Go to Sweaterdump.com and don't forget to tell all your friends.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Music is not out to murder you
In Virginia, there's been a heinous murder. Four bodies were found bludgeoned inside a home. A 20-year-old rapper in the horrorcore community is the lead suspect.
After reading the articles from the Washington Post on connections between horrorcore rap and the Virginia slayings, I can't help but feel that this is playing into traditions of hysteria regarding music - whether trying to connect Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne to suicide, blaming Marilyn Manson for the Columbine school shooting, suggesting "backmasking" is inculcating our children to the will of Satan or, in the latest case, trying to draw a path from infantile rap to a horrendous crime.
The post refers to horrorcore as "an obscure hip-hop genre obsessed with mutilation, murder and satanism." They quote liberally from his violent (and poorly written) lyrics. It also says "Farmville police Capt. Wade Stimpson says authorities are looking into McCroskey's 'disturbing' songs. But it's clear horrorcore had arrived in Farmville long before McCroskey came to town."
They talk about one of the victims, the girlfriend of the killer:
Time and time again, this creates the sort of ideas that have little connection to reality. Whatever happened, it boils down to the individual who perpetrated this, not the things they entertained themselves with. It's as if there's the suggestion that the goons in Insane Clown Posse told the suspect in question to go and do this. It's the same posit that, because Harry Potter incorporates magic, suddenly everyone is going to try it. And when someone falls off a roof trying to fly on a broom stick, J.K. Rowling is no more responsible than anyone else. It's as if, because of the misdeeds of a handful of black metal artists burning churches in Norway, the whole of the genre is therefore depraved and evil.
And god, who could forget the long string of portrayals of punk in the media, implying that they were violence prone thugs looking to kill anyone who stands in their nihilistic way. But most of the ones I've known have been doing diabolical things like setting up a Food Not Bombs kitchen or trying to (horror of horrors!) bring an up-and-coming band through their town.
We look for the easy thing to blame in all these cases, trying to piece together clues by trying to find a precedent. But this boils down to a disturbed individual and the problems they face, internally and externally. Just because they connected to the music doesn't mean the music connects itself to the crime. If that were true, The Beatles would have served prison terms right alongside Charles Manson for the Tate-LaBianca murders.
Article One
Article Two
Article Three
After reading the articles from the Washington Post on connections between horrorcore rap and the Virginia slayings, I can't help but feel that this is playing into traditions of hysteria regarding music - whether trying to connect Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne to suicide, blaming Marilyn Manson for the Columbine school shooting, suggesting "backmasking" is inculcating our children to the will of Satan or, in the latest case, trying to draw a path from infantile rap to a horrendous crime.
The post refers to horrorcore as "an obscure hip-hop genre obsessed with mutilation, murder and satanism." They quote liberally from his violent (and poorly written) lyrics. It also says "Farmville police Capt. Wade Stimpson says authorities are looking into McCroskey's 'disturbing' songs. But it's clear horrorcore had arrived in Farmville long before McCroskey came to town."
They talk about one of the victims, the girlfriend of the killer:
But a darker Wells emerges from the pages of her MySpace page.
On the site, she lists her religion as LaVeyan Satanism, in which there is no deity but one's self. She posted violent poems in which she details torturing and killing boyfriends who have been unfaithful, and photos show her cavorting in cemeteries and lying atop gravestones.
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Under interests, Wells listed, among other things, "cigarettes, alcohol, partying, sex, drugs, metal, SKR (Serial Killin Records), lust, restorative arts, blood and gore, open graves, dead people, animals."
Her musical tastes ran from the Backstreet Boys and bubble-gum pop star Aaron Carter to Marilyn Manson and groups such as Bullet For My Valentine and Cradle of Filth. Her favorite movies include "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" but also "Pretty In Pink."
Time and time again, this creates the sort of ideas that have little connection to reality. Whatever happened, it boils down to the individual who perpetrated this, not the things they entertained themselves with. It's as if there's the suggestion that the goons in Insane Clown Posse told the suspect in question to go and do this. It's the same posit that, because Harry Potter incorporates magic, suddenly everyone is going to try it. And when someone falls off a roof trying to fly on a broom stick, J.K. Rowling is no more responsible than anyone else. It's as if, because of the misdeeds of a handful of black metal artists burning churches in Norway, the whole of the genre is therefore depraved and evil.
And god, who could forget the long string of portrayals of punk in the media, implying that they were violence prone thugs looking to kill anyone who stands in their nihilistic way. But most of the ones I've known have been doing diabolical things like setting up a Food Not Bombs kitchen or trying to (horror of horrors!) bring an up-and-coming band through their town.
We look for the easy thing to blame in all these cases, trying to piece together clues by trying to find a precedent. But this boils down to a disturbed individual and the problems they face, internally and externally. Just because they connected to the music doesn't mean the music connects itself to the crime. If that were true, The Beatles would have served prison terms right alongside Charles Manson for the Tate-LaBianca murders.
Article One
Article Two
Article Three
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
The Pregnancy Comedy Non-Issue
So, pregnancy comedies are the new thing. They're cool, they're hip. Fuck, professional blowhard Dave Eggers even wrote one with his wife called "Away We Go." I saw it last night. Considering his involvement, it wasn't that bad. Certainly better than "Juno," but it also was about 30-somethings instead of a teen girl with bullshit slang.
But when "Juno" came out, the Internet was alight, much as it was with "Knocked Up." What's that? Oh, it's anti-choice! Damn you Judd Apatow.
Will the same get lobbed at "Away We Go," thus having NPR poster boy Eggers decried and sent into the waiting arms of Operation: Rescue?
No.
Why?
Well ... there's not much of a comedy if they go through with the abortion. Here's how it would have gone if they got the abortion:
"Well fuck, fuck, fuck, you're pregnant. We need to get this taken care of because I'm broke. I'll sell some pot to get abortion money." "Great! That sounds awesome!"
"Here we are, at the clinic, about to make one of the hardest choices of our lives." "I just farted. Sorry, hangover burrito."
"Here comes the doctor, please hold my hand. I need a lot of emotional support." "Ha, I need a lot of BONER support after this. HIYO!" "Umm, this is not funny."
"Well, now that that's done, let's go to Burger King because I'm like, stoned out of my mind. Then I'll sell some of my DVDs so we can maybe get you counseling as this is not a decision anyone takes lightly."
Wow, that was significantly less funny than the actual movie, but probably funnier than "Juno." But, just for posterity sake:
"Hip pookie, I'm so good-wigged that you're going to drive me on your hip-Vespa to get this done in Mexico." "(Some mangled slang by a thirty-something trying to write a teenager. FAIL.)"
Perhaps in light of the George Tiller thing, this isn't funny. But I'm always the king of too soon - but with "Away We Go" possibly reigniting the Internet debate on the non-issue of pregnancy comedies, maybe it's a perspective to have. Abortion isn't exactly comedy fodder, or even dramedy fodder. It's not really funny. It's a difficult decision that nobody takes lightly.
I take that back. It was mildly funny once.
But when "Juno" came out, the Internet was alight, much as it was with "Knocked Up." What's that? Oh, it's anti-choice! Damn you Judd Apatow.
Will the same get lobbed at "Away We Go," thus having NPR poster boy Eggers decried and sent into the waiting arms of Operation: Rescue?
No.
Why?
Well ... there's not much of a comedy if they go through with the abortion. Here's how it would have gone if they got the abortion:
"Well fuck, fuck, fuck, you're pregnant. We need to get this taken care of because I'm broke. I'll sell some pot to get abortion money." "Great! That sounds awesome!"
"Here we are, at the clinic, about to make one of the hardest choices of our lives." "I just farted. Sorry, hangover burrito."
"Here comes the doctor, please hold my hand. I need a lot of emotional support." "Ha, I need a lot of BONER support after this. HIYO!" "Umm, this is not funny."
"Well, now that that's done, let's go to Burger King because I'm like, stoned out of my mind. Then I'll sell some of my DVDs so we can maybe get you counseling as this is not a decision anyone takes lightly."
Wow, that was significantly less funny than the actual movie, but probably funnier than "Juno." But, just for posterity sake:
"Hip pookie, I'm so good-wigged that you're going to drive me on your hip-Vespa to get this done in Mexico." "(Some mangled slang by a thirty-something trying to write a teenager. FAIL.)"
Perhaps in light of the George Tiller thing, this isn't funny. But I'm always the king of too soon - but with "Away We Go" possibly reigniting the Internet debate on the non-issue of pregnancy comedies, maybe it's a perspective to have. Abortion isn't exactly comedy fodder, or even dramedy fodder. It's not really funny. It's a difficult decision that nobody takes lightly.
I take that back. It was mildly funny once.
| That's My Bush! | ||||
| Anti-Abortion Leader | ||||
| ||||
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Livestrong 2009
So, forgive me, I'm going to briefly use this space to shill, but it's for a good reason.
Email from my dad this morning:
So if anyone else wanted to donate, I could totally beat my siblings at Father's Day AND do it for a good cause. Not really the goal, but I figure it's worth seeing if anyone else wanted to donate for a loved one or friend or dude you used to ride the bus with. I'm not usually one who days anything more than call on Father's Day and Mother's Day, but I am changing my tune this time.
Email from my dad this morning:
Jamie, John & Missy:
I don't often put out special requests especially for Father's Day but this year I do have one. On Father's Day I am riding in the Livestrong Challenge in Seattle. I feel that the work done by the Livestrong Foundation in the fight against cancer is very important. I have had relatives, friends, and co-workers who have died from cancer. I am sure that you know someone who has died or is now bravely fighting cancer.
If you are considering a gift for me on Father's Day I would ask that you sponsor me instead. See the link to my personal page below. My participant name is Douglas Wenz Sr.
link
So if anyone else wanted to donate, I could totally beat my siblings at Father's Day AND do it for a good cause. Not really the goal, but I figure it's worth seeing if anyone else wanted to donate for a loved one or friend or dude you used to ride the bus with. I'm not usually one who days anything more than call on Father's Day and Mother's Day, but I am changing my tune this time.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Prop 8
You are going to get sick of Prop 8 blog posts. They are going to make you want to run far, far away from the Internet. I mean, c'mon, teh gayz marrying? Pff! What's next, gay divorce? That will threaten the divorce of every other American!
Or maybe marriage is absolutely nobody's business. What is marriage? Why do we cling to the tenets of it so much? Is it not a more logical solution to ban marriage entirely as a public institution?
If everyone were recognized by the state in some form of civil union, would that take away the precedence on marriage? Should we leave marriage up to the churches - and let them sort out whether a man can love another man or a woman can love another woman? It'll take the pressure off society.
Frankly, so long as we have a civil institution of marriage, I am 100% unequivocally in support of gay marriage. I think it's a dangerous precedent for the state to decide who we can and can't love, and I think that it does, in some ways, resemble anti-miscegenation laws. There's no slippery slope of people marrying a turtle or Ben Schwartz. Instead, we're stuck with neighbors and friends being vilified because they dared to love someone.
I'm not going to go on too long, but I will leave you with a couple things:
A satirical column I did on banning marriage
My friends staging a protest in Lincoln, NE
Or maybe marriage is absolutely nobody's business. What is marriage? Why do we cling to the tenets of it so much? Is it not a more logical solution to ban marriage entirely as a public institution?
If everyone were recognized by the state in some form of civil union, would that take away the precedence on marriage? Should we leave marriage up to the churches - and let them sort out whether a man can love another man or a woman can love another woman? It'll take the pressure off society.
Frankly, so long as we have a civil institution of marriage, I am 100% unequivocally in support of gay marriage. I think it's a dangerous precedent for the state to decide who we can and can't love, and I think that it does, in some ways, resemble anti-miscegenation laws. There's no slippery slope of people marrying a turtle or Ben Schwartz. Instead, we're stuck with neighbors and friends being vilified because they dared to love someone.
I'm not going to go on too long, but I will leave you with a couple things:
A satirical column I did on banning marriage
My friends staging a protest in Lincoln, NE
Monday, May 11, 2009
Did you know ...
That Obama is an elitist? Oh my god! You didn't hear! He asked for SPICY mustard instead of YELLOW FRENCH'S because he didn't want to eat shitty mustard like a real American!
Let's do a comparison:
Are you scared yet? You should be! That Ivy educated Muslim elitist socialist baby murderer is coming for our shitty condiments! Before you know it, he'll have us all eating mustard before Allah.
No, wait, let's revise that table for what people really mean.
But usually, when I think of our president, I think of this:
And it is all The Onion's fault.
Let's do a comparison:
 |  |
America | Obama |
Are you scared yet? You should be! That Ivy educated Muslim elitist socialist baby murderer is coming for our shitty condiments! Before you know it, he'll have us all eating mustard before Allah.
No, wait, let's revise that table for what people really mean.
 |  |
America | Obama |
But usually, when I think of our president, I think of this:
And it is all The Onion's fault.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
HADRON is our death
So I don't know if you know this, but exporting Flash CS4 is a total pain in the dick. Like seriously, it's a shit stain operation that will put needles in your taint. Fuck it. Fuck it all. After spending a few days making this video, I tried to export it as an MOV file. It rendered like digital cat shit left out in the sun. I spent more and more days trying to make a good export to no avail. Email me at i.am.yaldabaoth@gmail.com and I can get you an unbuggy SWF of this file and you can do whatever the hell you want with it. This was made for one of my other online places, HADRON Watch.
In other news, I attended a great HacDC workshop where I got to do my new favorite activity - dick around with oscillators and other electronic noisemakers. The best was one from Ciat Lonbarde. As those who had seen the site before noted, it looks like a UFO conspiracy blog. So go, check that out. This was the particular one that we played with, among other (non Lonbarde) devices.
Finally, I realized something I didn't want to realize. Take one of my favorite bands, Galaxie 500:
and then look at the Jonas Brothers:
And fucking cry.
In other news, I attended a great HacDC workshop where I got to do my new favorite activity - dick around with oscillators and other electronic noisemakers. The best was one from Ciat Lonbarde. As those who had seen the site before noted, it looks like a UFO conspiracy blog. So go, check that out. This was the particular one that we played with, among other (non Lonbarde) devices.
Finally, I realized something I didn't want to realize. Take one of my favorite bands, Galaxie 500:
and then look at the Jonas Brothers:
And fucking cry.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Back
Oh Jesus. I'm back. I think. I had forgotten to pay for hosting on the old ShinyBitterPeople.com, and evidentally if you don't do that, they can snatch your domain name too, which is kind of fucked. This also means all the old images hosted on site are gone. Double fucked! But I digress. I also apologize to my mother, who Google stalks me and now has seen me write "fucked" two (now three!) times.
So, the idea of me blogging is probably a terrible one. 1) I'm a horrible human being, 2) I'm not that interesting in my being a dickhole, 3) I will probably forget to post and leave it long, long left for wanting.
What do I even have to say here? Not much. This will be a way to track my (Crappy) artistic endeavors and diversions from my person job. I'm also going to try my damnedest to separate this from my wonderful Tumblr and not that great Twitter.
So, to finish off, here's a video of me playing with a noisemaker I made at a HacDC workshop. It's going to be a long time before I'll be playing "Good Vibrations" to be sure.
Also, mom, I apologize for using the word "Dickhole."
So, the idea of me blogging is probably a terrible one. 1) I'm a horrible human being, 2) I'm not that interesting in my being a dickhole, 3) I will probably forget to post and leave it long, long left for wanting.
What do I even have to say here? Not much. This will be a way to track my (Crappy) artistic endeavors and diversions from my person job. I'm also going to try my damnedest to separate this from my wonderful Tumblr and not that great Twitter.
So, to finish off, here's a video of me playing with a noisemaker I made at a HacDC workshop. It's going to be a long time before I'll be playing "Good Vibrations" to be sure.
Also, mom, I apologize for using the word "Dickhole."
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