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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Song Saturday-It's been a long hard week and...Does Anyone Read Blogs Anymore?


Or maybe just not mine. 

Actually I know you do you just don't comment.  Is it because you have nothing to say?  Or because you're thinking...hmmm? 

Anyway, I noticed when I took my blog from social networking sites interaction on my blog-ishness dropped.  I'm a little sad about that, I liked hearing from people and  yet, the places I was before like Multiply, just became abandoned...ghost towns, castle gardens with aeolian harps.

"There is this thing that's like Talking except you don't Talk."- The Dresden Dolls

It's been a strange week.  Winter finally set in which I love.  I truly do it makes me feel warm and cozy.  It makes me want to bake and cook and create.  It makes me dream.  Real dreams that must be saved for stories. 

For some people it seems, it's harder and this week was like that.  As soon as the rain started the phone did to and in my real time life I found my time consumed with people who needed things.  Someone to talk to, a hand to grab so they wouldn't drown, sick people...all of that. 

It's not that I mind.  I just find it strange that just when I am feeling cheerful so many are not.

And it made me sad a bit. 

I found myself shoring up my shoulders a lot this week which while great and good ended up wearing me down, it was unexpected, this outpouring of need. 

Here's the thing...

I think people feel this way all or most of the time nowadays.  It just seems like it's harder to get by.  I find it hard to get by too.  A lot of people aren't ready to be in a world changing. 

Do you remember your grandparents talking about the prices of things and "How things used to be." ?  We may be the first generation that has experienced that in our own prime.  Or maybe it's just noticeable to us because we are living it, I don't know....Maybe.

I was told a story of my Grandfather who when about 40 suffered some depression.  He went into Lassen National Forrest for a month and explored.  He took the family but everyday he left camp and while my Great-Grandmum looked after the family letting his wife, my Grandmum know it would be okay.  He went into the forest to find himself again. 

The kids, my mum and uncles remember this a great time, they played and explored too.  My Grandmum who was one of the people who told me of it, was greatly afraid her husband would not come out of it. Hence the soothing of her mother-in-law.  She knew, men ( and women too) need time in places that heal them. 

He came out that summer healed and never was that bad again. He was pragmatic yes, but not depressed.  He ever after looked, really looked for good things. 

At least that's what I remember. 

Now I tell all of this because I think we do not go out into the forest enough today.  We do not take time for ourselves.  We have veryvery IMPORTANT things to do!  We think.

We have appointments, people need us, we cannot get away from our jobs because then how would things run?  We have family obligations and community ones too. 

All these things tend to fuck up our lives because we are going to blow.  Bet on it.  Usually we end up doing it in ways that are destructive to us and the ones we love.  We cheat.  Sexually yes, but not just that, we cheat each other and ourselves of time, money and each other.

We do all this and we don't take the necessary time to just care for ourselves.  I didn't mention it but my Grandfather ran a ranch at the time.  Ranches are just like all the other high pressure jobs out there, you need to be there, you need to do things on time to make a living. 

Thankfully his Mum told him to stop, his brothers and hands could manage it. 

Anyway whenever I see people struggling for hope, for joy, for release I think of that summer I wasn't alive for but heard so much about.  It ultimately helped my family all move forward. Everyone got something good and precious out of it. 

Take time when you are down.

Remember,  " There is thing keeping everyone's lungs and lips locked
It is called fear and it's seeing a great renaissance."-The Dresden Dolls

Don't be afraid .   Embrace what you need.  Even if just for the length of a song.  Just.....Sing.



Saturday, January 21, 2012

Song Saturday-100 Years From Now

Just loving the carnival-ish/ flapper flavour of this. Very cool to find something unique this saturday afternoon.

Enjoy.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

SOPA and Bad Andy



Right, so It's International Internet Blackout day or whatever.  Subversify joined in with a lot of other sites that either blacked out completely or sent up a message of some sort showing support.  What I noticed was there were more sites that had promised to join that did not in fact do so.  Like Huffington Post blah blah blah, did you think major American outlets were really going to go black? 

Kudos to Wired for going to the trouble and Wikipedia for at least blacking out the main page as well as giving info on where to go and who to write to in your state about your disgust.   Also a thank you to The Guardian who technically doesn't matter because they are not in America but thanks for the leg-up Guardian!

The question really is: does our mutual disgust and protest matter?  Probably not much.  I wrote an obligatory letter to my Congressman who usually does exactly nothing but check the box the other Republitards tell him to.  I write him all the damn time about everything and every single time get the same letter back saying basically "I know better than you." 

But I wrote him again anyway, it's kinda my monthly exercise in futility here it is:

Mr. Herger,
I am aware that you are set for retirement and as you have done nothing but vote the party line for the entirety of your career I have no doubt that this plea will be ignored.  Just as all other letters I have written to you have been ignored.  Over the years I have received letters from your office which sounded rather like form letters designed to tell me one thing. "I hear you dear constituent. Other constituents have told me the same thing, however I know better than you."  Which has only served to separate me from you and Washington further.  See, I was taught representatives were meant to represent their constituents no matter what.  Not decide what is best for the constituents.  Yet you on so many occasions have decided to vote against the majority of your constituents on so very many issues. 
Here is another opportunity however to hear something your constituents have to say. 
SOPA and PIPA are bad for everyone. They would put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. SOPA and PIPA would build a framework for future restrictions and suppression. I have no doubt that this will extend to American sites as well as the foreign ones.  Besides which why are we consistently extending our laws to make it okay to infringe on the laws of other countries?
In a world where it is difficult to do buisiness anymore without a website this would slow down the small owners that we supposedly want to prop up.  It would continue the dwindling of the middle class, you know...the class that pays all the bills already with their taxes as they have none of the tax breaks of higher earners.
Congress says it's trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the "cure" that SOPA and PIPA represent is worse than the disease. SOPA and PIPA are not the answer. They are entirely too broad in their definition and they do nothing to actually correct the problem.  In effect they create an extra problem of a new sort of criminality. Both Bills would fatally damage the free and open Internet.
I urge you to think before you vote about how it would affect American media, business and tax payers.

-signed me.

Okay, I signed my really real name actually because I really do give a shit even if he clearly doesn't.

I don't know if people really give a shit about Piracy-that scary word that conjures up either Capt. Jack Sparrow or Somalian teenagers depending on your view of pirates...

It seems like we don't we put pictures of ourselves up all over the place and provide permission-even if we don't read the fine print, it's there, check your google+ acct.- for people we don't know to download them. 

We take other people's pictures all the time like this one:

Because we agree with what it says and privacy means we can't always contact you to give you credit. (To whom it may concert, I really really like this picture and completely agree with it, we need to not let ourselves be oppressed.  Please Please don't be mad that I used it.  You Rock!)


What's really at stake here is money.  Cash flow to those who hold the purse strings which is why you won't see National Geographic blacked out today.  Nor will you see the New York Times.  They simply do not give a shit about the whole issue. 

They also aren't whistleblowers.  When was the last time you saw National Geographic blow the lid off corruption with their awesome glossy photos, they report after the fact.  They give no commentary or context.  They just have really really great narration and pictures....and pullout maps with time lines and stuff.

This SOPA/PIPA thing is designed to make it legal to go after the people who work with entities like Wikileaks, Anonymous, and others whose names you may not know like Cuentame  which is where I pirated the above picture. ( again, thanks so much cuentame you Kick Ass! and sorry for pirating your photo)


It's also about having the ability to extradite people and ignore the laws of other nations.  Something which I find very bad and very rude of we, the American people.  It seems we really do want to rule the world and this past year 2011-2012 has been all about making up new laws that make us feel better about breaking the laws of other countries.  You know like that act Obama just signed into law making it okay to call anyone a terrorist or a trouble maker or a Bad Andy therefore making it okeeydokey to swipe them from other countries without their permission.

 
This is Bad Andy by the way.  Nobody ever knows what I'm talking about when I say "Bad Andy"  suffice to say Bad Andy is a very bad....whatever he is....monkey? 

Anyway.  Is our protest today going to make a difference.  I highly doubt it.  Does it therefore matter if we do it or not?  Yes.

Yes because it always matters I think if you believe in something to stand for it.  If you don't you are a gutless spineless shell of a human who already belongs entirely to The Machine. 

But that's just my opinion. 


Saturday, January 14, 2012

Song Saturday- Heroin


No, not the heroic type, although I've no doubt that most people feel heroic...at least at first. Given the lyrics..."I feel like Jesus' son."

Anyway, I'm not really sure why I'm chosing this for the week. Especially a week just back. It used to be I didn't miss a Song Saturday. I've been flaking royally.

I'm not sorry about that. I've been busy doing other stuff. Stuff like walking the dog, going to farmer's market, cooking and eating good fresh food. Feeling really and truly blessed.

Really.

I've been watching, reading and listening to people who are unhappy, have nothing good to say about the future. Really and truly looking toward the end.

THE END.

Of course I'm not tripping through clouds. I am aware things are pretty bad. People are treating each other terribly. The U.S. and a good many other top-spot countries are looking an aweful lot like the third world countries we are so aftaid of. The ones we want to save. A lot of the time by force.

We have been spending too much time in other places and ignoring our own. Our very own hungry, homeless and downtrodden. Our prejudice has extended to everyone...especially poor people of every color. But also we now hate artists, writers, dreamers, those who don't slave in cubicles.

Even if we don't use the word "hate" we really do feel that way. "Get a Job!" is a phrase used more and more. We can't even concieve of others wanting to live and work on different schedules. It pisses off the masses.

I know all this.

And yet, I don't know...I feel hopeful really. I feel like we're at the point when maybe we can lance this huge national boil. Then the draining and healing can begin.

Is this even making sense? I don't know because it's late and I'm just using this blog as a free flowing exercise at this moment. So if you are reading it, you are getting my unfiltered thoughts.

Heroin, Get a Job, Boils Draining and Hope.

Anyhow this song was up on my Ipod today. I love it, mostly because it has so many takes. Actually if you have 'Peel Slowly and See" by Velvet Underground you know that the demo version has like eight takes.

Sometimes it takes a while to get things just so. Even if it doesn't sound (or seem or look) different to you. The dreamers have to tweak it out.

I'm hoping the Dreamers who are dreaming reconstruction are tweaking things out. I know I am. And I will not stop until it is just so.

Maybe everyone else should be thinking about more "takes" as well.