plans and schemes

"the answer isn't to become the Cosmic Ambassador of Cuddling Yourself"

2008-05-28T14:15:21Z

This article should be included Livejournal's terms and conditions.

MLK

2008-03-31T12:38:29Z

"I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."

Quoted recently by Gary Younge in another article proving he's probably the best reason to read the Guardian. Full text of the letter here.

King's repositioning in the popular consciousness as a moderate himself since his death ("King = good! X = bad!") is another one of those great political PR coups that the right and centre always seem to excel at. The facts don't matter - and it doesn't matter how easily those facts can be accessed and how starkly they contradict your version of events. Just keep telling everyone that Dr King was a happy smiling peaceful moderate who LOVED WHITE PEOPLE, YAAAAY and that Malcolm X HATED WHITE PEOPLE, BOOOOO. Just keep repeating the lies until nobody has the strength to argue any more.

"And the thing was, they weren't measuring the shots."

2008-03-28T11:05:04Z

Really great interview with Estelle covering racism in the UK music industry, and some of the differences in UK and US culture that I can concur might make one want to cross the Atlantic.

Good lookin alexmacpherson!

American citizens, start memorising - sorry, "memorizing" - this shit now

2008-02-08T14:25:48Z

Things that might keep John McCain from becoming President.

Highlights:

Q: Which politician directly intervened to get the Arizona government to approve a $600 Million stadium for the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Arizona in 2003?

A: John McCain

Q: Which company was awarded the exclusive rights to serve alcohol at that stadium through 2010 - with a rubber-stamp extension through 2018?

A: Anheuser-Busch

Q: Which company has the Anheuser-Busch distribution rights for the Phoenix area?

A: The Hensley Company

Q: Who is Chairman of the Board of The Hensley Company?

A: Cindy Hensley McCain - his wife.

Q: Which Hensley Company executive was given a $48 Million bonus in 2003?

A: Cindy Hensley McCain.

Also:

McCain in 1999 said that, "even in the long term," he would not support the repeal of Roe v. Wade because "thousands of young American women would be performing illegal and dangerous operations." But last November he said that he now favored repeal because "I don't believe the Supreme Court should be legislating in the way that they did on Roe v. Wade."

What a straight-talking plain-dealer he is!

Start making your own circular emails now with which to annoy friends, co-workers and relatives.

zenith @ 2007-12-13T00:26:00

2007-12-13T00:27:49Z

If you want to see the most damning inditement possible of my generation's self-important solipsism and self-deluding credulity, please watch the First Cut documentary 'Happy Birthday You're Dead'.

I love this meme

2007-12-11T10:15:29Z

Via freakytigger:

1. Go to the Wikipedia home page and click random article. That is your band's name.
2. Click random article again; that is your album name.
3. Click random article 15 more times (or however many times seems appropriate for your band); those are the tracks on your album.

My band name is Ekata. Pretty great band name! Math rock?

The album is called Ryōtarō Shiba! Definitely droning math-rock - ten minute masterpieces featuring nine drumkits - that kind of thing.

1. 'Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani' - frankly terrifying commentary on the war on terror and the "clash of civilisations". Mixes CNN newsreader samples with calls to prayer, sitar, and martial drums. A real statement of intent from America's most vital and important band.
2. 'Annales Academiæ Scientiarum Fennicæ' - a pastoral interlude, with bubbling synths and arpeggio. Boards of Canada were an acknowledged influence on this one.
3. 'Mizpah, Minnesota' - cinematic driving rock, heavy on the guitars. The most accessible thing we've ever recorded.
4. 'John Trevor I' - sombre, elegiac piece. John Trevor was a friend of the band who died of a heroin overdose.
5. 'The Divine Miss M' - borderline unlistenable shrieking (I didn't know I could hit notes that high) and punishing percussion. One for fans of the early stuff.
6. 'CJUM-FM' - nosebleed techno as played using only bass guitars and multiple drumkits. Ranting vocals supplied by someone who sounds like one of Melt Banana, but is actually just someone who dropped by the studio to hang, and we never got their name, or established if it was a girl or a boy.
7. 'Brass Quintet No. 2' - features actual brass band. An acid jazz curio.
8. 'Vilambit' - slow, stately, two-minute math-waltz.
9. 'The Oncoming Storm' - 17 minutes of apocalyptic, orchestrated noise, which incorporates several of the musical themes from tracks 1, 3, 5 and 6 and brings them together into a staggering finale. People are going to talk about the live performance we did of this on the last night of ATP for the rest of their lives.
10. 'Baena' - calm returns with this soothing, redemptive, piano-led coda.

somethin' special... unforgettable...

2007-09-20T11:08:43Z

Can anyone recomment a good London club night that's on during the two weeks starting this Saturday (but not including Sat 6th October, and yes, I know that's when the next Poptimism is)? Other nights to exclude: Sunday 30th September and Tuesday 2nd October, although if anyone knows of one in Brighton on that date, go ahead. I am making this as vague as possible to get the widest range of suggestions!

"Yes they deserved to die..."

2007-04-26T23:06:16Z

two blokes, and a fuckload of cutlery

2007-02-25T12:54:58Z

"Where's the trolley boy?"
"In the freezer."
"Did you say 'stay cool'?"
"Umm, no, I didn't say anything..."
"Awww, shame."
"Ooh, ooh, but earlier on, there was this bit when I distracted him with the stuffed monkey, and before I hit him in the head with my peace lily, I said 'Playtime's over, big boy!'"
"You're off the fuckin' chain!"

Now I remember why it would be so nice to be depoliticised...

2007-02-23T12:11:36Z

Occupied Gaza like apartheid South Africa, says UN report (link to Guardian article, but you can also find the whole report there)

After describing the situation for Palestinians in the West Bank, with closed zones, demolitions and preference given to settlers on roads, with building rights and by the army, he said: "Can it seriously be denied that the purpose of such action is to establish and maintain domination by one racial group (Jews) over another racial group (Palestinians) and systematically oppressing them? Israel denies that this is its intention or purpose. But such an intention or purpose may be inferred from the actions described in this report."

He dismissed Israel's argument that the sole purpose of the vast concrete and steel West Bank barrier is for security. "It has become abundantly clear that the wall and checkpoints are principally aimed at advancing the safety, convenience and comfort of settlers," he said.

Gaza remained under occupation despite the withdrawal of settlers in 2005. "In effect, following Israel's withdrawal, Gaza became a sealed-off, imprisoned and occupied territory," he said.

Prof Dugard said his mandate was solely to report on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories and he described as a violation of international humanitarian law the firing of rockets by Palestinians from Gaza into Israel. "Such actions cannot be condoned and clearly constitute a war crime," he said. "Nevertheless, Israel's response has been grossly disproportionate and indiscriminate and resulted in the commission of multiple war crimes."

I just find this depressing, really, because it's not like this is anything which hasn't been said before. Those people who are convinced that everything the state of Israel does is inherently right and that any criticism of it amounts to anti-Semitism will continue to believe that, and in some cases will continue to propogate that argument up to and including smearing anyone who disagrees. Prof Dugard can no doubt expect to have all kinds of allegations flung at him. It would be nice to think that the fact that this is a UN report gives it a stamp of "official" authority, but given how successfully US neo-con and UK liberal-imperialist-apologist propaganda has rebranded the UN as a buncha untrustworthy corrupt 'Old Europe' Arab-lovers, I doubt it makes a huge amount of difference. Israel has ignored UN resolutions without breaking a sweat, a report is hardly going to make a difference.

I suppose the most one could hope for is that people who don't have a position on the issue of Israel and Palestine might be moved to take one, or at least find out more until they find themselves taking one...

"Hello, I'm a twat"

2007-02-05T11:39:50Z

So when you see the ads, you think, "PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers." In other words, it is a devastatingly accurate campaign.

I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don't use Macs but sometimes wish they did.

Charlie Brooker on the most annoying, career-wrecking-if-there's-any-justice adverts in quite some time.

Also hilarious: spot the glaringly idiotic and typically Guardian error in the piece, and then scroll down to the first comment to see Brooker doing his "I am justifiably appalled and want to kill myself" schtick at the expense of the sub-editor who added it.

So...

2006-12-31T14:03:26Z

...Who's going to Poptimism tonight?

top 10 albums of the year: continued

2006-12-22T23:16:44Z

"...ruining the reputation of the Glitter Band..."

Luke Haines - Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop

After a couple of recent releases which either reminded us how great he has been (Das Capital, Luke Haines Is Dead), and a couple of others that were far from his best (his previous solo albums and the last Black Box Recorder record), this is - yeah, it's a cliche - but it IS a cracking return to form for Haines. 'Leeds United' and 'Bad Reputation' are two of the best songs he's ever written, which is saying something.

Many of his obsessions remain constant, as is true of so many of the best songwriters: the 1970s, Englishness, glam rock, villaint, murder, terrible things happening to children, the forgotten corners of popular culture. He makes it all new, though - 'Leeds United', a sort of companion piece to the novel The Damned Utd by David Peace, mixes in both the dirty playing style of the then champions and their subsequent decline with the Yorkshire ripper, the British weather, and the emptiness of domestic life. In the 70s. In the North. And Haines will still surprise you by knocking off an effective electropop pastiche (the title track), or throwing suddenly heartfelt romantic lines into 'Fighting In The City Tonight', which would otherwise seem to be merely a Kaiser Chiefs pisstake, without: "I'm so in love with you - I'll never fall in love again / I'm a lover, not a fighter - our love I will defend..." All this, and that Gary Glitter lyric. When's that lifetime achievement award going to show up?

I know now fragility

2006-12-21T02:08:53Z

10 days to the end of the year, time to start writing about 10 albums released this year that I love.

These end of year lists are problematic anyway, but the start of this year feels so long ago that I'm even more likely to have forgotten albums than usual. Amazon is telling me that Powder Burns, Sexor and The Greatest are all 2006 releases, which seems insane to me in some ways. That's before we even get onto those that have just been realised which I haven't really had time to assess (the new Gwen Stefani and Ciara albums) or even buy yet (Game Theory which I keep meaning to buy ever since hearing it in this weird organic pizza place in NY and being amazed that The Roots could sound so tight, More Fish).

But I think I can do 10, not necessarily "THE" top 10, but I'm pretty sure I have 9 that are better than anything else I've heard and another 9 or so to listen to until I pick one of those. So let's give it a shot, not in any order other than which it feels easiest to write about first.

The Knife - Silent Shout

There was this advert for... I think maybe Guinness, maybe a car... Anyway, it was a couple of years ago and got shown at the cinema a lot, and it featured some people driving through the countryside at night, looking for a party. One of them sees a glowing little insect flying around by the window, so they stop the car and get out and walk off the road into the darkness, through the woods, following this tiny flickering light, until there are more flickering lights and eventually, there in the middle of the forest, is a party.

I always found that advert a lot more ambiguously sinister than I thought it was meant to be - something Pied Piper about it, something grim fairytale, the sense of being lured off the path into the darkness, away from civilisation... There might be the best party in the world waiting for you, or you might just end up wandering the woods until you freeze to death, or walking into the sea by mistake, y'know?

And THAT is Silent Shout. It's a party in the middle of a forest, hosted by unfamiliar people who enthrall but also terrify you with their pagan ways, and it's also the forest around you, the utterly quiet, pitch black bits... Such a contradictory album because it contains one of the biggest dancefloor stormers of the year, the utterly crazed and joyous 'We Share Our Mothers' Health', and yet so many songs which sound so fragile and tiny and easily crushed ('From Off To On' is barely a whisper).

This is also the album that there seems to be most consensus about on the bits of the internet that I frequent where music is discussed. I think that's because The Knife do pop, but on this record they do it in a very... unpop way. So it ends up appealing to everyone. Leading everyone into the dark.

THREE TRACKS YOU MUST HEAR: 'Silent Shout', 'Forest Families', 'We Share Our Mothers' Health'

poptimism sets

2006-12-09T01:26:54Z

uno:
Luke Haines - Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop
Of Montreal - The Party's Crashing Us (World Trade Center Remix)
Long Blondes - You Could Have Both
Junior Boys - In The Morning
Lo-Fi-FNK - Wake Up
Kelis - Blindfold Me
Beyonce - Ring The Alarm
Justin Timberlake f/ Timbaland and Three 6 Mafia - Chop Me Up

duo:
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean - Hips Don't Lie
Clipse f/Slim Thug - Wamp Wamp
Spank Rock - Backyard Betty
The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control (Soulwax Nite Version)
Kelly Clarkson vs. Richard X vs. The Beatles - Since You Been Gone (Aggro1 Bootleg)
The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health

Much fun was had, despite the first set being a little earlier than most people were ready to dance and the second one being affected by a need to turn the levels down* and the decks going a little skippy during WSOMH. Highlight of the night (well, of my sets): WAMP WAMP, the original in the end not the Pistol Pete remix, snuck in just while it was still good and loud. We got it for cheap, that's the re-up anthem, y'all.

*Because of how Po' live: hating plus harassing the kids.

wamp wamp-timism

2006-12-07T16:01:36Z

Poptimism tomorrow night! Now that I am 98% sure that I'm not going to be prevented from doing my set by tooth pain (tourch wood), I am wondering if anyone is going to come. Are you going to come?

(Also, Saturday night is Club Motherfucker at Barden's Boudoir featuring Planning To Rock and Simian Mobile Disco - anyone up for that?)

Friday December 8th: Poptimism!

2006-11-21T13:48:10Z

If you're not going to ATP to see the UK's finest collection of beards, why not come to Poptimism Xmas Party, upstairs at the Union Tavern on King's Cross Road, between 7ish-12ish, for FREE. I will be guest DJing at about 8 and then possibly later as well! There will be no Christmas-themed records from me, instead I will be playing some of my favourite records from 2006, or that I heard in 2006, or possibly I will break with that theme completely if the mood takes me. But expect: CSS, Lo-Fi-FNK, Kelis, Beyonce and her bidet, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Bonde Do Role, probably that Lindsay Lohan mash-up, remixes, HYPHY, and who knows what else I can squeeze in!

WHAT IS THE HAPS PEOPLE.

zenith @ 2006-11-20T21:32:00

2006-11-20T21:33:08Z

(Stolen from poptimists, but I feel like doing it here.)

Step 1:Put your iTunes/MP3 player on random.
Step 2: Post the first line(s) of the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 5: NO CHEATING [but I did skip an instrumental and non-English language song and have blocked out some song titles]

1. ~~Another weekend without make-up, another evening to myself, well I guess I won't be having the time of my life tonight...~~ Well done Jack Fear! It's touching to think you check this journal often, hoping for an entry that isn't friends-locked. Touching, and very vain of me.
2. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Woo! Gimme [TITLE OF SONG]...
3. ~~I know the groove will blow.~~ Mr Fear called this one too.
4. Uh, oh, here we go - I'm doing time, and I'm feeling fine, it's -
5. ~~Honey, loving you is the greatest thing, I get to be myself and I get to sing...~~ Score 1 for pot80!
6. Take it on back to the 1980s...
7. I wonder... Love looks forward, hate looks back, but fear has eyes all over his head.
8. Who ya suckers think ya trippin' with? Yes, I'm the boss...
9. He thinks combustible, therefore his spit's explosive...
10. [TITLE OF SONG] into the zone, we're setting the scene for the century, glam glitter and gold, gonna take it all, gonna take it all yeah...
11. ~~New year we want some new kind of fuck...~~ Well done cis!
12. ~~Go 'head be gone with it, go 'head be gone with it, let me see what you're twerkin' with... [yes, this is actually the first line of this version]~~ Very impress answer there from cis again.
13. ~~A city rooftop, summer night, in your tanktop, rainbow stylin'...~~ Well done dickmalone!
14. ~~Won't you call my private number? We can go away for the summer.~~ Score 2 for pot80!
15. Hey yo - you don't have to love me, you don't even have to like me...
16. ~~Bass. (Uh!) Hi-hat. (Uh!) 808. (Uh!)~~ And again, claps! Although this one was kinda easy.
17. Time to knock 'em out, cut 'em with the glass hand, time to shut 'em down, I'm comin' out the badlands, Oscar the Grouch kid jumpin' out the trashcan...
18. ~~I met him out for dinner on a Friday night, he really had me working up an appetite...~~ cis gets the points, von doom gets a trip to Mexico with an ex-hooker who looks like Veronica Lake, or whatever.
19. [TITLE OF SONG], it's gonna getcha, step back, you talk too much...
20. Check it out, goin' out, on a late night, lookin' tight, feelin' nice, it's a cock fight...

young folks

2006-11-17T09:30:28Z

View Poll: young folks

LE SQUEE

2006-10-12T22:37:44Z

CSS is looking for Cat Power

zenith @ 2006-10-10T10:58:00

2006-10-10T10:06:45Z

What is the cause of the resurgence of 'I Was Made For Lovin' You' by KISS - or is it only all in my head?

(I may have to take this to poptimists if I don't find answers here.)

C.... S..... S.... SUXXX....

2006-10-06T19:18:18Z

My new wallpaper:

As posted from their MySpace:

Subject: put baby spice + 4 in the list. (important mesagesage)
Body: HEY!
people are getting late to our showswwww!! people are missing our shows!
they come and they say "i wasa saw the last 30 seconds... and that was it". C'mon... if we are with our starirr srr straigh faces right around 8 forty five or 6 forty five youve got to be there too!

be sure with the promotoer promoter in your town about what time we'll get on the sate asta stage
!

k

we named tis tour this tour for ourlselves as CHEETAH BRICK.
OK?

CHEETAH BRICK!

why?

beucasebecause it's good.

we do like when you offer us drinks.
but it's always better if you do this before the hsow.

show

but if there's a day off next day we'll drink as many drinks as you offer us.

why?
beucase it's good.!

chey

hey,
come early!

ok?
wy? why?
because it's good.

we'll play in NY for hallooweeennn!
yeahhhhh

woohoooooo
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

God I love them.

zenith @ 2006-09-10T00:58:00

2006-09-10T00:41:35Z

Best thing I have heard in... days = 'Club Stuntin' by The Pack & Traxamillion, which you can get here at Fluokids, rapidly becoming my second favourite MP3 blog (that begins with 'flu', or at all). I need to hear more of this hyphy stuff, ASAP. The Pack, for those who don't know, also have a song called 'Vans' which has given me a whole new level of swagger regarding my continued footwear of choice.

CSS last night = great, but I really hope when we see them support Ladytron in New York we'll have more of a chance to get down the front. 93 Feet East is not a venue that works very well when it's that packed. On the plus side, N. is now a convert and we got to marvel at the drop-dead Shane-like supercoolness of Luiza. And 'Let's Make Love...' is still song of the YEAR.

konsumer

2006-08-25T09:42:10Z

Bought or ordered yesterday:

To listen to:
Idlewild by Outkast (already close to regretting this, will obviously give it another try but so far it sounds like a bunch of b-sides and outtakes, validating all their critics)
Hit The Floor by You Say Party! We Say Die! (on order)
Digital Penetration Vol. 1 by various (not sure what to make of this yet, but it was cheap, very cheap)

To watch: Deadwood Season 1 (on order)

To read: new issue of Plan B (looks to be the usual mix of inspiring brilliance and maddening wrongness, which is what you want out of a music mag really - note to self: SUBMIT STUFF), Gateway (random 70s sci-fi novel)

Wow, this journal is really a grrrreat read these days, huh? That might explain why nobody ever comments on it anymore.

Avenue D at 333 tonight!

Status: Going Gay For Wallace Wells

2006-08-19T20:13:58Z

"This song is for the guy who keeps yelling from the balcony, and it's called 'We Hate You, Please Die'. ONE TWO THREE FOUR!!"

"Sweet! A song for me!"

(Yeah, I finally got into Scott Pilgrim...)