08 September 2006

Brian's last public performance....

According to Wikipedia, this is footage from The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, Brian Jones' last public performance, filmed in December, 1968.

The film wasn't released for 25 years because Mick Jagger was unhappy with the band's performance.

It's certainly not their best. But I love the song and it's Brian's final public gig.

He was found motionless in the bottom of his Sussex, England, swimming pool around midnight July 3rd, 1969. (My mother killed herself in March of that year, half a world away in California.) Controversy surrounds the circumstances of Brian's death, but what isn't disputed is that he'd been on a downward spiral of drugs, alcohol and depression for some time.

And yep, that is John Lennon in the clip! I couldn't believe my eyes the first time I watched it. But according to Wikipedia, he and Yoko Ono performed in Rock and Roll Circus, along with many other outstanding performers.

the Stones....

On the other hand, the bad boys of rock were always my favorites!

Mick's sizzling sexuality blazes from his eyes, doesn't it? Damn! And then there's Brian Jones, looking like a little kid dwarfed by his sitar!

Feeling nostalgic....

Surfing through old music videos tonight at You Tube.

I saw this performance (February 9th, 1964) Live on our old black and white TV. Then went out the next day and bought the single. It's possible my brother still owns it.



[edited: added date of appearance.]

07 September 2006


Muzzle the mouse...!

From the NYT:
Three members of the Clinton administration have written the chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent, to complain that the network’s coming two-part miniseries “The Path to 9/11” is fraught with factual errors and fabrications.

The letters ask that the five-hour movie, scheduled for broadcast Sunday and Monday, be either edited for accuracy or canceled, and ABC gave a small indication yesterday that some changes might be made.
Later in the article,
ABC, meanwhile, continued to explain that the mini-series, though largely drawn from the report of the Sept. 11 commission, was a dramatization, not a documentary. [emphasis mine]
Oh, that makes it alright! We all know how adept American TV viewers are at keeping fact and fiction straight!

Since I prepared to post this, news broke that Bill Clinton's lawyer, Bruce Lindsey, has also written ABC a letter. (HT to Shakespeare's Sister.)

NYT story here.

What a find…...!

A guy happened upon a box of old photos at a flea market, and from it came what looks like a marvellous book.

To think, I was a confused little transgendered kid in the redneck suburbs of Southern California, when these trannies were crossdressing in the Catskills!
...These men had one foot in the mainstream and the other in the margins,” Mr. Hill said the other day. “I’m fascinated by that position and their paradox, which is that the strict gender roles of the time were both the source of their anxiety and pain, and also the key to escaping that pain.”

What still moves Murray Moss, the impresario behind Moss the store, about the images in the book is their ordinariness. “You think of man dressed as woman and you think extremes: it’s kabuki, Elizabethan theater, Lady Macbeth,” he said. “It’s also sexual. But these aren’t sexual photos. The idea that they formed a secret society just to be ... ordinary. It’s like a mirror held up to convention. It’s not what you would expect. It’s also not pathetic. Everybody looks so happy.”
The NYT is its usual mix of poignancy and clueless in this article, as in these few sentences in the lede.
In those pre-Judith Butler, pre-Phil Donahue days, when gender was more tightly tethered to biology, these men’s “gender migrations,” or “gender dysphoria,” as the sociologists began to call cross-dressing, might cost them their marriages, their jobs, their freedom.
Does the writer really think the same is no longer true, especially in George Bush's America?!

Ah, wouldn't the world be amazed to find out who, among their heterosexual male friends and acquaintances, cross dresses!

I’d like to get this book.

Complete story here.
(Photo from here.)

Maybe she's a Simon & Garfunkel fan...?

Faye Weldon argues in her new book, "What Makes Women Happy?" (according to Broadsheet) that women should fake orgasms to make men happy and out of gratitude for all the great progress women have made (yeah, like in Japan).
...She seems to base this argument on the fact that "eighty percent of women only sometimes -- or never -- experience orgasm." Even kindly bypassing the fact that the difference between sometimes having an orgasm and never having an orgasm is, uh, monumental, there's something genuinely wacky about solving a lack of orgasms by faking them. But Weldon seems OK with the idea that most women will largely go orgasmless and expects that any thoughtful woman will accept this and redirect her attention to soothing the male ego. After all, why upset his sense of manliness over something that is likely unattainable? You've already won your high-powered career -- to the detriment of his ego -- so stop your complaining and shut up already!

Some feminists are outraged, calling Weldon an unrepentant misogynist. But her argument reeks of nasty disdain and condescension toward men, depicting women as higher intellects stuck with the sorry task of looking after apelike males who think only in primal terms of defending their egos. This isn't just antifemale, it's antimale!
Not sure I agree with Salon on this.

Weldon’s advice may be, more than anything, the reflection of a huge generation-gap. Weldon came of age during the 1950's, when sex was not a proper topic of discussion for polite, young ladies. Without sex-education for men or women, misinformation was widespread.

Moreover, partners were not expected to talk about what they wanted, and thus clear up misconceptions. It’s not surprising that Weldon might hold outdated notions.

That she would in the 21st century, however, get a book past editors that advises women to fake orgasms is as maddeningly frustrating as her advise is sad and misguided. While I question the reliability of the “80%” figure (I hope it’s not true!) fact is, a lot of women do NOT orgasm with a male partner. So, is stating the truth “antimale”?

If men are ever to reach a better understanding of women’s bodies, and thereby be able to assist in attaining the big O, lying about orgasms is a really bad idea. Throws your partner way off base, so to speak, in addition to undermining the foundation of honesty and communication between partners.

Broadsheet snippet here (requires subscription or ad-viewing).
No shit...!
GOP vows honesty (NOT!)

HT to Harpers; story here.

06 September 2006


(Photograph: John Giles/WPA/PA.)


Bush's bitch under pressure....

Seven members of Tony Blair's government resigned today in protest at the prime minister's reluctance to publicly name a departure date.
One junior minister, Tom Watson, quit as well as six parliamentary private secretaries, after 48 hours of leaks and rampant speculation about an exit timetable.

The open rebellion, after Downing Street dubbed reports of Mr Blair quitting next May "speculation" but did not deny them, led the Conservative leader, David Cameron, to describe the Labour party as in "meltdown."
In his resignation letter, Junior Minister Watson said, "It is with the greatest sadness that I have to say that I no longer believe that your remaining in office is in the interest of either the party or the country."

I would add, "or the world," to that list. Along with George Bush's name to the letter's salutation.

I've never understood why so many Britons remain loyal to Blair, despite his dragging them into the Iraq fiasco.

Complete story here.

(Photo here.)

Patriarchy survives threat in Japan....
Tokyo, Sept. 6 (AP): Japan's Princess Kiko gave birth to the royal family's first male heir in four decades on Wednesday, easing a succession crisis and quelling a fractious political debate over whether to allow women on the throne.

Kiko, 39, underwent a Caesarean section at a Tokyo hospital, bearing a boy who is third in line to the throne after Crown Prince Naruhito and Kiko's husband, Prince Akishino, 40. The baby's name was to be announced next Tuesday.

The arrival of a new Prince _ Emperor Akihito's first grandson _ defused a succession crunch in the coming generation of the royal family, which traces its roots back some 1,500 years.

[snip]

The closely watched birth was also likely to put the brakes on a divisive debate over whether to change Japan's 1947 imperial law to allow women to inherit the throne. Under that law, only men in an all-male line to the emperor can assume the crown.

While eight women have ruled as emperor over the centuries, the last taking the throne in 1763, they served mostly as placeholders until a suitable male could be found, and none passed the crown to her offspring. [emphasis mine]
For some time now, doesn't it feel like one step forward and two steps back for progressives and feminists?

I was watching this story, hoping for the birth of a baby girl, thinking it could propel Japan's patriarchal, regressive society forward.

But no luck.

I know Japan is far from alone in the world community when it comes to sexism. The US has yet to elect a woman president. The very idea! That in this day and age, one has to possess a penis and balls to be fit for leadership.

Arghhhhhhh!

Complete story here.

05 September 2006



The Scots invented golf to help men whose self-esteem wasn’t low enough already….

Lewis Black was outstanding last night! He had the audience of roughly 800 people in Dublin's run-down Olympia Theatre falling out of our seats with laughter for an hour and a half. The show was worth every penny of the 29 Euro ticket price.

What presence Black has on stage! He launched into his characteristic and utterly satisfying rants about Cheney and Bush, American culture ("The closest thing to culture we have in the US is when someone, say, leaves the natural yogurt in the fridge too long."), Jesus Christ, Mormons, Michael Jackson, masturbation, his "Jewish lack of mechanical aptitude," and crazy news items. Like the story about the guy whose wife almost bit off his dick after he spilled scalding oil down her naked back while she was giving him head as he was cooking pancakes for her. News items which, as Black pointed out, cheer you up simply because they happened to somebody else.

Black smoothly integrated local material into his shtick, joking about the taxi strike inadvertently timed to coincide with his arrival at the airport, the outrageous prices of everything in Dublin (“My three producers each had a drink and some snacks at a bar and the bill was 100 fucking Euro!”), and, of course, the weather. When the audience informed him that Michael Jackson was in Ireland and possibly planning to settle in Cork, Black joked about the weather and Jackson!

Like all great stand-up comedians, he thinks at light speed on his feet. What a joy he is to watch!

(The clip I've posted is not Dublin. Couldn't find any clips from Ireland.)

04 September 2006


The reality of Iraq....

In my recent downward spiral, I haven't dared read Baghdad Burning.

I surfed over to it today for the first time in weeks, was drawn in, and left utterly sickened.

Previously, the blogger, a Baghdad resident, had maintained a surprisingly upbeat demeanour despite the chaos and violence engulfing her city. No longer. And I don't blame her a bit for her rage, bitterness and pessimism.

Here's a sampling. And if you're American, remember your tax money is paying for this.
...At nearly 2 pm, we received some terrible news. We lost a good friend in the killings. T. was a 26-year-old civil engineer who worked with a group of friends in a consultancy bureau in Jadriya. The last time I saw him was a week ago. He had stopped by the house to tell us his sister was engaged and he'd brought along with him pictures of latest project he was working on- a half-collapsed school building outside of Baghdad.

He usually left the house at 7 am to avoid the morning traffic jams and the heat. Yesterday, he decided to stay at home because he'd promised his mother he would bring Abu Kamal by the house to fix the generator which had suddenly died on them the night before. His parents say that T. was making his way out of the area on foot when the attack occurred and he got two bullets to the head. His brother could only identify him by the blood-stained t-shirt he was wearing.

People are staying in their homes in the area and no one dares enter it so the wakes for the people who were massacred haven't begun yet. I haven't seen his family yet and I'm not sure I have the courage or the energy to give condolences. I feel like I've given the traditional words of condolences a thousand times these last few months, "Baqiya ib hayatkum… Akhir il ahzan…" or "May this be the last of your sorrows." Except they are empty words because even as we say them, we know that in today's Iraq any sorrow- no matter how great- will not be the last. [snip]

It's like Baghdad is no longer one city, it's a dozen different smaller cities each infected with its own form of violence. It's gotten so that I dread sleeping because the morning always brings so much bad news. The television shows the images and the radio stations broadcast it. The newspapers show images of corpses and angry words jump out at you from their pages, "civil war… death… killing… bombing… rape…"

Rape. The latest of American atrocities. Though it's not really the latest- it's just the one that's being publicized the most. The poor girl Abeer was neither the first to be raped by American troops, nor will she be the last. The only reason this rape was brought to light and publicized is that her whole immediate family were killed along with her. Rape is a taboo subject in Iraq. Families don't report rapes here, they avenge them. We've been hearing whisperings about rapes in American-controlled prisons and during sieges of towns like Haditha and Samarra for the last three years. The naiveté of Americans who can't believe their 'heroes' are committing such atrocities is ridiculous. Who ever heard of an occupying army committing rape??? You raped the country, why not the people?

In the news they're estimating her age to be around 24, but Iraqis from the area say she was only 14. Fourteen. Imagine your 14-year-old sister or your 14-year-old daughter. Imagine her being gang-raped by a group of psychopaths and then the girl was killed and her body burned to cover up the rape. Finally, her parents and her five-year-old sister were also killed. Hail the American heroes... Raise your heads high supporters of the 'liberation' - your troops have made you proud today. I don't believe the troops should be tried in American courts. I believe they should be handed over to the people in the area and only then will justice be properly served. And our ass of a PM, Nouri Al-Maliki, is requesting an 'independent investigation', ensconced safely in his American guarded compound because it wasn't his daughter or sister who was raped, probably tortured and killed. His family is abroad safe from the hands of furious Iraqis and psychotic American troops.

It fills me with rage to hear about it and read about it. The pity I once had for foreign troops in Iraq is gone. It's been eradicated by the atrocities in Abu Ghraib, the deaths in Haditha and the latest news of rapes and killings. I look at them in their armored vehicles and to be honest- I can't bring myself to care whether they are 19 or 39. I can't bring myself to care if they make it back home alive. I can't bring myself to care anymore about the wife or parents or children they left behind. I can't bring myself to care because it's difficult to see beyond the horrors. I look at them and wonder just how many innocents they killed and how many more they'll kill before they go home. How many more young Iraqi girls will they rape?

Why don't the Americans just go home? They've done enough damage and we hear talk of how things will fall apart in Iraq if they 'cut and run', but the fact is that they aren't doing anything right now. How much worse can it get? People are being killed in the streets and in their own homes- what's being done about it? Nothing. It's convenient for them- Iraqis can kill each other and they can sit by and watch the bloodshed- unless they want to join in with murder and rape.

Buses, planes and taxis leaving the country for Syria and Jordan are booked solid until the end of the summer. People are picking up and leaving en masse and most of them are planning to remain outside of the country. Life here has become unbearable because it's no longer a 'life' like people live abroad. It's simply a matter of survival, making it from one day to the next in one piece and coping with the loss of loved ones and friends- friends like T.

It's difficult to believe T. is really gone… I was checking my email today and I saw three unopened emails from him in my inbox. For one wild, heart-stopping moment I thought he was alive. T. was alive and it was all some horrific mistake! I let myself ride the wave of giddy disbelief for a few precious seconds before I came crashing down as my eyes caught the date on the emails- he had sent them the night before he was killed. One email was a collection of jokes, the other was an assortment of cat pictures, and the third was a poem in Arabic about Iraq under American occupation. He had highlighted a few lines describing the beauty of Baghdad in spite of the war… And while I always thought Baghdad was one of the more marvelous cities in the world, I'm finding it very difficult this moment to see any beauty in a city stained with the blood of T. and so many other innocents…
This post was from July 11th. There are more recent ones, equally and understandably furious. Every American should read them. Each. And. Every. One.

Then DO SOMETHING to stop this war-crime being perpetrated in your name. Join your local anti-war group, then in groups of four or six, chain yourselves to the doors of your federal buildings in protest. Quit paying your income taxes. Refuse to redeploy to your military units if called up. Do something!!!

If you do nothing, you are complicit.

Baghdad Burning is here.

R.I.P.


Woke up this morning to this news on my radio. What a shock!
The Queensland Ambulance Service have confirmed Australia’s ambassador for our wildlife has died suddenly from injuries sustained earlier today while diving, from a stingray barb to the heart.

Steve, also kwown [sic] around the world as 'Crocodile Hunter' was filming for his daughter Bindi's new TV series at the time of the accident around 11am AEST off Batt Reef Port Douglas in Far North Queensland.

A Queensland Rescue helicopter crew, including a doctor and paramedic was flown in to try and revive him. CPR was administered during the rush to nearby Low Isl but to no avail and he was pronounced dead soon after.

He is survived by his wife Terri and two children Bob and Bindy. Terri was in Tasmania trekking Craddle Mountain at the time of the accident and has been informed.

Steve Irwin and his family ran Australia Zoo north of Brisbane where flowers and condolences are already pouring in. He was a wildlife conservationist who donated money earned from his documentaries watched in 130 countries around the world to help wildlife.

A sad loss and a shock to all Australians.
The guy definitely took risks in the course of doing what he loved. Still, what an unlucky way to die.

I used to work in Scripps Institute of Oceanography at an office located right above a seawall off the La Jolla beach. We were the first point of contact for swimmers and surfers who were stung by rays. It's amazing the damage a ray can do! And from what people said, the pain of the venom is absolutely excruciating. Unless you’re stung near a vital organ, however, it's not a life-threatening injury.

My condolences go out to his wife and kids.

Story from here.

03 September 2006


Over the falls....

Lewis Black's reference to the guy surviving a plunge over Niagara Falls got me curious so I googled him.

Crazy!
..."He just looked calm. He just was gliding by so fast. I was in shock really that I saw a person go by," Brenda McMullen told WIVB-TV in Buffalo.

Jones was not seriously injured and remained hospitalized in stable condition.

Surviving a leap from Niagara Falls had intrigued Jones for years, said his mother, who had spoken to him only briefly since the jump.

"He said he always thought there was a spot you could jump and survive," Doris Jones, 77, told The Associated Press from her sister's home in Keizer, Ore. "We never agreed to it. We thought it was risky." [emphasis mine]
No kidding!

Complete story here.
Black at his best....

A tirade against legislation to ban profanity on air in the US...Effing brilliant!!

Black on the gay threat to the American family....

Can't wait til tomorrow night when I get to see him in person!

And this....

What can I say, I'm a cat person!

Kitty throw rug....

Continuing on my break from posting about hard news, here's something to make you smile....