politics

  1. Yesterday

    “Some 100,000 Islamists have met in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to press for the re-establishment of a caliphate across the Muslim world… The BBC’s Lucy Williamson in Jakarta says that of the estimated 100,000 people packing the stadium hired for the event, the overwhelming majority were women, who have travelled from across Indonesia to attend.” – The BBC

  2. Yesteryear

    “It is now clear that, contrary to claims of women’s removal from public life, American women throughout the 19th century were very active in public politics. They could pursue this activity most easily when it was put under the sign of “morality”. – The White Ribbon Reform

dreams

it’s been so long since i slept long enough to dream.

    1. an American soldier in Iraq runs away from his unit, takes off his uniform and hides from the ubiquitous enemy by taking shelter in a school. teachers refuse to share a room with him. he’ll try to pass himself off as not-an-American. a pair of black-clad mercenaries pay him a visit, challenging the logic of his plans.

    2. a restaurant deep under ocean water for the wealthiest of the wealthy.

movies

notes on a scandal

the philip glass score is deliciously suggestive. the pan across the notebooks in the opening sequence. the sober conversation that follows the freak-out – in front of the press. the high drama of the scene in the driveway: a dead cat vs. a special needs child. an inside-out Hitchcock movie.

the novel takes place over the course of two years. i would have loved another 10 minutes.

music

  1. nirvana, nevermind, 1991

    with the passing of time, the guitars no longer matter. instead, i notice how the vocals distort naturally with emotion. how the bass bounces and travels, how impeccably the drums were recorded, the drummer’s wit and vehemence. it could be released in 2008 and still sound new.

  2. my bloody valentine, loveless, 1991

    just as vertiginous and beautiful but somehow dated, like an orphaned technology. probably, the drums are to blame.