I've started following the blog of John Carlos Frey on Huffington Post lately and I'm surprised that even there on HuffPo there are some rather conservative people who are anti-immigrant and who are not very deep thinkers.  And there's the same kind of tired old arguments that fail to address the real reasons for things.  Even Frey's writing seems to miss  (or avoid?) the big elephants in the room.  After writing a long comment to his latest post and realizing there was a word limit that I went past, I decided to put my thoughts in full here. Read more>>>

posts from the Truth On The Line website.

This is an exciting time in the creation of the Truth On the Line pilot episode.

We have a first assembly rough cut and the story is finally all there together. But of course there is still lots of work at the edit suite left to do. Alternate takes and shots must be assessed, sound must be cleaned, music selected, graphics needs to be generated and placed, and color correction will be necessary.

From the beginning of post, 5 large "frame grab boards" have hung on the wall of the edit room. These boards are a practice inspired by famed editor Walter Murch. Each camera set up in the show is represented by one or more printed still photos, arranged roughly in shot order. As we work, the boards on the wall provide a quick and easy visual representation of the project and what material is available to us.

This week has been a busy time of meetings with department heads and trusted advisors. Decisions and discussions that will determine the shape and future of the show are underway.

As we go forward from here, we'll also ramp up our efforts to get the word out about this project and start talking with interested allies. Expect to see more and more activity on this website as the final cut approaches! To be sure you stay up to date, be sure to get on the mailing list (on the front page of the web site) or join the facebook group if you're reading this there. Read more>>>

author: Margaret Killjoy

name: Steev

average rating: 4.00

book published: 2009

rating: 4

read at: 2010/01/21

date added: 2010/01/23

shelves: politics

I keep hearing about Lady Gaga all the time and even reading articles about her in the New Yorker, like the one about the hat that superstar architect Frank Gehry designed for her. But I'd never heard any of her songs till this morning in the car when I happened to have the radio tuned to some crap mainstream station. I knew it was her, just guessing based on the weirdness of it and the fact that part of the odd gobbledegook chorus was a repeated "ga-ga-oh-la-la" or something.  I was so struck by the track that when I got home I looked her up on youtube and found the music video. It was called "Bad Romance" and when I watched it I was so disturbed that I literally cried. I don't mean cry as some kind of metaphor for frustration or anger or whatever. I mean I actually was so sad and upset that I started to break down and weep.

Now before I explain why let me make clear Read more>>>

I heard about the National Geographic Channel's new series "Border Wars" a couple weeks ago and upon looking at its webpage knew that it would be complete crap - basically another "Cops" but focused exclusively on latinos in the southwest.  It comes at a surprise that it would be on this channel, but after Fox launched its own fear-mongering "Border Patrol" program last year it seems logical that other networks would want to get in on the act, considering the depth of xenophobia in the U.S. audience.

John Carlos Frey writes a seething review of "Border Wars", and the most important point, in my view, that he raises is this one: Read more>>>

author: Roberto Bolaño

name: Steev

average rating: 3.79

book published: 2002

rating: 4

read at: 2010/01/07

date added: 2010/01/09

shelves: novels, own-it, politics

About 8 months ago I took part in an ambient experimental audio jam session with Glenn Weyant and Adam Cooper-Teran.  Adam was recording the whole thing on the video camera of his laptop, and afterward I composited some other found material onto the footage, and then he took what I did and said he would process it further.  I didn't know he'd finished with it till I came across it on his Vimeo channel:

Since it was originally just 3 boring dorks in a living room pressing buttons (except Glenn who gently hits and scrapes metal things), this super-abstractification is a welcome improvement. Read more>>>