“Gradually it became plain to them that ancestor figures had lured Spider into the backlands and taken him away. But where to and for what reason? Was this death, or transition, and on what plane of being was Spider situated? The picture clarified, and precise details emerged, when three members of the Balbal family, all desert born, all strongly endowed with maparn, or magic, powers, had a shared dream in which Spider’s circumstances were spelled out, and this account soon became the standard version of the story, at least in the indigenous domain.”
“The second of June, a couple of years back. A 27-year-old man is biking in downtown Eugene, Oregon. David’s a clumsy, funny man. Easy to love. Lived here his whole life. He’s unsure of what he’s going to do with his Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies—maybe become an activist?—but for now he’s managing this restaurant that also does live music and maybe it’s not what he wants to do forever, but it’s pretty great right now.”
* * *
“One mistake, a broken condom or just a drunken infelicity…who knows? There could have been a kid. Not a copy. Better than a copy. A mix. The only thing that, before we invented culture, we ever passed on. Our stupid, maniacal genes. Us but not us. Our bodies and brains, but not our thoughts. Not our art, but our brush.”
“In a monoculture, it’s impossible to create any subculture that stands in opposition to the mainstream … because the mainstream simply appropriates it. I’m not talking about appropriation in the corporate/capitalist sense, where the signifiers of alternative culture are used to sell everything from German cars to Tom’s of Maine toothpaste. That’s nothing new. What’s weird about the monoculture is that it actually embraces subcultures and makes them part of the global mainstream at a far greater speed than has ever been achieved before. Even anti-consumerism is acceptable; check out the circulation of Adbusters in any given month.”
More than a decade ago, Jerry Porras and Jim Collins cited research from which they concluded that leaders who last and make a lasting difference have the exceptional ability to deal with paradoxes and seeming contradictions rather than yielding to the “tyranny of the ‘or.’” This is the tyranny that pushes people to believe that things must be either A or B, but not both.”
“While it may sound too good to be true, it is often possible to embrace both extremes of many apparent contradictions simultaneously. If we are willing to do some hard cognitive work and lay aside pure selfishness, we can find ways to have the best of both worlds.”
Regarding Avatar and District 9:
“These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color – their cultures, their habitats, and their populations. The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the “alien” cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become “race traitors,” and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It’s not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it’s not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It’s a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.”
“In this remarkable and fully rockin’ video, an Italian singer performs a rock piece whose lyrics are gibberish intended to sound like English. Entitled “What English Sounds Like to Foreigners,” the video is meant to illustrate which English phonemes and syllables carry into the foreign ear, but I tell you what, it sounded like English to me, too, though like English as sung in such a way as to make it hard to decipher.”
“This past Sunday I conducted a culinary experiment which provoked strong reactions on a couple of forums, and I feel I should write it up here as not a great deal of info about this exists online. Amanita muscaria, the familiar, iconic bright red fly agaric mushroom, is classified as ‘poisonous’ in most field guides. It contains two alkaloids, muscimol and ibotenic acid, which can be toxic at sufficient doses and produce a range of effects at modest doses (not to be confused with psychoactive mushrooms of the psilocybe variety). It has a widespread history of shamanic and medicinal use for its intoxicating properties, is popular among some contemporary psychonauts and appears in a lot of debatable anthropology.”
“The term ‘sulfites’ is an inclusive term for sulfur dioxide (SO2). SO2 is a preservative and widely used in winemaking (and indeed most food industries), because of its antioxidant and antibacterial properties. SO2 plays a very important role in maintaining a wine’s freshness.”
“Consumption of sulfites is generally harmless, unless you suffer from severe asthma or do not have the particular enzymes necessary to break down sulfites in your body. The amount of sulfites that a wine can contain is highly regulated around the world. Any wine containing more than 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur dioxide must affix to the label ‘contains sulfites’.”
I’ve got a few friends with all kinds of interesting trinkets lying around their home, but nothing quite as interesting as this!
Also by Khalid Mohtaseb. Some incredibly crisp footage with some powerful angles, delicious colours and more Kessler Pocket Dolly pans.
by Khalid Mohtaseb. Wow! Shot with a Canon 5D Mark 2. The slow pans are a result of using the Kessler Pocket Dolly. Powerful stuff.
Check out this site for a heap of free documentaries. If you’ve got even more time to kill this site is loaded full of them too.
Leonard Cohen with his poem A Thousand Kisses Deep. Seriously worth putting up with the annoying crowd for. Incredible.
This is an interesting short clip. The 70/30 oxygen/carbon dioxide mixture sounds fascinating.
I’m loving this site at the moment. These two are my favorites so far. Perfectly reproduced.
I don’t normally like ‘mega mixes’ but this is incredible. The best in hip hop from 1999 to 2009. Well worth a listen.
A friend has put this together for a uni project. It features another friend riding off into the sunset and my LBS (Cheeky Transport) Check it out!
The Tibetan Buddhist Society has finally launched its new site. If you’re interested in Buddhism, drop by one of the weekly classes.
From Keep Moving Sydney: “The Tongue Is Dead is the second mixtape from the Elefant Traks battle boss & its pure fire.” Thanks again FZA!
On the 1st March 2010 Spencer Tunick will be making a series of installations as part of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.