Throw Up

Sometimes on saturday I like blogging a family story. Tell you bout my parents and life in Newark when I was a kid. Or maybe bout a journey I took in Portugal, Spain, or whatever. I’ve got lots of those. I know not everyone gets that chance, I know I’m lucky. But actually I lost the train of thought, for one reason tonight:

I’m watching this We Were Soldiers movie. Did you see it? Maybe not. It’s got me close to throwing up. The part where a bunch of the soldiers are caught in the bombing line and they’re all charred and burning alive, and then the journalist tries to lift one of them by his legs. The guys legs are all black, like bar-B-Q, and when he goes to grip the tar colored ankles, the flesh falls right off. You see the muscle tissue and the bone, and the journalist has fists full of flesh… I’m on the couch clutching my stomach, and you tell me what the fuck was it for? War is the stupidest ritual the earth has ever known. Maybe dumber then all the mass murders, rapes, environmental dumpings, political scandals, money laundering, child abusing…

I don’t know if you can make a scale like that, but if you could, war would be on top. The worst of the worst. The most inhuman and pointless. TAKE THAT HILL. CONTROL THAT RIDGE. FLANK THAT FLANK THIS. WIN THE BATTLE. DIE FOR YOUR COUNTRY. What the fuck for?

I got an idea. Don’t do it. When you get the order. don’t. If you’re the “enemy” disobey. If you care about FREEDOM or SAFETY… Walk away. Go to jail. Suffer the punishment. Cause there cannot be anything worse then killing or being killed on the so-called battlefield.

The pope is dead. Whooptey do. They pray in Saint Peters and everwhere. The cameras are there. Yet all over the world there are wars… little.. big.. war. Skip the praying… everybody go there and stand in the fucking way! Hold hands like its a hippy event and stand there unarmed.

Stupid idea? Well… can’t be any dumber then the idea that carrying weapons and shooting other humans is important for your future. If that’s the future, count me out. I’ll go hang with the Pope and Joe Strummer, cause you know those two are gonna hang.

Today’s Sounds: Faudel – Sumra

VBlogging Friends

I’m doing my tribute to video blogging today. But it’s hard to talk visuals when i have some kind of eye problem right now. In high school we used to call this pink eye or something, but I refuse to admit I could have such a thing. So I call mine, an eye irritation. But nevermind that, let’s talk about vblogging.

Don’t get scared, it’s not far off at all. Matter of fact, it’s already here. You know blogs (I hope), cause you’re reading one. And while the world may still send mixed signals in public, you also know about podcasting; sort of an audioblogging. So vbloging is the next step of course. In the natural progression, dating back to the typewriter, radio and television. People will (and are) record snippets of their daily lives, or a personal message, and publish it to their blog-style site. Direct, personal- media.

I know.. I know.. video bm? But think deeper, there are so many people in this world of internets. Obviously most of us can sneak a peek during work and read blogs. MAybe slightly less of us can pop on headphones or just load podcasts onto our mp3 players and listen to shows. So probably even less of us can sit and watch video blogs on our computers throughout the day. Even if those little handheld video players are getting more popular. But still… there are so many of you out there… some prefer text, others sound, and plenty — video. So, vblogging is definitely here to stay. Just ask the duke of the vblog… Anti. I think my favorite part of anti’s films are when he puts the caption under them with the title. It always has the little tag “a film”. Thats the part I love…. like “How to Brush your Teeth – a Film“

I playing with the Vblog system he recommends, but its far from perfect. Wanted to throw on a vb of my own here, but no dice. So instead I refer you to his work, as well as that of Madge Weinstein’s Insane Films, and the wide world of Vblogging. Look out world, it’s already here!

Today’s Sounds: Desperate Housewives is on lazy friday night Belgian TV

AudioCommuniqu? #23 – Legal Issues, RadioClash

This AC was recorded using my new audiotechnica lavalier mic. I’m trying not to hate it, but mono recording just LACKS something. I rant about legal issues, file sharing, and podcasting, cause I feel like internet users are giving up the fight too easily. Tim from Radio Clash is also on q the a’s on this show, which is a great honor.

AudioCommuniqu? #23(mp3)

21min54sec, 64kbps, 10.2Mb+

Features:

Life Roundup

As much as I love google mail, and it looks all manageable, I’ve never seen an email box so huge and I’m pretty sure emails are falling through the cracks. Putting a star on things isn’t special if everythings got a star on it. So I thought to write a bit of a life update. This time — it’s personal.

For transparency sake, I wanted to say something about all the beautiful donations you guys sent me. Something around 30 people contributed, and that was a huge honor. All in all, I now find myself with a nice cash gift from ye the readers. Nevermind the specifics, lets just say it amounts to almost 1/4 the cost of my powerbook. Speaking of my love child, he/she will be arriving in Amsterdam around the 14th of April, much thanks to Crazy Dr. M who read my troubles and had a solution. If anyone out there still wishes to leave me a tip, it will still be appreciated. But beyond that, you guys rock!

New business: I will definitely be appearing in Northern Sweden for a week on the 19th of April, Umea to be exact, where I’m speaking at the very hip HUMlab. Well, they seem hip to me. What am I going to say? I’m talkin podcasting of course! So I intend to curse alot, where old jeans, and keep shouting lines from Pump up the Volume like.. “Steal the Air.” Remember that film? Harry would have loved podcasting. And it’s much easier to fit in a jeep wrangler. Oh.. I digress, going to Umea means getting to spend (more) time with delightfully crazy swedish bloggers like HER, him, and maybe the infamous him. Actually breaking into her and him is lame, cause there are way more.. but oh well.

Also, I thought Vermont was a cool state, but they just banned blogging in High Schools. So sing it with me “FUCK VERMONT”. Blog hard high school students!

Today’s Sounds: Postal Service – Giving Up and Giving In (oh so classic)

Dig Deeper

On Tuesday nights, I seek television shows that will wisk me away to a fantasy world of witty humor, indie music, and tormented lovers. It used to be the O.C., but that’s gone, and my old standby is back EVERWOOD. Which sounds like a porno, but isn’t.

Nevermind that, this is actually going to be a serious post goddamit. So sit up in that chair, cause this is big stuff.

If you’ve been round the Communiqu? before, you know that bm is a big critic of media and government. Some might say I’m a cynic, but I prefer to call myself a wacko pinko watchdog. (in private) Because whenever I listen to a politician or consult the media after something tragic happens, they consistantly act like they just landed on earth and have no concept of history or society. I’m talking worldwide here, not just the US or Europe. A terrorist act is committed, they talk revenge. Someone is murdered, they talk severe punishment. Rarely to never, do they ask WHY and WHAT are the conditions in which this thing happenned.

So I’m following this story of the kid who shot classmates and himself on an indian reservation, and silly me, I’ve got this hope about the discussion that will follow. I skim the articles looking for anything about poverty, unemployment, depression, mental illness, alcoholism, or the history of how Native Americans have been treated for generations. And no matter how much I’ve skimmed the last few weeks, I can find barely a shred of such discussion. Lots of boring sad pictures of memorials and people crying. A little bla bla here and there about guns, schools, arrests, and whatever. Same old shit that got us here in the first place.

Chalk it up to another dropped ball. Another clue completely missed. And both a government and a national media who lack any kind of real analytical and investigative tradition. Who the hell votes and reads for these morons?

Course there is hope, besides blogs, there’s this.

Me, I read WRITEHARD.. cause he can tell a tale that keeps me on the edge of my seat.

And Jill/txt wrote one that hit home for me as she was fingerprinted at the gates of the promised land.

Today’s Sounds: Ray Charles – Ultimate Hits Collection (disc2)

A story through pictures

Once upon a time.. the was a powerbook born in China,

After his birth, he was shipped off by the fedex to America

In America he was stranded for many weeks, and lived in a box, until one day, some very kind friend(s) agreed to (help) bring him to Europe.

But our story isn’t over, because the ending only comes two weeks from now, in a town called Amsterdam. So umm.. to be continued.

Obviously I can’t tell a story like the mailman.

Today’s Sounds: Ani DiFranco – Up UP UP