Monday, February 11th, 2008

Time	Event
9:43a	Godspeed You! Black Emperor quits One of the great bands of our time calls it a day: ' The Montreal post-rock innovators have called it a day, but not for the reasons of 'musical differences' cited by many retiring bands. Instead, founder Efrin Menuck declared that the band had become untenable due to "an existential freakout" relating to the Iraq war. Menuck told Drownedinsound: "The last American tour that Godspeed did was in the run up to the current war in Iraq. For what Godspeed did, it was very difficult for us to work out a way to communicate directly with the audience about what was going on." He continued: "We could talk to people after the shows, or we could make announcements from the stage, but so much what Godspeed was, was one-way communication, and I had an existential freakout about that, that those tactics aren't valid anymore. "People didn't need a rock band pointing in the direction of (how the world was at that point). Maybe what they needed is some clumsy words, a presentation that was a little more human." But Menuck hinted that personal issues between the members also played a part in the decision to split: "On a personal level I now find (Godspeed) to be inappropriate. There's a complicated back story. I reached a point whereby I was no longer willing to contribute to the steering of the ship; it was like, 'Okay now, someone else point the direction, I love you all, but I need to ride shotgun for a while'. I think that bands do have a short shelf life." ' Current Mood: sad Current Music: the dead flag blues-Godspeed You Black Emperor-F#A#oo (Comment on this)
9:52a	The only Rambo review that matters David Morrell, great thriller writer, author of First Blood, reviews the new Rambo flick: ' I'm happy to report that overall I’m pleased. The level of violence might not be for everyone, but it has a serious intent. This is the first time that the tone of my novel FIRST BLOOD has been used in any of the movies. It's spot-on in terms of how I imagined the character—angry, burned-out, and filled with self-disgust because Rambo hates what he is and yet knows it's the only thing he does well. The character spends a lot of time in the rain as if trying to cleanse his soul. There's a nightmare scene involving vivid images from the three previous films (they indicate the emotional burden he carries). There's a scene in which Rambo forges a knife and talks to himself, basically admitting that he hates himself because all he knows is how to kill. At the start, Rambo is gathering cobras in the jungle, and he's so comfortable with them, it's as if, because of his past, the most developed part of him is his limbic brain. He has nothing to fear from another creature of death... Another excellent element involves the film's archetypal, mythic overtones. Rambo is hardly ever called by his last name. Instead, he keeps being referred to as "the Boatman" because he earns his living with a boat on a river in Thailand. But after he's called "the Boatman" enough, I start thinking of the River Styx and the journey of death as depicted in Greek myth. Similarly, the knife-forging sequence reminds me of Hephaestus, the armorer of the Greek gods (in the sequence, Rambo even talks about whether God can forgive him for what he's done). Sly is definitely sophisticated enough to embed these sorts of allusions. The earlier Rambo movies were a combination of a Tarzan movie and a western. That is also the case here. The knife (again designed by master blade-maker Gil Hibben), the bow and arrow, Rambo racing through the jungle—these scenes are primal and breath-taking... I think some elements could have been done better. The villains are superficial, to say the least. A lot could have been done with the connection between drug lords and the military in what the film calls Burma, dramatizing that money earned from the heroine trade motivates their ruthlessness. Instead, they’re merely depicted as psychopaths. In a baffling moment, heroine somehow gets equated with meth, which is something entirely different and has nothing to do with the poppies grown in that area of the world. Otherwise, I think this film deserves a solid three stars. ' Current Mood: hopeful Current Music: Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls-Godspeed You! Black Emperor-Yan (Comment on this)
9:49p	Breaking news - musicans are into sex and drugs " According to a new study conducted by medical researchers, thirty-three percent of popular songs contain explicit content and forty-two percent of songs hint at substance abuse. " I am shocked. Shocked. Current Mood: Shocked, I tell you... Current Music: Drunk with power-Puscifer-V is for vagina (Comment on this)
11:27p	InfraGard Brin flagged this, and I've heard mutterings about them for a few days. " ...have a look at InfraGard -- the FBI’s program to develop a quasi-secret network of private businesses that are shielded from normal transparency by trade secrets laws, to assist in guarding national infrastructure... and to get oligarchic privilieges, in return. " From the Progressive article linked above: ' One business owner in the United States tells me that InfraGard members are being advised on how to prepare for a martial law situation—and what their role might be. He showed me his InfraGard card, with his name and e-mail address on the front, along with the InfraGard logo and its slogan, “Partnership for Protection.” On the back of the card were the emergency numbers that Schneck mentioned. This business owner says he attended a small InfraGard meeting where agents of the FBI and Homeland Security discussed in astonishing detail what InfraGard members may be called upon to do. “The meeting started off innocuously enough, with the speakers talking about corporate espionage,” he says. “From there, it just progressed. All of a sudden we were knee deep in what was expected of us when martial law is declared. We were expected to share all our resources, but in return we’d be given specific benefits.” These included, he says, the ability to travel in restricted areas and to get people out. But that’s not all. “Then they said when—not if—martial law is declared, it was our responsibility to protect our portion of the infrastructure, and if we had to use deadly force to protect it, we couldn’t be prosecuted,” he says. ' The FBI denies this aspect of the group. Rumours that the Church of Scientology are members, put about in a satire by unconfirmedsources.com, are just that as far as I know. Either way, not a fun idea for US citizens who aren't mobbed up independent businesspeople already affiliated with InfraGard. EDIT: A differing perspective from the blog of an InfraGard member, just to try for some balance here. Very insistent that the 'free to shoot' bit is bollocks. That their next post is in support of the Anonymous protests (and the author co-wrote a history of the CoS/internet early years for Skeptic magazine) would indicate the Unconfirmed Rumour rumour remains just that. Current Music: Space Station Soma: Tune in, turn on, space out. Ambient and (1 Comment | Comment on this)

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