general

around the WWW (worldwide wrestling)

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"Why I Can't Vote for Obama" (bloggy) -- The post cites war crimes and rolling back limits on executive power; let's add the cat food commission and (late) blaming of the 2007 financial meltdown on public debt when the mess was clearly private sector-driven - "austerity or crisis" is far from our only choice

"New York Times Story Bizarrely Downplays Impact of Ocean Acidification" (Naked Capitalism) -- Hey, we can get by without a few shellfish

Stylish socks with a message from Rising Tensions

Matt Taibbi on Romney's debate BS.

Update: Richard Stallman, Why I Can't Support Obama

the new aesthetic - still new

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Speaking of Rhizome, was disappointed to see they've embraced James Bridle's "new aesthetic" pseudo-genre.
A couple of people picked that apart but of course they aren't on next week's panel. We can't have folks disagreeing -- it's unseemly.

Update: Bridle uses the Gish Gallop as a lecture strategy, overwhelming the listener with more spurious and contradictory examples than can be handled in one sitting. You can respond to this by either (i) saying "aww fuck you man, I give up" or (ii) rewarding Bridle with another speaking engagement.

belated smear response

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"Straw man" made me think of some random trash-talkin' last year I never dealt with. This is a comment I posted on Rhizome.org today, in a thread where my name came up:

Will Brand claims "there was a guide a few years ago to arguing with Tom Moody that described the strawman accusation as cheap to produce and costly to disassemble." If Brand can produce this "guide" and provide some context I'll be happy to respond to the accusation. Secondhand reference to a disappointed person's attempt at satire seems about par for Brand, as a writing technique.

My criticisms of Brand got me perma-blocked as a commenter on Paddy Johnson's blog (this happened a couple of months ago). But it's like playing whack-a-mole to stay on top of his disinformation across the wide internet. I've been letting some of it slide.

planes

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1337910886724-dumpfm-plams-planes

animated GIF by plams

level one: military history warplanes GIF pasted onto anime scene using overlay utility

level two: woman is dazzled as planes fly through her kitchen

level three: impossible welding together of "soft" domestic and "hard" military signifiers

level four: martha rosler-esque critique of feminine steretypes: the "plain" girl in apron and turtleneck (?), working in the kitchen, fantasizes about freedom and flying away, but also being a "bad girl" with guided missile stripper breasts and rotating tassels.

level five: militant globo-feminist: "Her Betty Boop kewpie doll face is an emblem of the masculine desire to dominate a pliable, child-like lover. The rounding of her eyes suggests racial self-hatred and self-colonization. There are some other complications in there but don't be fooled or misdirected. If you enjoy this GIF you are a bigot twice over, or complicit in your own enslavement."

pondering the nature of the internet user in vancouver

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But seriously, "Pro-Am: Art and Culture on the Internet" was a bad idea for a show/symposium/whatever. The few artists who might be confused for genuine amateurs, giving the proceedings that all-important "WTF?" edge, are effectively cancelled out by all the professional net artists constantly seen on the museum circuit. Also, if you're going to use a porno-hot term like "pro-am" in your title you need Sasha Grey on at least one of the panels.

Rule one of being a successful amateur on the internet is don't talk about being a successful amateur on the internet.