MonthJuly 2004

Jack Black to star in Green Lantern movie

Unbelievable. Jack Black will be starring in a Mask-esque comedy version of Green Lantern:

As I understand it, DC Comics tried desperately to dodge this bullet, but ultimately, they don’t have the right to veto something if Warner Bros. really wants to make it happen. This is the problem with the way DC’s deal with their corporate overlords is structured. Their hands are tied. As much as they are aware of the problem with this approach to the material, they just have to sit back and watch it happen along with fans of the character and the rich mythology that has been established over the long run of the various GREEN LANTERN titles.

Ain’t It Cool News: All Those Rumors About GREEN LANTERN… They

(thanks Brenden).

I wonder if Hal’s Emerald Attack Advancement Team will threaten to burn down Black’s house now?

Occult Book Exhibit

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Exhibition of rare occult books.

THE OCCULT
An Exhibition of material from the Monash University Library Rare Book Collection

(via Boing Boing)

more high tech sex toys

Boing Boing rounds up links and pictures related to futurotica artist Ian Haig.

Boing Boing: Sex toy tech-art from discarded household gadgets

should we eradicate mosquitos?

The NY Times asks if we should we launch an all out war on mosquitos? That’s what the ZOCK manifesto proposed. Actually, they proposed chemical war on all insects. Maybe this writer has seen the Hellstrom Chronicle too many times.

New York Times: No Skeeters, No Problem? Not So Fast

Utah Supreme Court approves religious use of peyote for non-Native Americans

From Erowid:

Utah Supreme Court ruled that peyote use in “bona fide” religious ceremonies, regardless of the race of the participants, is protected under Utah and Federal Law in Utah. The court wrote: “On its face, the exemption applies to members of the Native American Church, without regard to tribal membership. The bona fide religious use of peyote cannot serve as the basis for prosecuting members of the Native American Church under state law.

Erowid: Peyote Legal Status.

Myth busting: Do Undercover Police Have to Identify Themselves?

Another annoying myth debunked. This time by Erowid:

Loosely defined, entrapment is a situation in which, if not for the actions of the police officer or police informant, the defendant would not have committed the crime. This defense is generally only successful in situations where law enforcement officers create a criminal plan, plant the idea of that plan into an otherwise innocent person’s mind, and then instigate the plan for the purpose of prosecuting the suspect.

The mere presentation of an opportunity or request by an officer that an individual commit a crime does not qualify as entrapment. An officer may engage a citizen in conversation and ask to buy an illegal substance — even if they have no reason to suspect the person of illegal activity.2 They may offer to sell an illegal substance and arrest the buyer after the sale.

MadGhoul interviews Douglas Rushkoff

People who need Judaism – who need to “believe” in its myths – are the least likely to be able to see its iconoclastic core, and its strong demand that we give up our belief systems and put social justice before our own transcendence or salvation.

Full Story: MadGhoul: Douglas Rushkoff

Step aside, Jesus. Russian scientists turn blood into coffee

Scientists at the Voronezh State Technological Academy have developed a method for processing blood and turning it into food products such as milk, yogurt, chocolate, and coffee.

Full Story: Moscow News: Voronezh Scientists Turn Blood into Coffee, Milk

Buckminster Fuller Stamp

Buckminster Fuller stamp

I can’t believe this is real.

The Register: Buckminster Fuller on stamp duty

(via American Samizdat)

Grant Morrison Stuff on Pop Image

I was just going to add this as a comment to the earlier Grant Morrison interview, but I think there’s enough going on here to warrant its own post. Grant Morrison interview:

‘Sigil’ as a word is out of date. All this magic stuff needs new terminology because it’s not what people are being told it is at all. It’s not all this wearying symbolic misdirection that’s being dragged up from the Victorian Age, when no-one was allowed to talk plainly and everything was in coy poetic code. The world’s at a crisis point and it’s time to stop bullshitting around with Qabalah and Thelema and Chaos and Information and all the rest of the metaphoric smoke and mirrors designed to make the rubes think magicians are ‘special’ people with special powers. It’s not like that. Everyone does magic all the time in different ways. ‘Life’ plus ‘significance’ = magic. See Pop Mag!c for more.

Perhaps “Hyperstition“?

There’s also an interview with Human Traffic writer Craig McGill who is working on a biography of Morrison.

Grant comes from Govan – which is a hellhole in Glasgow. It’s truly one of the most deprived parts of the city and also the country – terrible housing, squalor. I mean politicians have written off a lot of these people – something for which I think some of them should be brought up on charges of dereliction of duty for. Not many go to
University, many more end up with drug habits, poor health. For many, social aspirations is getting their next benefit cheque or being a drug dealer. Basically, there’s not much hope and what there is can be snuffed out by day-to-day life. That’s not to say there’s not a lot of good people there – there are, but the environment they are in stacks the odds against them.

Grant came from that and more or less off his own back, is now mingling with celebrities and is relatively comfortable. Don’t get me wrong, he probably couldn’t afford to stop working tomorrow and never type again, but he owns a quality house and is certainly doing a lot better than many from his generation. In his own way he’s a role model. He shows that there’s a way out. You can live your dreams, even if you can’t go down the traditional route of being a sportsman. We should be shouting about people like Grant from the rooftops. He’s the boy who done good. Now I know he’s not unique by any stretch of the imagination in that regard, but it never hurts to highlight another success tale.

And there’s also an interview with the Filth artist Chris Weston and a review of Anarchy for the Masses

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