We are made of star stuff
Alexander McQueen’s final collection revealed, in Paris
Full set of photos here.
Wombat Music Workshop | Ladybug
What to sing to the ladybugs you find in your coconut icecream.
Thrashing around somewhere in a swamp of its own legislation
Mark Thomas takes on the Digital Economy Bill.
via @glinner
Robin Hood Tax
Richard Curtis has launched a campaign for the Tobin tax in the UK. It’s pretty good.
Amongst the responses from leading economists is the opinion that this will probably not fly unless it is also broadly accepted by the large European countries (i.e. France and Germany) and the US. And the US, they say, will never accept it.
UPDATE: Well, it’s looking at the very least like this idea is being taken seriously for the G20 summit. Watch them closely.
Claire Voelkel
Claire Voelkel is a Brooklyn-based photographer who appears to see beautiful forms everywhere. She shoots mostly black and white film with a Leicaflex and processes her work herself.
Inside the hut, looking out
Taxidermy Friday
For those with such needs.
Live video of Tony Blair giving evidence to the Iraq War Inquiry
Disney has closed Miramax
Founded by producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein back in 1979, Miramax flourished as an independent distribution and production outfit, before becoming part of the Disney empire in 1993…. During its heyday, Miramax was regarded as arguably the industry’s most respected and influential production company. But in recent years its output has been downscaled by Disney, and its demise was predicted long before today’s closure of its offices in LA.The six Miramax pictures that are currently awaiting distribution – including John Madden’s The Debt and Last Night, starring Keira Knightley – now face an uncertain future.
Well that’s a pity.
Mo’forum in Paris this weekend
I have a habit of wandering into rooms and buildings on my walks around a city and while in Paris last November I wandered into this huge drawing/zine expo by the Canal St. Martin. I took one of these flyers announcing what looks like the same arrangement again, happening this weekend, so if you’re in Paris you might want to have a look in.
People, in order
(Via Perception Parallel)
Freddy’s is fighting and they’re doing it on Fox News, baby
A couple of friends of mine were on Fox News yesterday morning, to talk about their fight to save Freddy’s, a hugely loved local bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn – as well as many homes and businesses - from being snatched in a landmark eminent domain ruling.
Basically, the New York supreme court has decided that billionaire developer Bruce Ratner can seize property in the 22 acres of the “Atlantic Yards” footprint in order to build an arena and some tower housing that is deeply unwanted by the people of the neighbourhood. It is now enshrined in law that it is fair game for the state to seize property from small businesses, homeowners and renters, if the billionaire or corporation who wants to seize their properties can pay higher real estate taxes to the state. This is an outrageous abuse of the idea of eminent domain which was originally designed to be used ‘for the public good’.
The community has fought against this for 6 years now, and the last appeal against this use of eminent domain was decided last month in favour of the billionaire. Two days before Christmas, Forest City Ratner initiated proceedings to seize the homes and businesses in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
The message is: if you are a homeowner in the United States of America, anyone who wants to seize your property is now enabled by law to do that, so long as he is richer than you. That is now enshrined in law, in a decision handed down by the highest court of the land.
Freddy’s is more than a bar. It’s a community, a true neighbourhood sanctuary, and a fantastic music venue. It is expected that the site that Freddy’s sits on will fit a few SUVs in the parking lot that is planned for it. Handcuffs have been installed in the bar, and there are more than enough people willing to chain themselves to the bar and go to jail to defy the bailiffs if and when they arrive at Freddy’s door.
The fifth amendment to the United States Bill of Rights
prohibits the federal government from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
Well, they got their due process of law, but it is bad bad law indeed. More legal challenges are on the way.
UPDATE: I have now amended this post to reflect the fact that this decision was originally handed down by the United States supreme court, which means that it can happen legally anywhere in the US. It has been challenged in the state of New York in this case, but the ruling apparently (and I am not a lawyer or an American citizen) stands countrywide.
UPDATE again: George Will wrote this op-ed column in the Washington Post about the ruling and “the twisted meaning of ‘blight’”. Read it.
Dear Clusterflock
What length of time was the longest you had a tab up on your browser, before eventually closing it? How long do tabs typically live on your browser from first opening? Do you ever shut down your computer? How often? Do you ever hesitate before installing software updates, because of that dread of having to restart your computer, even though you know that Firefox will save your tabs? How many of the tabs you open, do you actually read? And when you finally get around to reading some old tabs, do you read them with interest and an active mind, or through gritted teeth, some kind of task to be dispatched, like de-moulding a neglected cupboard?
(An internet-therapy initiative.)
Clusterbook #2: Lolita
So a few months back, a bunch of us got together on skype and talked about Lolita. There were all sorts of network difficulties and the sheer strangeness of a bunch of disembodied voices speaking out into the ether, but we got talking, and we talked a lot. I boiled all that down to about 20 minutes, which you can hear below, largely sound snippets of various opinions about the book, rather than a single argument or theme.
(Quality note: There’s some background noise, mostly around the start of the recording, and a general sense of echo throughout.)
[http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-group-1.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-group-2.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-group-3.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-group-4.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-group-5.mp3]
Then a few days ago, Sheila and I had another chat about Lolita, and I think that some things we discussed in that conversation would be useful to include in this edition of Clusterbook, so you can hear an edited 15 minute version of our conversation below.
[http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Lolita-Sheila-and-Lucy-1.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Lolita-Sheila-and-Lucy-2.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Lolita-Sheila-and-Lucy-3.mp3|http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/lolita-sheila-and-lucy-4.mp3]
Feel free to get involved in this discussion. I still feel we have barely scratched the surface. If you’ve read the book, or you have a response to anything we’ve said in either conversation, you are very welcome to contribute your opinion in the comments. I would love to hear more diverse voices.
So without further ado, I hereby declare Clusterbook #2: Lolita to be…. open! The clusterflock book club rides again!
Inside The Hut
So I’m renovating my work hut, and this is a photograph from stage 1 of the process. I’ve insulated the whole interior with space blankets and now I’m fronting it all off with thermal aluminium foil. After that, I’ll lay down some carpet underlay, with carpets and rugs over that, and Bedouin tent-style roof drapes from eave to eave, via the apex of the roof, with wooden tent poles. Looks like a little wooden cabin in a field from the outside, but inside will be silver factory meets desert gypsy caravan. That’s what I’m working on, anyway. I am the insulation queen, these days.
Puppy pimping, a Hallowe’en special
As it turns out, there’s big business in sexy Hallowe’en costumes for pets. Dogs, mostly. I’d like to see you get your gerbil into one of these outfits. I googled ‘sexy pet costumes’ and I can’t bear to share the results. Oh ok, then. Unfortunately, it turns out that not all dogs can actually do sexy.
This infomercial is brought to you via Chris W.
I get nervous in social situations, muthafucka
Thanks, Sternfeld.
An Irish bullock, mid-stampede
This is probably the most evocative image from our recent neighbourhood adventure.
Social justice
via Cosmic Variance
Something unusual is happening in Kansas
I think the Guardian’s best work is done when they find people at the heart of raging issues, and let them tell their own stories. This article is about a highly unusual doctor in Kansas who has set up a clinic for people who are uninsured, people who can’t afford any healthcare. Dr. Sharon Lee treats them, free of charge. Dr. Lee’s clinic exists on the basis of donations and the fact that all staff – remarkably, including Dr. Lee herself – are paid a flat rate of $12 per hour. Just let that fact sink in for a while.
Featured in the article is the story of a porsche-driving gynaecologist who lost his practise when he developed symptoms of Huntingdon’s disease – it took a while for him to even get diagnosed – that made it impossible for him to work, and with it went his health insurance, and with the cost of his medication, very quickly went the snazzy house, the cars, and the rest of it. He now lives in a small flat in the suburbs and regularly has to choose between food and medication. The fickleness of American life never ceases to amaze me.
And while you’re at it, check out this five minute audio sample from Dr. Lee’s clinic. What a fucking hero.
So Oleta, Rick and me nipped into Central Park…
and we ended up in here.
A horse is a horse of course of course
Unless he’s involved in something like this. This is the Naturmobil, an idea for future eco travel by Iranian engineer Hadi Mirhejazi, which, according to the Guardian,
combines 19th-century travel with 21st-century gym equipment.
You fire the treadmill up, the horse gets going, this charges the battery, there are gears involved, and away everybody goes at 28 miles an hour in perspex. How’dya like them apples, Deron? I’ll bet you’re feeling a bit silly about all your badger-guarding Ferrari love now, ain’tcha?
Sue your audience
Joel Tenebaum is being sued for $4.5 million by the RIAA for sharing a Nirvana song online. About a month ago, a similar case, brought through the courts, produced an outcome in favour of the RIAA for $1.9 against a 31 year old single mother. This is a pretty remarkable article from the cutting edge of the decimation of the Major Label system.
And then in August 2007, I came home from work to find a stack of papers, maybe 50 pages thick, sitting at the door to my apartment. That’s when I found out what it was like to have possibly the most talented copyright lawyers in the business, bankrolled by multibillion-dollar corporations, throwing everything they had at someone who wanted to share Come As You Are with other Nirvana fans.
Joel’s trial starts today.
London, 5
The postcard.
Love, Lucy x
