Saturday, March 27, 2021

To Supervisor Das Williams Regarding Georgia

 

Michael Wahrman

7:49 PM (0 minutes ago)


to Supervisor Das Williams
I see that Georgia is working against voting rights with the help of
the fascist Coca Cola and Delta Airlines.  Can you reassure me that
the County of Santa Barbara buys nothing from Coca Cola, Delta or
anywhere in the State of Georgia?  The best way to reach me is through
michael.wahrman@gmail.com.  No answer will be a confession that SB
supports voter suppression and I will vote accordingly at the next
election.

Monday, March 22, 2021

The Gun Nuts Shall Prevail, Oh Yes

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I can just hear the morons, the Republicans, say "Now is not the time to discuss gun restrictions" and all the nuts screaming "2nd Amendment!!!" How long will we permit Americans to be murdered by the gun nuts? This is America, a failed state, where democracy is destroyed and where the Republicans advocate the violent overthrow of the government, so we may never have elementary gun laws. Too bad. 



Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Would You Deny the American People Their Sovereignty?

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I think that our fellow citizens perhaps deserve more respect than they are given by many of my friends and fellow democrats. The argument goes like this ...

The collapse of the american civilization has revealed things about ourselves that maybe we would rather not know. But then when we learn those things, many of us would prefer to believe that those things are not true. They would deny their fellow americans the dignity of their decisions. They would deny that their fellow citizens know their own minds. They would deny them their free will. Yes, deny them that very self-awareness that the slaveowners and murderers who wrote the constitution required as a fundamental assumption of our so called and very undemocratic democracy. The facts are that some huge percentage of the voting Americans chose racism and hatred. They chose to deny equal justice before the law. They chose to take children from their mothers and put them in a jail and destroy their lives as a policy of this republic. They did that. They said "hate" but my fellow "democrats" insist they meant "love". Oh no, my liberal friends say, they didnt mean that. But I say they knew what they were saying. They werent fooled by Trump and Fox News or the traitors in Congress although admittedly those three are guilty of inciting people to violence, and of supporting treason, and other criminal and immoral or at least amoral acts. They, the sovereign people of the united states of america knew that they were voting to put right wing nuts on the judiciary to create a judicial dictatorship against the will of the majority. They knew that the knee of oppression was being put on our throats to choke the life out of our country. This is bitter tea, perhaps, to many of us. Perhaps their immortal soul is capable of turning away from evil but perhaps not, also. They stood before god and man and said we choose racism and lies and we know what we are doing. They are not pretending to be racist. Who are you to deny them the right to have and own their beliefs?

The MidCentury Building That is No Longer There

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I am trying to recreate 1700 Main Street with computer graphics.  This will be more difficult than I anticipated.  

The problem, or the opportunity if you will, is that 1700 Main Street was actually and sincerely a midcentury building and I am constantly puzzled by details and ideas that I do not remember. I was very young when I was there, you know. A child, really. The corridors are without lights and there is no moon in the sky. I am not sure I recognize this building. Is this what they call cognitive dissonance?

I dont recall them asking me before they tore this building down.
 



Monday, March 15, 2021

Nomadland and Other Films

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Excerpted from a conversation with [REDACTED]


"Nomadland" was a big disappointment for me. I had been led to believe that it was a movie about zombies that attack a trailer park. Well! Fuck me! No such luck. I did appreciate that whats her name shat (past tense of shit) in a bucket but that one element, as appealing as it is on the surface, could not carry the film.

Regarding influencing public opinion, I did not explain myself well. In my obsessive doom scrolling, I read review/analysis articles by annointed pundits (did you know that this word came via the British adventure in india and refers to a "pandit" who is a type of Hindu scholar knowledgeable about the Vedic scriptures among other topics?) who purport to tell me what I and any reasonable person should like and hate. In particular, this pundit pointed out that The Joker was an abomination and no sensible person would like that yucky film. Well, you know what? Although I resisted seeing yet another film anywhere at all related to "The Batman" I have to admit that this was an interesting film, at least in part, with some very strong performances. So fuck him. Fuck all of them, if you see where I am going with this.

I want to say something nice about "Tenet" which as you know is not a terribly well regarded film. Well, although the concept is "just OK", I think it gets a bad rap for reasons that are not actually part of the film itself. If Nolan was an unknown, and made this movie (in a somewhat reduced form) for ... (making this up) ... maybe 1/3 to 1/4 the budget, then I think it would be regarded as a somewhat entertaining action adventure film. This is the well understood problem of giving a filmmaker too much money and of course people having expectations.

Setting expectations is so important.

It is very clear to me that visual effects has lost its way. The best visual effects film of the year might be one without time travel or space craft it may be a film with 30 shots, not 3000 shots, although I dont know what this film is. I think the vfx section suffers from the problems that accrue from self-important people whose very small dick, metaphorically speaking, has gone to their head... wait that image needs work. I need to think about this.

 

 

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

The Rini & Meredith Willson Auditions for The Music Man

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Apparently Rini & Meredith Wilson needed to perform the entire play (The Music Man) by themselves and a piano (not clear who played the piano) for dozens and dozens of auditions. Auditions to get a producer, then a director, then a music director, then a theatre, then a music company to publish the music and the cast recording, investor, etc, etc. This is before anyone was cast. Some of these went well, some of these didnt go well at all. And of course songs came and went, and the "book" changed a lot. But here is the point, as far as I can tell from the book about the production (But He Doesnt Know the Territory), none of these were ever recorded and they do not exist in any form that we can listen to.

 

"But He Doesnt Know the Territory" by Meredith Willson on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IK7WQ8O/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Friday, March 5, 2021

Filibuster Did Not Apply to Republican Tax Bill

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Why is it only the Democrats who have to be on their knees and beg the Republicans to please, please, please let them pass a bill. I checked and the Republican Tax bill which gave money to their rich friends and destroyed the deficit (remember: it was going to pay for itself by increased GNP, ha ha ha ha ha) was passed 51 to 49. So obviously its bullshit and they should just pass the stimulus 51 - 50 (with VP Harris) and move on to the next.

[Ha so the answer is that this was a reconsiliation, which seems weird to me, but there it is]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/01/us/politics/senate-tax-bill-vote.html



Thursday, February 25, 2021

Trump Castrati and the Failure of the Constitution

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I think that recent events put to rest any thought of even the most obsessed old school liberal that bipartisanship has any value at all. It has none, it is dead. The Republicans and the so called conservatives have cut off their balls and presented them to the great moron. Their path to power is through manipulating the states to suppress legitimate votes and so use the completely insane mechanism of the electoral college to steal another election. The Democrats cant and wont stop them: game over. And if we want to lick the feet of the constitution ever again in my lifetime, then implement the 14th amendment, 3rd clause. Insert stupid excuse here, blah blah blah. But you cant just pick and choose like that. It makes it all an obvious joke. I think Biden is doing a good job given what he has to work with. Americans may deceive themselves that things are fixed but the knife is in and the problems cant be solved at that level. 

The Constitution, so called, is pretty clear.

Section 3

No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
 

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Hannes Leopoldseder

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There was a time, perhaps 1984 or so, long before computer animation was accepted by polite society, when the true believers would assemble at Siggraph. This was before the fall from grace and pretty much everyone there was dedicated and pure of heart. I would always stay through to the day after the conference and in the lobby of the conference hotel I would find my friends from Austria, always Christine Schoepf and usually Gerfried and Horst and maybe a few others from their tribe. Some years she was accompanied by someone who seemed very distinguished and interesting to me, but who I did not know well. Someone she called Hannes. I loved these people, people who were dedicated to the emerging arts as mediated by technology. Not just computer animation, whatever that might be, but the larger world of what computing and communications would bring to the arts as that world is defined by those communities. As the years went by, Christine and Hannes were able to sponsor me to visit Linz where I would torture them with my totally sincere and unplanned behavior as I explored Linz and bothered the hell out of the other juries of the Prix Ars Electronica. And always, there was Hannes who seemed to be above it all and yet in some sense it was clear that he was the keeper of the vision. One night at an event at a local restaurant, I saw Hannes at work and I realized that someone had to raise the money, someone had to convince the powers that be that these crazy artists or technologists or whatever were bringing something to Linz. That he and his partners in crime, Christine, Gerfried and the others, were here to contribute to their community and maybe even the larger world of contemporary art. I wanted to get to know Hannes better but circumstances did not permit that to happen. Did I ever thank Hannes for his generosity and his contribution and for allowing me to be part of their family for a few years? I dont remember. Thank you, Hannes.


Christine Schoepf 
 
Hannes Leopoldseder at work


Monday, February 15, 2021

Bachelor Vegetarian Cooking Internet Style

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This book is for single people of whatever gender who for reasons of circumstances beyond their control (or within their control, whatever) cook for themselves more or less every day and on a budget.  I have done this for 25 years and I know something about it. 
 
- who should read this book
- required ingredients
- special diet requirements 
 - etc