The image above comes from The Nietzsche Family Circus, which randomly pairs aphorisms from the German philosopher with drawings from the, um, insipid comic strip. You should check it out, provided you want to spend 40 minutes refreshing your browser and giggling uncontrollably. The NFC is an excellent example of the Kuleshov Effect, by which unrelated elements necessarily take on meaning in their juxtaposition. The Kuleshov Effect is why film editing works, and why young Billy/Friedrich Nietzsche seems to have perfectly articulated Thel’s existential despair above. It’s also the guiding principle of today’s link roundup, which features items from around the web united in their I saw them this week, but which seem to take on a vague, ephemeral narrative as a group. Sit back, crack open a beer (be sure to cough over the sound if you’re at work) and enjoy the fundamental human impulse to create meaning.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Oh god, no!
Of the four promises made on the chalkboard below the window, only one is true—although "party party" is basically just an exhortation.
Cheapshots (and Beer,) arguably the best bar in New York—and all subjects become increasingly arguable the longer you stay in there—has been closed by order of the city for “illegal activities.” According to Allison L Arenson, the attorney prosecuting the case, “The community has severely suffered, and continues to suffer, as a result of the illegal activities…interfering with the health, safety and well being of those who live, work and visit in the surrounding neighborhood.” I don’t want to be unnecessarily negative, here, but there is no way we’re going to win this one. The attorney for the plaintiffs obviously has a made-up name, and chances are Cheapshots will never see trial. It’s just going to wake up in a basement somewhere and see Bernard Kerik with a car battery and three feet of lamp cord and confess to everything.
Friday links! Hung over and lazy edition
Thursday was such a productive day, too. But in Missoula, as in all decent-hearted places, Thursday Night is Fun Night, and “fun” is a concept temporally bound. I totally had fun last night, and I’m still having fun now. It’s just that now “fun” means a headache and scrambled eggs with srirachi sauce and, bizarrely, feta cheese. This is how William Faulkner lived every day of his life, pretty much, and he wrote As I Lay Dying. I have yet to produce the great Southern gothic novel, but I’m sure that with a couple more nights like last night, everything I write will be filled with images of shame and decay. In the meantime, we’ll have to content ourselves with the actual, non-literary decay of American politics and culture, to prepare ourselves for a weekend spent eating pizza and watching Blade Runner. Behold!
Close reading: Tony Perkins on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
In a turn of events covered quietly by everyone but Fox News, Congress moved closer to repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell last week, and seems finally ready to allow openly gay Americans to serve in the military. I haven’t been to Chelsea lately, but I assume the streets are empty and everyone is in Kabul. While the rest of the country seems poised between ambivalence and total apathy, church people and soldiers—two groups that reveal a surprising overlap—continue to rail against repeal.* Not least of them is Tony Perkins, former Marine and President of the 
Family Research Council, who argues on CNN’s Belief Blog that “ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would undermine religious liberty.” If that sounds like a weird inversion to you, buckle up. Perkins’s argument is a horse desperately pushing a cart, relying on a series of tropes that would be baffling were they not so familiar. It’s a microcosm for the larger, logically bankrupt argument against allowing gay men and women a place in modern society, and it’s sufficiently typical—and infuriating—to merit a close reading.
Combat! blog is crushed. Enjoy Mose instead!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnZumpucx28
Combat! blog is buried in a great avalanche of work today, assuming avalanches arrive at 2am when everyone is asleep yet insist on being finished by the end of the next business day. We’ll be back tomorrow, but who knows if you’ll even live that long? You should live for today, though your living should not extend beyond what you can do on the internet, and the best thing you can do on the internet today is watch Mose’s latest video. It’s the best kind of bizarre: on purpose.