Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

So last night on Fear Factor one of the “dares” was play piercing with what appeared to be a series of ten needles between 27ga and 18ga. I don't know if they slowed down or altered the footage, but judging by both the speed and technique of the piercing, they'd either found a very poor piercer or they'd instructed him to hurt the people as much as he could with those tiny needles.

I guess someone eventually suggested play piercing, and given that he's well versed with the innards of BME, maybe we were the catalyst. Anyway, the reason I'm not sure how I feel about it is not because of what was done to the contestants — I actually got the impression they walked away from that feeling empowered, which I think is a lot of Joe's goal with the show… But the bigger question is how the audience interpreted it.

“Scary/fucked up” would be my guess as to what the average viewer saw. I have to also wonder what comment is made about a society that enjoys watching torture on television… It's different than watching it on BME, since on BME you're seeing it as an insider and interpreting it very differently. But outsiders seeing it as entertainment is kind of freaky!

I thought I'd missed it, but it turns out someone here recorded the Steve-O appearance on Jimmy Kimmel for me. That was kind of weird to see too. I know his fans are pretty pissed about it, and Steve looked kind of “where the fuck am I and what am I supposed to be doing” during most of it:

I think people tend to have the misconception with him that he's a masochist, or is trying to do the most hardcore stunts… Not at all — after all, if that was the criteria, most IAM members would outshine him, having done more intense rituals themselves. But that's not the point. It's a matter of presenting these acts not as personal rituals, but as public spectacles in order to improve the lives of the audience (through humour) in some way.

At least that was the impression I got.

Anyway, it was weird to see him in the middle of this horrid Don “Only in America” King spectacle with waving flags and singing patriotic children… I really hope that's not what the United States has come to stand for. It really was weird to see, and, maybe it really was modern America in a nutshell.

You had Don King, the master of pugilistic puppets, shouting patriotic slogans, waving and wearing the stars and stripes, while Joe Millionaire, the quintessential groomed American boy — tall, handsome, and well hung, but dumb as a rock — smiled and nodded no matter what was said. And then Jimmy Kimmel, falling perfectly into the role of slimy worm making boorish pro-war comments while the audience cheered and Steve-O sat there, just back from Europe, wondering what was happening to his once-great nation.

Yes, it's a boy strangling a goose. Didn't you know that's art?

You can tell a lot about a society by its art. When a society is thriving, it tends to celebrate life in its art; the work has a genuine nobility. But when a society begins to crumble, it generates two kinds of media: depraved media (violence, lewd or inappropriate sex, and so on; in effect celebrations of socially unacceptable behaviour) and nationalistic media (perverse celebrations of not just patriotism, but also of the leaders themselves).

I'm sure it's impossible to really tell at the time; these things are always clearer a thousand years later. But I do wonder sometimes — do we have the dubious honour of getting to live through the collapse of the United States? Probably not a full collapse, but certainly an earth-changing upheaval I think.

Oh, and I thought I'd mention the car flipping deal.

The third picture is just narcissism.

Anyway, I have to do a pile of video editing today, as well as some software development work, including major upgrades to the newsfeed so that it will (a) be more automated, and (b) give credit to the folks who are helping me out with it. But in the mean time…

The war on Iraq has begun… Not that bombing has ever stopped, but it's recently been stepped up a level, presumably to clear the way for the full invasion. Even though its own people are opposed and the world community is opposed (even God is opposed — whodathunkit!? God hates killing*?), the US government has been very clear: “Baghdad is their prize” and they'll take it alone if they have to.

Everyone's pissed at France right now. Yeah, it's fun to hate the French, right? But let's take a look at the UNSC veto history for a moment. France is far from the leader there… The Soviet Union vetoed more than half of the 250 or so proposals the security council has dealt with, the the United States coming in second with 76 vetoes so far (half of those being dedicated to ensuring that Israel triumphs over the Tusken Raiders, and protecting the Jewish sanctity of the Jundland Wastes). Now, France is vetoing a war they feel is unjust… What has the US blocked in the UNSC, and why?

• In December it vetoed a resolution that criticised Israel for attacks on UN workers in Palestinian areas. In this veto, like in most, it stood alone, the sole voice of fascism.d
• The US has blocked international observers from entering Palestinian regions, blocked any condemnation of Israeli human rights violations, and so on, having vetoed at least 38 resolutions which drew attention to human rights violations against Muslims (google cache since some US ISPs block that domain).
• Vetoed Boutros Boutros-Ghali's second term, primarily for increased peacekeeping actions.
• Vetoed a resolution calling for the UNSC to be kept informed of the status of the Central American crisis.
• Vetoed a resolution condemning the US attack on the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama and for its support of the contra rebels.
• Vetoed a resolution calling for all states to observe international law.
• Blocked the international war crimes courts unless they are implemented in a way that offers US war criminals immunity.
• Vetoed a resolution blocking weapons in outer space.
• Voted a ban on nuclear weapons and further nuclear weapon development.
• etc…

Not that it'll surprsise anyone that knows her history (she was Republican until hooking up with Bill), but Hillary is totally pro-war. Even though Bush previously said that “regime change” was not what he was seeking, the new story is that “war won't stop until Saddam goes” and even though Colin Powell promises a “humiliating defeat [at the UN]“, Bush couldn't care less and says that no matter who objects, no matter how illegal the war is, it's time for bombs to start raining.

On the Crazy North Korea story, North Korea has said that if US aggression continues, nuclear war, or as Kim put it, “a frightful nuclear catastrophe”, could break out. Good-bye Los Angeles? This comes after North Korean fighter jets came within fifty feet of US spy planes which they claim have been flying sorties inside their air space. What's going to happen when North Korea shoots down one of these planes? I'm assuming that's the next step in this escalation.

Do I need to start digging a big whole in the back yard? I hope I don't hit the cistern.

Seeing as the snow isn't killing the dish, I've had a chance to read the news. But after this commentary I have to take a quick break and draw a bunny logo for the kids line of clothing. We've also been tossing around the idea of getting an embroidery machine (they're about $2500) so we can do everything from patches to custom work on shirts and jackets in-house.

One of the (goofy) ideas we'd tossed around was that when you submit pictures to different sections on BME, you become eligible for patches signifying that activities — kind of like in Cub Scouts for fire starting, rope tying, etc., except ours would be for “tongue piercing”, “suicide suspension”, “prince albert”, and so on… And you'd have to have sent in a picture of that to order, so they'll have legitimacy.

Anyway, the bigger news is the US spying on UN security council members. Because the UNSC delegations are in New York, it's easy for the US government to get wiretaps and full surveillance on all the other security council members. The documentation of this has just been leaked to the media.

What the fuck is the US thinking with stunts like this?

First economic and military threats, and now the revelation that they're not even willing to play fair and honourable (not that anyone internationally has listed “honour” as an American trait for a long time)… Why even bother working with the international community? Seriously, what is the US trying to achieve?

If this process continues, the US will find itself at odds with the entire world, and as big and powerful as it is, it will collapse under that kind of weight… Leaving nothing but a 300-million very poor people, stripped of their civil rights and slaving under the will of a corporate military dictatorship ruled by a handful of very rich men.

The US has announced that it plans on gassing Saddam's people (again — remember when the US helped Saddam gas the Kurds?). Why is it OK for the US to develop gas weapons that have been banned for combat use? Why are people OK with this? Hell, there are how many US government employees? 20 million at least? All it takes is for them to say “fuck this, this is wrong, I will not support this”.

Raise the fist!

Wave the black flag!

The UN expects that about 10 million Iraqis will die from this war. A humble suggestion: killing people isn't liberating them. Along the same lines, the US has told reporters to get out of Bagdad on account of it being levelled soon. Yeah, “we'll keep civilian casualties to a minimum.”

Truth: If the US kills millions of civilians in order to depose Saddam, and the American people don't stop their government, thereby giving it their support (it is a democracy), then any and all terrorist attacks on the US civilian population are justified. I think it's wrong, but if one side can murder the other side's children as a military tactic, then it must go both ways.

Is this the bed you want to sleep in?

The Kurds have vowed to murder, well, everybody, now adding any Turkish troops that help America in this war to their dead pool. Shouldn't that be a hint that we should just back off? We (the Western nations) don't need the headache of making these killers and terrorists our allies just because it serves the American Imperialism of the moment… It's not going to turn out well.

Canadians I think will enjoy this quote from Cretien more so than others since it's especially funny when you imagine Mr. Shawinigan Handshake saying it.

But he is right — that's the core of it. We (as in other nations) have no right to call for “regime change” or to attempt to depose foreign rulers. We can certainly call for them to be tried in international war crimes courts (which the US opposes anyway, since they have so many war criminals internally), or we can attack their policies (ie. human rights violations, attacks on other nations, etc.), but we have no right to call for regime change or even for disarmament.

As soon as we support such a policy, we can toss the concepts of sovereignty, independence, self-determination, and freedom out the door. Now, I do realize that most governments are vehemently opposed to freedom and such… But as individuals, we do have at least a little say in who rules us, and I hope that most of us have the sense to make decisions that support freedom rather than eliminate it.

Too bad that hope's getting shattered.

In Crazy North Korea news, they continue to up their nuke program in the face of US aggression. Even though they've said that their sole reason for these weapons is defending against attacks from the fascist US dictatorship, the US continues to threaten them. But, given the world we live in, the true prophets may be big business… Let's spin the corporate eight-ball and see what it says:

Well, it's hammer bunny time.