Bruner Blog
All Bruner, All the Time
Hunky Santa Is 'Coming' to Town
 Caught this on tonight's edition of All Things Considered (archive page | Real Audio file). Los Angeles's Beverly Mall is lucky to be visited for the next few evenings by Hunky Santa, who is the real Santa's son, St. Rick. He'll listen to your gift requests and pass them along to his dad, although from the sound of it, many of the adults who are flocking to see him are expressing holiday wishes that should probably land them in the naughty column.
- 12/21/2002
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Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me News
More news of the weird from the excellent NPR new quiz show Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me:
One of the show's panelists, wag Charlie Pierce quipped that after Trent Lott's apology last week on Black Entertainment Television, BET had offered him is own regular show. "I'ts going to be called 'Trent Lott in the Hood.' They're just debating whether or not to use an apostrophe."
- 12/21/2002
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Rawhide Kid, the Unambiguously Gay Comic Book Hero
 I
think it's simply marvelous that Marvel has come out (so to speak) with a
gay comic book hero, but did they really have to put him in a cowboy suit
and call him the Rawhide Kid? I mean, isn't that a bit...campy?
"Bang! Bang! Don't worry, pardner, I got your back."
The new Rawhide Kid, based on the same character from the '50s, is to be released this February and is presently promoted on Marvel.com as "Hot This Month!" (I'll say.)
Rumor is Marvel is considering changing the name of the Incredible Hulk to the Incredible Hunk.
- 12/21/2002
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Muslim Rappers Choose Uncle Sam Over Eminem
This is a bizarre little story in the present issue of the New Yorker, more along the lines of the Bush administration trying to woo the rest of the world with questionable information strategies. In this case, the State Department has enlisted the help of the DC rap group Native Deen -- a group of African American Muslims whose hits include "M-U-S-L-I-M," "I Only Fear Allah," and "Drug Free" -- to spread the message of America's diversity and tollerance by sponsoring their international exposure. So, while selling out to the U.S. government appears not to trouble them, of Eminem two of the band members say:
He has skills. Anybody in the rap world knows that he's a very good lyricist.
He's definitely taking the rap world by storm. But what we have a problem with is the subject matter, the content, the image, you know.
- 12/21/2002
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The New Twilight Zone -- How Scary Is That?
  Forester Whitaker is a good actor, most memorably in The Crying Game, but I'm sorry, Rod Serling he's not. Yet meet UPN's host of the new Twilight Zone. This is a perfect example of Hollywood not knowing when to leave well enough alone. What's next, the "I Love Lucy" movie starring Antonio Banderas and Nicole Kidman?
UPDATE:
I am quite an idiot, apparently (no surprise to many of you). This is apparently the second season. I don't watch a lot a UPN.
- 12/19/2002
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Wilding Boys Go Free
So, the judge in the infamous "Central Park Jogger" case freed the five men who, as boys, were sentenced apparently erroneously for raping and viciously beating a female jogger 13 years ago. I was living in NYC at the time of the case. It was the biggest crime story of the decade, summing up all the fears people had about living it what was then a very dangerous city.
The whole thing is hard to fathom now. So they were innocent? Seems like the police and DA aren't willing to precisely say that (even though another unrelated guy has confessed, whose DNA also happens to match crime-scene evidence). As far as I can tell, the court has just annulled the convictions, they're free, no questions, no apologies, whatever. The judge did wish them a Merry Christmas, I saw on a TV news clilp.
And what about that terrible word "wilding" that entered our vocabulary (sort of) as a result of this case, which the teenagers alledgedly used (during their "confessions") to jauntily describe their seemingly horrific crime spree. What was the word? Nothing more than a hoax perpetuated by the cops to make them look like monsters? Something the kids said which the cops misunderstood and fed to the media, which delightedly ran with? I remember back at the time people in the black community suggested that the police had made up the word, as no one had ever heard it used before or since in any other context. But back in 1989, we were told that "wilding" was the latest urban fad, a la Clockwork Orange. Certainly made for such tantilizing headlines. The media had a field day with it. Now, I suppose we'll never know. Or, on second thought, we probably will as soon as the now free young men write their books on the whole ordeal.
All I can say is NYC is a different city today in so many ways, almost all for the better (save, obviously, the whole Sept. 11 thing).
- 12/19/2002
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Global Information War
Picking up the Big Brother theme I've been blogging about in recent days, I caught over the weekend on NRP's On the Media an interview (transcript and Real Audio file) with host Brooke Gladstone and LA Times writer William Arkin on his recent article about the military's continued dirty tricks vis-a-vis international disinformation policies. Both the interview and original article highly recommended. Here's Gladstone's intro from the interview:
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was roundly condemned last year when he unveiled the Pentagon's new Office of Strategic Influence to feed disinformation to the foreign media. He claimed it was all a misunderstanding and supposedly scrapped the idea, but recently in the L.A. Times, military analyst and critic Bill Arkin explained that the Office of Strategic Influence is not dead but thriving under different names throughout the Pentagon. Arkin has obtained dozens of Pentagon documents that describe in detail how the military has restructured itself top to bottom to fight a global information war that could blow back into the United States.
Here's the best paragraph of the LA Times piece:
Both the Air Force and the Navy now list deception as one of five missions for information warfare, along with electronic attack, electronic protection, psychological . attacks and public affairs. A September draft of a new Air Force policy describes information warfare's goals as "destruction, degradation, denial, disruption, deceit, and exploitation." These goals are referred to collectively as "D5E."
UPDATE:
Struggling with my Hungarian on Adi's blog just now, I found this related NYT article: "Pentagon Debates Propaganda Push in Allied Nations"
- 12/18/2002
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New Ground Zero Revelopment Plans
 Now
that's more like it. I heard much of the press conference announcing the new designs
for rebuilding the World Trade Center, and, from the sound of them (and this
NYT article with a short multimedia slideshow), the new plans are much more
impressive than the first stinkeroo round. I'll look forward to buying the Times
tomorrow and seeing them in more detail.
Pictured here is British architect Foster and Partners' 'Twinned Towers' design, which proposes once more building the tallest sky scraper in the world. I say hell yeah. Haven't studied any of these at length yet, but so far this one gets my vote for sheer NYC-style in-your-face audacity. You think you can knock down our buildings? Well let's see you try it again, mother fuckers!
Too bad the web site for the new project, RenewNYC.org/.com, stinks and can't deal with the traffic it's getting.
See Google News for more on the subject.
UPDATE:
I've had a chance now to scan through all of the online presentations. Traffic to RenewNYC.org has finally slowed down enough. One thing is clear: almost all of the designs show real stunning vision. They're all incredibilty cool looking buildings. here are some others I particularly like:
Notice the fire exit plan for the "Memorial Square" plan on the right.
- 12/18/2002
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Gawker.com
By the time you read this, Gawker.com should be live. I've been reading the beta version for more than a week. I'm special.
It's yummy. NYC served snarky, just the way I like it.
- 12/18/2002
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Two Towers & WTC
Odd that the new Lord of the Rings movie, subtitled The Two Towers, is being released the same day as the new plans for the WTC (i.e., the former "Twin Towers").
- 12/18/2002
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New York City, Lowest Crime Rate Among Big U.S. Cities
I feel it is part of my duty as a WNYC/NPR junkie to blog news I hear on the radio that may go unreported otherwise in the blogosphere. Part of the trick is that WNYC's local news department is so good at local scoops that I often have trouble validating them online elsewhere until the rest of the pack catches up. Case in point: while lots of news sources are reporting (as of 11:15am EST today) the release of the FBI's latest 6-month national crime trends report, no one else yet has picked up WNYC's point that New York City has the lowest crime rate among the biggest 25 cities in the nation.
I tried to find the same point in the FBI's report, but it's not teased out clearly. Someone, either at WNYC or their source, must have gone thru the FBI's list of some 200 cities and identified the biggest 25 and done the math themselves, which I didn't take time to do. I'm just assuming that they got it right, in which case you'll probably soon see it picked up elsewhere in the NY media. Till then, you saw it here first.
Go NYC, you rock!
Also, a bonus dividend of looking into this: I found the FBI's Page 2, a web news page with its own slogan, "Beyond the headlines." If I didn't know better, I'd say it looks like the FBI's blog.
UPDATE:
Cool. I scooped the mayor, who, in the afternoon, told a press conference:
“New York City now ranks 197 out of the 216 cities with at least 100,000 residents. To put that in context, we’re right between Provo, Utah, and Rancho Cucomonga, California. I don’t mean to disparage those towns; their crime rate is impressive as well. But when you want to be safe, you come to New York City."
- 12/17/2002
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Stick It to the Record Industry
I could never understand why CDs were supposed to be worth $15 back when LPs used to sell for $7. Well, seems I'm not alone. Mark writes:
Remember when the music industry was convicted of price-fixing? Well,
everyone who bought a CD between 1995 and 2000 in the US is eligible for
a piece of the settlement -- between $5 and $20. If enough people sign
up, the money goes to charities that are working to reform the music
industry. Pass it along.
- 12/16/2002
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Americans Abroad Asked to Spy on Each Other
A friend of mine living in Budapest just received the email below, for real. This strikes me, for one, as creepy:
From: ACS Warden Warden.Budapest@state.gov
Subject: Warden (District X)
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Greetings from the American Embassy, American Citizen Services Section.
We are presently searching for a Warden in your district and
are writing to see if you have an interest in volunteering in
this capacity.
As a Warden you would:
1. Maintain a current list of names, addresses and phone
numbers of Americans that fall within your jurisdiction, in
coordination with the embassy's Consular section (we provide
you this list but you can help us keep it current as you become
aware of people moving in and out of your area).
2. In time of crisis or emergency...
-Be available to receive instructions.
-Distribute messages regarding the crisis to Americans in your area.
-Ensure all the Americans within your jurisdiction get the messages.
-Keep coordinator updated on developments, especially unsubstantiated rumors in times of crisis.
If you have an interest in volunteering as a warden please
respond to this email and include all your contact information
(home and work phone numbers, cell phone number, address and
email).
Thank you for your assistance,
Sincerely,
XXX XXXXXXX
Consular Associate
American Embassy in Budapest
Adrienne says she remembers when this sort of thing was common in Hungary. Namely, under communism.
- 12/15/2002
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'Writers on America' Banned in America?
I was lying in bed this morning listening to the NPR Sunday morning news and I heard a piece (Real Audio file) about a new book the State Department has commissioned and released titled 'Writers on America' (as featured on the State Department site) which features a number of prominent (e.g. Richard Ford) and not-so-prominent American writers (of various ethnic backgrounds) reflecting on what it means to be a writer in America. The book is meant to be distributed around the world to help students and other readers form a more balanced view of this country.
Nothing about the story really caught my attention till host Liane Hansen concluded the story with this note:
And a final word, Writers on America is not available in the United States. Domestic distrubiton of government information intended for foreign audiences is prohibited by law.
Does anyone besides me think that should have been the lead of this story?
- 12/15/2002
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DubyaDubyaDubya.com
 I don't know who is behind this animation, but it is brilliant.
Props to Colin for the find.
UPDATE:
DubyaDubyaDubya.com speaks:
Rick,
Thanks for your kind comments — I’ve been receiving quite a few over the past couple of days. The unfinished Flash piece is simply a placeholder for a much larger site to come, The "site," as you may have noticed, consists of a single page, with no meta-tags or search engine information. It wasn’t meant for general public display yet. I’m as surprised as you are that’s it’s captured the attention it has. The weblogs from Friday showed about 91,000 page views.
I mentioned the piece was unfinished. On the final frame I’m inserting URL’s to issues raised in the movie. If you’re interested, I’ll provide them here:
You’ll notice that I’ve deliberately used only used mainstream and respected news outlets in compiling the references. It was my intention to use the same piece, but update the issues on a weekly basis. I feel uneasily “confident” that they’ll be a virtually unlimited supply up to the 2004 elections, in addition to what we’ve already seen.
Ian Bruce
New York & Los Angeles
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was
and never will be ... The People cannot be safe without information.
When the press is free, and every man is able to read, all is safe."
-- Thomas Jefferson
- 12/15/2002
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Palestinian Film Barred From Oscars
Unbelieveable. A new film "Divine Intervention," by Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman, which won the international critics' prize at Cannes and best foreign film at the European Film Awards, is ineligible for the American Academy Awards, apparently because Palestine is not a country.
There is a showing of the film in NYC on December 17 at 6:30pm at The New School's Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th St.
- 12/15/2002
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