(via. Ed Wood, 1994)
Ed: My gosh, Bela, how do you do that?
Bela: You must be double-jointed. And you must be Hungarian.
salonika!
(via capucha+soupsoup+spiers+chrismohney)
the highlight of my month.
“ The shallow polemic aside, there are profound attempts underway in at least Venezuela and Bolivia — with Ecuador arguably close behind — to transform society not in a manner that blindly repeats the experiences of 20th century socialism, but in accordance with both objective and subjective conditions in society and the world more generally. The biggest problem that unapologetic slanderers of the Latin American left face in the current conjuncture is that Chavez, Morales & co have time and again been given a clear mandate to proceed in realising their vision for change through the ballot box. In fact, the record is quite stunning: Chavez and Morales enjoy absolute majorities, and their project for a ’21st century socialism’ is as transparent as any political project anywhere in the world.
— Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, “Keeping the Engine Running”
“ Put on your rosy glasses. They are available for free, floating as virtual images in the atmosphere. There, reach out your hand, capture the one nearest to you, and put them on. Open your eyes, urge your brain to see the value of the change that is now occurring, and note the things you can do to change what is not right. Write about the beautiful things in this valiant struggling city and its country. Leave each task for the specialist to decide how it will be done; but write about what you think can improve our performance. Take pride in Pakistani goods. Criticise them and return them if they are of poor quality, demand a reimbursement, and advise as to what needs to improve. Plan the city from streets, offices and homes to complement Karachi’s Kamal, one of the best of mayors/nazims we have had. Educate another; teach computing; encourage a thirst for knowledge; buttress the confidence of youth in their thinking processes and ability to express their ideas, politely. These may be the crucial, critical steps that change the destiny of our city and the fortunes of our country.If we were to unlock our positive attitudes, we would unleash powerful forces of imagination, invention, and networks that would facilitate development and provide new low-cost solutions to our seemingly overwhelming problems.
German Green party chairman Cem Ozdemir at the party convention in Erfurt on Saturday.
Photograph: Jens Meyer/The Associated Press
Photograph: Jens Meyer/The Associated Press
Modoki Yotsukura, a newspaper journalist, lay in an ambulance outside a hospital in Islamabad on Friday. He and a colleague were shot in what was described as an attempted kidnapping.
Photograph: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
Photograph: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
