tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27746501316959396292024-02-18T18:06:09.971-08:00Chewing the FatAn intellectual omnivore digests this complex molecule.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-87712130719717727522010-05-15T11:10:00.000-07:002010-05-15T11:10:07.157-07:00Being (and Time) Able to Read Derrida<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uSdHoNJu5fU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uSdHoNJu5fU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-23631017192060407582010-05-08T08:23:00.000-07:002010-05-08T08:23:19.078-07:00Those wacky scientistsare looking for a place in the brain where creativity lives.<br />
<br />
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/books/08creative.html?th&emc=th<br />
<br />
More later.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-16183664669625885402010-04-23T07:52:00.000-07:002010-04-23T07:52:15.704-07:00A passage from Majestrum by Matthew HughesThis entry is only sort of for the class and may perhaps be a way into continuing with this blog.<br />
<br />
From page 98 of <i>Majestrum</i><br />
<br />
I spoke to my inner companion, "Were you listening to my conversation with Warhanny?"<br />
"No," he said, "I was clumping."<br />
His answer disturbed me slightly. I was not sure I like the idea of half of my mind being engaged in activities I had never heard of. "And what is clumping?" I said.<br />
"An intuitive exercise. I throw a scattering of facts before me and then look to see which ones attract each other and which repel."<br />
"By what rules?" I said.<br />
"If I had rules for it, it wouldn't be intuitive. It would be analytical, and I would be you."<br />
"Have you always done this, this clumping?"<br />
"I suppose I must have," he said. "It seems a familiar exercise."<br />
Which meant that through all the years that I had prided myself on the precision of my intellect, the portion of it that had operated out of sight, in the rear pastures of my mind, had been playing an entirely different game."crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-82194446144053707402010-04-21T13:10:00.000-07:002010-04-21T14:23:28.120-07:00The Happy (Hungry) Phantom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaVFHZHRQnQFHPqDvCc6_9UC0wSgC2KR__OCHnhUpPjZk3nsdaUpHbUCSaMLkhY7CxH4yKYGLwTTWGAEhrFSt_aEosOh74RwkXybJ4p01Ih1q3uvwXOjOi9CJHTsj49t4VXEP80wdjhFY/s1600/waterfallofmouth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaVFHZHRQnQFHPqDvCc6_9UC0wSgC2KR__OCHnhUpPjZk3nsdaUpHbUCSaMLkhY7CxH4yKYGLwTTWGAEhrFSt_aEosOh74RwkXybJ4p01Ih1q3uvwXOjOi9CJHTsj49t4VXEP80wdjhFY/s640/waterfallofmouth.jpg" width="571" /></a></div>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-12912335198214990892010-04-21T06:25:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:01:26.210-07:00Happy WaterfallsI woke up this morning with Tori Amos's song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iwUZOnB9J4">Happy Phantom</a> running through my head. One verse captures of the flavor of something I want<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-_HcbSWjm1VJsK-GSxn5_lOYRaCsIyVRlnB6rAiJY9Jw7d8-JMRjEcOYZqc3gtxjt8UcF5t28jEhLb892DavQtQnx9IOqy3Ga6tu_f2ecBjfRwKc2n0gWAbfrRvG_YSyO16mF-TrEgo/s1600/etantdonnes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-_HcbSWjm1VJsK-GSxn5_lOYRaCsIyVRlnB6rAiJY9Jw7d8-JMRjEcOYZqc3gtxjt8UcF5t28jEhLb892DavQtQnx9IOqy3Ga6tu_f2ecBjfRwKc2n0gWAbfrRvG_YSyO16mF-TrEgo/s320/etantdonnes.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>so if i die today<br />
i'll be the HAPPY phantom<br />
and i'll go wearin'<br />
my NAUGHTIES like a jewel<br />
they'll be my ticket<br />
to the universal opera<br />
there's judy garland<br />
taking buddha by the hand<br />
and then these seven little men<br />
get up to dance<br />
they say confucius<br />
does his crossword with a pen<br />
i'm still the angel<br />
to a girl who hates to SIN<br />
<br />
And then I read an e-flux email about an upcoming "<a href="http://www.bxb.ch/kunsthalle/">multidisciplinary event</a>" inspired by Marcel Duchamp's last major work that has viewers look through a peep hole in a wooden door at an landscape, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="http://truthinart.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/marcel-duchamp-the-father-of-contemporary-art/">Etant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau, 2° le gaz d'éclairage</a> </i>in which what I presume must be a quote from Duchamp is used a the title for of an exhibition, <i>I want to grasp things with the mind the way the penis is grasped by the vagina. </i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">I then went in search of a definition for bachelor machine and found a <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=FHyyliXwGl0C&pg=PA379&lpg=PA379&dq=art+bachelor+machine&source=bl&ots=WN8OwS8FXc&sig=-ZpR9JhniWyBpk3bJRCibbEytgc&hl=en&ei=6ffOS4SQM4bc9ATZtv2uDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=art%20bachelor%20machine&f=false">section of an essay </a>by Nell Tenhaaf in a book called Feminism Art Theory that talks about bachelor machines, Duchamp, Deleuze & Guattari and ends with a fluid image. </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">To speak from this fragmentary and fluid feminine place is to see that the strange conjuncture of technological mastery, autoerotic pleasure and nihilism of the masculine machines might be thought of differently. It might be thought of as a mythical territory to be reclaimed by the desiring bride.</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Granted, these words/images resonate with me for reasons beyond this project, this Part II. Yet there is some reason that I think they belong in my blog. They somehow are part of my rehearsal. One of the things that I think Dean's discussion of the rehearsal does not show well is the ways that multiple threads of associative appropriations, that may seem off topic, that are not bound directly up in Dean's first story/second story, set up/punch <i>schtick</i>, add some oomph to a routine. </span>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-42716420380482309452010-04-20T21:17:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:02:10.710-07:00Some rehearsing: A bit (not) to taste<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">While taking notes on the essays in Appropriation (I worked from later sections to earlier sections in reverse order), I came across an image in Breton and Eluard's essay </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Object</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> of a ball.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">"Objects with symbolic functions were envisaged following the mobile and silent objects: Giacometti's suspended ball which reunited all the essential principles of the preceding definition, but still retained the methods proper to sculpture." (A, 31).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I have been thinking about mouths open and closed, and ways they might be forcefully opened or closed, as a central image for my routine. The image of Giacometti's ball made me think of ball gags, which are an intense way for mouths to be forcefully open and yet blocked. The item is question can help elicit many different moods- it can be used to make a scene tragic, dangerous, sexy or comedic. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Image from t-shirt found online of ball gag and a slogan of sorts.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6x5J7GHipbwWjpHV9iLuZnZUANpeGIPnaqIpB0OCyo7lj_IYVYmRhadrHgPTxi7qyjEyo8z1SRpW_4grJrqW0IkSA8onR9Q5UOn9a1_-Q992Yd_TIAIBuM1nloHpXQrdPdI5wFA8Vas/s1600/ball_gag_fun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6x5J7GHipbwWjpHV9iLuZnZUANpeGIPnaqIpB0OCyo7lj_IYVYmRhadrHgPTxi7qyjEyo8z1SRpW_4grJrqW0IkSA8onR9Q5UOn9a1_-Q992Yd_TIAIBuM1nloHpXQrdPdI5wFA8Vas/s200/ball_gag_fun.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">More often than not images of ball gags are used for comedic effect. Episodes of the recently canceled Ugly Betty had a "love dungeon" stocked with clothing and sex toys associated with S&M sex culture. Paddles, whips, ball gags are all props that poke fun at the excesses of two magazine tycoons, Fay Summers and Bradford Meade. The audience is supposed to find this funny because Fay and Bradford are powerful and because they were old and still "getting it" on this non-normative way. Part of the humor comes from the transgressions of implied "shoulds." The powerful should be in more control of themselves (S&M despite being all about control tends to symbolize lack of control/excess when used comedically). The old should not be getting it on. I think this is similar to how fat people are used in our popular media- they are often used for comedic effect, and it involves all sorts of shoulds.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This is important because our policy issues boil down to arguments about what we should and shouldn't do. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Giacometti's ball lead to me to ball gags. The image of the mouth forced open but blocked is potent. I began searching for images of ball gags. I specifically wanted images of men's mouths opened and blocked with the ball gag. It is surprising to me, especially considering the ration of submissive men in S&M culture, that a Google image search did not turn up many images of men with ball gags in their mouths in the first few pages- and I was specifically querying "men with ball gags in their mouths." But it did turn op the image of the t-shirt that I inserted above (I'm not sure if every one will see this as I laid it out due to folks email programs).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And it turned up an image labeled "The Fat Man's Ball."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-sBShPOH1FQRujakM23elZFc8pNsJRC5mefYuvOTinHT7UGPUcuGdj90DRbUNeFkuvRIG5mQ1-Oc2CIsY2wBQZa4zgWfqFlaReA7JQJVW7Mt5ZSA0ZHyx9CszdEO1Ieuncje7A4QzVpg/s1600/the+fat+man%27s+ball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-sBShPOH1FQRujakM23elZFc8pNsJRC5mefYuvOTinHT7UGPUcuGdj90DRbUNeFkuvRIG5mQ1-Oc2CIsY2wBQZa4zgWfqFlaReA7JQJVW7Mt5ZSA0ZHyx9CszdEO1Ieuncje7A4QzVpg/s320/the+fat+man%27s+ball.jpg" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I decided to try to put them together in some way. The Fat Daddy Capitalists- here a figure of satire- with the sly, slightly witty slogan professing membership in a S&M sex culture. But first I wanted to be about both food and speech</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">.</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtPhMNSTEXWpsUOiD-i2aVMANHw7_620zIX8HZQfF5-IjpAOdMNa3cVMAxgxeX28FlFJABtRUbWsTFRzNRAOzDbzKjrCDXvNpRHe_ZWHVmpDU1EumSK7RMRa2IHJBf-AtEj5bmRRz-GM/s1600/ball_gag_shirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="82" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtPhMNSTEXWpsUOiD-i2aVMANHw7_620zIX8HZQfF5-IjpAOdMNa3cVMAxgxeX28FlFJABtRUbWsTFRzNRAOzDbzKjrCDXvNpRHe_ZWHVmpDU1EumSK7RMRa2IHJBf-AtEj5bmRRz-GM/s200/ball_gag_shirt.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOQtK4s5Uo_ywNP4frgQP03wkBhOgXAD017AaTjE1qzaykP7hYCE-rGxjt4y3G0WFA-6_tL7PL-Gud-70uwSmW5vT7j-mJaliMDCsm-bUMWfZZRuI0jPe47ANy13z6V2pi59C2NV8Zbg/s1600/the-fat-man's-ball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOQtK4s5Uo_ywNP4frgQP03wkBhOgXAD017AaTjE1qzaykP7hYCE-rGxjt4y3G0WFA-6_tL7PL-Gud-70uwSmW5vT7j-mJaliMDCsm-bUMWfZZRuI0jPe47ANy13z6V2pi59C2NV8Zbg/s320/the-fat-man's-ball.jpg" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">And then I wanted the slogan to be like a cummerbund on one of the "fat daddy" figures which I made into a melting mass- sort of a homage to Cadmus's images of Gluttony. Obviously, my photoshop skills are limited, but it gets a bit of the effect I want. </span></div>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-35088073580606924272010-04-20T08:16:00.000-07:002010-04-21T08:17:07.272-07:00A Kruger like experiment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLWbQngz3YEYoCXZWy7Ap_5kjKwvcZrg74d_D2AUuSOtTgUfmf-rbQ5RVj_HrDrqr6BVBu_5Gu2Yzp9XTRlQ7zMUn7rEZ-sEs6ypKh_pWT2ip0-ANdh_s4DwLjGUKfchj8gFQod2aIIs/s1600/tipsy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLWbQngz3YEYoCXZWy7Ap_5kjKwvcZrg74d_D2AUuSOtTgUfmf-rbQ5RVj_HrDrqr6BVBu_5Gu2Yzp9XTRlQ7zMUn7rEZ-sEs6ypKh_pWT2ip0-ANdh_s4DwLjGUKfchj8gFQod2aIIs/s320/tipsy.jpg" /></a></div>In the mode of comedic unhinging to crack up critical thinking, in the manner of a Barbara Kruger piece.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-83357732800972996582010-04-18T22:59:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:02:58.447-07:00Routine Movements<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Two quotes from </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18exercise-t.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Weighing the Evidence on Exercise</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> by Gretchen Reynolds with just a twist of lime to flavor them.<br />
</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">"Exercise “re-established the homeostatic steady state between intake and expenditure to defend a lower body weight,” the study authors concluded. Running had remade the rats’ bodies so that they ate less."</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A hopefully productive reworking: Routine remakes our thoughts' bodies so that they eat/taste more.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">"Standing, for both men and women, burned multiple calories but did not ignite hunger. One thing is going to become clear in the coming years, Braun says: if you want to lose weight, you don’t necessarily have to go for a long run. 'Just get rid of your chair.'"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">To twist our thought, we may not need grand gestures, it may be as simple as getting pulling the seat from under our own thoughts.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</span></span></span>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-72029010304206217692010-04-18T06:56:00.000-07:002010-04-23T07:53:31.648-07:00A short post on Appropriation<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Some quotes that I find interesting.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Richard Prince: you have to play the picture, you can't play yourself.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Kruger: I am prone to a kind of lascivious optimism. I want to question the notions of heroism and skew the conventions which loiter around depiction. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Yve Lomax as quoted by Tickner: she knocked some metaphors off the table.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Stezaker: What is hidden in that surplus, that excess [of images], is what interested me, because it's clear that it is the tension between the world of excess and the world of everyday reality governed by its rationalist forces</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Aragon quoting Ducasse: a maxim does not need to be corrected. It needs to be developed.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Debord and Wolman: Detournement is less effective the more it approaches rational reply. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Duchamp: use a Rembrandt as an ironing board. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Warhol: when you see a gruesome picture over and over again, it doesn't really have any effect</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Retort: Empire and "Jihad", two virulent mutations of the Right.</span></span>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-67594421743254666612010-04-14T23:19:00.000-07:002010-04-21T06:58:54.527-07:00Topics overlapping: obesity dances with health insurance<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There is much to chew on in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/health/14diabetes.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th">An Insurer's New Approach to Diabetes</a>, whether one is focused on my public policy issue obesity or Wendy's policy issue heath care/insurance. </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Both UnitedHealth and the C.D.C. want to expand on the success of a clinically proved program that has been offered by the Y. Based on evidence drawn from that program, people who are pre-diabetic and lose just 5 percent of their body weight can reduce their chances of developing the disease by almost 60 percent. The C.D.C. is also considering ways to encourage organizations beside the Y to develop similar programs.</span></blockquote>What is most interesting to me is that this program's success is founded on a regular (weekly) routine of social gatherings as well as solo work. This is a stretch, but I want to connect the idea of this social routine with what it means to think the event.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-2510400590560779702010-04-14T22:00:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:00:57.093-07:00Unhinging productivity<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Barbara Kruger in interview tells us, "I think the 'C word' [criticism] can still be operational, can still work to put into place certain procedures and ways of looking, which have a tumultuously unhinging relationship to the etiquettes of power" (A, 115).</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">We should be unhinged, productively. I propose a Mad Hatter move in which as we rehearse our routines we remember that "detournment is less effective the more it approaches rationale reply" (A, 35). The "plane of immanence . . . implies a groping experimentation and its layout resorts to measures that are not very respectable, rationale or reasonable. These measures belong to the order of dreams, of pathological processes, esoteric experiences, drunkenness, and excess" (WIP?, 41). We are to give, for our own work, "witness to the abrupt coming together of unrelated, even incoherent thoughts" and "shameless transgression" (M, 130 and 131) "Proper grammar and syntax have nothing with making a joke funny" or a joke-machine run (SUC, 60).</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">I thought I wanted to use the understated overstatement as the tone for the voice of my stand up conceptual persona. My obsession with the idea of restraint (rules, norms, systems to pull meaning out of chaos) in the texts leads to its opposite. I do not wire my jaw shut to lose weight. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">To create meaty work, worth its weight, as I weigh these matters, as I am way laid by my manners, I, as the mad fool, have to unhinge my jaw. I gorge and vomit. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">I will be The Biggest Loser. To lose the weight, to lose my way, to lose my preconceptions, to loose my trek. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">This is in the mode of the Brazilian film/literature/art that uses anthropophagy as a tactic. (<a href="http://www.lorenzogunn.com/tropicalia.pdf">http://www.lorenzogunn.com/tropicalia.pdf</a>). I try to ingest and transform some of the power of, take the strength of theory and popular culture. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">And to bring it back to image, we should let our images consume us. To quote Brazilian artist Helio Oiticica, "It is the image that devours the spectator." I want to unhinge the jaws of my images so they eat my thinking, digest and transform it. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;">bit=byte=bite</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">routine=diet (die it, dye it, dial it, deal it)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">twist=unhinge</span></span></div>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-53357387283063013672010-04-13T21:56:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:03:41.286-07:00A bit rehearsed in an email now with some images and links<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_omvw-9jSVP6_4kWD4eIuws6sUWZNDsQxSnrfGKxcoQdMA7_dk_XuOBZ3iC3aDCBb6CLYHX68fQPGwqDUzM4ELEv-FnwR0iyhlW-PJgbyIP0wpXZ5NxBwJRJMuHY8lzkLHHoDa7RihI/s1600/fat_statue.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_omvw-9jSVP6_4kWD4eIuws6sUWZNDsQxSnrfGKxcoQdMA7_dk_XuOBZ3iC3aDCBb6CLYHX68fQPGwqDUzM4ELEv-FnwR0iyhlW-PJgbyIP0wpXZ5NxBwJRJMuHY8lzkLHHoDa7RihI/s200/fat_statue.gif" width="200" /></a></div>A phrase I have turning in my head is "It's all over until the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuB-kJrQiSI&feature=related">fat lady does not sing</a>." An stereotypically large opera diva as the statue of liberty stands on on side of a set of scales- the other scale is weighted down with books and studies and facts and tables and laws and arguments about obesity. She weighs less than these weighty tomes. The scale is made of a distorted image of the logo for The Biggest Loser. The opera diva's mouth is sewn shut yet things are sliding in and out of her mouth at the seams. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uBa5jHh6N5S5WEudfsWmLbS_Pxe9pmotaZmfhLDkWxWzAyo-IEEkhsl0ZN1d_pvEPe-LhDJm17j1DCbubUqcjBpYG7ARGzFsuDVZyeC1yBmgcv8lKwH112TbJKnSSttoTB8TTEgwLG0/s1600/gluttony1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uBa5jHh6N5S5WEudfsWmLbS_Pxe9pmotaZmfhLDkWxWzAyo-IEEkhsl0ZN1d_pvEPe-LhDJm17j1DCbubUqcjBpYG7ARGzFsuDVZyeC1yBmgcv8lKwH112TbJKnSSttoTB8TTEgwLG0/s320/gluttony1.jpg" /></a></div>The scale with the tomes is the hungry maw, the <a href="http://erinstack.net/2009/01/metamorphosis-hungry-ghost/">hungry ghost</a>, the figure of gluttony (referencing Paul Cadmus).<br />
<br />
Her scale is a bridle- she stands on the mouth piece, the leather straps forming a cage around her- leading to reins, some in her hand, some in the "hands" of the tomes. Some strap down the books/laws/agruments/facts/tables/studies. All of this is set on a plate, as if the viewer is a diner about to dig in.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-51056978909337253922010-04-04T07:13:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:14:03.470-07:00Fat tax: a taxing dietQuote from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/health/policy/05daines.html?th&emc=th">Health Official Willing to go the Mat Over Obesity and Sugared Sodas</a>.<br />
<br />
A response to the "crusading" Dr. Richard Daines, who is trying to get a penny-an-ounce tax on sugared sodas passed in New York State, from supermarket owner Mr. Nelson Eusebio:<br />
<br />
“Educating people helps them more than taxing them,” Mr. Eusebio said. “If taxation was a form of diet, New Yorkers would be the healthiest people on the planet because we are the most overtaxed people on the planet.”<br />
<br />
I like this image of taxation as a form of diet. In my mind it links to the larger dyad of restraint/lack of restraint that seems to be threading through my understanding of not only my target but most of CATTt.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-71460447378796689622010-04-01T21:07:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:04:51.107-07:00A minor textual detournement of Lifeload and MultitudeKind of sort of of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut-up_technique">cut up</a> of a passage from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lifelode-Boskone-Book-Jo-Walton/dp/1886778833/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271821754&sr=1-1">Lifeload</a>, a fantasy novel by Jo Walton, (p. 1) and a passage of Multitude by Paol Virno (pp. 52-53 and 61).<br />
<br />
If you go far enough to the defect of semanticity, they say, you come to the lands where people are like statues, going through a defined series of monotonous signals each day out of pure routine. The world dries up. Acts are without power.<br />
<br />
Contrariwise, if you set off to the excess of semanticity, people become feyer and stranger, more powerful maybe, but less able to remember who they are from moment to moment, until at last they run together and separate as fast as rainbows, an unstable and contained continuum, and only the gods can keep themselves whole. Power is without acts.<br />
<br />
Between these extremes falls the <i>katechon</i>, where folks have wit and will enough to oscillate between the negative and the positive, to restrain but not remove the regression to the infinite.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-7036926827309916512010-04-01T07:59:00.000-07:002010-04-21T08:02:48.302-07:00Linguistic games with a scrap of an emailVirno uses the joke as a model for how human creativity, how innovation, works/is possible. "Jokes are the diagram for innovative action" (Virno, 74). Jokes make use of fallacy. At the end a section, he asks what it means that creativity is structured around faulty reasoning, around error. I'd like to suggest that all our linguistic games, all our communication is in some senses rooted in error. I quote an email I wrote in the character of Bishop Bishop in response to someone asking her whether or not it was possible to communicate with an image.<br />
<blockquote>It isn't a consolation, but we misunderstand each other almost as often as we understand each other. Human communication (text, speech, body language, images, etc) is full of errors, gaps, glitches, misunderstandings.<br />
<br />
There is a whole tradition of theater (the absurdists) that deal with the inability of humans to communicate. The work of Ionesco, Beckett, even Albee to some extent, are good examples of how a form predicated on dialogue paradoxically uses that form to emphasize how difficult or even impossible communication is. Yet, the paradox is even deeper because we understand what they saying, the meaning of their work is fairly clear, something is communicated. <br />
<br />
Watching a young child who is in the process of learning how to speak- we might suppose that we learn to communicate orally by trying out different combinations of sounds and having people reinforce certain of those combinations in specific ways. The child says ba, often just for the pure pleasure of forcing lips and vocal chords to move and make noise, and the parent responds, "Bottle? Do you see your bottle?" So in some ways, misunderstanding is rooted in the our ability to understand. It is bedrock to it. Without those initial misunderstandings, misinterpretations of the child's vocalizations, the parent wouldn't make an emphasis that channels that sound towards specific words. I find the idea that misunderstanding might be required for eventual understanding to be glorious. But then, admittedly, I am perverse.</blockquote>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-50588003774756719022010-04-01T06:52:00.000-07:002010-04-23T06:59:37.969-07:00A page from my thesis paper that is pretty much on topic<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">[text in red is from writing by Bishop Bishop]</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The joke-like delivery can be a powerful bait and switch, hiding deadly earnest ideas. A playful delivery can make a serious idea “pop.” Some of it is that the surprise, the novelty, of the joke opens us up. Comedian and teacher Greg Dean tells us, “In order to work, a joke </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">has</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> to surprise you.”</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Some of it is that my generation (Generation X) and following generations, for better and worse, is disposed to prefer irony. Some of it is that the stark contrast between a comedic style of delivery and serious content helps us see things more clearly. </span></span></span></div><div style="color: #a8184b; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; min-height: 15.0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="color: #a8184b; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I suppose I should not expect a well rounded definition of the erotic from the author of </span></span><a href="http://supervert.com/elibrary/georges_bataille"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Story of the Eye</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> a freak fest of disturbing porn. Bad boys like Bataille really are romantics at heart. Instead of romanticizing flowers and chocolates and communion and warm fuzzy feelings, they romanticize shit and death and pain and isolation and deviance. I may have mentioned it before, but I’m suspicious of romantics- whether they are the happy-happy-joy-joy kind or the wallow-in-their-own-excrement kind.</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #a8184b; font: 12.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; min-height: 15.0px; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Multitude: Between Innovation and Negation</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, Paolo Virno tells us that a “joke is an action that undermines and contradicts the prevalent belief-system of a community (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">endoxa</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">), thus revealing the transformability of the contemporary form of life.”</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I playfully, gleefully race back and forth across the boundaries between the comedic and the non-comedic because it seems a way to underscore one of the central tenets of Bishop Bishop’s Mission, which is to not put our faith in fixed meanings but to learn how commit just enough to get something done but not so much that we shatter as our understandings of what those things ought to be shift (and shake). </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In a piece like</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></i><a href="http://www.bishopbishop.com/dailydose/?p=70"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Cant of Can’t</span></span></i></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, small bits of humor- the punning title, an unsubtle emphasis on “the Not So Good Words” of “the Good (and Not So Good Words),” the sarcastic recasting of Nike’s slogan and the oblique wink at how popular understandings of religion overemphasize the power of “positive thinking”- leads not to a laugh but to what some of my audience said was a powerful and useful confrontation with the limits of our lives.</span></span></span></div>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-89112427779661599642010-03-27T06:39:00.000-07:002010-04-23T06:39:59.580-07:00A short post on VirnoSome useful threads from Paolo Virno's <i>Multitude: Between Innovation and Negation</i>:<br />
<br />
The potential dangerousness of the human animal is also what makes it possible to innovate. The ability to imagine/create "that which can be different from the way it is" creates chances to danger and creativity. Truly radical evil has the same root as the good life. Institutions only protect us if they part of the same dangers they try to protect us from.<br />
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Contemporary political institutions function as a permanent state of exception. The multitude (the One of many) is the fundamental form of political existence. Virno proposes the ideas of the <i>katechon</i> (that which restrains and contains without destroying) as the institution that best adapts itself to the permanent state of exception.<br />
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He choose jokes as a model for creativity. Whoever coins a joke does something new. Every joke contains the norm and a fragment of the state of exception. He looks at Freud (jokes, dreams as source of information), Aristotle (phroneis, fallacies) and Wittgenstein (semisolid, semihard nature of rule that is the test and the rule) in depth.<br />
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He suggests the joke or the fallacy, which points to the rule/norm while breaking/changing/playing with it and points to the fact that whole meta structure of rules/norms, as a model for how political innovation might happen. The creative moment of the witty quip is also the same type of thinking that Virno wants for our politics. The creative political move can come up with a third way. To use his example of the exodus: not staying in slavery with Pharaoh, not rebelling against Pharaoh- but going out into the desert.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-76336239113766213632010-03-24T22:31:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:06:50.266-07:00Explaining the political punching bag postAccording to Dean, a stand-up routine is a series of loosely linked jokes on a central topic told with attitude. Each joke shares the same basic structure. There is a set up, which has a premise and a 1st story followed by a punch with a premise that shares a connector with the premise & 1st story of the the set up but that reinterprets it to tell a 2nd story that pokes holes in a target assumption. Jokes in routine often have tags that extend the work already done by the joke to get another bang for the buck or there may be transitions between jokes.<br />
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Following Dean's structure, I break down the first couple of minutes of Colbert's routine. This drains all the water out of the routine's swamp, but it allows us to take pictures alligators (with ticking clocks in their bellies), so we can build our bit/byte/bite of a routine.<br />
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<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Topic</b>: The bill introduced by Congressman Posey (Birther movement and its spawn)</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Intro</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">: The character of pundit allows for easier introduction of new routine as new bit of news. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Joke</span></span></b></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Punch premise: introducing a bill will increase rumors, and is a crappy/stupid thing to do</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Set up premise: introducing a bill will quash rumors, and is an act of kindness</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Set up: Bill’s bill was part of his plan to squash rumors that Obama was ineligible to be president</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1st story: putting focus on something stops rumors</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Target assumption: He was trying to help</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Connector: focus on rumors</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Reinterpretation: He didn’t help</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">2nd story: putting focus on something increases rumors</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Punch: by getting those rumors into as many outlets as possible (this is a sarcastic punch- an obvious problem stated as if it is not a problem)</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Tag</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">: To quell rumors, demanding test to determine if FL congressmen are part alligator.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Joke</span></span></b></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Set up: I’ve had enough with the reckless whispering</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Punch: But the rumor is . . .</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Joke</span></span></b></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Set up: We’ve all been in the place of getting some hot gator love</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Punch: Most of us remember to use protection</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Segue</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">: Bill couldn’t get a co-sponsor, interview with Posey</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-54881545516945598052010-03-24T22:12:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:06:29.511-07:00Political punching bag<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="353" style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #333333; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal arial; width: 360px;"><tbody>
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</tbody></table>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-46657344782195995352010-03-22T07:36:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:36:39.482-07:00Baby Fat Facts<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/health/23obese.html?th&emc=th">Baby Fat Not Be So Cute After All</a> suggests that all the policy changes aimed at school aged children (reducing access to sugared sodas, revamping school lunches by adding salad bars) may be too little, too late. Research points to evidence that signs of childhood obesity, and the related health problem of diabetes, begin in infancy, even in the womb.<br />
<blockquote>One of the most convincing studies on the link between gestational diabetes in the mother and diabetes in her children was done almost 10 years ago among Pima Indians. Siblings born after the mother developed Type 2 diabetes had a higher body mass index throughout childhood and were almost four times as likely to develop diabetes as siblings born before the diagnosis.<br />
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“The intrauterine environment of a woman with diabetes overnourishes the fetus,” said the study’s author, Dana Dabelea, an epidemiologist at the Colorado School of Public Health. And that, she added, may “reset the offspring’s satiety set point, and make them predisposed to eat more.”</blockquote>There a many reasons that I find this research troubling, especially the ways in which it would be easy to blame fat women for harming their fetuses. In a Left Hand of Darkness sort of way, I could see a time in which fat women of breeding age were locked up into prison and made lose weight to insure a healthy, non-fat next generation. <br />
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But for some reason, in a non-logical tangential step sort of way, the idea that the battle to not be fat starts in the womb, that restraint and lack of restraint are issues from before birth, makes me think of Virno's equation of the dangerousness of humans with our capacity to innovate (Virno, 20).crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-76275658100754690452010-03-19T07:37:00.001-07:002010-04-21T07:06:00.124-07:00It's Not Easy Being<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/arts/television/19big.html?th&emc=th"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It's Not Easy Being Fat Again</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> by Alessandra Stanley is a review of a new reality show "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Kirstie Alley’s Big Life." </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I posted this link without any commentary weeks ago in a bookmark for later sort of way. At the time, we did not yet have a clear picture of the tale/tail of Part II of the blog. What interested me at the time was the sheer number of TV shows about obesity.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"></span></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Gaining back lost pounds is every dieter’s nightmare, of course, and “Big Life” takes its place in a widening spectrum of obesity television. Ever more extreme seasons of “The Biggest Loser” are matched by myriad variations, which over the years have included “More to Love,” “Dance Your Ass Off,” “X-Weighted,” “Big Medicine,” “Honey We’re Killing the Kids,” “Bulging Brides” and “I Can Make You Thin.”</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Stanley complains that Alley's second look at being fat is tragedy. "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The self-indulgence and denial that were hyped for laughs on “Fat Actress” are still in play, but without the same wit or satiric bite." She wants it to be comedy.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">While there are plenty of problems with Stanley's positioning of the show (the stereotype of the jolly fat person that pokes fun at her own obesity to entertain us being just one), I think her desire for a more comedic flavor has much to do with wanting a show that is more hopeful than despairing. Laughing at and through your troubles, can be denial or well-disguised bitter self mockery, but often it shows resiliency, flexibility and an ability to tell a narrative about yourself that helps you keep on keeping on even with weighted down by things that are difficult to change or sustain.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our creation of like-but-not-quite-joke-machines is a way to uncover the unthought rooted in the hopeful belief that it is possible to innovate. It is not that the comedic is truer than the tragic or that the comedic is inherently hopeful; much comedy is rather bleak about the human condition when we cut through its protective laugh layers. Yet the comedic attitude does offer a wider range of possibilities than the tragic. As we try to twist our thoughts out of shape to find new thoughts, we want the option that gives us the most flexibility. </span></span>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-3452894662004664722010-03-15T13:00:00.001-07:002010-04-21T07:05:12.242-07:00Just a little food for thoughtFrom <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/15/headlines">Democracy Now! headlines</a> for Monday, March 15, 2010<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15px;">Study Finds Link Between Childhood Obesity and School Lunch</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"></span><br />
<div class="headlinetext" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A new study from the University of Michigan has found middle-school students who regularly eat lunch provided by their schools are more likely to be overweight and have higher levels of cholesterol than those who eat meals brought from home. Researchers said only six percent of school-supplied meals meet the nutritional requirements set by the US Agriculture Department.</div></div>crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-38235021785490210672010-03-14T10:31:00.000-07:002010-04-21T07:00:07.778-07:00Protecting the poor with policyJust a link to a NYT editorial, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/opinion/09tue3.html?th&emc=th">Healthy Solution: Taxing Sodas</a> on a proposed NY tax on sugary sodas and beverages. The comparison is made between the positive impact of taxes on cigarettes, which are said to have made a dent in the number of smokers, and a possible impact of a tax on soda. The editorial is a disturbing plea to pass paternalistic policy to help the poor (alliteration, what a joy). I agree with the tax, but I dislike the attitude that I am finding in more and more editorials. This attitude suggest that poor people, like the children who also are the focus of much of the discussion of possible policy on sodas and junk food, need to be protected. There is an implied equation of the poor with children, as those who do not know and cannot choose better, so "we" have to know and choose for them. And while that is true to in some respects for our children; I do not think it is true for the poor. <br />
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My main problem is that it is not just the poor who are getting fat (off of sugary sodas, bad carbs, etc). The percentages are higher among the poor, but the problem cuts across class divides. Everyone is getting fatter (though there is some evidence that the rate of increase has stabilized recently). We have to be careful of position those that are fat as an other over there instead of us over here. <br />
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On a personal level, since I've cut out sugary soda as a daily beverage (I occasionally have a coke as a dessert like treat), and that is pretty much the only thing I've done in terms of my diet or exercise, I've lost 15 pounds that I have kept off easily.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-60722066171053629432010-03-06T11:05:00.000-08:002010-04-21T06:59:47.173-07:00Animal open to the wouldI have read the first 32 pages of Paolo Virno's <i>Multitude: Between Innovation and Negation</i>. I will do the obligatory sum up posts to try to capture central ideas that lead to instructions for the project after I've read more of the text.<br />
<br />
Now, I want to let a give a few of the ideas stirred up by reading the text a place to stretch their legs. These musings are not directly part of the project, but they part of the zig zag path that leads me there.<br />
<br />
I can only read theory a chunk at a time. I read a bit; then I have to set it down for a while. I have to give my brain space to deal with all the thoughts directly related to the text and the (often multiple) relay races down associative thought trails started by reading that chunk of text. If I don't, I won't be able to concentrate on the next chunk of text. My brain will be too distracted. The trick for me has been to learn how to productively use my inability to focus on just one idea. I still am finessing this system, but it seems to work best when I give myself some space for all the generative, associative thoughts and then spin them into a funnel, a spiral, through which I can look. All the spinning ideas create a focus point at their center.<br />
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So here are a couple of ideas spinning in the spiral of my thought tornado:<br />
<br />
1. Having been involved in what many would call the radical (anarchist/socialist) left, I have often been frustrated with the assumption that humans are basically good. This leads to inefficient systems for decision making, bad decisions and a tendency to demonize people within the community who commit an act seen as bad/evil/wrong (sexual assault is a persist problem). If we are basically good, then we have to choose to do evil, which makes our sins more heinous. Even though many ascribe to the notion that it is the systems (of oppression, etc) that shape our behavior, somehow when it gets down to the individual level, people do not want to think that the potential for violence resides within them. The perpetrator is classed as other, as "not man." <br />
<br />
2. I don't think we are basically good or basically bad. What I have thought for a long time is that every human (and human institution) has the possibility of acting in a many, very different ways (constructive, destructive) for all sorts of reasons (many of them not logical). A radical potentiality. I appreciate the way that Virno plots this out even if he equates it with the "innate destructiveness of our species" (24). I am overall sympathetic with the case he lays out, but I'm not sure if aggressiveness automatically equates with violence. It is outside the scope of this project, but I want to note that looking at how aggressiveness might be distinguished from violence could be interesting. Also, that not all violence is "bad." I appreciate the fact that Virno calls it "so called evil." I think that qualification is important. <br />
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3. This musing is completely tangential; just a thought about wit and public policy. Really this thought falls more within the realm of the Marchand reading, but it was more directly caused by reading the Virno. Right now in Gainesville, there is a campaign to get the city council to lift the absurd daily limit placed (and other such restrictions) on the number of meals that various homeless shelters can provide. It seems that what needs to happen is for all the restaurants and grocery stores to set a limit on the number of meals that can be provided to elected officials in any given day (let's say one). Obviously, would be impossible to carry out as an actual campaign move, most importantly because I'm sure many businesses downtown approve of the limit. But it could be filmed as a short comedy sketch. And posted online and spread through social networks.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2774650131695939629.post-26526044613256226612010-03-02T07:32:00.000-08:002010-03-02T07:32:30.050-08:00Humor and its discontentsI am fascinated by the possibilities of producing modernist tableau(x) featuring the conceptual persona of the stand up somehow telling a vital anecdote relating to the concept of routine. I haven't read the Dean on stand up comedy yet (ah, spring break- a time to catch up and get ahead on reading, cleaning, writing), but I have some thoughts/musings/opinions already.<br />
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We have been told that following Virno (which we are just starting to read) to treat our public policy issue as a joke. The interesting thing about jokes, about humor, is that often at the core, are anxieties about important issues. Humor is a way to deal with anxiety. I discussed this in my post <a href="http://sheilabishopiscrookedletter.blogspot.com/2010/02/selling-chubby-hubbies-vacuums.html">Selling chubby hubbies vacuums</a>. Humor is one place we can play out behaviors and thoughts that are less socially acceptable. There are lines that we are not supposed to cross but getting damn close to those lines, crossing over them now and again, taking risks, is what marks the most memorable comedy sets/comics.<br />
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Bodily functions will always be a source of humor. Funnily enough, becoming more accepting of bodies and their functions and limits actually can increase our tendency to make jokes about the body. I think this is because even for those of us more accepting of bodies that fart and shit and belch and squirt and piss and smell and make all sorts of odd noises, there still is anxiety about how much we cannot control those functions.<br />
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Almost twenty years ago, over a Christmas holiday, I got sick with a dreadful flu that made me spend quality time in the bathroom for four days. My father got the same flu but only for two days. At the time, I made some joke about how he should have to suffer the flu for four days- this is not the sort of joke that would play for a crowd- it was a family, in crowd sort of a joke. And for years after that horrible Xmas shitfest, my father and I would make jokes about my jokingly serious, seriously joking anger that he only had the flux for two days.<br />
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All this discussion about bodies is important, because "fat" bodies often are the butt of the joke. We have anxieties about obesity; so as a culture we make (often cruel) jokes about fat, fat people and their behavior. My own family often has dealt with our tendency to pack on pounds (and not just 10 to 30 pounds extra, more like 100 to 300 pounds extra) by making jokes- often self deprecating, very earthy jokes.crookedletterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11946888716715085673noreply@blogger.com0