Page 1. More from this series. Series 2 category.

Blame it on rich people…? Well in reality you probably should. They’ve rigged the system for their own benefit.

There you have it: They bought off the gatekeepers, got inside, and gamed the system.  And when the fix was in, they let loose the animal spirits, turning our economy into a feast for predators.  And  they  won – as the rich and powerful got richer and more powerful – they not only bought  the government, they “saddled Americans with greater debt, tore new holes in the safety net, and imposed broad financial risks on workers, investors, and taxpayers.” Until  – write Hacker and Pierson -  “The United States is looking more and more like the capitalist oligarchies of Brazil, Mexico, and Russia where most of the wealth is concentrated at the top while the bottom grows larger and larger with everyone in between just barely getting by.”

or this:

Jim Hightower has said it well: Today’s proponents of corporate plutocracy “have simply elevated money itself above votes, establishing cold, hard cash as the real coin of political power.”

For the tl;dr version try this Animated short narrated by Ed Asner.

Couldn’t embed the video but it is worth watching. Found here.

I was going to link to a video ‘debunking’ the Ed Asner one but its largely bullshit. Google it if you like.

Saw this playing on the telly at Burger King while having dinner there  last week. Seemed Ironic. Good song.

Sorry everyone for the patchy updates last month. Real life getting in they way. There will be a comic tomorrow I promise. I want to get back on schedule posting more comics and blog posts – even making new comics!

Its Christmas today if you are feeling all happy, excited and cheerful. How about a nice depressing documentary about sad lonely weirdos making Black Metal?

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One Man Metal Part One

Black Metal’s Unexplored Fringes

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One Man Metal Part Two

In the Darkest Shadows of Black Metal

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One Man Metal Part Three

Everybody Dies Alone

Unsettling poignant documentary about the Aokigahara forest – the Suicide Forest. I should warn you it does contain content that may offend. I found the film beautiful.

It acknowledges there is blackness in the human condition. Its not angry at those emotions just sad. Sad.

These thoughts make me feel a little less guilty for the morbid curiosity which I think propelled me to watch this film and research a bit more into it after seeing it.

If you need more; this tumblr post is par for the course. Again content my offend.

I note that many of the articles have a contact if you need help. If you can; talk to someone. Otherwise:

In New Zealand, call Lifeline on 0800 543 354

U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255

Of Hollywood from long ago and far away.

All from this site.

Facebook is kind of bugging me at the moment. See this:

Spring of 2012 was when bloggers, non-profits, indie bands, George Takei, community theaters, photographers, caterers, artists, mega-churches, high schools, tee-shirt vendors, campus coffee shops, art galleries, museums, charities, food trucks, and a near infinite variety of organizations; individuals from all walks of life; and businesses, both large and small, began to detect—for it was almost imperceptible at first—that the volume was getting turned down on their Facebook reach. Each post was now being seen only by a fraction of their total “fans” who would previously have seen them.

But it wasn’t just the so-called “fan pages,” individual Facebook users were also starting to notice that they weren’t seeing much in their newsfeeds anymore from the various entities they “liked”—or even updates from their closest friends and family members. Something was amiss, but unless you had a larger “data set” to look at—or a formerly thriving online business that was now getting creamed—it probably wasn’t something that you noticed or paid that much attention to.

Quote from this article. Now my page on FB has less than 50 likes so it kind of pisses me off; so i’m getting even less reach than i would be. I’ was going to use Google Analytics statistics to see how many people came to my site from FB; however it only seems to show total traffic and doesn’t allow a finer search. That is annoying. So I don’t know how useful my FB page has been.

I will say one thing about FB: it doesn’t feel like I’m talking to a wall (the invisible internet) like it does on my main site sometimes. And it is easier to post cool stuff I find on the web.

blah blah blah

Ends.

Listening to this right now! Curtains are closed and its keeping the beautiful clear day at bay.

slow verison haha

From the 2006 album Subliminal Genocide.

We forget history every second of every day. Like it never existed.

Invisible

Unknown

Italian comics festival Treviso celebrated New Zealand comics this year. So a few NZ creators tripped of to Treviso Italy to be part of it. for photos and more of the festival check out From Earth’s End’s latest post

I’ve had trouble these past couple of weeks working on the current Fire and Ice. I’m trying to combine the read and blue in an effective narrative. There are little bits of goodness in the comics but over all they’re just not working. They’re just not very good overall. Its been a bit frustrating, its silly but I feel like I’m wasting paper. Anyway I’ll keep persevering.

For the slaves and the free…

from this site.

I love this site, its inspiring; its angry.

Sometimes you’re allowed to be angry. You have to be.

More New Wave; More 80s music; I haven’t heard in ages!

Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning

Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax

Murray Head – One Night In Bangkok

Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls

And no one.

I had a dream about this song. I woke up with it in my head. I loved this song.

here is my other favourite from this band.

extended version.

Slavoj Žižek: The politics of Batman

Worth a read. Don’t agree with all of it though. I always thought that Bane was just exploiting the people for his own ends and didn’t believe in anything he said to the people of Gotham when he took over. He is just a cynical politician exploiting people. However I find this idea really interesting:

“Guevara here is paraphrasing Christ’s declarations on the unity of love and the sword – in both cases, the underlying paradox is that what makes love angelic, what elevates it over mere sentimentality, is its cruelty, its link with violence. And it is this link that places love beyond the natural limitations of man and thus transforms it into an unconditional drive.”

“This is the face of panic…”

“…that’s you, the public, you’re the ones who are panicking.”

Is a radio show, produced and presented by The Wells group, sponsored by Peter Mcleavey Gallery and is broadcast on Fresh FM every Fortnight. Its described on the website as “a radio program on Nelson’s Fresh FM presenting a global scan of the current infosphere, peering beneath the veil of local arts, politics and the economy.”

A couple of weeks ago I listened to episodes 2 through 5 on Friday afternoon/evening. Here are some thoughts on each episode:

Episode Two

A great episode. I loved Charles Bukowski doing a reading of his work. It added immensely to his work. Kim dotcom’s song didn’t do it for me.

The guest list were all fantastic Valerie Morse and Urs Signer talked about Urewera 17 fiasco here in New Zealand and the fate of Western Civilisation, while Sue Bradford continued talking about her work advocating for the poor (which began in Episode 1).

Episode Three

This one was weird not an easy listen I almost gave up towards the end. The interview with Dan Arps was well… difficult. It started out normally enough as a discussion about the arts in New Zealand.

The interview if you can call it that deteriorated towards the end into Tao Wells and Arps talking at cross purposes not really communicating but giving monologues. The discussion would be interrupted seemingly at random by harsh noise music, often in the middle of sentence or idea. It really made the interview feel dissonant, difficult, frustrating and uncomfortable as a listener.

Episode Four

I loved Allen Ginsberg reading his poem. It was fantastic. I also loved the Throbbing Gristle track. Awesome. The Interview with Gilbert May (Editor of Crop Magazine) was really interesting, especially with regard to the history of the concept of the University and how this affects the current status of them in New Zealand.

Episode Five

George Carlin was hardcore and what a way to start off a show ‘fuck hope’! The Interview with Beneficiary advocate Kay Brereton was really interesting; exploring Work and Income New Zealand’s (WINZ) ways of making people’s lives difficult and unpleasant. Even though it was interesting I found it a tough, frightening interview.

I cannot understand why we don’t live in a compassionate society which cares. As Individuals we generally have these values ,yet together they seemly vanish.

The Verdict

After listening to all these shows one thing became clear it’s not really a radio show. In a radio show one only hears the presenter and ads. This show diverges from corporate radio.

Weird interpersonal moments that happen in everyday life turn up in the show. Through these moments Tao Wells is rendered truly human not just a presenter. Laura Wells has a very noticeable presence not only in producing the show (content, music, sound board and mixing) but actively vocal; not someone invisible in the background. As does their son Cassius.

It becomes a family show; the whole family making art. The Family rather than just the presenter, the Patriarch lording over us. Guests who are often shunned or made a mockery off by the mainstream get a voice embraced by the family.

It’s not a show but performance art involving us, Tao, Laura, Cassius and the guests. This art is like the ingrown hairs on someone’s shaved pubic area.

I just wish this gets a wider audience than just the converted, like myself.

It all seemed harmless enough but watch out it can turn nasty.

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Round One – watch out Baby you’re on the back foot.

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Round Two – Cat Wins

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Round Three – It’s a knock out

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We can all feel guilty for indudging in some Schadenfreude. Thanks to CH and MH for the fun times watching Cat videos on Youtube.

Just so there are no hard feelings between cats and babies…

awwwww

A BBC Documentary¹ About Jean Giraud well worth a look if you haven’t seen it.

1- Well a shorter version of this one: Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures - Biographical documentary by Hasko Baumann acording to wikipedia

More Screen Caps (from the early part of season one) of the delightful Carolyn Jones as Morticia Addams. Below they’re from the episode “Wednesday Leaves Home”

If you need MORE go here! I know I need more.

Really!

YES

REALLY

Fan-tastic fan vid “Acceptable in the 80′s?”

And the favourite fan pairing of… Blake and Avon! Great fan video

Just in case you weren’t sure here is proof if you ever needed some.

30min BBC Documentary The Cult of… Blake’s 7

and for something shorter 7min Channel 4 programme devoted to it.