I hate, hate, hate people who look at movies–especially older movies–as just a step in the line to the movies we have today.  It’s a slap in the face to life, by extension, and I will explain why. (Foswi, this is primarily for you.)

I am a staunch historian, and I thoroughly believe in the value of studying history.  If you do not, you might as well stop reading this blog.  We’ll just never get along.  To that extent, is it useless to study ancient warfare in a modern context?  Are there no pracitical applicable lessons to be learned from tactics that defy era, technology, or weaponry?  I think you out there in someplacewhereyou’restaringatacomputerscreen should be thinking to yourself, “No, there is value in knowing that stuff…”  Because  you’re right.

Or, let’s think of this in terms of books.  Does it make sense to stop reading  Hamlet, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, The Lord of the Rings, Black Boy, Brave New World, Romeo and Juliet, The Giver, etc. just because there are the Harry Potter series, the Twilight books, the Time Traveler’s Wife, and various James Patterson and Stephen King books topping the New York Times Bestseller list?  Should we leave the past behind and only allow only what is new and pretty and shiny to be let in?

I think not.

The problem is the genre of film allows this to easily happen.  And many people who watch movies (or passively read about movies) tend to think only the little that is said without thorough investigation into the actuality of history.

Point 1: Michael Bay is awesome…but not really.

The Island

Michael Bay, as many know, is the champion of all things pretty, and mind-numbingly explosive.  After all, you don’t make a name for yourself with blockbusters like Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Island, Transformers, and Transformers II (directed all by Bay) without some level of skill.  I mean, seriously.  That’s an impressive list of movies, with impressive DVD sales, and everything.

But let us be honest.  The movies star nice looking people, blow a lot of things up, include heart-racing, adrenaline pumping, action and car chases (or meteorite destroying drill malfunctions, what have you), and fun technological advances.  They’re like James Bond films…just without James Bond.

These movies have made millions.  They have loyal fans of adults, teenagers, and children alike.  They’re fun to watch, made millions in the movie theaters.  But they suck.  They have no deeper meaning, make me thoughtful in no way, and generally make me dumber, because I actually could have been learning something while I was wasting time watching pretty people run around.

Point 2: There is more to history than just history.

Citizen Kane

A friend of mine (after reading a former post of mine) responded thusly:

I’ll disregard the opinion of anyone who thinks Citizen Kane is great for anything more than its innovative transitions and camera angles.

While said tongue-in-cheek, there is, I know, a part of him that believes this to be true.  And this is why I am angry.  I love Citizen Kane, in the same way I love Schindler’s List.  Sure it’s a little on the long side, but the story is great, the acting is believable, the direction is flawless, and the overall impact: unforgettable.

The ease with which Americans, modern people, I’m not sure who this list should (or actually does) include, forget the past when it comes to movies is disturbing.  Yes, movies are more entertaining today.  Movie from yore are a little boring.

Except that’s not true.  I defy anyone to watch The Apartment and not be complete enraptured.  Peeping Tom is one of the creepiest movies I’ve ever seen.  (If you have a Netflix account, I believe it is streaming live.   You should go watch it now.  Better than Drag Me To Hell.  Creepier.  Stranger.  More interesting.)  And you know what, It Happened One Night is the quintessential romance that cannot be improved upon in a modern way.  There are just old movies that age well, and have stayed good for a reason.  Citizen Kane is one of them.  Beyond the transitions and camera angles. (We’ve all heard the “Oh my gosh, there’s a ceiling” reaction.)  But let’s talk about the role the dining room table plays in the movie.  Did you ever think about that? Or how about the scene where Welles types out the rest of a horrible review of his wife’s disastrous operatic debut?  The acting is top notch, better than Sean Penn in Milk.

I am struck by many things.  Here’s a short list:

• People today seem so averse to watching older, or just pain old, films.
• People tend to devalue the impact of older movies because modern counterparts tends to be more engaging, which they equate with “better.”
• People tend to devalue the fact that most older movies have a deeper theme than most modern movies, even modern movies based in classic stories.

This is why the market for older movies should be booming, not dying away.  This is why people should actually sit down and become their own movie reviewer.  If you take the time to watching a movie a week, you’ll watch AFI’s Top 100 movie list in less than two year.  Probably less than a year, considering you’ve seen a lot of them.

Why is it people are so ready to agree, or disagree with the statements of critics and film historians, but are so rarely willing to make their own original statements about the movies themselves.  People, you, staring at your own screen.  Say what’s on your mind.  Be willing to say Citizen Kane sucked, but don’t you dare say it’s boring without backing it up.  I’m not about opinion’s with no evidence.

Just have an opinion, and make it your own.

Every time a 0 is involved with the turning year, people tend to go crazy over “the best _____ of the decade”. Lists come out about music and movies and tv shows and whatever. Well, I decided to do that. Because I’m a dork. What I ended up doing is a list of things for every year since the year 2000. I will talk about some of them and leave links to others that I think are fantastical and that I belive you (whoever you are) might enjoy. So. Here we go. Expect to see some bands that repeat, and some that you know I like, if you like me:

2000
Does anyone remember how fantastically catchy ‘Bohemian Like You’ was? The silly video with the karaoke-thing, etcetera? There was a lot of decent music coming out around this time, and I remember being consistently barraged by good albums. This wouldn’t continue through the rest of the decade. Californication would be the last time I would enjoy RHCP as a band.

Dandy Warhols (song – Bohemian Like You); Red Hot Chili Peppers (album – Californication); Smashing Pumpkins/Foo Fighters/A Perfect Circle(show – Summersault – Winnipeg Stadium); Nine Inch Nails (video – Into the Void)

2001
In 2001 I succumbed to sexy pop for a favorite song. Seriously. That song is awesome. Frusciante’s album was magical, and I think my video of the year is really the only choice.

Kylie Minogue (song – Can’t get you out of my head); John Frusciante (album – To Record only Water for Ten Days); Tragically Hip (show – Winnipeg Arena); Fatboy Slim (video – Weapon of Choice)

2002
Dave Grohl makes the list twice as a drummer in this year, and probably would have taken the album too, but from out of nowhere came what would change my mind about Canadian music in that I ended up following almost every project that Broken Social Scene had outside of it’s main band after hearing the album and seeing them live.

Queens Of The Stone Age (song – Go With the Flow); Broken Social Scene (album – You Forgot it in people); Broken Social Scene – (show – Pyramid Cabaret); Tenacious D (video – Tribute)

2003
I remember the moment I fell in love with Sit down Stand up. It was on the eve of the album coming out, and Radiohead played a live show that was broadcasted to Silver City theatres in Canada. When that song reached the crescendo into the fast ‘raindrops’ part, I was almost on the edge of my seat. Which I could also say about the Metric show. They were second on a bill of three that featured Hot Hot Heat as the main act, and were still relatively new, but downright sexy and exciting to watch. I’ve since seen them six more times.

Radiohead (song – Sit Down, Stand Up); Mars Volta (album – De-Loused in the Comatorium); Metric (show – Pyramid Cabaret); Buck 65 (video – Wicked and Weird)

2004
The second time a John Frusciante album makes my favorite albums. This album is widely regarded as his most ‘mainstream’ and is a fantastic, great-amazing thing, just like the Bowie concert, which was the last concert I ever saw at the ol’ Winnipeg arena.

Secret Machines (song – Nowhere Again); John Frusciante (album – Shadows Collide with People); David Bowie (show – Winnipeg Arena); DFA 1979 (video – Black History Month)

2005
I’ll never forget how many phone calls I got when Nine Inch Nails annouced that they’d be coming here. It was the first time I was going to see them, after being a fan since 1994. My phone rang off the hook, and for one song during that show, so did my emotions. I kinda quietly, completely lost it, and felt like a dummy. Ha! By the way, that Esthero video’s freakin’ hot, and I agree with every sentiment in it.

Sufjan Stevens (song – Come On! Feel the Illinoise!); Fantomas (album – Suspended Animation); Nine Inch Nails (show – MTS Centre) Esthero (video – We R in Need of a Musical Revolution)

2006
I saw Wintersleep by myself in front of about 30 people, and skipped work to get there. When I talked to the singer about this, he dedicated a song to me. How nice. As far as Nausea goes, I don’t know what it is about that song, but something in it drives me nuts. It’s way too good and it doesn’t even realize it.

Beck (song – Nausea); Regina Spektor (album – Begin To Hope); Wintersleep (show – The Collective); Eagles of Death Metal (video – Boy’s Bad News)

2007
National Anthem of Nowhere has become my most listened to track on last.fm, and I think the Wintersleep album has since become one of my most listened to albums. They will both continue to rise in numbers. If I did a song by song and album by album breakdown, these two would make somewhere within the top three. And it’s pretty cool that I got to see Mike Patton in any of his 34i83902439024 bands, but Peeping Tom blew me away.

Apostle of Hustle (song – National Anthem of nowhere); Wintersleep (album – Welcome to the Night Sky); Peeping Tom (show – Trocadero); Feist (video – 1234)

2008
God, In Rainbows is great. And Secret Machines live, that’s something so completely underrated, I don’t even know how to describe it to you. The power that they have to get an audience going, is a sight to behold and yet there were so few people there that I was kind of disappointed in the turnout. Oh, and yes, I realize that Feist gets the video 2 years running for the same album, but they’re both great videos.

Kaki King (song – Montreal); Radiohead (album – In Rainbows); Secret Machines (show – Pyramid); Feist (video – I feel it all)

2009
I know, it hasn’t been that long, but Them Crooked Vultures was exactly the album I wanted it to be. So there.  And as far as Spookey’s song goes, this is the second time I’ve talked about it in my blog. Previously appeared in my “songs you won’t see in Guitar Hero or Rock band“, and it’s just something to behold. Metric’s video was perfect, it was the video that I wanted them to have. Something sweet and cute instead of overtly dorky like all of their other videos. As far as Leonard Cohen’s concert goes, I hadn’t been a huge fan beforehand, but was introduced, and BECAME a large fan because of how amazing that concert was. Everything he did was perfect. The singing, the sounds, the engagement with the audience was fantastic. Top five concerts in my life, that one.

Spookey Ruben (song – Mechanical Royalty); Them Crooked Vultures (album – Them Crooked Vultures); Leonard Cohen (show – MTS Centre); Metric (video – Gimme Sympathy)

For our new photo we have decided to try something new and go for a more gritty, voyeuristic more candid type shot. We wanted it to capture a moment in time and through someone’s eyes watching a scene playout in front of them, rather than the posed for the camera stylised shots we have gone for in the past.

We hope you like it please feel free to comment.

K&C

x

“Siempre me pareció que la fotografía era una cosa traviesa; para mi fue uno de las aspectos favoritos – contó Diane Arbus -, y cuando lo hice por primera vez me sentí muy perversa”. pag. 28. Esto es lo que cuenta Susan Sontag para introducir el tema de la perversión en la fotografía en su libro titulado “Sobre la fotografía”. El aspecto perverso que según la escritora se puede destacar de la fotografía, tal vez tiene que ver con las fantasías sexuales que algunos fotógrafos sienten detrás de sus cámaras, en el caso de que éstas (las fotografías) resulten verosímiles e inapropiadas al mismo tiempo. Sontag señala, a modo de ejemplo, dos películas que podrían confirmar su afirmación. En “Blow-up” Antonioni muestra al fotógrafo de modas fotografiando convulsiva y compulsivamente el cuerpo de Verushka, pero según Sontag esta actividad no es realmente apropiada para un acercamiento sexual, pues la cámara marca distancia entre el fotógrafo y la modelo. “La cámara no viola, ni siquiera posee…” (pag. 29) pues las relaciones sexuales necesitan que no haya distancia entre los cuerpos. Seria ésta por tanto una fantasía sexual más que una realidad sexual, aunque sin suma importancia ya que es perfectamente “verosímil”, pero no “inapropiada”. Sin embargo, Sontag en el texto continúa con un ejemplo de otra fantasía mucho más “inapropiada”.

En la película “Peeping Toom”, de Michael Powell, un mirón psicópata fotografía mujeres con una cámara en la que hay una arma escondida con la cual las asesina. Las mujeres son fotografiadas mientras mueren, pero jamás las toca, solamente le interesa la foto. La agonía de las mujeres es lo que observa en las fotografías que ha tomado, y es la que desencadena en el fotógrafo, en su casa, su goce solitario. Sus fantasías, continúa la escritora, están ligadas a una correspondencia entre la impotencia y la agresión, y son permitidas por el uso de la cámara, que viene a suplir al falo. De hecho la cámara a menudo es un substituto del mismo, incluso para muchos fotógrafos mucho más cercanos al fotógrafo de Antonioni que al de Powell.

En el lenguaje fotográfico se ve a menudo el uso de esa metáfora cuando se habla de “cargar la cámara”, “apretar el disparador”, etc. La cámara es un arma al igual que el pene del cuál también se puede decir que “dispara”, “escupe plomo”, “mata a la otra”, “el pistolón”, etc. Muchos fotógrafos inevitablemente sienten esa fantasía con la cámara, la mayoría de las veces sin ser conscientes de la misma. Tal vez no la sienten con la muerte o la agresión, pero si con el sexo, aunque la agresión y la muerte están muy a menudo cerca del sexo. No en vano ya Freud decía que el sexo y la muerte son las dos caras de una misma moneda.

—————-

Sontag, S. (2005) Sobre la fotografía. Madrid: editorial Alfaguara

* Foto de Jan Saudek

Esta obra está bajo una
licencia de Creative Commons.

Un viaje, una experiencia:

http://www.fadu.uba.ar/sitiosfadu/tallerdefotografia/exp_ant.html?

2005 / Cartografía interior / Tatiana Parcero:

Exposición actual:
Peeping Tom / Roberto Camarra

2009 BMI Country Awards

http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/540104

Another one of Hitt’s peeping tom books; this one is written with much more confidence and grace than The Peeper and Peeping Tom. The prose is so smooth that I have a feeling the editorial hand was involved here — such as when a female character refers to sex as “having relationships.”  I don’t see ol’ Orrie using that term himself.

Was this one edited by Elaine Williams (ala Sloane Britain) like Hired Lover, The Cheaters, and Two of a Kind?  Possibly. The pub. date is 1962 — there was a two year gap between books that Hitt did for Midwood; maybe he was too busy providing titles for Kozy and Chariot, and of course Beacon, his prodigal home.

Joe Black, apparently telling Orrie Hitt the story of his peeper urges in a bar somewhere, runs a gas station in Clinton, NY (a town that appears frequently in the Hittverse); he has taken the business over from his elderly father, who has married a young woman, Linda, who happened to have broken Joe in to the world of sex when he was a teenager…

Linda is a bad one — and Joe’s father knows why the girl married him: for the security of money.  The old man made some good investments, and the gas station — the only one that offers credit in Clinton — turns a tidy profit.

Like the narrators in the previous two peeper books, Joe Black knows he has a problem and he desires to conquer his need to prowl and peep.  He has an obsession with red-headed women, like the first one he peeped on as a teenager…so when a young gal named Mille Link, having inherited money, pops into town with her sports car, his urge sparks up even greater, and he keeps having fantasies about her.  (She is the “link” to his past and his urges — the red hair and that first peeped girl…)

Hoping to quell the sexual urge of the eye, Joe marries a girl named Sally a week after dating her — she thinks it’s a whirlwind romance meant to be, he just wants a woman there for his needs. But he finds she’s not enough, and she finds that the marriage was a mistake.

And then there is Linda, his step-mother, and her sister Alice, both vixens…he gives in to Linda, but passes on Alice’s advances in favor of spying on her via her boarding house window.

And then Linda catches him…she has something to hold over him…she knows.

Linda is a masochist.  When she’s with Joe, she says, “Rape me.”  She likes it rough. This is the first I’ve come actoss Orrie dealing with an S/M relationship:

It was a wild nght for both of us that I didn’t care to remember the next morning. We got drunk, both of us, hitting each other, yet we were drawn together with the violence of combat troops in a war. In the gray dawn, I could see hr puffed lips., the ugly red mark where I had struck her. I could feel the torture of my own body where she had bitten me repeatedly.

“Once more,” she begged.

“You’re a slut.”

“And you’re a pervert.” Her swollwn red lips met mine. “Hurt me again, Joe.”

I did.

Hard enough to make her scream. (pp. 146-7)

Now is that any way to treat one’s step-mother who is only four years older than you?

Joe hates her, so hurting her comes easy, but he is frightened by this inner demon, just as he’s frightened by his need to peep.

I am starting to wonder about Hitt’s obsession with older men marying younger women as it appears again and again.  Sure, it’s James M. Cain territory but Hitt focuses on it too much and he seems to loathe it, and it’s often a narrator’s father who weds the young ladies, or the the woman is the protagonist’s lover and they plot a murder.

Did Hitt’s missing father marry a younger woman, leaving him and his mother to fend for themselves?

Who knows.

Why psychoanlyze a writer?  Much can be said for Hitt’s alter egos all being over six feet tall and 190 lbs, or womanizers, or peeping toms — itt being a portly 5′5″, married with 4 kids, at home all day writing and happy about it all with his iced coffee and cigarettes and beer.

Even “Kay Adams” was disappointed to find out “Orrie Hitt” was not a tall handome man in his 30s.

I digress…

There are several sub-plots going on in Unnatural Urge:

1. Joe’s father dies in a mysterious hunting accident.  The old man likes to get drunk and hunt crows.  One day while hunting he comes across a photographer taking nude photos of a young woman (another Hitt obsession and common theme).  Then he is found dead, apparently his shotgun accidentally went off and he crawled under a barbed-wire fence, blowing half his head off.  But Joe doesm’t buy it; his father was an experienced hunter, drunk of not, and would never be that careless with his shot-gun.  Joe susopects foul play and while the sttae troopers dub it an accuidental death, Joe starts doing his own investigating, using his peeper skills…was it the photoagher and the model?  Did they kill is dad so he wouldn’t turn them in?  Or was it…

2. His step-mother informs Joe she is pregnant.  He thinks she did it on purpose to snare him.  She wants him to divorce Sally…first the father, now the son…

3. One of Joe’s employees has a wife, Helen, who has a lesbian thing for Linda’s sister, Alice…Joe even witnesses the two women go at it in bed as he peeps on them.  But Alice doesn’t want to be in a dyke relationship and stabs  Helen…

Joe goes to see a psychiatrist of some sort in the next town, using an alias, to help “cure” him of his peeper urges.  The doctor seems to cofnuse him all the more, giving him a Rosarch test and psychoanalyzing his childhood…

No happy endings in this one.  Joe drugs Linda and takes her, unconscious to an abortionist, while his peepering goes off the handle…he is betrayed by his wife, Sally, and ultimately Linda too…who needs a happy ending with all this dark stuff going on in Clinton, NY?

On the Hitt Scale, this is a 9.2.  Recommended.

Port St. Lucie was a small town and still growing in the mid 1980’s.  As a child I’d ride my bike for blocks to go to a friend’s house, go down by myself to the St. Lucie River to fish and often explore the woods for imaginary treasure.  I remember neighbors being very close with one another and we all didn’t worry about keeping our doors unlocked while we slept at night.  However, times were beginning to change.

One evening when I was about five years old, I encountered a peeping tom entering through my window.  I was asleep at first, until I felt his foot land on my bed, which was directly against the window.  Seconds later, without having time to scream, my daddy (then a police officer) came in with a shotgun and pointed it directly at the man.  Now, I don’t recall what words were exchanged, or how my father heard the ‘peeper’ coming in.  All I knew was that the man had been arrested and it was the talk of the town.  With word being spread and the news covering what happened, that’s when Port St. Lucie residents really started to understand the safety in securing their home to protect their family.

Today, we are all too familiar with these similar occurrences.  Day in and day out we hear of another abduction, kidnap, molestation, or other kind of abuse.  It isn’t just happening across the country to another suburban town, more and more it’s becoming local.  So, how do we protect our spouse, our children and ourselves?  What characteristics does a predator have?  And how do we know if a sexual predator or offender is in our neighborhood?

Surrounding us is an abundance of resources at our fingertips and we should use it in gathering important information such as this.  Florida Derpartment of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has what is called the Florida Sexual Offenders and Predators database.  It can be found online at http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us.  This database can be useful if you are relocating or to simply find out what offenders are in close proximity of your residency and your children’s schools.  You can never be too careful, so protect your family by keeping an open line of communication of your whereabouts between each other.  Lock doors when leaving and as soon as entering the home or vehicle.  Tell your children not to park beside or get near vans if a suspicious person is inside or loitering around it.  Make sure your children have phones with emergency phone numbers on speed dial.  Find out more information how to protect your children from predators at http://www.registeredoffenderslist.org.  The characteristics of a child predator varies, which may include the following:  Child predators are typically afraid of adult intimacy, seek out children who are easily manipulated and has a low self-esteem.  As always, you may contact your local law enforcement agency to get a list of safety tips.

Camera Found in Christian Bookstore Restroom

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091103/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_christian_bookstore_camera_1

by: Randi M.

Click image for source.

The clerk of a Christian bookstore in Simi Valley, CA was arrested after a customer found a camera hidden in the bathroom. A woman claimed the camera was hidden among some boxes in the bathroom. Police retrieved the camera after reviewing video and seeing the clerk hide the camera while it was recording.

Source

I’m not a lawyer and more specifically not an intellectual property (IP) lawyer, but this particular area of the law is one I have been involved in as a patent owner. It’s somewhat weird to think that you can patent ideas such that other folks cannot use them without permission – but there yah go!

The field of IP is, however, a source of great entertainment for those who are not suing or being sued. For example, an 8-year battle between McDonalds and Malaysian fast-food company McCurry (allegedly short for “Malaysian Chicken Curry“) still continues.

McCurry Restaurant and Owners

One other linguistically based skirmish took place in 2006 between Viacom International (owners of MTV, VH1, Paramount Pictures, and a host of media companies) and sole-proprietor web site Pimp My Snack. I thought of headlining this SpongeBob Whips Sponge Cake but thought better of it.

The alleged infringing site, now called Pimp THAT Snack, is dedicated to the “art” of taking a particular item of food and turning it into a much larger version. I came across it while watching an episode of BBC’s The F-Word and saw one of the presenters create a two-foot wide Jaffa(R) cake – a popular chocolate-coated orange-based cookie.

Huge Jaffa cake with originals in foreground

The use of the word pimp in this situation reflects a modern change to refer to something as being wonderful, great, cool, or desirable. It appears to have been originally used in this way in the 1970’s by African-American males to describe an attitude or swagger, and being pimp was a good thing. It also seems to have been happy to jump across parts of speech from noun (“He’s a pimp“) to adjective (“That’s a pimp outfit you’re wearing”) to verb (“I’ve pimped out my ride”), and even interjection (“Pimping!”)

It’s in its use a verb that the Viacom lawsuit is based. In 2004, MTV launched the show Pimp My Ride, where the mechanics of LA car shop, West Coast Customs, would take a beat-up old car and transform it into something glamorous and desirable. Viacom have clearly decided that they can claim ownership of the phrase Pimp My X, hence the “cease-and-desist” order against the linguistically similar Pimp My Snack.

Legally, I suspect that only the words “pimp my” are covered because changing to Pimp THAT Snack doesn’t seem to have incurred a further law suit. The word “my” is used as a possessive determiner whereas “that” is used as a demonstrative, so clearly it’s true that “possession is nine-tenths of the law.”

Legal arguments aside, the word pimp first makes an appearance in 1607 to refer to someone who “provides means and opportunities for unlawful sexual intercourse.”  (OED, Vol XI, p.845)

The famous diarist Samuel Pepys wrote in his 1666 diary on 10th June that, “The Duke of York is wholly given up to his new mistress… Mr. Brouncker, it seems, was the pimp to bring it about.”

It’s thought that the word derives from the 16th century French verb, pimper, which translates as “to render elegant,” and then from the past participle, pimpant,  to mean alluring or seductive in appearance or dress. However, this is still open to discussion.

Interestingly, the word is also used dialectically to mean a bundle of firewood or faggot, which first appears in print in 1742 in De Foe’s Tour of Great Britain; “Those small light Bavins, which are used in Taverns in London to light their Faggots, and are called in the Taverns a Brush, and by the Wood-men Pimps.”

Pimp or faggot

Continuing with the word as a noun, in Australian and New Zealand slang a pimp is an informer or tell-tale, while in Welsh dialect it’s a Peeping Tom.

As a verb, it is used intransitively. In the New Yorker magazine on May 26th, 1975, you’ll find “His father (Jack Warden) pimps to add to his income as a taxi-driver.”

Oh, and those of you who are fascinated by bacronyms may want to stop by the Urban Dictionary site to find a few that have appeared for pimp. These include “Person Into Marketing Prostitutes,” “Player In Many Places,” “Put It In My Pocket” and even “Penis In Many People.”

And who says modern youth are not linguistically creative

It’s a tough day for a hurt JMU student,  local journalists and JMU University Officials who are in the beginning of a court battle over victims rights, journalist rights, and JMU policy. In an ideal world JMU policy would create an environment that protected the student victim and the journalists goal of reporting the story so that there is hope of justice. So far, the two journalists are being charged for violating JMU policy. In the short run this will be much easier for the victim and the university. It will unfortunately make it very easy for the actual peeping tom. In the long run JMU is sending the message that the victim doesnt need justice but merely needs privacy. I can’t say I agree with JMU’s actions. The focus has very quickly shifted away from seeking justice and moved to protecting policy. Certainly the victim’s privacy has been breached but by the peeping tom not the journalists. The journalists have hurt JMU not the victim. This is a sad case of an organization valuing their current policy over the rights of the victim and the journalists.  Read more on the story in the Richmond Times Dispatch.

JMU journalists face judicial charges at the school

What do you think about this? How do justice and privacy work themselves out in a situation like this ? What is a journalist’s role ?

Williamson: Wouldn't want to see him nude, but did he break the law?

I PITY Eric Williamson, the Springfield, Va dude who was arrested earlier this week for indecent exposure after some lady walking her kid to school spotted him in his kitchen making coffee buck naked and called police.

The woman claims Williamson, 29, deliberately exposed himself, twice. (Apparently the house is located across from a school-bus stop.) And police say Williamson may have been involved in at least one other incident like this.

“I wasn’t wearing any clothes,” he admitted, “but I was alone, in my own home and just got out of bed. It was dark and I had no idea anyone was outside looking in at me.”

>> Watch the news report here:

I feel bad for Williamson. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy being in the buff in your own home when you have the chance? There’s something liberating about it. Didn’t Alanis Morrisette recommended walking around naked in your living room? (Wonder if that would hold up as a defence – ‘Your honour, Alanis said it was OK…’)

Granted, Williamson probably should have thought to close the curtains/blinds, especially if kids are walking past the house on a regular basis. Still, I’m with the people who think the woman who called police is a no good busybody/peeping tom.

Looking at Williamson’s mugshot, I can see why someone might be scared shitless to see this dude in his birthday suit, but he’s no criminal. If he were truly a flasher, wouldn’t he have walked out onto the front lawn to show the world his goods?

A man’s house is his castle, as the saying goes, and he can do what he damn well pleases inside it. Isn’t that freedom? And what’s wrong with the naked body anyway? Williamson’s might be really hairy and disgusting, but it’s the way God made him. This woman needs to get over it.

I just hope Williamson doesn’t ever decide to cook bacon in the nude. No doubt that would teach him to put on a house coat.

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com

My current obsession with yellow is bordering on ridiculous.  Here are some great cards by Australian paper lovers- Peeping Tom.  You can see more of their cheerful goods on etsy here.

Suite du premier épisode paru la semaine passée…

Entretemps en 1999, il crée son propre label Ipecac avec Greg Werckman. Au départ, ce label a été créé pour accueillir les disques de Fantomas, mais très vite les Melvins ont rejoint Fantomas, et finalement aujourd’hui ce label produit régulièrement des groupes de styles divers  tels que le métal, le rap… mais toujours des artistes qui ont  une production disons plus marginale, ou plutôt qui entre moins dans les créneaux de leur style.

Maintenant qu’on a fait le tour de ses groupes on va poursuivre avec ses projets personnels, ses one-shot….

Ce mec a vraiment touché à tout , il a fait ceci :

Mais aussi la voix des monstres du film “I am Legend”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsK0GKajlsI&hl=fr]

Ou encore… du plus radical et, c’est le moins qu’on puisse dire.

Commençons par les projets personnels ….

Adult Themes for voices : 1995.  Sur le label Tzadik créé par  John Zorn. Au cours d’une tournée avec Faith no More, il réalise son premier disque solo. Le soir, dans les hôtels, il enregistre sa propre voix sur bandes, des cris, des borborygmes, qu’il fait passer par des traitements électroniques. Il expérimente ainsi trente quatre très courtes plages bruitistes. Pour être honnête avec vous, c’est un disque totalement expérimental, intellectuellement très intéressant mais franchement pas facile du tout à écouter !.

Pranzo Oltranzista : 1997. Toujours sur Tzadik, pour ce second projet il s’entoure de Erik Friendlander – cello – Marc Ribbot – guitare – William Winant – percussion – et John Zorn – sax alto. Il se réserve la partie vocale bien sûr en plus des effets sonores. Tout autant expérimental que son premier opus, mais plus construit. Les titres s’enchaînent les uns aux autres comme s’il s’agissait d’une seule pièce. Alternance de calme et de sons obtenus pas les instruments mais aussi des sons quasi concrets.

A Perfect Place : 2008. Un court-métrage réalisé par Derrick Scocchera pour lequel Patton a réalisé la bande originale. Par moments, nous sommes proches des musiques de Morricone ou de Schiffrin,  mais très vite il y met son grain de sel en y introduisant des petits éléments incongrus qui déforment cette filiation, il y mêle des cris, fait des breaks, mais chante également une belle ballade. Un petit plus : le cd audio est livré avec le film en bonus.

Les one shot….

General Patton Vs. The X-Ecutioners : 2005. Cette fois, il se lance dans une aventure avec les turntablists new-yorkais. Avec un nom pareil, on comprend bien que les thèmes abordés par les bandes-son parlent de guerre. Ca va dans tous les sens, beat boxing, scratches, extraits de bandes sonores de films, rythmes latinos, easy listening… un sacré patchwork. Patton chante, joue de la guitare, de la basse, des percussions et est bien sûr le grand ordonateur du projet.

Peeping Tom : 2006. Premier album éponyme. On y retrouve un Patton compositeur, chanteur et multi-instrumentiste. Il s’associe avec des têtes de gondole une fois de plus. Je cite : Kid Koala, Odd Nosdam, Rahzel, Massive Attack, Jel, Bebel Gilberto, Norah Jones, Doseone, Kool Keith, Amon Tobin et Dan the Automator excusez du peu.  Oui, mais et la musique dans tout ça ?  Ce sont des chansons qui changent de couleur et de genre en fonction de l’invité. C’est le disque le plus  easy listening de toute sa carrière.  Je pense franchement (et ça n’engage que moi)  que Patton a fait ce disque pour se faire plaisir, point. Le  plaisir de chanter des chansons, mais aussi d’être entouré de tout ce beau monde, et de pouvoir monter sur scène avec des musiciens qu’il aime et qui sont issus d’univers différents de ceux fréquentés jusqu’à présent.

Les collaborations…

Maldoror “She” : 1999. En collaboration avec Merzbow, musicien noise  japonais extrêmement prolifique. N’essayez pas de trouver la moindre trace de voix “vive”  sur ce disque. Collages et manipulations de bandes, d’effets, sorte de fourre-tout de sons. Il y a des sons industriels, d’autres plus figuratifs, des ambiances spectrales aussi. La  pochette rose bonbon et son livret contenant des photos osées début du siècle  est  assez trompeuse quant à son contenu.

Nathaniel Merriweather “Lovage” : 2001. Projet de Dan “The Automator” – alias Dan Nakamura, producteur de hip hop et aussi Mr Gorillaz avec Damon Albarn – avec comme sous-titre “Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By”. C’est donc un recueil de chansons sexy, susurrées par la très sensuelle Jennifer Charles.  La bande-son parfaite pour un film érotique des 70’s.

Et enfin la période Zorn….

Elegy : 1992. Un album de musique contemporaine dédié à Jean Genet divisé en 4 mouvements et composé par Zorn.  Une alternance de moments calmes à la flute,  petit carillon et alto, avec des  embrasements soudains  et puis le calme revient. Patton y chante,  David Shea est derrière les platines, Scummy alias Trey Spruance (Mr Bungle)   à la guitare, les autres musiciens viennent du monde du classique contemporain.

Hemophiliac “50th Birthday Celebration – 6″ : 2003. Zorn fête ses 50 ans en revisitant sa carrière pendant un mois. Chaque soir, un projet différent se produit live au Tonic, un club  mythique new-yorkais. Certains de ces concerts sont parus en cd sous le titre ”50th Birthday Celebration”.  Hemophiliac est un trio formé par John Zorn – saxos – Ikue Mori – laptop sauvage – Mike Patton – cris étranges. Improvisation, vent de folie, décoiffant.

John Zorn “Moonchild – Songs without Words“  : 2006. Cette fois, Zorn écrit, compose, arrange et dirige le trio formé par Joey Baron – batterie- Trevor Dunn – basse – et Patton – voix.  Grosse basse bien lourde limite métal, roulements de tambours indéfinis et inattendus, et chants gutturaux, des bruits de  bouche ou des cris effrayants, musique d’avant-garde, avant-rock ? Et tout ça mené de main de maître par Zorn depuis son pupitre. Tout à la fois free et structuré.   Entre le free jazz, la noise et du rock ultra radical avec des saturations en tous genres.

John Zorn “Astronome” : 2006. Comme pour Moonchild, Zorn est à la composition et le trio est le même que pour Moonchild sorti quelques mois plus tôt. Disque dédié à Antonin Artaud, Edgar Varèse et Aleister Crowley. Dans la continuité du projet Moonchild.

John Zorn “Crucible” : 2008. Même formule avec Marc Ribot – guitare – en plus.

Voilà j’ai plus ou moins fais le tour. Ouf !
Evidemment c’est sans compter toutes ses participations (Bjork, Sepultura, les covers de Gainsbourg et de Burt Bacharach…)

En conclusion, je vous donne mon super top 5 avec une subjectivité que j’assume entièrement.

Faith no More “Angel Dust”
Mr Bungle “California”
Peeping Tom
Tomahawk “Mit Gas”
Nathaniel merryweather “Lovage”

Un petit dernier pour la route, parce que 5 c’est vraiment trop dur !
John Zorn “Moonchild”
Et alors, je triche un peu ….

surtout ne jamais rater Fantomas en concert ! c’est une tuerie !

Et vous, vous en pensez quoi ? C’est lequel votre préféré ?

Brigitte Molenkamp

This one starts off in a way that you’d think Nympho Nurse would be a better title — Honey Clay (yes, that’s her name) wakes up naked in bed next to a big muscular naked man, post-coitus.  Honey has a size 42 bust, bigger than Orrie Hitt’s usual 38-40.  There are no B cup and flat chested heroines in the Hitt universe, and those who are, well, they tend to be pathetic, homely, or lesbian.  That is Hitt’s curse to any woman who is not endowed with ample bosom.

The man is Josh, her ex-boyfriend who took her virginity down by the creek when she was 17.  She’s from a poor farming community, a backwoods girl with a voluptous body who went off to nurisng school. She is about to join a hospital 40 miles away and has come home to see her parents — her alcoholic father, age 62, and her her tired mother, age 40.  Then she runs into Josh…

Josh wants her to stay and marry him but her career as a nurse comes first…

At the hospital, she becomes entagled with young Dr. Frank, a promising doctor, handsome, who had bedded every nurse there, is subserviant to a young rich widow who has given money to the hospital, and owes his sexually depraved brother, Sam, for putting him through med school with crime money.

Honey can’t help herself — she dates and beds Dr. Frank, he’s too enticing and she’s a but of a tramp, running away from sexual scanda at another hospital.  But there are those who do not want Nurse Honey and Dr. Frank to be lovers:

Head Nurse Watkins — closing in on 40, she has designs on Dr. Frank for appearance, social, and politucal purposes and plans to blackmail him into marrying her  She is actually a lesbian and makes her intentions known to Honey — she sexually blackmails Honey, or tries to, but Honey refuses to go down on a woman…

The rich widow – she wants the good doctor for herself.

Sam, his brother – Dr. Frank keeps Sam locked up in the house because he has a peeping tom urge — again, the peeper, but a sub-plot here; Sam has graduated to wanting violence with his sex, which is usually rape.

This is a surprising book, because when it seems to be a trahsy nurse sex novel, Hitt sneaks in some social commentray on the rich vs the poor, how the rich use money to manipulate people, and the decay of th American farmer.  There’s also some detailed medical politics going om, with an inside-look at how small hospitals are really run…

All comes to a tragic close, as Dr. Frank prepares to do an unauthorized lobotomy on his brother, to “cure” him of his sexual urges; he enlists Honey’s help and things backfire, as expected…

There’s also a good deal of violence as Honey fends herself from three rapes or forced sex — from her ex-boyfriend, from Sam, and from Nurse Watkins.  She bests them all up as she’s a big girl who worked on a farm and has farm strength.  Honey’s physical attributes causes her to be a sexual object wherever she goes — from men on the bus, in a bar, or on the street, she never has a moment’s peace without someone coming on to her…and she takes it all in stride…

On the scale of 1-10 for Hitt books, I’d give this one a 7.5 and recommend it for a good read.

Last night’s bite to eat came in the form of a huge puffed up pastry topped pie in the Newman Arms. (pictures of a similar pie can be seen on their website)

So, the pie was hotter than the sun and I was too greedy and impatient to wait for it to cool down. As a result I now have a burnt tongue, lip and roof of mouth.

School girl error.

It was good though, I opted for the chicken, ham and leek pie but I could have eaten anything off the hearty menu. The puddings sounded fabulous too.

This little pub/pie room has quite a history. Apparently George Orwell was a regular and in the 1960s the movie Peeping Tom was filmed here.

At the opening of the film, Boehm picks up prostitute Brenda Bruce in Newman’s Court, off Rathbone Place, and follows her up to a room above the Newman Arms, where the unbalanced photographer films her murder.

Nice. Still not seen that movie (it’s on the list) but even the thought of that makes me hurry down this passage. It has also housed a co-operative kitchen for communist refugees in the 19th century.

Today it’s a small but cosy pub with a really homely pie room upstairs.

Not cheap, but most enjoyable.

Picture by: dunno source Submitted by: dunno source via Fail Uploader

Stratford-upon-Avon has suffered a lot recently.  The Bancroft Gardens have been covered in heartless concrete and stained granite.  The art deco interior of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s home theater has been gutted and bizarre tower raised.  Fields and terraced cottages have been dug up and demolished, turned into rat-runs of flats and Americanised three story town-homes.  World Class Stratford has spent millions on harebrained schemes while Holy Trinity Church has been reduced to begging for donations to repair its historic structure.  The town center’s local shops have been priced out, the tourist tat and sandwich shops that filled the void have been hit by the credit crunch and now  many empty shells and vacant storefronts line the streets.

What more could happen to bring infamy to the town?  How about this…

A firm called Internet Eyes will be allowing members of the public to monitor CCTV footage taken in the town and offer up to one thousand pounds if the “viewers” spot a crime in progress.  If this sounds like 1984 meets bingo it gets even better because on the Internet Eyes website they state:

Users are individuals watching random video feeds. Users can register for free with no recurring fees.

The locations of the feeds are not disclosed and users reporting remain anonymous.

So the cameras are monitored by members of the public, who are not trained professionals, aren’t licensed or insured, and have not had a background check carried out. So basically any Peeping Tom can join in the fun, but that is okay because the “locations of the feeds are not disclosed” except unfortunately that isn’t completely true because:

The private company scheme – due to go live in Stratford-upon-Avon in November – aims to stream live footage to subscribers’ home computers from CCTV cameras installed in shops and other businesses.

- BBC News – Public to monitor CCTV from home

and

The project will be trialled in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks, next month, but the consortium behind the idea hopes that it will eventually attract a global audience of viewers monitoring Britain’s 4.2 million security cameras.

- The Telegraph – Snoopers could win £1,000 prizes for monitoring CCTV cameras on the internet

Wow, I’m fairly certain there aren’t that many CCTV systems in Stratford but they’ll soon be available to a global audience of spies watching for crimes and prizes!  Now I know that in this modern world of heightened security cameras have been the silver bullet for so many fears of the age, but I agree with Charles Farrier, director of the No-CCTV pressure group, who said:

“It is an appalling idea for a game and will create a snoopers paradise.

“It is something which should be nipped in the bud immediately. It will not only encourage a dangerous spying mentality by turning crime into a game but also could lead to dangerous civil rights abuses.

Especially when James Woodward, head of the technical team for Devon-based Internet Eyes, is quoted in the Telegraph saying:

“Whoever has a CCTV camera, be it the police, local authorities or business or home owners can sign up to have their cameras watched. We hope to include police cameras very soon.”

Who exactly will be monitoring the monitors?

In September 2009 Britain had 4.2 million CCTV cameras

– the equivalent of one per 14 people.