A bit far?

Oooh. I think THAT’s a bit nasty. I mean, Christian rock isn’t exactly the most original and brilliant art, indeed almost nothing made in the name of Christian culture is…

…and Seth Andrews has a whole video on that theme, about how Christian media essentially takes its ideas from secular popular culture to try and keep pace with the latter. It’s kind of a form of exploitation in some respects. Which is not to say that it’s necessarily all bad and irredeemable, is it? Even if we concede almost all of it probably is, surely there’s got to be some exception that proves the rule. And I do believe that one of Australia’s more perplexing international success stories provides one…

Michael Tait might have irrevocably ruined things for the band with his misbehaving, but they did produce this song which may have kind of inspired this somewhat regrettable film series in which the band makes guest appearances as themselves, but which is nonetheless something of a banger. I actually encountered it in parodic form, it should be said, courtesy of God Awful Movies, whose review of the second GND film from ten years ago featured a stellar rewrite of the song by Eli Bosnick… it took me years to actually hear the original, but when I did it not only gave me a new appreciation of just how good the GAM parody was, but also how good the original had been too.

I mean, I’ve no use for the theology behind it and even less for its evangelising purpose (and it’s obviously failed to work on me in that regard), but the song slaps. It obviously gave GAM something solid to build their parody upon. Artistically speaking, Christian media may be stuck in the past somewhat and almost all of it may well be irredeemable shit, but actual people made this thing in a way I don’t think AI would have done. And as counterintuitive as Christian black metal sounds on paper and surely is in practice, I’ve actually liked what I’ve heard by Antestor:

I mean, fucking HELLHAMMER drummed for this lot at one point. So there’s something of value out there, maybe not much but some exists. I suspect that’s a lot more than we’ll ever say about AI art…

Orange card!

Haven’t written about the World Cup cos it hasn’t particularly interested me, by virtue of it being a sporting event, and despite some shenanigans before the tournament, the whole thing does seem to have gone off without too much fuss after all the grumbling before it. And then Mushroom Cock interfered.

President Donald Trump has confirmed he asked Fifa to review United States striker Folarin Balogun’s one-match suspension at the World Cup.
Balogun, 25, was set to miss his side’s last-16 tie against Belgium after being shown a straight red card for a foul on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic in the previous round.
But Fifa made the shock decision to suspend the automatic one-match ban for 12 months, leading to widespread criticism, including from Uefa, Belgium and England boss Thomas Tuchel. […]
Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said he had asked Fifa to review the decision because he “didn’t think it was a foul”.
He confirmed he had spoken to Fifa president Gianni Infantino but said “all” he did was ask for a review and added he did not tell the Swiss he had to suspend Balogun’s ban.
Trump added: “I think it [the suspension] would have left a big stain. I can’t tell them what to do. I don’t believe they made the decision; I believe it was the commission that made the decision. And it was the right decision.”

Apparently the only other time anything like this has happened at the World Cup was in 1962, and that was also considered political interference, so it’s not unprecedented but rare enough that it’s stunned people this time round, especially given how open Trump was about it. Pretty much everyone seems to acknowledge Balogun’s foul against the Bosnian bloke was an accident rather malicious, but that sort of thing still needs to be dealt with per the rules… except when you’re Trump, of course. And the latter didn’t just “ask” for the review; he may not have ordered it outright, but I’ve no doubt Fifa ddn’t make this move without some incentive to do so. I mean, this bullshit was enough for SEPP FUCKING BLATTER to come out and snipe at Fifa for going too far with the corruption thing, so…

The Belgian football association was kind of livid, since the Belgiam team were next in line to play the US, but Fifa essentially told them to go fuck themselves. So the Belgian players responded in the best way we could have hoped for: by thumping the US team 4-1:

“A lot has happened off the pitch over the last two days,”said Belgium and Rangers midfielder Raskin.
“There was a sense of injustice within the squad, and we were determined to respond on the field.”
Belgium captain Youri Tielemans insisted the affair had boosted his side.
“We told ourselves we had to respond on the pitch. That’s what we did,” he said.
After Belgium scored their fourth goal several of their players were pictured dancing in a style similar to the ‘Trump dance’ – where he rocks his hips and slowly pumps his arms – which gained notoriety during the 2024 US presidential campaign. […]
Iran also took a swipe at the US and the Balogun incident, posting a screenshot of their draw with Belgium beside the US’s heavy defeat on their official website.
The screenshot was accompanied by the message: “Now the whole world is dancing for the humiliating defeat of politics against football”.

The US is now out of its own tournament, but that‘ll hurt more than anything. Apparently Balogun met with the Belgians afterwards and everyone was cool, and I suppose honour has been duly satisfied for now. Though I still expect Fifa to give Trump some sort of prize at the end as compensation…

Insert Gyorgy Ligeti here

Look, I don’t really want to keep shitting on the Great American State Fail and everything associated with the 25o birthday of the US, but that’s a bit of a lie and I’m quite happy to continue with it. This was another amazing shot I saw of the 4th of July celebrations—again, the sky seems unimpressed—and OP’s characterisation of the illumination of the Washington Monument as “incredible, unsettling and symbolic” strikes me as correct. I couldn’t find any other way to sum up my own feelings about it…

…so fortunately someone else did, and the words “fucken Stanley Kubrick apes around the freedom obelisk ass” just nailed it even more exactly. Precisely the caption this image needed. Except that I don’t think this “monolith” will advance the evolution of these apes…

Is that so

Pioneer of ‘extreme male brain’ theory of autism now says phrase unhelpful

The scientist who pioneered the “extreme male brain” theory of autism has said he regrets characterising the condition in this way because the phrase lends itself to misunderstandings.
Prof Simon Baron-Cohen’s theory that autistic people tend strongly towards systemising over empathising has been hugely influential in shaping the popular perception of autism over the past two decades. The underlying science had stood the test of time, he said, but he now views the “extreme male brain” label as unhelpful.
“Some of those terms were very easily misunderstood and so I do regret that,” he said. “It can lead to simplistic headlines like ‘autistic people lack empathy’, which is not true.
“Some of that language, like male brain and female brain, I just don’t think it’s useful today.”

I’m not sure it was useful then either, especially not when it came to female autistic people…

Happy birthday, I suppose

I’ve seen a couple of particularly fascinating images from the fourth of July:

I’ve included this (via) at full size—click on it to view it accordingly—cos it’s so stunning. This is from the fireworks show at the end of the day in DC, and, well, it looks like the heavens are sick of it and decided to put on their own show. Shame they couldn’t have struck down Mushroom Cock while they were at it…

Unfortunately, I think THIS (via) should be the definitive image of the 250th anniversary of the erstwhile US of A: a black woman on a train surrounded by masked racists going to DC for a masked racist march, or “First Amendment activities” as the DC mayor’s office euphemised it in the article.

Hundreds of masked men carrying banners, including the Confederate flag, marched through Washington DC on the Fourth of July, the 250th anniversary of the US’s inception.
The group appeared to be led by Thomas Rousseau, founder of the neo-fascist, white supremacist organization Patriot Front. Members of the group wore white masks and gathered in front of DC’s Union Station. They later marched towards Capitol Hill, WTOP reported.
Members chanted “Life, liberty, victory!” and “Reclaim America!” during the Saturday demonstration, according to video posted on social media.
Images published by Reuters also showed masked members riding the DC Metro as other riders looked on warily.
The white supremacist group’s gathering attracted some counter-protesters. In one video, a man with a bullhorn shouted at Patriot Front members: “Every single one of you justifies the fucking right to abortion.”

I’m with THAT guy. That’s more condemnation of these cunts that Trump will offer. The losers of the Civil War waving the losers’ flag in the nation’s capital on its 250th birthday… how did that happen? I’ve seen a lot of nostalgia online for the 1976 Bicentennial, which people seem to have been far more enthusiastic about than they are about the 250th, and 1976 wasn’t as bad a time as 2026 but it still had its problems… Gerald Ford had overseen the loss of the Vietnam War, economic disaster, a swine flu outbreak that’s been blamed for kicking off the whole anti-vaxx movement in the US, letting Indonesia annex East Timor, a low point in US-Israel relations, a resurgence of the KKK, and would end 1976 by losing the election to Jimmy Carter. And for all that people were still excited by the Bicentennial, he still had that to his credit… I’ve seen other claims that people just aren’t as excited by a half century as they are a full one, but I don’t feel that’s right somehow. Something really is different in 2026. If the Klan had pulled that stunt in 1976, I feel like Ford would at least have been critical of the event and of the Klan, unlike someone else we could name…

Grey Room #5

Episode 5 up now.

    1. Brian Eno – This (2005) – 00:00
    2. Radiohead – Bodysnatchers (2007) – 04:00
    3. Pink Floyd – Lucifer Sam (1967) – 08:00
    4. New Order – Procession (1981) – 11:00
    5. My Bloody Valentine – (When You Wake) You’re Still in a Dream (1988) – 15:22
    6. Can – Vitamin C (1972) – 19:40
    7. Consolidated – Friendly Fascism (1991) – 23:11
    8. Department S – Going Left Right (12″ version) (1981) – 28:10
    9. U2 – Out of Control (1980) – 32:30
    10. Custard – Piece of Shit (1997) – 36″37
    11. The Moving Sidewalks – I Want to Hold Your Hand (1968) – 40:06
    12. The Doors – Wild Child (1969) – 43:17
    13. Wovenhand – Field of Hedon (2014) – 45:51
    14. Covenant – Final Man (1998) – 49:20
    15. The Faint – The Conductor (2001) – 54:58

State Fail continues…

I saw someone call it “State Fail” yesterday, and now I can’t resist calling it that myself, much like I can’t resist reposting this video:

Video via Aaron Parnas on Bluesky. Can we say “fucking YIKES”? I’m genuinely impressed that no one was hurt by this, and faintly appalled that it took everyone so long to stop playing… This is apparently from a rehearsal for Mushroom Cock’s July 4th show, and though the bit of the set falling down does neatly symbolise the country’s condition, I don’t think it was meant to.

There’s a screenshot in case the video doesn’t work for some reason.

In other news, God Emperor is apparently pissy about the crowd turnout:

Trump grew livid over the small crowd at his campaign-style speech last week, two sources familiar with the matter said. Those remarks were thrown together after planned musical acts backed out en masse over the state fair’s close association with the politically divisive president.
Trump announced he would headline the event instead and spoke for roughly 30 minutes, most of which he spent recounting his accomplishments and boasting about America’s revival under his administration. Though he wasn’t initially aware of the size of the crowd, he later saw an aerial photo that showed acres of sparsely populated fields beyond the audience that had crowded around the stage.
The visual enraged him, the sources said, and multiple White House officials who had posted the photo deleted their posts. The revelation led to a defensive Trump lashing out on social media, claiming that the crowds were “packed to the brim.” […]
It’s also prompted a round of internal finger-pointing, with some in Trump’s orbit questioning why more wasn’t done to ensure a better turnout for events they view as a test of the president’s hold on the country and its culture.
“The mistake here was not driving attendance,” one person close to the White House said of the sparse crowds at the fair. “It was an ‘if you build it, they will come’ mentality that failed.”
For Trump’s July Fourth address, one source said the viewing section directly in front of the stage will be ticketed, to ensure it is filled. However, the tickets are free, and another official familiar with the event noted that there is likely to be huge swaths of people who sign up to secure a spot but ultimately don’t show.

Which is something I think they should be concerned about, cos that has become a legitimate practice in recent years to disrupt events like this, and I think it’s going to happen bigly with this one…

Con-CERN-ing!

CERN have shut down the Large Hadron Collider, and over on Threads people have been taking the news… normally:




I feel like the mild frontal headache is from the lobotomy… Personally I had no idea COVID-19 had the power to change time itself, that’s quite impressive… wonder how Ivermectin coped with that? Also, I’m slightly con-cern-ed (HAHAHA get it? Get it yet? Oh, fuck you) by the news that the next stage of the LHC begins in 2030. With the number of conspirachuds already panicking about the Great Reset and 2030 supposedly being the date that happens, rhey don’t need CERN giving them “evidence” like that…

Roo clouds of holocaust

This is one of the damnedest photos of a musician I’ve ever seen. I am told that this is Douglas P. from Death in June (minus that damn stupid mask he usually wears), and I am also told that, despite him somehow looking like he’s been photoshopped into it, it’s an actual photo of him with, frankly, two kangaroos behind him engaging in biff. I find it utterly perplexing but I’m so happy to have discovered it (thanks, Pinterest). Doug would never have encountered such a scene in the Europa he’s so fond of…