History?

VI

To articulate what is past does not mean to recognize “how it really was.” It means to take control of a memory, as it flashes in a moment of danger. For historical materialism it is a question of holding fast to a picture of the past, just as if it had unexpectedly thrust itself, in a moment of danger, on the historical subject. The danger threatens the stock of tradition as much as its recipients. For both it is one and the same: handing itself over as the tool of the ruling classes. In every epoch, the attempt must be made to deliver tradition anew from the conformism which is on the point of overwhelming it. For the Messiah arrives not merely as the Redeemer; he also arrives as the vanquisher of the Anti-Christ. The only writer of history with the gift of setting alight the sparks of hope in the past, is the one who is convinced of this: that not even the dead will be safe from the enemy, if he is victorious. And this enemy has not ceased to be victorious.

WALTER BENJAMIN

Cool kids II

The ocean breathes salty, won't you carry it in?
In your head, in your mouth, in your soul.
And maybe we'll get lucky and we'll both grow old.
Well I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I hope so.

Well that is that and this is this.
You tell me what you want and I'll tell you what you get.
You get away from me. (You get away from me) You get away from me.
Collected my belongings and I left the jail.
Well thanks for the time, I needed to think a spell.
I had to think awhile. (I had to think awhile) I had to think awhile.

Well that is that and this is this.
Will you tell me what you saw and I'll tell you what you missed,
when the ocean met the sky. (You missed, you missed)
You missed when time and life shook hands and said goodbye. (You missed)
When the earth folded in on itself. (You missed)
And said "Good luck, for your sake I hope heaven and hell (You missed, you missed)
are really there, but I wouldn't hold my breath." (You missed, you missed)
You wasted life, why wouldn't you waste death? (You missed, you missed)
You wasted life, why wouldn't you waste death?

Cool kids doing pretty things (they ain't no suburban kids with biblical names)

for those who wanna play for sad sappy suckers

for those who wanna play for sad sappy suckers

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=sajGMpouyik

Surplus

I've watched this movie a couple of times (literally), first, it seems that it is in favor of some politics that people still think is a legitimate left (specially in Latin America, of couse due to historical reasons), but I was mislead like there has been some misunderstandings on this movie, in fact tons of it. To begin with, is not a documentary but a sort of pseudo-docunentary, if you will, a movie-thesis (my favorite type of documetary, where/when the author doesn't pretend to be neutral, such as, Societé d'espetacle or Nós que aqui estamos por vós esperamos or Columbine), (un)fortunately, this very one, Surplus is even better because the author show his point of view, which is none of the characters of the so call left, have a solution because they're ahistorical, Fidel is shown, as well as, the CEO of microsoft, as dictator and the American Anarchist (blame for the events in Seattle) just wants what Rosseau, Proudohn and all the idealists wanted, or if you wiil , wants. The beauty of it isthat only one aspect of this struggle is undebatable, that is the crelty of capitalism. Last but not least, what annoys people, which is its form is clearly (at least to my mind) a critique on mass media, as well, because that techinique/ language is the same that is displayed 24X7 over and over, on and on and turn ourselves into plainly consumers - it seems like nobody paid attention to the subtitle of the movie.

Have you ever watched "SURPLUS" (THE MOVIE)

This is war too, isn't?

Eagleton speak out on war p2

Eagleton speak out on war

by Terry Eagleton

Art as a production

I have spoken so far of literature in terms of form, politics, ideology, consciousness. But all this overlooks a simple fact which is obvious to everyone, and not least to a Marxist. Literature may be an artefact, a product of social consciousness, a world vision; but it is also an industry. Books are not just structures of meaning, they are also commodities produced by publishers and sold on the market at a profit. Drama is not just a collection of literary texts; it is a capitalist business which employ certain men (authors, directors, actors, stagehands) to produce a commodity to be consumed by an audience at a profit. Critics are not just analysts of texts; they are also (usually) academics hired by the state to prepare students ideologically for their functions within capitalist society. Writers are not just transposers of trans-individual mental structures, they are also workers hired by publishing houses to produce commodities which will sell. ‘A writer’, Marx comments in Theories of Surplus Value, ‘is a worker not in so far as he produces ideas, but in so far as he enriches the publisher, in so far as he is working for a wage.’
TERRY EAGLETON