Michael David Murphy subtitle-transcribes an interview with Jaques Derrida.
http://2point8.whileseated.org/2011/02/13/a-jpg-transcript-of-jacques-derrida...
http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2011/02/11/celebrations-follow-resignation-...
Sent from my iPhone
via makingof.com
From 1967 to 1975, fueled by curiosity and naïveté, Swedish journalists traversed the Atlantic Ocean to film the black power movement in America. The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975 mobilizes a treasure trove of 16mm material, which languished in a basement for 30 years, into an irresistible mosaic of images, music, and narration to chronicle the movement’s evolution. Mesmerizing footage of Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Angela Davis, and Eldridge Cleaver, as well as Black Panther activities, are peppered with B-roll footage of black America.
More here: http://sundance.bside.com/2011/films/theblackpowermixtape19671975_sundance2011
There are numerous documentaries about this period and the culture, but what makes Black Power Mixtape stand out is just how classy it is. Throughout the film we hear from artists and activists involved in, or influenced by, the movement through audio commentary. The lack of talking heads keeps you focused in on the footage and provides subtle context without attempting to aggressively educate you. It’s an interesting way to feature contributors as it seemed that they were commenting while watching the film, a perfect way to include a vast array of voices and views without being obtrusive to the pacing of the story.
More here: http://www.thedocumentaryblog.com/index.php/2011/01/22/sundance-review-black-...
John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times
On Wednesday, Danielle Chiesi appeared in Federal court in Manhattan to plead "guilty to three counts of participating in an insider-trading conspiracy," reports the NYTimes.
Ms. Chiesi is a central figure in the government’s sprawling, multiyear investigation into insider trading on Wall Street. The inquiry centers on the prosecution of Raj Rajaratnam, a billionaire investor who helped found the Galleon Group hedge fund. . . .
“This guilty plea causes me great pain, and I’m deeply ashamed by what I did,” said Ms. Chiesi, who told the judge that she was under psychiatric care and taking anti-anxiety drugs. “I ruined a 20-year career that I truly loved and have brought disrepute to what is an honorable profession.”
John Mantell got the shot of the guilty trader outside the courtoom. He was lucky enough and good enough to capture the other player in the drama — manifesting himself appropriately in Master of the Universe form — in the same frame. Having collected his due, Mephistopheles puffs contentedly on his cigar.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/chiesi-expected-to-plead-guilty/
I love this picture from Alec Soth's new series for the Times, umpteen portraits of workers in Rockford, Illinois.
As the camera recorded the portrait, the snow recorded the process of the portrait.
The tracks tell the story: Bloomingdale stepping lightly, perhaps tentatively, into the frame from the lower right corner, turning and facing the camera. Soth — or his assistant — more comfortably tromping from camera to subject, likely more than once, loop-de-looping to Bloomingdale and back to meter him or hand him a color-checker chart to hold for a frame or brush lint off his jacket or help him with his stance.
All the usual business of making a portrait, rarely seen in the final image, but here made visible for us by the snow.
Story: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/23/magazine/rockford.html
Backstory: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/rockfords-group-portrait-in-five-days/
It's Mayberry meets Star Trek!
From the Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle:
According to a Nov. 19 bulletin from the Georgia Information Sharing & Analysis Center, "three shotguns were set up on a platform and linked to a Web-accessible camera system that allows the guns to be fired via an Internet connection."
A second, identical system was found on the other side of the right-of-way, for a total of six shotguns. . . .
The bulletin, circulated by the Office of Homeland Security, said the guns were trained toward a food plot, and that their likely intent was for hunting in an area known to be infested with feral hogs.
Benellis, of course. The shotgun of the modern south. Three-inch with extension tubes.
I looking forward to the Garden & Gun profile + how-to.
Mississippi seceded from the union on January 9, 1861, by a vote of 84 to 15 at a convention in the state capital in Jackson. To explain its decision, the delegates issued a "A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union," which begins:
In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.
Read the rest: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp
Top and above, Civil War statue in Cleveland, MS
