Control of jerusalem

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/magazine/29sex-t.html?ref=magazine (via shareaholic)

I%u2019d like you to start by examining your raisin,%u201D the script reads. %u201CStudy its shape, its contours, its folds. Touch the raisin with a finger. Look into the valleys and peaks, the highlights and dark crevasses. Lift the raisin to your lips.

The Indie Music Pillars of Athens, Greece

The Indie Music Pillars of Athens, Greece

By CHARLY WILDER

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/travel/22culture.html

DUSK was descending softly on Athens as the sounds of bass-heavy noise pop drifted across Karitsi Square, a tucked-away cobblestone oasis near the city center. In the outside seating area of Use Bar (Karitsi Square 5; 30-210-323-5993), two tables of artist types were discussing a recent show by the local dark-wave band Phoenix Catscratch. Later, throngs of young men and women sporting skinny jeans and asymmetrical haircuts would fill the square and seep down winding Kolokotroni Street into a slew of new bars, galleries and other spots catering to the city’s growing indie and post-alternative scene.
It’s hard to believe that only six or seven years ago, this shop-filled area — known by the somewhat unwieldy title of the “historic commercial triangle” — was a virtual wasteland for night life. Back then, after the bustling daytime crowds dispersed, the triangle went dark.
“In the center of Athens there was nothing, just these really cheap shops,” said Christoforos Tiropolis, who rode the crest of the downtown indie bar deluge when he and a partner opened the small cocktail bar Pop (Kleitou 10B; 30-210-322-06-50) in June of 2001. “We came here to have space around us. We just wanted a place where our friends could come and have drinks and hear great music.”
( Read more... )

Sunday, November 22, 2009
Polk: Let America be America, and Depart Afghanistan
William R. Polk writes in a guest editorial for IC, which he wishes someone would pass on to President Obama, quickly:

In its war in Afghanistan, the United States has come to a crossroads. President Obama will be forced to choose one of four ways ahead. The choices are cruel, expensive and dangerous for our country; so we must be sure that he chooses the least painful, least expensive and safest of the possible choices.

( Read more... )

I grew up in Washington, D.C. I had every opportunity anyone could want. I grew up in a nice house in Georgetown, I had parents who loved me, and I went to one of the best private schools in the area. My dad was one of the most prestigious business men and real estate developers in the city. He is also a really bad alcoholic. From as early as I can remember, I remember thinking and feeling like life was hard. I never really connected with people and I was never really happy. I remember having friends and always feeling like an outsider. I was a loner, an isolator and always preferred to be by myself. I never really talked much either. My parents started taking me to therapists and psychiatrists at a young age to figure out what was wrong. I hated going and never really talked or participated in the therapy.

http://tunlaw.org/adamk.htm

http://tunlaw.org/story1.htm


When I was ten years old my parents separated. I remember thinking it was entirely mom’s fault. My dad got an apartment near our house and my brother and I would spend one night a week and every other weekend there. This is when I start to remember his drinking. When I was eleven and my brother was eight he used to send us to the liquor store downstairs to pick up his Stoli. It was paid for ahead of time and they knew him. So we were probably the youngest kids in D.C. buying liquor. We liked going to his apartment, he let us do whatever we wanted. But then he would change and start yelling and doing crazy stuff. So we would call my mom and leave. He would drive us around drunk and get in fights with people threatening them by saying stuff like “Don’t you know who I am?” One time we were walking and he tried to get on a full shuttle bus for one of the places he had developed, the guy wouldn’t let us on because my dad had no proper ID. He started screaming at him and cussing him out telling him that he “would never work in this town again!” I remember feeling embarrassed and thinking that this poor guy was just doing his job. I never wanted to be like that.
( Read more... )

‘If De Four was off base, just say so’

Edward Burtynsky: Oil

Edward Burtynsky: Oil from Corcoran Gallery of Art on Vimeo.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/indelible_eggleston.html
Lesa Aldridge... Story Of My Life (.mp3 audio 02:06). VU cover from the album It Came From Memphis (1995, Upstart Records 022). The Photograph is Untitled: Two Girls On The Sofa (Karen Chatham and Lesa Aldridge, 1974, Memphis) by William Eggleston.

The Huge Mistake - Climate Change Solutions 2009