Vomiting Confetti

Digital Maoism

2007-02-25T21:33:00.000+11:00

The hive mind is for the most part stupid and boring. Why pay attention to it?

Thought-terminating cliche

2007-02-25T14:46:00.000+11:00

“The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis”- Robert Jay Lifton

Lets Start Again

2007-02-24T23:25:00.001+11:00

This thing has been online for almost a decade now, and I still see just philosophers, musicians, artists, monks and religious people, psychiatrists, and even a self-help bullshitter, but that leaves out a whole half of the quadrant. I have yet to see in any of Ken's books or on this forum any deep analysis into any single, real life issue. Everything's a hypothetical or an extremely broad

Short review of Babel

2007-01-13T22:11:00.000+11:00

My friend Herbert was rude to his mother last spring, and, some time later, Mt. St. Helens erupted. And three girls I met on the Central Park carrousel were kicked out of school for smoking, and the price of silver dropped by forty thousand rupiah in Indonesia. With these seemingly trivial events from my own life, I illustrate the dramatic principle by which the Mexican-born director Alejandro

Puritan Blister on IIndie Rock

2007-01-07T21:25:00.000+11:00

Did your town not matter, you thought? Did it not contain real peopleliving real lives and needing real music? Was indie rock the only zonein which people would tolerate this slummy shit? Could Les Mis tour with five people wearing Dockers, accompanied by a jambox, and still call the show Les Mis? You thought of the passage from Curtis White's novel Memories of My Father Watching TV,about what

Contra this list

2006-11-23T01:25:00.000+11:00

The Atlantic has a stab at the hundrest greatest Americans. Such an exercise is obviously fraught with difficulty, so it's more about the general content rather than the specific order. Still, here's my attempt at a rewrite, as an overseas, drunken observer. The top 10, according to TG....WashingtonLincolnLuther King Jr.JeffersonTruman (faced the hardest decision of any American, period.)

2006-11-21T12:00:00.000+11:00

Better than nothing?

2006-11-04T14:59:00.000+11:00

Matthew states, with regard to Iraq: That is not to say that the war and its handling are unimpeachable (for what war could be, ever?), but to suggest a step-back to see a bigger picture, one that sees America as trying to help the world — often failing, to be sure, but still trying. Is that not quite a bit better than not trying at all?One possible answer, from Ken Adelman:Fearing that worse is

Demographics

2006-11-03T01:43:00.000+11:00

Read.

Shut this baby down

2006-10-28T00:09:00.000+10:00

I've come to the conclusion that, as of next year, I don't really want to be writing this blog anymore. I plan to blog all the time at Japanese Confetti in a very conventional way, and divert all my artistic/integral to the Woodshed. So I'll keep this baby running until February, then give the game away (I've been posted to Nagoya, not Osaka, for those who are interested). Here's some more snark.

Snark!

2006-10-24T09:39:00.000+10:00

I've got nothing. But does the photo remind anyone else of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City? Just me?

I see a darkness

2006-10-22T22:56:00.000+10:00

From Healing IraqMy brother, Nabil, witnesses another terrible murder, this time of a hairdresser. She was dragged out of her taxi by 4 gunmen, a sack was put on her head and then they opened fire. Her corpse was left on the street for over 3 hours because no one dared to go near it. The worst was when Iraqi troops arrived at night to pick up the corpse. They had to shoot it several times to

Oh Russia

2006-10-14T23:13:00.000+10:00

The cold war heats up again: Putin, murderer?Russia Warns on North Korea SanctionsSigh and then sigh again. When China looks good compared to Russia, you know you're in trouble.

Super Are

2006-10-14T23:08:00.000+10:00

Before the Boredoms’ first show, in 1986, Eye didn’t eat for three days. He asked his bandmates, whom he had recently recruited, to play the most tedious music imaginable while he moaned—the only sound he could physically manage. “They all quit,” Eye told me, through a translator, when I met him at a Japanese restaurant in New York before a performance at Webster Hall last month. “They said it

18th Century Cockney Bootblack

2006-10-14T00:05:00.000+10:00

There won't be much activity on this blog (other than the healthy comment threads, thanks to everyone who contributed) until the beginning of November. I have two research essays to write, and then there's the little matter of the comedy show/movie I'm putting on with some friends. Most of my energy these days is being spent convincing people to come and watch the show, then worrying that a)

Regression and Recovery

2006-10-13T18:54:00.000+10:00

From TimBomb: Inspired by some recent posts by Chris, I’ve found myself thinking about the notion that the felt, phenomenological aspect of the shift to an integral perspective is the gradual process of recovery of those earlier developmental stages. They come swimming back into your awareness and you start to recall what it was to be “at” those earlier stages. The need to deny those aspects of

Nail.Hammer.Head

2006-10-04T23:35:00.000+10:00

Posting will be very light for the next month, however, I would like to follow up on a comment Matthew made about the Obama speech. Matthew stated:The question is whether non US citizens deserve the right/privilege of habeas corpus. Nothing passed applies to US citizens. Just to be clear. I'm not sure why my reaction to this comment seems so cut and dried in my mind, but surely the answer is 'of

The Corpse of Habeas Corpus

2006-09-29T19:17:00.000+10:00

Barack Obama: In the five years that the President’s system of military tribunals has existed, not one terrorist has been tried. Not one has been convicted. Not one has been brought to justice. And in the end, the Supreme Court of the United found the whole thing unconstitutional, which is why we’re here today. We could have fixed all of this in a way that allows us to detain and interrogate

Rocket Powered Sauna Snow Car

2006-09-20T10:34:00.000+10:00

It's a serious, grim world out there, which I don't have the time to dissect. Instead, enjoy these context free Japanese prank show excerpts. If you can stop yourself laughing you're a better (wo)man than me.

Can't stop the rock

2006-09-18T13:42:00.000+10:00

I'm on holidays until the weekend. Have fun and be excellent to each other.

Kinki - Osaka

2006-09-16T18:03:00.000+10:00

I had my job interview for teaching in Japan on Friday morning, after the wonders of a ten hour bus ride. The good news: Both myself and my girlfriend were successful, so we'll be off to teach in Japan, hopefully shortly after the new year. Hoorah!

Okay, said the police chief

2006-09-14T16:52:00.000+10:00

I have decided to join Paul's crazy write a novel in a month scheme. I imagine it will be something like this.

A Sting in the Tale

2006-09-12T22:58:00.000+10:00

Way to make Australians look even stupider than normal...Dead stingrays with their tails cut off have been found in Australia, sparking concern that fans of naturalist Steve Irwin may be avenging his death.

Memento Mori

2006-09-12T13:12:00.000+10:00

Hitchens, against personal recollection: Never mind where I was standing or what I was doing this time five years ago. (Because really, what could be less pertinent?) Except that I do remember wondering, with apparent irrelevance, how soon I would be hearing one familiar cliché. And that I do remember hearing, with annoyance, one other observation that I believe started the whole post-9/11 epoch

The Moon is Down

2006-09-12T10:31:00.000+10:00

It's been interesting to see how the various 9/11 memorials and rememberances have taken shape this year. The mood seems somewhat muted, particularly in the Australian coverage, with the reframing of the attacks as an explicitly American tragedy. It's a far cry from the first days after the attacks, in which there was a very real sense that wasn't just a tragedy watched by the world, but it was

Five Years

2006-09-11T11:46:00.000+10:00

Does that make me crazy?

2006-09-08T15:41:00.000+10:00

On Gnarls Barkley and the countless cover versions of Crazy.What we're witnessing is canon-making in action. Once upon a time, dozens of vocalists would rush to record the latest hit from a new Broadway musical, and many of those tunes have stayed with us, lodged in the American Songbook. Current popular music is aggressively post-Tin Pan Alley: Rhythm has replaced melody as pop's driving force,

Worst advice column of all time

2006-09-08T15:37:00.000+10:00

Help! I love her but she doesn't know I KILLED HER DAD.

Michael Zimmerman

2006-09-04T15:01:00.000+10:00

Has some good essays about Integral ecology and Wilber related philosophical issues.Check out his website.

I was not expecting this today

2006-09-04T14:00:00.000+10:00

Steve Irwin is dead, killed by a stingray barb through the chest.

Gene Therapy

2006-09-01T22:17:00.000+10:00

Today's 'Hooray for Science' Moment Gene Therapy Breakthrough Against Skin CancerImmune cells removed from melanoma sufferers and genetically engineered to better recognise cancer can fight the disease when reintroduced into the patients. In a preliminary study, two of 17 participants with advanced melanoma were declared clinically free

Moments

2006-08-31T22:00:00.000+10:00

Completely out of context Paglia quote for the day:When will people learn from Barbra Streisand, the classic Nose of Power?When indeed!

A definition of Integral

2006-08-31T17:11:00.000+10:00

From CJ Smith: See if you don't follow the history of the universe from the beginning that you don't see a drive towards greater integration, differentation, and complexification/simplification from the get go. And if you just for a moment allow any sense of feeling/sentience to anything in this universe, don't you see more and more of it the further along you get?...All of integral, as a

What I didn't know about Foucault

2006-08-30T17:21:00.000+10:00

The alliance with Kouchner and Glucksmann transformed Foucault into a passionate advocate of humanitarian intervention, or le droit d'ingérance: the moral imperative to intervene in the domestic affairs of a nation where human rights are being systematically violated. In 1981, Foucault addressed a major conference held at U.N. headquarters in Geneva where these themes were debated and discussed.

One Beat (too many)

2006-08-28T20:49:00.000+10:00

It sucks that Sleater-Kinney broke up, not just because they were very, very good, but because I missed the chance to see them at last year's Big Day Out festival. Pitchfork says goodbye: In retrospect, Sleater-Kinney's final show-- at Portland's majestic Crystal Ballroom, where stage lights cast the band in giant hazy shadows on the wall behind them-- emphasized exactly how many of their lyrics

Blogger?

2006-08-28T20:47:00.000+10:00

Ate my posts!

{creature} on a {structure}

2006-08-27T20:08:00.000+10:00

The Football Team Who Was Bad, But Then Became Good in the Championship Game.

Integral Jurisprudence

2006-08-25T13:56:00.000+10:00

Ray Harris has a post about integral jurisprudence over at Open Integral, which focuses more on the concept of jntegral justice than the actual machinations of the international legal system, and how they might reflect or be influenced by integral theory, in any of its forms. Ray focuses on the recent Israel-Lebanon conflict: The difficulty with the Israel/Arab conflict is that there is no

Gutsy

2006-08-24T22:03:00.000+10:00

It looks like the new series of Survivor will feature tribes divided along racial lines: The 20 "castaways" in the 13th season of US reality show Survivor will be divided according to their ethnicity. The contestants will be segregated into four "tribes" of blacks, whites, Asians and Latinos when the hit CBS programme returns on 14 September.Among the participants "stranded" on the Cook Islands

I hope it's sunny where you live

2006-08-24T19:22:00.000+10:00

I have the flu, again. Damn you old man Winter.

Double Standard

2006-08-24T01:14:00.000+10:00

I have to disagree with Frank Visser's decision to leave the phantom Wilber statement up at his blog. That Wilber could have said it, given his recent record, is neither here nor there. If we're going to hold Wilber to a certain standard, particularly with regard to the way he treats his critics and sources, then we should do likewise with regard to our own criticism. Credit to Geoffrey Falk for

Allegorical Religion

2006-08-21T21:22:00.000+10:00

If you're not reading Indistinct Union, you should be.To other matters: I wanted to comment on Matthew's recent post about religion as allegory, particularly as it pertains to Christianity in the post-Christian west.Whether he [Mario Loyola] knows it or not, this description is dripping with a Paglian view of Christianity, which she ultimately holds as a respository of a vast symbol system;

Old songs for old people

2006-08-19T17:22:00.000+10:00

God Only Knows - Best song of the 60's?Discuss. I don't even think it's the best Beach Boys song of the 60's.

Song of the Day

2006-08-18T14:43:00.000+10:00

Manhattan Skyline (free download) by The Cocker Spaniels.Fuzzy indie pop songs don't usually directly reference national trauma, but this entire song is about 9/11. It's a weird juxtaposition of form and content, and it's catchy to boot."My Aunt worked in the towersoverslept two hoursshe woke up to seeher life spared right on TV"

Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat

2006-08-17T03:11:00.000+10:00

Posting will be light for the next three days, as I'm heading into the theatre for the annual college musical. No acting this time around, just the joy of operating the sound effects and talking shit with the lighting guy over the headphones. What I will do, and I'd like you to do as well, if you have a blog, is list five bloggers you read that not many other people do, and that are deserving of

Colour me (un)impressed

2006-08-17T02:45:00.000+10:00

Holon news ranks culture by altitude, and I'll repeat my tired refrain: Who benefits? What do we gain from this?And who decided that Franklin Foer's playful account of football madness, How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, is 'green'?I'm aware that this must sound like a broken record, and I don't mean to disparage the effort of those involved (Matt and Paul, for

CJ Smith

2006-08-15T22:47:00.000+10:00

has been on fire recently. I suggest you check out his stuff, over at indistinctunion.blogspot.com.Whilst we're on the subject: Is an explanatory theory essentially worthless if it fails to offer any insights on how to overcome the problem in question?For example, it's been suggested by Matthew (I think) that all a Spiral Dynamics interpretation of the Israel Lebanon crisis (or the War on Terror,

From the department of not so good news

2006-08-14T23:26:00.000+10:00

Two full-blown crises, in Lebanon and Iraq, are merging into a single emergency. A chain reaction could spread quickly almost anywhere between Cairo and Bombay. Turkey is talking openly of invading northern Iraq to deal with Kurdish terrorists based there. Syria could easily get pulled into the war in southern Lebanon. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are under pressure from jihadists to support Hezbollah,

Compare & Contrast

2006-08-13T03:34:00.000+10:00

Judith Butler:The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural

I like this article

2006-08-13T03:32:00.000+10:00

Perhaps the strangest of these strange stories, though, is the notion that twenty-first-century America is slouching toward theocracy. This is an old paranoia: Back in 1952, the science-fiction libertarian Robert Heinlein’s Revolt in 2100 envisioned a religious tyranny toppled by a Freemason-led rebellion; in 1985, Margaret Atwood’s feminist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale imagined America as a

BRING BACK SHITS IN THE BED

2006-08-12T20:58:00.000+10:00

If you're wondering where the above came from, you could do worse than pony up twelve American dollars and subscribe to the Achewood archives at webcomicsnation.com. I finally got myself a paypal account, so now I can follow in my dad's footsteps and become a fully fledged ebay addict. Useless crap ahoy!On an unrelated note, hearty congratulations to Simon and Julie on the birth of their second

Pablum

2006-08-12T19:48:00.000+10:00

From Guruphiliac: Today we ended up at nonduality.com, the website of the Nonduality Salon Yahoo! group maintained by Jerry Katz. While perusing the highlights from October 26, 2006, we happened upon this quote:Our true nature is not limited ... it is like the vast ocean. ... When we touch Supreme Consciousness through meditation, then we are boundless, we are everywhere, we are eternal.- Amma

Currently reading

2006-08-11T14:39:00.000+10:00

The world's pulpiest comic just got a whole lot pulpier. For all the glowing endorsements from various crime writers, lawyers and academics, 100 bullets is a bit too one dimensional for that kind of analysis. That's not necessarily a bad thing, the text itself is pretty straightforward (a little too repetitive, in terms of Azzarello's style), and it's a lot more engaging than Preacher, for

Polysem-E

2006-08-10T21:57:00.000+10:00

If you're not one for dead tree publications, you can subscribe to the electronic version of Polysemy. Matthew has very kindly called my article on Theo Van Gogh the centrepiece of the issue, but there's plenty of other awesome stuff if that doesn't tickle your fancy.Speaking of Polysemy, I was reminded of something Matthew said about the tendency for theorists (and not just integral theorists)

Just scratching out my name

2006-08-08T22:44:00.000+10:00

You may have noticed there hasn't been a lot of activity around these parts; call it post Wyatt fallout, or just a desire to write longer pieces, or perhaps nothing at all. Still, here I am, and this time blogging will once again be daily. On the plus side, there's lot of stuff to write about: Charles Murray and his income grant proposal, Hezbollah, the proposed use of Mercenaries by the UN,

Maximum

2006-07-24T20:41:00.000+10:00

Music >> Live Review >> TV on the Radio >> Sunday, July 23rd >> Hi Fi BarIn a word: Yeeearrrraaaayyyaaaaah!

Destroyer's Rubies

2006-07-19T16:19:00.000+10:00

Pitchfork: With a more permanent band in place, are you planning to do more extensive touring? DB: I intend to do less touring than ever. We'll see how these intentions get thwarted. I think the Merge showcase we played at the 2002 CMJ, during the This Night tour, might have been the best Destroyer show ever, and people still found a way to talk shit about that performance. My good shows

Live from Lebanon

2006-07-18T00:49:00.000+10:00

Link

Budding writers, fear not

2006-07-16T22:07:00.000+10:00

HE is the nation's most lauded novelist, our only Nobel prize-winning writer, twice a winner of the Miles Franklin award and three times the Australian Literature Society's Gold Medallist. Yet without his name on the cover, Patrick White's work is apparently of little value to Australia's publishing industry. Inquirer submitted, under a pseudonym, chapter three of White's The Eye of the Storm to

End of sabbatical

2006-07-15T20:39:00.000+10:00

But even when the public intellectual isn't purely tied to the news, or isn't thoroughly political, what he or she really is, or ought to be called, is a "publicity intellectual." In Richard A. Posner's interesting book Public Intellectuals, intellectuals are in one place ranked by the number of media mentions they or their work have garnered, which, if I am correct about publicity being at the

More holidays

2006-07-02T16:58:00.000+10:00

Back on Wednesday. Until then, continue to read the fine people over at the Woodshed.

Gutted

2006-06-27T12:40:00.000+10:00

A pertinent quote from Polysemy today: I'm reminded of Bruce Springsteen, who said that being a rock musician is a paradox. On one hand, he has to perform as if he is part of the most important thing in the world. On the other, you know, it is just rock'n'roll. To me, that paradox, or a version of it, is at the heart of all artistry. Replace artistry with sport and that's how I feel today.

On Hiatus

2006-06-26T21:38:00.000+10:00

Holidays until Friday. See you all then.

Of notice.

2006-06-24T20:11:00.000+10:00

1) Austalia drew with Croatia 2 all, meaning we progress to the second round. I'd write something more emphatic, but for my safety and that of those around me, it is best I let out a minute little yelp. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Next game, Monday night, against the Italians. In the battle of national stereotypes, I'm picking wildlife wrestling uncouth convicts 2, overemotional sissy men 1.2)

A Question

2006-06-23T01:22:00.000+10:00

Is it wrong to drink before a game, if the game starts at five in the morning, if you've been up all night, and you're slighty nervous?Australia v CroatiaWill write something intelligent after the game. Am currently devolving into bizarre mix of caveman like fury and overwhelming fear and anxiety usually reserved for coulrophobiacs with front row Cirque Du Soleil tickets.Bonus points for the

From the archive

2006-06-21T21:50:00.000+10:00

Paul has found some audio of Wilber responding to Meyerhoff. Will listen and response, post haste. Meanwhile, only one more sleep before the most important game of the World Cup, and perhaps of all time, Australia v Croatia. Apologies to anyone who was waiting on my World Cup reports, damn exams have kept me busy. Normal reports will resume tomorrow.Oh, if anyone was still reading, my ribs have

FINISHED EXAMS

2006-06-21T07:52:00.000+10:00

Yay! posting resumes later today.

PRE-EXAM JITTERS

2006-06-18T12:17:00.000+10:00

My traditional pre-exam salute to the pursuit of legal excellence.FUCK YOU Corporations law. That is all.

It could get Messi

2006-06-17T14:58:00.000+10:00

World Cup >> Day 8Argentina 6 - Serbia & Montenegro 0Holland 2 - Ivory Coast 1Mexico 0 - Angola 0I'm really on a role with these headlines. A very interesting night of football, with Argentina suddenly becoming everyone's favourites for the titles, the Dutch snuck into the second round, and Angola shocked just about everybody by holding Mexico to a one all draw.Teams Eliminated: Serbia &

Crouchamania is Running Wild!

2006-06-16T20:41:00.000+10:00

World Cup >> Day 7Ecuador 3 - Costa Rica 0England 2 - Trinidad & Tobago 0Sweden 1 - Paraguay 0Costa Rica and Paraguay became the second and third teams respectively to be eliminated from the World Cup (the first being Poland) despite still having a game in hand. Ecuador have been the surprise packets of the tournament so far, and it will be very interesting to see how they fare against a German

The Past in Dialogue

2006-06-16T20:11:00.000+10:00

DashH's prompting reminded me to have a brief glance at my copy of Ken Wilber in Dialogue, which features a fair few critics who come out swinging. Ken swings back, then the critics reply, then Ken has the final, overarching word. What it did demonstrate is that once the initial fisticuffs are out of the way, there's a tendency for the substantive matter to rise to the surface and be dealt with,

Can you hear the thunder?

2006-06-16T00:27:00.000+10:00

Enraged Helper Monkey on a Rampage, or this is how we party.Apologies for the wall to wall World Cup coverage, but it's either that or corporations law until my final exam on Monday. As much as you'd like to hear about corporate finance, AGM's, shareholder dividends and the like, we'll stick with football for now.Plus, there's a transcendent component, if you'll allow me a slightly tenuous leap

The Reign of Spain

2006-06-15T20:17:00.000+10:00

World Cup >> Day 6Spain 4 - Ukraine 0Tunisia 2 - Saudi Arabia 2Germany 1 - Poland 02006 just might by the year that Spain shake their World Cup hoodoo. Although the four nil scoreline was slightly flattering (the penalty decision was very harsh), Spain were very impressive, against a Ukrainian team that many tipped as potential quarter finalists. It was nice to Xabi Alonso, aka the nicest man in

Togo of War

2006-06-14T17:36:00.000+10:00

World Cup >> Day FiveSouth Korea 2 - Togo 1France 0 - Switzerland 0Brazil 1 - Croatia 0If you're sick of wall to wall world cup coverage, fear not, there are only 25 days left. Apparently the South Korean game was quite good, with the Red Devils coming from behind to snatch a victory. I've got a bit of a soft spot for South Korea, ever since they knocked out the Italians in 2002. In terms of

point sixers unite!

2006-06-13T17:33:00.000+10:00

Doubtless we're all a little bit sick of the Wilber/Visser bare knuckle brawl. Before we go any further, an admission" As Chris Dierkes points out, you could be opposed to the post and still be in the 2%. In fact, it makes you an even rarer, creature, a point sixer! In the words of Teodor, 'man, we are gonna have some awesome hats!'.What I'd like to do with this post is specifically address one

Too Kewell for School

2006-06-13T12:19:00.000+10:00

World Cup >> Day 4Australia 3 - Japan 1Czech Republic 3 - USA 0Italy 1 -Ghana 0Let's start with the analysis that won't induce hysteria. Italy, much as I hate too admit it, were simply too good for Ghana. They look like a classy team, and the dour defending of the past seems to have been somewhat replaced. Luca Toni (what a name!) looked lively up front. Will be very interesting to see how the

Tim Cahill = me = Many beautiful children

2006-06-13T01:56:00.000+10:00

Australia 3 - Japan 1The Dignified response:All that I know surely about morality and the obligations of man, I owe to football. - Albert Camus The actual response: Sitting in a room full of sweaty, perturbed Australian fans (and one unlucky Japanese student), I almost fainted from yelling so hard when Cahill scored. Twice. What a mess. Unbelievable.

Batman & Robben

2006-06-12T17:57:00.000+10:00

World Cup >> Day 3Holland 1 - Serbia & Montenegro 0Mexico 3 - Iran 1Portugal 1 - Angola 0From Slate: But what about writing? Well, it's no secret that American writers see soccer as a can opener to crack the geopolitical scene. In the owners and obsessives, Americans find clues to foreign politics and cultures. This, too, is an intellectual tradition borrowed from the Brits, in particular Simon

Wilber Criticism part II - Turn in your badge

2006-06-12T12:09:00.000+10:00

I think I'm going to have to turn in my fancy 'second-tier' hat and badge, because despite a mammoth explanation of his original post by Wilber, outlining in detail his reasons for behaving as such, I'm still not convinced.Firstly, if Wilber thinks that it's necessary to post such a long explanatory post, doesn't that suggest that the original post was a bad idea in the first place? It's like

Beckham in Basra

2006-06-12T02:28:00.000+10:00

In the presence of Basra's governor Mohammed al-Wa'ili and the members of the city council, politicians and clerics signed the 'Germany W.C. peace treaty'.On the occasion of the beginning of the world cup in Germany, politicians, clerics and tribal sheiks gathered at the Basra businessmen center to sign the 'Basra Peace Declaration' which is basically a call for peace and friendship to create an

Shootout.

2006-06-11T15:01:00.000+10:00

Visser responds to Ken. I'll let his reply speak for itself, save for this one point: Integral World has produced authors, one of whom is now "the only competent critic", [Edwards] as you told me recently -- how does that compare to ignoring his writings for half a decade? What kind of game is that?

Achey Shaka Heartbreak

2006-06-11T12:19:00.000+10:00

World Cup >> Day 2 England 1 - Paraguay 0Sweden 0 - Trinidad & Tobago 0Argentina 2 - Ivory Coast 1A mixed bag of results from day 2: England were typically underwhelming, T&T pulled off the biggest surprise so far and Argentina were lucky against a spirited Ivory Coast team, which was almost enough to make me like Didier Drogba. Almost.Shaka Hislop played like a man possesed against the Swedes,

Schweinsteiger!

2006-06-10T14:35:00.000+10:00

World Cup >> Day 1Germany 4 - Costa Rica 2Poland 0 - Ecuador 2Only one day in and we've already been treated to a classic match and an upset. I went to bed before the Poland game, but seeing as most scribes had been predicting that this Polish team would give the cup a bit of a shake, a two-nil loss to Ecuador is something of a surprise. Let's hope that the surprises continue.I did see the

Get Excited

2006-06-10T01:38:00.000+10:00

There's a lot more that's going to be said about Wilber's response, a lot more. Judging from the reaction in the blogosphere, this response might prove to be something of a watershed moment. I have plenty to say, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.Germany play Costa Rica in less than half an hour, signalling the start of the 2006 world cup. A month long festival of brilliance and agony

Wilber Criticism - Part 1

2006-06-09T16:18:00.000+10:00

Well, here's the obligatory criticism post, or as sometimes happens, series of posts.. I must say, I'm in something of a mild state of bemusement and shock, as if someone had king hit me with a big rubber mallet. Still, better to get stuck in and pull no punches instead of responding with WTF!? written in size 72 font. Here we go.I've tried to be even handed and fair when it comes to criticizing

It's on Like Donkey Kong

2006-06-08T18:06:00.000+10:00

The official Wilber blog has some news about criticism, apparently something will be posted tomorrow. I'm guessing it's a response to Meyerhoff, but we'll wait and see. There's also a comment from Stuart Davis which was left over at Wilberwatch. I have to say, I found it to be a little mean spirited and bombastic. Still, makes tomorrow look like a fun day: New Wilber essay, and more importantly,

Creative Emergence

2006-06-08T00:22:00.000+10:00

I'd like to write a little bit more about why Polysemy may be worth a look.First things first, I obviously have something of a vested interest in Polysemy. Not only am I staff member, but I thoroughly enjoy reading the blogs and writing of all those involved. In keeping with the polysemic theme, all the writes bring a fairly unique perspective to the project, not just in terms of which 'arts' are

Polysemy Update

2006-06-07T00:13:00.000+10:00

Head on over to www.polysemy.org and not only can you learn my real name, but you can also see a photo of me, looking slightly stunned. It's not just me either, you can take a squiz at Paul, Victoria, Jean, Dan, Hannah, and of course, Matthew. The amount time and effort Matthew has put in to the magazine, backed by his enthusiasm, genuine belief in and constant exploration of Integral Artistry

Hands. Beautiful, Beautiful Hands

2006-06-06T14:47:00.000+10:00

Matthew linked to the Scientic American article on the selp-help movement, life coaches and the like. If that didn't resonate with you, here's world's funniest man* Demetri Martin, ruminating on the life coach phenomenon, on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart**.*Sometimes**No criticism of people who are actually life coaches intended. Nor do I think you can't get anything out of life coaching,

Dennis Bergkamp!

2006-06-04T23:59:00.000+10:00

If you can listen to this without laughing 'till you cry or getting so excited your eyes start to pop then you're probably not human.

Blasphemy on film

2006-06-01T18:37:00.000+10:00

It speaks to the infantile level of religious dialogue in this country that the life and death of Jesus can be fetishized (The Passion Of The Christ) and exploited (The Da Vinci Code) to mainstream riches, while a genuinely spiritual work like Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation Of Christ gets protested into the ground. Like Da Vinci Code, Scorsese's film explores Christ's human side, but only

GG

2006-05-31T23:18:00.000+10:00

"So, here is what it comes down to. George Galloway says that the murder of an elected prime minister would be "morally justifiable." He is not brave enough to call for it, but he does preapprove it. He finds room for criticism of the murder only because it might occasion a backlash. And he then tries to hide behind the skirts of a woman who he has just told us ought in all justice to be a widow!

Cultural Cringe

2006-05-31T02:18:00.000+10:00

Australian baby 'put in dryer' An Australian man has been charged with causing bodily harm after he put a 13-month-old baby in a tumble dryer when she spilt a drink on herself. Samuel Siddall, 21, was left in charge of his girlfriend's baby

quotes

2006-05-30T21:00:00.000+10:00

Posting will be light until I get this damn essay done. Just a couple of thoughts on that. I never realized how heavily influenced Wilber is/was by Habermas. Not because he's a wholesale plagiarist, I'd just never made the connection. But there it is, smack bang in the middle of SES.Why bring it up? Because it means I can use yet another Wilber quote in an essay. Subversive!

I am obsessed

2006-05-29T23:21:00.000+10:00

But not this obsessed.

Twee as.

2006-05-29T22:05:00.000+10:00

And then came the important part-- the part where indie pop became a culture. The alternative rock of the 90s, after all, was a return to a lot of the masculine values certain strains of indie were chipping away at. And just as Sarah Records stepped up to hold the torch for indie pop purity, plenty of Americans did something even better: They embraced the stuff with a passion. With the same

The Ministry of Silly Walks

2006-05-28T21:48:00.000+10:00

Is Alive!

Sonic the Hedgehog Youth

2006-05-28T01:47:00.000+10:00

Interesting article from Slate about indie video games, or the lack thereof: In today's movie business, it's possible for an indie film like Napoleon Dynamite to become a sensation. Saw, which cost a mere $1.2 million, grossed 100 times that amount. That just doesn't happen in video games. The average PlayStation 2 game costs about $8 million. Studios often need large development teams—usually 40

Brian Johnson

2006-05-28T01:44:00.000+10:00

is being interviewed by KW. If you're a Zaadz member, you can post topics you'd like to see discussed here.

A step in the right direction?

2006-05-27T03:22:00.000+10:00

IN is interviewing Sam Harris, and the featured pick from the archive is a discussion with Nathaniel Branden about how we can reconstruct religious experience in a rational sense. Not everyone is a fan of Harris, but I think it's better to have him on board rather than seeing another episode of 'Ken and friends' in which softball questions are gently batted back and forth. And that's enough mixed