4 States

I was proud last night when I saw that all four of my states (NY, PA, WI, MN) went Obama.

I wanted to vote in Minnesota this year, I've been immersed in Minnesota politics and know what's at stake there, unlike New York, where I know what's going on, but lack the passion for the candidates.

Just moments ago I checked in on the Minnesota voting last night. Obama, Yes to the environment, Keith Ellison. But I'm sadden to realize that Norm Coleman won by just 762 votes (with 99% of precincts reporting - need any further proof that every vote counts?). Also, I saw that The Crusader Michelle Bachmann has managed to keep her job, that's a bummer. Oh well, great steps were taken all over the nation. I wish I didn't have to hear Norm Coleman's Mayor Quimby voice ever again, but what do you do? You start by posting two videos to prove that Norm Coleman sounds just like Mayor Quimby, and hope that someone can make a good run at him in four years.

Barack Obama for President

So, I said I wouldn't do anything today besides the link post below (which I will continue to update), but I was just rereading Andrew Sullivan's piece "Barack Obama for President" from The Atlantic and had to take a note. This is a beautiful article that perfectly articulates what has gone wrong and what we stand to gain from an Obama presidency. I would like to quote the end of the article here because it's an eloquent summation of what today means.

The world will soon remember why it resents America as well as loves it. But until this unlikely fellow with the funny ears and strange name and exotic biography emerged on the scene, I had begun to wonder if it was possible at all. I had almost given up hope, and he helped restore it. That is what is stirring out there; and although you are welcome to mock me for it, I remain unashamed. As someone once said, in the unlikely story of America, there is never anything false about hope. Obama, moreover, seems to bring out the best in people, and the calmest, and the sanest. He seems to me to have a blend of Midwestern good sense, an intuitive understanding of the developing world that is as much our future now as theirs', an analyst's mind and a poet's tongue. He is human. He is flawed. He will make mistakes. His passivity and ambiguity are sometimes weaknesses as well as strengths.

But there is something about his rise that is also supremely American, a reminder of why so many of us love this country so passionately and are filled with such grief at what has been done to it and in its name. I endorse Barack Obama because I will not give up on America, because I believe in America, and in her constitution and decency and character and strength.

And the world needs that America now as much as it ever has. Can we start that healing, that rebirth, tomorrow?

Yes. We. Can.

It's Election Day

And instead of posting some stupid rant about how you should vote I have decided against this. My inbox was full of "Hey, you should vote today" reminders, and that's all well and good, but I'm going to, and you either are or you aren't. I have decided, instead, to provide updated links throughout the day of some good reading to help relieve your anxiety till we have a new president today.

CNN has a really great electoral vote tracker. You can follow the house, the senate and the presidential races as well as your local elections. Very nice.

Election Night Updates, Guides and Reflections:
Can Obama Get the Popular Vote and Lose the election? (Yahoo! News)
McCain sues State of Virginia for 10 Additional Days for Military Personnel
Wet Ballots Clogging Voting Machines in Virginia (CNN)
Republican Election Board Members are Illegally Removing Poll-Watchers in Philadelphia, Again
Translating the Polls into Electoral Votes (Guernica) - Sidenote: this article isn't entirely accurate any longer. Slate was reporting yesterday that in the final polls McCain has pulled ahead in Missouri, that Obama has pulled ahead in North Dakota, they are no longer considering Virginia "in play" for McCain, and they are now reporting that Georgia is a toss up. Awesome.
The Year of Living at the Edge of Our Seats (NY Times)
Barack Obama for President by Andrew Sullivan (The Atlantic) - Thanks to Christopher Coake for the head's up on this one.
John Dickerson's Election Night Tip Sheet (an hour by hour update of what's really going on) (Slate)


Other Political scrawlings and Websites:
Stock Surge on Election Day (Bloomberg)
270 to Win
Minnesota 6th Graders Get Out the Vote (Huffington Post)
A Year of Smears (Blogs Are About Ego (Here))
The Ramones Estate Battles of McCain Endoresment (F10)
Jello Biafra Talks About the Election with John Doe (Sundance Channel Blog)
Jay-Z: "Obama's Running So That We All Can Fly" (Prefix Magazine)
Hip-Hop Stars Stump fr Obama in Florida (Billboard)
Women and Gays for McCain (Guernica)
A Thought For Election Day (Of It Maybe)
A Poem Before the Election (InDigest Blog)
One More Time for Good Measure (StreetArtObserverDaily)

Random Funny Stuff:
The People's Mario

Ballet Mécanique by Fernand Léger

I've Been Writing

I’ve been writing again in some places, and those places are listed below. I also have a new film screening on December 12th and 13th in Minneapolis. I don’t really know where or when, but I’ll probably put something up about it when I know, I did the film with choreographer Mandy Herrick and her crew, she’s awesome, you should go see one of her performances sometime (they are in very odd locations and a lot of fun, again, maybe I’ll put something up about her next one when I know where it is…I should do more research before I start doing posts like this…)

Translating the Polls into Electoral Votes (Guernica Mag)
A Year of Smears or Barack Obama is a Muslim and Al Franken Laughs at the Disabled (BlogsAreAboutEgo)
Draw Fire Rocks Manhattan (TC Daily Planet)
W. Reviewed (Tiny Mix Tapes)
Review of Aidan Baker and Tim Hecker’s Fantasma Parastasie (Favorite 10)
Are You Being Sold the Warm Fuzzies? (Intentionally Urban)


David has been writing too, and these are good so I’m including them:
Minnesota 6th Graders Get Out the Vote (Huffington Post)
Michelle Bachmann “Represents” Minnesota on Hardball (This is How I Love You)


LPR had a lot of good stuff this week too:
JACK Quartet, then Corey Dargel CD Release party, and then a Crookers late party (New York Times)
Apes & Androids on Halloween (Gothamist)
200

4 reasons to miss Minneapolis

Translating the Polls into Electoral Votes

November has arrived, and you can literally count down the hours until the polls open for the 2008 presidential election. This is the time where the pollster really earns their keep, polling incessantly, in every variation they can think of, day and night. But most of these polls reflect the popular vote. So, what does this really mean? You’d have to take all of the national and state polls and place them into context within each state, tallying that states electoral votes against the chances of a candidate winning and figure out who can hit the magic number. 270. That’s the magic number of electoral votes that clinches the deal, 270.

Now, without delving into the problems inherit in the Electoral College system, I think this would be a good time, as I said you can count the hours, to take a look at the breakdown of how either candidate could potentially win this election. There are a lot of states that any pollster, New York Times reader, or political junkie could tell you are all but shored up for the candidates, except for that voting bit, but who wants to wait for that. There are also a handful of states that, at this point, are certainly too close to call. These swing states would include Colorado (9), Florida (27), Indiana (11), Missouri (11), Montana (3), Nevada (5), North Carolina (15), North Dakota (3), Ohio (20), Pennsylvania (21), and Virginia (13). (The number in parenthesis are the number of electoral votes each state has, this will important later.)

Here is the breakdown of the states that polls* seem to have conclusively (as conclusively as is possible, while being entire prone to errors) determined a winner in, the non-swing states. McCain is the likely winner in: Alabama (9), Alaska (3), Arizona (10), Arkansas (6), Georgia (15), Idaho (4), Kansas (6), Kentucky (8), Louisiana (9), Mississippi (6), Nebraska (5), Oklahoma (7), South Carolina (8), South Dakota (3), Tennessee (11), Texas (34), Utah (5), West Virginia (5), and Wyoming (3). Obama is the likely winner in: California (55), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), District of Columbia (3), Hawaii (4), Illinois (21), Iowa (7), Maine (4), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (12), Michigan (17), Minnesota (10), New Hampshire (4), New Jersey (15), New Mexico (5), New York (31), Oregon (7), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (3), Washington (11), and Wisconsin (10). These are certainly not guarantees for either candidate, but the polls and historical precedents seem to indicate that these states are in little danger of swinging. If these projections are correct than that leaves John McCain with 157 electoral votes and Barack Obama with 243 electoral votes before factoring in any swing states.

Though this is no guarantee of anything it appears that McCain needs to get out the vote in the swing states, in a big way, if he is going to win this election. There are certainly many X factors involved, but even in the expanded number of swing states this year Obama has the upper hand. In a combination of recent polling McCain only has the edge in North Dakota, Montana and Indiana. While Obama is polling stronger than McCain in Nevada, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. (Side note: Missouri currently has the longest record of voting for whoever wins the presidency*, and is the only swing state that has absolutely inconclusive polls at the moment. The polls vary from Obama by 2 points to McCain by 2 points*.) With both parties making calls and knocking on doors frantically in all these states with only minutes remaining it seems that anything could happen. But if the predicted states remain the same Obama only needs to pull out two of the bigger swing states to cross the 270 threshold. This should be of some consolation to Obama supporters who fear repeats of 2000 in Florida, where one swing state determined the fate of the nation. While this is still a possibility, it would take a serious turn around in almost all of the swing states for McCain and Palin to make a serious run. Polls across the nation still seem to be close, and McCain has gained some ground over the past week, but the electoral votes are still falling heavily in favor of Obama. In fact, if you tabulate the conglomerate of the polls in every state as though the polls represented actual votes (and give McCain Missouri, because this is a hypothetical and why not) Obama wins with 353 electoral votes to McCain’s 185. This, more likely than not, is not going to be the case on election day. But it’s interesting to extract exactly what these polls, which litter the papers daily, mean in terms of the electoral college, which is all that really matters in the end. *

* The polls used here are Reuters/Zogby, CNN/Time, LA Times/Bloomberg, AP/GfK Battleground, Civitas, Marist, American Research, Public Policy, Strategic Vision, Survey USA, Rasmussen, Quinnipiac, Selzer & Co., Research 2000, and Mason Dixon Research.
* Information taken from 270towin.com
* CNN/Time poll on 10/29 has McCain up by 2 points, American Research poll released on 10/31 have them even, and a Reuters/Zogby poll on 10/27 has Obama up by 2.
* The author wishes to note, that even if there is any truth in this article (which there may not be) that is not a reason for an uncast ballot.

I Have A Button for Steve Reich

I stole this button from Jim

Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians"

A Valuable Lesson

Here is a lesson that we should all take to heart. Don't be in Death Cab for Cutie...

A Year of Smears or Barack Obama is a Muslim and Al Franken Laughs at the Disabled

This election year was, at one time and like so many others, filled with promises of a "clean" race from the candidates, both presidential and congressional. But it seems that the races across the nation have unraveled at an alarming rate. McCain's campaign has started to take their ads and appearances in the media as opportunities to instill fear in voters. The persistance of their attempts to make Obama look "Un-American" (see Michelle Bachmann for more on what it takes to be "Un-American"). Their continued push to convince voters that Obama is an Anti-Semite along with the enduring effort by the far right to make Obama a Muslim in the public's eyes (and make that a thing to be feared) are enough to make any critical thinking American, of any persuasion, wonder what the values of this campaign really are (excluded from the list of values would be religious freedom, honesty, and tolerance).

Of course, you can create an argument why any politician should not be trusted. But the premise of these attacks underscores what would be most frightening about a McCain presidency. These type of attacks are being seen throughout the Republican party, likely due to a certain degree of fear within the party about the potential they have to lose power at all levels in the upcoming election.

The major issue here shouldn't even be that they are outright lying to voters, or that they are trying to use fear tactics in the election, these, unfortunately, are pretty commonplace in elections across the globe. But this is especially frightening in a election year were issues of race have been at the forefront of the political discussion. It goes beyond most of the race issues that have typically been at hand this year. This dialogue is feeding a fear of Middle-Eastern men, which obviously has it's roots in the panic following 9/11 and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq among other assorted incidents that have sought to promote this view. It also acts as though "Middle-Eastern men" are one race, and not an umbrella term for many different groups of people in one, very large, region of the globe. A fear that is truly unjustifiable, especially in a country, and an election, where the leaders constantly expound upon the importance of diversity, tolerance, and "American" values of freedom. Though this, of course, is out of one side of their collective mouth, while their actions only bolster a transient racism that is being revealed to be a crucial part of the political game.

My interest in the portrayal of Obama as a Muslim was piqued again this past weekend. I assumed that this story had been pretty much smothered as a transparent smear tactic (which shouldn't really be a smear, but that's not the reality of America at this point, nor is it the point of this article). But, over the weekend, two friends brought up stories that rekindled my interest in the topic. I was told of a child a friend saw on the train being told by her mother that Obama is a Muslim when he asked who they are going to vote for, as though the statement contained the answer. The second story came from another friend who had spoke with her mother over the weekend about a party the mother attended. The mother, who I will call Sally, walked out of a party with their neighbors when the neighbors began to berate Sally and her husband for their intentions to vote for a Muslim (this is a shortened version of the story). It even went a step further than that, as the neighbor's five-year-old child told Sally that Barack Obama wants to kill babies.

Now, this is frightening in more than one respect. The initial outrage is that a man's religion is being used as a reason you should not vote for someone, and we are talking religion, it's not a cult like Heaven's Gate here, nor is it a terrorist organization, it is a religion (think what you will of organized religion this is a differentiation to be drawn). But in both instances the parents were instilling fear in their children, teaching them that you can't trust a Muslim, that it's a religion to be feared, that it's a word to be feared, that a Muslim man who wants to kill babies could potentially run your country. They are lying to a child, teaching them to fear, when they can't even take part in the political process, much less begin to comprehend the ramifications of this stance.

Since hearing about this (which clearly reveals I live a certain type of life and am out of touch with people of a certain disposition, yes, that I concede) I began consulting stories from the early summer trying to understand how I had assumed that everyone had accepted this as a shallow, transparent lie that was being used to instill fear in the electorate. It is at this point that I realized the issue was still as prevalent as it was when I had first heard mention of it. This message is still condoned and widely believed. A poll, released Wednesday, found that 23% of Texans believe that Obama is a Muslim. In terms of the electoral college, this is irrelevant, Texas will always swing Republican, but that is not what is important in this study (which was actually a part of an election poll). The 2007 census estimate of Texas' population was 23,904,380. That means that approximately 5,498,007 people, in Texas alone, have bought the lie. Which, in itself, reveals the reason a party, or individual, would want to spread a lie that is even as transparent as this. You can instill millions of people with fear through a couple of words, whether they are true or not, whether "facts" and statements are later retracted or not. The article where the findings are released, from The Houston Chronicle, claims that in the most recent national polls 5-10% of Americans believe that Obama is a Muslim. If these statistics are to be trusted, even at the most conservative estimate, an excess of 17 million people in America believe this to be true.

This same premise is seen in Michael Goldfarb's (the McCain Campaign’s National Spokesman) smug remarks on his recent appearance on CNN. Goldfarb asserts that he believes Obama to be Un-American and, more particularly, that he surrounds himself with Anti-Semites and terrorists. Yet, when probed for names of the Anti-Semites Obama pals around with he refused to provide names. It is not necessary to use facts to make facts. Even with an accredited journalist like Rick Sanchez doing his job (asking questions) next to him, Goldfarb knew that he just needed to continue saying that Obama is an Anti-Semite, even if he doesn't have real proof, because if it is heard, people will believe it.

This is the premise that seems to be behind many of the Republican ads this year (though the Democrats are not completely innocent either). There is an ad that was released this past week that was particularly demonstrative of this plan of attack. Norm Coleman's newest ad attacking Al Franken does not back up any of it's claims, and offers no stance on Mr. Coleman or his platform. It follows the idea that if something is said it can be influential and make unjustified claims facts. By making the attack a quote (every attack in the ad is presented as a quote), from any source, it starts to feel authentic, even if the quotes are used out of context. The ad makes some umbrella statements that dig into Franken in a nearly pornographic fashion. The end of the ad in particular is very aggressive. It states:

Al Franken Humiliates Minorities, demeans women, writes pornography, makes child abuse a joke, laughs at the disabled.

No lie. That is the ad.

This kind of ad is not only abrasive for it's lack of integrity, it's lack of factual information, and it's presupposition that all voters are dumb and will believe this if they hear it. It also is abrasive because when I first saw this ad I was watching a hockey game. I see Norm Coleman on the news, or on his own time, when he has the stage, and he talks about values and religion, but in another situation, where he doesn’t implicitly have my attention, when a viewer is not trying to get their daily dose of politics, then he is creating a hateful message, trying to manipulate voters by an aggressive ad that will attempt to snap the viewer from their current focus. By contrast, the Franken ads during the some block of time focused on Franken's platform. The one attack in the Franken ads (I'm only looking at the ads displayed during this two hour block of time) was that Coleman voted with Bush 86% of the time. Which isn't necessarily about issues, but it's a fact and it's specific, opposed to "Al Franken...laughs at the disabled."

Now, I’m aware that this is not a new development in American politics, or politics around the world, but it is continually frightening to see these ads which are often thought of as transparent and invoke the kind of reaction I am having right now. But the continued prevalence of this type of advertising and campaigning is a testament to its ability to work on many voters, and I’m just not sure what that says about the electorate. American voters are often considered dumb, and are pandered to in an election that often amounts to little more than a popularity contest. But I find myself in a minority thinking that the American voter is much more intelligent that they are given credit for. Voters often see the transparency of such tactics, and many who don’t vote see through this too, and it is likely the cause of their disinterest. I believe it is a misconception that people who don’t vote don’t pay attention. They may be paying more attention that a good quantity of the voting public. The vast majority of voters know what issues matter, and pay attention, and have their minds made up just days after the conventions, if not before that. I believe that it is tactics such as these that create disinterest in the electoral process and create voters that allow the election to become a popularity contest, where baby kissing or what kind of pet someone owns truly makes a difference in who the nation decides should rule an entire branch of the government for the next four years. It is this kind of campaigning that has made words like elitist a dirty word, the climate in which being elite (elite: a person or group of people who are considered to be the best in a particular category or group) doesn’t pander to the more traditional values of American politics which includes racism, fear, gossip, and appearing as though you came straight out of a American folk tale. I won't claim to have the answers, but isn't it time that voters prove to the government that we aren't as dumb as they suppose, and that we won't continue to tolerate hate and lies as acceptable methods of campaigning. If there is any truth in the Houston Chronicle's poll, maybe we aren't ready to say that as a nation, but I am, and I don't think I'm alone.

The McCain Attacks on Obama are Going a Little Too Far...

Synchronized Debating

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Jazz Poetry

Every now and then I get really into poets.org. It largely focuses on more classical forms, but also has a nice selection of some contemporary work.

Anyhow, they just featured Hayden Carruth in their recent newsletter and I thought I'd share just how a person can get lost at poets.org for a couple of hours.

1. You begin by reading the bio of a poet (Hayden Carruth), and if you can avoid clicking all the links provided then you may proceed to step 2. Otherwise click through the links, get lost, then return for step 2.

2. Read some poetry by the author (Of Distress Being Humilated by the Classical Chinese Poets). You can often find recordings of the poets reading the poem embedded in the page for you to read along to. Nice.

3. Read another poem by your selected poet. (The Cows at Night)

4. Decide to look into the large framework of their movement and read about the history of the movement they may have been a part of. Follow links or not as stated in step 1 (A Brief Guide to Jazz Poetry). Ultimately choose another poet whose work is listed in this section and begin again. (Jayne Cortez)

That's all there is to wasting time reading poetry at poets.org. I suppose you could do that anywhere. But that's what I was just doing.

Fetish

Between reading Pafko at the Wall today, starting to watchSports Night, and the Wild winning tonight to become the only undefeated team (in regulation) left in the NHL.

Pafko at the Wall is the kind of book that makes the "good old days" seem real good. It makes me want to be there and experience a moment like that. Though, I guess, part of the thematic reasoning of the book is that there really isn't any time like your own, the unique circumstances that create an event out of every day of life. But nonetheless I just want to be a part of something I'm nostalgic for, which is impossible, and that is a big part of the allure. Maybe that will happen with the Wild this season and I'll feel like I got to watch a moment happen, even though I can't be there any more. Maybe they will take on the Rangers in the Cup and I can go to a game and then everything will be ok.

Randy Newman on Taxes:

"They lowered my taxes! How can a country countenance lowering taxes on the upper income? I can't believe it!"

New Polls Are In Today!!!

needlessly stolen from the New York Times

I'm not sure if this should be called awesome or disturbing, but I think it might be both

This is the new music video for Flying Lotus' track "Parisian Goldfish." It has been pretty much banned everywhere, and for good reason, so Warp Records has started a site called DanceFloorDale.com to host the video. It might make you throw up or commence an epileptic seizure, but it's pretty hilarious, and it's a good song.

01000010 01101111 01101111 00100000 01111001 01100001 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010

I just discovered a binary code translator. So if you ever feel the need to send unnecessarily cryptic messages, or maybe you receive death threats in binary code from your neighbor and have never really known what it said, you can use this to encode or decode various messages.

From Leaping Poetry...Again

Very often intellect is poetry's enemy because it is too much given to imitation, because it lifts the poet to a throne of sharp edges and makes him oblivious to the fact that he may suddenly be devoured by ants, or a great arsenic lobster may fall on his head.
-Federico Garcia Lorca (quoted in Robert Bly's Leaping Poetry)

"Terrorist"

According to an e-mail from the Obama campaign this is the new mailer the McCain campaign in sending out. "Terrorist." Strong words. This is some pretty dirty campaigning. The way the McCain campaign has manipulated the dialogue and the perceptions of the undecided voters is frightening. I find it frustrating when voters / citizens can see this kind of manipulation and blatant lying and then think it's still ok to vote for someone who does this (though no one is innocent of course), that this kind of manipulation of information wouldn't be taking place in everything that was being done in the White House, it's inconceivable to me to figure out just how someone thinks that this kind of lying is completely separate from other kinds. That there is no reason to fear a politician like this when they have power because these are separate things.

These are not separate things.

This is politics, in the White House, or on the way to the White House. This attempt to manipulate the way I think is infuriating, it makes me crazy. Why would you notice this and then support someone who you catch being deceptive, trying to manipulate the way you think?

I am thirsty for odors and laughs,
I am thirsty for new poems,
poems with no lilies or moons,
and no love affairs about to fail.
- Federico Garcia Lorca

Robert Bly

Robert Bly can kind of be laborious and boring (more frequently than not) but sometimes his criticisms are dead on. I'm reading Leaping Poetry, a new release from the University of Pittsburgh Press, where he talks about the history of the "leap" in poetry (which is often meant in a very tangible way and more often focuses on a leap in consciousness that has long been forgotten or berated in poetry, especially in America). There are translations, criticism, untranslated poems, etc. Anyhow, it's not terrific, but it's engaging and I'm enjoying it. And I thought this was interesting:

Obviously the ethical ideas of Christianity inhibit [the leap]. Christianity has been against the leap. Christian ethics always embodied a move against the "animal instincts"; Christian thought, especially Paul's thought, builds a firm distinction between spiritual energy and animal energy, a distinction so sharp it became symbolized by black and white. White became associated with the conscious and black with the unconscious. Christianity taught its poets - we are among them [as Americans] - to leap away from the unconscious, not toward it.

The intellectual Western mind accepted the symbolism of white and black, and far from trying to unite both in a circle, as the Chinses did, tried to get "apartheid." In the proces, some weird definition of words developed.

If a European avoided the animal instincts and consistently leaped away from the unconscious, he was said to be living in a state of "innocence." Children were though to be "innocent" because it was believed they had no sexual, that is, animal, instincts. Eighteenth-century translators like Pope and Dryden forced Greek and Roman literature to be their allies in their leap away from animality, and they translated Homer as if he too were "innocent." To Christian Europeans, impulses open to the sexual instincts or animal instincts indicated a fallen state, a state of "experience."

It's an interesting distinction to trace throughout history. He starts at Beowulf and begins to dissect how the Western writers lost the instinct for the leap through Christianity while many nations writers' did not. This segue-ways nicely, and quite literally, into William Blake's rebellious poems The Songs of Innocence and Experience.

This all leads into modern writer's who are trying to, or have, bring the leap back into the mentality of Western readers. He points out a lack of interest in the Spanish poets by non-academic writers and how this lead to other countries becoming interested in this literary move while America did not. He also points out that in some ways American poets were interested in this through their interest in the French Surrealists like Breton, yet this movement is now, oddly, looked upon with disdain by many contemporary critics and poets, it has fallen out of favor, but it's influence is largely unnoted.

It's an interesting book. I'll through in one more quote that utilizes Neruda's use of the leap to illustrate further what exactly Bly is trying to point out in this collection:

In "Nothing but Death" Neruda leaps from death to the whiteness of flour, then to notary publics, and he continues to make leap after leap. We often feel elation reading Neruda because he follows some arc of association which corresponds to the inner life of the objects; so that anyone sensitive to the inner life of objects can ride iwth him. The links are not private, but somehow bound into nature.

Please do not click the link below if you are not a discerning reader...

This link was passed on to me, and I thought I would share, simply because it's crazy what some people believe. And that's fine. "Some people" probably think what I believe is crazy too. But the intro video to this site has some interesting facts about politics that I had never heard before (and some even more interesting omissions).

Check it out and beware the creation of the USSA (and remember a vote for Obama is a vote for the communists).

Look Familiar?

What is Happening in the Wild Game Right Now?!?

I'm watching the Wild play the Lightning right now, and since I'm watching it online I'm watching a Tampa broadcast of the game.

The announcers just decided to point out that Tampa Bay goaltender Mike Smith has a new mask featuring the characters from Saw, which would be fine in itself, everybody likes designs on the mask, and there are worse things they could be spending the down time talking about (like the New Kids on the Block show they are relentlessly advertising) . Then they mention that the owner of the Lightning, Oren Koules, is the producer of the new Saw V.

Oh, weird.

After pointing out the mask and displaying a CGI version of the mask on the screen, from all angles, they began to talk about how much they are looking forward to the film, gave it's release date, and little history on the series. Shortly after that they, again, mention the mask by saying that it's probably scaring the Wild in the offensive zone, and that the movie is going to be really scary, too.

Play then continues for awhile.

But before the next commercial break the camera zooms in on Smith (Tampa's back-up tender) and then announcers again say, there is Smith in his scary new Saw mask, the new film in theaters across the country next week.

Really? Are they required to do this much promoting for the owner's new film? Seems a little out of place to me. It was relentless for about ten minutes, and they were talking about it while the game was going on. This is almost as bad as the Flyers owner having Sarah Palin drop the puck at their home opener (he just happens to be a big donor to the McCain campaign).

UPDATE: They just did it again. The team is offering free tickets to Saw V with purchase of tickets for the next couple home games. They also have a hand made portrait of the Saw doll hanging from the rafters. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Videos

See more Hayden Panettiere videos at Funny or Die

!

Thanks for the heads up on this Colin. This is fantastic. We need more political advertisements that are willing to insinuate that Politicians and Wall Street are urinating on large crowds of angry people.

Blogs

I was looking at my profile on Blogger today and realized that the number of blogs under my name is out of control. I have frequently randomly decided to start a blog and then let it die. I can be a little impulsive. I have one that's photos of a family gathering that I posted for the family, my Minneapolis street art project, the InDigest Blog, this blog, and random shit that I never use.

Anyhow, I can't really do my Minneapolis street art project anymore, and don't want to change the page, because I'd like to continue working on that, albeit in slightly more spaced out time frames. But I wanted to continue to take photos of street art and write about street art, so I'm starting a new site that's basically the same thing but in New York. I was going to do the same project in my neighborhood here, but I'm not sure how well that work for various reasons that are too boring to really delve into here. But I'm going to start doing it in one form or another, and it might not be exclusively photos from New York, who knows what will happen. Anyhow, I'll put up a link in the sidebar. Don't go see it now, there really isn't anything there, but soon there will be, and that's when you should look at it, at a time when you think it might make go "ooooo" instead of "meh."

That's all. Wild won last night.

If I keep doing this, though, I'll really improve my daily average. When I do this for my 200th post, in a year (maybe less), my average will be much better.

Just getting to 100 now isn't very impressive really. That means I write far less than once every three days on here, and that's not really a work ethic to be proud of.

100

This is my 100th post. Which isn't that great since I've had this blog for over a year. But this is 100. And I wasted it on being meta, kind of.

I've Been Writing

I've been writing a little, mostly working on some new fiction, but here are a couple of other things...also I started this new list of links at the side. I often link other writing I like from writer's I like, but now I'm just putting it all over there, with some other stuff from magazines that I like, and some random stuff, like the Constitution.

Intentionally Urban
Stuff at F10 again (subscribe to the RSS feed, it's pretty solid)
Film-Forward

Homer tries to vote for obama

Point, Counterpoint, Point

In case you haven't read a frustrated post on here called Why Do the Candidates Continue to Refuse to Talk About Anything, David Luke Doody (responses are posted at his blog This Is How I Love You) and I are having a battle in which we agree, but somehow disagree in some abstract way that no one really understands. Here is what has happened some far, followed by the latest counterpoint:

Point (Question):
Why Do the Candidates Continue to Refuse to Talk About Anything

It seems like the election has been a constant contest to seem who can say the least. I'm really amazed that we are only five weeks away from this being over. It feels like they are just getting started. Obama and Biden have really receded from the headlines and McCain is either stealing the headlines with Palin's idiocy (I believe my recent favorite was that she can't name a supreme court case outside of Roe v. Wade), or he's in the news aimlessly attacking Obama. What about what's actually happening, particularly the erosion of American civil liberties. Neither candidate would touch that topic with a ten foot pole. In their defense, it's lethal. What can you say on the topic that wouldn't piss someone off? But isn't that what we really want? I leader who isn't scared of opinion polls or talking about a something that people might get sensitive about? It's a real issue. The Bush administration has slowly but surely given the executive branch increased control of torture, spying, and all intelligence routes through the government. This is a flagrant violation of our constitution, of our rights. Yet, no one really seems to want to prod the candidates into speaking on the subject.

Obama is scared of looking left wing. And McCain has voted with Bush through the entire erosion. (and Obama is not innocent here) Why doesn't someone try to make them talk about it in a debate, or why aren't reporters hitting them with these questions. Katie Couric made Palin look dumb, but Palin has nothing to do with this, she is not a national politician, in my mind she's not much of a politician at all, but that's besides the point. Why can't we actually have an open discussion about these kind of issues in an election year? I think I know the answer, and maybe I'm being naive and idealistic in hoping that this could be possible, but dammit I don't care, I want to hear them speak about this. This may be a great plan for McCain in fact. It seems as though the debate would go to Obama, because McCain has always followed Bush through this erosion of our rights, and anyone that cares would have to side with Obama. But what if Obama can't defend a somewhat patchy track record here? What if he can't speak about it as eloquently as you would imagine? It might be a good chance for McCain to win over some of the liberal vote...try it, see what happens. It won't happen, but it's fun to imagine what kind of democracy you would wish for.
-Dustin Luke Nelson


Counterpoint:
There's a book by Dana Nelson called "Bad for Democracy" that shows how over decades and decades--not just through the W years--the presidency has sought and received more and more power, throwing the balance of government completely out of whack. The position becomes more and more like that of a king, and all the while the American people have accepted this piracy of the balance originally sought after by our founding fathers. Think of the language we use: "The leader of the free world," "The most powerful position in the land," et al. This is not what the presidency was supposed to be. It was supposed to be just one branch with no more and no less power than the others, or at least it was supposed to be able to be checked and put in line when it stepped out of that line.

But, more specifically in response to this post, you're right, they won't talk about incendiary issues because they cannot afford to piss anyone off who may be on the fence about those issues. It's like when they say "middle class" but never utter the word "poverty." It's spinning what they say to get votes...a watered down version of tackling the tough topics in order to get votes.

The point is, the position of president carries too much power and importance in the average American's mind. Yes, it is important that our representatives actually discuss important issues. But it's even more important that we not rely on them as much as we do to do anything about those important issues.

The fight does not end on November 5th, even if Obama is elected. Yes, we can all breath a sigh of relief if that is the outcome, because we will have taken a step in the right direction. But, and be sure of this, he is not a savior. He cannot undo all that has been done. He will not be able to retroactively give back all the civil liberties lost over the years. And you can be sure that there will be those fighting tooth and nail to keep the powers and tactics they have become accustomed to. The president is not our king and we cannot simply rely on him to answer all of our questions.
-David Luke Doody


Point:
I would not argue that this (straightforward dialogue on the issues) will ever happen, because that's election year politicking, this is not a new revelation for anyone. But what happens in a presidential race is mimicked extensively in congressional elections. The presidential race sets the tone for the rest of the contests. If we had candidates that weren't concerned that speaking about the issues that could irritate the “on the fence” voters the congressional races would follow suit.

I think there is something to be said for that, because while the president should not be the "king" of America, there is a collective mentality that it is so (to a certain extent). So, whether or not it's true, it is made true by the actions of the constituents.

This is easily exemplified by the debates last night when the moderator asked Palin and Biden how they would act as vice president and if they would use Cheney's interpretation of the vice president’s duties as outlined by the constitution. I don't have the exact quote from the moderator, but she spoke about the constitution being vague on the exact location of power for the vice president. Palin immediately responded that she agreed with Cheney (red flag anyone? The first time anyone besides Bush and Lucifer have publicly agreed with Cheney). The specific branch where the powers of the vice president lie are not vaguely stated in the constitution, he (or potentially she) is a part of the executive branch, he is not a roving force that hovers over all branches of the government. But because someone argues for such powers, and convinces people of them, that can make it reality, whether or not it should be. The mere fact that this was phrased in this fashion and that Palin, without hesitation, responded she subscribes to this doctrine legitimizes this view. The president, especially now, as the executive branch continually expands it's power, the position functions beyond it's equal power doctrine between the branches. The checks and balances are broken.

From Article One of the Constitution:

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States.

That said, I agree with you. Any time radical change has come from within the government (it's hard to believe sometimes, but it's happened) it is not a result of a president taking more power into the executive branch, it is a result of a sweeping majority in one party through both houses of Congress. Obama is not the savior, and he isn't going to save the country by becoming president. I certainly believe that it's a step in the right direction, but to see radical change in government it's going to take a whole lot more than a president who is willing to stand up for their policies. (unless they want to tear the constitution to shreds and kind of have a free for all - as has happened recently, but even then, the Republicans had a solid majority when Bush first took office).
- Dustin Luke Nelson

New Ideas? Anyone?

It seems as though the Republican mantra of trickle down economics is something that we are sticking resiliently to. The notion that giving $700 billion dollars to Wall Street is going to, in turn, trickle down to the mythical “main street” both McCain and Biden have spoken of in debates. But where is the evidence of this working? Certainly not anywhere in the last 9 to 10 years. The parallel of our times to the Great Depression has been omnipresent, both in straight comparison of the economic downturn and when the comparison has been shrugged off, like McCain’s former advisor calling American’s a nation of whiners, invoking the Great Depression as something we couldn’t fathom.

Yet, looking back at one of the nation’s darkest economic times seems entirely relevant to a country where relatively few people remain from that difficult era. It was not a trickle down effect that led America out of the Depression (though war, in the end, didn’t hurt either). FDR’s New Deal policies never took the stance that a trickle down was an option, that there was time to watch the money trickle at all. The New Deal policies held it most important to get money in the hands of the middle and lower classes first. To allow the, um, steam to rise…I’m not exactly sure what to call this, but I guess that’s the only way I know that water rises.

Putting systems in place, such as social security, and using the government to temporarily employee citizens while they assisted in making the country a better place were policies that attacked a number of the nation’s problems at once. With Bush’s approval rating in danger of falling far below 30%, and congress at dismal 15% (who knows where Cheney is, what the percentage for 40 people in the country?) it seems more than reasonable to suggest that it is this kind of multi-pronged policy that is necessary to pull the nation out of this turmoil, to let the steam rise.

Obama has promised change relentlessly, but as the election lumbers forward his policies seem to be inching closer to centrist than ever before. Election years are notorious for making centrists out of the most earnest reformers, because that’s politics, policies can change; once the votes are cast they are cast. But isn’t it time for America to take on some bold new ideas, because whatever is happening now, isn’t working. Unemployment is at an all time low, the stock market has bottomed out in the past couple of weeks, increasing amounts of corruption are being unveiled on Wall Street, gas prices are at all time highs, the government is about to offer fiscal assistance to Wall Street while the housing market is collapsing, global warming is taking place at an alarmingly fast rate, parts of the country are still in need of repair from a hurricane that hit over three years ago, our president and congress are universally disliked, America is more unpopular than ever abroad, oh, and there are those two wars we are still involved in.

Obama once taunted Senator McCain’s adaptation of his “change” slogan saying, “Change isn't about slogans. It's about substance.” How about some substance? How about we implement a program that employees the growing number of unemployed whose jobs are being outsourced because of loose tax regulations, who are loosing their homes because of loose oversight on shady mortgages, who are loosing their social security and retirement funds due to poor oversight and the market crash? It’s no coincidence that some of the best policies still in place for the middle class were implemented by FDR. If the government helped the middle class to get back on their feet by assisting the country in rebuilding crumbling infrastructure such as old bridges and levees in disrepair, if they could help housing developments in urban centers go green to offset fears about global warming and the increased burden of gas prices on the lower class, wouldn’t that help everyone? Wouldn’t the steam rise?

With that increased income in their bank account maybe the bank wouldn’t have to close and they have some dispensable income that they might invest, or just try to clothe their families with, maybe they could keep up on their mortgages and not lose their homes because of laws that were loosened during the Clinton administration that had lasted from the original New Deal.

To some this might sound like Socialism. But desperate times call for some new ideas, and after Friday night’s presidential debate and last night’s abysmal vice presidential debate I’m tired of hearing the same old centrist banter, name-calling, and partisan politics. I’d like to hear some new ideas from a leader. I’d like to see them throw some water on the smouldering remains of the reigning policies of trickle down economics, so that the steam can rise.

I'm an Asshole Because Last Week I Thought I Was Better Informed Than Sarah Palin, Now I Know Better

Why Do the Candidates Continue to Refuse to Talk About Anything

It seems like the election has been a constant contest to seem who can say the least. I'm really amazed that we are only five weeks away from this being over. It feels like they are just getting started. Obama and Biden have really receded from the headlines and McCain is either stealing the headlines with Palin's idiocy (I believe my recent favorite was that she can't name a supreme court case outside of Roe v. Wade), or he's in the news aimlessly attacking Obama. What about what's actually happening, particularly the erosion of American civil liberties. Neither candidate would touch that topic with a ten foot pole. In their defense, it's lethal. What can you say on the topic that wouldn't piss someone off? But isn't that what we really want? I leader who isn't scared of opinion polls or talking about a something that people might get sensitive about? It's a real issue. The Bush administration has slowly but surely given the executive branch increased control of torture, spying, and all intelligence routes through the government. This is a flagrant violation of our constitution, of our rights. Yet, no one really seems to want to prod the candidates into speaking on the subject.

Obama is scared of looking left wing. And McCain has voted with Bush through the entire erosion. (and Obama is not innocent here) Why doesn't someone try to make them talk about it in a debate, or why aren't reporters hitting them with these questions. Katie Couric made Palin look dumb, but Palin has nothing to do with this, she is not a national politician, in my mind she's not much of a politician at all, but that's besides the point. Why can't we actually have an open discussion about these kind of issues in an election year? I think I know the answer, and maybe I'm being naive and idealistic in hoping that this could be possible, but dammit I don't care, I want to hear them speak about this. This may be a great plan for McCain in fact. It seems as though the debate would go to Obama, because McCain has always followed Bush through this erosion of our rights, and anyone that cares would have to side with Obama. But what if Obama can't defend a somewhat patchy track record here? What if he can't speak about it as eloquently as you would imagine? It might be a good chance for McCain to win over some of the liberal vote...try it, see what happens. It won't happen, but it's fun to imagine what kind of democracy you would wish for.

David has a story to tell

David Doody has a great piece of flash fiction up on MNartists.org miniStories that you should read. It's call On Telling Her about the Short Story “On Wanting to Get Three Walls Up Before She Gets Home”

InDigest is seeking submissions focused on Hurricane Katrina

InDigest (indigestmag.com), a literary magazine that seeks to create a dialogue about and between the arts, is interested in submissions focused on Hurricane Katrina. Why Katrina? Why now? We at InDigest were extremely troubled by the politicizing of events surrounding Hurricane Gustav—the photo ops, the self-serving talk of doing good for others, et al.—while people affected by Katrina are still living in FEMA trailers three years after Katrina hit. We feel that, unlike another national tragedy—9/11—Katrina has been dismissed, forgotten. We have our own opinions about why, but we seek artists’ and writers’ response to this national scar.

Please refer to indigestmag.com/submit.htm for guidelines to submit poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, and music. Submissions can be sent to indigestsubmit@gmail.com.

Go Away, Bomb

I just finished reading the Gone Away World, the new book by Nick Harkaway, not that new is relevant, it's his first book. Anyhow, it's fantastic, and I'm recommending it. It's one of the best books I've read in so long. It's like the first time you hear Bob Dylan's Self Titled album on vinyl, or Bitches Brew on vinyl, when you prairie dog for a bit and then flat out poop. It was kind of like that and I loved it.

More Business

Here is some cool stuff:

Guernica Mag has some new stuff up.
This is a little behind but there is a great live recording of Nico Muhly up on the WNYC website.
Brandon Scott Gorrell has a good story up on InDigest (Did I already post that?)
Michael Azerrad wrote a beautiful, glowing review of the Signal Performs Steve Reich at LPR this weekend. It was awesome, I was there, I've fallen in love with Music for 18 Musicians.
Brad Liening wrote a poem that I like.
Meggie Elder also wrote a poem that I like.
Meakin Armstrong thinks Esquire sucks now. I do too.

I've been writing

There is a new issue of InDigest on screens today! Some good stuff in there. Articles from me, David, fiction from Brandon Scott Gorrell, Art from Pamela Kirton, and lots of other stuff.

Also I've been writing a little in these places...

here (InDigest) (Interview with Reverend Billy)
here (Guernica)
here (guernica)
here (Film-Forward)
Something over at Rift
a bunch of stuff over at the Favorite 10 Blog

You've got to be kidding me.

Is this a trick somehow? Or is the world just a beautiful place? A painting elephant has restored my faith in humanity, but I'm not sure why. It'll fade soon. David? You know what I'm talking about.

Radiohead live MP3s

Vin over at Favorite 10 spiced up my post on Radiohead's final performance of their American trek (in Santa Barbara, CA) being turned into a free podcast by NPR. He is now offering free, individual track downloads of every song of the performance here>>>>. I've been listening to this all morning, pretty great. Though I'd share the free downloads with you too.

One of my last photos from St. Paul...

I think I was watching the Stanley Cup with Colin that night...

Sarah Palin...

It's a pretty intense claim that the Daily Kos is currently making about Trig Palin not actually being Sarah Palin's son. It sounds like the kind muck-raking BS that is a hallmark of American elections. I wasn't ready to buy into this at all. But they build a case that is pretty airtight, and frightening. It seems as though the kid is actually her granddaughter and she has been lying about it.

I won't claim that it's absolutely true, because I didn't do the research. But this is a tough case to argue against it.

You can read the article here.
Also here is a photo of Sarah Palin when she was actually pregnant with one of her earlier spawn.

Help Save Cinema Revolution

For readers in the Minneapolis area:

If you are like me, you enjoy a good cup of coffee, a nice tumbler of whiskey, rain storms, and movies. Particularly movies that are not going to be found at your local Blockbuster. Also you probably enjoy all of these things at locally run businesses (damn those FOXNEWS sponsored thunderstorms...).

This isn't just a random rant about something that pissed me off so stick with me here.

I frequented Cinema Revolution for many years, it's easily one of the best video stores (if not the best) in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and they are in trouble. The store is having some financial difficulties and I thought I'd throw something up in hopes that you value what John and Cinema Revolution do for the community as much as I do. The store is run by volunteers who support film screenings around town, host cinema discussion evenings, allow you to rent local filmmakers (often for free) and have a selection that no one else in town can compare to. So here's a little bit of an e-mail John Koch (owner) sent out to some today, about why Cinema Revolution is important:

We believe that a local store run by live local people is something of value - a store that curates film as a gallery would curate any other form of art, a store that actively promotes film in the community, a store with a real, tangible personality. Cinema Revolution creates an artistic context for your DVD rental experience; we help guide you through innumerable choices, and celebrate films that otherwise are marginalized or ignored. We are active in the community as well. Through the nearly five years of our existence, we have shot a feature film using all local talent, we have held dozens of film screenings through Cinema des Artistes and our Film Society, commissioned new original short films from local artists, held weekly live film discussion groups, started a local record label, and have helped actively promote countless festivals, performances and screenings by local producers. It is a major part of our mission to connect, support and inspire our local artistic community. If you value what we do for the community, we ask you to please help us continue in these endeavors.

So, if you can donate a little bit to help them out, if you can't do that, make an effort to rent some films from there, go to a screening hosted by Cinema Revolution, or participate in one of their weekly film discussions.

Here are the details sent out about how you can help out:

We are seeking to raise $5,000 by September 15th to help make our move to a new location a reality, as it cannot be done without this additional support. The suggested donation is $20 (and if 250 people can do this, we will make our goal), but please feel free to give at any level you can afford. With your collective help we can make this happen.

We are also seeking volunteers to help in this fundraising effort. If you are interested in helping out, contact john@cinemarevolution.com. We are also open to any suggestions or advice anyone may have to help us along.

In just the past two years we have lost legendary video stores Discount Video and Box Office Video. We have seen the Oak Street and Bell Auditorium film programs vanish, we have watched the entire film editorial staff at the City Pages lose their jobs, and Hollywood fare is now seeping into our beloved Lagoon Cinema. Please help keep an active, inspiring film culture alive in the Twin Cities and donate securely via PayPal today at www.cinemarevolution.com (Click on the link below).

Please note that if for any reason we do not achieve our financial goal, your generous donations will be refunded directly through PayPal. If we should raise more than our goal, the extra money will be applied to growing our movie collection to help fill our new space. Also be aware that we are not organized as a non-profit organization for tax purposes, so your donation is not tax deductible.

That's all I've got, it's well worth a little bit of your time or money to help keep filmmaking in the city alive. Adios.

Takes a Good Hard Look at Randy

Whoo-hoo. New Randy Newman tomorrow (it's so good) - and he's playing the entire album live on NPR tomorrow

inlur Slovenian street art bon iver

That shouldn't have made much sense.

Just linking a few articles I just finished up. Did something about the unmasking of Banksy, a review of a recent Bon Iver show, a piece on the new Slovenian cinema, and a piece for Intentionally Urban on films that will make you want to save the world (or go hmmm...I guess) (that one you have to dig into the PDF to find that one).

that's all more later

Here I am

I've been missing for a while, but the move and starting a new job has left little time for writing (though more time for writing than for unpacking boxes). I'm going to post an update on what's going soon, and some pictures of Le Poisson Rouge, but I just wanted to throw up a link. this one

I'm writing for the Favorite10.com blog right now. I've been doing some posting pretty regularly and I think it's kind of a cool site. Just thought I'd share, if you want to check it out go look at it, comment (I'll respond - it's just like talking). Join the RSS feed and get updates, because sometimes we post some pretty cool stuff, and who'd want to miss out on "some pretty cool stuff?"

Anyhow, something about life soon.

InDigest Issue 6

Issue 6 has arrived, finally, and it's a grand one. We've got all sorts of new content up. New poetry from Canadian poet Ryan Bird. New in the narratives section is an excerpt from Frederick Lane's new book The Court & the Cross. The book focuses on the influence of the religious right in American politics and the often-tenuous relationship that has developed between organized religion in America and the legal system.

Donald Van Auken presents a series of paintings focusing on an imaginary circus full of odd dark characters.

In Erratica there are is a new column from Ashleigh Lambert and Bedside Stacks, reviewing the new novel from Tom McCarthy Remainder, and the newest Susanna Moore novel The Big Girls. The new Is That Cowardly? takes a look at the new collection from poet Dorthea Lasky titled Awe. Also in Erratica is a piece but occasional contributor Charles Greene covering the global celebration of James Joyce's Ulysses called Bloomsday.

Keep checking back as there will be more updates this month, a new column, some interviews and some new music from some of our favorite artists.

As always, thanks for reading.

Wild update

So the Wild did sign Andrew Burnette today during the first moments of the UFA signings. They also acquired defense-man Marek Zidlicky from Nashville for a third round draft pick and forward Ryan Jones. Maybe there is a little hope for the 08-09 season. They are picking up some solid defense-men, and the addition of Burnette starts to make up for the loss of Rolston, Demitra, Radio, and Fedoruk. Radio and Fedoruk are replaceable, but I'd like to see Fedoruk stay. He's a better enforcer than Boogey, and has the ability to score (unlike Boogey who threw up a donut last season after missing the first half with back problems).

What I don't understand is why they can't offer Rolston more. Rolston made somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.43 million last year, while Demitra made over 4. Demitra had the worst season of his career last year, and barely made an impact. While Rolston has always been a better player and a better leader than Demitra. Why can't they offer Rolston more and drop Demitra, they would still have enough money to pick up a lower "B" class forward or a solid "C" class.

GM Doug Riseborough tries to shed some light on the situation in a blog post today at the Wild's website. He makes a good point point about this being the most important day of the off-season. "You can't win the division on July 1st, but you can lose it." Fair enough, but is the signing of Burnette going to keep the Wild competitive in the northwest, arguably the most competitive division in the NHL? last season only ten points separated the Wild in first from the last place team. That's five games. Burnette is good, but he doesn't even begin to replace the very versatile Rolston. Hopefully there will be more pick ups in the coming days.

Goodbye Brian Rolston

Last season was a tough year for any Wild fan. They won the division and then got knocked out in the first round. After a few days mourning, though, most fans recovered and were ready for the coming year. It seemed promising. We knew they'd lose a few players in the off-season, but they are young. There was the potential for the team to get even better. Young players like Bouchard and Burns proved themselves over the year and were sure to be stars in the coming season.

But today the Wild traded away their rights to resign Brian Rolston to the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was really a good move, they get a third or fourth round draft pick (depending on whether or not Rolston actually signs with them) and he wasn't going to sign with the Wild today anyhow. This is a tough day. Rolston toyed with us, he said he wanted to play in Minnesota, and that his family had no intention of moving anywhere (though he did say today that Minnesota isn't out of the picture, but let's be realistic). Then Rolston and his agent quit responding to the Wild. They were given four separate offers and never made so much as a phone call to say no. So, he's gone. In Rolston they lose a leader, a veteran who is still getting better, a key player on the power play and a big scorer.

He needs to be replaced. But it's really not possible this summer. The free agent market is weak, and the best players are sure to be scooped up tomorrow when teams are allowed to formally begin offers to free agents.

The market is weak and getting weaker.

The Wild acquired a couple of young defense-men that are sure to be a great addition as the defense was really the weak spot throughout the year, and especially in the playoffs, when it was revealed how shallow their defense really was by the loss of a couple of key players. Now it looks like the offense is starting to thin out. Rolston is gone, and the Wild has made no effort to resign Pavol Demitra (which puts a big question mark over their negotiations with Marion Gaborik whose contract is up at the end of next season). The big question is whether or not, in this weak market, they can replace such key players and come back a better team next season.

Riseborough has talked a lot of about Andrew Burnette, who played for the Wild up until the lockout. he is a free agent and has been vocal about his approval of a return to Minnesota. No doubt, he's a good player, and would be a great asset to a team losing some key players. He also helps out with the Gaborik question. Burnette and Gaborik were close and that may help influence negotiations as we find out if Gaborik really will become a franchise player. But Burnette doesn't replace Rolston, maybe Demitra, as Burnette could potentially play wing on Gabby's line, but he cannot take Rolston's spot as a defense-man with a shot on the power play.

There had been some talk about signing the Penguins Ryan Malone, who is also a free agent. But under new ownership, management and coaching staff, the Lightning are out to rebuild this year and have already signed Ryan Malone and former Penguin Gary Roberts (for peanuts). So there go two more forwards off the market, and in Roberts a vet with a shot who is tough as nails. There doesn't seem to be a player on the market who can replace Rolston. There is still the possibility of a trade, but the Wild don't really have the ammo to pull off a big trade and don't have any players they seem willing to lose. Burns and Shultz just got new contracts, and are young and integral to the future of the team, as is Bouchard, who is likely to receive an extension offer this summer. Koivu is a centerpiece of the offense along with Gaborik. And there aren't really any other players that are worth a Rolston caliber player. Hopefully they will be resigning Fedoruk, as he proved to be a tough guy with hands after the Stars haphazardly dropped him from the team.

As far as the free agent market goes Brooks Orpik is still available, and on a team that is trying to rebuild it's defense with Burns and Shultz as the franchise there, Orpik would be a great acquisition. Tough in front of the net, he has hands, a great shot. But that is all speculation. What isn't speculation is that they need to find another high scoring forward, someone who can hit twenty plus goals a season, now. The Wild are not a high scoring team and losing a player like Rolston hurts.

The Current Song of the Day

Hey

Look at The Current's Song of the Day today. It's Chris Koza ("Straight to Video"), it's a great song, he's cool, listen to the song.

The Waste Land

I've got a video installation going up in the Shoebox gallery tomorrow. Just a note that the opening is tomorrow night at 4:00. I showed an unfinished version of this film at a screening in the JRS theater at UST last year. This is the first part of a five part series to T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land." I don't have the address of the Shoebox Gallery handy, but you can find on MNArtists. Most eeryone is going to Rock the Garden at 4:00 but if you aren't check this out, I'll be at Rock the Garden shortly afterwards...

The primary problem with finding my glasses is that I need my glasses to see them.

BREAKING NEWS FLASH: How the terror fist jab has led to the discovery of Nazo/Hezbollah laughter

After hearing that Fox News anchor E.D. Hill call Barack and Michelle Obama's infamous fist pound a "terrorist fist jab" (and that this is somehow a gesture connected to Hezbollah) i realized that this premise frightened me. If terrorist hand signals can get into a building I can enter (I was there) what other horrible terrorist elements are creeping into my everyday life? It's disturbing, think about it. Hezbollah terror fist pounds just twenty or thirty feet from god fearing, freedom loving iPhone, how horrible.

I decided I need to do a little research and see how far this minutia of terror had seeped into my life. I am terrified but what I have found. Please, take a look at this video.



Now maybe I'm wrong, I don't know German, but do you notice anything suspicious around the 22 second mark? That's right. Those people are clapping for Hitler. I was further shocked to find this video.



That's right. You can hear it briefly near the beginning, if you listen closely. But at the 1:02 mark it becomes quite prominent. Clapping. Have Nazi's infiltrated the Republican party. I hoped not. Dear God. I hoped it wasn't so. Then I found this:



A whole stadium of potential Nazi's at a democratic rally. Even the Obama's can be seen clapping there hands. Their Hitler loving hands smacking together, repeatedly. I said, "say it ain't so. Say it ain't so."

Could it be that the Nazi's still exists and they are in cahoots with Hezbollah terrorists who have infiltrated both the Republican and Democratic parties?



Now this. Laughter. On the surface this would seem innocent. But if you listen closely to the second video, just as the video starts, a one two punch of clapping and laughter. Could these gestures of human emotion be related? Experts say yes. Yes, they can. Laughter is part of the potentially malicious Nazo/Hezbollah signal. It has not only infiltrated Comedy Central but our unbiased media as well. I will continue my research and report back as this story develops.

This is pretty damn beautiful

my recent interest in the intersections of dance and film has led me to this clip that was put up on YouTube, which is incredibly beautiful

there isn't a whole lot to this in terms of the intersection of film and dance, but it is a beautiful dance piece

Some Sad News

St. Paul author Daniel Hardy died of a heart attack on Saturday (Read his obituary here).

Daniel had been working on a book about a man who he thought--and had pretty strong evidence to back it up--was the basis for Fitzgerald's Gatsby. According to the obituary Daniel had just finished the book, which is little consolation, but if you are involved with writing, you know that this fact offers at least some.

I had talked to Daniel about possibly excerpting part of this book in InDigest when talks with publishers got further along. According to the obituary, his wife, Mary, is going to try to publish the book posthumously. I hope she can. I was always severely interested in Daniel's updates on the progress of the book. I would see him in a local coffee shop or bookstore and he would excitedly--well, as excitedly as he got, he seemed a pretty laid back guy--tell me some far fetched story that he had learned through his research about his Gatsby's escapades.

It really does seem like a fascinating book. Maybe InDigest will still have the opportunity to publish an excerpt.

But that's for another time.

Now is a time to offer our condolences. To say our thoughts are with all of Dan's loved ones. To mourn the loss of a literary St. Paulite. And to celebrate his life's work and passion.

-David


I think this highlights some thoughts from David's last post as well - writing is really fucking hard.

Talking frequently to Daniel about his ten plus years of work on his book made me remember how important writing is to society, and to individuals. He put a lot of passion and hard work - and a good chunk of his life - creating an in depth study on whether Cushman Rice could have been the real inspiration for the legendary Gatsby. Something that could have been a little literary and intellectual, but he made chatting on the subject something to look forward to, something that was unabashedly intriguing.

We wish Mary Hardy the best of luck continuing Daniel's work. It's a heavy task, but if the book is even half as fascinating as talking with Daniel about his research was it could only be a remarkable book.

It is surely no easy task to pick up his year's of labor at this point, so we offer our condolences for the loss of very funny, intelligent man that we had the good fortune to meet. Our thoughts are certainly with his family and friends.

-Dustin

5th Anniversary

Hey, it's the 5th anniversary of "Mission Accomplished"...