his great viagra moment
crazy alpha-men in their waning years have a miserable time out of the limelight. one can only imagine the extent of nader's simmering rage as he watched the rise of dean on the flickering black-and-white tv in his spartan apartment.
- tina brown, "a welcome diversion for democrats," washington post february 26, 2004
posted February 26, 2004 in politics, printbut
copyright law was written with a particular form of industry in mind. the flourishing of information technology gives amateurs and home-recording artists powerful tools to build and share interesting, transformative, and socially valuable art drawn from pieces of popular culture. there's no place to plug such an important cultural sea change into the current legal regime.
- jonathan zittrain, "defiant downloads rise from underground," interview by bill werde, new york times february 25, 2004
posted February 24, 2004 in musicfemale genital circumcision? hermaphroditism?
our collective temporary insanity—dear g-d, please let it be temporary—about janet has distracted us from the final episodes of sex and the city. which, truth be told, have ended up seeming gratuitously sad—and not just because the show's drag-queens-at-the-clown-rodeo wardrobe schtick (particularly in regard to sarah jessica parker) has definitively passed from glam to gruesome.
janet jackson's career has been drooping for years. sex and the city was hot almost till the end. then the show had to go all lifetime on us. (if it had gone a seventh season, what remaining women’s topics could it have possibly tackled? female genital circumcision? hermaphroditism?)
- simon dumenco, "the download: what a show!" newyorkmetro.com february 23, 2004
posted February 17, 2004 in crap, printshe hates that word, 'transformation'
surely laura bush has a few currents, a little tension, in her inner life. after all, as ann gerhart writes in the perfect wife this is a bright, educated, exceedingly well-read woman, with many liberal friends who cannot abide her husband's conservatism ... mrs. bush's deal "presents an excruciating tension." but does it feel that way to mrs. bush? the first lady, who declined to cooperate in this biography, remains sphinxlike on this and many other questions, aided by a white house message machine that sometimes seems determined to drain not only controversy but also content out of any public statement. at one point, an aide to mrs. bush scolded gerhart for suggesting the first lady had undergone a transformation after the attacks of 9/11. "don't use that word," the aide said. "she hates that word, 'transformation.'"
- robin toner, "'the perfect wife': the un-hillary," new york times february 15, 2004
posted February 16, 2004 in politics, printit was organized by the gay studies department, whatever that is
i have anyone else take my pictures. if anyone is in the room and going out, i tell them to take a camera, and they do it for me.
i like photographs of anything uninteresting. maybe just two doors on a wall.
the point is to be uninteresting. but you can have a second chance.
most artists try to break your heart, or they accidentally break their own hearts. but i find the quietness in the ordinary much more satisfying.
- robert rauschenberg, "questions for robert rauschenberg: growing old, artfully," interview by deborah solomon, new york times february 15, 2004
posted February 16, 2004 in art, speechgeek or slut
by high school, you either qualify as a jock or not. thereafter it's one of the lesser categories of social destiny, like geek or slut ... if more artists have not embraced athletic themes, that may be because so many of them in their youth felt oppressed by this socially dominant culture ... but one of the virtues of art since the '60s is that anything can be material for a work. if nothing else, the opportunity for revenge against these jocks and professional athletes and their looming shadows would seem too inviting to ignore.
- richard b. woodward, "home team advantage," new york times february 15, 2004
posted February 16, 2004 in art, print, sexincestuous amplification
[ahmad] chalabi's séances swayed the political set, the intelligence set and the journalistic set. in an effect senator bob graham dubs "incestuous amplification," the bogus stories spewed by iraqi exiles and defectors ricocheted through an echo chamber of government and media, making it sound as if multiple, reliable sources were corroborating the same story. rather, one self-interested source was replicating like computer spam.
but even incestuous amplification could not have drowned out reality if bush officials had not glommed onto the chalabi flummery for their own reasons—to feed their fantasies about refashioning america's power, psyche and military, and making over the middle east in our image.
- maureen dowd, "the thief of baghdad," new york times february 15, 2004
posted February 16, 2004 in politics, printsuddenly vomit all over everything
peg goldberg longstreth, in her review of the concert for the naples daily news, called [daniele] gatti an "incredibly rude, ill-mannered, churlish, boorish young conductor ... i have seen many gaffes and disasters onstage or during performances in my lifetime. i have seen children wet themselves during their student recital; a graduate student in voice (whom i was accompanying) suddenly vomit all over everything during her doctoral recital; an organ short out and go totally silent during the procession of an ultra-socialite's wedding. i have seen parts break or fall off instruments. reeds split. strings break. professionals forget their parts and flee the stage. i have seen musicians topple off stage; chairs break; batons suddenly take leave and fly through the air."
"but until wednesday, i have never seen a highly touted, internationally much heralded conductor blow his stack, come back on stage following a standing ovation and berate the audience." she concluded by calling gatti a "pretentious, angry little twit."
- tim page, "conductor daniele gatti, leaving on a sour note," washington post february 14, 2004
posted February 16, 2004 in musicnone of my characters is anything like me
none of my characters is anything like me, except i believe that i once donated my geographical dyslexia to one of them. in fact, i'm so averse to drawing from life that whenever i see something wonderful happen in the real world, i'm plunged into despair because that means it can't happen in one of my books.
- anne tyler, "the accidental literary star," interview by mel gussow, new york times february 16, 2004
posted February 16, 2004 in printgotta love the nytimes prose
as many americans were googling stills of janet jackson's exposed breast at the super bowl last sunday, [willie] williams's experiences were already spreading like a virus. they were sent by e-mail from fan to fan and posted on web sites, and they eventually sluiced into the electronic white water that flows between friends' e-mail boxes during the long work day.
- warren st. john, "he's toasted, then he's toast," new york times february 8, 2004
posted February 07, 2004 in crap, print