where is the cerebral jester?

where is the cerebral jester?
visit him and his friends at the house of dandridge by clicking above

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

diet chauncey treat


robyn definitely made a fantastic comeback last year first appearing on kleerup's gorgeous dance diamond 'with every heartbeat' and this track goes to show you that dance music has always had and always will have a strong foundation of heartfelt passion and depth. stripped of all the technology and bleepy baubles, here's robyn singing 'with every heartbeat' live with just a piano. i dedicate this chauncey treat to my dear guy ruben!

enjoy!
robyn - with every heartbeat (live)

Thursday, January 24, 2008

the sun will set for you

one of my myspace friends mr. richie posted a bulletin about this song and i fell in love with it immediately! i've always had a soft spot for linkin park...valueing their fresh and original sound and especially for the angry poetry and emotional vocals of the lead singer...not to mention i think he's sexy as hell when he performs but this video shows him in an awkwardly sexy set of scenes with him basically in his underwear and all his tattoos on full display. the video is fantastic and poignant and the song is too! enjoy!

filthy chauncey treat


i pretty much search for new music constantly but i don't always get to listen to it all immediately. i discovered poni hoax on one of my music blogjogs with the fantastic and decadent song 'antibodies' and decided i needed to find more tracks by this amazing band. i just got the chance to listen to a new track i found called 'budapest'. this song is disgusting! it sounds like the type of song you would hear in a dark gay bath house of yesteryear with the strong smell of poppers in the background while you're searching hungrily for some action...prowling the halls for some fast love. no i'm not blushing haha are you? it starts out creepily slow and then builds to a sadistic crescendo with a devious synth beat and an ominous violin favouring the place it is named after while some raspy girl sings almost indifferently throughout. i'm sure all of you who love the darker side of my musical taste will adore this one.

enjoy!

poni hoax - budapest

i would love to see these guys live one day! their shows must be glorious!

captial hillary!

i keep going back and forth with clinton and obama...hoping that eventually barrack and hillary will be on the ticket together with hillary as the presidential candidate and barrack as vice president. i just hope they don't piss each other off too much during the race for the primaries. this video is amazing not only because hillary answers the questions wholeheartedly and with confident speed but for the fact that so many young people in the country are present minded enough to ask such bold, important questions!

wow! plus a chauncey treat


that's the reiki 'gratitude' symbol above!

wow! almost five hundred hits to my blog in a little over a week! i actually have a fan base! woo hoo!!!

thanks to all who visit! it inspires me to keep on posting! leave a comment and say hello!

and to show my, ahem, 'gratitude' here's a new reworked version of a classic track that is definitely up there on my all time favourite list of songs. this remix is definitely sunny and gorgeous!!

planet funk - chase the sun (2007 electro rework)



love beams,

chauncey d

25 years of madonna in less than 8 minutes


this is just fantastic! usually megamixes are plentiful in the cheese factor but this one is "just perfect". not only is the editing supreme but the music is hot! mixing so many songs together to create a new one! so many brilliant images thrown in there from such a brilliant career! just about every era is represented! major kudos to pimpy's productions!

nyc 2057 ad


just caught this on logo too for the first time and checked out the animator's website. he's a very talented guy! his name is stephen w. brandt and you can see his other short films and music videos at www.stephenwbrandt.com enjoy!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

clay pride

just caught this again on logo just now and had to find it on youtube and share it with you...it's absolutely brilliant!

enjoy!

935 lies


Study: False statements preceded war

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON - A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration's position that the world community viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.

"The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," Stanzel said.

The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."

Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.

The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.

"The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.

"Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

saving a bear



Saving a Bear

A priest, a Pentecostal preacher and a rabbi all served as chaplains to the students of Northern Michigan University in Marquette. They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk shop.

One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn't really that hard. A real challenge would be to preach to a bear. One thing led to another, and they decided to do a seven-day experiment. They would all go out into the woods, find a bear and preach to it.

Seven days later, they're all together to discuss the experience. Father O'Flannery, who has his arm in a sling, is on crutches, and has various bandages, goes first.

"Wellll," he says, in a fine Irish brouge, "Ey wint oot into th' wooods to fynd me a bearr. Oond when Ey fund him Ey began to rread to him from the Baltimorre Catechism. Welll, thet bearr wanted naught to do wi' me und begun to slap me aboot. So I quick grrabbed me holy water and, THE SAINTS BE PRAISED, he became as gentle as a lamb. The bishop is cooming oot next wik to give him fierst communion und confierrmation."

Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, with an arm and both legs in casts, and an IV drip. In his best fire and brimstone oratory he proclaimed, "WELL, brothers, you KNOW that we don't sprinkle...WE DUNK! I went out and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to read to him from God's HOOOOLY WORD! But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. I SAY NO! He wanted NOTHING to do with me. So I took HOOOLD of him and we began to rassle. We rassled down one hill, UP another and DOWN another until we come to a crick. So I quick DUNK him and BAPTIZE his hairy soul. An' jus like you sez, he wuz gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the week in fellowship, feasting on God's HOOOOLY word."

They both look down at the rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed. He was in a body cast and traction with IV's and monitors running in and out of him.

The rabbi looks up and says, "Oy! You don't know what tough is until you try to circumcise one of those creatures."

facebook


so i'm trying my best to get into facebook...cause i always have to be keen on the newest internet trend hehe. i'll always love myspace...i use it as a major means of promotion of my dj gigs and political views and activism as well. facebook just seems like playing a bunch of big board games with your friends with silly little gimmicky things. but since my 32nd birthday is coming up i did the 'what does your birthdate men' application and here's what it had to say:

You tend to be given far less importance than you should. You deserve more appreciation. You have an inner force to do wild new things, in your own unique way. People sometimes may take you as a little queer and shy, but they know little. Your unconventional means have more power than they (and sometimes even you) know.

i thought it was interesting (especially the choice of words in some parts hehe) so i decided to share it with ya'll

if you're on facebook and you would like to add me my name on there is chauncey dandridge...that's what the d in chauncey d stands for!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

in honour of a certain king


April 16, 1963

MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:

While confined here in the Birmingham City Jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would be engaged in little else in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine goodwill and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

I think I should give the reason for my being in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the argument of "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every Southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliate organizations all across the South--one being the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Whenever necessary and possible we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago our local affiliate here in Birmingham invited us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented and when the hour came we lived up to our promises. So I am here, along with several members of my staff, because I have basic organizational ties here.

Beyond this, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the eighth century prophets left their little villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns; and just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Graeco-Roman world, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this country.

You deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place in Birmingham. But I am sorry that your statement did not express a similar concern for the conditions that brought the demonstrations into being. I am sure that each of you would want to go beyond the superficial social analyst who looks merely at effects, and does not grapple with underlying causes. I would not hesitate to say that it is unfortunate that so-called demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham at this time, but I would say in more emphatic terms that it is even more unfortunate that the white power structure of this city left the Negro community with no other alternative.



In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: 1) Collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive. 2) Negotiation. 3) Self-purification and 4) Direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying of the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community.


Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than any city in this nation. These are the hard, brutal and unbelievable facts.
On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers.
But the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.

Then came the opportunity last September to talk with some of the leaders of the economic community. In these negotiating sessions certain promises were made by the merchants--such as the promise to remove the humiliating racial signs from the stores. On the basis of these promises
Rev. Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to call a moratorium on any type of demonstrations. As the weeks and months unfolded we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. The signs remained. Like so many experiences of the past we were confronted with blasted hopes, and the dark shadow of a deep disappointment settled upon us.
So we had no alternative except that of preparing for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and national community.
We were not unmindful of the difficulties involved. So we decided to go through a process of self-purification. We started having workshops on nonviolence and repeatedly asked ourselves the questions: "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeals of jail?" We decided to set our direct-action program around the Easter season, realizing that with the exception of Christmas, this was the largest shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic withdrawal program would be the by-product of direct action, we felt that this was the best time to bring pressure on the merchants for the needed changes. Then it occurred to us that the March election was ahead and so we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day.
When we discovered that Mr. Connor was in the run-off, we decided again to postpone action so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. At this time we agreed to begin our nonviolent witness the day after the run-off.

This reveals that we did not move irresponsibly into direct action. We too wanted to see Mr. Connor defeated; so we went through postponement after postponement to aid in this community need. After this we felt that direct action could be delayed no longer.

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. I just referred to the creation of tension as a part of the work of the nonviolent resister. This may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. So the purpose of the direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. We, therefore, concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in the tragic attempt to live in monologue rather than dialogue.


One of the basic points in your statement is that our acts are untimely. Some have asked, "Why didn't you give the new administration time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this inquiry is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one before it acts. We will be sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Mr. Boutwell will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is much more articulate and gentle than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to the task of maintaining the status quo. The hope I see in Mr. Boutwell is that he will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from the devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups are more immoral than individuals.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct action movement that was "well timed," according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the words [sic]"Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tip-toe stance never quite knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness"; then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, it is rather strange and paradoxical to find us consciously breaking laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: There are just and there are unjust laws. I would agree with Saint Augustine that "An unjust law is no law at all."

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine when a law is just or unjust?
A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority, and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. To use the words of Martin Buber, the Jewish philosopher, segregation substitutes and "I-it" relationship for an "I-thou" relationship, and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. So segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, but it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Isn't segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, an expression of his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? So I can urge men to disobey segregation ordinances because they are morally wrong.

Let us turn to a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself. This is difference made legal. On the other hand a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.

Let me give another explanation. An unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because they did not have the unhampered right to vote. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up the segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout the state of Alabama all types of conniving methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters and there are some counties without a single Negro registered to vote despite the fact that the Negro constitutes a majority of the population. Can any law set up in such a state be considered democratically structured?

These are just a few examples of unjust and just laws. There are some instances when a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I was arrested Friday on a charge of parading without a permit. Now there is nothing wrong with an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade, but when the ordinance is used to preserve segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and peaceful protest, then it becomes unjust.

I hope you can see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law as the rabid segregationist would do. This would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do it openly, lovingly, (not hatefully as the white mothers did in New Orleans when they were seen on television screaming "nigger, nigger, nigger") and with a willingness to accept the penalty.
I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was seen sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar because a higher moral law was involved. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks, before submitting to certain unjust laws of the Roman empire. To a degree academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience.

We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. But I am sure that if I had lived in Germany during that time I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal. If I lived in a Communist country today where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would openly advocate disobeying these anti-religious laws. I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says
"I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."
Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice, and that when they fail to do this they become dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is merely a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, where the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substance-filled positive peace, where all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured as long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its pus-flowing ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must likewise be exposed, with all of the tension its exposing creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

In your statement you asserted that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But can this assertion be logically made? Isn't this like condemning the robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical delvings precipitated the misguided popular mind to make him drink the hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because His unique God-Consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to His will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, that it is immoral to urge an individual to withdraw his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest precipitates violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.

I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth of time. I received a letter this morning from a white brother in Texas which said: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great of a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost 2000 years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." All that is said here grows out of a tragic misconception of time. It is the the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually time is neutral. It can be used either destructively or constructively. I am coming to feel that the people of ill-will have used time much more effectively than the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.

You spoke of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of the extremist. I started thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency made up of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, have been so completely drained of self-respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation, and, of a few Negroes in the middle class who, because of a degree of academic and economic security, and because at points they profit by segregation, have unconsciously become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness, and hatred comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up over the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. This movement is nourished by the contemporary frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination. It is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incurable "devil." I have tried to stand between these two forces saying that we need not follow the "do-nothingism" of the complacent or the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. There is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I'm grateful to God that, through the Negro church, the dimension of nonviolence entered our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, I am convinced that by now many streets of the South would be flowing with floods of blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who are working through the channels of nonviolent direct action and refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes, out of frustration and despair, will seek solace and security in black-nationalist ideologies, a development that will lead inevitably to a frightening racial nightmare.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come. This is what happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom; something without has reminded him that he can gain it. Consciously and unconsciously, he has been swept in by what the Germans call the Zeitgeist , and with his black brothers of Africa, and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, he is moving with a sense of cosmic urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. Recognizing this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand public demonstrations. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations. He has to get them out. So let him march sometime; let him have his prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; understand why he must have sit-ins and freedom rides. If his repressed emotions do not come out in these nonviolent ways, they will come out in ominous expressions of violence. This is not a threat; it is a fact of history. So I have not said to my people "get rid of your discontent." But I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channelized through the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. Now this approach is being dismissed as extremist. I must admit that I was initially disappointed in being so categorized.

But as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. Was not Jesus an extremist for love -- "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice –
"Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus Christ -- "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist -- "Here I stand; I can do none other so help me God." Was not John Bunyan an extremist -- "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience."
Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist -- "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free."
Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist -- "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice--or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill, three men were crucified. We must not forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thusly fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. So, after all, maybe the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.


I had hoped that the white moderate would see this. Maybe I was too optimistic. Maybe I expected too much. I guess I should have realized that few members of a race that has oppressed another race can understand or appreciate the deep groans and passionate yearnings of those that have been oppressed and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too small in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some like Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden and James Dabbs have written about our struggle in eloquent, prophetic and understanding terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy roach-infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of angry policemen who see them as "dirty nigger lovers." They, unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of segregation.

Let me rush on to mention my other disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Rev. Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a non-segregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago.

But despite these notable exceptions I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say that as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say it as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen. I had the strange feeling when I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery several years ago, that we would have the support of the white church.
I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be some of our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of the stained-glass windows.

In spite of my shattered dreams of the past, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause, and with deep moral concern, serve as the channel through which our just grievances would get to the power structure.
I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed. I have heard numerous religious leaders of the South call upon their worshippers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law , but I have longed to hear white ministers say, "follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sideline and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, "Those are social issues with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely other-worldly religion which made a strange distinction between body and soul, the sacred and the secular.

So here we are moving toward the exit of the twentieth century with a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo, standing as a tail-light behind other community agencies rather than a headlight leading men to higher levels of justice. I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings
I have looked at her beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlay of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over again I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave the clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when tired, bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"

Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment, I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church; I love her sacred walls. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators." But they went on with the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.

Things are different now. The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.


But the judgement of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. I am meeting young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright disgust.

Maybe again, I have been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to status-quo to save our nation and the world? Maybe I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ecclesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone through the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us.
Some have been kicked out of their churches, and lost support of their bishops and fellow ministers.
But they have gone with the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. These men have been the leaven in the lump of the race. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the Gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope though the dark mountain of disappointment.

I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are presently misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. For more than two centuries our fore-parents labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of brutal injustice and shameful humiliation--and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.

I must close now. But before closing I am impelled to mention one other point in your statement that troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I don't believe you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its angry violent dogs literally biting six unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I don't believe you would so quickly commend the policemen if you would observe their ugly and inhuman treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you would watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you would see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you will observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I'm sorry that I can't join you in your praise for the police department.

It is true that they have been rather disciplined in their public handling of the demonstrators.
In this sense they have been rather publicly "nonviolent". But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the last few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. So I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Maybe Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather publicly nonviolent, as Chief Pritchett was in Albany, Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of flagrant racial injustice. T. S. Eliot has said that there is no greater treason than to do the right deed for the wrong reason.

I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of the most inhuman provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, courageously and with a majestic sense of purpose, facing jeering and hostile mobs and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two year old woman of Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride the segregated buses, and responded to one who inquired about her tiredness with ungrammatical profundity; "my feet is tired, but my soul is rested." They will be the young high school and college students, young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders courageously and nonviolently sitting-in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience's sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters they were in reality standing up for the best in the American dream and the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage, and thusly, carrying our whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in the formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Never before have I written a letter this long, (or should I say a book?). I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else is there to do when you are alone for days in the dull monotony of a narrow jail cell other than write long letters, think strange thoughts, and pray long prayers?

If I have said anything in this letter that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything in this letter that is an understatement of the truth and is indicative of my having a patience that makes me patient with anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader, but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

heavy like a first day period





ok enough is enough....i'm not one to buy into the britney breakdown blogging publicity machine but i think i'm completely done with her....

britney gives a ...um...nod to janet jackson recently by not showing her wrinkled shiatzu coochie but something far worse...her red velvet cake sugar walls...eww...i can't believe i typed that!

and here's a song to go along with it...janet's new single...but an extended mix by darkchild where everyone is up and down about the fact that one of the lines from the song is "cause my swag is serious...heavy like a first day period". janet's track is definitely hot and although it mostly sounds generic it's got that janet mark on it that makes it a little above the rest...i'm trying not to like it but it's inevitable...i blogged about it for god's sake...maybe one day though she'll stop singing about her cooter and make another rhythm nation...but i guess that was all an oscar winning performance on her part.


janet - feedback (darkchild extended mix)

i hope i don't lose any readers over this hehe

dirty chauncey treat


here's a track that totally fits what i just got finished doing. i went through my entire closet and gathered all my dirty laundry...seperated stuff that i didn't want anymore and threw it out and seperated some to be donated to the store that i work at eventually. my what a rigorous task! i knew i had a lot of clothing...and a lot of clothing that i didn't wear anymore but it was all just ridiculous! i had four bags of garbage and one bag of salvageable stuff...what a mess.

let's get back to the track! i heard it last night on the electronica channel on cable. it's been a long time since i tuned into that channel because they really started playing the same songs for months and months and i already heard everything. i needed to be inspired by some new sounds for my gig tomorrow night at gstaad (shameless plug much? hehe) and i certainly was by this killer remix of a song by a group called bitter:sweet. the original is kind of james bondish (that was the first thing that came to mind) reminiscent of the newer group persephone's bees (not sure if you've heard them but they do that song 'nice day' that was remixed to hell and back like two years ago). anyway...wanted to share this with you...it's a remix by skeewiff that really takes it to a whole new and sexy and devilishly drone-like level that makes me want to take a shower after listening to it...and the lyrics don't help either!

enjoy!



bitter:sweet - dirty laundry (skeewiff remix)

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

the beat goes on

this video is just freakin hysterical...it's been a long time that a video on youtube actually made me crack the hell up laughing several times while watching it...haha

it's three latin guys wearing wigs and attempting to make a video to that madonna song that leaked last year "the beat goes on". the guy trying to blow a bubble is the cutest of the bunch...the other guys are so silly and funny...i love it! they seem to be spanish of some sort but they may be brazilian...not sure...they look like tons of fun to hang out with though


don't let huckabee get away with it!


this is from an email sent to me from joe solomonese from the human rights campaign fund

visit www.hrc.org for more info

Should a leading presidential candidate get away with ignoring the facts and going back on his word? Not on our watch.

Last month, Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee stood by his absurd 1992 comments that AIDS patients should have been "isolated" (it was common knowledge in 1992 that AIDS couldn't be spread by casual contact).

After a public outcry erupted, he agreed to meet with the mother of Ryan White, who died of AIDS in 1990. Now, more than a MONTH later, Huckabee is blatantly ignoring Ryan's mother, along with HRC and The AIDS Institute.

If we back down, he gets off scot-free. Make sure Huckabee knows Americans won't accept empty promises - tell him to meet with Ryan's mother before Feb. 5th, the most important day of the presidential primary season.

Tell Mike Huckabee he has until "Super Tuesday" to honor his word.

In a 1992 questionnaire, Gov. Huckabee complained, "It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population..."

Two years earlier, a courageous young man named Ryan White had succumbed to AIDS. Ryan, a hemophiliac who was barred from school and shunned by the community after being diagnosed at age 13, helped teach the world that AIDS cannot be transmitted through casual contact.

It's hard to believe that 20 years later, we are faced with a presidential candidate who refuses to face both the scientific facts and the human toll of this disease.

The Human Rights Campaign and The AIDS Institute last month offered to facilitate a meeting with Jeanne White-Ginder to discuss the discrimination experienced by her son. Huckabee agreed to meet with her, but despite receiving two lengthy letters, he's been dragging his feet for weeks.

Tell Gov. Huckabee it's time for a frank discussion about the reality of contracting and living with HIV/AIDS.

Ryan White became known to millions as the boy who fought to open hearts and minds while he battled a terrible disease.

We must honor Ryan's memory by holding Gov. Huckabee accountable. We have come too far to be thrust back into an era of irrational fear, ignorance and discrimination.

Thank you for standing with us.

Joe Solomonese


P.S. HRC has been working for months to put GLBT issues at the center of the presidential primaries, from Iowa and New Hampshire to the Nevada and Minnesota primaries, to the battle brewing over a new anti-gay marriage amendment in Florida. Learn more about HRC's comprehensive election strategy.

i wanna visit cape fear



ahhh...watching cape fear on hbo right now and damn...i forgot how damn sexy robert de niro is in this movie. aside from being an insane maniac his body was sick! tats everywhere and tight muscles everywhere as well...the first time you see him he's doing backwards push ups right before he gets out of jail. woof! some people were just born to play psychotic murderers and de niro is definitely one of them. it's such a mind fuck of a movie but those are definitely high on my list of favourites. ok lemme stop now...gonna finish watching the movie hehe

wow...that was such an exciting blast from the past! jessica lange, juliette lewis and even nick nolte were amazing in it. i forgot it was a scorcese film as well...what an amazing cast and director! whew! i also forgot that it was a remake of a 1962 film of the same name/theme starring robert mitchum as max cady (de niro) and gregory peck, polly bergen and lori martin as the rest of the cast. i'm anxious to see it considering the violent content in the 1991 version and how different it was when it was filmed back then. hmmmmmm.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

mangled chauncey treat


ok the original is wild enough...easily carving the way for beth ditto and her comparisons to the late, great janis joplin but this mix by the infamous tiga is a cornucopia of craziness! it starts out mild and funky and then gradually grows to an atomic crescendo where you're not sure whether the world is ending or not. a true sonic masterpiece! i'm sure i can't really play this at too many venues unless i'm drunk enough and just press the button and smile. enjoy!

the gossip - yr mangled heart (tiga's congobreak remix)

nicole finn? "that's me"

someone posted this on my favourite madonna forum....i just had to repost...can you believe this movie is 21 years old? yikes!

east harlem memories part 1


so being that i'm moving in a couple weeks to williamsburg, i decided to start getting a little nostalgic and capturing little verbal vignettes of the things that made me smile in my five year stay in the now overwrought with gentrification neighborhood. from scaffolding up and scaffolding down, i've witnessed many a change in this place i will soon not call home. i never really had too much of a fear living in this hood, even though when i first moved here i was one of the few people with white skin. hell i grew up near newark, nj and went to rutgers university in newark (albeit for only a year) but black folk have always been a constant in my life and although my family definitely had some strong racist overtones, i managed to slip free from that prejudice. i'm definitely not afraid of someone because of the colour of their skin, i'm afraid of everyone i walk past late at night on a dark street hehe. luckily, since i was a child, i've always had the power of turning my fears into some fantastic story in my head to keep me occupied as i walked past an ominous stranger. the streets of the east village late at night are much seedier than the two block walk from the train to the brownstone i live in now.
but let's get to what sparked this little series of stories. east harlem is definitely ruled by the fast food restaurant. from popeyes, to mc donalds, to dozens of chinese take out restaurants, to burger king to soul food chains and right down to taco bell/pizza hut multiplexes. the taco bell is what urged me to start writing. first of all, the place is run by indians or pakistanis (one can never assume in this current day and age). they probably wince everytime they scoop a big chunk of cow meat onto a tortilla right? (ooh gonna go to hell for that one) the funniest thing about the place is that after you order and get your giant drink, when you reach for a giant straw, the giant straws are kept in a wild turkey promotional clear plastic ice bucket? how the hell did that get there and why the hell have they been using that same bucket for five years to hold straws? was it left there from the previous owners and they just decided to keep it? are they unaware that wild turkey is an alcoholic beverage? indians don't drink right? i dunno but it's always been a little quirky thing that i've noticed every time i've given in to the temptation i last was addicted to during my brief stint at college. i'm sure the mystery will never be solved for me but it's just one of the things that will always make me giggle when i think of east harlem.

thanks for listening,

chauncey d

future t-shirt


it sounds a little canniballistic...but so yummy at the same time hehe

Friday, January 11, 2008

chauncey treat


here's a little ditty that just makes me feel so good! it strongly reminds you of early madonna back when she was singing about justifying her wanting you and physical attractions...or even spotlights shining bright. it's just a perfect electro pop song that you find hard to believe wasn't created in 1983! enjoy!

rocca - stay night and day

little pink housingworks


The Housing Works Bookstore Café presents

John Mellencamp

Friday, January 25, 2008 at 7:00 PM

The Housing Works Bookstore Café is thrilled to announce a benefit concert and celebration in honor of the 5th Anniversary of the LIVE FROM HOME concert series with soon-to-be Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Mellencamp!

The evening will begin with an open bar from 7:00 to 8:00 pm, followed by an acoustic set with John Mellencamp. This is an exclusive opportunity to see a rock and roll luminary perform in an extremely intimate setting: fewer than 200 tickets will be available.

The Housing Works Bookstore Café proudly celebrates five years of its award-winning concert series, LIVE FROM HOME. Founded by music writer Alan Light, the series has showcased more than 130 acclaimed artists, including John Mayer, Lyle Lovett, Beth Orton and Tracy Chapman. LIVE FROM HOME has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Housing Works, which serves homeless New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS.

Tickets go on sale to the general public here at http://www.livefromhome.org on Monday, January 14th at 10:00 am EST

Live From Home is an award-winning monthly concert series featuring top recording artists giving soulful acoustic performances at the Housing Works Bookstore Café in SoHo, New York City. Begun by music writer Alan Light in January 2003, Live From Home has featured a diverse array of more than 130 acclaimed acts.

The intimate setting of Live From Home provides both the audience and the artist with a unique and unforgettable experience. Funds raised from the concert series benefit Housing Works, which serves homeless New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS.

Support Housing Works with a donation

chauncey goes to the movies

so i recently established thursday nights from now on as my movie night...and i've just had the pleasure of witnessing two fantastic films, 'no country for old men' and 'there will be blood'. i created somewhat of a grading system using instead of stars i'm using c's (for chauncey hehe). i usually prefer going to see more arthouse style films at the angelika or the sunshine down on the lower east side or soho but if i do go to a mainstream theatre i try to catch more avant garde films...surprisingly i went to see two that are nominated for golden globes....both leads in both movies gave oscar worthy performances in my opinion....


no country for old men
c c c c c c c
javier bardem devilishly portrays the deliciously sinister anton chigurh, the type of villian you are in awe of the entire film. his peformance was breathtaking! his ahead of their time weapons were fascinating and the way he psychologically fucked with each of his would be victims and even people he decided to spare was exhilarating. he basically let absolutely nothing stand in the way of him and what he desired. josh brolin, who is downright hot in this movie, plays the man who stumbles upon what anton is looking for and tries to getaway with a very large sum of money...certainly not the slightest bit aware of the capabilities and relentlessness of the monster that is trying to reclaim what is his. the film was tense and startling in its blatant gore and the fact that a soundtrack was completely absent. it's absence added so much to the drama it actually was painful waiting for what was going to happen next. the painful in a not so good way parts and the reason it only got 4 c's is because of the shitty job tommy lee jones did as the narrarator and the unnecessary casting of woody harrelson as the renegade private investigator type doing a cheesy cowboy impersonation. tommy lee jones played the old man that is was no country for but his performance was unconvincing and seemingly half ass. aside from javier's funky hairdo, you really couldn't tell when the story took place until near the end of the movie when the year is displayed on the screen and that was a bonus as the story could have taken place in any time...past, present or future. i definitely recommend checking this film out for javier chilling performance and for the fantastic cinematography...so many scenes were shot as though they were gorgeous paintings come to life.


there will be blood
c c c c c c c
wow! just saw this film a couple hours ago and honestly i was so pleasantly surprised by it from beginning to end. although this and 'no country' were vastly different in storyline and production, i consider them companion pieces because of their renegade cowboyesque attitudes. daniel day lewis has definitely given the performance of his career! he was the relentless villian that you shamelessly rooted for the entire movie, having been in his position (on a lesser scale of course) being the victim of deceit and rightfully owning a mistrust in everyday people. you feel his pain and you agree with his sacrifices and you admire his survival tactics. paul dano is double cast as a set of twins and gives a riveting performance as eli sunday, a young minister, who sees a monetary opportunity to advance his church through daniel plainview's (day lewis) plans to buy out an entire town in order to secure his oil company. his sermons were wild and frenetic, resembling the comical televangelists of today. in perfect opposition, i admired plainview's complete disregard for religion and the 'power of the lord', especially at the turn of the century. a way of thinking that was sheer revolutionary at that time. it was also an interesting view of this country at a time when water was something you only got from a well and the industrial revolution was simply a newborn. the soundtrack was thrilling and dark with simple orchestrations accented with sharp spanks of the lower keys and definitely added to the images of dusty, dry landscapes and murky oil rigs. dillon freasier, who plays daniel's somewhat 'adopted' son and 'business partner', shows huge promise as a future major acting star, showing great emotional strides for his age, all the while maintaining a childlike innocence within such a guilty lifestyle. i definitely recommend going out to see this one...i'm also interested in reading the book from which the screenplay was derived called "oil!". as with any adaptation for the screen...you're left to wonder how much deeper into each character the author went that wouldn't translate to a two hour film.


so i'm rooting for either javier or daniel to win an oscar...i'm sure they'll both be nominated...they better be! next movie i want to see is 'the orphanage'

Thursday, January 10, 2008

shiny chauncey treat


here's another chauncey treat...somewhere between a signature chauncey dance floor electro stomper and a diet chauncey treat...it's a beautiful song by shiny toy guns called 'when they came for us' and it's simply magical. it's the kind of song you would expect to hear while you're hang gliding through the grand canyon...lovely floaty synths with my favourite kind of melancholy dripping quickly from it's every pore...enjoy!

shiny toy guns - when they came for us

can't get a word in edgewise...

one of my myspace friends posted this tonight and i just had to share it! god i miss madonna's new yawk accent days....nobody is sure where this is from but i think she's talking about warner bros. records...funny how she's about to give them her last album before the new live nation deal starts and this pops up into the cyberworld...go figure!

future t-shirt

it's been a while but once in a while i will post an image i would love to eventually have on a t-shirt to wear...isn't this hot!


image courtesy of fellow madonnanation member ulizos...thank you!


Apture

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