February 27th, 2004
the Auslander is still in India
interesting stories, nice photos.
[….] And a few nights ago, temple music and amplified chanting and speakers blaring throughout the night. Another deity, one for every day of your life. There’s not much quiet, because when the Hindus shut down their sound systems at 3 or 4 a.m., it’s only an hour or two before the first amplified call to prayer.
We take a rickshaw over to Natraj Restaurant, all locals, almost all men, sit down and there’s no menu, the waiters just circle around filling your thali with delectable veg. dishes and sauces. One waiter has the chapatis, one has the sauces, one has the rice, one has the pappads. All you can eat. Best food in town. Lunch for two with 2 colas = 80 rupees ($1.80)
Last night at dinner (macaroni and cheese, Kashmiri pullao, butter naan, lemon soda, and a couple masala chais), we watch the old James Bond film “Octopussy.” Part of it was filmed here, and all the local restaurants make a really big deal of that, so much so that every restaurant in the tourist ghetto (otherwise known everywhere universally as the “old city”) screens the film every evening at 7 p.m. As if restaurant work wasn’t hard enough already, you have to watch that silly film every god damn night while you’re waiting tables? Anyway, the rickshaw chase scenes are actually quite similar to ordinary Indian rickshaw traffic, and seem much less scary and impressive now that we’ve been here awhile. [….]
tags: friends & family
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February 27th, 2004
new things in FOUNDLINGS
Since I last told you about it. Which was, well, I don’t remember when. Merry Christmas.
tags: insite, visual
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February 26th, 2004
Wired News: Hollywood Wins DVD-Copying Case
“Companies have a responsibility to develop products that operate within the letter of the law and that do not expose their customers to illegal activities,” said Jack Valenti, chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America.
I can’t wait to see how the gun and knife industry complies with this sort of statement….
tags: generic
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February 26th, 2004
Politech: How NOT to make ricin
or 101 reasons not to trust the Internet.
tags: generic
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February 25th, 2004
Mad Professor.net
Mark Frauenfelder’s media review blog.
tags: generic
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February 25th, 2004
Mediamatic: Mediamatic: Mediamatic.net
ahhhhhh. I haven’t seen these guys since 1993.
tags: generic
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February 25th, 2004
Matchbook - O - Rama
[inevitable Doors reference omitted.]
tags: generic
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February 24th, 2004
k-punk on THINGS TO COME
I haven’t seen this for, lo–these many years. High time to review.
tags: generic
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February 23rd, 2004
NYT: Will Eisner draws a rebuttal
Will Eisner is tackling the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It’s in its inking phase, now. I’m really looking forward to this; while I haven’t had much direct exposure to Mr. Eisner’s work (soon, soon!), his fingerprints are everywhere in contemporary comics–and besides, he pretty much invented the “graphic novel.”
Years ago, I read Norman Cohn’s Warrant For Genocide* , a 1970 excavation of the origins and fabrications of the ridiculous story–an interesting, if horrifying, example of how fiction can overtake truth. I highly reccomend Mr. Cohn’s “The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages” and “Europe’s Inner Demons: An Enquiry Inspired By the Great Witch-Hunt.”
*an interesting & detailed review/synopsis, that wants to take it as a lesson for mistrust of the New World Order.
tags: comics
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February 21st, 2004
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, with its unpronounceable title, indecipherable text, and unidentifiable author, is one of the most puzzling, enigmatic and fascinating books ever conceived. Since its publication (1499), it has surprised its readers with its vast knowledge of architecture and landscape and garden design, but also engineering, painting and sculpture. Part fictional narrative, and part scholarly treatise, the book is, in addition, an extreme expression of erotic furore, aimed at everything, especially architecture, that the protagonist Poliphilo encounters in his quest for his beloved Polia, whose name translated from the Greek as meaning “many things.” The book is also a political manifesto defending the right of women to express their own sexuality and the superiority of Eros, beauty and knowledge over aggression and war. Liane Lefaivre, in her Leon Battista Alberti’s Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, is the first to attribute this strange, dreamlike manifesto in defense of humanism to Leon Battista Alberti.
tags: generic
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February 20th, 2004
Flowers for Al and Don
This afternoon, on Boing Boing, I read about this great idea. Basically, people are generously sending flowers to random gay couples waiting in line to get married in San Francisco. This is a brilliant idea, but I immediately recognized a problem. The flower shop cited, Flowers by the Bay, is apparently charging a minimum of US $47 to deliver these flowers. That’s probably market value, but it’s a bit steep for individuals who might want to help out (particularly if they’re paying in Canadian dollars or other weaker currencies) but can’t spare fifty bucks.
Hence, Flowers for Al and Don. I’m using a PayPal account to collect money, with which I’ll buy bouquets in bulk for the couples in line. You can donate as much or little as you please, and I pledge that every cent (minus the PayPal fees) that I receive will go to this project. If make a donation, and want your name and/or Web site to be listed below, let me know when making your payment in PayPal.
tags: generic
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February 19th, 2004
retro lounge
bringing you the best of bygone eras
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February 19th, 2004
POLAR ALERT
holy. crap.
& check out the cassette labels.
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February 19th, 2004
Foam Costumes: Food
Lycra bodysuits not included with any of the costumes below:
tags: food
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