missed callings

Richard Nixon is the Executive branch's Sol LeWitt:






















Sol LeWitt is Art's Richard Nixon:

word of the day: fillip

"Fillip," from the OED:

1. A movement made by bending the last joint of a finger against the thumb and suddenly releasing it (so as to propel some small object, or merely as a gesture); a smart stroke or tap given by this means.

b. Something of small importance; a trifle. Also, a short space of time, a moment.

2. In a wider sense: A smart blow (with the fist, etc.). Now rare.

3. Something that serves to rouse, excite, or animate; a stimulus.

Recently

Reading:
Habermas, "Modernity-An Incomplete Project"

Listening:
eRikm & Fennesz, Complementary Contrasts: Donaueschingen 2003 (review and review)
Tim Hecker, Harmony in Ultraviolet
GZA, Liquid Swords
Electralane, Rock it to the Moon
Jay-Z, Kingdom Come

Watching:
Casino Royale
A Good Year
Rosemary's Baby
Nouvelle Vague
Knife in the Water

words of the day

From OED.

1. apophatic: Applied to knowledge of God obtained by way of negation. Hence apophaticism, an apophatic approach to knowledge of God.

[ad. Gr. negative (see G. W. H. Lampe Patristic Greek Lexicon s.v.).]

2. nemoral: Of, relating to, or characteristic of groves or woods; living in or frequenting groves or woods.

[<>nemorlis belonging to a wood or forest, frequenting woodland < nemor-, nemus wood (cognate with ancient Greek wood, Gaulish nemeton holy place (prob. orig. holy grove), Old Irish nemed holy place) + -lis -AL¹. Cf. Middle French, French némoral (1564).]

one reason i like napalm death (still)

They are vitriolically anti-fascist.

fury

tasteless swimwear, part 1

"President Nazarbayev will visit the White House and the Bush family compound in Maine when he flies in for talks that will include the fictional character Borat."

poor editing aside (the daily mail isn't such a great paper), bush would ideally serve as mediator at a conflict resolution session between "borat" and the kazakh president. at kennebunkport, of course. i can't wait for the play to open off-broadway.

banksy is the man

Banksy in LA.

Banksy's recent book.

See also:

Monsieur Chat

Monsieur Chat on Flickr.

Subject of this sort-of okay movie.

I think Chris Marker may (may!) be overrated. But I haven't seen Sans Soleil, so I am not qualified to have an opinion.

puzzling puffy planet

Less dense than cork.

"'From the point of view of planetary theory, they’re in a region we would call Neverland,' Dr. Sasselov said."

good recent stuff

reading:

emily apter, "weaponized thought: ethical militance and the group-subject" (kind of a portmanteau essay)

paolo virno, "childhood and critical thought" (just perfect)

francoise dastur, "phenomenology of the event: waiting and surprise"

diana coole, "politics without nostalgia" (review of wendy brown, politics out of history)

jameson's review of the parallax view in the lrb (coruscating density, as usual).

j. hoberman's review of v for vendetta

cat and girl
_____________________________

music:

unwound / leaves turn inside you

the red krayola / hazel (with reservations re the pretentious parts)
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cinema:

the shipping news (surprisingly good for a stupid self-help movie)

divine intervention (droll, brilliant)

finding neverland

munich (dark but also funny, viz. the anarchist prank midway through; great screenplay)

mamma roma (lapidary, devastating)
_______________________________

recent suckage: smilla's sense of snow, after she boards the boat to the arctic. before that happens it's really good.

so-so, but hard to dislike: the decemberists / castaways and cutouts

Role Models

The University of Chicago Law School library now has DVDs available for check out. Many are law-themed, although there are some (perhaps predictable) omissions, e.g. The Trial and The Passion of Joan of Arc. On the other hand, law students do have the opportunity to view inspirational classics such as Erin Brockovich, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Legally Blonde (+ its sequel, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde).

boris heavy rocks

good article in the london guardian about the "new rock underground." there is one strange omission - boris, another rockin japanese band.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1852426,00.html

http://www.inoxia-rec.com/boris/

also, stephen o'malley of sunn 0))), etc., has an excellent blog:

http://www.ideologic.org/index2.html