Category: Musings

Thoughts, profound and otherwise.

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Seminal Act of Civil Disobedience

Artist nails his scrotum to the ground in Red Square | World news | theguardian.com

Picture of the act from The Guardian.

Pyotr Pavlensky, the artist in the photo, has a substantial history of employing self mutilation in performance pieces that protest the increasingly repressive nature of the Russian regime, according to The Guardian article above. About the man’s possession of boundless will power and tolerance for pain, no doubts can be harbored. One only hopes that this act is more successful than his previous protests. This writer certainly wishes that this extraordinary act of self mutilation inspires the tsunami of rebellion that the artist desires to incite against a political system that has indeed become a shadow of the Soviet autocracy against which so many people like the artist gave their lives.

The most unfortunate question thus arises. Is a mere scrotum enough of a sacrifice? Should he have gone as far as being incarcerated without due process like Pussy Riot, a cause for which he mutilated himself to no apparently productive ends? Should he have immolated himself like the many Tibetans who do so annually in a final, desperate expression of defiance and self determination against an omnipotent, malevolent government? Must roads to freedom and self determination be paved with entire corpses, not just limbs and valuable appendages like the scrotum?

The political artist’s expression will forever be deconstructed. The desire for attention will forever confound any legitimate expression he or she may have made. It will be a shame if Mr. Pavlensky’s remarkable act of defiance is dismissed as a shameless act of self promotion. It rings sincere, in this writer’s mind, in its desperate expression of a desire for rights and dignity for every citizen in Russia.

Should its impact and distribution be limited to the pages of odd news sections and blogs like this, then the inescapable conclusion is that it is more effective to stick one’s neck out than it is to go balls out in the quest for freedom. Given how extraordinary it is to see a man go balls out like Pyotr, it is hard to imagine that anyone will stick their necks out. This may be the ultimate sign of resignation in the western world and the ultimate assertion of the current price of progress.

It is, perhaps, time to contemplate Syria, Chechnya, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia and myriad other countries where necks are slashed in plain sight of western citizens far too apathetic to vote to protect their own interests. Political and military power are tools we developed to stroke our own balls, it seems, rather then to save necks.

Pyotr, may your balls be safe and your scrotum whole again someday.

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The American Economic Revelation: We’re Like Europe

UCLA Anderson Forecast paints dismal picture of economic recovery | latimes.com

Five years after the credit bubble burst, the best experts in the country are still wondering why the robust recovery isn’t happening. They employ pessimistic words to avoid the one truth that is perhaps less convenient than Al Gore’s.

“Growth in GDP has been positive, but not exceptional,” UCLA economists wrote in their quarterly Anderson Forecast. “Jobs are growing, but not rapidly enough to create good jobs for all.”

The report, which analyzed long-term trends of past recoveries, found that the long-anticipated “Great Recovery” has not yet materialized.

That truth is that that the American economy has finally become like the European economy. Whether we like it or not, the American economy is going to resemble that of France and Germany, with slow, sluggish upturns and mild downturns punctuating vast seas of stability.

Fierce competition from Europe and Asia put upward pressure on wages brought by aggressive inflation are enforcing the regime that “socialistic” policies have been enforcing in Europe for over forty years: efficiency. The high wages that strong unions have enforced for decades in Europe are finally coming to the US as businesses that need stability for successful operation realize that they must pay wages that alleviate some of the effects of inflation in order to keep their best employees. Consequently, gone are the most meaningless jobs that one scarcely sees in Europe: parking attendants, valet parkers, bus boys, etc. The most mundane jobs have been automated and the remaining ones ultimately demand a living wage. This level of operational efficiency will not drive job growth.

Similarly, the marketplace is making US capital markets like Europe’s by enforcing stability. Another speculative bubble in the US won’t just be disastrous for the public at large who will be fleeced by opportunistic, well connected executives. It will be disastrous for American institutions who now have to compete globally for the dispensation of capital against mighty institutions in Europe, Asia and Middle East. Short term speculative gains are likely to cause long term annihilation for firms that undertake the Ponzi schemes of the real estate bubble, whether the institution is bailed out or not. Banks’ reluctance to lend even to the most credit-worthy borrowers underscores this fact. Corporate cash hoarding also underscores this fact. They all realize that the next mistake can have existential ramifications whether the government plays savior or not. The core functions of the company matter again. As has always been the case in Europe, a car company has to be a car company again, and a bank has to be responsible.

All of which sums up to a European existence: mild fluctuations peppering vast seas of incredibly boring stability. Global competition enforces a high unemployment rate in such regimes. Companies running efficiently will never effect full employment. This is why Europe has persistent, high unemployment. It is not because they have trouble creating wealth or because they are economically and fundamentally lazy. It is because they are closer to the economic endgame that the US is. Forbes Magazine laments the fact that no path to full employment is visible on the most distant horizon, but, beholden to staunchly conservative owner, it will be the last source to admit that the Europeans were right, that they are ahead.

Let us end this stupid, emotional and utterly vapid debate about the state of the economy and focus on what matters: quality of life. The economy is finally stable. Like Europe, we have the resources to make life better for those who work and for those who do not work. We have the resources to fix our bridges, to build new railroads, to provide healthcare to everyone, to ensure that those willing to work will eventually find a job that will provide a decent living, and to ensure that those who cannot or do not want to work will not be condemn to the oblivion of homelessness and marginalization that will demobilize them from the work force.

We have a stable economy. What do we do about life? Forward, march!

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The United States Justice Department Are Beer Drinkers

BBC News | Budweiser-Corona beer merger opposed by US

The writer does not write this piece out of a sense of anger, a feeling of resentment or sheer snootiness. The writer is, indeed, grateful–positively, unreservedly and absolutely thankful–that the United States Department of Justice has taken a step to prevent further consolidation in the beer brewing industry in order to keep the market for that elixir that the writer loves competitive.

It is easy to be cynical about this apparently responsible act on the part of a governmental agency that has hardly acknowledged the anti-competitive nature of the telecommunication industry, that did absolutely nothing during the financial meltdown, that refuses to undertake any substantial prosecution of top executives in the aftermath of the financial meltdown, that doesn’t dare prosecute the hierarchy in the Catholic Church responsible for fostering centuries of sex abuse, that threw the book at a defenseless young idealist and drove him to suicide, and that is all to happy to use the PATRIOT act to collect unwarranted data. The same DOJ elected to intervene forcefully, however, to protect the public from higher beer prices. Why is beer so important? So special?

Beer, Benjamin Franklin proclaimed, is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. It is easy to argue that the “happiness” induced by beer is desirably by the DOJ. Given its failures in restraining large corporations from preying on the general populace and its appetite for harassing those who would entertain the notion of counteracting the prevailing corporate order (as enumerated above), a sober populace might be tempted to take the federal department ostensibly dedicated to the dispensation of justice to task. Absent any relief from inflation driven by a devaluing dollar and high oil prices, a cheap high, one might argue, is the only escape left for the average citizen. If it were to disappear, she or he might finally build enough anger and thus gather enough energy to inquire as to why it is that she or he must forfeit every penny earned to profitable concerns that are never held accountable to moral, ethical or economical standards. Why the average citizen must take pleasure–when the citizen’s prospects in the absence of a job are concerned–in toiling arduously daily under the strictest of supervision and face the most dire consequences for his or her failure to dispense his or her duties while the reckless disregard of the most powerful corporations for moral–not even ethical–behavior is rewarded with impunity and material wealth?

The posing of the question is a demoralizing. Pondering its answer is petrifying. It is, therefore, indeed, better to drink beer and to be merry. The DOJ has in this rare instance of wisdom and charity preserved this right for the average citizen. Let’s not drink to that.

Let’s just drink.

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Tragedy Strikes the Internet

BBC News – Facebook users suffer service disruptions

It is a calamity of biblical proportions when millions of Facebook users endure a two-hour span of time during which they cannot instantly find out whether a friend drank a latte, discover that a distance acquaintance inadvertently passed gas, or wonder as to why a particular friend had to forward such a stale political cartoon.

It was so important that, in addition to this BBC News piece, people felt compelled to comment on it on Twitter:

“Facebook is acting like its stock. It keeps going down,” quipped one Twitter user.

Thanks to the network architect gods, the agony of missing pablum is over. We can all feed our addictions. As soon as I click on “publish”, this will be posted to Facebook to be enjoyed by, perhaps, millions. My timing may be perfect, but will I be heard above the noise?

Possibly louder than any protestor in Syria.

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The Spoils of Suffrage

When I was an undergraduate student, I was not yet a citizen, but I was blackmailed into registering for the Select Service, aka “The Draft”, in order to receive financial aid. This was a huge motivation for me to become a citizen. I wanted to have some say in the political process that might send me to fight wars in distant conflicts. I had no objection to being subject to conscription, but I found the notion of being denied a voice in the political process that might effect conscription especially unpalatable, repulsive even.

In 1995, therefore, I became a United States citizen and immediately registered to vote. The satisfaction of exercising the political voice whose absence effected the immigration of my family to the US has repeatedly been spoiled by the drudgery of jury duty, however, and today is my third trip to the enervating practice of “justice”.

Although the process has been dramatically improved over the last 10 years through the advent of computerized random sampling, it feels more and more like a dreadful anachronism, which it indisputably is. Two centuries ago, when the process was instituted, juries did not have to deal with anything as complex or as convoluted as modern contract disputes, patent disputes and crimes as bizarre as identity theft. Criminal accusations are ultimately born out or refuted by evidence that has been properly collected and complex civil disputes are best settled by those who have expert understanding of the heart of the matter.

As I am enduring the propaganda video exalting the validity of justice dispensed by juries and arguing the ecstasy of the process of serving, I am haunted by the following question: can we find a better reward than crappy politicians and jury duty for the privilege of suffrage in a democratic society?

Maybe I’ll catch up on my reading a little.

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Advertising Each Flight Like the Superbowl

Professional Sports is an Excellent Marketing Model for the Airlines

It is exceptionally difficult not to become furious–downright livid–with the state of the airline industry. As if the incessant prodding by Homeland Security weren’t enough, the advent of online booking began obscuring the actual price of flight tickets (How much will the taxes be? How about the booking fee?). Then, we came upon the reality that even the final price we paid for the ticket wasn’t the actual cost of the flight because airlines first started charging for meals that used to be included in the price of the ticket and then they started charging for hauling our baggage, which also used to be included in the price of the ticket. Even worse, the luggage fee is subject to change, and it varies from airline to airline. Consequently, the final cost of the flight remains a mystery until we check in our baggage.

If the trend continues, Airlines will soon charge for oxygen during the flight, but more civil alternatives that might quell the passengers’ thirst for the Airlines’ jugulars exist. Airlines can take a hint from professional sports and have sponsorship for every event that happens during the course of a flight.

Just as NFL kickoffs are typically “brought to you by the new Buick LeSabre”, the highly anticipated pushback from the gate could be “brought to you by AIG insurance: isn’t now a good time to buy some life insurance? We’re begging you!” The takeoff can be sponsored by “Red Bull: it gives you wings”, or by “Viagra: your turn to take off, baby”, or by “Cialis: nothing can stop you from joining the mile high club”. Dinner can be sponsored by McDonalds or Subway. Long smooth stretches of sky can be sponsored by Smirnoff Vodka or Jack Daniels, and heavy turbulence can be sponsored by “Valium: you need one. Don’t deny it.” The oxygen in the cabin could be sponsored by “Microsoft: without Microsoft, you’d be dead. Don’t you forget that”. Landings, those so happy endings to long flights, could be sponsored by Victoria’s secret, or Trojan condoms, and that blissful moment at which we are allowed to be again shackled by our mobile phones can be sponsored by Verizon. Or Stayfree maxipads.

Airlines can take another cue from professional car racing and put all sorts of logos on the giant fuselages of their planes. Oh, look, it’s the Home Depot plane taking off. Kids can be heard screaming “I wanna fly the Cocoa Puffs plane, please!” And, flight attendants’ uniforms will naturally be covered from head to toe with patches from a thousand different sponsors, from STP to Chilli’s.

Although the net result might be that sponsors will end up prolonging flights the way they prolong football games just to cram a few more commercials down our throats (“We’re making an extra turn in Chicago to show you the Willis Tower. It’s no longer the Sears tower, damn it!”), perhaps we might again be afforded the sanity of knowing one simple fact about our flight: how much it costs!

PS If you got other sponsorship ideas for the airlines, share them in the comments below. PNM

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Graffiti: RIP


Calligraffiti Exhibit at Pacific Asia Museum

People are saying altogether too much about graffiti. About six months ago, graffiti burst onto the mainstream art scene with a bevy of exhibitions touting the rise of erstwhile taggers to the level of masters. One lovely exhibit was the Calligraffiti exhibit at Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena. It consisted of works by graffiti artists from diverse backgrounds who integrated elements of Asian calligraphy into their works. On the whole, the exhibit was very nice, and the art was thought-provoking, but one could not escape the feeling that a great lion of expression had finally been de-fanged, de-clawed and thoroughly domesticated.

Graffiti was an expression of rebellion, much like punk rock. Its appeal was precisely in the way it which exposed, defied and counteracted the accepted order. It was a means for creative souls to circumvent commercial censorship boldly, loudly, crassly, beautifully and arrogantly. That was the point. And, it had to be done in grand style: graffiti’s impact came from the way it transformed and mutated the giant edifices of the corporate, commercial culture. Consequently, lacking any expression of defiance and confined to the small walls of a museum, the medium has no soul, it lacks impact, and it neither impresses nor inspires. The strict enforcement of criminal laws have quashed this wonderful voice. Only oddball geniuses like Banksy manage to provoke despite his ability to garner outrageous sums for his work.

So, as beautiful as these works of art may be, these are not loud avant-garde voices. Jean-Michel Besquiat’s genius and its context in the New York underground art scene in Downtown 81 puts all of this in perspective. Graffiti was the vanguard of underground art, itself the last bastion of creativity in a culture dominated by commercial enforcement of subordination, acceptance, mediocrity and complacency.

And, alas, with the acceptance of graffiti into the mainstream museums, this great vanguard of creativity may finally have been silenced, accepted into submission, swallowed by the capital juggernaut.

Graffiti, rest in peace. You had a great run.

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The Sword

Gun-toting Pa. soccer mom, husband fo… – Google News

Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.

When will we be rid of the idiots who think that the sword is the only avenue there is?

Can we expect them to annihilate themselves in such fits of passion, or can we have hope that they will learn to be civilized and civil?

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Pretending to Be a Pretend Musician

DJ Hero confirmed for Wii, 360, ‘PlayStation’ – News at GameSpot.

Hyperreality has had many proponents  in its short, illustrious and extremely controversial tenure as a philosophical concept, but Activision‘s DJ Hero may be the advent that may finally prove the validity, the truth contained in and the reality of hyperreality.

Hyperreality refers to the primacy of the simulation over the reality that it simulates. It is the acceptance and the perception of the simulation as the reality. The reality gave rise to the simulation is forgotten or is otherwise overwhelmed by the simulation that is based upon it. It is not just the original object that is forgotten, but the concept of originality.

What could possibly encapsulate this idea better than DJ Hero? Without a doubt, the modern disk jockey is a creative creature, but it is not a musician. She or he pretends to be a musician by assembling frequently digitized pieces produced by bona fide musicians into a pastiche that sounds somehow different, new and original. Yet the piece is neither different nor original. It differs only slightly in quantitative terms in sound (slightly faster rhythm, slightly different instrumentation), and it is in no way an original composition. DJ output is in every way an expression of the artist’s intent, but it only rarely constitutes an original composition that expands the musical lexicon. After all, the DJ doesn’t even play any real instruments or truly compose music by sitting down and writing notes (digitally or literally with ink and paper.

In fact, most modern DJs simply “play” a laptop computer. DJ software simulates turn tables on the computer, and the DJ uses the virtual controls of the DJ software to manipulate the digital sounds. In as much, DJs may arrange music, but one is hard pressed to call the process composition.

So, what is DJ Hero, in this light? It is a piece of software that allows one to be pretending to be manipulating a piece of software that allows one to be pretending to be making an original piece of music by mixing the original sound bites (and bytes) culled from highly digitized and stylized pieces of music recorded by a real musician under circumstances that were completely unrelated in context to the piece being assembled by the disk jockey.

The concept of musicianship is obliterated. It is so far removed from the concept of “music” in the context of the DJs labor that it is utterly invisible, imperceptible. Is this a case of hyperreality, or infinite regress? Certainly, it is a case that has nothing to do with music or musicianship as the concepts have been understood heretofore.

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The Merits of Excellence

SGI, Once Mighty Graphics Giant, Gobbled Up For Pittance – Wolfe’s Den Blog – InformationWeek

Considering the number of innovative, pioneering corporations that have fallen by the way side or disappeared in the rapidly evolving technology sector–names like Digital Equipment Company, Netscape Communications, and Sun Microsystems–one comes face to face with the fundamental question regarding the means by which the marketplace values innovation; or, perhaps, how the marketplace often fails to value innovation.

Silicon Graphics was a multibillion dollar corporation at its peak. It revolutionized the rendering of graphics by computers. It pioneered the application of massive parallel processing in server farms to establish computer animation as a means of “shooting” motion picture. Yet, like DEC, it has been bought for a pittance. The mighty Goliath of graphical processing was gobbled up for a measly $20 million. Just as DEC was carved up piece by piece before being purchased outright by Compaq in 1998, SGI has met its final demise in Rackable Systems.

Will SGI meet a better fate than DEC? Many of DEC’s technologies are still alive in many other products, even though Compaq itself ceased to exist after failing to capitalize on any of DEC’s remarkable technological expertise.

So, does the marketplace reward innovation? Pioneering companies like Netscape, Sun, SGI, DEC and many others are all dead after succumbing primarily to the Wintel (Windows + Intel) monopoly and secondarily to the Linux and the free software revolution. Even Apple’s recent success has come on the heels of its total abandonment of proprietary hardware in favor of the Wintel monopoly. (I run Windows on my Mac via Parallels.) Although conformity to standards is crucial to delivering value to the consumer, there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that the standards arise or evolve from innovation. The companies that innovate seem to be getting slammed in the marketplace by the bullies with the marketshare and the advertising dollars.

What incentive is there, then, to innovate? If the ultimate outcome is either selling out to a (hopefully) high bidder as an alternative to getting absolutely clobbered by the same bidder, what incentive is there for the someone to start the next SGI or the next Netscape or the next Sun Microsystems? If the only hope for survival is to become huge as Google did in a matter of a few years, then we can be assured of a marketplace devoid of innovation for some time to come because no specter of such a colossus is visible anywhere on the horizon.

The only certainty is that the creative atmosphere that allowed so many giants like SGI, Apple, DEC, 3Com, Netscape, Commodore, and countless others to arise out of pure inspiration is gone. The evaporation of the environment that nurtured creativity and innovation has far reaching consequences for the economy, of course. Its short term manifestation is the death of Venture Capital.