The Invisible Library

Traveling Without Moving

Get out your passports, it’s a trip through The Commonwealth of Blogosphere States.

First stop is the Democratic Republic of Dohiyi Mir, where NTodd links to a great little Flash Cartoon about The End of The World. It’s funny, it’s scary, you’ll laugh, you’ll drink. What Fun!

Over at Counterspin Central, Hesiod opens up a can of worms while comparing the recent beating of an Iranian reformer by hard-line thugs:

Folks, you are witnessing the future of the Bush Fedayeen if they ever feel like they are losing their grip on power. In many ways, the Bush cabal, and the Republican party are like the hardline Iranian mullahs.

Personally, I agree with him. If the Bushies ever feel like they are loosing this is the sort fo behavior we can expect. They don’t play by civilized rules. Check out the Kvetches to have a gander at the debate and see what I mean.

Don’t forget to hop a camel caravan over to Iraq at a Glance and read about the occupation from a local perspective.

Meanwhile, over at Corrente, fellow Coalition member, the Farmer paints a purty picture.

And in Pandagon, a land far to the East (OK, not that far) there is a list of the Twenty Most Annoying Conservatives. Jesse is a genius.

The Acts of Judges

From The Truth Laid Bear’s New Webblog Showcase, Mustang Bobby at Bark Bark Woof Woof discusses the motives and mentality of former Judge Moore and his favorite idol. Go read More on Moore, Who Is No More.

The Liberal Coalition Calls

I’m pleased to anounce that the Invisible Library is now a member of the Dreaded Liberal Coalition. Fear us for we bring progressive ideas! Activist Enthusiasm! Cake!

OK, the cake is disputable. But I hear there is cheese involved, so that’s something.

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

You are Gaius Caesar Germanicus - better known as Caligula!

Third Emperor of Rome and ruler of one of the most powerful empires of all time, your common name means “little boots”. Although you only reigned for four years, brief even by Roman standards, you still managed to garner a reputation as a cruel, extravagant and downright insane despot. Your father died in suspicious circumstances, you were not the intended heir, and one of your first acts as Emperor was to force the suicide of your father-in-law. Your sister Drusilla died that same year; faced with allegations that your relationship with her had been incestuous, you responded, bafflingly, by declaring her a god.

You revived a number of unpopular traditions, including auctions of properties left over from public shows. When a senator fell asleep at one such auction, you took each of his nods as bids, selling him 13 gladiators for a vast sum. You attempted to have your horse, Incitatus, made into a consul and hence one of the most powerful figures in Rome. It was granted a marble stable with jewels and a staff of servants. At one point you forced your comrade Macro to kill himself - in much the same vein as your father-in-law - accusing him of being his wife’s pimp. You, of course, were having an affair with said wife at the time.

Things went from bad to worse. When supplies of condemned men ran short in the circus, you had innocent spectators dragged into the arena with the lions to fill their place. You claimed mastery of the sea by walking across a three-mile bridge of boats in the Bay of Naples; kissed the necks of your lovers, whispering sweet nothings like “This lovely neck will be chopped as soon as I say so,”; dallied with your sister’s lover and made her pull her unborn child out of her womb prematurely. Towards the end of your reign, you had a golden statue of yourself made and dressed each day in the same clothes you yourself wore. When you eventually died, the terrified people of Rome refused to believe that such a cruel reign could ever end, and believed you to be alive for years afterwards.

Dispatches From an Alternate America:
President Gore�s Mission to the Moon

Everyone in the Blogosphere is talking about President Gore�s announcement this week to start a new Space Race with China but I want to add my two cents worth to the aether.

Now I�ve been as much a critic of the Gore administration as the next person. He hasn�t always followed through on the lofty goals he promised us back in 2000 but he has made a few crucial steps in a progressive direction, like strong-arming Putin into signing the Kyoto accord and not joining in on the war fervor that built up after 9/11. Sure, he sold us out to the WTO but so did Clinton and it�s not as if a Republican President wouldn�t have either (could you imagine what President Bush would have done? I shudder to think at the depths of Corporate Cronyism that would come with such a bastard administration).

I give Gore credit where it�s do, though. He�s made a lot of progress in beefing up port and airline security and he�s already set the goal of an Oil Free America by 2012 and despite the attempts by Congressional Republicans, actually put the necessary research money where his mouth is. Handing the reconstruction of Afghanistan over to the UN was a good idea, too, regardless of what the Pundits say. We certainly don�t want to look like Laurence of Arabia, forcing our values on an Arab country that is already rife with tribal infighting, especially after the way we blew the hell out of the country looking for bin Laden. And what with the sanctions against the Saudis, we�re running out of friends in the Middle East.

In my opinion, the announcement that we are ramping up our Space program again will be the shining moment in the Gore Administration. And I don�t say this sort of thing lightly.

Gore�s speech at Kitty Hawk was a nice touch as well:

It�s time to stop living in fear. We�ve seen the face of terror and found that it is not some demon with a tongue of fire but an all too human enemy, one with the same weaknesses and failings as all people who would use fear as a weapon to halt civilization�s progress.

Fancy rhetoric aside, a good, friendly, competitive race to the moon with the Chinese would benefit both countries in two ways:

First, as a positive goal for us as a nation. We�ve all been in a funk since 9/11. It was a black eye, to be sure but grandiose visions are what make America great and there�s nothing quite as grand as returning to the Moon. It gives all us Space Cadets a Buck Rogers hardon: daydreams of shiny domed moon cities, space suits with fishbowl helmets and the rush of liftoff! America was at it�s noblest when we were striving for something greater than ourselves back in the sixties. Kennedy�s call to have a man on the Moon by the end of that decade gave Americans and the whole world hope that the future could be not just bright, but luminous as a star. And this New Space Race could do that again.

Secondly, it will help us cement friendly relations with China. They’d help get us back on track as a country and get our head out of our ass, and we’d help them become more open and democratic.

There are the usual opponents to this space age dreaming and is anyone surprised that they�re all Republican? Senator Cheney thinks we need to have big ol� tax cuts for the rich, to drain off that annoying budget surplus. Voodoo Economics didn�t work during the Reagan years, what makes Dick �I�ve got the heart of a baboon heart and the brain of a pig� Cheney think it�d be anything but a way to waste money now? Personally, I think using the budget surplus accrued from the Clinton years is just the way to do it, no matter what Governor Bush thinks (That blowhard is just sour over having his ass handed to him back in 2000 and loony to boot. What the hell is with his blathering about a need to invade Iraq? Hello, George, it was your boys the Saudis that pulled down the towers, not Saddam. Or did you not read your copy of the 9/11 report? Go back to Crawford and peddle that Oedipal nonsense to the lump in the bed).

And yes, I admit it. I have personal reasons for wanting to see a shiny new space program: I�m a big Sci-Fi geek. (Have you seen the Generation II Space Shuttle?!) I grew up watching Buck Rogers and Star Trek with my father on Sunday afternoons. It shaped the way I look at the future. And I don�t think I�m alone when I say that I�ve dreamed of living on the Moon since I was a kid and now that it�s finally the twenty first century, we should be doing everything we can to make sure those sorts of dreams come true because they ennoble us all.

Music of the Spheres

Before Thanksgiving, the 2blowhards were discussing Greats I don’t get, art, film, books, etc that are lauded as culturally significant but, for whatever reason just sort of fly over your head. The discussion was lively with a lot of similar entries: abstract modern art (which I love, personally), rap, James Joyce (who I wish I could enjoy but can�t) and a few other obtuse luminaries. I admitted for the first time, publicly, that I don’t get the Beatles.

Sure, I understand their significance in the greater scheme of Rock and Roll history, how they have influenced pop music, etc. I even like some of their songs. But I never have understood why my parents’ generation considers them the end all, be all of Rock music. The proto-shiznit, if you will. I chalked it up to just having been born in the wrong generation.

When I met my wife, she added a different perspective on the Beatles. Apparently they aren’t all that in the Hispanic community. Just a bunch of Anglos pretending to be soulful. My in-laws are decidedly in the Elvis camp. He’s like the world’s greatest mariachi and for one simple reason: you can dance to his music. Put on Rubber Soul and just try to dance.

Now some people say my generation doesn�t have a Beatles.
I once had a discussion with my mother, to the effect that none of the bands around then had the staying power or the influence. I sheepishly agreed then but think differently now.

At the time of that particular conversation, I was fourteen or fifteen, which would have been… (Counting on fingers) around 1990, ‘91. The Eighties were barely over. Grunge was just happening and Punk and Ska were still underground. It was also before I knew anything really about music. I now have a larger perspective on the matter and can say that while we didn’t have any band that was �Bigger Then Jesus� i.e., hyped all to hell as the second coming, we did have our Beatles. And Our Eagles and even our Herman and the Hermits.

Like the Fab Four, the Beastie Boys started out pigeonholed in one particular genre of music, urban hip hop (as opposed the British Invasion Skiffle Rock). They quickly evolved though, becoming something unique and other than the usual eighties hi hop band. Paul’s Boutique is their White Album. It introduced the world at large to sampling, which is arguably a good or bad thing; good when it’s done well, bad when it’s used as an excuse to rip off someone else�s guitar riff or beat (*cauph* Vanilla Ice *caugh*). Also, the Beastie Boys are still around, twenty years later and rumored to be coming out with another album soon. Plus they didn’t run off to India and become Yogis. Sure, AdRoc became a Buddhist and the band plays Free Tibet concerts, but it’s more a form of activism rather than just a trendy dip in the Eastern Spirituality pool.

Other bands from my generation that are still around: They Might Be Giants, the Cure, Sonic Youth. Siouxsie left the Banshees but her new project, The Creatures is even better. The Pixies broke up but they’re reuniting next year proving, as the Eagles did, that occasionally Hell freezes over (Or Kim Deal can get out of rehab).

I have little to say about Nirvana, who many in my generation adore. Curt Cobain is placed on the Icon Shelf along with Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin simply because he died at the same age. Sure, Nevermind was a pretty good album in its day but it has not aged well. You put it on and hear 1993 all over again. Yuck. Besides, they so wanted to be the Pixies. I’d say they are our Herman and the Hermits. They had one or two catchy songs but none of the staying power of some of the other bands of the day. But that’s Kurt Cobain’s fault. Or Courtney Love’s, depending on which way you take your conspiracy theories.

“He Ain’t Kinky, He’s My Governor”

As political campaign slogans go, it makes about as much sense as whatever the Bush/Cheney slogan is for ‘04 (last time I checked it was, “Vote Republican or else” but I could be wrong). But this is no mere flimflammery of a candidacy. This is Kinky Friedman, running for Governor of Texas.

…Kinky Friedman, the irreverent Texas author, songwriter and salsa maker, and self-described “Gandhi-like figure” at the animal rescue ranch he runs here in the Hill Country west of San Antonio, says the message could propel him into the governor’s mansion in Austin.

*snip*

…the job � heavy on ceremony in Texas, where the real power lies in the lieutenant governor’s authority to control the Senate agenda � does not daunt the curly-mopped Mr. Friedman, whose real name is Richard and who gives his age as 59, though adding, “I read at the 61-year level.” Given those who have come before him, he said, “how hard could it be?

Still, garbed in cowboy black, bearing a large silver Star of David on a chain and tooling around in an old white Nissan pickup with a Don Quixote statuette on the dashboard and chewed stubs of Cuban cigars in the ashtray, Mr. Friedman does acknowledge some ambivalence about his quest. This is his second run for elected office; in the first, he campaigned in 1986 for justice of the peace in nearby Kerrville, where “my fellow Kerrverts returned me to the private sector.”

*snip*

This is a man who, once he makes up his mind, is riven by indecision. So, he is often asked, is he serious? “Serious is not a word I would use, because I’m never serious,” he said. “Some things are too important to be taken seriously.” But, he said, “an alarming number of people think I could win.”

“The question,” he added, “is whether my candidacy is a joke, or the current crop of politicians is the joke.”

He’s got a point. I mean after the debacle in California, which gave us Governor Schwarzenegger, how could this be any worse? In my opinion, it would probably be better but than I’m a fan of the Kinkster, who’s been a progressive activist since the sixties and genuinely likes people, horses and armadillos. Plus, being Jewish it’s extremely unlikely that he would make any offhanded compliments about Hitler.

Snarky jokes aside, Governor Arnold has opened the proverbial box of Pandora, and whether we like it or not we now have to seriously consider the reality of Governor Kinky, Senator Jerry Springer, President J Lo and whatever other nonsense comes our way. Some say this is the end of Western Civilization or the collapse of our Democratic Process. At the very least, it is the Interesting Times of the old Chinese Curse. Personally, I think the advent of Celebrity Politicians will finally show just how ludicrous politics always has been. They certainly can’t be any worse than the legions of lawyers and failed businessmen who have co-opted our policy making for the last two hundred years.

And if it really is the end of Western Civilization as we know it, all the better; wouldn’t you rather we went out with bread and circuses instead of the long feared and hoped for atomic pissing match?

Scientific Method

We all had a gut feeling but in this crazy modern world, faith is not enough. Thankfully, Google offers conclusive proof: George W. Bush is a miserable failure.

Lament of the Unread

John Lennon (no, not that one, this one) talks about being the dreaded pariah that is a midlist author. For those of you who don’t know what a midlister is, it’s an author that is not a best seller, just a consistent seller. Ray Bradbury has for many decades been the king of the midlist authors. And we bow to him, humbly. J. Robert Lennon’s books don’t fetch the ey-popping advance dollars with all the zeros that Stephen King does but he’s considered to be an up and coming voice in literature. So why the big discrepency? if he’s so great why isn’t he on the best seller shelf next to the Likes of J.K. Rowling and Michael Chabon?

“The sort of books that critics admire and the sort of book people want to buy are sometimes the same thing but often are not,” he said. “Hard-nosed satirical dark comedy does not sell too strongly these days … it’s hard to break out beyond a few thousand readers with that type of hero.”

On top of that, Baker said young male authors face a bigger obstacle — the majority of fiction readers are middle-aged women. “More than 60 percent of fiction is bought by women and most of that by women aged between 35 and 55. Men are not big fiction readers.”

Some authors of dark satire, like Chuck Palahniuk and Irvine Welsh, have managed to notch up best sellers. But they typically rise to star status after their books become hit movies like “Fight Club” and “Trainspotting.”

*snip*

Lennon’s “The Funnies” has been optioned by New York director Tom DiCillo known for “Living in Oblivion,” but it remains to be seen whether it ever makes it to the screen.

Changes in book selling has also made it harder for unknown writers to reach the top. Publishers now have to pay thousands of dollars to chain book stores to get titles prominently displayed in stores and featured in newspaper ads — a dynamic that forces publishers to focus marketing budgets only on authors they are almost certain will turn a profit.

The little bit about how publishers are beholden to chain stores is really the point. When books are seen as just another commodity to be sold, like hardware or, as has increasingly become the case, a luxury item with a hefty price tag, often times publishers at the request of Booksellers will promote less capable but more palatable authors, in order to raise the profit margins. Now there is a fuzzy area where art and commerce at least shake hands and agree to get along for the sake of the children but it’s a difficult balance to strike.

“I have a great idea for a murder mystery,” Lennon said. “But knowing me … I will have to have some sort of literary conceit going on in the book. I’ll ruin my bestseller possibility by page 10.”

Via Bookslut