Category Archives: Politics

oh, fine. BE that way.

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apathy

Someone, it appears, is going around reddit and digg and downvoting my beloved lolgoths.

Goths have no sensa huma.

But do I care? Fuck yes I care; these damn things are teh ossum d00dz! You think I’m doing this for money? You think it’s not more interesting than “dis site need tu emprov commentin it sux”? Or, god forbid, “latest partisan spokesperson slandered by opposing partisan spokesperson”? Puh-leez! Let’s just all agree Falwell was a self-righteous, shrill windbag who’s better off in God’s hands (take that any way you prefer) or feeding the worms, Obama isn’t black (whatever), and InsertNameHere is the next great hope of America and move the fuck on. And yes, I’ve read this article.

Someone at reddit actually said he downvotes stories just because it’s easier to click on than the Next button; you would think this would get a person banned, but no.

I have a suspicion that some people downvote things that are posted by their authors, official site policy notwithstanding, but that’s just a hunch. Could be that horrible woman from the political thread comments is stalking me.

Overall, I have to say that Stumble is best for hits, reddit second, and digg is pretty much hopeless unless you’re a tech blogger; it’s rapidly becoming irrelevant to the rest of the blogosphere by natural selection and reinforcement. Since non-techie stories don’t do well there, it attracts fewer non-techies, reducing the mental gene pool (memepool {making one word from two is very Web 2.0}).

I’d like to know how an rtr story that was posted to Press This got six positive votes, yet only two reads. Maybe they’re voting on the snippet? Who knows as long as it brings me some hits…waiting…waiting.

Slate did a lovely slideshow of lolcats and lolmemes and utterly left LolGoths out. WAAAAAH. I’m gonna play NIN and think about how to chop up other people while still spinning it as self-cutting!

And both today and yesterday my personal journal got zero hits. That’s rather surprising, given that flamewars and drama are hit magnets in my experience, but ah well.

I’ve still got my poetry.

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he’s got balls…and he wants you to eat them

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portrait of the artist as a young head of livestock 

Well you gotta admit it’s the most creative use of liposuctioned human fat you’ve ever heard of. It can’t ALL end up puffing up Lindsay‘s pout.

And it’s Art!

Marco Evaristti, a Chilean/Israeli/Danish conceptual artist (oh, aren’t they all) underwent liposuction (to, from the looks of him, no avail) and made the suctioned human fat into meatballs, which he then fried in olive oil, displayed in a gallery, and canned.

Then it starts to get weird.

“What I’m trying to do with these works is to give society a jolt and make it ask questions,” the 44-year-old said in a telephone interview from Denmark, where he lives with his wife and children.

“And it can answer those questions, and in that way maybe we can be a little better as human beings.”

Evaristti’s meatballs piece consists of 13 tins of the meat on a long table, in an echo of Christ’s last supper.

He says the work is about the sanctity of the body and an unhealthy modern obsession with food and weight loss.

“Firstly, I want to show people that meatballs made with my fat are no more disgusting than the meatballs you buy in the supermarket,” he said.

“Secondly, it’s a dialogue with a modern society that lives to eat, rather than eating to live as it should be.

“You eat, and when you’re fat, you go to a clinic, have an operation, have your fat removed and you start to eat again.”

When he displayed the piece in Chile, Evaristti invited 12 people to join him in eating the meatballs in a last supper.

How did they taste? “Even better than my grandmother’s,” he said.

In all honesty, now I’m hungry!

Would you eat those meatballs?

I absolutely would; I would be so irrationally excited at a chance to eat those goddammed meatballs you cannot possibly imagine it because if you tried to cram all that joy between your ears and run it through your little grey cells it your head would assplode! Like the Death Star! With paranoia and magnesium flares and Wookiee co-pilots and a bombastic, derivative John Williams score playing in Dolby Surroundsound!

It would be teh ossum.

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PSA: civil city slam Vancouver

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From Pivot Legal Society:

“Civil City Slam”

Tuesday, May 22, at 7 pm at First United Church 320 E. Hastings St, at Gore Ave.

This forum is being organized as a result of an initiative undertaken by 16 Vancouver progressive elected representatives, representing 3 levels of government, including MP Libby Davies; MLAs David Chudnovsky, Adrian Dix, Jenny Kwan, Gregor Robertson, and Shane Simpson; City Councilors David Cadman, George Chow, Heather Deal, Raymond Louie, and Tim Stevenson; School Board Trustees Allan Blakely, Sharon Gregson, and Allan Wong; and Parks Board Commissioners Spencer Herbert and Loretta Woodcock.

David Eby from Pivot Legal Society will speak at this event.

Read Pivot’s reaction to the appointment of former B.C. attorney-general Geoff Plant in today’s papers, including the International Herald Tribune.

Where is Ottawa?

Wednesday, May 23, at 7 pm – 9 pm at Unitarian Church 949 West 49 Ave.

“Stop homelessness for now, for 2010, forever.” Organized by the Carnegie Community Action Project in cooperation with The City Wide Housing Coalition.17 Members of Parliament from Vancouver and the GVRD have been invited to discuss what the role does federal government have in solving homelessness and housing crisis.

Come and say hello to the Pivot volunteers and staff at the Booth table!

HOPE IN SHADOWS: Can you help?

We are full-steam ahead in organizing this year’s HOPE IN SHADOWS photography contest, exhibition and calendar. Every year we need corporate sponsors, and this year is no exception. We are hoping to expand on the successful training we offered last year, but we need a few more businesses interested in supporting us. If you know of any company that has a policy of helping the community, please let Paul Ryan know. We accept all levels of sponsorship, from the purchase of a month by to in-kind donations. Please e-mail Paul at pryan at hopeinshadows dot com or call Paul on 604 782 2861 if you can help, even if it is just telling us about a company you think would be suitable, and we will contact them. HOPE IN SHADOWS now has its own website: http://www.hopeinshadows.com

———————-

About Pivot Legal Society
Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of those most on the margins. We believe that everyone, regardless of income, benefits from a healthy and inclusive community where values such opportunity, respect and equality are strongly rooted in the law. 

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American Trash by Chris Jordan

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Artist Chris Jordan makes digital images depicting just what and how much Americans use and discard every day. This, for instance, is an image of the two million plastic bottles that the US uses and throws away every five minutes.

Bottles by Chris Jordan

He’s also done an image of 65,000 cigarettes, one for every teenager who becomes addicted to smoking per month; an image of jet contrails; plastic and paper bags thrown out, and many others. This puts our own actions in context in a very powerful way: it’s not just me, it’s us, and this is what we do and this is the debris we leave behind.

Found indirectly via Gawker.

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news flash: Paris Hilton is not appealing

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Paris in Prison 

But we knew that anyway. The ass goiter has always bothered me, personally. CNN agrees: Paris Hilton is un-appealing.

Paris Hilton won’t appeal the 45-day jail term she was sentenced to earlier this month for violating probation, according to court documents filed Thursday.

A lawyer for the 26-year-old socialite notified Los Angeles Count Superior Court that she is abandoning her appeal, said court spokeswoman Katherine Roberts.

Hilton was ordered earlier this month to report to jail by June 5 for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

Hilton initially called the sentence unfair, and lawyers representing her filed a notice to appeal the sentence.

She then switched attorneys and is now represented by drunken driving specialist Richard Hutton. Hutton did not immediately return several calls for comment Thursday.

Hilton will be jailed for about 23 days of a 45-day sentence and will be separated from the general inmate population, authorities decided after reviewing her case.

The shorter sentence reflects an expectation that Hilton behaves behind bars.

Oh, how little they know of her reputation!

She will be held in a “special needs housing unit” at the Century Regional Detention Center in suburban Lynwood, Whitmore said.

And, presumably, she will be chauffeured there on a shortbus.

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