eco-fascism

Get ready for some spring cleaning. Here's a post that's been sitting in my drafts for a few months. I'd be remiss in not highlighting Gregory Rodriguez's thoughts on the co-optation of environmental rhetoric by the capitalist marketplace:

Most external national threats remind us of our essential goodness. The agents behind them are our enemies, the bad guys. Environmentalist rhetoric, on the other hand, constantly reminds us of our own culpability. For that reason, environmentalism is more akin to a religious awakening than to a political ideology. Like evangelicals, environmentalists speak, in their way, of fire and brimstone. Like the preacher, the environmental activist demands that we give ourselves to something beyond ourselves and that we do penance for our wasteful, carbon-profligate sins. Like the Catholic Church of old, they even sell indulgences -- carbon offsets.

And like any religion that emphasizes sin, devotees will find all sorts of ways to prove their personal righteousness. Particularly during the Christmas shopping season, it's fun to watch this new secular religion collide with one of our more established ones: shopping. Just last week, I received a renewal notice from my favorite newsmagazine that promised if I renewed my subscription now (and thereby kept the publishers from sending me 10 more paper reminders), I could "renew the Earth" at the same time. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Plenty of marketers and manufacturers are spinning their products as eco-friendly, not because they'll actually help the Earth but because they hope it'll make you feel better buying them. In fact, the near omnipresence of environmentalist rhetoric in the marketplace ought to be its own warning sign. Once eco-friendliness has become moral currency, and everyone exploits it, the less likely any of it is to make a difference.

Ah, yes. Reminds me of something I saw at Whole Foods the other day.

Coming to a town near you...

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hard bop is motherfuckin sublime

Election years are always a good time to watch or re-watch political flicks. Personally, I'm a fan of Bob Roberts and Wag the Dog. But The Great IOZ reminded me of a film I had forgotten - Bulworth. The fine senator played by Warren Beatty offered this gem, among other truisms:

"All we need is a voluntary, free-spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction. Everybody just gotta keep fuckin' everybody 'til they're all the same color."

2008 is going to be a fascinating year. The Proggels are poised to have the nervous breakdown of all nervous breakdowns over their party's inability to successfully and democratically select a presidential candidate. All they need is the super delegates to super size the point spread and a-wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop-bam-boo there goes the neighborhood. Will it happen? We'll find out in Denver.

Part of me doesn't give a shit. The other part wants to see the DNC fuck this up so badly that we get stuck with President McCain. Maybe that will teach 'em a lesson. Make 'em call a spade a spade. The way I see it, Nero has already started the fire. Might as well let Strangelove steer us clear into hell.

To be continued...

*This post was brought to you by Anchor Steam Beer and John Coltrane's Blue Train.

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read it and weep

For the past week I've been using Google Reader to aggregate my total internet experience. Doing so has led me to new and exciting territory. It has also led me to sites I ordinarily would not visit. One of these is "Men's Health" magazine, which I found through some blog whose link I've since misplaced.

Here is a sampling of the headlines on their site:

• Avoid Raising a Serial Killer
• Learn When to Unleash Your Anger to Get Ahead
• Be More Like Hemingway
• Samuel L. Jackson tells us how to be cool (well, cooler)

To summarize...it's cool to be an angry, bull-fighting drunk who says "motherfucker" 50 times per day as long as you get that promotion you've always wanted and don't inspire your child to random homicidal outbursts.

Yep, sounds like perfect reading for the postmodern American male.

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spotted on the back of an armored car

"The System is the Solution"

Seeing this message stopped me in my tracks over at Fascist Island. It is still sinking in...

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in other words, get off your ass...

Previously: don't adjust your dial

Tags: tv, television, revolution, gil scott heron, soul

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time to stock up on rat poison

Lately I've been feeling the urge to leave Orange County. Traffic, congestion, insane housing prices, luxury strip malls...not to mention consumer culture's inane obsession with our spoiled rich housewives. It's all really starting to get to me.

But the fact that the Disney empire wishes to expand its Anaheim colony into a Florida-style megalopolis just might drive me away for good. Seriously, there's no escape from this shit. Jean Baudrillard's theories are being validated on a daily basis. They won't stop until the entire world is engulfed in a totalized system of virtual reality.

*image from The Cautese National Postal Disservice

Tags: disney, anaheim, california, florida, mickey mouse

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the peak of western civilization (reconsidered)

Move over $148 sandwich, meet the $1,000 pizza

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rise of the machines

According to South Korea's Ministry of Information "every South Korean household will have a robot by between 2015 and 2020". In preparation of the coming robotic onslaught the South Korean government is drafting an ethical code to prevent humans from abusing robots, and vice versa.



Human-on-robot abuse must be stopped. That's a hate crime, yo.

Tags: science, robots, south korea, ethics, johnny five, short circuit, asimov

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but I read it on the internets

Is Jean Baudrillard's death real?

Tags: jean baudrillard, philosophy, france, postmodern

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don't adjust your dial

In the comments of this post Frederick asked: "How is it our Generation is so dead?" Busker argues that television is the culprit, citing the discovery of the mummified remains of a 70-year old Long Island, NY man sitting dead for more than a year in front of his blaring television set.

Since we're talking bout all things tee-vee, may I direct you to a post I wrote on the subject a couple years back. I'm not sure if it's the content or the medium itself that is the cancer, but either way my generation (Gen X) is dosed. Any thoughts on why we're so dead?

Tags: television, death, mummy, idiot box

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murder of the sign

Tags: video, you tube, google, britney, Leweb3, situationist, guy debord, postmodern

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the peak of western civilization...

Is a $148 sandwich



What is is claimed to be the world's most expensive sandwich goes on display at Selfridges Department Store in London, Monday April 10, 2006. Named the McDonald Sandwich, after it's creator, chef Scott McDonald, the ingredients are Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit, and English plum tomatoes, all packed into 24-hour fermented sour dough bread - and it sells for 85 pounds (US$ 148.33: euro 122.53) each.(AP Photo/Tom Hevezi)

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humanity's ultimate goal is complete self-destruction, part two

MTV2's Wonder Showzen is the gift that keeps on giving. Here is another short yet effective social-political-historical lesson from the show:

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kicking squealing gucci little piggies

There’s something deeply pathological about gated communities. These little walled-in fiefdoms exist to shield their residents from the outer world. They are scattered quite thoroughly across Orange County.

There are the rich enclaves of Coto de Caza and Newport Coast, and the elderly neighborhoods of Leisure World and Rossmoor, for instance. Last time I checked, Southern California faced no considerable threat from barbarian invasions.

So, why the fear? Why the isolation? Are you trying to keep us out or restrain yourselves inside? What are you afraid of?

This dread extends outside of their fiefdom bubble and into world of plebeians, or common people, if you will. People seem generally afraid to talk to each other in public. I was in the market the other day to buy some tofu. People push their carts around to the droll muzak trying to avoid one another in silence. Each one scurried around the fluorescent lit market like a rat looking for its cheese. I felt like screaming just to break the repressive silence.

Quick! Fill the carts! Consume, consume, consume. Quick!

I could go on about the sad peculiarities of Orange County, but El Serracho has unleashed a mighty rant that covers several bases. If I can add one thing though...

His observation of televisions in bars gives more evidence to my point above. These fiefdom dwellers (and wannabe fiefdomites too) will stoop at nothing to isolate themselves from genuine social interaction. They put DVD players in the backseat of their SUVs to pacify their children. (Why have a conversation with your kids when you can feed them audio-visual soma?) TVs in the supermarket distract us from the present reality and immerse us in a virtual reality. Perhaps it's a coping mechanism, a way of escaping the real world.

It's pathological.

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humanity's ultimate goal is complete self-destruction

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the final frontier

When deep space exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks.
– from Fight Club

That quote speaks to this era’s obsession with branding. Everything must be marked, cataloged and owned. Nothing can be shared. No item, no matter how large or small can be without a logo. Everything must be defined as someone’s property. We hold true that if an object/subject has been successfully defined then it has been successfully killed. Therefore, humanity’s ultimate goal is the eradication of the entire species.

. . .

We haven’t yet colonized space, but I gather Dick Cheney has already reserved the moon for Halliburton. After all, lunar condos will need fresh air, water, and overpriced heating fuel…

Before corporations can colonize outer space, they need to finish the job on this planet. A roofer from Massachusetts came up with an idea to help corporations do just that while making some nice cash of his own. His goal, taken to its logical outcome, is to cover every single roof on the planet with advertisements.

Want to rent out your roof to Coca-Cola, Xerox, or Intel? I can’t think of a better way to get some free money!

This dude’s dream is to someday log on to Google Earth’s satellite maps and witness corporate hegemony enshrined on every urban and suburban landscape of the planet Earth. So go ahead, make his dream come alive and rent out the roof of your house to corporate advertisers! See, it looks kinda cool...

I don’t own the roof of my townhouse, but my HOA would jump at the chance to suck at the corporate teat. As if my HOA needs more money. My monthly dues disappear into the black hole of some inept property management company.

I recommend not only painting buildings but streets, freeways, and airport runways too. The planet is our canvas, so let's tattoo the hell out of it!

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viva las vegas

Pictures are located here to serve as a visual accompaniment to this post.

. . .

Three days, two nights was all I could take. The cement and smoke got to me. I don’t gamble, so the majority of my money went towards food, alcohol and a new skirt for the wife. My solace each night was returning to our hotel room to find a photo of the beautiful Marilyn Monroe hanging next to our bed.

We went to Vegas for my cousin’s wedding, which was a quick ten minute affair at a wedding chapel near Fremont Street. After the wedding we attended dinner, a show and a champagne toast at a two-story suite atop the MGM Grand.

“All that for just ten minutes”, I thought to myself. It was strikingly different from my wedding, which was a 1.5 hour ceremony and Catholic mass followed by a four hour reception and party with bottles of rum and salsa dancing.

. . .

Vegas is a city that is not ashamed of flaunting its true essence. People proudly refer to it as Sin City--the home of greed, excess capital and morally-lapsed decision making. The décor of Vegas merely accentuates its personality. It is the first postmodern city, founded by mobsters and run by casino billionaires.

After the third hotel they all look and sound the same. The new classy hotels (Bellagio and Wynn) are the best to visit. The cheesy ones (Harrah’s and Flamingo) are just waiting to be dynamited and replaced with new, classy monstrosities.

It’s also fun. Where else in the United States can you walk city streets with a beer bottle or yard-long margarita your hand? Where else can you dine with obese people at wasteful buffets? Where else can you win your very own H2?

The streets are littered with porn ads and Latino immigrants hand you discount fliers for strippers. Guests roam their hotel casinos and lobbies wearing only bathrobes and flip-flops. Groups of guys and girls cruise the bars during their bachelor and bachelorette party weekends respectively.

AC Patriot noted that the city is unique for its libertarian spirit. I personally would call it libertinism—sex, drugs and rock n’roll sans the responsibility or forethought. But being a libertine can be fun.

Everyone needs an escape and Vegas is it for many people. They like the fake and they enjoy the illusion. They suck it up. It's the American dream deferred. Hell, it's called a dream, not a reality.

The latest trend is the burlesque show—the “artistic” counterpart to the traditional vulgar striptease. I wanted to catch a burlesque show but mi esposa wouldn't be down with that idea. Plus, it's way overpriced. I also missed out on the bikini bull riding (but I will definitely return for the cold beer and dirty girls).

So, to recap, here's what I learned in Vegas:

1. Old time Vegas acts, singers and showmen are being replaced by technical wonder shows, magic acts and obtuse French acrobatic acts.
2. Cirque de Soleil is overrated. Don’t waste your money.
3. Gin Martinis are gross. My body can’t take hard liquor like it used to.
4. Hoover Dam is cool.
5. Country-singer Toby Keith has a bar & grill chain with gaudy, American flag painted guitars.
6. Watching the lions at the MGM Grand is a great time-waster.
7. The house always wins. Don’t delude yourself.

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carnival

Last night I returned from the capital of fake America. The crowds and the tobacco smoke were enough to cause a relapse of my cold and sore throat. I'll share more about the experience later...

Before I die I have to visit Rio de Janeiro during Carnival.

Mi esposa and I spent our honeymoon in Rio, and we vowed to return someday. Everything is spectacular in Brazil—the food, the music, the weather, the futbol players, the women, the caiparinias, etc.

Bono played at the carnival in Salvador, Brazil. Say what you want about the U2 frontman, but at least he knows where a good party is. The celebrations in Salvador are more authentic than the large-scale festivities in Rio. Salvador is the heart of African Brazil--it is the birthplace of Brazil's sugarcane industry and the first destination for African slaves in the New World.

Here are pictures from Carnival celebrations around the world.

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off to the land of hyperreality

The very definition of the real becomes: that of which it is possible to give an equivalent reproduction. The real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced. The hyper real. -- Jean Baudrillard

Tomorrow I depart for Las Vegas, the city proudly named by James Howard Kunstler as eyesore of the month for January 2006. If you look at his picture, I'll be staying at the hotel with the lion on top.

I don't hate Las Vegas itself. I know I'll enjoy myself there (thanks to the all the alcohol I'll be imbibing). But Las Vegas is the epitome of everything I despise about postmodern culture. It's an artificial paradise where the defined "real" is nothing but fake, plastic scenery. Plus, I don't gamble, and the sound of slot machines and stench of cigarette smoke annoys me.

The scary part is that most Americans prefer this land of fiction as a vacation spot.

What you have to do is enter the fiction of America, enter America as fiction. It is, indeed, on this fictive basis that it dominates the world. -- Jean Baudrillard

Cultural and ideological imperialism, my friends. If New York is the financial capital of the world and Los Angeles the entertainment capital, then Las Vegas symbolizes the excess of capital. New god-awful monstrous structures lavished with greed are constructed on a monthly basis in an endless process of simulation--simulating the "real" world.

Look, if I had my choice I'd travel to an authentic vacation spot, somewhere with a forest, nature trails or a beach. But it's my cousin's wedding and Vegas is the destination.

. . .

Here's a music video that has nothing to do with the post above. The band is Morningwood, and they have hardworking wardrobe people.

Ha, she said wood...

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constantly searching for something

Welcome to postmodernity:

The postmodern would be that which, in the modern, puts forward the unpresentable in presentation itself; that which denies itself the solace of good forms, the consensus of a taste which would make it possible to share collectively the nostalgia for the unattainable; that which searches for new presentations, not in order to enjoy them but in order to impart a stronger sense of the unpresentable.
-- Jean-François Lyotard

Hope you enjoy your stay.

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