What about the twinkie?

Two posts back, I wrote :

Mike Hagan, Occult of Personality, Red Ice, K-Punk, Black Metal, Psychedelic Salon, Paul Laffoley, Greylodge, Alterati, the reappearance of Tracy Twyman, the Esozone, etc. It is difficult to place, but in some way, all of these threads seem to be tying together somehow. The recent highbrow treatment of "true" black metal is only one of the many zones of confluence. Southern Lord's recently elevated Wolves in The Throne Room is a perfect example. This, in connection with numerous occult podcasts running in all directions, with the same names appearing over and over, is revealing "the thumbprint of the editors" in Terence's bardic description of experiential textuality. Lengthy lists, links, and connections to follow when I have time. By then this will all slip away.

Tangles have turned to knots. I should have been surprised when Erik Davis weighed in on Wolves in The Throne Room in Slate magazine. Somehow, it makes perfect sense. The treatment is superb. During my recent experience at the Mogollon Rim, I was listening to Davis' talk on Gnosticism and the Archons in front of a wood fire next to an absolutely ancient Ponderosa. Deep Eco Metal indeed.



Also highly recommended along these lines, the Viking Youth Power Hour. Start with episodes 79, 67, 58, 44, and dont forget 37 for the Holidays.

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In other news:

(CBS/AP) A United Nations committee said Friday that use of Taser weapons can be a form of torture, in violation of the U.N. Convention Against Torture. Use of the electronic stun devices by police has been marked with a sudden rise in deaths - including four men in the United States and two in Canada within the last week. Canadian authorities are taking a second look at them, and in the United States, there is a wave of demands to BAN them. The U.N. Committee Against Torture referred Friday to the use of TaserX26 weapons which Portuguese police has acquired. An expert had testified to the committee that use of the weapons had "proven risks of harm or death." "The use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death, as shown by several reliable studies and by certain cases that had happened after practical use," the committee said in a statement. Tasers have become increasingly controversial in the United States, particularly after several notorious cases where their use by police to disable suspects was questioned as being excessive. Especially disturbing is the fact that six adults died after being tased by police in the span of a week. Last Sunday, in Frederick, Md., a sheriff's deputy trying to break up a late-night brawl tased 20-year-old Jarrel Grey. He died on the spot. The death came just weeks after Frederick police used a Taser to subdue a high school student. The NAACP says it appears the sheriff's office is using Tasers routinely, rather than as a weapon of last resort. Also this week, in Jacksonville, Fla., in two separate cases two men died after being stunned. One suspect, who fled a car crash and tried to break into a nearby home, struggled with a policeman, prompting the officer to tase him three times. The man continued to fight, and tried to bite the officer, while he was being tased. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Another man died Tuesday after a Jacksonville officer pulled over his car. When the officer approached it, the man took off running. When the officer caught up with him, during a struggle, authorities say the officer used his Taser to subdue the suspect. After being placed in the back of the police car the suspect became unresponsive. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Last Sunday, in New Mexico, 20-year-old Jesse Saenz died after Raton police used a Taser to subdue him. Police say Saenz was struggling and fighting with them as they attempted to take him into custody. Saenz died after being transported to a county jail. In Nova Scotia, a 45-year-old man who was jailed on assault charges jumped a counter and ran for the door as he was being booked. He died yesterday, about 30 hours after being shocked. And in Vancouver, where Royal Candian Mounted Police have been criticized for their use of a Taser against an irate airline passenger at Vancouver Airport last month, 36-year-old Robert Knipstrom died in a hospital four days after police used a Taser, pepper spray and batons to subdue him. More than a dozen people have died in Canada after being hit by Tasers in the last four years. ...in British Columbia, a tourist's video camera recorded the death of a man tased twice while in custody at the Vancouver Airport last month. That horrifying video shows Robert Dziekanski, a Polish man who spoke no English, become increasingly agitated. He was shocked twice, and then died. ...in Utah, a patrol car's dashboard camera caught an officer tasing a driver who refused to sign a speeding ticket. The officer is now under investigation, accused of being too quick on the draw. Amid a growing outcry, civil rights groups are urging police to put down their Tasers until more research is done. "The danger of Tasers is that they seem safe, they seem easy and therefore I think it's natural that police will be inclined to use them much more quickly than they would ever use a gun,"Amnesty International USA Executive Director Larry Cox told Chen.