March 30, 2009
March 29, 2009
My lost week- never mind the end!
Somehow this week got lost in sheer tiredness, - not only from work, but also of the state of the globe.. I've been searching far, high and low for something to grab my attention and fire me up - just enough to write a post about it... But no such luck or rather maybe the collective apathy of the financial crisis has caught me too?
People around me, were already heading towards a more selfish attitude, before this mess started - but now it's getting ridiculous! "F... everyone - I've got me and mine to save!! " - This seems to be the mantra now.
Forgotten are the people in Gaza, Darfur, DR Congo, Tibet, Afghanistan, Iraq and everywhere else where poverty and human suffering is so boundless, that "Finance Crisis" sounds like yet another brand-name for a commodity, to costly to even dream about...
So I thought we needed the sweet voice of a "beautiful junkie" [with all, what that implies] to say something of pulchritude - to lift us up, not where we belong, but where the air is less thick with ego frenzy.......
March 23, 2009
Let's rattle our funny bones!
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Neil Gaiman | ||||
| ||||
This is yet another day in wet/grey/cold Denmark! So while we are waiting for the shenanigans by our prime minister to end IE Him admitting to taking the post as general secretary of NATO (He has played the coy virgin for months now, it's embarrassing!)
This won't happen until at the earliest tomorrow - so here's a little laughter in the meanwhile!
If you still need to laugh a bit more and you like Woody Allen's brand of humour? Here's a link to "The New Yorker" where he's written a fresh new piece!
March 21, 2009
Letters from Gaza - Now collected -
Dear Brothers and Sisters;
Our Diary "Remaining Human" - now becomes a book!
And within the book; the story of three weeks of bloodshed,
written to the best of my ability, in situations of extreme insecurity. Often transcribing, in the midst of the surrounding inferno, on a crumpled notebook, bent over, in an ambulance with the siren racing....
Frenetically tapping the keys on a computer of luck
within buildings shaking as crazy pendulums by the explosions all around.
Be advised that only leafing through this book could be dangerous,
pages are harmful, soiled with blood,impregnated with white phosphorus and sharp splinters of explosive.
If read in the quiet of your bedroom, walls will echo of
our screams of terror,
and I worry for the walls of your hearts
I know not yet how to soundproof them from pain.
Set the volume right, just to be sure - Near the children; This to enable them; To know right now about a world, which are not far away, where indifference and racism are intact, and where children treat their peers, as were they rag dolls.
In such a way; Maybe a vaccination at an early age, will help
against this epidemic of violence and lead towards the other face of injustice and sloth.
For one day being able to Remain Human.
The proceeds of the book by the author; IE Vittorio Arrigoni, myself!
Will go ENTIRELY to the children of Gaza! All of them surviving victims of this horrendous massacre-
To ensure that their wounds can heal quickly....
(And give back my part and help those of Il Manifesto at the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, website: http://www.pcdcr.org/eng/, to fund a series of games and social assistance aimed at children, who were severely injured or traumatized).
Despite attractive offers; Like a tour around Italy with Noam Chomsky, I've decided to stay in hell, here in Gaza.
Not only because I am very difficult to evacuate from this open-air prison (An Israeli government spokesman said: "He arrived by sea, he'll have to leave the Strip by sea"), but above all; Because there is yet much to be done and most violated human rights on these moors, are often missed by the outside world.
Promoting my book from here, with the support of all those who have demonstrated friendship, brotherhood, closeness, empathy.
I ask you to buy some books and try to sell them if not almost door to door, to friends and acquaintances, work colleagues, fellow university fellows
volunteers, of life.
And further still, to propose it to a library -aggressive libraries interested in a project of truth and solidarity.
Go to the centers for social and cultural associations close to where you are.
We could organize readings in various cities, (I could speak by phone, the events would be advertised on The Manifesto, on our blogs and Internet sites)
and this could also be an interesting opportunity to count, to know,
and to bound.
We are not few, are many,and we can really count - believe me!
The book can be found right now at newsstands with Il Manifesto. And soon in bookstores. (Only in Italian as of yet!
I trust in you,
that trust in me,
not for the dead
but for the deathly wounded of this horrible massacre.
A hug as big as the Mediterranean that separates - unites us!
We are humans.
Yours, but never tamed;
Vik.
(This is a translation partly by Google translation tool [it shows here and there] and partly by me; your humble Blogger [which also shows everywhere (",)]
March 17, 2009
Stewart Vs Cramer - Uncut version!
This interview will go down, as a great moment for good, serious and well researched journalism as opposed to the light "Snake oils" version we're seeing more and more of!
- Oh, how I wish for someone knowing how to do this in Denmark too! We used to have some great Dragon-ladies, but they have all become foreign correspondents, instead of the swishy-washy types we have now, with their never ending questions of "How did you feel?" "What did it do to you?" What did you think of in the moment?" kind of interviews, that we are being fed around here. The interviewer never lifting her/his head from the list of questions, not knowing the meaning of a follow up!
A room of her own - In Amsterdam
working Danish girl;Ninon - 26 yrs old-
needs a place to stay/live in Amsterdam, Holland as soon as possible!
Maybe you know someone, who knows someone,
who knows someone with a cousin,
who has a room/flat for rent in the fair city of
Amsterdam?
First day of spring in Denmark
Happy 1.st glorius day of spring to everyone who lasted all through grey Danish winter !- And happy St. Patricks day to all Irish ! - may you soon see real and lasting peace!
Love and power to the Peaceful
March 16, 2009
Denmark's strict immigration regulations
Yeeesss! We made it to Al Jazeera! And this with our absolutely inhumane treatment of refugees.
The Danish government will be happy and say;"This is exactly what we hoped for; that word would get around, internationally and make refugees do a detour when reaching the Danish borders!"
The rest of us, who didn't vote for the ruling party or their allies, has to hide our face (and our nationality) in shame and hope & fight for a change soon will come!
By the way; Our immigration laws have been ruled unlawful in EU and being against UN's Human Rights charter - Not that will change anything - I'm reminding you, this is the land of Milk and Butter; Denmark - and not some unruly banana republic in a remote jungle!
Reprehensible, really! For a so called Christian, Scandinavian country in this year of our lord 2009!
Reality in Gaza ....
Gaza's Reality
While on the subject of forgotten realities; Here's one from Gaza - The video was uploaded in Nov. 2006 - Don't think that it has gotten any better since! - Wrangle 5 min out of your busy Twitter/Facebook/Myspace/Whatever social media, which takes your fancy and watch a bit of this great Documentary; "Occupation 101" - I have posted the full movie before!-
While on the subject of forgotten realities; Here's one from Gaza - The video was uploaded in Nov. 2006 - Don't think that it has gotten any better since! - Wrangle 5 min out of your busy Twitter/Facebook/Myspace/Whatever social media, which takes your fancy and watch a bit of this great Documentary; "Occupation 101" - I have posted the full movie before!-
Oh and the promise from yesterday about Anders Østergård? Well, the day is not over yet (",)
The isolation of the abandoned !
Last year, during these days of March, Tibet saw a riot against the Chinese oppressors which surprised not only the Chinese Government but also the rest of the world. It's been 50 years of exile for the Dalai Lama who spoke harshly against China for the very first time, calling Life in Tibet "hell on earth" (Full speech)
China has now clamped down with massive troops movement into the region and Internet/cell phone net is partially closed. No foreign journalist or tourists are allowed in; "for their own safety" in order to isolate the people of Tibet.
New York Times have a very good and in depth series of articles on the isolation of Tibet and on the official Chinese version of Tibet's tortured history and how China portrays the Tibetans in the rest of China, as bogeymen, who have to be feared and Dalai Lama as "a Jackal in monks robes"
I think the West lost a great opportunity to actually apply pressure on China with the Olympics 2008! It was a show of good intentions, which in the last minute caved in to the Chinese government and their brazen-faced denials of any problems in Tibet or anywhere else in the great "Democratic" state of China.
After the cheering of the winners, the tears of the losers and the awe of the final fireworks; The Olympics closed down and the circus moved elsewhere... And then we lost interest or have simply forgotten the suffering people on the roof of the world. - A bit like Burma/Myanmar - Apart from one Danish director Anders Østergård - But more on him later....
March 15, 2009
Changing his name from Brown to Blue...
And when as head of state, you come visiting; you will come bearing gifts. Mr. Brown came with a pen holder, made from the timber of the antislaveship HMS Gannet - sister ship to the HMS Resolute; where the timber of the Oval-office desk comes from! A most thoughtful gift, I would say. But what did Americans give Mr. Brown in return, during these hard recession times? Yes! A DVDboxset of 25 Classic movies - All Hollywood of course!
Meanwhile Mrs Clinton made a translation gaffe in Moscow with her gift; A button saying "Over charge" instead of the intended "Reset"!
It's been a great week for whoever thinks up these "gifts of friendship" And a cheap one too! It might be hard times for all of us, but as Jon Stewart on the "Daily show" points out - They could just have raided the attic of the White House and given some "meaningful artifact" from the surplus store.
Well, what came out of all this out of season gift-exchanging? A British meme from the blog of Tom Harris -
As I don't know any of these British Bloggers, I haven't been "Tagged" - But there's no rule against tagging yourself and then in turn, tag 3 other Bloggers of your own choice ?
Here's the list; Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca, Raging Bull, Singin’ in the Rain, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler’s List, Vertigo, The Wizard of Oz, City Lights, The Searchers, Star Wars: Episode IV, Psycho, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Sunset Boulevard, The Graduate,
The General, On the Waterfront, It’s a Wonderful Life, Chinatown, Some Like it Hot, The Grapes of Wrath, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial and To Kill a Mockingbird.Here's the rules; Take two points for every film you own and have seen (only one if you own it but haven’t got round to watching it yet), one point if you’ve seen it but don’t own the DVD, and no points for those you haven’t either watched, purchased or been given.
Here's MY list;
Own; Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca, Raging Bull, City Lights, Sunset Boulevard, The General, On the Waterfront, Some like it hot. (18 points)
Seen; All the above, ET,Chinatown, It's a wonderful life, The grapes of wrath, To kill a mockingbird, The graduate, Singing in the rain, Gone with the wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, Schindler's list, 2001; A space Odyssey, (12 points)
Never seen; Starwars episode IV, (I think - Don't which one it is - I saw the first two ones, when they premiered!) The searchers, The wizard of Oz, Psycho,
That gives me 30 points out of 50
And I'm tagging ; Labeet, Capac, Tveskov and Mod strømmen
Just for the heck of it ! Now, I don't know if these great people will accept this time wasting enterprise and on a Sunday ?!
March 14, 2009
PeaceVideo from India - Last post from LazyBoneProd.
A young man in India, mailed me this video - Apparently he's the editor- quite clever - I must say!
I know I've been a bit lazy these last days, just embedding videos - on the other hand I don't have anything to say really! - So with this (hopefully) last post from the LazyBones Prod. team; I proudly present a "Power and Love to the Peaceful" on this Saturday afternoon - in my part of the world! (PS - I love the part in the video, where you see the world coming together, and landmasses end up resembling my atlas...)
Late in the evening
Enjoy - This is Friday night music from waaay back when ! "One trick Pony tour" One of the best concerts I ever been to - incidentally! (And if you think the drummer - Steve Gadd is phenomenal - you're right!)
And here it is again ! Different night, different players - well the main guys are still there, but the late Michael Brecker came to play with the horn section that night!
So yet another treat for you !
March 13, 2009
Anouar Brahem - Leila au pays du Carroussel
Anouar Brahem is one of this worlds most gifted Oud player
and he's my secret gift to you -
This is beautiful music at its most addictive!
Make this man known,
to more than just the lucky few !
Enjoy -
Love and power to the peaceful
March 12, 2009
Interview with Dalai Lama. 50th anniversary of Chinese invasion of Tibet!
Dalai Lama speaks up, unusually harsh against the Chinese! Just about time!!
March 10, 2009
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