micah holmquist's irregular thoughts and links |
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Welcome to the musings and notes of a Cadillac, Michigan based writer named Micah Holmquist, who is bothered by his own sarcasm. Please send him email at micahth@chartermi.net. Holmquist's full archives are listed here.
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Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution) Aljazeera.Net English Blogs that for one reason or another Holmquist would like to read on at least something of a regular basis (always in development) Thivai Abhor |
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Season’s Greetings! I’m writing this from Max Standard’s Third Annual Pig Eating Festival in Support of Attacking Countries where Pig Eating is Not Particularly Popular. Birthday Boy Baby Jesus is this year’s guest of honor and he has a great seat for the Bob Hope show set for this evening. The guests are set to include John Denver and John Wayne. (Max is responsible for the bill.) And, yes, for your information, John Ritter is on the premises, although Santa Claus has tied a stocking over his mouth. I’ve heard that adult Jesus Christ –the one who accepted that cute little gal’s offer in The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese, 1988)- is having his own celebration elsewhere. The rumor is that the show is to feature solo performances by Johnny Cash and John Coltrane along with the comedy stylings of Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks. (Bruce and Hicks may or may not perform as a duo. By the way, what the fuck is the big deal about Bruce being pardoned? Am I the only who thought it was cool that he was never pardoned? I mean so long as he is dead, why couldn’t he have remained a criminal?) I haven’t been invited to this event but if anybody has an extra ticket, please pass it my way. I’m willing to pay top dollar, believe me. *** The rest of this entry is my Christmas present to my readers. Don’t say I never gave you anything. *** Kirk Semple of The New York Times reports on the pardon of Bruce: "He needed to be vindicated," Ronald Collins, a co-founder of the campaign that led to the pardon, said in a telephone interview. "We're elated. It's very important that now this record has been set straight."I had no idea this was an issue. *** And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. [1] 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, [2] every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed [3] with Mary his espoused wife...I wonder what Augustus' response to those who decided not to go and be taxed was. Christian Parenti makes clear in The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America From Slave Passes to the War on Terror (Basic Books, 2003) that over a millennium and a half later the ability to track people wasn't that advanced so here it seems like there could have been plenty of people who simply decided not to show up and pay taxes. *** It is far from clear to me what the point of Slavoj Zizek's September 25 piece "HOMO SACER AS THE OBJECT OF THE DISCOURSE OF THE UNIVERSITY" is but that might stem from my lack of a background with Lacan. *** These links are all related to the work of Slavoj Zizek. *** lewisblack.net has been redesigned. Not a whole lot of content but there wasn't before and it looks good, save for that flag. The voicemail put a smile on my face. Click here for more material. *** Check out the date on this review of Christopher Hitchens' The Trial of Henry Kissinger. *** Michelle Goldberg of salon.com on a play called I'm Going to Kill the President. Here is more on it. *** words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to *** words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to *** Alexander Cockburn on the United Nations. *** *** words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to *** In his brief 1992 essay "Reversion of History," Jean Baudrillard posits that modernism has become the stumbling block to progress. *** words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to words to link to *** *** In a Film Threat review of Just an American Boy Don R. Lewis writes: ...when Steve Earle, speaking on his stance on the death penalty, says something like "the government is supposed to be an extension of me, and I don't want to kill anybody" it's good food for thought.Not really, and I say that as a HUGE fan of Steve Earle. The problem with the idea that government shouldn't kill because people like Earle and myself are opposed to the death penalty is the question of where does it end? Just about anything any government has ever done or could ever do is opposed by at least someone so what it amounts to is an argument for no government, which might a fine position but which should be argued for (or against) explicitly. *** Jonathan Rosenbaum on Jacques Tourneur's Wichita. *** *** I used to make up stuff when faced with questionares like this, now I find answering honestly to be the least amount of work. Cyber-capitalism has apparently ground me down. I feel that I should resist but the offers it makes are just too tempting. Oh well I guess I'll be o.k. so long as I don't start saying, "the first chapter in the trilogy, "The Fellowship of the Ring," is a masterpiece, not merely of the genre but of the form. It compares favorably with every epic film since "Lawrence of Arabia," and now that the initial gloss has worn off and it's mostly broken in, it would not be absurd to sneak "The Fellowship of the Ring" into your list of the top 15 or 20 films, all time. A marvel of pacing, economy, dexterity, and grit, "Fellowship" is beautiful, inspiring, and ennobling; it is very nearly a perfect movie." The idea that someone gets paid to write idiocy like this is deeply troubling. *** After reading this, I feel slightly less alone in this world. *** "Is Christmas Christian?" (Thanks to Ronald David Goff Jr. for the link.) *** *** Alf apparently will be getting his own talk show. Angela Chase and Daria Morgendorffer are two characters from t.v. shows no longer being produced that should have talk shows before Alf. *** "slaughter"? *** *** *** Girls Guitar Club supposedly is not a cult. |