Category: Elsewhere Links

• Edumaction – I never got past high-school, but maybe if there were more educators like this guy, i would've been more interested in learning instead of cutting class to watch a shitty beta copy of Kreator's "Toxic Trace" video for the 100 zillionth time. (07/27/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• Are the Days of the Full-Time Novelist Numbered? – Robert Sawyer is one of the most successful speculative fiction writers on the planet, and certainly one of the most successful fiction writers in Canadian history. He has a talent for broaching very big ideas within a very accessible, fast-paced format (once in a while at the expense of the aesthetics of a more seasoned SF audience). I've read most of his books and outside of Kim Stanley Robinson, i'd have to credit Sawyer with fueling my intitial interest in what i think is the most exciting and important genre of writing we have. He keeps a blog that i visit once in a while and i thought this post about the end of the full-time novelist was interesting enough to share, in part because of the analogies one can make to the music industry, which is of course, also in free-fall. Generally, i think the music industry is getting what it deserves for producing so much utter garbage over the years that people simply aren't willing to front their hard-earned money for something that sounds exactly like 4000 other records that already exist and that as a matter of design, doesn't take the listener anywhere new, intellectually or spiritually. Still, his comments towards the end of the post concerning "lengthy, ambitious, complex works — works that take years of full-time effort to produce" are worth thinking about. (07/27/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• G’Day Mates! – If you were to subject me to a snap quiz in which i had to name the current elected/ appointed/ inherited leaders of all the world's 190+ nations, i would probably score less that 5% correctly. The fact that i admit this does not make it any less embarrassing. Once in every very long while, i make a half-baked effort to skim through the CIA Factbook and see who the latest crop of clowns are who are running various countries into the ground across the planet. Then i promptly forget, displacing these facts with more important things like the names of recently drafted professional hockey players. One place i tend to pay a tiny, tiny, tiny bit more attention to is Australia. Partly because in many ways it is an analog to Canada. Partly because i used to live there when i was 5. Partly because outside of central/ south america, it is the place on the planet where we have been most warmly received as a band. I know many Australians visit this site. So i thought i'd post a link to the this very short and provocative piece about some of the players in post-Rudd Australia. In the words of Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes, "food for thought!". (07/23/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• Bad times at the Calgary Stampede. – 4 animals are dead within 24 hours at the Calgary Stampede. Hmm..I thought they said that abusing animals for fun was one of the signs a kid might grow up to be a serial killer? Oh well, everybody's doing it! Sure the Stampede is a tradition in Calgary, so is Agribition in Regina and, in some other places, so are cockfights, dog fights and bear baiting. I understand; I used to have my own gun holster, hat, vest, and chaps, my favorite uncle was a stampede pick up man, I even had the rodeo queen come with me to school for show and tell once but there is a time when we've got to come to terms with the fact that the unparalleled joy of watching cowboys twist steer necks and menace poor bulls and horses to the point that the animals jump around like maniacs must come to an end. There's no use in trying to extend our demented childhoods beyond their expiry date. Feel free to rope each other, tie things around your nuts (if you've got them) or the nuts of your willing, yet bucking, friends if you want to but leave the poor animals out of it. Thanks. (07/13/10 by The Rod #)
• Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions – Here, the former director of the Israeli office for Physicians for Human Rights, Neve Gordon, offers a short and clear argument in favor of the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaign against Israeli apartheid. (07/12/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• The Immoral of the Story… – ...is that when you are a Western soldier occupying Arab land, you are absolutely free to annihilate civilians. Just don't fuckin tell anyone about it. (07/06/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• The Anti-Empire Report – Sometimes when i read these reports, i wonder if William Blum is actually Jord writing under a pseudonym. This one is especially satisfying in the shadow of the annual patriotic orgies we just endured here in Canada and the USA. (07/05/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• Potemkin City Limits – well, here's a seemingly banal article with an interesting ending that even I (the guy who wrote the song) didn't know about. Francis' final stand was even sadder that I imagined. as an aside, would people please stop calling us a "veganarchist" band. it's silly. we prefer "satanic". thanks. (06/27/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• What’s Going On? – This is probably the only time we'll ever be mentioned in the same breath as Marvin Gaye, so you'll have to excuse us if we draw disproportionate attention to it. (06/26/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• Happy World Refugee Day! – Here is a list of World Refugee Celebrations that are happening in Canada today. Have a good one! (06/21/10 by The Rod #)
• We in Da Club! – Go here to Dr. Ossify's webpage and scroll down his media player till you a tune called "It's a New Day" featuring Gem-In-Eye. See if you recognize anything. (06/20/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• June 20th is World Refugee Day! – Winnipeg is celebrating a day early for good times sake! This Saturday, June 19th, come on down to the World Refugee day celebration in downtown's Central Park. The party starts at 12:00 PM. I hope to see you there! (06/15/10 by The Rod #)
• Chris Hedge’s Columns – Chris Hedge's writes a column every monday for the website called Truthdig. Here's where you can find them. Often terrifying, always interesting. (06/12/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• Hot Lixx Hulahan is at it again! – Hot Lixx here. (06/08/10 by The Rod #)
• I’ll Have the Cock Please! I Mean Chicken. – If they do a human-flesh version of this, you can count me in! Especially if they do custom orders: "I'll take one leg-of-Stephen-Harper and, let's see, a dozen Glenn Beck Testicles. Actually, you better make that two-dozen. They're pretty small." (06/07/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• G20/ The Dominion – I think i've mentioned The Dominion magazine on here before. Their latest issue (which hasn't been posted on their site yet) is worth tracking down for some simple outlining of this summer's (highly-militarized, highly-undemocratic) economic summits happening in Ontario. Email them and ask them how and where to get a copy. (05/18/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• This Shit is Gold – Any of you twits see the cover of Exclaim magazine a few months ago? No, not the one with the twins with the haircuts and striped shirts. The other one. No, not that one. Why are you pretending you don't know what i'm talking about? Don't make me say it. THE ONE WITH US ON IT. Yes, now you remember. Yes, i agree, Jord's thumbs are hilarious. Ok, well see that book i'm holding? i mean the book Ronald is holding. Yeah, that's Yves Engler's Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, which everyone in this country, from the most annoying anarcho-punk to the most conservative patriotic dildo should probably have a look at if one believes that what happens in their name matters even a tiny iota. Here is another recent dispatch from Yves that i would like my fellow Canadians to peruse on this fine spring day in the Great White North. It's enough to make a guy cheer for the fucking Flyers. (05/15/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• Drummer from Thrice thinks we are old. – what gave it away? the comb-overs? anyways, some kind words from this fella. (05/13/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• Cognitive Science & Anarchism – As someone who can't help but roll my eyes when people calling themselves "anarchists" prattle on about "primitivism" and "visualizing collapse" like that is actually something desirable rather than a total nightmare, the 2nd half of this interview with Chomsky is of obvious interest. (03/28/10 by Jesus H. Chris #)
• Kent Monkman Wins! – Kent Monkman, the artistic genius who generously let us use his "Triumph of Mischief" painting on the cover of Supporting Caste, has earned himself a nod on an album-cover-of-the-year list! Well deserved! (12/30/09 by Jesus H. Chris #)