Jill's story on the cover of the Sunday Times (of London) magazine:







BBC appearance from today uploading to youtube/here as soon as i have it.

a brief labor day nothing:

how is it that on what is an excellent three-day weekend, there is no one in the mainstream of punditry agitating for a shorter work week? i think we all agree three days off is a nice thing. it makes people happy, simply put. more time to listen to music, hang out with friends, chill with the family, go to the lake/beach/pond/crick, time to grab a ballgame (i'm particular to soccer myself, but for most of you that's baseball i'm sure), play a game, and so on.

so, here we are, it's all nice and good, and nothing. there simply is no mainstream pundit who would ever argue for such a thing. that's not so weird, as much of our pundit class is too rich and 4 days-a-week-and-then-the-hamptons to care. but where is labor? where are those trying to get positive steps taken to improve our lives as workers? nowhere. the statistics (less americans now repped by labor unions then ever in our unionized history, wages stagnant to negative for the vast majority of americans, hours longer than ever, productivity as high as it's going to get) don't lie: we're fucked.

how did this happen? labor used to win huge battles: the five day week, the 40 hour week, vacation time and break time mandated, child labor laws, health and safety laws--shit, we were making the world a better place, not just for the working man, but period. the rising tide would lift all boats, and labor would be a respected partner in the business of business. well, when the rich saw how they could get richer, in fact stay that way and hand the whole shebang off to their spawn who had done nothing to earn their place at the (head of the) table, they changed the laws (written by their factotums, the highly paid lawyers) to accomadate such needs. and here we are.

now everywhere you go, someone has a story. i'm not sure which was more depressing: my flight on Northwest, where the whole workforce will be forced to take a 20% pay and benefits cut, or the conversation with Drea, the super cool security woman at my office building, telling me she's got to come in on LABOR DAY!!!!!! or she won't get paid for time off. WTF? anecdotes, you say? sure, but it seems everyone i meet has such a tale to tell.

i think it's bhutan that has a measure for "Gross National Happiness". i think it's time to institute something like that in the USA. i think we won't be near the top of the heap.

Crooks and Liars » Keith Olbermann Delivers One Hell Of a Commentary on Rumsfeld

this one is a must watch, racing, i'm sure, across the leftosphere at light speed as we speak. keith olbermann lays it on the line.

the best i can do is say that i had the chance to meet olbermann, albeit briefly, at the TCA (Television Critic's something that starts with A) party that NBC threw last month, and i had a chance to tell keith that he was the best in front of his boss. not much, but slightly better than nothing.

this commentary reads better than it plays on video, IMO, as keith lets his erudite flag fly way too high for most. but it is really time people started saying to rumsfeld and cheney and every other shitheel in this country when they dare to question the patriotism of those of us who disagree: "ENOUGH!"

so, keith o, nice one, you are the hero tonight. keep it up.

NEW AND IMPROVED

you can now add my posts to del.icio.us or digg them. why would you, though?

The Poor Man Institute » The competence dodge

i agree with some, if not all, of what is said there. i'll also point out that you need to read about three banal posts just to get at the heart of the thing, and in truth, you'd be wasting your time. read the poorman, read my comment, and move on. life is short and the sun is shining.

i'll highlight my comment, because i'm good like that:

# Robert Green Says:
August 31st, 2006 at 12:34 am

i cannot emphasize enough, in any combination of bold, italic, or blockquote, how right kiche is in #5. just as the editors points out that beinart noticably leaves people like himself out of the equation (a point bob somerby has been making, between insane rants about nothing, for years on the daily howler) when discussing something in which he was inextricably linked, so too does anyone discussing iraq II need to pretend that the actual people who were actually going to execute the actual policy were…someone else. it was as if cheney, rumsfeld, bush (to a lesser extent in this case), feith, perle, wolfowitz et al had just been born in 2001. as if none of them had ever done anything before, not written papers, not…sold weapons to sadaam, not engaged in insane PNACkery, not been wrong going back to their specious bullshit about the soviets in the 70s (and before that, remember colin powell, who really bears more responsibility for iraq II than any human on this earth, was the guy who covered up my lai). these tabulae rasae were there for beinart et al to project their own ideas on, as if the execution would not be effected by the executioners.

there’s a whole separate question about competence–what i’m talking about above is what happens when you say: “i need to protect myself. i don’t know how to use this gun, and the bad guys are coming. i’m going to hand this gun to the completely fucking crazy person standing in the room with me, the one who has both shot his own friends and himself on numerous occasions. now i will feel safe.”

see, the bad guys may really be coming, and your assessment of what to do (get a gun into the hands of the right people to protect you) may be right as well. but if you can’t recognize past patterns of behavior as being just as important to weigh in your decision of ultimately what to do about your problem,

YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT.

Los Angeles Times: Painter Said to Be Focus of FBI Probe

now this is what abuse looks like in the art world. yucky. and add in thomas kinkade (super-yucky) and fake christianity (ultra-yucky with a side of yuck sauce) and you have...below:

Painter Said to Be Focus of FBI Probe
By Kim Christensen
Times Staff Writer

August 29, 2006

The FBI is investigating allegations that self-styled "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade and some of his top executives fraudulently induced investors to open galleries and then ruined them financially, former dealers contacted by federal agents said.

Investigators are focusing on issues raised in civil litigation by at least six former Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery owners, people who have been contacted by the FBI said.

The ex-owners allege in arbitration claims that, among other things, the artist known for his dreamily luminous landscapes and street scenes used his Christian faith to persuade them to invest in the independently owned stores, which sell only Kinkade's work.

"They really knew how to bait the hook," said one former dealer who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the case. "They certainly used the Christian hook."

Kinkade has denied the allegations in the civil litigation.

Two former dealers told the Los Angeles Times that they had been asked to provide documentation of their business relationships with Kinkade's company. They said agents asked for copies of dealer agreements, retail sales policies, training materials from "Thomas Kinkade University" and correspondence, including e-mail.

Kinkade Co. spokesman Jim Bryant said Monday that the Morgan Hill, Calif.-based company was unaware of a criminal investigation and had not been contacted by the FBI or federal prosecutors.

"The Thomas Kinkade Co. asserts that there is no legitimate grounds for a federal investigation of any kind," Bryant wrote by e-mail.

FBI Special Agent Brian Wickham declined to comment Monday, citing the bureau's policy of neither confirming nor denying the existence of investigations in progress.

Taking candy from a baby - Sunday Times - Times Online

The Sunday Times (of London) does a very nice piece on jill and the End Times work. worth a read. especially if you are a rageaholic male whose understanding of children's emotions is tenuous.

PANDORA!

i've added my pandora radio on the right there. you can click and listen to any of the songs, buy them etc. i haven't really configured it too much--from the list there you'd think...well, you'd think i'm an edgy person. which is simply absurd.

check them out. it's pretty neat.

A letter published on Altercation, and a damn fine one at that:

Name: Tim Kane
Hometown: St. Louis, Mo
Dear Eric: I wanted to thank you for directing me towards Norm Birnbaum's piece on Monday. I would have to say that it contained some of the best analysis concerning current politics that I have yet read. It was efficient, short yet breathtakingly brilliant. To my knowledge, I had never read him before, but I will be looking out for everything I can get from him. First I must say that Birnbaum's piece reminded me why I am so sympathetically fond of things Jewish. Having grown up in a Jewish neighborhood, with lots of Jewish neighbors, I've probably been to as many Bar/Bah Mitzvas (spell?) as any non-Jew, but my affinity has always been deeper than that. It's the realization that the need for plurality to protect the Jewish community lead the Jewish people to apply their influence, skill, intellect and support to helping create and implement Roosevelt's New Deal social contract - which provided plurality, but also distributed wealth more evenly creating the great post World War II economic boom (which doubled global productivity in 30 short years). My father was an uber-mechanic with only a high school education, who gained a supervisor position in a factory that gave him an upper middle class wage - something his father could only have dreamed of, and allowing for him to send me to private schools and college. And my father's siblings did much better than he. Birnbaum's piece reminded me of all these things and renewed my appreciation for the Jewish community in America and while I am glad of where I grew up. And for those who have never had Jewish educators, perhaps it’s harder to appreciate the contributions they make. As Americans, they have been the greatest Americans and all of us have benefited immensely. It seems to me that Birnbaum's piece reflects a reasonable, rational dissent in the Jewish community. Again, the skill and efficiency of his assessment simply amazed me, creating an irony whereby in trying to debunk the myth of Jewish intelligence, he manifests it all over again in the process. Brilliant really.

His assessment of the situation of American Jews and Israel helps me understand Spielberg's movie "Munich". Munich presents a case of Game Theory gone awry. According to Robert Axelrod's "The Evolution of Cooperation" the best, most rational strategy, where two parties are in an iterative relationship with no discernable end, is to cooperate. This phenomena explains why I can trust the person who cuts my hair but not the person who sells me a used car - one represents and ongoing relationship with no foreseeable end, the latter does not. The second best strategy is "tit-for-tat": I punch you in the nose, you punch me back. The thing about tit-for-tat is that it should lead the parties back to civility and cooperation - that is unless one likes ones nose broken. The dark side of Game Theory is that if a party learns that the game is going to end, even many moves from now, it pays to stop cooperating immediately. This phenomena is illustrative of Chamberlain's Munich circa 1938 - to the Western allies (France and Britain), cooperation was rational. By bending over backwards, Chamberlain was trying to send a strong signal to Hitler his intent to do the rational thing, participate in cooperate, civil diplomacy to avoid war. What Chamberlain couldn't grasp is that Hitler saw the game of European diplomacy coming to an end. Hitler saw himself vanquishing his (or being vanquished by) opponents and so logically wasn't interested in diplomatic civility or cooperation. Of course this was both irrational and yet logical - Irrational in seeking an end to the game, but once arriving at that position, became logical to end cooperation and civility in diplomacy. (This same lack of civility and cooperation, by the way, is what really frightens me about Bush and the Neocons in American politics.) This brings us to Spielberg's Munich. He demonstrates the insanity of a continued game of tit-for-tat. The refusal to cooperate suggests that the game is being played by extremists who propose to end the game, as Hitler attempted, by vanquishing their opponent. This view exists on both sides, and as the assassination of Rabin by a fellow Jewish Israeli suggests, not only are their extremist on both sides, but they are willing to cooperate to eliminate moderates on both sides. I have no doubt that this phenomena contributed to Arafat not cutting a deal back when Clinton oversaw our politics. What I now see, from viewing Spielberg's film and reading Birnbaum's piece is that there is a dissenting school of thought in the Jewish community that suspects that the on going tit-for-tat strategy is insane, destructive and perhaps has a nihilistic end - which could never be good for the Jewish community, even if it somehow succeeds, and that salvation lies in pluralism, strictly construed and rigorously applied; In other words, coexistence.

At the end of Spielberg's Munich, the protagonist turns his back, not just on the game of 'tit-for-tat' and the insanity it imparts upon him, but also upon the non-pluralistic premise behind Israel, choosing instead to live the life of a Jew in pluralistic America. To Spielberg, this is much more rational. As Birnbaum suggest, the homeland for American Jews, is not Israel, but America. Spielberg's Munich and Birnbaum's piece make excellent bookends for making the case of a dissenting opinion in the Jewish community. Birnbaum correctly points out the security that comes with functional plurality, for Jews, of course, but also for all. He also points out that the Neocon-Jews are making a Faustian bargain with the evangelical Christians who could turn on them the minute they realize that Christ's second coming is not occurring and perhaps is stalled, and hung up because Jews refuse to convert to Christianity as prophecy says they will on the eve of the second coming. (The evangelicals propose, by their actions, to manipulate God into implementing the second coming simply by recreating the conditions so prophesied in the book of Daniel and Revelations, conveniently ignoring Christ's commandment "though shall not test the Lord thou God). He also points out that the Neocon movement is a reaction against modernism and a refutation of the enlightenment and all its fruits, one of which being our pluralistic constitution and all the protections it affords and has built into it. By aligning with the Neocons one signs up for a brave new world yet to be defined. For a community known for its shrewd business acumen, this is a notoriously and intrinsically bad bargain) By definition, though powerful but still relatively small, in a world of tribe-against-tribe, the Jews just don't have the numbers that would suggest they would succeed long term. Then there is all that blood shed and misery that comes with the tribe-against-tribe paradigm. Wouldn't it be better to just opt for functional pluralism, and get back to the game of making money, making babies, and pursuing knowledge and enjoying everything that comes along with those pursuits? Thanks so much for pointing me towards Birnbaum's piece. That was great stuff.

Dittoheads:

anyone have a membership to Rush Limbaugh 24/7? and i'll ignore the question: "why?" and just ask if i could get a copy of the transcript of Rush talking shit about my wife.

thanks,

rg

The joys of life without God | Salon Books

worth sitting through the salon ad--this is a guy who makes excellent arguments about not just the uselessness of religion, but about the fact that being an atheist isn't at all a big deal--it just...is.

a quote from the article:

It's not why there is no God, it's why there's not compelling evidence to believe in God. That's a better way to put it. And from my perspective, it's just not there for me. With training in science, I have high standards of evidence. If you said God is real, and you sent your evidence to the journals Science or Nature for publication, you'd be laughed out of the room; you wouldn't get past the first reviewer.
On the other side, the best evidence that there probably isn't a God is that belief in God is so deeply culturally embedded. When you study world religions, it's obvious that, throughout time, all of these different people are making up their own stories about God. If you lived 1,000 years ago, hardly anybody would be a Christian. If you were born in India, you'd likely be a Hindu. What does that tell you? From a Christian perspective, it means we need to get more missionaries over there to tell them the truth! From an anthropological perspective, it's another case. Christians today might say, I don't believe in Zeus, that was a silly superstition. Yet for many people that was a real god.
So it turns out there are 10,000 gods and yet only one right one. That means we're all atheists on 9,999 gods. The only difference between me and the believers is I'm an atheist on one more god.

Critics Condemn 'Baby Cry' Exhibit | WKRN.COM

to click through to this would be silly--after all, it's the same piece as from ABC and others, with a (slightly) different voiceover. however, to see, LITERALLY, Ron Fucking Burgundy introduce it is...priceless.

do not be hypnotized by the moustache...must pull eyes away...am being swayed...

MARGINALLY UPDATED

i suppose, given that i do actually get the occasional visitor here at the blog, i should disclose the following: for the first time in my career, i was on page one* of both the trades (for the uninitiated, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety) for the sale of "The Boys from Brazil" remake with Brett Ratner attached to direct and he and his partner to produce, with me. i'll link the articles when i have them linkable.

*by page one what i mean is page nine. you see, it read, in variety, "and to be produced by" and that was it, off to page nine for my name. somewhere a copy editor hates me and is laughing. we'll see who laughs last, bub!

here's Variety:

Posted: Wed., Aug. 9, 2006, 10:00pm PT

Ratner takes trip to Brazil
'Rush Hour' director will helm remake for New Line

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Brett Ratner
Ratner


Brett Ratner will direct a contemporized remake of 1978 thriller "The Boys From Brazil" for New Line, which has finalized a seven-figure rights package for the property.

Richard Potter and Matthew Stravitz will write the script.

The rights and scribes were part of an auction that came down to New Line and Universal. Outcome was shaped when New Line-based Ratner agreed to make the movie.

Granada Films held the rights for the original film, which it acquired when buying the ITC library. "The Boys From Brazil" will be produced by Rob Green of Granada, along with Rat Entertainment partners Ratner and Jay Stern.

Based on the Ira Levin novel, the original "The Boys From Brazil" fit the mode of 1970s paranoid thrillers, with Laurence Olivier uncovering a diabolical plot by Nazis in South America to revive the Third Reich through the use of cloning. Gregory Peck played Dr. Josef Mengele, the plot's mastermind.

The writers pitched a take that sticks close to Levin's novel but sets the action in the present day.

"The original was a flawed film with a brilliant concept," Ratner said. "You no longer have to spend time explaining cloning as you did then."

The hope is Ratner will make "Boys" his follow-up to "Rush Hour 3," which New Line puts into production in late September for an Aug. 10, 2007, release.

Deal is the second for the writers since they teamed a year ago. They're working on an untitled supernatural thriller they sold to Warner Bros. and Mosaic.

END TIME PRESS COVERAGE (partial list, please leave a note if i've missed something)

ABC News
Air America - LA Radio Interview
American Photo - July/August 2006
BBC
Chicago Tribune- 4/4/06
Citizen K magazine - France
Cooperativa Radio Station - Chile, radio Interview
De Morgen - Brussels
De Standaard - Belgian Newspaper
de Volkskrant , Dutch National Daily - Netherlands
Demorger - Belgium
Der Spiegel - Germany
Die Neue - Austrian
Donna Moderna - Italy
El Mundo Newspaper - Spain
Explosiv - Das Magazin Channel RTL- Germany This was a live TV interview broadcast in Germany
Good Morning America - Live interview
Guardian - UK
Het Belang van Limburg Newspaper - Belgium
MSNBC - Live interview
National Post Newspaper - Canada
PhotoMedia - Has more than End Times photos - other work too.
Rebdactora Revista Viva - 8/20
Suddeutsche Zeitung - Germany 7/28
Sydney Morning Herald
The London Sunday Times Magazine Cover Story - UK
Trouw Newspaper- Netherlands
View - NY
Viva Magazine, Clarin Newspaper - Argentina

a couple of weeks old, but here's a super creepy article from an Aussie magazine about Jill.

an excellent discussion about the work from a livejournal user named Angie Reed Garner with some very thoughtful readers and commenters. noticeably calmer than in other places, and noticeably more females doing the commenting.

as well, and only tangentially related, some discussion of Details Magazine's use of a pig photo to talk about non-stick-figure women is at Pandagon, Unfogged and The Poorman.

jill took the pig photo, to be clear, but it wasn't her concept.

up next--i was on the cover of the trades! first time, and it only took me 10 years to get there!

Here's an article on Jill from a German newspaper. She also appeared on RTL's version of Inside Edition--i'm hoping to upload a video of this soon.



aus der Süddeutsche Zeitung Nr.172 Seite 15
--
from Süddeutsche Zeitung No.172 page 15
the Süddeutsche is one of Germany's biggest daily newspapers with an average print run of 440.000 issues per day.
--

rough translation of the article:

If one steals lollipops from kids: the controversial photos of Jill Greenberg

To give the little ones some candy and take it away right away, that usually does it. Sometimes even that wasn't needed, says photographer Jill Greenberg who made children between the age of two to three cry for her photo series »End Times«. Often the fact that the kids had to stand on a pedestal in the bright studio light without a t-shirt, surrounded by strangers, was enough to make them cry like crazy. And a minute later everything was fine again.
All tears are real only the dramatic lights and the shiny skin of her models were enhanced on the computer by the photographer. The pictures from the series »End Times« were on exhibition in the Paul Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles until July; they will be seen in New York in 2007. But they seem to show more than the moment of aggravation over a withdrawn lollipop. The frustration seems to transform into theatric exasperation, despair and anger through the aesthetic exaggeration. That's what the artist wants to toy with. She gives her series an explicit political meaning opposing the Bush administration and names her portraits »Four more years«, »Intelligent design« or »Misinformation«. The pictures remind Greenberg of »the despair and anger i feel myself about the political and social state of affairs«. Others see something more explosive behind the rage-distorted faces of the kids: abuse.
Is it fair to make children cry just to take pictures of them afterwards? The American Blogger Andrew Peterson started, under his internet alias Thomas Hawk, a discussion in April that still continues: »Jill Greenberg is a Sick Woman Who Should Be Arrested and Charged With Child Abuse«, writes Peterson. Other Bloggers joined him. What followed was strong scolding, Hitler comparisons, threats, pornographic accusations. Greenberg and her husband threatened with legal measures agains libel and exposed the identities of their worst critics. »As a mother, I am quite aware of how easily toddlers can cry.« writes Greenberg in a press release. »A joyful smile can dissolve into a grimace of despair.« Supposedly none of the kids was hurt. Many of the young models are children of friends of the photographer, one of the pictured girls is her own daughter.
American Photo Magazine calls the exhibition the most controversial photo exhibition of the year. Never did they receive so much feedback, the editor in chief told the L.A.Times. The discussion forums on the website of American Photo Magazine had to be closed. Also the sudden attention benefitted Greenberg. Just the page views of the gallery website, where all the pictures can still be seen, increased by 270% - on some days the site has 14000 visitors. Meanwhile a department store has inquired about the rights to the series - to use the pictures for advertising.

no posting, vacation, see you all with lots of new stuff on monday the somethingth.

a kind note from a mother whose child was one of the models at the "end times" shoot.

Hi Jill,
You might remember me, I'm Grace Dever's Mom Rebecca.
I have felt compelled over the last week to drop you a line and say how very ridiculous and unnecessary I think all of the criticism that has fallen on you and End Times lately is. (Ok, the hand slaps for the parents suck as well but that's beside the point) I was so completely touched by the imagery in your project and the message behind it. The children are just so amazingly stunning. I too feel like this is a pretty un-fortuitous time to bring children into this world. But then again, this world would be so much more bleak not to have them to celebrate and love.

Anyway, I'm sure you are being inundated with emails right now so I'll keep this brief.... I just wanted to lend my support to you in any way I can. I saw in you a level of compassion and empathy you displayed when Grace (finally) did become a little tearful while working that touched my heart. For anyone to call you cruel is simply asinine. Really, who lets their kid have candy simply because taking it from them will make them cry? (I take it from my girls almost daily simply because they aren't allowed to have any.... they are quite accustomed to it. LOL)
Know that myself and many other Mothers of your models are firmly behind you!

By the way, "Faker"... OH MY GOD!!!!!! I had absolutely no clue at all that that shot of Grace was even on your site. I looked at the End Times section on manipulator a million times since the exhibit came out but did not think to look at the children's section of your portfolio since the first time I did back when Grace was booked months ago. (to see what kind of work you did., I loved it!) A friend directed me there a few days ago and I'm just without words. You are an unbelievable artist, Jill. Plain and simple. You utterly captured my fantastic imp at exactly her most petulant and beautiful moment. I see this expression daily but never thought to ever try and capture it. That you did so, so poignantly just floored me. Thank you. And thank you for sending the jpeg. I'm so proud to put Jill Greenberg right up at the top of Grace's resume.

Yours,
Rebecca Dever....

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY
from Rob Schneider

[reprinted without permission of either variety or rob schneider, FYI]

I, Rob Schneider, a l/2 Jew, pledge from this day forth to never
work with Me1 Gibson-actor-director-producer-and anti-Semite.
Even if Mr. Gibson offered me the lead role in “Passion of the Christ 2”,
I, like Bernie Brillstein, would have to say “NO!" Even if Me1 had a juicy voice-
over role in his new flick “Apocalypto” andI spoke ancient Mayan, I, like
Bernie Brillstein would still have to say “NO!”
Even if “Apocalypto”is a gigantic smash and Mr. Gibson is quietly forgiven
by Hollywood’s Power Brokers, and I was offered a lead role opposite Me1
Gibson’s Father, (the Mad Max of Holocaust deniers) I, like Bernie Brillstein would likely have to say "NO!"
Even though I have just completed principal photography on my directorial debut in my upcoming motion picture "Big Stan" (A Prison Comedy) in which there is a Nazi gang leader, which apparently Mel would be PERRRR-FECT for, and I had a Time Machine and could go back in time and RE-CAST the lead Nazi, I, like Bernie Brillstein would most likely have to say “NO !
Of course that would be only after i talked with my financial backers,
some of whom share Mr. Gibson's hankering for a good bottle of Tequila.

Because, after all...

I don't get to call all the shots.

Sincerely Yours,

Rob Schneider


P.S. You won’t see ME at Taverna Tony’s in Malibu anytime soon!

Jill Greenberg on GMA

diane sawyer doesn't seem to take the non-real-world-idiot-driven accusations of child abuse very seriously. typical liberal media at work!