I’m amazed that for the New York Times, Obama’s Democratic Party Nomination is still a “black” and “white” issue. Before I even go there I would like to point out that neither of the two main stories really focus on what Obama’s camp is experiencing, he is after all the victor. The two main stories “Clinton Ready to End Bid and Endorse Obama” and “Many Blacks Find Joy in Unexpected Breakthrough” only talk around his victory, this doesn’t surprise me since the New York Times has endorsed Hilary Clinton. In the Clinton focused story they did however put a small odd and unglamorous photo of Obama -read between the lines- in the backseat of a car.

But what really bothers me is the second article, one that paints a single-sided picture of the Obama supporters, in an weak attempt to draw distinction between the supporters, who can all empathize if not truly sympathize with what his victory mean for someone not of the typical mold. Can you imagine if Hilary would have won, would the New York Times have written “Many Whites are Glad…”?! Seriously, this kind of reportage really dates the Times, it sets them a couple decades back at least. This “black & white” story comes across as subterfuge when we should be looking a lot deeper into what this presidential race is about: a change that is at the core of many people’s hopes, not just for those who look the same, but for all who feel the same.

Raise your hand if you’ve been feeling it for way too long now.

In December 2001, Dean Kamen unveiled his latest invention, The Segway, a two wheeled battery powered scooter that can take people -umm- around the block and back? Not much more efficient than the other two wheeled invention called the bicycle. Many people still see them on the street or on TV and are befuddled by it’s awkwardness.

A couple of months before the Segway is released, American and British forces invade Afghanistan in retaliation for the Sept. 11th bombings, the day is October 7, 2001.

Two years later, March 20, 2003, with the war still being fought in Afghanistan, US decided to invade Iraq. The events that unfold still continue to change the course of world history.
Still the Segway slow to ship at with it’s hefty price tag, $6,000, where do you park it? At the end of 2003, Segway recalled the 6,000 units sold because of power/safety issues, a technological glitch that only made matters worse given that they company projected that they would sell 50,000-100,000 that year.

Fast forward 2008, we’ve been at war for 7 years now. The two wars are still raging, draining life from Iraq, from Afghanistan, from America, despite the lies and lack of progress. A conundrum, a pretzel. Can you fast forward war? I’m sure a great many Americans would love to tiVo the whole thing, fast forward and erase. I’m digressing -sort of, however remote these two diverging stories do eventually collide… in this CNN video report, Segway comes to the service of returning amputee veterans… On the surface technology seems to have saved the day again, but I don’t think that’s the end of it.

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Stories linked in this post:

“Amputee vets see eye-to-eye on Segways” by Paul Courson
May 5, 2008 CNN Video

“Segway sales haven’t transported maker” by Dawn Kawamoto
Sept 29, 2003, C|Net News

*Also at the end of the show they invite one of the guest to suggest in 60 seconds and idea to change the world. This weeks idea is one that relates to the of “power through individual consumption and choice”, a power that can start with vegetarianism. (May 4, 2008)

If you haven’t see the film “The Killing Fields” since it came out in the eighties, perhaps now would be an appropriate time. Dith Pran, the photojournalist and war prisoner who’s story is told by the film has passed away March 31st from cancer just as the Cambodian War Crime Tribunal gears up for a heart wrenching search for truth and justice. 5 top war criminals are being tried in the Khmer Rouge “Year Zero” genocide were an estimated 1.7 million people were killed.

After watching the DVD with bonus material I learned about the rather ironic death of Haing S. Ngor, the actor who played Dith Pran in “The Killing Fields”. Haing S. Ngor, who was a prisoner of war himself and found it difficult to reenact some of the scenes, eventually made a new life for himself in the US but in 1996 was shot to death in an attempted robbery. He escaped the grasp of the Khamer Rouge only to die in a country who still believes that we should be allowed to bear arms.

Sydney H. Schanberg, his partner is still alive.

New York Times article has many more photos of and by Dith Pran and a very recent interview at his bedside. “Dith Pran, Photojournalist and Survivor of the Killing Fields, Dies at 65″ by Douglas Martin, March 21, 2008

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Upsetting fact of living in the U.S.A.: If you attend a college in Utah you can now carry a concealed weapon, with the proper license of course. In 2006 Utah Supreme court allowed guns on college campuses. The opinion is guns in the hands of law abiding citizens can save lives. The CNN report Right to Bear Arms on Campus?

After reading and listening to a few accounts of new Hamas-made hole-in-the-wall that separates Gaza and Egypt, I couldn’t help but notice the many flexible uses of concrete in the area, depending on which story you read in the New York Times…

Here Steven Erlinger reports the brighter more optimistic uses…

Muhammad Mowab, 22, a student and barber, bought a cartload of cement for $5.40 a bag, compared with $81 now in Gaza, where Israel has banned importing cement except for specific humanitarian projects. “I’ve been waiting a year to get married, so I can build a house,” he said, then laughed. “Now there are no more excuses.” – “Palestinians Topple Gaza Wall and Cross to Egypt”, By Steven Erlanger, New York Times, January 24, 2008

Next day, he sites the mournful uses…

And many Gazans simply wanted to buy fresh milk and feta cheese and fill canisters with diesel fuel, gasoline, motor oil and cooking oil. Some bought the cement needed to make concrete for sealing the graves of their loved ones, which they have had to try to protect with paving stones, metal and boards. “More Business Than Pleasure for Hurried Palestinians”, By Steven Erlanger, New York Times, January 25, 2008.

Later that same day, he sites the criminal uses for cement, this view not his own or from an interviewee, but a statement from Israel.

Hamas gunmen could be seen quietly taking delivery of hundreds of bags of cement. Israel has sharply restricted cement imports to Gaza, even for aid projects, because it says Hamas diverts the supply to build fortified tunnels and emplacements for use against any major Israeli military action. -“Tens of Thousands More From Gaza Enter Egypt Seeking Consumer Goods”, By Steven Erlanger, New York Times, January 25, 2008.

I began to wonder if Steven Erlanger was the only guy reporting from the Gaza?? A couple of days later, on January 28th, I heard a radio report on the BBC that was similar to his Steven Erlanger’s first report, it had an interview with a Palestinian, in the interview the Palestinian was excited about purchasing cement from Egypt to repair his home, again stating that it might attract a wife. (I couldn’t find the link to the story because the BBC’s website has the WORST search capabilities, but if you heard it too, email us the link)

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Image above, a more innocent use of concrete at the Laguna de San Gabriel cement playground in California, circa 1960. Even here, American’s have found a danger to this use…(read rest of that report on NPR “Residents Unite to Save Concrete Animal Park” by Jennifer Sharpe)

Just heard on a BBC report that the Beatles song “Across the Universe” is being literally beamed across the universe through NASA’s Deep Space Network. It’s aim? The hope that it’ll be intercepted by an alien life form on it’s route to star Polaris (wiki:polaris, 431 lightyears away). I can only imagine the sad possibility that somewhere in the vicinity of Polaris an alien life form that is extremely sensitive to sound is being blow apart by the lines “Jai guru deva om”~~~oops, we did it again!

Across the Universe
by the Beatles

Words are flying out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva

Beatles Hit to Be Played in Space, BBC website

left: 50th Anniversary of the Armory Art fair, and right, it’s 75th Anniversary.

By the way, there is also an interview with the 75th anniversary event organizer Sanford L. Smith, who is also the organizer of the Art20, Modernism, The Outsider Art Fair (mentioned below), Works on Paper, and The New York Antiquarian Book Fair.

I just discovered RadioDays, a temporary 30 day radio program held by De Appel back in April 2005. It’s archives have some interesting blast-from-the-past interviews and discussions, for example there is an interview with Anton Vidokle of E-Flux discussing some project he was working on back then before PawnShop (see post: Art Pawnshop by Eflux) (Also for those who didn’t catch the switch, Saskia Bos was the director at De Appel but in 1995 moved to NYC to become Dean of The Cooper Union School of Art.)

Anyhow, here are a few, more at radiodays.org Enjoy:

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DAY 02 – Saturday 2nd – 17:50
Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist
20 minutes

http://www.radiodays.org/m3u/04021750hansobrist.m3u

Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist
A renowned interviewer himself, curator for ARC / Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and co-curator of the 1st Moscow biennial, Hans Ulrich Obrist is asked about the medium specificity of radio in contemporary art. (Recorded in Moscow 30.01.05)
20 minutes

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DAY 03 – Saturday 3nd – 18:30
Live Interview with Anton Vidokle
40 minutes

http://www.radiodays.org/m3u/0403avidokle.m3u

Sunday 3rd – 18:30
Live Interview with Anton Vidokle
Anton Vidokle is a Moscow-born, New York based artist. His work has been exhibited in international shows such as the Venice Biennale, Dakar Biennale, Lodz Biennale, and at the Tate Modern, London; Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana; Musee d’art Modern de la Ville de Paris; Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City; UCLA Hammer, LA; ICA, Boston; Haus Der Kunst, Munich; P.S.1, New York; amongst others. Together with Julieta Aranda, Vidokle put together e-flux video rental, which started in New York last fall and is currently travelling to Kunst-Werke, Berlin, as well as other venues. This summer, Vidokle will be working in residence and presenting a solo exhibition at ArtPace, San Antonio. As the founding director of e-flux, Anton Vidokle produced and published online projects and print publications such as Next Documenta Should Be Curated By An Artist, Do it, Utopia Station poster project, and others including an upcoming project and an exhibition entitled An Image Bank for Everyday Revolutionary Life, co-curated with Lauri Firstenberg and based on the photo archive of David Alfaro Siqueiros.
40 minutes

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DAY 24 – Thursday 28th – 16:00
Saskia Bos, Your Host (Live)
60 minutes

http://www.radiodays.org/m3u/04281605saskiabos.m3u

Your Host (Live)
Saskia Bos
Director of Stichting De Appel, Saskia Bos, will host Radiodays with an hour of perspectives on contemporary art and 10 years of De Appel CTP (De Appel Curatorial Training Program). She will talk to Steve Mc Queen, Marina Abramovic and Henrik Plenge Jacobsson.
60 minutes

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UPDATE 12/06/07: Radiodays.org is back up! -editors

UPDATE 12/04/07: That’s funny, for some reason the Radiodays site just went OFFLINE. What a shame. I’ll let you know when the site goes back online. Perhaps I’ll email De Appel to see what the problem is. Sorry for the inconvenience, I hadn’t even finished listening to the Saskia Bos interview myself. -editors

I don’t know if you’ve been catching any of the Performa 07 performances running though out the city this month, just the other day a friend and I went to a radio performance of Stuart Bailey (a.k.a. Dexter Sinister) and Ryan Gander’s Appendix Appendix (pilot show) at Home Sweet Home, it was interesting, got too loud, etc…

Anyhoo~~ if you are interested there is a live (?) performance now on Performa TV, switch it on till midnight…it’s kooky.

http://performa-arts.org/tv/

Other Perfroma News, Ulla Von Brandenburg has an installation, La Maison, at Saatchi and Saatchi (275 Hudson) till this friday, she is also speaking at Goethe-Institut next Monday.

Next Performa TV events:

Tue. Nov.13 » 5pm-12am » Ronnie Bass Telethon w/ Jeremy Eilers, Georgia Segri and Nic Xedro

Wed. Nov. 14 » 9pm » Paolo Javier & Tim Peterson w/ Emmy Catedral, Ernest Concepcion, and Mike Estabrook

Thur. Nov.15 » 2pm » Snöfrid appears in the mirror

A rather odd video report on New York Times today highlighting the AK-47 machine gun as it turns 60 today. In the video, at what appears to be a celebratory conference honoring the AK-47, the Defence Attache to Zimbabwe and Vietnam are giving speeches that pay tribute to the gun in which they “see Freedom.” Makes sense in a very barbaric and twisted way. Being near guns just makes my hairs stand on end, having had unfriendly encounters with handguns I can’t imagine anyone wanting to celebrate it’s birth.
Also in the clip is Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK-47, recounting how in every village in Mozambique there are atleast a dozen children named Kalashnikov. It makes him proud as long as he doesn’t have to pay alimony, he says. Funny guy.

The AK-47 at 60
Russia’s Trademark Gun
By C. J. CHIVERS
July 15, 2007, NYTimes.com