The Televised Debate that I missed.

I have been touring around the liberal blogosphere today reading commentary about the Republican presidential primary debates. The satirical remarks amused me greatly but concerned me even more regarding the continuing downward spiral and crash course of the democratic process and political dialogue in the United States. I cannot say I am greatly surprised as the entire nature of the televised debate is problematic, where it is inevitable that focus tends towards facial ticks and who picked the best tie instead of any substance in campaign platforms. It is a process of degradation for which there was concern as early as the 1950's, but the absurdity of these politico beauty pageants is seemingly perfected with each subsequent election cycle.
(see posts for Nov. 28, 2007)

"What a debate. Eight white guys all arguing over who hates immigrants and their children the most."
by kos at DailyKos.

"Howler Monkeys
If one of the "base" interest groups the GOP candidates had to pander to were tribes of meth-addled howler monkeys, could they have looked any more demented than they did during that debate?
Discuss."
and
"Prediction
Watching this debate, I hereby predict that the winner of the GOP nomination will be a total asshole."
by Thers at Atrios.

"112 minutes. After more than five minutes of gay talk, CNN cuts to another audience shot of Chuck Norris, restoring a straight vibe to the proceedings."
by Michael Scherer at Salon.

"The whole evening was enough to try my faith ... in democracy."
This whole article by Walter Shapiro seems to sum it up neatly.

It is astounding to me that no matter what is going on in the world, conservative idealogues will stick to the tried and true knee-jerk voter concerns of "God, Guns, and Gays." Apparently, two ongoing wars and a sinking ship of an economy are not popular topics with voters so they turn to gun porn and Bible quizzes. More and more I am thankful I do not own a television and have no access to American air-waves.

Has anyone been following the primary campaigns that could comment?

WWW Synapses

Another beautifully animated but somewhat useless thing-a-ma-jig...
Link. Similiar to this. Or this. Or this.

Rubik's Hypercube

Link to a visually appealing applet, via The Geometry Junkyard.

"Brainbow"

Link via Arts Journal.

Waterboarding

New York : Nov. 2nd

The Noguchi Museum in Queens is ten blocks from the train but is well worth the walk. It is dedicated to the work of the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, and is housed in a renovated cluster of industrial buildings. The architecture and the artwork mesh perfectly, an antidote to the warehouse or supermarket feeling I often get in other museums or galleries. Noguchi's best work wasn't there; his public sculptures, parks and playgrounds are his best work. My favorite thus far, Moerenuma Park, was posthumously built in Japan.
Link to Noguchi Museum.

Moerenuma Park, Sapporo, Japan

Link to Photo Album above.

I hoofed it around Chelsea for an hour and concluded that the mortgage crisis had hit the galleries.
The Storefront for Art & Architecture in Soho had a giant Lego model by the Danish design consortium "Big". The small exhibit was concerned with ideas of modular architecture, and the synthesis of architectural systems and social order in regards to housing. The fallacy of all of the models was that if architecture becomes more modular, cheaper, faster and more user-directed, that the results will resemble crystal formation, and not something messier, more chaotic and provisional. However, the Lego model was a playful and impressive depiction of the kind of society described in E.M. Forster's "The Machine Stops".
Vito Acconci's design of the facade of the gallery is really engaging. Embedded in the outside wall are several interlocking, rotating panels. This makes the gallery an extension of the street, which creates the need for the gallery attendant to continually go from model to model cleaning them of street grime and particulate pollution with a can of compressed air and a brush; An amusing consequence of the design, if you're not the one cleaning.
Link to the Storefront for Art & Architecture.

Link to Photo Album above.