Whoohoo! Cracked 100,000!!!

Alright I just got past the hurdle of 100,000....my rank at technorati is...98,638. I only need like, 4,000 more links to make it to top ten. Maybe I should have painted a portrait of Arianna Huffington...she's ranked #6 in technorati. Harumph. I think my buddy Billy Foxtrot got me over 100,000, thanks Billy! Billy is a hottie, if you are young and single and like a guy who reads, go to his blog! go to his blog anyways...he's good at techie advice and a real sweetheart. (he's probably gonna kill me some old lady saying he's hot)

Kawasaki Krump on eBay!

I have put my portrait of Guy Kawasaki for sale on eBay. The beginning listed price is $75.00 plus shipping and handling. I have offered half the profit to a charity of Mr. Kawasaki's choice. Well, he has been a good sport about me visiting his blog and saying things like I am going to kick his technorati butt...and that his groupies are jamtarts because they haven't even come to look at his portrait over here at my blog. (although I think maybe they have since I called them a jamtart. How often do you get to call someone a jamtart, or milquetoast once you get older?) (TRANSLATION: "jamtart" is a west coast and east coast Canadian slag for "wimp")


My boyfriend says I am a shit disturber, but I just had a lot of fun teasing Guy Kawasaki about his desire to be in top ten technorati rank. Hey, he's an interesting business man and a lot of people look up to him. So, I think he will might make it. Like I said earlier he has a vast following, and I hope he uses his superpowers wisely. I would put a link here for convenience for you to visit his blog...but then, I'd be helping him advance his rank.


And thanks to my buddies here in blogland who did link my blog to theirs, I love you! Making friends is so much more fun than being ranked.

To view potential bids at eBay for Kawasaki Krump please click here.

A Brief History of Time with Kawasaki...

Beginning the challenge!

The Art of War

Saturday With Guy

The Art of War Vol.2

Kawasaki Krump

Victory?

Books in LOST

Like "others" I am addicted to LOST. TV is smarter and way more fun than it has ever been...and Lost features many books and literature. Characters often talk about characters in books, or reference books in their dialogue. I've given up trying to figure out what is going on or what is the island (although I believed maybe at first it was a complex rehab program either medical or criminal...? like the movie The Game) Now I just sit back and enjoy...of course for a fanatic for details like me...it's awesome to have digital recording options and play the show back, all those symbols...and books.

I've read some of the stuff referenced in LOST and I've gone and looked stuff up too and read it...or re-read it...

Here are some reading materials from the ever so fun, Lost reading list...

(and don't forget poor Sawyer the bookworm has eye trouble...)

Sawyer was reading Watership Down (looking for a home) in the episode titled Confidence Man(which is the title of a Herman Melville novel)

King Josiah (22, 23)(spiritual leprosy?)

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien ( metaphor about physics, writers and readers, fan obsession with philosophy)

Wrinkle In Time(I read this as a kid, sci-fi about a time travel machine called a "tesserac"and a family being reunited)

Are You There God, it's Margeret by Judy Blume...(menstration...but could it be the title that is fun? But then, menstration would be a huge issue when stranded and two characters have been pregnant)

The Brothers Karamozov by Dostoyevsky (each brother represents an outlook on life, it suggests that life without god is not a good idea)

Alice In Wonderland (refeenced in conversation several time, rabbit hole/hatch/ warren comes to mind...)

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (this surprised me in the final season episode haven't figured out the relevence to me yet, but oh I love Dickens...)

Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Lord of the Flies( seems self explanatory)

Turn of the Screw by Henry james (two kids playing mind games on their teacher...satanic evil games she is lost)

Lancelot by Walker Percy ( characters are in healing, in prison from their acts. questions about the sexual act, morality meaning)

An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge(main impression is "unreliable narrartor" and this is referneced in Twilight Zone, jacobs Ladder...seems like a hint to the characters in Lost...)

The Epic of Gilgamesh (regeneration, a snake sloughing off its skin and to live again,rebirth-story of life destruction and renewal)

One of the characters, one of the others, is called Henry Gale this is an uncle in The Wizard of Oz, and Locke offers Brothers Karamozov to Gale but Gale would prefer a Stephen King novel.

Candy Kicks Kawasaki's technocrati ass!

Well, okay, have barely cracked the 100,000 rank. But what I have done is with some sweet style. I thought it would be appropriate to hang my painting of capturing the soul of my opponent above the computer...seeing as he is famous for his computer connections that Guy Kawasaki. Should I try to sell this painting out there on ebay? Maybe one of Kawasaki's nerd friends at his blog will buy it. I've never tried selling anything on ebay before, it might have some entertainment value, no?

Okay, so on May 3rd...I signed up to Technorati's ranking system because I saw Guy Kawasaki saying he wanted to be in top ten. I figured I will try to beat him. My rank when I signed up on May 3rd was...1,192,043. Now I am 121,964. It's so funny, because Kawasaki's blog is rank # 33 now, he needs 3200 more sites to link to his blog. I don't think he's going to make it. Although he has an incredible 1445 people already having been to his blog this morning. Wow, is he popular.

It's amazing how many business blogs there are out there in blogland, and these business folks really like to read business blogs. Unless Kawasaki branches out to human interest and technology and business on his blog I don't think he'll make his goal of top ten...but having said that, his business groupies are fairly loyal.

I wonder, what is the market demand for a Guy Kawasaki portrait? There was a time when merchants and community leaders, would have a popularity of sorts with their portraints, in the High Renaisance period? Hmm...I suppose I should have looked into the value of such a portrait before I started it? Ah heck no, it's better to be free with one's content and just go with it, much more interesting. Having worked at commisioned paintings the work always becomes that, work. Choosing the content of art work is half the fun...? Now to see if the content of a Kawasaki portrait has any value in the world...

God, Guns, Crack, Kids and Rebirth

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...All the way from the underground from the uptown back of town and downtown they've been called the top brass band of the world the cream of the crop the band that won't stop the undefeated the undisputed 20 years and running the REBIRTH BRASS BAND!"

Cut to a tight hopping tenacious and flexible group horning and singing..."Don't you wish you could be like a rebirth brother?"

Never A Dull Moment: 20 Years of the Rebirth Brass Band directed by Charlie Brown opened at the Gene Siskel Film Centre last night.

We see and hear an Emcee with a warrior style rant and rap of excitement like a boxing match or a street rumble and isn't every anthem and hymn a high fist against death and conflict and struggle? .

Bravado and competition are a mainstay of rap, hip hop and the brass bands of New Orleans. With good reason. The blues and jazz have always transformed suffering into affirmation and brass bands shared that sensibility and merged compassion and community benevolence into a sountrack for the street.

Somebody had to:

A special collaborative relationship developed between brass bands in New Orleans and mutual aid and benevolent societies. Mutual aid and benevolent societies were common among many ethnic groups in urban areas in the 19th century. After the Civil War such organizations took on special meaning for emancipated African-Americans who had limited economic resources. The purposes of such societies were to "help the sick and bury the dead" - important functions because blacks were generally prohibited from getting commercial health and life insurance and other services.

While many organizations in New Orleans used brass bands in parades, concerts, political rallies, and funerals, African-American mutual aid and benevolent societies had their own expressive approach to funeral processions and parades, which continues to the present. At their events, community celebrants would join in the exuberant dancing procession. The phenomena of community participation in parades became known as "the second line," second, that is, to the official society members and their contracted band. National Park Service

Who doesn't know about drugs and crime rate and lack of options for kids in inner cities around America?

The movie Never A Dull Moment about the brass band Rebirth opens assuming you know all too well about crack, kids and death. Oddly this sneaks up on the viewer as we are enchanted first by the early interviews of co-founders Philip and Keith Frazier as they stand outside their high school and in front of their church where the band began. They tell us charming stories of busking on the street and gospel playing in their Christian Mission Baptist Church. As the movie progresses with high school year book photos, montages of local legend Danny Barker, Mama Rebirth (mother of the Frazier brothers) and housing where the boys grew up we start to see that there is another element to this film. One of miracles and overcoming the odds manifested in redemption. Topics so well suited to art, again the themes many of the greatest popular music. Reality really starts to sink in and we realize these boys could have been dead.

One set of interviews masking as home videos again lulling the viewer has the Frazier sisters giggling and laughing at a Christmas party only to smack us that they love how funny it is there are bars and funeral homes on every corner of their hood. It's always been like that. Life is a party and in New Orleans, so is death. With faith and music: rebirth is a real option.
The neighbourhood with bars and funeral homes on every corner, Treme, snugglies and grinds right next tight to the French Quarter. The film helps us see how this proximity created a creole for these kids, a mixture that has saved some of their lives.

They know it, at one point one of the band members says "You could pick up a gun, or you could pick up an instrument."

The murder rate in New Orleans is ten times worse than the U.S. average. Before Katrina slammed the city, there were already 202 murders.

This movie is positive, self-aware and the people are not self-piying. The camerawork is streetwise and dense excellently suited to the music and most of it shot on a Canon XL1. Disc-jockey turned film maker Charlie Brown makes us feel at home while we watch the recollections of key players. These interviews include musician/historians Jerry Brock and Michael White who convey commaraderie and context within Rebirths history. Philip Frazier recalls when he heard a street band performing The Blackberry Special about 1978 and he said to himself, "I gotta do this." Kermit Ruffins adds all kinds of layers and moods to the bands history, including his own falling out with the band. My favourite talking head moment was with Mama Rebirth, Barbara Frazier, who played gospel piano in church, she says" No body plays this song "Just a Closer Walk" I taught them that way and they're playing it like their mother."

Rebirth embraces so many musical traditions and inventions and that may be it's ultimate appeal and strength. We see the Mardi Gras Indian meeting hip hop. There is a killer performance with Cheeky Blakk, and she is nasty and beautiful and her voice is so warm and powerful and plays off the band perfectly and uniquely.

This movie is everything a music freak wants and loves to hear about. Music geeks, freaks and magic and redemption. The movie has a very subtle street format about a street band. Brass bands are ultimately for the people and for the street. Brown captures this spirit even with his film style. We spoke with the director for quite a long time after the movie and I was able to tell him how much I enjoyed some of the strange angles he chose, particularily a successful sequence in the Maple Leaf Bar where the band performs every Tuesday. He also told us he modelled the vibe of this movie after three films he loves, Sonny Rollins Collosus, Gil Scott Heron Black Wax and Sun Ra Joyful Noise all tough acts to follow. Rebirth and Brown have that in common, they know where they come from and they know how to play.

As Jim Morrison said, no one here gets out alive, and sadly, there is a R.I.P. list at the end of this movie.

Without God, music and commited role models the casualties might have been higher.

I told Charlie Brown that this movie reminded me of Rize and Dogtown and Z Boys. Brown discussed the movie and New Orleans since Katrina with the few audience members for last nights screening. At least half a dozen of the audience lived or had lived in New Orleans so this made for an informative and in depth discussion. I've been to tipitina's the bar where Rebirth regularily performed so I felt really curious and really lucky to hear this group of peoples perspective on jazz and urban reconstruction. Brown said at one point, "There are 3 Popeyes left in New Orleans, that should give you an idea of the cultural reconstruction of the city."

Never A Dull Moment is showing Thursday, June 8, 8p.m. at the Gene Siskel Centre in Chicago and the director, Charlie Brown, will be available for questions. If you are in the Chicago area and love New Orleans or music you should not miss this opportunity. I hope this movie gets a good distributor and a major dvd production. I will post updates. I recommend you go out and buy one of Rebirth's recordings and give yourself a lift. Brown had a few copies of the movie for sale and I picked one up to enjoy and write this review along with an earlier project of his called Lousiana Shrimp Platter.

Reliability Never Looked So Beautiful

Why Gay Marriage?

Canada recently elected social extremist Stephen Harper as a Prime Minister. Harper is against gay marriage.

I am a conservative, family and community based citizen and therefore support gay marriage.

Criminals, pimps, prostitutes, sex offenders and Stephen Harper are allowed to be married. The human rights of these citizens are defended in higher status than gays in many countries. I was proud that Canada put gays rights at least as valuable as a pimp on July 20, 2005.

If the extremist governement of Harper believes that traditional families are defined for having children, then shouldn't all infertile women and men not be allowed to get married? How about couples long divorced and with grown children? Should it be illegal for them to marry?

Marriage isn't just about children otherwise we would consider elderly and infertile people ineligible for marriage.

Denmark legalized gay marriage in 1989 and has seen reduced suicide rates and reduced sexually transmitted diseases. Studies show that married people are happier and are healthier therefore this relieves medical benefits for employers and the state.

During the SARS outbreak I was admitted to an emergency ward in downtown Toronto. The hospital was hauntingly quiet no visitors and no voluteer staff. I came to appreciate the valuable irreplaceable efforts that help run a hospital by seeing it function without its support staff and family visitors. I would have normally imagined I would want a private room but I was so pleased to have the company of other patients. We were not allowed visitors unless they were a spouse. For a glass of water or cup of tea we had to burden the already overwhelmed nursing staff. A hospital is dependant on volunteers, nuns, priests rabbis, family and spouses to help patient care and smooth the burdens on health care professionals. It was a lonely frightening few days.

I came to respect the rights of gays more than ever for gay marriage. Medical decisions would be protected for both partners/spouses and most importantly, any children. Who would visit a child in the hospital? Who would visit school plays, parent teacher meetings, and represent a child in legal matters? We are inviting a new kind of orphan with rejecting the rights to gay couples and families to represent their kids and each other.

We don't have to agree , like or believe in gay peoples sexual orientation to be tolerant. What kind of human are we to allow a child to function as an orphan or a patient to be left marooned within the health care system. We should want to protect inheritance laws that straights already have grown comfortable facilitaitng. Other legal and human rights issues are involved including conjugal visits the idea of justice where a spouse would be forced to testify against their partner and the loss of real estate and lifes work due to ignorance or lack of empathy in the well protected comfortable world of straights. A convict serving time for armed robbery can have conjugal visits. A white collar gay convict can not.

Don't let intolerance and cynicism guide you Canadians! Don't let Stephen Harper talk you out of love and compassion. After political fat cats have a long summer holiday with their families... don't let a few politicians this coming autumn corrupt the proud human rights acheivements of Canada.

I follow a blog called Desert Odyssey by a fun military guy Lucky. This week he was a guest blooger on a another persons blog here. He is an unlikely soul to inspire me with his definition of a family for a post about gay marriage, but inspire me he does with the following universal sentiments...

"To me a family unit is not simply numbers, like a definition of a husband, wife, and 2.5 kids. A family is not a unit just by being a family. It becomes a unit when it becomes one, like parts of a body. When separated the unit suffers as a whole, and the only cure to that unit is to bring them back together again." Lucky

ADDENDUM: In December, 2006, Canada turned down Harper's attempt to outlaw gay marriage. Yippee Canada! Here is the story.