This awful cult of talentless hipsters has its Mecca in Los Angeles, according to Will Self. He asserts his generation took the avant-garde and turned it into a successful rearguard action by the flying columns of capitalism’s blitzkrieg. What to make of the commodification and democratization of culture, and where to go from here?
Author: The Outpost
Charles Bukowski: Madness is Never Ordinary
“In my work, as a writer, I only photograph, in words, what I see. If I write of “sadism” it is because it exists, I didn’t invent it, and if some terrible act occurs in my work it is because such things happen in our lives. I am not on the side of evil, if such a thing as evil abounds.” — Charles Bukowski
Soil and Nutrition: No-Till Organics and Carbon Sequestration
Everyone needs vitamins and minerals like potassium, calcium, magnesium and others to stay strong and healthy. Courtney White describes in an excerpt from his book Grass, Soil, Hope how industrial farming has decreased these essential nutrients in our food and using regenerative agriculture practices we can get them back while offsetting a large amount of greenhouse gases.
Art of Black Flag: Angst and Rebellion Symbolized
Punk Rock: the thrashing, slamming, moshing…and the art. First you smash all the institutions, but then find the institutions have enshrined you. Here is a history of Black Flag told through the mesmerizing and beyond-satirical art of Raymond Pettibon.
Israel’s Colonial Project in Palestine is Faltering
Dan Glazebrook writes on the colonial history of the Zionist dream of a homeland, including the destruction of the Palestinian people and dispossession of their land and livelihood through aggression and settlement building, shows Israel has no intention of conceding on Palestinian statehood. We also feature a video of Ilan PappĂ©, Israeli historian, and the film, “The Zionist Story.”
The Ongoing Reconsideration of Pier Paolo Pasolini
Champion of the disinherited of postwar Italy, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s masterworks prefigured his country’s fall to a consumerist Heart of Darkness, an uncompromising vision that may have led to his own wretched death. A biopic by Abel Ferrara that premiered at the Venice biennale reconstructed the last hours of the Italian film director, who was murdered in 1975.
Place Mobility: Streetcars, Bus Rapid Transit and Light Rail
Across the US, inspired by the success of Portland’s streetcar and a movement toward downtown revitalization and expanding public transit alternatives, projects enhancing place mobility move forward despite controversy.