8/19/09

The Handlers #30

Hello

I have been finishing up my work on Handlers' #31 and am unable to post a new piece at this time. So, I am going to post a link to The Handlers' #30. Some of you may have already seen this, but for those who have not, enjoy. This is an ongoing project that I am involved in with the artist, Mr. Nate Marcel. Since there are three issues before this, and the next one I am going to write is The Handler's #1, expect them to be posted out of order. Sorry. They are fun and they are juvenile, but enjoy!!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/12661165/The-Handlers-30



8/8/09

MUSIC IN MOTION


Under this heading, in periodic fashion, I will review, and then post a link to a video that I think others should behold. It won’t always be about the music, sometimes it will be about the visual aspect of the expression, or the combination of the music with the visual expression.


Today’s link is to a video by an Electronic band from Norway called Royksopp. Thier name literally means “smoke mushroom” in Norwegian. This pick was made purely for the visual//musical combination. Don’t misunderstand; I really like the music as well. There are amazing electronica/techno groups out within the musical flux, and Royksopp is definitely one of them. This is a prime example of a perfect melding of visual art with the art of sound.


There is an ode to the original art of video gaming in this, and the musical accompaniment is sublimely dreamy.


ENJOY:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmcPeuf5aXo


8/2/09

THE BARRIERS OF IRAN


The movement is made through rigid barriers. Barriers that not only refuse to bend or twist, but that push forward, that crowd in. The people conformed, and established a lifestyle that they made comfortable within their government’s molds. They exalted here, existed, found ways, even, to exhilarate, express and celebrate, and then the barriers would push forward some more, and interfere and quiet their ambitions, softly, urgently.

The heroes are the ones that, despite how high the odds are stacked against them, push back. They sacrifice their current and future freedoms (and no matter how limited they may be relative to ours, they are that; freedoms), and sometimes their lives, to instigate drastic change from the suffocating reality that imprisons their minds and bodies. These men and women of today, and throughout the annuls of history, should garner your respect and support as they mirror the efforts once made by those that fought for the rights you hold so dear in your country’s heart.

In what is now considered the polarized country of the USA, we have openly rediscovered something we, as Americans, have always agreed upon. That the people of the country deserve freedom of thought and expression, deserve for their votes to count, and deserve the right to protest against the powers that be without being beaten, imprisoned, or killed. We all agree with that.

Let us not forget, however, that there was a time, and times, when our government withheld rights from certain citizens (some would say it still does) and reacted just as violently to dissenters of policy, not very long ago. The radicals of the sixties were met with such an example of brutal government opposition; some would even put forth that departments of the government carried out assassinations upon its leaders. That even as recent as the latest unpopular Iraq War, dissenters were considered unpatriotic and non-supportive of the troops, when an argument can be made that they were the most patriotic; in practicing their free rights, and the most supportive of the troops; in not wanting their lives wasted in a war that was considered unnecessary, and justified under false pretenses. Here is where the polarization begins to ensue. But instead of letting it fester and boil, let’s look at the opposing sides a bit. One doesn’t have to agree with why they protested, but one surely can agree that they have the right to protest peacefully without fear of violence or imprisonment. That was easy, this one is harder. One doesn’t have to agree with why we invaded Iraq, but one surely understands that it was done for the future stability and development of the USA in mind, although carried out with a certain amount of corruption and deceptiveness. Also, that those in power had the right to attempt to protect America in the way that they thought best. If you do not agree that these two polarized sides have the right to think and act differently, whether you agree with their viewpoints or not, then you do not believe in America, you believe in Amerika; a totalitarian concept much akin to present day Iran.

Even though I think it is now plainly clear that the powers of Iran are indeed pursuing the development of a nuclear weapon, we cannot invade or even bomb them; else we unify them once again behind their totalitarian government. We must allow the people to revolt on their own levels, within their own time tables, at the pace of their own urgency. As an international body we can inflict penalties and embargoes, but we must not swing the mighty dick of our war machine at their unsolicited behest. If they were to seek our help as we once sought the help of France during our own revolution, then certainly we should aid them, although one can highly doubt that they would. Any action other than that would prove to be a devastating mistake.

The barriers are rigid and they push against the tolerance of the people, until their tolerance is slowly eroded down to anger, and then the people push back without concern for repercussion. The true heroes of this world sacrifice for the benefits of the greater good, for the people who are to live in these countries, upon this planet, in the future.

8/1/09

Mass Murder


“What’s the premise?”

“The premise is Mass Murder,” Darla stated, and then took a long sip from her whiskey, neat.

“Ok. A popular subject. Non-Fiction?”

“Oh…no, Fiction. Real murder is horrible. I find it deeply disturbing, some of the ghastly murders that people actually commit. Horrible.” Another, longer, sip of whiskey, and then a clearing of the throat.

Tiffany wanted to laugh, but could see from Darla’s tightened brow and pursed lips that her friend had become very serious. This is a face that a moment ago was bright and cheery, eyes wide with joy over her accomplishment. Real murder wasn’t just disturbing to her on a matter-of-fact level, Tiffany realized. Real murder infected Darla’s imagination. She couldn’t just know of the murderous acts without her mind instantly mapping out the psychological aspects of the disturbance. Every moment of the murder’s stages were vividly seen in her mind’s eye, starkly vibrant. This was the part of her that enabled her to write these scenes for her films. “The psychological aspects of such crimes are not lost on you, hmmm?”

She ran her long fingers through the strands of black hair that were hanging down her face, and brought them back over her forehead. “Anytime I hear of these occurrences, I began to analyze what possibly could have happened to the murderers to bring them to act out such deeds. The more details I hear of the murders, the more disturbing it becomes for me. I can see every detail. How can people do that to each other? The worst ones are the sexual ones. To me, those are the most complicated. You can’t boil those murders down to acceptable reasons such as revenge or sudden rage.”

“The sexual murders almost always involve men inflicting their sick wills upon women and children. They also seem to operate off the basis of kidnapping.” Tiffany smoothed her dress over her thighs to her knees, where it ended. She repeated this motion a few times and then sipped her Chardonnay.

“Just the worst in human nature, the most disgusting aspects of animal dominance filtered through the mind of a human being. No, much too much for me to acknowledge as a reality. Those poor, poor victims, it’s just awful!”

“Have you ever hypothesized that what the victims go through may be a karma payback?”

“What? How can a child have experienced enough of life, and operated it with enough understanding to perpetrate any action that would deserve such a terrible reaction!” Darla gulped the last of her whiskey and set it down hard against the table.

Tiffany could see she was upsetting her friend, but felt compelled to continue discussing the idea to its end. “Karma stems from the belief that involves the ideas that we live multiple lives in an infinite scope of reality. Maybe the bad karma is carried over from previous misdeeds in previous lives.” She sat up straight and leaned towards Darla. “But, after such horrific punishment, they are reborn into a wonderful existence with a clean slate and a chance to begin again.”

Darla sat back in her seat and eyed her friend suspiciously. “That is a bit too forgiving of a concept for me. I can’t perceive it in such an ethereal, transcendental aspect.” She paused, shook her head and stared at the bottom of her empty glass. “You know, I’m not even making this about a human killer, although humans are being killed.”

“Who’s doing the killing?”

“A pack of vicious, sharp toothed long clawed, goblins.” She smiled, turned, and flagged down a waitress. “Another whiskey, make it neat.”