Wednesday, July 14, 2010

NaziSexyMouse


From Google News:
A huge poster of a Nazi swastika behind a 1940s-style naked pin-up model clad only in a Mickey Mouse-mask and stretched across a building has stirred controversy in Poznan, western Poland.

A new art gallery is using the work titled "NaziSexyMouse" by Italian artist Max Papeschi to advertise an exhibition, but a city councillor has tried to take legal action saying it violates a law banning the display of Nazi symbols.

Whistlin' and Repudiatin'

Dale Roberts, founder of teaparty.org at a 2009 Houston Tea Party rally.


Windy City Watch in a post on Palin's "racial dog whistle" last night on Sean Hannity's show in response to the NAACP resolution on the racism within the Team Party Movement. She calls Obama "half white and half black" and she makes up a new word - "refudiate."
She is implying that white folks can’t be racist against some one who is “half white,” while at the same time reminding folks he is “half Black.” Let’s not forget that Palin’s buddy, radio host and pill popping bigot Rush Limbaugh refers to Obama as a “Halfrican American.” These references have a purpose and its not a celebration of Obama’s diverse background.

In the same interview Palin called on Obama to “refudiate,” (yeah the crazy lady made up the word “refudiate”) the NAACP for its resolution condemning the teabagger movement for the bigotry that is directed at Obama as well as others.

Happy Birthday Woody Guthrie!

Rock Star Pope


From The Independent - a look a new musical about Pope John Paul II:
Mamma Mia certainly did the business in reviving Abba's worldwide reputation; now the Catholic Church is hoping a new, all-singing, all-dancing biography can do the same for John Paul II and his flock.

The posthumous reputation of the Polish pontiff appears to be at a crossroads. As the Vatican clears the way for his beatification, serious questions have emerged about John Paul's responsibility for the clerical paedophilia scandal that has exploded into the open in Europe this year.

It is not all organ music and choirboys. To pull in the crowds, there are songs from home favourite Giuni Russo, an Italian blend of Grace Jones, Dusty Springfield and Cliff Richard. John Paul II doubtless appreciated the religious songs of her later years even if he didn't approve of her sexual ambiguity. And there are other populist touches, including rap music and Fame-style dance routines, leading the theatre critic of Italy's business daily Il Sole 24 Ore to pronounce the show "pure pop". It is perhaps an appropriate tribute to the man, often dubbed "the rock star Pope", whose death in 2005 drew 3million people to Rome to pay their respects.

Prop 8 and DOMA


The blog Balkinization unpacks the Massachusetts DOMA ruling and the possible scenarios as gay marriage cases make their way through the courts:
The elephant in the room, of course, is the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case in federal district court in California, which makes a direct assault on state marriage laws. If both these cases make their way to the Supreme Court about the same time, or if Perry v. Schwarzenegger gets there first, then it will be even more difficult to separate the constitutionality of section 3 of DOMA from the constitutionality of state marriage laws generally. And of course, if Perry v. Schwarzenegger strikes down Prop 8, and is affirmed by the Ninth Circuit the chances become very high that the Court will take cert in that case, even if it does not take cert in Gill.

The Fabulous and the Fiasco


The LA Times previews the high-tech production of Peter Pan imported from London.
The production features live action combined with digital visual effects projected on a 360-degree screen. The show will be performed in a 1,300-seat, 100-foot-tall tent that will travel to Southern California and occupy the site next to the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.

Inside the tent, audiences will be able to view approximately 15,000 square feet of high-resolution video.

"Peter Pan" is directed by Ben Harrison and uses an adaptation by Tanya Ronder. The show has a cast of 22 actors and features puppetry and musical sequences. For the flying scenes, actors are lifted into the air against a digital backdrop featuring soaring shots of London.
Brings to mind the hilarious story of the most misguided production of Peter Pan ever - as told on This American Life. It is the first story in a shot called "Fiasco". The story is 23 minutes long and you won't regret one minute of it.

Tabloid Marriage


From The Today Show: Bristol Palin was worried about how she was going to tell her mother that she’s engaged to marry Levi Johnston, the father of her 18-month-old son.

She solved the problem by telling a tabloid magazine.

“We got engaged two weeks ago. It felt right, even though we don’t have the approval of our parents,” Palin told Us Weekly magazine in a bombshell story published Wednesday.

And in People Magazine, Bristol blames Sarah Palin for their break-up.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Pink Eye


From the Boston Globe: Boston-based documentary photographer Lisa Kessler jumped down this rabbit hole when a friend asked if she ever worked in color. She immediately thought of pink because of her lifelong aversion to it — she says she gravitates toward subjects that make her uncomfortable — and for three years, she traveled the country in search of the ways Americans use the color.