Reading List: März.

Fiction: 

Caitlín R. Kiernan: The Drowning Girl.

Films: 

Tiny Furniture (2010, Lena Dunham).
Young Adult (2011, Jason Reitman).
Sket (2011, Nirpal Boghal).
Trying is Good (2008, Josie Long).
Game Change (2012, Jay Roach).
The Unloved (2009, Samantha Morton).
Få meg på, for faen (2011, Jannicke Systad Jacobsen).

Show: 

Being Human, Season Four.

"...human and institutional failings"

"We can talk as much as we want about human rights and the importance of complying with international obligations, but if at the same time we just leave people to die – perhaps because we don't know their identity or because they come from Africa – it exposes how meaningless those words are," said Strik, a Dutch member of the council's committee on migration, refugees and displaced persons, and the special rapporteur charged with investigating the case.

The incident has become well known due to the harrowing accounts of the survivors, but the report makes clear that many similar "silent tragedies" have occurred in recent years. Last year a record number of migrant deaths were recorded in the Mediterranean. "When you think about the media attention focused on the [Costa] Concordia and then compare it to the more than 1,500 migrant lives lost in the Mediterranean in 2011, the difference is striking," Strik said. 

The Guardian: Migrants left to die after catalogue of failures, says report into boat tragedy, March 28, 2012

Das Lied zum Sonntag

Wild Flag live at Bottle Tree, Portland, Oregon


We Have Signal: Wild Flag from We Have Signal on Vimeo.

Linkliste unbehandelter Themen

Politics: 

There were also signs that Russia, Mr. Assad’s most important foreign supporter, was exerting some pressure on him to allow a daily pause in the fighting and to permit outside aid to victims of the conflict, which the United Nations has estimated has left more than 8,000 dead and thousands more displaced.

But the timing, location and intensity of the Damascus clashes suggested that diplomacy had made little headway in resolving the conflict. By contrast, the Syrian Army appeared to have advanced significantly in recent days against rebel enclaves around the country, from the northern city of Idlib to Dara’a in the south, the birthplace of the protests that began last March. 

NY Times: Syrian Defectors Clash With Security Forces in Capital, March 19, 2012

The latest documents appear to shed more direct light on the regime's strategy against the uprising, including the deployment of thousands of militia known as "shabiha" and Ba'ath party members in operations designed to cut off Damascus, Aleppo, Idlib and other large cities from surrounding regions.

In the capital, the documents show, the main squares are the responsibility of different branches of Syria's large security apparatus, including the notorious air force intelligence directorate, which has been repeatedly accused of brutality and torture by Syrian opposition supporters and foreign human rights watchdogs. 

The Guardian: Syria: leaked documents reveal Bashar al-Assad's role in crushing protests, March 19, 2012

NY Times: Russia Appears to Soften Adamant Position in Syria Conflict, March 20, 2012

The Guardian: Kofi Annan leaves Syria after talks with Assad, March 11, 2012

As the Republican primary race continues (in a state that is culturally and politically divided), the question seems to be who the smallest loser is. 

Pop Culture: 

Trailer Galore: The Hunger Games, Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman, Battleship. 

The second season of Game of Thrones will premier on April 1, 2012.

Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen were guest DJs on NPR's All Songs Considered. 

The awesome, awesome Rookie magazine features an interview with designer Scott Sternberg and excerpts from his lookbook, which features Michelle Williams. 

Episode Nine. You can't fix yourself by fixing this.

joy division | isolation. the cure | lovesong. beat happening | our secret. the amps | pacer. sonic youth | kool thing. violent femmes | please do not go. pixies | debaser. the mountain goats | color in your cheeks. 

Episode Eight. Why is it me that has to care?

bikini kill | double dare ya. autoclave | go far. heavens to betsy | she's the one. excuse 17 | break and enter. team dresch | take on me. bratmobile | what's wrong with you? god is my co-pilot | kissing frenzy. slant 6 | what kind of monster are you?  sleater-kinney | i wanna be yr joey ramone.

livestream!!

cuteness overload

liveblogging, kinda...

"... but not before it kills you."

But on the merits, the executive authority Holder asserted is deeply disturbing in the days of lethal strikes by unmanned drones. Garry Wills argued in Bomb Power that the nature of the Presidency was fundamentally altered with the introduction of the nuclear bomb; but in some ways, drones may ultimately mark an even more tectonic change. The nuclear bomb is so devastating that it cannot realistically be deployed (and has not been used since we dropped them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, killing more than 200,000 people). The drone, by contrast, can be deployed, and has been, with increasing frequency. It allows for relatively pinpoint targeting, and the collection of detailed intelligence about suspects’ whereabouts so that, at least in theory, collateral damage can be limited. And perhaps most significant of all, those directing the drone—from computer screens at military bases thousands of miles away—face no risk of loss of life. Thus, the built-in check on killing, namely, that the one engaged in the killing risks being killed himself, is gone. 

The New York Review of Books: An Executive Power to Kill?, March 6, 2012

"I am a human man!"

Mr. Romney, whose candidacy has largely been built around a strategy of letting his Republican rivals fade away, is again facing the challenge of trying to improve his ability to connect with voters and excite them. The next string of contests, including Mississippi, Alabama, Kansas and Missouri, may also be challenging states in which to build momentum. 

NY Times: With No Knockout Punch, a Bruising Battle Plods On, March 7, 2012

He was denied a sweeping victory in the 10 states at stake on Super Tuesday mainly by a stronger-than-expected showing by Santorum, who won three states.

With more than 90% of the votes counted, CNN called Ohio for Romney.

Super Tuesdays historically have proved to be decisive, but not this one. Instead, the biggest day of the campaign highlighted the fractured nature of the modern Republican party and the lack of enthusiasm among the party grassroots for Romney. 

The Guardian: Super Tuesday: Romney wins Ohio but Santorum keeps race alive, March 7, 2012

Episode Seven. You're what's wrong with me.

roísín murphy | ramalama. girls | my ma. burial + four tet | nova.  dave a marat | salt air. health | eat flesh (crystal castles rmx). franz schubert | piano trio no. 2 in e flat. mickey 3d | ca m'étonne pas.

Das Lied zum Sonntag

Still Corners - Endless Summer



Listen to the tide
It pulls us in
Close to end of time

...

Currently actively trying to discourage potential buyers/renters from inhabiting my neighbouring apartment.
I am the worst.
Thin walls justify the means though.
Foals!