"In the world which is upside down, the true is a moment of the false."
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| rock and roll means fuck "In the world which is upside down, the true is a moment of the false." |
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Wednesday, April 30, 2003 $4.95 posted by downtown | 10:11 PM $3.96 cha-ching... posted by downtown | 7:39 PM i'm working at home today. the past few days have left me pretty dead. i like working at home. it allows me to drink wine whilst i edit boring video. i have to admit some slackage though. though my former ebay addiction is but a memory and i think i've got my amazon thing somewhat under control, now apple is danglin' this shiny new thing in my face. it's the new music service they've started. it's got a long way to go as to the catalogue, but it's off to a pretty damned good start. (hell, they've been in business two days, perhaps i should cut them slack.) 99 cents a song, they download in about 4 seconds, you can do whatever the hell you want with them. it's pretty damned cool. i've spent $2.97 so far. lord, help me... listenin': VU "venus in furs" feelin': oddly content posted by downtown | 7:08 PM methinks i suck. maybe after two long days am just pooped. i love wayne coyne. maybe i'll marry him one day. .. maybe i'll make a movie... posted by downtown | 6:31 AM Monday, April 28, 2003 so fucking much is goin' on at the moment we are getting all kinds of cool shit at work. namely one of these (i really do call her "baby". it's kinda sick.) one of these big fellas with one of these gorgeous things and one of these babies in that respect, things is good. now it turns out that i have to go to sark next week to lay down the law between my mom and my sister. (Q: can i afford it? A: no, not really. Q: do i really have to go? A: yep. i think so... ) shit is ugly and, apparently, they can't figure it out themselves. fuck. anyhoo, the past week or so has been quite reflectful (and kinda stoned, to be honest. funny how those two go together.) there are major announcements as to major developments in the life of this boy forthcoming shortly. i have a plan for the next 2 years or so that is quite ambitious in many ways (personal, professional, creative) and really, really exciting. this is stuff you will read about in the paper. (or maybe see on tv one day) my plate is pretty gloriously full at the moment from a creative standpoint. the sky really is the limit. i'm a gonna ride this wave until it crests. here is hoping that that is a long time away.... also, here are some recent must look ats there is a new ep for download at the wilco site. "bob dylan's 49th beard" is a keeper fer sure and the version of "kamera" here are well worth a visit. do so. the flaming lips new ep is out. amazon delivered it yesterday and it's just so damned..... .....amazing. if you've never heard wayne croon kylie minogue's "can't get you outta my head" as the sweetest, tenderest most loving ballad ever, then you are missin' out. gorgeous... the white stripes were on conan o'brien all week. i have two of the spots on tape. a couple of the performances ("jolene",< which really did tear me up a bit. perhaps my adoration of this band is getting outta hand. it was just that good.) and "seven nation army" can be found here . check 'em out. also, the new kinky friedman book, kill two birds and get stoned came out this week. god bless kinky friedman ... still don't know where the archives and links have gone. i'm such a dumbass... listenin': wilco "handshake drugs". feelin': strangely up to the task for once. much more to come in the next 48 hours.... big stuff. posted by downtown | 5:05 AM Tuesday, April 22, 2003 I knew it. this explains alot about ol' hitch as of late. posted by downtown | 9:15 PM Monday, April 21, 2003 goodbye, nina simone how sad... posted by downtown | 7:52 PM Friday, April 18, 2003 even my little blogger button is gone. what a drag. help.... posted by downtown | 5:10 PM archives and links are gone just *poof*. this makes me sad and angry. help. anyone? posted by downtown | 1:31 PM Thursday, April 17, 2003 "the truth doesn't make a noise...." posted by downtown | 11:07 PM the baby came home today. she's lovely. fully tricked out. i think i'm in love.... posted by downtown | 4:10 AM Wednesday, April 16, 2003 some interesting questions raised by the independent Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Where is Saddam? What about the alleged links to al-Qa'ida? How many Iraqi soldiers were killed and injured? How many civilians were killed and injured? How many Allied casualties? Did the Allies stick to the Geneva Conventions? Why did Saddam's forces crumble? Was the war illegal? What side deals were made? Who is in the 'coalition' and what did they do? Where is the anti-war alliance now? Is the UN relevant any more? Do Iraqis feel liberated? Why did so many journalists die? Who was really responsible for the two marketplace bombings? Is there a humanitarian crisis? Are the contracts to rebuild Iraq all going to White House cronies? Is this the first step to reordering the Middle East? What about North Korea? What happened to the human shields? Has public opinion changed since the war began? Is Ahmed Chalabi just a crooked US stooge? What are the chances of an Iranian-style Shia revolution? How long will American troops stay in Iraq? Has the Rumsfeld doctrine been vindicated? Was it really all about Israel? Or was it about oil? Or was it about the 2004 presidential election? Is the world a safer place? and some interesting answers/analysis posted by downtown | 12:54 PM Tuesday, April 15, 2003 next stop, syria! (with service to iran) all aboard! (stand clear of the closing doors...) posted by downtown | 12:54 PM Monday, April 07, 2003 i just had the bestest idea in the whole world. i'm still working out the details and such. in fact, if i am gonna do this right, i may be working them out for months, maybe a year. this one's big. fuck a duck. posted by downtown | 3:34 PM even i can't make this shit up. this can't be serious . and you wonder why the arabs around the world are suspicious. as is much of the rest of the the world maybe because any mildly perceptive observer knows this creepy shit this to be true. unless, of course, you happen to be one of those who can't turn off these bastards . i think most folks currently hate the UN. i mean, hell, we've (fox, cnn, et al) been telling them to do so since december. seems the feds do give them at least some credibility . or, you can just say fuck it and buy one of these fucking things . demand creates supply. (who the fuck buys this shit?) really. take that to the bank. rocking: extra songs from the i am trying to break your heart DVD feeling: spent, sad, angry. posted by downtown | 5:21 AM Friday, April 04, 2003 two very odd and fateful days, two years and change apart, in new york city freaky day #1: scene: the laundry room of my apartment building, lexington and 101st st., east harlem. second week or so of november 2000. so, in my rather small building (only 6 apts on three floors) we have a laundry room in the basement. we have a tv down there as well. the laundry room is the social center of the building. we hang out, do laundry, drink and, as almost all of my neighbors are swiss (don't ask. i'm still trying to figure out how all these swiss hipsters ended up in a building in a working class, predominantly mexican neighborhood), smoke pot and discuss news of the world there. we were just kooky like that. anyhoo, the election, as i'm sure (i hope) you all remember was a total fiasco. i had moved to nyc from my home state of florida, something all my swingin' swiss neighbors were well aware of. i was also known as the resident news/politics junkie in the building. i have no idea why. so, i am sitting there one evening watching the news as per usual when one of the aforementioned swiss hipsters comes down to see if i want to smoke some dope and enlighten her as to what the hell is going on in her adopted country. it is soon decided that we should do both. i had been thinking about the (s)election all day and had actually begun to worry just a bit. me, being the geek that i am, had actually voted twice. yep, two times. i voted for al absentee in fla where i was still registered and for nader in ny. i never thought it would be that big of a deal. by day 8 or so of the election that would not fucking die i was beginning to get nervous. there were pictures of fat party flacks from both sides examing every ballot in the damned state (those not arbitrarily discarded for one reason or another), looking for things like "pregnant chads" or "hanging chads". remember this shit now? i was starting to sweat it a bit about what could happen if my electoral shenanigans were to be discovered. (hey, ashcroft or any other NSA type web trolling fucking homeland security types, fuck off. i did it and i'd do it again. you'll never take me alive, ya fucking bastards.) but, anyway, returning to the story i wish to tell, after the smoking of.. ..ya know, pot and stuff, she asks, "so, do we have president yet?". I had to inform her that, no, we didn't have a president yet. then i launched in to what i now believe to be one of the absolutely stupidest diatribes ever to escape my lips (and, let's face it, folks, there have been plenty o' those). me: fuck it. the bushies are bringing in all the old-school bush acolytes, james baker III, etc. they're gonna make it ugly and they've got the governor and the bucks. ( i should mention here that i was never a huge fan of gore. i think both parties in 2000 nominated the wrong guys. i believe that a matchup of bradley and mccain would have been not only more interesting, but also more representative of the two parties core beliefs. but that's just me) i so clearly remeber uttering the words, "fuck it. let him (w) have it. i mean he's gonna get it anyway. he lost the popular vote. he has no mandate. the economy is going in the toilet. and, best of all, he's an idiot. he is not a smart man. the rest of the world knows this. (though i didn't know this at the time, i found out later that mr shrubya, a man of means, a man descended from new england aristocracy, no matter what his "down home" texas-isms would lead you to believe, had never been abroad. never. not one fucking time. he is a rich as fucking hell guy who had never been to europe. his first visit was the president of the united states. really. i'm not making this shit up. i thought that young wealthy northeastern republicans were required by law to go abroad and drink too much, be rude and fuck cute french girls silly so they could come home and marry the "right" girl. i was under the impression that these were exactly the kind of folks that made travelling abroad as an american occassionally difficult for people that aren't so damned sucky. i mean my family has never been what could be described as "poor". we never really had "money" either. i have been fortunate enough to be all over europe. something about this man's lack of curiosity scares me and, at the same time, i understand his distrust of europeans. he doesn't know any. he had never been. i really believe that he only went because he had to.) he'll fuck up. sooner or later the man will say or do something so amazingly stupid that the rest of the world and many of those in the "red" states will have to step back and say to themselves, 'shit. this guy's an idiot.' he's a one term guy like his daddy. what's the worst that could happen?" fuck me. i never really imagined that it could get as bad as it has. the first sign, i have to admit was when he nominated a man who had just lost his re-election bid in his home state of missouri to a dead man to be attorney general. umm wha? then the "compassionate conservative" began shoving a straight, hardline right wing agenda down the throats of the american public. christ.. i was wrong, kiddos. the "worst that could happen" has happened and is happening . i really do feel that this whole thing is gonna get a lot worse before it gets better. sucks out loud to say but, i believe that is what is gonna happen. stupid words crossed these lips in november of 2000, i am sure it won't be the last time that happens. freaky day #2: scene: the streets of manhattan and brooklyn on st. patrick's day, march 17, 2003. i knew when i woke up that it was gonna be a strange day. that morning was just rife with all the makings of odd fucking happenings. so, i awoke, relatively un-hungover (i had been partying like a madman since my arrival on friday and this day, st. patty's day, had been at least a nominal reason for my visit after a year and a half.) in the chelsea apartment of the (mentioned in earlier posts) major chicana celebrity at 23rd and 9th. after a shower i hiked downtown to katz's in the lower east side (not a trivial hike, mind you.). i was there to have some corned beef shipped to my corned beef deprived family (they tell me that the only corned beef in the UK comes in a can marked "hormel") shipped to them where they live on the jaw-droppingly beautiful island of sark . i love the lower east side. i love the history, the architecture, the vibe. i picked up a copy of the new york timeson orchard street and proceeded to my mid-morning lunch destination, the incomparable new york noodletown i sat in noodletown awaiting my roasted duck in noodle soup while reading this rather lengthy and comprehensive analysis of the "diplomacy" that had brought us to this day. all the faults, foibles, etc. that had led us to the "day where it all goes to shit". new york is new york and most folks i could spy on the street couldn't be discerened to give a flying fuck. fuck you, move, i gotta get to work. but there were cops everywhere. i lived in nyc for almost 2 years. i hadn't been back in almost 2 years (way too long and after way too much emotional trauma.) i never even heard of the nyc sherrif's office. but, they were there. i saw three nyc sherrif cars in about 20 minutes that day. they were there along with the ever present NYPD, the transit cops, the state police, port authority cops and many, many national guard guys in fatigues and boots carrying loaded m-16s and looking edgy. it was creepy as hell. after lunch in chinatown i took the 6 train (my old train) from canal uptown to my old neighborhood. i hadn't been north of the flatiron district except once when i realized too late that the c train wasn't making an uptown stop at 23rd and 8th due to work on the station and i had to ride to 42nd st and catch a e train back down. the one thing that one can't fail to notice south of 14th street is all the empty space. there are storefronts, restaurants, etc. that are empty and waiting. i'm not talking about crappy space on sidestreets either. there is a lot of prime retail/rest. space that is just.... ...fallow. empty. it is a great difference from the winter/spring of 2000-2001. the city in lower manhattan has changed dramatically. i got off the 6 at my old stop at 103rd and lexington. took a look around. walked throught the old hood, past my old building. nothing. nada. zero had changed. i take that back. someone drew a happy face on the Zapata mural at 101st street. other than that. nuthin'. evn the big, orange tabby alley cat, the cat that i had witnessed march through 8 inches of fresh snow, a bad ass among felines, who used to hold court at my corner bodega, was asleep in the unusually warm sunlight of the doorway of that bodega. he lokked at me as i passed as if to say "que pasa, fool?" as i passed by. the same dominican salsa music was blaring from the door as well. nothing about my 'hood had changed. not a damned thing. i continued south to 96th street and cut across west to the park. i went south on 5th to the guggenheim to see the matthew barney "cremaster" series exhibit. two words: way rad. after leaving the guggenheim, i walked south on 5th until i unexpectedly came upon the end of the st. patrick's day parade. i arrived just in time to see about 3 or 4 thousand NYFD guys who aren't used to such a hike end their parade whilst wearing dresses (kilts) the irish connection is lost on me. they were sweaty (it was way un seasonably warm that day) and they were ready to drink. "hey! hogs and heifers!", i heard more than one say. rock on, dude. from there i walked south to 47th st and west to times square. the ticker informed me of many things: 1. that the cabinet ministers who had threatened to resign in blair's government in the event of a non-UN sanctioned war had done so. then minutes later i read that the US had withdrawn its "second resolution" before the security council. i think anyone with half a cat's brain knew that the jig was up right about then. i made one last times square stop to the hello kitty store on 42nd st. and when i emerged i was greeted with the headline on the ticker that "pres bush to address the nation at 8pm EST". guess what, kiddos, this means war. i was feeling angsty and apprehensive when i enetered the 42nd st. subway station and walked past the NYPD cop station that has always been there. nuthin' new. it's always been there. but, as i walked past it, the door opened and about a dozen national guard guys came out with rifles "locked and loaded" as i heard someone in the room say. wow. i took the a train to 14 th street and took the l to brooklyn. when i got out of the train at the bedford ave. stop, as i walked out of the station, i noticed that someone had written in chalk, "if the war starts... go to times square... for a march to... washington square... 5pm." the new york kids had their shit together in a way that i just can't imagine the drum circle-hippie fuckheads of ventura ever being able to do. a big march was planned for march 22nd and one couldn't go more than a block in the city without seeing a poster, flyer, sticker, graffitti (especially in the subways) or have someone hand you a flyer on the street corner. it was everywhere. those kids had it goin' on . after strolling williamsburg for a bit, i retired to the blu lounge where i had my first two pints of obligatory st. paddy's guinness. i really like that place. it was small, dark, quiet and had an obsecenely beautiful bartender that indulged me in about an hour of trivail pursuit (where i kicked her ass). groovy joint. after a pint ar a few, i decided that it was time to head back to the island. calls were made and a group decided to meet in the bar at north square inside the washington square hotel. (actually, this is where i met friends on friday evening, the night of my semi-triumphant return to gotham-city) i was early and i got to hear some drunk guy and his semi-moronic girlfriend, who had obviously been partaking in st.patty's festivities all fucking day go on about the iraqis who should die and the fact that in a couple of weeks time they shan't be able to smoke in nyc bars anymore. they left to to go fuck right before my friends arrived and apparently stole a bottle chardonnay on the way out. nice. anyway, drinking ensues. discussion as well. after a round or two we move to a place in the village that is famous for it's alley. it apparently was a favorite haunt of thomas paine. when kicked out the back door, at 86 something or other, you could be said to have been 86'ed. yee haw. as the (r)esident's "speech" approached, we decided to go somewhere where there was a television. we ended up in a place that had many tv's on 4th st. but was showing the rangers game. they mercifully paused for the "talk". we watched. i was horrified. everything that i had ever feared about this semi-literate, silver spoon chickenhawk muthafucker was realized. it made me feel ill. after the speech. we decided to abandon all crazy, gaelic-themed shenanigans we had planned and return to amy's pad on washington square where we could drink cheap and sing songs we may never have the chance to sing again. in all actuality, it was a grand old time. even the cats were impressed. then came the realization that i had to fly all the way back across the country on Ghetto Air the day after the p(r)es decided to essentially declare war. cool. fuck. it was just such an odd day. one that i hope people will remember, maybe someday tell their children about. it weren't real fun. yet, it was definately a day that had a feel of importance and gloom. fear and such. anger. you could feel it coming from all over. from the television, from the other patrons in the bar, folks on the street. creepy. i did make it home to the shithole i call home though. these are the strangest days i have ever known. posted by downtown | 1:20 AM Wednesday, April 02, 2003 some more letters from baghdad thanks to the iraq peace team for gathering them and for the important and dangerous work they do. here's to you. Al-Adamia Secondary School for Girls - Baghdad March 3, 2003 Dear Friends, We love you and want to see you and we hope all the world live in peace and love each other like the flowers in one garden in heaven. Please urge your government to let us live in peace. Best wishes, Somiea, Anfal, & Yasamin (we are 18 years old) Al-Mustafa Secondary School for Girls - Al-Amal City, Baghdad March 8, 2003 Dear Friends, I'm Hind Salaam. I want to tell you that I only dream for the future. I want to be a doctor after I end the preparatory school, because I love to help people and I hate the death. But I don't understand why America insist on bombing Iraq people. We love the people of America although Bush want to kill us, because we know that you didn't hate Iraqi people. And I want you do your dreams. - Hind Salaam, age 17 Qataiba Secondary School for Boys - Saddam City, Baghdad March 9th, 2003 We love Iraq as we love our parents, and we love the people of the world. I wish that I can keep in touch with you. Please help us. I have many dreams to the future. Ahmed Camas Al-Adamia Secondary School for Girls - Baghdad March 10th, 2003 Under the threatening of the American government of every day, we live and continue our daily life. We go to school, to work, visiting each other, but still we have the hope of getting over this crisis. God will help us and save our country from this war. If war will arise the coming few days, I might not be able to continue writing my own diary. We don't know what is going to happen... We might die .. and maybe we are living our last days in life. I hope that everyone who reads my diary remember me and know that there was an Iraqi girl who had many dreams in her life, but war has destroyed all her dreams and her dreams will never come true. Thuraya El-Kaissi, age 17 Al-Adamia Secondary School for Girls - Baghdad March 15th, 2003 I started watching the t.v. and the daily news and this news all about the same - about America's threat and this threat and this war is injustice .. I don't know if I could stay wrote this letters because maybe my life is too short and the responsible is America .. am just a young girl, am just 17 year old, and am not afraid from America or the death cause my fate is not in the hands of America but in the hands of God .. and if I didn't die in these days I will always hate the American Government. Sarab El-Anne, age 17 Qataiba Secondary School for Boys - Saddam City, Baghdad March 18, 2003 In the Name of God, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate we thank you for your help and sympathy, and we thank you for your feelings, because we feel for any student that says inside your heart, for any American student that says, "Stop the war." We apologize now, for all the people in America, and we do not hate you. Ali Mehson Rahim, 17 years old Imad Ali Said, 18 years old Kadham Jawad Taher, 18 years old Ahmed Hashim, 17 year old the television in my office, tuned to cnn, has a graphic this morning reading "baghdad by nightfall?" i think we have to face the facts here, kids. we are now living in a "rogue state". posted by downtown | 3:21 PM i don't exactly know why i am choosing to do this now perhaps it is in the spirit of april fool's day. i dunno but, i'm a gonna do it anyway. (an author's note: april 1st aside, all of these are indeed genuine.) even though there is a war and such goin' on i'm gonna share with you, much as the ex is wont to do, some of the more interesting google referrers to this very site. here we go: powerpoint fuck: ok, i hate bill, too. and? teacher fuck student live: this ain't that kinda site, pal. "wets himself", scotland: that was so january, dude. brother sister fuck fest: one word: ewwww. Jarvis cocker gay: not for me to say, my friend. gay rock stars: i am so plugged in to the sex lives of gay rock stars. i mean me and fred durst are like this. world live fuck: from what i understand "world live fuck" is an all-star benefit concert to help displaced kurdish lepers that will take place next week and will be headlined by mr. 50 cent. send to me fuck gay (the wording exactly, folks): that's not really up to me, yo. "in a flash of pure destruction, no one wins": so true, so timely. fuck italians: i agree. they're good. cranberries "odd (sic) to my family": how the hell did that inquiry lead you here? funny fuck: sometimes the best kind, no? i hope that perhaps some of these were a bit a levity to you, dear reader, in the shitstorm of suck we now find ourselves dogpaddling through. rockin: "the hardest button to button" once again, very loud. posted by downtown | 2:33 AM Tuesday, April 01, 2003 the new white stripes record is out today. it's called elephant and it sooo don't suck . do yourself a favor and go pick it up. it's a beast really, a masterwork. loud, swaggering, tender, savage, bombastic, delicate in all the best ways, cathartic, fierce, sexy-as-hell ("...let's have a ball and a biscuit, sugar and take our sweet time about it..." ) and yet sweet, intimate and engaging. it just oozes... ..soul. a perfect soundtrack to these trying days. and, well, meg is way cute, too. bush sucks butt Rockin': "girl, you have no faith in medicine" very loud posted by downtown | 6:11 PM |
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Cost of the War in Iraq
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