Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

More Strange Music

Posted on December 20, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

OK, I think this is a bit weird, a more serious piece of strange than Stairway to Somewhere: someone has set a complaint to music. And not just any complaint, but Mackris v. O'Reilly, the infamous sexual harassment complaint filed against TV bloviator Bill O'Reilly and settled for an undisclosed sum.

There's a video with a lengthy excerpt of this work at O'Reilly's Sexual Harrassment Lawsuit Sung Like Handel's “Messiah”. And here's how they describe the project:

The piece is a setting of the sexual harassment complaint lodged against Fox News pundit, Bill O’Reilly, by staff producer, Andrea Mackris, in October 2004 and recorded at its world premiere in January 2007. It includes all memorable moments from the original complaint and more – paranoid rants, clumsy sexual innuendo, and the famous falafel fantasy. Composer Igor Keller has produced this concert-length work in the form of a baroque oratorio, in the style of an updated Handel’s Messiah, for 28-piece chamber orchestra, 26-voice chorus and three soloists. It’s an oratorio for the 21st century!

There's also an extensive FAQ.

I'm in no position to judge from the excerpt if this this is good art or not (although I am suspicious). I did go see “Jerry Springer: The Opera” the last time I was in London, and despite what one might think about the idea of basing an opera around Jerry Springer, it was good. So who knows.

Posted in Kultcha | 3 Comments

Commissioners and Desperate Developers Do Dirty Deal

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Despite the language, I'm with Critical Miami on the substance of this one:

Ladies and gentlemen, your county commission is out of its collective fucking mind: They just approved $347 million for a new Marlins stadium (more then double what the actual team will contribute!), overrode the UDB veto (to allow building past the development boundary, and note that Katy Sorenson, Rebeca Sosa, Carlos Gimenez, and Dennis Moss are the only ones that stood up against development), and generally passed the whole downtown overhaul that was proposed last year. I'm with them on the streetcar and on Museum park, but not much of anything else. Update: The budget for the 800-unit replacement to the Scott and Carver housing projects can suddenly accommodate only about 150 units.

Ungood. The money for the Marlins is especially stupid since there's precious little evidence that the community actually wants to spend tax money on them. Or that they deserve it.

Posted in Miami | Comments Off on Commissioners and Desperate Developers Do Dirty Deal

Kudos to Miami Law Firm

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

The WSJ blog gives deserved praise to Maimi firm Stearns Weaver for its holiday card:

truck.jpg

Where most year-end greetings come with photos of adorable children and picturesque snow scenes, this one featured a picture of a food-bank truck (pictured) with the following text:

Past contributions by our firm have enabled the Daily Bread Food Bank to deliver over 1.3 million meals to those in need in our community.

This year, we decided to contribute a truck to help make the deliveries a little easier.

When you see this truck in our community, you may notice that our name is not on it. That is because the gift of this truck is made in your honor. It would not have been possible without you.

Nice work, gentlepersons.

The Daily Bread Food Bank (an affiliate of America's Second Harvest) is one of the charities our household donates to.

Posted in Law: Practice | 1 Comment

Stairway to Somewhere

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

I don't know if I should be calling this video brilliant, perverted, or a wakeup call for western civilization or all of the above.

Sotted via Boingboing's Cory Doctorow who writes,

This superb video mashup from The Beatnix takes fuzzy footage of the Beatles in concert and seamlessly converts it to a pleasepleaseme-esque rendition of Stairway to Heaven. John Scalzi promises it'll make your head explode and he's not far wrong.

Posted in Kultcha | 3 Comments

Timeline of CIA Torture Tape Destruction

Posted on December 18, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

This looks to be a careful and thorough effort: Complete 911 Timeline: Destruction of CIA Interrogation Tapes.

The site is slow — maybe a lot of demand?

Posted in Torture | 2 Comments

FISA: Where’s the Coverage?

Posted on December 18, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

It may be only temporary, but the netroots and the civil liberties crowd won a big victory yesterday by derailing FISA. Senator Dodd spent about ten hours on the Senate floor talking against retroactive immunity. It's the first sign of a Congress willing to stand up to the Bush/Cheney fear-mongering steam roller.

You might think some of this would be fairly big news?

But not much sign of it in the paper this morning, and nothing I can see on the front page of the electronic NYT or WashPost. There are small inside items: in the “Washington” section of the Times, and the “national” section of the Post (A02 of the print edition, which is better than nothing), but clearly neither paper thinks it's that big a deal.

Posted in The Media | 1 Comment