real riot porn

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dante's paradise

a great piece of writing was sent in answer to one of my questions... it not only answered my question but it was so charming in it's delivery i thought it would be enjoyable to others...

me (paraphrased):

"hey... what's the deal with the paradiso?"

brilliant response from an un-named genius:

"I confess to having a strong preference for the Paradiso, which is not shared by many. For whatever reason, a lot of people are intrigued by the rather creatively imagined punishments and purgative exercises in the other volumes (e.g., the proud carrying around heavy rocks on their shoulders so that they can't look up!), but as someone drawn to the classic mystics, I find the whole structure of the Paradiso-- ending with the sublime and inexpressible (even for Dante) beatific vision-- utterly fascinating. You just have to accept that it's a bit of a shortcut through the medieval mind to begin there. There's quite enough to keep one busy for a long time, because it's impossible to avoid following the footnotes into the cosmology and angelic theology of Pseudo-Dionysius (the most esoteric of the lot, who probably only made it into mainstream Christian thought because of his pseudonym), Bernard of Clairvaux, Aquinas, the Neo-Platonists, etc.

I am hardly a scholar on the subject (although I've certainly accumulated the resources to do it if I should suddenly acquire a different kind of mind.) I've always felt free to mine the metaphors liberally-- and avoid the arguments that stopped being interesting several centuries ago (not to mention Italian city-state politics-- which got Dante exiled and with some speculative time on his hands in the first place). Maybe it was exile that evoked in him such a compelling interest in the final resolution of things... And keep in mind that Dante wasn't entirely literal about all of this. There's a place where he explains that the whole distribution of the souls that he encounters into the various planetary spheres is really just an organizational convenience arranged for the benefit of his mortal mind. Rather generous of God, I think-- but one of the reasons that I retain more patience than most with classic Christian symbology. The truth in it has nothing whatsoever in common with the verifiability of the six o'clock news..."

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how to dance to dubstep

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rest in peace, bill...

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potato story

An old man lived alone in Idaho. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, Bubba , who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.

Dear Bubba,

I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me.

Love,

Dad

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Dad,

For heaven's sake, Dad, don't dig up that garden, that's where I buried the BODIES.

Love,

Bubba

At 4 am the next morning, FBI agents and local police showed up and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. The same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Dad,

Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.

Love,

Bubba.

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dubstep triumphant!

the original (which used different genres) from punditkitchen.com

bust out some speakers with bass response... some real boomin scorchers here, folks. dubstep continues to expand itself... not satisfied with absorbing most genres, it wants them all (but seriously... that joker tune with ben blackmore is basically a country dub... and it works!) NOTE: and as an added bonus, all these tracks are 320kbps for all you quality snobs... (so just click on any track to link to the .zip archive on media fire with all the tracks...)

(mp3) eskmo - "san francisco (The Rhythm)" from "hypercolor ep" this track takes a real glitchy organic halfstep funk sound, reminiscent of tipper, vibesquad and matthew herbert's dr. rockit of all things... super prodcution, great slow grinder to mix up the pounding shit...

(mp3) helixir - "capioera dub" from "the french connection" super funky dubstep tune that is exactly what it calls itself. capioera music in the form of berimbau and other percussion samples. add warm, phat roller bass and you've got a beautiful summer tune. i'm playing it may 1st!

(mp3) starkey - "creature" from forthcoming planet mu 12" this is a beautiful tune. in fact it almost brought one of my friends to tears. a heavy, wonky head-nodder in the style of rustie (and starkey of course!)... stepping, sliding, tweaked synths with beautiful spaces throughout. i'd play it at the end of a triumphant set. just beautiful, starkey... and i'll take this down if you ask... no problem.

(mp3) eleven8 - "chin up" from "this is risk ep" HUJE CHUNE HERE. big fucking wobbler. no offense to all the other loud bass wankers out there (caspa, rusko, bar 9, 16 bit, stenchman, chase & status, reso, etc...), but eleven8 has more melody and style packed into these basslines than anyone yet from dubstep. my only complaint is the treble isn't quite as hot as the bass... but cheers, mate!

(mp3) charlie p - "it's so crazy" feat. karma (original mix) from "it's so crazy" this song is clubstep, and i mean that in a very complimentary way... this tune has all kinds of beautiful stages and development... it maybe doesn't get quite as twisted as i want it, but that's what makes it such a crowd pleaser. lots of warm solid sub hum and pretty chopped up vocals saying "it's so crazY"...

(mp3) dreadfoxx - "pump up the volume" (remix) from "6 million ways ep" i kind of tossed this on as a bit of a throwaway, but i keep wanting to play this tune. screechy midrange whines, decent bass, silly scratches, bad vocal samples ("mars needs women") but somehow feels like a new and important addition to the dubstep range. i'd love to hear a tune in this vein done by dj craze...

(mp3) jamie vex'd - "in system travel" from "in system travel ep" this tune is real dusty, subtley glitchy, slow and gorgeous. dubstep only by a thread... owes a debt to flying lotus, atom™ and luomo. grainy, pretty, and nice enough to start the night with (as long as the night also starts with sensuous beverages in a candle-lit speakeasy...

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pop urls zen

my (personalized!) recommended links from popurls today...

click this picture to view an incredibly detailed map of where the u.s. spends it's money...

also:

snow rollers?

viking myths!

pirate deaths :(

and this, maybe the weirdest video i've ever seen. warning, sappy songs!

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that veiled gazette #349

editor's note: sorry for the delay getting out this issue. i've been super busy, so blogging has been hard to get to, but admittedly i've also been a little geeked out on using facebook for the first time. finding old friends, writing letters, posting little things for them, becoming a "fan" of hummus, etc... for real though, it has been fascinating watching people from completely different periods of my life talking with each other. not that that doesn't ever happen here, but, well, it's a different audience. i love you both, and that veiled gazelle isn't going anywhere...

painter in bangladesh, via wall street journal's picture of the day

ART: the delicate special works of rachel sumpter. the composite (time not space!) photography of peter funch. the (street art blog) wooster collective truly continues to put out great stuff. check out sally's blue wall or this colorful wheatpaste. my old friend fran (thank you, facebook) documented a cool piece that involves ink drawing on walls and an air compressor. design is fun, but "hyperbolic bronnerism" is even more fun. it's a little hard to navigate, but the site neocha is a collection of independent chinese culture. also, check the vibrant, subtley pagan, mucha-like (mostly) nudes of svetlana valueva. also, while he's a bit miffed about watchmen (his work, originally...) that's o.k., because alan moore is a super-genius. witness video (direct link here):

MUSIC: wizards are better posts some good bassline & dubstep stuff (and some hipster crap). are you annoyed that pirating music takes so much time? take the wait out with skipscreen. blackdown makes a mind map on the origin of scenes. promotion services for world musicians. frieze article by dj rupture on the "decline" of digging. also, i hadn't heard about soul singer phyllis hyman, but she's got a nice voice (video) (and is from pittsburgh!) three more youtube music links here: kinsmen (indian jazz ensemble), carl craig classical remix, and some ethiopian heat. anyway, i've been posting A LOT of DUBSTEP. so here are seven songs that aren't:

(mp3) atom™ - "wellen und felder II" - bizarre, yet entrancing ambience from uwe!

(mp3) dinosaur l -"go bang" (walter gibbons mix) - classic arthur russell material

(mp3) amon tobin - "twelvses" - throwback gorgeousness, not two fingers style

(mp3) morteza - "morteza"? - weird iranian pop i was given for my nouruz gig

(mp3) isoleé - "a nightingale" (original mix) - abstract & beautiful tech-house

(mp3) hermutt lobby - "play" - twisted, wonky, slow glitch-hop type shiznit

(mp3) jakes - "swerve" - fun drum n bass track... with an mc! ~1996 style?

your's truly spinning at global beats march 2009. photo by carla.

TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE, DIY: great rhyme writing resource in writerhymes. inflatable hood for sleepy travelers. do dumb shit to photographs with pikipimp. laura's always been a proponent for local currency... learn about algebra (i forgot all mine in art school...) create large wall posters with little printers. nice home-made picture frames out of jars. and for the record, artificial life could be created within 5 years, whatever that means...

ECO: meditate on the size of the earth and how lucky we are. 25 reasons why you should consider earth-sheltered technology. paris is grey, and sarkozy has a plan. another weird plan on the table for global warming issues. or is global warming all a hoax? i dunno, i'm not a scientist... something tells me that it's not a bad idea to act like it's real, if only because we might help with the bio-diversity problem. good soy milk recipe. candle-powered heat? i don't live in these cities, but: space in detroit. space in baltimore. i found some nice eco stuff on chelsea green, including this article on the case for "small" hydro-electric power.

british kid in thailand, via wall street journal's picture of the day

BABYLON, SCANDAL, POLITICS: you know about Carnivore and ECHELON, right? their giant spy networks that troll everyone's communications for these words, among others... well there is at least one more ghost-net recently discovered, this time in china. here's what you might look like to your government. there are some sneaky shenanigans in the obama copyright treaty... france is ready for rebirth of the "violent left"... that's a hilarious article, but to be fair, they have had some history of awesome riots (which in turn left us a lot of slogans.) there's been a tiny crack made in the travel restrictions to cuba, but then there's the wholeembargo thing. why? chomsky has some ideas on that... also an OLD scandal may be getting some light shed on it.

SUFI, WEIRD: perfect memory, anyone? bahauddin's book sounds pretty great. my friend found one of the (super rare) copies ofthis book in a junk shop... still haven't seen it yet. for free, an archive of female sacred poets. amazing horse dancing in pakistan (video... jump ahead for the fast parts.) the thousands of inscriptions are getting translated, finally. i'm starting to think i ought to learn a bit more about ramon llull. creationist science fairs... first prize in the high school division actually sounds pretty interesting... top ten secret scientologists. get your daily weird at the daily grail. finally, the sisters of perpetual indulgence celebrate 30 years.

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mostly banal, but occasionally...

...awesome. lolcats, people. they're profound occasionally.


"tower of babel" tonight folks... bangin' bangin'!

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drum n rai

carlos sent over this hilarous yet awesome algerian music video by cheb mami. i'd bang this at the club for sure. what's hilarious to me is the suit and non-chalant nature of male arab singers in their videos. reminds me of the omar souleyman video i posted a while back. it's like, "yeah, this music's hot, but i'm in formal wear just doin my thing..."

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yes we can (can!)

the band. can. (wiki) jaki leizebeit's drumming in this track is hot. guy dancing in the grocery to it is hilarious.

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high water, low brow

the watermark project from the beautiful and detailed bldgblog... if global warming continues, water levels will rise... but, how high? the answer is projected on buildings, and detailed on the website of this art project.

for unintelligent commentary on global warming, witness...



i'd love to see his broadway show...

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"a bit complex at times"

my life right now is kind of like trying to play this piece of music...


but i'll get back to blogging soon... i should be able to put out a large post tommorow night after working on my new mix...

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in case you haven't had enough... UPDATED!

UPDATED BELOW!!!...there are a ton more gospel dancing/christian freakout video footage mashed with techstep. HILARIOUS... thank you to the airloaf.

here's my other fave:


as laura said, i'd love to find the original footage for these to hear the audio. unfortunately it's probably more often like this or even this than glossalia type shit...

UPDATE: elder mason, who founded the church of god in christ is seen in this video praise dancing. apparently it's a pentecostal thing. appalachian pentecostal dancing (complete with falling backward!) can be found in this video. it seems related to gospel dancing and more carribean and african stles of dance worship like these haitians. none of the videos i've found are as full-out wild as the baptazia videos. some christians HATE this dancing...(as in, "PSA 150:4 Praising God in a fully clothed personal dance to give thanks for spiritual freedom is acceptable, but the sexes must be separated in different rooms.") some just worry about the influence of the so-called "charismatic movement"on their worship services. anyway, here's a video... it's not drum and bass this time, but same idea...


if you still haven't had enough (specifically christian) weirdness, click here for some small town delights...

also, NOTE: i think this is great stuff. i'm not hatin' on these people. uninhibited movement is crucial to liberation, in my opinion. whether it's christian, crazed dervishes, all-male afghan nightclub dancing, secret iranian women freakouts or actual ravers, freedom is freedom. just hide your money in your shoe...

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automobile revision

building on the crimethinc post i just made, i figured i would post about my initial connection to that organization. for those not familiar with this project it's easily one of the coolest things i've ever been involved with. in the summer of 2001 i had a lot of free time (and a bad haircut) and i emailed my favorite artists, promising my talents to their efforts. after learning i could edit video, loved music and could tinker, mark dixon invited me to be locked in a room for two weeks with a car for the purpose of turning it into musical instruments. we we're joined by eric nugent, etta cetera and steven tesh, food, water and tools and we made a ton of awesome instruments.

the original website (hat tip to the wayback machine) is here.
eric's got a little site on it here.
mark's new band is here.

anyway here's the video of the project... it's almost a half hour and it's in three parts. very entertaining, i'm told.

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extra music new

image credit word soup.

last night i found an awesome music blog, "extra music new"... (it takes practice!)

check the dubstep archive. it's HUGE, and very high quality. they have pretty much everything on boomkat's dubstep charts. other music there too, but the dubstep seems to be of particularly high quality.

i found everything i wanted. the new starkey disc, new kode9 12", the new skull disco comp, joker & rustie's new 12", new 2562 album, the new neil landstrumm album, even the actress album. WOWZA!!! i've got too much bass to listen to now.

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i'm not dead...

image by peter callesen

we just went east for thanksgiving, and now we're west for early december (and then north for christmas). as such, blogging has been tough and may be tough. no promises for now. so i will just toss a smattering of stuff again out there for chewing... mp3s at the bottom.

absolutely DO NOT MISS laura's awesome nature find. it let's you put in your zipcode and gives you pictures and information about all the species that live there. super cool. get your naturalist on, people!

i read this fascinating article this morning on how the web was almost completely compromised, and the security threats to come. surprisingly readable...

this is good news from the president-elect. obama is going to post the groups he meets with on change.gov, along with the policy wish-lists they bring with them and allow the public to discuss them. he doesn't have to listento the public, but at least he's sharing the dirt. can you imagine bush (or mccain) doing that?

my good friend the yinsurgent posted this thought-provoking letter to anarchists who voted for obama. i disagree with much of his assessment, but it's worth a gander. the comments get a little feisty. i'm waiting to post my detailed response to the yinsurgent, because there are a ton of points to cover, but in the meantime, watch this video showing bush knew katrina was a big danger before the levees were breached. if nothing else, it makes me feel like the choice of president, while certainly not offering the choices we may prefer (say, "none of the above"), does still have some impact on people's lives. it's three minutes. watch it.

Hurricane Katrina - Tape Delay

More Funny Videos
Comedians on Tour

Get Funny Ringtones
Stand-Up Comedy

i find this collection of photographs a funny twist on this style of photograph.

if you've ever known someone to get hurt because of stupidity about drugs, consider buying one of these glass molecule reproductions from erowid.org, the webs premiere clearing-house of unbiased information about drug health and law.

and these are the dubstep tunes that have been making me explode recently. they are all .zipped up. whine in the comments if that makes it harder for you. if you are the artist and want your track taken down, no sweat. email me. i took down l.v. and dandelion's track "cctv", but it's still hot.

(mp3)shackleton - el din pt. 1
(mp3)bassnectar - heads up
(mp3)modeselektor - the black block (rustie remix)
(mp3)subswara - alabaster dub
(mp3)clouds - too much
(mp3)osc - evolution

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a smattering of stuffs

image above by limkis

so it's been really cold here in pittsburgh. we've been really busy, and really cold. but things are good overall and i now have moment to blog:

of the many sites i read to keep up with the election, the huffington post remains the most relevant. apparently, i'm not the only one who thinks so. for the record, fivethirtyeight.com ended up being pretty much exactly right about the election, though (head poll analyst and founder) nate silver may have under-shot the democrats majority in congress (looking close to 60, folks!!!), i'll definitely be checking back with nate in two years.

well, bush definitely is trying some dirty tricks on the way out, and we haven't even gotten to the pardons yet... luckily obama has had a team of lawyers researching which of bushes executive orders can be overturned by the incoming president rapidly, including some environmental laws, stem-cell research policy and reproductive rights. for those (like me) not turned off by obama's religion, this is a fascinating interview with him on the subject from 2004... good interview with obama's "brain trust" here. many of them have recently recieved cabinet positions. if you only read one thing related to the election, read the yinsurgent's brilliant "joe the plumber and the american pipe dream" analysis you won't find anywhere else, gaurunteed.

a few new amazing technologies caught my eye: a new windpipe grown from stem-cells was successfully transplanted into a mother of two. a new software can make duplicate keys from photos, even satellite photos... hide your keys! mulitcolr allows you to search for images by up to ten colors at once... a related nice site is this one from google and life magazine, featuring milions of archived photos from life. writerhymes has built-in rhyme suggestion for aspiring emcees. oh, and i want to make one of these shrink-plastic rings.

rob simpson broke down the cost of the iraq war to intelligable units, like "we could buy every human on the planet a 4gb ipod!". speaking of war, james brett thinks the war in afghanistan can be won with pomegranates.

in green news, there is always upcycling... also check out this fridge without electricity. if you need more green news you can always check treehugger.

in music, i've been digging the watcha clan, some of the latin stuff off this lomaximo site, and someone pointed me to infinite livez, but i haven't heard much yet. i've been playing with this 30-piece band recently. i owe some uploads related to that. also, this seems like a good resource for mastering information, courtesy of the dutty bredren.

in art, i've been math obsessed (save for my new black and white painting matthu stull has been bugging me to do for five years!)... i really like these impossible fractals. the site is stupid but i'm interested in illusionary motion like this counter-rotational spiral.

in news of the weird, this gentleman insists he's not a douchebag, this 6,000,000 pound mansion has fallen to artist squatters, "sticks" entered into toy hall of fame, and this is a really weird outfit.

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it will be zesty

from "a night with chris matthews" from the new york times...

“Think of the Kennedys,” Mr. Matthews said, when asked the impact on Washington if Obama wins. “A mixed administration. Pragmatic. Some liberal tendencies, not overwhelming. Very tough. Very smart. Thin ties — are you looking at this?” He demonstrated on his own black silk tie, folding it in half. “Well-turned-out men. No sloppiness. Just work.

“It will be zesty,” he added."

indeed.

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classic material

from the 3rd volume of AWOL (a rarely released revolutionary mag...)

these covers are priceless... click for super-high resolution versions...

bush and the gang (circa 2004) as blinged out thugs:


definitely should click this back one to read the ad... you might need revolution:

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