Toronto.

…and we crossed the street as fast as we could, the familiar words of hatred in the air.

Bitch. Cocksucker.

They had already knocked the girl down in front of traffic, and she was screaming, sobbing, screaming. The man who almost ran her over had tried to help, and he was on the concrete, three times my size. That left two of us, and six of them.

We got her out somehow, fighting to protect a young lady the size of a twelve-year-old. She didn’t even know we were there, I don’t think. Only that she wasn’t being thrown around anymore, and she was getting away.

By the time security and the cops arrived and dealt with the others, we had made it to the underground parking and out of sight. Leslie kept the police looking elsewhere long enough to share a few cigarettes, and eventually she could talk again. She was from Ottawa, her name was Diane, and between the drugs and the crack of skull on asphalt, she was in pretty bad shape.

The squad car found us eventually, of course. Her boyfriend had already been arrested, and she managed to tell the police that he had her money, her ticket home, her everything.

The security guard asked me if I was alright, and I said that I was. Then she waved to us as the police car pulled away, and by that time it was daylight.

Who knew?

Two recent things I’ve really, really enjoyed:

Infected Mushroom – Converting Vegetarians

I’ve been listening to Infected Mushroom since 1999, when they released their first full-length album, The Gathering. I’m often bored by four-on-the-floor techno, but this album really caught my attention. You could tell they didn’t take themselves too seriously, and the songs were fun, and well written and produced. Their next album was in the same vein, especially with tracks like Dracul, where an orchestral sample from the score of Dracula turns acapella mid-way through the song.

I had a chance to see them live, and their show was nothing short of incredible. Their last two albums, however, were ‘serious’ trance, and not very interesting at all. And so, I mourned for the loss of yet another electronic act destroyed by a desire to be accessible.

Which brings me to Converting Vegetarians. This is a double-cd release, the first disc consisting of ‘old school’ Infected Mushroom tracks. Very blippy, goofy, and not at all self-involved. Fantastic, but not too interesting unless you’re a fan of the style (which I am). The second cd is mainstream trance, complete with uplifting synth lines, and cheesy female vocals. Chord progression, and all that. Fantastic, but not too interesting unless you’re a fan of the style (which I am not).

Overall, the album is excellently accomplished, and intelligent. Regardless of which style you prefer in your goa-slash-psytrance, there’s at least an hour of music you’ll enjoy. Listen to it.

Equilibrium

This is a first film by Kurt Wimmer, who wrote, directed, and kicked my ass. Seriously, this film would have been an instant sci-fi/dystopian classic if Dimension Films had marketed it whatsoever. I had never heard of it before I stumbled across it in a binaries newsgroup, and I thought it’d be a funny Matrix rip-off that’d be worth a few laughs. Instead, I got the ass-kicking.

This is simply one of the best movies I have ever seen. Visually, it’s beautiful. Set in an Orwellian post-war world, the visuals mix imposing real-life architecture (Hitler’s Olympic Stadium) with paintings instead of models, giving the setting a washed-out, surreal feel. The action sequences show the first real innovation in film gunfights since Bullet Time, or when Chow-Yun Fat first jumped onto a dolly with two handguns. All the actors are perfect (really, perfect) in their roles, and the lighting is the best I’ve seen since a Coen film.

Wimmer manages to do more with a ridiculously short shooting window and a tiny budget than most action directors have ever done. No distracting CGI, no wires (really – no wires), and for at least half the action sequences, no choreographer and no rehearsal time. The only thing more impressive than the movie itself is that it came out of production conditions terrible enough to sink most films.

In addition, the movie is brilliant. Obviously drawing from Bradbury, Huxley, P. K. Dick and other great dystopian writers, the world this movie is set in gives me the same chills that I felt the first time I read 1984. The plot is simple, but the narrative is complex, and repeated viewings reveal insight and subtleties into the motivations of the characters.

I’ve seen a dozen reviews that have called it the worst piece of cinema since Battlefield Earth, but I can’t say enough good things about this film. It’s science fiction, it’s dystopian literature, and it’s a fantastic action movie. Rent it. Buy it. If you can’t find it, I’ll give you a copy. Just watch it.

So you will have another ticket, for losing your senses.

A brief history of Canada’s marijuana laws is relevant reading, considering the Prime Minister’s recent assurance that pot is soon to be decriminalized, and our friendly neighbour to the south’s not-so-veiled threats.

I firmly believe the Bush administration will bring about the end of American-Canadian trust and goodwill. This is just one action of many.

To Be Young, Gifted and Black

This week marks the passing of two great women. Nina Simone, who was known and loved throughout the world as a jazz singer and (more importantly) civil rights activist, and the less-known Anita Borg, a computer scientist who was one of the first people to recognize the digital divide, and work to ensure that emerging technologies don’t further stratify the underprivileged.

Their social awareness and willingness to act against explicit and implicit discrimination made the world a better place, and they will be missed.

More Dreams…

In my dreams, I know only grey skies and the taste of asphalt.

Through a maze of back alleys and scorched fields I try for freedom, the smell of burning cities drives me as much as what will happen when they find me.

Raven’s Skeleton, my totem, is here. We are bleached white and broken, we are bound.

Virtual Avenger speaks!

Matt Haughey ruminates on becoming an online dinosaur.

I’ve been online for most of my life, and so many of my first usernames were OS-dictated. bg414, jp0579, those kinds of things. Even when choosing my own username became possible (and later, when the eight-character limit was raised) I tended to keep things simple. I had one or two handles that I used regularly, but I never used my real name.

Only recently have I dropped the wall that I kept between my online life and my personal life (years of h/p/a/c/v BBSing taught me to never let any information follow you back to where you sleep), and I relate to a lot of the sentiments expressed in Matt’s journal.

Signing things as ‘Twiin’ just feels a bit more silly every day.

A Chill Wind

More Tim Robbins – A Transcript of Robbins’ Speech to the National Press Club:

“In the 19 months since 9-11, we have seen our democracy compromised by fear and hatred. Basic inalienable rights, due process, the sanctity of the home have been quickly compromised in a climate of fear. A unified American public has grown bitterly divided, and a world population that had profound sympathy and support for us has grown contemptuous and distrustful, viewing us as we once viewed the Soviet Union, as a rogue state. “

Long live the ’69 Mets

Tim Robbins vs. the Baseball Hall of Fame:

“I wish you had, in your letter, saved me the rhetoric and talked honestly about your ties to the Bush and Reagan Administrations. You are using what power you have to infringe upon my rights to free speech and by taking this action hope to intimidate the millions of others that disagree with our president. In doing so, you expose yourself as a tool, blinded by partisanship and ambition. You invoke patriotism and use words like freedom in an attempt to intimidate and bully.”

American War Crimes, first in a series.

Think of the children: “I think they thought we wouldn’t shoot kids. But we showed them we don’t care.”

Cluster bombing for fun and profit: “Described as “a horror,” two nights of U.S. bombing produced babies cut in half, dozens of severed bodies, and scattered limbs. The victims were farmers and their families. There were no Iraqi artillery, Republican guard troops or military installations within miles.”

hmm….

An Open Letter to My Insurance Company:

Dear Company,

This is Jairus. You may remember me from a claim I filed over two months ago. As you may recall, I injured my leg while I was at work, and although I am not seeking workman’s comp related damages for this claim, I had asked for coverage under the ‘Short Term Disability’ coverage that I have with your organization.

This is taking some time. In the interests of resolving this situation quickly, allow me explain my situation to you.

As you may know, I earn twelve dollars an hour. After deductions for EI, CPP, taxes, insurance premiums, and various other costs, I receive an average of twelve hundred dollars take-home pay. I don’t know if you are familiar with the costs of living in Ottawa, but this income rate puts me beneath the poverty line, meaning I live month to month, or am ‘poor’. Having been without pay for over two months, therefore, is a problem to me. Not having any money would be my first problem, most of my other problems follow directly from that.

I cannot afford to take a cab to my doctor’s for continued monitoring of my injury. I cannot afford to purchase a leg brace which I have been prescribed by said doctor for treatment of my injury. Food supplies are reaching critical levels, and most of the food I own I cannot eat due to a pressing dental surgery need, for which I have no money. I am receiving threatening notices from my utility companies in a variety of colours which state in no uncertain terms that I must remit hundreds of dollars. This, although quite threatening indeed, is overshadowed by the fact that I owe my landlord a sum that is orders of magnitude larger, which if left unresolved will eliminate any need for paying future utilities, as I will not have a house to live in.

In short, this knee injury is ruining my life. If this pattern continues, it is not unreasonable to expect that I will eventually end up homeless, without the ability to receive the medical attention I require to recover fully.

The fear of a chain of events of this nature is what led me to purchase insurance coverage, some many months ago. In the event that I was unable to work, I thought to myself, an insurance policy will take care of my immediate financial needs, while allowing me to take care of my injury, so that I am able to return to work.

Listen.

This cannot be allowed to continue. Every day that you stall for more information, hoping that my claim is frivolous or without grounds, hoping that I’ll tire of endless calls, faxes, forms, and touch-tone telephone prompts, my chances of permanent damage rise to approach certainty. Perhaps worse, every day that passes is another day where I lose access to critical resources, and accrue unreasonable and unnecessary debt.

This has to end. Soon.

…

I hear my bones grinding, the sound of dead wood escaping my skin. My reflection isn’t who I think I am, eyeballs looking out from grey, boney sockets, and a week’s worth of growth when I swear I shaved yesterday.

Seven in the morning, and another night without sleep.

Not pretty at all

5000 people marched in Ottawa on Saturday, while more than a quarter of that
number were arrested in San Francisco during a peace rally.

In Baghdad, “Salam Pax” (a pseudonym composed of the Arabic and Latin
words for peace) writes:

23/3
8:30pm (day4)
we start counting the hours from the moment one of the news channels report
that the B52s have left their airfield. It takes them around 6 hours to get
to Iraq. On the first day of the bombing it worked precisely. Yesterday we were
a bit surprised that after 6 hours bombs didn’t start falling. The attacks
on Baghdad were much less than two days ago. We found out today in the news
that the city of Tikrit got the hell bombed out of it. To day the B52s took
off at 3pm, on half an hour we will know whether it is Baghdad tonight or another
city. Karbala was also hit last night.
Today’s (and last night’s) shock attacks didn’t come from
airplanes but rather from the airwaves. The images Al-jazeera is broadcasting
are beyond any description.

[Presidential Documents]
[Page 12565-12568]
[DOCID:fr14mr03-106]

Executive Order 13289–Establishing the Global War on Terrorism Medals

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, including my authority as Commander in
Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal. There is hereby
established the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal with suitable appurtenances.
Except as limited in section 3 of this order, and under uniform regulations
to be prescribed by the Secretaries of the military departments and approved
by the Secretary of Defense, or under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary
of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating
as a service in the Navy, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal shall
be awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States who serve or
have served in military expeditions to combat terrorism, as defined by such
regulations, on or after September 11, 2001, and before a terminal date to be
prescribed by the Secretary of Defense.

(Presidential Sig.)B

THE WHITE HOUSE,

Pre 9/11, the Taliban were officially invited to Houston, stayed in a five-star
hotel and were chauffeured in corporate minibuses. The Taliban representatives
“were amazed” by the luxurious homes of Texan oil barons, and invited
to dinner at the palatial home of Martin Miller, a vice-president of Unocal.

America gives aid to the Taliban, praising its draconic anti-drug laws. This
is, until the Taliban refuse to build an oil pipeline that best serves the needs
of America.

Unocal exec John Maresca
to the House: “… we have made it clear that construction of our proposed
pipeline cannot begin until a recognized government is in place that has the
confidence of governments, lenders and our company.”

(2,792 WTC Workers, 3400 Afghani civilians and one regime change later)

Bush:
“Peace will be achieved by helping Afghanistan develop its own stable government.
Peace will be achieved by helping Afghanistan train and develop its own national
army. And peace will be achieved through an education system for boys and girls
that works.”

BBC: “Afghanistan
hopes to strike a deal later this month to build a $2bn pipeline through the
country to take gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India.
Afghan interim ruler Hamid Karzai is to hold talks with his Pakistani and Turkmenistan
counterparts later this month on Afghanistan’s biggest foreign investment project,
said Mohammad Alim Razim, minister for Mines and Industries told Reuters […]
Mr Razim said US energy company Unocal was the “lead company” among
those that would build the pipeline, which would bring 30bn cubic meters of
Turkmen gas to market annually.”

The news is silent as to how quality of life for the average Afghani has improved.
But we know it’ll work in Iraq this time. We only have the interests of the
Iraqi public in mind.

American Propaganda Leaflet: “Do not destroy oil wells.”

The Washington Times: Halliburton awarded contract for proposed ‘rehabilitation’ of Iraqi oil resources. Former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney unavailable for comment.