Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
and another Nina Simone post
I'm writing a little paper about the queen so there'll probably be a few of these now. Every time I come across some footage of her live I feel I've found a new meaning to the word "performance" This one is in the Netherlands 1965. 40 minutes of a genius at work
History of cool #1: Josephine Baker
Starting a new in-blog series exploring the history of cool.
Kicking off with this master of performance
Kicking off with this master of performance
LA LUPE
Here are two amazing TV performances by Cuban pop singer La Lupe. I don't know what she's saying but I'm sure her hand gestures are making atoms shake in a very unusual way. Sontag mentions her in a random list of "items which are part of the canon of Camp", featured in her wonderful 1964 classic, Notes on Camp.
Does Israel still need democracy? (this one is serious)
What's happening in Israel these days is starting to look like a really bad sci-fi-tragi-not-so-comic-more-like-horror movie. An extremely right wing nationalistic government is constantly passing new laws, aimed at restricting the supreme court, the free press and human rights organizations and hurt the status of non-jewish minority groups.
Professor Zeev Sternhell published this text in Haaretz daily newspaper, it is highly recommend if anyone is interested: Does Israel still need democracy? - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
Here are some random quotes from it:
Haaretz has also put up a special section covering these disturbing political moves under the title Black flag over Israel's Democracy, please check it out. I'm also talking to some activist friends trying to figure out what's the proper web action to be carried out.
And to conclude in a comic note, here's a PSA produced by the ministry of "Aliya" (the special term that designates much wanted and very much campaigned jewish immigration to Israel), starring my close friend, the beautiful Naama Schendar (she got a lot of money for it, that helped her continue her amazing project, a theater group with jewish and arab kids in Akko, so there is some justice there), aimed at convincing Israelis who live abroad and their families that they must come back ASAP.
The guy in the ad fails to understand his girlfriend's grief in Israel's memorial day, as instead of having sex with him (and here lies another, more hidden level of the racism in this video: the "gois" are all sex maniacs who want to violate our precious, luscious, innocent girls) she's shedding a tear in front of the computer.
The text that the responsible-but-yet-warm fatherly voice at the end says is "They will always remain Israelis. Their partners won't always understand what it means. Help them to come back home". Seriously, he says that.
I repeat, this is not a parody.
Professor Zeev Sternhell published this text in Haaretz daily newspaper, it is highly recommend if anyone is interested: Does Israel still need democracy? - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
Here are some random quotes from it:
The individual has ceased to be at the core of Israel’s democracy, with the right-wing majority aggressively pursuing legislation that turns the country’s non-Jews into second-class citizens. Anyone who allows this to happen will be complicit in the country’s fate.
Making non-Jews into second-class citizens is the objective aspired to by the right-wing majority in Israel. Acting on behalf of this movement are the ministers of justice and foreign affairs, who have the backing of the entire parliamentary elite of the right, except for the Speaker of the Knesset, Reuven Rivlin. Even when the activity is conducted within the framework of the law, it is stridently opposed to the foundations and spirit of democracy, and to the intellectual values of liberalism.
[...] the core of democracy’s existence is the assurance of human rights and individual freedoms. Majority rule is the means to that end, not a goal in itself. Majority rule came into the world as an alternative to rule of the individual or of the few, in order to prevent arbitrariness and to guarantee equality for all. Therefore, majority rule is limited by the purpose for which it was created: Rule of the majority loses its legitimacy the moment it harms human rights and denies universal norms of equality. Through majority rule, democracy can also terminate itself.
[...] the state is not conceived as a device to ensure the well-being of all its citizens, but as a framework that facilitates the enforcement of supremacy of the Jews over those who are not Jews. One should not misunderstand the intentions of the right. The seriousness of the current antidemocratic legislation derives from the fact that it is anchored in an inclusive outlook, that it serves a clear objective, and is nothing but the first stage in the major war to change the character of the state and society in Israel.
At this point, it seems proper that Israelis take stock of their situation. What would we say if the legislation now making its way through the Knesset were to be passed in one of the European countries? What would we be saying if documents were publicized there − akin to the statements and rulings of Israeli rabbis − demanding that apartments not be rented to non-Christians, or forbidding girls from dating non-Christians, even though the reference is to other citizens of that country? Without a doubt, a loud outcry would arise here: The monster is again raising its head. So it would be worthwhile to consider the fact that the monster is already walking, head held high, through the hallways of the Knesset, and proudly displaying its accomplishments.
Haaretz has also put up a special section covering these disturbing political moves under the title Black flag over Israel's Democracy, please check it out. I'm also talking to some activist friends trying to figure out what's the proper web action to be carried out.
And to conclude in a comic note, here's a PSA produced by the ministry of "Aliya" (the special term that designates much wanted and very much campaigned jewish immigration to Israel), starring my close friend, the beautiful Naama Schendar (she got a lot of money for it, that helped her continue her amazing project, a theater group with jewish and arab kids in Akko, so there is some justice there), aimed at convincing Israelis who live abroad and their families that they must come back ASAP.
The guy in the ad fails to understand his girlfriend's grief in Israel's memorial day, as instead of having sex with him (and here lies another, more hidden level of the racism in this video: the "gois" are all sex maniacs who want to violate our precious, luscious, innocent girls) she's shedding a tear in front of the computer.
The text that the responsible-but-yet-warm fatherly voice at the end says is "They will always remain Israelis. Their partners won't always understand what it means. Help them to come back home". Seriously, he says that.
I repeat, this is not a parody.
RIP Evelyn Mchale
23 year old Evelyn Mchale committed suicide jumping off the Empire State Building in May 1st, 1947. This unusual image was taken by a photography student the happens to be around a few minutes after her death. It haunts me since James showed it to me earlier today. A lot was written about it already, for example here in Jason Kottke's blog, where there's also a link to a caption from the original life publication of this amazing, eerie image. She looks like a hollywood star laying in her soft bed after a hard day on the set of some stupid comedy. The fact her suicide note was so desperately sad, writing about her fiancee "He is much better off without me … I wouldn’t make a good wife for anybody", only adds to the depressive glamour of this moment. A beautiful demonstration of the archaic, basic relation between death and aesthetics.
Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi
Continuing the Meaty theme, Subi just showed me this amazing, scary, effective and weirdly entertaining short propaganda film, made by Walt Disney studios in 1943. The film is one of dozens, commissioned by the US Government in the late years of WW2; a deal that saved the studio from bankruptcy, which was an actual threat after the crazy costs of Fantasia. There's something very eerie about it. For more about Disney's involvement in the war propaganda, check out these articles, published during the war in "flying and popular aviation" Mag.
Some more VHS quality imagery
Continuing the nostalgic wave, here is what YouTube claims to be Madonna's first performance. Whether it's true or not, it is quite cool. I'm not sure what i like best: the set, the choreography or the supporting gays. Actually, I am sure: the gays. Especially the tall one.
It also reminds me a little bit of this:
It also reminds me a little bit of this:
"You will see and agree everybody should be free 'cause if we ain't we're murderous"
Maybe it's the Palestinian drama starting today in the UN, or maybe just because every now and again I have to pay tribute to high priestess, who is still one of the most courageous, far-out, brilliant, provocative artists ever. This Montreux concert from 1976 is better than most "MA-in-performance" programs out there. Just watch and learn.
With only a drummer and a grand piano on stage, Nina's playing some of her classics ("little girl blue", "feelings", "Mr. Backlash"), showing off her new expensive necklace, looking for her dear friend David Bowie in the audience, exhibiting some dance moves she learned in Africa, screaming at some poor white person to sit down, and announcing she won't play any more jazz festivals, because after this gig she will ascend to a higher level. This is the shit. It is.
And while I'm at it I have to also put this one here. This is Maya beautifully homaging the queen in my last IntimaDance (2010):
With only a drummer and a grand piano on stage, Nina's playing some of her classics ("little girl blue", "feelings", "Mr. Backlash"), showing off her new expensive necklace, looking for her dear friend David Bowie in the audience, exhibiting some dance moves she learned in Africa, screaming at some poor white person to sit down, and announcing she won't play any more jazz festivals, because after this gig she will ascend to a higher level. This is the shit. It is.
And while I'm at it I have to also put this one here. This is Maya beautifully homaging the queen in my last IntimaDance (2010):
Haraway's Manifestos
I'm working on this beautiful text now by Donna Haraway called "the Companion Species Manifesto". Haraway, who in the 80's wrote the groundbreaking "Cyborg Manifesto", became at the turn of the millennium more and more interested in animals, and especially dogs. At some point she writes: "I tell stories about stories, all the way down. Woof."
Another Classic
Oum Kalthoum performing her legendary "Inta Omri" (you are my life) in 6 parts starts here:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)