People We Outlived | 2009 Roundup

Another year has passed, and another swath of humanity has passed along wth it. In honour of the "2009ers" here is the 2009 Roll of the Dead.

Neda Agha-Soltan, Iranian 2009 election protestor, at 26. [cbc] [cbc.2]
Yitzhak Ahronovitch, captain of Jewish refugee ship "Exodus", at 86. [nyt]
Al Alberts, founding member of The Four Aces, at 87. [wikipedia]
Rashied Ali, jazz drummer, at 74. [cbc]
Henry Allingham, third-last British World War One veteran, at 113. [nyt]
Dee Anthony, music manager to Peter Frampton, at 83. [wikipedia]
Dave Arneson, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, at 61. [wired] [nyt]
Bea Arthur, actress, at 86. [cbc] [ctv] [nyt] [youTube]
Vasily Aksyonov, exiled Soviet writer, at 76. [nyt]
George Atkins, former CBC farm radio commentator, at 92. [cbc]
Susan Atkins, Charles Manson follower, at 61. [cbc]
Kenneth H. Bacon, American advocate for refugees, at 64. [nyt]
Carl Ballantine, Comedian who played a Magician, at 92. [nyt]
Sydney Banks, Saltspring Islander and international spiritual teacher, at 79. [VanSun]
John Barry, entrepreneur of WD-40, at 84. [autoblog]
Pina Bausch, German choreographer, at 68. [nyt]
Barry Beckett, Muscle Shoals sound keyboardist, at 66. [nyt]
Hildegard Behrens, soprano acclaimed for Wagner, at 72. [wikipedia]
Bernard Birnbaum, Emmy-winning CBS News TV producer, at 89. [cbc]
Terry Black, 1960s Vancouver teen idol, at 60. [vansun]
Hyman Bloom, painter of the mystical, at 96. [wikipedia]
Bob Bogle, Ventures' guitarist, at 75. [nyt]
Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize winner, at 95. [cbc]
Jake Brockman, keyboardist for Echo and the Bunnymen, at 53. [cbc]
Ernest Brown, tap-dancer and member of Original Copasetics, at 93. [wikipedia]
James F. Brown, former director of Radio Free Europe, at 81. [nyt]
Dennis Brutus, South African poet, political prisoner and activist, at 85. [cbc]
C.D.B. Bryan, Friendly Fire author, at 76. [cbc]
Yvonne King Burch, vocalist in King Sister, at 89. [nyt]
Rafael Caldera, ex-President of Venezuela, at 93. [wikipedia]
Robert Cameron, aerial photographer, at 98. [nyt]
Douglas Campbell, actor, at 87. [cbc]
J.M.S. Careless, Canadian historian, at 90. [cbc]
Gilles Carle, Quebec filmmaker, at 80. [cbc]
Jim Carroll, punk-rock poet, at 60. [cbc]
Johnny Carter, doo-wop falsetto and member of The Dells, at 75. [wikipedia] [cbc]
Marilyn Chambers, adult film actress, at 56. [cbc] [nyt]
Vic Chestnut, songwriter and singer, at 45. [cbc]
Liam Clancy, Irish balladeer, at 74. [cbc]
Earl M. Coleman, publisher and poet, at 93. [nyt]
Don Dongdon, Literary Agent for Ray Bradbury, at 91. [nyt]
Chris Connor, American jazz singer, at 81. [wikipedia]
Jack Cooke, Bluegrass musician, at 72. [nyt]
J. Nicholas Counter III, Hollywood labor lawyer, at 69. [nyt]
Art Cowie, Vancouver politician and planner, at 75. [VanSun] [CityCaucus] [bula]
Sir John Crofton, medical pioneer in TB research, at 97. [nyt]
Walter Cronkite, American Newscaster, at 92. [nyt] [cbc]
Merce Cunningham, American choreographer, at 90. [nyt]
James "Jay" Daly, creator of QuickDoc, at 62. [boston.globe]
Jean Dausset, Nobel Laureate, at 92. [nyt]
Lionel Davidson, British author of complex thrillers, at 87. [nyt]
Harvey Dawes, former CBC Vancouver news anchor, at 82. [vansun]
John Dawson, country-rock songwriter, at 64. [nyt]
Fletcher Day, guide in northern BC, at 79. [VanSun]
Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, wife and collaborator of artist Christo, at 74. [nyt]
Antonio Luis Alves de Souza, Brazillian Drummer, at 54. [nyt]
Millvina Dean, last Titanic survivor, at 97. [ctv] [nyt]
Robert Degen, supposed-songwriter of Hokey Pokey, at 104. [nyt] [wikipedia]
Willy DeVille, singer and songwriter for 1970s punk group Mink DeVille, at 58. [nyt]
Adrian W. DeWind, Human Rights Watch founder, at 95. [nyt]
Jim Dickinson, Memphis musician and producer, at 67. [wikipedia]
Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew, at 79. [cbc]
Sheldon Dorf, Comic-Con founder, at 76. [cbc]
David Drew, musicologist, at 78. [nyt]
Muriel Duckworth, Canadian peace advocate, at 100. [wikipedia] [cbc]
Dominick Dunne, celebrity chronicler and Vanity Fair writer, at 83. [cbc]
Marek Edelman, Commander in Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, at 90. [wikipedia]
Heinz Edelmann, "Yellow Submarine" artist, at 75. [nyt]
Max Eisen, press agent during Broadway's Golden Age, at 91. [nyt]
Arthur Erickson, architect, at 84. [bula] [cbc] [ctv] [cbcPhotos]
Sam Etcheverry, former CFL quarterback, at 79. [tsn]
Philip José Farmer, science-fiction writer, at 91. [nyt]
Patrick Farrow, sculptor and brother of Mia, at 66. [cbc]
Farrah Fawcett, American actress, at 62. [nyt] [nyt.2] [cbc]
Raymond Federman, novelist and becket scholar, at 81. [wikipedia]
Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet spacecraft engineer, at 83. [wikipedia]
Steve Ferguson, guitarist and NRBQ founder, at 60. [nrbq] [wikipedia]
Nat Finkelstein, 'Court Photographer' of Andy Warhol's Factory, at 76. [wikipedia]
Douglas Fisher, Canadian political columnist, at 89. [cbc]
Peter Forakis, sculptor of geometric forms, at 82. [nyt]
Ruth Ford, actress and muse, at 98. [nyt]
Gerhardt Fuchs, independent musician and drummer, at 34. [nyt]
Tempest (Pest) Grace Gale, Hornby Island performance artist, at 25. [vansun]
Larry Gelbart, creator of TV show MASH, at 81. [cbc]
Gidget, Taco Bell chihuahua, at 15. [fox]
Vitaly Ginzberg, Russian physicist and H-Bomb developer, at 93. [cbc]
Adam Goldstein, known as DJ AM, at 36. [ctv]
Phyllis Gotlieb, Canadian sci-fi writer and poet, at 83. [cbc]
Ellie Greenwich, pop songwriter, at 68. [wikipedia]
James Gurley, 60-psychedelic guitarist, at 69. [cbc]
Donald Harington, novelist about surreal Ozark community, at 73. [nyt]
Paul Harvey, radio broadcaster, at 90. [cbc] [nyt] [youTube]
Knut Haugland, Kon-Tiki crewman, at 92. [wikipedia]
Bess Lomax Hawes, folklorist and folk musician, at 88. [wikipedia]
Don Hewitt, television news-program 60-Minutes creator, at 86. [cbc]
Francisco Hidalgo, cartoonist and photographer, at 80. [cbc]
Hugh Morgan Hill, storyteller known as Brother Blue, at 88. [wikipedia]
Evelyn Hofer, photographer, at 87. [nyt]
John Hughes, 1980s Teen-Film Director, at 59. [cbc] [nyt]
Waldo Hunt, master of the pop-up book, at 88. [wikipedia]
Mohammed Ismail, father of Slumdog Millionaire star, at an unknown age, because no media actually cares about him. [cbc]
Michael Jackson, pop music singer and icon, at 50. [wired] [nyt] [hnn] [cbc] [ctv] [economist]
Wycliffe Johnson, Reggae musician and producer, at 47. [telegraph.co.uk]
Jennifer Jones, siren of Golden Hollywood, at 90. [cbc]
Maggie Jones, known as Blanche Hunt on Coronation Street, at 75. [cbc]
Brenda Joyce, 1940's Tarzan's "Jane", at 92. [nyt]
Bob Keane, music producer known for discovering Ritchie Valens and Sam Cooke, at 87. [cbc]
Elmer Kelton, novelist, at 83. [wikipedia]
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy, American senator, at 77. [wikipedia] [hnn] [economist]
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, co-founder of Special Olympics and sister of JFK, at 88. [cbc]
Kim Dae-jung, ex-President of South Korea, at 83. [wikipedia]
Allan King, film and documentary maker, at 79. [cbc] [cbcArchives]
Bela Kiraly, 1956 Hungarian revolutionary, at 97. [nyt]
Allen Klein, music manager of Beatles and Rolling Stones, at 77. [nyt] [cbc]
Larry Knechtel, rock keyboardist with Bread, at 69. [wikipedia]
Marie Knight, Gospel singer, at 84. [cbc]
Alfred A. Knopf, publisher, at 90. [nyt]
William Korey, B'nai B'rith lobbyist, at 87. [nyt]
Irving Kriesberg, abstract expressionist painter, at 90. [nyt]
Erich Kunzel, conductor of Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, at 74. [cbc]
Karla Kuskin, children's book writer, at 77. [wikipedia]
Lino Lacedelli, Italian mountaineer who shared first conquest of K2, at 83. [wikipedia]
Howard Chandler Robbins Landon, Hayden and Mozart musicologist, at 83. [wikipedia]
Joy Langan, former NDP MP and women's rights advocate, at 66. [VanSun]
Romeo LeBlanc, former Canadian Governor General, at 81. [cbc] [cnc]
Nelson Leeson, President of Nisga'a First Nation, at an unreported age. [cbc]
Jan Leighton, unknown actor but won Guiness-Record for Most Roles (3,372), at 87. [wikipedia]
Sylvia Lennick, actress with Wayne and Shuster, at 93. [cbc]
Drake Levin, lead guitarist of Paul Revere and the Raiders, at 62. [nyt]
David Levine, New York Review of Books biting caricturist, at 83. [nyt]
Claude Levi-Strauss, anthropologist, at 100. [VanSun]
Robert Lewis-Dreyfus, turn-around specialist, at 63. [nyt]
James R. Lilley, Ambassador to China during Tiananmen Square era, at 81. [nyt]
Bill Lister, Radio's Tallest Singing Cowboy, at 86. [nyt]
David Lloyd, award-winning television sitcom writer, at 75. [cbc]
Huey Long, guitarist (Ink Spots), at 105. [nyt]
John Daido Loori, Catskills zen monastery founder and photographer, at 78. [nyt]
James Lord, biographer and memoirist, friend of Picasso, at 86. [nyt]
Harvey Lowe, Vancouver yo-yo king, at 90. [cbc] [VanSun]
Les Lye, Canadian TV Comedian, at 84. [nyt]
Karl Malden, American actor, at 97. [nyt] [cbc]
Joe Maneri, experimental musician and composer, at 82. [wikipedia]
Donald Marshall Jr., Canadian symbol of bias in justice system, at 55. [nyt]
Al Martino, singer and actor, at 82. [wikipedia]
Frans Masango, South African rebel, at 51. [nyt]
Doug Matheson, retired Alberta judge, war hero, and pilot, at 88. [cbc]
Oscar G. Mayer, Jr., chairman of hot dog giant and grandson of founder, at 95. [wikipedia]
Billy Mays, infomercial entrepreneur, at 50. [economist] Addendum. [cbc]
Michael Mazur, artist, at 73. [nyt]
Frank McCourt, author, at 78. [cbc] [nyt]
Virginia Davis McGhee, early Disney film star, at 90. [wikipedia]
Ed McMahon, Tonight Show sidekick, at 86. [cbc]
Robert Strange McNamara, JFK's Secretary of Defense, at 93. [hnn] [slate] [nyt]
Lorie McNaughton, former CBC Calgary news anchor, at 48. [cbc]
Daniel Melnick, movie producer, at 77. [wikipedia] [cbc]
George Michael, sportscaster, at 70. [cbc]
Sergei V. Mikhalkov, lyricist of Soviet and Russian anthems, at 96. [wikipedia]
Vic Mizzy, Adams Family theme songwriter, at 93. [cbc]
Mathieu Montcourt, French tennis player, at 24. [nyt]
Jeremy Morris, British epidemiologist and Father of Modern Aerobics Movement, at 99. [nyt]
Neil Munro, Canadian actor-director, at 62. [cbc]
Brittany Murphy, actress, at 32. [cbc]
George Na'ope, master of Sacred Hula, at 81. [nyt]
Haydain Neale, lead singer of Jacksoul, at 39. [cbc]
Ray Nettles, former B.C. Lions football star, at 60. [cbc]
Harold Norse, beat poet, at 92. [nyt]
Robert Novak, American political columnist, at 78. [cbc]
Dan O'Bannon, screenwriter for Alien and Total Recall, at 63. [cbc]
Ken Ober, host of MTV game show "Remote Control", at 52. [nyt]
Georgina Parkinson, star of 1960s-era Royal Ballet, at 71. [nyt]
Henry John "Harry" Patch, second-last British World War One veteran (and last from trenches), at 111. [wikipedia]
Les Paul, guitar legend and "father of the electric guitar", at 94. [rs] [nyt] [cbc]
Kim Peek, savant inspiration for Rain Man, at 58. [cbc]
Irving Penn, fashion photographer, at 92. [nyt]
Richard Poirier, scholar of literature, at 83. [wikipedia]
Jack Poole, Vancouver 2010 Olympic chairman, at 76. [cbc]
Don Ivan Punchatz, artist of fantasy book covers and Doom video game package artwork, at 73. [wikipedia]
John Quade, American character actor, at 71. [cbc]
Alaina Reed-Amini, Sesame Street actress, at 63. [cbc]
Billy Lee Riley, rockabilly singer and Sun Records artist, at 75. [nyt]
John Rivas, known as Mr. Magic, disc jockey for early hip hop, at 53. [nyt]
Donald Rix, British Columbian physician and philanthropist, at 78. [bc.gov] [PMI]
Ken Roberts, 1930s and 1940s American radio announcer, at 99. [nyt]
Oral Roberts, TV evangelist, at 91. [cbc]
Yves Rocher, cosmetics pioneer, at 79. [nyt]
Abraham Rogatnick, Vancouver actor and man-about-town, at 85. [VanSun]
James S. Rossant, architect and planner, at 81. [nyt]
Daniel Rowen, modernist architect, at 56. [nyt]
Jan Rubes, opera singer and actor, at 89. [cbc]
William Safire, New York Times columnist, at 79. [cbc]
Sky Saxon, bass guitar and lead singer for The Seeds, at (best guess) 71. [nyt]
Mike Seeger, folk musician, at 75. [cbc] [nyt]
Ron Silver, actor, at 62. [nyt]
Alice Schiller, former owner of Pink Pussycat burlesque house, at 95. [nyt]
Bud Schulberg, "On the Waterfront" screenwriter, at 95. [nyt]
Issac Schwartz, Russian film composer, at 86. [cbc]
Goldie Semple, Vancouver actor, at 56. [VanSun]
Shi Pei Pu, singer, spy and "M. Butterfly", at 70. [nyt] [nyt.2]
Loren Singer, Parallax View author, at 86. [wikipedia]
Shelby Singleton, Nashville record producer, at 77. [wikipedia]
John Edwin Smith, philosopher and author, at 88. [nyt]
Hale Smith, composer and blender of classical and jazz, at 84. [wikipedia]
Elisabeth Soderstrom, Swedish soprano, at 82. [nyt]
Manuel Solis, Ex-Leader of Panama, at 91. [nyt]
Richard W. Sonnenfeldt, Nuremberg interpreter, at 86. [wikipedia]
Nancy Spero, feminist artist, at 83. [wikipedia]
Ray Dennis Steckler, American low-budget filmmaker, at 70. [nyt]
Gojko Stojcevic aka Patriarch Pavle, leader of Serbia's Christian Orthodox Church, at 95. [cbc]
Gale Storm, 1950s American TV star, at 87. [nyt]
Martin Streek, Toronto DJ, at 45. [cbc]
James Owen Sullivan, drummer for Avenged Sevenfold, at 28. [cbc]
Larry Sultan, California photographer behind 1977's Evidence, at 63. [nyt]
Samak Sundaravej, former Prime Minister of Thailand, at 74. [wikipedia]
Molly Sugden, "Are You Being Served?" actress, at 86. [nyt]
Milton Supman, comedian known as Soupy Sales, at 83. [wikipedia]
Patrick Swayze, actor, at 57. [cbc]
Tomoji Tanabe, former "oldest living human", at 113. [nyt]
Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Russian actor best known in West for War and Peace, at 81. [nyt]
Richard Todd, Oscar-nominated actor and almost-first James Bond, at 90. [wikipedia]
Stephen Toulmin, philosopher who developed a new approach to analyzing arguments, at 87. [nyt]
Fred Travalena, comedian and impersonator, at 66. [nyt]
Mary Travers, folk musician with Peter, Paul and Mary, at 72. [cbc]
Edward Upward, British author, at 105. [nyt]
Venice, city in Italy, at about 1,850 give or take a few hundred. [cbc]
Deitrich von Bothmer, curator and art historian, at 90. [wikipedia]
Gordon Waller, half of musical group "Peter and Gordon", at 64. [nyt]
Jackie Washington, Canadian bluesman, at 89. [cbc]
Keith Waterhouse, author, at 80. [wikipedia]
Malcolm Wells, advocate of environmentally-responsible architectural design, at 83. [nyt]
Paul Wendkos, American director of Gidget surf movies, at 84. [cbc] [nyt]
Collin Wilcox, To Kill a Mockingbird actress, at 74. [wikipedia]
Tom Wilkes, album cover designer, at 69. [nyt]
Charis Wilson, wife and model for photographer Edward Weston, at 95. [nyt]
William A. WIlson, U.S. Ambassador to The Vatican during Reagan era, at 95. [nyt]
Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor known as Bond villian "Dr. No", at 91. [cbc]
Edward Woodward, British actor best known as television's "The Equalizer", at 79. [nyt]
Eric Woolfson, co-founder of Alan Parsons Project, at 64. [wikipedia]
Qian Xuesen, Father of China's Space Program, at 98. [nyt]
Rex Yetman, Newfoundland bluegrass legend, at 76. [cbc]

In conclusion, I have to say that tracking the obituaries over the year has been an interesting exercise, which I will not continue. Next year I'm just going to use the excellent list that Wikipedia maintains, which this year is reasonably called Deaths in 2009, and perhaps single out a few highlight corpses.

useless mental tidbits | Year (& Decade!) in Review!

We're into our last couple of days of 2009, and of the 2000s.

(There are, of course, arguments that 2010 is the last year of the decade... but I am going to just go on the fact that I've seen a few "Best of Decade" lists and want to share them.)

Here are some of the Best of 2009 lists I've ran across, and some of the Best of the 2000s lists I've ran across. Enjoy.

CTV BC's Top 10 News Stories of 2009. [ctvbc]
Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2009. [ForeignPolicy]
Great Moments in 2009 World Buffoonery. [ctv]
10 Worst Predicitons for 2009. [ForeignPolicy]

Best Songs of 2009. [SaidTheGramophone]
2009's Best Unheard Music. [wired]
Worst Album Covers of 2009. [pitchfork]
Black List (Movie Scripts) 2009. [deadline]
30 Freakiest Commercials of 2009. [AdFreak]
15 Funniest Local News Reports of 2009. buzzfeed]
Most Watched and Searched-For on YouTube in 2009. [google]
Top 5 Video Games of 2009. [cbc]
Pop Culture's Finest Moments of 2009. [wired]
Best New Blogs of 2009. [BygoneBureau]
Top Internet Memes of 2009. [mashable]
Top 10 Google Sightseeing Posts of 2009. [g.sightseeing]
Top 10 Discoveries of 2009. [NatlGeo]
Top 10 Archaeology Finds of 2009. [NatlGeo]
Top 10 Space Finds of 2009. [NatlGeo]
Top New Species of 2009. [NatlGeo]
Lifehacker's Most Popular DIY Projects of 2009. [lifehacker]

The Noughtie List: the 2000s in Review. [kottke]
Started by Jason Kottke and curated by Jenni Leder, this list is likely to be the most-thorough List of Lists to collect all the lists related to the years 2000-2009.

Top 50 Vancouver Bands of the Decade, 50-31. [discorder]
Top 50 Vancouver Bands of the Decade, 30-11. [discorder]
Top 50 Vancouver Bands of the Decade, 10-1. [discorder]
Best Music of the Millennium... so far... [wired]
The Decade's 50 Most Important Recordings. [npr]
One-Liners of the Decade. [buzzfeed]
Rolling Stone's Best of he Decade. [RollingStone]
50 Best Albums of the Decade. [paste]
25 Best Album Covers of the Decade. [paste]
50 Best Music Videos of the Decade. [paste]
101 Best Music Videos of the Decade. ['ville.2k]
Vimeo's 25 Favourite Videos of 2009. [vimeo]
100 Best Films of the Decade. [times.uk]
Most Unfairly-Overlooked Films of the Decade. [cinemablend]
TV Decade in Review. [wired]
15 Most Influencial Games of the Decade. [wired]
Evolution of the Hipster, 2000-2009. [paste]
10 Best Fashion Designers of the Decade. [paste]
imomus' "Mister Narrative" of the Noughties. [imomus]

And here is Newsweek's "Decade in 7 Minutes."



And finally, The Onion put out their list of the
Top 10 Stories of the Last 4.5 Billion Years. [onion]

headspace | Poker Faces

I'm starting to consider Lady Gaga as the most over-celebrated-under-respected artist of 2009. Too easily dismissed as another Made-By-Industry Cash-Cow, the depth of her music, and the spectacle she invents, is subsequently overlooked. I think she's actually a normal (as normal as any artist can be) person that likes to create an over-the-top circus act. Time will only tell if she has the depth to bring out quality products over a longer term, but she's definitely raised my opinion of her work this past year.

Some funny bits that relate to Lady Gaga... first... University of California at Berkley has an a cappela group called Noteworthy... and they performed this jewel:



And there is Christopher Walken doing a reading on Halloween:



And finally, the actual video.

Dossier Z | Radiohead

All the Radiohead News that's fit to rip off and re-publish.

A new record label, named Polyphonic, created by Radiohead manager Brian Message and other partners will help artists launch their music digitally, without having to release copyright on their work. [cbc] Vancouver-based Nettwerk Management is a partner. [cbc]

There were rumours that a new EP, called Wall of Ice was coming out in August. [stereogum]

But there was These Are My Twisted Words. [pitchfork]

And that the band was no longer interested in albums, just singles. [nyt]

And the Thom Yorke single in September. [exclaim] [pitchfork] Then, in October, he played with his new band. [nyt]

And the old people at Sulimay's review Radiohead. [stereogum]

And Sasha Frere-Jones talked with Jonny Greenwood for her Dithering series in the New Yorker, asking if the quality of mp3s was a satisfactory medium for music. Jonny replied, "They sound fine to me. ... We had a few complaints that the MP3s of our last record wasn’t encoded at a high enough rate. Some even suggested we should have used FLACs, but if you even know what one of those is, and have strong opinions on them, you’re already lost to the world of high fidelity and have probably spent far too much money on your speaker-stands." [NewYorker]

Conspiracy Analyst | This Year in Wacko-ville

As we stumble out of the holiday-cycle set up by The Church (so Western Civilization could be subsumed away from the previous Pagan Establishment in as orderly and non-violent fashion as possible) and into a new (arbitrarily-chosen beginning to the) year, I feel it is best time to share the tidbits I've collected over the last while related to the Study of Ongoing Conspiracy.

But before we get into it, I suggest you take a look at Wired Magazine's list of 51 Conspiracy Theories That Don't Exist But Should. (I'm not convinced they don't. What is Wired up to? What sort of game do they think they're playing...?)

The Illuminati are always well-represented. Slate had an interesting article about how the 18th century composer Beethoven was influenced by the Illuminati. [slate]

There is an increase in Big Brother activity in the United States. Wired reports on the activity. [wired] And the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) started a website called You Are Being Watched to discuss the issue. Will it matter...? Slate Magazine asks how America is going to end, and describes the five steps to totalitarian rule. [slate]

Elections Canada has been keeping information on individuals that are under the age of 18, even though they are not eligible to vote. [cbc] And one's privacy online is almost non-existent, according to Canadian courts. [tyee] As is one's anonymity, according to studies. [cbc] And all that's just going to get worse (or better, depending upon which side you're on...) as me move to electronic medical records. [tyee] Which reminds me: your telephone has been secretly tapped by The Police. [cbc] (Sting has been unwilling to comment. Kidding. Couldn't resist.)

But there's been activity by Little Brother as well. [wired] But who watches the watchers of the watchers who are watching you? (Next time I just get a pocketwatch.) Which reminds me... a group of volunteers from Vancouver's Public Space Network mapped out as many of Vancouver's surveillance cameras as they could find. [ctv] [VanSun] But I can't seem to find the map...? Are They keeping it to Themselves...?

The Cloud! The Cloud! [LifeHacker]

Wall Street is rising in the Conspirator Ranks, with a Rolling Stone article about how they're using the Economic Bailout as a means to stage a revolution. [RollingStone] They also put together a very handy biographical cheat sheet outlining the bankers and brokers responsible for the financial crisis and the officials that let them get away with it. [RollingStone] As as additional treat, No Impact Man shoots from the hip describing the problem with corporate structure. [no.impact.man] But, as Jason Kottke reports, there is always the "living with no money" option. [kottke]

There's also been a good rise in the heat coming from the Global Warming group. Through it all, Gizmodo asks How many solar panels would it take to power the entire world? Turns out, "just under 500,000 square kilometers, or about the size of Spain."

The heirs of Geronimo have sued Yale's secret society Skull and Bones for the return of his skull, which they claim Skull and Bones grave-robbed in 1918. [nyt]

And the Police are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the 1969 death of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. [cbc]

Here's a good one from Adbusters about the impending Pornocalypse. 'Nuff said. (Though it may not be appropriate to read while at whatever Capitalist Slave Organization you call your "work", or in front of the kids.)

I won't say too much about The Religious here, since there's always way too much to follow without a crib-sheet. But the History News Network had an interesting article reviewing a book by Michael Baigent (who also wrote Holy Blood, Holy Grail, like you already didn't know) about how "the three great religions" are plotting the race to Armageddon. [hnn]

And for the Star-Gazers: there is compelling speculation that Humans and Aliens might share the same DNA roots. [wired] Don't laugh: its thermodynamics. And from what I understand, that's a science. And there hasn't been a peep of this in The Mainstream Media, but SETI has picked up regular laser pulses emanating from space. [io9] Though don't get too excited, Some Scientists have reported they calculate there can only be fewer than 10 extra-terrestrial civilizations in our galaxy. [slashdot]

And finally, I emplore you to check out GOOD Magazine's "Guide to Shadowy Organizations." They have excellent primers on such Conspiracy Establishment organizations as The Bohemian Grove, the Order of Skull and Bones, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, the Freemasons, and more.

ThreatWatch | Santa Claus' Family

Respect | Pink Glove Dance

Crazy Animators | Accro by Opron Marie, Leonard Cohen and David Martin

Accro
by MarLeoDav

Crazy Musician | arjanM "Blackhole"

blackhole from arjanM on Vimeo.

This is an animated music video for a new song of mine. You can check http://www.arjanM.com for more music or new videoclips.

Crazy Filmster | Charlie McCarthy "Flight Patterns"

flight patterns from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

citiZEN | If you oppose Vancouver budget cuts...

This comes from one of my favourite local political watchdogs/advocates, ThinkCity. (My other favourite is City Caucus.) I'm supposed to send this to my "email contacts" (hence the supposedly personal perspective) but already know anybody who's anybody reads it here first. But I did send an email to the Mayor, and I do think it is an important issue... so if you have two minutes available, please pitch in, fellow citiZENs!

Subject: Send Mayor Robertson a message opposing deep cuts to city services before Dec 18!

I need your help right now. I am very worried about proposed plans to make deep cuts to the 2010 Vancouver budget.

The final decision will be made at city hall on Friday, Dec. 18, but it is not too late to show your opposition to the cuts.

I sent an email action message to city council here http://thinkcity.ca/budgetactionemail and am urging you to do the same.

Here's what's going on.

On Dec. 1, city council conditionally approved $20.3 million in cuts to community centres, fire and rescue, libraries, parks, youth programs and other frontline services. The three NPA and COPE councillors voted against the budget, while the mayor and his seven Vision councillors supported the deep cuts.

Coming at the height of the recession, these are some of the harshest cuts our city has faced for quite some time. Plus, this goes against everything the public is telling the mayor and councillors at packed budget hearings, in letters to the editor and at weekly rallies in front of city hall. Even the city’s own scientific polling and online survey show a majority of businesses and citizens were "reluctant to support reduction in specific services.”

Please go here http://thinkcity.ca/budgetactionemail to send council an action email right away -- it will only take a minute.

Nearly 900 messages have been sent to council since last Thursday, so we need to keep the public pressure on the politicians to do the right thing!

Crazy Actor | Kevin Spacey does impersonations

Crazy Filmster | Wizard Smoke

Wizard Smoke from Salazar on Vimeo.

Crazy Animator | Lucas Martell "Pigeon: Impossible"

useless mental tidbits | Domino Record Set

Interlude | Facebook Manners

Crazy Filmster | Alex Cornell's "Wes Anderson Trailer"

Wes Anderson Trailer from Alex Cornell on Vimeo.

This is an advertisement for a hypothetical Wes Anderson Film Festival. It was created by Alex Cornell and Philip Mills, as part of a larger project for Alex's graduate design program.

http://www.alexcornell.com

Description of how it was made:
blog.iso50.com/2009/05/11/wes-anderson-trailer-student-project/

Overview of full graphic design project:
http://blog.iso50.com/2009/05/25/film-festival-project-completion/

Full project materials:
http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Wes-Anderson-Film-Festival/229415

Crazy Band | The Avalanches "Frontier Psychiatrist"

Crazy Scientists | The Magic of Superconductors

Crazy Lego Artist | Trinity Help, Matrix in Lego

crazy musician | Mario Basanov & VIDIS feat JAZZU - I’ll be gone

I'll be gone from KORB on Vimeo.

useless mental tidbits | Earth with Rings

useless mental tidbits | fantastic lists

Here's another round-up of interesting lists.

10 Great Achievements of the Human Mind [listverse]
Top 15 Facts You Probably Don't Know. [listverse]
Top 10 Scientific Music Videos. [wired]
10 Fascinating Prize Challenges. [listverse]
Another 10 Curious Everyday Inventions. [listverse]
Top 10 Things You Should Never Discuss Online [listverse]
Top 10 Ancient Jobs that Sucked Big Time. [listverse]
10 Unabashed Quacks in Medical History. [listverse]
10 Failed Doomsday Prophecies. [NatlGeo]
10 Failed Predictions About the Future. [dotd]
Top 10 Worst Military Decisions in History. [listverse]
10 Heroic Last Stands from Military History. [listverse]
Top 10 Creepy Aspects of Victorian Life. [listverse]
10 Nursery Rhymes and Their Origins. [listverse]
Top 10 Geekiest Constructed Languages. [listverse]
Top 10 Extreme Genres of Music. [listverse]
20 Movie-Inspired Band Names. [spinner]
Top 10 Bad Messages from Good Movies. [wired]
25 Scariest Moments in Non-Scary Movies [ifc.com]
Top 10 Movies About Movies. [listverse]
Wired's Favourite Sci-fi Movies of All Time - Pre Star Wars [wired]
Wired's Favourite Sci-fi Movies of All Time - Star Wars and After [wired]
Wired: After Watchmen, What's "Unfilmable"? These Legendary Texts. [wired]
10 Fascinating Recently-Discovered Photos. [listverse]
35 Most Creative 404 Pages Around. [pro.blog.design]
20 of the Worst Designed Websites in the World. [manolith]
10 DC Comics Characters Deserving a Mass Makeover [wired]
Anti-Stuff Holiday Gift Guide [getrichslowly]
5 Tips for Tightening Your Budget. [nmom]
Top 10 Greatest Chess Players in History. [listverse]
10 Reasons Why the Quidditch World Cup is the Best College Sporting Event. [mental.floss]
15 Life Lessons from Sim City. [philltopia]
10 Bizarre Cases of Identity Theft. [listverse]
15 Uniquely Modern Umbrella Designs. [WebUrbanist]
Top 10 Notorious American Biker Gangs. [listverse]
10 Classic American Muscle Cars. [listverse]
Senior City-zens: Worlds 10 Oldest Still-Inhabited Cities. [WebUrbanist]
Top 10 Bizarre Cultural Disorders. [listverse]
15 Fastest Things in the Universe. [listverse]
10 More Amazing Wonders of the Natural World. [listverse]
Top 10 Incredible Funguses (sic) [listverse]
Top 10 Incredible Sharks. [listverse]

useless mental tidbits | Getting passed at 160km/h

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Crazy Remixers | Ricardo Autobahn

via kottke.

headspace | B&W to Colour

Check out the illusion brought to us by the fine folks at haha.nu that tricks the mind into seeing colour in a black-and-white image.

BW to Colour

shiZINE | Good-bye (for now?!) Slickity Jim's Chat and Chew

Fire spread through five businesses this morning at Broadway and Main Streets. One of the businesses heavily damaged was the popular Slickity Jim's Chat and Chew.

Respect | Lest We Forget

Crazy Band | Tom Fun Orchestra

Tom Fun Orchestra-Bottom of the River from trunk animation on Vimeo.

headspace | Google Sightseeing, a brilliant blog

Another look from above...

You've heard Chaucer's stories. You've heard about that troublesome priest. Here's Canterbury.

Blast-off! The 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing came and went on July 20. Here's Apollo 11.

Riffing on Golf.Com's list of the top golf courses around the world... here's the top 5 golf courses across the world.

useless mental tidbits | fantastic lists

The round-up of fantastic lists...

945 (and rising) Books About Vancouver [vancouverhistory]
2009's Top 10 Endangered Heritage Sites in Canada [hcf] [vansun]
13 Sites Added to UNESCO World Heritage Site List. [cbc]
10 Ancient Greek Writers You Should Know. [listverse]
10 Greatest American Short Story Writers. [listverse]
100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language. [alphaDictionary]
Top 10 Sesame Street TV Parodies. [huffingtonpost]
10 More Incredibly Bizarre Movies. [listverse]
Top 10 Classic Fantasy Movies of the 1980s. [listverse]
Top 10 Menacing Film Characters. [listverse]
10 Sci-Fi Movies to Throw Down a Black Hole. [wired]
100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About. [wired]
Top 10 Evil Geeks in the Movies. [wired]
100 Essential Skills for Geeks. [wired]
10 Endearing Habits of a Geeky Spouse. [wired]
10 Things You Should Know about Nerdapalooza. [wired]
10 Classic Videogame Glitches that Improved games. [CrispyGamer]
Top 10 Raw Deals for Gamers. [wired]
10 Most Meaningful Videogame Quotes of All Time. [destructoid]
26 T-Shirts of Internet Geeks. [dbt]
100 Web-Domain-Naming Disasters. [slurls]
5 tips for raising Your Girl Geek [wired]
100 Geeky Places to Take Your Kids in Summer. [wired]
10 Skills Every man Should Have. [listverse]
10 Recent and Controversial Bans Around the World. [listverse]
Another 10 Common Historical Myths. [listverse]
Yet Another 20 Fascinating Historical Facts. [listverse]
10 Cases of American Intervention in Latin America. [listverse]
10 Best Prison Breaks. [wired]
10 More Incredibly Bizarre Mental Disorders. [listverse]
5 Little-Known Facts About the Apollo 11 Moon Landing [NatlGeo]
10 Things You Didn't Know About the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. [PopSci]
15 Fascinating Lesser-Known Science facts. [listverse]
Top 10 Amazing Lost or Suppressed Inventions. [listverse]
10 Things We Don't Understand About Humans. [NewScientist]
10 Recently Extinct Animals. [listverse]
10 Mass Extinctions That Would Really Suck. [listverse]
20 Ideas for Solving the Climate Crisis. [guardian.uk]
10 Unique City Parks from Around the World. [WomansDay]
11 Most Bike-Friendly Cities in the World. [VirginVacations]
31 National Geographic Photos. [inspiredology]
15 More Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped. [cracked]
16 Bad Michael Jackson Tattoos. [buzzfeed]
21 Horrible Fashion Ideas that Took Off. [StyleCrave]
10 Freakiest Japanese Gadgets. [gizmotron]
10 More Amazing Coincidences. [listverse]
Another 10 bizarre cases of mass hysteria. [listverse]
10 More Extremely Bizarre Phobias. [listverse]
10 Tips for Leading Businesses in Turbulent Times. [biv]
Top 10 Golf Courses across the World. [googlesightseeing]

Interlude | Betty Pages / Goodbye Horses

Dossier Z | Radiohead

Three new Radiohead re-issues are being released in August. [exclaim]

Radiohead (or Ed O'brien and Phil Selway?) are releasing a track, which marks drummer Phil Selway's debut of recorded vocal, for a charity album for Oxfam. [nme]

And Thom Yorke has expressed interest in contributing music to the Twilight sequel. [exclaim] They did music for the end credits of the first...

Check out the winners of Aniboom's Radiohead animation contest. [aniboom] Fantastic!

And to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Radiohead's OK Computer the blog Stereogum asked some of their favorite musicians to participate in a song-by-song covers compilation. [stereogum]

Following the death of Britain's last World War One veteran of the trenches, Radiohead released a tribute using Harry Patch's own words describing his experience. [cbc] [nyt] [bbc] It's available for download from their web site for 1 pound, with all proceeds going to the Royal British Legion. [waste]

Harry Patch (In memory of)

I am the only one that got through
The others died where ever they fell
It was an ambush
They came up from all sides
Give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves
I've seen devils coming up from the ground
I've seen hell upon this earth
The next will be chemical but they will never learn

And after reports that Thom Yorke said the band were unlikely to release full albums again, and only do EP and singles [guardian.uk], a mysterious song was leaked on the internet. [ChartAttack]

useless mental tidbits | Crowd Psychology at Sasquatch 2009

This fellow starts his own dance party. Amazing video!

Conspiracy Analyst | Orwell vs. Huxley

Stuart McMillen of Recombinant Records in Australia has written/drawn an excellent comic strip describing the differences in fears between George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and compares today's society to see if we are closer to one or the other.

I have to agree with the conclusion that we are closer to Huxley's vision where "the truth is hidden from us by being drowned in a sea of irrelevance."

As Huxley remarked in "Brave New World Revisited" the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."

(I'm doing my part.)

It's fantastic, check it out: [recombinantrecords]

(Oh, and I was turned onto this by the ever-inspiring Jason Kottke.)

toob'd | Mad Men

The third season of the television show Mad Men will begin tonight, Sunday August 16, at 10:00pm eastern, on AMC (American Movie Channel). [buzzSugar]

You can watch the first episode of the second season streaming on the web. [amc]

If you have not seen this show, we encourage you to watch it. Don't just take our word for it: You know it has to be good, because even Sesame Street will be doing a parody this year. [tvSquad] There have already been some casting suggestions made... [jezebel]

Some interesting articles... also known as "a wander through the hype-scape"... on General Topics and the Writing. [nyt] [nyt] [slate] [ffc] Costume Design. [slate] Character Study. [slate]

And Jason Kottke loves the show too... [kottke] ...he's the one that pointed us in the direction of these next two posts: And for more information check out Vanity Fair's excellent overview of the show. [vanityfair] And check out the Wall Street Journal coverage about the women writers behind the show. [wsj]

"Behind the smooth-talking, chain-smoking, misogynist advertising executives on "Mad Men" is a group of women writers, a rarity in Hollywood television. Seven of the nine members of the writing team are women. Women directed five of the 13 episodes in the third season. The writers, led by the show's creator Matthew Weiner, are drawing on their experiences and perspectives to create the show's heady mix: a world where the men are in control and the women are more complex than they seem, or than the male characters realize."

When you're ready: go Mad Men yourself! [amc]

(And you might not get this one, but: the Vancouver Sun had a report about a man that stole a dead baby's identity being at risk of losing the assets aquired under that identity through the Civil Forfeiture Act. [VanSun] )

(And from the related-but-unrelated file: here's a brief history of the bikini.)