Saturday, November 21, 2015

this won't help the average citizen of mexico much.

but, it should accelerate inflation, which should put upward pressure on wages. this will make mexico less competitive as a labour source, and that should be good for the other two nafta partners.

it's not the best way to create upward pressure on wages in mexico, but the labour movement there doesn't seem to want to fight.

reaction to the new bowie single, pt 2

Brooklyn Allman
Bowie always tends to reflect the world around him. I think this video is a metaphor for the darkside of religion. The book he holds up. The scarecrows in crucifix formation (scarecrows symbolic of fear which is a key element of organized religion). The blindfolds. The people who seem to be possessed by something. Somehow he ties Major Tom into all of this as his skull is treated like a sacred artifact perhaps meaning that anything can be turned into god and spun out of control. I think "Blackstar" might be like a faux-prophet  or fervent disciple going around convincing people god is speaking through them. I think it definitely reflects what's going on in the world right now. I'm sure there are many ways to interpret this though, it's very abstract.


deathtokoalas
+Brooklyn Allman
the kind of ritual you're seeing in the video is something that "kids nowadays" actually seriously do. there's a pretty sizable movement built up around this amongst women that are roughly university aged. they get together in forested spaces and perform magical rites to what they perceive of as pagan spirits.

if you want to get into it, it's likely a reaction to the upbringing brought on by the previous generation - a kind of rebellion against the value system enforced by the "moral majority" in the reagan revolution. the women i've spoken to about this speak in these terms. they talk of how their christian upbringing created a lot of repressed desires. they talk of catholic guilt. yet, as the rituals become so massively enforced and engrained, they create a sense of safety, as well. so, they realize there's something oppressive about the ritual, but can't quite discard the sense of peace that the oppression provides. the result is rebellion on the terms of praying to a false deity, rather than simply discarding it. on that level, it's blowback.

on another level, the ideas are all around us in our culture. there was a movie released in the 90s called the craft that is very popular in these circles, and there have been a number of similar films released since then. it comes out musically in a couple of styles, like witch house. there's a band called esben and the witch that is kind of seminal (even if all the ideas trace back to the 70s, through artists like coil, who were themselves drawing on existing themes). and, remember: this is a generation raised on magic, from disney through to lord of the rings. magic is no longer seen as an archaic relic of the past to be shunned as a process of ignorance. rather, it's become quite normalized.

i think bowie is reflecting on something here, but it's the youth culture. this is, in fact, what he's always done. what i'm getting is that he's both amused by this (it is really quite ridiculous) and somewhat disturbed by it.

the key shot in the video is at the very end, when he's dramatically recoiling from the images being presented on the screen.

"on the day of execution,
only women kneel and smile."

it's the secular society being executed. but, from the inside out.

reaction to the new bowie single, pt 1

see, i think the key to understanding this is having a clue about contemporary youth culture.

the images in the video are what the contemporary musical underground looks like. the exaggeration is only very slight. true to form, bowie is merely reacting to the underground. and, my interpretation is that he's both legitimately amused and seriously disturbed by it.

musically, i'm glad we're getting another "serious" bowie disc and am quite excited about that. i was a little worried he was going to leave us with that last one.

but, only a fool claims to be able to understand the scope of a bowie record via the lead single.

the choice really will be up to him. mostly. things happen, but this strikes me as mostly ideological.

the chart is largely a measure of whether the liberals can gain the approval of liberal-ndp swing voters, and they're (we're...) very much policy oriented. you put through the right policies, you keep them happy. there's a significant potential of trudeau pulling into the 40s (as chretien did), if he can hold that swing a little bit more strongly - he could increase his seat count in four years if he can pull that off. the ndp polled very poorly through the 90s, which was partly a resolve to keep the conservatives out but also partly a reflection on chretien's ability to hold the swing through policy decisions. trudeau is in a strong position to emulate this.

the media is going to focus on the liberal-conservative swing like it always does. and it is true that following through on his campaign promises (which are things that will upset the right-wing minority in the country) may intensify the strength of the disapproval ratings. but they won't change the overall proportion of it.

so, for example, consider the decision to pull back on the bombing in syria. yeah, that's going to upset conservatives, who will trot out their various arguments. but, if he can hold to the kind of foreign policy that was set down by pearson and adhered to across the spectrum until 2006, it will help him hold those ndp-leaning voters - and not just come out in the wash but potentially increase his vote share. similarly, he doesn't want to go slashing programs (we reacted badly to martin because of that). the media, focusing on the right swing, will key on this. conservatives will yell and scream. but, his approval ratings will stay high.

it depends on policy. but, expect it to last.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-trudeau-honeymoon-1.3324631

inuk of the north
That sure never happened in 2006, 2008 and 2011.

jessica murray
no. but, that's sort of my point. the liberals saw shrinking numbers over this period, but harper couldn't break out of his base. during this period, the liberals were seen as leaning too far to the right. ndp support increased as a consequence.

keeping those liberal numbers high is dependent on them not being seen as right-leaning. it's the ndp's task to convince us they are right-leaning, of course, but they've got two problems: a credibility problem after their policies in the last election (and their leader....) and possibly running up against the facts of a return to a left-leaning liberal party.

you can almost suggest it's inversely proportional: the more angry conservatives get, the higher his approval ratings will climb (to a max, of course, which is going to be in the high 60s).

don't expect the media to clue in to this.

inuk of the north
You're right is some ways, but ultimately the biggest factor in 2015 was fatigue with Harper. Second was how far right the NDP swung trying to sound like a government in waiting. Ultimately, more by accident than design, the Liberals happened to be in the right place at the right time.

jessica murray
that's often how the liberals get back in: by default. that's why we call them the natural governing party.

i had a conservative friend years ago that told me "the problem with the liberals isn't exactly the liberals. it's that once they get in, you just can't get them out. they deflect scandals like teflon. there's just no tactic. you're stuck with them."

it's only a half-truth. there's an easy way to get them out: convince people they're campaigning on the left, but governing on the right. but, that's not what he wanted to hear.

20-11-2015: why the detroit/windsor area needs a pedestrian crossing option

concert footage:
river spirit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btunBJsfq38
the creepers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZforNU_VKY (old footage)
nudie suits (none taken)
valley hush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmU8iOhObz8

review:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2015/11/20.html