Brilliant Corners

The group Reporters Without Borders has released an 86-page handbook with “handy tips and technical advice on how to remain anonymous and to get round censorship” (via kv).

I’m not very familiar with the poet Sharon Olds, but after reading her letter to Laura Bush–declining an invitation to National Book Festival events–I want to find out more. Here’s a choice snippet:

What kept coming to the fore of my mind was that I would be taking food from the hand of the First Lady who represents the Administration that unleashed this war and that wills its continuation, even to the extent of permitting “extraordinary rendition”: flying people to other countries where they will be tortured for us.

More information on Sharon Olds:

• An introduction to Sharon Olds
• Sharon Olds’ bio at NYU
• Some of her poems can be found online here and here

Accepting ‘intelligent design’ in science classrooms would have disastrous consequences, warn Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne (via kottke.org).

I just now finished watching the archived performance of Pink Floyd at the London Live8 concert (which you can download for yourself over here). And boy did it bring back some memories.

Pink Floyd was my first, big musical obsession. I had brief infatuations with The Beatles, Rush, and Jesus Christ Superstar, but it was Pink Floyd that really sucked me in. I bought, and still own, all their records on vinyl (of course). I even tried to keep up with the less-than-satisfying solo careers of Roger Waters and David Gilmour. I also watched Pink Floyd: The Wall at least thirty times over the course of five years. Through junior high and most of high school, Pink Floyd was my soundtrack.

The first big concert I attended was Pink Floyd at the Pontiac Silverdome, outside of Detroit, in 1987. I thought it was fantastic, but looking back, the over-produced and extra-flashy effects were only there to cover up the fact that Roger Waters wasn’t playing with them. Still, it was almost all of Pink Floyd, and there I was, sucking it all in. I was in heaven.

My interest in Pink Floyd took a back seat in my senior year of high school once I discovered “alternative” groups like Jane’s Addiction, harder bands like Bad Brains, and funkier ones like Fishbone. I kept the Floyd records around, and would play them occasionally, but they didn’t command my attention like they used to.

Now, jump ahead to a few weeks ago when I heard the news that Floyd was going to reunite for the Live8 concert. I didn’t want to believe it at first; I mean, come on, I don’t even think Waters and Gilmour had talked to each other in fifteen years. And now they were going to get onstage again? Together? Yeah, right!

But, in the end, it did happen. And this morning I watched the videos from the Live8 concert. There they were. Although they all look like grandfathers–which they probably are–and their voices aren’t quite what they were twenty years ago, they sounded great and they did seem to be enjoying themselves on stage. I don’t hold out much hope for them permanently reuniting and touring together, but, oh man, wouldn’t that be great?