Share what’s on your mind. D.C. is rattled at the moment. The recent earthquake itself relatively minor. As a social lubricant? Big stuff — better than the Redskins. Plus, the upcoming hurricanes make for easy TV.
A more pervasive fear adds to tension. Only in August 2011 did the Imperial City Nomenklatura learn they are economically mortal. Their comfort while the Nation collapsed at risk. They may even be forced to share the indignity of lay offs with their subjects fellow Americans. There’s almost something biblical about the approaching reckoning.
We’ll spend some time working out initial ideas for a “The Summer of Fear” theme song. Or the Star Trek movie (Stiftung Style) we’ve mentioned before. And watch the weekend’s rain, mindful of the real oncoming storm.
Our mutual friend JWB kindly shares his initial mix of a Summer of Fear theme song. As he explains in the comments, he created this loop with specific political commentary in mind. Check it out.
DrLeoStrauss says
Tweety’s son to be on a Sorkin cable show as — a cable tv show producer.
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/11/chris_matthews_son_aaron_sorki.html
Dr Leo Strauss says
It’s not Summer that’s for sure. Rainy, soggy chilly Imperial weather. But we did summon the courage finally to see “Ides of March”, the now soon-to-hit-DVD Democratic sex scandal/campaign backstabbing drama directed by Clooney with Clooney as a some quasi Obama2008 candidate.
Acquaintances of ours who’ve been the presidential campaign biz (longer than our stint) say it wasn’t bad. Our verdict? Harmless but certainly not captivating. We’d recommend waiting for it come to cable. If others have a different view would be curious to hear.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Sam Lowry
Genius stuff, Sam !! Hilarious.
Sam Lowry says
Apologies if this has been posted before, but it is kind of amusing. Even if one isn’t particularly enamored of cats and kittens.
Mewvement Conservatives: http://conservativekittens.tumblr.com/
(personal favorite: “Agememnon didn’t mind paying for the surgery out of pocket. His pride at rejecting the collectivist impulse was the best painkiller.”)
DrLeoStrauss says
9 great Shatner/Kirk impressions.
http://blastr.com/2011/09/8-awesome-captain-kirk-im.php
DrLeoStrauss says
A fan-based review of the new Tinker, Tailor:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/51324
DrLeoStrauss says
Dreamers, jammers, rabble-rousers and revolutionaries,
#OCCUPYWALLSTREET is a week old and roaring strong. We, the people, are finding our voice, realizing that, yes we can revive our democracy. It is beautiful. It is an achievement. And it has the potential to grow into something even more wild and wonderful over the next few weeks and months.
This Saturday at noon at the people’s assembly in Liberty Plaza there will be a celebration of our incredible first week. Last Saturday, 5,000 people flocked nonviolently to Wall Street … this Saturday there will be 10,000. And then in the weeks that follow, we will swell to 50,000 … and maybe even to 100,000+ by mid-October. Wouldn’t that be something!
For those who cannot make it to Wall Street’s liberated space, why not organize #OCCUPYCHICAGO, #OCCUPYDALLAS, #OCCUPYSANFRANCISCO, #OCCUPYBOSTON and #OCCUPYDC. This is the perfect moment to expand our movement into financial districts, iconic sites of economic power and branches of Bank of America everywhere.
According to PBS Newshour, 45 percent of young Americans aged 16 to 29 don’t have a job. Economists are talking glumly about a “lost generation” but they’ve got it wrong. We’re the generation that pulls off the second American Revolution.
This Saturday at Noon, let’s escalate #OCCUPYWALLSTREET into a nationwide peaceful demand for economic justice.
for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ
occupywallstreet.org / occupywallst.org / nycga.net
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Sam Lowry Way to go, America’s newspaper! That’s funny, Sam. Spiraling the drain . . .
Sam Lowry says
A nearly 2000 word WaPo op-ed about hipster glasses. Populism at its finest!
I sense we may be fast approaching that point in time when one won’t be able to tell the difference between a story in The Onion and one of our mainstream media outlets.
http://news.yahoo.com/d-c-war-over-hipster-glasses-235431418.html
DrLeoStrauss says
New Tinker, Tailor poster.
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/51134
DrLeoStrauss says
The Great Satan’s Girlfriend scandal is a topic some may be following. Here’s one writer’s take on it:
http://gunpowderandlead.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/courtney-messerschmidt-is-just-a-beer-commercial/
Dr Leo Strauss says
re the 9/11 dust and its side effects, all we can say is we were at Ground Zero within days of the attacks, stunned and heart broken at the wall of of the missing, the teddy bears, the sobbing relatives. The air wasn’t air but dust and it was in the eyes, nose, throat and seeming soul. The stench of “wrongness” so overwhelming that any sentient being could see the baleful impact.
The Boy King’s pathetic tenure evokes a sigh more than anything else. But watching that one Jon Stewart show where he brought on First Responders who were dying, in terminal phases of cancer, while denied insurance and benefits a moment of pure incandescent rage. Not only at the lies EPA told everyone in 2001/2002, but that Congress and the Boy King would not step up.
How Amerikuh treats those who ran into the buildings (after using them as cynical props) sums up the national character. Such a broken commitment. Without hesitation.
DrLeoStrauss says
Eric Schmidt calls Jobs CEO of the last 50, maybe 100 years. Seems a little obsequious given Android, etc.
http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/eric-schmidt-steve-jobs-best-ceo-in-50-years–1010756
DrLeoStrauss says
Bunker neighborhood and surrounding suburbs are largely undisturbed, a few branches here and there. PEPCO, being a Third World utility company, again has failed the Bunker. No power. A transformer or something similar popped around 2:00 AM Sunday morning.
1,000 yards away everything is fine. We’ll see how long it takes.
Comment says
@jwb
Great theme – very accurate mood translation.
DrLeoStrauss says
Have to say that as 11:00 PM Saturday D.C. appears relatively untouched. Rains have been normal and light, winds not particularly noticeable. Even the ever feeble PEPCO hasn’t even had a blink so far (knock on wood).
The damage in North Carolina apparently on first gloss not even close to initial fears. Interesting to see cable news strain to find any angle or video shot to pump of the storm. The gap between what is (as of 11:00) and what is being sold on TV quite noticeable.
Anyone have Irene stories?
jwb says
Your picture makes me realize that you could improvise quite nicely to the national anthem in minor over the loop. Played slowly, on distorted electric guitar with free ornaments would create a nice tension with the loop.
Comment says
Hope everyone has more than enough wine and spirits to get thru the weekend.
In case of trouble:
http://macgyver.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_problems_solved_by_MacGyver
DrLeoStrauss says
@jwb Am enjoying the loop a great deal. Your take quoted in an earlier reply resonates. The “dissipation into a hollow shell” is there in the loop. Enjoy your analysis of how this represents instrumental service to a political economy. Per your note, began to lay down some guitar (beginning with heavy distortion chords and wanting to try flange shimmer) before storm prep intervened.
Your loop and take are great beginnings for an ongoing discussion. Appreciate you taking the time to share with all of us. We’ll see how much musical noodling Irene will allow.
jwb says
@Dr Leo Strauss
Take care. Irene looks like one mighty and awesome storm.
And thanks for posting those materials.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Hunkering down for the storm. Home Depots and local hardware stores were cleaned out. PEPCO, the third world quality public utility, sent out robo calls during the day warning in recorded messages that the Imperial City should expect ‘multiple days without power.’
Hope you Dear Reader are ok with supplies. Took time this evening to check in on some local senior citizens. If you know of a senior citizen and you are in the storm path, couldn’t hurt to make sure they have at least some food and batteries, etc.
Every act of kindness and thoughtfulness is a karmic blow to the Movement’s call for primitive selfishness. Let’s drive the Movement nuts.
DrLeoStrauss says
@anxiousmodernman
Re Jobs, agree that without him Apple becomes just another large electronics manufacturer. Apple’s recent patent strategy and Google’s purchase of Motorola as a defensive move show that industry itself is preparing for a period of protracted competition inside established confines.
Jobs is a singular persona for a variety of reasons. But he was also part of an initial cohort that had a distinct ideology. John Markoff’s excellent “What the Dourmouse Said: How The 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer” captures that world view.
http://www.amazon.com/What-Dormouse-Said-Counterculture-Personal/dp/0670033820
Those still running technology companies from that initial cohort are few. Even fewer are those who had Jobs’ two other attributes: (a) his sense of aesthetics present from the very start; (b) his comfort with and even cultivation of ‘being outside’ his time – he is comfortable going alone, rocking the boat, etc. Combined one sees the foundation of the Reality Distortion Field.
Sculley and Jean-Louis_Gassée post Jobs give a glimpse how smart business people will exploit Jobs’ creative momentum. They innovated inside the Mac umbrella and ‘opened’ the architecture. And how eventually that approach stalls, churns out commodities, and then approaches bankruptcy.
Tim Cook is more sophisticated than Sculley, Spindler or the laughable Gil Amelio. We suspect that Apple’s future in the end will look alot more like Sony once the hits ran out.
Of course, Jobs’ creativity came with enormous costs that are often airbrushed away. His brutal interpersonal dealings burned out and discarded thousands of talented, gifted people who are unrecognized. Some of his interpersonal dealings are arguably sociopathic. Apple has become in many ways a Counter-Intelligence Company, with paranoia, security and control pervasive.
Apple’s role in changing the licensing landscape for end users is also often overlooked. As Jon Stewart jokes, ‘You read the iTunes update licensing agreement? Really?’ This could be a post just on its own.
Apple’s reliance on almost-Speer-esque Chinese labor is not fully grasped. When suicide becomes a release that puts a new perspective on the shiny new gadgets. Apple employs more Chinese than Americans, with California serving as design, legal and marketing hub.
How Apple post-Jobs will maintain this structure when U.S. and Chinese competitors ‘go to school’ on Apple and create a end to end integrated experience is unclear. They do not need or expect to maintain Apple’s stunning margins. Apple takes the threat seriously as made clear by its lawsuit against component supplier and product competitor, Samsung.
As consumers we’ve had a good run under Jobs. With the great costs noted above.
DrLeoStrauss says
Here’s JWB’s commentary on his Summer of Fear Loop: Attached is an eight-measure mock-up with bass and drum machine tracks added to cover the loop splices (and contribute to the tone of faux urgency). As with Philip Glass, it really only begins to have its full effect with repetition, as the initial, overwrought emotional charge of the kitschy material dissipates, leaving only the hollowed-out formal shell, wherein one comes to recognize the emotional manipulation and the way feeling has been instrumentalized in the service of political economy. The effect is therefore both ironic and mimetic of the current situation. Hence, also, the poignancy. On the other hand, while I find this effective as a moment, it is not clear to me what to do with it compositionally other than to repeat. One could throw a line over the top of it—musically, a “wild” metal guitar solo actually works nicely, though its heroic sound of rugged independence mitigates the hollowing-out effect, as the loop recedes to ground, a mere accompaniment figure. There is something to be said for this being mimetic of the current situation as well, but to me the solo pushes in the direction of the merely false appearance (i.e., ideology) rather than the revealing image (critique of ideology).
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment Your father had a terrific beat. Front row to literally the future. re Mitchell et al., one wonders what Cheney’s true views might be. That they got caught? That they obeyed political and legal normative thinking? Or just sweep all that away and call them martyrs.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@anxiousmodernman
Anxious, share your concerns. Will add a longer comment if one makes it back from the surging hordes at Safeway. Let’s mark this conversation for re-visit later today.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@jwb Got the loop. Added as an attachment to the post to share it with folks quickly. Will re-visit and create a more elegant iGadget friendly embed in a bit. Thanks for sharing it.
Off to provision the bunker for the storm (and grab as many zombie movie DVDs as possible). Now your loop is stuck in the head!
jwb says
@Dr Leo Strauss
I sent a copy of a mocked-up loop with more commentary to your “achtung” account. It was the only email address I could find on the site, and that was associated with STSOZ 1.0.
anxiousmodernman says
With Jobs out, what are the chances that the top brass at Apple simply pay themselves a huge dividend and let the thing rot? Who is going to take the stage and introduce new gizmos? I’m never inclined to attribute a firm’s success or behavior to a single person, but Jobs really seemed to inspire a Maoist devotion among employees and the fanboy street teams.
Comment says
@Dr Leo Strauss
as a Wall St. analyst with Loeb Rhodes, if memory serves. On Broad St. in the same building with John Mitchell and Pat Buchanan.
Comment says
@Dr Leo Strauss
Yeah – he gives bad interview – as an aside my dad used to know Gordon Moore when he covered Fairchild Semiconductor.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment A friend who is a world class technologist and at one time at the apex of the national security edifice told me he was looking forward to spending some time with Woz and a ultra famous science fiction writer.
A couple of weeks later we asked how it went with Woz. Our friend was disappointed. He travelled in circles where he would go fishing with Gordon Moore from Intel, etc. He said that Woz was a friendly engineer who got lucky. This CNN interview is painful.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@jwb
Am not sure my Apple or other loops suites match your iPad’s. Will hunt for them. If you want, please feel free to email me a copy of your soundscape and we can embed it into the post. Your description is so evocative.
Comment says
Woz on CNN now.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment
Good analogy – spiked punch vs. wine. Agree that the cover is fun.
Taking old school melody/harmony based writing and putting it into today’s bass/rhythm approach can sometimes be surprisingly interesting. Fatboy Slim made a run of cuts doing that but stumbled with his Sympathy for the Devil. Paul Oakenfold made U2 danceable.
Anyone have other suggestions, favorites?
Comment says
@DrLeoStrauss
There’s countless ironies about Newt speaking on JP2 and Pat’s critical commentary on the same man – In medialand Pat’s Romanism is a given and his critique of the recent papacy is just not groked. Whereas with Newt it’s all discounted as some sort of Newtish angle.
Comment says
Another great Who clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaWzyoJqlPo&feature=related
Comment says
@DrLeoStrauss
She is at once super cute and libidinous and at the same time in state of seeming drug induced nihilism – As she sways you can hear the Latin Mass fading. Sorry Pat.
DrLeoStrauss says
@Comment Perfect dancing sequence. You’re right. Pat would devote an entire chapter to her. Given the putsch to retake CPAC back from Grover and the libertarians, the new Values Voter regime might use this sequence to anchor an entire panel. That would be a fun meme to get launched . . . Newt would use this as the anti-Pope John Paul moment. It all writes itself!
Comment says
More freedom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA51wyl-9IE&feature=related
Comment says
Here’s a great tune – if you wanna date when the old pseudo Irish (Germans) uncles date the end of the western civ., check out the cute hippie dancing right after 1:45
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtvD1DZxcMc
Comment says
@DrLeoStrauss
Yeah – it is weaker – but still a fun party tune. There’s some funk in there that makes up for the lack of musical sophistication. It’s like spiked punch vs. good wine.
Comment says
Well not technically the same spirit – but whatever,
Comment says
@DrLeoStrauss
Here’s The Who’s I’m Free – different tune, same spirit and I know the Doc loves Da Who.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRD_gIoVOmY
jwb says
@DrLeoStrauss
Bad Captcha goes right into the ether for me, but it enforces the good discipline of copying before trying to post.
I like “Courier Strings” (2 measure loop) played twice after a statement of “Pursuit All” (4 measure loop); and then I set that whole 8 measure unit to repeat indefinitely. (These loops come standard in the iPad Garageband, perhaps also in the newer version of the desktop version.) The “Pursuit All” set-up is important, but it is the character of outburst in “Courier Strings” that really captures the moment of the summer for me: prepackaged, mechanically repeated, the sound of impotent rage. And yet the futility of the gesture, its impossibility of developing into something real much less going anywhere, carries a poignancy beyond words.
DrLeoStrauss says
@Comment
Nice choice with the irony boost set to say 2 o’clock. Great keyboards (have the Akai trigger unit out as we type – playing around blocking out chords instead of using a guitar).
MSNBC appears to have become a kindergarten with a couple of old Irish Uncles hanging around. The kidz would probably recall their older siblings listening to this (weaker) version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yljbcRu3tiU
DrLeoStrauss says
@jwb
Thanks for your patience with the Captcha code. On this end, if the Captcha is denied/expired, the browser back page features the text again. Regret your inconvenience. 3.0 will have a number of improvements.
re the non-existent storm nationally, we agree. The storm referred to above (and potential biblical reckoning) is the looming hammer on the D.C. area’s self-satisfied lifestyle bloat.
Prospects of cuts shattered the Permanent National Security State’s unconscious sense of entitlement. Along with defense contractors and hangers on they’re stunned to be tossed into steerage with the rest of the country. Should the Super Duper Committee fail this Fall and trigger the auto cuts? The D.C. area will be economically and psychologically staggered.
Agree that Wisconsin as rallying meme/organizing template so far is politically inert. Your phrase ‘freakish wind sheer’ captures it well. If it’s to be documented, it may be ala “Life of Brian’s” Peoples Liberation Front of Judea skit.
Thanks for the heads up on the loop. Like the description.
DrLeoStrauss says
StPaulite, welcome to our little gang and thanks for both the snark (!) and kind words.
jwb says
I always like about your site the way when the Captcha code doesn’t work it annihilates the comment along with it, no possibility of recapture. Something appropriately ruthless about it.
Oddly, my impression is that the U.S. has appeared remarkably calm this summer, even as the Weltlauf has grown increasingly treacherous and our response to it borders on ridiculous. Wisconsin appears more and more to have been a freakish wind shear rather than the leading edge of a gathering storm. The retribution may ultimately be biblical, but somehow it will end up being reported as farce.
As far as “Summer of ‘Fear'” theme song goes, check out the “Courier Strings” Apple loop, a most fitting tribute to the summer in all sorts of ways, ironic and otherwise.
StPaulite says
I’ve just found this blog and am enjoying it thoroughly.
I was about to put this piece of snark on one of your earlier entries on The Movement and What To Do About It, but I’ll put it here, why not: “a specter is haunting this post…”
Comment says
I’m Free:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYDl92DWx54&NR=1