I’ve been thinking about this post for near about a week. And I’ve been trying to write it for, what must be, a few of days, now. The more I think and write about how I feel, the more forced and insincere, I think, it seems. So I’m just going to write and hope I get down all I want to say…
My dearest friend, Freddy, passed away last Thursday morning, June 11th, 2009. Just as quickly as he came into my life, he was gone…
Last week I, as a “Friend of AK Press,” received a DVD, titled “Shutdown: The Rise and Fall of Direct Action to Stop the War;”
“On March 20, 2003—the day after the war started—San Francisco was brought to a grinding halt by thousands of activists who occupied the streets to oppose the war. It was a mass uprising that forced the police to declare the financial district “shut down.” The planning and outreach coordinated by Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW), filled downtown San Francisco with approximately 15,000 people clogging traffic, stopping business as usual, communicating with passersby, and creating a pandemonium that lasted for several days. But neither DASW nor the mass resistance outlasted Iraq’s occupation. […] Created by organizers involved with DASW, Shutdown combines detailed information on organizing for a mass action, critical interviews on organizing pitfalls, and the wisdom of hindsight. It is a must-see film for those engaged in the continuous struggle toward social justice.”
A thought provoking piece. What has any protest really changed? A very interesting question. One for which I haven’t a quick answer. But I’m convinced the more relevant question is what has any protest prevented?
So I was stewing away in my own broth, not an hour ago, when I got to thinking. Why do movies released on DVD, manufactured here in Canada, dawn the film’s name in both English and French? I’ve never really understood that.
Yes I, of all people, am aware of what it’s like to be excluded. Not matter how unintentional or deliberate it might seem or is. But, better still, I fully appreciate providing both versions of the title is the law of an officially bilingual land.Â
But isn’t something as recognizable as a film’s title, on many more levels than how it’s written, its “brand?”
Friday night Travis Barker, drummer of a few bands but “most famously” that of Blink 182, was involved in what I can guess was a rather serious plane crash. And at this time, well as of this morning at least, was still in critical yet stable condition.
Why do I care? Never much liking the bands he’s ever played/plays with. But he’s an individual much like any of us, who, I’ll assume, is in a great deal of pain. So en route to another point, I want to wish him all the best. He’ll need it.
Last week a friend and I were discussing musical influences on our lives. Which at first seemed like a very natural thing for me to explore. But it soon started to feel “odd.” In a sense that I, a person who grew quite used to expressing himself musically, hasn’t touched an “axe” that sits in the loneliest corner of his bedroom in a good 10 years? Then I was ever so casually reminded I look upon it each and every single day for whatever reason. And, I think, that fact alone speaks volumes about the music I listen to being such an important part of my life. And I don’t ever see that changing. Or I can’t imagine it being any different.