For quite a while, I was toying with the idea of buying an mp3 player. As it turned out, if you want to make an educated decision about which one to buy, you’re in trouble. To make a long story short, here is what I learned from talking to people in electronics stores and from reading online “reviews”: 1. “the harddrives in those players break within a few months anyway” (actual quote from an employee at a store); 2. mp3 players break when being dropped from heights (you wouldn’t believe the number of people who seriously complain about this in their reviews); 3. There are two vast communities of people out there whose sole reason for living seems to be to promote/trash Apple’s iPod - with about ninety percent of the discussions centered on whether iPods look “cool” or not (I personally am not too thrilled about their design, but what do I know about visual stuff?). To summarize, if you want to waste hours and hours of your time, try the internet. For extra amusement, then go to an electronics store and try to get any reasonable information out of one of the people working there. PS: I ended up buying an mp3 player. No, it’s not an iPod.
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If you live in the US, I’m sure you’re familiar with the Power of Pride bumper stickers. I find those slightly odd given that a) pride is one of the seven deadly sins (see this page for a background) and b) christian religion supposedly plays such an important role in people’s lifes here. Just for completeness, the seven deadly sins are pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth.
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I don’t know what exactly it is that makes this so particularly weird. Is it the fact that you would normally expect to find something like this in Japan? Or is it the fact that even though it looks like a joke it’s real? Or is it the fact that that’s what’s left of one of the biggest business scams in living German memory (They got millions from investors to build what they called “cargolifters” - gigantic Zeppelins to transport containers, and when they went under all that was left was this huge dome)? Or is it that when you look at the photos you ask yourself “where are those guests they’re talking about”?
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Here’s one of my theories: Every piece of advanced technology that you own dimishes your social skills by some - sometimes vast - amount. Take for example cell phones, the pest of modern technology. Seemingly normal people get instantly transformed into utterly annoying retards once their little phones ring. The vast majority of cell phone users simply doesn’t comprehend that the (let’s be nice and call it) information they’re trying to convey (about 90% or which consists of “what?”, “oh my god” and “so I was like and he was like”) is transmitted electronically. Thus, unlike in the case of two yoghurt containers that you connect by a string to communicate with your friend, you do not have to yell. And not only that. In addition to the fact that the little cell phone will transmit normal speech perfectly, in about 99.99% of all cases the other people, who are forced to listen, are not interested in the conversation. Coudal Partners now decided to do something about it, by creating little cards that you can hand out.
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This spam email amused me greatly. It was apparently written by somebody who is a fan of 1970’s heavy metal bands (or ice cream makers) - the ones that added weird umlauts to their names to make those look (sound?) more appealing: “Gët Thë Lowëst Pricë Avaliablë, You Dësërvë It! XXXXX ìs thë fìrst nìcotìnë-frëÂë pìll thât, âs pârt of â comprëhënsìvë progrâm from your hëÂâlth cârë profëssìonâl, cân hëlp you stop smokìng. XXXXX ìs usëd ìn smokìng cëssâtìon. (SMOKìNG DëTëRRëNT) XXXXX ìs thë fìrst nìcotìnë-frëÂë pìll to hëlp you QUìT SMOKìNG.â prëscrìptìon mëdìcìnë,XXXXX hâs hëlpëd mâny smokërs, ëvën thosë who hâvë smokëd 20 yëÂârs or morë, put down thëÂìr cìgârëttës. No onë hâs to know you’rë usìng ìt.” You just can’t make this shit up. Amazing!
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Well, there’s spam, and there’s spam, and then there’s the rare person who knows what to do with it. Brilliant.
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What can I say? Weight Watchers recipe cards from 1974. I still haven’t found out what was wrong with the 1970s. I think I got a good grip on the horribly hideous 1980s. (thanks, Karen!)
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“Sometimes, there is an amazingly simply explanation for the dreaded ‘traffic jam out of nowhere’.” One of my favourite German cartoonists, Bernd Pfarr, died yesterday.
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Have a look at vintage jazz LP covers. That’s from a time when music came in nice packages.
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If you want to get the latest glimpse at how absurd the entertainment industry has become have a look at this article in the New York Times. It’s all about the “problem” “serious” musicians have when they are “attractive”. Note how you’re only a “serious” musicians when you’re playing Bach on a violin!
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“… is many things. But is it criticism?” asks James Marcus
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“Popular science magazines used to be aimed at the geeky wannabe inventor. Today, it’s all about the glamour of war.” - story
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“However much you might play at seeing his work as just another movie, Gibson has gone outside the normal bounds of show business and into the territory of America’s religious absolutists: John Ashcroft having himself anointed with oil, gay-hating lawmakers attempting to write Leviticus into the Constitution, antiabortionists shooting to kill, generals declaring holy war against the Muslim infidel. Our country has a great, great many such people who do not consider their convictions to be open to discussion. They maintain a significant hold on political power; and since a lot of them have an antinomian streak, I doubt the rule of law would stand in their way, should we manage to loosen their grip. The ever-boyish and ingenuous Gibson, with his simple faith, has made The Passion of the Christ as a gift for these people. “Thumbs down.” - Stuart Klawans in The Nation
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Nice article about the exquisite mayhem of Benedikt Taschen. (thru ashleyb.org)
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I filed this under “Culture” but it’s as much “Architecture” and “Photography”: Have a look at this splendid display of Chinese rural architecture.
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A little creative fun from the readers of b3ta.com
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It’s all about beat poetry.
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One of the most famous no-name brands in Germany is called “Ja!” Those must be the most affirmative products ever made. The packaging is all white, and there’s a tilted blue “Ja!” written on it. Underneath, in red, it says what you’re buying. So chocolote would be “Ja! Schokolade” and it’s 29 cents a bar (that’s European cents which, at the time of this writing, is around 30 US cents). You also get what you pay for: The chocolate is terrible. Some of the products are quite nice, though. Needless to say, anything as ridiculous as this easily becomes a cult and the no-name brand “Ja!” now is a fairly well known no-no-name brand. A bunch of German artists decided to style a whole apartment in the “Ja!” style, with big blue “Ja!” all over the place and, in red… You get the idea. Even if you have never seen this stuff I’m sure you’ll enjoy the Ja! Fotos website.
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“One Planet Down, Eight To Go” Rover put as a caption on an ad for an SUV (SubUrban Vehicle - for those people who find that life is a constant problem for their self-esteem). Ad Whore dissects ads. Which in principle we don’t need because we’re all so smart that we look right through them, right? So we have a good laugh about them when we drive home to suburbia in our SUVs, taking a sip from that great Starbucks coffee while we tell our families using our new cell phone.
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Most people don’t know that apart from being a fascinating filmmaker Wim Wenders is a photographer, too.
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I had shown this poster in an earlier entry. Elena Kachuro-Rosenberg sent me email and told me the story behind this poster which is so interesting (and amusing) that I’d like to share it. Elena writes “note that most of the images at the Pitts U. site are of POST-Soviet product labels and posters. The second one - ‘Seksa u nas net / We have no sex [in Russia]’ - must date from sometime in the late 1980s to early 1990s. It’s a pity that no publication references or specifics are provided on the site. Anyhow, most likely, it is a reference to the famous incident that took place in 1987, when the American Phil Donahue co-conducted one of the first TV-‘bridges’ with Russian and American audiences. He had asked the Russian audience a question about sex, and a Russian woman (from somewhere within St. Petersburg’s city gov’t hierarchy) got up and declared ‘U nas v strane seksa net’ (‘In our country there is no sex’). Both audiences laughed and the phrase became an infinite source of puns for years to come, and in general, became immensely popular as well as applicable. There are reasons to believe that along with other developments, it propelled the proliferation of sex-talk and sexualization of the public sphere in Russia, in the 1990s. Incidentally, recently, while visiting some relatives here in the US who receive Russian TV via satellite, I saw this woman appear on a program commemorating St. Petersburg’s 300th anniversary. She was asked to elaborate on what she meant by her phrase in 1987, to which she responded that she merely implied that in Russia a more elevated and refined form of human interaction is practiced, that of romantic love. :o) Whatever the intention, the original statement clearly reflected not so much the individual prudishness (x ridiculousness) but the unspoken gap between public and private spheres that existed in pre-perestroika days. During the 1990s this catch-phrase was used and abused to amuse and enlighten innumerable times. Scholarly studies on contemporary pop culture, and on public health and sex education developments have utilized it as well. “Regarding the above image — the neutered couple’s facial features evoke a combination of generic faces in the depictions of ‘average’ Russians in Soviet-era poster art. For examples, see this poster or this one (‘Come, comrade, to our collective farm!’)”
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If you’re into Japanese animations you shouldn’t miss the new Weebl and Bob episode.
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Glen Allison’s website has lots of very nice photos taken while traveling.
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p.o.v. - a Danish journal of film studies has a whole issue on Wim Wenders’ “Wings of Desire”. (thru incoming signals)
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All about Japanese superheroes (incl. some incredibly goofy music!). (thru geisha asobi blog)
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Rap battle between Weebl and Wee Bull.
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A cool site with tons of old Bollywood LP covers. Pictured above: Gumnaam, a spectacular feast for the senses (albeit a long one).
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Index Magazine has a full list of interviews online, incl. but not limited to, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Naomi Klein, Rem Koolhaas, Parker Posey, and Wolfgang Tillmanns.
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A great collection of Bollywood posters, there are literally hundreds of them. (thru iconomy)
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Happy 1st Birthday, Weebl and Bob!. And don’t forget to check out Wee-Lo.
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On the left you see Miss Germany 2002. That’s what you get when you remove the presentation (make-up, bikini, hair do, …). Obviously, the woman on the right is way more attractive, isn’t she? Bummer, she isn’t real. German scientists composed her face on the computer, using a composite of the faces of the competition’s finalists. And if you’re interested in “plenty of information on a large research project on ‘facial attractiveness’ that has been carried out at the universities of Regensburg and Rostock in Germany” click here. (thru muxway)
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There are still several hundred monarchs” (thru Dublog)
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Tartart Magazine is quite cool and comes as a pdf file. (thru thingsmagazine.net)
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Free Old Time Radio Shows (thru incoming signals)
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Feedback on Ebay isn’t exactly what you’d imagine it is. It’s more like American Idol where everybody is Paula and everything is just great. Not for andy46477, though. Sample: “Praise: You’re 15 genes short of HUMAN. But I mean that in a good eBay way. Yes I do!” More of this on page 1 and page 2. (found thru Cheese Dip)
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An American expert in Islamic art tries to measure the cultural devastation caused by the Baghdad museum looting. By Karen Croft April 17, 2003 - Linda Komaroff is curator of Islamic art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where she put together the current show, “The Legacy of Genghis Khan,” in collaboration with Stefano Carboni of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. That show, which opened April 13 and runs through July 27, focuses on the cultural effects of the Mongol invasion and the fall of Baghdad in 1258. Salon spoke with Komaroff by phone about the cultural, historical and aesthetic significance of the recent looting of the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad. What was your first thought when you heard of the museum looting in Baghdad this past week? I thought it was devastating. The Baghdad museum collection included Islamic art, but it’s known for its antiquities.
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Amazing how they can protect oil fields but not cultural treasures of one of the cradles of civilization
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The headlines are way funnier and more absurd than the stories themselves, so if you click on the links to read the stories you’ll see a lot of the fun will be gone. But I’ll give you the links anyway - oh sweet temptation! Conductor hits wrong note on girls’ organs Gorgeous guys in miniskirts prowl in search of kinky johns Sexy lady pro wrestlers gently grapple guys’ gonads Know your rights when sex goes horribly wrong (which could be almost American) And, concluding, so you don’t want to move to Japan only to find out that, in these cases, truth is less strange than fiction: Sex-mad Japan all talk, no action Oh, that’s too bad.
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There’s really nothing I could possibly say about this.
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Of course, they’re different. (^_^) And you don’t even have to turn your head! \(^o^)/
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The laws governing ‘intellectual property’ have grown so expansive in recent years that artists need legal experts to sort them all out. Borrowing from another artwork— as jazz musicians did in the 1930s and Looney Tunes illustrators did in 1940s—will now land you in court. If the current copyright laws had been in effect back in the day, whole genres such as collage, hiphop, and Pop Art might have never have existed. The irony here couldn’t be more stark. Rooted in the U.S. Constitution, copyright was originally intended to facilitate the exchange of ideas but is now being used to stifle it. The Illegal Art Exhibit will celebrate what is rapidly becoming the ‘degenerate art’ of a corporate age: art and ideas on the legal fringes of intellectual property. Some of the pieces in the show have eluded lawyers; others have had to appear in court. Click here for the web site. It has a nice list of articles plus mp3’s of songs which never got published for various reasons.
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How many bits do you need to make some good music? If you believe the audiophiles you need zillions. The more the better. Nonsense, of course. Try 8bit first. If you want to listen check out the fabulous Kohina site - “old school” video game music!
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“Few have the guts to admit it publicly, but we’re all monsters.” (Michael Middleton) Salon.com prints a large list of “forbidden thoughts” about 9/11. I’m sure plenty of us had thoughts like some of those people who are being quoted on that page. We probably only differ in our magnitude of denial. Of course, salon.com got plenty of angry responses from some of their readers (find a reply to one of those here) - which, at least if you believe in modern human psychology, does nothing but confirm that many people had those non-pc thoughts. The introductory article - which includes more quotes - can be found here.
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Pittsburgh has plenty of old buildings many of which are just decaying. Yesterday, we went to an old mall called the “Eastland Mall” - unfortunately, these photos (from deadmalls.com) aren’t nearly as nice as they could be given the state of the mall. Yesterday, there was quite a “lot” of stuff going on there because of a flee market. I was told that the mall and its parking lot are usually nearly completely deserted. I want have to go back and take some photos when there’s no flea market. I shot a bunch of pics yesterday but I’ll only be able to post those once I get my computer delivered by the movers.
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I am totally fascinated by most of Japan’s modern “culture”. Somehow, it’s as if you had put a lot of stuff into a blender and had let the result sit a little bit too long. Check out these Pocky commercials. Junk food combined with young girls. It’s interesting how it’s much easier to see behind the sexism in advertizing when it’s from a different culture. In the West, I hardly notice that any longer. Bikinis and breasts are everywhere. But if it’s school girls in some insane setting who dance like freaks to advertize junk food I notice it.
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One of the most fascinating aspects of evil is that most evil people are also amazingly normal. Allow me to use the word “evil” here. I know it’s a word which is too simple for almost all cases - especially when being used by a president. But I’ll have to use a word here and I chose “evil”. Anyway, there is a series of documentaries made by a German historian about all those first- and second-rank people who helped Hitler. It turns out that almost all of them are pretty normal people. Well, maybe ordinary would be a better word. It doesn’t matter. The thing is that what I called evil more often than not lurks underneath the surfaces of normal people. Today, I found a conversation between Studs Terkel and Paul Tibbets who flew the Enola Gay over Hiroshima. It is delusional to call dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima anything else but genocide and a serious war crime and it is fascinating and sad to see what Mr Tibbets has to say about it.
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The Moog Archive has all about Moog synthesizers. Who doesn’t like the sound (and sight) of a good old Moog?
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There are thousands of movies and animations online but, I think, only a few of them are really good. Weebl and Bob are my personal favourites. The most recent one is probably my favourite Weebl and Bob so far. They’re getting more and more sophisticated and it’s amazing to see how you can create interesting and funny animation with just the most basic set-ups.
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Under the provocing title “Are Smart People Overrated?” Malcom Gladwell in New Yorker magazine discusses whether smart people are good or bad for companies: “The talent myth assumes that people make organizations smart. More often than not, it’s the other way around.” Given my personal experience, I have to agree with this. It’s an interesting read for everybody - even for people who think they’re smart!
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