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An Overview
Currently the Unlearning Specialist at the School of No-Media, P.M. is a speaker/writer/artist and an educator. Born and raised in Paris, he moved to the U.S. in the early seventies to live and teach in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco and, more recently, St. Louis. In parallel to teaching media at major universities, his many video-art activities have included documentaries, video installations [...]
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ERVIN MARTON 1912-1968
took portraits of major cultural figures like (L to R) PICASSO, COCTEAU, CHAPLIN, LOUIS ARMSTRONG, CHAGALL AND CAMUS, cf. WIKIPEDIA entry • Others include Bachelard, Léautaud, Jacques Prévert, Jean Genet, Yves Montand, Juliette Gréco, Foujita, et al • A photographer and artist born in Budapest, Hungary, he moved to France in 1937 • Received the Libération medal • Blaise Cendrars called him “l’as du noir et du blanc” (the ace of b&w) …
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PM’s News & Olds
THE UNBALANCE BETWEEN: 1. excellence and a kind, singular & porous identity that contains some of the scruples, humor, musicality & the beauty of a harsh and confusing, yet benign and rich reality – away from distractions. 2. the stupidity & blindness of complacency, violence, injustice, pretense, egos, short-term/wishful/group “thinking” & empty talk – in all of their surprising embodiments…
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Undoing Media-cracy
Pseudo-Urgency-stop-Media Omnipresence-stop-Currency Engulfing Independence-stop-Colonization Secured-stop-Audience Consumes Molds-stop-Mimicry of Stale Themes-STOP-PRETENSE-STOP • We are to be consumed, but in other ways. “Non-media” is what air is to the flying fish as it escapes mortal danger: an existential exploration & revelation. Our tools to save lives – silence (occasionally vociferous), slowness, kindness, and time.
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BLIGHT: Blinded by Sight
1. When we believe our eyes (and ears), all we do is verify what has been stored in our cataloged universe, and end up knowing only what we know & recognize. 2. Every age has its icons: photographers freeze that moment, cinematographers capture that movement. The traces of those fetishistic rituals are revered in museums, theaters and online. 3. Picture-perfect… Captive audiences…
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"Against oblivion, the present is our present!"
THROUGH WISHFUL THINKING, TRANSFERENCE, PROJECTIONS AND ENTROPY... WE WANDER - WILL KINDNESS LESSEN THE DAMAGE?
Attention: website very much in progress (gallery with placeholders only, links going nowhere, etc... )
News & Olds
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- 052313
La Confrérie, Enquête sur les Frères Musulmans
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Human Rights, Middle-East, Politics, Racism
Par l’important historien et réalisateur, Michaël Prazan – ENCORE pendant cinq jours sur le site de France 3 (si vous vous trouvez à l’étranger, vous pouvez le voir grâce à des logiciels VPN comme Netshade). Un film qui dérange. Il y a bien sûr les questions brûlantes pour essayer de comprendre ce que le Printemps [...]
- 051913
Chess Pro w. Coach Free Now/Gratuit Maintenant (Normal $10 – 9€)
Posted by Pier Marton in Deals, Games, Software
For iPhone/iTouch/iPad, compares favorably to Shredder and Hiarcs. w. Chess Tiger engine which has been ranked twice as the number one chess engine on the SSDF list – the worldwide recognized and independent computer’s rating list From their description: SPECIAL OFFER: FREE TODAY ONLY (normal price is $9.99 = 8.99€ = £6.99) Do you want [...]
- 051213
Cyril Effala: Le Brassens du Cameroun
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Death, Highlights, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Idées, Music, Politics, Racism
The courageous and incisive Cameroon singer, Cyril Effala, decries hypocrisy. In 2005, at the age of 35, he dies from typhoid. Let's get his work out in CDs & DVDs!
- 051113
Early Video Activism: “The Michael Moore of the Lunch Room”
Posted by Pier Marton in Health, Media, Politics, Spectacle, Youth
Zachary Maxwell understands media - and how deception takes place. He is teaching his teachers and his peers how to fight back, go Zach! [What these kids are served reminds me of the depleted hospital food.]
- 05413
A World Treasure Is No More (In Pain) – Bob Brozman: 1954-2013
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Art, Asia, Highlights, Hispanic, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Jewish, Music, Politics, Quotes, Sound, Travel
The multi-talented world hero, musician & ethnomusicologist - "If you are not living on the edge, you're taking too much room." B.B. - He used to quote Sun Ra: "The planet is asleep, and it's the fault of musicians who are not true to themselves." [Ed.: I would add that it is NOT just musicians] A tremendous loss to an international community of friends and fans. It is their desire to carry out Bob’s vision in the creation of a foundation to help third-world musicians obtain the musical basics that western musicians take for granted.
- 05113
Washington & Hollywood Join Hands
Posted by Pier Marton in Death, Humor, Media, Middle-East, Politics, Spectacle, Theater, US, Wars
... to say in unison, we can't do much more than smile and laugh. War or comic relief? What is on: the joke is ON, the show is ON, the spectacle goes ON... and dissent is co-opted and absorbed. Too uncool, it is time to laugh. The surface of politics and that of entertainment rejoice in their union, a joke within a joke. What are we laughing at? Can the tradition of the Correspondents' Dinner be maintained as wars kill? HUMOR REQUIRES A BITE - otherwise it is just a pacifier. Time to Re-Read Neil Postman (author of "Amusing Ourseslves to Death")?
- 042413
Michel Gondry + Boris Vian = Ze Big Union
Posted by Pier Marton in Books, Film, France, Humor, Idées, Music, Poet, Spectacle
A zany book, now filmed by a zany filmmaker... The Froth of Days (L'Écume des Jours) is considered the tenth best book of the XXth century!
- 042413
Wladislaw Szlengel (the ghetto poet): 1914-1943
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, History, Jewish, Poet, Racism, Shoah, Wars
From Counterattack: We beg you for a violent death. Spare us, before we die, the sight Of slow-receding rails, Give us, O Lord, a steady hand To stain their bluish tunics with blood, - Emmanuel Ringelblum wrote that Szlengel’s poems succeeded in moving the inhabitants of the ghetto “to tears. . .he spoke about what they lived, what they were most passionate about.”
- 042013
THE ACT OF KILLING: Indonesia’s Dark Past & Present
Posted by Pier Marton in Asia, Death, Doc, Highlights, History, Human Rights, Ideas, KeyFilm, Politics, Spectacle, US, Wars
in 1976 I traveled throughout Indonesia and today still love its Sundanese music – the closest thing to “music from paradise.” I also got to appreciate the slowness and peacefulness of Jogja’s dance and music. I was even somewhat ecstatic playing in UCLA’s gamelan… BUT I was also always aware of its 1965-1966 large scale [...]
- 10712
Kirikou et la sorcière/Kirikou and the Sorceress – English Version
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Care, Film, France, Human Rights, Humor, Music, Mystery, Native, Popular
I am human and I find injustice and stupidity revolting. A big injustice, and a big stupidity, is that half of the humans try to put down the other half instead of being HAPPY that they are there. – Michel Ocelot Je suis humain et l’injustice et la bêtise me révoltent. Une grand injustice et [...]
- 122911
Yip Harburg: 1896-1981 – “I think therefore I am… in jail”
Posted by Pier Marton in Books, History, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Jewish, Music, Poet, Politics, Popular, Quotes, Spectacle, Theater, Time, Travel
Somewhere over the rainbow, Way up high There’s a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby. This page provides updates. And this one, tons of ressources. With an UPDATED version HERE. Lives of great men all remind us, Greatness takes no easy way. All the heroes of tomorrow are the heretics of today. [...]
- 081011
Janine Cahen: 1931-2011
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Death, France, Idées, Jewish, Juif, Middle-East, Politics, Popular, Racism, Shoah, Wars, Women
For me being a Jew doesn’t mean belonging to a religion. It means that having suffered such a history, one is under an obligation, from a historical point of view, to other oppressed people or in any event being duty bound, whenever possible, to spare no effort in defending justice. That’s fundamental. From Martin Evans, [...]
- 05111
Early Pearls (Life and Film)
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Care, Ego, Exp, Film, Health, Humor, Ideas, Photo, Poet, Popular, STL
On the last day of class I asked my students what they had learned in my beginning level video production course. With almost half of them just Freshmen, I was surprised by their responses – fortune cookie size pearls of wisdom! I had told them jokingly at various times that I had fantasized about a [...]
- 122710
Why Anti-Semitism Is Growing in Germany
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Jewish, Middle-East, Politics, Popular, Racism, Shoah, Wars
By Donald Snyder in The Forward Berlin — A group of Muslim teenagers in Hanover attack an Israeli dance troupe, reportedly yelling “Juden raus” as they hurl stones at them. German leftists march in Berlin with Muslims to protest the 2008–2009 Gaza military conflict. “Death to the Jews!” the marchers chant. At a soccer game [...]
- 12910
livestream
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Asia, Care, Doc, Eco, Health, Human Rights, Media, Middle-East, Native, Politics, Popular, Roma, Site, Spectacle, Wars, Women
Alternative Streaming News: The Real News Democracy Now
- 111210
Hungarian Photographers/Photographes Hongrois/Magyar Fényképészek
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Ego, France, Galleries, Magyar, Photo, Popular, Women
La Femme Dénudée dans La Photographie Hongroise à l’Institut Hongrois/Collegium Hungaricum 92 Rue Bonaparte, Paris 75006 One by my father, Ervin Marton - 2012 is his centennial - with this Reclining Nude II/Nu Allongé II and many of his friends, Brassai, Kertész, Fehér. (some day somebody will have the energy and the courage to explore [...]
- 031110
Don McCullin: “Don’t Forget”
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Books, Care, Human Rights, KeyText, Mystery, Photo, Popular, Wars, Women
An interview with the noted photojournalist and photographer, with a retrospective in Manchester. He describes the solace he finds in the Somerset landscapes where he lives. He is the author of the essential book “Is Anyone Taking Any Notice?”
- 021010
Miquel Barcelo
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Hispanic, Popular
Miquel Barcelo’s website. A Miquel Barcelo fan website.
- 051213
Cyril Effala: Le Brassens du Cameroun
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Death, Highlights, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Idées, Music, Politics, Racism
The courageous and incisive Cameroon singer, Cyril Effala, decries hypocrisy. In 2005, at the age of 35, he dies from typhoid. Let's get his work out in CDs & DVDs!
- 05413
A World Treasure Is No More (In Pain) – Bob Brozman: 1954-2013
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Art, Asia, Highlights, Hispanic, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Jewish, Music, Politics, Quotes, Sound, Travel
The multi-talented world hero, musician & ethnomusicologist - "If you are not living on the edge, you're taking too much room." B.B. - He used to quote Sun Ra: "The planet is asleep, and it's the fault of musicians who are not true to themselves." [Ed.: I would add that it is NOT just musicians] A tremendous loss to an international community of friends and fans. It is their desire to carry out Bob’s vision in the creation of a foundation to help third-world musicians obtain the musical basics that western musicians take for granted.
- 042013
THE ACT OF KILLING: Indonesia’s Dark Past & Present
Posted by Pier Marton in Asia, Death, Doc, Highlights, History, Human Rights, Ideas, KeyFilm, Politics, Spectacle, US, Wars
in 1976 I traveled throughout Indonesia and today still love its Sundanese music – the closest thing to “music from paradise.” I also got to appreciate the slowness and peacefulness of Jogja’s dance and music. I was even somewhat ecstatic playing in UCLA’s gamelan… BUT I was also always aware of its 1965-1966 large scale [...]
- 041813
Fight Hard the NRA!
Posted by Pier Marton in Care, Death, Highlights, Human Rights, Now, Politics, Wars, Women
Easily Locate and Contact Those Senators Who Voted Against Gun Control! After the gun lobby's victory, President Obama's eloquent defeat speech and Representative Giffords' letter of outrage decrying the disastrous effect of the NRA's last contribution of $25 million in lobbying and outside spending.
- 031913
Deux Grands Zéros à Moi: MERDRE de TÉLÉ!
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Ego, France, Highlights, Humor, Media, Music, Poet, Politics, Video
Jean-Christophe Averty, Satrape du Collège de Pataphysique (Pataphysics)* – et premier artiste-vidéo - et Alfred Jarry, créateur de la science des solutions imaginaires, se rencontrent électroniquement parlant en 1965. *dont les cahiers ont été composés des écrits de George-Albert Aurier, Christophe, Charles Cros, Léon-Paul Fargue, Franc-Nohain, André Gide, James Joyce, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Pierre François [...]
- 03413
Lautréamont / Isidore Ducasse
Posted by Pier Marton in France, Highlights, Hispanic, Humor, Idées, Poet, Wars
"God grant that the reader, emboldened and having become at present as fierce as what he is reading, find, without loss of bearings, his way, his wild and treacherous passage through the desolate swamps of these sombre, poison-soaked pages... " "Plût au ciel que le lecteur, enhardi et devenu momentanément féroce comme ce qu’il lit, trouve, sans se désorienter, son chemin abrupt et sauvage, à travers les marécages désolés de ces pages sombres et pleines de poison..." Insurpassable, incontournable... Unequaled, unavoidable. Un autre écrivain comme Rimbaud et Jarry qui a fait ses preuves historiques dans sa petite jeunesse. Another writer like Rimbaud and Jarry who made his indelible mark as a youngster.
- 012713
Ervin Marton featured on Wikipedia
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Ego, France, Highlights, Jewish, Photo
Besides my webpage about my father, Ervin Marton, is featured right now on the main English Wikipedia page - as part of the… “Did you know?” that Ervin Marton, an internationally known Hungarian photographer based in Paris, was part of the French Resistance during World War II?
- 122312
Isaac Deutscher & The Non-Jewish Jew/Le Juif Non-Juif/Der Nichtjüdischer Jude/El non-judío Judío/A Nem-Zsidó Zsidó
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Highlights, History, Human Rights, Jewish, Judaism, Juif, Middle-East, Politics, Quotes, Shoah
Who is a Jew? (1954) If it is not race, what then makes a Jew? Religion? I am an atheist. Jewish nationalism? I am an internationalist. In neither sense am I, therefore, a Jew. I am, however, a Jew by force of my unconditional solidarity with the persecuted and exterminated. I am a Jew because [...]
- 10112
Primo Levi on Truth(s) & Leadership
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Books, Highlights, History, Ideas, Jewish, Politics, Quotes, Shoah
(from “Why Auschwitz” – in an “auto-interview”) It is the duty of everyone to meditate on what happened. Everybody must know or remember that Hitler and Mussolini, when they spoke in public, were believed, admired, adored like gods. They were “charismatic leaders”; they possessed a secret power of seduction that did not proceed from the [...]
- 041713
The Gatekeepers
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Doc, History, Human Rights, Jewish, Middle-East, Politics, Review, Wars
(a review) The short of it: This is not a mea-culpa-film trying to exonerate Israel's secret services, it is an indictment of the state and any institution, probably anywhere where authority is not questioned.
- 022413
Haneke, a Sadist?
Posted by Pier Marton in Death, Film, Review, Spectacle
After winning tons of awards like Cannes' Golden Palm, the Cesars, the Oscars... one wonders whether everyone is blind to the fact that Haneke seems to focus on the obscene (what should be ob-scena, off stage). He seems to delight in subjecting his audience to pain and worse; from the graphic slashing of one character's throat in Caché (Hidden) to the slapping of an older woman in Amour, the casual, motiveless murder in Benny's Video, the indiscriminate shooting of a crowd in 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance, the list goes on...
- 12412
Holy Motors
Posted by Pier Marton in France, Humor, Review, Spectacle, STL
My short review: ‘Beauty will be convulsive or it will not be at all.’ André Breton. CAUTION: This film, like a delirious RIFF around Hollywood's subconscious, will not increase your "joie de vivre!"Like with Buñuel and Dali's unforgettable collaboration, "the eye" (here, Monsieur Oscar's) is the starting point, the engine for a whole industry manufacturing role after role for the enjoyment of those watching in theaters, mesmerized and paralyzed.... Who said films should be a pleasurable experience? Maybe it is time to wiggle in and out of our comfort zone? By Carax, the same filmmaker who created the visionary masterpiece, "Lovers on the Bridge." With his favorite actor, Denis Lavant, and the legendary Edith Scob of "Eyes Without a Face" by Franju. ---> A
- 111812
’12 SLIFF BUZZ – What You Might Have Missed
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Asia, Doc, France, Human Rights, Middle-East, Review, STL
The St. Louis International Film Festival is rounding up; as always an amazing round-up of jewels from all around the world… I wish I could have found the time to write individual longer reviews this year. Below, based on what I was able to watch, my own highlights… FICTION: Soog/Mourning (Iran) – Unfortunately not everyone’s [...]
- 11712
The Other Son – Le Fils de l’Autre
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Care, France, Human Rights, Ideas, Idées, Jewish, Middle-East, Review
Lorraine Lévy: I wanted to make a film about openings and hope/Je voulais faire un film d’ouverture, un film d’espoir. My review: I too could say “provocative and moving” as other critics have said, but I would rather not. Sometimes life takes a shape that does not conform to the reality we have been taught. [...]
- 05812
The Fairy/La Fée
Posted by Pier Marton in Dance, Film, France, Humor, Idées, Poet, Review, STL, Theater, Women
The film’s website with its US screenings (but it is on Netflix too now). My short review: The Fairy/La Fée As Wallace Stevens has eloquently bemoaned, “reality is a cliché,” and The College of Pataphysics in France has for years attempted to remedy that particular form of cataclysm. Unbeknownst to most us, they have made [...]
- 041412
The Kid with the Bike – Le Gamin au Vélo
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Care, Death, Doc, Film, France, Health, Poet, Review, STL, Women
En résumé: Le Gamin au Vélo. De nouveaux magnifiques débats à corps perdus par les frères Dardenne… peut-être qu’on s’y retrouvera malgré tout? Grand Prix Cannes 2011. –> 20/20 My review: The Kid with the Bike. The Dardenne brothers’ many accomplishments continue! Again the struggle to be, to exist… again as it sometimes happens, the [...]
- 03912
Joe Pollack, 81, dies today.
Posted by Pier Marton in Books, Death, Film, Food, Jewish, Review, STL
Joe Pollack, beloved writer/critic, has died today. It is a sad day for St. Louis. His last film review posted by his wife Ann, after his death this morning. An earlier review of Food, Inc. – the movie. Harper Barnes on Joe Pollack.
- 021612
The Turin Horse/A Torinói Ló
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Cam, Death, Film, Food, Magyar, Mystery, Now, Review, STL
At Webster University Feb. 17, 18 & 19 – 7:30 p.m. My review: Highly celebrated by Jonathan Rosenbaum and Susan Sontag, cinema’s current Homo Hungaricus, Béla Tarr is famous for the rarely screened films “Sátántangó” and “Werckmeister Harmonies.” Jancsó’s long takes and Olmi’s details, here with echoes of Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” and Bresson’s “Au [...]
- 051213
Cyril Effala: Le Brassens du Cameroun
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Death, Highlights, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Idées, Music, Politics, Racism
The courageous and incisive Cameroon singer, Cyril Effala, decries hypocrisy. In 2005, at the age of 35, he dies from typhoid. Let's get his work out in CDs & DVDs!
- 05413
A World Treasure Is No More (In Pain) – Bob Brozman: 1954-2013
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Art, Asia, Highlights, Hispanic, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Jewish, Music, Politics, Quotes, Sound, Travel
The multi-talented world hero, musician & ethnomusicologist - "If you are not living on the edge, you're taking too much room." B.B. - He used to quote Sun Ra: "The planet is asleep, and it's the fault of musicians who are not true to themselves." [Ed.: I would add that it is NOT just musicians] A tremendous loss to an international community of friends and fans. It is their desire to carry out Bob’s vision in the creation of a foundation to help third-world musicians obtain the musical basics that western musicians take for granted.
- 05113
Washington & Hollywood Join Hands
Posted by Pier Marton in Death, Humor, Media, Middle-East, Politics, Spectacle, Theater, US, Wars
... to say in unison, we can't do much more than smile and laugh. War or comic relief? What is on: the joke is ON, the show is ON, the spectacle goes ON... and dissent is co-opted and absorbed. Too uncool, it is time to laugh. The surface of politics and that of entertainment rejoice in their union, a joke within a joke. What are we laughing at? Can the tradition of the Correspondents' Dinner be maintained as wars kill? HUMOR REQUIRES A BITE - otherwise it is just a pacifier. Time to Re-Read Neil Postman (author of "Amusing Ourseslves to Death")?
- 042413
Michel Gondry + Boris Vian = Ze Big Union
Posted by Pier Marton in Books, Film, France, Humor, Idées, Music, Poet, Spectacle
A zany book, now filmed by a zany filmmaker... The Froth of Days (L'Écume des Jours) is considered the tenth best book of the XXth century!
- 031913
Deux Grands Zéros à Moi: MERDRE de TÉLÉ!
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Ego, France, Highlights, Humor, Media, Music, Poet, Politics, Video
Jean-Christophe Averty, Satrape du Collège de Pataphysique (Pataphysics)* – et premier artiste-vidéo - et Alfred Jarry, créateur de la science des solutions imaginaires, se rencontrent électroniquement parlant en 1965. *dont les cahiers ont été composés des écrits de George-Albert Aurier, Christophe, Charles Cros, Léon-Paul Fargue, Franc-Nohain, André Gide, James Joyce, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Pierre François [...]
- 03413
Lautréamont / Isidore Ducasse
Posted by Pier Marton in France, Highlights, Hispanic, Humor, Idées, Poet, Wars
"God grant that the reader, emboldened and having become at present as fierce as what he is reading, find, without loss of bearings, his way, his wild and treacherous passage through the desolate swamps of these sombre, poison-soaked pages... " "Plût au ciel que le lecteur, enhardi et devenu momentanément féroce comme ce qu’il lit, trouve, sans se désorienter, son chemin abrupt et sauvage, à travers les marécages désolés de ces pages sombres et pleines de poison..." Insurpassable, incontournable... Unequaled, unavoidable. Un autre écrivain comme Rimbaud et Jarry qui a fait ses preuves historiques dans sa petite jeunesse. Another writer like Rimbaud and Jarry who made his indelible mark as a youngster.
- 02713
Chloé Lacan, Espiègle et Grivoise
Posted by Pier Marton in France, Humor, Music, Women
Le site Chloé Lacan via Chanson Boum with Hélène Azéra
- 011013
Amazing Grace in Budapest
Posted by Pier Marton in Care, Humor, Magyar, Music, Spectacle, Theater
Bolyki Balázs, frónt ember (a Bolyki Soul & Gospel Kórus) Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind but now I see. Shout, shout for glory, Shout, shout aloud for glory; Brother, sister, mourner, All shout glory hallelujah.
- 01213
Ed Asner’s Tax The Rich Animation
Posted by Pier Marton in Humor, Politics
With some expectable reactions…
- 051213
Cyril Effala: Le Brassens du Cameroun
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Death, Highlights, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Idées, Music, Politics, Racism
The courageous and incisive Cameroon singer, Cyril Effala, decries hypocrisy. In 2005, at the age of 35, he dies from typhoid. Let's get his work out in CDs & DVDs!
- 05413
A World Treasure Is No More (In Pain) – Bob Brozman: 1954-2013
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Art, Asia, Highlights, Hispanic, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Jewish, Music, Politics, Quotes, Sound, Travel
The multi-talented world hero, musician & ethnomusicologist - "If you are not living on the edge, you're taking too much room." B.B. - He used to quote Sun Ra: "The planet is asleep, and it's the fault of musicians who are not true to themselves." [Ed.: I would add that it is NOT just musicians] A tremendous loss to an international community of friends and fans. It is their desire to carry out Bob’s vision in the creation of a foundation to help third-world musicians obtain the musical basics that western musicians take for granted.
- 042413
Michel Gondry + Boris Vian = Ze Big Union
Posted by Pier Marton in Books, Film, France, Humor, Idées, Music, Poet, Spectacle
A zany book, now filmed by a zany filmmaker... The Froth of Days (L'Écume des Jours) is considered the tenth best book of the XXth century!
- 031913
Deux Grands Zéros à Moi: MERDRE de TÉLÉ!
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Ego, France, Highlights, Humor, Media, Music, Poet, Politics, Video
Jean-Christophe Averty, Satrape du Collège de Pataphysique (Pataphysics)* – et premier artiste-vidéo - et Alfred Jarry, créateur de la science des solutions imaginaires, se rencontrent électroniquement parlant en 1965. *dont les cahiers ont été composés des écrits de George-Albert Aurier, Christophe, Charles Cros, Léon-Paul Fargue, Franc-Nohain, André Gide, James Joyce, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Pierre François [...]
- 02913
Edith Piaf/Ana Salazar & sus Llamas/their Flames/leurs Flammes
Posted by Pier Marton in Dance, France, Health, Hispanic, Music, Poet, Spectacle, Theater, Women
An interview with Ana Salazar Himno al amor – Hymne à l’Amour – Hymn to Love (version Flamenco) From Flamenco Live: Born in Cadiz, she studies Classical Spanish Dance in “Las Bayaderas” with Eva Vicente and Flamenco in “Cibayi” with Charo Cruz. She receives workshops and seminaries given by Antonio Canales, Javier Latorre, Yerbabuena, Belén [...]
- 02713
Chloé Lacan, Espiègle et Grivoise
Posted by Pier Marton in France, Humor, Music, Women
Le site Chloé Lacan via Chanson Boum with Hélène Azéra
- 02713
Michel Emer: 1906-1984 – Compositeur/Composer
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, France, Juif, Music
Après avoir composé L’Accordéoniste pour Piaf en 1940, il est parti se réfugier en Suisse pendant la guerre. After having composed The Accordionist for Piaf in 1940, he found refuge in Switzerland during the war.
- 012113
A Tribe Called Red (+ Idle No More)
Posted by Pier Marton in History, Human Rights, Music, Native, Politics
Electric Powwows + "Through the mining, logging, oil and fishing of the land and its resources, Canada, the U.S. and the rest of the Americas have become some of the wealthiest countries in the world. Many of the poorest First Nations communities have mines and other developments on their land but do not get a share of the profit. The taking of resources has left many lands and waters poisoned – the animals and plants dying in many areas. We cannot live without the land and water. We have laws older than this colonial government about how to live with the land..."
- 011013
Amazing Grace in Budapest
Posted by Pier Marton in Care, Humor, Magyar, Music, Spectacle, Theater
Bolyki Balázs, frónt ember (a Bolyki Soul & Gospel Kórus) Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind but now I see. Shout, shout for glory, Shout, shout aloud for glory; Brother, sister, mourner, All shout glory hallelujah.
- 042413
Wladislaw Szlengel (the ghetto poet): 1914-1943
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, History, Jewish, Poet, Racism, Shoah, Wars
From Counterattack: We beg you for a violent death. Spare us, before we die, the sight Of slow-receding rails, Give us, O Lord, a steady hand To stain their bluish tunics with blood, - Emmanuel Ringelblum wrote that Szlengel’s poems succeeded in moving the inhabitants of the ghetto “to tears. . .he spoke about what they lived, what they were most passionate about.”
- 031213
Dr. Frederick Sweet (a mensch): 1938 – 2013
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Care, Death, Health, History, Human Rights, Jewish, Magyar, Politics, Shoah, STL, Wars, Women
Anybody who ever came in contact with Fred knows how willing he was to unmask the dark side of the medical field and to fight for the underdog... [from one of his e-mails to me: "In a 1985 documentary film (perhaps you have seen it) "Searching for Mengele," Professor Yehuda Bauer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem is asked whether it is possible today for there to be produced a Dr. Mengele. Bauer responds, not only is it possible it is inevitable because since Mengele's days nothing has changed at universities all over the world that teach science and technology but not the evil purposes to which such technologies can be put -- such as producing a Holocaust. Not more than ten years after Bauer had made that comment, the genocide in Bosnia, Rwanda, and other places descended upon us."]
- 122312
Isaac Deutscher & The Non-Jewish Jew/Le Juif Non-Juif/Der Nichtjüdischer Jude/El non-judío Judío/A Nem-Zsidó Zsidó
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Highlights, History, Human Rights, Jewish, Judaism, Juif, Middle-East, Politics, Quotes, Shoah
Who is a Jew? (1954) If it is not race, what then makes a Jew? Religion? I am an atheist. Jewish nationalism? I am an internationalist. In neither sense am I, therefore, a Jew. I am, however, a Jew by force of my unconditional solidarity with the persecuted and exterminated. I am a Jew because [...]
- 111212
On the BBC: The BBC, Hungary’s Jews & Guilt
Posted by Pier Marton in Jewish, Magyar, Media, Politics, Shoah
The BBC looks at its past actions during WWII: it did not warn Hungarian Jews of the impending killings... "Hindsight... It was not the job of the BBC to warn the Jews... startling..." - Available until November 12, 2013.
- 102912
The European Left and Its Trouble With Jews
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, France, History, Jewish, Middle-East, Politics, Racism, Shoah, Wars
… a sizable section of the European left has been reluctant to take a clear stand when anti-Zionism spills over into anti-Semitism… Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the militant group Hezbollah, famously commented: “If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we [...]
- 10112
Primo Levi on Truth(s) & Leadership
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Books, Highlights, History, Ideas, Jewish, Politics, Quotes, Shoah
(from “Why Auschwitz” – in an “auto-interview”) It is the duty of everyone to meditate on what happened. Everybody must know or remember that Hitler and Mussolini, when they spoke in public, were believed, admired, adored like gods. They were “charismatic leaders”; they possessed a secret power of seduction that did not proceed from the [...]
- 092512
La France Dans Le Coup – France Caught Up
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Death, France, History, Human Rights, Jewish, Juif, Politics, Racism, Shoah, Time, Wars
One map of the arrests/une carte des rafles —– Remembering = Transmission = Se Rappeler J’avaias grandi avec/I had grown up with “Toute la France était dans la Résistance – All of France was in the Resistance” “C’était les Allemands qui les avaient arrêtés – It was the Germans who had arrested them” Le Mémorial [...]
- 081812
2 Treblinka Survivors
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Doc, Jewish, Middle-East, Racism, Shoah, Wars
A film documenting the stories of Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Taigman (who just died), two slave labourers who escaped from Treblinka extermination camp in a dramatic revolt in August 1943. For five more days (or more!) on BBC website: Death Camp Treblinka: Survivor Stories (available also outside England)
- 072812
Eichmanns Ende: Liebe, Verrat, Tod (Eichmann’s End: Love, Betrayal, Death)
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Doc, Film, Hispanic, History, Human Rights, Jewish, Middle-East, Politics, Racism, Shoah, Time
… in the same venomous spirit as Alois Brunner (in hiding in Syria after being helped by the CIA) states in 1987 in the Chicago Sun Times: “The Jews deserved to die because they were the devil’s agents and human garbage. I have no regrets. If I had the chance I would do it again.” [...]
- 052313
La Confrérie, Enquête sur les Frères Musulmans
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Human Rights, Middle-East, Politics, Racism
Par l’important historien et réalisateur, Michaël Prazan – ENCORE pendant cinq jours sur le site de France 3 (si vous vous trouvez à l’étranger, vous pouvez le voir grâce à des logiciels VPN comme Netshade). Un film qui dérange. Il y a bien sûr les questions brûlantes pour essayer de comprendre ce que le Printemps [...]
- 051213
Cyril Effala: Le Brassens du Cameroun
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Death, Highlights, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Idées, Music, Politics, Racism
The courageous and incisive Cameroon singer, Cyril Effala, decries hypocrisy. In 2005, at the age of 35, he dies from typhoid. Let's get his work out in CDs & DVDs!
- 051113
Early Video Activism: “The Michael Moore of the Lunch Room”
Posted by Pier Marton in Health, Media, Politics, Spectacle, Youth
Zachary Maxwell understands media - and how deception takes place. He is teaching his teachers and his peers how to fight back, go Zach! [What these kids are served reminds me of the depleted hospital food.]
- 05413
A World Treasure Is No More (In Pain) – Bob Brozman: 1954-2013
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Art, Asia, Highlights, Hispanic, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Jewish, Music, Politics, Quotes, Sound, Travel
The multi-talented world hero, musician & ethnomusicologist - "If you are not living on the edge, you're taking too much room." B.B. - He used to quote Sun Ra: "The planet is asleep, and it's the fault of musicians who are not true to themselves." [Ed.: I would add that it is NOT just musicians] A tremendous loss to an international community of friends and fans. It is their desire to carry out Bob’s vision in the creation of a foundation to help third-world musicians obtain the musical basics that western musicians take for granted.
- 05113
Washington & Hollywood Join Hands
Posted by Pier Marton in Death, Humor, Media, Middle-East, Politics, Spectacle, Theater, US, Wars
... to say in unison, we can't do much more than smile and laugh. War or comic relief? What is on: the joke is ON, the show is ON, the spectacle goes ON... and dissent is co-opted and absorbed. Too uncool, it is time to laugh. The surface of politics and that of entertainment rejoice in their union, a joke within a joke. What are we laughing at? Can the tradition of the Correspondents' Dinner be maintained as wars kill? HUMOR REQUIRES A BITE - otherwise it is just a pacifier. Time to Re-Read Neil Postman (author of "Amusing Ourseslves to Death")?
- 042013
THE ACT OF KILLING: Indonesia’s Dark Past & Present
Posted by Pier Marton in Asia, Death, Doc, Highlights, History, Human Rights, Ideas, KeyFilm, Politics, Spectacle, US, Wars
in 1976 I traveled throughout Indonesia and today still love its Sundanese music – the closest thing to “music from paradise.” I also got to appreciate the slowness and peacefulness of Jogja’s dance and music. I was even somewhat ecstatic playing in UCLA’s gamelan… BUT I was also always aware of its 1965-1966 large scale [...]
- 041813
Fight Hard the NRA!
Posted by Pier Marton in Care, Death, Highlights, Human Rights, Now, Politics, Wars, Women
Easily Locate and Contact Those Senators Who Voted Against Gun Control! After the gun lobby's victory, President Obama's eloquent defeat speech and Representative Giffords' letter of outrage decrying the disastrous effect of the NRA's last contribution of $25 million in lobbying and outside spending.
- 041713
The Gatekeepers
Posted by Pier Marton in Antisemitism, Doc, History, Human Rights, Jewish, Middle-East, Politics, Review, Wars
(a review) The short of it: This is not a mea-culpa-film trying to exonerate Israel's secret services, it is an indictment of the state and any institution, probably anywhere where authority is not questioned.
- 032113
Democracy Now! and its Anti-Israel Bias
Posted by Pier Marton in Human Rights, Jewish, Media, Middle-East, Politics, Wars
Dror Moreh, the filmmaker behind the Oscar nominated "The Gatekeepers," must have felt like he was running the gauntlet, appearing with the headline "Nazi Germany" - his words: "I feel a little bit uncomfortable in the way that you present the things here, because you portray the things as if Israel is the brutal, aggressive all the time, with the Palestinians, that they are like doves. There is reason why the Shin Bet is doing what it’s doing there. And the fact of the matter is that you cannot say—in a way, portray Israel as the aggressive and the Palestinians are the innocent bystander who are always being killed by those aggressive forces. It’s not the case at all, and I think that this is misleading the people that are watching that."
- 02313
Amazon Watch & Amazon Emergency
Posted by Pier Marton in Eco, France, Hispanic, Human Rights, Native, Politics, Racism, Sci/Nat, Wars
International companies are investing in destroying the world's lungs - Des compagnies internationales ont investi pour détruire les poumons du monde. This fight has been going on for the past forty years. Cette lutte continue depuis plus de quarante ans. It is the same struggle to survive waged by indigenous people everywhere. C'est le même combat des populations indigènes que l'on retrouve partout.
- 112212
Think Turkey Think
Posted by Pier Marton in Care, Eco, Food, Humor, Ideas, Jewish, Sci/Nat
Previously posted a year ago… This is the time again for “My Life as a Turkey.” Excerpts: More: The full episode on the web. Can be viewed also on the mobile app “PBS.” Joe Hutto’s book Larry David’s Memories of Thanksgiving Maybe time to revisit also such as previous entries as Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating [...]
- 111212
Venice Beyond Itself (SuperVenise)
Posted by Pier Marton in Eco, Sci/Nat, Sights, Spectacle
Venezia e l’acqua… What stands out to be loved may, in time, become specifically that which you hate. Ce que vous remarquez et aimez risque, avec le temps, de devenir précisement ce que vous détestez.
- 10812
A Bird’s Eye View
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Cam, Dance, Doc, Eco, Mystery, Sci/Nat
Excerpts from the BBC’s Earthflight (Winged Flight) Bonus! (also from John Downer Productions) Understanding Groupthink Swarms Another excerpt, this time from Bee Man from Swarm.
- 083112
Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt
Posted by Pier Marton in Afri, Archi, Art, Books, Care, Death, Doc, Eco, Health, Highlights, Hispanic, History, Human Rights, Ideas, Native, Now, Politics, Racism, Spectacle, Wars, Women
You may also want to check out a CBC interview around his Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle From Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt From the Introduction: AMONG INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS, THE UNITED STATES HAS THE: • highest poverty rate, both generally and for children; • greatest inequality of incomes; [...]
- 033112
Isabelle Courroy = Kaval & +
Posted by Pier Marton in Asia, Care, Dance, Eco, France, Music, Teach, Time, Travel, Women
Site Kaval + YouTube Isabelle Courroy
- 032912
Don van Vliet a.k.a. Captain Beefheart 1941-2010
Posted by Pier Marton in Art, Care, Death, Doc, Eco, Highlights, Humor, Music, Poet, Quotes, Sci/Nat, Sound, Theater, Women
A few quotes: I don’t think there’s any way you can *know* music. The minute you *know* it, you stop playing, and the minute a person stops playing, the music isn’t playing anymore. I don’t want to sell my music. I’d like to give it away because where I got it, you didn’t have to [...]
- 031312
After/Après RU486 & DHEA…. FKBP52 AGAINST/CONTRE ALZHEIMER!
Posted by Pier Marton in Care, Eco, France, Future Tech, Health, Magyar, Sci/Nat, Time, Women
DONATIONS Against/Contre Alzheimer NOW/MAINTENANT The Baulieu Institute is in need of our donations L’Institut Baulieu a besoin de nos donations Dans HuffPost (en Français): Contre Alzheimer, Un Tournant Décisif : FKBP52 January 2012 summary in English The “father of the pill” – RU486 – DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone/longevity hormone) – English Wikipedia Le “père de la pillule” [...]
- 031212
The Present/Future of Teaching is Online and Free (01): The Khan Academy
Posted by Pier Marton in Archi, Art, Books, Care, Eco, France, Future Tech, Health, Hispanic, History, Ideas, Idées, Media, Teach, Tech, TED, Video
Salman Khan on TED The Khan Academy YouTube Channel Learn almost anything FOR FREE THE KHAN ACADEMY WEBSITE with a library of over 3,000 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 315 practice exercises… 129,520,088 lessons delivered! Now with an iOS app (still in need of improvement)
