MIA‘s new video Born Free, which presumably takes its title from article 1 of the UN’s universal declaration of human rights, is a kick to the gut or a wink and a nudge depending on how you look at it. Directed by Romain Gavras, son … Read More →
Category Archives: politik
Grim Truths
On Monday Wikileaks, a Sweden based non-profit website that publishes leaked documents pertaining to government and corporate misconduct, released a classified US military video from 2007 that shows an Apache helicopter attacking and killing a group of Iraqi civilians. The incident rose to prominence because … Read More →
Africa Past & Future Mix
africa.mp3 Mystery Intro Madlib: Red, Black & Green Showcase The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble: Tones for Larry Young Madlib: African Map Watch Banbarra: Shack Up Madlib: Afrosound Panorama Madlib: Warrior’s Theme Madlib: Afritonic pt. 2 [buy the Madlib Medicine Show Vol.3 here] … Read More →
Notes from the Point of No Return
On a blustery February morning in 2009 I found myself stranded in Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5. My flight was delayed indefinitely due to the UK’s biggest snowstorm in 18 years, leaving me to wander aimlessly against a backdrop of scrolling cancellations and panicky commuters. Outside … Read More →
Black Swan Theory
I was loitering outside of a particularly well-appointed Starbucks tonight, waiting for my wife to use their bathroom, and observing the random assortment of people sitting at the tables in the outside courtyard. I was positioned on the edge of a stone parquet beside an … Read More →
When Satire Attacks
After a rash of schoolyard attacks left scores of red-headed children beaten and bruised, parents in the US, Canada and the UK are shocked and appalled by the rising tide of anti-ginger violence. The attacks were said to have originally been inspired by an episode … Read More →
Colonial Ghosts
Cherished by millions, Tintin and his little fluffy white dog Snowy have enjoyed an impressive run after eighty years of publication. Lauded by critics and readers alike, few fictional characters rival the mass appeal and enduring popularity of the young Belgian reporter, famous for his … Read More →
Critical Contours
In his essay You May, in reference to the relative perceptions of where the Balkans begin and end, Slavoj Zizek states: “We are dealing with an imaginary cartography, which projects onto the real landscape its own shadowy ideological antagonisms, in the same way that the … Read More →
Cordoba, ARG
The wave of protest during the Iranian election was an undeniable media phenomenon, with twitterites worldwide tinting their icons green in a show of solidarity and millions following the events via up-to-the-second citizen reportage. But after a few weeks, foreign interest declined, twits shifting to … Read More →
Optimus Grime
I’m sitting in a cafe in Victoria, British Columbia, with a paper spread out in front of me and my hands hidden beneath the table. In them I’m holding a pair of chopsticks and a glass jar filled with steamed vegetables and brown rice. By … Read More →
Techno Maoism
I was staying in a hostel in China a few months ago when I had this awkward conversation with this hostile Chinese girl. There weren’t many foreigners around other than the odd English teacher and most of the guests were young Chinese who would be … Read More →
The Adam Curtis Re-Up
It recently came to my attention that not everyone is familiar with Adam Curtis, the BBC’s brightest documentarist. It came to my attention because somehow I myself was unfamiliar with his work – I had seen a few of his films but for some reason … Read More →
Pornocalypse Now
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.”—George Orwell
Trapped forever in sex slavery, eh?
From the Chinese head tax in the days of the British Columbian gold rush (look it up, it’s fucked) right down to the Filipino chap who holds an architecture degree from back home but now flips your cheeseburger for minimum wage in Montreal, Canada has … Read More →
Black is Back
After suffering another blow from the velvet gloves of the Obama administration, it may appear that good old-fashioned dog-eat-dog capitalism is down and out. But old-school tycoonery can claim at one small victory: Lord Conrad Black is back. Well, sort of. The man who in … Read More →