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"“Who punishes you?” someone asks Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson), better known as the Punisher, in the..."

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:49:50 -0600

“

“Who punishes you?” someone asks Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson), better known as the Punisher, in the punishing new entertainment called “Punisher: War Zone.” It’s a fair enough question, but the one I had as I sat through 107 bloody, grinding minutes was a little different: What did I ever do to deserve this?

Dumb question, I know. It’s silly to take the brutality of “Punisher: War Zone,” which is based on a comic book with a devoted following, seriously or personally. Guys get their heads blown off, or severed, or pierced with chair legs, or pulverized with fists, because that’s what they have coming and that’s what the fan base will pay money to see. But does it have to be so witless, so stupid, so openly contemptuous of the very audience it’s supposed to be pandering to?

”

-
Movie Review -
Punisher: War Zone - A Comic-Book Avenger Strikes - NYTimes.com

via graphics8.nytimes.com

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:46:48 -0600

via graphics8.nytimes.com

via 991.com

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:05:37 -0600

via 991.com

via www.pergunnareriksson.se

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:05:19 -0600

via www.pergunnareriksson.se

"Bush was never up to the job of being president, and it’s not a matter of lacking in..."

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:17:23 -0600

““Bush was never up to the job of being president, and it’s not a matter of lacking in intelligence; it’s a matter of lacking character. Bush wasn’t interested enough in policy; he couldn’t tolerate challenge or dissent or disagreement; he couldn’t open his mind long enough to consider alternatives or admit the possibility that he might sometimes be wrong. He let his righteousness and his arrogance and his anger get the better of him. And in the end, I think what’s so damning about Bush and what does make him the worst president of the last 50 years is that these were things within his control.””

- Is Bush The Worst President Of The Past 50 Years? : NPR

"Inasmuch as its host seems assured of escaping its 13-episode run with his dignity intact,..."

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:22:44 -0600

“Inasmuch as its host seems assured of escaping its 13-episode run with his dignity intact, Spectacle: Elvis Costello With … (Sundance, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET) is a rousing success. To hear that a favorite artist will settle in for a stint as a chat-show impresario is to fret that he’s heading out to pasture for a while to chew cud and make milk for mild cheese. It is a relief to see that Costello allows himself no bit of tackiness beyond the frequent donning of a bolo tie. Only occasionally does he try to anesthetize the way that you feel.”

- Elvis Costello’s talk show. - By Troy Patterson - Slate Magazine

indelible88: 2001: Why Kubrick used “Daisy” for HAL’s death...

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:18:19 -0600

indelible88:

2001: Why Kubrick used “Daisy” for HAL’s death (via beckspacering)

(via ericanicole)

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:15:40 -0600

(via ericanicole)

ericanicole: Hey guys, welcome to unemployment. I got laid off...

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:14:18 -0600

ericanicole:

Hey guys, welcome to unemployment. I got laid off in a massive round of economy based layoffs. It feels like high school graduation. What to do and where to go from here!? I don’t know, but I’m excited.

"Paul Celan: Death Fugue Black milk of daybreak we drink it at sundown we drink it at noon in the..."

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:05:36 -0600

“

Paul Celan: Death Fugue

Black milk of daybreak we drink it at sundown
we drink it at noon in the morning we drink it at night
we drink it and drink it
we dig a grave in the breezes there one lies unconfined
A man lives in the house he plays with the serpents he writes
he writes when dusk falls to Germany your golden hair Margarete
he writes it ans steps out of doors and the stars are flashing he whistles his pack out
he whistles his Jews out in earth has them dig for a grave
he commands us strike up for the dance

Black milk of daybreak we drink you at night
we drink you in the morning at noon we drink you at sundown
we drink and we drink you
A man lives in the house he plays with the serpents he writes
he writes when dusk falls to Germany your golden hair Margarete
your ashen hair Sulamith we dig a grave in the breezes there one lies unconfined

He calls out jab deeper into the earth you lot you others sing now and play
he grabs at teh iron in his belt he waves it his eyes are blue
jab deper you lot with your spades you others play on for the dance

Black milk of daybreak we drink you at night
we drink you at at noon in the morning we drink you at sundown
we drink and we drink you
a man lives in the house your golden hair Margarete
your ashen hair Sulamith he plays with the serpents
He calls out more sweetly play death death is a master from Germany
he calls out more darkly now stroke your strings then as smoke you will rise into air
then a grave you will have in the clouds there one lies unconfined

Black milk of daybreak we drink you at night
we drink you at noon death is a master from Germany
we drink you at sundown and in the morning we drink and we drink you
death is a master from Germany his eyes are blue
he strikes you with leaden bullets his aim is true
a man lives in the house your golden hair Margarete
he sets his pack on to us he grants us a grave in the air
He plays with the serpents and daydreams death is a master from Germany

your golden hair Margarete
your ashen hair Shulamith

”

- Paul Celan: Death Fugue

"A human skull will no longer appear in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet as..."

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:05:33 -0600

“

A human skull will no longer appear in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet as it may distract the audience, the company has said.

The skull of concert pianist and Holocaust survivor Andre Tchaikowsky has appeared in the Stratford production, starring David Tennant.

It was his dying wish to have his skull used in Hamlet and he bequeathed it to the RSC.

But the company says a fake skull will be used when it transfers to London.

”

- BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Human skull abandoned by Hamlet

"As a follow-up to its report “Artists in the Workforce, 1990-2005,” released in June,..."

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:02:46 -0600

“

As a follow-up to its report “Artists in the Workforce, 1990-2005,” released in June, the National Endowment for the Arts is releasing today the results of a closer examination of the gender pay gap between men and women artists discovered by the original study.

Surprise — women artists earn less.

”

- A gender pay gap for L.A. artists (NYC too) | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times

The New York Times > Education > Image > Soaring...

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:59:53 -0600

The New York Times > Education > Image > Soaring College Tuitions

The rising cost of college — even before the recession — threatens to put higher education out of reach for most Americans, according to the biennial report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Over all, the report found, published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation, while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade, and students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families.

“If we go on this way for another 25 years, we won’t have an affordable system of higher education,” said Patrick M. Callan, president of the center, a nonpartisan organization that promotes access to higher education.

"Jews of Mumbai, a Tiny and Eclectic Group, Suddenly Reconsider Their Serene Existence By JEREMY..."

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:55:55 -0600

“

Jews of Mumbai, a Tiny and Eclectic Group, Suddenly Reconsider Their Serene Existence

By JEREMY KAHN
Published: December 2, 2008

MUMBAI, India — The peeling turquoise facade of the colonial-era Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue in the heart of the city’s financial district has long been a tourist attraction, a reminder of the centuries of Jewish influence that have helped shape Mumbai and of the acceptance Jews have enjoyed here.

But after the terrorist attacks last week, Mumbai’s Jews are dismayed to find another building suddenly vying with the 124-year-old synagogue as a symbol of their presence: the charred remains of Nariman House, where gunmen killed Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his wife, Rivka, and four other Jews.

Although none of the Jews killed in the terrorists’ assault on Nariman House, the community center run by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, were Indian citizens, the attacks have badly shaken Jews in India. Mumbai has about 4,000 Jewish residents, accounting for a vast majority of India’s Jewish population.

“This is the first time when a Jew has been targeted in India because he is a Jew,” said Jonathon Solomon, a Mumbai lawyer and president of the Indian Jewish Federation. “The tradition of the last thousand years has been breached.”

The origins of India’s Jews remain uncertain, but according to some accounts they may have come as emissaries from the court of King Solomon. They established communities and lived peacefully with Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and, later, Muslims. The absence of anti-Semitism throughout this history has been a source of pride in India.

“This is one of the few countries where Jews never faced discrimination and persecution,” said Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, a leader of the Jewish community in New Delhi.

Jews played a prominent role in several coastal cities, but nowhere more so than in Mumbai. Jewish merchants from Iraq, Syria and other Middle Eastern countries arrived in the late 18th century in what was then British Bombay and quickly established themselves as leading businessmen, opening textile mills and international trading companies.

Only about 200 of these so-called Baghdadi Jews remain in Mumbai, with the rest having immigrated to Israel, Britain and the United States. But their legacy endures: synagogues, libraries and schools, many of which serve Jews and non-Jews. They also financed the construction of several city landmarks, including the Flora Fountain and the Sassoon docks.

Today, most of Mumbai’s Jews have roots in a group known as the Bene Israel community, which claims to be descended from seven Jewish families who were shipwrecked on India’s shore while fleeing persecution in the Galilee during the second century B.C. Over the centuries, they adopted Indian language, dress and cuisine. Since India became independent, these Jews have often played influential roles in Indian society, including in government and Bollywood.

“We always felt we were Indians first and Jews second,” said Mr. Malekar, a Bene Israel Jew.

That sensibility has been shattered by the siege of Nariman House. “This attack has really shaken us up,” said a Jewish educator in Mumbai who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety. “If with such ease they could finish off the whole Chabad House — the property and the people — now we have to have a fresh look at our own security.”

Many Jewish institutions have remained closed this week as a security precaution. Jewish leaders said they might have to begin restricting access to synagogues and community centers. “Jewish institutions in India are soft targets,” Mr. Solomon said. “After being used to living fearless for so long we are going through a phase where we are debating with ourselves about being careful and whether we need to change our mode of existence.”

Heightening anxieties is the location of many of Mumbai’s synagogues, which are now in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods. Historically, relations between the two religious groups in Mumbai have been good.

“They live with us as brothers and in brotherhood we also live with them,” said Solomon Sopher, chairman and managing trustee of the Sir Jacob Sassoon and Allied Trusts, which manages several Jewish institutions, including a high school that was founded as a Jewish school but now enrolls mostly Muslims.

After the terrorist assaults, some Mumbai Jews said they were increasingly apprehensive about their Muslim neighbors.

Mr. Solomon said the attack convinced him of the need for India’s Jews to seek official recognition as a minority group. Such status confers privileges, including reserved places for admission to universities and for government jobs. More important, Mr. Solomon said, it would require the Indian government to protect the Jewish community from persecution. In the past, the Indian government has argued that there are too few Jews in the country to grant minority status.

Many Mumbai Jews said they had limited interaction with Rabbi Holtzberg and Chabad House, whose activities were focused on Orthodox Jews visiting from abroad and encouraging greater religious observance among young Israeli backpackers. Few Jews live in the Colaba neighborhood where Nariman House is, having moved to more affluent areas in northern and western parts of the city.

In addition, the Lubavitchers’ ultra-Orthodox practices are much stricter than the observance of most Mumbai Jews.

But Rabbi Holtzberg did preside over Sabbath services every Friday at the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue. He also conducted religious study classes and helped supply the city’s more religious Jews with kosher meat.

Some Jews said the attacks were likely to foster closer ties within the city’s Jewish population, which in the past had been deeply divided between the Baghdadi community and the Bene Israel group, although those tensions were easing as the city’s Jewish population dwindled. Representatives from both Indian Jewish communities, as well as Chabad, mourned the Holtzbergs and the other Jewish victims from Nariman House at a memorial service on Monday.

Mr. Solomon, who described himself as a secular Jew, said he would be sure to visit the Chabad House when it reopens. A new rabbi, Dov Goldberg, has already been selected.

“Next time it opens, I will make it a point of going to show my solidarity with them,” Mr. Solomon said. “I suppose the same will go for many members of our community.”

”

- The New York Times

"What is it about Kanye West’s self-love that annoys people so deeply? No other rapper is taken..."

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:20:37 -0600

“What is it about Kanye West’s self-love that annoys people so deeply? No other rapper is taken to task as frequently and as fervently for crimes of the ego. Even West’s fans, on message boards and in comments sections, often separate his work, which they adore, from his self-regard, which they tolerate with varying degrees of amusement and irritation. This is hard to figure. Complaining about a rapper’s outsized ego is a bit like complaining about a professional bicyclist’s outsized calves or a clown’s outsized pants: They’re part of the job description.”

- Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreak, reviewed. - By Jonah Weiner - Slate Magazine

via ecx.images-amazon.com

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:17:24 -0600

via ecx.images-amazon.com

"Martin Amis takes a novel look at science: The writer will be joined by high profile..."

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:36:11 -0600

“

Martin Amis takes a novel look at science:

The writer will be joined by high profile psychotherapist Adam Philips and philosopher and academic John Gray for the evening event in the University’s Whitworth Hall. The speakers will ask if science has overtaken literature as a way of making sense of the world. They will also discuss topics including the role of imaginative writing in chronicling and critiquing “scientific’ activities, and how literature can and should respond to recent controversies in bio-technology and genetic engineering.

”

- Media-Newswire.com - Press Release Distribution - PR Agency

"Burgess produced journalism in British, Italian, French and American newspapers and magazines..."

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:35:14 -0600

“Burgess produced journalism in British, Italian, French and American newspapers and magazines regularly–even compulsively–and in prodigious quantities. Martin Amis quipped in The Observer (London) in 1987: “…on top of writing regularly for every known newspaper and magazine, Anthony Burgess writes regularly for every unknown one, too. Pick up a Hungarian quarterly or a Portuguese tabloid–and there is a Burgess, discoursing on goulash or test-driving the new Fiat 500.””

- searchonfly.com » Blog Archive » Anthony Burgess

"Cultural references * Karen tells Hank her favorite authors are Virginia Woolf, Martin Amis, and..."

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:34:35 -0600

“

Cultural references

* Karen tells Hank her favorite authors are Virginia Woolf, Martin Amis, and Charles Bukowski. Karen can later be seen reading Bukowski’s book, Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, The Line, The Way: New Poems. Hank Moody, Duchovny’s character, is based on Charles Bukowski’s autobiographical alias Henry Chinaski. Henry “Hank” Chinaski is the subject of Bukowski’s novels, from which the subject matter of the series is largely based upon.

* Charlie says that after his spin job, the public won’t be able to tell whether Hank’s next book is a piece of shit or “a heartbreaking work of staggering genius,” which is the name of a Dave Eggers book. To this, Hank replies “There’s a difference?”

”

- kjrbuilders.com » Blog Archive » Filthy Lucre (Californication episode)

Fox smears again. (via ShawnGBRonKos)

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:09:53 -0600

Fox smears again. (via ShawnGBRonKos)