Archive for March, 2009
Torrent Underground: Kenneth Anger’s Original Lucifer Rising With Jimmy Page Soundtrack
Sent to me anonymously, this is the original version of Kenneth Anger’s Lucifer Rising with Jimmy Page soundtrack.
The quality of the VHS tape that I received is far from good, so the digital rip is exactly as is. Given that this is probably the only copy anyone is ever likely to see, I’m sure connoisseurs of the curious and unusual will be delighted to see it nonetheless.
Don’t ask me where I got it – I don’t even know myself. All I can tell you is that I put the feelers out for this about twenty years ago, and somehow it ended up in my lap.
According to accounts, Kenneth Anger originally commissioned Page to compose the soundtrack for this film, however, after 3 years Page had only produced around 28 minutes of material. Page was subsequently fired from the project and the film was released with a soundtrack recorded by Manson Family…
AIG Execs Left After ‘Retention’ Bonuses, NY Official Says
Buried deep in the article: Obama spared AIG’s new CEO, Edward Liddy, from criticism, saying Liddy got the job “after the contracts that led to these bonuses were agreed to last year.”
But he said the impropriety of the bonuses goes beyond economics. “It’s about our fundamental values,” he said. “All across the country, there are people who are working hard and meeting their responsibilities every single day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multimillion-dollar bonuses. You’ve got a bunch of small-business people here who are struggling just to keep their credit line open,” Obama said.
“And all they ask is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, play by the same rules. That is an ethic that we have to demand.” Obama said he would work with Congress to change the laws so that such a situation cannot happen again. Then, coughing, he added in jest, “I’m…
Pirates of Somalia, pictures
Somali pirates continue their attacks against international ships in and around the Gulf of Aden, despite the deterrent of stepped-up international naval escorts and patrols – and the increased failure rate of their attacks. Under agreements with Somalia, the U.N, and each other, ships belonging to fifteen countries now patrol the area. Somali pirates – who have won themselves nearly $200 million in ransom since early 2008 – are being captured more frequently now, and handed over to authorities in Kenya, Yemen and Somalia for trial. Collected here are some recent photos of piracy off the coast of Somalia, and the international efforts to rein it in. (30 photos total)
The crew of the hijacked Ukrainian merchant vessel MV Faina stand on the deck, under the watch of armed Somali pirates on November 9 after a US Navy request to check on their health and welfare, at sea off the coast…
Scholar Claims Dead Sea Scrolls ‘Authors’ Never Existed
An Israeli scholar, Rachel Elior, has claimed that the Essenes (sometimes claimed to be the spiritual forebears of Jesus of Nazareth) were actually an invention of the first century historian Josephus.
Criminal Advances in Book Publishing
Let’s boycott books by Blagojevich, Condi, and other non-writers.
Earlier this month, Rod Blagojevich received a six-figure book contract.
Blago is not the only secret, surprisingly diligent writer we the public know as some other professional. Chesley Sullenberger received a two-book deal worth $3.2 million, with one book being a collection of “inspirational” poems. Condoleezza Rice received a three-book deal worth $2.5 million. And Kathy Griffin—yes, Kathy Griffin—also received a $2.5-million book deal. (One comment on the excellent Galleycat blog notes that Chesley’s “$3.2 million would have financed a 3-4 percent raise for 1,000 people” at Harper’s.” Not to mention preventing dozens of layoffs).
I am no expert on the publishing industry, but I know book editors have been laid off recently, and fewer and fewer authors are receiving book contracts as the industry contracts.
However, non-writers—a white collar criminal, an airline pilot, a Bushie, a comedian—can now purchase whole swaths of the Icelandic…
Go-Go Dancer Duped With Fake $100 Bills
A Florida exotic dancer reported to police that a man at the Paper Moon club in Port St. Lucie tipped her with two bogus $100 bills.
WTF: Woman Shot By Arrow on NYC Street is Recovering
A woman who was hit in the stomach with an arrow on a city street said Monday she at first thought she was hit by a baseball.
The 30-inch arrow struck Denise Delgado-Brown on Sunday afternoon as she was dropping off fellow parishioners at a nursing home after church.
“I thought that maybe somebody had hit me with a baseball,” the Yonkers traffic court officer told WINS radio. “It just happened so quickly. I just couldn’t believe it.”
A St. Barnabas Hospital spokesman said Delgado-Brown was in stable condition and would be moved from the intensive care unit Monday.
Police said the black arrow with yellow feathers was a high-performance carbon aluminum arrow used for target practice; they believed it was shot at random, possibly from a rooftop or park in the area. The arrow can potentially reach a distance of more than 300 yards, police said.
The shooter could face reckless endangerment charges if…
The Park Avenue Pirate Pose
In these days of falling stocks, it’s fun to take a look back at this hilarious piece written pre-crisis by Tom Wolfe. The Bonfire of the Vanities author takes a look at the ridiculousness of life in Greenwich, CT and on Park Avenue circa 2007.
Tensions abound between stuffy old-money rich people and obnoxious, newly wealthy hedge fund managers. Golf courses, vases, and charity benefits featuring Jay-Z are discussed.
Mormons And The Illuminati
Learn about the scary, cult-like aspects of Mormonism, revealed by ex-Mormons, in this video. Allegedly, a bizarre host of rituals are tied to the ability to become “gods on Earth” and gain access to “revelations,” privileged information reserved for a select Mormon elite. What must one do and believe in? Blood atonement, baptism for the dead, spirit babies, ancient aliens, celestial sex, and magic clothing. Learn about the plottings of Mormon business-types.
Voodoo School Pencil Case Raises Ire
A voodoo pencil case for schoolchildren has been targeted by a child advocacy group that claims it encourages bullying.
The Far Right Is On the March Again: The Rise of Fascism in Austria
Beneath a leaden sky the solemn, black-clad crowd moves slowly towards a modest grey headstone. At one end of the grave, a flame casts light on the black lettering that is engraved on the marble. At the other end, an elderly soldier bends down to place flowers before standing to salute.
From all over Austria, people are here to pay their respects to their fallen hero. But the solemnity of the occasion is cut with tension. Beyond the crowd of about 300, armed police are in attendance. They keep a respectful distance but the rasping bark of Alsatians hidden in vans provides an eerie soundtrack as the crowd congregates in mist and light rain.
Newest Hacked Road Sign Warns Of New York’s Imminent Demise
Ray Wert, Jalopnik: We didn’t tell you specifically not to hack traffic signs to say “New York Is Dying”?
Are you going to make us spell out each and every thing you shouldn’t be hacking signs to say?
Here’s a more lively one noticed at Houston and Bowery by Peter Ha of CrunchGear:
‘60 Minutes’ Goes Inside The Fed
60 Minutes: Aside from the president he’s the most powerful man working to save the economy, but you have never seen an interview with Ben Bernanke.
Bernanke is the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, better known as the Fed. The words of any Fed chairman cause fortunes to rise and fall and so, by tradition, chairmen of the Fed do not do interviews — that is until now.
The Federal Reserve controls the economy by setting interest rates. But after the crash of 2008, Bernanke invoked emergency powers, and with unprecedented aggressiveness has thrown a trillion dollars at the crisis.
Ben Bernanke may be the most important Fed chairman in history. The question is, can he help lead America out of this deep recession and when?
Red Cross Described ‘Torture’ at CIA Jails
Joby Warrick, Washington Post: The International Committee of the Red Cross concluded in a secret report that the Bush administration’s treatment of al-Qaeda captives “constituted torture,” a finding that strongly implied that CIA interrogation methods violated international law, according to newly published excerpts from the long-concealed 2007 document.
The report, an account alleging physical and psychological brutality inside CIA “black site” prisons, also states that some U.S. practices amounted to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” Such maltreatment of detainees is expressly prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.
The findings were based on an investigation by ICRC officials, who were granted exclusive access to the CIA’s “high-value” detainees after they were transferred in 2006 to the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The 14 detainees, who had been kept in isolation in CIA prisons overseas, gave remarkably uniform accounts of abuse that included beatings, sleep deprivation, extreme temperatures and, in some cases, waterboarding,…
Brothers At War
A young filmmaker travels to Iraq to tell his brothers’ story. Often humorous, sometimes lethal, this embedding with four combat units in Iraq, gives him insight into exactly why his two soldier brothers are over there.
Obama Administration to Make Veterans Pay for Service-Related Injuries with Private Insurance
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.
But the proposal would be “dead on arrival” if it’s sent to Congress, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said. Murray used that blunt terminology when she told Shinseki that the idea would not be acceptable and would be rejected if formally proposed. Her remarks came during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs about the 2010 budget.
No official proposal to create such a program has been announced publicly, but veterans groups wrote a pre-emptive letter last week to President Obama voicing their opposition to the idea after hearing the plan was under consideration. The groups also cited an increase in “third-party collections” estimated in the 2010 budget proposal — something they said could be achieved only if the Veterans…
The Culture Warriors Get Laid Off
FRANK RICH, NY Times: SOMEDAY we’ll learn the whole story of why George W. Bush brushed off that intelligence briefing of Aug. 6, 2001, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” But surely a big distraction was the major speech he was readying for delivery on Aug. 9, his first prime-time address to the nation. The subject — which Bush hyped as “one of the most profound of our time” — was stem cells. For a presidency in thrall to a thriving religious right (and a presidency incapable of multi-tasking), nothing, not even terrorism, could be more urgent.
When Barack Obama ended the Bush stem-cell policy last week, there were no such overheated theatrics. No oversold prime-time address. No hysteria from politicians, the news media or the public. The family-values dinosaurs that once stalked the earth — Falwell, Robertson, Dobson and Reed — are now either dead, retired or disgraced. Their…
What Do AIG and Cattle Have in Common?
These days, bailed out CEOs are less popular than journalists, lawyers, politicians, and Rush Limbaugh all rolled into a single money-sucking mega-turd. Now AIG wants to retain the “top” talent that dug us into this hole. What do AIG and cows have in common? They’re both full of crap.
The 6 Drinkiest Politicians in U.S. History
Comedy Central’s InDecision: I don’t know about you but I have March 17th and 18th fully planned out. On March 17th I’m doing my St. Patrick’s Day ritual of getting into fights and puking up green beer. And on the 18th, I plan to spend the whole day in a deep depression regretting everything I’ve done the day before.
Overindulging in alcohol can lead to all sorts of trouble. And yet, there are some who have battled their demons with the bottle while rising to some of the highest levels of public service.
President Richard Nixon: They called Richard Nixon “Tricky Dick,” but maybe they should have called him Drinky McDrinksalot. (Well, that doesn’t really convey his penchant for dirty politics which was the point of the nickname. Also, his heavy drinking wasn’t common knowledge so probably only those closest to him would have really been in a position to call him that.)
Previously…
