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Monday 16 March 2015

End of the World Cinema: Daring To Be the Same / The Commanders



L#edenroc fête ses 100 #ans #antibes #monde: image via Routeur News @Routeur News, 21 May 2014


Without spectators there is no spectacle. After the last of the televised war programming, viewers report a vacancy in their lives. People ache to do the right thing, a survey shows, but they are confused and usually end up doing exactly the opposite. No one knows why, but inflicting pain on officially designated victims seems optimally fulfilling. We verbalize for the Question Man our need to "feel good about ourselves," a deep hunger like that of irresolute souls who roam the higher realms of the underworld in a continual restless anxiety, and once more smoke rises from the stages of rock concerts as at Roman sacrifices.



#Madonna photographed in Hawaii by Herb Ritts (1985) I love this forever!
: image via Madonna Scrapbook @m_scrapbook, 7 March 2015

Heralding the pop goddess' coming with dutiful pomp and circumstance like regimental janissaries of some sulking imperial potentate, a cordon of jogging Gallic policemen in full dress regalia precedes her white limousine as it cruises to a showy halt before the palace.




Police at Porte de Vincennes: photo by Dan Kitwood via The Guardian, 9 January 2015

Out she steps, magnetic in a rose-coloured kimono. From the throng of spellbound onlookers, who have never dared imagine her as anything but a platinum blonde, her heavy brown curls elicit stunned gasps. At a safe distance behind police restraining barriers they feast on her as deliriously as famished refugees ravaging a relief truck.





Paris, France. President Francois Hollande wears 3D glasses to watch the Philae probe as it lands on comet 67P
: photo by Jacques Brinon/Reuters via The Guardian, 13 November 2014


Moving slowly up the palace staircase she pauses every few steps to bask in her fame and pose for photos. Like glowing fruit in the emir's hanging gardens, or detonated grenades, flash explosions fill the soft night air.



Ce n'est qu'un au revoir. #HotelDuCapEdenRoc #HDCER #EdenRoc #TimelessLuxury #OetkerCollection #Antibes #France: image via André xoxo @AndreLuvsU, 29 September 2014 Antibes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur



She ascends the stairs, a charged filament, rose-coloured sexual electricity conducted through space as if by remote control in a world that is an enormous studio, while the ambient pseudo-orchestral din of pulsing polyrhythmic synthesizer music reaches a shuddering climax -- a thousand jackboots stomping at once against the back-beat, demented shrieking of a toy doll overdubbed. A hallucinated yet oddly predictable lyric pounds into a billion brains, while video of her sucking on a coke bottle pours down two billion eyeballs. Model yachts glide across the glassy surface of the satellite reflecting pools around the outdoor fountain at Eden Roc. It is a society of a trillion fantasies daring to be the same.



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Madonna: I was raped and didn’t report it #rape #madonna: image via Jessica Chasmar @Jessica Chasmar, 12 March 2015


At the top of the steps she lets the kimono slip from her shoulders, there are squeals and screams of delight as the blue and red spotlights nibble at her underwear, which is exotic virginal white. The breast cups of her bra, modeled to simulate warheads of guided missiles, project out with an attitude of uplift and thrust into a target-rich consumer environment, computer-driven to the mark, and the screaming never stops.

TC: Daring To Be the Same, from Sleepwalker's Fate, 1991



Madonna taclée par Giorgio Armani après sa chute: "Une personne très difficile..." #Madonna: image via Pure Charts.fr @purecharts, 5 March 2015

Armani has defended himself after #Madonna blamed his cape for her fall at the Grammys: image via Marie Claire @marieclaireau, 4 March 2015



Amazing to think that Madonna, an ‘older’ person wearing revealing clothes – corsetry, boobs proudly on show, legs encased in fishnets – can still get folk in a lather: photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage via The Guardian, 12 February 2015

Do you love the stunning @Fantasie1 Belle range as much as Madonna? ;) #madonna #lingerie: image via Belle Lingerie @bellelingerie, 5 March 2015


Cheek-a-boo! Madonna at the Grammys: photo by Jason Merritt via the Guardian, 9 February 2015

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Column: #Madonna still the same; we're the ones who changed. By #copygirlkate: image via St. Cloud Times @sctimes, 7 March 2015

Just a few more hours until U.S. Release tick tock #Madonna #RebelHeart @iTunesMusic: image The Queen @Amen_Madonna, 9 March 2015

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Siguen los #memes de la caída de #Madonna. ¡Qué excelentes!: image via Rumbacaracas @Rumbacaracas, 4 March 2015

day 3: waiting (in the thousand year empire the anticipation is the fulfillment)

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 #RebelHeartWorldTour Paris Date Poster at subway in Paris! #Madonna #RebelHeart @mtribefrance @MDNAMafia @f_lola: image via Madonna Art Vision @MadonnaArtVision, 3 March 2015

 Madonna was ripped when posing nude for art classes 1977 (by Herman Kulkens) #Madonna #beforetheywerefamous #sixpac: image via Paul Entwistle @backofhouse, 3 March 2015

 Madonna x Marilyn Hybrid Oil 36x48 #marilynmonroe #madonna: image via Matt Pecson @mattpecson, 4 March 2015

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Just downloaded #Madonna's new album 'Rebel Heart' via @iTunes. Absolutely love this album. :-): image via Sam Traspe @samtraspe, 13 March 2015 San Jose, CA

 Going to #Madonna #RebelHeartTour then save your pennies: image via Kevin Younge @KevinYounge, 4 March 2015

 #Madonna #RebelHeart CDs and Vinyl!!: image via Madonna Scrapbook @m_scrapbook, 13 March 2015

Day 3 and I be like a fat kid waiting for the ice cream truck. #Madonna #RebelHeart
: image via Urethra Franklin @Uertha_F,13 March 2015

In the thousand year empire, the interrogation of the other will be routine and continuously witnessed



0009-113: photo by sebati. 11 November 2003

You always have to know the right question
The one to which there can never be a correct reply





0009-112: photo by sebati. 11 November 2003


0009-117
: photo by sebati, 11 November 2003



0009-132. Sylwia Kapuscinski, photographer: photo by sebati. 12 April 2004

0009-134: photo by sebati, 12 April 2004



0009-132. Sylvia Kapuscinski: photo by sebati, 12 April 2004

all must be same in cube space now (replication)


Tokyo, Japan. Office workers are seen through the windows of a building at dusk: photo by Issei Kato/Reuters via The Guardian, 3 March 2015


Hong Kong. Rurik Jutting, right, sits in an police van after his court appearance. He has been charged with killing two women, including one whose body was found inside a suitcase on the balcony of his apartment: photo by Vincent Yu / AP via The Guardian, 3 November 2014


Xuancheng, China An exhibition of about 1,600 panda sculptures is held to attract customers for a shopping mall: photo by ChinaFotoPress via The Guardian, 3 November 2014


This fun use of a tilt-shift lens gives a miniature feel to the people passing a giant sculpture of a dog at the Parkview Green shopping centre in Beijing, China
: photo by Diego Azubel / EPA via The Guardian,
12 November 2013



An ivory bust of former Chinese leader Mao Zedung for sale in Guangzhou, China. Chinese demand for ivory is stripping Tanzania of its elephant population
: photo by STR/EPA via The Guardian, 7 November 2014

30 up. You mad? @greggmuseum #warhol cc @duke u @artstigators @nashergirl @michaellevine2 #GOBLUE image via NasherMuseum @NasherMuseum, 12 March 2015

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@dick_nixon this #Warhol is on display here in Birmingham: image via Rufus T. Firefly @IndependentinAL, 28 February 2015

#Madonna the Altimate #RebelHeart: image via Pegasus @pegasustreet, 3 March 2015

Just in time for #Madonna #RebelHeart and  #RebelHeartTour release!: image via Pegasus @pegasustreet, 3 March 2015

@MadonnaARMY1 please RT my new #madonna street art piece: image via Pegasus @pegasustreet, 3 March 2015

 #Warhol écrase #Picasso aux enchères !: image via Le Point @LePoint, 26 February 2015

#Vancouver
peeps, a must see - largest collection of Andy #Warhol works ever displayed in Canada at Maison Al warehouse: image via Sharon Shales @scymbaluk, 2 March 2015

Andy #Warhol
: image via Silvano Battisti @
Silvano Battisti, 28 February 2015 Saluzzo, Piemonte

Andy #Warhol by Himself
: image via Selected Photos @
SelectedPhotos, 4 March 2015 


Andy Warhol, Steve Rubell, Calvin Klein and Brooke Shields take to the DJ booth at Studio 54, 1979
: photo by Hasse Persson, 1979, via the Observer, 14 March 2015

 #Warhol écrase #Picasso aux enchères !: image via Le Point @LePoint, 26 February 2015

Uniformity


Family: photographer unknown, c. 1955 (Ben Evans Recreation Program Collection, Seattle Municipal Archives)


In an echo of events last week after the shooting, officers outside the church turn their backs on a video monitor as de Blasio speaks: photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters via The Guardian, 27 December 2014

#Uniformity and #Obedience... some  e of the State's favorite characteristics of its servants #NoRoomForIndividualismIn: image via GospelPanacea @GospelPanacea, 13 September 2014


Tokyo, Japan.Seoul, South Korea. All lined up perfectly: new South Korean military officers attend the joint commission ceremony of 6,478 new military officers of the army, navy, air force and marines at the military headquarters in Gyeryong: photo by Lee Jin-man/AP via The Guardian, 12 March 2015



Tokyo, Japan. Schoolchildren wear padded hoods during an earthquake evacuation drill
: photo by Issei Kato/Reuters via the Guardian, 11 March 2015


Workers at a Foxconn factory in China.
The typical worker at Apple’s main manufacturer is a young man of 27, a “migrant worker” who grew up in a village. One among 170,000 employees, he (two-thirds of staff are male) earns about £180 a month at China’s biggest technology manufacturer, most likely in one of its airport-sized facilities in Shenzhen, about an hour’s drive from Hong Kong. Those wages are more than many blue-collar jobs in China -- and many go to Foxconn for a short-term summer job before returning to school or university in the autumn. The biggest threat to their livelihood might not be Apple; instead, it’s Foxconn’s plan to install robots to eliminate errors. Apple’s rise has come through lucrative contracts with Foxconn and many other suppliers in and around Shenzhen handpicked to meet exacting deadlines and quality controls. Apple boss Tim Cook says it is impossible to find companies of such scale in the US. Workers typically put in 56 to 61 hours a week (despite the local legal maximum of 60), some doing seven-day stints without a break during the summer as orders are ramped up for new devices to be launched in the autumn. A Fair Labor Organisation investigation in 2012 found that required 15-minute breaks every two hours were sometimes ignored. The strain drove some to suicide in the past; Apple has repeatedly pledged to improve its labour practices, with counselling and labour monitoring.: text by Charles Arthur: Planet Apple; photo by Darley Shen/Reuters via The Guardian, 1 February 2015



Beijing, China. Attendants prepare tea for delegates ahead of the second plenary meeting of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference at the Great Hall of the People: photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters via the Guardian, 11 March 2015

Echo Chamber... signal receding... past not exist... all must be same now...

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Remember this out-of-this-world #selfie? CIVA will also take a pic of @ESA_Rosetta as we separate #cometlanding #67p
: image via Philae Lander @Philae2014, 13 November 2014


Cape Canaveral, US. The Delta IV heavy rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft sits on the launch pad awaiting liftoff
: Scott Audette/Reuters via The Guardian, 4 December 2014

#NorthernBall #uniformity ideas.... pirates, nurses, army, policemen -- what are you going as?: image via Traveeel Weekly Events @Events_TW, 30 July 2013

This is how I want people 2 b dressed at my wedding #uniformity when I say red I min red. photos will be nice lik soo: image via IG: MichelleSepako @mimie212fancy, 2 August 2013

@Demetri286 @MrD_Period7 #Uniformity #Borg #Assimilated #Conformity: image via Josh Dugan @MrD_Period7, 28 April 2014

Attention to detail is critical when producing small complex parts to tight tolerances #uniformity #UKManufacturing: image via Wheatley Plastics @WheatleyPlastic, 25 November 2014

#unity not #uniformity: image via Michael Brown @MikeBrown317, 5 December 2014

#Uniformity -- not money -- is ruining #London @prospect_uk #urbanism #cities: image via Jorge Rodriguez @jrdelalamo, 27 February 2015

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go...#uniformity: image via Chuckles @ipyakuza187, 30 March 2014 Minato, Tokyo 2015

Returning soon to your local End of the World Cinema: The Commanders

Feb 13, 1991 #US bombs Iraqi air raid shelter, killing 334 #WorldHistory #Iraq #OperationDesertStorm #GulfWar image via HistoricReflection @JeffCasey2, 13 February 2015

Yenilgi sonrası geri çekilen Irak ordusu tarafından patlatılan petrol kuyuları #GulfWar image via Idil Lostar @idilstr, 27 February 2015

Prayer in the desert storm, 1991. #gulfwar #desertstorm #saudi #kuwait #iraq #usa image via Hani @HN187, 18 January 2015

The True Birth Certificate of the Lawless ... #DickCheney #Invading Iraq #ShockandAwe: image via Dick and Sharon @DickandSharon, 31 January 2015

The Commanders: End of the World Cinema (Earth Tones)

File:Demolished vehicles line Highway 80 on 18 Apr 1991.jpg

Demolished civilian and military vehicles lining Highway 80 (aka The Highway of Death), route taken by Iraqis fleeing Operation Desert Storm, 18 April 1991: photo by Tech Sgt. Joe Coleman (US Air Force), 18 April 1991 (USAF)


When the Medina Luminous Division marched into
Divine Anger in the Energy Refuge Theatre --
Bottle green starlight chaos,
Blood rivers in the sand, dust flecked with bits of Sumerian gods --
The Commanders felt good about themselves,
They said Say hello to Allah
And the Medina Luminous Division said hello to God.

Next the In God We Trust Division was drawn out of K City
It was Bravo-20 on the Basra Road
Rockeye and Hellfire lived up to the instruction manuals
As the fireballs digested the convoys of the helpless
The Commanders paused to gas up
Their F/A-18s, their humvees, their Apaches
Then moved out to incinerate the Hammurabi.


TC: The Commanders, from Sleepwalker's Fate, 1991



 
Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games: photo by Murray Close/Lionsgate via New York Times, 22 March 2012

etoiles

La Tête dans les Etoiles: image via The Abandoned Secret Cinema of the Sinai Desert: MessyNessy, 6 March 2014

nohazayed1

Ruins of abandoned outdoor cinema in the Sinai Desert of Egypt: photo by Noha Zayed, April 2014 

The children are hungry in the Echo Chamber


A child looks through a hole in the wall of his home after Israel’s attack on Gaza
: photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Rex via The Guardian, 12 March 2015


#SF riots: image via Not Frantz Fanon @violentfanon, 30 October 2014


Aleppo, Syria. A boy walks past a makeshift barricade made of upturned buses in the rebel-held side of the city
: photo by Karam al-Masri/AFP via The Guardian, 15 March 2015



An Israeli soldier photographs a riot in the West Bank city of Hebron on March 6, 2015
: photo by Mussa Issa Qawasma/Reuters via The Guardian, 12 March 2015


Israel’s separation barrier in Jerusalem:
photo by APA Images/REX via The Guardian, 12 March 2015


A sunken road on the West Bank:
photo by Dirk-Jan Visser/Hollandse Hoogte/eyevine

5 comments:

VINCENT FARNSWORTH said...

Hi Tom

For some reason this song made me think of you. Do you like?

http://grooveshark.com/s/Brother+Ray/70x3bn?src=5

Let me know if you can't listen to it there, I'll figure out another way

VINCENT FARNSWORTH said...

here also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjtHYfTTzII

Mose23 said...

Working through the post, beginning with one dead space and closing with another.

Great dialectical text - the truth creeping up in the similes.

TC said...

My Lord, Duncan, you've just singlehandedly bailed this post out of the household dudgeon, or dungeon, you know what I mean.

Vincent, I do like, in fact I always do like Pere Ubu, since way back when -- in fact we may have once liked Pere Ubu together, back in lava lamp days.

(Reminds me in turn of Negativeland, and the unexpected death last December of the original retiring culture-mashing genius inspirer of that project -- "routine" heart procedure at the formidable Stanford Hospital, bad post-op bacterial thing, yet another object lesson in how you're better off staying out of hospitals, no matter what.)

VINCENT FARNSWORTH said...

I remember those good old days, Tom. But am surprised the new Pere Ubu album is so good.

Speaking of recordings, do you remember the interview we did? I lost the tape for that in the Prague flood of 2002.