Barry Graham's Blog, page 111

Traditional Thanksgiving

Someone asked me if I had plans for Thanksgiving. I answered that I celebrate it the authentic American way - I give my neighbors gifts of blankets infected with smallpox, wait for them to die, then move into their homes.

My 21 Best Films of the 21st Century

On the Verso Books blog, J. Hoberman lists his picks for the 21 best films of this century so far, which inspired me to do the same here. I’m listing the films in no order of preference, as they occur to me. If a title is hotlinked, it’s to my review of the film.

Red Road

The Robber

Texas Killing Fields

The Town

8 Mile

9 Songs

Love Actually

The Fighter

The Hurt Locker

Sin City

The Ring

Masked and Anonymous

True Grit

Machete

Killer Joe

The Bourne Supremacy

The Piano Teacher

A History of Violence

Myst...

The Israeli Defense Forces not only murdered Hamas military...

The Israeli Defense Forces not only murderedHamas military leader Ahmed al-Jabari on Wednesday as he was driving his car down the street in Gaza - they then posted a video of the killing to YouTube. Then they tweeted awarningto Jabari’s comrades: “We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead.”

This reminds me of the methods used by the Muslim terrorists who killed Daniel Pearl. Israel has long been a terrorist state...

Dark Heat Price Slashed from $16 to $10

Dark Heat, the graphic novel written by me and drawn by Vince Larue, is described thusly by Levi Asher in his review at LitKicks:

Dark Heatshows many familiar influences, and also touches upon psychological and spiritual themes that remind me ofThe Sopranos,Psycho, Paul Auster,The Watchmen,Fletch, Taoism and a whole lot of good movies that have Steve Buscemi and/or Viggo Mortensen in them. This story begins in gritty realism, and ends with a postmodern exploration into what’s real and what’s...

There Is No Such Thing As Money

In an interview in 1983, Foucault said that the French system of “social guarantees,” established in 1946, had now reached its economic limits. He was wrong, as are the governments who are now advocating “austerity” for the increasingly-impoverished citizens while corporate profits reach record highs.


The myth is that there is not enough money to meet everyone’s needs for housing, food and healthcare. The actuality is that money does not exist, except for our coll...

On Veterans Day, Remembering David Weir

Remembering: It is December 2005, and I am the editor of a weekly newspaper in Cleveland, Tennessee. As Christmas approaches,I sit in the newspaper’s office and talk with a young woman and the parents of her husband, to whom she has been married for a year. As we talk, her 10-month-old son plays with the son of the paper’s designer.

The boy’s father is not present. He is in Iraq, and will miss his son’s first Christmas. He enlisted two years ago, at the age of 21, knowi...

Virtual Pop Star Hatsune Miku

I’ve been saying for a while that the world we live in right now makes the science fiction of yesteryear seem quaint.

In his 1996 novel Idoru, William Gibson imagined a Japanese pop star who didn’t exist in “meatspace,” but was computer-generated.

Now, 16 years later, one of Japan’s biggest pop stars is Hatsune Miku, who, as Wired explains, isn’t human:

She is a virtual idol, a holographic star. Miku is crowdsourced, ever-evolving, famous software. Not even he...

My Certain Prediction of the Winners of the U.S. Election

I can tell you with certainty the winners of tomorrow’s election:

Drone strikes against civilians will win.
Indefinite detention without charges or access to counsel will win.
Torture of suspected whistleblowers will win.
Extra-judicial killing will win.
Corporate welfare will win.
F.I.S.A. will win.
Income inequality will win.
U.S. government allies who use child soldiers will win.

There is no doubt about any of this. The presidential election is not about determining the winners, but rather de...

anarcho-queer:25 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Vote For Obama1....

anarcho-queer:

25 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Vote For Obama

1. On December 31, 2011, Obama signed the NDAA, giving him the ability to indefinitely detain any U.S. civilian without charge or trial.

2. Obama supports internet censorship/surveillance. He plans to issue an executive orderthis year that resembles CISPA if the bill is not passed.

3. Despite his claims, Obama has killed thousands of people, including civilians and children, with drone strikes.

4. The president redefined the word ‘militant...

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