Sunday, July 30, 2006
After a couple of weeks of trying, Israel finally has its My Lai, its Song My. In Qana, Lebanon.
The absolute cowardice of the United States to not denounce these Israeli fits of savage brutality is hideous.
The absolute cowardice of the United States to not denounce these Israeli fits of savage brutality is hideous.
Little Sparrow says: Beware of drunks who become holy. The spiritual materialists. In AA they call them the Leading Deacons, who are always ready to tell YOU where YOU have gone wrong in YOUR life. It's typical drunk behavior--wanting to make one's self DIFFERENT, unusual, exotic, special. ("We just didn't know how special"). In AA, they say to take your own inventory, which is exactly what holy drunks don't do.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
My microreview of Craig Dworkin's Strand is online at Boston Review.
Monday, July 24, 2006
A few very good websites on the Middle East conflict:
If Americans Knew
Jews For Justice For Palestinians
Addameer
*
My ongoing Fassbinder film interest (research?) continued this past week, as we watched four more of his films. Katzelmacher (1969), Gods of the Plague (1969), Fear of Fear (1975), and Lola (1981). Fassbinder died on June 10, 1982.
Like many of his very early films, Katzelmacher and Gods of the Plague follow lowlife criminals and young burnouts, with disaffection and bored violence coming along for the ride. I don't very much care for the very early films, though Katzelmacher seems to be the best written, even if the narrative action is rather ploddingly tedious. The hallmark Fassbinder nods to drama are in abundance, with the continual paired walks in an abandoned alleyway and extensive dialog. Where his first feature, Love is Colder Than Death (1969), meanders into the rather boring life of its leads and doesn't get much further, Katzelmacher seems to deliver more of a generational angle along with it, of a slice of a young Germany, shiftless and xenophobic. The dialog is crisper and the story, too, features more complexities in character development.
Fear of Fear is a very fine film, depicting a young mother's descent into prescription pill and alcohol addiction, which is additionally aided by a constant editing feature of a watery, wavering picture. Fassbinder's middle period of films are often character studies singular, but always as the character relates to the larger social order, usually the rest of his/her family, neighbors, lovers, etc. The discomfort that Fassbinder always engineers in his films is perhaps at its tightest in Fear of Fear.
Lola, part of the trilogy that includes Veronika Voss (1981) and The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978), is late Fassbinder, and here again one witnesses him at the height of his writing skills, weaving in sharp, cynical comments on the creations of societies and how they are maintained, while creating a very colorfully photographed world of various rungs of its class orders. All of this sounds very stale, and it would be in more inflexible hands, but Fassbinder always maintains that lightness and ability to show human vulnerability and human cruelty in a non-judgmental and unsentimental way, and frequently at the same time.
If Americans Knew
Jews For Justice For Palestinians
Addameer
*
My ongoing Fassbinder film interest (research?) continued this past week, as we watched four more of his films. Katzelmacher (1969), Gods of the Plague (1969), Fear of Fear (1975), and Lola (1981). Fassbinder died on June 10, 1982.
Like many of his very early films, Katzelmacher and Gods of the Plague follow lowlife criminals and young burnouts, with disaffection and bored violence coming along for the ride. I don't very much care for the very early films, though Katzelmacher seems to be the best written, even if the narrative action is rather ploddingly tedious. The hallmark Fassbinder nods to drama are in abundance, with the continual paired walks in an abandoned alleyway and extensive dialog. Where his first feature, Love is Colder Than Death (1969), meanders into the rather boring life of its leads and doesn't get much further, Katzelmacher seems to deliver more of a generational angle along with it, of a slice of a young Germany, shiftless and xenophobic. The dialog is crisper and the story, too, features more complexities in character development.
Fear of Fear is a very fine film, depicting a young mother's descent into prescription pill and alcohol addiction, which is additionally aided by a constant editing feature of a watery, wavering picture. Fassbinder's middle period of films are often character studies singular, but always as the character relates to the larger social order, usually the rest of his/her family, neighbors, lovers, etc. The discomfort that Fassbinder always engineers in his films is perhaps at its tightest in Fear of Fear.
Lola, part of the trilogy that includes Veronika Voss (1981) and The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978), is late Fassbinder, and here again one witnesses him at the height of his writing skills, weaving in sharp, cynical comments on the creations of societies and how they are maintained, while creating a very colorfully photographed world of various rungs of its class orders. All of this sounds very stale, and it would be in more inflexible hands, but Fassbinder always maintains that lightness and ability to show human vulnerability and human cruelty in a non-judgmental and unsentimental way, and frequently at the same time.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Friday, July 14, 2006
Because U.S. news media and even the AP wire service seem unable to disengage their news stories from exact U.S. foreign policy partyline interests, here's a link to Arab News.
*
The lack of condemnation by the U.S. over Israel's recent warmongering in Lebanon and Gaza only highlights the moral bankruptcy of both countries. In lockstep, unto death.
*
The lack of condemnation by the U.S. over Israel's recent warmongering in Lebanon and Gaza only highlights the moral bankruptcy of both countries. In lockstep, unto death.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Received or purchased recently:
Stacy Doris, Kildare, Roof Books, 1994.
Stacy Doris, Cheerleader's Guide to the World: Council Book, Roof Books, 2006.
Stacy Doris, Knot, The University of Georgia Press, 2006.
Cabinet, Issue 21/Electricity, Spring 2006.
ARTnews, Volume 105/Number 6, June 2006.
No: a journal of the arts, Issue 4, 2005.
Nina Shope, Hangings, Starcherone Books, 2005.
Stacy Doris, Kildare, Roof Books, 1994.
Stacy Doris, Cheerleader's Guide to the World: Council Book, Roof Books, 2006.
Stacy Doris, Knot, The University of Georgia Press, 2006.
Cabinet, Issue 21/Electricity, Spring 2006.
ARTnews, Volume 105/Number 6, June 2006.
No: a journal of the arts, Issue 4, 2005.
Nina Shope, Hangings, Starcherone Books, 2005.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Electrical Walks at Cabinet Magazine, from Christina Kubisch.
*
37 years old today
Resolution?
*
Short film, H20 by Ralph Steiner (1929). A masterpiece. Beautiful, beautiful.
*
37 years old today
Resolution?
*
Short film, H20 by Ralph Steiner (1929). A masterpiece. Beautiful, beautiful.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Palestinian PM lashes out at Israelis AP- 1 hour, 34 minutes ago
Arab anger flares at Israeli incursion AP - 2 hours, 34 minutes ago
Palestinians: Electric transformers hit AP - 2 hours, 46 minutes ago
Rice calls for 'responsibility' in Middle East AFP - Thu Jun 29, 2:15 PM ET
Mine blasts hole in Gaza-Egypt border AP - Thu Jun 29, 1:51 PM ET
G8 ministers urge restraint in Israeli-Palestinian conflict AFP - Thu Jun 29, 1:01 PM ET
Religion news in brief AP - Thu Jun 29, 12:19 PM ET
Arab League ambassadors condemn Israeli moves on Palestinians AFP - Thu Jun 29, 12:09 PM ET
Palestinians blow hole in Gaza-Egypt border wall AFP - Thu Jun 29, 12:04 PM ET
Syria backs Hamas despite renewed Israeli threat Reuters - Thu Jun 29, 11:09 AM ET
Syria vows to defend itself after Israeli overflight AFP - Thu Jun 29, 10:44 AM ET
Lavrov: G-8 united on Israel soldier issue AP - Thu Jun 29, 10:41 AM ET
Israel offensive stirs anger in Egypt AFP - Thu Jun 29, 10:03 AM ET
Hamas official: Talk of swap 'premature' AP - Thu Jun 29, 9:34 AM ET
Hamas praises abduction, denies role AP - Thu Jun 29, 9:05 AM ET
Militants taunt Israel over kidnapped soldier Reuters - Thu Jun 29, 7:48 AM ET
Israeli aircraft strike car in Gaza AP - Thu Jun 29, 7:30 AM ET
Israeli-Palestinian crisis alarms Arabs AP - Thu Jun 29, 6:57 AM ET
Israel arrests 64 Hamas members in massive sweep AFP - Thu Jun 29, 5:43 AM ET
Israeli aircraft fire missiles in Gaza AP - Thu Jun 29, 4:37 AM ET
Israeli police find body of missing man AP - Thu Jun 29, 4:37 AM ET
Hamas leaders arrested; Israeli executed AP - Thu Jun 29, 12:37 AM ET
Israeli army poised to step up Gaza offensive Reuters - Thu Jun 29, 12:30 AM ET
Israeli planes buzz home of Syrian leader AP - Wed Jun 28, 11:44 PM ET
Gaza militants say fired chemical-tipped warhead Reuters - Wed Jun 28, 9:39 PM ET
More
Think there isn’t a double-standard in AP news items?
These are headlines about the Middle East. Note the different treatment given Israelis and Israel and Palestinians in the framing of headlines. When the term Israeli is used, it’s always in a lessened category of violence. If something is done by Israel or Israelis, the violence is not locateable. This is done in two ways. One is through using the term Israeli as a modifier instead of Israel. So we get Israeli aircraft fires, instead of Israel fires missles. Thus, the prominence is placed on the non-ethnic nouns—planes, army, aircraft, police. Israel is just along for the ride. It’s the planes doing the damage, the army, the police. Not Israel as a whole. Also, the choice of verbs is always softened—the Israelis (again not Israel) merely "buzz" or "move on." As well, the Israeli army (not Israel) is "poised"—read just, read cautionary, even read thoughtful. They are not "invading" Palestinian land, but merely making an "incursion." When the term Israel is used as a state it is in the sense that something was done to it, in a victim impulse, or it is used to show the violence coming from the other side, even when Israel is the one provoking the situation, is the one who created the violent climate. Read here that the Arabs are "irrational" or "full of anger" and ready to pop at any moment. See above how the rare article noting Israel instead of an Israeli offensive hides that fact to focus on the "anger" in Egypt or the "Arab anger" at Israeli (not Israel) incursion (not invasion). Again, we read this as the "irrational" Arabs being so unmanageable because of a mere incursion, not an invasion. Note how the whole Arab League is shown to be irrational as well when it condemns not Israel, but, of course, Israeli "moves" (not attacks). The subtext is clear—look at how worked up these Arabs get over a mere "move" by not Israel, but a denuded "Israeli". So we see, even in normal outrage, as when another country attacks another, this, too, is considered abnormal—that the outrage itself is symptomatic of instability in the Arab mind. As one will see, the intense verbs are left for any Palestinian action—they blow holes in walls. The most recent article title focuses on the Palestinian PM’s anger, not the fact that Israel basically overthrew a democratically-elected government.
Arab anger flares at Israeli incursion AP - 2 hours, 34 minutes ago
Palestinians: Electric transformers hit AP - 2 hours, 46 minutes ago
Rice calls for 'responsibility' in Middle East AFP - Thu Jun 29, 2:15 PM ET
Mine blasts hole in Gaza-Egypt border AP - Thu Jun 29, 1:51 PM ET
G8 ministers urge restraint in Israeli-Palestinian conflict AFP - Thu Jun 29, 1:01 PM ET
Religion news in brief AP - Thu Jun 29, 12:19 PM ET
Arab League ambassadors condemn Israeli moves on Palestinians AFP - Thu Jun 29, 12:09 PM ET
Palestinians blow hole in Gaza-Egypt border wall AFP - Thu Jun 29, 12:04 PM ET
Syria backs Hamas despite renewed Israeli threat Reuters - Thu Jun 29, 11:09 AM ET
Syria vows to defend itself after Israeli overflight AFP - Thu Jun 29, 10:44 AM ET
Lavrov: G-8 united on Israel soldier issue AP - Thu Jun 29, 10:41 AM ET
Israel offensive stirs anger in Egypt AFP - Thu Jun 29, 10:03 AM ET
Hamas official: Talk of swap 'premature' AP - Thu Jun 29, 9:34 AM ET
Hamas praises abduction, denies role AP - Thu Jun 29, 9:05 AM ET
Militants taunt Israel over kidnapped soldier Reuters - Thu Jun 29, 7:48 AM ET
Israeli aircraft strike car in Gaza AP - Thu Jun 29, 7:30 AM ET
Israeli-Palestinian crisis alarms Arabs AP - Thu Jun 29, 6:57 AM ET
Israel arrests 64 Hamas members in massive sweep AFP - Thu Jun 29, 5:43 AM ET
Israeli aircraft fire missiles in Gaza AP - Thu Jun 29, 4:37 AM ET
Israeli police find body of missing man AP - Thu Jun 29, 4:37 AM ET
Hamas leaders arrested; Israeli executed AP - Thu Jun 29, 12:37 AM ET
Israeli army poised to step up Gaza offensive Reuters - Thu Jun 29, 12:30 AM ET
Israeli planes buzz home of Syrian leader AP - Wed Jun 28, 11:44 PM ET
Gaza militants say fired chemical-tipped warhead Reuters - Wed Jun 28, 9:39 PM ET
More
Think there isn’t a double-standard in AP news items?
These are headlines about the Middle East. Note the different treatment given Israelis and Israel and Palestinians in the framing of headlines. When the term Israeli is used, it’s always in a lessened category of violence. If something is done by Israel or Israelis, the violence is not locateable. This is done in two ways. One is through using the term Israeli as a modifier instead of Israel. So we get Israeli aircraft fires, instead of Israel fires missles. Thus, the prominence is placed on the non-ethnic nouns—planes, army, aircraft, police. Israel is just along for the ride. It’s the planes doing the damage, the army, the police. Not Israel as a whole. Also, the choice of verbs is always softened—the Israelis (again not Israel) merely "buzz" or "move on." As well, the Israeli army (not Israel) is "poised"—read just, read cautionary, even read thoughtful. They are not "invading" Palestinian land, but merely making an "incursion." When the term Israel is used as a state it is in the sense that something was done to it, in a victim impulse, or it is used to show the violence coming from the other side, even when Israel is the one provoking the situation, is the one who created the violent climate. Read here that the Arabs are "irrational" or "full of anger" and ready to pop at any moment. See above how the rare article noting Israel instead of an Israeli offensive hides that fact to focus on the "anger" in Egypt or the "Arab anger" at Israeli (not Israel) incursion (not invasion). Again, we read this as the "irrational" Arabs being so unmanageable because of a mere incursion, not an invasion. Note how the whole Arab League is shown to be irrational as well when it condemns not Israel, but, of course, Israeli "moves" (not attacks). The subtext is clear—look at how worked up these Arabs get over a mere "move" by not Israel, but a denuded "Israeli". So we see, even in normal outrage, as when another country attacks another, this, too, is considered abnormal—that the outrage itself is symptomatic of instability in the Arab mind. As one will see, the intense verbs are left for any Palestinian action—they blow holes in walls. The most recent article title focuses on the Palestinian PM’s anger, not the fact that Israel basically overthrew a democratically-elected government.
