Here, Mostly!

Tumblr ahoy!

Cat Update!

Rest in peace, little buddy.

So Neocon!

Wow. This seems so much like the White House dog and pony show on Iraq, 911, their economy and everything else besides. Nice. Still, would make a slamming instrumental....

Jump! Jump!

Headline from this morning's online NYT: Stocks Are Volatile After Global Sell-Off. Yep, there's something distinctly rotten, empty and inevitable at the heart of this mess. I think it's called capitalism. Or something like that....

Cat Update!

Business as usual.

Nice!

Different Battles!

If perhaps not without problems as an album, Battles' rhythmical interplay on Mirrored, their latest and first full-length (or so it seems), does my head right. Much like a fugue. Nice work, boys.

More Macho!

300 continues to do good business. Meanwhile, real-world public opinion (or rather public opinion concerning the real world) presents another story. The apparent disconnect reminds me of the famous admonitory epilogue to Walter Benjamin's famous, much-read essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction:

“Fiat ars – pereat mundus”, says Fascism, and, as Marinetti admits, expects war to supply the artistic gratification of a sense perception that has been changed by technology. This is evidently the consummation of “l’art pour l’art.” Mankind, which in Homer’s time was an object of contemplation for the Olympian gods, now is one for itself. Its self-alienation has reached such a degree that it can experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the first order. This is the situation of politics which Fascism is rendering aesthetic. Communism responds by politicizing art.

Sage words from one smart dude. But I'm also reminded here of one of Benjamin's equally famous, much-read Theses on the Philosophy of History:

To historians who wish to relive an era, Fustel de Coulanges recommends that they blot out everything they know about the later course of history. There is no better way of characterising the method with which historical materialism has broken. It is a process of empathy whose origin is the indolence of the heart, acedia, which despairs of grasping and holding the genuine historical image as it flares up briefly. Among medieval theologians it was regarded as the root cause of sadness. Flaubert, who was familiar with it, wrote: ‘Peu de gens devineront combien il a fallu être triste pour ressusciter Carthage.’ The nature of this sadness stands out more clearly if one asks with whom the adherents of historicism actually empathize. The answer is inevitable: with the victor. And all rulers are the heirs of those who conquered before them. Hence, empathy with the victor invariably benefits the rulers. Historical materialists know what that means. Whoever has emerged victorious participates to this day in the triumphal procession in which the present rulers step over those who are lying prostrate. According to traditional practice, the spoils are carried along in the procession. They are called cultural treasures, and a historical materialist views them with cautious detachment. For without exception the cultural treasures he surveys have an origin which he cannot contemplate without horror. They owe their existence not only to the efforts of the great minds and talents who have created them, but also to the anonymous toil of their contemporaries. There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. And just as such a document is not free of barbarism, barbarism taints also the manner in which it was transmitted from one owner to another. A historical materialist therefore dissociates himself from it as far as possible. He regards it as his task to brush history against the grain.

The critical ambivalence I see Benjamin articulating -- and I describe it this way because of the parallax suggested by the civilization/barbarism paring, which I think challenges simple politicized reduction -- is somewhat presented (as if summarized) with respect to 300 in this post by Digby on Hullabaloo (although I reject the dumb homophobia apparent in his use of tired, cheap put-downs such as "closet cases" and the recalling of Spartan pederasty to somehow shame his Republican opponents). What seems especially illuminating here, if you'll forgive the pun, is the way the same over-loaded film plays across the political spectrum, right into the seemingly defensive/compulsive use of (or demand for) entertainment as a means of avoiding and even denying politics. Also concerning 300 and covering something of the same debate, there was a nice back-and-forth on Saelan's blog as well. Coming from a different place, I think this smart post by him regarding Arcade Fire and politics also fits well with the general problematic too, touching on the same base dynamic but avoiding (if only directly) the heated issue of Iraq. Nevertheless, I still haven't seen 300, although I think I might: best to see the thing itself. I'm sure it's downloadable by now.... I did, however, re-watch Starship Troopers, as well as a short "making of" documentary that confirmed my "anti-fascist" feeling about the film. Anyway, Benjamin is great!