Reading List: Juni.

Fiction:

Caitlín R. Kiernan: Alabaster.
Caitlín R. Kiernan: Silk.
Caitlín R. Kiernan: Threshold.
Caitlín R. Kiernan: Low Red Moon.
Caitlín R. Kiernan: Murder of Angels.
Caitlín R. Kiernan: Daughter of Hounds.
Caitlín R. Kiernan: The Red Tree.

Films:

Beau Travail (1999, Claire Denis) *****.
Trouble Every Day (2001, Claire Denis) ****.
Nenette et Boni (1996, Claire Denis) ***/****.
El niño pez (2009, Lucía Puenzo) ***.
The Children's Hour (1961, William Wyler) ***.
Aimée & Jaguar (1999, Max Färberböck) ****.
Ink (2009, Jamin Winans) ****.
MirrorMask (2005, David McKean) ****.
Ha-Sodot (2007, Avi Nesher) ****.
Last Days (2005, Gus Van Sant) ***.

Shows: 

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Season One and Two.
Justified, Season Two.
Breaking Bad, Season One, Two, Three.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season Six.

I get the best spam

...

Das Lied zum Sonntag

I've been re-reading all of Caitlín R. Kiernan's novels, now that the series is complete (Murder of Angels arrived a couple of weeks ago), as will become apparent in this month's Reading List, and... this weird thing has started to happen where everything seems to be connected. Watched Ink (a beautiful movie), and thought about worlds coexisting and creatures crossing thresholds etc., sat in the living room at my parent's house, playing Laura Veirs (I'm always trying to find artists that are "appropriate", common denominator and such), and this song came on: 

Laura Veirs - Wandering Kind

The tattooed girl took up her swords
And plunged them down deep into the earth
A twinkling tie filled up her eyes
And poured out to the lawn
A made a raft of the scraps from her skirt
And sailed 'til dawn

Today's song was supposed to be Grouper's (Liz Harris) I Saw A Ray (in case you watch Skins, you probably know why Grouper is significant; she just released a two part vinyl (highly recommended) and the video is... terrifying. 

Grouper - I Saw A Ray from Weston Currie on Vimeo.

Withdrawal

But the withdrawal of the entire surge force by the end of next summer will significantly change the way that the United States wages war in Afghanistan, analysts said, suggesting that the administration may have concluded it can no longer achieve its loftiest ambitions there.

Mr. Obama acknowledged as much in his remarks. “We will not try to make Afghanistan a perfect place,” he said. “We will not police its streets or patrol its mountains indefinitely. That is the responsibility of the Afghan government.” 

NY Times: Obama Will Speed Pullout From War in Afghanistan, June 22, 2011

Guardian: Afghanistan withdrawal: Cameron welcomes Obama plan, June 23, 2011
NY Times: 2012 Troop Pullback Worries Military Experts, June 22, 2011
WIRED. Danger Room: Obama Won’t Use Troops to Save Afghan Hellhole (Drones, Maybe), June 22, 2011
Foreign Policy: Where's the Progress?, June 22, 2011

...

WILD FLAG - Ask the Angels (Patti Smith cover)


[via]


And I know it's hard sometimes,
You've got to piece the needle across the sky
And I know it's hard sometimes
And world war is the battle cry
And it's wild wild wild wild

Merge Records offers a free download of WILD FLAG's Romance here.

"...damning evidence in any future war crimes trial"

Plans to bombard the city are also in the archive, say investigators, who also claim they have a message from Gaddafi relayed to the troops ordering that Misrata be obliterated and the "blue sea turned red" with the blood of the inhabitants. The documents are expected to form a crucial element of any trial against Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and his intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi if, as is expected, ICC judges confirm indictments for war crimes and crimes against humanity that are demanded by its chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.

They represent a landmark in international justice because no significant war crimes trial in the short history of international courts has had access to documents directly implicating the lead players in the commission of war crimes. 

Guardian: Muammar Gaddafi war crimes files revealed, June 18, 2011

Meanwhile, debates about the War Powers Act and whether it applies to the US' involvement in Libya. 

Das Lied zum Sonntag

Autolux - Subzero Fun



Before it gets too medical, get yourself together. [album version]

In which I kind of, sort of, write about Lady Gaga

Die Aussage, dass Gaga die wirkliche Person hinter ihrem Spektakel nicht offenbart hat, ist falsch und zeugt von einem weitverbreiteten Missverständnis. Schon in ihren ersten Interviews bestand Stefani Germanotta darauf, dass Lady Gaga ihre reale Identität ist und dass sie kein wahreres Selbst versteckt hält. Die Fassade, das Spektakel, das Künstliche, die Performance – all das ist Gagas Essenz. Ihrer Überzeugung nach sind Kunst und Leben dasselbe. Dennoch weigern sich manche, diese Aussagen ernstzunehmen und zu akzeptieren, dass auch das vermeintlich essenzielle Leben erst durch Performances, Kostüme, Gesten, Glitter und Make-up konstruiert wird. Deshalb glauben wir nicht, dass Lady Gaga in den vergangenen  Monaten mehr ihres wahren Selbsts offenbart hat.“ 

Durbin/Vicks, Spex 333 (06/2011)

Anfangs war ich verstimmt, dass ausgerechnet die Spex im Monat nach dem Tod von Poly Styrene (und im Monat nach der Veröffentlichung ihres letzten Albums) Lady Gaga am Cover hat. Andererseits ist es natürlich ökonomischer Selbstmord, auf die authentizitätsvortäuschenden Bilder (fotografiert von Wolfgang Tillmans) des größten Popstars einer Zeit der Uneinigkeit (nicht umsonst der Cat and Girl Comic: one day, all we’ll have in common will be Lady Gaga and diabetes) zu verzichten. UND noch bevor ich die Zerlegung ihrer Person im Inneren des Hefts gelesen hatte, hatte ich diesen Gedanken: Ich sehe diese Bilder und habe diesen Idee im Kopf, diese Vorstellung, dass eine ungeschminkte, unkostümierte Lady Gaga, wie sie hier zu sehen ist, ECHTER ist als die fleischbehangene Bühnenkonstruktion, als dieses Kunstwesen von dem alle sprechen, dem sich niemand entziehen kann (ich habe noch keinen ihrer Songs von Anfang bis Ende durchgehört, nur Covers und was auch immer Skins verwendet hat, vor Jahren). ABER: woher kommt diese Vorstellung, dass ungeschminkt echt ist? Dass die große Spex, die Intellektuellenzeitschrift, die wahre Person hinter Lady Gaga gefunden hat, in ihrem archäoligischen Ausflug in die Hoch-Popkultur? Ist das nicht auch noch eine Chimäre, das ECHTE hinter der Konstruktion zu finden? Diese Bilder sind genau so viel Inszenierung wie jeder meatsuit oder eine Ei-Kutsche. Nichts daran ist ECHTER oder AUTHENTISCHER. Es entspricht der Ästhetik der Spex – ungeschminkte Photos rechtfertigen, dass jemand wie Gaga es überhaupt aufs Cover schafft, Gaga ist als Phänomen interessant, nicht als Künstlerin – aber verdammt, ist das nicht genau so fake und irrational wie jedes andere Interesse an ihr? All diese Gedanken, noch ehe ich diese Zeilen oben gelesen habe, und dieser Zufall, habe ich doch grade mit einem Freund über Innen/Außen und Kostümierung und so weiter diskutiert, weil wir beide rein emotional der Meinung sind, Make-Up und bestimmte Outfits seien Kostümierung, während unser Auftreten irgendwie RICHTIGER ist weil es uns egal ist, wie wir wirken, bzw. weil unser Anliegen ist, nicht gesehen zu werden. Aber Anliegen ist Anliegen, oder? Wer wirken will, spielt vor. Egal, als was man wirken will. 

...

Set out to buy clothes. Ended up with an unseemly amount of socks, a vinyl copy of The Corin Tucker Band's 1,000 Years and Jonathan Lethem's Chronic City. And no shirts. Naturally.

Du har ødelagt det. Du ønsker ikke noen å bry seg.

Black metal music, often associated with satanism and church-burning, is set to burst onto the highbrow stage of global diplomacy following a move by Norway to teach the genre to its future envoys. Some 20 diplomats in training received a black metal crash course this year, the Norwegian diplomatic academy said Friday."The objective is to show Norwegian culture in all its diversity. In the musical field, it goes from (Romantic music composer) Edvard Grieg to black metal," its deputy head Steinar Lindberg said, adding he hoped to repeat the experience."In Italy, Japan or France, young people are learning Norwegian to decrypt the lyrics. Black metal is an export product and it's important that future diplomats are interested in it," he added. 

AFP: Future Norwegian diplomats get black metal crash course

I spent hours arguing that Norway isn't that awesome over the past years, and again and again, things like this happen. YOU JUST DON'T WANT ME TO WIN THIS ARGUMENT, NORWAY. 

Just trying to get my groove back...

• News from Syria, Yemen, leaving US defence secretary Gates' opinion on NATO's effectiveness, especially in Libya. 
• Watched two fairly awful movies in the past week, both of them I wouldn't recommend and they won't show up on my Reading List for this month because I skipped through some scenes. I had higher expectations of both, mostly because of their casts: Super was just not a very good movie, and X-Men: First Class was basically a bromance (and I use that term with an implied disgusted tone, since the word itself is as gross as the concept of "girlcrushes" and "no homo") that made no use whatsoever of the incredible supporting cast playing severely undeveloped characters. On the other hand, my favourite X-Men movie is still the third one, which is apparently a fauxpas comparable to arguing that the Star Wars prequels were a good idea, so grain of salt, etc.
• TV shows returning soon: Luther and Pretty Little Liars for a second season. What can I say, I contain multitudes. Doctor Who, after its great reveal (THE ONLY WATER IN THE FOREST IS  RIVER), is on hiatus until Fall.
• The Mountain Goats covered Jawbreaker's Boxcar for the A.V. Club's Undercover-series. 
• The Rosebuds divorced but didn't break up; released a new record titled Loud Planes Fly Low. 

Das Lied zum Sonntag

Après, on rêve d'avant

Basically I've been listening to the soundtrack to Les chansons d'amour over and over again for about two weeks now and I can't even pick a favourite song - Je n'aime que toi and Les yeux aux ciel would make just as much sense as this one.