robots

When art becomes valuable for its shock value as opposed to its merit and commentary, we've run ourselves into a problem. And it's our fault.

When art becomes valuable for its shock value as opposed to its merit
and commentary, we've run ourselves into a problem. And it's our fault.

Nudity is beautiful. Nudity as novelty is tired. Nudity as
photographic art because there are some big tits staring at you is
pathetic.

We're smarter than that.

And we shouldn't let someone make us stare in awe at our own stupidity.

Or maybe that's why it's art.

The joke's on us?

• sent from my iphone •

correction: THIS is the dope-a-dope

yeeeeahhh beckeee!

damn, snacks on snacks

dope-a-dope.

principles or strategies

just wanted to share something that's been bugging me since watching the VP debate last week.

basically, it's clear that palin was given semantic work-arounds for question dodging.. parsing words and slicing distinctions so fine that, as kramer would say, "you can't see them."

and below is one instance from last week where palin dodged a question about the approach to success in the middle east. she replaces the word "strategy" with "principle."


Palin in relation to afghanistan:

The surge principles, not the exact strategy, but the surge principles that have worked in Iraq need to be implemented in Afghanistan, also.


now, i'm not the smartest guy in the room. but for starters, i would've loved to have seen biden ask her to distinguish those two things. but frankly, even if i was asked, i'm not sure i could.
in fact, i think the difference between these two words in the context of their use is so minor that the distinction is meaningless. which is to say, she just used semantics to give a non-answer. and in some ways, it worked. she got herself off the hook.

this isn't admirable or desirable in a candidate. we don't want someone who will wriggle through the cracks to get out of a tough situation. we need someone who will face challenges head-on with resolve. palin seems to have fallen short here... with coaching help from her party's strategists.

surprise surprise.

but what gets me even more is that, having given palin this tactic, the mccain camp fails to maintain continuity when it comes to the presidential candidate himself. he quickly and immediately dives into "stategic" rhetoric with no mention of "principles" anywhere in sight.


McCain in relation to afghanistan, iraq, pakistan, waziristan:

Now, General Petraeus had a strategy, the same strategy -- very, very different, because of the conditions and the situation -- but the same fundamental strategy that succeeded in Iraq. And that is to get the support of the people.


the sad fact for me is that this linguistic slight of hand can actually work.

probability

just got done with a long walk across the williamsburg bridge. it was late, and i passed it on my way to the subway. i figured, "fuck it. let's go for a walk." and walk i did.

and that's when i began to see the craziness.

things observed on the walk:
1. man wandering around in a t-shirt, black tube socks, and bvd's. nothing else.
2. man on bike completely wipe out on a perfectly clean and pristine stretch of pavement.

after taking in both of these random but amazing events, it finally struck me that this might not be coincidence. it's possible that this day isn't in fact touched. and that it doesn't have some weird karmic tint to it in which these happenings occur out of some cosmic destiny.

no. not at all.

every random thing or crazy event that i see could very well just be a product of probability.

it basically boils down to this: the fact is, that with so many people living in such a small area, the probability of the improbable increases. and upon that, the probability of seeing more than one improbable occurrence rises as well. as a result, it shouldn't be surprising that i see a man walking around with no pants.

no. not at all.

it was just a matter of time.