Thin Red Life

“If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack.” It is especially hard to blog after having just watched The Thin Red Line. It is a movie that reads like a poem. A cruel yet magnificent poem. I think everytime I’ve watched this film, every line echos in my mind. “Who are you that I knew you? Walked with you?”

Looking up some reviews on the internet, I found the same generic synopsis

“A World War II tale which focuses on a squad of American troops battling against the Japanese during the hellish battle of Guadalcanal Island. Witt has gone AWOL and considers the contrast between the peace of the islanders and the chaos brought by war.”

How sad that such reviews miss so much. This is not a “war flick.” It’s a poem. A poem about madness, evil, and hatred…and asks whether or why these things lie so close to love and goodness.

As I watched this film, I remembered why I believe so strongly in peace. Why I don’t believe in war as a means to do anything. And what a tragedy wars have been and continue to be for the entire world. No matter if you think you won or lost, no one wins. Violence spawns violence…. and worse.. dispair, darkness, evil.

On the other hand… it reminded me of the beauty that lies beneath all this shit. I think this line “We were all a family once… what happenned that pulled us apart,” this line in particular reminds me of the world. Humans. We were all a family once. No politician or general will ever convince me otherwise.

To go out on a lighter note, new random picture of my melon on each visit. Oh, and I will be renaming the blog. I’m reflecting on some new titles. Let’s see what I come up with.

Today’s Music: Ben Harper – Diamonds on the inside

Risk… Yes We Do

Almost fully recovered from 4 days of Paris. The Thalys ride home was smooth and lovely, add to that the cutest little Spanish-Dutch children who mixed the language in such amazing ways: “Avolita, mira.. daar staat zo veel autos, mira tantos!” Something like that. I listened to the woman explain to another Spanish-Dutchman how she immigrated to the Netherlands years ago and her husband is Dutch. So great, hearing such stories. Here’s me later on in the Thalys journey



One thing that struck me, more than any other, is just how similar Paris is to New York. I’m not talking buildings or language.. I’m talking pace of life… those Parisians are in hyper-fast mode, not unlike New Yorkers. It is as diverse and cosmopolitan, and generally speaking.. it just has a NYC vibe for me. Obviously you might not find scenes such as this in NYC
then again… maybe you would.

Out of all the horrors in the world these days, my attention is particularly turned to Taiwan. As if the recent shooting of the president wasn’t violent enough, the bitter fights – literally- between politicians, is pathetic. What’s worse is this rediculous feud between China and Taiwan.. which threatens a moronic war-type climax. Talk about a cruel joke… two neighbors with common ancestors threatening to kill each other. Then again.. the same is applicable for most of the globe… so much violence between former and future friends.

Today’s Music: Dashboard Confessional: A Mark, A Brand….

Big Ben.. PArliament

We’re in the home stretch of my Parisien tour! After three full days of running round… Im feeling tired, but content. The city I haven’t seen in years now seems more approachable and familiar. The friends that I needed to see are gettin on swimmingly here in Paris.. it’s nothing short of a pleasure to see them. I should also add, there’s something quite inspiring.. to see your friends… young couples.. living their wishes and dreams together, here in Paris. Sure, I live in a city I love.. but to do that as a couple… that seems like a super-rewarding journey.. maybe one day I’ll live it.

Paris is so enormous…. this coming from a boy who grew up in the shadow of NYC. After almost two years of Amsterdam, I’ve become something less then a big-city kid… I look around and everything and maybe for a split second.. am I am in a bit of awe. Still… no problems. Thanks to my built-in sense of direction and care-free mis-use of maps and directions, I’ve found things I needed to find. Even managed to pick up some French military surplus pants… old soviet uniform items as well… these are things I’m into, what can I say? I taken many photos.. thanks to the wonders of digital.. I shall display them tomorrow evening. (one or two I mean)

I also managed to be here for the regional elections yesterday. Talk about a lesson in democracy… many parties.. many coalitions… and yes.. a good voter turn-out. The verdict… fairly mixed.. but overall.. the Socialist/Communist/Green coalition has made a comeback, and they look poised to take a majority of regions over the right/Extreme right. Sidenote: the extreme-right still had a strong showing… hooray for facist voters.

Back to Amsterdamage!

Today’s Music: Barbara (her songs are gettin lots of play in Paris)

Stole my heart.. that South Africa…

Sad news this morning from V in South Africa… she was so upset… her laptop (my laptop) was stolen from her office in Cape Town, while she was out at lunch. I felt bad for so many reasons, first and foremost because she really needed it, and anytime you get something that important stolen, it hurts. Second cause that’s my old laptop… my trusty old friend.. clunky yet somehow still hip enough to be wanted. I was looking forward to its return, I was going to make it a lynux machine. Dream postponed I guess… Now my laptop, filled with stickers from WBGO-Newark, Ajax-Amsterdam, Amnesty International, and Ben-n-Jerry’s ice cream, has found its way into the clandestine electronics market of Cape Town. I can only hope it brings joy and internet access to those who never had it. If you’re reading this blog from my stolen laptop.. I hope you grow to understand what you’ve done. Here is the last known photoof said laptop, taken last week… pictured is V working happily.

Now onto brighter news – In only 8 hours, I’m off to PARIS for the first time since 1996! Yes, I may have passed through there during some of my travels, but I’ve not actually set foot on Parisien ground since I was 16! I’m truely excited! Especially to be spending time with B and P who live happily with their girlfriends in that fair city. I shall be travelling via Thalys, which is great; a smooth, sleek TGV ride… I’ll take tons of photos, before even getting off the train.

Haiti Update: President Aristide, who has not resigned, arrived in Jamaica this week. Not sure what his plan is considering his enemies have taken over Haiti and the US supports them. Still, it’s of interest that Jamaica as well as the rest of CARICOM acknowledge that Aristide was the victim of an illegal coup propped up by the Bush Administration.

Paris… je vien!

Today’s Music: Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderment

I’m going through bridges

I’ve had visions of changing. Changing colors. Changing photos. Changing my woredrobe (like one new shirt). Most of all, I’m contemplating changing the name of this blog. I mean really, does it mean anything to anyone? BM’s Communique? Has it grown on anyone? Title’s can be important, I’m constantly reading blog-theory, like A. Granado’s Fantastic book “Weblogs: Diario de Bordo”, and alot of the names of these blogs are so famous. How am I to compete? I’m gonna need some feedback on this one, so leave some scribble after reading this.

On my ever expanding jog route yesterday, I couldn’t avoid having to stand at a draw-bridge and wait for some huge ships to come through lugging dirt, gravel, and people’s houses. This is something I think the whole world could use that Amsterdam has – drawbridges. See, no matter how much in a rush, or busy you are… you have no choice.. the draw bridges open all day, anytime. People never get angry, they just stop and wait. Some talk to each other, some just stare… lots even sing! Even after almost two years, I love these moments. I think it improves a city’s mental health – there are some things we cannot control. In this case, the drawbridges, only those guys with the fake captain’s uniforms can control those, when they’re not watching soap operas in their little booths. (Sometimes you see the glow of a TV!) Here, have a look at the animated picture I made of a bridge opening:

The topic that I got caught up this afternoon is missile defense, does anyone remember this? You remember, it’s to set up this hollywoodesque “missile shield” that will destroy any “rogue” missiles fired at the US or its allies. Which right away makes you wonder what a nation is doing that is pissing people off to such a point. Anyway, what is new is that the government is broke and operating in the red. So they want to cut some spending, and since they’ve gutted public health, education, etc., they’re actually thinking “… hmmmmm maybe 420 billion!! is too high of a military budget.” They’ve decided maybe the 10.8 billion spent on missile defense research (thank your evil congress for agreeing to that), maybe that’s too much. Especially considering it doesn’t work and it basically shows they’re not interested in waging peace on this planet.

Today’s Music: Bill Frisell – Gone, Just Like a Train (unbelievable!)

Out my window I hear spain

As I glance out my Amsterdam window, I notice there’s quite a bit of sunlight lately. Take that all you NL critics who complain it only rains! Plus the days are getting longer… which is great.. I feel less guitly for sleeping in. I hate to jump the gun, but spring is in the air.. and that means outside bbq time and long aimless bike rides to taunt sheep and look at all the lovely people on their hip-n-cool boats. Here, have a look outside my window for yourself (yeah there’s commonly a car parked there):

Briefly I’ll touch on an issue that’s getting alot of attention, and perhaps rightfully so – The Spanish Election. First, I’d like to express great joy and the downfall of J.M. Aznar. I’m a huge critic of his policies and attitudes. He not only turns his back on his European Partners, he uses terrorism as his red-herring for military and political goals. So good riddance! In comes Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who I’ve followed for the past two years (not literally!) and am interested to see him take the helm. He’s not a revolutionary. But he may have something increasingly few leaders have – A SPINE!

Oh hey… my favorite Portuguese blogger helped me find a great report on the state of journalism in America. Its all here on a very sleek website. Want the highlights? Basically big media companies are losing their audience. To which I say – YOU DID IT TO YOURSELVES MORONS! And it’s supposed to get worse because without the audience.. they’re cutting back on things like… REPORTING! Brilliant! There’s no money because people don’t like us, so we’ll do an even worse job thanks to huge budget cuts! That’s why we’ll all better off right here in the blogosphere, where the air is cleaner. Sniff Sniff.

Today’s Music: Faudel – Samra (RAI music)