[AGL] Paradise Now
Gerry
mesmo at gilanet.com
Tue Sep 26 16:15:49 EDT 2006
Back in the '60's no one knew or no one cared about eventual ear damage. I'm sure we all were overexposed. My son is a pro stagehand/sound guy/recording engineer. He has always had a pair of custom fit ear plugs, won't leave for a gig without them. Last week he worked an 18 hour heavy metal marathon featuring Megadeath, about as bad a threat to the ears as you can get short of combat, I would think (New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque).
Theaters are OK by me. If I had access to them I would likely attend more often but I will admit that sometimes they get very loud, especially in the promos. Pro sports stadiums are another audio madhouse, especially basketball and some NFL football. I can always remove the hearing aids and coast along blissfully when over-exposed...
G
----- Original Message -----
From: Jon Ford
To: austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 12:20 PM
Subject: Re: [AGL] Paradise Now
Gerry-- I'm sorry to about your deafness-- it's an occupational hazard for rock musicians, and I'm concerned about my daughter, whose band plays incredibly loud music. As for movie theaters, I have the opposite problem from you -- the sound sometimes is cranked up so loud that it gives me a headache, like the time I saw "Batman Forever" at a shopping center in LA. No one else in the theater seemed to mind-- they were probably already hearing impaired from going to rock concerts or listening to ipods constantly.
Jon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Gerry" <mesmo at gilanet.com>
Reply-To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s<austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s"<austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
Subject: Re: [AGL] Paradise Now
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 11:15:03 -0600
Thanks, Jon. Didn't realize it was such a widespread hit. We have only one theater in Silver City. Sometimes the local film club can talk the owner into showing a film such as Al Gore's recent classic which ran for a week. Otherwise it is the monthly Sunday afternoon selections of the film society which I sometimes attend.
For the past couple of years I have been renting and watching a couple of films per week. So far behind and out of touch that I have a huge catalogue to catch up with. Busy discovering young actress' such as Hillary Swank, January Jones, Scarlett Johnansson, etc. "a treat a week". Being nearly deaf I have to turn the volume way up or rent DVD's and hold a computer speaker next to an ear. Can no longer get the British dialogue at any volume, so much for murder mysteries which I have always liked. You may have missed a flick called "Off the Map", a tale of wilderness hippies in NM, a pretty good flick with some moments of inspiration and hilarity.
SC, in recent years, has developed quite a gay/lesbian community. Perhaps this accounts for the general awareness of good film and occasional culturally bizarre public events, i.e. an annual Willie and Billy dance for which all guests must dress up in old western attire (Willie was a notorious madam in these parts and Billy is Billy the Kid who was once a local resident of note). They also produce some costume musical reviews. There is even a reggae band in town, one of whose members is former student of mine (I gave up on him...no ear).
More good news is that Western NM University has a jazz program and brings in ringers to play with the student orchestra at public events a few times each year. Area band directors also play in the band and a couple of them are quite good. Kenton anyone? I tell you, driving 35 miles to town on, say, a winter evening and pulling into the never crowded parking lot to attend a free concert (of the music I revered in my youth) in an acoustically decent hall which is only 3/4 full (at best) and choosing a good seat of which there are always plenty and watching young ranch and Mexican kids of mostly mediocre talent play jazz is a strangely wonderful experience, especially when a few of the musicians show some talent...What a long, strange trip it has been.
G
----- Original Message -----
From: Jon Ford
To: austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 9:48 AM
Subject: Re: [AGL] Paradise Now
I wanted to correct a comment I made earlier that "Paradise Now" is a product of the Israeli peace movement. It is officially a Palestinian territories film made by a Palestinian with an Israeli passport, and the film had trouble being entered in to competitions because it wasn't from an offically recognised country. It is, however, being distributed in Israel by an Israel co-producer. Info from Wikepaedia follows, :
a.. Paradise Now was in contention for a foreign-language Oscar largely thanks to a fight waged on behalf of another Palestinian film, Divine Intervention, which was disregarded for Oscar contention in 2002 because foreign language entries need to be sponsored by their country of origin, and Palestine did not count as a country. Puerto Rico, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been submitting entries for years although they are not countries with full United Nations representation.[2]
b.. In an Interview with the Telegraph, Hany Abu-Assad said, "if I could go back in time, I wouldn't do it again. It's not worth endangering your life for a movie." [3]
c.. On March 1, 2006, it was reported that a group representing Israeli victims of suicide bombings had asked the Oscar organizers to disqualify the film [4]. These protesters, some of them family members of murdered or severely injured persons, as a result of the acts of the suiciders, claimed showing the film is immoral and encourages hurting and killing civilians in terror acts.
d.. Controversy arose after The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (who nominated it for an Oscar) designated the film afterwards as a submission from The Palestinian Authority, rather than Palestine, as it was when it was sent to the Academy, and when it won a Golden Globe. The decision angered the director-writer Hany Abu-Assad, who said it represented a slap at the Palestinian people and their national identity. However, the movie was eventually announced as a submission from the Palestinian Territories.[5]
e.. Irit Linor, one of Israel's top novelists and screenwriters wrote in a February 7, 2006 article in Ynet News that Paradise Now is "an exciting, quality Nazi film." She claims that the sophisticated techniques and symbolism are used to present caricatures, recycle antisemitic myths and even introduce christological associations in the film. [6]
f.. Israeli officials, including Consul General Ehud Danoch and Consul for Media and Public Affairs Gilad Millo, have managed to extract a guarantee from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that Paradise Now "will not" be presented in the ceremony as representing the state of Palestine, despite the fact it is introduced as such in the Academy Awards' official website. [7]
g.. Interviewed in a February 28, 2006 article in the Jerusalem Post, Irit Linur (Linor) "pointed out that according to internationally accepted conventions, the nationality of a film is usually determined by the country that invested in it - and that while the film was categorized by the academy as representing Palestine, it was produced with European funds, by an Israeli-Arab director." [8]
h.. In an interview with a Jewish American Tikkun magazine , Hany Abu-Assad was asked "When you look ahead now, what gives you hope?", "The conscience of the Jewish people" he answered. "The Jews have been the conscience of humanity, always, wherever they go. Not all Jews, but part of them. Ethics. Morality. They invented it! I think Hitler wanted to kill the conscience of the Jews, the conscience of humanity. But this conscience is still alive...Maybe a bit weak...But still alive. Thank God." [9]
i.. Palestine's Minister of Culture, Attallah Abu al-Sibbah, wanted to censor the film before being screened commercially in the Gaza strip Cinema.[10]
j.. In Hany Abu-Assad's Golden Globe acceptance speech he made a plea for a Palestinian state, saying he hoped the Golden Globe as "a recognition that the Palestinians deserve their liberty and equality unconditionally" [11].
k.. Co-producer Amir Harel is a Jewish Israeli, who told reporters that "First and foremost the movie is a good work of art", adding that "If the movie raises awareness or presents a different side of reality, this is an important thing."[12]
l.. Israel Film Fund is underwriting the film's distribution in Israel.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Jon Ford" <jonmfordster at hotmail.com>
Reply-To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s<austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
To: austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net
Subject: Re: [AGL] there's a real world out there with independentactorsbenton mischief
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:31:15 -0700
Gerry-- I saw the film you are talking about and I agree it was great. It was strongly pro-Palestinian people and showed the brutal tactics of the Israeli army, yet it also seemed to critique the ways terrorist groups manipulate vulnerable angry young men to blow themselves up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this film was made in Israel, a product of Israeli peace-movement directors.
Jon
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Gerry" <mesmo at gilanet.com>
Reply-To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s<austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s"<austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
Subject: Re: [AGL] there's a real world out there with independent actorsbenton mischief
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 07:36:19 -0600
Did any of you see the movie (wish I could remember the name...) about the two young Palestinians (early 20's) who decide to become martyrs? It was sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, began with a bio of each of them, followed with each of them having his death video, then after they are loaded and wired the mission has to be aborted when they are discovered and they are running from the authorities while carrying their deadly load, one of them has to sleep in the wilderness while still wired and loaded. In the end one of them decides not to go. The other makes it into Tel Aviv and gets on a bus filled with Israeli soldiers. The final shot is a hot white screen and silence.
It was one of the flicks shown by the local film society. I doubt it was distributed very widely.
Anyhow, it moved me. The portrayal of life in Palestine for a young man (or woman) was especially sad. Probably no sadder than the many scenes from the recent bombing of Lebanon. Remember that? No longer in the news, wonder what's happening there now? Remember Gaza? We are talking DESPERATION here. Oh yeah, remember when the Israeli army was always a leadpipe cinch to dominate against any Arab force it chose to encounter? Since the little skirmish with Hezbollah this is no longer the case. I hate to say it but the Israeli Army looked like the US Army out there, fumbling, bungling, and not knowing exactly what it was they were supposed to be doing, tanks against guerilla fighters armed with anti-tank missiles, a bad way to go. The mystique is gone now. In Gaza they are building very crude rockets by hand and sending them toward Israel. Most of them don't make it that far, hell on the local cows and crops.They can destroy a country but not win a war. Lots of new recruits for Hamas and Hezbollah. (The US Army should be so lucky, now sending guys to Iraq for their 4th and 5th missions. Madness, next they will be clearing the jails to find able bodied fighting men...while the college boys party and paint themselves up in the school colors for football games.) Long dialogues in the New Yorker with various components of the current players in the Middle East drama. They come and go but since the Barak/Arafat drama there has been no progress toward any kind of real settlement...let;let's face it, not in our lifetimes.
I'm so sick of Morning Edition on NPR, trying to be cute and trendy yuppies at least half the time while the world goes up in smoke. Who is in charge of that crap? Don't they get it? The latest actual count is over 68,000 American troupes either killed of wounded or crazy in the war. No end in sight. Meanwhile public radio is fawning over rockabilly heroes of the '50's. I am now only listening at the top of the hour when they give their version of the hard news. Oh yeah, I like to hear Nina Totenburg's legal reports, simply the best in that arena. Rene Montagne? Steve Inskeep? Huh? The only word that fits is "compromised".
Meanwhile, on the ground, I am having a fine harvest. 15" of rain between July and early September does wonders for the plants that don't wash away, BIG sweet peppers and eggplant and tomatoes, etc. Running the dehydrator most of the day to create winter stash. It's funny, once I step outside the house and into the garden all that crap on the radio fades away and I am in the other world, nature. Now, if the county would only send the road grader to fix my badly washed and only temporarily fixed (by my hand) road, I would be in fine shape for winter. The word is that this will be another El Nino winter. Cutting lots of wood...Love it!
Hope you all have a refuge from the news. I recommend gardening or at least hiking away from the city. Get outside let the crap pass you by for awhile...real time.
G
----- Original Message -----
From: michelemason
To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s
Cc: michelemason
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 6:16 AM
Subject: Re: [AGL] there's a real world out there with independent actors benton mischief
"nonsensical evil" -I like that Frances. mm
On Sep 25, 2006, at 4:31 PM, Frances Morey wrote:
I'm sick of the new boogy men having labels that describe borderless and geographically mysterious suicidal ideologues who become human bomb delivery boys, (occasionally girls). They are sensless slayers whose most poisonous effect is to provide fodder for the media maw that keeps us fearfully enthralled and engaged in war. Mischief is too small a word for this kind of nonsensical evil.
Frances
Michael Eisenstadt <michaele at ando.pair.com> wrote:
Al-Qaida could use non-Arabs to attack Israel By Ze-ev Schiff, Haaretz
Correspondent
Shin Bet and other intelligence units have been put on special alert after
Ayman Al-Zawahiri, an Al-Qaida strongman and Osama Bin Laden's deputy, said
Israel was on Al-Qaida's list of upcoming targets. Intelligence sources said
Al-Qaida could try to execute a surprise attack using non-Arabs.
Zawahiri is believed to be taking over the leadership of Al-Qaida, due to
Bin Laden's illness. Zawahiri and Bin Laden have apparently disagreed over
whether Al-Qaida's next target should be in a Western state or in the Middle
East. Bin Laden wanted to act in the United States and Europe while
Zawahiri, who is of Egyptian origin, wished to achieve goals in the Middle
East; namely, Israel and the Arab states that cooperate with it.
Zawahiri pushed to set up Al-Qaida cells in Sinai, taking advantage of the
Bedouin economic plight to carry out terror attacks against Egyptian targets
and Israeli tourists. He initiated terror acts in Jordan causing dozens of
fatalities and was behind the idea to intercept an aircraft carrying Israeli
tourists to East Africa and attack the hotel where Israelis were staying in
2002.
About two weeks ago, on the anniversary of September 11, Zawahiri warned in
a video recording that Israel and the Gulf states could be Al-Qaida's next
targets of attack. Such attacks would be aimed at destroying the Western
economy. Israel increased its preparations for a preemptive strike following
his warning.
Israel assumes that Al-Qaida will try to recruit non-Arabs to act against
Israel, as it tried to enlist Africans for the attacks in East Africa..
Israel knew of this activity, but had difficulty cooperating with the
Americans to thwart it. However, Israel's cooperation with European
intelligence brought about the arrest of Al-Qaida people in East Africa.
The most commonly cited surprise attack in Israel was the bombing of Mike's
Place in Tel Aviv by two Britons of Pakistani origin who were sent by
Al-Qaida.
The two, who smuggled explosives into Israel, moved freely between Israel
and the territories with their British passports. About a month ago, British
authorities exposed British-born Al-Qaida activists of Pakistani origin, who
were planning to crash passenger airplanes over the ocean with liquid
explosives.
Another possibility Al-Qaida is believed to be considering is infiltrating
Israel via Lebanon.
Israel today faces two main fundamentalist groups - Sunni Al-Qaida and
Shi'ite Hezbollah.
Hezbollah is set on harming Israel, but it is hardly likely at this stage to
allow Al-Qaida to act independently in Lebanon without supervision.
Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1¢/min.
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