Bad News Everyone

Have you ever been on a blog where there are just Enormous blocks of boring text and you wonder why anyone would ever want to take the time to read it? Well, I went to the doctor's today, and I got some bad news. I have... EBOUTS Enormous Blocks of Uninteresting Text Syndrome. Basically, it means I chronically write too much in my blogs, negatives symptoms include boring readers, wasting time, joint pain (in fingers) and sore eyes. The doctor says its not fatal and I could continue on with it, but it may also be curable. Thanks for your continued support.

Blog Update!

What does one blog about when he's already written 4 blogs in one weekend? Well this one is going to be short, and concise. For all those dedicated readers (none literally). So for all those, me, I've done a slight layout change to make the blog more easily readable and accessible. I took out the background picture, as it wasn't doing much for the blog anyway, and I changed the background colour slightly to be more complimentary with the font colour. This way I can imagine I might get dedicated readers, because their eyes won't hurt just looking at the giant blocks of text my blog normally boasts. At some point I might design my own header and title pictures to replace the current colorful swirls but for the time being I'm going to stick with them as they are attractive and safe. I wish I had some html skill, because then I could figure out a way to center everything on the screen all Web 2.0 style which would be wicked. Anyway that's about it. The Party Prophet has nothing important to say, well less important than usual.

You know who the Movement Musician is, look 'em up if you're interested. ;P

And the world seems to be fresh out of rebels today, new batch in tomorrow.

Sexy Times

I'm starting to think that sex and relationships don't go together. It seems to me that in the grand majority of cases sex blinds people to true emotion and therefore true love. How often do sexual expectations lead to break-ups and divorces? Its crazy. I suppose at some point sex is important in procreation and to satisfy innate human desire, but it seems in this society many place sex and physical connection on this pedestal and forget about the importance of human emotional connection.

That said, there is a time and place in everyone's life and relationships to enjoy the carnal pleasures of sex, but in many cases (especially in youth) it is not out of desire to connect but out of need to fulfill the social imperative instilled by the media. Sex is a status symbol. TV and movies are brimming with sexual reference and innuendo and explicit scenes of sexuality are becoming the norm. Following the mark of shows such as "Two and a Half Men", not a single episode in any show geared towards a teen-adult audience will pass without dedicating at least one sexual reference, and sex is rarely shown in a negative light.

Even childrens' shows are becoming increasingly sexual in nature. There have always been underlying innuendos, which may or may not be intentional, that adult viewers would pick up on, but now childrens' television is becoming increasingly dependent on crushes and vanity. There are the pretty girls that all the kids drool over and there are the nerds who have crushes on them (Ex. Tim Turner and Trixie Tang in Fairly Oddparents). It is not long before the kids watching these shows choose to watch other more mature Television program behind their parents back. It was The Simpsons and That 70s Show a couple years ago, now kids will be watching Family Guy and Two and a Half Men.

So what's the point behind all this? Is it a problem? Maybe for those who cannot recognize the difference between physical and emotional connection and understand wherein the importance of both lie. Maybe we're just headed towards a more openly sexual society. Maybe the second wave of the sexual revolution is upon us. In time we may break down our monogamist society into something that mirrors Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. Where marriage and family are non-existent and children take part in simulated erotic play from a young age. Whatever the case is, it seems our society is yet again changing in its views of sexuality. The verdict is sex sells, and the networks are supplying it.

Movement Musician of the Week: The Flobots "Same Thing"

Rebel of the Day (Numero Dos-ish): Rwanda, for moving past its history of human rights abuses and being international recognized for this as it joins the Commonwealth of Nations.

Ear Worm

This is an airplane vector I just made in Adobe Illustrator CS2. I'm satisfied with the outcome.

And this is a poem I just decided to write in order to describe the pains of earworms to you. Don't worry they aren't contagious, unless I sing, and I try to avoid that, for everyone else sake.

Dearest Earworm,
Please leave my head,
Though your beat is catchy,
And your lyrics snazzy,
You drive me crazy.
Your rhythm crumbles,
Under the weight of anger,
Sounds of silken cloth,
Turned to old rough hands,
Irritating broken notes.
Off key,
Out of tune,
Scratchy,
Choppy,
Forgotten lyrics.
What will make my earworm leave?
Only if another makes its home,
Inside my head.

Out of character? This blog does everything, just the musings of a Party Prophet.

On the note of Free verse poetry...
Movement Musicians of the Week: The Flobots "There's a War Going on For Your Mind" (wicked fan-made typography)


Rebel of the Day (Technically the 3rd today): Matthew Grey Gubler "Gubler's Gallery"
For being a deviant and creepy artist without delving on deviant subjects, and for being an all around nerdy guy.

Canada, Climate, Copenhagen, Commonwealth

This December the world will meet in Copenhagen to forge a new climate alliance to succeed the Kyoto protocol which is now 12 years old and set to expire in 2012. While people all over the world rally for a new treaty and leaders have high hopes for carbon-cap policies some people are still shit-disturbers on the issue. The PM of Canada Stephen Harper has stated that there will be no binding treaty reached in Copenhagen next month, reflecting once again his "can't do won't try" attitude on climate change.

His statements coincide with a nation-wide radio campaign by Calgary-based climate change skeptics friendsofscience.org. This organization makes outrageous claims like, climate change is not man-made its caused by the sun, the world has been cooling for the past 10 years and atmospheric levels of CO2 do not correlate to higher worldwide temperatures. The immediate thought is that this organization must be funded by the oil industry unfortunately Canadian law does not require organizations to reveal their sources of funding. When asked about their funding the organization claims that they are a small grass-roots organization supported by small individual donations, but a simple look at the ad campaign reveals the absurdity of that claim.

One source claimed that the 30-second radio spot which runs on 15 stations nation-wide 20-30 times a day for the past month would cost upwards of $65000, an obscenely high value for any grassroots organizations' budget. Other sources claim the organization is funded by big oil companies in Canada and supported by Stephen Harper's fishing buddies, making the PM guilty by association. Whether or not Stephen Harper directly funds or supports the campaign of doubt by friendsofscience.org is not the question however. The question is, does national doubt on the climate change issue help Stephen Harper leading up to Copenhagen on December 7, 2009? He has already stated there will be no climate treaty next month. When Harper finally comes out and says he doesn't believe in climate change and finally confesses his romantic affair with oil interests, will anyone truly be surprised?

World leaders have started to question Canadian leadership on the issue of climate change. Specifically, at a Commonwealth summit it was proposed that Canada be suspended from the Commonwealth because of inaction on climate change. That would put Canada in league with nation's such as Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Pakistan who have been suspended for their human rights record at different times throughout history. This is a welcome move to other Commonwealth nations more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as Bangladesh, who condemn Canada's deliberate inaction and interference on climate change policy.

Will this become the norm? Will developed nation's who defy climate action be condemned for the impoverished souls they reap through deliberate inaction? It needs to happen to send a message. If Canada joins the ranks of Pakistan and other countries suspended for their corrupt ways it will send a message to the Canadian people and to developed nations world-wide.

So what can be done? When the government, corporations, and radio-stations in this country can't make the moral and ethical decision to tell the truth. People cite freedom of speech, but this is Canada, the government holds the right to censor messages it finds offensive and yet it deliberately ignores the nation-wide smear campaign which is breeding ignorance and teaching lies. Its easy to believe that climate change isn't happening, because the alternative is terrifying, and who's going to question someone with the name friends of science? Its propaganda in its purist form, but because it supposedly comes from a small organization its off the radar. Keep an open mind.

Let us hope that when December 7th comes along the citizens of Canada will demand a binding climate treaty from the governments of the world, but more importantly from their own government. Let us march on parliament hill if Stephen Harper doesn't cease his bad habit of blocking climate talks. Let us protest our government for creating national humiliation when the Commonwealth suspends us from it's ranks. And most importantly let us next time vote for a government that will pledge long-term, effective action on climate change. It is our moral imperative as Canadian citizens and citizens of the World.

Movement Musician of the Week: The Flobots "Fight With Tools" (Live)


Rebel of the Day (Need a Better Title): Shirin Ebadi "Tehran denies seizing Shirin Ebadi's Nobel medal"
She is a Human Rights lawyer who received the Nobel Peace Prize. She's the first Muslim woman to receive a Nobel Prize. In the wake of the last presidential elections she was expelled from the country and her medal was seized from her husbands safety deposit box by the government.

The Broadcast

I'm not sure what this blog is going to be about. It's a broadband broadcast of a yet undecided message. Its been a while since I wrote anything worth, anything, literally, I haven't written in over a month. There are things that I've had on my mind, but not had the motivation or time to write about. Corporatism, globalization and neo-liberalism. Whatever that means, I'll pretend I know. All concepts that are an inevitable part of our everyday lives and yet concepts I'm growing to become more and more skeptical about. My reasons are complex, or maybe I'm just brainwashed and therefore can't explain them, but I'd like to call on my moral system. My inspiration and educational materials are as follows, The Corporation, Food Inc., Age of Stupid, The Flobots, FightWithTools.org. I wish I had less corporate means of discovering the evils of corporatism but alas any message must be spread through the corporate controlled mass-media if it is to be heard anywhere. What is corporatism? Our world is filled with it, where corporations (legal persons) are given preferential treatment to REAL persons. What is the justification for this? A buck? Because corporations supposedly work for the benefit of the majority, giving us what we want and raising our standards of living. But without environmental, economic and social justice corporations work worldwide to exploit every resource and every last ounce of manual labour in an effort to turn over a profit. It cannot be denied, the corporation is a psychopath and its goals are ultimately destructive to those around it (roughly 6.6 billion human beings). After watching the three movies listed above, and being socially indoctrinated by the Flobots heavy beats and movement lyrics I find myself thinking long and hard about the food I eat, the things I buy and the media I consume. Branding. Corporate Buyouts. Bankrupcy. Monsanto. DDT. Agent Orange. Abuse of Power. Corporate Lawsuits. Child-labour. Starvation Wages. Exploitation. Extortion. Oil Extraction. Disaster Capitalism. Shock Doctrine. Corporatism. Neo-Liberalism. Globalization. Climate Change. CO2. PPM. How can we free ourselves of brands? In everything we do we are attached to a brand, even in writing this blog I'm attached to the brand of the internet giant Google Inc. In watching TV I'm forced to watch and thinking about advertisements for commercial products, and brands are inadvertantly built in my head, the greatest and most expensive product for corporations, and yet the easiest to sell. I'm a Walkman, you're an iPod and he's a Zune. Again, how can we conquer this? Remove brands from our daily conversation. We can try hard as we might to avoid brands but even those "farm fresh" bovine products have their history in corporations not unlike Monsanto. But even if we are forced to by into a brand we are not forced to talk about it and fuel it. Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." Well the same applies for brands as people (considering the corporation is a legal person anyway). To talk about brands is to narrow your mind and the world you live in. We need to talk about ideas, learn ALL sides of the story, recognize the bias from all sources. As an online friend said, we need to develop strong roots for support and stability, not flashy flowers and foliage. A tree survives through the winter because of its roots, the foliage dies out, its fleeting. While foliage is necessary for a time and to a certain extent a tree without roots would dry up and die, fall down and rot.

Movement Musician of the Week: The Flobots "Rise" (Forgive the corporate propaganda pre-video)
Rebel of the Day (so cliché): Ban Ki-moon UN chief urges leaders to 'seal deal' on climate change
For saying a climate deal is in sight when leaders such as Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper are saying there is no deal on the horizon and therefore are taking a can't do won't do strategy, Ban Ki-moon is the rebel of the day.