A straight shot west out of Boston on I-90 will carry you, in two hours or less, to Western Massachusetts, where the country still looks like it did twenty or even 40 years ago: college towns, I-91 tracing the same lazy ladder from Springfield up through Holyoke and Northampton, Amherst and Deerfield. Out there it's taken for granted that the houses will be drafty, the winters uniformly long, and that, on any given trip to the local supermarket, one might spot Thurston or Lou or Kim or J, on-and-off locals for more than twenty years. {audio}http://www.archive.org/download/DinosaurJrDrawings/07Drawerings_64kb.mp3{/audio} ... Drawerings Read More ...
By way of decrying a society that left its citizens unbearably restrained, Edith Wharton describes how in New York in the 1870s, women would order dresses from their Paris dressmakers and then leave them in tissue paper at least two years before wearing them in public; the thought of showing them "in advance of the fashion" was unforgivably vulgar. Social life has changed, but cultural life seems just as restricted now – even Animal Collective are held back by trends that seem a couple of years old (and that they helped to invent). When I think back on 2009, I’ll first remember how our impoverished aesthetic generation repeatedly scraped the resin from the cultural trash barrel. Every second person is wearing neon leggings, and the ones who aren’t rock a ‘70s aesthetic, with high-waisted jeans and moccasins. Christmas sweaters are getting impossible to find at the thrift store. Ska revival. Garage rock revival. It never ends. Read More ...
For just over 10 years, London's Guapo has been working in the world of avant and progressive rock. The band's past is a bit hard to track with its numerous lineup changes and guest musicians. The most recent change in roster was the resignation of Matthew Thompson, the founding member of Guapo, which occurred just before the release of 2005's Black Oni. The departure of Thompson has left Guapo with percussionist David Smith and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan. Though O'Sullivan is by no means a founding member of the band, but he was essential in honing the sound on Guapo's last two LPs: Five Suns and Black Oni. These two albums have been pivotal in building Guapo's following of fans, so it's hard not to credit O'Sullivan as an asset to the band.... {audio}http://www.neurotrecordings.com/artists/guapo/audio/Guapo-The%20Selenotrope.mp3 {/audio} ... The Selenotrope Read More ...
Basic Atari Teenage Riot iPhone app philosophy by Alec Empire + London gig+ 4CD, 1DVD free download
The free iPhone app features all ATR albums and songs, all videos, a photo archive, bio, news updates and also a ‘Riotsounds Produce Riots’ audioplayer. This audio player includes all the sounds/WAV files that ATR used at the May 1st 1999 demonstration (very low sub basses, square waves, noise sounds which trigger hysteria and panic within the audience) & would make them available to every political activisit out there. The idea being that you can hook up your iPhone to a speaker system if there is a rally: Apple/iTunes is arguing that they still need to investigate further, because it is legally a grey area and ATR has been indexed in Germany before (censored). Read More ...
The Swans - THIS IS NOT A REUNION - Message From Gira + free discography download (20 CDs)
Michael Gira's re-activated Swans will be undertaking their first U.S. performances in 13 years, celebrating the Fall release of the first new Swans album since Soundtracks For The Blind (1997). The album was recorded by Jason LeFarge at Seizure's Palace in Brooklyn and is currently be remixed by Gira with Bryce Goggin (Antony & The Johnsons, Akron/Family) at Trout Recordings. Read More ...
The Ex are one of those rare bands that, despite being around for 25 years, have neither gone soft nor stagnated. The 23 tracks on this album all date from their first decade of existence (1980-1990), and if you compare it with recent milestones like Starter Alternator and Turn, you’ll see that while many of the Ex’s virtues are long standing, much has changed. The Ex grew out of Amsterdam’s once-fertile squatters’ subculture, and have always been politically conscious; Singles. Period. includes screeds that oppose American cultural hegemony, Dutch apathy, and eugenics. Their most recent album Turn likewise includes protests against globalization, consumerism, and cultural erosion, but its lyrics are quite nuanced and in touch with the grey areas of the issues when compared with the black and white prescription of 1981’s “Weapons For El Salvador”: .............. {audio}http://www.theex.nl/mp3/The%20Ex%20-%20Trash.mp3{/audio} ... Trash Read More ...
Dirty HC Punk explosion - Bristol scene Rise up + Disorder 9 free CDs
From The Cortinas to Lunatic Fringe and Disorder, Bristol had a huge Punk scene that has influenced, affected and stimulated a vast range of artists that operate in the city. Many of these artists produce music that wouldn’t necessarily suggest a Punk heritage but scratch beneath the surface of a lot of the major players in the Bristol milieu and you will find a fondness for the times of `spikey barnets’, limited musical ability, a `F*** You’ attitude and disrespect for the music industry and its poseur hierarchy. Read More ...
A live album can be many things: a candid snapshot, a footnote to a scene, or even just a thrifty alternative to studio time. Antlers, a collection of live Bastro recordings from 1991, is the rarest kind of live album: it illuminates a side of the band that, in turn, casts their previous work in a new light as well.“1991 has been called the year that punk broke. Some of it broke into the mainstream, but some broke into more irregular shards.” David Grubbs’s observation, from the liner notes to Antlers, could also describe the varied musical paths that led from his former band Squirrel Bait to the disparate ’90s groups he and his ex-bandmates went on to found: Slint, Palace Brothers, King Kong, Bitch Magnet, the For Carnation, Tortoise, and of course, Bastro. Read More ...
Japan’s Annual Penis Festival – Celebrates Fertility
KOMAKI, Japan — It's springtime in Japan and that means one thing. Actually, two things. Penis festivals and vagina festivals. It may sound like a sophomoric gag. But these are folk rites going back at least 1,500 years, into Japan's agricultural past. They're held to ensure a good harvest and promote baby-making. Maybe they should hold more such festivals. Japan has one of the world's lowest birthrates (1.37 children per woman), which experts blame on stagnant incomes and changing gender relations. Read More ...
Black-lip Rattail ............ These sorts of rattails feed in the muddy seafloor by gliding along head down and tail up, powered by gentle undulations of a long fin under the tail. The triangular head has sensory cells underneath that help detect animals buried in the mud or sand. The common name comes from the black edges around the mouth. Read More ...
"I forgot to remember to forget," Elvis Presley sang in 1955. I know that it was 1955 because I just Googled the title and clicked on the link to the Wikipedia entry for the song. How cool is that? Not long ago, I would have had to actually remember that Elvis recorded the song as part of his monumental Sun Records sessions that year. Then I would have had to flip through a set of histories of blues and country that sit on the shelf behind me. It might have taken five minutes to do what I did in five seconds. I almost don't need my own memory any more. That strikes many of us as a good thing: the costs low, the benefits high. We can be much more efficient and comprehensive now that a teeming collection of documents sits just a few keystrokes away. Read More ...
All world secret underground bases build for space travelers
The following material comes from people who know the Dulce (underground) base exists. They are people who worked in the labs; abductees taken to the base; people who assisted in the construction; intelligence personal (NSA,CIA,FBI ... ect.) and UFO / inner-earth researchers. This information is meant for those who are seriously interested in the dulce base. for your own protection be advised to “use caution” while investigating this complex.Does a strange world exist beneath our feet? Strange legends have persisted for centuries about the mysterious cavern world and the equally strange beings who inhabit it. More UFOlogists have considered the possibility that UFOs may be emanating from subterranean bases, that UFO aliens have constructed these bases to carry out various missions involving Earth or humans. Read More ...
These days, with all the pundits preaching doom and the impending collapse of society into some kind of Mad Max style wasteland, it's easy for us to imagine that the economy is as unhealthy as it's ever been. But any historian would give you a hard backhanded smack for even saying that out loud. History is full of economic idiocy, and here are five economic collapses that make 2010 feel like the Renaissance. Read More ...
Island of Ghosts: Hashima Island - Japan’s rotting metropolis
Hashima, an island located in Nagasaki Bay, is better known as Warship Island (Gunkanshima). The island was inhabited until the end of the 19th century, when it was discovered that the ground below it held tons of coal. The island soon became a center of a major mining complex owned by Mitsubishi Corporation. As the complex expanded, rock brought out of the shafts was used to artificially expand the island. Seawalls created in this expansion turned Hashima into the monstrous looking Gunkanshima; its artificial appearance makes it looks more like a battleship than an island. Read More ...
Dreamachine - stroboscopic flicker device enter you to a hypnagogic state - try it right here in your browser
The dreamachine (or dream machine) is a stroboscopic flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Artist Brion Gysin and William Burroughs's "systems adviser" Ian Sommerville created the dreamachine after reading William Grey Walter's book, The Living Brain. In its original form, a dreamachine is made from a cylinder with slits cut in the sides. The cylinder is placed on a record turntable and rotated at 78 or 45 revolutions per minute. A light bulb is suspended in the center of the cylinder and the rotation speed allows the light to come out from the holes at a constant frequency of between 8 and 13 pulses per second. This frequency range corresponds to alpha waves, electrical oscillations normally present in the human brain while relaxing. Read More ...
The Peyote Way Church of God - believe that the Holy Sacrament Peyote can lead an individual toward a more spiritual life
The Peyote Way Church of God is a non-sectarian, multicultural, experiential, Peyotist organization located in southeastern Arizona, in the remote Aravaipa wilderness. It is not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Native American Church, or any other religious organizations, though we do accept people from all faiths. Church membership is open to all races. We encourage individuals to create their own rituals as they become acquainted with the great mystery. We believe that the Holy Sacrament Peyote, when taken according to our sacramental procedure and combined with a holistic lifestyle (see Word of Wisdom), can lead an individual toward a more spiritual life. Peyote is currently listed as a controlled substance and its religious use is protected by Federal law only for Native American members of the Native American Church. Read More ...
The Marijuana Conspiracy - The Real Reason Hemp is Illegal
MARIJUANA is DANGEROUS. Pot is NOT harmful to the human body or mind. Marijuana does NOT pose a threat to the general public. Marijuana is very much a danger to the oil companies, alcohol, tobacco industries and a large number of chemical corporations. Various big businesses, with plenty of dollars and influence, have suppressed the truth from the people. The truth is if marijuana was utilized for its vast array of commercial products, it would create an industrial atomic bomb! Entrepreneurs have not been educated on the product potential of pot. The super rich have conspired to spread misinformation about an extremely versatile plant that, if used properly, would ruin their companies. Read More ...
Learn How to Pronounce the Iceland Volcano Eyjafjallajokull and remember; When He Erupted In 1821, it lasted 2 years
The last time Eyjafjallajökull erupted, it lasted 2 years stretching from 1821-1823. It also erupted in 920 and 1612. Eyjafjallajökull's eruption usually precedes an eruption for another Icelandic volcano called Katla, as it did in 1823. Katla's eruptions are usually more violent than Eyjafjallajökul's. Due to the second activity on Eyjafjallajökull volcano since April 14, there are thousands of flights have been cancelled not only in Europe but also some flights from Asia, America and other continents. More over, it was also reportedly more than ten thousands of air travelers still stranded after a plume of ash cloud spreading across thousands of miles. No need to repeat the same news in every single post, actually there’s an interesting thing from the Iceland volcano’s name Eyjafjallajokull. Pronunciation is so difficult for some of us. Even, many people still don’t know what’s the right pronunciation of Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Did you know that? Read More ...
The Drivers Of Tropical Deforestation Are Changing
A shift from poverty-driven to industry-driven deforestation threatens the world's tropical forests but offers new opportunities for conservation, according to an article coauthored by William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. "New Strategies for Conserving Tropical Forests" will be featured in the September issue of the leading journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. Rhett Butler of Mongabay.com, a leading tropical-forest Web site, and Laurance argue that the sharp increase in deforestation by big corporations provides environmental lobby groups with clear, identifiable targets that can be pressured to be more responsive to environmental concerns. Read More ...
A temple complex in Turkey that predates even the pyramids is rewriting the story of human evolution. They call it potbelly hill, after the soft, round contour of this final lookout in southeastern Turkey. To the north are forested mountains. East of the hill lies the biblical plain of Harran, and to the south is the Syrian border, visible 20 miles away, pointing toward the ancient lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, the region that gave rise to human civilization. And under our feet, according to archeologist Klaus Schmidt, are the stones that mark the spot—the exact spot—where humans began that ascent. Read More ...
The CIA and the Nazis - Declassified archives document ties between CIA and Nazis - Where Is Hitler?!
The US national archives released some 27,000 pages of secret records documenting the CIA’s Cold War relations with former German Nazi Party members and officials. The files reveal numerous cases of German Nazis, some clearly guilty of war crimes, receiving funds, weapons and employment from the CIA. They also demonstrate that US intelligence agencies deliberately refrained from disclosing information about the whereabouts of Adolf Eichmann in order to protect Washington’s allies in the post-war West German government headed by Christian Democratic leader Konrad Adenauer. Eichmann, who had sent millions to their deaths while coordinating the Nazis’ “final solution” campaign to exterminate European Jewry, went into hiding in Buenos Aires after the fall of the Third Reich. Read More ...
The international community has come out in force to condemn and declare war on the Somali fishermen pirates, while discreetly protecting the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fleets from around the world that have been poaching and dumping toxic waste in Somali waters since the fall of the Somali government eighteen years ago. In 1991, when the government of Somalia collapsed, foreign interests seized the opportunity to begin looting the country’s food supply and using the country’s unguarded waters as a dumping ground for nuclear and other toxic waste. Read More ...
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use. There are one billion squatters globally, that is, about one in every six people on the planet. Yet, according to Kesia Reeve, "squatting is largely absent from policy and academic debate and is rarely conceptualized, as a problem, as a symptom, or as a social or housing movement. In many countries, squatting is in itself a crime; in others, it is only seen as a civil conflict between the owner and the occupants. "Squatters are usually portrayed as worthless scroungers hell-bent on disrupting society." Property law and the state have traditionally favored the property owner. However, in many cases where squatters had de facto ownership, laws have been changed to legitimize their status. Read More ...
9/11 has inspired a myriad of memorials who are scattered all across America. Some of them are of questionable taste, others contain strange occult symbolism while others simply piss people off. Here’s the five most offensive. Read More ...
The World's First Commercial Brain-Computer Interface + history of BCI
A brain–computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain–machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a brain and an external device. BCIs are often aimed at assisting, augmenting or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions. Research on BCIs began in the 1970s at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) under a grant from the National Science Foundation, followed by a contract from DARPA. The papers published after this research also mark the first appearance of the expression brain–computer interface in scientific literature. Read More ...
Seven theories of everything that pretend to describe the fundamental nature of the universe
We still don't have a theory that describes the fundamental nature of the universe, but there are plenty of candidates.
The "theory of everything" is one of the most cherished dreams of science. If it is ever discovered, it will describe the workings of the universe at the most fundamental level and thus encompass our entire understanding of nature. It would also answer such enduring puzzles as what dark matter is, the reason time flows in only one direction and how gravity works. Small wonder that Stephen Hawking famously said that such a theory would be "the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we should know the mind of God". But theologians needn't lose too much sleep just yet. Despite decades of effort, progress has been slow. Rather than one or two rival theories whose merits can be judged against the evidence, there is a profusion of candidates and precious few clues as to which (if any) might turn out to be correct. Read More ...
The Secrets of Coral Castle and pyramids EXPLAINED by Leedskalnin's Magnetic Current theory
Coral Castle doesn't look much like a castle, but that hasn't discouraged generations of tourists from wanting to see it. That's because it was built by one man, Ed Leedskalnin, a Latvian immigrant who single-handedly and mysteriously excavated, carved, and erected over 2.2 million pounds of coral rock to build this place, even though he stood only five feet tall and weighed a mere 100 pounds. Ed was as secretive as he was misguided. He never told anyone how he carved and set into place the walls, gates, monoliths, and moon crescents that make up much of his Castle. Some of these blocks weigh as much as 30 tons. Ed often worked at night, by lantern light, so that no one could see him. He used only tools that he fashioned himself from wrecks in an auto junkyard. Read More ...
The T2K Experiment - From Tokai To Kamioka - Where is the anti-matter?
From the beginning of 2010, the T2K experiment will fire a beam of muon-neutrinos from Tokai on Japan's east coast, 300km accross the country to a detector at Kamioka. It hopes to investigate the phenomenon of "neutrino oscillations" by looking for "muon neutrinos" oscillating into "electron neutrinos". A million pound detector has been built at the University of Warwick as part of a vital experiment to investigate fundamental particles - neutrinos. Read More ...
The giant ALICE detector is already underway at CERN, and researchers are scrambling to add an electromagnetic calorimeter to capture jet-quenching, the newest way to look inside the quark-gluon plasma — the hot, dense state of matter that filled the earliest universe, which the Large Hadron Collider will soon recreate by slamming lead nuclei into one another. CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is known mainly as the accelerator that will soon begin searching for the Higgs particle, and other new physics, in proton collisions at unprecedented energies — up to 14 TeV (14 trillion electron volts) at the center of mass — and with unprecedented beam intensities. But the same machine will also collide massive nuclei, specifically lead ions, to energies never achieved before in the laboratory. Read More ...
Vadim Chernobrov & Russian secrets experiments with time machines
A disturbing story in the March, 2005. 1 issue of Pravda suggests that the U. S. Government is working on the discovery of a mysterious point over the South Pole that may be a passageway backward in time. According to the article, some American and British scientists working in Antarctica on January 27, 1995, noticed a spinning gray fog in the sky over the pole. U. S. physicist Mariann McLein said at first they believed it to be some kind of sandstorm. But after a while they noticed that the fog did not change its form and did not move so they decided to investigate. Read More ...
If you're trying to buy happiness, you'd be better off putting your money toward a tropical island get-away than a new computer, a new study suggests. The results show that people's satisfaction with their life-experience purchases — anything from seeing a movie to going on a vacation — tends to start out high and go up over time. On the other hand, although they might be initially happy with that shiny new iPhone or the latest in fashion, their satisfaction with these items wanes with time. The findings, based on eight separate studies, agree with previous research showing that experience-related buys lead to more happiness for the consumer. But the current work provides some insight into why. Read More ...
It's not just a good idea, it's the law: 186,287 miles per second. The fact that sound waves travel at a finite speed--roughly 330 meters per second--has been known since ancient times. It's obvious, really, when you stand back a ways and observe the falling of a tree or the clapping of a pair of hands, and the sound arrives noticeably later than the sight itself. The fact that light waves also travel at finite speed is much harder to notice, because that speed is almost a million times faster. But by the end of the Renaissance, astronomers--viewing events much more distant than a few hundred meters--had begun to suspect the truth. Read More ...
It was nearly the end of WWII. At that same time, scientist Viktor Schauberger worked on a secret project. Johannes Kepler, whose ideas Schauberger followed, had knowledge of the secret teachings of Pythagoras that had been adopted and kept secret. It was the knowledge of Implosion (in this case the utilization of the potential of the inner worlds in the outer world). Hitler knew - as did the Thule and Vril people - that the divine principle was always constructive. A technology however that is based on explosion and therefore is destructive runs against the divine principle. Thus they wanted to create a technology based on Implosion. Read More ...
The Size Of Our World or How Insignificant the Earth Really Is in the Universe
Compared to you and me, the Earth is really big. But compared to Jupiter and the Sun, the Earth is pretty tiny. There are many ways we can measure the size of the Earth. Let's look at how big the Earth is, and then compare it to other objects in the Solar System. The diameter of the Earth is 12,742 km. In other words, if you dug a hole down into the Earth, passed through the center of the Earth, and came out the other side, you would have dug a hole 12,742 km deep (on average). That's about 4 times longer than the diameter of the Moon. Read More ...
Strange Images from Space - Photos&videos of the Bizarre in Our Universe
Some weird and unusual objects are floating around in the cosmos. Space is always serving up something new, unusual, and unexpected. Here are images and explanations of obejcts that have amazed and delighted astronomers. Read More ...
Mysterious Radio Waves from Unknown Object in M82 Galaxy
There is something strange is lurking in the galactic neighborhood. An unknown object in galaxy M82 12 million light-years away has started sending out radio waves, and the emission does not look like anything seen anywhere in the universe before except perhaps by Ford Prefect. M82 is starburst galaxy five times as bright as the Milky Way and one hundred times as bright as our galaxy's center. "We don't know what it is," says co-discoverer Tom Muxlow of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics near Macclesfield, UK. But its apparent sideways velocity is four times the speed of light. This "superluminal" motion occurs usually in high-speed jets of material bursting out by black holes. Read More ...
Unsettled Mechanism of Supernova Detonation Gets a New Twist
Type Ia supernovae, often used to calibrate cosmological measurements, may arise from merging white dwarfs, after all
When stellar cataclysms known as type Ia supernovae flare up far across the universe, their brightness and consistency allow astronomers to use them as so-called standard candles to measure cosmological distances. Just over a decade ago, two teams used the supernovae to show that the universe is accelerating in its expansion due to the influence of dark energy, a shocking discovery that thrust type Ia supernovae into the astrophysical limelight. But how exactly did these cosmic mileposts come to be? Read More ...
Black Prince, alien space probe, orbits Earth watching humans
Alexander Kazantsev, a Soviet author of sci-fi books, once said that a mysterious “unaccounted” satellite called Black Prince was spinning around Earth. The writer believed the object might be an alien probe, a messenger from extraterrestrial civilizations. Some people including scientists paid attention to the writer’s hypothesis.U.S. astrophysicist Ronald Bracewell was the first to take the hypothesis seriously. In 1960, he published a study to back his conclusions with data of practical radio engineering. Read More ...
Secret Robotic Space Plane Launched By US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) has launched a secret space plane into orbit, carried in the nose of an Atlas 5 rocket. The USAF is not calling the X-37B a weapon or anything else, and the classified mission was broadcast live, but only for several minutes into the flight. The plane, built by Boeing, was originally part of a NASA programme but was later abandoned and turned over to a secretive USAF unit. There are no details on how much it costs or when it is coming back to earth, but when it does return the unmanned craft will land itself, using the onboard autopilot. Read More ...
Hubble telescope captures image of mysterious x-shaped object in space
Is that a smashed comet or an X-Wing fighter? Scientists are offering up their own theories as to what created the striking star-inspired image, which was captured by NASA's Hubble telescope in January. "Two small and previously unknown asteroids recently collided, creating a shower of debris that is being swept back into a tail from the collision site by the pressure of sunlight," said principal investigator David Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles. Read More ...
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Homeart news Video adaptation of *Joker* grafic novel by Brian Azzarello + interview + review + free grafic novel
Video adaptation of *Joker* grafic novel by Brian Azzarello + interview + review + free grafic novel
Brian Azzarello (born in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer. He came to prominence with hardboiled crime series 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. Azzarello has written for Batman ("Broken City", art by Risso; "Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire", art by Lee Bermejo, Tim Bradstreet, & Mick Gray) and Superman ("For Tomorrow", art by Jim Lee). Prior to rise to prominence as a writer, he was best known as the line editor for Andrew Rev's incarnation of Comico.
In 2005, Azzarello began a new creator-owned series, the western Loveless, with artist Marcelo Frusin. Also at Vertigo, his Filthy Rich original graphic novel was one of the two titles that launched the Vertigo Crime line. He also designed First Wave, a new fictional universe for DC Comics, separate from the main DC Universe/DC Multiverse. It starts with a Batman/Doc Savage one-shot, followed by the First Wave limited series.
Joker review
This is a more terrifying and intricate manifestation of the Joker than we’ve seen in previous works
Brian Azzarello, writer of, among other titles, the Batman graphic novel Broken City and DC Comics’ 100 Bullets, has delivered, seemingly out of nowhere, a fresh, stunning take on the Dark Knight’s arch nemesis, as well as a unique interpretation of Gotham City, surely the most despicable metropolis in modern popular fiction.
Joker began life as a miniseries planned for October 2008, but DC instead decided to release it as an original hardcover in time for Halloween. This has proven a wise decision, for the book works incredibly well as a concise chunk of dystopian mayhem, an innovative reading of an equally beloved and feared character.
Ingeniously narrated by muscle for hire Johnny Frost, Joker begins with the clown prince of crime’s unexplained release from Arkham Asylum. Frost is a typical Gotham scumbag, a thug fighting his wife over divorce papers, trying to make ends meet. Tasked with collecting the Joker upon release, he is quickly invited to the villain’s after-party, and it is through his naive eyes that we observe Joker’s subsequent rampage through Gotham. Frost tells his tale with a sense of growing fear and irony. Hoping initially for a role as one of the Joker’s henchmen, he winds up, predictably, in way over his head and looking for a way out. He acts as the reader’s eyes and ears, asking questions while we contemplate the answers. Much of the narration, like the action itself, is far from clear-cut and open to interpretation.
Enacting revenge on those who have wronged him during his incarceration and catching up on the evisceration he has been craving while behind bars, though he claims he is a changed man, Joker shows little sign of remorse. And while he wreaks havoc, Frost narrates and Two-Face trembles, the nagging absence of Batman himself hangs over us, for this is the Joker’s journey, and Bruce Wayne has apparently taken a holiday.
Azzarello, however, makes fine use of other assorted misfits. Cameos from Penguin, the Riddler and Harley Quinn, and extended roles for Killer Croc and Harvey Dent broaden the scope of the crisis, as Joker manipulates his way through the city, showing Gotham’s dirty underbelly who’s boss with flamboyance, black, black comedy and some sickening violence. And we really should emphasise the violence, because this is an adult comic, and should be approached with caution by even the most seasoned and hardened of readers. Yet, stomach churning as the thing is, it really is beautiful.
The book is lushly illustrated by Azzarello’s regular collaborator Lee Bermejo, and this is the artist’s finest work to date. Combining gorgeously painted pages with traditionally rendered ink and colour work, Bermejo brings Gotham to life with every panel, the Joker erupting from the shadows like a match struck in the dark.
As for the clown himself, comparisons with Heath Ledger’s recent portrayal are inevitable, not only because the late actor’s performance is fresh in the minds of readers, but due also to the uncanny visual similarities between the two interpretations. However, though Bermejo’s mouth scarring, clothing, wild hair and makeup are reminiscent of Ledger, describing the two as one and the same is doing both a grand injustice.
Bermejo and Azzarello’s creation, if possible, is a meaner adversary, a bubbling schizophrenic hell bent on frightening the afterlife out of all in his path. This is a more terrifying and intricate manifestation than we’ve seen in previous works such as Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, and fully deserves to take its place in the high echelons of the DC Universe.
Ultimately, Azzarello weaves his tale together with a common theme. The brilliant, ambiguous ending serves to emphasise the cold truth that the Joker, this ghastly, purest of evils, will always exist in one form or another, and it is the hero’s - the Batman’s - duty to fight, rather than defeat, it. This is a recurrent theme, one that has cropped up in much of Joss Whedon’s Angel, Frank Miller’s Sin City comics, and films centering around a nightmarish city - and the demons within it - such as Seven and, of course, Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. That Joker is able to close its character-driven narrative with such a strong finale is hugely impressive.
Azzarello and Bermejo succeed in not only presenting for us a new, fascinating side to one of comic’s most complex villains, but do so by way of a brutal, haunting, intelligent and thoroughly entertaining graphic novel.
The ‘reverse’ approach used in Joker and Lex Luthor Man of Steel is an intelligent method for breaking convention and delving into the minds of classic villains. What is it about this concept that you enjoy most and why? I wanted to give both Lex and Joker lives. That’s all. Prior to my books, they existed because their heroes (Superman & Batman) did, and all we saw of them was through the “hero” lens. Lex and Joker are bad, bad, bad– bullshit. They’re more than that; rich individual egos that are the focus of their own stories. I wanted to dig in that ground.
Joker is the story of a man neglected and oppressed, it’s narrated by his lowly assistant Johnny Frost, (an Irish American out law) a want to be like minded criminal whose very heritage has been the subject of ignorance for centuries. What motivates you to give the underdog a voice and why do you feel this perspective is appealing to your audience? What motivates me… probably my two grandfathers. I don’t recall them arguing, but I do remember they didn’t get along. My mother’s father was an Irish chief of police in a small Massachusetts city, my Italian father’s a Cleveland defense attorney with some mobbed up clients. I was very close with him. He gave me advice I adhere to ‘til this day.
Through out your writing career you have teamed up with infamous artists such as Jim Lee, Joe Kubert, Lee Bermejo, & Eduardo Risso. Which of these have you enjoyed working with most, and is the answer based on creative synchronicity or professionalism? Describe to us how the relationships work. I’ve been lucky in the fact that I haven’t partnered up with anybody that wasn’t a thrill to work with. That said, I’ve worked with Eduardo on a monthly basis for nearly ten years. It’s gotten to the point that we don’t just finish each other’s sentences, but we prefer each other’s flourish. Let’s call it professional synchronicity.
Growing up who was your favourite super hero and how did you feel you could relate to the character? I didn’t really like super heroes as a kid… I never understood their motivations. I guess if I had to pick one, it would be Luke Cage– he was in it for the money, like it said in his title; Hero For Hire. He had no secret identity either. Secret identities are for people who’re afraid of what they are.
Did you set up the series the way you did to create a storytelling vehicle? The episodic nature of the book allows you to deal with a lot of different kinds of stories, doesn't it? Oh, yeah. That's exactly why I set it up the way that I did. I wasn't too keen on doing one protagonist for a number of issues, because some of that stuff kinda bores me. And I say that, and now I'm doing HELLBLAZER, so I'm a fucking liar. [General laughter] But, no, that's exactly the reason I set it up [that way]. There's a lot of ... I mean, the high concept of 100 BULLETS is something that can work for a number of different protagonists, and that's sort of what I wanted to do, and what I've been doing. But that's gonna change. ...the high concept of 100 BULLETS is something that can work for a number of different protagonists, and that's sort of what I wanted to do, and what I've been doing. Issue eight sorta opens things up for people. Things are gonna lead in the direction established in eight for a while, and then it's gonna go back to the episodic nature.
How do you approach writing the individual arcs? In other words, did you sit down and rough out about 100 issues, deciding to use these certain types of characters and to cover these issues or topics, all while slowly telling the hidden bigger story, or have you left yourself a lot of room to just play? Oh, yeah, there's tons of space for me to play. I know the big story. I know how that's paced out. The smaller stories, no. Those just sort of happen.
So you just turn to the news, or something you see on the street, for inspiration? Yeah, I use anything. ANYTHING.
Just recently, Mark Millar wrote a piece about the fact that since so many creators are working in Hollywood it will eventually leave a hole in the industry until the next wave of people comes in. I'm sure you're doing plenty of Hollywood type stuff; do you ever see yourself not doing any comic books for a few years to work exclusively on that stuff? Hollywood is nowhere I aspire to be. Mark probably has a point and he is also probably softening up his fans for the inevitable blow he's going to give them when he moves to Hollywood [laughs].
Where did your fascination of that level of detail when it comes to dialogue come from? Oh god, I don't know. I guess poetry? Geez ... people are gonna ...
Poetry? Uh, yeah. I dig poetry. From poetry, probably plays ... that kind of stuff. I just really like the way people speak. Slang is great. I love slang. I love hearing stuff that I've never heard before.
Do you intentionally go out and find things that are new or let it come to you? I let it come to me. I think if I were out searching for stuff it might come across a bit contrived or forced. At the end of the day you've got to understand what these characters are saying. If it's so new that on one understands it then it doesn't do the story any good.
About video adaptation of the graphic novel "Joker."
CCreated by jokercrazed Written by Brian Azzarello. Art by Lee Bermejo. Shot, cut, voiced and adapted by Adam.
Keyboards played at beginning and end of "Diseased" from the original composition "Lost Childhood" performed and created by MADasinger. Thanks Mr. J. Here is his youtube channel for your indulgence: http://www.youtube.com/user/MADasinger
Electric guitar performed and created by skateking1022. Thanks and you are right. The Jonas Bros. are part of what is wrong with music today!
A very special thanks to Jenn... After all, every joker needs a harlequinn to motivate him.
Most importantly, thank you to my subscribers for watching and being so patient. I sincerely hope it was worth the wait for you all. KEEP ON SMILIN' ... jokercrazed
Anyone know how to send this to Mr. Azzarello? Would love for him to see how this could become an animated or live action film.
art news 
Brian Azzarello (born in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer. He came to prominence with hardboiled crime series 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. Azzarello has written for Batman ("Broken City", art by Risso; "Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire", art by Lee Bermejo, Tim Bradstreet, & Mick Gray) and Superman ("For Tomorrow", art by Jim Lee). Prior to rise to prominence as a writer, he was best known as the line editor for Andrew Rev's incarnation of Comico.
