MAYNOOTH, Ireland, JUNE 25, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The modern conception of conscience reduces it to an excuse mechanism, that it cannot err and that what one thinks is right is in fact right, said author Father Vincent Twomey.

Father Twomey, retired professor of moral theology at the Pontifical University of St. Patrick's College, in Maynooth, is the author of "Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age," published this year by Ignatius Press.

In this interview with ZENIT, he comments on the Holy Father's role in providing a way to return to a deeper understanding of conscience.

Q: You were a doctoral student of Father Joseph Ratzinger. How has that experience uniquely prepared you to write this book?

Father Twomey: I joined professor Ratzinger's doctoral colloquium in the spring of 1971, and studied under his supervision for the doctorate, which I was awarded in 1979.

Since his election as archbishop of Munich in 1977, he has met with his former doctoral and postdoctoral students each year for a weekend colloquium, a practice that continued even after his election as Benedict XVI.

I think that, as a result, I have a personal knowledge of the Pope that is, perhaps, unique.
Sitting at his feet as a student, studying his writings, and participating in discussions with him over some 36 years has also given me a certain insight into his thought, which in turn has influenced my own theology profoundly.

Q: What do you think are the most defining characteristics of the writings of Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI?

Father Twomey: The most defining formal characteristics of his writings are originality, clarity and a superb literary style that is not easy to render in translation.

Ratzinger is more than a world-class scholar and academic: He is an original thinker.

He has the Midas touch, in the positive sense that whatever he touches, he turns to gold, in other words, whatever subject he examines, he has something new and exciting to say about it, be it the dogmas of the Church or a mosaic in an ancient Roman church or bioethics. And he writes with amazing clarity.

With regard to his style, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne is reported as commenting that Ratzinger is the Mozart of theology -- he writes masterpieces effortlessly.

With regard to its content, as Ratzinger once said himself, "God is the real central theme of my endeavors."

There is hardly an area of theology -- dogma, moral, political life, bioethics, liturgy, exegesis, music, art -- that he has not examined in-depth. And everything he examines, he does so from God's viewpoint, as it were, namely trying to discover what light revelation -- Scripture and Tradition -- can shine on a particular issue.

On the other hand, his theological reflection is firmly rooted in contemporary experience: the questions and existential issues posed by modernity and post-modernity, by contemporary thinkers and the epoch-making events of our times.

However, his pastoral and administrative duties as archbishop and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith were such that he had little time to write extensive monographs, with the result that most of his writings are of a fragmentary nature. But what fragments!

Each has the capacity to convey that insight into truth that touches the mind and heart of the reader -- and can effect in many a change of heart.

Q: You describe Benedict XVI as unafraid of making mistakes, and as "having the courage to be imperfect." Can you explain this further?

Father Twomey: Having the courage to be imperfect is more than being afraid of making mistakes, though it may include it.

Basic to his whole attitude to life and to theology is the assumption that only God is perfect, that human effort is always imperfect.

Perfectionism of any kind is inimical to man, but above all in the political sphere. Most political ideologies aim to create a perfect world, a perfect society and usually end up making hell on earth.

That is a frequent theme of his writings on political life. But also with regard to the human effort to do theology, as it were. That, too, will always be unfinished business, always capable of improvement, of correction and deepening.

We cannot know everything, least of all God and his design for man. I have described his writings as "fragmentary." Most of his writings are unfinished -- like his classic book, "Introduction to Christianity," and, more recently, his "Jesus of Nazareth." And yet he has the courage to publish them in their unfinished state.

This attitude gave Joseph Ratzinger that inner calm and detachment which the world is now experiencing in Benedict XVI. But it also is, perhaps, the secret of his gentle humor and wit.

Q: You suggest that there has been a distortion of the word conscience. What is this distortion and how has it affected the Church?

Father Twomey: The starting point is the traditional notion of an erroneous conscience, which in the wake of the turbulence that followed "Humanae Vitae," was falsely interpreted to mean, in effect for many, that it does not matter what one does, provided that one is sincerely convinced that it is right.

Sincerity now becomes the criterion of morality and, taken to its logical conclusion, it would be impossible to condemn a Hitler or a Stalin, since it could be claimed that they too acted according to their "lights," according to their sincere convictions.

The traditional insistence on the primacy of following your conscience, even if erroneous, led to a new notion, that of the "infallible conscience." This amounts to the claim that conscience cannot err, that what you think is right is in fact right.

This is to reduce conscience to an excuse mechanism. This notion receives its persuasiveness, if not its inspiration, from the prevailing relativism of modernity.

It is sometimes claimed today that each one can adopt whatever moral principles he or she decides best for them. These are the fruit of their conscientious choice, after having looked at the options.

This is indeed a very attractive theory. But it amounts to the claim that each person can determine for himself what is right or wrong, the temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden.

Often, it is given the title "a la carte" Catholicism, picking and choosing what suits us. Morality is reduced to an ultimately irrational personal preference.

This prevailing notion of conscience has had a devastating effect on the Church and Christian living.

Q: You describe Benedict XVI as a guide for the conscience in today's age. In what ways do you believe this to be true?

Father Twomey: First of all, as theologian and later as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger has been the voice of the Church's conscience in affirming the objective truth when it was denied either theoretically or in practice.

It is astonishing that secular thinkers, those outside the Church, as it were, seem to recognize this more than those inside. Thus, for example, the French Academy honored him as the apt successor to Andrey Sacharov, the dissident atom physicist during the tyranny of the Soviet Union.

It was their recognition of a courageous thinker who was in effect the great "dissident" under the "dictatorship of relativism" that has swamped Europe and America over the past half-century.

Secondly, conscience is not only a central theme of his writings, he has also made a major contribution to correcting the false understanding of conscience outlined above, to which I devote a whole chapter in my book.

Q: How did the experience of growing up in Nazi Germany helped to prepare Joseph Ratzinger for the papacy? What particular lessons did he learn then that he still puts into practice today?

Father Twomey: The answer to this question is to be found in a comment he made in an interview in 1999: "As a result [of living through the Nazi period], I learned to have a certain reserve with regard to the reigning ideologies."

Evidently, he meant "ideologies" also to cover those found within the Church, which are fashionable since they reflect current ideological trends in society.

His experience of living under a political ideology and its bureaucracy made him sensitive to the need for the exercise of moral responsibility on the part of each one, but in particular on the part of those who hold public office in the Church or in the state. Moral responsibility is but another word for conscience.

His skepticism regarding episcopal conferences is rooted in the experience of how, as a collective, the German bishops, to put it mildly, had not quite matched up to the witness given by individual bishops such as Bishop Clemens von Galen of Muenster and Archbishop Michael Faulhaber of Munich.

He calls on all bishops to give personal witness and not wait for the collective conference to rubber-stamp some document prepared by an anonymous commission.

Likewise, his theology has been marked by a personal search for the truth, urged on by his conscience. All his life, he has exercised his personal moral responsibility, even when it earned for him the negative title of "rottweiler" or "grand inquisitor" -- or, indeed, "the enemy of humanity," as one journalist put it.

To speak the truth in love is to be in opposition, very often, to the prevailing fashions and so to make oneself unpopular.

Now, as Benedict XVI, he continues to exercise that moral responsibility, not least in the way he writes most of his own speeches, which speak to the heart of his audience because they are spoken from his own heart and not from a prepared schema.

Nardwuar from Vancouver, Canada sat down with Pharrell and Shay of N.E.R.D. recently! Amazingly it seems that Nardwuar know more about the two then they do! He surprises the two with random facts and items from the past and truly stuns Pharrell in particular! Check it out!

Egal wie aufregend uns die Medienwelt das Leben der schönen
doch vorzeichnet, so ist es doch für die meisten Menschen, der alltägliche
Tagesablauf, der Alltag, mit dem wir es zu tun haben. Und anstatt im Fernsehen
zu erfahren, wie man sich zurechtfindet, wenn man aus 1000 m Höhe über dem
Urwald abspringt und sich danach im (Kriegsgebiet-)Urwald durchschlagen kann,
wären Tipps und Tricks für einen glücklichen Alltag doch viel hilfreicher.

Im Netz habe ich einen Blog gefunden, der sich genau diesem
Thema angenommen hat und den ich dringend empfehlen möchte.

Ohne mehr zu schreiben, übergebe ich das Wort direkt an den
Macher des Blogs Bernd, der seinen Blog viel besser Vorstellen kann, als ich
das könnte.

Danke für eine gute Idee und vor allem deren super Umsetzung!

Stellen Sie bitte
Ihren Blog kurz vor!

"Im Alltag leben" ist Titel und
auch Programm meines Blogs. Hier
versammeln sich die Dinge mit denen ich mich beschäftige um in meinem
Alltag bestehen zu können. Dabei liegt mein Schwerpunkt im Moment auf
Yoga und dem, was seine Grundlagen ausmacht - und wie man diese z.T.
über 2.000 Jahre alte Yogaphilosophie in die eigene westliche
Lebensumwelt bringt. So gibt es kaum Tipps zu Körperverrenkungen, aber
hin und wieder ein paar Gedanken zur persönlichen Weiterentwicklung.

> Wie haben Sie mit Ihrem Blog
angefangen?

... neugierig. Seit vielen Jahren war ich
mit unterschiedlichen Projekten im
Netz und suchte eine mir angemessenere Ausdrucksform. So habe ich das
Bloggen ausprobiert und habe hier eine Form gefunden, die mir liegt. Da ich
z.T. sehr stark im "real life" eingebunden bin, komme ich nicht immer
regelmäßig zum Bloggen. Das sind Zeiten, in denen ich besonders merke,
wie viel Freude mir das eigentlich macht. Bloggen fehlt mir dann.

> Welche Themen interessieren Ihre
Benutzer am meisten?

Gute Frage! Aber schwer zu beantworten.
Ein Blog schreibt man kaum für
anderen Menschen, sondern in erster Linie für sich selber. Es gibt eine
kleine Gemeinde von Lesern, die mein Blog regelmäßig besuchen. Ein paar
kenne ich und bin mit ihnen in einem Austausch. Daraus ergeben sich
teilweise Themen, mit denen ich mich dann weiter beschäftige.
Grundsätzlich schreibe ich aber über Dinge die mich bewegen ... und freue
mich, wenn auch andere etwas damit anfangen können.

Die meisten direkten Reaktionen erreichen mich, wenn es gelingt eher
spirituelle Themen wie Meditation mit Alltagsdingen zu verknüpfen. Rotwein
und Meditation (http://blog.imalltagleben.de/rotwein-und-meditation-
integrative-medizin-ein-rundumschlag-ueber-gewohnheiten/2008/06/13/)
etwa. In solchen Themen scheinen sich viele Menschen wieder zu finden.

Über die Suchmaschinen erreichen mich die meisten Menschen - jedenfalls
die mit Leseabsichten - mit Suchbegriffen wie Geduld üben, Mudras (kleine
Yogaübungen mit den Fingern), Alltag gestalten, Achtsamkeit,
Atemübungen, Danke sagen, Zen Geschichte ... Dinge, über die ich gerne
schreibe.

> Welche Ziele haben Sie sich gesetzt
und sind diese erreicht
> worden?

Na, die Welt retten ... und jeden Tag
kommt sie diesem Ziel etwas näher.

Aber ernsthaft. Natürlich fängt man ein Blog mit Zielen an. Ich wollte meine
Arbeit als Entspannungslehrer damit promoten, stellte aber schnell fest,
dass die Besucher meiner Kurse vor Ort und die Besucher meiner Webseite
keine Schnittmenge haben. Nach einer kurzen Frustzeit durch diese
Erkenntnis habe ich darum aufgegeben für die Zielgruppe "potentielle
Kursbesucher" zu schreiben. Seitdem macht es mir doppelt Freude und das
Zel ist es meine eigenen Gedanken zu sortieren und sie mit anderen zu
teilen.

I went for an interview of my own yesterday - for a full-time job at the same paper.  I didn't get a feeling either way about how it went.  I have though jobs interviews went amazingly well in the past,  only to be disappointed in the end.  The guy who interviewed me the editor I've worked with for years.  He's a friend.  In the past, interviewing under friends has been both a blessing and a curse, so I don't know how this went.  I do, however, know I have a lot of competition.  I am very, very, very cautiously optimistic.  I missed out on two potential "dream jobs" in the last year.  I feel like my heart can't take anymore disappointment, but I know that God's will and His plan for my life outweighs what I think I need.  It can be so hard standing on a promise that means you might not get what you want, you know?

I need a shower!

Once upon a time, Soulful-Hip Hop bumped into Electronica and had a child - they named that child J*DaVeY. A few years later that kid began making music and some serious waves... 

These two school friends have created a sound that is pretty hard to describe, but once consumed a pleasure to digest. Their mishmash sounds has created a sub-genre of music that has elements ranging far and wide. It's both hard and soft, edgy yet subtle, it's lyrical but beat driven. It's a bit of everything. Usually when people say "it's a bit of everything" it gets messy, but J*DaVey clearly know who they are and have a clear vision of what they want their music to sound like...

With the release of their two new EP's “The Beauty in Distortion” and “The Land of the Lost", PinBoard [a long time fan] connected with the twosome to find out a lil' more about the band everyone is talking about...

Name/Age/Hometown?

Brook D’Leau/26/Los Angeles, CA

Miss Jack Davey/26/ stLA, CA 

You were introduced through a mutual friend during high school, what were your first impressions of each another? Was there an instant chemistry?

J: Brook was just this cute guy with a cool vibe. We met at my senior prom & were instant friends. It wasn't till a year later that we both discovered each others music. 

Jack, how did your name change come about and why Jack Davey? 

J: it's not a name change as much as it is another character, the little monster inside of me that is compelled by the music to act out. Jack is for jack of all trades & Davey for adventure.

Your music is a blend of various genres, past and present, which artists would you say have had the most profound influence in your music?

B: Prince, The Police, Talking Heads

J: Prince, Jim Morrison, Miles Davis, E.Badu

Continue getting to know J*DaVeY after the jump!

The J*DaVeY sound is very unique how did people initially react to it?

B: Usually people found it too dark or not “well structured”.

J : The reactions were interesting. A lot of people didn't understand it, even though we didn't think it was that far fetched. 

You’re about to release your EP, “The Beauty in Distortion” and “The Land of the Lost”: Where did the titles come from and what can we expect from it?

B: “The Beauty In Distortion” comes from the story of how the album was made.  Lost hard drives, borrowed studio time and many road blocks couldn’t prevent these songs from seeing the light of day so others could appreciate the “beauty” of our work amidst the chaotic and “distorted” path it took to finally arrive.

J: the "land of the lost" is a sort of teenage wasteland, a mix of Prince's Sign o the Times stage set & an F Scott Fitzgerald novel; the state of the music industry & where we live are themes that exist within our land of the lost. We're attempting to break down barriers & provide a new perspective to the same old game. 

J*DaVeY: "Mr. Mister"

What elements do you each bring to your music

B: The music 

J : Truth

Who are listening to today?

B: Muhsinah, The Bird & The Bee 

J: Muhsinah, Black Morris 

Who was the first artist you ever saw live?

B: I vaguely remember seeing Sting on the Dream of the Blue Turtles tour (his first solo record).

J: I vaguely remember seeing the Jackson's "Victory" tour when i was really young, but when I was six i saw Salt n Pepa, Kid n Play, Eric B & Rakim & 2 Live Crew at an arena show. Awesome! 

Dead or alive, who would make your collaboration wish list?

B: J-Dilla, Brian Eno, & Fatli

J: Prince, Dilla, Timbaland 

Your sense of style is both distinctive and fly, where does that come from and do you have any particular style icons?

B: My mother and Uncle. 

J: My aunt Angie, Miles Davis, Mary Kate Olsen 

You are both extremely talented, do you have any plans to branch out into other creative fields in the future?

B: Sure.

J: Yeah. Film & video most likely. 

What advice would you give to other aspiring artists trying to make their mark?

B: Comparison is the devil. Never compare your talents/accomplishments to someone else’s.

J: Stick to your guns man! 

What can we expect from you in the near future and are there any plans to come over and hit London at any point?

B: We’re finishing our upcoming Warner release and if someone wants to bring us to London-town, HELL YEAH!

J: The Warner release will be a more mature effort, a little more concise & to the point. As for London, we're dying to get back there!! 

Do you have anything you’d like to say to your UK fans over at PinBoardBlog.com?

B: Badger your local promoters and tell them you want J*DaVeY!!!

J: Ditto. 

Go show J*DaVey your love and grab their superb new EP's via their Myspace page! Keep you eyes and ears lock on these two because I promise you, you'll be hearing A LOT more from them in the not-so-distant future...

Peace, Love & J*DaVey

Little One [Contributing Writer]

Do CIOs use the Internet?  Perhaps not the same way mere mortals do, but IT executives have intense information needs of demand a unique focus in perspective.  As managing editor of CIO.com, the online wing of the venerable technology magazine, Michael Goldberg is charged with keeping close to the needs of this highly coveted audience.

Don't approach Michael with technology pitches.  His audience is focused on solving business problems, and there areas of concern go far beyond the newest iPhone.  Successful PR professionals should define their pitches around a solid business context, with customer citations a plus.

And in the true Web 2.0 spirit, CIO.com is now enabling conversations. Its new new Advice & Opinion section enables experts to contribute their wisdom directly, without having to go through a pitch-and-submit process.

Here are Michael's guidelines for submitting to Advice & Opinion:

We encourage experts to post their pieces directly at CIO.com's Advice & Opinion section. Simply register at advice.cio.com and post your piece to our website. We strongly encourage you to register under your name.
Our online community for IT leaders is most interested in best practices and problem-solving information for their work, so please join the conversation. Also please know that we reserve the right to delete pieces
that read like sales and marketing materials. At our discretion, we may also take the best submissions and promote them in our newsletters and/or on the home page of our site.

Here's a quick rundown.

• Go to cio.com.
• Click on Advice and Opinion section.
• Read the articles we have there by staff and contributors.
• Consider what you want to write. Does it add something to ongoing discussions about something important in IT, management, leadership, careers, technology implementations, value, business. What value do theyadd to the ongoing conversation and why
• Write your article. Make the outline clear, stick to the specific points you want to make. Take out sales and marketing language --we delete such pieces.
• Register at cio.com. Please use your real name to add credibility to your post.
• Post your article. Include the author's company affiliation at the top.
• See who comments.
• Repeat later.

Below are some recent examples of submitted content:

Data Leakage: How to Avoid Security Risks When Sending Large Files

http://advice.cio.com/yorgen/data_leakage_how_to_avoid_security_risks_when_sending_large_files

Zero Contact Resolution: A Proactive Approach to Improving the Customer Experience

http://advice.cio.com/steve_daines/zero_contact_resolution_a_proactive_approach_to_improving_the_customer_experience

Download the podcast (14:47)

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 22, 2007 (Zenit.org).- There are signs of new hope that relations with the Assyrian Church of the East are advancing, says Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Cardinal Kasper met Thursday with Catholicos Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV, head of the Assyrian Church of the East. The patriarch had met earlier with Benedict XVI.

On that occasion, the cardinal granted this interview with ZENIT, in which he summarizes the situation of relations between the Vatican and the Assyrian Church of the East.

Q: We seldom hear of the Assyrian Church of the East. Could you say some words on the past and present situation of this particular Church?

Cardinal Kasper: The Assyrian Church of the East is one of the smaller Wastern Churches, at least in the number of the faithful. Its historical roots are in the missionary activity of the early Church, when it moved eastward, in the direction of Mesopotamia and former Babylonia, outside the Roman Empire.

In present day geography, we can say that Iraq is the original homeland of most Assyrian faithful. More recently, due to successive periods of persecution and hardship, a large majority of Assyrian faithful migrated to the West. Nowadays the Assyrian Church has dioceses in Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. The patriarch himself has his residence in Chicago.

Like other Churches in and from the Middle East, the Assyrian Church of the East faces many challenges. There is the dramatic situation in Iraq, where Christians belonging to various Churches have their very existence seriously threatened. Assyrian faithful are also scattered in different parts of the world, and this does not allow for pastoral service to be assured everywhere by their own priests.

Benedict XVI has mentioned some of these challenges in his address to Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV. He also insisted on the need for and the possibility of further cooperation between Catholic and Assyrian faithful, wherever they live together.

Q: In his address to Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV, Benedict XVI also referred to the positive results of the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. How did the relations between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Catholic Church develop?

Cardinal Kasper: In 1994, an important Common Christological Declaration was signed by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV. This declaration clarified some doctrinal controversies between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, controversies which go back to the Council of Ephesus (431). At that time, the Church of the East could not accept the Catholic concept of incarnation, and therefore also rejected the title which calls the Virgin Mary "Theotokos," "Mother of God."

Indeed, in this early period of doctrinal development, Syriac and Greek terminology did not articulate the same concepts with the same terminology. Nowadays, however, Catholics and Assyrians mutually recognise that they share the same faith in Jesus Christ "true God and true man, perfect in his divinity and perfect in his humanity."

The signing of this Christological Declaration resulted in the creation of a Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. This commission has met every year between 1994 and 2004 and has done remarkable work.

In this period the commission mainly dealt with issues related to the celebration of the sacraments. Among the most prominent results of this dialogue, I wish to mention the recognition by the Catholic Church of the validity of the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, and the preparation of a comprehensive document on sacramental life, a document which is ready for official endorsement.

In my opinion, however, these important results have not yet received the attention and response they deserve. It is not a matter of signing documents; it is a question that what is endorsed is genuinely accepted in the community.

Q: What happened to the dialogue after 2004? What fears and obstacles does Benedict XVI refer to in his address to the patriarch?

Cardinal Kasper: In 2005, the Assyrian Church unexpectedly decided to suspend the dialogue and not to sign the document which had been prepared on sacramental life. During a meeting in November 2005, moreover, the Synod of the Assyrian Church decided to suspend one of its members, a bishop, who had been among the architects of the dialogue with the Catholic Church and had contributed significantly to its successful progress.

The Catholic Church cannot intervene in the internal affairs of another Church, but deeply regrets this unfortunate development. Nobody is helped by further divisions in a community which already faces so many challenges, as I mentioned before.

These further divisions also cause difficulties for our ecumenical dialogue, since they are improperly used by some Assyrian media to cast doubt on the Catholic Church and its true intentions toward the Assyrian Church; such polemics should be brought to an end. We hope and pray that it will be possible to overcome these problems. Serenity should return and eventually allow the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue to resume its activities.

This is the sense of the appeal Benedict XVI addressed to Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV and to all concerned, so that together we may find the best solution.

Q: What do you expect from the visit of Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV for the future of relations between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church?

Cardinal Kasper: Immediately after the election of Benedict XVI, Catholicos Mar Dinkha IV expressed the wish to come and greet the new Pope. This may be a hopeful sign for the future of our relations.

Beyond this, I have three expectations. First, that more attention may be given by Catholic and Assyrian faithful worldwide to the difficulties met by their brothers and sisters in the Middle East and particularly in Iraq; these difficulties directly touch the lives of individual Christians and their families, and call for the attention and good will of everyone.

Second, that the results of our dialogue may be further explained and received, so as to allow Catholic and Assyrian faithful to better understand and help one another. Finally, that more effective forms of common witness and joint pastoral activities may be developed between Catholic and Assyrian faithful, particularly in the West, where Christians of all denominations are facing the same pastoral challenges.

What can we do together so that the young generations will be glad to belong to the Church and to give witness to their faith in Christ? These are the kind of questions I would like to see at the center of our future meetings, also with the Assyrian Church of the East.

Q: You also had a working meeting with the patriarch and the bishops who accompanied him. Have any further commitments or projects been made?

Cardinal Kasper: During our meeting, I insisted on the necessity of nurturing a serious and honest relationship. I also expressed the hope that through just and prudent decisions it would be possible to avert further division in the Assyrian Church. It became clear that more frequent contact between the patriarch and Synod of the Assyrian Church and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity would be helpful.

We therefore decided to prepare a third phase of our joint theological dialogue. In this way, I hope, a fresh impetus could be given to relations between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.

]]> http://anarchlyst.wordpress.com/?p=911 Sat, 26 Jul 2008 06:19:28 +0000 Julaybib Ayoub http://anarchlyst.wordpress.com/?p=911 Brits Told: Be Nicer to Muslims
Cameron Millar, Daily Star
Brits have been ordered to be nicer to Muslims – despite having one of the most tolerant attitudes to Islam in the world. A United Nations committee said it was concerned that “negative public attitudes towards Muslim members of society” were developing in the UK. The committee also voiced its concern over Government plans to extend the detention of terror suspects. But a source said: “Funnily enough, they didn’t seem to mention the treatment of non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Iran.”
[Treat Muslims better, Britain told by UN -MPACUK]

The Blears Fallacy
Soumaya Ghannoushi, Guardian CiF
One of the most frequent criticisms of Islam is that it institutes no distinction between the secular and the sacred. "State and religion should never be mixed," Muslims are often reprimanded. "You need only look at the Arab region, with its miserable breed of religion-manipulating despots to see that." So, when you hear that Hazel Blears is creating a made-to-measure committee of Islamic theologians, a sort of church for Muslims, the irony becomes too striking for words.

British opposition leader eyes 'Sharia law for bike theft'
AFP
LONDON (AFP) — The man who could become Britain's next prime minister joked Thursday that he was thinking about bringing in Sharia law for bicycle thieves after having his own bike stolen outside a London supermarket. "I'm contemplating introducing Sharia law for bicycle theft," said the leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, David Cameron, referring to the Islamic law code, after thieves took his bike as he stopped to pick up groceries near his west London home.
[Hug a hoodie? Or kill a bike thief?? -Sam Leith, Telegraph]

Muslim schools fuel segregation, say teachers
Graeme Paton, Telegraph
Speaking at the conference, Wesley Paxton, a further education lecturer from Hull, will say: "More faith schools in 2008 is probably going to mean more Islamic schools." He adds: "As is often pointed out, there are already many schools with more than a 50 per cent non-white enrolment. "What benefit will there be by emphasising difference, by removing what non-Islamic influences these people will have, and reduce their chances of having a balanced upbringing?"
Muslim schools fuel segregation, say teachers (well, one right-wing teacher) (Islamophobia Watch)

Mel P: Is it Islam or Islamism? (Bradford Muslim)
Ed stifling debate again (Indigo Jo Blogs)
France: Interviews with woman who was refused citizenship (Islam in Europe)
Two Muslim women file suit, say McDonald's banned headscarves (Islamophobia Watch)
Little Solace for Srebrenica Muslims (IslamOnline.net & Newspapers)
Revenge (Jonathan Freedland, Guardian)

Misha Mansoor, or commonly known on message boards as Bulb, is the lead guitarist in Maryland metal band Periphery, who are regarded as one of the best unsigned metal acts in North America.  I was recently able to talk to him about his nickname, the future, and "Juggernaut."

Who are you?

Good question! I'm Misha.  Some kid who makes music in his apartment.

Where'd you get the nickname Bulb?

It was the name of my old band in Toronto which broke up right after I made the Bulb soundclick for it, and I had already started posting songs up on there.  So people just started calling me Bulb.

Toronto?

Yeah I went to school there for 3 years.  Hated school.

What school did you go to and for what subject?

University of Toronto and it kept changing every year - Sociology, Philosophy...god knows what.

That's what my friend is going into this year.  Basically Undeclared Arts right?

Yeah it wasn't for me I basically decided that working full time would be more fun, as long as I was pursuing a music career and it turns out it was.

Pursuing a music career has obviously lead up to being a guitar player, but how are you able to survive (especially with all that sweet gear you have?). Guitar players don't typically make that much.

I normally work a lot and don't do anything fun and spendy.  I acquired a lot of gear through that, and through being generally as frugal as possible and a lot of my new acquisitions are either trades or from getting money by selling stuff.  For right now I haven't had a job for a bit because I have had projects which pay better than any job I could get and because my parents have been helping out, they are definitely very supportive, they just don't want me to slack off.

Did you take guitar lessons growing up, and if so for how long?

Nah. I started on drums when I was 14.  I always wanted to play drums for as long as I can remember and I had a guitar I would jam around on though I never took it seriously - just drop d powerchords, just for fun.  But then when I went to Toronto at 17, I couldn't play drums anymore, so I started to focus my energy on guitar instead. I worked all summer before I went to school so I could get my first real guitar - a Gibson Les Paul Gary Moore sig.

Nice.  I'm the opposite.  I started with guitar then played on my friend's kit and loved it.  I still play guitar a lot, but drums is where it's at for me.

Yeah dude.  I don't know I actually probably feel a closer attachment to the drums, but I would rather play guitar live if that makes sense.

Yeah it does. I mean, no non-musicians pay attention to the drums, but they will still know when a guitarist is awesome.

I don't know, when anyone sees a crazy drummer I think they can tell that hes awesome.  But it's more just that I'm not really confident with my drumming skills I guess.  Plus if the drummer fucks up, skips a beat or whatever, everyone will hear it, but if a guitarist does, especially if there is distortion, no one will ever know(laughs).

(laughs) Fair enough.

So for those who don't know, you're in a band called Periphery. How long has Periphery been around?

I guess it's been a couple years now (laughs), man time flies.  But things seem to always been in a state of flux with Periphery.  We spent forever just trying to find the right members, and then people were fired or quit.  But now I think once we find our singer we will truly be able to move forward for a change!

Speaking of finding a singer, how is the search going? Everyone was so bummed about Casey leaving (I can't imagine how you guys felt), and it happened right around the time you guys announced that you were going to be finally recording your first album.

Well actually now I can give some more positive news for a change:  We have come across a handful of talented prospects, who all live in the US and one of them may end up our singer.  But we are also having our guitarist Alex try out, he has an awesome voice that can only get better now that he is working on it, and if he becomes our singer I have a super secret guitarist ready to take his spot!
Once we have our singer we are going to finish up our album asap and put it out so that we can finally have a finished product!

Any hints for who this super secret guitarist would be if Alex ended up being the singer?

Yeah he's one of my favorite musicians ever (laughs)

So does the new album's release lay mostly on the new singer? Is a 2008 release still possible?

I'm hoping so, I really want it to be a 2008 if at all possible

I think many people are hoping for a 2008 release as well. Are you guys looking at any labels to release the debut?

That all depends on the offer (laughs), we are very picky about what we want and what we need from a label, and in todays market the rules seem to be changing all the time.

You guys could always pull a Trent Reznor and release it for free and for optional package deals by yourselves.

(laughs) Well you have to be at a certain level to be able to pull that off well.  The reason that worked well for him and Radiohead is because of the already enormous and extremely loyal fanbase, so even though a lot of casual listeners got it for free, they had enough loyal fans who were willing to give them money.  It's hard to gauge how well something like that will work, and I know we wouldn't be able to pull something like that off just yet, but it does make you think twice about signing a long contract which would prevent you from doing things like that for x amount of time.

You guys have already built up a decent sized following. It wouldn't be a total bust to try something like that.

It's definitely something we have put some thought into for the future

Speaking of the future, any tours in the planning stages?

Well we are trying to set up a tour right now for September.  I really want to get back out on the road even if we will play instrumentally (which most likely we will have to if it's a September tour).  I'm trying to either get us on tour with some bigger bands that we are friends with if at all possible, and if that looks like it's not going to pan out, then we have these 2 local bands I would love to tour with.  I want to do as much touring as possible to be quite honest.  But yeah no guarantees on either of those yet, it's difficult to book your own tour especially with 2 local bands and if you have no singer, but we will try anyways!

Let's go back to the music itself.  It seems that you're uploading new songs all the time. How are you able to write so frequently and make it all sound good?

(laughs) All sound good is a subjective thing, so that's part of it.  But I don't know, I just tend to record whenever I have ideas.  It's funny though, I really don't feel like I'm being very productive.  I wish I wrote more, I always feel like I'm slacking off.  I know I haven't had any solid ideas for a little while now.  But for me, writing and recording are kind of synonymous. I usually am sitting on an idea, and when I sit down to record it, the rest just follows naturally.  i don't know why and I don't really question it.  So all it really takes is a riff or two to get things started.

Another incredible part of everything you record is that it sounds profesionally done. I bought a Pod too, and it doesn't sound like you do. How can I make Bulb music?

(laughs) Well I don't know because I barely even know how I do it.  My mixes are the result of me sitting at my computer slowly tweaking my mixes for years and years and I still know nothing about mixing! I'm still doing that because I'm never really happy with them. As for the songs, if I knew how to write a Bulb song I would be way more prolific.  I have to just wait for the ideas to come - sometimes I have a ton, sometimes I go months without anything good.

Yeah writer's block sucks.

A lot of your songs draw comparisons to bands like Meshuggah and Sikth. What do you say to people who call Periphery clones of those bands?

People will hear different things in music.  My mom can't tell the difference between Korn and Dillinger Escape Plan.  That doesn't mean they sound the same.  Hell I can't tell rap songs apart, but I'm sure they are different.  Ultimately, I'm just here making music that sounds good to me, some people will dig it and some people won't, that's a fact.  Not much I can do about that, so I'm just going to stick to making music that sounds good to me (laughs).

You guys have mentioned something about "Juggernaut." Before I make myself look stupid by asking, can you clarify on what it is exactly?

Juggernaut is this big idea I have been working on for the last couple years on and off of course, but it's probably going to be for Periphery and it's going to be an album most likely.  I was kind of torn about if it should be one song or not, but I have ditched that idea.  It's just going to be a concept album from a musical stand point.  Since I don't write lyrics I don't know how those will turn out but there are several themes and motifs that go through the various tracks it might be the second Periphery album, it might not.  I don't really know what I'm going to do with it because it's not entirely finished yet, and I have been writing it in parallel to the material that is going on the first album, but it may come out shortly after the first album.  I'm not really sure just yet.  I kind of just want to get the first album out of the way before I start worrying about that!

As for music that sounds good to you...what records have you been digging this year/lately?

Oh man that's such a bad question for me because I have the worst memory ever and I'm going to forget, but ill try anyways.  Obzen of course was awesome I thought, and I really dug the new Textures album.  My buddies in Fell Silent finally put their album out, and that's awesome as well!  But lately I have been just listening to a lot of Allan Holdsworth. (laughs)

Speaking of Allan Holdsworth, here's a video of Misha playing his solo from "Devil Take The Hindmost."

this is really cute! hahah the girls dancing to Uhm Jung Hwa's DISCO, SUnye singing to Hyori's U Go Girl and YeBin on Seo In Young's Cinderella haha!

and then the MC asked them to do a sexy dance  and sohee's first hahah! but instead of dancing sexily she ended up being cute! nyahahah! sunye is so funny! hahaha you must watch it LOL!

USAupload

credits: wonderholic & cutegiurl

Was it long?  No.

But here it is for those of you who missed it.  Gerard's part starts around the 2:30 time mark on the video.

Thanks to Mikeywayonline.net for the vid!

Then there's also the new stuff I've gotten really into this year but I don't know whether I should subscribe or not. I'm addicted to WWD online. I get their newsletter everyday (sometimes a couple of times a day) and I love being up to date with everything in the industry. Unlike a lot of magazines and sites, they tell you more than just which model's going to be the new Kate Moss or what designer is going to be the new Lagerfeld, from who is CEO to who won {insert award} to trends-to-watch for the upcoming season. Should I get the paper version as well, or should the site suffice?

And what about international magazines? I've always bought some when I'm abroad. Numéro has always been a favorite, but after the latest issue of Vogue Italia I'm wondering whether or not I should just subscribe. Granted, an international subscription is like 10 times as expensive and since I would never be able to choose between French Vogue, Vogue Italia, British Vogue and Numéro I would have to get them all! Thoughts? Sugestions? Ideas?

Also, be sure to check out: Ryan Rapsys YouTube Channel

And if you haven't had the chance, I also appeared in a live interview on WDSE-PBS along with Craig Blacklock: Interview of Ryan Rapsys with Craig Blacklock

And one other show I appeared on: Ryan Rapsys on On The Road with Jason Davis

Thanks and enjoy!

Where do I start?

Last week's Iron Chef: America:  I have been blogging this show for quite some time now and I have never seen any challenger capture the imagination of the public like Gabrielle Hamilton.  The hits I get on her are amazing.  I hope TFN is paying attention, they may have accidently found the Next Food Network Star.  And Bobby Flay's sous chef Renee ain't bad either.  I should know I thought five years ago that Anne Burrell needs her own show.  Are you listening Tuschman?  I got the sight.

Which now brings me to all of the turmoil of NFNS:  Fixed!  Aaron had one of the worst performances of anyone in the history of the show last week and now (thanks to a network blunder) we know that he is the winner.  Fixed!  Well, actually Mary Nolan was the real winner.  Fixed!  She got a show and didn't even have to compete.  And oddly enough Kelsey Nixon, the brightest face to come on the network in a while got axed (presumably to make sure Aaron would win).  Fixed!  But TFN was on to something with Mary Nolan.  My stats one her are off the chart as well.  She's a solid fit for the network, but apparently a lot of you love her.  I like her, she's nice, but Kelsey had star (Rachael Ray cross-over star) written all over her.  Instead of calling Aaron McCargo's new show Big Daddy's House they should call it One And Done.  Out of the ten chefs they had to choose from they went with the guy who was horrible on camera.  No wonder the winner's show never gets pickep up for a second season.  Except for Guy Fieri.  I see why Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen smoke NFNS in the ratings.  Sure they are just shows about people screaming and there is little actual cooking to them but you at least feel that they find the best person in the end.

Digital Abstracts and Patterns Magazine was idealized by Aloramyst, one of the hosts of  the Digital Abstracts & Patterns group. Many people were involved in creating this magazine, unfortunantly, I was not one of them. But, I was one of the selected members to be published in it. Not only was I published in it, I also have an image on the cover! "A Pinch of Blue" was selected as one of the 40 images on the cover. (The same 40 images are repeated, but flipped around, in the four squares.)

The first half of the magazine contains interviews with each artist chosen to be published. The interviews are listed in alphabetical order, mine starts on on page 52. After the interviews, each artist has a two page display of some of their work. My art is on page 146.

CHECK IT OUT!

While looking over William Taylor Jr’s web site one afternoon I came across some pictures of Taylor and Christopher Robin. There was not an explanation in the caption, but I figured they must be friends. I came upon his name on other sites as well. It kept popping up but still held the mystique of something transparent as he is not widespread on the internet. In my correspondance with Taylor, he mentioned Christopher Robin. He said, if you like my stuff, you’ll like his. Good enough for me-- maybe an interview. Bill Taylor also said Chris was an undiscovered gem. I couldn’t find any contact info on him except a PO Box. Who the hell writes anymore?
Answer: Christopher Robin.
.............................................................................(Photo by Joe Pachinko)
I ordered Freaky Mumbler’s Manifesto from LuLu and when it arrived I gave it a quick read. Oh shit—not like Taylors’s stuff at all. Not better, nor worse--something different. It is 97 pages of poetry that you cross the street or turn your head to avoid when walking the dog. It is honest, raunchy, and from the heart, just the way Robin has lived it. Like he says, he writes for himself, to provide a bit of clarity to this messed up world. It was good stuff, so good I ordered his chap, Angleflies in My Idiot Soup from platonic3waypress.com and I wasn’t disappointed with that selection either. I would also recommend Zen Baby. For a couple of bucks and it is worth every penny and then some Christopher Robin will mail you a copy. If you like send Chris a little extra to keep you from feeling like cheap ass.
Christopher Robin has been invisible to all except his friends and maybe he prefers it that way, but I think he has something to say.

If Hipster’s Were Garbage Men by Christopher Robin

William Taylor Jr. and Christopher Robin in North Beach
(Photo from Taylor's Website--see sidebar)

INTERVIEW

Scot: You are a poet and a publisher. Which do you find the most satisfying?

Chris: As a poet I am only writing for myself, and it’s more satisfying in the way that I don’t put a lot of expectations into the finished product, no deadlines and nobody to please. Publishing zines and chaps is really the opposite; it’s my own creativity, ultimately, but so many other people are in my head. A lot of editors have told me the same thing, it’s hard to know what to give your energy to in the course of a day, especially if you have very little of it, energy, that is, which I often do.

Scot: How many chaps do you have out? Which one is your favorite?

Chris: I have three chapbooks, Who Will Pay the Royalties for the Voices in My Head,Freaky Mumbler’s Manifesto, which I published on Lulu last year, and the recent, Angelflies in My Idiotsoup from Platonic3Way Press. My first book, which came out in 1999 will always be my favorite, mainly for sentimental reasons. The first edition was typed and laid out on an old word processor, created long distance (over the phone) by a very good friend of mine who was also surviving on disability; and each book was hand sewn and stapled by her, 200 copies total. She believed in me and it really meant a lot to me that someone wanted to help me get my writing out.

Scot: Your friend William Taylor Jr. gets a lot of his material from the streets and bars of SF, where does yours come from?

Chris: I don’t hang out in bars too much these days, unless I’m looking for William Taylor, Jr, but like him I do spend a lot of time in my own neighborhoods, walking aimlessly and talking to the unfortunates, and I am one, but I don’t meet as many prostitutes as he seems to (at 3 a.m.). Nowadays I don’t write as much about the streets because I no longer live on them. My inspiration might come from stealing fruit from trees in the summer time, the end of the world, politics, my crazy friends, poverty, being a throw-away poet on ssi, synchronicity found around every corner, the magic of the everyday, the list goes on.

Scot: Why do you write?

Chris: for my own clarity, the process of writing distills things for me, maybe I can be in the world a little easier once I’ve broken it down, it clears my head and helps me take the world and my own problems less seriously. I’d like to be able to break it all down into very short, tight sentences, but I’m not there yet.

Scot: Unlike a lot of today’s poets, there is not much of Christopher Robin on the internet. Is this by design or failure to market?

Chris: Well, because of a certain cartoon character who spends a lot of time trying to steal my identity, you’d have to search pretty specifically. There’s a bit on my zine, Zen Baby, a lot of reviews over the years, (though there was another book that came out with the same title, after I started publishing); and thanks to Charles P. Ries a lot of reviews on my chapbooks. But it’s true I don’t submit a lot of poetry to online publications, I still prefer print, its more tangible, feels more permanent, and I prefer it. And I don’t google myself too much, I’ve heard it can make you go blind.

Scot: Tell us about Zen Baby? Do you take submissions or solicit?

Chris: I started Zen Baby zine in 2000. I’d quit drinking a few years earlier and was completely unemployable (still am, mostly). I call it the Literary Hijinks of Glorified Nobodies. It’s a bit of a literary mosh-pit, poems, continents, classes, ideas, all clashing and getting together in a mess of glue and smeared ink. I rarely solicit submissions unless I really like someone’s work and haven’t heard from them for a while. I get a lot of submissions, almost all of them through regular mail. The reason I don’t put my email online is because email submissions are too hard to keep track of. There is a lot of prisoner input, both artwork and poetry; (I also run a distro for prisoner-made zines, I Press On! Publications); it includes artwork, semi-coherent socio-political rants, and tons of small press poets and often some (mildly) juicy small press gossip (but not the mean kind, only satire).

Scot:`` Do you have a writing routine?

Chris: No, but I prefer to write late at night, unless internet porn or games are competing for my attention, or I like to spend an entire Saturday afternoon not getting dressed or brushing my teeth, just cigarettes and coffee, and not eating really, but that doesn’t happen enough, sadly, so I write whenever I can no longer stand the fact that I’m not writing.

Scot: I have seen pictures of you at a typewriter. So, how do you write—longhand, typewriter, computer?

Chris: My good friend and favorite writer Joe Pachinko took those pictures at my house. I think he wanted to camp it up a bit, he’s a clown and typewriter aficionado himself. I collect typewriters, I cherish them, they are treasures, but most of mine are badly in need of repair right now. They will also be our best mode of communication when the lights truly go out. I actually do most of my writing on an Alphasmart3000, which is just a simple, battery operated portable keyboard with no bells and whistles. It was invented for kids with ADD who get distracted by Internet porn, and I plug it into Word for editing and printing. It’s the best thing I’ve ever found, a nice middle ground between a typewriter and a computer.

Scot: Who were your favorite poets growing up? Did you have a major influence?

Chris: I discovered Bukowski when I was 15. I also read a lot of Brautigan and the Beats as a teenager. My mother owned a bookstore, so I discovered a lot of writers that way.

Scot: Who are your heroes?

Chris: `I don’t really believe in heroes, but I have some ideas: G o AWOL, feed a hungry person, don’t fear the government, stand up for your rights and of those around you, don’t be silent, speak up for prisoners, publish your own shit, don’t join any groups. In a fascist country, these are heroic acts, in my opinion.

Scot: What is the most unlikely place you ever gave a poetry reading?

Chris: I’ve read at people’s houses, in bars, in the parking lot outside of our open mic after they closed our venue recently, don’t know how unlikely those places are. I don’t know if reading inside of a Laundromat for 4 years counts, there are other readings in Laundromat/Cafes but not many, I suppose. Long live the Wired Wash Café!

Scot: What is it to be an underground poet?

Chris: To be invisible except to all of your friends, to be mildly appreciated by those who have nothing else left in life; being constantly busy sending letters and obscure mail art for no apparent reason to people I’ve never met. Life in a mailbox is not a lonely life, though some would say it might be futile, but I don’t mind. We create community from wherever we are, virtually or through the mail. I know people from all over the country and overseas, and I probably will never meet most of them. The small press and zines are the only truly free press that we have left, that is, not controlled by corporations or government, vital and necessary forms of communication, I say.

Scot: If you could ask a literary figure a question—a sit down--who would it be and how would it go?

Chris: I would love to talk to Jack Kerouac, he’s appeared to me in a lot of dreams that I chronicled in a zine many years ago. I don’t have the dreams anymore, sadly, but I considered them a gift, as I have felt a spiritual kinship with him for years. And I wouldn’t mind talking to Allen Ginsberg or Neal Cassady, but I wouldn’t ask them anything, I would just sit silently and listen while they babbled on about important, mystical and nonsensical things.

Scot: When not involved in poetry, what occupies your time?

Chris: Riding my electric scooter, playing internet games, making, copying, distributing zines of all types, riding the nearby roller coaster, writing letters, drinking coffee, smoking, listening to Flipper records, sleeping, watching Adult Swim Cartoons, swimming in the river, going on road trips, gambling, collecting clowns, doing odd jobs. I stay pretty busy. I play constantly, and avoiding manual labor also takes up a lot of my time, never enough time in a day.

Scot: What writers today do you like to read?

Chris: Joe Pachinko, Nicole Henares, William Taylor, Jr, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Michael Lites, Jennifer Blowdryer, Lauren Masaka, Nancy Gauquier, Debbie Kirk, Brian Morrisey, John Sweet, Jesse Beagle, Bruce Isaacson, Todd Moore, S.A. Griffin, Scott Wannberg, John Dorsey, David S. Pointer, Charles P. Ries, Frank Walsh, those are just a few of my favorite poets right now.

Scot: Does poetry really matter?

Chris: Not really, but it matters to those of us that write it. Too many writers, very few readers and/or buyers. I try to support a few poets that I really like, by actually buying chapbooks from them, trading is great but we all gotta eat, and the small publishers who do good work, they should be supported. As far as the mainstream goes, poetry might be considered the lowest form of art right now. I blame slam poetry and constipated- academic-poetry for this. Slam poetry has tried to turn poetry into an MTV commodity, and it’s succeeded, it’s popular and lucrative, but that’s where the conformity and lack of soul comes in. People don’t realize there are alternatives to these types of poetry, so they ignore us where it might count. There are so many amazing books from small press writers, really good writers, who should be on the bookstore shelves, not just in our living rooms. It is a shame how many good writers go under appreciated and unnoticed in this culture.

Scot: What question would you like someone to ask, but they never do?

Chris: “Can I cook dinner for you and then have sex with you and then leave you alone so you can write poems about me?” Well, I get that sometimes, but not enough.
Correspondence here: Christopher Robin P.O. Box 1611 Santa Cruz, CA 95061-1611
Links:
http://www.literaryrevolution.com/
Guild of Outsider Writers
www.wiredpoets.com

I went on a job interview today with another company.  I think it went very well.  I think I portrayed myself as a dependable, hard-working and productive manager.  The company is a very big and well known department store.

If I get the job, I am not sure I will accept it.  There are many factors that will go into my decision.  The most important thing of course is pay.  The job is actually a step down, so how will it affect my career path?  There is a 6 month wait for health insurance as well.  So I am not so sure.

I feel a little guilty about going, but not much.  It doesn't hurt anyone to talk.  And, in today's retail, (management especially) everyone has 1 foot out of the door already just looking for the next best thing.

I should hear something next week, so that will give me some time to think things over.

We shall see.

The manifesto and its companion vows were drafted by friends and initial co-signators Von Trier and Vinterberg. Vinterberg holds that it took them 45 minutes to finish. The manifesto initially mimics the wording of François Truffaut's 1954 essay Une certaine tendance du cinéma français in Cahiers du Cinema.

The Dogme movement was announced on March 22, 1995 at Le cinéma vers son deuxième siècle conference in Paris, where the cinema world gathered to celebrate the first century of motion pictures and contemplate the uncertain future of commercial cinema. Lars von Trier was called upon to speak about the future of film but instead showered a bemused audience with red pamphlets announcing the Dogme 95 movement.

In response to criticism, Von Trier and Vinterberg have both stated that they just wanted to establish a new extreme. "In a business of extremely high budgets, we figured we should balance the dynamic as much as possible."

The first of the Dogme films (Dogme #1) was Vinterberg's 1998 film Festen (The Celebration), which was critically acclaimed and won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival that year. Lars von Trier's Dogme film, Idioterne (The Idiots), also premiered at Cannes that year but was less successful. French-American actor and director Jean-Marc Barr was the first non-Dane to direct a Dogme film with 1999's Lovers (Dogme #5), followed by the American Harmony Korine's movie Julien Donkey-Boy (Dogme #6).

VOW OF CHASTITY

1. Filming must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found).
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice verse. (Music must not be used unless it occurs within the scene being filmed).
3. The camera must be a hand-held camera. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. (The film must not take place where the camera is standing; filming must take place where the action takes place.)
4. The film must be in color. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
6. The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that the film takes place here and now.)
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
9. The final picture must be transferred to the Academy 35mm film, with an aspect ratio of 4:3, that is, not widescreen. (Originally, the requirement was that the film had to be filmed on Academy 35mm film, but the rule was relaxed to allow low-budget productions.)
10. The director must not be credited.

Interview with Lars von Trier

Reference checking is a standard although flawed process. Candidates choose references that will speak positively about them so hiring managers are expecting glowing references with little valuable information. If a hiring manager hears anything that sounds the least negative they immediately see red flags.

Instead of your reference checks being a standard procedure with little information, you can have your reference check enhance your candidacy. Once your interview is over you will have a great deal of information about the position, the qualities the hiring manager likes about you, and any hesitations the hiring manager may have about hiring you. This is all very important information your references need to know.

Call your references and prepare them for the reference check call. Tell them about the critical requirements of the position, how you fit the position, and your strongest selling points. Tell them what the hiring manager likes about you and ask them to highlight those points. Mention any concerns the hiring manager has and ask your reference to talk positively about those areas.

The Business Pundit in his online blog suggests that hiring manager ask references the following questions:
* What did he learn during his time at your company
* If you could give him a single career suggestion, what would it be?
(If the reference was a supervisor)
* How did the candidate respond to your management style?
* Would you rehire her
You can discuss these questions with your references and prepare them with answers.