Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, March 12, 2006
I'm hungry too
Midnight, our sons and daughters
Were cut down and taken from us
Hear their heartbeat
We hear their heartbeatIn the wind we hear their laughter
In the rain we see their tears
Hear their heartbeat
We hear their heartbeatNight hangs like a prisoner
Stretched over black and blue
Hear their heartbeat
We hear their heartbeatIn the trees our sons stand naked
Through the walls our daughters cry
See their tears in the rainfall-- “Mothers of the Disappeared”, U2
Posted by Jeremy on from Taiwan 03/12 at 08:39 AMThanks, Jeremy. I’ve always loved these line: “Night hangs like a prisoner/Stretched over black and blue.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/12 at 08:40 AMLots of “disappeared” in Taiwan also where “many thousands of people were imprisoned or executed for their real or perceived dissent”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/228_Incident
Posted by sk on from 03/12 at 09:03 AMGood to see you, SK. Thanks for the link (even if it is Wiki).
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/12 at 09:25 AMsk, #3 - Yes. I went to Green Island, off the east coast of Taiwan, where I met a man that worked at a prison there. He took me to an older, abandoned prison that is now a museum, where political prisoners were held during the reign of Chiang Kai-Shek. My understanding is that, upon their release, many of these former prisoners were founding members of the DPP party (that is, the Democratic Progressive Party, if I’m also not mistaken-for living here I’m pretty ignorant, I pay more attention to my own country) of which the current president, Chen Shui-Bien is a member.
I don’t think the situation was comparable, though, to anything that occured in Argentina or other Latin American countries.
Posted by Jeremy on from Taiwan 03/12 at 09:40 AMLovely poem. Reminds me of something Derrick Jensen brings up in A Language Older Than Words: “I’m pointing at the moon. Don’t look at my finger, look at the moon”.
Hey, wish I had gotten to this yesterday, relevant to yesterday’s post: Tim Wise and Michael Parenti weigh in on Tony Soprano.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 03/12 at 10:34 AM“It’s like a finger pointing the way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all the heavenly glory.”—Taoist saying (popularized by Bruce Lee)
Posted by Jeremy on from Taiwan 03/12 at 10:51 AMAmericans might want to start paying a bit attention to Taiwan and it’s dispute with the mainland, otherwise they could easily end up getting embroiled in a far more serious conflict than anything that could possibly happen in the Middle East. These stories are about the rise in China’s military budget in the last 2 years:
One hundred years ago, fancy variants of game theory (called “risk theory” then) were being put into play by another up and coming power, Germany, to challenge the supremacy of the country that had just had enjoyed it’s very own century--"the British Century”:
Posted by sk on from 03/12 at 11:24 AMThanks again for the links, SK...amd thanks, Jeremy, for getting Bruce Lee’s name mentioned. Always a plus for me.
Keir: I appreciate the point of the links you offer but I’m weary of this desire to sanitize all art. The Mafia is a part of the American cultural landscape and The Sopranos, in my view, explores that reality with skill. I feel I can appreciate this without my appreciation being a vote in favor of negative ethnic stereotypes. Also, The Sopranos, as a series, is about far more than organized crime.
Can we only admit to enjoying art that presenting all sides to every single issue?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/12 at 12:56 PMSpeaking of Mafia, there’s that scene in Godfather where Clemenza gives Michael small arms training counseling him to not worry about the coming Mafia war: “these things have got to happen every ten years or so; it cleans out the bad blood.”Some deadly dull international relations theorists speak of the approx. 100 year gap between large scale international conflict (Napoleonic Wars, WWI, etc.). In case anyone is interested, Battle of Verdun’s 90’th anniversary commemoration was kicked off a couple of weeks ago with a concert by Barbara Hendricks:
Posted by sk on from 03/12 at 01:53 PMHey Mickey, I don’t necessarily disagree. I figured you would have something like that to say, and I wanted to encourage the statement with those Left critiques. In the end the Tim Wise piece really doesn’t condemn The Sopranos at all. Myself, I’ve watched only a few episodes. Not bad. Personally I feel like I’m indulging whenever I enjoy whatever the tube has to offer (except good sociology like South Park or The Simpsons). I even watched the first season of 24 religiously, back when it was creative. Now it’s just straight up racist, neo-con propoganda.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 03/12 at 05:34 PMThanks, Keir. I also like The Simpsons and South Park when I get the rare chance to watch them. As for 24, I’ve never seen it. Maybe now I should consider renting that first season.
Where is everyone else?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/12 at 06:21 PMI’m signing off early tonight. Hope to see more Expendables here tomorrow.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/12 at 08:30 PM24, yes. I, too, was hooked by the first season, and have watched it since, as it came out on DVD. I agree with your observation. The last season we watched (4?) was extremely blatant propaganda, and each season has progressed further down that abyss. I now find myself watching the show just for the purpose of analyzing it as propaganda as much or more so than for its entertainment value (unlike the first season).
We also like CSI. I hate when they show a computer zooming in on a camera image as though that detail were somehow recorded in the image, and other science fiction, but I love the real forensic science of the show, and it’s fun to try to piece together the clues to beat the characters to the answer.
Posted by Jeremy on from Taiwan 03/12 at 09:34 PMGood poem, Mickey! And hi to Jeremy, sk and Keir - thanks for all those links!
I am still recovering from the ChillOut Festival Carnival Day’s main event which took place at Victoria Park near Daylesford yesterday - the temperatures hovered around 100F (http://chilloutfestival.com/2006/program_sunday.html) and a good time was had by all. If you like Kylie Minogue, here is a brilliant impersonator who performed there: http://www.allegromusic.com.au/index.php?option=com_directory&task=profile&lid=1
I hope you forgive this slightly frivolous comment. Will be off to Melbourne early tomorrow morning and for the rest of the week, so I’ll meet you all again next Saturday.
Ciao ..
Oh, and I really like the Simpsons graphic!
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 03/12 at 10:39 PMOops - that Kylie Minogue aka ‘100% Kylie’ did not work - hope this does:
http://www.allegromusic.com.au/index.php?option=com_directory&task=profile&lid=1Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 03/12 at 10:42 PMSorry, but this should work: it’s the first entry under ‘allegro artists - impersonators’:
http://www.allegromusic.com.au/index.php?option=com_directory&task=listings&catid=28Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 03/12 at 10:44 PMI give up - look under ‘other entertainers’ and then under ‘impersonators’ at Allegro. The link worked before.
captcha: ‘sound’. ‘100% Kylie’ sounds very good!
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 03/12 at 10:48 PM
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