Having seen a few great, some very good, and many just good films lately and over the course of time, I can honestly say that Cloud Atlas completely blows every other film totally out of the water for sheer creativity in actualizing the potential of films for depth of narrative, visual beauty, acting and scope of vision. It’s a truly beautiful film on multiple levels. If you have not yet seen CloudAtlas then do yourself a huge favor and make time to view it as soon as possible. It’s lengthy, complex, involved and demands complete attention. I would love to comment extensively but that might limit your own acts of exploration and discovery while engaged with this piece of artistry. Yes, this is Film As Art and it’s quite incredibly spectacular!
Not yet interested?
Did you love The Matrix?
Are you a fan of Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Zhou Xun, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon and Hugh Grant? Imagine each playing multiple roles in multiple storylines which are all interconnected.
Okay, I surrender to the ghost in this machine and refuse to fight the edit blog post battle any further today. While I’ve narrowed down the search for causes of earlier frustrations in blogland to this specific computer at my end, the reasons for such remain elusive. So instead of trying to force the program to do its editing duty properly, I’m just going to yap in this post instead.
Yes, it’s been very quiet in my blogcasa since round one of “Breakfast Special.” I confess that I’ve been wondering if further courses of “Breakfast Special” might be of interest to anyone wandering by. Would anyone care to put in an order?
Frankly I think I’ve ranted, vented and held forth over time on most items broiling in my brainpan. Yet when Dirk Kirby’s documentary “The Invisible War” aired on my local PBS station via Independent Lens last night it supplied some motivational electro-shock therapy which prompted my earlier attempt at a blog post regarding the rape epidemic in the U.S. Military. I’d been aware of this issue for several years, but had no idea of the current ongoing scope and depth of the issue until viewing Kirby’s film. While I’m aware that the violent crime of rape is widespread, under-reported and under prosecuted in America, I’d had not any idea just how callous the entire U.S. Military’s attitude is towards the crime in its own ranks. Is this a logical consequence of the innate nature of the military itself as a vehicle for training people for combat that requires the death and destruction of other humans? Perhaps it is.
If so, why would any parent who puts forth the effort to raise children to be decent, caring, intelligent adults ever encourage their children to enlist in any military force? Why would parents want to have their children destroyed by a system which does not value human life?
I am at a loss for any rational answers to those questions and the host of others I have in regard to the specific issue of rape in the military and the institution in general. It appears that being an “officer and a gentleman” is nothing more than illusion created by smart uniformed propaganda images.
Rape outrages many people when news of it surfaces in the media. The rapes of women in India have garnered world-wide attention. People are appalled by rapes of children. Rape is recognized as a war crime. No one seems to condone rape. Yet it is a widespread violent crime which knows no social, political, economic nor religious boundaries.
Does the U.S. Military view the victims of rape within its ranks as simple collateral damage that is an acceptable byproduct of their own culture of acceptable violence?
Is this just a military problem or is it a human nature problem? If it’s human nature working out its dark side then what does it say about US?
Considering the recent issues regarding the Violence Against Women Act I wonder if we live in a culture which somehow deviously nurtures the act of rape.
Such is the current state of my brainpan stew. This is more or less the gist of the content which inexplicably vanished from my earlier post when I hit the “Publish” earlier today.
Eco Watch featured David Lavallee’s very accessible film White Water, Black Gold and I could not resist sharing after viewing it online. It does more than bring the toxic waste of Canada’s Tar Sands into view because it also presents some clean green alternatives that are already being successfully utilized not just in Germany, but ironically in Canada as well. What are the rest of us waiting for? For the Big Oil Companies to milk out all the profits possible while creating waste toxic waste dumps that destroy fresh water all living things depend upon for life? We cannot drink oil. Oil cannot make food crops grow. Plants need water. No wheat crop means no bread.
Make no mistake that Big Oil and corporations like Monsanto do not comprehend the situation despite their public relations denial spins. They do indeed and they want to use it to serve their own ends. There are reasons that Monsanto wants to patent all seeds for their own profit. There are reasons some Americans are NOT allowed to “catch” rainwater in barrels for gardening. The reasons are profits for those who want to control all the natural resources that are basic to all forms of life. If ducks could pay taxes then they’d be taxed for swimming in ponds. Deer would be taxed for eating plants. Wolves would be taxed just for being alive. I suspect the predatory human population feels an innate threat from wolves who don’t care for domestication by humans as dogs do. Wolves don’t need or want us humans. I don’t wonder why not. Perhaps it’s their independence which has set off the curent war on their very existence in the states. Could be. Wolves don’t give a damn about the corporate human economy. They’re bound only by the laws of nature. Oh, come to think of it, so are humans. Because in the end–it will be natural law which decides the survival of our species. It’s about time we all came to terms with that reality. Denial will not change outcome.
Gee, it appears I’ve gotten off the Tar Sands water usage and energy alternatives track of White Water, Black Gold. It may appear so. But since everything is connected–and we are all ‘related’–then I haven’t really gone off track. I’ve just followed a stream of thought. Continuing downstream . . . .
What this boils down to is values. Yes, what do we value? Our lives? All living things? Clean air? Clean water? Oil? Gas? Our oil dependent modes of transportation? What matters most to each of us? Why should each of us consider such questions? Because we’re the ones who will either change our ways for the betterment of all living things or we won’t. Whatever the politicians and corporations do amounts to their choices. We are responsible for ours, what we think, what we do, what we say. Does the state of the Earth reflect our values or those of someone else? Positive change is possible. We can make it. We may have to work very hard for it though. What are we waiting for?
I think we need to do more than get the President of the United States to shut down the Keystone Pipeline. The Tar Sands in Canada need to be shut down. Big Oil needs to be shut down everywhere. It’s time for a healthy change.
Yes, this beauty came my way via an email to sign a petition and–well–it’s just too wonderful to not share with folks who understand the ways of the world as they’ve been–AND–that this insanity must stop! I think it’s a great ad because while the likes of Exxon have tons of cash to spread their view of how things “are” according to their well oiled brainpans, those who don’t exactly cozy up to their thinking aren’t exactly swimming in equal amounts of cash oceans for sharing a very different view of the status quo.
In other “news” which I’m still processing–I saw a video on Yahoo News about some whales trapped by ice (they’ve since found a way OUT) and the refusal of the Canadian government to render aid. Hmm. The fate of eleven killer whales isn’t of much concern to world governments–unless people start doing something about it and getting press coverage. Ouch, I think this could be applied to Indigenous/First Nations issues in Canada, the United States and pretty much around the globe. Shhh, hear that? Idle No More is dancing somewhere in the world to the beat of a very different drum.
Yikes, can I connect this thought dot with the Powertech Uranium Corporation? O hell yes I can! Do you see where this is going now? Yeah to more utter disregard for Earth, people, animals, and everything that does not bring in BIG PROFITS!
Is there a problem with some values?
Only if you’re thinking along the same interconnecting dot lines. Or perhaps some other routes too–routes that don’t lead to Wall Street, stock shares, investors and profits by any means no matter what the price in environmental degradation.
Exxon is probably well aware of this ad by now as it has 122, 457 views on YouTube thanks to the other 98% and Oil Change International. Hence, I’m sure they’re all primed and ready for PR spin. If they bother. Afterall it’s only a 30 second sound bite–just the sort of thing the multitasking population feeds on and tosses off while reaching for the next bite.
Oh and for some relief here’s some Cohen and The Last Trapper/Le Dernier Trappeur:
via KikeRio
It all works for me. Sorry if you’re confused by all these seemingly random “dots.”
Also, sorry to break the poetic streaming. Will resume soon.
Yes, I’m being very literal with this diagram and the Wikipedia article. But we literally “are” the land and the land is “us.”
Just in case anyone is uncertain about the uranium mining issue in the Black Hills here’s Christopher Crosby’s film, ”We Are The Land, Uranium Mining in the Black Hills.” Sit back, relax, enjoy the music, horses and scenery while Susan Watt, Barbara High Pine Peltier, Tom Ballanco, Virgil Red Cloud Goode, Dayton O. Hyde, Windwalker and others fill in the blanks. Enjoy!
Sometimes the book of faces is just perfect for exploring interconnectedness–especially when it brings all sorts of interesting people and places right to your news feed no hunting required. Beautiful images of horses being horses at the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in South Dakota caught my attention a while back. Today they brought my attention to the film Running Wild: the Life of Dayton O. Hyde which is showing at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah January 18-24, 2013. Apparently there’s more going in Utah than Peaceful Uprisings. Film site : http://www.runningwildfilm.com/
Slamdance website: http://www.slamdance.com/ Information on film festival and writing competition via the link. Slamdance is also on Facebook.
Running Wild: The Life of Dayton O. Hyde runs at Slamdance Jan. 19 & 22, 2013
Full Motion Pictures Presents “Poet on the Prairie” which provides more than a film teaser length look at the content of Running Wild. For moreFull Motion Pictures: http://www.youtube.com/user/FullMotionPictures
Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary: http://www.wildmustangs.com/ Discover information and wonderful photographs of horses on their Facebook page.
Wild Horse Channel on the tubes of you: http://www.youtube.com/WildHorsesChannel . Get some music with mustangs –view more of Josefina, Nina and Gabriella enjoying life. Here’s Don Juan’s dancing to catch your fancy:
Here’s my favorite horse poem so far. Please share your favorite horse poems, photographs, videos and/or films via the comments.
devotees
slowly he disappears among the penned ponies
knowing and yet wishing not
the tents, uniforms, guns
wary of even his own now
aware their life fabric has been brutally sliced
soft mouths nuzzle his hands
he inhales ever reliable horse scents
cares not for calico, coffee or coins
long tails twitch and flick as he moves among them
keen to his warrior man smell
as willing to push their all beyond the limits
as he
wind racing
foreign tongue streams nearby
ripping good hearts into rancid meat
furthest away surrounded by hooves, manes, hot breath
World wide support for Idle No More continues to increase http://www.idlenomore1.blogspot.com/ . Indeed the “views” counter number has increased by at least 200,000 since my first visit. Information continues to be updated/added as support is shared and future events are posted.
Chasing Ice website http://www.chasingice.com/ Complete with link to James Balog’s photography and much more.
With all the ways there are to share information and communicate in this time of technological multitasking galore “mail” remains a constant source as both snail mail (those hard copies that are deposited in your own private hard copy mailboxes) and email (all the electronically created and delivered “soft” efforts to communicate via cyberspace complete with “in boxes” and mailing options. Anyone else recall the attempt by the American government to charge US all five cents per email we sent? Have I got that right? So far that effort to get a slice of the internet mail pie has failed. So far. I think. I may be wrong about this failure to milk us.). Why do we so enjoy getting all our forms of “mail”? One reason I enjoy my mail is because of the information it brings to my attention that I may well have otherwise missed or overlooked or simply never discovered. There is something to be said for “subscribing” to business websites for updates and notifications. Are you all bored and wondering what the heck any of this has to do with the Chasing Ice video? Okay. I subscribe to the Tivoli Cinemas in Westport (an area of Kansas City, Missouri) and as a result I receive a weekly email regarding which films are being shown and when at the hard copy theatre complete with big screens, comfy seats, and the rare option to buy or bring your own yum yums for consumption while viewing all sorts of films. If I did not have this subscription I probably would never have known that Chasing Ice is appearing exclusively at the Tivoli for the Kansas City area. Heck, I might not have even known it was appearing in any theatres if not for this email. Luckily the Tivoli is within reasonable driving distance for moi–who, as you’ve all guessed by now has the “yappy yaps” this morning.
Hey, they’re even offering The Nutcracker performed by the Royal London Ballet on December 23. Yes, a movie theatre will show a ballet film. If that’s not enough to raise your highbrows a notch or two then maybe The Royal Opera of London show of The Marriage of Figaro on December 30 will do the trick.
Oh and a film ticket stub will knock 50% off the price of one drink at the Broadway Cafe –which, in my opinion, offers The Best Cafe Mocha–bar none– anywhere. Definitely the best I’ve tasted in several states. (No, sorry, folks trying to staff the little upstart coffee shop in Pierre, SD, that’s not a legit cafe mocha you’re proffering. Not yet anyway. Keep trying though. Practice may pay off in time.) Broadway Cafe site http://www.broadwayroasting.com/
So, guess where I will venture, safe driving conditions being extant, during the week of December 21-27? Yep. I’ll be chasing Chasing Ice with a delicious cafe mocha accompanied by a honey soaked croissant. I’ll be enjoying what this world offers while it lasts.
Now, about all the ice chasing and film festival awards and climate change etc. . . .
Violating copyright births bad karma---imagine a mad hacker you'll never see coming--nor catch going. Respect = my work is my work and your work is your work.
Everything posted here is my work, copyrighted, unless otherwise noted. Comments aside. Om
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