• From The Moscow Times:

    The war on the Eastern Front remains largely “undiscovered country” for the Western reader despite the fact that the Red Army was responsible for nearly 75 percent of German military losses, including soldiers killed in battle, wounded, taken prisoner and otherwise unaccounted for. The best guide to this terrain is Vasily Grossman, who spent over 1,000 days at the front as a combat correspondent for Krasnaya Zvezda, the Soviet Army newspaper. A decorated lieutenant colonel by the end of the war, he fell afoul of the Soviet authorities and died in 1964 a non-person, his works swept from library shelves and bookshops.

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  • From the Washington Post:

    “Even when local people are good and plan out water catchment systems, warlords just take it over. That’s why we have so many people drinking horrible water with worms and dirt and getting very ill,” said Abdul Rashid, a Somali nurse in Rabdore who works with the International Medical Corps, a nonprofit relief group. “It’s like the start of the water wars right here in Somalia.”

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  • From the Guardian:

    Today, he finds himself in the unlikely position of becoming the world’s leading heavy-metal cineaste. The first film he co-directed, wrote and produced, Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, has been touring the festivals to much acclaim. The editing suite has been hired to cut another documentary, this time about the life of Dennis “Piggy” d’Amour, the late guitarist of Canadian thrash metal band Voivod. Later this year, he will embark on a third documentary, this time about metal’s popularity in unlikely corners of the globe. There is, he claims, a burgeoning black-metal scene in Indonesia: apparently, they can’t get enough of bands called Abettor of Satan and Deformed Tartarus in Bandung. “The thing is,” Scot McFadyen sighs, “I’m not really into heavy metal.”

    He only loses his natural ebullience when confronted with the leading lights of the Norwegian death-metal scene, including the fragrant Gaahl, lead singer of Gargamel, practising Satanist, and, it quickly becomes apparent, raving anti-semite. “He was actually pretty nice to us, although he’s just been in prison for torturing a guy,” says McFadyen, carefully. “He told us it was self-defence. We’re not quite clear on how that works.”
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  • From the Wooster Collective:

    For quite some time, King Adz has been working with Blek Le Rat on a documentary which will be released on DVD in the coming weeks. The clip above comes from ‘Blek Le Rat – Original Stencil Pioneer’ There will also be a preview of the film tomorrow in Berlin at 16:00 at the “Eiszeit Kino”(cinema) Zeughofstrasse 20, Berlin

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  • Cool interview with photographer Cliett, from Cabinet Magazine:

    On November 1, 1977, Walter De Maria completed The Lightning Field, a monumental array of 400 polished stainless steel poles arranged in a rectangular grid roughly one mile by one kilometer in size. The following year, New York-based photographer John Cliett moved to site of the work, in the remote western New Mexico countryside near the town of Quemado, and spent the summer taking pictures of it. Over the next few months—and during another stay the next year—Cliett would shoot hundreds of pictures of The Lightning Field.
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  • From Dave Silva, Wooster Collective:

    “I have dedicated my miserable life to creating these 10 inch monstrosities. I have over 27 variations that continue to grow. I just recently finished a Sleestak Bob. They basically are resin casts of a Bob’s Big Boy restaurant bank that
    a friend bought for me a long time ago.(He said it looked like me when I was in Grade school). I cast them and customized them myself. Started of with all 4 band members of KISS and evolved into everything from DEVO-Bob to Osama Bob-Laden. I have a small showing of them here in Orange County ,Ca this month through June at the Kitsch Bar in Costa Mesa”

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  • From the Washington Post:

    It began with a muted series of thumps from a sharp knife or maybe clenched fists. The sounds were muffled but unmistakable, one body blow after another, ending with a squishy thud.

    “No, no, no, no, no. No,” came the high-pitched voice of a crew member or flight attendant being subdued. ” . . . Please, please don’t hurt me,” the person said later. ” . . . I don’t want to die.” The desperate plea, captured by the cockpit voice recorder of United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, was played to a transfixed jury yesterday at the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.

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  • From the Washington Post:

    The retired commander of key forces in Iraq called yesterday for Donald H. Rumsfeld to step down, joining several other former top military commanders who have harshly criticized the defense secretary’s authoritarian style for making the military’s job more difficult.

    “I think we need a fresh start” at the top of the Pentagon, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-2005, said in an interview. “We need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them. And that leadership needs to understand teamwork.”

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  • Portfolio from Blueeyes Magazine:

    Amy Vitale.

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  • Incredible Photo Essay from Blueeyes Magazine:

    Founded in the late 19th century as a railroad water stop, Marfa was a town in extreme West Texas, near the Mexico border, rooted in its utility. Even after it later served as a training home to several thousand pilots during World War II, the town was still largely unknown except for its fame surrounding the strange light phenomenon called Marfa Lights. However, in 1971 the renowned minimalist artist Donald Judd took up permanent residence and began installing his art into converted hangars and barns. Their presence in Marfa, and the thousands of fans who still make the trek every year to see his art, became the seed that grew into a vibrant arts community in the small town, which today has just over 2100 residents.

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  • Photo Essay from Blueeyes Magazine:

    After centuries of invading armies and the clash of hundreds of different cultures, the Caucasus region, located between Russia and Asia, is not only the dividing line between Europe and the East, but it is also one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse places on Earth. Caucasus, towered over by the mountain range of the same name, is rooted in the past, and is a place disconnected from time. Noah’s Ark was said to have landed there at Mount Ararat, which the Greeks believed to be one of the pillars supporting the world. Today Caucasus is littered with the remains of the Soviet Union’s collapsed empire, and is home to now dormant civil wars that some believe will never be officially resolved.

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  • From Magnum Photos:

    Magnum in Motion Video Podcasting with new content each week

    First installment is Jonas Bendiksen, “Satellites”

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  • Martin Parr photo essay, from Magnum Photos:

    Punta del Este is a popular vacation spot on the southern tip of Uruguay. It is regarded as “the Saint-Tropez of Latin America”, since it has become a playground for the rich and famous of Southern South America, mainly Argentinians, local Uruguayans, Paraguayans and Brazilians.
    Martin Parr captured the beach life of the South Americans sunning themselves and sipping their Mate teas. Over 300,000 tons of Mate is produced yearly for consumption in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. It is truly the South American passion!

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  • From Cape Times:

    If rat-tailed maggots are getting into Cape Town’s tap water, it is a warning that the water system urgently needs checking to ensure no organisms harmful to humans can get into it, entomologists say.

    Eight people in Elsies River, Grassy Park, Goodwood, Sybrand Park and Ottery have reported finding the maggots in handbasins, lavatories, near outside taps or in drains below a row of basins.

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  • From GamePro:

    Throughout the years, GamePro magazine has seen its share of ads that pushed the so-called “taste envelope.” There were even instances where GamePro‘s publisher actually turned away certain ads due to their unsuitable content. But some still managed to find their way into the magazine anyway.

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  • From the Mail & Guardian:

    Zimbabwe State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa said: “Anyone, particularly Tsvangirai, who threatens peace and stability in this country will get capital punishment … and we mean it. We maintain organs of national security such as the army to protect the stability and integrity of our country. They will be instructed to use all resources at their disposal, including guns [to stop protests].”

    In a most chilling reminder to the opposition, Mutasa added: “We have shed blood before to achieve independence. So let no one be fooled that we will fold our arms while they [the opposition] cause mayhem and violence to remove democratically elected governments. They will pay, and pay dearly.”

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  • From the Guardian:

    Almost 100 journalists have been arrested in Nepal in the six days since nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations began in the Himalayan country.

    Reporters Sans Frontiers claims 97 journalists have been arrested and 24 injured since April 5, with at least 20 reporters remaining in detention.

    Journalists covering the protests have been threatened, injured or arrested, according to the international press watchdog, including leaders of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists who have been targeted by security forces.

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  • From the New York Times:

    Mostly, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales refused to answer any question that went beyond his maddeningly narrow talking points. But for anyone who has watched him in action, this was no surprise. Nor was it terribly surprising that he repeated his weak arguments for Mr. Bush to go outside the law for a program that could have been run legally. Mr. Gonzales has yet to find a stretch of presidential power he can’t excuse.

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  • From Wired:

    Fifteen minutes later, another reporter called, and at that moment the tooth phone transformed from conversation starter to probable product. Yes, they told the reporter, they were looking to build a prototype, and, yes, possibly have it available within a year.

    That phone call launched a tech hoax whose brew of misrepresentation, obfuscatory articles and the internet created a media blitz that landed them on Time magazine’s 2002 Best Inventions list.

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  • From Juxtapoz:

    Photos from the opening of Business Minded, a group show at Renowned Gallery in Portland, OR. photos by Cecilia Singer

    Group show featuring artwork on business cards by Jeremyville, Lily deSaussure, APAK, Jill Bliss, Kevin Scalzo, Deth P Sun, Luke Ramsey, Ryan Bubnis, Jacob Magraw, Jennifer Jackman, Wilson Hsu, I Like Drawing, Daniel Lim, Omar Lee, Victoria Keddie, Michelle Blade, Marci Washington, Maxwell Holyoke-Hirsch, Kelly Lynn Jones, and many others. @ Renowned Gallery
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