Monday, January 27, 2003 
Today in artsflow:
A musician friend told me over lunch at LMNOP in Oakland the other day that PornOrchestra had launched. The project involves composing and improvising new soundtracks for existing porn films.
I interviewed PornOrchestra spokesmodel Shannon Mariemont to find out more about where this idea comes from and where it's going. Here are a few of her comments:
It's a common complaint (levied carefully because of a lack of social acceptance of the genre) that pornographic film soundtracks blow. And not in a good way. From what I gather, the reason for that is chiefly economic, but also aesthetic: the adult film industry is making an assumption that the consumer is looking at the sex, not listening to the ridiculous dialogue and the repetitive musical phrase. For me, it is impossible to separate, and, by extension, tolerate.
...
Then I thought I would change the world one porn video at a time by renting a title, overdubbing with my original soundtrack, then returning the video to the store shelf.
...
What if orchestras were the engine of expression in pornography?
...
One of the participating musicians told me for him this project is "an experiment in subverting the commercial element of the original to present the inner world." Another mused that it could just be "really hot, or really evil, or both and sick, or maybe a little beautiful."
...
The homogeneity of porn soundtracks is the crusher, just as the homogeneity of ClearChannel FM radio programming can dull the senses. Porn invariably proves it: it's possible to have too much of a good thing.
...
Every show will have a completely improvised section with the PornOrchestra taking cues from a conductor while the whole ensemble observes the action of the film, much in the way a circus orchestra keeps an eye on the people swinging from the trapeze.
(See Stirring the Savage Breast for the whole interview.)
The PornOrchestra premiers radical reinterpretations of pornographic film scores March 22, 2003 at "21 Grand," a small space located at 449B 23rd Street in downtown Oakland (btw. Broadway and Telegraph).
Shannon also sent me this "crude assortment of urls to consider, since the contemplation of this is vast":
- Clubfoot Orchestra
- The Sprocket Ensemble
- fluffertraX
- "there is zero money in soundtracks"
- Bedtime Bongos (Pitchfork)
- Serge Gainsbourg Propositioning Whitney Houston on TV
categories: memewatch
12:27:38 PM 
say what []
Altered State of the Union
San Francisco based film maker and photographer Bijan Yashar will be projecting George W. Bush's State of the Union address in real time onto the wall of the Shell Station at Market and Sanchez. He will filter the live speech through a camera utilizing extreme and shifting angles to "reveal implicit perspectives and points of view inherent in political posturing and media constructions."Tuesday, January 28 at 6:00 pm.
categories: x-syndicate
12:18:54 PM say what []
Matthew Riemer, writing in YellowTimes.org, debunks the notion that criticism of American foreign policy is inherently anti-American.
categories: x-syndicate
12:18:50 PM say what []
When I get memejoke mail from both my merry punsters list and my antiweb list, I figure it's circulating pretty widely. This one in fact has already made it to the mass media so I'm probably a good few weeks late on this at least:
HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
FROM: GEORGE WALKER BUSH
DEAR SIR / MADAM,
I AM GEORGE WALKER BUSH, SON OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH, AND CURRENTLY SERVING AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS LETTER MIGHT SURPRISE YOU BECAUSE WE HAVE NOT MET NEITHER IN PERSON NOR BY CORRESPONDENCE. I CAME TO KNOW OF YOU IN MY SEARCH FOR A RELIABLE AND REPUTABLE PERSON TO HANDLE A VERY CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS TRANSACTION, WHICH INVOLVES THE TRANSFER OF A HUGE SUM OF MONEY TO AN ACCOUNT REQUIRING MAXIMUM CONFIDENCE.
I AM WRITING YOU IN ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE PRIMARILY TO SEEK YOUR ASSISTANCE IN ACQUIRING OIL FUNDS THAT ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ. MY PARTNERS AND I SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE IN COMPLETING A TRANSACTION BEGUN BY MY FATHER, WHO HAS LONG BEEN ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN THE EXTRACTION OF PETROLEUM IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND BRAVELY SERVED HIS COUNTRY AS DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED STATES CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY.
IN THE DECADE OF THE NINETEEN-EIGHTIES, MY FATHER, THEN VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SOUGHT TO WORK WITH THE GOOD OFFICES OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ TO REGAIN LOST OIL REVENUE SOURCES IN THE NEIGHBORING ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN. THIS UNSUCCESSFUL VENTURE WAS SOON FOLLOWED BY A FALLING OUT WITH HIS IRAQI PARTNER, WHO SOUGHT TO ACQUIRE ADDITIONAL OIL REVENUE SOURCES IN THE NEIGHBORING EMIRATE OF KUWAIT, A WHOLLY-OWNED U.S.-BRITISH SUBSIDIARY.
It goes on in that vein. A Dick Cheney version of this joke circulated a few months ago but this one has been mapped more carefully to the source Nigerian scams.
SpamAssassin smells a rat:
SPAM: -------------------- Start SpamAssassin results ------------------
SPAM: The WELL is running spam tagging software called SpamAssassin.
SPAM: This software has flagged this message as probable spam. For more
SPAM: information on SpamAssassin on The WELL, and how to configure it
SPAM: to work for you, please go to http://www.well.com/help/spam/
SPAM:
SPAM: Content analysis details: (5.50 hits, 5 required)
SPAM: DEAR_SOMETHING (1.8 points) BODY: Contains 'Dear (something)'
SPAM: NIGERIAN_TRANSACTION_2 (0.6 points) BODY: illegal Nigerian transactions (2)
SPAM: ITS_LEGAL (0.5 points) BODY: Claims to be Legal
SPAM: BILLION_DOLLARS (0.4 points) BODY: Talks about lots of money
SPAM: US_DOLLARS_3 (0.4 points) BODY: Nigerian scam key phrase ($NN,NNN,NNN.NN)
SPAM: NIGERIAN_TRANSACTION_1 (0.2 points) BODY: illegal Nigerian transactions (1)
SPAM: SPAM_PHRASE_05_08 (1.6 points) BODY: Spam phrases score is 05 to 08 (medium)
SPAM: [score: 7]
SPAM:
SPAM:
SPAM: Please remove this report if reporting this message to SpamCop.
SPAM: -------------------- End of SpamAssassin results -----------------
categories: x-syndicate
10:20:40 AM say what []
