Hank's Blog
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Director Richard Linklater reveals the movie that gave him permission to let his characters really talk, along with four others that helped shape his approach to filmmaking... here
Monday, August 30, 2004
Come Together
Can we discover a depth of wisdom far beyond what is available to individuals alone?
by Craig Hamilton
Can we discover a depth of wisdom far beyond what is available to individuals alone?
by Craig Hamilton
...Insightful observers, from anthropologist Gregory Bateson to Gautama the Buddha, have been telling us for millennia that despite our perception of ourselves as “independent thinkers,” most of us rarely, if ever, have a truly independent thought pass through our heads. In describing culture as “an ecology of mind,” Bateson illuminated the fact that our thinking is, on the deepest level, conditioned by the narratives of the social environment in which we live. As consciousness researcher Chris Bache explains it, “While individuality is extremely precious and extraordinarily important from an evolutionary perspective, if you look carefully at what that individuality is, you find that it's an open system which reflects the larger cultural and psychological history of the species.” Then there's the evidence from developmental psychology that even our minds themselves only develop in relationship with other minds, that if left in isolation during our formative years, we would end up with but a fraction of our current cognitive and emotional capacity. Add to that the growing body of scientific research which suggests that our minds are not “locked” in our brains at all, but are actually fields that constantly interact with one another to create larger social fields with a tremendous influence on our behavior, and our fear of losing our independence begins to look like a bit of a red herring...
...For [David] Bohm, all the problems of human affairs could be traced to the “incoherence of our thought,” and particularly, of our collective thought. Looking at the way our unexamined cultural presuppositions, beliefs, and ideas prevent us from coming together in meaningful exchange on matters of importance, he proposed a new mode of inquiry that would both reveal this incoherence and point the way beyond it. Drawing from the Greek dialogos, which he defined as “meaning moving through,” Bohm explained that in this new form of dialogue, “a new kind of mind . . . begins to come into being which is based on the development of a common meaning that is constantly transforming in the process of the dialogue. People are no longer primarily in opposition, nor can they be said to be interacting, rather they are participating in this pool of common meaning, which is capable of constant development and change.”...
Friday, August 27, 2004
Visible Earth - Earth's City Lights
...the brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated. (Compare western Europe with China and India.)...
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
HOODOO
AFRICAN AMERICAN MAGIC
by catherine yronwode
AFRICAN AMERICAN MAGIC
by catherine yronwode
Hoodoo is an American term, originating in the 19th century or earlier, for African-American folk magic.
Hoodoo consists of a large body of African folkloric practices and beliefs with a considerable admixture of American Indian botanical knowledge and European folklore. Although most of its adherents are black, contrary to popular opinion, it has always been practiced by both whites and blacks in America. Other regionally popular names for hoodoo in the black community include "conjuration", "conjure", "witchcraft", "rootwork", and "tricking". The first three are simply English words; the fourth is a recognition of the pre-eminence that dried roots play in the making of charms and the casting of spells, and the fifth is a special meaning for a common English word.
...Some writers have said that "hoodoo" is a corruption of "Voodoo," but that seems highly unlikely. In the first place, Voodoo is a West African religion that was transplanted to Haiti (see below) and hoodoo is a system of primarily Central African magical belief and practice. Furthermore, the word "hoodoo" appears everywhere in the black community, but the word "Voodoo" co-exists with the word "hoodoo" primarily in the state of Louisiana (where it was brought by Haitian immigrants in the early 19th century) -- and even there the two terms refer to different things entirely.
read more...
"... By making the spirits directly available and visible to the people through the possession state of danse-loa, the Houngan demonstrates, in three-dimensional reality, the existence of another world. In essence, this is a highly political statement of personal Power, for if a simple human is capable of communion with the gods, how strong and visionary he must be--way beyond that of the institutions and elites that in their unchallenged arrogance assume that they have automatic ascension above mere mortals..." - Vodou Shaman: The Haitian Way of Healing and Power
by Ross Heaven, Tim Booth
by Ross Heaven, Tim Booth
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
1st Annual Williamsburg Music & Arts Festival Announced
Music. Film. Activism. Get Involved. Take Action.
Brooklyn, NY (PRWEB) August 8, 2004 -- Film Director and Producer Roy Szuper and veteran music event and tour producer, Christine Hansen, announce the creation of the First Annual Williamsburg Music & Arts Festival. The concept for the festival was inspired by Szuper’s film Gonzo Music Diaries, which documents New York City’s musical and political post-9/11 landscape. Szuper has teamed with Hansen, President/CEO of Thirty-Three Productions, to create this pioneering event to take place on August 21, 2004 from Noon to 8:00pm.
The festival is designed as a celebration of music and the activist scene documented in his soon-to-be released 3rd film Gonzo Music Diaries (www.gonzomusicdiariesnyc.com), as well as an event to be filmed and incorporated in the documentary. The film features over 20 New York City bands including, but not limited to: Murphy’s Law, Black 47, World Inferno Friendship Society, Dufus, Big Lazy, Dana Fuchs, Jimmy Vivino, David Peel, the Danglers, plus over 20 subway musicians.
Sponsored in part by SPIN Magazine and American Apparel, the Williamsburg Festival in Mc Carren Park, will include two stages of music and performance, as well as various booths.
An eclectic roster of artists will perform on 2 stages during the course of the day. The festival will spotlight the extraordinary talent that hails from the 5 boroughs in addition to presenting some of the finest nationally-renowned artists. Talent at the festival will include local artists featured in the film.
· Vernon Reid & Friends
· King Missile III
· The Twenty-Two’s
· Papa Mali
· Plus MANY special guests
more...
Monday, August 16, 2004
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Semiotics for Beginners
Daniel Chandler
Introduction
Daniel Chandler
Introduction
Semiotics is important because it can help us not to take 'reality' for granted as something having a purely objective existence which is independent of human interpretation. It teaches us that reality is a system of signs. Studying semiotics can assist us to become more aware of reality as a construction and of the roles played by ourselves and others in constructing it. It can help us to realize that information or meaning is not 'contained' in the world or in books, computers or audio-visual media. Meaning is not 'transmitted' to us - we actively create it according to a complex interplay of codes or conventions of which we are normally unaware. Becoming aware of such codes is both inherently fascinating and intellectually empowering. We learn from semiotics that we live in a world of signs and we have no way of understanding anything except through signs and the codes into which they are organized. Through the study of semiotics we become aware that these signs and codes are normally transparent and disguise our task in 'reading' them. Living in a world of increasingly visual signs, we need to learn that even the most 'realistic' signs are not what they appear to be. By making more explicit the codes by which signs are interpreted we may perform the valuable semiotic function of 'denaturalizing' signs. In defining realities signs serve ideological functions. Deconstructing and contesting the realities of signs can reveal whose realities are privileged and whose are suppressed. The study of signs is the study of the construction and maintenance of reality. To decline such a study is to leave to others the control of the world of meanings which we inhabit.
read more...
Saturday, August 14, 2004
The longest tootle
From Skunkbucket LeFunke to Louis Armstrong to ... Louis Armstrong, Ken Burns' 144-hour documentary gets to the bottom of jazz. (Did we mention Louis Armstrong?)
By John Grabowski
From Skunkbucket LeFunke to Louis Armstrong to ... Louis Armstrong, Ken Burns' 144-hour documentary gets to the bottom of jazz. (Did we mention Louis Armstrong?)
By John Grabowski
February 07, 2001 | [Voice-over] Presenting Ken Burns' 144-hour extremely important documentary, "Jazz," subtitled "Take a Pee Now."
[Fade up on a grainy old photograph of a man in a three-piece suit, holding a cornet. Or a bicycle horn, it's hard to tell.]
Narrator: Skunkbucket LeFunke was born in 1876 and died in 1901. No one who heard him is alive today. The grandchildren of the people who heard him are not alive today. The great-grandchildren of the people who heard him are not alive today. He was never recorded.
Wynton Marsalis: I'll tell you exactly what Skunkbucket LeFunke sounded like. He had this big rippling sound, and he always phrased off the beat, and he slurred his notes. And when the Creole bands were still playing, "De bah de bah ta da tah," he was already playing, "Bo dap da lete do do do bah!" He was just like gumbo, ahead of his time.
Stanley Crouch: When people listened to Skunkbucket LeFunke, what they heard was, "Do do dee bwap da dee dee de da da doop doop dap." And they knew even then how profound that was.
Narrator: It didn't take LeFunke long to advance the art of jazz past its humble beginnings in New Orleans whoredom with the addition of something you've probably never heard of before, the Big Four.
read more...
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Monday, August 09, 2004
Online Works of Howard Zinn
Excepts from books written by Zinn:
Excepts from books written by Zinn:
Third World Traveler - featuring excerpts from a large number of Zinn's books and essays.
Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress - the first chapter of A People's History of the United States.
Drawing the Color Line - the second chapter of A People's History of the United States.
The Ludlow Massacre - an excerpt from pages 346-349 of A People's History, which I think is chapter 13 or 14.
A People's War? - the sixteenth chapter of A People's History.
The Clinton Presidency and the Crisis of Democracy - The latest chapter in The Twentieth Century.
Going South - the first chapter of You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Zinn's autobiography. Courtesy of ZNet.
The Modern Era of Law - from Declarations of Independence.
Introduction to Law and Order: a Chapter on Civil Disobedience - from Declarations of Independence.
Monday, August 02, 2004
Organophosphates Implicated In Mad Cow Disease
Cover-up: Insecticide causes Mad Cows & nvCJD
by Fintan Dunne
Research Kathy Mc Mahon
ICI's nerve gas insecticide triggers BSE & human CJD
If Mark Purdey is right we are in big trouble. We are destroying our brains with insecticides. ...
Bacillus thuringiensis - learn more...
This website is dedicated to understanding the benefits and risks associated with using Bt proteins in farming and using Bt genes in GMO crops to manufacture the natural insecticide...
