From Jonathan Sterne's Notes for the Next Media War:
The U.S. government has publicly and loudly lied to justify almost every major military engagement of the 20th century, and a few of the 19th century as well. The explosion of The Maine at the beginning of the misnamed Spanish-American War? A lie. Pearl Harbor an unprovoked surprise attack? A lie. Gulf of Tonkin incident? A lie. Iraqis pulling Kuwaiti babies out of incubators in 1991? A lie. These and countless other well-documented cases of government fabrication and exaggeration point to a century-long pattern of U.S. government press manipulation with the goal of whipping the American people into a war frenzy. If that's not enough, consider the use of war photography. As has been well documented all over the World Wide Web, the famous photo of Iraqis toppling the Saddam Hussein statue was not a spontaneous act by a jubilant crowd, but rather an orchestrated and carefully cropped photo opportunity. Wider-angle photos of the square clearly show that it's mostly empty, and ringed by American tanks and troops (see the picture at http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/04/1598451_comment.php).
In the new-to-me September issue of Bad Subjects. I should check them more often.
Nothing in the issue by Annalee Newitz, but there is a link on the column page to the also new to me piece TECHSPLOITATION: Sex in the Matrix:
Yet the more I thought about Reloaded, the more I realized that the sex, as cartoony as it might be, is one of the most innovative parts of the movie. Think about it: When was the last time you saw a special-effects blockbuster with hot, sweaty sex in it? Especially multiracial, multipartner, out-of-wedlock sex that didn't spell doom for its practitioners? The heroes in Reloaded are frankly sexual, with no apologies.[. . .] As if in a kind of corollary to its sexual openness, the "Matrix" movies are self-consciously multicultural. Their human heroes are fighting against machines who have enslaved most of the human race, and it's hard to avoid comparing our heroes' rebellion to that of colonized peoples all over the world. As if to drive this point home, one of the outspoken members of the liberated human city Zion is played by progressive, antiracist intellectual Cornel West. Tellingly, most of our heroes are people of color and racially mixed. The "bad guys" are all white men in suits. More startling still, Zion is a city both pious and sexually liberated: The rave-orgy scene is a public celebration that follows a group prayer.
This is why I looked for her name. She's good.
I am fairly certain that the Rave (no idea why it's capitalized... must be a media thing) has been long dead in all but the memories of old skoolers who have moved on to become click-house afficianados sipping drinks in the poshest of basement thai restraunts.
I think we oughta move to "post-rave"
Post-Indian while we're at it...since the idea of being an Indian has in fact surpassed the definition (not that I made it)of what an Indian (feathers not dots) is. Hell, they even put American on the front of it now.
Amazing transitions are my specialty.
/Bill Paxton voice
Hey all you out there I just have to say that I thought The Matix rocked, The Matrix reloaded was three times as good but The Matrix revolutions???!!!
It doesnt even deserve to sit on the same shelf as The Matrix I mean if the third movie in a trilogy sucks more than the first movie or even the second movie there is something wrong with that.
Please dont waste your time or your money on the heartbreakingly bad third Matrix. Wachowski brothers if you are reading this "Reload" your revolutions!