", his last album, it is necessary to add his collaboration with Mouse On Mars and an endless rosary of concerts that continue presenting The Fall as the great brut diamond of the British post-punk. Repetitive melodies, unintelligible bellows and lessons of history. Almost nothing.
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