cummon, take the pen

Terrorism in New Orleans, and a selection of comments from its enlightened citizens.

netflix find: killer of sheep (see link for trailer)

Killer of Sheep examines the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse.

Frustrated by money problems, he finds respite in moments of simple beauty: the warmth of a coffee cup against his cheek, slow dancing with his wife in the living room, holding his daughter. The film offers no solutions; it merely presents life — sometimes hauntingly bleak, sometimes filled with transcendent joy and gentle humor.

Killer of Sheep was shot on location in Watts in a series of weekends on a budget of less than $10,000, most of which was grant money. Finished in 1977 and shown sporadically, its reputation grew and grew until it won a prize at the 1981 Berlin International Film Festival.

Since then, the Library of Congress has declared it a national treasure as one of the first fifty on the National Film Registry and the National Society of Film Critics selected it as one of the "100 Essential Films" of all time. However, due to the expense of the music rights, the film was never shown theatrically or made available on video. It has only been seen on poor quality 16mm prints at few and far between museum and festival showings.

Now, thirty years after its debut, the new 35mm print of Killer of Sheep, brilliantly restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive, is ready for its long-awaited international release.

village voice review

salon review

lair of the white worm on ifc at midnight.

speaking pigeon

When Ray Bengen learned that he was going to start work at the New York Times new Eighth Avenue office tower back in July as a software engineering consultant he thought, "Great. It's just up the street from where I live. I can ride my bike to work."

There was just one problem. While the Times and developer Forest City Ratner were promoting their new Renzo Piano-designed skyscraper as a "technologically advanced and environmentally sensitive" exemplar of green construction, a lack of bike parking and policies hostile towards cyclists were discouraging employees from commuting to work by the city's most environmentally-friendly mode of urban transport.

"I couldn't believe they built such a supposedly 'green' building without a bike room," Bengen said. "This isn't exactly the best neighborhood to leave a bike outside all day."

For a few weeks a friendly security guard allowed Bengen to bring his "cheap old Giant" bicycle into the building through a freight elevator. Then one day in September the guard said that he wasn't allowed to do that anymore.

Master Cleanse #4: previous #4 failed, I was just too hungry, so I MC'd during day and Vegan'd at night......yesterday was day one and it was tough but I held up, today should be easier......

These should be happy times for owners of small farms. Not only are commodity prices way up, but the buy-local movement has caught fire around the country. Rapidly growing numbers of people are embracing the romantic notion of buying food directly from area farmers, sometimes driving hours into the countryside to buy veggies, meat and milk.

The number of farmers markets over the last five years has increased more than 50 percent, to nearly 4,500 from 2,800, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Since the European idea of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) was adopted by a handful of US farms twenty years ago, enabling consumers to buy shares in the output of local farms, the concept has been adopted by as many as 3,000 small farms across the US. Thousands of consumers are trekking out to dairy farms to purchase suddenly popular unpasteurized milk for its perceived health benefits over the pasteurized stuff, according to the Weston A. Price Foundation, a promoter of raw (unpasteurized) milk consumption. (Retail sales of raw milk are prohibited in most states).

Cracking Down

But as the re-emergence of a farm-to-consumer economy draws increasing amounts of cash out of the mass-production factory system, the new movement is bumping up against suddenly energized regulators who claim they want to "protect" us from pathogens and other dangers.

Federal and state agriculture and health authorities say farmers are violating all kinds of regulations to meet fast-growing consumer demand, such as slaughtering their own hogs and cattle instead of using state and federally inspected facilities, and selling unpasteurized dairy products and cider without the proper permits. Farmers feel there are other issues lurking in the background and driving the regulators--for example, the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) under which farm animals are tagged with computerized chips for tracking; in most states the federal program is voluntary, but in Michigan it is mandatory, so the regulators who tested Greg Niewendorp's cattle for bovine TB also affixed radio frequency identification tags to their ears.

Economist is good for pointing a good death, this guy while interesting isn't missed by me

wm wellman wild boys of the road on now tcm

train wreck


live blogging of train wreck

Olbermann on train wreck -- better(?) Olbermann link

google maps does terrain

the intelligence analysts I knew were a hawkish lot, but unlike cheney weren't insane ... eat it, dick

probably crap but tin man tonight on scifi reimagines the wizard of oz. some quality actors involved dreyfuss, alan cummings and zooey deschanel.

also, don rickles garners some attention tonight on an hbo special.

history channel reruns its hippies doc at 8

new survivor man on the science channel at 9.

Last summer, even as he talked about facing jail time, Jim Stevenson couldn’t stop looking for birds. “There’s a couple yellow-crowned night herons,” he said, pointing out his living-room window. “They roost in that chinaberry tree.” He rested his eyes on the blue-gray birds. “Anyway, the cops pulled me over and searched my van and found the gun, and —”


Stevenson is a bearish, ruddy-faced 54-year-old former science teacher who is known as the ornithological guru of Galveston, Tex. Ten years ago, he moved to this Gulf Coast barrier island because of its abundant shorebirds. Enormous flocks of American avocets, willets, sanderlings, dowitchers and plovers feed in the shallow, fertile estuary of Galveston Bay. Stevenson built his house amid a clump of trees so he could always be watching birds; he lives in a bird blind. Birds are his obsession and his profession. He is the director of the Galveston Ornithological Society and publisher of the quarterly newspaper Gulls n Herons. For money, he leads bird-watching tours.

evel dead

persepolis (wiki)

Some video camera geekitude follows

When there is a lot of hype and secrecy it seems like the announcements never pan out, but, supposedly, something revolutionary is going to be announced today. Here's hoping it's not another Segway.

Google to bid on 700MHz spectrum:

"We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are," said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google. "Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet."

havent bought a dvd in a while but im always tempted by a deal in this case buy one get one free. this was the best i could come up with from those listed for the amount i was willing to spend.

two box sets:

Comedic genius Peter Sellers brings his talent to these four classics: THE PINK PANTHER, CASINO ROYALE, THE PARTY, and WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?
plus

Roger Corman's many talents are put on display in this eclectic collection of films including BLOODY MAMA, THE YOUNG RACERS, THE WILD ANGELS, THE PREMATURE BURIAL, GAS-S-S, X: THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES, A BUCKET OF BLOOD, and THE TRIP.

all for $28 total.

We sort of knew this already, but now it's more official: Verizon is choosing LTE for it's next generation (4G) wireless network. LTE is in the GSM family, so that's it for CDMA I guess? This makes their "open network" announcement sound even a little better (what good is an open network if the devices have to be CDMA and there aren't any CDMA devices other than those built for Verizon's network?)

some nice selections tonight on tcm from brian dennehy. just watched the carol reed directed odd man out. just started an angry young man era flick starring albert finney. tivoing the brit black comedy the wrong box which follows.

Google Inc. is expanding into alternative energy in its most ambitious effort yet to ease the environmental strain caused by the company's voracious appetite for power to run its massive computing centres.

As part of a project announced Tuesday, the Internet search leader and its philanthropic arm will pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a quest to lower the cost of producing electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and the sun.

If Google realizes its goal, the cost of solar power should fall by 25 to 50 per cent, co-founder Larry Page said in an interview.

Eastern bloc retro futurist art (mostly magazine covers) from the 1930's through the 1970's