Dramatische Szenen im Spreeblick-Hauptstadtbüro am vergangenen Wochenende: Nachdem die Redaktionsverlinke der Führung Inkompetenz im Umgang mit der Chrome-Affäre vorgeworfen hatte, welche diese zunächst mit Verweis auf die neuesten Hochrechnungen der Trackback-Zahlen von sich wies, zeichnete sich bereits am Samstagabend ein Führungswechsel ab. Nach dem Rücktritt von Max Winde und Johnny Haeusler soll nun Malte Welding das Steuer in die Hand nehmen. Mit der Agenda 0815 im Rücken schwor Welding die Redaktion auf einen neuen Sparkurs ein: „Es ist möglich, Spreeblick mit 132 Euro im Monat umzusetzen, wenn wir Kinder schreiben lassen, sind es sogar nur 69 Euro“.

Die Vorsitzende Tanja Haeusler rief unterdessen zur Besonnenheit auf und wies auf die Verdienste von Winde und Haeusler für den Verlag hin. Dennoch räumte auch sie Versäumnisse in der Vergangenheit ein und bekräftigte die möglicherweise vielleicht durchaus auch eventuell gewissermaßen quasi positiven Chancen, die ein Wechsel an der Spitze mit sich bringen könnte unter Umständen.

Welding (89), der als erster Blogger gilt, der das Wort „Krokodilpenisse“ in einem Artikel verwendete, und zwar gleich zweimal, gilt als Hardcoreliner und kann auf die Unterstützung des ebenfalls Star-Wars-nahen René Walter bauen. Walter wird als möglicher Kandidat für den beliebten Posten des Rickrollers gehandelt, seit sein Vorgänger Andreas Schepers den Rückzug aus dem operativen Geschäft angekündigt hatte, weil sich seine Mutter in Zukunft mehr um ihn kümmern möchte.

Kritisch äußerste sich der Vorsitzende der „Jungen Blicker“ (JuBler) zu einem Wechsel, egal welchem. Nico Roicke (78), der im Sommer 2005 wegen eines eitrig wuchernden Geldgeschwürs nach London wechseln musste, schließt eine Rückkehr nach Berlin nicht aus. „Eine Redaktionsspitze, die Lykke Li für einen chinesischen Internet-Provider hält und Blue Öyster Cult als Newcomer feiert, kann nicht mit unserer Unterstützung rechnen“, betonte Roicke am Sonntag vor seinem Spiegel.

Experten vermuten unterdessen die bisherige Designerin Franziska Schwarz (72) als heimliche Anwärterin für irgendeinen Posten. Schwarz, die nur so heißt, unterstützt seit 1962 den damals zweijährigen Frédéric Valin als Spitzenkandidat. „Wenn jemand, dann doch wohl er“, argumentiert Schwarz und verweist auf den doppelten accent aigu in Valins Vornamen.

Für weitere Stellungnahmen war bisher nur Sascha Lobo zu erreichen, der bereits mit Bernd Eichinger über die Filmrechte verhandelt.

Je suis toujours un peu méfiant avec tous ces nouveaux services de micro-blogging, qui viennt s’empiler les uns sur les autres en vous promettant chaque fois qu’ils sont la solution ultime à tous vos problèmes existentiels de de lifestream, et qui finissent par transformer les réseaux sociaux en maelstrom imbittable.

J’aurais eu tendance à classer Ping.FM dans la même catégorie, et c’est la raison pour laquelle je l’ai fièrement ignoré lors de sa sortie en beta privée début 2008.

Puis le service s’est ouvert au public la semaine dernière, et j’en ai quand même profité pour le tester, et ma première impression est finalement assez favorable : Ping.FM se place sur un créneau un peu similaire à FirendFeed, puisque le service permet tout simplement de poster simultanément et en une seule fois sur tous vos comptes de micro-blogging mais également sur vos réseaux sociaux favoris et même sur votre blog pour pque que celui-ci soit hébergé chez Wordpress.com ou Blogger.

Finalement chez Ping.FM ils n’ont pas cherché midi à quatorze heures : le service n’est qu’un faciliteur de lifestream puisqu’il permet juste de poster en même temps sur plusieurs sites sans avoir à faire la tournée des popotes à chaque fois que vous avez une déclaration à faire au vaste monde, mais il le fait bien. Ici, point de suivi de vos conversations, point de followers, juste du basique et de l’essentiel : tu envoies ta prose et hop, tous tes réseaux sont au parfum.

Ping.FM existe aussi en deux déclinaisons mobiles : m.ping.fm pour le commun des mobiles, et i.ping.fm pour l’iPhone.

Article original écrit par Eric et publié sur Presse-Citron, le 08/09/2008. | Lien direct vers cet article | Si vous lisez cet article dans son intégralité sur un autre site que Presse-Citron c'est qu'il a été reproduit illégalement et sans autorisation. Merci de le signaler à son auteur original en cliquant ici | © Presse-citron.net - 2008

Today on TokyoMango, I wrote about real live Pokemon that sold for nearly a billion dollars on Yahoo! Auctions; a new web meme that spawned from the prime minister's exit speech; and the first professional gamer geek ever. Also, this is my last post as a Boing Boing guest blogger. I had a lot of fun sharing wonderful things with you guys—thanks very much for reading! ( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)...

Que Google genere funciones sociales sobre sus servicios no es nuevo, por tanto no es de extrañarnos la nueva funcionalidad que algunos blogs de Blogger acaban de incorporar de forma experimental. Se trata de un widget que podremos añadir en nuestro blog de Blogger, de manera que nuestros visitantes se puedan registrar como seguidores. A la hora de registrarse, podrán elegir si quieren estarlo de forma pública, enlazando sus avatares a sus perfiles de Blogger, o bien de forma anónima. En nuestro widget solo aparecerán una selección de usuarios registrados, no todos, como indican desde la ayuda de Blogger.

Eso si, desde el propio widget, si algún visitante quiere dejar de ser seguidor nuestro, también podrá dejarlo de ser sin ningún problema. Eso si, cuando un usuario se registra como seguidor, nuestro blog aparecerá dentro de su lista de lecturas desde el tablero de Blogger. Además, en dicha lista también podrá añadir otros blogs que actualmente no incorporen el widget.

Como ya os indico, es una funcionalidad experimental que no está disponible en todos los blogs, con lo que habrá que esperar a que lo incorporen. Eso sí, esta nueva funcionalidad recuerda mucho a la red MyBlogLog, comprada en su momento por Yahoo, por el que los usuarios pueden registrarse como seguidores de un blog en concreto, como quizás observemos en muchos blogs a través de un widget de MyBlogLog con los perfiles de los usuarios registrados como seguidores.

Vía | G.O.S.
Enlace | Más info en la ayuda de Blogger (EN)

Congolese bloggers Musengeshi Katata and Shaka Bantou have been closely following the American Democratic and Republican conventions at Forum Realisance. Both are staunch supporters of Obama and sharp critics of the Republican Party.  Like many around the world, bloggers in Congo and across Africa have been following this American election with the belief that its outcome is incredibly important not only for America, but for the world.

Bantou writes that the American election is “a good chance to learn certain profound truths.”  He advises everyone, especially Africans, to follow the elections so as to learn how to “decode the intentions and the strategic labyrinths the West uses to arrive at its ends” [Fr].

Katata explains why he thinks the world is watching the American elections:

…parce les 8 ans de George W. Bush l´ont profondément choqué, et parce que, comme un miracle sorti des légendes des mille et une nuit, un brillant et talentueux Obama venait y défendre la commune renomée du fameux rêve americain.

…because the eight years of George W. Bush have been profoundly shocking, and because, like a miracle out of the legends of one thousand and one nights, a brilliant and talented Obama comes to defend the famous American dream.

Katata writes that America, “with her economic power or the influence she likes to impose or transmit around the world to establish her interests,” has created an image of herself around the world of actually being that dream.  It is a dream that has always been plagued by its own history:

Chaque fois qu´on parlait du rêve américain…on ne manquait, hélas pas…de s´interroger sur le contenu réel de ce fameux rêve américain né de la dépossession territoriale des indiens d´Amerique et leurs massacre ou consignation dans des reservoirs reculés. Oui, un rêve qui se servit de l´esclavage des africains pour accumuler, orienter son bien-être social et propager les inégalités ainsi établies des siècles durant comme principe social dominant. Et même si ces inegalités, avec le temps, se résolvent lentement sous la pression et l´évolution des droits et des libertes sociales aujourd´hui, les lésions causées par l´injustice, le racisme ou la discrimination sociales, elles, perdureront encores leurs effets négatifs loin dans les génerations à venir. Ainsi, ce rêve américain, au fait, pourrait-on se demander à juste titre, est-il sincère ou n´est-il rien d´autre qu´une demi vérité qu´on vendait comme l´idéal le plus juste et le plus fier de l´existence humaine pour que ceratins en profitent, sous cette ombre trompeuse, pour exercer toutes leurs bassesses les plus viles comme jadis ?

Each time we speak of the American Dream…we should not fail to question the actual content of this famous American dream, born of the disposession of Native American territory, the massacre of Native American peoples, or their relegation to remote reserves.  Yes, a dream that used the slavery of Africans in order to accumulate, to direct its social well-being and to propagate the inequalities established over centuries as the dominant social principle.  And even if today these inequalities, over time, are slowly being resolved under pressure and with the evolution of rights and social liberties, the negative effect of these lesions caused by this injustice, by racism, or by social discrimination, will be felt by generations to come.  So can't we quite rightly ask whether the American Dream is in fact genuine, or nothing more than a half-truth that is sold, as the most proud and right idea in human existence so that the few who benefit from it can, under this deceptive shadow, exercise do their worst as they always have?

Blogging the Republican convention: Stuck in the past

Of the Republican convention, which wrapped up on Thursday, Katata writes:

Depuis que la Convention Républicaine a ouvert ses portes ce lundi 1er septembre 2008, on apprend, une nouvelle fois, ce qui différencie fondamentalement les républicains des democrates. Tous aiment leur pays, tous sont touchés par la crise économique qui le secoue dans ses structures autant sociales que financières; mais sur les moyens de mieux gérer ou répondre aux exigences que leur imposent à tous l´avenir, les méthodes divergent diamétralement dans leur systématisme. L´Amérique…Un pays à part ou un pays qui a oublié, depuis qu´il est devenu le pays le plus puissant du monde, que les autres pays, les autres peuples avaient, eux aussi, droit à la liberté et au bien-être matériel auxquels tout americain se réclamait si fièrement sans pour autant y être socialement ou intégralement admis comme on le sait…?

Since the Republican Convention opened its doors…we have learned, yet again, the fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats.  They both love their country [and] are affected by the economic crisis that is rattling social and financial structures; but in terms of the way to better manage or respond to the challenges they all face in the future, their methods are diametrically opposed.  America…a country isolated or a country that has forgotten, since it became the most powerful in the world, that other countries, other peoples also have a right to the liberty and the material well-being all Americans invoke so proudly, without necessarily being socially or fully accepted, as we all know…?

Katata was not impressed by Sarah Palin's debut:

Son discours à la convention, par ailleurs, n a rien été d´autre qu´un vide cancan de femme inexperimentée jouant à l´agression bon marché. Ah, quelle difference de style et de contenu intellectuel et politique avec Hillary Clinton ! Le jour et la nuit la plus noire qui soit. Si c´est tout ce qu´elle sait faire…sa nomination n´est pas un compliment pour McCain ou avait-il à ce point besoin d´une chienne de garde plus hurlante que mordante ?

Her speech at the convention was nothing else than the empty quacking of an inexperienced woman playing with cheap aggression.  Ah, next to Hillary Clinton, what a difference in style and intellectual and political content!  The difference was night and day.  If that's the only thing she knows how to do…her nomination does not pay compliment to McCain; was he really that much in need of a guard dog, whose bark is worse than her bite?

Nor was Bantou:

Si sa propre fille ne fait cas de ses conseils éducatifs, comment diable veut-elle s´imposer chez les autres avec lesquels elle n´a aucun lien étroit et familial ? Avec la violence et l´intrigue, peut-être ? Crédibilité, hein!

If her own daughter can't follow her advice, how in the world does she hope to impose it on those with whom she has no direct family relation?  With violence and intrigue perhaps?  Where's her credibility?

Blogging the Democratic Convention: The race for the future in a changing world

Katata and Bantoul also wrote last week about the Democratic convention. Katata was impressed by the Clintons and the Obamas, and especially by Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia who is now running for the U.S. Senate:

Parce que mieux que tous les orateurs précédents, il alla en détail et avec précision au cÅ“ur du problème américain contemporain en qualifiant avec justesse que ces élections n´étaient pas, contrairement à ce que les gens le prenaient par trop spontanément, un choix entre démocrates ou républicains, entre ceux du Sud ou du Nord, entre les riches et les pauvres ; mais bien entre le passé et l´avenir ou encore entre un président ancré dans le passé et celui qui aurait une vision ambitieuse et innovatrice pour promouvoir un meilleur avenir aux américains. Il parla de l´indépendance de l´énergie que l´Amérique d´Obama voulait réaliser, et critiqua une gestion bushiste illuminée qui avait dépensé les ressources humaines et financières dans des guerres grotesques et ruineuses, ainsi que dans des structures économiques et industrielles conservatives et dépassées, sinon incapables à préserver l´avenir dans le monde changeant et exigeant de demain. Apparemment les républicains ne semblaient pas saisir que face à la Chine accourant à grands pas à l´excellence mondiale, la course pour l´avenir était ouverte. Et celle-ci ne pouvait se gagner que par l´innovation, la créativité industrielle assidue et l´utilisation optimale des facteurs de production.

Better than any of the other speakers, [Mark Warner] got at the heart of the contemporary American problem in detail and with precision, rightly describing the elections not as a choice between democrat or republican, between South or North, between the rich and the poor; but between the past and the future, between a president stuck in the past and someone with an ambitious and innovative vision to work for a better future for Americans.  He spoke of the energy and the independance that an Obama America hopes to realize, and criticized the Bush administration which has wasted vast human and financial resources on ridiculous and expensive wars, as well as in its conservative and outmoded economic and industrial structures, otherwise incapable of securing a future in the changing and world of tomorrow.  Apparently, the Republicans seem not to have gotten that with the grand strides towards global success China is making, the race for the future has [already] begun.  And this can only be achieved through innovation, industrial creativity and optimal usage of their productive capacities.

Et je dois avouer qu´avec Mark Warner j´ai été autant séduit que réconcilié avec les démocrates. Parce que cela m´a laissé entendre que le discours si souvent incompris d´Obama a été bien perçu par ceux qui s´étaient donnés la peine d´aller au fond du problème qui sous des aspects divers et des variantes contextuelles ou géopolitiques, touchait le monde entier, mêmes les africains ou les islamistes extrémistes qui trompaient leurs monde avec un absolutisme religieux qui, en lieu et place de s´industrialiser, de créer le bien être pour les leurs, croyaient primitivement qu´il ne s´agissait, dans l´existence, que de croire aveuglement à une religion quelconque !

And I must say that with Mark Warner, I was as seduced as I was reconciled with the democrats.  Because [his speech] helped me understand that Obama's discourse, so often misunderstood, has been understood by those who have gone to the trouble of going to the heart of the matter which, with its many aspects and varied contexts or geopolitics, affects the whole world, even Africans or Islamic extremists who, with their religious absolutism, instead of industrializing, instead of increasing the well-being of their own, that in this existence all one need do is believe in whatever religion!

Croyait-on que le progrès se ferait à coup de sourates aussi passionnées soit-elles ; ou s´achèterait chez ceux qui se seraient donnés la peine d´inventer et de produire ? Mais alors il faudrait avoir les moyens financiers d´acheter...indéfiniment. Est-ce possible sans produire soi-même et développer l´intelligence et la créativité des siens ? Faut pas rêver...Les démocrates, en tout cas, ne se font aucune illusion : il s´agit de protéger et de garantir l´avenir de chacun de leurs enfants dans un monde où la concurrence, prochainement, deviendra accrue et sélective au plus haut niveau.

Do they believe, passionate as they are, that progress will come from some chapter of the Koran; or will they keep buying from those who have gone to the trouble to invent and produce?  But that would mean having the financial means to buy…indefinitely.  Is that possible without themselves producing and developing their own intelligence and creativity?  They're dreaming…the democrats, at any rate, are under no illusion: it's about protecting and safeguarding the future of their children in a world where, in the very near future, competition will only increase.

Bantou also has high praise for Obama but wonders if the American electorate will make the right choice this time:

En fin de compte, et après 8 ans de visible gestion cabalistique de la part de George W. Bush, le peuple américain sera-t-il capable, est-il capable de juger adéquatement et objectivement ? Rappelons-nous, c´est ce même peuple qui, contre l´avis certain candidat Kerry et même de beaucoup d´analystes politiques avisés, vota, contre tout bon sens, George Bush à la tête de ses institutions ! Comment réagira-t-il le 4 novembre prochain ; qui le sait ? Peut-être que les douleurs, les blessures ou l´amère pilule républicaine que subissait la société américaine actuellement n´étaient pas encore assez cruelles... ? Ou ce peuple dira-t-il, comme Obama : 8 ans, ça suffit, nous en avons assez!

At the end of the day, and after 8 years of the patently of George W. Bush, will the American people be capable, are they capable of making an adequate and objective assessment?  Remember that these are the same people who, against the advice of and many informed political analysts, voted, against all good sense, George Bush to the head of its institutions!  How will they act on next November 4th; who knows?  Maybe the pain, the wounds or the bitter Republican pill American society is being subjected to have not been cruel enough…?  Or will this people, as Obama, say: 8 years, that's enough, we have had enough!

The stakes are high:

Mais nous souhaiterions aussi, et cela est un vÅ“u pieux de haute espérance éthique et morale humaines, que ce pays ne ferme pas toujours les yeux sur les droits et les libertés des autres peuples. Même dans l´intérêt d´un quelconque rêve américain d´hégémonie et de domination sur le monde. Ces temps-là sont révolus, et devant la Chine, il est temps de défendre des valeurs qui soient valables pour tous. Sinon la Chine pourrait invoquer ces écarts et ces interprétations restrictives pour faire la même chose...

But we also hope, and this is a a solemn vow of the highest ethical and moral aspiration, that this country will no longer close its eyes to the rights and liberties of other people.  Even in the interest of a mundane American Dream of hegemony and world domination.  Those days are over, and in the face of China, it is time to defend the values that are good for everyone.  Otherwise China can invoke these gaps [between rhetoric and reality], these limited interpretations, to do the same thing…

I didn't realize how important family history was until after my grandmother died. She was a reporter/actor in pre-Communist China who quite unwillingly moved to Japan right after WW2, but I never asked her anything because most of the time, as a kid, I was too impatient to listen—and I didn't think she wanted to talk about it anyway. Now, nearly a decade after her death, there is one relative left who can tell me about the family's history in Shanghai. A couple months ago, I flew to Seattle to do a lengthy video interview of my great uncle Henry O. Henry is probably the only actor in Hollywood who survived Mao's Cultural Revolution. Before he came to the US, he was an actor for a national troupe in China for thirty years, and was detained by the Communist regime for being from a wealthy family. He moved to the US in his mid-sixties and has since sustained a successful career as an actor in Hollywood. At age 81, he's still picking up roles—he just came back from filming 2012 with John Cusack and Thandie Newton in Vancouver. I wrote a short article about his life for Giant Robot Issue 55. Regarding Henry (Giant Robot)( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)...

Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

A number of World Cup qualifying matches were played worldwide on Saturday, but even if Georgia was drawn against Ireland and had to move the venue for the football match to Germany following the war with Russia, many were instead interested in what might prove to be a historic political rather than sporting event. Without diplomatic relations or an open border, Armenia played against its estranged neighbor, Turkey, in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

Moreover, despite historical grievances over the 1915 massacre and deportation of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrived in Yerevan to watch the match alongside his Armenian counterpart, Serge Sargsyan. Many were quick to describe Gul's possible arrival in Yerevan an exercise in “football diplomacy.” Unzipped, for example, realized the significance of the match as long ago as November when the draw was made.

Fantastic draw! That will be THE matches! I will do whatever possible or impossible to be present there. Hope that Armenian and Turkish fans will behave, and we won't witness any ugly scenes, but rather will celebrate the occasion to get to know each other better and use sporting spirit for reconciliation (not destruction!), and a pint of beer? It's funny that football draws frequently bring us with 'sensitive' outcomes. It's more than a fate…

Later, in July when the invitation for Gul to attend the match, Unzipped applauded the move. Despite previous criticism of Armenia's new president who took power after a flawed election in February and a 20-day State of Emergency after at least 10 people died in post-election clashes with police, the blog hoped that the football match could represent a new start in relations between the two countries.

This is the most straightforward gesture to date from a head of state in Armenia to propose Turkey to open up a new page in relationships. Overall, I welcome this proposal. It is courageous and right thing to do from Serj Sargsyan side.

As the date of the match — 6 September — drew closer, other bloggers started to speculate on what led up the possibility of the Turkish President stepping foot on Armenian soil. One of those was West of Igdir which also started to comment on what would undoubtedly prove to be an unprecedented and historic occasion if Gul arrived in Yerevan.

As it stands we are a mere four days away from the much-heralded soccer diplomacy and leaves everyone asking “what's going to happen?” Officially, we don't even know if Gul is going or not. Sargsyan extended his invitation months ago, shortly after secret talks in Switzerland were leaked to the public, but Gul has yet to officially respond. […]

[…]

No matter what, it seems this historic and extremely improbable visit will be going through after all. With confirmations from just about everyone but President Gul himself, with Turkish special forces apparently already on the ground in Yerevan preparing for his protection, there is little reason to think otherwise.

Not everyone was happy with the thought of Turkey's president arriving in Armenia, however. Last Tuesday, for example, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) staged a rally in Yerevan to mark the 17th Anniversary of Independence being declared in the breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh. Although poorly attended, the nationalist political party threatened to stage street protests if Gul arrived.

ARF-D Demonstration, Zvartnots Airport, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

A few days before the match when Turkey finally announced that he would, the ARF-D were adamant that such protests would occur. However, on the day of the football game itself, Unzipped found that not many Armenians appeared eager to participate.

Particularly, Dashnaks (via Yerkir newspaper) call all supporters to gather today at Zvartnots airport and surrounding areas at 5pm local time to ‘greet’ Turkey’s president upon arrival.

Dashnaks also drive around central Yerevan streets today urging people via loudspeakers to join their protest actions. Few seem enthusiastic to do so.

Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

And as it happened, the protests were indeed small, with most Armenians viewing the event merely as a sporting one. Even so, the political ramifications of the match were obvious. Turkey won 2-0 amid high security and although the performance of the Armenian team disappointed many, the precedent had been set for building upon what some consider a brave and historic move by both presidents.

Everything related to this much - in the build up to this game - was more about politics than actual football. Perhaps, this was the most politically colored football match ever. The funny thing is that as soon as the game started, politics became something very secondary to me, I did not even feel the presence of Turkish and Armenian presidents side by side watching the match. It was all about sport for me, again, at last.

[…]

The good thing is that despite worries of possible nationalist outburst or ugly scenes, nothing of that sort happened. Security was pretty tight, at least in terms of numbers one could spot. Even plastic bottles were not allowed inside the stadium. Things went well, overall, except perhaps booing when the national anthem of Turkey played on. […]

Back to the football diplomacy. The day passed. At least on surface things seem went well. Follow-up practical actions, if any, will determine whether football diplomacy worked. I sincerely hope so.

Talk Turkey also welcomed the move.

[...] Although there have been opposition in Turkey about this historic visit, and no doubt the same on the Armenian side, this visit couldn’t have come at a better time.

With the ongoing Russian restructuring and its hopes of revitalizing the Soviet empire, closer relations between affected neighboring countries are very critical in any normal setting. Then there’s the issue of reconciling differences regarding the ‘Genocide’ matter. And the hope for a closer dialogue without the presence of any third parties whose justification for their own existence is the continuation of the very same discord they supposedly are for ending.

A good start . . .

Writing a day after the match, West of Igdir says that despite opposition to the football match from nationalists on both sides, there can be no other way forwards. The blog makes specific reference to the Armenian Diaspora which is more vocal and heated in its condemnation of Turkey.

[…] I think the best thing for the diaspora to do is watch how this goes between the governments and assess the results. No reason to stand in its way, the diaspora must and will remain strong but at the same time should adopt this spirit of friendship. There's nothing I hate more than stories of Armenians in the diaspora meeting Turks and saying something mean or irrational at them as soon as they hear they are a Turk. That's small minded and applying the same sort of racist idealogy on them as the Young Turks did to our ancestors.

Turkish Fans, Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

Ironcially, however, citing additional security concerns, only a handful of Turkish fans were given the opportunity to travel to Armenia for the game as Armenia: Higher Education & Sciences explains. The specialist blog also says it believes education is key to resolving some of the many outstanding issues which are still obstacles to normalizing relations.

[...] today’s match will unfortunately fail to deliver as Turkey’s authorities have refused to let their football fans cross the border into Armenia. The Armenian president will meet his Turkish counterpart but Armenian football fans and Yerevan residents in general won’t have the opportunity to meet Turkish supporters.

But, with an invitation from Gul extended to his Armenian counterpart to attend the rematch next year, Talk Turkey makes special reference to Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist and writer who was gunned down in Istanbul last year. It is time, the blog says, for citizens on both sides of the border to reach out to each other.

[...] Abdullah Gul invited the Armenian President to watch the rematch in Turkey. Wouldn’t it be great if the Turkish people, including its Armenian citizens, all show up in support of Armenia, wearing ‘We Are All Armenians’ shirts, as they did immediately following Hrant Dink’s murder.

Time to rise to the occasion. What do you think?

The sports diplomacy, as was the earthquake diplomacy between Greece and Turkey recently, is a great excuse for the parties to start the dialogue and improve relations, and put an end to the stalemate of ridiculousness once and for all.

Yet, while many Armenians and Turks hope that Saturday's match could mark the way forwards, others such as Petites et Grandes Aventures were unimpressed by the match from a sporting perspective. True, the blog says, the match was historic, but there were many problems highlighted that still need to be resolved. Moreover, the fact that they weren't made the match somewhat boring.

Earlier in the day I had met a few dedicated Turkish fans who had driven all the way - 12 hours via Georgia. But in the end, they were only a handful. And the few planes that were chartered from Istanbul, I was told, were full with Armenians living in Istanbul - not Turks.

[…]

But back to the game. No, I'm not biased.

It's actually a rather boring game, neither Armenia nor Turkey plays particularly well. Turkey scores twice, much to the disappointment of Armenian fans. The less than 100 Turkish fans parked in one corner of the stadium have no chance to make their voices heard and both times the Turks score the stadium is silent. So much so, I both times have to ask my neighbour, a Japanese political correspondent based in Cairo looking rather bored, if this was actually a goal. […]

Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

Three polar bears at Nagoya zoo in central Japan turned green this summer from swimming in a pond infested with algae. The zoo staff had been changing the water less frequently to save resources, and the hot weather had induced algae overgrowth in the pond and safety moat. The same thing happened at Singapore Zoo four years ago, and at the San Diego Zoo back in 1979. Algae-dyed polar bears puzzle Japan zoo visitors ( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)...

Japanese food is famously colorful, and people often pack creative, artful lunches for their kids and spouses. The Jacket Lunch Box blog belongs to a designer/DJ/food enthusiast who likes to make American album covers out of food. Here's a replica of Public Enemy's Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age, made of seaweed, fish cakes, sour plum, and rice. Weezer's Green Album is made with cabbage, seaweed, ham, fish cakes, paprika, and rice. The Jacket Lunch Box blog ( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)...

Patrick Macias has a couple of rare photographs of the original Godzilla, circa 1954/55, at a photo shoot at Toho Studios in Tokyo. Link( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)...

There may be a virus aboard, and the crappers were once waste distributors instead of collectors, but the one criticism we can no longer level at the International Space Station is a lack of wireless. That's because it has it now! Let astrophysics tests no longer be confined to the lab—astronauts can now complete them, blogger-style, from the comforts of their bunk.

Further details from NASA Watch:

"After transitioning the JSL (Joint Station LAN) network to the new Netgear wireless APs (Access Points, WAPs) which provide the ISS with WiFi (wireless+Ethernet) connectivity, Gregory today repeated functionality tests, abandoned earlier this week, in three Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module) locations from the wireless SSC -11 laptop, and later also in the COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory). Afterwards switching to "Proxim" APs, the new WiFi "Dolphin" BCRs (Barcode Readers) were also tested."

Other random, cool ISS news (at least for this fan of the game): NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff is currently playing six simultaneous games of chess with the six ground control locations that monitor the ISS.

Even cooler? Magnets are a forbidden item for trips to the station, so Chamitoff made his custom lightweight set out of Velcro. [NASA Watch via Slashdot]

There may be a virus aboard, and the crappers were once waste distributors instead of collectors, but the one criticism we can no longer level at the International Space Station is a lack of wireless. That's because it has it now! Let astrophysics tests no longer be confined to the lab—astronauts can now complete them, blogger-style, from the comforts of their bunk.

Further details from NASA Watch:

"After transitioning the JSL (Joint Station LAN) network to the new Netgear wireless APs (Access Points, WAPs) which provide the ISS with WiFi (wireless+Ethernet) connectivity, Gregory today repeated functionality tests, abandoned earlier this week, in three Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module) locations from the wireless SSC -11 laptop, and later also in the COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory). Afterwards switching to "Proxim" APs, the new WiFi "Dolphin" BCRs (Barcode Readers) were also tested."

Other random, cool ISS news (at least for this fan of the game): NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff is currently playing six simultaneous games of chess with the six ground control locations that monitor the ISS.

Even cooler? Magnets are a forbidden item for trips to the station, so Chamitoff made his custom lightweight set out of Velcro. [NASA Watch via Slashdot]

Over at Savage Critic, Jeff Lester wrote a thought provoking essay about why he’s just not that into Grant Morrison’s DCU work, in response to Superman Beyond #1. I mean, he even picked a cool anecdote/analogy to illustrate his feeling, using old timey model kits and train sets! So it was one hell of a piece. Certainly one of the best I’ve read in a while. It deserves a serious, measured response, one that considers the nuances of his carefully thought out points.

It’s going to get my usual slap dash, shoot from the hip, stream of consciousness vomiting on the page instead, but it certainly does deserve a more serious, measured, thoughtful response from somebody somewhere. Could some one get on that for me? Joe? Brian? Alex? Greg 1 or 2? Bill? Tadhg?!?!?!?$#@****

Let’s start with this paragraph:

Because Morrison constantly layers in allusions that work on multiple levels, it’s easy for him to claim victory in the end by suggesting the level that didn’t satisfy wasn’t the one you weren’t supposed to be paying attention to. In some cases (Sea Guy or The Filth, let’s say), I believe that’s absolutely the case and in some (Xorn, and the New X-Men run being characterized by Morrison as a conscious deconstruction of how the franchise defeats the author), I believe that’s absolutely Morrison talking out his lipstick-smeared butthole.

I bought the Xorn thing as organic, because it works pretty well if you go back and look at his characterization. I don’t think he could have really done the “Franchise squashes author” thing unless he’d experienced it first hand, and besides, he was so damned ethusiastic about it in the first year on the book that you could feel it coming off the page. That said; lipstick-smeared butthole? I really don’t want to know, I think. I’ll just leave that on the pile of “terms not to search for on Google”, along with “Mother Box”, “Man Mountain Marko”, and “Peter David N00dz”. Nothing good can come from any of those.

But most generous of all my theories is that G-Mo has constructed a way to promote the work on the Internet that doesn’t involve running a forum, or having a Twitter account, or keeping track of his Myspace friends: the individual issues aren’t stories jammed with easter eggs, but easter egg hunts cordoned off by a ribbon of plot. The stories themselves aren’t particularly difficult, but tracking the details of the plot through the thicket of detail can be, which is where all the online annotations come in handy.

Interesting theory. That’s not a particularly new aspect of his work, though, so I’m not sure he’s doing it specifically to wind up the ‘net. It seems more like a happy coincidence that his work lends itself so well to that kind of OCD manifestation (in a positive way!). I just don’t think he’s obfuscating things intentionally to wind up the internerd the way so many other Marvel and DC stories seem based around making nerds really, really angry these days. That seems to be their whole mission statment at this point, which would be dumb if it didn’t work.

Morrison’s brilliant and daring twist is to construct stories so people will hit the Internet not to discuss what will happen, but to figure out what is happening. Next to the way Mark Millar promotes himself on the Internet, it looks downright elegant.

Well, Morrison tends to do that. Much in the way that Bryan Danielson outclasses an infant when it comes to wrestling (even if he does have the pigmentation of a fetus). What I’m trying to say is that Morrison is better than Millar at everything. He also does tend to leave a lot of things up to the reader to figure out for themselves. The whole “I feel like there are pages missing here! I have no idea what’s going on and I am FREAKING OUT!!!!!” thing people who don’t like him are always bitching about.

He goes on to link to the various annotations you can find of Morrison’s recent work. Here’s where the real projectile vomiting on my end starts, so now may be a good time to put on those figurative ponchos I handed out before the metaphorical show. Litotes.

I do not now, nor have I ever, cared about annotations. I do not mean to demean the work that people from Jess Nevins to Chris Sims put in to this sort of thing. It takes an immense scholarly rigor to parse the density of Alan Moore’s Victorian Pulp Megaverse or endure consecutive issues of vamperotica adaptations without drinking yourself in to death. I just don’t tend to read annotations as any more than a minor curiousity unless they are of hapless vamperotica, because I am an entertainment based reader. Enlightenment is for hookers, weirdos, and dead people, as far as I’m concerned.

The thing is, I never really had the rigor to be a scholar, because I find that sort of thing tedious. That’s one of the reasons I never tried to seriously get in to academia. That and there was this time I was at a school function and I told an English Lit grad student that I wasn’t familiar with Faust and it looked he reacted like I’d farted in Church. That seemed to be a sign that a literary life wasn’t in the cards for me. To be fair, maybe he was talking about the comic. Either way, it was a pretty damning (no pun intended) lapse for me.

My literary failings aside… well, they can’t really be, because they are inexorably tied to why needing annotations of a work doesn’t mean anything to me. I appreciate that there are multiple levels to thing, I really do, but only on a level akin to “That’s neat. Let’s see what’s on TV level.” I appreciate that Morrison layers his stories, I really do. That’s why I like him so damn much, that I know there’s more going on there.

However, I’m not a decoder. If the literal text isn’t enough to hold my interest, I don’t care how layered it is; I’m probably not going to care and find something more entertaining to do. I like my superhero comics like I like my women, pro wrestling, and rock music; fast, loud, cheap, easy, and rife with explosions. As long as you give me that, and wrap it up in some interesting conceptual hooks, I’ll give you my time, money, and fawning blog posts.

That pretty much encapsulates Morrison’s superhero works. They have the kind of kinetic energy that is a common trait in all of my favorite comics creators, to the best Kirby (with and sans Lee) to O’Malley to Mignola to Fraction, to name a few. That fits with the anarchistic traits Lester ascribes to his work; I like it when he gets bored and starts wrecking his own shit. Which could be why I enjoy Batman: RIP a great deal so far, magical negroes and all.

Really, on the level where I appreciate stories (the kiddie pool of comprehension, if you will), RIP works beautifully. It’s basically Born Again on psychadellic drugs with a creepy Joker thrown in to appease the movie tie-in gods, even if/because the damn thing won’t be done and in paperback until after the Blu Ray of Dark Knight is available and I will actually get a chance to see if Tom Selleck or Joe Rice is right about it. Joe takes it a part structurally, but Selleck has such an impressive ’stache, so it’s a toss up, I’d say.

But never mind the cultural phenomenon of a movie; let’s talk about the culturally irreleveant comic it was spun off from! It’s exciting! Things are happening! Batman’s tripping balls and Nightwing is off panel bleeding somewhere! I don’t know (or care) about you, but that makes for a pretty damn great Batman serial for me. That I don’t know all the references matters not a wit to me. Because I’ve read some of them, sure, but also because Bat Mite is playing the Great Gazoo to a drug addled Batman in a nasty looking purple costume! Morrison has thrown 70 plus years of Bat-history in a blender, heaped on a ton of barbituates, set them on fire, and has come up with a pretty tasty cocktail in my opinion. I’d dub it the Flaming G-Mo, but that’s a little close to a slur against our same sex oriented readers for my comfort.

I feel largely the same way about Morrison’s other recent D.C. work. Final Crisis works for me partially because I’m not entirely sure what’s going on. All Star Superman is not even really in this category because of its obvious superiority to everything else Morrison does and pretty much everything else out there at all, and because it’s not part of the Crisis hullabaloo. I just mentioned it in an attempt to make the last issue come out al-damn-ready by wishing it in to existence. That didn’t work for Absolute Flex Mentallo, but this seems more attainable.

That brings us to Superman Beyond #1. It worked for me (even though between you, me, and the Source Wall, I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to) because I pretty much had the opposite reaction to Lester. To wit:

Honestly, I’d be more willing to attribute this to me if I wasn’t reading a comic book where five supermen board a yellow submarine to sail through the metaverse–and one of those supermen is a drugged-out Dr. Manhattan analogue. As Graeme McMillan so frequently says to me when discussing comics, “Come on! How can you not love that?” Honestly, it’s such a direct descendant to batshit Steve Gerber stories from the ’70s, I can see how I could love it. I should love this book.

And yet, I don’t.

Well, I do. Mildly. We’re at least conjugal visit buddies on alternate weekends. So screw him and screw you too! And Will Smith, while I’m at it and referencing that particular Mathers’ lyric, mainly because I had to watch Pursuit of Happyness three times at work on Friday. I mean, I got paid for it, but it still got old quick, even if Will Smith Jr. is more adorable than 12 issues of Superman/Batman #51 velcroed to a puppy made of rainbows.

Well, not really. We just look at these things on different levels, Lester and I. I always find his work thought provoking, even when I almost totally disagree with him, that’s why I pointed out this post in the first place. That and I don’t want to alienate bloggers I do like after going out of my way to alienate the ones I don’t last weekend. You’re peachy keen Jeff; I’ll even link to your pretty much unrelated Love and Rockets review!

So, in summary; Jeff Lester and I approach Grant Morrison’s DCU work differently and our reactions follow suit. I don’t have anything against annotations, but don’t need them to enjoy Morrison’s work and am just generally not interested in reading them at all about anything.

Crap! I need a WWE reference in here somewhere to meet my contractural requirement on that front, so here are some pictures of my favorite Canadian retired wrestler/fitness model as Wonder Woman. Hey Grant; work that bit of meta in to Final Crisis and I’ll continue reading your model kits forever, dude!

Post Script Essay Prompt On Annotations Of Super Hero Comics:

Making liteary style annotations of comics is more sad than adding blood, guts, rape, and other adult themes haphazzardly in an attempt to make the genre more “realistic” and adult. Agree, disagree, or don’t disagree but want to yell at me anyway; pick one. 300 words, double spaced, due before the end of the ECW Championship Scramble at Unforgiven tonight. Needed a second WWE reference just to hedge my bets (and because you have to squint to see that Stratus collage). Also, I think if anyone happens to buy the PPV based on me mentioning it, one short guy who used to work in ROH gets a push. Hey, it worked for The Brian Kendrick!

Extra Credit Prompt- Find all of the typos and any other grammatical mistakes in this post. Instead of bitching about them in the comments section or just refusing to read me again, edit the post to meet proper standards. Send me the finished product via e-mail.

After that, think of all the time you wasted doing that, and what other things you could have been doing. Write how much that crushed your soul. 100 word minimum, may include horrible emo poetry and jpegs of sad pandas or whatever. Go to town, really, since I just ruined your life and all.

P.P.S.- I’ve always thought that something like Seven Soldiers would be fun to dig in to with a pile of annotations and nothing else to do at all one day. Unfortunately, my other distractions keep distracting me from that distraction.

1 Comments

• At September 7, 2008, Omar Karindu wrote:

  Annotating superhero comics in literary style is useful because it keeps frightening nerds who produce them (like me!) and frightening ...