Friday, January 31, 2020

Oh, the contrast

January 2020
The Australian Government is working with Chinese authorities to get Australians out of Wuhan, the Chinese city dubbed 'ground zero' in the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

October 2019
Families urge government to reconsider rescuing Australians in Syria. Home affairs officials have reiterated no Australians will be sent in to assist dozens of trapped women & children.

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

wednesday newstrip

Vampire white dwarf star feeding on neighbor spotted in Kepler data · coronavirus may have spread from snakes · DoNuts T.®ump has become the first US president to attend America's largest annual anti-abortion rally · did the FBI get Apple to kill iCloud backup encryption? · the T.®ump "I'm peachy" show opened with the defense opining that the prissygent is a victim & the Democrats are the villains · Civil War-era 'witch bottle' may have been found on US highway, archaeologists say · Byte, the sequel to Vine & potential competitor to TikTok, launches on mobile · gamers rush to play plague game amidst virus outbreak.

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

wednesday newstrip

Asteroid that could cause ‘violent’ sky explosions approaching Earth · new research reveals how Ginkgo biloba trees can grow for thousands of years · the Prada bolo tie is already this year’s viral celebrity accessory · T.®ump to veto bill intended to keep forever chemicals out of groundwater · oceans are warming at the same rate as if five Hiroshima bombs were dropped in every second · Melbourne air quality drops to 'hazardous' levels as bushfire smoke lingers over Victoria · why is Gwyneth Paltrow selling a candle that smells like her vagina?

Friday, January 17, 2020

enlarging the canon


Old Rhumba
68 pages
gradient books
$US 5.00
http://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-young/old-rhumba/paperback/product-24374331.html


"Once more meandering, this time whistling the Peanut Vendor song, unable to accede to the lyrics — peanuts do bop do bop. What was once a Cuban rhythm, the rumba, an h added in the pre- & post-war dancehalls of the then united States, turned into a jazz standard by the white swing bands — if you haven't got bananas don't be blue — brought back to much more like its original format by resettled Cuban musicians who found fame by cashing in on a craze for Latin-American music. Nothing of which has anything to do with this collection. Except for the name. Old Rhumba. 50 million monkeys can't be wrong (peanuts do bop do bop)."



Art Informel
68 pages
gradient books
$US 5.00
http://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-young/art-informel/paperback/product-24375045.html


"(The tachistes) paint white on white, & they believe that this is an achievement," said René Magritte to Harry Torczyner. "I don't like that."

Torczyner responded by challenging Magritte to paint "a white rose, in a white room with a window looking on to a landscape covered with snow."

Magritte painted a rose in revolutionary red. "When there is a rose, & one is sensitive to it, one makes it as big as I did so that the rose appears to fill the room." He called the painting "The Tomb of the Wrestlers."

A comment by Jean-Paul Sartre on another painter's work sets the scene for the poems here. "Ses titres ne désignent pas l’objet : ils l’accompagnent." "His titles do not indicate the object: they accompany it."


Wednesday, January 15, 2020

wednesday newstrip

Asteroid alert: NASA tracks a colossal space rock on Earth approach 1 day after discovery · model banned on Instagram after raising $500k for bushfire appeal with nude selfies · Samsung just revealed a new rotating TV that's like a giant smartphone for your living room · scientists find astounding slime mold trapped in amber for 100 million years · DoNuts T.®ump tweets the US flag & follows up with a 'I don't want to have sex with my wife' tweet · aliens exist & they are living among us, says first British astronaut into space · World's worst measles epidemic kills 6,000 people in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Friday, January 10, 2020

the abc of making up lost ground in the polls

(a) Assassinate an Iranian general.


(b) Tweet the American flag to show that everything is done in the name of patriotism. Ignore Samuel Johnson's pronouncement that "patriotism is the last resort of the scoundrel."

(Note: (a) & (b) can be swapped around.)


(c) Draw up a plan that details further acts of aggression to be carried out at regulated intervals so as to generate news headlines for all the weeks until polling day.


Wednesday, January 08, 2020

wednesday newstrip

Warning: five massive asteroids are just about to whiz by Earth · congregants have returned fire & fatally shot a gunman who killed two people in a church near Fort Worth, Texas · Call of Duty: Modern Warfare players are being killed by... a chair · Kansas cop, 23, resigns after admitting he was the one who wrote 'fucking pig' on his McDonald's coffee cup & then blamed the 'vulgar message' on his drive-thru server · NASA satellite images show the terrifying reality of climate change · California law banning sale of cosmetics tested on animals went into effect January 1st · DoNuts T.®ump spent 1 of every 5 days in 2019 at a golf club.

Wednesday, January 01, 2020

wednesday newstrip

Woman says hair dye reaction caused her face to swell ‘like a balloon’ · "Space is the world's new war-fighting domain," said DoNuts T.®ump officially launching Space Force, the US's first new military service since 1947 · Australian Deputy Prune Monster MyCall McCornhick concedes Australia must do more to fight climate crisis – but links fires to 'self-combusting manure' · dinosaurs may have been poisoned before getting blasted with asteroid · half of all American adults could be obese in 10 years, study finds, &, once again, DoNuts T.®ump is leading the pack.