Friday, August 17, 2007
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Georgia on my mind
I just wanted to quickly fire off a missive on the breaking story out of the Eastern European nation of Georgia. At the moment Russia has launched a counter-offensive calling for an investigation into Georgia's charges that they Fired (or dropped rather) a Missile at Georgia. Tensions and crisis have come from Georgia and Russia like occasional waves, but an accusation (whether true or fake-which is a strong possibility at this point)of military action is a new level. It goes beyond even lasts years deportation of Russian officers for alleged spying. The story should pan out quickly and then reach a slow-down by Friday. The Kremlin will quietly admit a minor detail that will get lost in the end of the weekday for reporters. Life goes on, but at some point something will break. Give it six years before the US president gets involved. Fighting a cross-national guerrilla campaign would be a model exercise for a re-asserted Russia.
Alongside this is the lead story on Reuters, "U.S. border cop charged with murdering Mexican." There are some odd parallels when you think about it between the stories. The big country and the smaller, closely tied nation nearby. The distant, armed figure, whether plane or La Migra officer. The disparate cries of non-involvement vs disparate cries of non-premeditation and intent to kill.
Oddly enough, this accusation comes just hours after symbolic claiming of a huge swath of the Artic by submarine flag-planting. Peter Mckay got the deal right when he said "This isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and just plant flags."
Speaking of Canada, Everyone should head over the CBC Radio 3. Showcasing a wide range of independent Canadian Music, and with a constant stream of songs alongside a customizable playlist from their huge catalog. Although it might seem strange at first, stick with the short R3-TV episodes, they epitomize Radio 3 with retro-kitsch and clever creativity. As if that wasn't enough, they background picture changes everyday and is always something new (drawn from their Flickr group
Alongside this is the lead story on Reuters, "U.S. border cop charged with murdering Mexican." There are some odd parallels when you think about it between the stories. The big country and the smaller, closely tied nation nearby. The distant, armed figure, whether plane or La Migra officer. The disparate cries of non-involvement vs disparate cries of non-premeditation and intent to kill.
Oddly enough, this accusation comes just hours after symbolic claiming of a huge swath of the Artic by submarine flag-planting. Peter Mckay got the deal right when he said "This isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and just plant flags."
Speaking of Canada, Everyone should head over the CBC Radio 3. Showcasing a wide range of independent Canadian Music, and with a constant stream of songs alongside a customizable playlist from their huge catalog. Although it might seem strange at first, stick with the short R3-TV episodes, they epitomize Radio 3 with retro-kitsch and clever creativity. As if that wasn't enough, they background picture changes everyday and is always something new (drawn from their Flickr group
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Settling in UW-W-W
The pile of paper on my new desk at the University of Washington at Walla-Walla seems never ending. What with the court case, book and chapter drafts and course outlines. But caustic existential help has arrived in the form of Roger Flensing. If we all stopped eating and drinking, the world would be a much healthier place."
Now as you all know, I am myself a proud Gmail user (e-mails call outs, on-notice requests, literature requests and anything that comes to mind) and am quite piqued in my interest by their Behind the Scenes Video Contest. They are putting together a video of how a e-mail gets from user to receiver with entrants 10 seconds videos in which they make a creative take on taking the gmail icon of a red envelope and pass it to the right. Just watch the video, it'll make sense then. The responses I've seen have almost all been very good or very bad, so give it a shot. I'll be getting around to a submission sometime before the August 13th deadline.
While you're on Youtube, check out Family Friend Version of Fuck Tha Police It is a perfect representation of ethnomorphism. While on the one hand the edginess of urban culture and rap appeals to the mini-van driving suburban set who has been numbed of all feeling-particularly the pain of struggle and tangible hopelessness. But while they seek to escape this, they are still held back by the force of the system arrayed around them that makes them afraid. Both are paradoxically passed down to the youth, until finally one day someone cracks and morphs across the ethnic boundary. For now, it is the realm of the tabloids.
Our second social set is the one so artfully satirized by Travis and Jonathan of Red State Update. They are truly from the country, but have been assimilated into the coast culture of Los Angeles, where they have seemingly betrayed their background by exploiting stereotypes of that very background. This transmutation of the stereotypes once directed at oneself into success at the nexus point of acceptance is like an all-white cast of the story of rock n'roll. If this was a little contradictory, revel in it with two exemplary videos: Fightin' Joe Biden and their appearance on CNN's American Morning ("there is nothing I hate more than southern stereotypes being paraded through the mainstream media")
On another note, make sure and check out the excellent full-length documentary "This Film is Not Yet Rated". If you get the chance, also watch Indie Sex:Censored, another, and quite similar IFC documentary. Much more nuanced and introspective than TFINYR, though for this reason lacks the certain punch of said movie.
And finally, something that comes in handy, how to spot a commie: "He may be a communist"
Now as you all know, I am myself a proud Gmail user (e-mails call outs, on-notice requests, literature requests and anything that comes to mind) and am quite piqued in my interest by their Behind the Scenes Video Contest. They are putting together a video of how a e-mail gets from user to receiver with entrants 10 seconds videos in which they make a creative take on taking the gmail icon of a red envelope and pass it to the right. Just watch the video, it'll make sense then. The responses I've seen have almost all been very good or very bad, so give it a shot. I'll be getting around to a submission sometime before the August 13th deadline.
While you're on Youtube, check out Family Friend Version of Fuck Tha Police It is a perfect representation of ethnomorphism. While on the one hand the edginess of urban culture and rap appeals to the mini-van driving suburban set who has been numbed of all feeling-particularly the pain of struggle and tangible hopelessness. But while they seek to escape this, they are still held back by the force of the system arrayed around them that makes them afraid. Both are paradoxically passed down to the youth, until finally one day someone cracks and morphs across the ethnic boundary. For now, it is the realm of the tabloids.
Our second social set is the one so artfully satirized by Travis and Jonathan of Red State Update. They are truly from the country, but have been assimilated into the coast culture of Los Angeles, where they have seemingly betrayed their background by exploiting stereotypes of that very background. This transmutation of the stereotypes once directed at oneself into success at the nexus point of acceptance is like an all-white cast of the story of rock n'roll. If this was a little contradictory, revel in it with two exemplary videos: Fightin' Joe Biden and their appearance on CNN's American Morning ("there is nothing I hate more than southern stereotypes being paraded through the mainstream media")
On another note, make sure and check out the excellent full-length documentary "This Film is Not Yet Rated". If you get the chance, also watch Indie Sex:Censored, another, and quite similar IFC documentary. Much more nuanced and introspective than TFINYR, though for this reason lacks the certain punch of said movie.
And finally, something that comes in handy, how to spot a commie: "He may be a communist"
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Back from Kurdistan
The most interesting story out of Iraq in the last six months (which I've spent with the PKK in Kurdistan researching my book The Pauper, the Prince and the Kurd: A Neo-Chronological Journey into the Last Frontier of Ethnic Identity") has been the buildup of Turkish troops on the Iraqi border. There are isolated reports on the AP wire (read at The Guardian), but they by and large are not picked up. In fact, America's very own State Propaganda Channel, Voice of America published a incisive, in-depth article on the subject, though it has since been pulled from the website. ( original: VOA Article can be read on an asian mirror).
So, a propaganda station reports, at least for some time, on an issue that the so-called independent media conglomerates refuse to touch. What does that say about the state of information in our country?
And to anyone who has ever said the media doesn't "report the good news in Iraq" put that front page article in any newspaper on the Iraqi soccer team in your pipe and smoke it.
Iraqi Futbol captain calls for US withdrawal
Iraq Unites-Temporarily
"Coach Jorvan Vieira....Vieira, who is Brazilian, resigned after the game...
The team’s players do not live in Iraq, and they earn their wages playing for teams across the Middle East. Because of tenuous security at home, wars and U.N. sanctions, the team had not played a home game in 17 years and must train and practice abroad."
More astute readers of the blog will realize I referred the US media as "our" media, and thats not a mistake. Following my return last week from Kurdistan, I was fired by the University of Victoria at Large for my alleged contact with a money laundering operation for Basque seperatist group ETA. I cannot discuss the issue in full, but arraignment the Vancouver Metropolitan Superior Court is set for August 16th. Meanwhile, I have moved to the United States pending a new job with the University of Washington at Walla-Walla, where I will be teaching "The Long Term Effects of Genocide: Armenia and the Boers" as well as "The Young Turks: An Ethnmorphological Analysis." The rest of my time will be spent working on my book, which will be submitted to my publishers October 25th.
In ETA news, following the Tour de France bombing,
which was overshadowed by the walking time bomb that was Micheal Rasmussen and capped by the arrest of three major logistics people. Appartenly, this guy has been in hiding since the 1970's, from the look of him. The picture doesn't show it, but you can image the leisure suit or buttoned down suit. And while the ETA continues to fight, the IRA seems to have lost its main cause celebre, UK troops on its soil. I've always said that while they are an important enemy, more caliber should have been aimed at paramilitary groups like the Ulster Volunteer Force. The Irish People's Defense Association and the IPD Fund had just this mission and was active in both Northern Ireland and North America. I was a member of the IPDF Independence Advisory Commission that studied ethnmorphological trends of the Brits and Scots in Northern Ireland on behalf of the IPD aligned Foundation for International Community Defense. The FICD is still in existence today, including in Basque country and Kurdistan. The Canadian government's accusation against me are ludicrous and the evidence harkens to the monitoring of US intellectuals and leftist in the 1950, 60's and 70's.
On a lighter note and relating to the Tour de Blame (the Tour de Shame was ironically already taken in 1998, which has nothing on this edition) check the video of a cyclist hitting a dog.
So, a propaganda station reports, at least for some time, on an issue that the so-called independent media conglomerates refuse to touch. What does that say about the state of information in our country?
And to anyone who has ever said the media doesn't "report the good news in Iraq" put that front page article in any newspaper on the Iraqi soccer team in your pipe and smoke it.
Iraqi Futbol captain calls for US withdrawal
Iraq Unites-Temporarily
"Coach Jorvan Vieira....Vieira, who is Brazilian, resigned after the game...
The team’s players do not live in Iraq, and they earn their wages playing for teams across the Middle East. Because of tenuous security at home, wars and U.N. sanctions, the team had not played a home game in 17 years and must train and practice abroad."
More astute readers of the blog will realize I referred the US media as "our" media, and thats not a mistake. Following my return last week from Kurdistan, I was fired by the University of Victoria at Large for my alleged contact with a money laundering operation for Basque seperatist group ETA. I cannot discuss the issue in full, but arraignment the Vancouver Metropolitan Superior Court is set for August 16th. Meanwhile, I have moved to the United States pending a new job with the University of Washington at Walla-Walla, where I will be teaching "The Long Term Effects of Genocide: Armenia and the Boers" as well as "The Young Turks: An Ethnmorphological Analysis." The rest of my time will be spent working on my book, which will be submitted to my publishers October 25th.
In ETA news, following the Tour de France bombing,
which was overshadowed by the walking time bomb that was Micheal Rasmussen and capped by the arrest of three major logistics people. Appartenly, this guy has been in hiding since the 1970's, from the look of him. The picture doesn't show it, but you can image the leisure suit or buttoned down suit. And while the ETA continues to fight, the IRA seems to have lost its main cause celebre, UK troops on its soil. I've always said that while they are an important enemy, more caliber should have been aimed at paramilitary groups like the Ulster Volunteer Force. The Irish People's Defense Association and the IPD Fund had just this mission and was active in both Northern Ireland and North America. I was a member of the IPDF Independence Advisory Commission that studied ethnmorphological trends of the Brits and Scots in Northern Ireland on behalf of the IPD aligned Foundation for International Community Defense. The FICD is still in existence today, including in Basque country and Kurdistan. The Canadian government's accusation against me are ludicrous and the evidence harkens to the monitoring of US intellectuals and leftist in the 1950, 60's and 70's.
On a lighter note and relating to the Tour de Blame (the Tour de Shame was ironically already taken in 1998, which has nothing on this edition) check the video of a cyclist hitting a dog.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Tripped out from Quito to Paris,Texas
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-587242179748690279&hl=en
After arriving home from Ireland and settling in on my sixth story apartment, I was leafing through the arguably classic 'The Independence of Ghana As Ethnomorphological Transformation' by W.H. Greenboggler when my office phone rang.
It was Jorge Didatio, Ecuador's leading ethnobotanist and a disciple of the brilliant ethnobotanist Wade Davis. He wanted me to get to Quito as soon as possible to participate in an anthropological survey of Ecuador's indigenous population (urban, rural and traditional modes and locations).
After clearing it with UVIC at Large Ethnology Department Chair, I caught the redeye to Mexico City, where I transferred to Quito. Though I initially intended to participate in the urban study, Didatio suggested I participate in all three to gain a greater understanding of the changes and correlations between the three modes.
I agreed and after a insightful tour of Quito and Guyaquil, we moved to the countryside of the Northwest near Ibana. You can read about in my upcoming article in The Canadian Journal of Comparative Anthropological Studies, co-authored by Emilio Lychee Merrilly.
We took a rickety Cessna and landed on a down and out airstrip eighty hundred miles outside of Puerto Francisco de Orellana. A three day trek by river and led us to our first site. We spent several hours field recording legends and taking samples of local remedies. That night we sampled some ayahuasca, a strong local drug and the latest fad among burned out, new-age, ex-yuppie, middle aged, suburban dweller nimrods. After that, things a blank for about three weeks.
I woke up in a hospital in Cancun. My red-blood cell count had gone down faster than Alberto Gonzalez in a Senate hearing and one of my colleagues had been shot in Medellin in an alleged cocaine deal.
I realize this is hard to believe, but when I re-united the members of the study, many had no recollection of at least two days after that first night. However, it turns out that Raymond R. Vladtasky, a prominent member of the strong ethnomorphological community in Romania, had gotten us all on a flight to Paris, Texas after it turned out to be tainted and not to mix with the cocktails we had had on the plane earlier.
So, check out the article in CJCAS, and follow closely the developments on my continuing countries of interest (France, Sarzosky vs. Royal) and Somalia (the war heats up one again)
After arriving home from Ireland and settling in on my sixth story apartment, I was leafing through the arguably classic 'The Independence of Ghana As Ethnomorphological Transformation' by W.H. Greenboggler when my office phone rang.
It was Jorge Didatio, Ecuador's leading ethnobotanist and a disciple of the brilliant ethnobotanist Wade Davis. He wanted me to get to Quito as soon as possible to participate in an anthropological survey of Ecuador's indigenous population (urban, rural and traditional modes and locations).
After clearing it with UVIC at Large Ethnology Department Chair, I caught the redeye to Mexico City, where I transferred to Quito. Though I initially intended to participate in the urban study, Didatio suggested I participate in all three to gain a greater understanding of the changes and correlations between the three modes.
I agreed and after a insightful tour of Quito and Guyaquil, we moved to the countryside of the Northwest near Ibana. You can read about in my upcoming article in The Canadian Journal of Comparative Anthropological Studies, co-authored by Emilio Lychee Merrilly.
We took a rickety Cessna and landed on a down and out airstrip eighty hundred miles outside of Puerto Francisco de Orellana. A three day trek by river and led us to our first site. We spent several hours field recording legends and taking samples of local remedies. That night we sampled some ayahuasca, a strong local drug and the latest fad among burned out, new-age, ex-yuppie, middle aged, suburban dweller nimrods. After that, things a blank for about three weeks.
I woke up in a hospital in Cancun. My red-blood cell count had gone down faster than Alberto Gonzalez in a Senate hearing and one of my colleagues had been shot in Medellin in an alleged cocaine deal.
I realize this is hard to believe, but when I re-united the members of the study, many had no recollection of at least two days after that first night. However, it turns out that Raymond R. Vladtasky, a prominent member of the strong ethnomorphological community in Romania, had gotten us all on a flight to Paris, Texas after it turned out to be tainted and not to mix with the cocktails we had had on the plane earlier.
So, check out the article in CJCAS, and follow closely the developments on my continuing countries of interest (France, Sarzosky vs. Royal) and Somalia (the war heats up one again)
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
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