The Porcupine School of Poetry
The blog of Kevin Buist, artist, podcaster, web denizen.
Dec 03
“Not a lot of information is available on Ballerin, but one thing is clear: she would make a great movie character. She’s someone whose leaked e-mails make disparaging remarks about “the f*cks” from the UN who snoop around Select Armor’s dealings. After being put up for a few days Kampala, Uganda by the president of that country, she reportedly said that, “Kampala is a real shithole.” Nevertheless, she has a tremendous amount of traction in Africa, especially in Somalia.”
- Somali Pirate Movie: Casting Couch | SpoutBlog
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““If you’re on MySpace now, you’re a (expletive) cretin. And you’re not only a (expletive) cretin, but you’re poor,””
- Murdoch biographer: MySpace is for ‘(expletive) cretins’ | The Social - CNET News
Wow. That’s some bitterness. But I have to admit, I’ve pretty much switched from MySpace to FaceBook entirely. I’m not totally sure why. I guess that’s where my friends are doing stuff now. I do love the way terribly designed MySpace pages act as a vernacular visual expression for teenagers. Something bigger will grow out of that aesthetic someday.
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Dec 03
Flat color tomato cans.
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Dec 03
“The celebrity culture is infantilizing us. We are being trained not to think. It is not about the disappearance of film critics. We are the canaries. It is about the death of an intelligent and curious, readership, interested in significant things and able to think critically. It is about the failure of our educational system. It is not about dumbing-down. It is about snuffing out.”
- Death to film critics! Hail to the CelebCult! - Roger Ebert’s Journal
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Dec 03
“Responding to reports of a military threat to Wessagussett, Myles Standish organized a militia to defend Wessagussett. However, he found that there had been no attack. He therefore decided on a pre-emptive strike. In an event called “Standish’s raid” by historian Nathaniel Philbrick, he lured two prominent Massachusett military leaders into a house at Wessagussett under the pretense of sharing a meal and making negotiations. Standish and his men then stabbed and killed the two unsuspecting Native Americans. The local sachem, named Obtakiest, was pursued by Standish and his men but escaped with three English prisoners from Wessagussett, who he then executed.[44] Within a short time, Wessagussett was disbanded, and the survivors were integrated into the town of Plymouth.”
- Plymouth Colony - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
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Dec 03
Foreword from Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death”
We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn’t, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.
But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions”. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.
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How does an advice book become a romantic comedy starring an impressive roster of talent?
The more pressing question is, how does a poster this hideous ever see the light of day?
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Dec 03
Dec 03
“Not a lot of information is available on Ballerin, but one thing is clear: she would make a great movie character. She’s someone whose leaked e-mails make disparaging remarks about “the f*cks” from the UN who snoop around Select Armor’s dealings. After being put up for a few days Kampala, Uganda by the president of that country, she reportedly said that, “Kampala is a real shithole.” Nevertheless, she has a tremendous amount of traction in Africa, especially in Somalia.”
- Somali Pirate Movie: Casting Couch | SpoutBlog
““If you’re on MySpace now, you’re a (expletive) cretin. And you’re not only a (expletive) cretin, but you’re poor,”” Murdoch biographer: MySpace is for ‘(expletive) cretins’ | The Social - CNET News Wow. That’s some bitterness. But I have to admit, I’ve pretty much switched from MySpace to FaceBook entirely. I’m not totally sure why. I guess that’s where my friends are doing stuff now. I do love the way terribly designed MySpace pages act as a vernacular visual expression for teenagers. Something bigger will grow out of that aesthetic someday.
-
Flat color tomato cans.
“The celebrity culture is infantilizing us. We are being trained not to think. It is not about the disappearance of film critics. We are the canaries. It is about the death of an intelligent and curious, readership, interested in significant things and able to think critically. It is about the failure of our educational system. It is not about dumbing-down. It is about snuffing out.”
- Death to film critics! Hail to the CelebCult! - Roger Ebert’s Journal
“Responding to reports of a military threat to Wessagussett, Myles Standish organized a militia to defend Wessagussett. However, he found that there had been no attack. He therefore decided on a pre-emptive strike. In an event called “Standish’s raid” by historian Nathaniel Philbrick, he lured two prominent Massachusett military leaders into a house at Wessagussett under the pretense of sharing a meal and making negotiations. Standish and his men then stabbed and killed the two unsuspecting Native Americans. The local sachem, named Obtakiest, was pursued by Standish and his men but escaped with three English prisoners from Wessagussett, who he then executed.[44] Within a short time, Wessagussett was disbanded, and the survivors were integrated into the town of Plymouth.” Plymouth Colony - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
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Foreword from Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death”
We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn’t, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.
But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions”. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.
How does an advice book become a romantic comedy starring an impressive roster of talent?
The more pressing question is, how does a poster this hideous ever see the light of day?
Comments (0)
