The Revolution Will Be Live by Alex Snider

Gil Scott-Heron, activist, poet, musician, died last Friday at 62. A huge loss to his family and friends and all those who knew him, and also to those millions who have been influenced by his words, his humanity and by his activism. Over his forty-year career he tackled social injustice issues such as civil rights, Apartheid and nuclear weapons, and was very vocally critical of Ronald Reagan.

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Day One: Aboriginal History Month

Rebecca Belmore, Anishinabekwe
White Thread, 2008

Technically it's just after midnight here in Toronto but it's still June 1st out on the Eastern edge of Turtle Island so: Happy First Day of Aboriginal History Month!

To kick'er off might I suggest watching Reel Injun, a fantastic documentary on the representation of Indigenous people in Hollywood. Or watch Atanarjuat: the Fast Runner, an amazing film about an Inuit legend about old rivalries disrupting a small nomadic community (the scene at the end where he is running naked through the tundra is so incredible; worth the whole movie right there and the whole movie is pretty damn good as it is). Both are available in full at the links! Wow, what a great start, right?!

Unfortunately there isn't a *legal* way of finding Smoke Signals online but it's also a really kick-ass movie (and, this coming from someone who doesn't even like movies) based on a few Sherman Alexie short stories (he also wrote the screenplay) and starring Gary Farmermy and my (imaginary) boyfriend Adam Beach. You should go and rent it from your friendly neighbourhood video store before they disappear forever like Betamax and strawberry milk.

The voice over is weird, right?

It Doesn't Count Because I Was Crossing My Fingers, See? - Nick Clegg

Oh man, this is so incredibly fucked up. A twenty-two year old woman, Betty Tibikawa, is being deported from the UK after her asylum claim was rejected. After being brutally branded for being a lesbian she's being sent back to Uganda, where homosexuality is illegal and one of the most dangerous places in the world for gay and lesbian people. The account of what happened to her is sickening:

Tibikawa had just finished high school and was due to go to university in Kampala when she was attacked by three men who taunted her about her sexuality. They pinned her down in a disused building and branded her on her inner thighs with a hot iron. They left her unconscious and when she finally managed to get home she was confined to bed for two months. An independent medical report has confirmed that her scars are consistent with being branded with a hot iron.

Only a week after the deputy prime minister announced "that the coalition had ended the practice of deporting people to countries where they face persecution because of their sexual orientation", Tibikawa doesn't get the benefit of this new practice because, and fuck, I wish I was making this up: "The [UK Border Agency] do not dispute that Ms Tibikawa has scars caused by a hot flat iron, but conclude that she did not suffer any ill-treatment in Uganda". That's right, they acknowledge that some sick piece of garbage took a hot iron to her, but it's inconclusive as to whether it happened in Uganda, a notoriously anti-gay country. Right. 

It is outrageous that countries like the UK are not doing everything that they can to help gay, lesbian, transgendered and bisexual people escape abuse, torture and death. What the fuck is the point of having a policy of not deporting people to countries where they'll be persecuted if you're not going to follow through? The whole things just reeks of using people as political pawns ("hey look how queer/human rights-friendly we are!"), when they are facing a life or death situation. Perhaps if queer people, if POC, if people from developing countries, if women were seen as equals then they wouldn't have their asylum claims rejected and get sent packing.

Must go see to this rage induced nose-bleed now.

And, Now for a Post Completely Lacking in Background Research or Alex's Thoughts on Game of Thrones

Do we have to destroy the ring? Oh fuck, sorry, forgot what
role this was again... 

I watched an episode of Game of Thrones a couple days ago. I don't know anything about the show, the books (except that they are really big and thick and fucking annoying to try and shelve because there were always like a kajillion of them to put away at the book store; oh, and they were red, blue, grey and yellow), the critical reception, the ratings, or the general plot line. And, yet, I feel qualified to write about my impressions; how great are the internet and personal blogs! 

In regards to the actual plot, the opinion that I formed after forty minutes is that it's like Lord of the Ring drunkenly Judd Apatowed Conan the Barbarian (the television series) and nine months later birthed Game of Thrones and it's freaky white-blond characters. 

Aside from that, basically, I feel like do we really need to have another show/movie about a bunch of white dudes fighting over power? Where the only women are slaves, prostitutes, mothers propping up their sons as the 'rightful' heirs (blech) and those who need protecting because they are fragile lil' princesses on the run and in need of big ole' protectors. Where the entire cast, with the exception of one Hawaiian man (a 'savage' who grunts a lot and in the one episode I watched ranted about raping the enemy's women), is white.

I get that it's adapted from the fantasy book series and that they didn't want to stray too far from that but come on, it's adapted, based on the books. The producers, writers, directors, they're allowed to take some liberties so why not exchange some of those meaty white guy roles for men of colour or women or, what the heck, women of colour.

Pretending that white men are the only people that viewers will believe are capable of holding power in some mythical kingdom is not just tiresome at this point; it's fucking insulting, ignorant, regressive and it's propagating racism. 

Friday Fiction: Family Time by Alex Snider

My mum and the sibs. Did I consider photoshopping myself
into the picture? Yes. Do I have access to photoshop? No. 

I'm one of those really, really lucky people who really, really likes her family (in addition to being head over heels in love with them); I consider them to be my friends regardless of blood-ties (true story: My mum has kept this tear stained note that I wrote to her begging her forgiveness, "I feel sick to my stomach...I can't believe I've let you down like this...I hope one day you'll forgive me...you're my best-friend", and on the back she had written the date and the crime: 1998 -- I was 15 -- and I had stayed up until one in the morning talking on the phone. I've got issues. The point stands though, my mum was my BFF even when I was 15).

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Et Tu, Star?

Thanks, Toronto Star, thanks for getting in on the "why would someone like DSK need to rape a maid he got money and power and she's a lowely maid! I call honeypot conspiracy!" action. I don't actually know whether to laugh or, nope, I'm just pissed at the ridiculous tone of this "France is burning, whatever shalt we do" crap. 

Of course, it's always only a matter of time when a man is accused of rape before the woman accusing him becomes the subject of scrutiny and ridicule and all the shit that quite frankly the man accused of rape should be on the receiving end of but come on, Toronto Star, you have absolutely nothing to gain in this. There is seemingly no point to printing shit like: 

France goes to bed with new nightmarish images: DSK at the court hearing, looking exhausted and haggard. In France, cameras are not allowed in courtrooms. The real shock comes when DSK is denied bail. France’s ex-future president is going to spend a week at Rikers Island prison. The French feel numb. The whole nation is in denial.

Oh, nightmarish you say! Heavens! Hold on whilst I put on some pearls so I can then clutch them! What hyperbolic nonsense. He was arrested. He was charged. He is being treated like every other person who is arrested and charged in America. Actually, he is probably being treated better than a lot of other people who are arrested because he most likely will not be subjected to police brutality or have his rights trampled on in any way.

And, really the French "feel numb"? It's because they almost elected an alleged rapist to be their president, right?

The Wire: Season One by Alex Snider

MmmmmmmHmmmmmmm

*Spoiler Alerts Ahead* 

I know I'm kinda late to the game (as I usually am, except with stripped nail polish weirdly enough) but I just finished watching season one of The Wire with Rebekah and our friend Carolyn (neither of whom have watched the last two episodes yet (I thought we had agreed to go ahead on our own...)) and hot damn, Deadwood might have competition for the greatest TV show ever. Might (there have yet to be any Swearengen-level rants and so far no one has been able to muster a Seth Bullockesque glower).

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Sunday Songs: The Rapture

I thought it would be wise to post this week's edition of Sunday Songs a day early, you know, just in case...
Hope you're all enjoying the end of the world... Just remember, don't do anything today that you might regret on Judgement Day!

Friday Fiction: Rapture Edition by Alex Snider

Hey guys, so rapture tomorrow! Exciting stuff, right! I think the way it works is that there's going to be zombies? And then all the Christians get zipped off to happy hour in heaven on clouds or something (do they get jet-packs? They better not get jet-packs! I'm gonna be so pissed if they get jet-packs!) and then the rest of us get to just hang down here with the zombies for five months? Seven years? I'm just glad I've spent so much time (seriously, so much time discussing my survival plans in the event of a zombie apocalypse although I feel that they'll be significantly hampered by my life-partner who plans on just giving up immediately. Damn my overblown need to nurture and protect!). On the plus side, we'll be free of Stephen Harper right?!

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50 Ways to Cope with Stress

Friday Fiction: Week One

This past week I read a lot, mostly owing to staying with friends who have the entire Penguin Mini Classics box set (luckily for them, my suitcase was already beyond capacity...) and as we'd discussed in our perimeters for the year's reading, "if it's got an ISBN, it counts". The biggest problem I have with reading really short books or novellas is that I have a hard time justifying quitting them. By the time I decide I don't care to continue I'm already half way in and really, I might as well finish -- explains why I ever finished Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (although, I maintain that I actually blacked out for large sections owing to boredom *ducks*).

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WHY HAS NO ONE INFORMED ME OF THIS "KINETIC TYPOGRAPHY" BEFORE??

Oh baby, is there anything better than when two great things are joined and become one super great thing? Some of my favourite things have been created by the marriage of two other favourite things (it makes a lot of sense if you think about it): Schnoodles; Cheddar Smokies (the most delicious sausages in the world for those of you not from the Prairies -- sidenote -- isn't it weird when you find out that a word you've been saying your whole life turns out to be a regional thing? I moved to Toronto and no one knew what I was talking about when I declared my ever-gnawing cravings for Smokies, they'd just smile and nod uneasily, chalking it up to another "social" tradition or something); Adam Scott and Parks and Recreation... And, now I've discovered kinetic typography and the magic of setting type (a favourite thing) to dialogue from some of my favourite movies/TV shows (and a Nancy Sinatra song (!!!)).

The following are all dedicated to Ethan. (A rather empty gesture as I didn't make the videos or anything, just copy and pasted and thought of him but none the less...)

What a great day for Alex and the Internet! Great day, indeed!

Stay Creative

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Friday Fiction: Scotland by Alex Snider

I can't decide which cover is the best. I have this one 

but then I saw the other two and I was like, "whoa, they're 

all pretty cool"! True story.

Good news, everyone! We're in Edinburgh! Ah, what fun we are having with our favourite people in the world! What stories we'll have to share! The tangents alone were worth the plane tickets and the inevitable liver damage (livers regenerate right? RIGHT?). In honour of our trip, I've come up with four of my favourite Scottish reads (and one "I can't remember but like any opportunity to call Bret Easton Ellis a hack) so that you can read them too and then it will be like we're all together in Scotland, frolicking through the moors.

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Be Creative posted by Rebekah Hakkenberg

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