Hard News: Ten Times Warmer
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I was expecting nothing great from the BDO announcement, and I am so pleasantly surprised! Rage, meh, whatever, but Bjork, LCD Soundsystem, Dizzee Rascal, and the Arcade Fire? I can almost hear my husband squeeing from 15kms away. And I've never seen The Clean, astoundingly. That day is $120 well spent! Applying for annual leave as we speak.
(Also, um, Iran. Eeep.)
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Oh such scary stuff - can the Bush regime be this stupid yet again?
Well, yes, they can.
They have demonstrated they have utterly no understanding of this part of the world, how it operates, or what drives its politics.
I was in Syria for the 03 invasion of Iraq, now I'm planning to be up that way again - on a purely personal note I wish they'd stop starting wars when I'm travelling in that area.
Tens of thousands of civilian lives will be lost so Bush & Co can bring 'democracy' to Iran, or so Halliburton can make x billion more dollars.
Sickening.
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OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG Squee!
Sorry, I just wet myself a lot about the Arcade Fire.
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Sign me up for Bjork and Dizzee Rascal. Rage could be alright... then again they might be a pallid shadow of their former greatness, and I might be better off in the Boiler Room. We shall see.
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Bjork will be great, can't wait. And rocking out the Rage can only be a good thing too.
BUT, did anyone else notice that they'd skimped on an entire speaker stack on the main stage this year? It left the sound very muddy on the left side. I certainly hope they do not do the same at next year's BDO.
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Awesome LCD Soundsystem! I 'm probably going to have to attempt a reliving of my youth and get up to Auckland for this one. May not hitch-hike this time though. What with us becoming apparently the most crime-ridden place on earth according to Mr McVicar this morning on the NatRad.
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and how about radiohead releasing their new album for free? i don't know if that's a very smart business model.
hope they tour NZ again sometime soon
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I think radiohead have lost patience with the business of marketing and selling albums, and I understand bands make most of their money through touring anyway.
Have to say I just don't get LCD Soundsystem. What's to like?
Here's a fascinating glimpse into what the current neo-conservative viewpoint is on the prospects of an attack on Iran - presumably this way of thinking has at least some currency within the administration.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/09/where_bush_went_wrong_in_iraq.html
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Have to say I just don't get LCD Soundsystem. What's to like?
'All My Friends'? Or, more particularly, the mighty cover of it they got John Cale(!) to record for the single?
I presume they'll be playing in the tent, so there'll be loadsa techno fun to be had.
OTOH, I've never got Radiohead, so what would I know?
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Here's a fascinating glimpse into what the current neo-conservative viewpoint is on the prospects of an attack on Iran - presumably this way of thinking has at least some currency within the administration.
Wow. That's optimism to the point of certifiable insanity:
Let's look downstream the day after and observe how the world has changed.
First and foremost, there's this prospective fait accompli -- and it changes everything. The Iranians are no longer a nuclear threat, and won't be again for at least another decade, and even that assumes the strategic and diplomatic situation reverts to the status quo ante and they'll just be able to pick up and rebuild as they would after an earthquake. Not possible.
Next, the Iranians would do nothing -- bupkes. They don't attack Israel, they don't choke off the world's oil supply, they do not send hit squads to the United States, there is no "war" in the conventional sense of attack counterattack. Iran already has its hands full without inviting more trouble. Its leaders would be reeling from the initial US attack and they would know our forces are in position to strike again if Iran provokes us or our allies. They would stand before mankind with their pants around their ankles, dazed, bleeding, crying, reduced to bloviating from mosques in Teheran and pounding their fists on desks at the UN. The lifelines they throw to the Iraqi insurgents, Hezbollah and Syria would begin to dry up, as would the lifelines the double-dealing Europeans have been throwing to Iran. Maybe the Mullahs would lose control.
It's not like anything could go wrong, is it? You'd think these people might have become more realistic, but apparently not.
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on Iran and Seymour Hersh it would be fair to point out that while he has generally good track record - it is difficult at the best of times to make sense of the Iran puzzle even if you think you have all the pieces. Which they can still misread / and they don't have all the puzzle pieces - see this para from the article
In interviews with current and former officials, there were repeated complaints about the paucity of reliable information. A former high-level C.I.A. official said that the intelligence about who is doing what inside Iran “is so thin that nobody even wants his name on it. This is the problem.”
(page 3)
I'm reminded of ex CIA spy Robert Bauer's Book - See No Evil (Syriana movie was based on it) where he mentions the complexity and connections across borders in Lebanon and elsewhere.
When that book came out in '02 it seems that Bauers main thesis was exactly that the US no longer has quality ground intelligence to make real sense of the situation. An assertion that is repeated in the article.
I also wonder if there is anyone in the US administration who has the hindsight and depth say of Robert McNamara in "The Fog of War" years after the fact to work out much smarter ways to be able to negotiate some kind of resolution.
Hans Blix as quoted on page 5 of the Hersh article also suggests that some options aren't even being considered.
Hans Blix, a former head of the I.A.E.A., questioned the Bush Administration’s commitment to diplomacy. “There are important cards that Washington could play; instead, they have three aircraft carriers sitting in the Persian Gulf,” he said. Speaking of Iran’s role in Iraq, Blix added, “My impression is that the United States has been trying to push up the accusations against Iran as a basis for a possible attack—as an excuse for jumping on them.”
Hersh's article appears to support the view that nothing has been learned.
The war in Iraq is already a proxy war on Iran because of the Shia connections - real and imagined and that is patently not working.
I noticed that Robert Bauer has a new book out - this time - a novel - and Blow the House Down includes some discussion between Seymour Hirsh and Robert Bauer - see brief quote below on the parallels regarding the audio version of that book.
but listeners will undoubtedly find that the most fascinating aspect of this audiobook is Baer's chat with author Seymour Hersh. Two experts of the shadowy intelligence underworld, they discuss the relationship between Baer's characters and real figures, and Baer's stated intention to prod the uninformed reader into learning more about the secret workings of the intelligence world
I don't know what the answer is - but more of the same (Iraq) spread to Iran /Syria and maybe Pakistan is not an outcome that gives much hope.
I can understand why the BDO is easier to deal with!
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So I just played this on my PC - it let me unmoved but a couple of students wandered into my office and instantly asked 'what's this? it's awesome!'
I feel so alienated.
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*this being 'All my Friends'.
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The war in Iraq is already a proxy war on Iran because of the Shia connections - real and imagined and that is patently not working.
The story also touches on what the Bush Cultists happily refer to as "the miracle of Anbar" -- wherein the Americans have solved the al Qaeda problem by giving weapons to the former Sunni insurgents (ie: the people they went to Iraq to knock out in the first place), making the Shia leadership (ie: the elected government they keep trumpeting) understandably nervous. They're effectively arming and attacking both sides.
Meanwhile, a BBC-ABC poll in Anbar asked the locals whether attacks on coalition forces were "acceptable". Number of respondents replying in the affirmative: 100%
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Palestine had an elected Govt too.
Interesting how Africa wants help but not American help, so too the solution should be local. -
Peter W. Galbraith goes into detail about how the invasion of Iraq has been a strategic gain for Iran.
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and how about radiohead releasing their new album for free? i don't know if that's a very smart business model.
Yes, I think Radiohead need to have a serious talk with their accountant. They really ought to release the album on CD, then six months later release a "special edition" with two live tracks and a couple of music videos. That's what rock n roll is all about, right?
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Peter W. Galbraith goes into detail about how the invasion of Iraq has been a strategic gain for Iran.
As usual, Galbraith is superb. The day's other required reading.
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I can understand why the BDO is easier to deal with!
I'm reading Ben Elton's 'First Casualty' at present. The hero objects to the first world war and refuses to fight because of the economies of scale involved. He can cope with an individual injustice but slaughter of a whole generation offends his logic. I feel the opposte. I'm going to worry about the mid-field pairing and leave these bigger picture issues to others.
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If it's going to be limited and surgical, surely the plan will amount to something like:
Let Israel off the leash.After all, they have history of blowing up nuclear reactors, and if earlier reports are anything to go by, have already drafted their own plans for knocking Iran's nuclear aspirations back a good few steps.
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<i>Peter W. Galbraith goes into detail about how the invasion of Iraq has been a strategic gain for Iran.</i>
Vietnam analogy - the current US strategy in Iraq is a little like supporting Ho Chi Minh against Diem to prevent China from increasing its influence in the region.
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and how about radiohead releasing their new album for free? i don't know if that's a very smart business model.
on the contrary..uber smart.
a) they are giving away only the first part of it
b)Radiohead fans are fanatical
c)everybody is talking about it
d) the CD package (for 40 quid!) comes out in a month and a 3/4..big flash package and will, with the month and 3/4 buzz, fly into the hands of said fanatics
e) you can order and pay for it now and it will be couriered to you anywhere in the world in December...imagine the anticipation, and you have all that time to convince yourself you need it
f) 80% of all sales are still on CD (and with Radiohead a big bunch are on vinyl too...fans need all formats)
g) like Prince's thing in July, this simply increases their currency as "Radiohead" (tm)
h) they may or may not give terrestrial rights to a record company but that is all they will do (the smart artists are giving the labels less rights, not the more they want) and Radiohead are using their muscle to do what they want.
i) LCD rock...the Carl Craig mix of Sound Of Silver I managed to get off AmazonMP3 before the drawbridge went up is hell good, and Losing My Edge has one of the decade's best lyrics... -
From my limited discussions, the Americans simply view Iran as 'the enemy', indeed that was how a lobbyist and former congressional staffer and a harvard international relations grad colleague both put it.
Me and a dutchman had a huge debate with them into the night. We kept oputting it to them, what had Iran done that got them the enemy status, and I never got it clear. but then they thought that Iraq would be a killing ground of jihadis -suck them in from all around and they would be wiped out forshadowing a great future for a democratic mid east. WOnder if they still think that two years on?
Has the US ever actually got over the Teheran embassy siege? I wonder if this significantly influences their view?
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Apologies to onegoodmove regulars who have seen this joke.
A female CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time.
So she went to check it out. She went to the Western Wall and there he was, walking slowly up to the holy site.
She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane and moving very slowly, she approached him for an interview.
"Pardon me, sir, I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. What's your name?
"Morris Fishbien," he replied.
"Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?"
"For about 60 years."
"60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?"
"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims."
"I pray for all the wars and all the hatred to stop. "
"I pray for all our children to grow up safely as responsible adults, and to love their fellow man."
"How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"
"Like I'm talking to a fuckin' wall."
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Simon Grigg
Doesn't giving it away signify that you couldn't actually sell many copies? It may be a smart move but only for someone that no longer has the market power they once had. Is everyone really talking about Radiohead's giveaway - yes I know I am but only about the concept rather than as a fan 'gee whiz this is great'.
I'm listening to Prince as I type, but even I accept that he is past his peak as a power in music (as if that matters! He's still royalty). But I'm sure if he could have sold his latest he would have (though I did read he got money for each one given away as they counted as sales).
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