Howling Man | Guts | Kevin Ayers | John Cale
There’s an apocryphal story surrounding the men in these two clips, but it don’t matter. It’s just vulgar naturalism.
Above: “Howling Man”. Kevin Ayers and John Cale. 1981.
Above: “Guts”. John Cale. [0:00-3:10]. 1983.
dear clusterflock: Midwest Ed.
I’m going to be in St. Louis and Chicago at the end of October. What are your favorite haunts — bars, parks, coffee shops, fountains, music venues, falafel stands, Arches, book stores, Fields, galleries, metro lines, paper stores, cemeteries, toilets, neighborhoods to get lost in?
Have You Seen Religulous?
We saw it this afternoon at the Magnolia, here in Dallas. The theater was full, and it was being shown on two screens. It’s a splendid film, and what a lift it gave us to be among those who are willing to look at absurdity and see it for what it is. I imagine many will say: “I thought it was great–except for the parts about Christianity.” This speaks to a central point of the film, which is that believers of all sorts are ready to laugh at and ridicule the beliefs of others, even as they show themselves to be blind to the incredible aspects of their own. I hope this film encourages more people to reject the thought that “all doubt (and questioning) is of the devil.” But failing that–I hope it brings a renewed sense of purpose to those who already see the dangers represented by beliefs that undermine the power of reason while reveling in the prospect of a looming apocalypse.
John Cale | An interview (14 October 1984)
dear clusterflock,
What’s worth fighting for?
The Power (and Limits) of Imagination
Observation offered last night courtesy of a dear friend in New Orleans: “It takes a lot of imagination to live in New Orleans because . . . there’s . . . not much here. Luckily I have a strong imagination.”
Update: The Ladder Caper
About that ladder I spoke of thieving last night: The caper has been postponed till the weekend. We have our reasons.
Treat them like they took your wallet
How to Tell People They Sound Racist:
Just so. It’s hard to remember, though, when you just want to lay somebody out.
From Jay Smooth’s Ill Doctrine via Laughing Squid, via our own Elizabeth Perry.
Lovin’
Cindy wrote to tell me she bought something for me off’n Pinky D on account of I been despondent.
I just love her all up.
Dear Clusterflock
Of all the courses you took in school (any school, at any time in your life), which one has had the most significant impact on your life?
Michael DeBakey, MD
Dr. DeBakey passed away last week. What a terrible loss. Don’t know who Dr. DeBakey is? You or someone you know has probably benefitted from his work. Read more here and here.
Could this be my Rosetta Stone?
Alek offers a clue by way of an imaginary road-film flashback.
Added to the series.
Discovering Life on Mars: Bad News?
Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University thinks so:
Discovering traces of life on Mars would be of tremendous scientific significance: the first sign of extraterrestrial life ever detected. Many people would also find it heartening to learn that we’re not entirely alone in this vast, cold cosmos.
They shouldn’t. To the contrary, if we discovered traces of some simple extinct life form – a bacterium, some algae – it would be bad news. If we found fossils of something even more advanced, like the skeleton of a small mammal, it would be horrible news. The more complex the life we found, the more depressing. Scientifically interesting, yes, but dire news for the future of the human race.
Here’s the basic argument: There is a conspicuous silence “out there,” and this suggests that there is a “Great Filter” (Robin Hanson’s term and idea). This means that the filter may lie in our past (as a highly improbable step in the early development of life) or in our future (as a highly improbable leap needed for a civilization to populate the galaxy and survive extinction. Bostrom’s argument holds that finding evidence of even simple life on Mars would tend to place the GF in out future. And, as he also points out, there may be filters in our past and future.
I have to say that I would still be excited and pleased to hear that life–simple or complex–is or was present on Mars. If we decide to see everything in terms of our potential survival as a species, who needs the threat of a Filter to see our prospects as slim? In many ways I think we have the most to fear from our own egos–our sense of dominion over a galaxy we can’t even reach. News of other life elsewhere may itself be a step that leads to just the sort of curiosity we need to get through the next Great Filter.
Today’s Quotation
“Where there’s a hard-on, there’s hope. Where there’s hope, there’s a hard-on.” (Jonathan Martin, June 27, 2008.)
Today’s Quotation
“Where there’s sex, there’s hope.” (Sheila Ryan. 25 June 2008)
Harnessing the Untapped Power of Breast Motion
I didn’t actually read the article (yet), but that’s the headline, so I figure I’m justified in linking to it pretty much no matter what the content turns out to be.
Pinch Me
I just saw a television commercial for a prescription sleep-aid that included this phrase, spoken in that soothing voice they all use: “If you walk, eat, or drive while sleeping, contact your doctor.” Drive? Isn’t that a little like saying “If you happen to murder somebody while taking our product, contact your doctor”?
Dear clusterflock: “Sadder But Wiser”
So I was corresponding with clusterflock friend Phil Bebbington and back and forth we went and then I said:
Ah, but just because they never proved anything in a court of law doesn’t mean they don’t hold it against you!
Which I attributed to Sheila’s Collection of “Sadder But Wiser” Observations, “soon to be published by a very nice outfit who say they’ll be happy to print it up provided they receive full payment in advance for a run of 500, plus postage and handling fees.”
And then I got to thinking, Why not open it up? Make it a clusterflock collection of “sadder but wiser” observations.
Got any? Observations born of sadder (but wiser) experience? (We can address the matter of publication later, yes?)
I Am Going to Buy This Book
This has potential to be amazing.
With that simple question and an enormous white suggestion box, the New York City based collaborative Illegal Art canvassed the five boroughs, collecting suggestions from passersby of every stripe the young, the old, the filthy rich, the homeless, the mouthy, and the shy. “Love each other or perish.” “Take breath mints when offered.” “Give me a break!” In true New York style, the suggestions are by turns hilarious, nonsensical, angering, and heartwarming. Some people held the suggestion box prisoner while they wrote suggestion after suggestion; others ignored the box, but then came scrambling back with a sudden idea. One woman scribbled as she walked down Wall Street: “More time in the day.” One man in Harlem, when asked if he would like to make a suggestion, said, “Isn’t it obvious? World peace.” Or at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, a woman sadly wrote her misspelled suggestion and then held it up for all to read: “Never brake up with someone on a bridge.” With over 350 entries and 50 photos of the suggestion box in action, Suggestion is authentic, honest, and totally appealing a testiment to the the public’s innermost desire, whether it’s free beer, free daycare, or free pumpkin pie every Thursday.
(thx Leo)
Classics Illustrated: “In Every Dream Home a Heartache”
Camera phone snaps. 25 May 2008.
Bryan Ferry. “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” (Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure, 1973)
In every dream home a heartache
And every step I take leads me further from heaven
Is there a heaven? I’d like to think so
********
But what goes on?
What to do there?
Better pray there
I’ve Been Meaning to Ask
Is it third time’s a charm, or three strikes and you’re out?
Dear clusterflock
I come seeking advice and counsel . . .
I’m in the market for an in-town bicycle. Because I’ll be on sabbatical this coming fall, I’ll be giving it a try as my fair-weather transportation till winter sets in for real in November; if it goes well, I’ll be using it as commuter transport in the spring. Home to work is 11 miles one way. The streets on my route aren’t in the best of shape.
$200 is my upper limit. Sturdiness is paramount. What bikes should I look at/stay away from?
Devil Got My Woman
Stand up (and put your shirt back on) for what you believe in!
We have to make books cool again. You know? If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, don’t fuck ’em. And DVDs don’t count, either.
—John Waters, This Filthy World
(Via Ultrasparky)
Read more
(Not) Born Yesterday
The last thing I read Thursday night was India’s Craigslist post; the first thing I read this morning was an emailed request from a friend, a filmmaker and video artist based in New Orleans. Pinning his hopes on a Chicago Craigslist post, he hopes to trade a computer monitor for a video deck and wrote to ask whether, if he ships the monitor to me here in northern Illinois, I’ll execute the trade with the Chicago dude.
I told my friend I’d act as his mule, but I warned him that he’d better not set me up to walk into a trap. ‘Cause if he’s looking to hand me over to white slavers, he needs to know that I am not gun-shy and that over the years I have learned how to shoot. I wasn’t born yesterday.