Journal Archive - June, 2006

oh, i just wanted to mention that i'm doing a q&a with cathleen falsani today at barnes & noble in union square at 7pm.
we'll be talking about spirituality and religion.
thanks
moby

hi,
so, the boards...
the new boards will hopefully be up and running by the middle of next week.
thank you again for your patience.
mboy

Smithsonian removes electric-car exhibit

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
WASHINGTON -- Just days before the release of a movie about the death of the electric car from the 1990s, the Smithsonian Institution has removed its EV1 electric sedan from display.

The National Museum of American History in Washington D.C removed the rare exhibit yesterday, just as interest in electric and hybrid vehicles is on the rise.

The upcoming film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" questions why General Motors created the battery-powered vehicles and then crushed the program a few years later. The film opens June 30th.

GM happens to be one of the Smithsonian's biggest contributors. But museum and GM officials say that had nothing to do with the removal of the EV1 from display.

A museum spokeswoman says the museum simply needed the space to display another vehicle, a GM SUV.

another documentary that i saw recently was 'i'm your man', which is a very unique documentary about leonard cohen.
it's unique in that it's 1/2 a documentary about leonard cohen and 1/2 a tribute film wherein disparate(but compelling)musicians perform leonard cohen songs.
i have to say that i preferred the 1/2 of the documentary that focuses on leonard cohen, but some of the performances are genuinely great, in particular the performance by antony from antony and the johnsons.
i was pleased and surprised that nick cave pulled off 'susanne', as it's a very delicate song(not to mention that one of my earliest memories is my mother playing piano and singing 'susanne', so it's a very special song to me).
-moby

tonight i meet up with some friends and watched 'who killed the electric car?'
it's a great movie, and well worth seeing.
in some ways it's almost a bit more sophisticated and far reaching in it's scope than 'an inconvenient truth'(which is also great).
what's fascinating about 'who killed the electric car?' is the realization that oil is becoming a strange nexus of many different issues.
a-national security(almost all of our foreign policy vulnerabilities are a result of the oil trade and our reliance on foreign oil...iraq, afghanistan, saudi arabia, lybia, etc. even north korea, which we've ignored because they don't have oil or natural gas).
b-the environment. global warming is a result of burning oil and coal. quite simple.
c-technology. we subsidise old industries(oil, coal, etc), but neglect new technologies that will deliver prosperity in the future(wind, solar, hydro, battery technologies, etc).

so i believe that what we'll see is the following:
a-strange 'matchmaking' between neo-cons and environmentalists, between hippies and christians, between high-tech and national security.
and
b-gas prices are going to start coming down soon, for the mid-term elections and to discourage investment into alternative and sustainable energy sources.

if the democrats were smart they would make energy a key issue for all of these reasons.
it's a huge republican weakness(as gw bush and cheney both ran oil companies and condi rice was on chevron's board of directors and 80% of the oil companies campaign contributions go to republicans, etc).
it's not just the environment, it's not just national security, it's not just a viable high-tech future, it's all 3 combined.
-moby

i've put some more music up on my myspace account.
one unreleased track that's up there now is a remix of 'spiders'
that freescha did last year.
only one problem...i lost their email address...
if anyone knows freescha can you ask them to write me and also let them know that i love the remix that they did?
thanks,
moby

p.s-freescha are great, go buy their records if you can.

dude! you gonna party this weekend or what??
it's gonna b a rager, bro!
me -n- my sigma bro's r goin' to a sweet kegger at the psi ep's.
gonna be oth, bro!

ok, i'll stop.
i went to a frat party once when i was at uconn. not much happened.
a bunch of guys in white hats drinking beer in plastic cups.
not my scene, i guess, even though i did in my past like beer in plastic cups.
what're your weekend plans?
i'm here in nyc doing rain dances.
the kind people at noaa have been promising us rain.
sweet rain.
sweet beautiful rain.
but alas, no rain.
it just skims us, as i think it rained for 38 seconds last night.
now it's just hot and steamy.
always with the hot and steamy.
i think i might stop reading about politics.
the republicans are inept and evil.
but the democrats are inept and lame.
good times.
it's a cornucopia of ineptitude if you're a daily show writer, i guess.
i do love the weekly irrelevant bills that the house passes.
i think the next one will be 'people shouldn't skateboard on molten lava'.
they are idiots.
when you watch the republicans in the house get on their soapboxes you just kind of wish that they'd all go back to the used car dealerships they left behind in whatever toothless town they come from.
'i keep tellin' you, we just grow sorghum.'
is cletus the slack jawed yokel in the house of representatives yet?
didn't i see him on c-span the other day?
have a good weekend at your respective keggers.
enjoy the warm beer in plastic cups.
-moby

ok, boards.
it looks as if we're very close to having the boards back up and running.
they'll be different.
i'm not sure how different, but different.
the old boards were, apparently, really easy to hack.
these new boards won't be.
i'm sure that some of you will at first be disappointed if the boards are different.
but give them time and you'll come to love them again.
i hope.
moby

hi,
i'm tempted to write a 'generic blog from someone at the record company pretending to be a generic musician'.
ok, here goes:
'yo yo yo! whazzzzup??? just wanna send shout-outs to all of r fanzz! u r 'da best'!!!
dont' forget to buy our new cd and dvd!!! and come see us 'on tour'!! we're just chillin'
in 'da crib' gettin' ready to go out 'on tour'!!! ok! peace!'
how was that?
did it seem authentic?
in other news, i saw a great documentary on leonard cohen the other night. wait, shouldn't it be: 'the other night i saw a great documentary on leonard cohen'? in any case, it was really good. and it had a bunch of performers performing leonard cohen songs.
the highlight was the performance by antony from antony and the johnsons.
in fact it's almost worth seeing the movie just for his performance.
it's suddenly very overcast here in nyc. with luck it'll rain soon. it's been very very hot lately, and the nyc oven could use some cooling down.
-moby

sorry for the long period without the boards.
i still don't have any concrete answers on what we're going to do.
i'm hoping, however, to have answers by thursday or friday.
sorry for the long delay.
moby

this month, rolling stone ran an investigative feature claiming that republicans used a systematic combination of voter disenfranchisement and fraud, centered in ohio, to rob john kerry of a win in the 2004 presidential election.

robert f. kennedy jr., an environmental lawyer and son of liberal icon bobby kennedy, wrote the article, available, along with supporting research, at rollingstone.com. kennedy spoke to prweek about the story.

prweek: how did you come to write this piece?
robert f. kennedy jr.: i had not paid much attention to this issue. and then a number of books came out, and i read them because i [wanted to use them] to interview people on my radio show. and then i read the [rep. john] conyers report, [a 2005 congressional inquiry into the election], and started talking with people in ohio. and at one point, i said, "holy cow, this is real." and then i talked to [rs editor] jann wenner about it. i encouraged him to do a piece, and he said "we'll print one if you write it."

prweek: tell me about the process of putting the story together -â it obviously took a while.
kennedy: i read the literature out there, and read the articles. then i interviewed voters in ohio, and public officials, and people who were involved in the election from all over the country.

prweek: why do you think this wasn't covered heavily by major media directly after the election?
kennedy: i think the mainstream media took up the republican echo chamber, and just echoed the right-wing talking points.

prweek: why didn't the democrats themselves pursue this?
kennedy: well, there was a lot of complaining; there were a lot of lawsuits. but it got very little traction in the media. but you know, the democrats on this issue have been abysmal as well.

prweek: your story wasn't based on any secret information, correct?
kennedy: no, that's the whole thing. this was not a secret conspiracy. this was done openly and shamelessly. across ohio, there were people who did everything they could to stop this.

prweek: have you had any indication that the national media will take another look at this issue?
kennedy: i had a good indication [june 7]. the new york times, as its lead editorial, did a piece on [ohio secretary of state] kenneth blackwell's current efforts to suppress registration drives in ohio. and the republicans are doing the same thing in florida, and the times talked about that, as well.

prweek: what reaction have you seen from the general public?
kennedy: there's a huge reaction. rolling stone told me that it's gotten two and a half times as many e-mails [about this article] as it's ever gotten for any other story in its history. so there's a huge appetite for this story.

prweek: this story didn't have a 'smoking gun'; was there one person coordinating this entire operation?â 
kennedy: there's never going to be 100% certitude that the election was stolen, because the only way you could get that is by recounting the ballots, and the recount was illegally derailed by republican operatives. the mastermind behind the efforts in ohio was kenneth blackwell, along with…[toledo elections official] bernadette noe. but on a national level, it's [republican national committee chairman] kenneth mehlman and karl rove.

prweek: have you gotten any reaction from the republican party on this?
kennedy: i've gotten, certainly, reaction in the blogosphere. but most of the reaction has been supportive.

prweek: is there a next step?
kennedy: i've been meeting with attorneys... to devise a litigation strategy. and i would say that very soon we'll be announcing lawsuits against some of the individuals and companies involved.

prweek: who exactly would that litigation be targeting?
kennedy: i wouldn't say, right now.

prweek: the election is over. is it too late now?
kennedy: there's another election soon. and as theâ times [just] reported, the same people are up to the same shenanigans.

not trying to trouble some already troubled waters, but if the japanese and their pro-whaling friends are able to force a return to commercial whaling then i believe that it will become our ethical responsibility to boycott these countries and their commercial products.
commercial whaling is an abomination and should be comprehensively outlawed.
japan would back down from their pro-whaling stance if the western world organized a boycott of japanese products and japanese tourism.
a small percentage of japanese people benefit from and support whaling, as opposed to the vast majority of japanese people who benefit from trading with the west.
even the threat of a boycott would hopefully put an end to commercial whaling.
-moby

just sitting here listening to void(from dischord, ian mackaye's d.c hardcore label)and feeling nostalgic for the good old days of underground hardcore. ah well, sweet nostalgia. and i'm also getting ready to go to nublu to play dance music.
i just got a lot of really, really good minimal house records. is it weird that i've never dj'ed with cd's? sometimes people will see me playing vinyl records and look almost horrified, as if i'm going to open a vaudeville theater with a manual elevator operator and a place for people to park their horses. i'm old school in that i like the idea of putting my hands on vinyl. it just feels nice. i'm sure that cd-dj players are great, i've just never used one and i kind of rebel against the thought of playing a record and not actually being able to put your hands on it.
i'd love to play cd's. i don't dj often, but i don't love lugging around 50 pounds worth of vinyl. i really envy the ipod dj's. they show up with a couple of ipods. that would be nice.
but i'll stick with my vinyl. well, so long as people continue to make vinyl.
maybe i'll see you later at nublu.
-moby

from myspace:

hey guys,

myspace has bought out 7 movie theaters so you can come see an inconvenient truth for free and spread the word!

did you know the excess co2 we produce is the main cause of global warming?

we feel really strongly about the environment and how the earth is changing. the movie, an inconvenient truth, is one of the most compelling and eye-opening we've ever seen.

an inconvenient truth offers a passionate and inspirational look at whats happening and how to help save the planet from irrevocable change. we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue. rather, it is the biggest moral challenge facing our global civilization.

global warming is the greatest crisis facing our planet. if we don't act now we could drive one million species to extinction within 25 years. you owe it to the future to see the truth.

so how do you get involved? its easy -- just repost and spread the word! then come out and show your support by seeing an inconvenient truth.

the theaters:

landmark la jolla village
cinemas - la jolla, ca
7:00 pm

bijoux theatre
san antonio, tx
8:00 pm

tivoli manor square
kansas city, mo
8:00 pm

drexal gateway theatre
columbus, oh
8:00 pm

ballantyne theatre
charlotte, nc
8:00 pm

landmark guild 45th theatre
seattle, wa
7:30 pm

spectrum 8
albany, ny
7:00 pm

arrive early! seats are limited and tickets will be on a first-come first-served basis.

you have the power to make a difference.

2 war related things.
1-as of today 2,500 american soldiers have been killed in iraq. tens of thousands of american soldiers have been wounded. and hundreds of thousands of iraqii's have been killed and wounded.
all of this for a war that never should have happened.
it's always worth remembering:
a-there was no connection between iraq and what happened on september 11, 2001.
b-there were no weapons of mass destruction in iraq.
c-there was no connection between saddam hussein and al qaeda.
d-the war has cost $700,000,000,000.00 dollars so far.
e-the majority of casualites suffered by u.s troops happened after gw bush said 'mission accomplished' and 'bring it on'.

it's just such a stupid tragedy, that u.s soldiers and iraqi civilians are suffering and dying needlessly.
the war never should have happened.

in other news, the republican house has passed house resolution 861.
it states that 'the united states will prevail in the war on terror'.
what's next, a republican resolution stating that the united states will prevail in the war on cancer?
isn't it kind of a given that all politicians should be working to prevail in the war on terror?
does congress have so much time on their hands that they can draft arbitrary resolutions that essentially state the obvious?
the republican congress are a bunch of worthless scumbags.
they have the blood of thousands of people on their hands and all they can say is, 'we support the war on terror'.
they should get on their hands and knees and apologize personally to the friends and family members of every person who's been killed or wounded in the war so far.
or, better yet, they should all resign en masse out of shame and contrition.
-moby

nublu are going to have their 4th anniversary party on
monday jun 19 at 10pm, and i've agreed to come down and dj for them(i'll probably play records from 11pm until 2 or 3 a.m).
it's $5 to get in, with the money going to the institute for music and neurologic function.
nublu is on 62 ave c (btw 4th & 5th) and kudu(who are great) will be playing as well.
see you there/then.
-moby

i recently made a video with the humane society about
factory farming.
if you'd like to see it it's here:

http://www.hsus.org/farm/

as i've said many times, in a perfect world animals wouldn't be used for human purposes. but as we live in an imperfect world at least we can try to diminish the suffering that's inflicted on animals who are being used for human purposes.
thanks,
moby

ah ha!
proof that homophobes are just closeted gays!
feel free to share this study with any of your homophobic friends(maybe while you gently encourage them to come out of the closet and accept their
feelings and move to sydney or new york or san francisco and dance to house music until 5 a.m. trust me, they'll be happier.).
it also helps me to understand why so many homophobes love to watch professional sports.
i mean, if i described a tv show as:
'a bunch of sweaty, scantily clad men running around and having intimate physical contact with each other and occasionally hugging and slapping each others asses'
you would be confused, right?
would i be describing gay porn or most professional sports?
it also helps me to understand why so many men wouldn't go see 'brokeback mountain'.
they're afraid that they'll get aroused by heath ledger and jake gyllenhall(both of whom are pretty cute, it must be said).
so here's the study:

"sam seder:
in our book, we quote a 1996 study in the journal of abnormal psychology by researchers at the university of georgia. the subjects of the experiment -- all males describing themselves as exclusively straight -- were divided into homophobic and non-homophobic groups. they were then shown videos of straight pornography and gay pornography, while their levels of arousal were measured by a penile plethysmograph.

the results? during the gay videos, nearly 80% of the male homophobes achieved a state of arousal. what's more intriguing is in their own assessments of their arousal, the homophobes claimed to have none, even though the instruments showed otherwise.

-moby

p.s-'penile plethysmograph'...we learn new words every day.

kevin aviance, who i don't know but who seems like a very decent person, was gay bashed over the weekend.
luckily he wasn't too badly hurt, and luckily the 4 brain-dead half-wits who beat him up are being arrested for 1st degree assault and for commiting a hate crime.
what sort of idiot, or gang of idiots, feels justified in beating someone up because of their sexual persuasion(or race, or religious affiliation, or gender, or dress code, etc)?
it makes me want to start a vigilante group.
we start a vigilante group and find the idiots who are violent homophobes or misogynists or racists or anti-semites and we hold them down and tattoo a big red 'a' on their forehead.
'a' for asshole.
then if they become repeat offenders we castrate them, cos the world really doesn't need for these bigots to ever procreate and father children.
and why in the world would a bunch of homophobes want to hang out in nyc?
a homophobe in nyc is like an anti-semite in israel or a vegan in mcdonalds.
nyc is a tolerant, happy, accepting place. we tolerate everything, except for intolerance.
nyc is great. one of the few places in the world where being gay is encouraged but being homophobic is stigmatized.
in a perfect world the surgeon general would release a report stating that homophobes are just closeted fags with small penises who deep down want to have sex with their buddies.
-moby

a lot of the remixes that were done by other people for 'hotel' were really good, but one remix that i particularly loved was the 'shortwave set' remix for 'dream about me'.
because it wasn't exactly a club mix it was never heard very widely.
so, to rectify that, i've put it up on my myspace account if you want to listen to it.
-moby