When Pigs Fly...

On Feb. 1, the Landmark Legal Foundation, a leading conservative public interest law firm in the United States, nominated nationally syndicated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Seriously. Quit laughing, I'm not joking.

According to foundation president Mark R. Levin, the group nominated Limbaugh fir his "nearly two decades of tireless efforts to promote liberty, equality and opportunity for all humankind, regardless of race, creed, economic stratum or national origin. These are the only real cornerstones of just and lasting peace throughout the world."

"Rush Limbaugh is the foremost advocate for freedom and democracy in the world today," explained Levin. "Everyday he gives voice to the values of democratic governance, individual opportunity and the just, equal application of the rule of law -- and it is fitting that the Nobel Committee recognize the power of these ideals to build a truly peaceful world for future generations."

Somehow this news story escaped me the first time around. Unbelievable.

Read the rest of the story here. Feel free to laugh now.

Thanks to MH for the story

Jack Kerouac reads "On the Road"

This is by far one of the coolest videos I've found on YouTube, so I thought I'd share it with you. I had never seen Kerouac read his own work before; that combined with the subtle jazz piano in the background made it a surreal experience. Enjoy

Nabaztag-a-ma-jigger

Some reactions of people who first saw the Nabaztag:

"Oh...cool."

"Awww...look at the cute bunny."

"Is that Apple's new iRabbit?"

"What the heck is it?"


Meet one of the newest WiFi toys. With this little bunny your friends and family will have a totally new way of keeping in touch: through the web, text messages, their phone or email. It includes plenty of different ways to send you messages, music, MP3 files that it reads out to you… or sing out, or even dance (if that's the kind of stuff you're into). Your friends will no longer be confined to the depths of your computer or phone: they'll come alive in your home, in the noble guise of a rabbit.
This bunny can teach you tai chi, it can read you your e-mail, report the weather or tell you the latest stock quotes. He has the ability to play messages or any audio feed for an unlimited period of time and the ability to play podcasts and MP3 web radio. Anything you can pull an RSS feed from, he can read that too.

Oh yeah, and it tells the time.

You can check out the website and buy it online here

Blair Decides It's Time To Go

According to BBC International, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is going to announce tomorrow that he is implementing a new time table for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, including an estimated 1,500 who are expected return home in several weeks.

"Blair will also tell the House of Commons during his regular weekly appearance before it that a total of about 3,000 British soldiers will have left southern Iraq by the end of 2007, if the security there is sufficient," the British Broadcasting Corp. said, quoting government officials who weren't further identified.

This is certainly an interesting turn of events, and even though Britain only currently has 7,500 troops deployed to Iraq, President Bush will undoubtedly be making a statement soon.

For the full story, go here

Culture Jamming 101

The past few days I've been slowly compiling a list of the different terms, resources, etc. related to the concept of urban activism. Keep in mind, this list is obviously not complete and certainly editable. If you have anything you'd like to add, feel free to e-mail them in.

Culture Jamming
The act of transforming existing mass media to produce negative commentary about itself, using the original medium's communication method.

Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters
Adbusters is probably one of the best known groups dedicated to culture jamming (you may know them from their magazine, published under the same name). Their site was "designed to help you turn the drab number cruncher you're staring at right now into the most versatile activist tool ever reckoned with. From cyberpetitions to Critical Mass tips, from disseminating corporate propaganda, to downshifting your lifestyle and treading lightly on the planet, this site will inspire you to move -- upon your return to the real world -- from spectator to participant."

Anti-Advertising Agency
An artist run media-literacy campaign that "co-opts the tools and structures used by the advertising and public relations industries, calling into question the purpose and effects of advertising in public space. Through constructive parody and gentle humor the Agency’s campaigns ask passers by to critically consider the role and strategies of today’s marketing media as well as alternatives for the public arena.

Artivist
Term for one who combines art with activism. Artivism developed in recent years while the anti-globalization and antiwar protests emerged and proliferated. In most of the cases artivists attempt to push political agendas by the means of art. Yet this is not political art as it was known before, in the sense of artworks being political. The artivist is often involved in Streetart or Urban Art, Adbusting or Subvertising.

Banksy
Probably one of the most well-known individual culture-jammers/anti-consumerist performance artists in the United States, mostly because of the extended news coverage of his work. In September, he replaced over 500 of Paris Hilton's CD's with a new version bearing different song titles such as "Why am I Famous?," "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?" He's also a well accomplished graffiti artist, even once decorating Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side.

Shopdropping
A tactic used by artists and activists to clandestinely place altered or recreated objects into retail stores. Handmade labels were printed out for students to color, cut, and paste. The intent is to reconnect the labor with the product.

Subvertising
The practice of making spoofs or parodies of global and political advertisements in order to make a statement. This can take the form of a new image, or an alteration to an existing image. A subvertisement can also be referred to as meme hack and can be a part of social hacking or culture jamming.

DVD Review: "Jesus Camp"

Here's another user-submitted DVD review from MH:

At the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, “Jesus Camp,” a documentary directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing - the creators of The Boys of Baraka, made its debut to a shocked audience. The film guides viewers through highlights of the camp Kids on Fire, a summer retreat at Devil’s Lake, North Dakota for Evangelical youths and their families held in 2005.

"Jesus Camp” paints a very vivid and disturbing picture of the modern radical Evangelical movement and its training, mobilization and indoctrination of children. The film follows three children, Victoria, Rachel and Levi in their immersion into the Evangelical religion. These children, despite their age, are very motivated, dedicated and emotional about their faith, routinely approaching strangers, handing out literature about the Evangelical Gospel. They have been taught through home schooling and their youth pastor Becky Fischer, who runs the Kids on Fire camp, that the responsibility for ending abortion and other “worldly sins” rests squarely on their generations collective shoulders. Other “facts” that the children are taught by Becky Fischer are that global warming does not exist, the earth is only 6000 years old and the science can not prove anything, ironically presented on a PowerPoint slide.

Levi, who has aspirations of becoming an Evangelical minister, delivers a sermon in a John Hagee-esque style to his peers stating that he believes, “we are the key generation to bringing Jesus back.” During the camp session, children are coerced into praying to a life sized cardboard cutout of George W. Bush urging him to appoint “Righteous Judges” to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The most ironic moment in the film comes when the directors visit the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which was headed by recently disgraced pastor and former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Ted Haggard. During their visit, Pastor Ted delivers a sermon on homosexuality and the importance for Evangelical Christians to vote conservative to ban homosexual marriage. From sermons like these, it is hard to determine whether the Evangelical Right is a religious movement, or a political puppet for conservative republicans and with 25% of Americans describing themselves as Evangelical Christians Jesus Camp doesn’t seem so far fetched.

Here is the trailer

The Look For Less

So you may have noticed that the website has been changed around a bit. Being the crafty little web rat that I am, I've begun learning HTML so that I can make this site be the best it can be (at least while it's still on the Blogger server). Hopefully, one day I'll be able to move to a nice little 3 bedroom domain name with a white picket fence and a new server with a terabyte of storage, but until that day, enjoy the new colors (or lack thereof).

RS

Music Review: A Vegan, Jazz Singer and She’s not afraid to say what’s on her Mind

The Convergence Cafe has their first user submitted post! This one comes from MT (I only use initials), and is a great music review of a great CD. Check it out:

Nellie Mckay first burst onto the music scene in 2004 when there was an abundance of jazz singers, such as Norah Jones and Michael Buble. But, she was obviously different from other nouveau jazz singers, titling her CD “Get Away From Me,” while Norah Jones titled her album “Come Away From Me.” Her first CD is filled with tongue-in-cheek songs about the war and Iraq and her longings to get married.

Finally, two years after “Get Away From Me” graced the music world Mckay’s sophomore album “Pretty Little Head” finally debuted. The album is still filled with sarcastic lyrics and funny lines, but there is a maturity present in “Pretty Little Head” that was not there in “Get Away From Me.” Instead of lamenting about the political world on a global scale, Mckay makes the political personal with the song “Columbia is Bleeding,” about the animal testing that still goes on at Columbia University.

This album as a whole seems more personal than “Get Away from me,” with autobiographical touches and two guest appearances by Cyndi Lauper and K.D. Lang. In the song “Mama and Me” Mckay sings about the relationship that she has with her parents and in “There you are in me” Mckay sings about the interconnectedness of life.

Mckay’s voice is dream like and blends well with Lauper and Lang. In a 2004 interview with NPR Mckay was compared to both Dorris Day and Eminem. These seem like strange musical influences, but they have produced a genius protégé.

Here is a great performance of her song "Happy Flower," which originally aired on the Late Show with David Letterman earlier this year

Happy Valentine's Day From the Convergence Cafe

Valentine's Day is a 16.9 billion business, so what do the news outlets do (myself included)? Make you feel bad about it of course. Not to be a mood killer or anything, but I thought you might like to read this:

ABC News ran a story this morning on their homepage about a worker on one of the many giant South American flower plantations who has recently exposed the poor conditions industry workers face to make sure that the U.S. will get its average 190 million flowers for this Valentine's Day.

"According to Nora Ferm of the Washington, D.C.-based International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF), the typical South American flower picker is female, unmarried, has an elementary school education and three or more children." The woman who exposed the mistreatment, Beatriz Fuentes, says she is paid less than $50 for a six-day week of demanding labor, often under difficult -- some say illegal -- conditions, including contact with dangerous chemicals.

You can read the original article here

Crazy Alarm Clocks

It was so hard for me to get out of bed this morning, that I decided to look around for a new alarm clock. Here's some of the cooler ones I've found.

To turn off the Japanese "DANGERBOMB" clock, you have to connect the blue, red and yellow wires in the correct order. Screw it up and the clock plays an explosion noise.
$20

Order Here (if you can read Japanese)

The SLEEPTRACKER® watch monitors your body and continuously looks for your best possible waking times. It wakes you up at just the right moment - during a window of time that YOU set. Imagine not feeling tired in the morning and getting a few extra minutes out of your day, now it's possible

$150
Order Here

The Sfera Alarm Clock hangs from the ceiling above your bed. When the alarm goes off, you can reach up and touch it to activate the snooze function causing it retract towards the ceiling. When snooze goes off again, you have to reach higher to activate the snooze again. Each time you activate the snooze function the alarm retracts a little higher to the point that you get your butt out of bed.

$NA
You can only read about it for now

Clocky is an alarm clock that acts like a misbehaved pet. When your alarm goes off in the morning, Clocky will do its best to avoid your hand coming down on the snooze button, even to the point of rolling off your nightstand and hiding in the corner. How cute.
$50
Order Here

This one is for your heavy sleeping roommate, whose alarm clock goes off for an hour til they turn it off. The Sonic Alarm could wake a hibernating bear. Simply pull the pin, and lob the grenade near the unsuspecting sleeper. FIRE IN THE HOLE! After ten seconds a very annoying and piercingly loud noise (there are three volume settings) will blast out from the alarm. That’s not all however, what makes this especially great is that to stop the alarm the sleeper has to find you so you can put the pin back in.
$20
Order Here

Enough is Enough: Anna Nicole Smith and the Over-Coverage of Today's Media

" Where is Hollywood located?
Chiefly between the ears. In that part of the
American brain lately vacated by God."
-Erica Jong

I don't think that anyone should be surprised by the extended coverage most media outlets are granting to the death of former do-nothing Anna Nicole Smith. As we have seen countless times so far this year, from the Britney Spears crotch-shots, Paris Hilton websites and countless other short celebrity romances which increasingly take up more and more time and space on television, print and electronic news, celebrity stories are popular.

We crave a piece of their world, to catch a glimpse of their star, be it shooting or falling. There are thousands of celebrity blogs like PerezHilton.com and TMZ.com that hire whole staffs of people to follow and track even the most benign of celebrity activity. Want to know what size t-shirt Scarlett Johansson bought from a Beverly Hills boutique yesterday, just Google it and I'm sure there are several websites with the info.

It's gotten to the point that anyone who even hangs around a moderately famous person has to be covered by the media. Don't you think it's the right of the public to know who the woman was Ryan Phillipe was seen leaving a club with? Ha ha, no. I wonder if there really are lots of people out there who do care? Maybe, there's only a small group of people who go to these websites multiple times a day, enough to keep them all in business. I know people who are interested in the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but I don't see them carrying the most recent issue of Us Weekly around wherever they go or quoting whatever celebrity allegedly was overheard dissing her supposed friend the night before.

As the old saying goes, "give them an inch, and they'll take a mile," the same applies to media coverage. Ever notice how when one type of news story (e.g. mine accidents, teacher-student sex scandals, etc.) is considered big news, you're guaranteed to hear at least one more story about a similar incident in the following week. The big media outlets are merely following consumer trends; that's what it has boiled down to, they're a business producing these images and words for our consumption. The sheer fact that you (you being the millions of average media saturated Americans) know who a particular celebrity is, what they do and at least one trivial fact about their personal life or career, means that the media is winning, and the lives of celebrities are guaranteed at least a 30 second spot on CNN, sandwiched in-between coverage of the Iraq war and President Bush tending to his ranch.

If it's not our fault, and it's not the celebrities' fault, and it's not the media's fault, whose fault is it already? Certainly, in Smith's case we could hardly blame her corpse for attention-seeking, and I'm sure that Britney's nether regions were just screaming to be photographed on several separate occasions. However, some blame must rest on the celebrities, for the press, be it good or bad, is still press. The same goes for the girl drinking her latte at Starbucks, reading the magazine our society tells her she should like. She adapts to those norms and learns to enjoy half-caf nonfat caramel macchiatos and glossy celebrity sightings. The media who propagates those norms is just as bad, because they are the ones disseminating the message in the first place. The blame is everybody's, whether we want to own up to it or not.

I'm not going to be so bold to offer any end-all solutions to the problems. This is just a reiteration of things I'm sure you've heard or at least thought of before. I'd just like you to think about this: Apparently, Entertainment Tonight paid over 1 million dollars to secure an interview with Smith's widower Howard K. Stern. According to the popular figures from Sally Struthers and her Christian Children's Fund, that money could go towards paying for at least a year's worth of food for 3424 orphans.

Enough is enough.

DVD Review: "The Science of Sleep"

This past weekend I had the pleasure of renting the film "The Science of Sleep," starring Gabriel Garcia Bernal ("Y Tu Mama Tambien," "The Motorcycle Diaries"). If you have the chance, I definitely recommend you take time to check it out.

Bernal stars as Stephane, a young man who has just moved from Mexico to France to work at a calender design agency and live with his mother. We quickly learn that Stephane is no ordinary guy though. He often confuses his real life with his dream life, in which he is the host of his own television show (StephaneTV), creates his own calendars and gets the girl of his dreams . That girl, coincidentally named Stephanie, is Stephane's neighbor.

Through the course of the film, Stephane and Stephanie struggle to connect on the same plane, which often can be annoying. Why director Michael Gondry chose to adapt a somewhat chaotic script using often confusing editing is beyond me, but the overall pseudo-artistic, low-budget feel of the film's special effects is so creative, that I could watch "The Science of Sleep" several times before noticing every interesting element of the heavily detailed scenes.

One of the things that attracted me to this film was that Bernal is known for distancing himself from the typical Hollywood picture; this film is definitely not your typical, high-budgeted, weakly-written, 50 million dollar production. That combined with Micheal Gondry's reputation for making thought-provoking films (he also directed "Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind") was enough to beat out the Clint Eastwood war film "Flags of our Fathers" and the horror sequel "The Grudge 2," to become my favorite rental this weekend.

You can view the trailer below or here

Truthiness, In a Delicious Frozen Form

Apparently, Vermont ice cream mega-maker Ben and Jerry's is rumored to have a new flavor, one with Stephen Colbert's face on the pint. According to the Colbert unofficial fan site NoFactZone.net, who obtained the info from an unidentified Whole Foods employee, "Americone Dream" Ice Cream will be a mix of vanilla ice cream with fudge covered waffle cone pieces and caramel swirls. No official word yet has come from Ben & Jerry's , but the fan site did post a letter from company a spokesperson named Sean Greenwood which made light of the possibility.

"Sure it COULD be a Patriotic mix of strawberry, blueberry and (American not French) vanilla flavors, striped in the pint with chocolate stars," Greenwood wrote. "Or perhaps Republican Nut, with each pint lovingly sampled by Dick Cheney to insure product quality."

Colbert discussed the possibly unparalleled patriotic dessert in this clip.

2008 Democratic presidential hopefuls have started coming out of the woodwork

Yesterday, in front of 15,00o supporters, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) officially announced his bid for the White House. From the base of the old state Capitol, where Abe Lincoln once stood and orated, Obama pledged his commitment to the country and its people, but not to its politics.

"What's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics, the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points," Obama said. "The time for that kind of politics is over," he added. "It's time to turn the page."

Calling for a change in the way things are handled isn't a new strategy for those facing the party of an incumbent, but with opposition to the Iraq at an all-time high and with a new proposed budget of 300 trillion dollars (I feel 5 years old when I say that number aloud), Obama and his fellow Democrats may need little other reason to gain votes.

Obama has been in the news a lot recently, which many offer as a reason for his popularity. Several weeks ago, Obama had been noted as having started a presidential exploratory committee, and just last week several news outlets ran stories chronicling his fight to quit cigarettes.

According to the L.A. Times, Obama is generally regarded as one of the top three Democratic White House hopefuls — behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, ahead of former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. This is good, but if he wants to gain any serious momentum against Ol' Lady Clinton, we need to hear more about his goals and less about his personal life.

The Proverbial Coffee Pot is On

Welcome to the Convergence Cafe, a great source for the latest in news, reviews and brews. Everyday (or few days, 'cause I'm a student) you'll see a roundup of the latest interesting news stories and reviews of some new movies and music. As of now, it'll probably be news during the weekday and movies and music on the weekend. Hopefully soon, I will be able to finish my compilation of all things coffee and tea related to actually justify using the term brews in my slogan. E-mails with news story links or outside reviews are always nice, or you can also send me your own reviews (or photos, art, rants etc.) and if they're good, I'd be happy to post them. Basically anything you want to send me is welcome .

I appreciate your visit and hope you'll check back regularly.

RS
Proprietor, The Convergence Cafe