We've got a 1940's Picture of THE MINUTEMEN from WATCHMEN - and tis exclusive for all yous! -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and com

We've got a 1940's Picture of THE MINUTEMEN from WATCHMEN - and tis exclusive for all yous! -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

More on the Al Jazeera situation

Still really P.O.'ed about BT removing Al Jazeera... So I decided to write a contracted version of my previous blog post as a 250 word "letter to the editor". I realized too late that my previous missive was waaaay too long and edited it to fit Burlington Free Press and SEVENDAYS criteria for that sort of thing. I re- sent it to them as well as the comments section of BT's web site as well as Mayor Kiss. Let's hope this doesn't just blow over. I also wrote to the Islamic Center of VT;

To whom it may concern:

I myself am neither arab nor muslim, but am dissapointed and angry about the decision of Burlington Telecom
to remove Al Jazeera from its channel lineup. I refer you to the following article:

"Burlington Telecom to Dump Al Jazeera" in Local Matters By Ken Picard.

I was so upset about it that i have written letters to the editors of sevendays and Burlington Free Press.

my letter is as follows:

"Concerning Burlington Telecom removing AlJazeera from its channel lineup under the duress of Israel Center of Vermont and some subscribers- I find it infuriating that a special interest group and ANY amount of the public can dictate terms on the free transmission and circulation of ideas. No surprise that Israel Center of Vermont has a bias against Al Jazeera. Not surprising that BT GM Burns' has received "dozens" of complaints. It angers me that ICV's ignorance of basic constitutional rights/ethics/hate speech law and Chris Burns removing Al Jazeera from BT's lineup. Mr. Burns abdicated his authority to special interest groups and xenophobes that would bully and decide for our community what ideas we, the people, can be exposed to. My question to Chris Burns; what “DUST” kicks up, or business damaged, airing international news , whatever ideas they promote? Why wasn't Arab and Muslim citizens/groups not consulted? What if the Peace and Justice Center and "dozens" of people demand the removal of FOX NEWS for it's "hate speech propaganda"? This situation is ridiculous. Responding to ICofV's opinion that “hate speech”and “ ...undermine[s] the basic tenets of democracy.”- I guess they didn't pay attention in civics class. FREE SPEECH does not undermine the tenets of democracy, THE RESTRICTION OF IT DOES. We live in a country that promotes the free exchange of ideas. Except, apparently, ideas that The Israel Center of Vermont disagrees with or may hinder Chris Burns future BT business by stirring up “more dust.” "

I also posted about the situation on my blog: http://flameape.blogspot.com/2008/05/defending-al-jazeera-aginst-dirty.html and invited others to speak out against this situation.

I want you to understand that i do not consider myself a supporter of either side of the Arab/Israeli disputes, nor am i allied politically with any of the various sides of this regrettable struggle between cultures, politics and the bloodshed that has gone on for so long. I believe in peaceful and harmonius discourse- charity and non-violent means of making one's voice heard. But whether or not I believe Al jazeera's programming to be propaganda, truth, or not( I happen to believe it is infact news reportage from another point of view- nothing more or less)- it incenses me to no end that ANY particular group would attempt, by difference of politics, religion or xenophobia, to abridge the right of any other group to speak it's views, truth, facts, rhetoric or otherwise. The United States has a particular uniqueness in that we as citizens have a right to free speech. I am very supportive of this right, as it is in many ways the cornerstone of all our others here. If we can't say, write, transmit our thoughts- then how can we protect our life liberty and pursuit of happiness? How can we protect ourselves from oppression and oversight?

So understand, as a non-arab, non-muslim citizen- I DO NOT approve of the tactics and pressure tghat lead to such a bad decision on the part of Burlington Telecom. I hope your community can make demands for reconsideration of this situation as soon as possible. If your community loses its right to be informed, its right to its voice- then we all may soon enough. I wish you well.

I hope that they put some pressure on BT- I'm thinking of starting a petition. Is the ACLU out there? Anyone?? Maybe I'll foward all of this to them as well.

Defending AL JAZEERA, against the DIRTY DOZENS **UPDATED**

So I'm reading Seven days on line and caught this short article "Burlington Telecom to Dump Al Jazeera" in Local Matters By Ken Picard. In short, Paul Laffal and Jeffrey Kaufman, of the Israel Center of Vermont; a local Israeli activist group were quoted as saying that Al Jazeera's programming was:

“hate speech insidiously presented as news serves only to undermine the basic tenets of democracy.”

The article also states that according to Burlington Telecom, "dozens" of BT subscribers have complained/denounced the channel since BT started carrying AL Jazeera last year. That's right- since last YEAR, "dozens" of complaints. I'm pretty certain that misogyny-boosting comic strip, "The Lockhorns" gets more complaints at the Burlington Free press in a year, but I digress.

I was pretty flabbergasted at BT General Manager Chris Burns' reason for dropping the station from the lineup-

“We’re a small cable TV carrier in Burlington trying to acquire more business,” Burns said. “We really don’t need to stir up more dust.”

So, I wrote a letter to the editor at Seven Days-

Referring to "Burlington Telecom to Dump Al Jazeera; Local Matters By Ken Picard [05.07.08".

I'm not certain if this has been pointed out(if so, please disregard my redundancy) but in fact Al Jazeera(as well as Russia Today and Democracy Now) is available on Ch.16 RETN , A PEG programming station that serves VT communities from Essex down to Vergennes. So I suppose that this will serve those who receive the channel on BT a "loophole".

On to the meat of the matter, I find it really really troubling that a special interest group and ANY amount of the public can dictate terms on the transmission and circulation of ideas/news/speech. It is of no surprise to me that representatives of the Israel Center of Vermont would have a bias against the AlJazeera network and any of it's reportage or editorial opinions. It is not a surprise that BT General Manager Chris Burns' office has received "dozens" of complaints; one could have almost any controversial programming of any subject matter and experience the ire of dozens or more cable subscribers. What distresses me is both Israel Center of Vermont andBT GM Chris Burns' public reaction to Al Jazeera and it's programming.

It would appear that Mr. Laffal and Kaufman are of the opinion that Al Jazeera's programming constitutes “hate speech insidiously presented as news serves only to undermine the basic tenets of democracy." I wonder given the fact that the debate and bloodshed (as well as a great deal of goodwill and attempts at bridge building by pacifist groups on either side)between the Israelis and Palestinians in the middle east and the war of ideas, politics and propaganda by their representatives in the US, that we here in the United States, and more specifically, a progressive free-speech "don't tread on my liberties" state like Vermont would stay neutral in this debate and allow all parties to express their opinion with equal vigor, accuracy and rhetoric. Not so it seems in the case of BT General Manager Chris Burns. Apparently, Mr. Burns has the authority to tell those of us in the community - those who would pay the bill that allows the "little cable engine that could" - a shining municipal gem in the sky of big-business telecoms [to do business], what we, the people, can and cannot be exposed to.

All GM's and programming directors at cable TV companies make decisions on dropping and adding channels all the time- it's part of the business of cable TV However, the decision to drop or add programming is almost always an issue of bandwidth/channel limitations and cost effectiveness. According to an article published Saturday, April 21, 2007 by Burlington Free Press Staff Writer SamHemmingway, “...Burlington Telecom began offering Al Jazeera in its cable packages to customers six months ago. The two-year-old cable system does not pay anything for Al Jazeera and has a contract to provide it until 2011.” In addition, it has always been one of the selling points during BT's inception that we would have bandwidth and channel volume much higher than with conventional telecoms /cable providers in the past. So both of these scenarios do not have any bearing on Mr. Burns edict. No, in point of fact the only decision cited is “...trying to acquire more business...” and “We really don’t need to stir up more dust.” My question to Chris Burns would be, “Excuse me sir, but what business are you referring to that would be damaged by the free exchange of ideas? What DUST would be kicked up by providing international news services, no matter who they represent? I suppose that the Arab community of Burlington is not to be represented in this decision? ”

From this decision by Mr. Burns we are to assume then that an international cable news provider that is watched by Arab and non-Arab citizens worldwide with an opinion and op-ed slant contrary to the current US administration and the hard-line Israeli lobby is bad for business, therefore to be dropped from the channel lineup. Because the Israel Center of Vermont and "dozens" of subscribers disagree with said channel's programming or consider it hate speech. If that is the case, then as a card carrying liberal in a sea of the same here in theBT area(and , until now a gung-ho potential BT customer- now rethinking who i will give my money to)- I demand the removal of FOX NEWS for it's "hate speech propaganda"(my opinion)! No deal, Mr. Burns? Well how about if the Peace and Justice Center and "dozens" ofBT subscribers rally on the phone, email, etc? How about any other station that a special interest group and a phone bank wants off the lineup? Sound ridiculous? That's because it is.

The notion that any group and any MUNICIPAL employee can dictate what is and is not acceptable speech, particularly in the area of what is or is not news, information etc., is appalling, laughable and troubling, all at the same time. I suppose when an element of any extremity demands the removal of speech that they don't like we are just supposed to knuckle under to their demands and just terminate that point of view- abridge the flow of information that we, the citizens have the right to decide the validity of. As much as theICV and Mr. Burns would have the community think so- that is not and never will be (i hope) the current interpretation of the first amendment. It is also not a reasonable stance to take in lieu of the fact that at any given moment we are availed at every turn by groups and individuals in our communities with an axe to grind; "the truth" to reveal, and will rally to expose or squash the purveyors of whatever "they" don't agree with.

I sincerely hope that the citizens served by BT will call/email Mr. Burns and inform him of their opinions on the matter; I've a suspicion that more than dozens feel that an abridgment of their access to information is not in their best interests. At least I hope so.

I will leave you with the following quote from the Burlington Telecom's "About Burlington Telecom" web page (http://www.burlingtontelecom.net/aboutus/):

“... Although we are a City Department, this network is privately financed and clean of any taxpayer contributions. To pay for the effort, Burlington Telecom will provide the three basic services itself: cable TV, telephone, and high-speed Internet. But anyone else will also be free to use the network to deliver these or other services. (This is similar to a City providing public roads while also providing basic bus service as well. Citizens and businesses can use the bus service or they can use the roads to provide their own transportation.)"

“...But anyone else will also be free to use the network to deliver these or other services." Except of course anyone that The Israel Center of Vermont disagrees with or is going to inconvenience Mr. Burns future BT business campaign by stirring up “more dust.”

That about sums up my opinion. except I forgot to counter the ICofV's opinion that “hate speech insidiously presented as news serves only to undermine the basic tenets of democracy.” Well, I guess they didn't pay attention in civics class. In point of fact, FREE SPEECH does not undermine the tenets of democracy, THE RESTRICTION OF IT DOES.


Hope it gets noticed - hope it sees print. Hope you all write or call BT about this bad decision. Do so at: http://www.burlingtontelecom.net/contactus/

UPDATE: During a conversation with an RETN employee I was informed that they may carry whatever Israeli/Jewish news equivalent to Al Jazeera they can find. Seems like the best example of smart, fair and balanced in this whole affair. Let's wish them well in their endeavors to promote diversity of information, rather than the elimination of it.

Super Real Mario World

pixeloo
Super Real Mario World

[click to enlarge]

"...If Mario was real, thas one creepy plumber. Created with Photoshop CS2 and a bunch of random faces pasted over a 3d render of Mario from Nintendo. View one of Homer Simpson here...."

DAILY MONSTER 186 (of 200)

Ok, so...this guy is my new favorite artist on the web. Stefan G. Bucher, a UK graphic designer and illustrator makes a monster a day- he does it on camera, and posts them to his blog. FUKKING COOL. He also has a book  of these monsters that includes a dvd of the vids (whatta cool thing) on amazon- which you bet yer ass I'm pre-ordering. You should too- but if you don't then

GO TO HIS BLOG AND WATCH!

Direct link to the video.

HACK THE URBAN CONTEXT!

From Boing Boing TV:

"Apr 18, 2008 (21 hours ago) Best of BBtv - Campfire At Will from Boing Boing TV by Xeni Jardin, Mark Frauenfelder, Cory Doctorow, David Pescovitz ...

Vienna-based art-pranksters monochrom teach us how to "hack the urban context" with campfires, sausages, beer, and an elderly Austrian gentleman who speaks LOL. In the second segment of today's episode, someone constructs a campfire, complete with beer bottles and half-cooked links, right in the middle of the Vienna airport. American kids, don't try this at home unless you want a one-way to Camp X-Ray. Schnitzel and subversive smores FTW! "

Original video source

Tron paper stop-motion

Tron
by freres-hueon

The Center Cannot Hold : Version01

 http://www.sic.ph/past/media_art/center-cannot-hold.html

"The Center Cannot Hold is a continuously evolving political film presented as a performance of audiovisual narratives in a live mixing ... all » event. Specific Electric performs this Live Cinema piece with an array of digital equipment that allows the real-time editing and remixing of scenes, sounds and samples.
William Butler Yeats' poem, The Second Coming, forms the creative center of the project, which also includes works by: Saul Williams, Paul Miller (DJ Spooky), Shepard Fairey (Obey Giant), Sharif Ezzat, The Barnstormers, Billy Blaze, Polar, D-Fuse, [sic], Gary Breslin, Daniel Perlin, and more.
This Version01 recording represents the first major performance of the piece, in Madrid, Spain, on October 23, 2004 at the 9th Annual La Paz y La Guerra [Peace and War] Festival. Thanks to the LEF Foundation and La Fabrica De Ideas whose support made this project possible. "