I have noticed Volkswagen Beetle has been dragged up onto the big screen all over the world. The film ‘Austin Powers, The Spy Who Shagged Me’ used the car because it had a very 60’s vibe! Not only that but the Beetle has made quite the impact on the animated screen in ‘The Simpsons’, ‘American Dad’ and ‘Family Guy’, all  of which have depicted the car in their series., even animated Mr Bean drives a version of the Beetle, and Ugly Betty. I’m not too sure why this car is so popular, but i do think it has something to do with the unusual shape of the Volkswagen Beetle, Aberdeen is swarming with these little bug cars and too right, they are beautiful, extremely spacious inside and completely unique. They can be a pain to park but just takes practice.

sixties! french! Playboy! for full spread…

look for miss dollface in upcoming The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus

BAIXAR DISCO

O’Seis é nada mais nada menos que o pré-mutantes, foda-se, todo mundo sabe disso. Sabem também que eles lançaram só um compacto, com as musicas Suicida e Apocalipse. Composta por Raphael Vilardi e Rita Lee, Apocalipse é uma baladinha meio bossa nova com uma pegada twist em alguns momentos e a letra não tem nada a ver com os hô-bá-lá-lás da bossa. Suicida é um negocio sombrio com cara de twist, a letra é fudidamente pessimista, Arnaldo canta como se fosse um suicida mesmo, pronto pra se jogar de cima do manicômio ao invés do viaduto do chá. Se ela não tivesse sido composta por dois integrantes (Raphael Vilardi / Roberto Loyola) que saíram da banda antes da mesma se tornar Os Mutantes, eu diria que essa é uma das musicas mais legais dos Mutantes. Ainda atendendo por O’Seis, participaram do Compacto do Gemini II, com as musicas Lindo e Tchau Mug.

BAIXAR DISCO

O’Seis é nada mais nada menos que o pré-mutantes, foda-se, todo mundo sabe disso. Sabem também que eles lançaram só um compacto, com as musicas Suicida e Apocalipse. Composta por Raphael Vilardi e Rita Lee, Apocalipse é uma baladinha meio bossa nova com uma pegada twist em alguns momentos e a letra não tem nada a ver com os hô-bá-lá-lás da bossa. Suicida é um negocio sombrio com cara de twist, a letra é fudidamente pessimista, Arnaldo canta como se fosse um suicida mesmo, pronto pra se jogar de cima do manicômio ao invés do viaduto do chá. Se ela não tivesse sido composta por dois integrantes (Raphael Vilardi / Roberto Loyola) que saíram da banda antes da mesma se tornar Os Mutantes, eu diria que essa é uma das musicas mais legais dos Mutantes. Ainda atendendo por O’Seis,  participaram do Compacto do Gemini II, com as musicas Lindo e Tchau Mug.

Reader, K. (2008), ‘Another Deleuzian Resnais: L’Année dernère à Marienbad (1961) as conflict between sadism and masochism’, Studies in French Cinema, 8: 2, pp. 149-158, doid: 10.1386/sfc.8.2.149/1

A partir de L’image-temps. Cinéma 2 y Présentation de Sacher-Masoch: La Vénus à la fourrure de Deleuze, Keith Reader desarrolla un análisis comparatista entre sus teorías y la película L’Année dernère à Marienbad, dirigida por Alain Resnais y guionizada por Alain Robbe-Grillet. El artículo pretende demostrar que la rivalidad deleuziana entre sadismo y masoquismo es vigente, mise en image, en el film. La ambigüedad en la que se manejan las imágenes de Resnais hace acudir muchas veces al guión de Robbe-Grillet. El texto resulta más apropiado para aquellos que estén interesados en ampliar conocimientos sobre esta película o en las reelaboraciones del universo Sade/Masoch. No profundiza más allá de las palabras de Deleuze aunque si las enriquece con estudios de Zizek y Reik.

Parte de la separación deleuziana entre el sadismo y masoquismo. Aunque a veces son complementarios surgen de mundos separados, en los cuales las técnicas y los efectos son totalmente distintos. Es la tensión entre la tiranía de impartir control y crueldad –fijada, por una reminiscencia a Lacan, en la figura del Padre-, opuesta a la pasividad de solicitar servilmente control y crueldad –fijada en la figura del mundo matriarcal-. Este binomio presentaría una complicación frente al triangulo amoroso que aparece en la películ. Por un lado porque Deleuze presentados dos figuras y L’Année dernère à Marienbad un conflicto de deseo entre tres: A (chica), X (amante) y M (marido) y, por otro, el hecho de que no hay violencia explicita en el film, acto necesario para el tema que viene al caso.

Reader acude a Reik quien ya había implicado el masoquismo a actos fuera de las fantasías prefiguradas, es decir, actos que reproducidos. Desde su origen en Masoch, y su Venus im Pelz, el masoquismo va asociado a todo un mundo material, estático, frío, pétreo y sobretodo que prolonga el tiempo en un suspense, al que el sadismo no acude. El sádico refleja su fantasía en el mundo como un espejo. Deleuze en el binomio tiempo-imagen lo venía teorizando de este modo. Reader, sin hacer critica al respecto, acepta la literalidad del espejo deleuziano porque encaja a la perfección con el juego de espejos al que se juega en Marienbad. El palacio-hotel bávaro donde se rodó ha sido objeto de numerosos ensayos. El espacio se ha considerado, generalizadamente como verdadero protagonista del film en el que los espejos siempre le hacen volver hacia si mismo y las figuras humanas sólo están circunstancialmente.

 Sin embargo Reader da otra lectura al espacio. Esos espejos colocan al palacio y a M (marido y vinculado durante toda la película al hotel como si de un especialista se tratara) como sádicos. A y X hacen una alianza matriarcal contra M, una alianza masoquista. Estos dos personajes están implicados mediante sus diálogos y movimientos al universo de Masoch. A es una estatua, es pétrea, controlada en sus movimientos; X prolonga siempre un deseo, tiene una fijación fetiche por las estatuas y hasta se equipara a ellas. Ejemplificado en diversas situaciones durante el artículo, sí se hace evidente que A y X pertenecen a un universo masoquista. El caso de M quedaría relevado a una oposición que por estar enmarcada en el contexto de Deleuz (de tensión entre sadismo y masoquismo) queda forzada, muy probablemente debido a la brevedad del artículo.

La parcialidad del tema, de la que es consciente Reader, en relación a la pluralidad que ofrece el film, hace que el texto sea de una utilidad muy especifica. Es interesante como revisión de Deleuz y como otra lectura de L’Année dernère à Marienbad, pero no profundiza ni en su guión (del que sí pueden sacarse elementos eróticos y masoquistas que tanto utilizaba Alain Robbe Grillet en su corpus literario y fílmico), ni en la lectura de la imagen de Resnais. Por ejemplo, la fijación que tiene Reder sobre la elipsis de la violación podría ser desenmascarada mediante un análisis que penetrara en el lenguaje de la imagen, de su disposición, de su montaje. Pero este ensayo gusta más de un análisis de asociación filosófico que lejos de ser inadecuado peca de ser poco riguroso.

1. Wearin’ That Loved on Look
2. Only the Strong Survive
3. I’ll Hold You in My Heart
4. Long Black Limousine
5. It Keeps Right on A-Hurtin’
6. I’m Movin’ On
7. Power of My Love
8. Gentle on My Mind
9. After Loving You
10. True Love Travels on a Gravel Road
11. Any Day Now
12. In the Ghetto
bonus tracks
13. The Fair Is Moving On
14. Suspicious Minds
15. You’ll Think Of Me
16. Don’t Cry Daddy
17. Kentucky Rain
18. Mama Liked The Roses

los finales de los sesenta fueron los años de la invasión británica y de la psicodelia… no eran para nada tiempos de Elvis, pero sin duda, la mejor manera de reivindicarse era editar un discazo como éste From Elvis in Memphis, un trabajo en el que podemos escuchar a un Elvis en plena madurez musical y como casi siempre, con una voz insuperable

la carrera de Elvis se caracteriza por sus exitosos singles, mientras que sus trabajos de larga duración han sido más irregulares, al igual que sus películas. pues bien, este es uno de sus discos fundamentales, complemento necesario para su colección de singles

encontramos en el lp doce canciones que conjugan muy bien géneros como el country y el blues con rock’n'roll, soul y baladas muy acertadas. son especialmente brillantes el principio y el final del disco, en concreto Wearin’ That Loved on Look, Only the Strong Survive, Any Day Now y la archiconocida In the Ghetto

la reedición en cd nos permite disfrutar de unos bonus tracks bastante buenos, entre los cuales aparecen dos canciones fundamentales; Suspicious Minds y Don’t Cry Daddy

9 MUY BUENO

“OK, OK, so you had problems as a teenager and left home like about eleventy billion other kids do, so what”, you say with voice steadily rising…

Well, it’s called “Honor your Father and Mother”.

I know that ultimately we aren’t supposed to take sin all that seriously, everyone does it and the all loving fluffy easter bunny of a God doesn’t really care and we all grow up and then we have our own kids and now we’re on the parent side and that of course equals repentance, right?

Maybe, but maybe not…

What Satan figured out in his Rock and Roll laboratory, is that he could get kids to rebel against authority through pop culture and rock and roll.

Cool, you say, but so what. Then those kids grow up, they have kids, then they are parents and are forgiven for what they did when they were young.

Hmmm, what to do, what to do…

Here’s an idea, get those kids to rebel against their parents and against authority, use innocence and hurt and a dead president and puppy dog Beatlemania to get the whole thing going, then send those same kids off to a war that they don’t want to fight in so that their rebellion has a “nobel” cause…then let them die on a battlefield that way.

Satan + JFK + Beatlemania + Vietnam + “Peace” = Souls in Satan’s pocket.

See, here’s the thing. You can talk all you want about the CIA, or FBI, or Secret Service; Texas Oil or Cubans or the Mob, or even Oswald acting alone and a lot of the theories have bits and pieces that make sense. I do know a bit about the JFK assassination in reality and there’s still plenty of questions that lead to a potential conspiracy, and a definite cover up of relevant information relating to the assassination.

But whether it’s a seedy group in a mahogony shaded room making “power” deals that somehow caused this, or just one guy who was unstable, there was someone behind the scenes that definitely stood to profit from this.

Satan had a legitimate motive to kill JFK…

It’s a plot that didn’t start with JFK, it’s an evolution of one. The same way he used racism to kill off so many on battlefields in the Civil War, and then that president happened to get assassinated afterwards too.

Whenever Satan can cause a conflict that will cost the lives of those that verifiably are separated from God on just one key point, he wins souls.

I will be the first to point the finger at myself and say “well he’s insane”, but I’m telling you beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind that I know Satan operates at this level.

Satan killed JFK…to win souls.

I still love Laura Mulvey

Ada, I’m not sure I’m going to get into a PhD program, because I have spent my morning watching Beyonce and Lady Gaga on repeat instead of working on my applications.

(But if I have to go back to my old job as a beauty editor, I have a lot to say about Beyonce’s hotness. Also, we might need to have a private conversation about Lady Gaga’s lingerie in the Bad Romance video.)

Anyway, yes, I am totally with you on the many layers of ‘90s feminism in this video and here’s why: As anyone who has read Our Bodies, Ourselves or “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” knows, ‘60s feminism has always had a totally undeserved reputation for being anti-sex. What ’60s feminism was, I think, was anti-visual–at least in bed. Kinky sex? Yes. Garter belts and bustiers and video phones? No.

90swomen have a way less tortured relationship to looking and being looked at. (Though not entirely untortured: see exhibit A, my somewhat anxious post on Belladonna.)

Other 90swomanish things of note: the brazen display of sexuality that is the line “I know what I want” and the vaguely accusatory come-on “Can you handle it?” (In the 90s, anytime a guy didn’t like you it wasn’t you, it was that he couldn’t handle you. Um, “you” meaning “me.”)

Wanna talk more about Bettie Page? Symbols of aggression? Because I gotta go get my nails done and think about my future dissertation on the cultural history of feminist performance and visuality.–kara

Been away for a while, had flu (of the swine to get rid of variety); it had a lull, where it went away for a week and then came back even worse than before. Not nice.

Did not go to Socialism 2009, for personal reasons, so cannot give any indepth reportage this year. Still producing Newsletters for the small group of readers.

Looking forward to Christmas this year. Attended a friend’s 60th birthday party. It was very good, some people came in costumes and sixties music played in the background.

or: I’ll trade you civil liberties circa 1980, for the right to beat your wife circa 1920

or: If Glenn Beck were a decade, which one would he be?

For almost a year now, and even further back possibly, I have been fascinated with politics and punditry. I have become a self-proclaimed politico and I follow politics and media pretty closely, as closely as my tenuous hold on sanity will allow. In following politics my liberal mind has always been perplexed by the conservative party line of ‘returning to traditional American values’ and trying to recapture the ‘lost spirit of what it is to be an American’. In recent months it as been the loud ram’s horn call of Glenn Beck, and his ever growing audacity matched only by his ever growing audience, that has caused me to pontificate further on this subject. For the past few weeks this idea of lost values and traditional American fundamentals has led me to research where we might have gone wrong. Is there a specific time and place, a particular era that the GOP and other right-leaning hard-liners would want us to return to? If I can put my finger on the ethos that these guiding principles existed in, can we get back there? I delve in to this quagmire of American history to try and find “Glenn’s America”, so that he and others can stop preaching in general broad strokes and say, “we need to get back to what we believed in 19XX (or 18XX as it may be).”

When examining the general party ideas of what I understand to be the GOP’s fundamental idealogical structure I take my understanding from some 25 years on this planet, though you can’t count the first 16. I think that until you turn 17 and start trying to find yourself and begin to shape your views and identity in preparation for voting and contributing to society you are more of a blank slate in terms of personal free thought; up until this point you do not question a source but only try to fit in to the general parameters of ‘normal’ life as to not rock the boat and interfere with the indoctrination that American public schools instill in our youth. My true views have been shaped in my most recent years and as such I have adopted a view of the world quite different from my parents’, a direct result of informing myself for the first time in my life. In my home growing up as a small boy liberal leaders and democratic ideals warranted venom and crass, lewd criticism. The views I set forth will be of my own creation, independent of those I was raised on, either despite or in spite of them, I cannot tell. A crazy person isn’t crazy if he knows he’s crazy. Indeed.

The GOP seems to feel that gays should not marry, and are sinful. This makes no sense to me as sinful is a religious idea, not a political one; though it seems one position is quite often the result of the other. Gun rights should be protected at all costs to personal safety and public responsibility. Abortion is a no-no, ‘nuff said. They want smaller government, tax cuts, reform to let states decide things, though not gay marriage rights or any of the other items I just mentioned. They are for fiscal responsibility. GOP feels that a free market should regulate itself, again smaller government. They claim to fight for the middle class but public programs and universal anything is bad, that’s more government. They hate the environment as far as I can tell. Campaign finance reform (yeah right), education in America (no child left behind has gone so well after all). Prayer in school is ok, capital punishment and the death penalty are pretty much thumbs up, and the Ten Commandments should be at the steps of a courthouse flying the confederate flag. I am pretty close on this, right? So, basically it is a small government that has an abridged copy of the constitution, a cliff’s notes of the Bill of Rights, and a bible as it’s guiding principles. Hmmm, ok.

So, in American history, where can we find this utopia we strive for every day? This shangri-la we lost so long ago would obviously be the one saving grace for this country of godless sodomites. If we could only return to this point in time then everything would be fine. As far as I can tell it is the GOP that can save us if you believe the rhetoric. The liberals and the liberal media have scattered us across the nation and we are divided along partisan lines and are all doomed unless we jump on the Republican band wagon like some lifeboat after the Titanic sank. This is what self proclaimed “libertarian” Glenn Beck would like you to believe. I will give him credit for criticizing the government as a whole, even in the Bush days, though not in such inflammatory terms, but in reality he is like a Liber-publican. So, let’s take a step, Glenn, in to the way back machine and start a search for the time in American history you would like us to return to, as well as all of the Republican nay-sayers.

I want to start by saying that I am skipping the nineties completely being that he wasn’t happy with Clinton either, and it is far too close to the 21st century and the liberal progress this country has made; there is no way anyone wants to get back to how we were in the nineties, not even me and I loved my teen years in the nineties. And I am going to come back to the eighties later, they were too soon as well, but I will look at them briefly. We are sending our way back machine to a time when I think this country went bat-shit crazy and we were in maybe the most turmoil as a nation than anyone today can recall. I want to start out in the era that good old Glenn was born in, and that many of our current figure heads today, that make our decisions, can remember very ‘fondly’…the sixties.

Well I start here, in this decade of utter unrest by trying to illustrate that this can’t possibly be the America Glenn wants back. This cannot be the period in American history we want to recapture. This was a time that the late Strom Thurman must have hated with more zeal than any other period in history. It is hard to decide where to start. The sixties started out innocent enough, Kennedy beat Nixon and became the President, what followed was the Bay of Pigs incident, rumors about Marilyn, the meager beginning of Vietnam, the cuban missile crisis, then the man is assassinated. Further Vietnam BS, Malcolm X is killed, the Compton Cafeteria Riots in San Fran, then Nixon and all his Vietnam BS and his ‘secret plan to end the war’, the massive inflation crisis, MLK Jr. is killed, Bobby Kennedy is killed, the Stonewall riots of ’69, oh and a little thing who was named Manson did some killing. Great decade.

The sixties were a time of massive riots in the black and gay communities. Civil rights on all fronts tore the fabric of this country apart from women liberation, blacks, gays, even the Chicano revolution in this country. Outside of that was the acid wave of the sixties, a complete change in television, film, art, and especially music. The counterculture as it came to be known galvanized this country after the death of JFK, I think. The nice, homely manners of the 50’s were gone in a big way and now came very free thinkers, revolutionaries, protests exploded, demonstrations, inflation choked the middle class as they tried to compete with the changes in the landscape. The sixties were an ugly, hate-filled time, the emerging civil rights movement after the death of JFK was really the catalyst for it all. There is no way we want to return to the sixties as a country. America was in a violent turmoil and unsure of it’s identity and where the road we were on was going to lead us and people were strung out or scared for their lives, or both. I don’t think Glenn wants that back, so let’s move on.

How about we take a step forward and find Glenn in the seventies as a small boy, maybe these are the innocent and moral times he wants back…but I doubt it. Well in the seventies music really got good including the first ‘rap’ song, movies got weird, TV got lewd, and the country just got fucked up worse. This country started watching shows like All In The Family and the Brady bunch, dealing with some of the issues of the day. Vietnam choked the first few years while a little thing called Watergate slipped by the news press during Nixon’s re-election campaign and then killed him by ’74. It was the most embarrassing and shocking scandal in American political history, which in my opinion was the death of politics. I think that Nixon and his escalation of the doomed Vietnam war and his scandal killed the American political system. Outside of the US revolution was abundant across the world. Woodstock was a shining beacon of what drugs and music and mud can do for young people, a complete change from how we started the decade on the campus of Kent State where the National Guard gunned down peaceful protestors of the war on a college campus; unthinkable today, one would hope. The draft was the height of outrage, an unbelievable moment when Ali fought the draft and Elvis went in. Protest and anti-war sentiment was as widespread in this country as pant legs were flared. The Cold War ramped up a bit and this country got really scared, really fast. Our involvement in a few revolutions and military coupes as well as an assassination or two was a continuation of poor foreign affairs decisions. The middle east started down the road to where we are today with Israel, Egypt, Syria, the Soviet Union, and Afghanistan, all starting to kick each others asses.

The seventies brought women’s rights to the forefront as the sixties had civil rights for minorities eclipsing women’s rights to some extent. Vietnam ended finally, well our involvement, leaving the North to just wait for us to leave and drop Saigon to it’s knees and claim the country unified again. A sad end to a war we should have not been in and an end that was mostly our fault. Oh and lest I forget the massive recession we were in mixed with oil crises a couple of times resulting in rationing and further middle class stresses that included a very high unemployment rate. Then of course there was Jonestown, about 900 dead there. Idi Amin started his tyrannical, violent rule of Uganda as well. Is this the era we should return to? Hatred, war, violence, and tragedy pock marked this era. The seventies hold within their years scandal, racism, and fear-mongering, of the most epic scale one can imagine. There is no way we want to return to the moral or political views of this era. The seventies were the time for change for sure, but it came at great expense on the heels of a decade of radical change and upheaval. The 70’s continued the massive crime rate spikes that the sixties brought and the country still sat on the edge of it’s seat every day as nothing seemed to get better. Surely we don’t want the seventies back.

Ok, the eighties might be better, the days of Reagan and Bush, this might be the most likely time we want to return to. The eighties would be the most formidable years of Beck’s life; the decade of excess. The eighties brought the yuppie, and with it, all the coke, parties, and BMW’s we could handle. We saw great multinational growth and wall street was glamorous, they were kings then, still total scum, but they had better PR people then. Of course Reagan declared a War on Drugs, the Cold War raged to a massive scale. Sure, communism fell apart as did the Berlin Wall, but we saw the further mishandling of the middle east that is the source of our problems and involvement there today, can’t argue with that. Reagan put a major black eye on his presidency with the discovery of the Iran-Contra debacle that Oliver North was the mastermind behind. This country saw massive economic growth against the backdrop of very complicated and protracted battles all over the world including Asia, the middle east, central and south america, and ever Ireland with ‘the troubles’ brewing. (Only badass Irish would call a modern, religious civil war ‘the troubles’, an understatement to say the least)

The eighties, I think were a time of thinking that we could not be beaten, being the short attention span of Americans forgetting the seventies. We were coked out of our minds, living beyond our means, and we were kicking Commie ass. But the eighties, world wide, were complicated, painful growth, some democratic, but on the whole we saw massive famine and destruction abroad as the industrialized countries were making head way. The middle class of nations was being evaporated as the gap between rich and poor nations grew drastically. Domestic issues were tough though, as it seemed we were trying to use our power for good as a people with things like LiveAid and becoming more aware of issues in Africa and other countries, the eighties saw the rise of the religious right. They really got fired up on the gay issue and the discovery of AIDS, ‘the gay plague’. This country grew in many way, a decent decade I guess, I don’t really remember much of it but it seemed like a lot of people were having a lot of fun, safer fun.

Glenn probably liked the eighties, he used to be a liberal and an alcoholic, he draws a fine parallel between the two in a Katie Couric interview you should look up on YouTube, and this might have been his favorite time. Old enough to enjoy and understand it, he probably had a great time. Conservatives in power, strides made internationally, excess and money everywhere. The eighties were a wild party time, a decade that seemed to be a release of the past twenty years of hard work, growing pains, and controversial conflict. The 60’s and 70’s were going to lead inevitably to a time when we finally just cut loose and took a deep breath after so much bloodshed, upheaval, and serious talk. It was the decade we all remembered fondly on VH1. Music was weird, movies were great, TV was filled with classics we all watched, and standup comedians were making it big; the country was having a good laugh, a bump, and some beer. Not too bad.

I discount the nineties entirely so let’s jump back to a more general era I don’t think we can reasonably go back to, the 50’s to the 30’s. This was another era of massive wars, depression, civil rights injustice, bigotry, no women’s liberation, industrialization, organized crime, et al. These were times when blacks were openly hung from gallows, women were expected to be barefoot and pregnant in front of the stove, except when they were making tanks for the troops overseas for next to nothing wages. A time where minorities were rightfully scared at night of police or white boys out for a joyride. The prohibition, crime in the streets, Bonnie and Clyde, the Tommy gun, the B.A.R., saloons, speakeasy’s, and rampant bank robberies and crooked cops on the beat. This was a different time for this country and I don’t think we can agree with many of the ideals that were held to in this time and apply it today, the role of women alone is too much inequality to bare, let alone the rest.

OK, let’s take a big jump to my favorite era, the old west. You know the times, I’m talking post manifest destiny, pre-FBI. A time of no gun laws, showdowns in the streets, legal prostitutes, and riding in to town on a horse. Tombstone, San Francisco, Indian and cowboys. A time where gold was rushing and crazy white drunks ran amok and contracted TB and polio. Yes, when there were still a few Indians around, you had ranchers with thousands of acres, cattle drives, train robberies, and the men of storied legend lived and died by Winchester, Colt, and Smith&Wesson. I like to think I lived in the times with a town sheriff, shitty beer, floozies, and general martial law over most of the country. A time where you could shoot a man in the street in broad daylight in front of 50 people, and they might actually clap and then go about their day. The good times.

I think this might not be far enough back though. When I hear Glenn speak, he talks about the founding father’s principles. The true foundation of the country as he sees it with the men who earned America through blood, sweat, and tears. Jefferson’s America. OK, well let’s first examine the fact that we are talking late 1700’s and early 1800’s. These are pre-electric, pre-phone times. We are talking Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere, plantations, etc. If this is the time Glenn thinks we need to get back to I want to highlight a couple of things. First off, slavery was alive and well…need I say more? Secondly, this country treated women like shit, there were no civil rights, and it was unindustrialized. This country was populated and run by rich, white land owners, and then there was everybody else. I don’t want anyone to romanticize this era. This country was created, founded, and declared on the bodies of millions of natives and the death and suffering of minority races of people removed from their homes and treated worse than dogs in the time period.

America has never been truly righteous. We revolted for selfish reasons, nothing simpler than that. We turned against the imperialism of the Queen and her rule and declared our independence; the worst “dear John” letter ever. Up to that point we had slaughtered, tricked, infected, raped, and pillaged our way to the Mississippi and thought very highly of white skin and could kill a black man for any reason at any time, or sell them, whatever struck our fancy. What I am about to say is going to piss off the right, but if I could meet George Washington I think I would take the opportunity to shake his hand and then slap the wooden teeth out of his head. These were racist white bigots with an knack for the written word and hard on for ‘freedom’ by their definition as it applied to them as an emerging nation of first class citizens at the top of the shit pile. All due respect, but their ideas and principles were fundamentally offensive and their beliefs of equality were for themselves and those they agreed with. How many minorities or women were running around enjoying their freedom of speech or right to bare arms…or even read? I rest my case.

So maybe Glenn does have a time in mind. Maybe he wants the scandalous, violent 70’s, or the civil unrest and inequality of the 60’s. The old west certainly had smaller/non-existent national government, and the 40’s sure were good times to be a gangster, Nixon would have done well, that’s for sure. The eighties surely had the best coke, and some unprecedented growth, outside of post-industrialized America (without all of these pesky labor laws we got). Maybe he wants the great depression era, maybe to live amongst the greatest generation, or rub elbows with white men who raped their slaves on their plantation as a matter of principle and patriotism. The history of America is short, embarrassing, and seemingly without a lesson learned throughout. Glenn, I dare you and your constituents to point out that shining beacon in American history that is so much better than now, ‘cause I must have missed it. All those moments have led up to now, and I’ll be damned if where we are isn’t a hell of a lot better than where we were; you can pry this progress from my cold dead hands, pal.

Coventry Cathedral / Basil Spence, 1956 – 62

Whilst in Coventry today I got to visit the new cathedral, which was built in the late 50s after most of the city was obliterated by German bombers in 1940. It’s a stunning building, a structure that showcases Modern engineering and materials in a beautiful, restrained manner. Well worth a visit.

Photo from Steve Cadman’s Flickr.

Another Stereo demonstration record with the usual sound effects and test frequencies. There’s a short introduction, which is always nice. I’ve mentioned the ‘Russian Roulette’ and ‘Submarine’ scenes before in previous posts and those exact same scenes are on this record as well… but, this time they’ve translated it in to dutch.

I love the sleeve by the way! It’s designed by a guy named Wim Wal gkf. The label (Discofoon) released more records designed by him and they’re all beautiful (the other ones are actually much nicer, maybe I’ll post some pics here some day). He’s got a great sense of color and minimalistic graphic design. I tried to find a little bit more about him but unfortunately Google didn’t give any useful results, only some mentions of book cover designs he did but without any pictures.

Anyway, here’s a sample:

And here’s the record (32mb).

CAMALEONTI was an Italian Music Group, famouse between ’60’s and 70’s, but the last album is pubblished on 2004.

Below, (1968) the most important Camaleonti’s song, copied from an English success: ‘Homburg‘, by Procol Harum ; that I think is one of best song ever…

To know more about  Camaleonti,  read  here

François Roland Truffaut was born in Paris -  France (6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984).                                        

Les Mistons  – 1957

Les Quatre Cents Coups – 1959

Tirez sur le pianiste – 1960

Une Histoire d’eau – 1961.Co-directed with Jean-Luc Godard

Jules et Jim – 1962

La Peau douce 1964

La Mariée était en noir  –  1968

Baisers volés – 1968

La Sirène du Mississippi 1969

How’s your french? Not so good? That’s great! Here’s “French For Travelling And Conversation”, a French language course on two disks. The instruction book that originally came with it is lost so I don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.

Here’s a sample:

Here’s the whole record (72mb) for grabs.