alias Bruce.

Trump-Free Thursday: Freedom of art at Gwarlingo

Welcome to an experiment: Trump-Free Thursday, a place where All Trump All The Time yields to better and truer things.

Need a space to breathe? Today I suggest Gwarlingo, one of the truest windows I've yet found for art, poems, wild ideas, and all else creative: recent poetry by staggering channeler Nickole Brown, shockingly sublime postcard art by John Stezaker, the twisted fairy mirror of Grimm's tales, and way, way, more, courtesy of site founder Michelle Aldredge and a zillion contributors. (Full disclosure: I was one. But that was years ago.) Just go.

Introducing Poemmentary.com.

It's news headlines and political commentary -- but exclusively through poetry. Wherever it is found, seen, heard, or scrawled. Its motto is "Freed Speech."

For a different kind of reporting,  go to Poemmentary.com. The April 6th story, for instance, is "Illegal Immigration Is A Touchstone For Anger."

I launched the site this week after years of daydreaming about it. There is much, much more to come. In all kinds of directions. Please visit as it grows.

Police brutality: the musical.

 

 

This is a very good generic brand video.

You know that messed-with feeling you get while you watch 30 seconds of carefully-murmured nothing try to sell you something? Kendra Eash nails it in her McSweeney's poemmentary, "This is a Generic Brand Video," which has gone viral. The perfect irony is that the subsequent (and brilliant) video version is a real commercial for a real company: a video firm that sells itself as the winking, upstart alternative to generic advertising. More on blank ad campaigns – which I used to do for a living – soon. Right now, enjoy Eash's piece and the video.

This is a Generic Brand Video.

by Kendra Eash

We think first
Of vague words that are synonyms for progress
And pair them with footage of a high-speed train.

Science
Is doing lots of stuff
That may or may not have anything to do with us.

See how this guy in a lab coat holds up a beaker?
That means we do research.
Here’s a picture of DNA.

There are a shitload of people in the world
Especially in India
See how we’re part of the global economy?
Look at these farmers in China.

But we also do business in the U.S.A.
Or want you to think we do.
Check out this wind energy thing in Indiana,
And this blue collar guy with dirt on his face.
Phew.

Also, we care about the environment, loosely.
Here’s some powerful, rushing water
And people planting trees.
Our policies could be related to these panoramic views of Costa Rica.

In today’s high speed environment,
Stop motion footage of a city at night
With cars turning quickly
Makes you think about doing things efficiently
And time passing.

Lest you think we’re a faceless entity,
Look at all these attractive people.
Here’s some of them talking and laughing
And close-ups of hands passing canned goods to each other
In a setting that evokes community service.

Equality,
Innovation,
Honesty
And advancement
Are all words we chose from a list.

Our profits
are awe-inspiring.
Like this guy who’s looking up and pointing
At a skyscraper or a kite
While smiling and explaining something to his child.

Using a specific ratio
of Asian people to Black people to Women to White men
We want to make sure we represent your needs and interests
Or at least a version of your skin color
In our ads.

Did we put a baby in here?
What about an ethnic old man whose wrinkled smile represents the happiness and wisdom of the poor?
Yep.

 

This Is a Generic Brand Video from Dissolve on Vimeo.

No matter what you think of Obama, this image nails Rush Limbaugh's role as a decoy paid to divert attention from what is destroying people's lives:

Of course, President Irrelevant is only a convenient bit player in this sucker act. Rush's underlying pitch to angry white Americans is: You, my fellow pissed-off white Americans, should be the rulers here, and you would be if it weren't for government. Don't be angry at corporations and their hired politicians or at rich folks like me who can buy great health coverage and dodge taxes. Be angry at that White House nigger who is bossing you around!

That's The Rush Limbaugh Act, brought to you by a tiny group of people who will never have to stand in line for anything.

The controversial Doonesbury abortion sonogram comic strips,

which many newspapers are afraid to run, can be seen in their entirety at Gawker.com, which is posting PDFs from the Poughkeepsie Journal. The Journal is withholding the strips from its print comics page but is posting them online with an explanation, which is at least something. Here, from Gawker, are the two the Journal has run so far. The newspaper, and Gawker, say they will run the series through to completion. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Part of what captivates me about the mob

is that it is tribal. It has clans. Members have codes and taboos that cannot be bared in public. And they take on street names drawn from a more natural and gutturally symbolic world than tags like "Michael" and "Jerome" -- say, for example, "Big Tuna" and "Joe Bananas," both of whom were real-life mob figures. Or my all-time favorite, which actually comes from a film: "Jimmy the Cheese Man" from The Pope of Greenwich Village.

Youth gangs, similarly, dig into symbolism for identities that mean something beyond the often-disposable sound-gaming of American naming. Kids caught in a void of violent nihilism take on vividly personal handles for themselves and others: "Teeth," "Big Eye," "Snapper," "Sleepy." Names that say something about the bearer. The way that, say, some West African names do.

I think one of the most eloquent movie scenes ever is from the film Pulp Fiction, when Bruce Willis's fugitive boxer character tells a cab driver who remarks on his name, "I'm an American. My name doesn't mean shit."

Part of what mobs and gangs do is fill this selfhood void -- but with reactionary, racist, misogynist, fake "outlaw" outlets for American males, especially angry young males, for whom the vanilla concoction of shrink-wrapped American male identity means exactly nothing. Patriarchal capitalism has succeeded in alienating them from essence. Their substitute version of rawness, a kind of kamikaze fraternity, is their attempt at medicine for their ailment. It's a sick manifestation of a real desire.

None of that is the least bit funny. Still, there is something about the following rendition of Sesame Street's Ernie and Bert doing the classic Joe Pesci/Robert DeNiro desert scene from the Martin Scorsese film Casino that paints a perfect, hilariously absurd picture of this kind of cartoon barbarity:

 

(The trolls at YouTube have blocked direct embedding, but when "watch on YouTube" pops up, click it and you can watch it.)

Two debt ceiling news flashes you may not have seen:

From satirist Andy Borowitz's The Borowitz Report:

Biden Compares Tea Party to Terrorists; Al-Qaeda Demands Apology
‘Bad for Our Brand,’ Madmen Claim

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – Vice President Joe Biden ignited an international incident today when he called the Tea Party “terrorists,” causing the leader of al-Qaeda to demand an apology.

Just moments after Mr. Biden made his controversial remark, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared in a video to condemn the comment, which the terrorist called “hurtful.”

“I demand that the Vice President take back his offensive comment immediately,” Mr. al-Zawahiri said in the video, broadcast on Al-Jazeera.  “It has been very bad for our brand.”

Mr. Biden attempted to clarify his remark later in the day, telling reporters, “I in no way intended to insult the members of al-Qaeda.”

“Both al-Qaeda and the Tea Party tried to destroy the U.S. economy,” Mr. Biden elaborated.  “But in fairness to al-Qaeda, the Tea Party came a lot closer.”

Democrats Accept Major Cuts to Their Balls
Outcome Surprises No One

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – After weeks of wrenching negotiations that went right up to the wire, Democrats in the House and Senate today accepted major cuts to their balls.

The cuts, which are expected to pass both houses of Congress on Tuesday, will give Republicans’ total custody of the Democrats’ cojones through the next election cycle.

The final hitch in the negotiations centered on how long the Republicans would keep the Democrats’ family jewels, with Democrats wanting them returned by 2012 and Republicans insisting on keeping them longer.

After much wrangling, a compromise was worked out in which the Republicans would keep the Democrats’ balls “indefinitely.”

After the deal was hammered out, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was philosophical about an outcome that surprised no one.

“You win some and you lose some,” he told reporters.  “Except that, as Democrats, only the second part is true."

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) said that the historic deal set the stage for more compromises between the two political parties: “Tomorrow we begin negotiating for their lunch money.”

Reason #117 to not sleep on the subway.

 

Stephen Colbert's "Restoring Truthiness" Rally is

an idea whose time has come. An excerpt from its call to arms:

"America, we are at a crossroad. Truthiness in this nation is at an all-time low since the inception of the concept was founded by the great American, Stephen Colbert. In its rich history over the past five years, Truthiness has become synonymous with American values such as freedom, honor, and Taco Bell. Recently our nation has suffered a truthiness drain. In fact, untruthiness is as common as measles vaccinations that cause cancer. We as a nation have stopped relying on our emotions and gut. We need to get back to what makes this nation great. Act on impulse not fact. Stop wasting time analyzing and just take what people say on face value. Why think when someone else can think for you. It’s superficial. It’s quick. It’s American. Restore Truthiness now!"