micah holmquist's irregular thoughts and links |
|
|
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.
Archives
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, January 01, 2004
The fifth year of the decade that began when 1999 ended I'd love to wish everyone a happy new year but I really don't see the point. It will be a great year for some but others will die, unless of course we all die, and more will suffer. There's no way around this reality that each new day brings both greater joy and greater pain. I would make predictions but I don't see much point in that either. Reading William Safire's predictions may be fun but I can't help but think that such predictions are snap judgments better suited for gambling advice than any analysis. That said, I fully expect that Team Bush will give me plenty of slightly different reasons to dislike them and that the bulk of his opponents will do the same. As far as 2003 was for me personally, I'm not really sure how I would evaluate it as the year seemed more like a mix of everything as opposed to have any consistent themes. I did well in some areas but not very well in others. In 2004 I plan to spend more time "reading" and engaging with the writings of Theodor Adorno, Mikhail Bakhtin, Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Michael Hardt, Linda Hutcheon, Frederic Jameson, Antonio Negri, Robert Stam and Slavoj Zizek, the films of Stan Brakhage and Charlie Chaplin and the mulit-format comedy of Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and those in and around Mr. Show/alt-comedy milieu. That isn't exactly a modest list and I don't expect to get "through" any of them in the next 12 months but I do plan to focus on these entities and related digressions along with current events and the "end times" and rapture theories that fascinate me. No guarantees but these topics will most likely show up in my blog. I'd also like to get into performing comedy, as well as writing it in a more organized manner. I believe I could be successful in this field if I just could get up enough gumption to try it. My plan is to start performing stand-up, make it huge in show-business, become well-known for brilliant comedy and associating with the likes of Lewis Black, David Cross, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Martinez and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Then Cribs will take a look at my domicile and the entire world will know I really like Simpsons merchandise. As far as this blog goes, I don't know for sure how much content I will be creating or what I will be focusing on. I guess the cliché "only time will tell" is apt. *** Ken MacLeod and Micah Holmquist *** Blixa writes: At the end of this post (about - what else - the "dishonest"y of Bush's "Team"), it appears as if Micah Holmquist has generously extended an invitation to the Secret Service to come pay him a visit for the New Year.LMAO Blixa takes a critical look at various sides -not exactly a common trait amongst bloggers- in his excellent blog. In particular, I suggest checking out these two posts. *** And I'm sure Uncle Sam will soon be leaving Afghanistan. *** *** Freedom of press in Uncle Sam's Iraq: Another soldier pushed away two Western women who were trying to videotape the scene.*** In a wonderful piece entitled "Life During Wartime: Squinting at the many hues of terror" Brian Linse of Reason writes: ...even the most imaginatively fearful can't help but notice that if our nation is indeed crawling with al Queda sleeper agents with the desire and ability to pull off murderous assaults on our way of life, they are sleeping suspiciously soundly. It seems most likely that America really isn't acrawl with such enemies, and if it is, they are singularly unimaginative and incompetent. Any random gang of Soldier of Fortune-reading teenagers could land serious blows to America's infrastructure every day if they didn't care if they lived or died.The only change I would make is replacing "can't" with "shouldn't be able to" since "war on terror" partisans have a tendency to not let reality get in the way of their arguments. *** Some don't the "war on terror" is expansive enough at this point. In a December 31 Telegraph story -found through blogdex- David Rennie writes: President George W Bush was sent a public manifesto yesterday by Washington's hawks, demanding regime change in Syria and Iran and a Cuba-style military blockade of North Korea backed by planning for a pre-emptive strike on its nuclear sites.The text in question is An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror (American Enterprise Institute, 2003). One thing to keep in mind is that, however expansive this agenda is, it is perfectly logical if you accept the Bush Administration's publicly stated basis for their "war on terror." "[A]ll the latest right-wing agenda demands is that Bush should prepare for war against Syria, Iran, North Korea, with an option for future action against Saudi Arabia and France," Betsy Devine writes. She forgot to mention the part about arming other countries so we can pretend they are a threat in the future. *** Willie Nelson isn't exactly on the same page as Frum and Perle. Nelson tells Reuters that he was inspired to write "What Ever Happened To Peace On Earth" last Thursday (Christmas Day) in response to the news. The lyrics: There's so many things going on in the worldI don't think every supporter of invading Iraq or the broader "war on terror" is part of a "bewildered herd" but most, not just many, are and that is evidenced by how they haven't spent a single second thinking about whether or not what Team Bush is currently saying makes sense in light of what they previously said. Oh, I hear the Iraqi women just love "freedom." |