Sunday, January 28, 2007

txt msg nvl: "The Last Messages"

A new novel by Finnish author Hannu Luntiala is written entirely in txt msg lingo. Released this month, the novel The Last Messages tells the story of a man who quits his job as an Executive and subsequently travels through-out Europe and India, keeping in touch w/ friends and fam by IM-ing on his mobile.
The 322-page novel --a quest? a techno-picaresque? shorthand epistolary?-- lists his messages and the replies (about 1000 altogether) in chronological order.

I've seen a few novels that make use of e-mail exchanges to tell the story, but this is quite an endeavour, for both the author and the intended reader. I'm behind the idea from a creative standpoint, but do I really want to read 322 pages of txt msgs, complete with broken grammar and slang? Does it make a difference that the messages are fictitious and therefore I can expect some sort of compelling plot? (Is that what I expect when I read a narratve?).

The novel makes me think of Kenneth Goldsmith's Soliloquy, in which he transcribed every word he uttered for a week while living in NYC. It's a real-time monologue, an extended aside.

Which would you rather read? The Last Messages is a creative work that exploits contemporary technology and trends, Soliloquy is an "uncreative" artistic mirror held up to the idea of the monologue, the constructed narrative-reveal. It is pure doumentation. What do the different methods, fecund creativity or "nutritionless" uncreativity, offer? Could you tell the difference between a constructed narrative made to look like documentation, and an actual documented life that resists the tropes of dramatic monologue while still investing in them?

**"nutritionless documentation", and "uncreativity" are terms Goldsmith has used to describe his work.


Labels: ,

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Peaceful Protest


Today is the day: tens of thousands of protestors gathered in DC to make their point. Out of Iraq!

In addition to the Triad of Congresswomen who created the "Bring Our Troops Home Act", other members of congress were present, pledging their support and outlining what they would be willing to do to effect a policy change.

The Guardian reports that the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. John Conyers, threatened to use congressional spending power to try to stop the war. "George Bush has a habit of firing military leaders who tell him the Iraq war is failing,'' he said, looking out at the masses. "He can't fire you.'' Referring to Congress, he added: "He can't fire us."

"The founders of our country gave our Congress the power of the purse because they envisioned a scenario exactly like we find ourselves in today. Now only is it in our power, it is our obligation to stop Bush.''

Anti-war (or pro-peace) protestors displayed of a memorial of shoes to represent the civilians who have died during the war.






Labels: , ,

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy: "Alberta Beef" Drag King Cabaret


Tonight's the big night! In honour of visiting speaker Judith Halberstam, a group of us have put together a drag king cabaret. It's my first time doing a drag show, and it seems as though the show is turning into a big deal... bigger than I initally imagined anyway. Author and visual artist Shani Mootoo (who wrote "Cereus Blooms at Night", and recently "He Drown She in the Sea") is filming our performance and dress rehearsal, as well as conducting interviews with us concerning ideas of female masculinity, performativity and gender.

I'll post pictures from tonight's performance soon.

Giddy-up!



Labels: , ,

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Triad of Congresswomen Lead Fight Against Escalation of Iraq War


"We are a triad to be dealt with," Rep. Woolsey said. "And we will be heard from."
Wow! Do go on.

Three Congresswomen are taking on Bush’s “plan” for escalation, and are proposing an Act of their own to bring the troops home. The women are Rep. Lynn Woolsey and Rep. Barbara Lee, co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Rep. Maxine Waters, chair of the Out of Iraq Caucus. Together, they are introducing the Bring Our Troops Home and Sovereignty of Iraq Restoration Act.

Rep. Lee has said “The administration and the President made a mess out of this war – it's illegal, it's immoral, it's wrong – and if they don't know how to bring our troops home and end it, well, we have some very concrete, practical, realistic suggestions."

It gets better:
"They are saying if you have a better plan come up with it," Rep. Waters said. "First of all, it is absolutely unthinkable that this President who led us into war under false pretenses, misleading information, distorted information… would now try to put the responsibility on someone else's shoulders to stop it. But we're up to it. Because we never believed in this war. We all voted against this war. And we are committed to ending this war."



Supporters of the Act are being encouraged to converge upon Capitol Hill on January 27. It's now up to the citizens of the US and members of Congress to fix this horrendous situation created by the Bush Administration.

Read a detailed article about the congresswomen and their plan at The Nation.





Labels: , ,

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

unbelievable

The following is an image from the Globe and Mail's "24 hours in images" page.
Riot police in the Phillipines:





Labels: ,

Monday, January 15, 2007

bad KIA bad

The ad for the new KIA spectra is SO ridiculous and offensive.

It features a man and woman making out in a car parked on the side of the highway. When they're interrupted by the crackle of a police radio it seems they've been stopped by officers. Instead, the woman then gets out of the car, in uniform, tucks her long blonde hair under her police cap and returns to her cruiser.

"Life is better in a Spectra," says the ad.


Wow. The Quebec Police Association has taken offense and lodged a complaint, but KIA doesn't really care how "lady cops" are portrayed.

In an article in today's Toronto Star, Tony Ciccia from the firm that made the commercial (Publicis Canada), states:

"The ad communicates just the brand character intended", and
"Most advertising that goes on air has complaints and this doesn't strike us as out of the ordinary."
"We see no reason to pull the ads."

Perhaps they aren't receiving enough complaints.


Send KIA, and the ad maker a note:

consumer@kia.ca kia canada

mjc@kia.co.kr media relations

yeon@kia.co.kr investor relations

info@publicis.ca attention Tony Ciccia




Labels: , ,

Friday, January 12, 2007

Amazing!!



Leafy Bug!

Natural Selection aside, how is it that a bug can look so perfectly like a leaf? Like a leaf in the fall when the edges are turning brown? How is it possible that one organism can look exactly like another organism? What if humans needed to look like water to survive....? That would be impossible.

Evangelical Kirk Cameron, lampooningFlying Spaghetti Monster, you ain't got nothing. THIS is the bug that makes me question reality.

See also Deep Astronomy guy's Hubble Deep Field images on
Youtube...



Labels: