This is really short notice, but I was just invited to a protest by the Gadyfly's Facebook page. There will be a protest called "Paint The Town Red" at Hacienda Christian Fellowship right here in Southern California. (See below for address and time) Hacienda Christian Fellowship is Pastor Eddie Romero's church. I have no idea what they have planned, but they said to prepare yourself to get dirty. Maybe we'll be painting something red. I don't know. They have me intrigued. I recommend that you go if you are in So Cal on Sunday Aug 17th.
One Day As A Lion is the latest project from Rage Against the Machine lead Zack De La Rocha. Jon Theodore (The Mars Volta) completes the two man band with aggressive percussion. I was really excited about this release since I hadn't heard Zack De La Rocha on an album in a long time.
Their myspace page states, “The name (One Day As A Lion) taken from the infamous 1970 black and white, captured by legendary Chicano photographer George Rodriguez featuring a center framed tag on a white wall in an unspecified section of Boyle Heights. It reads: ‘It’s better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb.’ This record is a stripped down attempt to realize this sentiment in sound.”
Better one day as a lion than a thousand as a lamb is just bad theology to me. My savior teaches me to lay my life and body down as a lamb for the sacrifice if need be. Peaceful action to prove love to your enemy is far better than the continuation of hate and violence. What I think I'll do is translate this statement as, "Better to get up and act than to sit on the couch."
The record has the angry revolutionist feel that you would expect from Zack. I really do like the indie sound that they've achieved with Zack's messy keys and Jon's heavy drums. As far as lyrics go, I'm a big stickler for substance, and while Zack's delivery is exciting and flawless, I have to say I don't appreciate the blasphemous comments sprinkled throughout the album. I share some of his views of war and poverty. In the past his words would move me to action, but with this album I just hear anger for anger's sake.
Like I said before, I really like the sound and delivery style of this record, but I can't justify the content. It's really hard to let this one go, but I have to give it a thumbs down.
The date of SketchCrawl #20 has not been decided yet. Keep your eyes open for the date. I'm sure I'll post it here once it's announced. I've started a thread on their forum for L.A. Please sign up for the SketchCrawl forum, and help us decide where to go. Elevate L.A. through the arts!
Photographers: SketchCrawl is also a great opportunity for you to get shots of your local landmarks. Take advantage.
A few days ago I posted about an animated short entitled "Oktapodi." The film was made by students at Gobelins art school in France. Click here for the making of video. I have become a big fan of their character design.
Pastor Romero's daughter, Sarah Yetter, made this video as a response to the criticisms of the Gadfly protest in Beijing.
I've read a lot of the criticisms regarding Pastor Romero's (Gadfly) protest in China. I respect other people's opinions, but I also respectfully disagree. I'm sure Pastor Romero didn't do everything perfectly. The fact of the matter, though, is that every move he made was meticulously planned over the course of 7 years. His advisors were and are people who live or have lived in China and have been persecuted. These are all people who live the issues, and are a part of the Chinese people. Those of us in other parts of the world must not pretend that we know what's best for the Chinese people. In a lot of ways, this protest is how they advised Pastor Romero to act. Don't forget Romero's numerous trips to China over the years, and his relationships with the Chinese in other countries such as the U.S. I believe he is well aware of the culture and the details of what's going on in China.
Many people have voiced their concern for the vandalism of the hotel rooms. I've heard one person state that making a hotel employee clean up an American's protest will damage their view of Christians in the U.S.
First of all, think about the countless lives lost and the friends and families broken apart for no wrong doing of their own. Think of all the blood shed, abuses of all kinds, and the churches or homes demolished by the Chinese government. You can't compare all of that loss to the clean up of water based paint in two hotel rooms.
Secondly, I believe this protest will show the people of China that Americans do care. If around 107 million people are being persecuted and silenced in China for their beliefs, don't you think all of those people appreciated someone speaking out for them? If you were being tortured in a prison camp somewhere, I bet you'd want someone on the outside to speak up for you. What if even one of the staff members who cleaned up those rooms had a family member who was killed or imprisoned for their faith. (Wouldn't that be a likely if there are 7 million Christians and 100 million practitioners of Falun Gong in China?) That person might have a little more hope now.
Lastly, due to the severity of this injustice- because of the widespread apathy in people over this issue- and since the Chinese government continually sweeps all of this under the rug to keep appearances- the Gadfly project had to be a graphic protest. Something had to be done that would wake us up and bring attention to what's going on. The fact that there are arguments over this protest all over the internet is a testament that it worked. I think we need to transition from "Was the protest right or wrong?" to "What can we do about this?"
Regardless of whether a protest is right or wrong, we know that the problem is there now. It would be a crime against humanity to spend our time arguing while doing nothing about it. This is my last defense for the protest. I'd rather spend my time in action.
A handful of cucumbers and a cell phone- this has to be the most beautiful picture I've seen from LA's "Skid Row" district in a long time. The LA Times has an article about an apartment building deep within our most impoverished area that has planted their own garden amidst the concrete jungle. As stated by the article, Rainbow Apartments is mostly comprised of formerly homeless residents. They tried planting a potted garden on their roof before without any success, but a non profit called Urban Farming helped them plant their next one against a cinder block wall. The gardeners of Rainbow Apartments report how they were surprised by the way gardening united them, in an area where it sometimes seems best to keep to yourself.
Resident Jannie Burrows said, "It brings us together as a group, kind of like therapy, to see something growing and flourishing."
"We're trying to feed our bodies with better nutrients, but more than anything, we like getting together," said Lance Shaw.
God is working in L.A. This story is a gorgeous contrast to what most say of Skid Row and the people who live there. I pray that this example will spread and grow throughout their neighborhood and LA. I hope their plants will too.
(Check out the link to Urban Farming above, and learn more about their "edible walls.")
It is true what Rabbi David Saperstein said, "Tragically after over so many centuries, we Jews have been among the quintessential victims of religious persecution. Why? Precisely because, in the face of oppression and degradations visited upon us, good people stood by silently and let it happen." I can't let what's happened to the Jews happen again, and stand by silently. Practitioners of Falun Gong, other forms of Buddhism, and Christianity are in prison camps right now in China. We can't let this continue to happen. Everyone deserves freedom of speech and religion. If we let this evil slide then it has already reached us too.
God must be sustaining this man every moment. I personally know some of his sacrifice to do what God has asked of him. Please pray for him as he hides alone in China, and when he turns himself in. Please pray that the government in China will soften their hearts and give their citizens freedom.
Yes, Coraline is going to be one of my most anticipated films of 09. This piece is due to come out in February. Coraline is written by acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman who is famous for his graphic novels "Sandman" and for his children's book "Wolves In The Walls." As if that's not enough, Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, James & The Giant Peach) will be directing. Coraline looks to be a brilliant stop motion animation that I'm hoping will bring the medium back into the forefront. RottenTomatoes.com will be posting one behind the scenes video of Coraline each day. View them HERE. You'll be glad you did.
Oktapodi is a great short that I heard about on Cartoonbrew.com. Link-----> Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation The story is simple yet very entertaining. At first I wasn't too impressed with the character design on the squid, but they grew on me. My one critique is that there are no background characters in this town. I'm sure the fact that this is a student short film accounts for the lack of city dwellers. Oktapodi was and is a welcomed break in the never ending stream of terrible animations. Please watch the short film here.
Perhaps you're like me and you need a crash course on what's going on in China. What's all this talk about freeing Tibet? Why did Pastor Romero spend 7 years planning a protest in two Beijing hotel rooms? When Pastor Romero was telling us about his plans to protest in Beijing I wasn't aware of the issues. Watch this video to gain just a fraction of the big picture in China. We'll get into the related issue of Tibet in later postings.
These video messages are made as "the Gadfly", Pastor Eddie Romero, continues hiding somewhere in China. I'm not sure if he is somehow making the videos or if he's sending messages to a trusted second party and they are making the videos for him. Either way it's good to hear from him.
"The Resident" aka Lori Harfenist is a current events reporter on www.theresident.net. Lori has worked as talent/content producer for networks and big name companies such as: CNN, Fox News, and my favorite- Atari. I was first introduced to her youtube videos when my friend and co-worker Evelyn was searching for videos about immigration reform. I was amazed at her view point on immigration and how right on she was. I found her website later and started watching all of her videos. Just like every other human on this planet, I don't fully agree with her on everything, but I've come to respect her opinion. Click on the link to her website above, and click here to see the video that started it all for me.
I know I'm late on this news, but I'm still excited about it so I figured better late than never. Tesla Motors is a newer car company out of the Silicon Valley that focuses on developing 100% electric cars. Obviously the ultimate goal is to make a more environment and wallet friendly car. I've been a huge fan of their first car the Tesla Roadster. Again, this car is 100% electric with no emissions, besides that it's a beautiful car, and it goes 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds. The bad news is that the first models started at $70,000 and now I think they're up to $90,000. They've been manufactured by another company somewhere in Europe, but it seems like Tesla has been trying to build their own manufacturing plant in the United States. From what I hear New Mexico put in a bid and almost won until Governor Schwarzenegger stepped in and pulled strings to have the plant built in California. I definitely don't agree with the Governor on a lot of issues, but I really like this move. The incentives that his administration has put into place allows for other low emissions car developers to come into California and hopefully move the car industry into a greener future. The savings that Tesla Motors will receive by building their plant in California will also propel them to their goal of making a 100% electric car for under $30,000. Chairman Elon Musk stated in the press conference, "The goal of Tesla really is to produce mass market cars. This company is not out to solve a sports car shortage in the world. The reason we have an expensive car initially is because the technology is expensive and takes time to optimize. If we could do a low cost car right off the bat we would have done it." I'm really excited about the direction Tesla is headed with environmentally friendly cars. If you would like to view the press conference announcing their plans for a new plant in Cali click right here. (all of these videos I'm posting are slowing down the loading speed on my blog)
I wasn't sure how Gadfly's protest would play out or if anyone would care. Now that the deed was done and Gadfly is in hiding in China it looks like he has stirred up some buzz. You know a lot of people are talking about a certain topic when you hear humorous rumors being spread. One rumor I heard was that Gadfly is hiding in the air above Beijing. Somehow I don't think Gadfly has the financing to be hiding on planes for 16 days nor would it be very practical. I am glad that people are talking though. If anyone has any other rumors about the Gadfly to share please comment them to this posting. Please spread the word. The people in those prison camps need people on the outside to care. The people of Tibet need others to care. The human race needs China's government to have a change of heart and start putting human life and the quality of human life at the top of their priorities.
The press release regarding Gadfly's protest in Beijing has been posted on Exodus8one.org. You can watch it here, but I encourage you to visit persecutionandtheolympics.com to find out who and where you can send letters to asking for justice in China. Please be a voice for those who are silenced by torture and bars.
This is really short notice, but I was just invited to a protest by the Gadyfly's Facebook page. There will be a protest called "Paint The Town Red" at Hacienda Christian Fellowship right here in Southern California. (See below for address and time) Hacienda Christian Fellowship is Pastor Eddie Romero's church. I have no idea what they have planned, but they said to prepare yourself to get dirty. Maybe we'll be painting something red. I don't know. They have me intrigued. I recommend that you go if you are in So Cal on Sunday Aug 17th.
Posts
