Miss Kolka

Vacation is over for now so its back to "normality". If normality is working 5 days a week to get paid at the end of the month -

Yes, most of us probably have to work until we get too old to really enjoy all the free time retirement has to offer.
And we all accept it - that and paying taxes, taking loans to be able to buy houses and trying to put money aside, so it can only be used for paying things we didn't predict.

What if I would tell you that the taxes you pay (and work 3-4 months a year for) are used to make the richest men in the world even richer? What If I was to tell you that the wars we are fighting are fought for money (not a surprise to many of you Im sure) and that 9/11 fits exactly the model of a pre-emptive strike that is always needed by governments and the people behind them to justify wars? Not very new revelations, I agree but these things are all linked in a very interresting documentary/artitistic feature I recently saw.

I have seen some startling evidence that shows that there is much more behind 9/11 than we have been told by official sources and therefore all the world's biggest media. It also explains clearly how the world economy seems to be manipulated by only a few persons who don't care about who makes the law in what country - because they are on a mission. Religion does also play an important role in misguiding us from what we really are ment for. The conclusion I am reaching is quite scary - we don't seem to be in control of our own life or destiny and there seems to be so much going on behind the curtains - that will eventually bring us to a horrifying future.

To understand what I am talking about and simply to open your mind a little bit - go and watch this film online (the quality is quite good and the film quick to download - however it takes some time to start and the JEsus story is important for the overall conclusion.. be patient.... and then LETS start to think for ourselves, artivism is for all of us - the Revolution is NOW!

www.zeitgeistmovie.com

Are you afraid of sharks?

Has it ever occured to you when swimming in the sea that you have no way of knowing what is happening underneath you?
If you are afraid of sharks it is very likely that you have seen the movie JAWS at some point - and if you have, what you should see is Sharkwater.

Sharkwater is a documentary that took 5 years in the making and is not only magnificent in imagery but also very informative and surprising.

Ok I have always been interested in the sea and in the animals living there - having studied biology quite alot I should know one thing or two but this film has open my eyes to probably the most misunderstood animal on the planet. And it has confirmed my belief that sharks are NOT dangerous and that they very rarely attack men.

- made by young filmmaker Rob Stewart from Canada, the film was chosen to open the Jules Verne Adventure film festival in Paris and has won many awards around the globe, and understandably so. It follows the passion of former wildlife photographer Rob (he's only 27!) - his passion for sharks and how he discovers that one of the most money making traffic on earth (after drugs) is the industry of shark fins - mainly off the coast of Costa Rica and Equador. And there is BIG MONEY involved!

The shark - which is the oldest predator on earth - has survived 5 major extinctions and is for the first time an endangered species because of man. Once again we have managed changing things in the ecosystem - not caring about the concequences and without even pausing briefly to think twice. The extinction of sharks could mean that there will be no oxygen left in the athmosphere for us to breath! (read up on your biology or .. GO AND SEE THE FILM)

We have known this for quite some time, that sharks are being heavely fished - and until now not many people have cared - since they aren't as cuddly as Pandas or Tigers and because of the misconception that sharks are dangerous maneaters (hmm compared to Tigers?). But when you see images of these creatures where their fin is cut off and they are thrown back into the sea ALIVE you can't just leave it there. This is happening all over the world and the sea is turning into a giant garbage can.(in an hour around 15.000 sharks are killed, and some in a awful way) Do we think that future generations (if they are going to be any) will thank us for messing up our planet and distroy nature's balance completely? with no water or food left and with most of the species we now know extinct? I don't think so. At least I can't just sit here and watch it happen.

Whatever can be said about this film, that maybe it is a bit long and the writing perhaps repetitive, the images are breathtaking and it is one of the most beautiful animal documentary I have seen - made by someone really talented and clearly passionate, that knows these creatures extremely well and has unusual ease to approche wildlife and capture it on film. Stewert clearly wants to make a difference and get the message out there. Well done! There are also alot of things said in the film that I can't seem to get out of my head.

No government or association has ever truly changed the course of humanity.. only 5-7 % of the population - with some very determined people are needed to make a difference. And you can make a difference. Start by signing the pledge to save the sharks www.savingsharks.com

Right - Bush: "Who is the new leader of China?"

Rice :"Hu is the new leader of China, sir!"

Bush: "that's what I'm asking you Condi- who is in China?"

This joke was written by playwright Jim sherman - But somehow I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the joke rose from a real misunderstanding - ok that maybe didn't go as far but still for a few seconds Mr.President might not have got the leader's name. wouldn't surprise me at all.

You constantly wonder what other's people lives are like - or compare your own to theirs.

What if someone could watch you all the time - and everything you did would be documented for others to know about?

That is what the film Das leben der anderen is about  - go and see it

amazingly well done - and if you care, it was nominated for an oscar for best foreign film...

I've been meaning to write about the film blood diamond... because after hearing that it was such a great film that I had to see I must say I was extremely, extremely disappointed. Not only by the storytelling, which is quite pretentious but also because of the problematic white and black relationship the main two characters have. I have been looking for words but this review From: San Diego State University says it all. Read it.

Blood Diamond

December 9th, 2006 by Beth Accomando

Edward Zwick's Blood Diamond.

Blood Diamond presents itself as an action thriller but the genre trappings can't hide the fact that Zwick wants to teach audiences another history lesson and lecture them on political correctness. Jennifer Connelly's reporter exists only to spout statistics and educate us on the subject. She's like one of those characters you bump into in a video game that spews information so you can advance to the next level. When Archer first meets Bowen, their conversation is a rapid summary of recent African history with snide comments about American guilt and the fact that the politically correct way to refer to Rhodesia now is to call it Zimbabwe. Similarly, Vandy is meant to be symbolic of the African people. But none of these people feel like fully fleshed out characters.

Edward Zwick directs Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou.

Zwick is not content to just tell a good action story or to focus tightly on one aspect of a complex problem—he wants to explore everything. He shows how the guerrillas coerce children into fighting, how diamonds fund the violence, how the west ignores the problems in Africa, the formation of massive refugee camps, and so on. Yet even though the film covers a lot of ground, it never gets to the complexity of the problems. It's broad in scope but not deep.

A film that did manage to blend politics and good storytelling together was last year's The Constant Gardener, a thriller that enlightened us about Africa while also delivering a compelling and tense narrative. That film found a clever way to weave the character's journey neatly and tightly into the themes of social injustice in Africa so that the audience got an education without being hit over the head with a message. The Constant Gardener riveted viewers with the characters and their emotional journey first and then worked on enlightening us with its themes.

Blood Diamond

Zwick, however, is not as graceful in weaving his tale. Plus, he hurts the film by not giving equal weight to the two male characters. Zwick appears to make the odd assertion that the white characters have more emotional investment in and ownership of Africa than the blacks. Archer is told by another white mercenary that the dirt in Africa is red because it is soaked with their blood, and that they can never leave the country because Africa runs through their veins. Archer then gets to bleed into the African soil and essentially proclaim it as his country. But it's also Vandy's country. Yet the film makes less of an effort to point out the amount of black African blood split on the same soil. Another scene that plays falsely is when Vandy wonders aloud if his country might not have been better off when it were ruled by whites. Maybe, he suggest, the blacks just have something bad within them. Such a comment seems ill placed. After all it was white colonials who created some of the divisions that still haunt the continent today. And while Zwick promotes political correctness, he never really allows Vandy's character the same chance as Archer's to speak out. When Vandy does have a moment when is supposed to speak about the pain and suffering of his country, that's the moment when Zwick brings up the music and pulls away so that the voice he claims is the most important one for us to hear, the one we are urged not to ignore, is in essence silenced.

This year, DiCaprio makes an earnest bid to change from pretty boy to tough guy with his dual roles as the hard edged undercover cop in The Departed and the mercenary with shifting morals here in Blood Diamond. He's a talented actor and the harder edge is a nice change of pace. Hounsou's Vandy is made subordinate to DiCaprio's Archer and that's too bad. Hounsou is a forceful actor and he should have been given more to work with. Connolly serves merely as a pretty plot device.

A recent film that did convey a better sense of the African experience is Catch a Fire. But that film came and went in a week. It was a more provocative film in that it explored how the injustices suffered by one black man politicized him enough to make him take action and join a resistance movement that used violence. He's labeled a terrorist by the white government. That film at least tried to convey an African point of view even though it was also made by a white filmmaker. Films from Africa, made by African filmmakers are few and of those few only a rare one ever makes it to American theater screens. All the films we've seen recently of Africa—Blood Diamond, Catch a Fire, The Constant Gardener, Biko, The Last King of Scotland, Tears of the Sun—are all very western in terms of their narrative structure. Films from Africa by such directors as Sembene Ousmane or Djibril Diop Mambety have a very different storytelling quality to them that stems from an oral storytelling tradition. It would be nice to see more films from a genuinely African perspective make it to American theaters.

Blood Diamond (rated R for strong violence and language) ends with the request that people demand that the trade in blood diamonds stop. But this call to action is simplistic and naive. It's not like The Inconvenient Truth asking us to buy smaller cars, drive less and use public transportation—all things we can easily and actually accomplish. Diamonds don't come with their origins engraved on the back. So for the film to lay out its case and simply say it's in your power to stop the trade in blood diamonds is a smug way for Zwick to feel like he's accomplished something when he hasn't. He's really just nicked the surface of a much bigger and more complex issue. In the end, Zwick's film just feels like another attempt at alleviating white guilt.

 

Thank you Beth Accomando.

• How much is enough? | 09-05-2008
• Where is Iceland's money coming from? | 06-05-2008
• There's no way out | 19-04-2008
• Sendi it back to China | 07-04-2008
• Poisson d'avril | 01-04-2008
• Wish I was | 30-03-2008
• lesser of two evils | 27-03-2008
• in my head | 25-03-2008
• Where are all the drugs going? | 11-03-2008
• Why is she so controversial? | 07-03-2008
• Presidential obsession | 14-02-2008
• All we can do is wait | 14-01-2008
• The stupidity of the French President (read to the bottom for it to make sense) | 08-01-2008
• S.O.S. | 30-12-2007
• In memoriam | 27-12-2007