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I Meet My Match
A kid who I assume to be in high school but claims to be a college student starts talking to me in the video department of a crowded midtown store today. He asks if I'm browsing the anime titles for myself or a gift. I say myself. From that moment forward I am deluged with quantum packets of fan data, my feeble responses batted aside like beams from a pencil flashlight. "Didja know a live action Astroboy is coming out?" "A live action Gigantor?" "Live action Sailor Moon?" "Do you know about the Neon Genesis manga that takes place in the alternate universe where Shinji's living a normal life with his parents? He still pilots Eva, though. Did you know he sleeps with Rei? You know what Rei is, right?"
"Yes, she's a vat grown entity derived from the blood of an Angel."
"And what else?"
"And DNA from her father."
Derisive snort. "Her father?"
"Sorry, her mother."
"Anyway, remember how Shinji likes Kaoru in the series? In the manga he hates him, hates him."
"Is Kaoru gay, like in the series?"
"Yeah, but when he comes onto Shinji in the manga, Shinji gets mad and pushes him away."
Midway through our conversation the kid's father comes up behind him, taps his shoulder and says, "I'm going to that cafe downstairs so I can have a drink." I'm trying to browse the DVDs but the kid keeps going, breaking my concentration, talking about Tenchi Muyo, Ninja Scroll, the Battle for the Planets box set ("also known as G-Force; also Gatchaman"). "Cowboy Bebop is amazing animation for 1998. Amazing. Cartoon Network is trying to get them to extend the series more, but they won't. Did you hear they're expanding Adult Swim?" "Did you know that in Japan they have stores full of anime several floors high? Just anime!" "Oh, here's a box set I'm going to have to download at my school. Downloads suck, some virus always gets in." "Oh, the manga shelf! Gotta go, nice talking to you."
After he left, the spirit creature inside me was exhausted. I reported back to the Oni Dimension: "All is well on Earth."
The Capture of Saddam: A Sketch
The time traveler's hosts took him to a public eating place. Three television screens hung in the corners of the room, just below the ceiling. Each screen showed the same rapidly shifting images--repetitive, incantatory shots of talking people surrounded by colored windowframes and ribbons of scrolling letters. The traveler could make no sense of it.
Periodically a video sequence appeared on the screen in which a man in rubber gloves poked his fingers into another man's mouth, then aimed a flashlight into it so that the oral cavity glowed red. The probee resembled a crazed hermit. The screen would cut back to the talking people, then some shots of crowds, then back to the man being probed. After watching the rubber glove segment about ten times in twice that number of minutes, the traveler couldn't stand it any more. "What is happening here?" he asked.
His hosts looked at each other conspiratorially.
"Do you want to do this?" said Betty.
"Sure," said Bob. "You see, Qwarlo, many of our people's lives are quite meaningless. They work terrible dead end jobs with no hope of advancement. If they should be so unlucky as to get sick, they can quickly become pauperized and homeless. To keep them complacent, the corporate state amuses them with tales of frightening villains--in reality potentates from far away countries that would never have any impact on their lives, but who are made to seem like menaces to all. The man you see on the screen was recently captured after twelve years of being marketed as the Great Satan. He was unquestionably a bad guy, but our government supported him for years before deciding he was more useful as a heel."
"Why is that man sticking his fingers in his mouth?"
"Ostensibly searching for poison capsules or contraband, but since it's being filmed, I'd say the main purpose is public humiliation. Every successful TV series needs a climax, and since this man did not die in a shootout upon apprehension, the public needs to see him treated like an animal." Bob was trying to keep a straight face.
"Why do they keep showing the same clip again and again?"
"Again, the excuse would be that 24-hour news repeats things for the benefit of people just tuning in, but the reality is this is government propaganda. The constant repetition reinforces the idea of overwhelming state power, and provides a kind of 'bread and circuses' entertainment for the vast majority of the public."
The traveler looked appalled. "I realize this is my own distant past, but I can't believe things were ever this corrupt and barbaric."
"Welcome to modern times, Qwarlo," Betty said.
Saddam's Capture: An Objective Report
(Originally posted 5 hours ago on dratfink's page.)
Just got back from brunch--saw the clip of the doctor probing Saddam's mouth about 15 times on the restaurant TV. Then the staff turned up the sound so we could all listen to Jr's platitudinous speech, after which they applauded.
Spent an enjoyable day walking around the dreaded Chelsea art district, then over to Billburg, as they say. Highlights: Sergio Prego at Lombard Fried (moving walls and stop motion wallsurfing by the artist); Michelle Grabner & Brad Killam videos at Ten in One ("Dale Chihuly Glass Camp for Boys" is priceless); Eunjung Hwang's psychosexual Fabulous Creatures computer animations at Eyebeam Atelier; Adam Frank's & Zack Booth Simpson's Shadows, also at Eyebeam; Carolyn Swiszcz at M.Y. Art Prospects, LLC (thanks to bloggy for recommending these excellent paintings); Rachelle Mozman's "semi-staged portraits and landscapes" shot in "newly developed parts of New Jersey" (at PH Gallery, 547 West 27th). An opening at Vertexlist in Brooklyn featured a pyrotechnic insanitarium hair curler floor installation by Thad Simerly and Michael Stachiw's web interface that "sings your website" to the tune of cheesy '80s MIDI files.
In the comments to an earlier post I've been having an interesting debate with artist and blogger Sally McKay (with contributions from Bill Schwarz) that includes a belated appraisal of the formerly Young British Artists, whether the term "artist" should be defined inclusively or exclusively, and more specifically, whether Ron Mueck is a capitalist plot.
Welcome to the browser wilderness of mirrors. The image immediately below is my website on Safari, courtesy of iCapture, a site that allows non-Mac web designers to view their handiwork on a Mac. The bottom image is my web page running on Netscape or IE (or Mozilla, I'm told). I'd say Mr. Jobs isn't helping me out here by artistically blurring out the enlarged gif.
Welcome to the browser wilderness of mirrors, part 2. The image immediately below is my website on Safari, courtesy of iCapture (see part 1). All 9 animated gifs are supposed to be moving in synch. The bottom image is my web page running on Netscape or IE (or Mozilla, I'm told). I'd say Mr. Jobs isn't helping me out here by starting the gifs in arbitrary groups of 3-6.
Awesome Flash ad for Dennis Kucinich lists names of soldiers who have died in Iraq and asks what they died for. (Answer: Halliburton, Bechtel, the President's rich friends...) It would be wonderful if this could run on television, to penetrate the propaganda fog most Americans see, or just to piss people off. Never forget: Bush is a monster (and stupid). Peace out.