1970s

Latest news on 1970s

Maisel's Library of Dust book and art opening

Several years ago, I blogged about photographer David Maisel's magnificent Library of Dust. The series of photos documented decaying copper canisters filled with ashes of mental patients who lived, and died, at the Oregon State Hospital between 1880s and the 1970s. (The hospital, soon to be demolished, was also the filming location for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.) I find David's photos to be lovely, haunting, and quite emotional. He's recently compiled them into a beautiful oversized book, Library of Dust, edited by old-school bOING bOING pal Alan Rapp and published by Chronicle Books. In celebration, San Francisco's Haines Gallery is mounting a solo exhibition of the large Library of Dust photographs. The show opens tonight and runs through October 4. From the Haines Gallery announcement: Maisel began working with themes of memorialization in the 1980s, when he made aerial photographs of sites that had undergone traumatic environmental impact. His earlier work considered vast mineral deposits and copper mines, and it was in part Maisel?s ongoing involvement with the materiality of copper that led him to the Library of Dust canisters. ?There are certainly physical and chemical explanations for the ways these canisters have transformed over time,? says Maisel. ?But perhaps the canisters also encourage us to consider what happens to our own bodies when we die, and what may happen to the souls that occupied our bodies. Matter, these canisters show, lives on when the body vanishes, even when it has been incinerated to ash by an institutional practice. Is it possible that some form of spirit lives on as well?? Buy Library of Dust (Amazon), David Maisel's Library of Dust (davidmaisel.com), Haines Gallery (hainesgallery.com) Previously on BB: ? David Maisel's Library of Dust ? Cuckoo's Nest hospital to be demolished ? David Maisel's "Black Maps" photos...

Incognegro: graphic novel mystery about lynching and the jazz age

Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece's graphic novel Incognegro is an alternately comic and gruesome mystery comic about Zane Pinchback, a reporter for the jazz-age New York New Holland Herald. Pinchback uses his light skin as a disguise, travelling to the deep south to report on lynchings that the local media won't cover, publishing pseudonymously as "Incognegro" to avoid reprisals from the Klan and their allies. But he's had one too many narrow escapes and now he wants to quit the beat, stay in Harlem and write under his own name again. His wily editor convinces him to take on one more assignment: the threatened lynching of his twin brother, who is dark-skinned and cannot pass. The mystery of Pinchback's brother's supposed crime takes the action on a tour of the problems and beauty of the early 20th century south, and deftly weaves issues of race, identity, gender, authority, integrity and love into a pulpy, tense murder story that illuminates the grisly atrocity of lynching without exploiting it for cheap shocks. Author Mat Johnson is himself a very light-skinned black man, and he writes in his introduction of facing the reverse of his character's problem when he was a boy, during the 1970s heyday of the black power movement, when he would face disdain from people who mistook him for white. When his own twin sons were born one dark-skinned and African in appearance and the other light and European in appearance, he was moved to write this very fine story that tied it all together. As with many works of art, the intensely personal feeling here shines through, making this a true standout. Incognegro...

More Sniping Between Archrivals British Airways and Virgin Atlantic

Plenty of people cried foul when British Airways announced a deal to coordinate scheduling and marketing with American Airlines, but the biggest whiner was Richard Branson. The loudmouthed head of Virgin Atlantic called his archrival's proposal a "monster monopoly," launching a war of words between the two airlines that makes the presidential campaign look downright civil. The deal, which includes Spanish carrier Iberia, is the airlines' second attempt to get cozy selling tickets on each others flights, pooling revenue on selected routes and combining their scheduling and marketing efforts. It's a bit like a merger but without the messy paperwork. It's also a bad idea because it will give the two airlines a dominant share of the market for key transatlantic routes, allowing them to raise fares.  Branson spouted off against the deal the day it was announced, prompting Willy Walsh, the CEO of British Airways, to say hearing Branson gripe was like "listening to a broken record." Virgin fired back with a press release headlined "British Airways should know about broken records ? nothing's changed since they last failed to link up with American Airlines." These two make McCain and Obama look like best buds, and the latest spat is another chapter in the often brutal, always entertaining 17-year hatefest between the UK's two largest airlines.The sniping started in 1991 when the British government, hoping to keep Virgin Atlantic from tumbling into bankruptcy, lifted a 1970s-era rule limiting access to London's giant Heathrow airport. British Airways was none too happy to find itself suddenly competing with Virgin on some of its most lucrative business routes. The airline's CEO, always a bit of a drama queen, complained that the government's move amounted to "confiscation of property." Wah, wah, wah. That started a two-year throw-down between the two airlines that the British press -- always known for its restraint -- coined the "Dirty Tricks" campaign. Eager to ruin Virgin before it could make inroads at Heathrow, British Airways allegedly hacked Virgin's computers, used confidential data to poach customers and employees and hired a PR flack to spread nasty rumors about Virgin to tarnish its reputation with financiers and the public. Branson went on the offense, complaining to anyone with a pulse that British Airways wasn't playing fair. British Airways called him a desperate publicity whore. When an unflattering investigative report about British Airways aired on British television, the airline accused Virgin of planting the story and said as much in an internal employee newsletter. Branson, never one to miss a chance to get some ink, sued British Airways for libel. Back and forth it went, like a game of corporate ping-pong. At the end of the day, British Airways lost the case, apologized to Branson "unreservedly" and wrote a him a big check. Branson, of course, summoned the press to say he'd divided the money among employees in what he called the "British Airways Bonus." The whole sordid tale was recounted eight years ago in the book Dirty Tricks: British Airways' Secret War Against Virgin Atlantic. Mutual dislike aside, the two airlines aren't above getting into bed together when it suits their bottom lines. In 2006 the two companies were found to colluding in a price-fixing scheme on some transatlantic routes. Virgin got off without a fine, but British Airways had to pay out £271 million. But they're back at it again, providing the British press and air industry watchers with another round of laughs. It's always fun watching outrageously rich guys behave like children. Photo: Virgin Atlantic.

ABC falsely said McCain has never brought up Ayers, suggested McCain is separate from his campaign

An August 25 entry on ABCNews.com's Political Radar blog falsely asserted that an Obama campaign ad -- which includes an announcer saying, "With all our problems, why is [Sen.] John McCain talking about the '60s, trying to link [Sen.] Barack Obama to radical Bill Ayers?"-- "is incorrect in insinuating that John McCain himself has brought up Ayers." In fact, "McCain himself ... brought up Ayers," unprompted, during an April interview on ABC's This Week. The post also said: "[I]t is in fact McCain's campaign that has sought to use the Ayers association against Obama," suggesting that McCain is somehow not responsible for what his campaign says. Reporter Tahman Bradley gave no indication that McCain has repudiated or in any way distanced himself from his aides' comments linking Ayers to Obama. In the August 25 post, Bradley reported that "the Obama campaign is using a new television ad to take on the issue of Obama's association with a 1970s radical who bombed the Capitol and Pentagon" and that the ad is intended to "accuse Sen. McCain of raising the Ayers issue in the presidential campaign." Bradley then reported, "The spot is incorrect in insinuating that John McCain himself has brought up Ayers." But during an April 20 interview on This Week, after host George Stephanopoulos asked McCain whether Obama "shares your sense of patriotism," McCain replied, "I'm sure he's very patriotic, but his relationship with Mr. Ayers is open to question." McCain then persisted in criticizing Obama about Ayers during the interview. After falsely asserting that McCain has not "brought up Ayers," Bradley continued: "[I]t is in fact McCain's campaign that has sought to use the Ayers association against Obama, and McCain spokesman Brian Rogers did so again upon learning about the ad." Bradley quoted Rogers questioning Obama's judgment for associating with an "unrepentant terrorist," which is a recurring talking point from McCain's campaign. On August 20, Rogers referred, in a statement, to Obama's "relationship with the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers," and on May 18, spokesman Tucker Bounds commented that "when Barack Obama was beginning his career in politics he was launching it at the home of William Ayers, an unrepentant domestic terrorist." From the April 20 edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos: STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you have any doubt that Barack Obama shares your sense of patriotism? McCAIN: I'm sure he's very patriotic, but his relationship with Mr. Ayers is open to question. And that -- STEPHANOPOULOS: Why? McCAIN: Because, if you're going to associate and have as a friend and serve on a board and have a guy kick off your campaign that says he's unrepentant, that he wished he'd bombed more. And then, the worst thing of all, that I think really indicates Senator Obama's attitude, is he had the incredible statement that he compared Mr. Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist -- an unrepentant terrorist, with Senator Tom Coburn. Senator Coburn, a physician who goes to Oklahoma on the weekends and brings babies into life. Comparing those two, I mean, that's not -- that's an attitude, frankly, that certainly isn't in keeping with the overall attitude of the American people -- STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Obama said -- McCAIN: -- and it's very insulting to a great man, a great doctor, a great humanitarian. To compare him with a guy who says in -- after 2001, I wish we had bombed more? I had a reconciliation with the anti-war movement. One of the great experiences of my life was to get to know and love David Ifshin. I had a reconciliation with the Vietnamese, when we normalized relations. But how can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings, which could have or did kill innocent people? STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Obama says he was eight years old when that was happening. McCAIN: But he became friends with him and spent time with him, while the guy was unrepentant over his activities as a member of a terrorist organization, the Weathermen. And then to compare him with Dr. Tom Coburn who spends so much of his life bringing babies into this world -- that in my view is really -- it borders on outrageous. STEPHANOPOULOS: He also pointed out that he and Mr. Ayers have a very loose relationship. They live in the same neighborhood; there was an organizing meeting many, many years ago, he says, in his house and he says, frankly, I don't agree with these comments that Mr. Ayers made. McCAIN: Doesn't agree with them? Does he condemn them? Does he -- would he condemn someone who says that they're unrepentant and wished that they had bombed more, and compare him to a doctor, one of the great humanitarian, in my view, one of the greatest spokesperson for the rights of the unborn in America? STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you say he should condemn these comments. McCAIN: Sure.

LED Football for the iPhone

Mark Helmuth has developed a 1970s-style electronic football game for the iPhone. I wonder if it also emulates the sound of me crying when my older brother won't let me have a turn. Rob has the details over at Boing Boing Gadgets. iNostalgia! Old-school Football on iPhone (BB Gadgets)...

Explicit Caligula remake approved by censors

A pornographic version of the 1970s Roman epic Caligula that has been banned in Britain for almost 30 years has finally been given the green light by censors.

Sean Hannity: "I think I was more fair to the Clintons"

On the August 21 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity said to Fox News contributor Geraldine Ferraro: "[Y]ou've been one of the Clinton supporters that have been very vocal, very unhappy about the way [Sen. Barack] Obama treated [Sen. Hillary] Clinton." Ferraro responded: "And the media treated Clinton." Hannity said: "No, I think I was more fair to the Clintons." Hannity did not explain what he meant by "fair," but during the Democratic presidential primaries, Hannity asserted: "I'm leading the Stop Hillary Express." According to a July 16 American Spectator piece by Robert Stacy McCain, "[F]or months, Hannity opened his daily radio show by welcoming his 12 million listeners aboard the 'Stop Hillary Express.' " Also: On the July 22, 2007, edition of Fox News' Hannity's America, teasing a segment on "the mysterious death of [former deputy White House counsel] Vince Foster," Hannity asked: "Did a close friend of Hillary Clinton commit suicide, or was it a massive cover-up?" During the segment, Hannity asserted that on July 20, 1993: "Vince Foster got in his car and drove to Fort Marcy Park in Virginia. And he supposedly walked through the woods, and depending on which version of the story you believe, he took his own life." Hannity billed this segment as "one of the darkest and most mysterious" of "The Clinton Chapters," a regular series on Hannity's America whose assertions Media Matters for America has repeatedly debunked. A week earlier, Hannity baselessly asserted on Hannity's America that "there are still many chapters remaining open from her [Hillary Clinton's] time at the Rose Law Firm. Take Whitewater and the death of Vince Foster." As Media Matters documented, Foster's death was conclusively determined by several investigations to have been a suicide. On the December 2, 2007, edition of Hannity's America, Hannity asserted: "[T]onight, we travel back in time to the early 70's, and based on reporting from New York Sun reporter Josh Gerstein, we take a rare look at Hillary Clinton's affiliation with a group of radicals more than three decades ago." Hannity was referring to Clinton's time as a law clerk for the then-California law firm Treuhaft, Walker, and Burnstein in the early 1970s. However, during the following segment, which was supposedly "based on reporting from" Gerstein, Hannity omitted key points from Gerstein's own reporting. Specifically, Hannity reported that Jessica Mitford, who was married to Robert Treuhaft, one of the partners at the firm, tried to get the state of Arkansas to pardon Arkansas prison escapee James Dean Walker after Bill Clinton became governor of the state. But Hannity did not report that, according to Gerstein, Clinton rebuffed the request. Further, Hannity questioned whether Clinton had "sympathy with the communist Party" in deciding to clerk at the firm but did not note Gerstein's report quoting one of the firm's partners, who said Clinton was "much more of a classic liberal than the rest of us." On the November 13, 2007, edition of Hannity & Colmes, co-host Hannity said: "All year long, publications like The New York Times, Washington Post, Time, and Newsweek have all reported what they call [Republican presidential candidate] Rudy Giuliani's temper. Well, the subjectiveness aside, couldn't the same questions be asked about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton?" Hannity then asked Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers and Sirius Satellite Radio host Andrew Wilkow whether Clinton has "the temperament to be president." Powers responded: "I think she does. I think she has a temper, as do many politicians. And Rudy Giuliani, your favorite, has a temper, as ... do many people." Powers later asserted: "I think you've got to keep it in the context of what she does ... and who she is. And I'm just telling you -- first of all, I do have to say that while there are people who say that she has a bad temper, she had almost no turnover on her staff in the White House, so that says something." Hannity responded, " '[C]ause they were scared to probably leave," to which Powers replied, "No, I know a lot of them and they like her." On the July 1, 2007, edition of Hannity's America, Hannity played a clip from a May 29 speech by Clinton -- in which she said it is time for America "to reject the idea of an on-your-own society and to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity" -- and added, "This isn't the first time Hillary has made her socialist views and intentions so apparent." Hannity also characterized the speech as Clinton "blast[ing] the free market." In fact, Clinton said in the same speech that "there is no greater force for economic growth than free markets, but markets work best with rules that promote our values, protect our workers and give all people a chance to succeed." On the June 17, 2007, edition of Hannity's America, Hannity cropped a December 2003 speech by Clinton before the Council on Foreign Relations to accuse her of "hypocrisy." Hannity claimed that after demonstrating support for the war in Iraq and voting to authorize the use of military force, Clinton "quickly changed beats" after opposition to the war grew and claimed that, in June 2006, "[a]lmost out of nowhere," Clinton "started to blame the president for misleading Congress." In making the claim, Hannity quoted portions of Clinton's December 2003 speech, but not passages in which she criticized the Bush administration's use of that authority. Moreover, as Media Matters has noted, Clinton accused Bush of misusing the authority given him in the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq long before the June 2006 speech. After playing a clip of Clinton stating, "If anybody tells you there is no vast right-wing conspiracy, tell them that New Hampshire has proven it in court. We have the -- we have the facts, and we're going to make that a crime," on the March 13, 2007, edition of Hannity & Colmes, Hannity immediately denounced her comments as "hate speech." Yet Hannity did not explain that Clinton was referring to felony convictions of a Republican National Committee regional political director, a GOP operative, and a former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party stemming from a 2002 phone-jamming scandal that sought to immobilize Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts and, according to a May 17, 2006, Washington Post article, "helped John E. Sununu [R-NH] win his Senate seat by 51 to 47 percent, a 19,151-vote margin." On the January 3, 2007, edition of Hannity & Colmes, Hannity insinuated that the Clinton campaign was behind a "leak[]" to The Washington Post about Obama's drug use, when in fact the Post article Hannity was citing was about Obama's admitting to having used cocaine in his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (Crown). From the August 21 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes: HANNITY: All right. That's -- you've been one of the Clinton supporters that have been very vocal, very unhappy about the way Obama treated Clinton. Who are you voting for? FERRARO: And the media treated Clinton. HANNITY: No, I think I was more fair to the Clintons. FERRARO: I know. I know. It's amazing how many people have said, "We -- we're now watching Fox because they're fair and balanced." But it is just amazing. HANNITY: Well, what do you mean amazing? We've always -- I've always had him -- FERRARO: It's amazing to me. HANNITY: [pointing to co-host Alan Colmes] -- burning me here. COLMES: Don't point.

Bank warns downturn could drag on

Financial climate is as bad as the 1970s, says Bank of England's new deputy governor

Steve Rose talks to visionary architect Paolo Soleri

In the 1970s, visionary architect Paolo Soleri built an extraordinary eco-city in the Arizona desert. Did it work? Steve Rose tracks down a guru who now finds himself back in demand

Downtown Plaza Recovers from the 70s

New London, Connecticut, like many victims of the 1970s, was saddled with a harsh, ineffective public plaza at the heart of its downtown. Planners are working to return the plaza to its historic form. read more