Links & Bits for 2/26/10

Who Killed Civil Discourse? Evelyn Evelyn, Marginalization, and Internet (FWD/Forward)
The controversy surrounding Amanda Palmer's Evelyn/Evelyn project has me thinking a lot about art and appropriation. In the past I've always sided with the artist, but not when it comes to shameless exploitation for financial gain. This post and its subsequent comments say it better than I can.

Antony and the Johnsons Save The World (The Sexist)
Fun little piece from a year ago that I just stumbled upon. "If Antony Hegarty were world leader:- He would force all the politicians in all the countries of the world to switch genders, just to try it out. The trial period would last three months.
- Okay, okay—he’s willing to compromise. Inspired by “Inside-Out Day,” the annual childhood tradition of wearing one’s clothes inside out for a day. One day a year—Antony rescinds his first suggestion, “Christmas,” after deciding it must be held on a work day—all the heads of all the major corporations in the world must assume the opposite gender in order to get in touch with their feminine or masculine qualities. Politicians, too.
- The power of the world’s nuclear bombs would be harnessed for growth, not destruction. See: The Sun, which has the power of “like 100 trillion nuclear bombs,” but which “falls so gently on the Earth as to encourage a plant to grow for 4,000 years)."
(And here's Antony's gorgeous cover of Beyonce's Say My Name (like goes to Lala), also mentioned in the article.)

Lady Gaga's Q Magazine Cover: Strap-On "Dick," Stripped Down Feelings (Autostraddle)
If you haven't figured it out from the title, Lady Gaga is on the cover of Q Magazine wearing a strap-on. 'Cause she's controversial or something.

Review: Just Kids by Patti Smith (Venus)
Pretty lengthy review of Patti Smith's new book, Just Kids : "it’s Smith alone, writing down her own myth and ritual, which is probably one of the most punk-rock things she could have done. If bookstores were organized around breakdown, not buzzword, this would be shelved next to Sophocle’s Antigone rather than Dylan’s Chronicles. Patti’s burying her brother, as best and well as she can"