The Fantastic in art & fiction : a visual resource for the study of the Fantastic or of the supernatural in fiction and in art.

Mosaic TV : daily news reports from the Middle East - excellent (need broadband and QT)

Iraq for Sale : The story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war. Robert Greenwald's new film.

dreams less sweet : audio / visual weirdness. good stuff on here

Experience natural hallucination. Stare at the center, keep your eyes still & look away when instructed. hmmm (thanks D) (

Nasrallah makes Palestine pop charts : Now the five singers who make up the Northern Band have come a little closer to their goal, with help from an unwitting ally - Hezbollah guerrilla chief Hassan Nasrallah. At the height of the Israel-Hezbollah war, the band wrote new lyrics, in praise of Nasrallah, for an old tune. The "Hawk of Lebanon" song tapped into Nasrallah's popularity among Palestinians and became an instant hit. (Listen)

Attorney: Justice Ministry's plan would 'launder' illegal West Bank outposts : Her six-month inquiry recommended the prosecution of senior bureaucrats and other officials for their role in illegal building. Former State Prosecutor Talia Sasson, whose government-commissioned report detailed 105 unauthorized outposts, said the new Justice Ministry document recommended allowing construction to continue and undermined her report, which called for the evacuation of the outposts.

Pressure for ban on cluster bombs as Israel is accused of targeting civilians - 13 killed by them since ceasefire (independent)

We will not be silent

image taken from Red Clydeside: a history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932 (thanks J)

Krautrockdock Ohnesorg

Between You and Me : interesting stop motion short film - if not for the content then for the technique

Secrets of the Pirate Bay : (wired.com) Efforts to sink the word's largest BitTorrent tracker backfired into political scandal and spurred even more downloading. But the three guys behind the Pirate Bay are facing a national controversy of their own. Part one of a two-part series by Quinn Norton, reporting from Malmo, Sweden.

Gnarls Barkley - Smiley Faces

Free Phone! : Jeremy Bogan set up a system where he can forward a telemarketer to another line, which is fed a random sampling of quotes to keep the telemarketer on the line as long as possible. (via waxy)

Now I quite like Mr Bungle. Heres two albums from em | Mr. Bungle - California (70mb Filefactory 256 kbps) | Mr. Bungle - Mr. Bungle (126 mb filefactory) PW - undiscoaldia.blogspot.com. Worth a look this website...

Sound Systen : great collection of roots - need to come back to this as it has some Congo's bits that i ain't got...

AIPAC v. Norman Finkelstein: A Debate on Israel's Assault on Gaza (Democracy Now) : a debate on the situation in Gaza with Norman Finkelstein, a professor of political science at DePaul University in Chicago and author of "Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History" and Josh Block, the Director of Media Affairs for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

George Galloway on Talksport with James Whale

Chomsky interviewed by BBC Ex-political Editor Andrew Marr (part one of three)

Guitar Paradise of East Africa : ok this version has no password! enjoy (65 mb 128kbps rapidshare)

Racist at a peace rally? : the ever excellent JewsSansFrontieres has an interesting story about how police swamped a recent Brighton anti-war demo searching for a racist and seeking to allay fears of antisemitism on the part of the local Jewish community.

Gustave Moreau (French, 1826-1898), "Oedipus and the Sphinx" 1864, oil on canvas, (206.4 x 104.8 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

this is doin it for me today Susumu Yokota - Wonder Waltz (192kbps rapidshare)

Fauni Gena : lots of krautrock here

Asian Pop Oldies

back in a week or deux

Trailer for Lunacy (QuickTime) by Jan Svankmajer : The latest provocation from surrealist master Jan Svankmajer (LITTLE OTIK) is a 'philosophical horror film,' loosely based on two short stories by Edgar Allan Poe and inspired by the works of the Marquis de Sade

Christian militia chief helps his friends (telegraph) : Israel has called on the services of the Christian militia it once sponsored in Lebanon to help its current fight against Hizbollah, the militia's former leader has disclosed. Gen Anton Lahad assumed control of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) in 1984 - two years after it was implicated in the massascre of up to several thousand Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. Now he says that Israel is tapping into his expertise in secret meetings.

John Pilger's 'Palestine is still the issue'

(letter sent in to media lens) It is so heartening to know that at least someone is voicing the words of sanity. More power to you. I served with the British Army in Northern Ireland - in Belfast. We felt very much that we were in the wrong place trying to do a job we were not qualified to do, but all our officers convinced us that we were fulfilling a police role. At the time, I remember one officer remarking that the solution was simple: every time that a sniper fired at one of our patrols, we should simply bring in a tank, or an RAF strike and take out the whole house. Many a head nodded, and many a voice said, "that would teach them" ... "they wouldn't do that again in a hurry". The very thought of all the innocent civilians that would have been killed for the sake of one IRA sniper was sickening. Watching the Israeli film on Dutch television of rockets being fired from a blocks of flats in Beirut, and then witnessing the obliteration of the whole area by Israeli retaliation, the analogy is almost impossible to avoid. This is barbarism, not civilisation. Yours respectfully, Simon North.

Galloway lets loose on Sky : “You don’t give a damn. You don’t even know about the Palestinian families. You don’t even know that they exist... Because you believe, whether you know it or not, that Israeli blood is more valuable than the blood of Lebanese or Palestinians. That’s the truth, and the discerning of your viewers already know it.”

(thanks G )

Various Artists - Guitar Paradise of East Africa : this is doin it for me today (Rapidshare 66mb)

Israel asks U.S. to ship cluster bombs quickly (newyorktimes)

Press Display : Newspaper Replicas from around the World

Hypocrisy and the Clamor Against Hizbullah : How “Indiscriminate” is Hezbollah’s Shelling? by Jonathan Cook

Tuung/BrightBlack Morning Light/Jill Barber : Oct 25th Scala £12.50

Love - Your Mind and We Belong Together (Promo Film)

Racing Junior : Norweigen label - home of Salvatore

Love Sculpture Dave Edmunds Sabre Dance 1968 UK psych

All Things Boris : I'm talking Pink, Feedbacker, Flood, Mabuta No Ura OST, Amplifier Worship, Heavy Rocks, Akuma No Uta, Dronevil Final Part I & II, The Thing which Salomon Overlooked I, II & III, PLUS Black, Implication Flooding with Keiji Haino, the three Merzbow colabs; Sun Baked Snow Cave, 04092001 & Megatone, and the split with Choukoku No Niwa.(via inmypocket)

Sustaining Autonomous Media Networks | Part I | Part II | (via novamute)

Flow : is a critical forum on television and media culture published biweekly by the department of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of Texas at Austin.

Media scholar Henry Jenkins starts blogging : (via bb) MIT prof Henry Jenkins is pretty much the sharpest person when it comes to the cultural implications of fandom, fannish activity, fan fiction, and participatory culture (a phrase he coined). First, the Snakes on a Plane phenomenon has been building momentum for well over a year now. In the old days, the public would never have known about a film this far out of the gate. They might have learned about it when the previews hit the theatre -- a phenomenon which itself is occurring earlier and earlier in the production cycle -- or even given the fairly low-brow aspirations of this particular title -- when the film actually hit the theatre. In the old days, this would have been an exploitation movie of the kind that Roger Corman used to crank out in the 1950s and 1960s and destined to play on the second bill at the local drive-in. The goal would be to use a easily exploitable concept, a vivid poster and advertising campaign to generate heat quickly: then get into town and out again before anyone knew what hit them. But, these days, grassroots intermediaries such as Ain't It Cool News are feeding the public's interest for inside information, starting to generate buzz almost from the moment rights are purchased or stars cast for a forthcoming production. Much as day traders have used the online world to become much more aware of every tick and twitch of the Fortune 500, the movie fans are ever attentive to anything which might impact a film's performance at the box office.

Channel 4 to air TV shows online (bbc)

Moguls of New Media (washingtonpost) The MySpace member with a million 'friends.' The receptionist with a production deal. Some of the Web's amateur entertainers are becoming powerful players.

Digital Hollywood Europe in London : November 29 - December 1, 2006 The Global Conference for the Entertainment, Media and Technology Economies - The Premier Event for Transforming Entertainment, Technology & the Global Communications Network: TV, Cable, Telco, Mobile, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, Search & Email, VoIP, RSS, Blogs and Websites. - they're doing a strand on Activist Media which might be worth a look...possibly

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Report - Reprisals against Civilians: Israeli violations in Gaza 25 June-31 July

Kill Ugly Radio

lebanonsolidarity.org : ‘Lebanon: An Open Country for Civil Resistance’ Civilian Resistance: Call For Action & Solidarity For Lebanon. - On August 12 at 7 am, we will gather in Martyrs’ Square to form a civilian convoy to the south of Lebanon. Hundreds of Lebanese and international civilians will carry relief as an expression of solidarity for the inhabitants of the heavily destroyed south who have been bravely withstanding the assault of the Israeli military.

THE IRAN PLANS Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb? | LISTENING IN - the N.S.A.’s domestic surveillance program. by Seymour M. Hersh

Bigger, dafter, creepier - Gordon Brown's ID scheme rescue plan : The Register has a story in its ongoing coverage of the UK ID Card story. This one suggests, with links to a weekend news story, that the Prime Minister in waiting has bought the idea that all electronic transactions in the UK should be linked to a central government/police database. Every cash withdrawal, every credit card purchase, ever loyalty card use … And that data should flow back from the police database to (eg) a loyalty card use. So, for example, not only would the government know what books you were buying, but the bookstore would also know if you had an outstanding speeding ticket!” (via alterslash)

Post '74 Kraftwerk - 10 Albums | All 25 volumes of the 'Breaks and Beats'albums

The War Of Lebanon - Episode 01 - Baptism of Fire.

This amazing documentary series looks at The Lebanese War in great detail in an attempt to promote understanding of a conflict of great complexity and historical importance to the Middle East. (part 1 of 15)

Media Monitors Network

Two Articles on how the Shin Bet scuppered a peace deal between Jewish religious leaders and Hamas representatives : Shin Bet Vetoed Secret Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement - Israeli and Palestinian Sources Concur: Israel Made War Inevitable AND Talking Requires a Partner A Way Out of the Gaza Crisis? By ARTHUR NESLEN

Reuters admits image of Beirut after IAF strike was doctored

Israel's Marriage Ban Closes The Gates To Palestinians by Jonathon Cook

We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world -- a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us…. No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we'll kill you. - Hunter S Thompson Kingdom of Fear

Candide's Notebooks

anecdotesfromabananarepublic.blogspot.com : This blog offers satire, news, commentary, media analysis and anecdotes from that borderline-retarded little country, Lebanon. Addendum: which is now in a state of war.

you-are-here.com/mural/farmer_john

It's all here in your super soaraway Tomb... lenins tomb covers yesterdays London 100,000 March Against US-Israeli Aggression. Indymedia cover more of the arrests - "Others gradually joined the sit-down, although stop the war coalition stewards were urging the passing crowd to not join in, and police quickly surrounded the sitting protestors. After some twenty minutes, the samba band moved on, but some activists tried to use pipes to lock on on the ground, and were viciously arrested by police before they managed". 7 Anti war activists were arrested outside Downing St.

workSMART : (guardian) Workers smarting from below inflation pay rises can now investigate details of their bosses' bumper pay packets online. The TUC has today launched a new website giving details of boardroom pay increases in a move which is bound to inflame anger over fat-cat rises. Its "your company" website provides employees in thousands of UK firms with details of directors' pay, pensions and bonuses dug out from companies' annual reports.

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism Robert A. Pape's analysis of suicide terrorism : from a strategic, social, and psychological point of view. It is based on a database he has compiled at the University of Chicago, where he directs the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism. The book's conclusions are based on data from 315 suicide terrorism campaigns around the world from 1980 through 2003 and 462 individual suicide terrorists. Published in May 2005, Pape's volume has been widely noticed by press, public, and policymakers alike, and has earned praise from Peter Bergen and Michael Scheuer. Dying to Win is divided into three parts, analyzing the strategic, social, and psychological dimension of suicide terrorism.

elbo.ws : music aggregator

dance dance dance

muslimgauze - The Rape of Palestine (rapidshare 192 kbps 50mb) via decoder

Arthur Lee (March 7, 1945 – August 3, 2006) : Not one of his best = Arthur Lee "Vindicator" 1972 (rapidshare 51mb pw-rideyourpony)

Zeloot : artwork taken from www.zeloot.nl, dutch screenprint artist (via cloudboy)

LES RELIGIONS SAUVAGES LE FILM : THIRTY ARTISTS FROM ELEVEN COUNTRIES HAVE CREATED A QUIRKY , IRONIC MIX OF STYLES IN « LES RELIGIONS SAUVAGES » AND THE FILM IS ALSO A KIND OF HELLFISH JOY RIDE FOR THE EYES THAT IS CLOSE TO ART BRUT AND LEAVES HARDLY ANY FANTASY UNTOUCHED. IT IS NASTY,BLASPHEMOUS AND OBSCENE,AND THE ANIMATION REVEALS IS ANARCHISTIC SIDE… » FANTOCHE ANIMATION FESTIVAL.

Japanese Invasion : curious piece from wired.com about unknown Japanese Goth metal act 'Dir en grey' who were unsigned in the US but packed out 2,000 seater venues on the strength of their web presence.

Animaquid - the multimedia documentation centre film database

foetus.org

Where the shepherds tend guns by night (observer) In this border village, many civilians flee the Israeli bombardment. But others, compelled by a mix of religion and patriotism, have joined the fight

Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land - The U.S. Media and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict : This video exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--working in combination with Israeli public relations strategies--exercise a powerful influence over news reporting about the Middle East conflict. Combining American and British TV news clips with observations of analysts, journalists, and political activists, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides an historical overview, a striking media comparison, and an examination of factors that have distorted U.S. media coverage and, in turn, American public opinion. WATCH IT HERE (google video)

W. C. Rice's Miracle Cross Garden : Along Route 43, North of Montgomery, Alabama the late environmental artist W. C. Rice constructed, over nearly 30 years, the Miracle Cross Garden. His Garden just outside Prattville, Alabama is legendary, filled with rough wood crosses and hand lettered signs with religious sayings, red paint symbolizing the blood of Jesus, and biblical admonitions such as “Hell is hot, hot, hot” which he placed for passing motorists to see and repent. He began erecting his first crosses in 1976 after receiving instructions from God to erect three wooden crosses as a permanent tribute to his recently deceased mother.

Repugnent commentry from Richard Littlejohn of the Daily Mail (via arab media watch)

The rules of covering the Israeli-Arab conflict (via media lens) Edward Herman
Could be the instruction list on the basis of which the US media work. The rules of covering the Israeli-Arab conflict Rule # 1: In the Middle East, it is always the Arabs that attack first, and it's always Israel who defends itself. This is called "retaliation". Rule # 2: The Arabs, whether Palestinians or Lebanese, are not allowed to kill Israelis. This is called "terrorism" Rule # 3: Israel has the right to kill Arab civilians; this is called "self-defense", or these days "collateral damage". Rule # 4: When Israel kills too many civilians. The Western world calls for restraint. This is called the "reaction of the international community". Rule # 5: Palestinians and Lebanese do not have the right to capture Israeli military, not even a limited number, not even 1 or 2. Rule # 6: Israel has the right to capture as many Palestinians as they want (Palestinians: around 10000 to date, 300 of which are children, Lebanese: 1000s to date, being held without trial). There is no limit; there is no need for proof of guilt or trial. All that is needed is the magic word: "terrorism" Rule # 7: When you say "Hezbollah", always be sure to add "supported by Syria and Iran" Rule # 8: When you say "Israel", never say "supported by the USA, the UK and other European countries", for people (God forbid) might believe this is not an equal conflict Rule # 9: When it comes to Israel, don't mention the words "occupied territories", "UN resolutions", "Geneva conventions". This could distress the audience of Fox. Rule # 10: Israelis speak better English than Arabs. This is why we let them speak out as much as possible, so that they can explain rules 1 through 9. This is called "neutral journalism". Rule # 11: If you don't agree with these rules or if you favor the Arab side over the Israeli side, you must be a very dangerous anti-Semite. You may even have to make a public apology if you express your honest opinion (isn't democracy wonderful?)

Palestinian public opinion survey (via abu-aardvark) Al-Jazeera's choice to spin the results in Haniya's favor is telling (keeping in mind that this is the website, not the TV station). The headline results strengthen the argument that the kind of harsh military approach Olmert is using in Gaza and Lebanon only strengthens the Islamist alternative. The more detailed results don't strongly undermine the argument - Haniya doesn't do poorly, and his negatives are no higher, and probably a bit lower, than before the Palestinian-Israeli fighting began. But it doesn't support the argument as strongly. And the results also don't show Abbas being undermined dramatically by the violence. At any rate, it isn't nearly as clear-cut as the Lebanese survey showing a dramatic rise in support for Hezbollah.

Telephone terror (al-ahram) Gazans are being warned by telephone to vacate their homes or be bombed, unsure if the calls are genuine or just cruel, sadistic punishment, writes Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank

People say no : (al-ahram) Public opinion in Lebanon overwhelmingly rejects US-Israeli plans for cleansing Lebanon of Hizbullah, writes Amal Saad-Ghorayeb.

(via angry arab) On top is written: Steadfastness of Lebanon. The Israeli soldier is saying: "They deceived us. They said that you are going to the land of video clips, and it turned out to be the land of Katyushas." (By Egyptian artist, Hilmi At-Tuni).

Mudd up

media study links

( via memepool )I'm sure everyone out there knows about "Star Wars Episode 1.1:The Phantom Edit":a re-edit of George Lucas' heartbreakily crappy1999 "Star Wars" trilogy prequel. This labor of love by an (at the time) anoymous fan removes much of the hated Jar Jar, redubs the aliens with better (and less racist) dialog and, overall, did what Lucas' millions of dollars could not: make it watchable. More importantly, "The Phantom Edit" was the first so-called fan edit to make it beyond the tight knit circle of blackmarket dub vendors at sci-fi conventions. A more recent, and in hindsight inevitable, re-edit is "Matrix Dezionized" which combines the episodes 2 and 3 of the "Matrix" trilogy in order to eliminate some fan-hated scenes (most notably the post-apocalyptic rave) including nearly every mention Zion, and some (but not nearly enough) of the incoherent, three-bong-hit philosophy of the Warchoski brothers. Other, more obscure fanedits, such as "Star Trek VII: Kirkless Generations","27 days later", "Jailbird" (an edit of "Con Air") and, oddly enough, "13 Going On 30: Extra Flirty"follow the same pattern: disliked scenes are removed, dialog is changed (where possible) and action is tightened. Perhaps the most obscure, and least watchable, is "Hannibalized", a amateur re-edit of Ridley Scott's slasher flick "Hannibal". Claiming to have "more Hannibal and less Starling", this edit removed all the scenes that made softened Hannibal Lecter's character, many of the character building scenes involving Clarice Starling, and re-included some of Scott's deleted scenes, such as the infamous steering wheel licking scene.

excuses, excuses (via lenins tomb)

Sonic Postcards

Awesome Tapes from Africa

Dalston Oxfam Shop : Once a week high quality digital recordings of cassette tapes purchased at the Dalston Oxfam Shop in East London.

AIPAC's Dangerous Grip on Washington (via alternet)

Hong Kong Using Children to Hunt for Piracy

Rapture me now!

Israel backed by army of cyber-soldiers (times online)

xenophobic rant from the Sun newspaper entitled "Why Israel is right to hit enemy hard" (via arab media watch)

Naked tragedy There is nothing new in Condoleezza Rice's new Middle East. It is, writes Azmi Bishara, the same old wolf dressed up (al-ahram)

Confrontation with Hamas and Hezbollah by Noam Chomsky

Murray Bookchin (January 14, 1921 – July 30, 2006) : Bookchin remained a radical anti-capitalist and vocal advocate of the decentralisation of society. His writings on libertarian municipalism, a theory of face-to-face, grassroots democracy, had an influence on the Green Movement and anti-capitalist direct action groups such as Reclaim the Streets. He was a staunch critic of biocentric philosophies such as deep ecology and the biologically deterministic beliefs of Sociobiology, and his criticisms of "new age" Greens such as Charlene Spretnak contributed to the divisions that affected the American Green Movement in the 1990's.

On Piracy, a 2-hour documentary on file sharing (Julien McArdle's made his prerelease version free for viewing)

A question for mainstream journalists?(media lens) : The situation in Lebanon is also more complicated than its portrayal in U.S. media, with the roots of the current crisis extending well before the July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah. A major incident fueling the latest cycle of violence was a May 26, 2006 car bombing in Sidon, Lebanon, that killed a senior official of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian group allied with Hezbollah. Lebanon later arrested a suspect, Mahmoud Rafeh, whom Lebanese authorities claimed had confessed to carrying out the assassination on behalf of Mossad (London Times, 6/17/06).

Liquid Armor the New Bulletproof Vest : Armor Holdings Inc. plans to start selling their ’liquid armor’ next year. The new armor, originally envisioned to be spread on like peanut butter, is instead sprayed onto Kevlar in ultrathin coats. From the article: ‘it’s a mix of polyethylene glycol, a polymer found in laxatives and other consumer products, and nanobits of silica, or purified sand. Together they produce a “sheer-thickening liquid” that stiffens instantly into a shield when hit hard by an object. It reverts to its liquid state just as fast when the energy from the projectile dissipates.

one more time

serialslingshot.blogspot.com : Hundreds Of Albums...see for yourself