05w01:1 05 Posted January 2nd, 2005 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2005 week 1 number 1 (05) ——————————————————————— Name that Decade | Timothy Noah http://slate.msn.com/id/2111435/ “By not coming up with a name, society has created a serious rhetorical problem that spills over into the social sciences. […] Because there is no name for the present decade, people seeking to describe the spirit of the times often resort to substituting the name of the entire century (or, in extreme cases, the entire millenium). This is pompous and stupid. […] Imagine somebody attempting to define the 20th century in January 1905. He would know nothing about the rise of Soviet communism and German fascism, and therefore nothing about the butchery of Stalin and Hitler. He’d know nothing about mass production of the automobile. He would never have heard of Albert Einstein or his theory of relativity. He might resist having his home wired for electricity, out of the common fear that it was more dangerous than gaslight. He would likely consider the United States to be a lesser world power than Great Britain and France. He’d have no idea that the airplane would soon become an instrument of war and, eventually, a vehicle commonly used for ocean crossings. He would never have listened to a radio, or watched television, or gone to a movie theater and heard the actors speak. If he visited Philadelphia, he’d be dazzled by its wealth and sophistication. He would, in short, have none of the information he needed to describe accurately the coming century.” Miraculous visions | The Economist http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3518580 “Then, in 1905, a young patent clerk named Albert Einstein found the way forward. In five remarkable papers, he showed that atoms are real (it was still controversial at the time), presented his special theory of relativity, and put quantum theory on its feet. It was a different achievement from Newton’s year, but Einstein’s annus mirabilis was no less remarkable. He did not, like Newton, have to invent entirely new forms of mathematics. However, he had to revise notions of space and time fundamentally. And unlike Newton, who did not publish his results for nearly 20 years, so obsessed was he with secrecy and working out the details, Einstein released his papers one after another, as a fusillade of ideas.” —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Sunday 02 January 2005 @ 5:08 PM
04w51:1 All in the Family Posted December 13th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 51 number 1 (all in the family) ——————————————————————— Eminem Is Right | Mary Eberstadt http://www.policyreview.org/dec04/eberstadt.html “If yesterday’s rock was the music of abandon, today’s is that of abandonment. The odd truth about contemporary teenage music – the characteristic that most separates it from what has gone before – is its compulsive insistence on the damage wrought by broken homes, family dysfunction, checked-out parents, and (especially) absent fathers. Papa Roach, Everclear, Blink-182, Good Charlotte, Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Eminem – these and other singers and bands, all of them award-winning top-40 performers who either are or were among the most popular icons in America, have their own generational answer to what ails the modern teenager. Surprising though it may be to some, that answer is: dysfunctional childhood.” How Hip-Hop Music is slowly transcending its circular culture | Stefan Braidwood http://www.popmatters.com/music/features/040728-hiphop.shtml “Hip-hop started out as a counter-culture expression of pain-laced, defiant joy by New York’s penniless and angry. You make studio time and instrumental tuition too expensive for me, place me in ghettos I lack any means to escape or improve, cut off the power to my housing block, keep me locked down in a miserable job for pathetic pay and generally treat me as a politically powerless and racially inferior minority? I will mix records together with no respect for their discrete heritage or creators; set your anthems as backing vocals for the rhymes I’ve spent my fruitless hours of drudgery whetting with pent-up bitterness; paint your greyly hideous constructions wildly, vibrantly beautiful; and funnel the electricity from your streetlights into my decks and speakers, to dance with my peers in new and explosive ways that pay homage to our frantic, cooped-up energy. And I will tell my people that they are beautiful, and that you cannot hold us forever, for this raucous, rhythmic, illegitimate music will bring us together, and in its crude but irresistible power we will find and share our impoverished strength and soul once more.” All to Blame | Sum 41 http://www.lyricstop.com/w/werealltoblame-sum41.html “And now we’re all to blame/ We’ve gone too far/ From pride to shame/ We’re hopelessly blissful and blind/ When all we need/ Is something true/ To believe/ Don’t we all?” —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Monday 13 December 2004 @ 2:50 PM
04w48:1 The 2004 Massey Lectures Posted November 22nd, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 48 number 1 (The 2004 Massey Lectures) Those of you on the Lecture List will have gotten this already, provided here primarily for the American subscribers and people outside of Toronto. ——————————————————————— The 2004 Massey Lectures on CBC’s Ideas | Ronald Wright http://www.cbc.ca/listen/index.html “Monday, November 22 – Friday, November 26 THE 2004 MASSEY LECTURES BY RONALD WRIGHT: A SHORT HISTORY OF PROGRESS In his 2004 CBC Massey Lectures, A Short History of Progress, the acclaimed anthropologist and novelist Ronald Wright argues that only by understanding humanity’s patterns of triumph and disaster since the Stone Age, can we recognize the threats to our own civilization. With luck and wisdom, he suggests, we can help shape the future. Each time history repeats itself, so it’s said, the price goes up. The twentieth century was a time of runaway growth in human population, consumption, and technology, placing a colossal load on all natural systems, especially earth, air , and water?the very elements of life. The most urgent questions of the twenty-first century are: where will this growth lead? Can it be consolidated or sustained? And what kind of world is our present bequeathing to our future? In A Short History of Progress Ronald Wright argues that our modern predicament is as old as civilization, a 10,000-year experiment we have participated in but seldom controlled. Only by understanding the patterns of triumph and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age, can we recognize the experiment?s inherent dangers, and, with luck and wisdom, shape its outcome. Ronald Wright was born in England, educated at Cambridge, and now lives in British Columbia. A novelist, historian, and essayist, he has won prizes in all three genres, and is published in ten languages. His nonfiction includes the number one bestseller Stolen Continents, winner of the Gordon Montador Award and chosen as a bo ok of the year by the Independent and the Sunday Times. His first novel, A Scientific Romance, won the 1997 David Higham Prize for Fiction and was chosen a book of the year by the Globe and Mail, the Sunday Times, and the New York Times. His latest book is the novel Henderson?s Spear. Ronald Wright is also a frequent contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, and has written and presented documentaries for radio and. television on both sides of the Atlantic.” http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/massey.html Note: because Ideas is broadcast across Canada at 9pm local, you can listen to it online by going to the ‘listen’ link above and selecting a city in a timezone where it is currently 9pm. So you listen to it a 8pm EST by clicking on Halifax,Fredericton, or Moncton and at midnight EST by clicking on Vancouver, with the other cities in between. —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Monday 22 November 2004 @ 4:16 PM
04w45:1 Posted November 3rd, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 45 number 1 John Kerry has called Bush to concede defeat, meaning yes it’s true: four more years. I for one am burnt out by the past year, hope has turned to ash, enough is enough. I know most of the people on this list are lefties, so I’m going to avoid political articles for the next while. No need preaching to the choir, when most of us are Canadian to begin with and nothing we do or say matters. If a particularly good article comes along showing Bush is as guilty of war crimes as we suspect he is, then maybe I’ll post to it, but that’s not likely to happen. The voters have spoken and they’ve chosen George Bush’s vision of America.Now I figured, if Bush wins, I’ll send a link to that Guardian Article. Published on Oct 23rd, many of you have probably read it already. If you go to Guardian’s website today, looking for that article, you find: The final sentence of a column in The Guide on Saturday caused offence to some readers. The Guardian associates itself with the following statement from the writer. “Charlie Brooker apologises for any offence caused by his comments relating to President Bush in his TV column, Screen Burn. The views expressed in this column are not those of the Guardian. Although flippant and tasteless, his closing comments were intended as an ironic joke, not as a call to action – an intention he believed regular readers of his humorous column would understand. He deplores violence of any kind.” The article has now been removed from the Guardian Unlimited website. The offending sentence is: On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod’s law dictates he’ll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr – where are you now that we need you? I can’t help but agree with the first part – despite of what the Christian Evangelicals think, God in fact does not exist. – Timothy ——————————————————————— A reader’s guide to expatriating on November 3 | Bryant Urstadt http://harpers.org/ElectingToLeave.html “So the wrong candidate has won, and you want to leave the country. Let us consider your options.” —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Wednesday 03 November 2004 @ 12:03 PM
04w44:4 Gibson's Thoughts Posted October 31st, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 44 number 4 (gibson’s thoughts) William Gibson, who gave up his blog a year ago, took it up again over the past month, weighing in with his thoughts on the election and the nastiness of the Bush regime. – Timothy ——————————————————————— Gibson Blog | William Gibson http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/2004_10_01_archive.asp This is link to the October archives page, if Gibson blogs tomorrow (the 1st) than current entries will be found there. Notable postings here include Oct 14th, 15th, 18th, and the 31st, all accessible simply by scrolling. —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Sunday 31 October 2004 @ 11:12 PM
04w44:3 Redskins Lose Posted October 31st, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 44 number 3 (redskins lose) ——————————————————————— Winning Tradition | Snopes.com http://www.snopes.com/sports/football/election.asp “Claim: The outcome of Washington Redskins home football games has correctly predicted the winner of every U.S. presidential election since 1936. Status: True. […] Update: On 31 October 2004, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Redskins in Washington, 28-14, which – if the established pattern holds true – predicts that Democratic challenger John Kerry will unseat incumbent President George W. Bush in the upcoming presidential election. Last updated: 31 October 2004″ —————————————-http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Sunday 31 October 2004 @ 10:44 PM
04w43:2 The Sequel Posted October 20th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 43 number 2 (the sequel) Remember “Fuck New York”? Here’s the sequel. Thanks to Irina Slutsky for letting me know, and hiphopmusic.com for posting the link.- Timothy ——————————————————————— Sweetliving | in8.com http://in8.com/sweetliving/Resources/sweetliving.mov Quicktime MOV 9.1 MB —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Wednesday 20 October 2004 @ 9:54 PM
04w43:1 The Jon Stewart News Explosion Posted October 9th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 43 number 1 (The Jon Stewart News Explosion) ——————————————————————— TuckerGate: The Video | Anna Marie Cox http://www.wonkette.com/archives/tuckergate-the-video-023539.php A link to video of the Crossfire epsiode in various formats. The IndyMedia clip is complete and a Real Media file but the quality is really low. – Timothy Stewart Caught in the Crossfire | Dana Stevens http://slate.com/id/2108346 “Boy, I’m telling you. You spend one weekend in the boonies, visiting some crunchy friends with no TV set, and you miss out on the biggest television story in months: something actually happens on a political talk show! Moral of story: never go anywhere, and watch as much TV as possible. But meme time be damned: I just have to say a few words about Jon Stewart’s live freakout on Crossfire last Friday. Well, perhaps not so much ‘freakout’ as ‘searing moment of lucidity.'” Jon Stewart, Again in the Crossfire | Lisa de Moraes http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43775-2004Oct18.html “The left and the right on CNN’s ‘Crossfire’ finally have found something they can come together on. Both sides hate ‘Daily Show’ host Jon Stewart. Round 2 of ‘Crossfire’ vs. J on Stewart: On Friday, you’ll recall, the Comedy Central late-night star appeared on CNN’s afternoon screamfest, ostensibly to promote ‘America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction.’ Instead, to the surprise of hosts Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala, Stewart blasted the show and the two men personally, calling them ‘partisan hacks’ who ‘have a responsibility to the public discourse’ but ‘fail miserably.’ “ So what did you do on Friday? | Jon Stewart on The Daily Show http://www.looptvandfilm.com/blog/dailycross.mov Quicktime MOV 3.4 MB —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Tuesday 19 October 2004 @ 1:26 PM
04w41:1 The Cutting Edge Becomes Dull, Needs a Sharpener Posted October 7th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 41 number 1 (the cutting edge becomes dull, needs a sharpener) ——————————————————————— From…Early 21st Century Art (New York: Kramer Publishing 2035) | Tom Moody http://www.digitalmediatree.com/tommoody/?29368 “The death of so-called site specific art came in 2004, at a talked-about show most people never saw.” The TAAFI Panel on the Avant-Garde | Sally McKay and Guests http://www.digitalmediatree.com/sallymckay/comment/29330/ “‘I did not really expect a group of pundits with careers embedded in fine art and it’s discourse to dismiss the field with such an apparent lack of anxiety.’ So bored were they by their work in the arts, the gala soirees and seminars of their art fairs … so bored is Mr. Monk with his basically cultural civil servant position and salary, he doesn’t think he could recognize the avant garde – how tragic to be so dissapointed in one’s life work. Either that or he just likes walking around blindfolded. Pin the tail on the Donkey or play ball! – desolee (guest) 10-05-2004 9:21 am” —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Thursday 07 October 2004 @ 10:47 PM
04w40:2 Lawrence Lessig and the guy who cut off his arm Posted September 29th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 40 number 2 (lawrence lessig and the guy who cut off his arm) ——————————————————————— Our Kids Are in Big Trouble | Lawrence Lessig http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/view.html?pg=5 “But future generations can’t picket. They can’t demand a vote. And the only war on us that they will wage is one of hatred when they recognize what we have done. […] It may always have been like this. I don’t believe in ‘golden age’ histories; the past was not always better than the present. But somehow it seems that we have lost an ethic. When your grandfather spoke of building a better world for you than he knew himself, you believed him. And when you look into the eyes of any 1-year-old child, you may understand what he meant. Which makes it even harder to understand how we’ve become who we are. The Me Generation – which elected the first two presidents to have actively avoided military service (Clinton and Bush) and which will decide this election, too – is in charge, but it has taken its name much too seriously. Gone is the sense of duty that made so compelling Kennedy’s demand ‘ask what you can do for yo ur country.’ We don’t even ask what we, as a nation, can do for our kids. The rhetoric of self-interest so deeply pervades politics that an ideal as fundamental as building a better future has been lost.” Ralston’s choice | Aron Ralston http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,1315388,00.html “I’ve created a mess once again. To brush the dirt off my trapped arm, away from the open wound, I pick up my knife. Sweeping the grit off my thumb, I accidentally gouge myself and rip away a thin piece of decayed flesh. It peels back like a skin of boiled milk before I catch what is going on. I already knew my hand had to be decomposing. Without circulation, it has been dying since I became entrapped. Whenever I considered amputation, it had always been under the premise that the hand was dead and would have to be amputated once I was freed. But I hadn’t known how fast the putrefaction had advanced since Saturday afternoon.” —————————————- http://goodreads.timothycomeau.com To remove or add yourself to this list, go here emailed by Timothy on Wednesday 29 September 2004 @ 10:06 PM
