May 31, 2007
Halo 3... Hundred
Destructoid had fun with this. Somehow Bungee and Frank Miller tap into the same core of emotion that goes so often untapped in an age of post-heroism and neo-barbarism.
Transit through the Straits Update: Not that we are bereft of heroic spirit.
Armand Van Helden: NYC Beat
Which just goes to show how far a little flange can take a body. Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Science Fiction Book Club to close
The Science Fiction Book Club is to close (via Warren Ellis). I am not certain why I find the news so sad; it is not as if I had been a customer for about twenty-five years. Still, I would not part with those shelves of valueless first-Book Club editions...
Dark Blogules Update: Angie Schultz shares some SFBC memories; I expect many Flea-readers will empathize.
May 30, 2007
Another Jerusalem
BLDGBLOG points to the most wondrous thing. Part of Manhattan is made of London. And Coventry. And Bristol. The Luftwaffe did its worst to England and ships unloaded of their precious cargo would return to the Americas with rubble in the hold...
Down in the foundations of the city are other cities.
Thomas Tallis: Spem In Alium
"A song of fortie partes, made by Mr. Tallys." Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Wherever she was, there was Eden
Meryl Yourish posts a passage from Mark Twains' "Extracts from Adam's & Eve's Diaries" (via Instapundit). I have some vaguely clever observations to make about Creationism but after reading the last line of Eve's Diary I have decided they will keep. Seem to have got something stuck in my eye.
When the mighty brontosaurus came striding into camp, she regarded it as an acquisition, I considered it a calamity; that is a good sample of the lack of harmony that prevails in our views of things. She wanted to domesticate it, I wanted to make it a present of the homestead and move out. She believed it could be tamed by kind treatment and would be a good pet; I said a pet twenty-one feet high and eight-four feet long would be no proper thing to have about the place, because, even with the best intentions and without meaning any harm, it could sit down on the house and mash it, for any one could see by the look of its eye that it was absent-minded.
Still, her heart was set upon having that monster, and she couldn't give it up. She thought we could start a dairy with it, and wanted me to help milk it; but I wouldn't; it was too risky. The sex wasn't right, and we hadn't any ladder anyway. Then she wanted to ride it, and look at the scenery. Thirty or forty feet of its tail was lying on the ground, like a fallen tree, and she thought she could climb it, but she was mistaken; when she got to the steep place it was too slick and down she came, and would have hurt herself but for me.
Was she satisfied now? No. Nothing ever satisfies her but demonstration; untested theories are not in her line, and she won't have them. It is the right spirit, I concede it; it attracts me; I feel the influence of it; if I were with her more I think I should take it up myself. Well, she had one theory remaining about this colossus: she thought that if we could tame it and make him friendly we could stand in the river and use him for a bridge. It turned out that he was already plenty tame enough–at least as far as she was concerned– so she tried her theory, but it failed: every time she got him properly placed in the river and went ashore to cross over him, he came out and followed her around like a pet mountain. Like the other animals. They all do that.
May 29, 2007
Rule No. 2
Emilie Autumn's "Lessons in Being a Wayward Victorian Girl" include Rule No. 2. Just remember to breath while viewing.
Normally I don't hold with vlogging; I am making an exception.*
* I draw the line at crafts. This far and no further.
Billy Corgan: Walking Shade
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Magic Is Afoot
Except when it's ajar, of course. Arthur features an interview with Alan Moore on the effectively interchangeable subjects of the arts and the occult.
Alan Moore: Brian Eno has remarked that a lot of artists, writers, musicians have a kind of almost superstitious fear of understanding how what they do for a living works. It’s like if you were a motorist and you were terrified to look under the bonnet for fear it will go away. I think a lot of people want to have a talent for songwriting or whatever and they think Well I better not examine this too closely or it might be like riding a bicycle–if you stop and think about what you’re doing, you fall off.
Now, I don’t really hold with that at all. I think that yes, the creative process is wonderful and mysterious, but the fact that it’s mysterious doesn’t make it unknowable. All of our existences are fairly precarious, but mine has been made considerably less precarious by actually understanding in some form how the processes that I depend on actually work. Now, alright, my understanding, or the understanding that I’ve gleaned from magic, might be correctly wrongheaded for all I know. But as long as the results are good, as long as the work that I’m turning out either maintains my previous levels of quality or, as I think is the case with a couple of those magical performances, actually exceeds those limits, then I’m not really complaining.
May 28, 2007
His Dark Materials
While I have not read the first novel of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy upon which The Golden Compass is based I am an enormous fan of Nicole Kidman in slinky golden dresses. The trailer also features appropriate steam-technology and thus may provide a portal into a number of aspects of my true reality (as opposed to my going to work reality which is sadly zeppelin-free) (as of yet).
We have the technology Update: Mr. Ash writes to point to an HD version of the trailer. Ok, well that's a billion times better.
Einstürzende Neubauten: Sabrina
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Blackle
Blackle: Goth or not goth?*
* Some background information which may or may not reflect on the case (via Yummy Wakame).
In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine.
Supposedly.
May 25, 2007
Yes, I am posting this because Beth and Val are hot
So sue me.
How to explain the blogosphere and new media to people who pay for cable? Hmm. Take this WWTDD? post about the "Ask Anything with Beth and Val". Yes, their Anne Heche commentary was funny (ha ha) but funny (peculiar) was subsequent comment to the WWTTD? post. So far, so linear narrative. This is where the new media angle comes in: Beth and Val respond.*
* Caveat pascior: Some nsfw language and subject matter.
Serebro: Song #1
Hey, Serebro*, the Matrix called: They want their Michael Jackson video back. Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (hat tip to Jeff).
* According to Babelfish, "Serebro" is Russian for "wants Flea". True fact.
I want, therefore I need
Theodore Dalrymple week at the Flea continues with his June 2005 New Criterion review of Sally Satel and Christina Hoff Sommers' "One Nation Under Therapy: How the Helping Culture is Eroding Self-Reliance." This is a sympathetic reading of an argument against "therapism", a term to describe an undermining of self-reliance and, more fundamentally, what it means to be an adult human being.
It should go without saying this Oprahfication of the culture extends far beyond the unrelenting and unearned self-esteem of undergraduates - and tenured faculty - which drove me from teaching. Not just our educational system but our foreign policy, indeed, our survival in the face of savages, now depends on the same thinking.
May 24, 2007
Rammstein: Mein Teil
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Equality of opportunity
Theodore Dalrymple week at the Flea continues with this particularly apt observation.
May 23, 2007
The Man We Want to Hang
I met Kenneth Anger briefly at the press preview to "An Old Master", a show of Aleister Crowley's paintings and drawings at the October Gallery (April 7, 1998); the first such show, in fact, in some time.
The vagaries of art film distribution are such, however, that it is only thanks to YouTube I have now seen Anger's film of the subject. That being the show and not our contretemps over a technical point concerning his subject matter. I believe you will agree Crowley could not paint or draw a damn. Best then to use one of Frieda, Lady Harris' Thoth paintings to illustrate this post, a number of those were also on display.
Justin Timberlake: What Goes Around Comes Around
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (nsfw due to language and possibly a sense of ennui).
After the Shot
Conspiracy theories are nothing new. For example, did John Wilkes Booth escape justice after he assassinated President Lincoln? Um, no. But to the conspiracy minded actual plots and intrigues leaving them feeling helpless. Better then to imagine something that makes sense no matter how improbable. Not that this documentary makes quite this point and this is the BBC after all so all the usual warnings should apply. I am impressed mostly at a remarkably sane if somewhat pedestrian introduction to the issue. So, props to Jean Snedegar for getting the Beeb to air a documentary that does not blame George Bush, global warmening or the Joooooos. Though these days all that is kicked out of editorial and into the what is laughingly presented as the news.
May 22, 2007
Dorks & Damsels
The Flea is proud to present the trailer for what is quite possibly the greatest film ever made (more here). This via Unicorn Bacon, who cannot tell if it is a comedy. I am going with wish fulfillment/cry for help. Thunderbolt! Thunderbolt!
Talking Heads: Girlfriend Is Better
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (with a shout out to KisP).
How to Be Privileged and Yet Feel Extremely Aggrieved
Writing for The Guardian in August of 2002, Theodore Dalrymple considered the Bloomsbury Set via the work of Virginia Woolf.*
Such is, as Ace once more recently if less delicately put it, the "ovarian emoting" of a "stupid vag-clown". Though if these are less delicate times we have Woolf as much as anyone to blame. You feel me?
* There is a particularly fascinating interaction with the library of Michel Leiris, a man from a time when anthropologists still did anthropology.
May 21, 2007
The biggest entertainment event of the year
Note to self: Must budget for an Xbox 360* by September 25, 2007. Glitch or no glitch. Halo 3 has a release date.
* Better yet, an Xbox 360 Elite. Oh yes.
Is Quisnam Protero Damno Update: Check out the fifth video for Halo 3 multiplay. Gotta love the trip mine...
Throbbing Gristle: Discipline
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
So long as you don't enjoy it
Kicking off Theodore Dalrymple week at the Flea we find him writing for the New Statesman, arguing that to Protestant northerners even pleasure is a duty. The article predates the new century but its themes are enduring. A conservative Hindu friend recently explained to me his devotion to enlightenment through the "path of pleasure". I mentioned this to one of my schismatic Protestant co-religionists; she reacted before I could finish my sentence, "There's a path of pleasure?"
May 18, 2007
I don't do perky well
She looks plenty perky to me but this, as with so much else, is in the eye of the beholder. Also featured in this month's Ion Magazine; the photography of Caitlin Cronenberg. Yes, that Cronenberg. ICONonline and the National Post both have further details. I now have two goals in life: To make music for a Cronenberg film and to have a Cronenberg designed album cover.
“The whole inspiration is that it’s a Goth formal collection based on early Goth clothing and bands,” she says. “But that’s not necessarily all my influence. Different things influence me at different times.”
Surprisingly, she’s not influenced by her dad David’s years of filmmaking. In fact, it was only a few years ago, she sat down to watch some of his classic cult flicks such as Existenz and Crash. Most recently she enjoyed his most mainstream contribution to date, A History of Violence.
And while I am on about music career fantasies, a small note to say Ghost of a flea will be performing live at Savage Garden. It could lead to dancing. This will be an end of June date; specifics to follow.
Yes: Owner of a Lonely Heart
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
In the Big Stupid there is always a certain force of credibility
The Flea's Law: Sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from evil.
First Corollary to The Flea's Law: The Big Stupid is a stupidity so colossal people assume it must be true because no one would believe that someone could believe anything that stupid unless it were true.
“The key-word here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts.”
- George Orwell
May 17, 2007
The Alchemist
This month's Ion Magazine (pdf file) features an interview with early '70s director-prophet Alejandro Jodorowsky; an important inspiration to John Lennon's art-film audience and Marilyn Manson's wedding ceremony (you are looking for page 29). The whole piece is worth a look but I expect Flea-readers will share my dismay to learn of a particular factoid of which I at least had been blissfully unaware.
I had seen H.R. Giger's concept sketches for a film adaptation of Dune.* But I had no idea of the true scope and majesty of this the greatest movie never made. Time to adapt a continuum transfunctioner to my Odic battle zeppelin's improbability drive, load up on gold bullion and do some time-traveling creative production.
* More Giger film design here. Also, Giger furniture including his Harkonnen Chair. Nice.
Test Dept: Total State Machine
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Sympatico bites
After six years as a Sympatico high speed customer I am about to cancel my account. For years, Sympatico was a unique brand under the Bell umbrella for providing excellent reliability and technical support albeit for more than twice what some of its new broadband competitors charged. The combination of excellent support and the bother of changing to a new internet provider kept me a loyal customer even through the last six months of increasingly poor reliability.
Sympatico is now truly a Bell product. The last three weeks of rude and incompetent technical support has destroyed years of brand loyalty. Last night's performance left me reaching for the blood pressure medication after I was told that not only could Sympatico not get my four day old modem working but that the issue would not be forwarded to another technical support agent, to Bell Canada for a line check (this was the problem on Sunday and we have had a storm since) or followed up in any way. This combined with no reply whatsoever to Monday's emails to Sympatico Customer service means this is the end of the line. And now I am no longer bound to Bell for my telephone line I expect I will switch it too just as I switched to a competitor's long distance service several years ago.
Bell: This is why you are going out of business.
I would be grateful for Toronto-based Flea-readers for suggestions regarding an alternative high speed internet carrier. I would prefer to avoid Rogers but any port in a storm. At least with Rogers you know exactly how bad the service is going to be in advance. My apologies in advance for any disruption to Flea-posting.
May 16, 2007
Serebro: Song #1
Beautiful Atrocities returns to the blogosphere for a brief shining moment with a review of what is reported to be the worst Eurovision Song Contest ever. Which is saying something. Jeff has an excellent break-down of performance highlights including my new favourite musical act*: Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.**
* Though in fairness the Bulgarian entry was awesome. If you have ever wondered what authentic vampire babes are listening to as they descend upon latter day Jonathan Harkers the answer is Elitsa & Stoyan.
** I could totally have produced this. Hmm.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
But when it's a Havana it's a smoke. Fred Thompson, not returning to next season's Law & Order and taking time to deliver the single greatest political smack-down I have ever seen. Make that President Thompson, please.
Living on a prayer
Christopher Hitchens rules (via Tim Blair).
I probably once did pray for an erection, but not addressed to anyone in particular. Nor completely addressed to my cock. You’re too polite to ask if the prayer was answered.
Was it?
No. There was an answer, but I don’t think it was the result of the prayer. After all, if one was not a mammal, and could get erections on demand, there’d be no need for prayer in the first place.
May 15, 2007
A lot of temps on the Death Star too, apparently
An Imperial Press Conference cannot spin hard enough to obscure Palpatine's restricted career horizons. Not to worry. He can always get into trading carbon offsets.
Kraftwerk: Trans Europe Express
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Useful idiots
Former KGB agent and Soviet defector Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov explains Communist psychological warfare methods and results. Useful idiots, indeed. I want a transcript of this interview stapled to the forehead of half the faculty who ever taught me and half the faculty I ever worked with. The other half will also find themselves up against the wall. But it only seems fair we have some acknowledgment before the boot descends.
May 14, 2007
Like Firefly in an RV
Misunderestimated, Outland is best remembered for its one-line pitch, viz "High Noon in space." Simple, elegant and just what cautious production companies want to hear. But it can be all to easy to mistake a gimmick for an underlying art. Take Firefly, for example. The trick to Firefly is not that it is a Western set in space but an adventure with capers as a narrative core. We know the protagonists are rascals but we feel compelled to side with them against the Verse. Perhaps it is the old Christian message that despite our imperfections and despite our failings we might find Grace in spite of ourselves.
There is something precisely analogous at work in The Riches. The show shares Firefly's tendency to haunting fiddle and the cast inspires the same unbridled affection. I don't think I have ever loved a fictional character as much as I have loved MInnie Driver as Dahlia Malloy.
Nelly Furtado Say It Right
Call it Stendhal's Syndrome, call it a would be Toreador caught up in the beauty of the world again, call it a near flawless pop song: I bow down to the mastery of Demo Castellon. Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Reverb related: "Here comes the rain again" by Eurythmics. Also awesome: Nelly Furtado and Charlotte Church covering "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.
The Nietzsche Family Circus
Fanatics are picturesque, mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reasons (via The Drink-Soaked Trotskyite Popinjays for WAR).
May 11, 2007
A mean looking beast
Long-time Flea-readers will know I had the great honour and opportunity to spend two years working with a team from BAe Systems Marine (then Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd) including the naval architect for the Astute-class next generation SSN. Given the security at Barrow-in-Furness - and particularly in the sheds - it is with some surprise I learn the BBC was allowed a look around (via The Stupid Shall Be Punished).
Gizmodo has more Astute porn to illustrate the point. Fun fact: BAe is sometimes credited as secretly being drafted by James Cameron for a redesign of the Conestoga-class USS Sulaco and Marine pulse rifle. While Wikipedia somewhat more credibly sites Syd Mead as the designer, Chris Nelson has a point. Personally, I would be delighted if the Royal Navy ran with an H.R. Geiger theme. And if we could elect a government with the stones to use it.
The last one
Warren Ellis reviews the latest Bjork offering, Volta.
More at the link. His thoughts on Spider-Man 3 are yet more succinct.
May 10, 2007
Jon & Vangelis: The Friends of Mr. Cairo
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
The Penalty of Projection
Carl Sagan explains elementary Puzzle Box tesseract construction via a trip to Flat Land.
May 09, 2007
As seen from Northanger Abbey
It is a little more blatant vanity blogging at the Flea today with an interview at Mr. Joe Blog's Blog!. Aside from his views on the way God intended whiskey to be drunk, he seems an entirely reasonable chap.
And I was delighted to discover Postpolitical through a Technorati search. This post is the first blogosphere-based review of my music... for me, a big deal.
I am particularly impressed by Lee Garnett's true and faithful use of "industrial" - a term so often misapplied to the likes if NIN* - and that he took the time to consider my stated musical influences. For Flea-readers who are not familiar with Clock DVA he links "The Hacker", a track from Buried Dreams; one of the creepiest albums I have ever heard.** My favourite piece from the album is "The Unseen". I think of it every time I read At the Mountains of Madness, I will link it once it makes its way on to the tubes...
* Thanks again to everyone who has sent me links to the new Trent Reznor marketing campaign and album material. No, I am still not going to link to it.
** Reportedly Jeffrey Dahmer's listening choice as the cops arrived. Thanks for that image Wikipedia!
Hoist by his own petard
So to speak... John Donovan ventures forth from the Castle to star at 2007 MilBlog Conference (hat tip to Babbling Brooks). It seems keynote speaker President George W. Bush was over-shadowed.
For so it has been written in the sacred scrolls: Heh. Indeed.
May 08, 2007
So reluctant to admit it
There is no improving on the tag-line "Educating Dita" or Greg Sorensen's eerie take on her hyper-real pin-up image... The Telegraph interviews the extraordinary Dita Von Teese on Marilyn Manson, biography and - critically - the prospect of finding new love.
Oh Dita, do not rule out the internets. We have such sights to show you.
Feist: 1, 2, 3, 4
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.*
* Hat tip to the Sister of the Flea.
Or we could just stick our heads in the sand
Edward Luttwak, author of amongst other things the tour de force "Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire"*, considers our contemporary Parthian problems with a novel idea: ignore them.
A fair point. The difficulty - as advanced by various Rantburg comment - is that irrelevant failures with nuclear weapons are irrelevant failures which must be attended to. Or dealt with, to put it more bluntly.
* None of which appears to be on line, unfortunately. Wikipedia offers diversions on the Roman military and on Roman strategy by way of compensation. Also Parthians.
May 07, 2007
I know of no time where matters of the spirit and matters of public policy ought to be more together than at this time
My dear American cousins,
Please elect Senator Fred Thompson to be President of the United States. You would be doing the rest of us a big favour.
For example. And these stories. And another example (hat tip to the Jawas for yet more Draft Fred Thompson linkage).
Yours,
The Flea
PS by way of Update: The Jawas have more Fred Thompson stuff. His address to the Lincoln Club is particularly impressive. This is the first time I have heard the views of the rightosphere articulated by a politician. This man is awake and he is paying attention.
The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour.
- Winston Churchill
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66: Day Tripper
I was out with an American ex on Friday night. She was on about how great her boots were when we talked on the phone. I showed up in Stompity Stomp Stomp regalia, looked at her boots and said, "Those are some ok boots."
Other people think the same way as I do but to get their point across they use earrings in the past. Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
May 04, 2007
The latest in telecalculography
Jake of All Trades reports the latest development in telecalculography, a steampunk mouse "Bug".
This sounds a remarkably handy device - if you will excuse the word-play - and it strikes me as just the thing for enabling telecalculograph difference paintings of steampunk machinery (hat tip to the Flea's Kingston Agent in Place). Or, for the most advanced motion picture telecalculography, entire stop-motion features such as The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello. Surely this development implies an Age of Reason and Scientific Progress is upon us and an end to dervish irrationalism.
Bewitched: I'll blow you a kiss in the wind
Warning: This is almost inconceivably hot. Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.*
* Bonus and extra: The Iffin' Song.
Only the marginally greater stupidity of the enemy can save us now
Which is no compliment to us considering the enemy is offended by ice cubes, thinks masculinity is determined by an aptitude for rape and - excepting what they can loot or extort through welfare as warfare - has a seventh-century technological basis. Fear not: One tiny candle has been lit against the wall of darkness over Mordor as Virgin Atlantic removes an evil "documentary" from its in-flight film line-up.
Not good enough.
Someone in authority at Virgin Atlantic needs to take public responsibility, apologize and resign. Or better yet, be fired. Let us be clear on one point: I am not American. I do not believe in freedom of speech. I believe some kinds of speech represent a semantic contagion and should be treated as a public health risk.* I believe Virgin's marketing department should be charged with sedition and flogged, imprisoned or deported on a mix-and-match basis. Failing that, I have no intention of using any Virgin product ever again. No flights, no cds, no mobile phones, no nothing.
Virgin's simpering reply to my email:
Many thanks for your email.
We are really sorry that you felt you had to write to us about this movie.
We will not be showing Loose Change 2 on our aircraft. Virgin Atlantic is known for showing the latest movies and media trends, without censorship as we believe travellers have the right to choose from as wide a programme as possible. However as there is a danger with this movie that viewers may be offended, although they have the choice not to view it, we have decided to remove it from the in flight Entertainment menu.
We appreciate you taking the time to get in touch with us.
Yours sincerely
Caroline Lynam
Customer Relations Manager
And my reply to Virgin Atlantic:
The "choice not to view it"?
Why not give customers the choice not to view "Hitlerjunge Quex"? You obviously feel put out that anyone would be offended by your decision to include this evil film in your in-flight line-up. Any organization incapable of this basic level of cognition - or moral judgment - can obviously not be trusted to make rational security decisions, let alone protect my life at 35,000 feet.
Here is a "choice": I choose to never purchase or use any Virgin branded product ever again.
Yours,
Flea
Contact Virgin:
Virgin Mobile Canada
Virgin.com
Contact a Virgin company
* Relapsed Catholic hosts a remarkable think-piece on the subject of the ROP(MA), mental illness and public health (hat tip to Taylor & Company).
May 03, 2007
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts: I Love Rock and Roll
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Swivel service
The British government once again shows its priorities: the Health and Safety Executive has decided moving a chair is too great an ordeal for their office workers.
May 02, 2007
Your decision to air a 9/11 conspiracy theory "documentary"
Dear Virgin Atlantic,
I will never buy another Virgin product of any kind ever again. You might as well hand out copies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or Mein Kampf. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
The hell with you, your airline and your brand. And the hell with Richard Branson too.
The Flea
ghostofaflea.com
Warning: Contains disturbing scenes.
Was 9/11 a government set up? You decide.
Everyone's talking about it so we thought you'd like to see the film that started out as a home movie and became one of the most downloaded documentaries of all time. Was 9/11 a government set up? Were the twin towers brought down in a controlled explosion for an insurance payday? These questions and more are posed in this controversial film, seen by millions, derided by many. Now it's your chance to make up your own mind.
cc Virgin Mobile Canada
cc Virgin.com
Contact Virgin:
Virgin Mobile Canada
Virgin.com
Contact a Virgin company
Update: Rusty Shackleford adds: "Was there really a Holocaust? We just as the questions folks, you decide!"
And I want to add: I cannot believe the state of our culture that Virgin would even imagine airing this thing let alone decide to do so. There are a lot of people in the decision making chain for an in-flight movie - whole marketing departments - and they thought this was a great subject for kids on vacation on an airplane.
They should all be fired.
May 3 Update: Virgin withdraws the film. Not good enough. Someone in authority at Virgin Atlantic needs to take public responsibility, apologize and resign. Otherwise, I have no intention of using any Virgin product. No flights, no cds, no mobile phones, no nothing.
Out damned T-dot
Horror as a genre only finds success - one might say only finds itself - in combination with other genres. Horror and science fiction, say, in the case of Ridley Scott's Alien, horror and comedy in the original Joss Whedon Buffy film and, of course, horror and romance in Anne Rice' Interview with the Vampire. Or romance again in Blood Ties by Tanya Huff whose protagonist must "walk a line between the supernatural and earthly worlds, torn between the men on either side."
This is the show I have been waiting for. Not only does Blood Ties provide me with the elixir of life that is precious human vitae Vitamin Cheese missing since Hex but has set the stage for my own regothification project.* Ponderous and indigestible Can Lit may get passed of as Southern Ontario Gothic but to my mind Huff is the only living writer who has explored what Gwendolyn MacEwen called the Toronto inside Toronto. It is frankly wonderful to see her stories come to (un)life.
* In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out Tanya is a friend of the Flea.
Skinny Puppy: Worlock (Live)
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Optical illusion
If you look really carefully after a few seconds you'll be able to see Toronto's CN Tower in the background (via the Jawas).
May 01, 2007
There’s a piece of metal in your brain. You will die if we remove it. Think of it as jewelry.
Thanks to Jon Favreau - who apparently really does know what he is doing - the right actor has finally been cast for a superhero film, viz Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man.
"I guess that when Stan Lee created the character back in the mid-1960s - to see if he could base a superhero on a hard-partying, womanising billionaire who manufactures weapons, and still make him likeable enough to sell comic books - he clearly won his bet.
The kick ass image is courtesy of Bully's Comics while the good news with a hat tip to Ace, describing this as "the most awesomely awesome comic-book movie eveh." Also awesome would be Johnny Depp as Dr. Strange though I doubt that is ever going to happen.