timeline: December 2005 Archives

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December 29, 2005

Raindrops, 2006

Was it a good time? Did you miss anything? All you could to make happy? Of course not, and yes.

For my crew and agency, it was a good time. 2 major assignments delivered to overseas clients and a third one in progress. A host of side-projects, smaller, with more freedom and for which inventions and turns were in the game. Cashed in, grown up, harvested well and, hopefully, seeds and occasions for new growth that will materialize in the future.

W., partner in life, gone from amateur fabric design to partnering with distributors on yarn designs and projects. That's the growing-fastest. And a sweet dealing daily, complications considered, I'm in love with a beautiful mind.

M., now 5, speaking both lingoes, with her astounding on-the-fly switching that impresses and scares and now learning French and getting confident with the parent's tools: Photoshop, Painter, her G4, as well as drawing and sketching in the real world, reminding us that she is a baby, still.

Timeline, once private place, grown from few afics to few hundreds of curious minds enticed to buy and come back, enjoying the widescreen and colorful plethora of emerging talents from around the world.

To all of you a big high-6 and the same enthusiasm for life.

Now for a few more bullets:

8 The Kenyon Review
Solid website design, conservative, balanced color matrix.
The mission of The Kenyon Review is to identify exceptionally talented emerging writers, especially from diverse communities, and publish their work (fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, reviews, etc.) alongside the many distinguished, established writers featured in its pages.

7 Andrew Kreps Gallery, NYC
Clean, almost bare site and an impressive array of non-compromise visual artists.

6 Stereohype
Pop tarts.
Stereohype.com is an online boutique offering limited editions and rare products. The stereohype range is focusing on fresh, innovative and inspirational works and expands regularly. Products include exclusively commissioned artworks for stereohype. London-based stereohype.com was launched in October 2004.

5 Inksurge, updated
Brewed in Manila, Philippines since 2002, a bigdaddy to anybody in the field.

4 Tronic Studio, updated (broadband required)
NYC directing, design and animation studio founded 2001 by Columbia Architecture graduates Jesse Seppi and Vivian Rosenthal.

3 The Stubbins Associates
Very strong and edgy website and copy.
The Stubbins Associates is a full-service architecture, planning and interior design firm with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Las Vegas, Nevada.

2 Violet Blue
Podnography
The internet is an amazing thing, nowhere else in the world can you find this much porn.
Former SRL member, Fleshbot assistant editor and podcaster extraordinaire Violet Blue. (for mature adults only) Her blog has earned an immediate attention and is listed off 2005's top ten sexiest geeks (Wired).

1 The Book of Tags
Sharp and clean website for this DROPDROP project.
The Book of Tags is a DROPDROP project, published by KITCHEN 93 and made possible by the collaboration of over 300 worldwide graffiti writers. The project attempts to analyze and also give voice to one of the most demonized yet pure means of expression within the graffiti world, the Tag.

0 If you have not noticed yet, our grand 06's postcard (go top and banner-click or)

-1 In 1973 when Brian Eno had more and better stuff to care of than producing Bono Vox, he came out with this

We hit the floor, off to drink some, thirst is timeless, see ya next year. No, before that drive to one of the boss's favorite, this girl that always cracks me up. The making of a loser. Crack.

Posted by lck at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)

Eleanor Yap

The endtail to 2005 is fireworks of amazing Illustration work.
Check out Eleanor's gallery (Australia, again). Very pretty for a young design student, with good cards for extremely attractive packaging assignments in the future.
Good job Eleanor (and all the best).

Posted by lck at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)

December 27, 2005

Lillian Piri

Little Galaxie is the website of Lillian Piri, born 1985, Australia.

A naive website but a truly breathtaking portfolio.

Posted by lck at 12:48 AM | Comments (1)

December 26, 2005

Poetry takes forever

In Our Own Words:A Generation Defining Itself, Vol. 6, Marlow Peerse Weaver (2005) is out.

210 authors contributed to this International Anthology of Poetry from all over the world. One of the 210 is me, contributing with the titles:

Bi-directional prediction
and
Song for Edweena - YOU OWE ME FOR THE FLESH

This book series is a platform from which a generation (born 1960 to 1982) is speaking out about its realities, dispelling the narrow, simplified stereotypes created by the mass media and commercial marketing. The series now includes nearly 900 "voices" in essays, poetry, music lyrics, short stories and verse from more than 70 countries.

Volume 6 is distributed by Ingram and Baker & Taylor, and can be obtained or ordered through most book stores, worldwide. The title is also available through Barnes & Noble, Borders, ChaptersGlobe, Amazon.com, and most other online booksellers.

Product Details:
ISBN: 0965413675 - Format: Paperback, 288pp
Pub. Date: August 2005 - Publisher: MW Enterprises

on Amazon.com
on Borders (USA)
on Barnes & Noble

Posted by lck at 01:53 PM

December 24, 2005

Highway Robbery

thread will be updated continuously thru the night, long as it goes

Given the socioeconomic significance of this time of year, not to mention the psycho-pathology embedded, it is worthy to dig into the Bible, at least once. A good source is Slate.com. Jesus and the Gospel, What Really Happened is a good start. The idiosyncratic habits of the American consumers, with special regards to the Christmas dinner is another, ergo, What Beast is This?. Third in my list is The Meaning of Life, who does not want to dig that? Alast, The Maccabees and the Hellenists or Hanukkah as Jewish civil war.

While Slate does a good job at offering interesting views on a matter that is after all relevant to believers as to non(s), my shopping spree sports a short list of essentials that has no much to do with the deep thinking.

If anything you want me to buy just convince me and I shall.

List below, gifts included unless undisclosable. All acquired via 2 separate runs, one in the morning, another between 1400 and 1600 (when traffic rating is low). At evening last-minute shoppers are packed in their cars in a horrible smoky mess. You want to stay away from this war of nerves.

Here we go, by brand and/or country of origin:

6 avocados, Israel
2 plates, mushrooms, large, local produce
2 boxes of falafel, Lebanon
sev, refried beans and tortillas, imported, Texas, USA
sev, Ice Cream, which must include, for the joy of many, Amen, chocolate
2 green tea and 2 "turkish" tea boxes, Aze Baba, Istambul, Turkey {a real kick-ass}
1 "fedora" hat, dark blue, size 57, by Fred W. Taylor, made in Italy (gift to myself)
3 2 x lit. carton boxes of juice, Pfanner, Austria
2 bottles of Domaine Capendu, 2003, France (N/A in Italy, thanks Mario, my wine pusher)
2 bottles of Chateau Tarreyrots, 2001, France (same + thanks as above)
2 bars of Lindt Chocolate, Swiss
1 kg Cous Cous, unbranded
1 kg long grain Basmati rice, India
1 "box turtle", our second barnyard animal (gift to Rosie), referred to as "Romeo". If these guys end up in a friendly couple, they will be reffered to as "Rolls Royce" (they were spotted taking the sunbath together today [they have a lamp just for that])
1 fluffy cat, white, black, gray and pink by LR-kids, Italy (gift to Melissa who wanted a REAL one)
1 box Walkers, shortbread, Scotland, UK
2006 Calendar, Fairfax Photos, Sydney NSW (gift from Fairfax, a just-in-time)
6 skeins of wool, 127 Print (for Wendy's scarf project), Italy
8 skeins of Grinordette, Shetland (for Wendy, TBD), Italy
6 skeins of Brilla, three yellow and three purple (for a striped top project that I pushed on the spot), Italy
1 can giant pickles, Poland (startling new entry in my list)
Warsteiner, Germany (enough to support 6 people for 2 days)
6 bottles of Corona, Mexico
6 bottles of Fisher, Germany
1 "Patrick", balloon, the Spongebob's Cartoon Series (gift to Melissa)
4 corn-on-the-cob, USA
Rambol, soft herb cheese, France
Taleggio, soft cheese, Italy
2 Pinot-Chardonnay, Italy
1 Malesan, bordeaux, 2002, France
2 Sanderman, port, Portugal
1 Sheridan's, Portugal
2 kg tuna, sliced, bloody and local
Feta, Greece (heavily used in our salads)
sev, swordfish, thin-sliced, local (I will be basically make "sushi" with these. I'll explain Sicilian sushi on another occasion.)

Glaring omission (could not be found): Cointreau
Down this year: vodka

Not in the list, accessories or prime necessities. Absent is meat, this year, we have stock sausage and steaks for the carnivore friends, absent is pasta, which we rarely eat.

colors of this week: bore brown and crimson red

suggested local policy amendments (active thru the week):
#1: mandatory 1 hour aft. nap (kids may skip this)
#2: give up the car and walk
#3: do not ALLOW guests to turn TV on during lunch/dinner

what made us so happy: advance deposit from xxxxxx.xx

2345: fireworks - what are we watching: Constantine, 2005... taking from Dante's Comedy... The Spear of Destiny has been missing... Kiddo gives it for sure that Santa is not bringing ME anything, not because I've been bad but because Santa only makes toys. Brr... but I know 2 beer mugs and a shirt are on the way. (kiddo will get a Musical Box, glass-made, and truckloads of beads)

2355: First bottle of Capendu to hit the deck. Is almost impossible to rate this wine. The entry smell is balanced, distinct, the body amazing. A rose' that is almost peachy.

It's midnight. If anybody wants to go to the mass I am available to escort, my iPod is fully charged. None of the crew seems to be interested (a church is 2 blocks South).

0010: Osama Bin Laden's niece is a cute black headed 26 old that has never met the Uncle. She experiments with pop, guitar, pic of guitar between skinny legs and another, spreading in bed on a pose worth a "fatwa". The cherry ice cream fits the soft-porn niece's pics. Not looking bad.

0015: I love Tilda Swinton. Here they get as close as 2 inches, lips by lips. She is Gabriel, the Archangel, unfortunately, the only sex they have is when she spits it out about his lung cancer, You're fucked. Is baby Jesus born yet?

0025: I have to remember not to wear my hat with my black leather jacket. If I do people are really gonna expect me to be hiding a cow or horse under the back pocket.

0035: Kiddo crashes with a smile, faithful that she's getting her gifts soon. We have to be careful about timing here. To assure her I called Santa right before closing time and he told me he'll be around and loaded by 0300. First bottle of port hits the deck.

0045: Constantine is in Capitol Hell, reading into the future. Even the cat is scared when he comes back to life smoking. And hungry. The weed must have been of the best quality.

0100: We know now that Heaven and Hell are real, the newfound revelation clears out the scene. Rachel Weisz is kind of stiff in this movie, despite the twins complication in the plot. Part 1 over and break granted to all the present. Gifts are (secretly) being laid out under the tree.

0115: They have bibles in Hell! And those who can read it get killed the most bizarre ways. Jews don't have the bible (actually they positively lack the Gospels). Hence: no scary demons movies. And no porn tax. Moses talks to God and he gets scared, in the Gospels Jesus talks to the Devil (who wishes to negotiate). You can see, a different scale of gore. Quiet town, on beer and newfound (d)ope.

0125: Conservation of energy is possibly the most important, and certainly the most practically useful of several conservation laws in physics. To actually get born you have to die first. Something's missing in the books. Red Bull time. The burritos are coming back in "spirit" form. We're all laughing and is nobody's fault.

0130: Brass knuckles are for hard-boiled. With crosses on them they kick asses. It's time to die. Corintians, 17. Is there a witness protection program for deamons?

0135: Where did she go? Constantine can not jump like Neo thru buildings. Too bad. We need to use the chair. To use the chair (back in Hell, boy) you need cold feet, Moonshine, gin and well, balls. Now it's getting cheesy. Bullets are being made out of holy brass crosses. Is it gonna work? Need more beer to believe what I see.

0140: After the machine gun scene with the demolishable zombies, the very maternal Gabriel the Archangel, and out of her mind, is back reclaiming the baby on a primitive scapel. But she's to be floating with the dead, despite her beautiful rolled-up tongue English. I dunno if it is God or the Devil himself, maybe both. He's dressed in white like a dove. The girl gave birth to something and Daddy wants it back. The Devil has feelings for his kids.

0150: The man in white has been going thru too many sleepless night, as it seems. After an intermission with cashews and a cold enough Corona everything boils down, lungs are replaced, cancer removed, extension granted. Isn't that what everybody wants anyway? An extension?

0200: Reeves has been going thru a lot of stuff: tragedy in the family, girlfriend killed in a traffic accident, we almost are relieved that he still is alive. It must be visible, right on his face, so sad (and woody) when it's to kill an angel. And he DOES NOT kill her. Choose a higher power if you have to be slave to one.

0220: Baby Jesus is born. Heaven(s) and Hell are happy. The wheel resets, fowarding for Spring. We're going to quietly rest down to wake up again tomorrow. A lifetime-long embarrasment has vanished by a ritual worth an hour. We can party until New Year's now. For the day, the lights die down. And my Corona is still half full. I'll do the dishes in the morning, for breakfast.

Posted by lck at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)

December 22, 2005

The Night Clerk - Chapter 4

A problem of identity

She came rushing down the stairs when it was sunrise, screaming for a band-aid. I imagined that she had left the TV on in the middle of a Star Trek re-run or waking up from an especially gory nightmare. Her voice in the hall made the glass window tremble as though an invisible wave had hit them.

- What do you mean bucket-shaped?
- You have those strips, positive. Please, boy, I'm bleeding.
- Jason, Jason. And you're not bleeding. What's this, paper cut?
- No, it's a CD cut.
- A CD cut? And rotary saw? And disposing of body parts upstairs?
- Band-aid, pleeease.
- I have big patches, then smaller and thinner, water-resistant grade and circular patches. I can't find the bucket-shaped ones.
- Yes, those, there, circles.
- These look like buckets to you? Are you all-right?
- No. I'm not. I'm bleeding like the holy body of Christ. Gimme two of 'em.
- Perspective noise… I'm not going to read too much into your geometry, Julie.
- Can you unwrap them for me?
- Sure. One, two, tight. Don't get them wet, cowgirl.
- I won't shower today, I promise. Thank you, Jason.

She looked relieved that blood was out of sight, with the twin little domes overlapping, plugging her day and smiling. Circular band-aids really are for casual snake bites, straw pins and sewing machines mild offense. The cut off a CD coaster... pretty friendly edges. I'll remember to ask her when the clouds are not this dense.

She was crawling back into the hall, cozied up in pink, fluffy and steel-toed when I was packing away to bed with an eye on the clock. She had a perplexed, puzzled rocky face, like a slow eerie cloud that just can't give to dissolve.

- How's it going?
- Are you sure this is not too tight? I can barely feel my finger.
- Maybe a bacterial infection, hopefully not systemic. Soap can sometimes cause that.
- Silly. Could you loosen 'em up for me? I can't watch. God, what a day!
- Well, see... Can use to see a doctor, maybe stitches. You can call work and give them a head's up.
- Jason, I'm not to quit when the snow is sooooo thick, that's some Frank Capra's and I don't need it now.
- Burgers with extra ketchup and embedded at the source. I'll cleanse it for you.
- Where do you buy your humor pills? I'm a wuss and you're nailing well. Playing ER with the pie in the sky, bad boy.
- Would you sign-up to anything less than a handful of signatures in a singular body?
- You're right. I Guess. Maybe next time you'll handle the media while I work the corkscrew.
- Whenever you want.

Sometimes the day lacks any perceivable taste or smell. A straight path over which the winter's wheel revolves by gravity and routinely stretching a finger to beginning or end. On these days I feel nothing and smell nothing. I adjust myself into design by employing arbitrary management. With the bike parked a block away and wearing a visor and service late to 433... I'm just trying to feel something.

Popping thru the static she woke me up shooting into the speak, spotting for a break to enjoy.

- I'm getting better, getting well.
- That's good.
- Are you working tonight?
- Did you get my schedule?
- You gave it to me? I got all my stuff in the washer. Sorry.
- You are messy. So what is it?
- I've got some wine at my place and some new flicks, we can hang out.
- That's the best thing I've heard in a while. So, I'm on the cooking, what would you like? Spinach, carrots and salads? Keep warm.
- Cool. Later.

With the veggies in the steamer and the cheese in the nuke, the cab stopped, framed into the kitchen's window, half submerged in the snow and smoking like ice-cream. I staged the car for a moment, then it pulled and left. In the white cloud of exhaust the girl was balanced in between two brown bags, an anime adaptation for a cheap western addiction. Hair too blonde, eyes too big and too many words glancing right, left and walking over. Before I had a chance to hear the cheese bursting in the bowl I realized that she was rapping at the door and singing out loud. Just not with the usual pitch.

- Hi. Can I help you?
- Hi Jason.
- Yep?
- Could you hold these? It's glass.
- While you're at it, do you want in? You must be freezing.
- Thanks.
- I was expecting someone else. I guess. Did we talk on the phone earlier on?
- Sure we did, now you are messy.
- We did? I assume that as long as you like the salad, spinach and some quite hot cheese we can look into those wine bottles and discuss the weather. But I'm still waiting.
- I won't creep the evening with any more geometry, I'm not joking. Dinner will be fine. This is Shiraz. Are you still waiting?

We went thru one movie and onto another, cheese and two bottles of wine, moved onto beer with the sound of aliens zipping thru the East Coast in the background and tales of the Registry Office in my ear. She snugged up on the couch, an embryo in a coma and I followed her shortly with an arm hanging out. When we woke up it must have been two in the morning.

- We've been sleeping?
- Yes.
- Wow.
- Who sent you over? She did?
- What are you talking about?

She left that it was late afternoon. We cooked several times and gathered several more bottles of wine at the diner two blocks away. I think we had a good time. I think. I changed her medication every two hours, finished my reserve of band-aids and culled up her complaints about sharp edges thrown into daily life. We found ourselves starring at each other with nothing to say, which is when she started to laugh weaving down her curly blonde hair. I always like her when she laughs.

© Fortunato Caragliano. All rights reserved.

UPDATE: A dear friend of mine that has just some English pulled my attention over to translate this in Italian and I did so. This is the first time I ever try to translate one of my own writings back into my native language. I'm happy with the result. Do not compare the 2 pieces as most of the differences function to keep the story in context.

So, if you can read Italian, please enjoy the PDF.

Italian version (PDF)

Posted by lck at 12:11 AM

December 17, 2005

Post-Millennium-Rebellions

J. G. Ballard has been writing the same novel ad nauseam. The curious about Ballard's writings is that structural repetition doesn't matter. The detective story will have readers guessing the solution long before the narrator, whose assumptions are painfully inept. Even the temporal structure of the novel revisits familiar territory; and the clunkiness of much of the prose should come as no surprise to anyone who has read any of the author's recent novels. But nobody reads Ballard for structural innovation or stylish prose. They read him for the ideas and the ideas are the most interesting.

Millennium People tells the story of a middle-class revolt. Action takes place in Chelsea Marina, whose residents - middle-market professionals being slowly priced out of the London housing market - are sick of paying exorbitant maintenance charges and excessive parking fees; sick, moreover, of being relied upon to be tolerant and liberal, of being forced to enjoy the right kinds of activities, eat the right foods and wear the right clothes.

Ballard has identified the stress points of modern British society - from parking charges and property development to random acts of violence such as the Hungerford killings - and recombined them in startling ways. The novel deals with terrorism, but for Ballard terrorist aims are often merely justifications for unleashing the liberating power of violence. These acts of violence serve as protests against a future Ballard has long warned us about - one in which nothing happens - and a defence against an all-embracing mediocrity.

Ballard has charted the future with such accuracy that almost any contemporary feature of our landscape, psychic or physical, can be described as Ballardian. Weirdly enough, his work has never fed back successfully into more modern media than print but Ballard is still among the most powerful.

Dig for more in one Ballard's extended interviews for Spike here.

A hat is about a scalp. With high winds and freezing temps and mud rendering down to pottery by oxidation and heat, I am on the lookout for a solid, black, confortable hat. I'm on a fedora type, down to where size matters and going to unleash cash as soon as I get the right fit. I'm a frequent shaver learning from memory, a fun combination and a nice gift forward. And a fit under the tree precisely in its round cardboard box. Get a hat, plan in advance or try every one you see. And if you don't, have your boyfriend do so. Now, is that a gangster hat? Oh, so?

Typographica is a journal of typography featuring news, observations, and open commentary on fonts and typographic design.

KONG is restaurant designed by Philippe Starck. Worth a visit. Starck is also involved in the Virgin Galactic Spaceport

Remixed Vinyls is customised 12" vinyls by designers. By Wear It With Pride

Christian Lindemann is a fine Illustrator and Graphic Designer from Hannover with an interesting Portfolio.

Could we ignore mentioning D&G's extending reach all the way to mobile phones? Yes, we could. But when it comes to gold a polite warning is mandatory.

The Italian design duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have added a distinctive liquid gold finish, a personalised background with screensaver, a tailored sound for power up and down, an exclusive polyphonic ring tone and a video clip illustrating 20 years of Dolce & Gabbana brand history. The limited edition RAZR V3i also includes rich functionality with a 1.23 mega pixel digital camera, optional expandable memory in the classic RAZR form.

If you really need to swallow a bitter drop of ultimate evil you know what to buy. Golden colored curly hairs are, of course, mandatory.

The limited edition RAZR V3i marks the end to glitter. Don't say we did not give you good advance notice.

A History of Violence hits like a slap on the face: a near-perfect film that manages to be confounding, hilarious, shocking, infuriating, and enormously moving – usually all at the same time. Yes, it’s audacious. It’s manipulative and gory and chilly and at times seems so wildly uneven that you wonder if any two people on set had been given the same shooting script. But God bless him, David Cronenberg has accomplished his masterwork by squeezing all of his unique observations about the human condition into a non-Cronenbergian film. And with his trademark creepiness curbed, he has turned in one of the most jaw-droppingly humane gorefests ever made.

Viggo Mortenson plays Tom Stall, small-town man whose perfect, loving family upper-middle-class existence are nothing short of the American dream. Kids and wife (Maria Bello) genuinely love him, he works hard at his business (he owns a diner) and seems to be respected in the community. Tom gives off a quiet integrity that most men could practice for years and still never perfect: balanced, intelligent, and tempered. But when two “bad men” wheel into town (after murdering several people – including a young girl – in the opening scene) and attempt to rob Tom’s diner, everything changes in a matter of seconds. One moment these two thugs have taken Tom and his fellow citizens hostage, and the next both lie dead on the floor by Tom’s quick and alarming agility with a firearm and a pot of hot coffee. Tom becomes a hero, but the cycle of violence that has been set into motion by his act will spin in ever-widening circles, threatening to rip Tom, his family, and his community to shreds. Things begin to deteriorate days after the incident, following two tracks – one Tom’s, and one involving his son, Jack. While Tom is visited at his diner by a group of men who claim to know him as Joey Cusack from Philadelphia – supposedly some sort of cold-blooded contract killer – his sensitive son’s continued problems with an aggressive bully have been complicated by Jack’s father’s heroism. Although Tom’s quick response may have solved the problem in the diner, his aggression is creating more questions than answers for those around him. Is violence an acceptable answer, after all? If so, where is the line between self-defense and sadism? And how is it that one violent man can be a monster, when another is a savior? As the threat of compounded violence continues to rise (within the Stall household and without), these questions become percussive. Is it too far? Is violent action ever to be celebrated? If not, is the heroism that accompanies it hollow?

“A History of Violence” is able to present this discussion within the context of a generic system where such things are never questioned. Wrapped into the familiar form of a violent crime thriller, Cronenberg’s calm observations are doubly effective. “Violence” addresses the issues from within the system. He could have made a cold, calculated drama about violence that examined the subject from an academic vantage point – but he would have ignored the inescapable primal pull that violence has – the fascination that draws our eyes out the window at a traffic accident. In Cronenberg’s tale, violence is an inescapable fact but it’s a force that can and must be controlled.

Cronenberg's former obsession of “body terror” has been shifted in favor of the more potent topics of culpability, regret, and community responsibility. The question of how to stop a cycle of violence is a tough one and it is both refreshing and immensely rewarding to see Cronenberg take on the subject on all cylinders, dispensing with much of the fetishistic imagery and kooky theatrics of his more avante-garde work. Beyond this, Cronenberg’s touch is very plainly visible in everything from the static framing to the eerie calm and awkward silences. His sense of humor is as pitch-dark as ever, bringing unexpected levity to otherwise harrowing scenes and twisting expectations into pretzels.

Few films dare you to pretend that you’re not learning something while you’re enjoying the suspense, the gunplay and the blood. In the case of “History”, it’s a lesson worth learning.

Posted by lck at 09:11 PM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2005

Wet Wet Wet

& yes I was at the base on a nigh-shift, you can never stay off too long from that job and the river right outta base was looking scary and gloomy from the start, on the night track thru the gate. Dark waters in the dark that you can't yet see and shift's in, water's on the rise and all's fine. Channel's crafts are coming in from downrange. Oman and Saudi, contingency missions on their way back and crews ready for pick up, TACC is happy. Then, allofasudden hell breaks loose, levees give up, water starts flooding in, in the tons, mud, debris and, I'll learn about it later from Italian Police, people.

How good it is to work on the UPPER floors? Good. How bad to be UNDER-STAFFED? Bad. Really.

In a matter of minutes the Air Terminal is clogged by a torrential amount of water, mud and what not. Pax, Check Point Personnel and us, Air Terminal Control, swarming thru the complex looking to unplug everything, PCs, X-Ray scanners, dispensers and wall units and, shit, the Xmas tree. Strap all cables above shit level. And down. Coffee machine is gone. Which is, no main supply of caffeine, who knows for how long. Security scared by projected lack of cigarettes, food and cars. Fuel is down, no gas to anybody. Radios mostly down. American residents are being picked up out of their wrecks via boats by EOD, moved onto higher grounds. Runways are flooded, Primary and Secondary. When I call the US ATC Central, they can't believe we are getting ready to shutdown the base. You guys are flooded? Yes, badly. I'm taking personnel upstairs, Pax, airline representatives, passers by and passengers. Notify your crews they can party all night and get wasted, they are not going anywhere. Direct all aircrafts to overfly my station, we are not taking any mission until this mess is sorted out. Amen and have a dry day. It's 2 a.m.

Hours to go and what to do.

The freaking river swarming like a giant snake by our very own feet in the complex. And raining again. Dets call for fuel: T1 until further notice. That includes lightning, where do you want to go? Call my boss, partying in Naples somewhere. Shutting down, people frightened here and wet, air traffic closed, water coming in like in a jap movie from the 70's. Boss suggests try to get out. Get out how? Have 3 drivers and 7 buses. Buses: 5 stranded, 2 may be recoverable, all underwater. Maybe float. Drivers: no way to know what it looks like out of the gate. They don't want to risk, hell if I ask them. Police says stay where you are, the other river (the Simeto river) is going to break loose anytime (it did on Dec 14th, at 1700L). After this last call, general shutdown: power, phone lines, communications, the works. Calling all hands on cell phones and direct them to stay home and not to come to the area. Then we lost contact with tower. It's 4 a.m.

Boss is flying down to find out all roads are being held off by police a few clicks away from base. Water still coming. How much water is in a river, I ask. Won't hit us a story high but frightening as it keeps rushing in. My ramp has become a lake, spotted here and there by parked aircrafts.

Captain comes on something like a Humvee with two LCDRs. We're gonna try to leave, I'm sure you understand. ODO reports 2 feet of mud on the runways. Days to clean up is the estimate.

Rent two buses from Catania to base and after two hours they only make it to the closest gas station. Police holding everybody including an endless line of trucks. I have 30 people to evacuate. Drivers, stay there, one way or the other we'll come meet you. Don't you move. It's 7 a.m.

Then I get report of one of my drivers leaving the area, alone, on a Fiat Cinquecento. Does this not give me shivers? He made it, making the case for the other two to look silly. And it works. They recover two vans, a Mercedes and a Ford, 18 seats each, out of the new-formed sea, working the cables half submerged in the mess and out on the streets cutting the mud like butter. Say goodbye, jump into the vans, cross the gate and over something that looks like Mississippi, meet the boss at the intersection where all vehicles are being held, including several workers injured in the flood, and jump on the big bus back home. For a while we are going thru flatlands of plain water and mud. It's 10 a.m. and I think I've never seen anything quite like this.

And off for a few days, on a fairly dry and mud-free environment. Grace, when you'll see what your Air Terminal looks like now, just take a deep breath. Nature has issues, you know?

After all, so much for the excitement, we did good. Jose', Larry, call up the cleaners and shell out some extra money to them. Marco, how much for your little Cinquecento?

Posted by lck at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2005

Did you miss class today?

Did you miss class today? And if not today, have you ever missed class?

Click-banner or read the article here and you'll find out you may not have excuses anymore. If this sounds crazy be advised that the two Universities involved in experimenting with podcasting lectures are Berkley and Stanford.

Experimenting makes it all vague, a cloud of consolation you'd like to hang on for a while but the contents are available now.

Berkley webcast directory is here
Stanford on iTunes homepage is here

While Stanford offers audio lectures, via iTunes, almost all of Berkley's materials also include video.

If Mohammed Can’t Come To The Mountain...

Posted by lck at 07:04 PM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2005

If America left Iraq

Nir Rosen has been on the ground in Iraq a lot, speaks Arabic, and reports accurately on the mindset of Iraqis. Juan Cole points to his article on The Atlantic Monthly of December 2005, where Nir makes a case for Cutting & Running. Juan seems to imagine a post-war scenario that is to be close to catastrophic. Nir, very much disillusioned about what is going to happen, pictures a mild scenario, in some ways, surprising.

The Atlantic Monthly December 2005

If America Left Iraq

The case for cutting and running
by Nir Rosen

.....

At some point—whether sooner or later—U.S. troops will leave Iraq. I have spent much of the occupation reporting from Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul, Fallujah, and elsewhere in the country, and I can tell you that a growing majority of Iraqis would like it to be sooner. As the occupation wears on, more and more Iraqis chafe at its failure to provide stability or even electricity, and they have grown to hate the explosions, gunfire, and constant war, and also the daily annoyances: having to wait hours in traffic because the Americans have closed off half the city; having to sit in that traffic behind a U.S. military vehicle pointing its weapons at them; having to endure constant searches and arrests. Before the January 30 elections this year the Association of Muslim Scholars—Iraq's most important Sunni Arab body, and one closely tied to the indigenous majority of the insurgency—called for a commitment to a timely U.S. withdrawal as a condition for its participation in the vote. (In exchange the association promised to rein in the resistance.) It's not just Sunnis who have demanded a withdrawal: the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who is immensely popular among the young and the poor, has made a similar demand. So has the mainstream leader of the Shiites' Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, who made his first call for U.S. withdrawal as early as April 23, 2003.

If the people the U.S. military is ostensibly protecting want it to go, why do the soldiers stay? The most common answer is that it would be irresponsible for the United States to depart before some measure of peace has been assured. The American presence, this argument goes, is the only thing keeping Iraq from an all-out civil war that could take millions of lives and would profoundly destabilize the region. But is that really the case? Let's consider the key questions surrounding the prospect of an imminent American withdrawal.

Would the withdrawal of U.S. troops ignite a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites?

No. That civil war is already under way—in large part because of the American presence. The longer the United States stays, the more it fuels Sunni hostility toward Shiite "collaborators." Were America not in Iraq, Sunni leaders could negotiate and participate without fear that they themselves would be branded traitors and collaborators by their constituents. Sunni leaders have said this in official public statements; leaders of the resistance have told me the same thing in private. The Iraqi government, which is currently dominated by Shiites, would lose its quisling stigma. Iraq's security forces, also primarily Shiite, would no longer be working on behalf of foreign infidels against fellow Iraqis, but would be able to function independently and recruit Sunnis to a truly national force. The mere announcement of an intended U.S. withdrawal would allow Sunnis to come to the table and participate in defining the new Iraq.

But if American troops aren't in Baghdad, what's to stop the Sunnis from launching an assault and seizing control of the city?

Sunni forces could not mount such an assault. The preponderance of power now lies with the majority Shiites and the Kurds, and the Sunnis know this. Sunni fighters wield only small arms and explosives, not Saddam's tanks and helicopters, and are very weak compared with the cohesive, better armed, and numerically superior Shiite and Kurdish militias. Most important, Iraqi nationalism—not intramural rivalry—is the chief motivator for both Shiites and Sunnis. Most insurgency groups view themselves as waging a muqawama—a resistance—rather than a jihad. This is evident in their names and in their propaganda. For instance, the units commanded by the Association of Muslim Scholars are named after the 1920 revolt against the British. Others have names such as Iraqi Islamic Army and Flame of Iraq. They display the Iraqi flag rather than a flag of jihad. Insurgent attacks are meant primarily to punish those who have collaborated with the Americans and to deter future collaboration.

Wouldn't a U.S. withdrawal embolden the insurgency?

No. If the occupation were to end, so, too, would the insurgency. After all, what the resistance movement has been resisting is the occupation. Who would the insurgents fight if the enemy left? When I asked Sunni Arab fighters and the clerics who support them why they were fighting, they all gave me the same one-word answer: intiqaam—revenge. Revenge for the destruction of their homes, for the shame they felt when Americans forced them to the ground and stepped on them, for the killing of their friends and relatives by U.S. soldiers either in combat or during raids.

But what about the foreign jihadi element of the resistance? Wouldn't it be empowered by a U.S. withdrawal?

The foreign jihadi element—commanded by the likes of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi—is numerically insignificant; the bulk of the resistance has no connection to al-Qaeda or its offshoots. (Zarqawi and his followers have benefited greatly from U.S. propaganda blaming him for all attacks in Iraq, because he is now seen by Arabs around the world as more powerful than he is; we have been his best recruiting tool.) It is true that the Sunni resistance welcomed the foreign fighters (and to some extent still do), because they were far more willing to die than indigenous Iraqis were. But what Zarqawi wants fundamentally conflicts with what Iraqi Sunnis want: Zarqawi seeks re-establishment of the Muslim caliphate and a Manichean confrontation with infidels around the world, to last until Judgment Day; the mainstream Iraqi resistance just wants the Americans out. If U.S. forces were to leave, the foreigners in Zarqawi's movement would find little support—and perhaps significant animosity—among Iraqi Sunnis, who want wealth and power, not jihad until death. They have already lost much of their support: many Iraqis have begun turning on them. In the heavily Shia Sadr City foreign jihadis had burning tires placed around their necks. The foreigners have not managed to establish themselves decisively in any large cities. Even at the height of their power in Fallujah they could control only one neighborhood, the Julan, and they were hated by the city's resistance council. Today foreign fighters hide in small villages and are used opportunistically by the nationalist resistance.

When the Americans depart and Sunnis join the Iraqi government, some of the foreign jihadis in Iraq may try to continue the struggle—but they will have committed enemies in both Baghdad and the Shiite south, and the entire Sunni triangle will be against them. They will have nowhere to hide. Nor can they merely take their battle to the West. The jihadis need a failed state like Iraq in which to operate. When they leave Iraq, they will be hounded by Arab and Western security agencies.

What about the Kurds? Won't they secede if the United States leaves?

Yes, but that's going to happen anyway. All Iraqi Kurds want an independent Kurdistan. They do not feel Iraqi. They've effectively had more than a decade of autonomy, thanks to the UN-imposed no-fly zone; they want nothing to do with the chaos that is Iraq. Kurdish independence is inevitable—and positive. (Few peoples on earth deserve a state more than the Kurds.) For the moment the Kurdish government in the north is officially participating in the federalist plan—but the Kurds are preparing for secession. They have their own troops, the peshmerga, thought to contain 50,000 to 100,000 fighters. They essentially control the oil city of Kirkuk. They also happen to be the most America-loving people I have ever met; their leaders openly seek to become, like Israel, a proxy for American interests. If what the United States wants is long-term bases in the region, the Kurds are its partners.

Would Turkey invade in response to a Kurdish secession?

For the moment Turkey is more concerned with EU membership than with Iraq's Kurds—who in any event have expressed no ambitions to expand into Turkey. Iraq's Kurds speak a dialect different from Turkey's, and, in fact, have a history of animosity toward Turkish Kurds. Besides, Turkey, as a member of NATO, would be reluctant to attack in defiance of the United States. Turkey would be satisfied with guarantees that it would have continued access to Kurdish oil and trade and that Iraqi Kurds would not incite rebellion in Turkey.

Would Iran effectively take over Iraq?

No. Iraqis are fiercely nationalist—even the country's Shiites resent Iranian meddling. (It is true that some Iraqi Shiites view Iran as an ally, because many of their leaders found safe haven there when exiled by Saddam—but thousands of other Iraqi Shiites experienced years of misery as prisoners of war in Iran.) Even in southeastern towns near the border I encountered only hostility toward Iran.

What about the goal of creating a secular democracy in Iraq that respects the rights of women and non-Muslims?

Give it up. It's not going to happen. Apart from the Kurds, who revel in their secularism, Iraqis overwhelmingly seek a Muslim state. Although Iraq may have been officially secular during the 1970s and 1980s, Saddam encouraged Islamism during the 1990s, and the difficulties of the past decades have strengthened the resurgence of Islam. In the absence of any other social institutions, the mosques and the clergy assumed the dominant role in Iraq following the invasion. Even Baathist resistance leaders told me they have returned to Islam to atone for their sins under Saddam. Most Shiites, too, follow one cleric or another. Ayatollah al-Sistani—supposedly a moderate—wants Islam to be the source of law. The invasion of Iraq has led to a theocracy, which can only grow more hostile to America as long as U.S. soldiers are present. Does Iraqi history offer any lessons?

The British occupation of Iraq, in the first half of the twentieth century, may be instructive. The British faced several uprisings and coups. The Iraqi government, then as now, was unable to suppress the rebels on its own and relied on the occupying military. In 1958, when the government the British helped install finally fell, those who had collaborated with them could find no popular support; some, including the former prime minister Nuri Said, were murdered and mutilated. Said had once been a respected figure, but he became tainted by his collaboration with the British. That year, when revolutionary officers overthrew the government, Said disguised himself as a woman and tried to escape. He was discovered, shot in the head, and buried. The next day a mob dug up his corpse and dragged it through the street—an act that would be repeated so often in Iraq that it earned its own word: sahil. With the British-sponsored government gone, both Sunni and Shiite Arabs embraced the Iraqi identity. The Kurds still resent the British perfidy that made them part of Iraq.

What can the United States do to repair Iraq?

There is no panacea. Iraq is a destroyed and fissiparous country. Iranians and Saudis I've spoken to worry that it might be impossible to keep Iraq from disintegrating. But they agree that the best hope of avoiding this scenario is if the United States leaves; perhaps then Iraqi nationalism will keep at least the Arabs united. The sooner America withdraws and allows Iraqis to assume control of their own country, the better the chances that Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari won't face sahil. It may be decades before Iraq recovers from the current maelstrom. By then its borders may be different, its vaunted secularism a distant relic. But a continued U.S. occupation can only get in the way.

Nir Rosen, a fellow at the New America Foundation, spent sixteen months reporting from Iraq after the American invasion. His book In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq will be published in February.

Posted by lck at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2005

John, I'm only dancing...

Holidays are comings. Yee-hey! What did you say? What did she say? Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Year. Some families definitely have Chrismukkah. Wasp with Jew: Chrismukkah. Kwanza is consolidating a good sized market (both imaginary and real) growing on colored customers. Bro! Black Friday, the big post-Thanksgiving all-off-the-shelves frenzy in the US for years now spreading to become worldwide re-currence.

December's statistical patterns exhibit the highest number of suicides worldwide, every year. As family members get closer in meetings confrontations arise, memories of good and bad, deadlines for which to bleed, pressure the domestic deadlines and depression kicking in; above all a loud call to be happy and smiley and understanding. This is the time half kids want to gather and suck out their slice of alcohol and sex, the other half just wants to disappear.

It don't matter under which flag, Jesus or a new plasma TV, you get your booze and self-distraction, one way or the other, let's talk to the kids who hate festivities so much I can hear them striving at finding a comprehensive theory by which to justify their (angst). Easy is to hit the religious frame, easier is to hit the suffocating grip of capitalism unfolding at its peak.

How well are you willing to fit into the "routines" involved in the festivities while at the same time holding your good post at the very core of the same? How willing are you to get loose and make a bit of a mess of your parents and their expectations, relatives and season's rules? You're not good at making a mess? Sure you are!

Don't like Christmas trees? Get a nativity set up. Want to include naked figurines taking a bath by baby Jesus in the moonlight? He was well into pornography, your seat in heaven won't be vacated by couple nymphs glaring at kids innocent eyes. Have a plant you love? Strategically place those shiny glass balls disco and garlands on it. You'll love it. Remember that you parents/relatives have no clue border-lining the lousy routine of setting up a Christmas tree that looks like, well, a Christmas tree. It is mostly up to you. Show them (don't convince them) the boundaries are always broader. Surprise is juice. Nephews use to get video games for Christmas? Get them a bunch of roses. Spend more but shock them. Don't like the food you normally get on the table on these occasion or are you just a lazy? Order pizza. Good French cheese is the side dish. Fill in the voids with Absolut or Cawarra and dispense yogurt to the kids if you please so. Just divorced and down about the future? Set up auctions on eBay with his/her engagement's jewelry. He/she may just buy all of them back at twice the price. Capitalism, Wow. Oops, no jewelry? Well, then you have reasons to feel better and look elsewhere.

Don't get disconnected, mad or depressed. Get loose, stick to where you are. Can do way more damage (and bring way more love and fun) from where you are than from a deserted beach in some remote station with a 3 Celsius degree morning breeze and teeth going like a sawing machine. To act stupid, tactically, is the ultimate privilege and performance act and we deserve it, inheritance and valuable. When the ceiling is low, don't just dig a hole. This time, in the narrow between ceiling and the floor, spread your arms, be what you are, bring the virus in.

Back to the Baileys and Happy Whatever.

Posted by lck at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)

December 06, 2005

Aperture

Apple has cojones.

David Girard uses this bold and straight, if mexican sounding statement in his review of the now-shipping Aperture from Apple. Review is available on Ars Technica.

Aperture is a pro-level RAW support photo cataloging app, not to be confused with Photoshop. It offers advanced RAW workflow, professional project management, compare and select tools, nondestructive image processing, and printing and publishing. Bold are pocket and system requirements (499$ and a dual G5).

The review is a piece of art and I highly recommend it. What is shown is the detailed process, on the part of not a professional photographer but a professional retoucher, of picking and pushing a complex software tool, underline what and where the snafus are and drawing conclusions that are clear and useful to potential customers. Unfortunately the circumspection used in the review does not save Apple.
Good job David.

Enjoy the reading.

Posted by lck at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)

December 04, 2005

R.I.P. Macromedia

In short, Macromedia ends today.

Adobe and Macromedia expect to have all of the regulatory clearances necessary to complete Adobe's purchase of Macromedia by today. The acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe began last spring, and will transfer Macromedia's product line to Adobe. The transaction will be all stock, and Macromedia share holders will receive 1.38 shares of Adobe common stock for each share of Macromedia stock they own.

Macromedia's product line includes Freehand, Dreamweaver, Flash, and several other products that web and graphic designers use daily. The future of these products is uncertain, especially since products like Freehand, which competes with Adobe Illustrator, has received little support from Macromedia in recent years.

Dreamweaver, Macromedia's web development tool, competes with Adobe GoLive in the web design market. Both applications have strong supporters, and Adobe is not yet commenting on its plans for the future of either product.

Obtaining Flash, a web standard for delivering multi-media content to web browsers, is a big feather in Adobe's cap. The company now will control the file format, and the tools to develop for it, something Macromedia historically blocked Adobe from doing.

Adobe will hold a financial analyst meeting on December 15 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time to discuss the combined company's outlook for fiscal 2006. It will present its strategy for moving forward in New York City on January 31, 2006.

Posted by lck at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)