as I see it.

McCain 2008 Oppo. File for Mitt Romney... O.o

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:40:00 -0500

McCain 2008 Oppo. File for Mitt Romney... O.o:

McCain Campaign gave us SO MUCH INFORMATION.
I wish we had this for every candidate!
So much information in one place…

Something exciting happens at a museum…?

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:11:45 -0500

Something exciting happens at a museum…?

Symptoms of a faulty education system...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:26:22 -0500

Symptoms of a faulty education system...

This man is a scholar and a visionary; he is more qualified to...

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:03:08 -0500

This man is a scholar and a visionary; he is more qualified to run this country than any politician.

Planking in Central Park earlier this year!

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:32:00 -0500

Planking in Central Park earlier this year!

DPRK: some thoughts following the death of Kim Jong-il

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:05:00 -0500

(I originally wrote this post and put it facebook December 19th, following the news of Kim Jong-il’s death)

It’s easy to ridicule the megalomania of Kim Jong-Il. It’s easier to cry out against the humanitarian crises and nuclear threats that exist inside North Korea. What’s difficult, however, is attempting to understand the world’s most isolated autocracy.
Searching for historical context to Kim Jong-Il’s rule, I found this well-written article; “An Essay on why North Korea is the way it is.”
Below I’ve outlined a brief summation of 20th century politics in the Korean Peninsula prior to the period covered in the aforementioned article to make for a more holistic portrait…

––––

In 1905 the Taft Administration gave imperialist Japan the go-ahead to force the Korean Empire’s leadership to hand over power. The opinion of the U.S. government at the time was that Japan’s subjugation of the Korean people would “…contribute to permanent peace in the Far East.”
Following three-and-a-half tumultuous decades, World War II marked the end of Japan’s control over Korea’s international affairs.

The victorious United States and Soviet Union claimed a trusteeship over the Korean Peninsula. Despite the Koreans clear stance against a division, the two powers coercively demarcated North and South Korea, dividing them at the 38th parallel. The Soviet Union allowed the people to organize themselves into independent committee’s and slowly manipulated these committees into a provincial, centralized communist government. The interim government was headed by Kim Il-sung, who would become the first President of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

In the South MacArthur’s delegate, Lieutenant General John Hodge was charged with overseeing the establishment of the new governing body. The southern Korean people organized themselves into The Provincial Government of the Republic of Korea, however, when the group sent a delegation to meet with Lieutenant General Hodge, he refused to speak with them or recognize the provincial government in any manner. Instead, Hodge selected a staunch anti-communist expatriate named Syngman Rhee to head the interim government. Rhee had lived and studied in the U.S. as an exile from Korea and as interim leader worked to eliminate left-wing communist insurrection within South Korea. Rhee would eventually become the first president of the Republic of Korea.

These two countries were soon to become the battleground for the opposing ideologies of the Cold War…

One of my favorite artists, Hennessy Youngman, discusses Damien...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:13:50 -0500

One of my favorite artists, Hennessy Youngman, discusses Damien Hirst’s “perfect storm of banality.”
Art criticism at its finest!

From the youtube video description:“Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:10:48 -0500

From the youtube video description:

“Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Damien Jalet join forces with UK visual artist Antony Gormley to create ‘Babel (Words)’, a dance performance that explores language and its relationship with nationhood, identity and religion.”

this gets me all worked up everytime.

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:06:30 -0500

this gets me all worked up everytime.

I remember my first time hearing Bukowski’s...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:00:36 -0500

I remember my first time hearing Bukowski’s work…
(directly preceded my first binge/one-night-stand)

Pyongyang Style — Some footage from inside one of the most...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:53:59 -0500

Pyongyang Style — Some footage from inside one of the most isolated nations on the planet.

TED Talks – Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:48:35 -0500

TED Talks – Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity:

Sir Ken Robinson giving us a lesson on the education system.
Older, but undoubtedly relevant.

Brief Richard Dawkins Clip — Reposted from my friend Glen...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:40:59 -0500

Brief Richard Dawkins Clip — Reposted from my friend Glen Luke Flanagan

Work as Play — Alan Watts calls it as he sees it.

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:33:12 -0500

Work as Play — Alan Watts calls it as he sees it.

From the youtube video description: “Why We Fight...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:27:37 -0500

From the youtube video description:

“Why We Fight describes the rise and maintenance of the United States military—industrial complex (originally called the military—industrial—congressional complex by Eisenhower) and its fifty-year involvement with the wars led by the United States to date, especially its 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The documentary asserts that in every decade since World War II, the American public was misled so that the Government (incumbent Administration) could take them to war and fuel the military-industrial economy maintaining American political dominance in the world. Interviewed about this matter, are politician John McCain, political scientist and former-CIA analyst Chalmers Johnson, politician Richard Perle, neoconservative commentator William Kristol, writer Gore Vidal, and public policy expert Joseph Cirincione.

Why We Fight documents the consequences of said foreign policy with the stories of a Vietnam War veteran whose son was killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, and who then asked the military to write the name of his dead son on any bomb to be dropped in Iraq; and that of a twenty-three-year-old New Yorker who enlists in the United States Army because he was poor and in debt, his decision impelled by his mother’s death; and a female military explosives scientist who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee child from Vietnam in 1975.”

reminder, warning, challenge: Study: 18 To 24-Year-Old Group More Politically Active, But Not More Knowledgeable

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:22:38 -0500

reminder, warning, challenge: Study: 18 To 24-Year-Old Group More Politically Active, But Not More Knowledgeable:

ScienceDaily (Aug. 13, 2009) — A study by three Kansas State University graduate students finds that the 18- to 24-year-old demographic became more politically active during the 2008 U.S. election season through the use of new media, but that the young adults were not necessarily more knowledgeable about politics.

A visceral portrait of the facets of a relationship between two...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:17:31 -0500

A visceral portrait of the facets of a relationship between two human beings. Simply Stunning. *PLEASE* watch this.

Q&A with Hennessy Youngman

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:50:00 -0500

Q&A with Hennessy Youngman:

“Artists are like that in that they have an indirect way of dealing with the real world, through the making of art, artists create this system of occupying the world in this indirect, yet very distinct way.”

Hennessy gives us a run-down on institutional critique.

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:49:00 -0500

Hennessy gives us a run-down on institutional critique.