This makes this depressingly real. Also in the ‘depressingly real’ category is this meta-historical piece from the Onion. Note the publication date on the Onion’s piece, then note all the links.
On a more positive note, I had a great Labor Day weekend in New York. I saw my old roommate Justin and my cousin Alicia, and ate a lot of spectacular food- Jamaican, spectacularly good and spectacularly expensive sushi, and of course Cuban food at Victor’s. We also did (as is our wont) a lot of museum browsing. The Met (again), wherein we discovered that after five visits there, there were still entire galleries I didn’t know existed. The Whitney, for the first time, where I saw a lot of cool expropriation, including the brilliantly titled Trademark with Eight Spotlights by Ed Ruscha, who has to be my favorite artist of the past 50 years (at least among artists I know of.) There is also a lot of great Warhol, again with several pieces having a theme involving taking trademarked or otherwise protected imagery and twisting it. I have to think Warhol would have fully embraced the Creative Commons.
Besides having a blast at the Whitney, we went to the Museum of Immigration on Ellis island. All of Krissa and I’s family came either too eary or too late to pass through Ellis Island itself, but it was still a powerful museum. These were people for whom America was a choice and a sacrifice, not something that happened to them, and that, I think, explains some of the differences between their worldview and the worldview of their children and grandchildren. Anyway, a powerful museum, and one I recommend.
Am currently re-reading Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, which was sort of amusing and insightful by turns when I first read it. Given the subject matter (a candidate from the party of incompetents running against a loathed republican incumbent) it seems to resonate more this time around. Anyway, an enjoyable read.
I’m glad to see 2.8 getting out the door; I’m sorry I have not had the time or energy to be more involved with it. Hopefully that will change for 2.10- I’ll probably know that soon. Anyway, congrats and a hearty thanks to everyone who contributed to it. Old slackers like myself appreciate it :)
clarkbw: have you seen any reports of monkeyjournal eating links? In about 50% of my posts, the links vanish or are garbled, which… sort of sucks. Any idea?