Bailey Alexander

The soap opera that is MAD MEN.

I still think the period represents America's culturally zenith; when we were serious, felt curious about our future and looked forward to growing up.  The characters cover all the bases so well.  

Pete Campbell, unloved since birth and under-appreciated at work has enough venom to last a lifetime and yet he's grateful when a morsel of credit or kindness is thrown his way. He's an earlier version of James Spader without the finesse and that disconcerting brand of self-consciousness. He deserves some sympathy. When Lane initiated the fistfight it was kinda funny but unfair. For those perceiving modern day high finance guys as glorified accountants how could we possibly root for Lane.  

And nice to have Roger back, the Dorothy Parker of the group. Both witty and notorious drinkers, the difference being Parker didn't wish to be Jewish and felt a female was but a curse put on writers living at that time.   

On the contrary Roger relishes and celebrates his waspy background and role of hunter with flair. Perhaps too cavalier but he could care less. He'll wear his fate as long as fedora's are in fashion, which will end soon but then so will the series.  

Guess who came to dinner; The Russians

Last night a couple of women from St. Petersburg showed up at Chez Bay. It was interesting to listen to their perceptions about Putin, their politics and their system. So different from my own experience growing up, yet one of my guests, Lola Voronina has become a good friend and we've ended up in similar worlds.  Odd to think the further east we move the  freer we seem to feel. 

Russians, I find, are cool, tough and refined. A great combo and they tend to complain less than the west. They go about their business, in spite of it all, underneath the radar. 

When living in Paris I didn't know any on a personal level, none came to play at Chez Bay yet apparently they were everywhere.

Princess Diana; talk about zeitgeist.

Apparently another book's been written about Princess Diana. They'll write about her forever, however, if you were the same age when she arrived on the world stage, it was easy to project our dreams as she took our breath away in a very specific, personal way.   

The feathered hair and that fresh, charming face. A short life and violent death. The details seem to fade away as she remains in that way. Talk about zeitgeist.    

Modern Zeitgeists; parasitic spirit of our time.

“What I say today everybody will say tomorrow, though they will not remember who put it into their heads. Indeed they will be right for I never remember who puts things into my head : it is the Zeitgeist.” –George Bernard Shaw

Modern zeitgeists come in so many forms. Spirits of our time.

Few would argue Matt Drudge is the on-line media king of the muckrakers. Arianna Huffington proved brilliantly you could aggregate everyone else's content and take sole credit. Navigating effortlessly from the right side of politics to the left; the l-r paradigm was made for types like Arianna. 

Now for something completely different: Avec plaisir, the new Première Dame of France: Valerie Trierweiler

So goes Sarko, so goes Carla Bruni. A relief for many. Bruni always struck me as a higher end version of Liz Hurley, the kind that earn celebrity currency through high profile partners. Carla won, then lost, so their game goes.

Occupy Czech Republic

Occupy Czech appears to be suffering the same malaise I saw on May Day across the pond. 

I can assure the environment was far more depressing than my lame fotos. The man in the tent spoke some English, was sweet, and no, though he looks like he was ready to flip me the finger he wasn't.

 

 

More than willing to have a chat, his broken English better than any Czech I could come up with; I've barely mastered the most basic of daily exchanges. Just grateful I can say the name of my street with ease. It took me forever to pronounce the name of our address in Amsterdam, you have to throw so much guttural energy into their language it makes German sound smooth and lyrical. 

This guy was obliging and kind. The two other people hanging outside their tents were very somber. A few tents, some signage, a few pots and pans, they'll stay until May 15th. 

I was on my way to meet a friend for lunch. She'd arrived back from Luxembourg, and yes, one can imagine the Occupy movement had less impact there, upsetting everyone as their Occupy protest collided on the same day as the disabled. Yes, telling and sad, so singularly anti-climactic.  My Russian friend had plenty of positive feedback regarding the Pirate Party, perhaps this movement could learn something from  the other, or not. 

The movement in general seems crippled by a lack of momentum, message and worst of all, perhaps little surprise, the media aren't paying any attention at all. 

Perhaps a demand or two wouldn't hurt but unless they're ready to storm the 'Bastille' its becoming harder to imagine how they can make a difference and impose a positive impact on their own lives. After I snapped the foto he just zipped up his tent and went to sleep...

Sarkozy is gone; relief, a reprieve.

Who knows what such a victory portends; higher taxes for some, less authoritarian measures for many. The taste for war will wane, the hype and amped up energy perpetrated by the bling president will deflate and the false flags will slow down.

They'll address, or try to to fix some internal issues. Germany will work quietly with them, behind the scenes, grateful for a more pragmatic partner. The EU experiment will evolve and we will need to wait patiently to see what this means.  

I can easily recall the heady weeks before Sarkozy came into power and we still lived in Paris; I had guests from both sides @ Chez Bay, all wanted Sarkozy and welcomed his energy, his way.

Now, 5 years later, exhausted, the need to shift gears. Unlike the Americans the French aren't going to project all their dreams onto a new leader, a consensus driven type, they're simply tired of what Sarkozy became all about. It was too too much, even for the French, this little man that rocked aggressively back and forth on his lift heels, insisting how he would ensure France remain at the center of the world stage. 

They've had enough, they need a reprieve, they need to recoup, softly, with the mild mannered man Francois Hollande.

Happiness and expectations

Heard a great talk on TED today on the ever elusive pursuit of Happiness. I agree with the notion its much ado about perspective and the amount of expectations we apply. The talk was served on a full tray of cliche's and yet the cliche's concerning expectations and choice appealed to me. Along my nomadic lifestyle I've often found my expectations decrease just as my level of contentment tends to increase, as if in complete unison. Such are the cycles of my life, so far. 

Its been interesting to meet so many fellow expats in so many countries but more oft than not its depressing. I'm not talking about the ones that live abroad part of the time or have their stuff in storage or teach English to stretch out the experience. I get that and I get they will eventually go back home. I'm talking about the ones that don't, that have lived abroad for a long, long time.

London Telegraph: "Young Italians flock to become Shepherds"

The Telegraph has its own angle on this trend yet I wonder if its only economic. I've spent so much time traveling through Italy, extensively up north, visiting 'family' members, on holiday, hanging out, many youth opt to stay close to home rather than travel and work in a major city. Why wouldn't they? 

I'm often struck, still, by the relationship Italians share with nature. While walking with my husband's uncle, Zio Giacomo, he often stops to touch the leaves and study the gardens and trees around his house, in his neighborhood. He teaches me the difference between male and female fruit, when at the market he studies the food with much attention and great affection. Its so fun.

Most Italians are terrific stewards, they toil their soil carefully for wine, fruit and vegetables, they discuss their nutrients and qualities with respect, regardless of whether they live in the city or the country. 

They travel throughout their country, inspecting, learning, enjoying the other towns. They covet and live well within their nature; this trend feels less economic and more natural and normal, to me at least. 

Travel is a luxury like no other; Church at St. Ludmila in Vinohrady

Before venturing off to a very Bohemian joint for lunch I met my friend @ Church at St. Ludmila. Two months ago the square surrounding the neo-gothic church looked lovely but austere, now bands and flowers at full bloom. Travel is a luxury like no other...

"The neo-gothic church of St. Ludmila is situated at Náměstí Míru (Square) in Vinohrady. The project plan of this church was prepared by the architect Josef Mocker, who was also one of the architects participating in the completion of St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle.

The Things My Feet Have Seen series, ctd.

Beautiful, balmy, moody weather. Early evening, time to relax, temperature calm, light shifts silently; cue rainbow at my feet...

In spite of it all, Ron Paul keeps winning...

In spite of the skeptics, the doubters, in spite of all those too leary of learning anything outside of what they already know, think they believe, know to be true.

May Day

Chris Hedges is not only suing Obama over NDAA but he's got some strong thoughts on OWS. He suggests its not about a date, an action but rather the beginning of a long process. He believes the movement articulates all that is inherently wrong with our system. He finds our government as corrupt, as fragile, as decayed as any, in particular he compares our 1% to the elites locked away in Versailles back in 1789.

He suggests ours government is out of touch, quite like Versailles; ripe for our own Revolution. Sounds like Alex Jones. Jones insists everything is a conspiracy, Hedge insists the system is corrupt, therefore ungovernable. Sounds like two sides of the same coin.  

Hedge's doesn't consider himself a member of the movement, of OWS, but he sees it as the beginning of being able to create paralysis through momentum and transparency. Mask or no mask, conspiracy or gross incompetence.

Let the festivities begin...

Jim Kunstler gives another elegy on America's post industrial landscapes...

JK begins:

"A few weeks ago I flew to Chicago, hopped into a rent-a-car, and navigated my way on the tangle of interstate highways to the now mostly former industrial region in the northwest corner of Indiana just off lowest Lake Michigan between the towns of Whiting and Gary. The desolation of human endeavor lay across the land like nausea made visible, but more impressive was how rapid the rise and fall of it all had been."

Think Pink...

The age of innocence, before life unfolds and cynicism sets in. It's lovely...

Where's the left side of this paradigm?

It's been a long time since I caught Sandra Bernhard on stage in New York but her words linger and I can still hear her saying, "Where's Cher! I look here, there, everywhere but no Cher..." We love Cher, a face so uniquely beautiful before she dared to enter and alter it so severely. Still lovable but we grew to miss that lovely face. 

 

 

 

The Pirate Party goes from strength to strength.

Yet another stunning victory. Rick Falkvinge's Infopolicy posts the following: 

In the local election of Innsbruck, the Austrian Pirate Party has sent shockwaves by taking its first Austrian seat, finishing at 3.8% in the election.

This caused frontpage news in Austria – the tweeter @Exiledsurfer was kind enough to tweet the pictured frontpage. Taking one seat in the city parliament of Innsbruck in a local election may not seem like much – but it’s large enough to make the front page story, heralding a strong trend all over Europe – you can almost read the strong headline (“Pirates Get Their First Seat”) as though it read “It Begins!”. It is also noteworthy that their election budget was a mere three thousand euros.

Driving thru Europe; cultures change along with their landscape

Schloss Fucshl is a gorgeous hotel just outside Salzburg, elegant environs, the trout for lunch arrived fresh from the lake.

Sun arrived for lunch then the weather turned foul. We tucked into the 'lodge'; he ordered Apple Strudel and coffee, I, Calvados. 

Austria, as lovely as any place on the planet, a favorite destination, a particularly pleasant and civilized state of mind...or so it always seems to me.

Dinner in Dresden. 'Inde irae et lacrimae'

Death of a relative arrived early Saturday morning and dinner in Dresden was already on the itinerary later that evening; hence a timely trip.

An hour an half drive from Prague to the city once described as the Jewel Box of Europe. Dresden; few places illustrate death quite like Dresden.

European data settles on a conservative number, perhaps 57,000 Germans killed. In one night. The Allied Forces decision was driven by Churchill, apparently he wanted to appear tough to Stalin at the Yalta  Conference.

The dates for the Soviet meeting were changed but they went ahead with the bombing campaign anyway.

Wall to wall Catholic Culture within Rome and the Vatican City.

This painting demanded attention while roaming the Louvre. So austere and atmospheric, a crucifixion scene to meditate on, a reprieve, tranquil and awfully elegant.

Painted by Dutch artist Karel Dujardin, having spent most of his time in Italy; apparently felt the influence.

Timely pic as today bells will ring throughout Rome @ precisely 3pm, signifying the moment Christ died.

I loved living in Rome, they do 'catholic culture' like no other yet wear their religion, like their lives, lightly.

You'll feel the weight of their emotions, certo, along the streets of the eternal city, perhaps a woman sobbing into her mobile next to a fountain, overwhelmed, then less so, gone, replaced by a man making broad gestures, Roman fluency at its finest.  "Ne abbiamo vista di cotte e di crude" Translation; they've seen it all. 

I took this pic back in 2009 atop the gianicolo (Juniculum), little Colette and Godot being blessed. 

Further down the gianicolo you'll find grand statues of Giuseppa Garibaldi and his fierce wife Anita. He unified Italy, one of the founding fathers, with a gift for rallying troops on several continents. When Abraham Lincoln asked, he declined. 

Garibaldi thought priests the cancer of Italian society therefore his gaze looks upon almost all of Rome, all but the Vatican. 

Such are the environs that make up the eternal city...

Adrienne Rich on making people disappear...

Adrienne Rich passed away last month, what a precise mind, it resonates, more than ever. Her words vital what with all kinds of people disappearing; blacks, muslims, hispanics across the borders. So much strife and racism and divisive behavior, even less solidarity on some continents than before.

Since moving to Prague I've met more often with Russians, Czechs and Ukrainian expats, the further East I move the more real their political realities appear to surface in the West, as they always did but now each of us, too many of us, as vulnerable as the other.

Adrienne Rich; 1929-2012. Poet, essayist, feminist.

There’s a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill
and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows
near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted
who disappeared into those shadows.

I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don’t be fooled this isn’t a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,

our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,
its own ways of making people disappear.

I won’t tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods
meeting the unmarked strip of light—
ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:
I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.

And I won’t tell you where it is, so why do I tell you
anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these
to have you listen at all, it’s necessary
to talk about trees.

 

Matt Taibbi on how the Tea Party and Occupy overlap, along with the fact...

"...our system definitely can't work if corrupt, failing companies escape consequence by leaning on an endless supply of bailouts and low-interest financial patronage by the Federal Reserve."

 The Tea Party and Occupy overlap:

"To me, the dichotomy outlined by Rosenbaum helps explain the appearance of two seemingly contradictory major protest movements: a Tea Party movement fulminating against a repressive, overweening regulatory regime, and the Occupy movement railing against an extreme laissez-faire system bordering on lawlessness.

The situation described by Rosenbaum explains how both movements could be right. Just as Tea Party leaders argue, there really has been an enormous flowering of new regulatory burdens in recent decades. It's just that one group of actors has been given de facto license to ignore those burdens, while everyone else has not. Thus two movements protesting lawlessness on the one hand and an excess of laws on the other – that doesn't necessarily strain the imagination."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/with-blistering-dallas-fed-report-ending-too-big-to-fail-goes-mainstream-20120329#ixzz1qhWZfRnZ

 

From Maubert-Mutualité to Náměstí Míru; metro stations close to 'home'.

Being a US expat from Seattle we couldn't possibly be bothered with public transport so its refreshing to find my 'metro stops' here in europe inspire both nostalgia and great fondness. 

Whenever in Paris I try to find a reason to hit line 10, if only to see the sign for a moment, run upstairs and view a previous address in the 5th arrondissement. 

 

 

Strange; I waited @Maubert-Mutualité, almost daily, for 3 years but it might as well have been a decade. 

My new local metro stop in Prague comforts me with its instant familiarity, giving my new environs a base, a place to call my own.

Currency wars; how rest of the world is creating a new monetary system, or so it appears...

As the global economic story unfolds its becoming increasingly clear how the international community will dismiss America's economic sanctions.

Some insist the Iranian threat is just another way to ensure the US dollar remain the world reserve currency. Who knows, so many economists competing for air.

One thing is clear, the USD's monopoly is inspiring countries to create an alternate set of rules, especially when threatened with economic sanctions should they continue to purchase oil from Iran.

Makes sense. My economic Post from 12/2011 feels very current, everyone's talking about the Japan/China deal now.  It's always been all about trade so they continue to create new ways to engage.

India will pay in gold, apparently China may follow.  They'll barder, they'll use Rupees; countries and people are exploring alternative routes and relationships. Bitcoin anyone? Yes, many.

It's getting easier to perceive the Wall Street/City of London derivative model, fictitious in its own inimitably fashion, completing its cycle. Could the dollar crash by 2012?  Who knows, somethins gunna give...

What we do know is the following countries will continue to acquiesce to America's demands and be granted a 6 month grace period. They won't risk sanctions by getting cut off from US central banking system, if they promise not to purchase oil from Iran. A partial list includes:

Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Poland, Spain, the UK; basically the "obedient satellites of Wall Street and the City of london" as Webster Tarpley likes to call them.   

The less than obedient satellites include the usual suspects; China, India, South Korea, Pakistan,  Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey, Taiwan, The Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka. 

And Iran, of course. Crazy daze, indeed. 

 

The deliciously sinister world of French politics and its most pitiless of politicians; Sarko.

à bientôt I'll be traveling to Paris, albeit briefly but it does perk up the ears to recent French 'particulieurs'....

Interesting to note how Sarkozy, perhaps the most pitiless of politicians, known as the crime and security president, has proposed yet another draconian law. His latest proposal would imprison those who repeatedly visits websites that support and promote terrorism or hatred. The Times of India, legal experts are concerned that such a law could curtail freedom of speech. Reporters Without Borders accused Sarkozy of trying to create an internet surveillance system. 

Almost as if Sarko's re-living past Maghreb riots that took place in the banlieues, the poor suburbs, full of poor Algerians like the shooter, Mohamed Merah. Little surprise Sarko's racist campaign's are joined by xenophobic reactionary Marine Le Pen, a candidate doing far better than her father. She's now practically mainstream, such is her savvy political nature as well as the current emotional environs of France. 

Well why not follow the money as they say, follow the money. Where does a French kid of Algerian descent, unemployed, well known by authorities, on the US no-fly list, on his way to jail,  find an arsenal of guns, maintain a large number of safe houses and own several vehicles?

Candice Bergen in Gore Vidal's play "Best Man"

Just reading about Candice Bergen starring in Gore Vidal's play "Best Man" restores the faith and quietly calms the nerves; reminiscent of when celebrity inspired us to project our dreams onto their beauty. How could you not love her, I always did, 'specially when everyone else didn't...

Gore Vidal, my uber idol, America's biographer and prescient for over 6 decades, no wonder the plays' hitting a nerve.

Almost makes me want to go to New York, hit broadway and see the play.

Almost.

Occupy thyself, enjoy the epiphany

There's that second when ma petite mignon, aging and refusing to act like it, agile as ever reminds me to be.     

There's that stretch of time when io e mio marito communicate and conspire in the most loving way, with clarity, relying on risk and freedom to feel alive. 

Like now when my orchid spikes, my tulips yet to cycle... 

I look around at beloved ancestors, they may have passed yet here in spirit; silent muses in surround sound. 

Yesterday, a rendezvous with a lovely Russian, a politically savvy women named Lola working on behalf of Pirate Party International, I do hope to contribute in typical chez bay fashion.

Next week I'll head to Paris to finally listen and see a proopcast, engage a coupla senses, laugh in la lumiere to the jazzy improvisational insanity a la Greg Proops...

Cannot wait and yet I can. A moment to occupy myself, enjoy the epiphany....

George Clooney; another Kony 2012 or selective moral outrage

Guardian article and Sudanese people wonder why these well intentioned types never work with internal sources and native tribes :

Czech chicks enjoying their Bohemian Easter Season

Communism could suppress, however now, the Czech people express as they wish.

Easter arrives on the calendar even as religion isn't emphasized here in Prague; Christianity is fine, of course but the date's another way to embrace the sunny season, provide some color around the city, relax and welcome back the sun....

Aggressively equal women of Kazakhstan seek help building Harems

Perhaps it goes against our western sensibilities but it sounds right and fine to me. Projecting gets so tedious and you miss enjoying the good bits, like this. Mio marito sent the following from Almaty. 

Prague; by Sunday its serene...

The Czech's call their Friday 'short Saturday's, if their lucky. On Saturday most shops are closed by 1, latest 2; so by the time Sunday arrives Bohemia's about as calm as can be...

Bohemian Spring's on its way...

 

First warm day since we arrived, light gear only, stunning day with jazzy branches for surround sound; weekend's supposed to be great.

Walked all over the city centre; three women to guide home...

life's cycles; women, flowers...

Carpe diem, indeed.

Goldman Sachs gets a knee in the nuts.

Daily Telegraph reports  on Goldman Sachs and its recent PR disaster. Headline reads; "A knee in the nuts that means serious trouble for Goldman Sachs.

"In the New York Times there is an absolutely devastating attack on the culture of Goldman Sachs, by one of its senior executives. He announces that he is resigning today because he has had it with the firm's alleged practices. He criticises the way in which one of the world's largest and most important investment banks now looks after the interests of its clients."

Justice is but one bohemian ideal; Revenge is best served cold

As I obtain my bohemian ideals living in Prague; I'm inspired by today's drama.

(From French novel Mathilde by Marie Joseph Eugène Sue: la vengeance se mange très-bien froide.)

Megaupload boss: Site popular among US government users. May be tempted to name names in Justice, Senate. By Iain Thomson in San Francisco 

 Posted in Law, 12th March 2012 19:25 GMT

The boss of the recently shut-down Megaupload file-sharing site claims that his records show plenty of US government users, including members of the Senate and the Department of Justice.

"Guess what – we found a large number of Mega accounts from US Government officials including the Department of Justice and the US Senate," Kim Dotcom (formerly Schmitz), the portly potentate of Megaupload, told the Torrentfreak blog. "I hope we will soon have permission to give them and the rest of our users access to their files."

Maureen Down on Manskirts, manscara and guyliner, oh my!

Maureen Dowd does go on about Manskirts, manscara, guyliner and guylashes in her inimitable Irish-American girl fashion. Alas, before Priscilla Queen of the Desert dragged our collective conscious in that direction I was producing and directing my very own fabulous Drag Shows 2 decades back. Such articles and items fail to raise a well tended eye-brow. And, I'm terrifically happy to report a few of my recruits have gone on to wonderful careers in Vegas and stay connected and update me via Facebook, this gives joy.

However I'm with Gore Vidal per usual; forget Hetero or Homo there's just sexual acts.

OWS, self sabotage and StopImperialism.com.

Occupy Wall Street's latest idea is a General Strike on May 1st, makes sense. Let's hope its more effective than last year's inspirational albeit short lived movement. 

Yet I'm more impressed by results and guys like Eric Draitser. His website Stop Imperialism rings right and he did try and incorporate a very critical organ to OWS; the POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEMANDS group.

Unfortunately for Eric the General Assembly was co-opted by the facilitators from AdBusters, Obama's Campaign (no wonder he's always smiling) and various anarchists and communist groups.

Communism as collective is fine but I'm too fastidious and their consensus model feels cumbersome and I fear self-sabotage is inevitable. 

Cycling around Prague on electric bikes.

Rented a coupla bikes and cycled around, found some of the famous clocks and sun dials withinn this city; daylight savings must create some havoc.   

Cold but such stunning weather for the past month, its rained but twice, the place continues to feel so wide and inviting.

Cobblestones a bit bumpy yet only seems to lull the kids into further bliss, as if being in the basket a massage, comfortably ensconced, secure, part of the action. 

Many people taking pics of everything including the kids,  5 Italians aimed at us, or rather thuh muffins...a paparazzi kind of moment, such fun to live vicariously.

Godot's so relaxed he appears almost bored but that's perhaps because he's already arrived. 

Imran Khan; When East meets West.

And it's a good thing. Imagine.

Guardian's Title:

Imran Khan: the man who would be Pakistan's next prime minister.

As he reaches 60, the Pashtun aristocrat who married into the height of British society says he is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the legacy of colonialism. The cricketer turned politician talks in Islamabad. 

Exerpt at the end; Khan is not "dim", as the elite who he detests contemptuously say, but is not an intellectual either. He is a politician riding a wave of public disaffection, and that wave might just carry him to power. What he does afterwards is not something he worries about. He will be 60 this autumn. This would only bother him, he says, if he "had nothing to look forward to". But he is convinced that he does. From his hilltop Khan looks down and says: "This country will go through its biggest change ever. A revolution is coming.

Stephen Miller's, "Conversation, A History of a Declining Art": Politeness is kinda key.

Re-visiting a clever book with a lovely cover called "Conversation." Almost feels dated even as the subject remains timeless.

Miller elaborates on his subject by focusing on the finest like Cicero, Montaigne, Mary Wortley Montagu and Virginia Woolf, exploring their world of British Coffeehouses and clubs and how this era came to an end. 

He begins by making a point how conversation is in bad shape in contemporary America, how anger undermines conversation. Plutarch quotes Sappho: "When anger takes over your heart, guard your babbling tongue."

"This is the age of the screed, the rant, the tirade, the jeremiad, the daitribe, the venom-fueled, white-hot harangue!"

Gore Vidal and Breitbart might have actually met, if only for a sec...

Update:

Apparently Matt Taibbi's piece really angered Breitbart's fans. So many muckrackers in our midst, tearing one another apart, deliciously interesting.

You have Matt Drudge and Breitbart, apart from their politics, boys that did and do continue with deeply subservice tactics, too bad the left doesn't get it.

I'll watch is from the sidelines with Gore Vidal the master, as it burns...

Dawn Powell said, "Satire is people as they are..."

Tiabbi update: Well done, Breitbart fans, well done! In less than 24 hours you’ve hacked into my Wiki page, published my telephone number on Twitter, called the Rolling Stone offices pretending to be outraged “advertisers” (anonymous ones, who hung up before we could figure out which “ads” to pull), and then spent all night calling and texting my phone with various threats and insults, many of them directed at my family. “Better grow eyes in the back of your head,” was one; “I’m going to take a shit on your mother’s grave,” was another; a third called my wife a “piece of shit like you,” and many others called me a “pile of human excrement.

Students were out in the thousands to protest in Prague today, like the others; economically driven..

I don't have satellite and don't speak the language but I did happen to see this on the local news while hanging out with some other Czechs. I asked for their thoughts.

Guess Alex Jones can happily move another conspiracy theory into the conspiracy fact file.

Everyone's been laughing at AJ's crusade against poisoning and medicating the public through Fluoride forever. Many came before him but through sheer force he's bringing the issues into the news. Mainstream, no, that's impossible, their complicit.

Robert Redford's "The Candidate" is Obama.

Watched it last night, along with Caligula. Allora, Gore Vidal's screenplay and Italian drama deserve their own post, certo. 

The Candidate's a treat to re-visit on so many levels, perhaps more entertaining today then 4 decades ago, when America was trying somewhat desperately to remain curious.

Long before the TSA, when Lord Berners met Sergei Diaghilev; details were different.

Once upon a time we weren't buried in brands, enticed to 'like' chic luggage and major airlines on FB, as if suddenly glamorous by association. Travel is anything but attractive...    

Mio marito recently skidded in from Eurasia, he'll travel to another 5 countries in the next 10 days. I project nothing but stress, what with sim chips, plugs, phones, currencies, passports let alone packing for multiple places and meetings. Interesting, perhaps. Stressful, very. 

I suppose the change of scenery could provide enough sensory overload to override the reality. But travel can be rough. 

Ironically enough traveling to Paris is far more glamorous than living and banking in la lumiere. Arguing in another language with inebriated neighbors once famous for soft porn movies like Emmanuel was less than, but yes, traveling by train to Paris is glamorous, d'accord.  

Lady Chatterly's Lover and Beckett: Bless Barney Rosset's heart.

Guardian:

Barney Rosset, who has died aged 89, was the most influential avant-garde publisher of the 20th century. He was also one of the boldest, in his willingness to question the laws governing censorship. His decision, as head of Grove Press, to challenge the ban on DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1959 led to the novel being published legally in the US for the first time, a year before the British edition. Having won the battle, Rosset immediately set about bringing Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer to American bookbuyers. Another trial involved William Burroughs's Naked Lunch.

Among the first authors to be signed by Grove was Samuel Beckett, in 1953.

Salvador Dali

Whenever there's a chance to see his art, I'm there. Salvador Dali makes me feel so happy, always.  

Decades ago, before he died in '89, people still spoke about his art as much as whimsical antics. He was a serious surrealist, a technical virtuoso then a question mark was quietly put alongside his name.

Doubt he cared, a superb draftsmen, technician, master artist.  

Greg Proops; Smartest man in the world podcast, ctd.

My day is always a bit better when the Greg Proops app announces a new proopcast, this one's called Magnets.

Greg Proops references are gettin' wider, raunchier and wittier  than ever...that voice ringing and slinging just about every item skidding from the 60's into yesterday.

Rick Falkvinge's the rare player that's managed to legislate his passion and concerns for privacy and copyright law into Parliament, one country at a time.

On Rick Falkvinge's site you can read all about information policy and civil liberties in Europe and elsewhere in the world, if only we could channel Rick's ideas through the megaphone Alex holds across the pond, far more people would understand and appreciate those issues that directly impact their online lives. 

And like Alex, on this side of the pond, Rick is a force gathering momentum along with millions of fellow enthusiasts in search of all the latest data re SOPA, ACTA and PIPA. 

Speaking of...at first, the German government was a bit amused by Pirate Bay, now they're taking them seriously.

Praha; a little Roma, a little Parigi...

I keep saying it if only because it's true; Prague's a luxurious combination of Rome and Paris. Pretty, sad and architecturally magical like la lumiere; world weary, surreal and psychically complex like Rome.  

In Daniela Hodrava's "Prague, I see a city..." she writes, "It is said that Prague, the city in the basin cut in in two by the Vltava, is, like Rome, spread over seven hill."

When walking, taking the metro,  
the bus, the tram with a cool Czech chick, getting acclimated, addressing details or finding the stores and markets, where to buy lights, batteries, butter and bread and exploring by myself, with the kids, feels like Rome.

And Paris. The place we bank, below, with interior lights resembling those used for external use in other cities...we may only have enough currency to cover rent and local bills but the environs resemble Versailles. 

The view with the moon, from our terrace, give bliss.

The police are cool but better have your metro ticket stamped, armed with some kind of ID on your personage or 'whoop, whoop its da sound o da police', and the funny bit is, being from where I came from, it feels so eastern and otherly, the imagination conjures up all kinds of mischief, if only in the mind...

Alas, if you've taken care of business, you're fine. 

The metro, those long trips down the escalator, so long you could finish a novella, feels like London but far less claustrophobic, fewer people, it's easy to get about in this town.

The bohemian crystal lurks everywhere, banks, design stores

cafe's, much ado about art deco.

Like Rome there's plenty of graffiti, and just like Rome, doesn't bother me a twit
I'd rather see the kids vent their frustration through their 'art' than violence, and they do, although I saw a coupla kids giving an old guy an awfully hard time with soft snowballs the other day, but he fielded them fine, another way to while away the day.

This place, Bohemia, sort of surreal, like Lord Berners, the eccentric composer who had a house near Oxford where the pigeons were dyed all the colours of the rainbow.   

Bohemia...