america adrift

Newsweek has an interview with the creators of this hilarious parody worth checking out. I’ve seen this three times now and it keeps on laughing. In order for satire to work as satire, it must address the absurdities of what is being satirized. In the New Yorker cover, which the editors claim was meant to satirize right-wing media and pundits, there is no point of reference that suggests as much. Notice here what’s in Clinton’s “box of tricks.” Brilliant. The portrayal of McCain’s overt militarism is really funny, as it’s also not far from the truth. And Obama singing about change while jumping rainbows on a unicorn? Priceless.

Which I wish to remark

And my language is plain

That for ways that are dark

And for tricks that are vain,

The heathen Chinee is peculiar.

Which the same I would rise to explain.

Ah Sin was his name;

And I shall not deny

In regard to the same

What that name might imply,

But his smile it was pensive and child-like,

As I frequent remarked to Bill Nye.

It was August the third;

And quite soft was the skies;

Which it might be inferred

That Ah Sin was likewise;

Yet he played it that day upon William

And me in a way I despise.

- The first three stanzas of Bret F. Harte’s “Plain Language from Truthful James”, (Overland Monthly, September 1870, 287-288)

The controversial front page of the July 21 issue of the New Yorker depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as terrorists or subversives is by no means the first such instance of satire being interpreted wrongly, and with long-ranging consequences, in American history. While the New Yorker is claiming that the cover was a satirical jab at the smears propagated by conservative pundits and on the internet, responses from the public range from belief in the smears to rage at the smearers. But ultimately, satirizing the smears merely gives attention to the outrageous claims and helps cement the claimed connection between the Obamas, Islam and terrorism. Continue Reading »

I was surprised recently in my relentless pursuit of Beat scholarship to learn of a connection between Brion Gyson, who invented and later taught William Burroughs the cut-up technique, and Alice B. Toklas, who was Gertrude Stein’s long-time companion and muse.

Even more surprisingly the connection turns out to revolve around a recipe for ‘Haschisch Brownies’ which Toklas (apparently unwittingly) included in her 1954 cookbook - a recipe that was actually given to her by Gyson…

Here is Gyson’s joking description of the cakes:

“This is the food of paradise—of Baudelaire’s Artificial Paradise: it might provide an entertaining refreshment for a Ladies’ Bridge Club or a chapter meeting of the DAR. In Morrocco it is thought to be good for warding off the common cold in damp winter weather and is, indeed, more effective if taken with large quantities of hot mint tea. Euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter, ecstatic reveries and extensions of one’s personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected. Almost anything Saint Theresa did, you can do better if you can bear to be ravished by un evanouissement reveille!”

It may be a little too late for a weekend treat to bake the brownies tonight, but if you insist here is the recipe:

click for larger image


UPDATE:
I just came across this new ad for Hummer. see below
HOPE: HUMMER OWNERS PREPARED FOR EMERGENCIES

I think this ad is what makes the above caption so ironic. Back in Texas, virtually every Hummer had/has one of those ubiquitous “W” bumper stickers on the back. The SUV has become a socio-political signifier. For (most) people on the political Left, Hummer represents an ideology of blatant arrogance in the face of global warming created by over consumption of petrochemicals that is enhanced by SUV’s; Hummers being literally the largest offender.

This ad could well be any contemporary right-wing political ad, combining fear with the notion of unitary action. The America of post 9-11 is alone in a dangerous and threatening world. On some levels, this ad is seen as justification for the theory of the unitary executive and unilateral military aggression. There’s also a not so subtle reference to the image of the Firefighters of 9/11 rushing into the burning World Trade Center. As the narrative states, “After disaster strikes, most people run from point A to point B. Then there are a qualified few, who run from point B to point A.” The final view of a tranquil blue planet Earth from space goes far beyond irony.

Another reading of this ad may be;
HUMMER - Helping you survive the disasters we create…

These debates have been pretty comical over all on the American political scene. Following them can be excruciatingly painful at times as the candidates appear more and more as simulated caricatures of politicians. Part of this is obviously how the media frame the debates both communicatively and visually. All in all the candidates seem to play out their pre-scripted roles, nailing their talking points on que, or not. Occasionally a little personality squeaks through the stage managers carefully orchestrated production. Senator Joe Biden can be very funny and this from last nights Democratic debate was just too funny.

Giuliani is “probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency, Rudy Giuliani - there’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11.”

It’s quite interesting right now to compare both the media coverage and debate formats in the US and Denmark. I think some comparative analysis of various political and media styles between the two countries could be interesting.

I’ve been looking at campaign uses of websites and web 2.0 Internet platforms and am working on an Op-ed piece for publication. Last night I spent an hour or so looking at the Danish campaign websites and thinking about not only how they incorporate new media but also what their web presence and use of communication technologies tell us about their ideology. Radikale Venstre is probablly leading in online messaging and internet based social networking. I’m at a disadvantage in that my Danish is only passable. I think there could be a great article written for a Danish newspaper. Contact me if anyone is interested in working on a collaborative comparative article for either a Danish and/or English market.

Finally, and this is mostly for the graduate and Ph.d students, I’ve got some platforms available for getting readership exposure on some of the U.S. based political and academic blogs. This could be a good platform for working on your ‘intellectual public writing’ as Shelly Fisher Fishkin suggested. Some of these blogs have reached a fair level of notoriety and many are attracting academics and established journalists. As a non-published graduate student I see writing and publishing on the periphery as an avenue for writing development and low-barrier publication.

from the Economist.
This was just too good!