The Luton based Exodus Collective came into existence in 1992 as part of the growing DIY culture which arose in response to unemployment, poverty and frustration amongst young people.
They organised free 'rave' parties, renovated derelict homes, set up a community farm and planned to open a community centre.Some of their activities bordered on illegality but they were entirely peaceful Exodus had a huge following amongst local people.
Their philosophy had a strong spiritual strand, appealing to notions of community and natural justice in its struggle for survival and renewal. However, their utopian project presented a challenge to the status quo and met with powerful opposition.
Exodus from Babylon investigates the intricate web of this opposition, from aggressive policing to local government obstruction. It reveals the shift in policing from reactive peace keeping to proactive intervention, involving a series of special operations by Bedfordshire Police.
The programme looks in detail at a number of police actions against Exodus, including the prosecution and acquittal of collective member, Paul Taylor, for possession of Ecstasy and for murder. It asks why the strategy of getting tough with Exodus emerged and identifies a number of interlocking interests at play.
I saw JOHN & JANE last night. An interesting insight into a global communications and marketing system. While it says more about the mediated cultures of the United States than it does about India, in a global perspective it provides food for thought.
A fresh new blend of observational documentary and tropical science-fiction, JOHN &
JANE follows the stories of six call agents that answer American 1-800 numbers in a
Mumbai call center.
After a heady mix of American culture training and 14 hour night shifts, the job soon
starts to take its toll. Counter pointing the fluorescent interiors of late night offices and
hyper-malls with the uneasy currents swirling around the characters, JOHN & JANE
discovers a young generation of urban Indians that are beginning to live between the
real and the virtual.
However, this futuristic world of American aliases and simulated reality is not science
fiction, these are the times in which we live. JOHN & JANE raises disturbing questions
about the nature of personal identity in a 21st century
globalised world.
"JOHN & JANE" Part documentary and part fiction feature, "John & Jane" is a film set in the call centers of Mumbai that explores the effects of globalization on six call agents. Indian by day and American by night, the employees' split-identity lives warp their sense of reality in a disturbing way.
Directed by Ashim Ahluwalia
Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir (aka Kría Brekkan) is an Icelandic singer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a former member of the band múm, but also as a member of Storsveit Nix Noltes and guest member of Slowblow. She has recently recorded and released material with Rings, featuring former members of First Nation. In late 2006 she acknowledged that she had not been a part of múm since the beginning of that year, and she published an open letter briefly describing her thoughts on the matter. In the letter she explains that this delayed announcement was preceded by several failed attempts that ended "filling many pages of reasons and emotions." She has appeared on records by Mice Parade and on Animal Collective's album Feels, on which she is credited as "Doctess". She appears on the cover of Belle and Sebastian's Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant LP with her twin sister, Gyða. She currently lives with her husband David Portner, (Animal Collective's Avey Tare) in New York, and recently released an album with him.
kria brekkan - bee xlaura [ mum ]
Kría Brekkan covers Chemirocha on East Village Radio in NYC
Kenny Everett (born Maurice Cole in Seaforth, Lancashire; 25 December 1944, – 4 April 1995) was an English radio DJ and television entertainer. He is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for the Kenny Everett television shows.
Growing up in Australia in the 1970s I was exposed to The Kenny Everett Video Show by my parents. I now realize that such an experience has played a role in my humor and art as an adult (maybe a worrying thing). Watching videos of 'Cuddly Ken' today I can see how much his work on television pushed the boundaries of the medium and anticipated later digital video. Kenny Everett's humor is part surrealist, part pantomime, part Nam June Paik and part drag show. I feel we have a debt to Everett, who has surely played a major role in creating the media ecology we have today in an aesthetic sense.
Check this out:
Quotations and catchphrases
* "It's all done in the best PAH-SIBBLE taste!" -- regular punchline uttered by the character 'Cupid Stunt', accompanied by her swapping her crossed legs over in the most vigorous way possible. * "'Ello my leetle chickadees" (and variations, in heavy French accent) -- introductory remark uttered by character 'Marcel Wave'. * "Round 'em up, put 'em in a field, and BOMB THE BASTARDS!" -- all-purpose solution to any perceived social problem, declared by 'Marvin Bombthebastards', a handgun-waving US General with immense shoulders (equipped with retractable cannon) and chest to support many medals. * "Brother, Brother, Brother Lee Love!" -- gospel-style sung introduction to huge-handed US minister 'Brother Lee Love', whose frenetic sermons called for the 'congregation' to echo the last two syllables of some sentences, with amusing (and occasionally very rude) results. * "I hate pornography ... I haven't even got a pornograph!" -- 'Angry of Mayfair'. * 'This morning, I spilled coffee all over my wife's dressing gown! Serves me right for wearing it! -- 'Angry of Mayfair'. * "Colonel Muriel Kleen here, of the Campaign for Nice Things on Television!' (A couple of bars of 'Hallelujah!' from the 'Hallelujah Chorus'.) 'We believe in goodness, truth and beauty! We believe that Julie Andrews should get her own series, and that Joan Collins should get her own breakfast! And remember: you don't have to watch this endless display of perversitude and fleshybollery! You've all got a knob there! SO USE IT!" -- 'Angry of Mayfair.' * (Electronic rendition of Bach's choral prelude Wachet Auf) - reminiscent of and perhaps the work of Wendy Carlos - musical accompaniment to all sketches featuring 'Maurice Minor', parody of French mime artist Marcel Marceau. * "Ello, I'm Gizzard Puke, mugger to the gentry, and anyone who says punk's dead, will be." * Ladies and gentlephones... pun based on "ladies and gentlemen"
In the 1983 election campaign, the Young Conservatives invited Kenny to their conference in an attempt to attract the youth vote. Egged on by film director Michael Winner, Kenny bounded onto the stage, wearing the enormously oversized foam rubber hands familiar from his mock-evangelical character Brother Lee Love. He shouted slogans like "Let's bomb Russia!" and "Let's kick Michael Foot's stick away!" (Michael Foot was the elderly leader of the Labour Party.)
Presented at the University of Manitoba June 17th 2008. (for those of you waiting for the Library of Congress presentation, it will be posted July 19th-ish.)
"Many of you have probably seen Kansas State University prof Michael Wesch's thought-provoking video, "A Vision of Students Today". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46...
Recently Dr. Wesch spoke at the University of Manitoba where he explained the the basis of this video in a talk entitled, "Michael Wesch and the Future of Education." I found it fascinating! He describes how he so naturally incorporates emerging technologies into his courses from the smallest seminar type class to the largest lecture theatre filled class.
More importantly he not only talks about the technologies but how he encourages extraordinary participation and collaboration from his students by engaging them in meaningful learning activities.
Although the video is 66 minutes long...pour a coffee, iced tea or glass of wine and enjoy this dynamic presentation from a master teacher."
A short documentary about the astonishing beauty of Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, and the sad awareness of the destruction of the ancient world (the only real one, as Pasolini says) made by development (with english subtitles).
The second part of this beautiful documentary also shows the town of orte in italy, during the wild speculation of the 1970s that spoilt our country's treasures. it ends with a passional appeal to UNESCO. Sana'a, by the way, was declared world heritage site by UNESCO in 1986, 11 years after Pasolini's tragic death (dubbed voices are not good).
The followers of Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, believe he has been meditating without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern Nepal in 2005, when believers say he spent months without moving, sitting with his eyes closed beneath a tree. Bamjan re-emerged this week to meet his followers, who have come by the thousands to see him in the jungles of Ratanpur, about 160km south of Katmandu.
Bomjon's message was "The only way we can save this nation is through spirituality". His speech is as follows:
Murder, violence, greed, anger and temptation have made the human world a desperate place. A terrible storm has descended upon the human world, and this is carrying the world towards destruction. There is only one way to save the world and that is through "dharma" (spiritual practice). When one doesn't walk the righteous path of spiritual practice, this desperate world will surely be destroyed. Therefore, follow the path of spirituality and spread this message to your fellows. Never put obstacles, anger and disbelief in the way of my meditation's mission. I am only showing you the way; you must seek it on your own. What I will be, what I will do, the coming days will reveal. Human salvation, the salvation of all living beings, and peace in the world are my goal and my path. "Namo Buddha sangaya, Namo Buddha sangaya, namo sangaya." I am contemplating on the release of this chaotic world from the ocean of emotion, on our detachment from anger and temptation, without straying from the path for even a moment, I am renouncing my own attachment to my life and my home forever, I am working to save all living beings. But in this undisciplined world, my life's practice is reduced to mere entertainment. The practice and devotion of many Buddhas is directed at the world's betterment and happiness. It is essential but very difficult to understand that practice and devotion. But though it is easy to lead this ignorant existence, human beings don't understand that one day we must leave this uncertain world and go with the Lord of Death. Our long attachments with friends and family will dissolve into nothingness. We have to leave behind the wealth and property we have accumulated. What's the use of my happiness, when those who have loved me from the beginning, my mother, father, brothers, relatives are all unhappy. Therefore, to rescue all sentient beings, I have to be Buddha-mind, and emerge from my underground cave to do "vajra" meditation. To do this I have to realize the right path and knowledge, so do not disturb my practice. My practice detaches me from my body, my soul and this existence. In this situation there will be 72 goddess Kalis. Different gods will be present, along with the sounds of thunder and of "tangur", and all the celestial gods and goddesses will be doing "puja" (worship). So until I have sent a message, do not come here, and please explain this to others. Spread spiritual knowledge and spiritual messages throughout the world. Spread the message of world peace to all. Seek a righteous path and wisdom will be yours.
The inside story on transcending the brain, with David Lynch, Award-winning film director of Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Mullholland Drive, Inland Empire; John Hagelin, Ph.D., Quantum physicist featured in "What the bleep do we know?;" and Fred Travis, Ph.D., Director, Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition Maharishi University of Management.
