Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Onion understands Jim Morrison

The Onion article "Jim Morrison Foundation Awards $50,000 Grant To Little Shit Who Thinks He's A Poet" pretty much sums up how I feel about Jim Morrison the "poet."

Poet leads protests over drug cartel violence

After his son was killed, poet Javier Sicilia became a leader in the protest movement against drug cartel violence in Mexico. From the BBC:
For Mr Sicilia, the conflict has reached a level that requires a more comprehensive approach to the issue - one which includes the commitment of all Mexicans.

"We need a national pact because this is an emergency, and we have to rebuild the tissue of this nation - if we do not, we are going to enter hell."

As for his poetry, Mr Sicilia has decided to silence his voice.

His last poem was dedicated to his son, and was written just hours after the violent murder.

"Poetry does not exist in me anymore," it ends.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Chimps on film

Wait, what? I have to wait a year to see this? The countdown begins...

Via Videogum.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Rick Santorum breaks up with Langston Hughes

To be fair, Santorum didn't even know they were together. From the Union Leader:
Santorum by and large stayed on message but was tripped up a bit when a student asked him if he knew that the choice of his slogan, "Fighting to make America America again," was borrowed from the "pro-union poem by the gay poet Langston Hughes."

"No I had nothing to do with that," Santorum said. "I didn't know that. And the folks who worked on that slogan for me didn't inform me that it came from that, if it in fact came from that."

The student, whose name was not immediately available, was referring to the poem "Let America Be America Again." When asked a short time later what the campaign slogan meant to him, Santorum said, "well, I'm not too sure that's my campaign slogan, I think it's on a web site."

It was also printed on the campaign literature handed out before the speech.
Ha. "I think it's on a web site." Moron.

One web site you can find it on is The Academy of American Poets. No doubt lines like these really speak to Santorum: "I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. / I am the red man driven from the land, / I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- / And finding only the same old stupid plan / Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak."

"Let America Be America Again" by Langston Hughes stands against everything Santorum stands for. A commenter on the Union Leader web site said the inclusion of the "gotcha" Hughes question and Santorum's stammering answer was evidence of biased journalism. I disagree. I think it's pretty relevant when an anti-gay, anti-union politician from a party that has no qualms against using racism to their political advantage is using a slogan lifted from a liberal gay poet. I know that Santorum has a Google problem and all, but seriously? No one on his campaign thought to Google the campaign slogan they chose? Dumb.

Via Salon.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Dean Young gets a heart

Well this is definitely the best poetry-related news you'll hear all day all week all year in your life.