the truth is all there is

I love this song (the Truth/Handsome Boy Modeling School) and Roison is just amazing. She even busts J-Live's part here...


and I want her coat too!

Everything is Illuminated

via Lost At E Minor, I came across Orange County artist Kristian Olson today. I love the outer-worldly subjects and mysterious organic themes, the often muted color palette, the detailed ornamentation influenced by cultural motifs and the skillfully crafted combination of mixed-media (designed digital artwork, giclée printing, acrylic paint) with illustration.

"Kristian Olson’s illustrations look like Magic Eye posters that have come to life as marauding, fractal-shooting creatures from Technicolor hell."

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The photo below captures a new interactive Dobpler LED wall in Sandnes Sentrum, Norway that transforms shadows into light as people walk through a pedestrian subway tunnel. Perhaps this is the kind of multifunctional ingenuity we need here to encourage more public transit riders.

via Inhabitat:

"The Strømer is an interactive wall that weaves a wonderful mixture of art, energy-efficiency and play into the fabric of daily existence."

Watercolours, the project website for the installation in Sandnes states:

Sandnes’ city centre is split in two parts by the railway line. A new, creative illumination of our railway station subways will give us safer traffic and walkways. The subways become lighted portals, pleasant to use, mirroring the users who can observe themselves and others as active elements of the township.

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A less useful but rather amusing LED tech gadget is USB powered Tengu, who's facial expressions and mouth lip-syncs with the sounds in the room - whether it be you or your music. This little buddy keeps you company when you're on the comp and he even sings Seu Jorge in the video below! Awesome.

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WTF?! Disgusting full-blown desperation...

A West Plains, Missouri billboard via SLOG

"I've been thinking about this McCain-Palin Obama "palling around with terrorist" idea more lately. The saddest thing about many Republicans isn't just that they disagree with liberals on race--it's they are largely ignorant on race. When the McCain campaign cast the spell of diabolical jingoism, they have no idea of the forces they are toying with. We remember Martin Luther King's murder as a sad and tragic event. Less remembered is the fact that ground-work for King's murder was seeded, not simply by rank white supremacy, but by people who slandered King as a communist."
-Ta-Nehisi Coates

This gotcha clip reveals how McCain's "straight talk" is going hate talk express. The Nation's Ari Melber on pathetically injecting baseless hate:

Eve Ensler on Security and Freedom

TED could not have timed the September release of this moving Eve Ensler presentation any better (a visionary role model for women of the world!). While she gave this talk back in 2005, her wisdom is necessary and relevant to our election season. Eve is having "Sarah Palin nightmares" like the rest of us, as she recently shared in a bold op. ed in the Huffington Post. She's one of my favorite storytellers.

We The People Festival (9.27.08 -9.28.08)

We The People Festival -- I couldn't have imagined a better way to enjoy my birthday in this historical, "tipping point" moment in our lives. It was an empowering day through night event celebrating social consciousness, community activism, and urban youth and culture via raw uncensored music and art - the way I love it.

The live performances we caught included Dilated Peoples, RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, DJ Z-Trip (dedicated his turntablin' set to Barack Obama and mobilizing voters), Flying Lotus (my favorite show), Bassnectar and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine (the way I remember him, at least). It's a shame we missed roots reggae classic Barrington Levy and bassist extraordinaire Les Claypool though, since there were too many solid stages to choose from.

Here's a taste of what we appreciated -- click to enlarge images (not pictured but definitely devoured: raucous, rhythmic, truly fertile electric music embracing a backdrop of the downtown LA skyline and passing metrolinks, endless Blue Moons, endless sunshine, amazing baked yam with cinnamon/brown sugar/butter, baked potato with the works, and grilled seasoned corn. bliss.).

Speaking of "straight talk" Ms. Palin, how about you answer a damn question.

Via Daily Kos:
Yep, pretty much.
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Not falling flat on your face isn't exactly "success" either.
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Palin: Joe, Gwen, questions aside, let's just talk energy -- drill, baby drill!

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A sound bite that infuriated me during Palin's debate (among the many she robotically spewed): "Terrorists hate us for our freedom, for our rights and women's liberties"...I'm thinking, so do you, ms. Palin, so do you...

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Well, the bailout is officially official and the effect will definitely be a "known unknown".

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) via MoJo blog writes:

"No one will ever be able to prove that the Bailout Bill helped or hurt our economy during the coming fall and winter. Only two things are certain: the bill will provide hundreds of billions of dollars to investors who made bad decisions and Wall Street executives; and our children and grandchildren will now face a national debt that is hundreds of billions of dollars higher."

Oh, so Appropro Song of the Year

Beautiful Judy Collins sings "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (my favorite version)...or $850 billion sounds about right.


And a great version of the song from the prolific Tom Waits...


Talking Heads offered a sign before the times. Say goodbye to "Once in a Lifetime" Reaganomics. This is also the theme song to W., the new Oliver Stone flick on the Bush legacy.


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Counting down doomcracy in style? I love these amazing new time pieces from Tokyoflash ("the home of unique Japanese watches") that combine innovative LED displays with edgy, futuristic design.

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And on new tech, there's the hope phone! The Obama iPhone application was launched today -- a new political campaigning tool for 21st century. While McCain is still learning to use the internet, Obama continues to successfully mobilize and energize voters by utilizing social networking and new media tech. He's also a staunch supporter of net neutrality. The iPhone application is a free download for iPhone and iPod Touch users. Team Obama is running a brilliant campaign.


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As we so eagerly await the Biden vs. Palin debate tonight, here's Letterman yesterday on the "top 10 things overheard at the Palin debate camp":



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On the Money. Enough Bull!

Copyright 2008 Scott Stantis

Unlike McCain and Obama during the first highly anticipated but truthfully lackluster presidential debate (I did not learn anything new from either of them), these three actually hold solid opinions on the state of our collapsing economy, aren't afraid to tell the chaos and corporate socialism like it is, and voice passionate calls to action. Where's our plan b? Is there even a plan b (not a "tweaked" Paulson version)?

Senator Bernie Sanders spelled out the origins of our Wall Street meltdown early on, vehemently opposing the bailout and remarking, "any company that is too big to fail is too big to exist!"



isbanded visionary culture-jammers

Cartoons of the week

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate

Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate

No surprises here today, people

McCain wants to call off the first debate this Friday and suspend his campaign to put "country first" -- apparently, doing a couple things at once is all too much. Flaking out on his peeps is typical though, as "McCain has skipped more votes during this session than any member of the Senate except for Tim Johnson, who had major brain surgery." OBAMA is ON for debate, responding:

"This is the exact time when the American people need to hear from the person who in 40 days will be responsible for this mess," he said. "It is more important than ever to present ourselves to the American people."

Truth! Looking forward to Friday.

David Letterman couldn't have put McCain's excuses for calling time-out, even for his show yesterday, any better:

"You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves."..."I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

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During tonight's CBS Evening News, Katie Couric stumped Palin when asking for examples of McCain's regulations in his 26 years of Senate experience. The hokey Palin ever-so-eloquently responded she'll "try to find somethin' and bring 'em to ya" since she could not name a single instance where McCain was for a firmer government role in the economy. Oops, biffed again. Pure class:



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TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, has the name for a reason...or maybe King Paulson subconsciously meant t - r - a - p. This $700 billion bailout may very well be covering-up the fine print for American tax payers. The issue of socializing debt and privitizing profits is hugely problematic and complex, but it's a powerpunch we simply can't afford to take. It will be interesting to see how quickly and clearly this proposal unfolds.

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And clearly, Clay Aiken is gay. But really, it's no one's business but his own and the media blitz surrounding his 'outing' like a major news flash is appalling. What are we all still so fascinated about and why are people in the limelight pressured to formally acknowledge and announce their sexuality to the world?

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