Conservowiki

A must read over at Shakespeare's Sister about the conservative answer to Wikipedia, Conservapedia. Started by Phyllis Schaffly's son, it definitely takes the Colbertian view that facts have a liberal bias, so it seeks to avoid them as much as possible.

Here are a few examples from Conservapedia as described by Jon Swift at Shakespeare's Sister

Kangaroo: "Like all modern animals, modern kangaroos originated in the Middle East and are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard Noah's Ark prior to the Great Flood." (I'm sure skippy will be very interested to learn this.)

Theory of Relativity: "Nothing useful has even been built based on the theory of relativity.…'All things are relative' became popular as atheists and others used relativity to attack Christian values. There remains enormous political support for the theory of relativity that has nothing to do with physics, and Congress continues to spend billions of dollars unsuccessfully searching for particles predicted by the theory of relativity."

Gospels: "The greatest writing in the history of the world is the Gospel of John....This single book has done more to shape human thought and behavior than any other work. Our uniquely American First Amendment right of free speech is based on ministers preaching of the 'Word' of God as described in the first few verses of the Gospel of John."

George Washington: "Washington is perhaps the person other than Jesus who declined enormous worldly power, in Washington's case by voluntarily stepping aside as the ruler of a prosperous nation."

Scopes Trial: "Hollywood has little regard for the truth. Its movie version Inherit the Wind changed everyone's name, thereby preventing libel suits, and changed the facts in order to ridicule religious belief. Thanks to Bryan's victory in the Scopes trial, Tennessee voters have been educated without oppressive evolution theory for 75 years. Free from the liberal indoctrination, Tennessee voted against native son Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election - probably the only time a candidate has lost the Presidency due to losing his home state. If Tennessee had a high level of belief in evolution comparable to that of East Germany, then you can bet Gore would have won his state and the Presidency."

The Da Vinci Code: "Dan Brown is responsible for feeding millions of readers a pack of lies cleverly wrapped up as a historically accurate novel."

Holocaust: "The Holocaust was the massacring of the Jewish race during World War II. The Germans are not to blame for this but the Nazi are. Besides 6 million Jews dying, 3 million Christians were killed also along with many priests and nuns. This is a very touchy subject for the Jews and is not often discussed amongst them."

Communism: "Communists believe that if they share everything, no one will ever have to work."

Most of the articles in Conservapedia are scrupulously sourced. For example, the entry on Isaac Newton -- "Sir Isaac Newton was one of the inventors of calculus and the propsed [sic-whoops!] the theory of gravity (It should be noted that gravity, like evolution, is just a theory and has never been proven to be true). He was a Devout Christian whose discoveries were inspired by God." -- refers you to the Bible Code Digest, which proves that Newton was a devout Christian. Virtually all of the science entries cite books by Dr. Jay L. Wile, the respected author of homeschool textbooks.

And from my geeky standpoint, the site is a mess. The link to create a log on takes you to a login page with no way to register that I can find. The search field has two button, one that says Go, the other says Search. Hmmmm. And the site is painfully slow and times out on a regular basis. All this free publicity is probably more than they can handle.

Now with more marshmallow bits

Futurballa.com, the futurballa photography website, has been revamped, updated, redesigned and retooled for your pleasure. Come on in and make yourself at home.

A wee bit of free association:

It starts with an interesting review and history of the Brecht, Weill opera, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny can be found at a fool in the forest.

What follows is what happens when you start free associating on Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Miss Lotte Lenya. The last one is a leap of faith, but some of you might get the connection.

The stuff that dreams are made of

Joel Cairo: You always have a very smooth explanation...

Sam Spade: What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?

John's Grill, the real life haunt of Dashiell Hammett and the fictional haunt of Sam Spade on Ellis in San Francisco has sported a replica of the Maltese Falcon in a cabinet for many years. The owner, unable to attain the lead one that was used in John Huston's classic film, purchased one of the plaster, publicity models from actor Elisha Cook, Jr., who played Wilmer the gunsel.

Well, some weasel has stolen the black bird.

Read the San Francisco Chronicle's report here.

And to separate fact from fiction, take the Hammett tour.

...but you blew my mind

Best Manzanera solo ever. Ferry looking extra sweaty. Eno in his feather boa days. All that is missing is the Manzanera fly glasses. Takes pretty fly for a white guy to a whole new level.

Two More From God's Country

Of course whenever you are in God's country, one must pay the God's country tax, whereby the crappiest key chain in the gift shop is $8.95.


Halfdome and Sentinel Peaks


Reflection of El Capitan

On the subject of walking in the footsteps of the great photographers, Slate has yet another slide show on a photographic subject. The topic being, "can photographers be plagiarists". I come down on the side of no. One can do everything in one's power to duplicate another photograph, same equipment, same location, same day of the year, and still have the shot be unique. One can emulate, but not duplicate.

The accompanying text is very thought provoking and well worth your time.

To view the slide show, click here.

The Decisive Moment

Slate Magazine's Meghan O'Rourke offers up an excellent slideshow with commentary on the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson. Before Robert Frank, Alfred Eisenstaedt and Garry Winogrand, he was the original street photographer. I was interested to read about his background as a game hunter, which probably instilled in him the patience to wait for what was termed "the decisive moment".

I wish I could have witnessed this scene that O'Rourke describes.

Truman Capote, who traveled with him to New Orleans in the 1940s, said that while photographing he resembled an "agitated dragonfly," ducking and bobbing, and Lincoln Kirstein described him, in 1947, "dancing about his subject on tip-toe, like a boxer or a fencer."

Click here to view the slideshow.


Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, 1932

"The simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression... . In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little human detail can become a leitmotif." — Henri Cartier-Bresson

Now, ya carrot-chewin' coyote!! Git a goin'!!

Unfortunately I did not have a long lens at the moment that I saw what was more likely an actual rodent chewing coyote on a snow covered meadow. The real attraction of this last weekend, which I spent at a photographic field study in Yosemite Valley was the ice formations. Having had a particularly harsh cold snap, followed by warmer days and overnight freezes, the ice in the rives was quite special.

Here are a few images from those rivers and creeks.

Potpourri

Something that has always bugged me. Why doesn't Alanis Morrisette understand what irony is? Well Collegehumor.com has adapted her song to make it well... IRONIC. [Via: Escapegrace]

High Resolution photos of LA landmarks. Page through for a nice interior shot of the Bradbury, which you may recognize from Bladerunner and an exterior of one of my favorite LA buildings, the Farifax and Wilshire May Co., where my father worked back in the sixties. Great photos, many of them downloadable.

I'll be heading to Yosemite for a photography workshop later this week. So light (if any) posting until then and photo blogging upon my return.

So you want to make a list?

Terry Teachout posts his list of the 15 best sound films previous to the American new wave of the 1970s. Not being one to be shy with my opinion, I join the fray with a list of my own. Some are duplicated on Terry's, some are not.
In no particular order...

• The Maltese Falcon


• Citizen Kane


• The Searchers


• Out of the Past


• Singin' in the Rain


• Double Indemnity


• Vertigo


• The Wizard of Oz


• The Philadelphia Story


• Sullivan's Travels


• Duck Soup


• Casablanca


• The Adventures of Robin Hood


• It Happened One Night


• Touch of Evil

Perhaps Terry can also give us his best of post-1970.

My top 5 would be

• The Godfather


• The Godfather part 2


• Taxi Driver


• Annie Hall


• Chinatown

I also think it is interesting that given the criteria Terry defines of pre 70's, he nor I have much to say about the 1960s, in which there were some good movies, but not quite good enough to make my list. And equally, I could have doubled or tripled my list of post-1970 films without ever leaving that decade.

So not to let a good meme go bad, I toss this to pal George. What are your 15 faves befor 1970 and 5 faves after 1970?

mmmm... Brussels Sprouts

Some odd tidbits about literary giants.

James Joyce wore 5 wristwatches. Baudelaire had a pet bat. Hans Christian Anderson had a fear of being buried alive and my favorite...

Although Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie did not like the taste of brussels sprouts (as would befit a boy who never grew up), he often ordered them at restaurants. Why? "I cannot resist ordering them. The words are so lovely to say."

[Via: Neatorama]

I'm a Lazy B@stard

Yet another YouTube posting.

It was January 14th, 1978. A rainy night in San Francisco, which later precipitated the hoisting of umbrellas on to the foot of the stage. To wit Johnny Rotten shouted, "more presents". Traveling with compatriots George and Ian across the bay from Berkeley, this became one of the most memorable nights of my life. Nice to see some of it has been immortalized on youtube, as well as some moments in Julien Temple's The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.



Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

Belle d'hier

Germaine Greer has a very interesting piece at the Guardian comparing the Howard Hawksian woman of the 1940's, as personified by Lauren Bacall, with the passive French sex kitten, as seen in the personage of Catherine Deneuve. I'm not sure I see the point of the article. To me it is comparing apples to oranges. A different time, a different continent and very different sensibilities. It is not merely the women who are contrasted here, but the directors and the cultures and eras in which they lived.

But for me the interesting part of the article is the section in which she describes Deneuve's two films with Luis Bunuel, Belle de Jour and Tristana. The point she makes, that Deneuve was a perfect empty vessel for Bunuel's fantasies is accurate and insightful.

Belle de Jour (1967) has a reputation for being one of the sexiest films ever made, simply because Deneuve behaves throughout like a pre-adolescent girl. Through the prism of the 21st century, the film seems oddly contrived; what is now a cliche - the child who, subjected to the sexual advances of an adult, then becomes a frigid woman who is only turned on by squalor - is coyly exploited as a series of fetishistic images that juxtapose her fantasy life with her actual life. As Severine Serizy, Deneuve moves through the imagery of what are meant to be her own fantasies like a sleepwalker. By her own account, director Lous Bunuel could not relate to her at all and never told her what he wanted. Unconsciously, she gave him what he wanted, which was as little as possible. The fantasies were his, after all.

The decision to have her dressed by Yves Saint-Laurent adds a bizarre dimension to the nonexistent plot; we seem to be living within the pages of a glossy magazine, with product placement everywhere. Everywhere Severine goes, she is conspicuous by her catwalk presence, from her shiny patent leather pumps to the helmet that holds in her mane of Barbie-doll hair. The sex scenes in the brothel consist of her stripping to the full armour of suspender-belt, knickers, stockings and padded brassiere, and allowing ugly men to kiss her. In one extraordinarily unsexy sequence, she is required to process through the rooms of a ducal chateau dressed in nothing but a cloak of black georgette and a crown of white roses. She trots ahead of the camera like a lamb to the slaughter. She should have used a body double; it is typical of her passive obedience that she didn't. Lauren Bacall would never have done that for anyone, would never have stripped and had them shoot her bare arse from the back as she trotted through take after take. The Hawksian woman would have decked any man who asked her.

Bunuel used Deneuve again in Tristana (1970), a far better film than Belle de Jour but much less successful. Again, his real subject was not Tristana but himself. What activates the film is Bunuel's deep hostility to the hypocrisy of Spanish provincial society. Deneuve acts as the surrogate for his child self, the innocent orphan who is seduced by her guardian, who tries to express her own sexuality with a younger man who uses her; mutilated and helpless, she is forced to regularise a union with the man who took her virginity. What remains in the memory is not the shocking last scene or Deneuve's performance, but Bunuel's evocation of 1930s Toledo, seen as through the lens of childhood, wonderfully shot by Jose F Aguayo. Again, Deneuve's impassivity is exactly what Bunuel needs. It is the still point in his turning world.

Read the whole thing here.

[Via Altercation]

And then there were three

A few very funny videos to start the year off right.
Not 100% work friendly.

Spinal Tap - Bitch School



Kodak - Winds of Change
This was an internal Kodak Video. Maybe they do get it.



SNL - Timberlake



And you can even get the T-Shirt.

Christmas Oddity

One of the strangest moments in TV history.



pa rum pum pum pum

via Crooks and Liars.

Acoustic Shred

Rodgrigo y Gabriela on Letterman



And if you want to shred it up yourself, try to keep up with Mr. Fastfinger in this fun Flash guitar site.

Futurballa will be home for the holidays, so light or no posting until January 2nd. Wishing you all HAPPY HOLIDAYS (take that, Bill O'Reilly) and best wishes for the New Year.

I'm Gumby, Dammit

A few months ago, at the comic book store, I came across a new Gumby comic. They were promoting it pretty heavily, offering a free miniature Gumby with purchase of the #1 issue. I don't usually venture over to the kids comics, sticking to adult titles and superhero books, but I thought I'd give it a try. I was glad I did.

Flaming Carrot creator Bob Burden and artist Rick Geary have done a kid's comic with some very trippy art and storylines. Issue 2 is due out next week.

On a side note, I once met Gumby's creator Art Clokey at a party in Hollywood. This is back in the '80s and people of my generation were gathered around him like he was a rock star.

'UTTIN' ON THE 'IIIIITZ

Sad news. Peter Boyle has died at age 71.

Have yourself a very scary Christmas

As the holiday season approaches, this old chestnut comes out of the dungeon. It's become a bit of a Futurballa tradition to post this take on the scariest Christmas song ever, and this year via youtube, with visuals.



And here is a whole page of lyrics to Cthullu Carols.

The Fool Sells Out

Pal George of the Fool in the Forest Blog has expanded into eCommerce by opening an aStore at Amazon.com. His shoppe, These Foolish Things is a small but ecclectic collection of literature and music. Knowing his more middlebrow self, hopefully he will expand into some more popular fair in time.

We're talking Mel Brooks, George!

Check it out for some interesting holiday shopping.



Update: A link to These Foolish Things has been added to the sidebar, so you can do holiday shopping long after the holidays have ended.

How I Did It

The wife and I watched Young Frankenstein over the holiday weekend. Almost as much a tradition as Alice's Restaurant. I was inspired to toss this together.