Morality @ Witte de With by

Zeitgeist: a possible solution...???

Fri, 09 Oct 09 12:56:34 +0200

Zoo Paints Donkeys to Look Like Zebras

Fri, 09 Oct 09 13:16:58 +0200

Amma visits The Netherlands

Mon, 12 Oct 09 23:41:57 +0200

http://www.newrealities.com Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi is one of the true living saints of today. She has hugged hundreds of thousands of people world-wide. Jane Goodall, presenting Amma with Gandhi-King Award for Non-violence said, "She stands here in front of us. God's love in a human body."

symbols of power

Thu, 08 Oct 09 17:36:11 +0200

The knitler

Thu, 08 Oct 09 13:18:02 +0200

symbols of power

Thu, 08 Oct 09 15:38:42 +0200

symbols of power

Thu, 08 Oct 09 21:23:10 +0200

Guilty landscapes?

Sat, 31 Oct 09 14:38:54 +0100

'Here is Everywhere', 2008 videoinstallation, 16'50 videoloop Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukács erased the subjects from a collection of newspaperphotos from international newspapers. The new horizons are projected on 3 stagesets. http://www.pmpmpm.com/

Photo collection: Webcam Teens

Sun, 18 Oct 09 18:05:59 +0200

The morality of nature

Thu, 08 Oct 09 14:14:50 +0200

In het artikel 'Zijn dieren de slaven van de 21ste eeuw?' uit de Groene Amsterdammer van 2 oktober stond een briefwisseling over dierenrechten. Hieronder een fragment: 'Net als Aristoteles zou De Groot van mening zijn dat de mens zich onderscheidt van andere dieren door middel van zijn unieke rationele vermogen. Dit vermogen stelt alleen de mens in staat wetten te formuleren, begrijpen en uit te voeren. Maar anders dan Aristoteles stelt De Groot dat het recht niet exclusief verbonden is aan rationaliteit, omdat hij meent dat ook de dierlijke kant van ons bestaan ertoe doet. In die zin beschouwt De Groot ons lichaam als een ‘onaangeboorde bron van zuivere ethische kennis’ dat symbool staat voor het andere ijkpunt van onze moraal: de natuur. Volgens De Groot voelt ons lichaam direct wat onrechtvaardig is (honger, pijn, kou) zonder dat er een beroep gedaan hoeft te worden op de rationele ideeën over recht en onrecht. Omdat deze ervaring geldt voor alle mensen (iedereen heeft een lichaam) laat De Groot er een universeel geldend natuurrecht uit voortvloeien: ‘Mensen dienen waar mogelijk gevrijwaard te worden van onnodig fysiek leed.’ Op dit simpele maar logische uitgangspunt is, aldus Eskens, het grootste deel van onze huidige mensenrechten gefundeerd. Sterker nog, de filosoof is van mening dat onze mensenrechten een ‘concretisering van een onderliggend, impliciet dierenrecht’ zijn. Nu dringt zich natuurlijk onmiddellijk de vraag op of het natuurrecht niet uitgebreid zou moeten worden naar (alle) andere dieren? Zij hebben immers ook een lichaam en het is bewezen dat talloze gewervelde soorten, maar ook weekdieren, honger, pijn, kou, stress, verveling en uitputting ervaren.' Lees meer op: http://www.groene.nl/2009/40/Briefwisseling_over_dierenrechten

symbols of power

Thu, 08 Oct 09 15:33:16 +0200

symbols of power

Wed, 07 Oct 09 14:19:58 +0200

What symbol represents power? Upload your image!

Banksy in Palestine

Wed, 07 Oct 09 12:08:29 +0200

symbols of power

Thu, 08 Oct 09 11:17:46 +0200

Yo Mama's Last Supper

Wed, 07 Oct 09 13:10:34 +0200

Orlan's art of sex and surgery

Wed, 07 Oct 09 13:34:49 +0200

Regaining the moral high-ground

Wed, 07 Oct 09 16:43:11 +0200

While preparing my forthcoming trip to Chicago (the home of everyone's favourite president) and signing away my rights in applying for a temporary visa, I'm wondering whether America can regain/has regained the moral high-ground under its new administration. How can a country behave morally? What ever happened to New Labour's much-vaunted "ethical foreign policy"? What happens when realpolitik meets moralpolitik?

Poor man: Husband doesn't succeed in cheating on his wife

Thu, 08 Oct 09 15:44:57 +0200

SARASOTA, FL—Through the ups and downs of raising four children, years of financial hardship, and all the stresses and turmoil of daily life, claims adjuster Arnold Schneider has stayed true to his wife of 42 years, despite his most determined efforts to engage in sexual intercourse outside of wedlock. "I could never be unfaithful to Helen," said the 63-year-old Schneider, who over the past four decades has unsuccessfully attempted extramarital relations with dozens of friends, acquaintances, work colleagues, and random strangers. "Sure, there have been some tough times, and we all have moments of doubt, but Helen is the woman I love." Added the man who has attempted to trade his wife in for the first willing female participant hundreds of times over, "Even I'm amazed by that sometimes." According to sources close to the couple, Schneider has remained grudgingly loyal and devoted to his wife from the very beginning, failing time and again to cheat on his unsuspecting bride during their honeymoon together in Acapulco. "I'll never forget Mexico—the beaches, the stars, the amazing food and people," said Schneider, who, as his new wife lay sound asleep in bed, would routinely sneak out of their hotel room and try in vain to hit on the young cocktail waitress tending bar downstairs. "It was perfect. Pretty much almost perfect." Over the next decade, Schneider remained faithful to his wife by default, repeatedly coming up short during his regular jaunts to singles clubs, at neighborhood key parties, and through the general freewheeling sexual bacchanalia of the 1970s. "It was a crazy time and a lot of my friends didn't think twice when it came to breaking the sacred bonds of marriage," said Schneider, who despite throwing himself at any available woman in his presence, completely failed to capitalize on his adulterous tendencies. "But not me. No sir." "Not even once," Schneider added with a heavy sigh. Despite being left with no choice but to stay committed to his marriage, the reluctant husband and father admitted that being loyal wasn't always so easy. With a growing family and increased tension at work, Schneider said there were times when he could have taken comfort in the arms of another. "Yes, there were moments when I found myself on the verge of the unthinkable," said Schneider, who once drove 300 miles to meet an old girlfriend from high school, only to be flatly rejected by the woman and have coffee thrown in his face. "Still, for one reason or another, I just couldn't go through with it. And when it was all over, I could look myself in the mirror and say, 'Forty-two years, and you've never been with anyone besides your wife.' Forty-two goddamn years." Schneider acknowledged that even in less troubling times he occasionally felt restless after four decades with the same partner. But whether he was being stood up by the woman who answered his personal ad, or unsuccessfully attempting to persuade his wife's more attractive sister to visit a clothing-optional spa, Schneider said that what mattered most was that he never once wavered. "Heck, I've got eyes, and I'll notice a pretty face just like anyone else," said Schneider, who at press time was still hoping to hear from a pancake house waitress he had given his business card to three weeks earlier. "But what can I say? There's an ultimate line Arnold Schneider just can't cross. I'm not even sure I'd know how, to tell you the truth." For her part, Helen Schneider said she had no doubt that, through it all, her husband has always been faithful. "Maybe I'm naïve," Helen said, "but I've known this man most of my life, and I just can't imagine him cheating on me. Honestly, Arnie's my little saint.

Photo collection: Mum and Dad

Sun, 01 Nov 09 18:21:23 +0100

Touch a painting

Tue, 06 Oct 09 14:04:26 +0200

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/struggling_museum_now_allowing?utm_source=a-section

Brooke Shields

Fri, 02 Oct 09 07:09:47 +0200

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/sep/30/art-tate-modern

Brooke Shields

Fri, 02 Oct 09 07:11:12 +0200

The concept of an 'average American' is gone, probably forever

Tue, 13 Oct 09 17:43:56 +0200

The publication "2010 America" explains what you need to know about the biggest consumer market-research project of the decade: the 2010 U.S. census. Demographics expert Peter Francese, author of this highly readable Ad Age white paper, analyzes what the census will reveal about the changing face of consumers. Ad Age White Paper says: "2010 America Uncovers the Marketing Implications" and published this article today: "New U.S. Census to Reveal Major Shift: No More Joe Consumer", by Bradley Johnson. LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- The 2010 Census is expected to find that 309 million people live in the United States. But one person will be missing: the average American. "The concept of an 'average American' is gone, probably forever," demographics expert Peter Francese writes in 2010 America, a new Ad Age white paper. "The average American has been replaced by a complex, multidimensional society that defies simplistic labeling." Read more: http://bit.ly/hpUAe. This article talks mostly about demographics, but it's interesting to think further about the social impact.

morality and natural selection

Tue, 06 Oct 09 08:46:11 +0200

"Beyond the Environment"

Tue, 06 Oct 09 08:15:14 +0200

Morality without God

Tue, 06 Oct 09 08:18:15 +0200

Symbols of power

Tue, 06 Oct 09 21:20:12 +0200

Stripping Berlusconi of Immunity

Wed, 07 Oct 09 16:42:10 +0200

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/06/court-silvio-berlusconi-immunity

white hummer

Fri, 09 Oct 09 14:17:27 +0200

Abortion legalised by Church

Tue, 06 Oct 09 14:24:45 +0200

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/panicked_sweat_covered_pope

Shattered Sculptures

Thu, 08 Oct 09 21:08:09 +0200

Still Life
Interview by Rosecrans Baldwin
Martin Klimas destroys a lot of clay to make his art. Combining the silence of Eadweard Muybridge’s horse pictures with the association-rich composition of a still life, Klimas breaks recognizable objects so they become something else, and stops us just at the moment of transformation.
Klimas was born in 1971 in Singen, Germany. All images courtesy Martin Klimas and Foley Gallery; all images copyright © Martin Klimas, all rights reserved.
* * *
Take us a few steps into your process—I assume producing these images requires an extraordinarily controlled environment?
Yes, the shooting environment must be controlled and kept consistent. The lighting is clear and direct, head on. My background is neutral, but bright enough so that the shattering object completely stands out. I drop the figurine from the same height in complete darkness while the lens of the camera is open. When the figurine hits the ground, the sound triggers the lights to go off for a fraction of a second. I do this procedure many times or until I find the one frame that is just right. I keep just one such picture for every figurine. Every attempt yields a unique outcome, so I need to look for the one that best expresses a transformation of the figurine into a new form.
The degree of stillness in your pictures is remarkable, to the point of it being the first thing I notice, followed by the recognition that these objects are being blown apart. Are you trying to convey something at rest or something in motion?
In my pictures you see the world through the eye of a high-speed camera. This way of seeing provides for us something that we normally cannot see, this moment of transformation can really only be imagined by us. I provide a way for us to see this action differently. It is an in-between state. A state where rest and motion can exist together. I hope this situation can be applied and give us thought in our everyday world.
I wonder, when you look at your own finished work, do you see what you’ve just destroyed, or what you’ve made from the transformation?
The aspect of destroying is not the most important one in my work. Let’s say it is a catalyst to unleash and study this transformation. The hardest part of my work is to smash so many figurines until I find one that truly is showing me something new. I am in that sense a sculptor, but I have only a 5000th of a second to build my sculpture.
When looking at your work I think of Jackson Pollock, for the sureness of the line, and also some Impressionists, for the composition of a still life. How much of what results in your pictures is by chance and how much by design?
When you mean the concept of automating the process of working and only to install a set way that produces the pictures—yes, that is comparable to Pollock. But my big teachers are Eadweard Muybridge and Harold Edgerton. The part “by chance,” it is a real photographic image because there is not manipulation in it and it shows a singular moment. The “design” part is the selection, the size of printing, the colors and the framing. Anything prior to that is left up to chance.
What are you working on now?
You have to wait but I will see it soon.

white limo

Fri, 09 Oct 09 14:21:12 +0200

French Vogue provokes row by painting model black

Tue, 13 Oct 09 18:04:09 +0200

The fashion magazine French Vogue has provoked controversy after painting a white model black for its October issue. In a shoot styled by its editor-in-chief, Carine Roitfeld, the arms, legs and face of the Dutch model Lara Stone's are painted with dark make-up. In one picture she wears a head scarf, in another, a white dress made from feathers. In later pages, Stone's skin is painted powder-white and appears to be cracking. More on Times Online http://bit.ly/vIE1t Photos published on http://jezebel.com/5379708//gallery/?selectedImage=1 French Vogue http://www.vogue.fr/

Bibliography on Morality

Thu, 29 Oct 09 10:39:08 +0100

Bibliography on Morality Literature Friedrich Schiller: Der Verbrecher aus verlorener Ehre (Dishonoured Irreclaimable), 1786 Heinrich von Kleist: Die Marquise von O. (The Marquise of O.), 1808 Alexandre Dumas, fils: La dame aux camélias (The Lady of the Camellias), 1852 Charles Baudelaire: Les fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), 1857 Fjodor Dostojewski: Prestupleniye i Nakazaniye (Crime and Punishment), 1866 Jean Genet: Notre Dame de Fleurs (Our Lady of the Flowers), 1942 Jean Genet: Journal du voleur (The Thief’s journal), 1949 Georges Bataille: Le procès de Gilles de Rais (The Trial of Gilles de Rais), 1959 Heinrich Böll: Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum (The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum), 1974 Philosophy Aristoteles: Die Nikomachische Ethik (Nichomachean Ethics) Niccolò Machiavelli: Il Principe (The Prince), 1513/1532 Michel de Montaigne Les Essais de messire Michel, seigneur de Montaigne (The Essays), 1580/588 Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan, 1651 Frederick the Great: Antimachiavell, 1740 Immanuel Kant: Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten (Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals), 1785 Arthur Schopenhauer: Die beiden Grundprobleme der Ethik (On the Basis of Morality / On the Freedom of the Will), 1839 Friedrich Nietzsche: Zur Genealogie der Moral (On the Genealogy of Morality), 1887 Moore, G. E.: Principia Ethica, 1903 Theodor W. Adorno: Minima Moralia. Reflexionen aus dem beschädigten Leben (Minima Moralia. Reflections From Damaged Life), 1944-1949 Philippa Foot: Virtues and Vices, and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy, 1978 Michel Foucault: L’usage des plaisirs, Le souci de soi (The Use of Pleasure, The Care of the Self), 1984 Johan Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism, 1998 Sociology Richard Mervyn Hare: The Language of Morals, 1952 Kurt Baier: The Moral Point of View, 1958 Arnold Gehlen: Moral und Hypermoral, Eine pluralistische Ethik, 1969 G. Wallace and A. Walker (ed): The Definition of Morality, 1970 Geoffrey Warnock: The Object of Morality, 1971 John Rawls: A Theory of Justice, 1971 Richard Brandt: A Theory of the Good and the Right, 1979 William Frankena: Thinking about Morality, 1980 Richard Mervyn Hare: Moral Thinking, 1981 A. Phillips Griffiths (ed): Ethics, 1993 Axel Honneth: Kampf um Anerkennung. Zur moralischen Grammatik sozialer Konflikte (The Struggle for Recognition. The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts), 1994 Bernard Gert: Morality: Its Nature and Justification, 2005 Jonathan Haidt: The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, 2006 Marc Hauser: Moral Minds: How Nature Designed our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong, 2006 Bernard Gert: Common Morality: Deciding What To Do, 2007 Berys Gaut: Art, Emotion and Ethics, 2007 Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (ed): Moral Psychology Vol. 1, The Evolution of Morality: Adaptations and Innateness, 2008 Exhibition Catalogues Welt-Moral. Moralvorstellungen in der Kunst heute. Kunsthalle Basel 30.4. - 31.7. 1994

RE: McDonald's to become Mona Lisa's new neighbor

Thu, 26 Nov 09 18:55:18 +0100

From comedy to sci-fi, 2009 dosed us with a healthy mix of the cerebral and the surreal. There’s much to give thanks for over the Thanksgiving holiday, so let’s reminisce about the people, places and things that made this year memorable. Stephen Colbert’s hyper-real genius Is there a braver comedian, or journalist, on television? Stephen Colbert’s nightly merge of news, hilarity, social commentary, wit and shameless plugs for everything from his painting in the Smithsonian to his marketable man-seed have fully turned the pop-culture’s self-obsessed mirror upon itself. In 2009, he successfully invaded Iraq, the International Space Station, the iPhone and much more. But The Colbert Report has yet to unseat The Daily Show for an Emmy? Prankster, please! A postmodern personality with two separate Wikipedia entries for the same name, Colbert is Earth’s most relevant living cultural critic, and deserves his own network. –Scott Thill Director Duncan Jones has plenty to smile about: His indie movie Moon is a 2009 sci-fi standout. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Duncan Jones’ Moon shot Indie filmmaker Duncan Jones delivered an instant sci-fi classic with Moon, his big-screen debut about a helium miner working solo with his trusty robot helper on the dark side of the moon. Jones’ movie, bolstered by old-school miniatures and an amazing performance by actor Sam Rockwell, proved once again that brainy ideas are more important than big budgets when it comes to sci-fi flicks. —Lewis Wallace Innovative iPhone games In June of 2008, we confidently predicted that iPhone games were going to be awesome. A powerful processor, a unique interface, motion sensors, location awareness, a camera and net connectivity — what could go wrong? OK, the launch lineup was barely better than the Nokia N-Gage. But 18 months later, the iPhone is home to some of the most innovative, unusual and addictive games out there, making it a perfect experimental platform for indie developers. It’s also changing the way we pay for games. –Chris Baker RIP Battlestar Galactica, viva Caprica Battlestar Galactica finally touched down in March with a series finale that left fans alternately outraged and awed. In true Galactica tradition, this WTF closer raised as many questions as it answered while thoughtfully exploring the nexus between man and machine. Then, the pilot for Galactica prequel Caprica teased with its own heady mix of religion, race and Cylon intrigue, giving us yet another reason to look forward to 2010. —Hugh Hart Final Crisis One of the most dizzying comics narratives ever, cerebral comics prankster Grant Morrison’s sprawling 2008 apocalypse was finally collected and released in hardcover this June for those of us who like to read tomes from beginning to end without waiting for the industry’s next monthly pamphlet. Exploding into strands that touch esoteric comics history, as well as astronomical mind-benders like M-theory and brane cosmology, Final Crisis killed Batman and other heroes, while upping the narrative ante in pure Morrison style. Rather than having villains assault cities or planets, the Scottish auteur has them destroy reality itself using Wi-Fi, laptops and other ubiquitous technology. Reading Final Crisis from cover to cover packs so much creative stuffing into your brain that it might feel as if it’s going to explode. —Scott Thill Amazing August at the movies Usually a dead zone for inert flops, 2009’s final month of summer yielded a rich crop of daring features. District 9 took a thoughtful, gritty look at aliens as immigrants and introduced a talented new voice in first-time feature filmmaker Neill Blomkamp. In Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino demonstrated his golden ear for dialogue and propelled uber-Nazi Christopher Waltz toward a Green Hornet starring role and beyond. 9 provided DIY filmmaker Shane Acker with a big-budget canvas for his “stitchpunk” story of burlap-clad robots soldiering through a denatured landscape. —Hugh Hart Big games from big names Contemporary gaming’s greatest iconoclasts released games this year. Tim Schaefer dropped Brutal Legend. Keita Takahashi befuddled with Noby Noby Boy. And Jeff Minter dosed us with Gridrunner ++ Their offerings may have been flawed, or in the case of Suda 51’s reissue of Flower, Sun and Rain, straight-up bad. But these videogame visions were unique, undiluted and mandatory. —Gus Mastrapa Fringe’s winning formula With no letdown in sight, prime time’s smartest sci-fi show powers through Season 2 with a formula that pushes humor, global conspiracy, gore and hard science to absurdly entertaining extremes. —Hugh Hart Up and Pixar’s ongoing magic Amidst another summer of mediocre blockbuster movies, there was Up. Entertaining, creative, insightful and inspiring, you’ll rarely find a film that so effectively balances humor, adventure and pathos. But rather than just celebrate one film, why not give thanks for Pixar Animation? Where else in all of entertainment do you find a company that never makes failed products? Some Pixar films are better than others, but they’ve never made a bad movie. There’s more genuine creativity and heart in a single Pixar movie than in 10 average studio flicks. Up should bag Oscar noms for Best Picture and Best Animated Picture. —John Scott Lewinski

contractworker

Fri, 09 Oct 09 00:17:25 +0200

Penance and rehabilitation. This project is about a search to what happened with my grandfather during and after World War 2. He joined the Germans in their war against the Russians. When he returned to his homeland he was put in the former concentration camps and lost his nationality. He never spoke to anyone about that specific period. For me he was an important inspiration growing up. He always wanted to make sure that I would do in life what I love. We used to play checker when it was snowing and he told me things like "it s warm underneath the snow". This made me fantasize about different possibilities. After his dead my mother told me that he was a "wrong" Dutchman. In the Netherlands all Dutch who collaborated with the Germans are named that way. This was hard to imagine since he was always a good grandfather for me. I wanted to know more and asked my grandmother what she knew about that period. She gave me some authentic documents about and from him, mostly official papers about his trial and hearings but also a prayer and at the back of one of the documents my grandfather did some writing. This is the point where my research starts and my artistic intervention begins. Why is someone referred to as “wrong”? I started to arrange the documents of my grandfather to a timeline and researched for more information. Going through archives, books and with the help of the World Wide Web I am trying to complete the puzzle. It is hard to find information because even today related people and institutions are not open about it. There is still a feeling of shame. Information found in the National archive was not known to regional archivists. Most of these spots are being used nowadays for something else mostly military but also as prison, parking lot, monument or residential area. I started to travel to all the important spots where my grandfather had to follow authority. Here I ask for penance and rehabilitation. One of them is now a National Monument but doesn’t communicate about the time the Nazi s left and the Dutch became the new guards. When I encounter such a blind spot extra work will be done to make aware that war never ended. We all are part of cultural models and roots that exist in the writing of history based upon corporal punishment and death of the innocent. How people are manipulated to believe certain values. Bigger powers take the lead and make decisions. We all are in some way related to history which divides the people in good and bad ones. Of course all of the problems and questions we encounter in contemporary society today cannot be explained in one or the other theory, it is complex. We all are connected through archives. My work deals with tensions and conflicts in the world. It wants to re-construct history and show what is erased. Produce complexity as our common reality. Construct oppositional identities and make re-identification a possibility. I want to tear down the vagueness created by bigger powers that mask our history with a facade of continuity. To make aware that we are all traumatized. My medium to communicate the research, findings and ideas is documenting actions in mostly video. Most of the videos are real-time in order to show that time can t be beaten by our body. For this effect I have chosen the most unspectacular tortures I could find in the archives because I don t want to communicate pain but the struggle for life. The spectator looking at the videos that ask for penance and rehabilitation has to imagine that originally every time someone fails to hold on. This person would have been abused until he / she would re-start the punishment “The clock keeps ticking while we are in decay”.

paper is patient

Wed, 14 Oct 09 13:59:28 +0200

Buckminster Fuller

Sun, 11 Oct 09 21:56:05 +0200

Fuller was born on July 12, 1895, in Milton, Massachusetts, the son of Richard Buckminster Fuller and Caroline Wolcott Andrews, and also the grandnephew of the American Transcendentalist Margaret Fuller. He attended Froebelian Kindergarten. Spending much of his youth on Bear Island, in Penobscot Bay off the coast of Maine, he was a boy with a natural propensity for design and construction. He often made items from materials he brought home from the woods, and sometimes made his own tools. He experimented with designing a new apparatus for human propulsion of small boats. Years later, he decided that this sort of experience had provided him with not only an interest in design, but a habit of being familiar and knowledgeable about the materials that his later projects would require. Fuller earned a machinist's certification, and knew how to use the press brake, stretch press, and other tools and equipment used in the sheet metal trade.

art in aircraft

Thu, 26 Nov 09 18:53:04 +0100

art in aircraft

the party

Fri, 09 Oct 09 14:22:03 +0200

symbols of power

Mon, 12 Oct 09 23:24:40 +0200

Distorted Perception of Beauty

Fri, 09 Oct 09 15:10:49 +0200

What function does morality serve?

Fri, 09 Oct 09 18:10:52 +0200

President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

Sun, 11 Oct 09 20:52:33 +0200

Obama Says He’s ‘Surprised’ and ‘Humbled’ by Nobel Prize. The New York Times: "President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” a stunning honor that came less than nine months after he made United States history by becoming the country’s first African-American president." Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/world/10nobel.html

Striptease is art

Sat, 31 Oct 09 16:20:10 +0100

Stripping is art, Norway decides A Norwegian appeals court has ruled that striptease is an art form and should therefore be exempt from value-added tax (VAT). The owners of the Diamond Go Go Bar in Oslo had refused to pay VAT of 25% on entry fees as tax authorities demanded. The local authority had taken the club to court over its refusal to pay tax. Lawyers for the club"s owners argued that striptease dancers were stage artists just like sword-swallowers and comedians and deserved the same status. "Striptease, in the way it is practised in this case, is a form of dance combined with acting," the judges ruled, according to AFP news agency. The court"s ruling upholds an earlier verdict of May 2005. "One can suspect there were moral scruples behind the tax authorities" claim since all forms of stage dance are free of value-added tax," Reuters news agency quoted the club owners" lawyer as saying. The court ordered the state to cover the court costs of the owners of the Diamond Go Go Bar. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6213222.stm

RE: President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

Sat, 10 Oct 09 01:23:06 +0200

satyricon

Sat, 10 Oct 09 13:20:56 +0200

the feast of trimalchio, a clip from fellini's satyricon, perhaps something for the MORALITY film program?

observation

Sat, 10 Oct 09 14:17:02 +0200

RE: observation

Sat, 10 Oct 09 14:19:37 +0200

What will Bart think?

Sat, 10 Oct 09 15:44:43 +0200

Street in Palestinian refugee camp named after Twitter account

Sat, 10 Oct 09 16:03:08 +0200

Now the increasingly popular micro-blogging service -- which claims 50 million followers --has received one of life's most prestigious accolades: a street named after it. And, of course, money is involved -- though not that much. The street, which is now named "@arjanelfassed tweetstreet," is located in Askar, a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the West Bank. The street name was bought for $140 by the Dutch-Palestinian owner of a twitter account called "Arjan El Fassed," through a Web site set up to support cultural after-school activities for children in the camp. Speaking to CNN from Utrecht in The Netherlands, 36-year-old Arjan explained his motive for the unusual homage to social media: "Twitter is a great place to connect people with issues. But it's also good at bridging cultural gaps. For most people, it's difficult to identify with life in a refugee camp, but by linking it to a global network that resonates with millions, I was aiming to promote a sense of connectedness." However Arjan, who works for a humanitarian development agency in Holland, was also well aware of the PR possibilities: "I definitely thought I'd get a bit of attention for owning the first Twitter account to have a street named after it!" Basthios Vloemans, co-founder of the site that sells the names, says the initiative was conceived after a visit to Askar earlier this year: "The camp is overcrowded and lacks many basic facilities; it's a particularly traumatic existence for young children," he told CNN. "There's a center run by the Palestinian Child Care Society (PCCS), where they provide activities like dancing and group play to help ease the anxiety of daily life. It's an absolutely vital service for protecting the psychological well-being of these kids." However, Basthios says the center is critically short of money and housed in a "crumbling shell" of a building. As art director for a Dutch advertising agency, Basthios and his colleagues decided to channel their commercial expertise into raising the $20,000 needed to rebuild the facility. "Walking around the camp, we noticed that the streets were nameless. We discovered that if you want to post a letter to someone, it had to read something like 'The Ahmed family, two down from the butcher's on the left.' And this, of course, is where the idea to sell the names came from." Basthios contrasts this fundraising method to more conventional strategies that focus on depictions of suffering: "We wanted to take a constructive approach and avoid simply presenting the people of Askar as victims." By offering a colorful incentive, Basthios says, the Web site cultivates a positive association with giving. "We provide the opportunity for anyone to have a street named after them or one of their loved-ones -- normally you're required to have done something incredibly heroic and be dead before you get that sort of privilege." Source: CNN, http://bit.ly/V6vOv http://twitter.com/arjanelfassed

Taqwacore: The Birth of Islam Punk

Sat, 10 Oct 09 17:50:31 +0200

“I am an Islamist! I am the anti-Christ!” With their tongues firmly in cheek, Boston’s The Kominas belt out an anthem for a new generation of young Muslims. And in this basement of a decrepit Chicago punkhouse, a mob of like-minded Islamic misfits sneers along. It is the summer of 2007. The Pakistani punkers have arrived at the last stop of their U.S. tour and are celebrating with tourmates. There’s Koroush, an Iranian kid from San Antonio who calls his bandVote Hezbollah; Sena, a Pakistani lesbian from Vancouver who fronts the all-girl Secret Trial Five; Marwan, whose Chicagobased group Al-Thawra pounds heavy metal beats into Arabic drones. And there, at the centre of it all, pumping his fists in the air and shouting Allah hu Akbar, is a white American convert named Michael Muhammad Knight. The Islamic punk music scene would never have existed if it weren’t for his 2003 novel, The Taqwacores. Melding the Arabic word for god-consciousness with the edge of hardcore punk, Michael imagined a community of Muslim radicals: Mohawked Sufis, riot grrrls in burqas with band patches, skinhead Shi’as. These characters were entirely fictional. But the movement they inspired is very real. Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam follows Michael and his real-life kindred spirits on their first U.S. tour, where they incite a riot of young hijabi girls at the largest Muslim gathering in North America after Sena takes the stage. The film then travels with them to Pakistan, where members of the first Taqwacore band, The Kominas, bring punk to the streets of Lahore and Michael begins to reconcile his fundamentalist past with the rebel he has now become. By stoking the revolution – against traditionalists in their own communities and against the clichés forced upon them from the outside – “we’re giving the finger to both sides,” says one Taqwacore. “Fuck you and fuck you.” More info & watch trailer http://www.taqwacore.com/ or http://eyesteelfilm.com/taqwacore.html. On the Facebook page (http://bit.ly/FCLbh): Taqwa (Arabic for 'God Consciousness') + Core. Punk Islam? Muslim Punk? A haven for Junkie Sheikhs, Retarded Muslims, Queer Alims, Masochistic Muftis and Guttermouth Maulaunas? Just a bunch of confused desi's and estranged arabs? A sincere appropriation of the 77 punk ethos in a post 9-11 world? Just a joke, auntie? Yes. All of the above. On Twitter: http://twitter.com/taqwadoc

Mitterand in moral affliction

Sat, 10 Oct 09 18:34:54 +0200

http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2009/10/10/nouvelle-polemique-autour-de-frederic-mitterrand_1251994_3224.html#ens_id=1241480

smart thinking

Sun, 11 Oct 09 17:33:31 +0200

Background info / Interview met Spartacus Chetwynd

Sun, 11 Oct 09 17:41:46 +0200

on ambiguity

Sun, 11 Oct 09 17:53:28 +0200

The banning of headscarves

Sun, 11 Oct 09 20:49:54 +0200

While Flanders is discussing the issue of banning headscarves from its class rooms, City College in Rotterdam is doing that already for years. Dutch newspaper NRC published an article about this school today. Unfortunately in Dutch only: Op het Citycollege is een hoofddoek verboden http://bit.ly/EL9Zx. More on the Belgium discussion: http://www.flanderstoday.eu/content/clash-headscarves. Background information on BBC NEWS | Europe | Viewpoints: Europe and the headscarf http://bit.ly/yERVD shows comments of: "The world's conflicts should not be brought into the classroom" Alain Destexhe, Belgian politician "What does it mean to be British or French anyway?" Fareena Alam, UK magazine editor "You can't solve these problems with a law" Amir Taheri, Paris-based Iranian writer "We must protect young Muslim women" Rachida Ziouche, Algerian exile in France "This can only fuel extremism and fundamentalism" Fanny Dethloff, Lutheran clergywoman "The headscarf threatens the Enlightenment's achievements" Alice Schwarzer, German feminist "The scarf is a symbol of the inferior status of women" Binnaz Toprak, Turkish academic "Muslims need to be fully involved in their society" Tariq Ramadan, Islamic affairs analyst

Susan Atkins dies at 61; imprisoned Charles Manson follower

Sun, 11 Oct 09 18:08:19 +0200

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-susan-atkins26-2009sep26,0,4180642.story

Polanski feels depressed in jail

Sun, 11 Oct 09 18:29:21 +0200

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=8802331

Henry Rollins

Sun, 11 Oct 09 18:35:46 +0200

Love is

Sun, 11 Oct 09 20:52:09 +0200

RE: Background info / Interview met Spartacus Chetwynd

Sun, 11 Oct 09 21:01:56 +0200

Meanwhile, on the roof of the Palace of Westminster's Great Hall

Sun, 11 Oct 09 21:09:18 +0200

Hollywood and politics

Sun, 11 Oct 09 21:39:03 +0200

– "Well, I'm gonna hold on, but you went to win this election, you better change the subject. You wanna change this subject, you better have a War. What do you need? It's gotta be quick, it's gotta be dramatic, you got to have an enemy. Okay? What do you need in an enemy? Somebody you fear. Who do you fear? Somebody you don't know." – "Who?" – "Well, I'm working on it..." – "Albania..." – "Yes." – "Why?" – "What do you know about them?" – "...nothing..." – "Precisely." – "What did Albania ever do to us?" – "What did they ever do for us?"

21st Century Babies - The Gift of Live and its Price

Sun, 11 Oct 09 21:55:56 +0200

Scary. Like aliens. That is how Kerry Mastera remembers her twins, Max and Wes, in the traumatic days after they were born nine weeks early. Machines forced air into the infants’ lungs, pushing their tiny chests up and down in artificial heaves. Tubes delivered nourishment. They were so small her husband’s wedding band fit around an entire baby foot. Having a family had been an elusive goal for Jeff and Kerry Mastera, a blur of more than two years, dozens of doctor visits and four tries with a procedure called intrauterine insemination, all failures. In one year, the Masteras spent 23 percent of their income on fertility treatments. The couple had nearly given up, but last year they decided to try once more, this time through in-vitro fertilization. Pregnancy quickly followed, as did the Mastera boys, who arrived at the Swedish Medical Center in Denver on Feb. 16 at 3 pounds, 1 ounce apiece. Kept alive in a neonatal intensive care unit, Max remained in the hospital 43 days; Wes came home in 51. By the time it was over, medical bills for the boys exceeded $1.2 million. Eight months later, the extraordinary effort seems worth it to the Masteras, who live in Aurora, Colo. The babies are thriving and developing their own personalities — Wes, the noisy and demanding; Max, the quiet and serious. Like many other twins conceived through in-vitro fertilization, the Mastera boys will go down in the record books as a success — both for the fertility clinic that helped create them and the neonatologists who nursed them to health. But an exploration of the fertility industry reveals that the success comes with a price. While IVF creates thousands of new families a year, an increasing number of the newborns are twins, and they carry special risks often overlooked in the desire to produce babies. While most twins go home without serious complications, government statistics show that 60 percent of them are born prematurely. That increases their chances of death in the first few days of life, as well as other problems including mental retardation, eye and ear impairments and learning disabilities. And women carrying twins are at greater risk of pregnancy complications. In fact, leaders of the fertility industry and government health officials say that twins are a risk that should be avoided in fertility treatments. But they also acknowledge that they have had difficulty curtailing the trend. Many fertility doctors routinely ignore their industry’s own guidelines, which encourage the use of single embryos during the in-vitro fertilization procedure, according to interviews and industry data. Some doctors say that powerful financial incentives hold sway in a competitive marketplace. Placing extra embryos in a woman’s womb increases the chances that one will take. The resulting babies and word of mouth can be the best way of luring new business. Doctors are also often under pressure from patients eager for children, who have incentives to gamble as well. Frequently, they have come to IVF as a last resort after years of other treatments, are paying out of pocket, and are anxious to be successful on the first try. And many do not fully understand the risks. Dr. William E. Gibbons, incoming president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said his organization was concerned about the risks of twin pregnancies and would issue new guidelines at a meeting next week to further discourage multiple births. “People should be made aware of the concerns that we think twins are not a good outcome,” Dr. Gibbons said. The industry creates preterm infants with in-vitro and other fertility treatments even as government and nonprofit groups work to fight the nation’s 12.7 percent rate of prematurity, regarded as a major national health care problem. While IVF multiples are typically the children of affluent women, much of the effort at reducing premature birth has been focused on prevention and prenatal care for low-income women. A study released last week by the March of Dimes cited fertility treatments as one of the main reasons for a 36 percent increase in prematurity in the last 25 years. The government estimates that caring for premature infants costs $26 billion a year, including $1 billion for IVF babies, expenses that eventually get passed through the system and on to businesses and consumers. The unusual birth of octuplets in California in January notwithstanding, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and its affiliate, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, have succeeded in reducing the number of larger multiple births from in-vitro fertilization over the last several years. The two medical organizations and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been promoting the use of single embryos in many cases to reduce the number of twins. But that has not translated into major action at the 483 fertility clinics across the country. The latest figures from the industry show that women under 35, the group most likely to get pregnant from the treatments, choose to use single embryos in only 4.5 percent of in-vitro rounds. The New York Times, Oct 10, 2009

RE: on ambiguity

Sun, 11 Oct 09 22:55:28 +0200

peel the skin of-f

Sun, 11 Oct 09 22:57:46 +0200

Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin

Mon, 12 Oct 09 03:11:07 +0200

met een bal aan de zeedijk in Scheveningen

Mon, 12 Oct 09 03:58:21 +0200

Dutch morality, for all its faults, is to be admired. Where else is it possible to pose this kind of question without the snickering of jaded poseurs? I grew up playing on the mound of the Societeit Witte de With. I was always awed by the faded glory of the sea-etched glass modernism of that place in the late seventies. To see it transformed and to see this website is commendable. It makes me nostalgic for the cultural climate I've, no doubt, come to idealise.

Gay rights

Mon, 12 Oct 09 09:21:54 +0200

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8301791.stm

RE: Meanwhile, on the roof of the Palace of Westminster's Great Hall

Mon, 12 Oct 09 09:28:32 +0200

more obama

Mon, 12 Oct 09 09:31:05 +0200

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1009/Obamas_Nobel.html

New Michael Jackson Music Gets Midnight Release

Mon, 12 Oct 09 09:47:51 +0200

Michael Jackson may be gone, but he isn’t finished releasing new music. “We probably have at least 100 songs in varying degrees of being finished,” said Rob Stringer, chairman of the Columbia/Epic Label Group, a Sony division. “And we think there probably is a lot more. We haven’t gone into the archive to search it properly yet. It’s just too complicated to do that.” If “This Is It” is any guide, the provenance of leftover Jackson songs might be difficult to establish. It is not clear when the song was written or recorded, Mr. Stringer said, and Sony originally believed that the tape was made around the time of Mr. Jackson’s 1991 album “Dangerous.” But it could have been much earlier, perhaps even as early as the album “Off the Wall,” from 1979. “We just found the song,” Mr. Stringer said. “It was titled ‘This Is It.’ It was in a box, and we listened to it.” “This Is It” was also to have been the title of Mr. Jackson’s 50-concert run in London, although the synergy is unclear; Mr. Stringer and others with knowledge of the production say the song was not part of it. It will, however, be included in the soundtrack for the film, along with a poem titled “Planet Earth,” standard versions of 14 of Mr. Jackson’s hits and a few 1980s demos. The album goes on sale Oct. 27, and the film is due out the next day, but the newly released song will not be sold separately as a single. source: The New York Times, http://bit.ly/14rTzL

DSB bank failure not caused by credit crunch

Mon, 12 Oct 09 14:37:53 +0200

The Dutch central bank seized control of the troubled DSB Bank today after efforts to preserve it with a consortium of five larger banks failed. Customers of the bank are no longer able to access their money. Banks like ING and SNS Reaal are likely to feel the pain too.

No one wants curvy women

Mon, 12 Oct 09 16:32:48 +0200

The German designer claims objections to 'size-zero' models are driven by overweight women. Karl Lagerfeld, the eccentric German fashion tsar, has waded into the debate about size-zero models by saying that people want to look at "skinny models" and classing those who complain as "fat mummies". Lagerfeld, 71, was reacting to the magazine Brigitte's announcement last week that it will in future use "ordinary, realistic" women rather than professional models in its photo shoots. He said the decision by Germany's most popular women's magazine was "absurd" and driven by overweight women who did not like to be reminded of their weight issues. "These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly," said Lagerfeld in an interview with the magazine Focus. The designer, who lost a lot of weight himself when he went on a strict low-carbohydrate diet several years ago, added that the world of fashion was all to do "with dreams and illusions, and no one wants to see round women". At a time when the fashion world is starting to hit back at the claims that it encourages anorexia, the Hamburg fashion designer John Ribbe, a regular participant in the Paris fashion show, said the row over underweight models had become hysterical. "It's just as much a cliché as saying that all models take drugs and get drunk at sex orgies," he said. "Ninety per cent of them are quite normal, properly proportioned girls with less fat and more muscles, who also eat pizzas and burgers." Brigitte's editor, Andreas Lebert, said that after years of having to "fatten up" pictures of underweight models with Photoshop, the magazine would produce its first edition with non-professional models on 2 January. "We will show women who have their own identity, the 18-year-old A-level student, the company chairwoman, the musician, the footballer," he said. The decision follows a recent appeal by British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman to major fashion houses to end the "size-zero" culture, and a scandal over a Ralph Lauren advertising campaign in which a model had been thinned down using computer graphics. Souce: The Guardian http://bit.ly/dJ9H9 More on The Guardian: Brigitte, Germany's most popular women's mag, bans professional models http://bit.ly/ENPdd

Boobscarfs with tattoos

Mon, 12 Oct 09 16:41:10 +0200

RE: What function does morality serve?

Mon, 12 Oct 09 17:18:01 +0200

Enforcement of the morality laws in the capital city Tehran: Women are being arrested by Iran's Morality Police if their headscarves do not fully cover their hair or their clothes show their figures too clearly.

RE: Stripping Berlusconi of Immunity

Mon, 12 Oct 09 16:46:28 +0200

Is this art?

Mon, 12 Oct 09 19:10:31 +0200

RE: What function does morality serve?

Mon, 12 Oct 09 20:16:30 +0200

Brown and his moral self...

Mon, 12 Oct 09 21:28:48 +0200

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8303312.stm

Film Fitna goes to UK

Wed, 14 Oct 09 12:50:14 +0200

Geert Wilders wins appeal against exclusion from UK and has announced he will be travelling to London on Friday. In February Wilders had been invited by to attend a screening of his anti-Islam film Fitna at the British upper house of parliament, the House of Lords. However, he was told he would not be allowed to enter the country on the grounds that his visit would “threaten community security and therefore public security”. Mr Wilders flew to the UK despite the ban, but was detained and put on a plane back to the Netherlands. A British organisation that promotes freedom of expression, the Birkenhead Society, brought a case to the British Asylum and Immigration Tribunal on his behalf. On Wednesday the tribunal ruled that the British Home Office was in the wrong. Mr Wilders says he will be discussing a further screening of Fitna at the House of Lords with Lord Pearson, the member of the House of Lords who extended the original invitation. Lord Pearson is a member of the conservative eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Published by RNW (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) More on NRC Handelsblad http://bit.ly/12OZKt (English text) More on The Guardian http://bit.ly/4wtkW The website of 'Fitna' http://fitnathemovie.com/ Review of 'Fitna the movie' by NRC Handelsblad film critic Bas Blokker http://bit.ly/KicmF

Allan Sekula at The Renaissance Society (Chicago)

Wed, 14 Oct 09 05:13:36 +0200

Just been to see the excellent Allan Sekula show "Polonia and Other Fables", which explores (among many things) "Poland's efforts to distance itself from its communist past by embracing free enterprise", which, according to the show's curator Hamza Walker, "has resulted in its susceptibility to the high crimes and misdemeanors of multinational corporations". See Walker's full essay here: http://www.renaissancesociety.org/site/Exhibitions/Essay.Allan-Sekula-Polonia-and-Other-Fables.608.html or images from the show here: http://www.renaissancesociety.org/site/Exhibitions/Images.Allan-Sekula-Polonia-and-Other-Fables.608.html

RE: Brooke Shields

Wed, 14 Oct 09 12:04:37 +0200

Spiritual America 4, Richard Prince, 2005, Gagosian Gallery, NY.

le roi et le prince

Wed, 14 Oct 09 13:55:47 +0200

RE: French Vogue provokes row by painting model black

Wed, 14 Oct 09 16:25:36 +0200

The American Vogue this month.

RE: RE: French Vogue provokes row by painting model black

Wed, 14 Oct 09 17:20:13 +0200

kate moss and liz blackface from janauary 2007 blog entry + discussion here http://imomus.livejournal.com/254221.html

The Moral of the Story - The Ethicists take on the News

Thu, 15 Oct 09 10:37:56 +0200

Kraakscene nog altijd broedplaats voor muziek

Thu, 15 Oct 09 10:52:53 +0200

3VOOR12 -- “Blijf met je poten van andermans spullen af!” Onder dat motto wil de Tweede Kamer een einde maken aan het kraken van panden. Decennia lang was het in Nederland toegestaan onder bepaalde voorwaarden leegstaande panden te betrekken. Kraken bleek vruchtbare grond, niet alleen voor politieke bewegingen, maar ook voor muziekstromingen. Veel Nederlandse poppodia, waaronder bekende zalen als Paradiso, Melkweg, Doornroosje en Tivoli vinden hun oorsprong in de kraakscene. Tot op de dag van vandaag speelt de kraakscene een rol aan de onderkant van de popmuziek. “Een kraakverbod zou leiden tot een complete verarming van de Nederlandse muziek”, vindt programmeur René (“voornaam is genoeg”) van ACU in Utrecht. http://bit.ly/4qD89x

RE: Film Fitna goes to UK

Fri, 16 Oct 09 13:22:36 +0200

Far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders arrives in UK today (Friday 16 October 2009). His press officer said yesterday that Wilders did not plan to show the film during his visit. Photo: Dutch MP Geert Wilders is escorted by police as he arrives at Heathrow today after winning a court battle to enter the UK. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA. More: http://bit.ly/33Fza (The Guardian).

Death to gays in Uganda???

Thu, 15 Oct 09 20:32:12 +0200

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8308912.stm

Barbie Fat

Fri, 16 Oct 09 10:39:51 +0200

http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DG2GLGVL

Servant

Fri, 16 Oct 09 13:34:15 +0200

Can thinkers and artists commit themselves to a regime. Yes of course they can, everybody should be free. Are there any limits to the commitment? On 18th August the Rotterdam council fired philosopher Tariq Ramadan for participating with Press Tv, paid by the Iranian government. He tried to make an openminded talkshow. In July 2009 the Rotterdam council proudly presented the building of the ‘De Rotterdam’, a vertical city. Designed by architect Rem Koolhaas who also designed and built the Chinese state television building. The Chinese economy is open and exciting, the Chinese politics are closed and very cruel. Is morality a simple servant which vanishes when the real leaders come to play? Power, money, erotics, ambition, let’s say unfulfilled dreams and ideals.

Moral in Daily Life

Fri, 16 Oct 09 16:42:42 +0200

Hotel AES+F

Fri, 16 Oct 09 17:18:39 +0200

Malasyan state offers second honeymoon to fighting couples

Fri, 16 Oct 09 17:44:12 +0200

FAZ, 16. Oct 2009 Malaysischer Staat bietet streitenden Paaren zweite Flitterwochen Um bedrohte Ehen zu retten, bietet ein malaysischer Bundesstaat im Streit liegenden Paaren künftig gratis zweite Flitterwochen. Der ehrgeizige Plan sieht vor, zerstrittenen Ehepaaren einen dreitägigen Romantik-Urlaub auf einer der Tropen-Inseln vor der Küste des Staates Terengganu zu bezahlen, sagte der Regierungsbeamte Ashaari Idris. Frisch verheiratete Paare sähen sich häufig zahlreichen Problemen wie finanziellen Schwierigkeiten und Ärger mit den Schwiegereltern gegenüber. „Vor der Hochzeit ist alles gut. Aber nach der Hochzeit sehen sich die Paare nicht in der Lage, die Herausforderungen zu meistern”, erklärte Ashaari. Mit den Gratis-Flitterwochen sollten die familiären Bande gestärkt werden.

Hungarian becomes Miss Plastic

Fri, 16 Oct 09 17:47:17 +0200

"Miss Plastic" Preis für Ungarin Neue Brüste, neue Nase, gestraffte Schenkel: Was andere Frauen lieber verschweigen, zeigten 18 Ungarinnen stolz der Öffentlichkeit. Unter dem Motto „Miss Plastic” stellten sie sich einem Wettbewerb, bei dem es darauf ankam, dass nicht jedes Körperteil natürlich ist. Das Rennen machte die 22-jährige Reka Urban, die erst in diesem Jahr ihre Brüste vergrößern ließ. Auf die Frage, ob sie weitere Schönheitsoperationen plane, antwortete die Siegerin entschieden mit „Nein”. Bedingung für den Gang über den Catwalk in Budapest war, dass sich die Kandidatinnen schon einmal aus ästhetischen Gründen unters Messer gelegt haben. Siegerin Reka Urban bekam als Preis eine Wohnung in Budapest. Platz zwei belegte eine Teilnehmerin, deren Nase korrigiert worden war. Platz drei sowie den Publikumspreis ergatterten Frauen, die der Jury mit operierten Brüsten imponiert hatten.

Antikraakwet

Fri, 16 Oct 09 19:51:42 +0200

http://www.nrc.nl/binnenland/article2388210.ece/Antikraakwet_door%2C_ME_grijpt_in_bij_demonstratie

There is No Authority but Yourself

Sun, 18 Oct 09 17:57:26 +0200

Crass: There is No Authority but Yourself - A filmic portrait of this last Punk stonghold. Watch the full movie at: http://www.minimovies.org/documentaires/view/crass The anarchist punk band Crass was very different from their contemporaries. The Sex Pistols and The Clash sold their souls to big record labels, whereas Crass stayed true to their anti-corporate ideals. Crass still exists today as a commune just outside of London named ’Dial House’- a safe haven for those individuals of principle who still live by the old punk slogan ’Do it yourself’. Director: Alexander Oey (1960) has directed a large number of documentaries, mainly for the Dutch networks VPRO and NPS, such as ’My Life as a Terrorist: The Story of Hans - Joachim Klein’ (2005), ’Euro-Islam according to Tariq Ramadan’ (2005),’Bijlmer the Rough Guid’ (2003) and ’Jeff Wall’ (1999). About Minimovies: A Minimovie is an episodic documentary consisting of 8 to 10 episodes. Episodes are 7 to 10 minutes each. Put together, they form a self-contained story. With MiniMovies SubmarineChannel explores a new narrative and visual style of documentary filmmaking. You can watch the Minimovies in high quality at http://www.minimovies.org or simply at your favourite video portal.

Photo collection: Little Miss Beauty

Wed, 04 Nov 09 20:32:00 +0100