Blixa Bargeld of the industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten reads crypto-dada poetry from the Hornbach home improvement store chain. Insofar as these 'poems' are in the dada sound-poem tradition, you don't need to know what he's saying. On the other hand, he is reading descriptions of products from the store—banal, mechanical, clinical. (see Ubu Web for material from and about sound poetry.) Whether he's selling out or living up to his name (Bargeld = cash; Blixa = a brand of soap), descending or transcending—or both—is to be debated.
==============
Original text from YouTube poster accesslog:
"Bohrwinkelkontrolle", "Staubabsaugung" oder "Quarzit-Polygonal-Platten" heißen die schrägen "poems", rezitiert von Blixa Bargeld, Hutträger und Sänger der Einstürzenden Neubauten. In zehn Fernsehspots des Werbefilmers Hermann Vaske deklamiert Bargeld Produkterläuterungen und Bauanweisungen aus dem Katalog der Baumarktkette Hornbach. Als klassischer Vorleser hinter dem gedeckten Lesetischchen zelebriert er mit ausschweifenden Gesten Details zu Blaulampen, Bohrlochschlämmen und Schlagbohrmaschinen. Kunst am Bau sozusagen - eine eigenwillige, dadaistische Form, witzig und poetisch zugleich.
'Remember that we’ve always been told that free markets and free people go hand in hand? That was a lie. It turns out that the most efficient delivery system for capitalism is actually a communist-style police state, fortressed with American “homeland security” technologies, pumped with “war on terror” rhetoric.’-Naomi Klein
Antonio Negri was denied a visa for entry to Japan, evidently based on political accusations surrounding his alleged relationship with the Italian Red Brigades in the late 1970s.
As the United States congress debates the FISA bill, or more importantly - the retroactive immunity for telecom companies currently under consideration, the surveillance society is continually strengthened and a police state expanded. And while it seems that the government and telecoms are immune from law, above law, and therefore sovereign - a study released last week says that 1% (actually 1 in 99.1) of their subjects [Americans] are in fact in violation of law and currently in prison.
As reported on the sci-fi blog io9 (part of the Gawker brand), Amazon.com has run into some opposition now that the fact that many books which deal with same-sex themes have had their sales rank removed has caught the attention of Twitter users. They have labelled the move "AmazonFail." (updated yet again)
Thomas Horn's book, Nephilim Stargates: The Year 2012 and the Return of the Watchers, warns that genetic engineering may allow the 'Giants' described in the Genesis creation story to rise again.
In the context of the US conflict in Vietnam 1968 is predominantly remembered for the Tet Offensive, which marked the beginning of both spring and the largest northern offensive in southern Vietnam. For the US government, the offensive coincided with increased opposition to the war at home, heightened expectations, and strategic miscalculations, all of which would ultimately turn global popular opinion against American involvement. A story that is often overlooked however is the internal struggle occurring in “southern Vietnam”.
Geoff Nunberg reports that the metadata for the works in Google Books' online library—the means to finding books in the first place—has been seriously mis-managed.
Editor B., of the long-lived online television show (perhaps the first), ROX (on BCAT in Bloomington, IN), has recently posted an audio clip of a discussion of ROX and the whole internet 'thing' from a "drive-time radio show in St. Louis" in 1995: ROX on KSD FM.
As reported in the London Times, the Cologne city archive was destroyed on Tuesday, March 3, 2009, when the building unexpectedly collapsed. The archive housed one-of-a-kind documents—such as manuscripts by Marx, letters by Hegel, documents from Heinrich Böll, and continuous Cologne town council minutes reaching back to 1376—many of which have no known copies. Brian Leiter has a link for anyone who happens to have saved scans of the documents or who can offer assistance.
A new Australian publisher, re.press, dedicated to publishing works in philosophy, has adopted the Open-Access standard and publishes as many of their books as possible as free, downloadable .PDF files under an Open Access copyright, while simultaneously publishing them as physical, print-on-demand books, with titles ranging from new translations of Hegel to works by and about Alain Badiou.
The artist and professor Steve Kurtz, who has been fighting charges of bioterrorism for years, has now seen the federal indictment against him dismissed by a judge. Story from the Progressive magazine | CAE Defense Fund. The government has until May 21, 2008, to appeal the dismissal.
Life Before Death is a sombre series of portraits taken by German photographer Walter Schels and his partner Beate Lakotta of people before and after they had died. The work consists of recorded interviews with the subjects in their final days and their thoughts about living and dying. The exhibit runs from April 9-May 18 at the Wellcome Trust in London.
This years Greener Gadgets Design Competition showcased Jim Mielke’s wireless blood-fueled “tattoo” - a subcutaneously implanted touch-screen that operates as a cell phone display, with the potential for 3G video calls, visible through skin. It's powered by a fuel cell that converts the energy found in blood with a non-toxic substance used to draw electrons from glucose.
The European Commission has awarded a grant of €2.75 million to project SEMAINE which aims to build a Sensitive Artificial Listener (SAL) system, which will engage with users by perceiving their facial expression, gaze, and voice.
A Review of Manuel De Landa, A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History New York: Zone Books, 1997.
by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young
(From electronic book review, Jan 1, 1999)
