I’ve been talking about this for too long… Here’s a still from the Micro$oft shoot from the beginning of the year.
I look tired (I was exhausted). I’m still yawning right now.
We’ll post some outtakes shortly. Full video to come soon (I promise!).
Hello dear friends, internet free-rangers, and changemakers. I’ve returned from a long interne
It seems like we’ve been saying goodbye to a lot of amazing people lately. I don’t know
I have to admit that I’ve never really watched Bill Moyers. I’ve caught segments of his
I’ve been talking about this for too long… Here’s a still from the Micro$oft shoot from the beginning of the year.
I look tired (I was exhausted). I’m still yawning right now.
We’ll post some outtakes shortly. Full video to come soon (I promise!).
Hello dear friends, internet free-rangers, and changemakers.
I’ve returned from a long internet sabbatical (it was awesome) and I’m back now.
I was writing about our next (upcoming) project in the Manifesto! Project newsletter today. Another project which will take us on a journey for ‘ecstatic truth.’
What i think Werner Herzog was getting at with this concept is our dreams. Our collective ‘dream’ and our personal dreams are the most truth that we have. It can be expressed (although not always easily) and others can relate to our dreams without having to work at it too hard.
Manifesto! is a document of those dreams, sometimes personal, sometimes activist, and sometimes crazy.
And they all have one thing in common: desire. The desire for another state, often a more sublime execution of what we experience as our day to day reality on planet earth.
That said, my ecstatic reality is moving along at quite a pace with things kicking at Identify Foundation, new interest in Manifesto!, edit madness on We Want the Airwaves, and the early development of multiple new projects. I also just got the footage from the Micr*s*ft piece, to be released soon.
Sorry for the teaser, many more updates soon.
It seems like we’ve been saying goodbye to a lot of amazing people lately.
I don’t know if it’s a result of the modern depression we live in, or just a string of bad luck.
Personally, it’s hard for me to discuss Dennis without taking a look at his career and the effect his work had on an industry which had a uncomfortable relationship with him.
Hopper’s career represented the work of a real maverick, a true independent spirit, an artist of the highest regard. He broke rules, he made masterpieces, he easily switched gears between actor, writer, director, photog, and painter. He’s one of the few solid, well known examples of a modern renaissance man.
And our paths crossed on multiple occasions. Most people don’t know that we were attached to the same film for some time. A project I worked on for nearly a year in development and pre-production. To sum it up, he was to play my nemesis of sorts. I won’t say the title here, because I don’t want to publicize the film. Needless to say it was a challenged project, a great script, great cast, but helmed by an inexperienced, selfish team of narcissists.
Does that sound familiar, like much of Hollywood to you? Maybe so – if you are lucky enough to be working amongst the projects with great scripts and great casts – the inexperienced, narcissistic part is much more predictable.
But back to Dennis. He was a Kansan, like myself. A Dodge City boy. And he rarely compromised on subjects he didn’t believe in. He was blackballed from Hollywood as a young performer, he made a mess of a film called The Last Movie, and he made some of the best films ever: Easy Rider and Colors.
Dennis, although he could easily be criticized for his recent politics; or his lack of real engagement with social justice, did something which probably seemed bigger than that to him. He represented those people to us. He helped to cement them in our collective consciousness. Countercultural figures, artists, drugged out geniuses, father figures, freaks and villains. He played them all with equal fervor and he played them very well.
Needless to say, I hardly knew him, but I miss him now that he’s gone. If I saw him today I’d remind him of Jack Nicholson’s response to a line he fed him while gathered around a bonfire deep in the desert:
Billy: “Hey, man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody who needs a haircut.”
George: “Oh, no. What you represent to them is freedom.”
(Easy Rider, 1969)
I have to admit that I’ve never really watched Bill Moyers. I’ve caught segments of his show here and there and I’ve heard kudos about his work for some time.
But his sign off on PBS last week was epic.
He pulled no punches in his analysis about the current state of our government and the economic, social, and political reality we live in: that a very small percentage (around 1% of our people) control the majority of our wealth as well as our government.
Not only do they control it, they meticulously plan their moves. To the ruling class, the average person is a ‘mark.’ To use the word ‘pawn’ would be too kind, as they plan their every move to ensure that the people at the bottom have little to no economic mobility. Yes, they’re capitalizing on us.
You could say that the American Dream is dead. Or that it never existed. I would argue that it existed but that the dream was intermittent – partially sleeping, partially awake – and inherently flawed. Dreams built on economic systems which are unsustainable and which capitalize on the underclass to benefit the rich are not dreams at all. In fact, they are nightmares for most.
While conservatives have the country believing that wealth is a means to an end, and the top social strata of liberals behave more and more like the bourgeoisie everyday, Moyers signs off with a stark reminder that “Democracy only works when we claim it as our own.”
Good Bye Bill, I hardly knew ye.
As most of you know, I’ve been much quieter this year as we approach Earth Day.
Manifesto and Identify have been taking up a lot of my time.
But the world moves on regardless.
The World People’s Climate Conference in Bolivia is turning out to be pretty amazing from the reports coming in. The people there are approaching the Conference as a starting point for some real discussions about the planet and the unsustainable economic systems which are fueling our decline. Sure, many of the world’s leaders are not present. The corporate mouthpieces are nowhere to be seen. And for the most part that’s a good thing. As long as we can make them listen.
They’re taking a different approach. This is a discussion amongst the people. People who have been disenfranchised in many ways. Bolivia is the home of the largest silver mine in the world, where serious environmental issues haunt the area, and the mine workers are currently on strike. The people of Bolivia have some major hurdles to cross.
The World People's Climate Conference in Bolivia
They believe that the earth has rights. That ecosystems have rights. Earth Rights. The Democracy School, an amazing organization that helps people take power back in local communities, prescribes this approach. If you can assign rights to an entity, you can legally protect it.
The people of Bolivia and many other cultures are celebrating Earth Day and establishing a starting point which is likely to lead them down the right path.
What are you doing for earth day? We want to know! Tell us on the Manifesto Facebook Page.
On the day after Thanksgiving, I’m pausing to celebrate an annual holiday I’d like more people to get involved with.
This year they’ve badged it the “Wildcat General Strike” and while I like the badge, the original name says it all. Buy. Nothing. Today, skip the BS, skip the gas stations, skip the convenience store, skip the mall, skip the ___, skip it ALL.
I don’t have to tell you the power that the consumer holds in a capitalist society. The corporatocracy. But more important than our power to affect those who rule us, is our power to affect the future health of our planet. To do that, we must consume less. Less shopping, less fast food (none would be best), less consumption of products – a simpler, healthier way of life.
So today I’m sitting back with friends and family to reflect on what matters in the present. Happy BND!
I didn’t even know he passed until a couple of weeks ago.
Brendan was next door at my friend’s place only a week and a half before he passed. She had no idea what was about to happen to him.
Brendan was a force in punk music, who made a home for punk (and was largely responsible for creating a birthplace for the scene in Los Angeles). His club/recording/rehearsal space hosted everything and anything they chose.
The Memorial service was at the echoplex last weekend and I’ll post or link some photos from friends here soon.
He will be missed by countless fans and friends.
Yes. The rumor is true. There’s a blog.
But don’t think I’ll be discussing international politics (well, maybe).
Nor will I discuss my views on our disaster of an economic systems (possibly; occasionally).
No, I will generally be hurling a variety of thoughts, observations, and calls-to-action. (generally, what I do best).
I have a lot to say. Whether anyone wants to hear it or not is debatable. At the very least it will entertain me. I hope it will entertain you too. I know it will serve to empty the random ramblings bouncing around in my brain by providing an archive for my thoughts. Also, a look at what inspires and compels me to continue living the absurd notion known as modern life.
I have to admit that I’ve never really watched Bill Moyers. I’ve caught segments of his
It seems like we’ve been saying goodbye to a lot of amazing people lately. I don’t know
It seems like we’ve been saying goodbye to a lot of amazing people lately. I don’t know
I’ve been talking about this for too long… Here’s a still from the Micro$oft shoot