Hillary 1984

Barack didn’t actually sanction the above video, and with good reason, but it is awfully clever. Obama has recently called a neighborhood walk for change. Check out the interactive map, here.

The Vote

I hope that France follows suit. Royal’s not perfect, but she’s a far cry from Sarkozy. We’ll of course know soon.

Anybody want to go to Heiligendamm?

While predicting the end of exploitive civilization (a welcome development) is a bit sanguine, we may as well try. Poor Knut, the cute polar bear cub has not only lost his mother, but is now to be exploited by the mother$@%#^* 33rd G8.

Projects

I’ve not been posting as much about books lately. I’m at work thinking about Jack London’s Martin Eden and Antonio Gramsci’s theorization of the organic intellectual.

Deadliest Catch

I don’t really watch a lot of television, and in particular I shy away from non-union “reality TV.” But every Tuesday evening I look forward to spending quality time while I’m in PA watching Deadliest Catch (Tuesdays, 9 Eastern, Discovery) with a beer and my own old man of the sea. On the show, a young fisherman tonight took out a tooth with a pair of pliers. My father explains that my great-grandfather took out all of his teeth with a pair of pliers. It’s irreplaceable moments like these that make me look forward to Tuesday nights.

About the show itself. Ishmael in Moby Dick calls a whaling ship his Harvard. What I like about Deadliest Catch, in addition to the excitement of monster waves, and huge pots of crabs, is that it foregrounds all of the labor on these floating factories. Viewers end up cheering a bunch of working class guys doing a hairy working class job. These guys lives depend on their knowledge of equipment and conditions.

This clip from the Daily Show is interesting because Captain Sig, who tends toward domineering as captain of the Northwestern, is clearly a little uncomfortable on the set. His class training hasn’t quite prepared him to be funny about his work.

I wonder what it means for these guys, doing jobs they’ve been doing all their lives, to suddenly be getting fan letters. It’s a bit like the commercial where Peyton Manning cheers regular people doing their jobs.

Happy May Day!!!

Digest:

National mobilization to support Immigrant Workers is here.

Liza Featherstone on Wal-Mart’s violation of workers’ rights to freedom of association is here.

Steven Shaviro on Zizek, 300, and Reactivity is here.

Ron Silliman on Tony Trehy and the National Question is here.

“Mission Accomplished” rap is here, at Daily Kos.

C.J. Parker on Art as Alienation is here.

Anaj on Derren Brown and Simon Pegg, is here.

Ken Silverstein on the benefits of being a disgraced member of Congress is here.

Whetted asks what do the birds in The Birds mean.