Held in the hand of the world

After being floored by “The Holy Mountain”,...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:49:04 +1000

After being floored by “The Holy Mountain”, I’m tonight attempting to devour Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “El Topo”.

“Film stars to me were always six feet four, had perfect teeth...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:40:12 +1000

“Film stars to me were always six feet four, had perfect teeth and could do handstands on Malibu Beach.. and didn’t need glasses.”

HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY MICHAEL CAINE!

adowdell: Pretty much.

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:50:43 +1000

adowdell:

Pretty much.

severedlips: JFC SO I WAS BORED AND ILL YESTERDAY AND I THOUGHT...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:49:27 +1000

severedlips:

JFC
SO I WAS BORED AND ILL YESTERDAY AND I THOUGHT TO MYSELF “hey Isis why don’t you go through some music videos and take screenshots” FOR NO APPARENT REASON
SO THAT’S WHAT I DID
AND THEN I GOT TO DINOSAUR JR’S OVER IT
AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED
SCREENSHOTTING THIS IS LITERALLY THE GREATEST DECISION I HAVE EVER MADE IN ALL MY LIFE

For the last 24 hours, I might as well have just wrapped my head in Cointreau- and Wild...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:46:41 +1000

For the last 24 hours, I might as well have just wrapped my head in Cointreau- and Wild Turkey-soaked cotton wool, and stuck said head into J Mascis’ amp. Fuck.

About to begin the final semseter of my undergrad degree, finally got a job, organising temporary...

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:35:40 +1000

About to begin the final semseter of my undergrad degree, finally got a job, organising temporary (and well-paid) employment in Gladstone for 6 months, looking forward to a month-long trip to Ecuador with Jessie, and moving to Brisbane in January. This is the year I’ve been waiting a long time for.

Henry Rollins in “Deathdealer”

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:35:34 +1000

Henry Rollins in “Deathdealer”

danelleisnice: Hood by *PaulMellender

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:17:20 +1000

danelleisnice:

Hood by *PaulMellender

Behind the eyes I'm only sleeping: The Mercilessness of Time

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 23:25:16 +1000

Behind the eyes I'm only sleeping: The Mercilessness of Time:

musings-and-machinations:

The place where I sleep is cold and abandoned. Where there once was life – the constant crescendo and crash of a thousand conversations, the warm embrace of familiarity and the comfort of anonymity – there is void. Between each blissful darkness that falls with every blink of my weary eyes I am…

universalequalityisinevitable: It’s a popularity contest.

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:37:44 +1000

universalequalityisinevitable:

It’s a popularity contest.

Photo

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:20:01 +1000

propaganda-duende: see headline “cuba bans reggaeton” cuba has actually decided not to play songs...

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 12:56:13 +1000

propaganda-duende:

see headline “cuba bans reggaeton”

cuba has actually decided not to play songs that are humiliating or degrading to women on public radio

thanks western media, thanks,

Photo

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:16:56 +1000

Maya banned from performing ceremonies in their own temples.

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:16:20 +1000

Maya banned from performing ceremonies in their own temples.:

so-treu:

apihtawikosisan:

Mexican authorities have banned Maya spiritual leaders from performing ceremonies at their ancestral temples, which are about to be overrun by a curious assortment of conspiracy theorists, dooms-dayers, new-agers and well-intentioned tourists who just want to be apart of the festivities.

The Ceremonies are meant to mark the end of the Maya long-count calendar, which began 13 Baktun (cycles) ago. Under the Greco-Roman Calender, that’s about 3112 BC.

Contrary to popular (mis)belief, the end of the long-count calendar is being viewed as something positive. As Mayan priest Jose Manrique Esquive recently pointed out, the current Baktun, which began around 1618, has been drenched by a continuous reign of misery that included the introduction of European disease, culture and language being erased and entire populations being extinguished.

…

However, the Maya are still going to be allowed to visit the sites along with the tourists, but they will likely have to pay to get in, just like everyone else.

I am full of rage and oh so unsurprised.

fuck this

nraybould: Against police repression on the streets Atelier...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:04:36 +1000

nraybould:

Against police repression on the streets

Atelier Populaire, 1968.

whomadecookies: peaches-bakhtin: that really marxist episode...

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:38:41 +1000

whomadecookies:

peaches-bakhtin:

that really marxist episode of Spongebob Squarepants

a pivotal moment in my relationship with capitalism

The amount of people up in arms about refugees getting more government benefits than pensioners and...

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:37:53 +1000

The amount of people up in arms about refugees getting more government benefits than pensioners and free housing is about equal to the amount that get their facts second hand from Facebook.

MITCHELL: Obama making up drone rules as he goes

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:23:54 +1000

MITCHELL: Obama making up drone rules as he goes :

The Obama administration has not yet answered concerns regarding the secrecy, legality and efficacy of the drone warfare program. During the presidential elections, to avoid leaving business unfinished, a last-minute effort surfaced in the White House to create a secret rule book for targeted killing. Although Barack Obama retook the White House, the rule book is still being written, and the American people must work quickly to bring drone warfare out of the darkness and into public view. There are many reasons for this.

The first concern is secrecy. Drone strikes and targeted kill lists are highly classified by the U.S. military and Central Intelligence Agency. This makes it difficult to discern the true effects of their use in warfare. Keeping all the details in the shadows also creates confusion among media outlets and human rights organizations, which are attempting to calculate precise casualty statistics. Current figures from the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism range anywhere from 472 to 885 civilians killed in Pakistan, to 60 to 163 in Yemen since 2002. This high level of secrecy results in inaccuracy, to say nothing of the psychological damage done to innocent bystanders and the physical destruction of infrastructure created by the air strikes. The denial that follows from the CIA only further frustrates foreign onlookers and civilians on the ground.

The second concern is legality. While there hasn’t been much chatter on the home front, the U.S. has yet to convince other nations that drone warfare and targeted killing are legal under international law. Just last month the United Nations made public that it will be setting up an investigative unit within the year to research specific drone attacks.

Under the rules of International Humanitarian Law, targeted killing is only lawful when met by three requirements: 1) The target is directly participating in the hostilities; 2) the use of force is proportionate; and 3) precautions are taken to minimize harm to civilians. Ambiguous terminology raises questions: How are we sure they are direct participants? What is proportionate use of force? What is acceptable harm to civilians? It may not take lawyers and policymakers long to develop calculated justifications to rationalize and defend U.S. military operations, but there must be accountability somewhere along the way, and long before the order to “fire.”

The third concern is efficacy. Even if all legal avenues have been addressed, the question remains: Does drone warfare create a safer environment and keep Americans out of harm’s way? If the goal was, as George W. Bush vowed, “to rid the world of evil-doers,” it is not clear we came even marginally close to success. In conventional warfare, nations would fight one another and the war would end when a leader either surrendered or claimed defeat. It is baffling that U.S. war policy is still derived in this fashion. The United States military, coupled with the support of the CIA counterterrorism forces, has eliminated countless militant leaders, but the war wages on. One kingpin after another has been toppled, but the replacements are relentless and, in some cases, more terrifying than their predecessors. Clearly, the game has changed, yet we are still trying to wage war using archaic tactics masked by expensive, remote-controlled weapons.

Even more disconcerting is these targeted attacks are being executed in our name, by the United States of America, without the consent of the American people. American principles and values are at stake. Military policy has always been public knowledge. Yet, the CIA, which is supposed to be an intelligence gathering agency, is waging secret wars. Moreover, Mr. Obama has classified more documents in his tenure than any other president in American history.

Before the Obama administration expends more effort and tax dollars justifying drone warfare, Congress and the American people need to start soliciting the White House for appropriate disclosure of all previous drone strikes. Exposing the attacks will create an open dialogue and bring these covert operations out of the shadows and into the limelight. When it comes to rule books and kill lists, oversight is not optional, it’s demanded.

"If you do not have an idea of what you want to replace the State with, you have no right to..."

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 10:46:43 +1000

“If you do not have an idea of what you want to replace the State with, you have no right to subtract/withdraw from the State. Instead of withdrawing into a distance from the State, the true task should be to make the State itself work in a non-statal mode. The alternative ‘either struggle for state power (which makes us the same as the enemy we are fighting) or withdraw into a posture of resistance from a distance towards the State’ is a false one, because both its terms share the same premise: that a State-form, as we know it, is here to stay, so that all we can do is take over the State or maintain a distance towards it. Here one should shamelessly repeat the lesson of Lenin’s ‘The State & Revolution’: the goal of revolutionary violence is not to take over State power, but to transform it, radically changing its functioning, its relation to its base, etc.”

- Slavoj Zizek, ‘How to Begin from the Beginning’ (via aidsnegligee)

ooooooooooooooooh: All that time spent going to schoolJust to...

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:39:23 +1000

ooooooooooooooooh:

All that time spent going to school
Just to end up following rules

i’m not crazy about the dead kennedys’ sound but their lyrics, especially in this song, are gold

DKs know what’s up