lots of ads...must be the sunday n y times

it has been a while since i visited the new york times "media kit" which lays out the advertising cost for the paper...inflation has impacted the advertising industry in the "new economy" as well and prices have gone up since my last sojourn into costs...a full color page in the "T" style magazine is up to $109,215 and a two page color spread is $209,695...full page black and white runs $74,890 and two pages $143,510...68 color pages, 8 color two page spreads...5 full page black and white and two black and white two page spreads grossed the n y times $9,971,510 in advertising revenues...clearly an advertising vehicle compared to the regular sunday magazine which has somewhat more space devoted to what could be called journalism and an assortment of 2/3, 1/2, and 1/3 page ad spaces the "T" magazine dispenses with by offering only full pages...less advertising space = less revenue...only $3,437,975...a loss leader if ever there was one...so i'm thinking with that much cash in the hopper the times is not about to go alienating advertisers ( unlike youtube )...the "truth" and "objectivity" they are on about is relative to their advertiser's worldview...and, while we are on the subject of "truth"...in a side note to the editors of time...truth has always had a difficult time of it..it has struggled and been ignored for centuries...it is especially vulnerable around politicians ( not just the current crop of yahoos either...this is a more generalized observation..past administrations have had their way with "truth"...abused it like they owned it...orwell has become fashionable again but he was never irrelevant...i would steer you away from 1984 and towards some essays...like "politics and the english language"...a primer for those trying to work out the special vocabularies of politicians...fuck politicians they are all lying scumbag whores...to an individual..one of the few absolutes i will subscribe to ) who work hard to say nothing they can be held accountable for...it is part of the kit that comes with the a seat at the table.

someone should tell them art is subjective

while the n y times continues to tell me almost daily how they are ferreting out the truth about the president ( pro tem ) and their sterling objectivity and utter detachment in doing so they also serve the interests of their advertisers as they try to sell me...among other things...condos that start from "$ 2 million" ( and those are the cheap seats folks ) and $8,890 leather couches ( on sale! ) from some elitist outlet store called rochebobois...i am deeply skeptical about their objectivity in any of this and i am convinced of their manipulative propensities...they have mostly the same agenda as don trump...make me rich(er)...the media are corporate entities with editorial boards that decide what and how much i should know...i have been a subscriber for some time..but not because i think they are purveyors of truth...it is a fin insight t into what the elite is thinking about and they have definite impact on other media...always good to know what the other side thinks i should think...i am, by the by, mostly disinterested in the music they are hyping in this "music issue"...with the exception of leonard cohen and james macmurtry this stuff is pointless dreck ( see? subjective )..i will pursue my own tastes ( and play my own music ) at the risk of being unstylish...fuck these people.

elitist tussle

it's clear that the n y times loathes donald trump...today's op-ed section has some interesting titles to the pieces..."can this presidency be saved?" and "how we overcame tyranny before" among them...the n y times is keen to remind me that it is "not an elitist newspaper"...this is, of course, bullshit...the owners and shareholders of the n y times are every bit the elitist freaks the president ( pro tem ) is...a quick gander at the real estate advertising for "luxury condominiums" that "start" at approximately 118 times the base price i paid for m midwestern suburban home tells me that they are not aiming to sell much of anything to me ( unless you count the "new york times store" which has trinkets and gewgaws like jigsaw puzzles and page reprints that might fall into the range of my means...not the photographs or sports memorabilia though...those are priced for status or collectors )..so? the elite is at war with itself because they aren't monolithic and, while an acquisitional frame of reference gives them common ground there's no accounting for how individuals interact with one another even if they have common ground...this is good news for the rest of us...the elite work hard to keep us divided along many social fissures and brands ( are you chevy or ford? coke or pepsi? the divisiveness is in everyday life, not just the hot issues...so enculturated we don't even notice ) it is refreshing to see that , while they don't think so, they are actually human and not as overwhelmingly bright as they might suppose...there is hope here...cold comfort in these unhinged times...but comfort none the less...and i see the times has joined whole hog in data mining...i don't watch much but silent german expressionist films and some eisenstein and maybe dziga vertov...the only thing they might divine from that is "art house pretensions" and i don't go out much...trust no one.

mutability

the current administration has coined a new post-truth word for the "special vocabulary" that will define the next four years by introducing the concept of "alternative facts"..i do not trust the current president or his advisors...which isn't saying much...i didn't trust barry obama...and i don't trust congress..and i wouldn't have trusted hillary or bernie either...or the supreme court for that matter...they do not have my ( or your ) interests at heart...only theirs...only the elite's...there is nothing new in this...old as humanity probably...certainly the twentieth century saw its share of fact distortions...reality is as mutable as history...stalin went to great lengths to banish his real and perceived "enemies" from the present as well as any recounting of the past...if you look at the two black and white photos you'll see nikolai yezhov vanish and a retaining wall and some water take his place...a crude distortion...in these modern ( or, perhaps, post-truth, post-modern ) times one assumes the technology has improved....we all know about digital manipulations of photos of models, why not crowds...who knows if mainstream media hasn't altered photos to fit editorial policy? i don't...i am not that technically informed...it could be...true everyone has a camera in their phones ( i do )...but that means reality shrinks from the macro to the micro...yes you can post photos on social media that contravene macro media..but who's posting them and to what purpose? fact or argument? truth or persuasion? there has been so much unfounded bullshit on facebook i don't much go there anymore...i know from manipulation and i am weary...and i am not alone in this..and is this weary turning away from events something someone wants me to do? it will continue without me...people will choose sides and believe the narrative their "group" provides...it is a function of human behavior and how it defines belonging as much by what it is not to belong as by what it is to belong...reactive...and so passive...used...i have saved the comparative photo(shopped?) of the crowds at the obama and trump inaugurals before it vanishes down the memory hole of alternative facts the trumpists are creating...they will continue to expand the vocabulary of their distortions to meet the needs of their deceit..the problem with these sorts of distortions is that the people who create them begin to believe them...embracing their own lies as fact...distortion leads to a disconnect from objective fact...the lies may thrive for a time..as the disconnect widens so do the consequences...have a look back at the history of the past century...eventually there will be rubble of one sort or another...brick and mortar...human...both.

civic kitsch

i was looking at a photo in the n y times of the rostrum of the house of representatives and i noticed ( for the first time...it is an index of how much attention i actually pay to these people and their processes as i try to render them irrelevant to my existence ) that there are fasces on either side...a roman symbol of civic authority that was subverted by mussolini...and the source of the name fascism...so i was curious...with all the political hysteria rampant these days...about exactly when they appeared...surely not post WWII...and it would seem not...they predate the house remodeling in 1951 and the subsequent changes have not seen them removed...so not a signal from the cold war then...rather simply more of the neo-classical kitsch that defines the capitol and shows its denizens see themselves as the heirs of rome...empire..and the deep seated strain of violence it left behind...there is talk of "draining the swamp"...it is an empty promise...whoretown is and always will be a trysting place when the full moon rises over the swamp...there is no cure...civic authority wants its way...no matter what it costs the polity.

continuity

“as the election neared, the papers competed to shake their heads about the disappointing choice the voters faced..” Whistlestop. John Dickerson____________________ here we could be thinking of the n y times and the crypto-fascists at the chicago trib taking pot shots at each other’s favored candidate ( although I cannot find who the trib has endorsed beyond rubio in the primary…they may be in some sort of cataleptic shock in the editorial room…see the conkling quote below )…however we are not… the quote goes on, “…faced between grover cleveland’s private dalliances with maria halpin and blaine’s public scandals”…we are in 1884 and, again, there is nothing new going on in 2016…this is how the system has been since, at least 1800 when jefferson’s attack dogs savaged hamilton and so the federalists…i see that the five living presidents have all stated their intention not to vote for trump ( a rare occasion to agree with old dubya ) ...when, in 1884 roscoe conkling, the republican machine boss in new york state and the man responsible for chester a. arthur being tagged as garfield’s vp [when guiteau shot Garfield he said “i am the most stalwart of the stalwarts and arthur is president now”] after he was run out of the port authority of new York for corruption ) was asked to vote for blaine for the “good of the party” he looked the deputation of nabobs squarely in the eye and said, “gentlemen, i have given up criminal law”…you must admit, there is continuity in american politics.

aside from endorsing hillary...

...and basically calling trump an idiot ( a theme they say they will expand on with tomorrow's op ed section ) the n y times sent along the "style and luxury" issue of the "t magazine"__________ http://www.nytimes.com/section/t-magazine/design?action=click&contentCollection=t-magazine®ion=navbar&module=collectionsnav&pagetype=sectionfront&pgtype=sectionfront _________260 pages of mostly advertising fro things like $15,000 couches and $9 million condos ( heavy on the luxury...possibly the motivation for the clinton endorsement...keep the quantitative easing flowing...design is subjective )...among the many ads there were with web addresses there was this one_______ http://gaggenaurestaurant1683.com/ ______"a sensorial journey of culinary luxury 333 years in the making"...okay...have a look at the web site...beyond " locally sourced ingredients" there is no hint of what actually may be served and i wonder what exactly how local the source is...fish from the hudson? east river? i loathe a foodie...not because they eat or that they are devotees of haute cuisine...pretentious but that is just one more human trait...it's because they are faddish and latch food that are traditional staples in traditional agriculture ( not the "culture" suffix ) and turn them from staples into pricey status foods...quinoa...maca ___http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/world/americas/in-peru-maca-spawns-larceny-and-luxury.html ___ traditional maize varieties ___http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/world/americas/oaxacas-native-maize-embraced-by-top-chefs-in-us-and-europe.html ___ that price the locals out of the traditional foods they grow and consume daily, destroying the local culture to feed some elitist diners at exorbitant prices to prove how hip and trendy they are and what fantastic chefs there are out there...only to find yet another "super food" and move on leaving the maca and maize growers worse off than before they were subjected to the vicissitudes of the foodie way...i read this paper to get some insight on how the elite think ( it is far to late for the times to claim it is not an elitist newspaper...pick up a copy of the sunday paper [if you want to part with six bucks for the privilege] and peruse it closely...it is unmistakable ) and why, if the thinking is clear enough..and just to tie it all back together, neither candidate for the presidency would find any of this reprehensible...they would spout bullshit about "level playing fields" "competitive advantage" and the benefits of the "global economy"...who cares about oaxan or andean farmers or the culture that supports them? it's all about style and "luxury"