Quotes about Larry Norman

Randy Stonehill:

"I knew Larry Norman perhaps better than anyone, yet to this day I'm not sure that I really understood him completely. For as brilliant and insightful as Larry was, I'm not sure that he understood himself completely. This issue became apparent in the way he consistently seemed to "derail" relationships through out his life. Larry is the man who introduced me to Jesus. He led me to the door of eternal life, and for that singular priceless gift I am eternally in his debt. In my relationship with Larry, I experienced the beauty of brotherhood, the richness of creative collaboration, the mystery of human brokenness, and ultimately the overshadowing wings of God's all encompassing grace. After 20 years of friction and distance between us that began around 1980, Larry and I realized that what united us in Christ was far greater than what had separated us in our personal frailty and pride. We worked together on the re-issue of the "Welcome to Paradise" recording and talked and laughed together over the phone from our respective homes in Seal Beach California and Salem Oregon. We stood together onstage for what would be the last time at the Cornerstone Festival in July of 2001 and it felt to me like being home. Then he "disappeared" into the mist. I wrote it off to the busy pace of life and his consuming health problems but I still couldn't help but scratch my chin and wonder. He graciously agreed to sing with me on my song, "We Were All So Young", for the "Edge of The World" project in 2003. We accomplished that performance process long distance through computer technology. Then he was silent again. I had hoped that in these last years we might continue to build on our recent reconciliation and even get together for some song writing and recording, sharing what we had learned about life and about our craft to offer something better than ever to the world. Death is so final..We are out of time, at least in this life. No more conversations, No more plans, No more songs. It's a strange sorrow that leaves you feeling hollow, like someone knocked the wind out of you. The light of hope, however, that lifts my spirit is the knowledge that Larry's profound contribution to the work of God's Kingdom is eternal and that his struggles with his own demons is over."


Glenn Kaiser, Resurrection Band:

The two most influential comets that ever passed through my spiritual music solar system were Larry Norman and Keith Green. I mention Keith because in for me, he and Larry are the Christian musical "giants" in terms of real impact.

We lost Larry this past week. I knew him fairly well. Suffice it to say he was (in my view, only exceeded by Bruce Cockburn) the finest spiritual-core lyricist we have had. Keith was a personal friend and peer.

Larry was like many of us, a character who had his own temptations and often made rash, avoidable choices that I'm trusting the grace of God is sufficient for.

Perhaps Larry was more the direct evangelist, Keith the reformer of the Christian music scene. We needed and need a lot more of both.

They rankled a good many people for a good many reasons- but Keith's focus on holiness was huge.

Larry was in many ways a California loner. In any case, I trust he's home and I expect his long and deep impact, very different but in some ways similar to Keith's, will continue to inspire and haunt us in good ways.

Larry simply rocked when almost no other Jesus music person or band did. My fave lyrics of his are probably "The Beatles sang 'all you need is love'... and then then they broke up" and "You say we beat the Russians to the moon and I say you starved your children to do it". In-your-face realities that just didn't "edify" Christian hit radio, In the day, this the stuff I was so inspired by.

The need/lack of genuine, on-going accountability was and is in my view, the source of many troubles in -any one's- life, and there were times when my hero's surely could have sought, used and benefited with more of it. But I'm truly glad God shared them with us for I and many others learned and will continue to learn a great deal from them both.


Julio Rey, The Lead:

Larry Norman died on Sunday.

To many Christians who like their rock and roll with lyrics relevant to their lives he was Dylan, the Beatles, and the Stones rolled into one.

If not for him, I may never have pursued music in any serious way.

My school friend Al (he of Las Ovejas Electricas and King James and the Concordances) turned me on to Larry Norman's In Another Land back in early 1979.

I'd been writing songs and 'playing guitar' since 1974 and I'd been a Christian since 1977. It was that record which prompted me to write only lyrics with specific Christian themes and start thinking about getting them out (throw in a stylistic commitment to punk/new wave via the Clash in 1980 and a little Resurrection Band at an outdoor show in the 305 later that year and my path was all set).

I had heard and welcomed rock songs with Christian themes since I was 10 (in 1970). But as I got better acquainted with the Bible I realized there wasn't much true Christianity in things like Godspell.

In Another Land was a ... revelation: the music was uncompromising and eclectic and the message was true to the Bible and heartfelt. It was, and remains, a great rock and roll record. And, as I found out, this was a rarity in the growing racks of vinyl for sale at the Bible Center.

That Larry was a true artist was confirmed when Al gave me Something New Under The Son in 1981. Recorded in 1976, it remained unreleased for 5 years because Word Records deemed it too controversial.

Which inevitably and unfortunately meant that this was another great record: with its hardscrabble blues and Jon Linn's wall-of-sludge guitar, Larry had made Christianity's answer to Exile On Main Street.

Especially impactful was a willingness to face up to the Bad Things In Life in songs like Hard Luck Bad News and the chilling I Feel Like Dying.

But what impresses the most about Something New was its turning away from the prog-rock excesses rampant in the mid-Seventies (and present but employed with taste in In Another Land) and getting back to basics at about the same time punk was germinating. I can only imagine the impact this record might have had if it had been released when it was meant to be released.

In the mid-80s I got on Larry's mailing list and ordered three of his older albums to fill out my collection: Upon This Rock (1969), Only Visiting This Planet (1972), and So Long Ago The Garden (1974). Each one was a delight in its own way, If you don't know about them, that's why God made Google.

When the church band I was in played a rock set as a 4-piece in 1982, one of the songs we played was the Chuck Berry-esque Let The Tape Keep Rolling from Something New.

Later that year, I named my first real rock band the Visitors after Larry's 1972 album.

Born To Be Unlucky, also from Something New, was rehearsed by the Lead when we were starting out in the summer of 1984.

My fondest memory of the four trips I made with bands to Cornerstone Festival was meeting Larry in 1990. He wasn't performing. He was selling some white-labelled vinyl and drawing a cartoon version of himself with a Sharpie on each one.

I was with my friend Mark Eastman who ran VTO Records (of the Lead cassette rereleases). He knew Larry. I asked Mark to introduce me to him.

We exchanged pleasantries with me hemming and hawing about what his work meant to me. Stuff he'd probably heard about a couple of thousand times at least but I had to tell him anyway. Then he asked me:

"What kind of music do you play?'

So I told him "hardcore and thrash."

And then, to my surprise, I got hugged by Larry Norman.

Have fun, Larry. See you in another land.

Larry Norman, 'The Father Of Christian Rock' Passes Away

Monday, February 25, 2008 Source: CMSpin

Larry Norman 4/8/47 - 2/24/08 Larry's amazing amount of dedication and work throughout his life is a testiment to his love for his Maker. He will be missed but a celebration of his life can live on through the vast collection of his music. For those new to Christian music, you owe it to yourself to discover what is the Larry Norman legacy. Here is a letter posted on www.larrynorman.com by his brother Charles detailing the events: ________________________________ Our friend and my wonderful brother Larry passed away at 2:45 Sunday morning. Kristin and I were with him, holding his hands and sitting in bed with him when his heart finally slowed to a stop. We spent this past week laughing, singing, and praying with him, and all the while he had us taking notes on new song ideas and instructions on how to continue his ministry and art. Several of his friends got to come and visit with him in the last couple of weeks and were a great source of help and friendship to Larry. Ray Sievers, Derek Robertson, Mike Makinster, Tim and Christine Gilman, Matt and Becky Simmons, Kerry Hopkins, Allen Fleming and a few more. Thank you guys. Larry appreciated your visits very much. And he greatly appreciated the thoughts, wishes, support and prayers that came from all of you Solid Rock friends on a daily basis. Thank you for being part of his small circle of friends over the years. Yesterday afternoon he knew he was going to go home to God very soon and he dictated the following message to you while his friend Allen Fleming typed these words into Larry's computer: ________________________________ I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home. My brother Charles is right, I won't be here much longer. I can't do anything about it. My heart is too weak. I want to say goodbye to everyone. In the past you have generously supported me with prayer and finance and we will probably still need financial help. My plan is to be buried in a simple pine box with some flowers inside. But still it will be costly because of funeral arrangement, transportation to the gravesite, entombment, coordination, legal papers etc. However money is not really what I need, I want to say I love you. I'd like to push back the darkness with my bravest effort. There will be a funeral posted here on the website, in case some of you want to attend. We are not sure of the date when I will die. Goodbye, farewell, we will meet again. Goodbye, farewell, we'll meet again Somewhere beyond the sky. I pray that you will stay with God Goodbye, my friends, goodbye. Larry ________________________________________ Thank you to all of you who were so nice to my brother over the years. Kristin and I will post funeral information in the next day or two. Right now we're not able to function very well, but the whole family is here... our mother Margaret, our sisters Nancy and Kristy, Mike Norman and his new wife Tiffany, and Silver. We miss him beyond words. Thank you for everything. Peace to you all in Christ, Charles Norman Larry in the hospital recently (Feb/2008):

Here I am, talking about Jesus just the same: Larry Norman at 60

Philip Cooney / 30th January 2008

Larry Norman turned 60 in 2007, and with two biographies due to be released, it may be timely to reflect on the life of the person dubbed “the Father of Jesus Rock”. Mention of Larry Norman may draw a blank response from those under 40, although he influenced the thinking of contemporary artists like U2 and many of those working in Christian or Gospel music today. For those over 40, Norman's name may bring back memories of the long blond hair, the controversial lyrics, and the question posed by the classic song, “Why should the devil have all the good music?”

Soul survivor

The more appropriate question for some baby boomers familiar with the albums Upon This RockOnly Visiting This Planet might be “Whatever happened to Larry Norman?” There is no doubt that the biographies will reveal more detail, but Norman suffered a bi-polar trauma (where messages from the left and right hemispheres of his brain didn't connect properly) after being struck on the head during a heavy aeroplane landing in 1978. This hindered him both creatively, and in the management of his record label and agency. Incidents with staff and disagreements with artists and distributors (which, Norman says, undermined the integrity of his ministry) led to him closing down his operation in America and moving to Europe for several years. or

Norman did continue writing and performing during the 1980s, often using printed lyrics to help his unreliable memory—an aid widely used these days by performers. In 1988, Norman claims that he and his brother were poisoned while on tour in Russia. Just years after recovering from that incident, in 1992, Norman suffered the first of a series of major heart attacks that have gradually restricted his live performances. (His medical experiences present a strong case study for the benefit of the type of universal health care that exists in the UK and Australia.) In the past few years, his eyesight has also begun to deteriorate.

Recently, like an elder statesman releasing his memoirs, Norman has spent his time remastering and releasing a large number of retrospective albums and collectors' editions. Many of his rare concert appearances of the past few years are also available on DVD. These present a frank portrayal of his physical decline. They also reveal someone who is still ready to share his life with his audience, but who is, at times, irascible when the audience seem more interested in entertainment rather than exhortation.¹

Norman's personal life has also been difficult. Apart from his debilitating illnesses, he has been through two divorces, and has experienced broken friendships with some fellow musicians. Norman has, nonetheless, raised the son from his second marriage, and, with the support of his family and friends, has continued to record when possible, run his Solid Rock label, and provide an insightful commentary on the relevance of the gospel to life in the 21st century. Norman's faithfulness through these various trials should be an encouragement to us Christians. However, the apparently troubled nature of his life has fuelled speculation about his faith—already rife because of his music. Moreover, his apparent reluctance to be identified with the established church has also created doubt about his place as spokesman for Christianity. The complex imagery in his songs, his interpretation of some Biblical themes, and the difficulty in determining when Norman is speaking from personal experience—especially in songs about loneliness, despair and doubt—have only served to support the criticism of Norman from some quarters.

In retrospect, it is sometimes easier to see the veracity in Norman's observations about the priorities of some churches, the consistency of his vision and ministry, and his faithful obedience to and proclamation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, no matter what the circumstances. It is Norman's role as an evangelist, exhorter, encourager and sometime troublemaker that this article seeks to explore.

Righteous rocker

In the 1975 manifesto for his label, Solid Rock, Norman summarized what he saw as the relationship between contemporary musical styles and the gospel. 30 years later, many of the observations retain their potency:

Music has become the second language of the youth. It has the power to lead or mislead. Just as it once influenced the misdirection of youth into drugs and campus revolution, it can be (and is being) used to proclaim in a modern tongue a message that is almost 2,000 years old.

Today, Christian writers ... are redefining the cultural context of Christian music and often find themselves facing the same resistance that Luther, Watts, Booth, and others have had to face. Innovation and creative direction are not always appreciated, because they are both often misunderstood. But the critics of modern Christian music should keep in mind that today's young Christians may be writing the hymns of tomorrow.²

One of the problems for the church establishment was that Norman did not seem to be writing hymns. Not only was the music rock, the words were full of strange images or open references to subjects such as sex and drugs, and he often failed to “name the name” of Jesus. In understanding the reasons for this, it becomes easier to see that Norman was using principles that are still important for Christians today.

Norman is one who saw the society around him in the USA not as a bastion of Christian morality, nor as an enemy to be shunned, but as a cross-cultural mission field. The use of Jesus' command “ Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15), and the image of the ‘agape’ mouth containing the cross of Calvary on his record sleeves make this clear. Like all those who are serious about mission, he tested God's call, prepared through Bible study and prayer, made sure that he understood the gospel, and chose to speak in a language that would be understood by those he sought to reach in Jesus' name. Norman displayed a sympathetic understanding of that unchurched culture, but an equally strong desire not to compromise the integrity of the gospel.

Why don't you look into Jesus?

Many of his songs were written during a period of street evangelism firstly around his home neighbourhood of Haight-Ashbury, which had become synonymous with California's hippie and drug culture, and later along Hollywood Boulevard in the heart of Los Angeles. Norman's songs often contain a series of self-contained vignettes that (he hoped) would give the passers-by something to think about, or that might hook them in to hear more of the gospel message. The audience for these songs was not those already saved, it was those to whom church was a foreign language. He understood the ability of music to get behind people's gates, to draw them in with a beautiful melody and good words, to make people drop their defensive position to the gospel—even if for a short time—and allow God to speak to them in that moment.

Norman recognized the gospel music roots of rock 'n roll. His family attended a church in the poor, black neighbourhood of San Francisco where they lived. He understood that the power of rock music came from its gospel roots; he was merely reclaiming it for Jesus. He also understood the search for meaning that was being undertaken by the musicians and their audience through both the music and the attendant lifestyle. Steve Turner highlights Norman's understanding of the search for redemption in the rock context. He notes that Norman's trilogy of albums from the 1970s unfold the story of redemption from Fall (So Long Ago the Garden) through this life (Only Visiting This Planet) to paradise (In Another Land).³

Jim Peterson, in his book Church Without Walls, defines the role of God's people as being Christ's witnesses to the world; living among our unbelieving neighbours, serving them, revealing Christ to them; and using whatever we have to serve God by serving our brothers and sisters and the unbeliever. Peterson later outlines what he sees as the requirements for mission: rapport, comprehension, relevance to life and “colaborship [sic]” (or encouraging the hearers to tell others).⁴ Norman's songs sought to have a relevance to life on the street, establishing a rapport with the musical and social culture around him, and leading his listeners to look to Jesus for the answers in their search for meaning.

Norman's attitude, like that of Cliff Richard, is that if you're a Christian, every part of your life is given in obedience to God:

Every song, whether it mentions love, if it mentions sex, if it mentions culture, politics, drugs, anything, it's a Christian song if you're letting what you know about Jesus really come through. You don't have to relate it to Scripture or anything, but your attitude should be coloured. God should have blinded you to your original vision and given you a view through Christ and now everything you think or do is a Christian act, a Christian thought.⁵

This brings us to another aspect of Norman's stage performance: his humour. Years before Adrian Plass, Norman was using humour to highlight the unseen obstacle that church culture can be to believers and non-believers alike. He used humour in the same way as his music—to break down barriers and encourage people to think critically about their own attitudes and beliefs.

Weight of the world

A heart for the gospel together with a desire for people to hear the gospel forms the foundation of Norman's ministry. In obedience to Jesus' commands, he seeks to reach out and show God's love to the poor and the marginalized. The teaching of the church about issues such as homosexuality and abortion is often interpreted as hatred by those involved in these practices. Norman doesn't condone these practices but seeks to demonstrate God's love in the way he addresses these people.

He is well aware of the sin of bitterness towards those who dilute or pervert the true message of salvation with wrong priorities, liberal theology and sinful actions. His desire to demonstrate God's love leads him to repent of the anger he may feel against such people. He seeks to remain obedient to the Lord through Bible study, prayer and being open to the leading of the Spirit. However, his desire to be faithful to the Bible's teaching also leads him to speak openly of the hypocrisy he observed in institutional churches and, decades before Bono, to offer commentary on political and world issues such as injustice, racism and poverty.

I am a servant

For someone working in an industry that is built on ego and image, his constant exhortation to die daily to self—to remain close to Christ and to allow him to lead you in every aspect of your life—is confronting. His uneasy relationship with both the secular and Christian music industries is testament to his desire to follow God rather than chase popular chart success or build a financially successful career. Even his audiences have found his demeanour disconcerting at times. There was the concern that Norman didn't smile on stage, or that he spent too much time talking to his audience rather than singing. Then there were the times when he would stop altogether, seeking God's direction about which song to sing, what message to give, and how that message should be told—gently or firmly:

Now on stage a lot of times I'm quiet and people come back stage and ask me, “What was the matter? How come you're so quiet?” ... I'm listening—that's why. I want to know what to do. I'm not waiting for a big sign or a finger to come down and point to people who aren't saved—I'm just listening. I'm listening for my own voice to stop and for God's to become more clear, because I certainly have a lot of ideas of my own, but I don't trust my own ideas.⁶

For someone who has spent most of his life championing the claim of those involved in music ministry to spiritual and financial support from fellow believers (1 Cor 9:3-12, 1 Tim 5:17-18), speaking against bootlegging, internet downloads and other forms of music piracy, it is perhaps surprising that Norman is critical of the modern Praise and Worship movement and the operation of CCLI. The modern hymn writers he was at pains to shield from criticism some 30 years ago are now being questioned by Norman for becoming part of a multi-national Praise and Worship industry, producing manufactured rather than genuine praise. This criticism is, perhaps, even more confusing when it is known that the Vineyard Church, one of the leaders in Praise and Worship music, is said to have begun as a Bible Study at Norman's house. Norman asks why a song written as an act of worship should remain the lucrative copyright property of the composer and not the property of the one to whom it is being offered—God:

God doesn't charge us a fee to worship Him. Isn't it enough that the publisher and writer make money from the CD sales? Do they also have to be paid every time a congregation sings their song? They also get paid for the sheet music which choirs use to memorize their compositions. Isn't that enough money?⁷

On the other hand, this may be seen as further evidence of Norman's long-standing criticism of the commercialization of the gospel music industry. Perhaps what this issue does is to highlight the single driving motivation in Norman's life to surrender all in obedience to Christ. He, like the first disciples, has willingly given up everything to follow Jesus (Matt 19:27-30). At one point in the 1960s, he not only gave up a successful music career, he gave up music altogether as a sacrifice to God, feeling that his street preaching was more effective than his musical performances. It took what he considered a very clear leading from God to bring him back to music, but it was music that would be uncompromising in its desire to offer to God excellence, and uncompromising in its proclamation of the gospel of hope, grace and love. During his many years of illness, while his friends have asked for help with his medical expenses, Norman has preferred to ask people to give their money to the poor. His support of Compassion International, the Calcutta Mission, Romanian Orphans and other organizations such as Christian Community Placement Centre show his desire share the love of Christ through incarnation, as much as information—in other words, to proclaim the gospel through his life as much as through his words.

All the way home

It is as a faithful servant, prepared to preach the word in and out of season, correcting, rebuking and encouraging with great patience, doing the work of an evangelist, enduring hardship and speaking the truth, that Norman should be viewed. Presently he, like Paul, can say, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:6-7). Or, as Norman puts it, “Soon I'll be going home. I don't know when but I believe I'm ready.”⁸

Pick of the day, from back in the day

DeGarmo & Key - 666

Songs about God

John Lennon - God


U2 - God Part II


Larry Norman - God Part III

Top 5 Myths about America

WARNING: LANGUAGE AND NON-CONSERVATIVE VIEWPOINTS CONTAINED HEREIN!

reposted from www.craigslist.org
Originally Posted: Mon, 22 May 09:25 PDT
Top 5 Myths About America
Date: 2006-05-22, 9:25AM PDT

MYTH 1: The US was founded on Christian principles.

TRUTH: This is incorrect.

The Constitution never once mentions a deity, because the Founding Fathers wanted to keep their new country "religion-neutral." Our Founding Fathers were an eclectic collection of Atheists, Deists, Christians, Freemasons and Agnostics.

George Washington, the Father of our country, and John Adams (Second President of the USA) CLEARLY stated in the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli: "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion.”

G.W. rarely attended church and instead followed a popular 18th century philosophy called Deism—a Star Wars-esque philosophy that believed in a cosmic energy or big-ass universal "Force." The dictionary says that Deism is "a system of thought advocating natural religion based on human reason rather than revelation," that had nothing to do with Christian principles.

James Madison, original mastermind of our Constitution, was an Atheist to the core who loved skewering Christianity. In 1785 he wrote, "What have been [Christianity’s] fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”

Thomas Jefferson, who sat down and authored The Declaration of Independence, rarely missed an opportunity to laugh at Christianity. In a letter to John Adams in 1823, he wrote: "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus…will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

More ammo: In 1814, Tommy J. wrote about the Bible's Old and New Testaments, "The whole history of these books is so defective and doubtful -- evidence that parts have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds.”

In fact, it was President Jefferson himself who first wrote (to a Baptist church group in 1802), "The First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between Church and State." Therefore, when Jefferson talked about “Nature’s God,” the “Creator” and “divine Providence ” in the Declaration that he wrote, he was being a hippie and referring to a general cosmic energy-- not the Christian God.

America is not a Christian nation. Period. Our Constitution derived from the post-Christian Enlightenment values of reason and truth...never from the paranoid yammerings of that otherwise compassionate cult leader who fucking died in the Middle Eastern desert 3000 years ago.


MYTH 2: US Conservatives tend to be patriotic, ethical Americans; liberals tend to hate America and are immoral.

TRUTH:

Liberals aren't the traitors to America. In fact, conservatives who insist on sending American troops into the Iraqi slaughterhouse to watch some blood-n'-guts "towelhead" ass-kickin' are the traitors. Most of them could care less about our troops, no more than Mao or Stalin cared about the safety of their own soldiers. In the neocons' view, these young boys and girls are expendable test dummies. They're dying for virtually nothing, so that the hicks in the Bush Admin can make good on their campaign promises to their buddies from the petroleum and infrastructure-rebuilding industries. By revving up the Arab threat, these MFs can scream "national security" and "freedom" as smokescreens, while getting their hands on a diminishing resource: Middle Eastern fossil fuels, which power everything from your lightbulbs and computer that you leave on all night, to your stupid gas-guzzler pickup truck.

Pro-war conservatives are the traitors to America. With only 29% of the public approving of Bush's policies now, it took a full 5 years for America to finally wake up in bed next to this disgusting fact.

Do liberals hate America? No, in fact they care so much about the USA that they fight so aggressively to make it better. They're not anti-American; they're just anti-stupidity. Do liberals hate American policies? Sometimes, but only the self-destructive ones that threaten human rights, liberty, democracy, justice, inquiry, excellence and reason-- the values that our country was founded upon.

As for conservative moral superiority? Frauds. Think of the child-molesting priests, money-scamming televangelist preachers, Jack Abramoff's friends in the Bush Admin, gay-hating Jesus lovers, the Christians who beat up the professor who opposed intelligent design, human rights violators like Lynndie England and her Abu Ghraib hick officer pals, Tommy "Scandal-icious" Delay, Scooter "Leaky" Libby, the entire K Street Project meant to hire only Republicans, FEMA's Michael "Yer doin' a heckuva job" Brownie, and so on.

Oh and by the way, conservative Red states have a divorce rate 27% higher than the liberal Blue states, the per capita rate of violent crime in Red states is 49 per 100,000 higher than in Blue states, the top 5 states with the highest rates of alcohol abuse are Red states, and the per capita rate of gonorrhea in Red states was 41 per 100,000 higher than in the Blue states. Time to unshelf the antibiotics for our "ethical," "God-fearing" conservative friends with their "traditional family values."


MYTH 3. The US has a liberal media.

TRUTH:

This is a paranoid Republican myth.
Reality check: the US media is a mix of liberal, centrist and conservative voices. Also, the US media is largely owned by 10 corporations who frequently push pro-conservative agendas to the American public. Evidence:

1. Even Republican Pat Buchanan confessed, "For heaven sakes, we kid about the liberal media, but every Republican on earth does that." Neo-conservative pundit Bill Kristol also said, "I admit it: the liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures."

2. A 2005 study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that "coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media." Why? Partly because only four major corporate networks control American TV news-- up to 75% of the audience share. The "Big 10" media conglomerates who control the bulk of the entire US media are: AOL Time Warner, Disney, General Electric, News Corporation, Viacom, Vivendi, Sony, Bertelsmann, AT&T and Liberty Media. Yes, we have National Public Radio, but compare its public reach to that of Canada's CBC and the United Kingdom's BBC.

3. Eighty percent of all US newspapers are owned by corporate chains.

4. Liberals are virtually non-existent on talk radio stations nationwide. Rush and Dr. Laura, eat your hearts out.

5. Conservatives are very well accomodated for across FOX News, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, the New York Post, the American Spectator, the Weekly Standard, the Drudge Report, the National Review, etc. Even so-called "bastions of liberalism," e.g. the NY Times, MSNBC, WashPost and NPR make a concerted effort to be "fair and balanced" by bringing in right-wing views like those of David Brooks, Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson, Charles Krauthammer and Cokie Roberts to have their say in these forums, respectively. This is in stark contrast to FOX News' claims to unbiased objectivity, which were easily demolished by Robert Greenwald in 2004.

6. Contrary to what some paranoid Republicans claim, most journalists are centrists, not liberals. A representative sample of 141 US journalists and bureau chiefs were asked in 1998, "On social issues, how would you characterize your political orientation?" Answers: Left 30%, Center 57%, Right 9%, Other 5% . Next question, same sample: "On economic issues, how would you characterize your political orientation? " Answers: Left 11%, Center 64%, Right 19%, Other 5%. Also, look at the total number of think tank citations in major newspapers, radio and TV transcripts: Conservative TTs: 7792, Centrist TTs: 6361, Liberal TTs: 1152.

7. Eric Alterman summarizes a 1999 research study from the academic journal Communications Research: "Four scholars examined the use of the 'liberal media' argument and discovered a fourfold increase in the number of Americans telling pollsters that they discerned a liberal bias in their news. But a review of the media's actual ideological content, collected and coded over a twelve-year period, offered no corroboration whatever for this view."


MYTH 4. The US doesn’t need improvement compared to other countries; it is the greatest country in the world.

TRUTH:
Wrong again. I'll only cite the statistics here.

USA Ranking on Adult Literacy Scale: #9
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- OECD

USA Ranking on Healthcare Quality Index: #37
(#1 France and #2 Italy)- World Health Organization 2003

USA Ranking of Student Reading Ability: #12
(#1 Finland and #2 South Korea)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking of Student Problem Solving Ability: #26
(#1 South Korea and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking on Student Mathematics Ability: # 24
(#1 Hong Kong and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking of Student Science Ability: #19
(#1 Finland and #2 Japan)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking on Women's Rights Scale: #17
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- World Economic Forum Report

USA Position on Timeline of Gay Rights Progress: # 6 (1997)
(#1 Sweden 1987 and #2 Norway 1993)- Vexen

USA Ranking on Life Expectancy: #29
(#1 Japan and #2 Hong Kong)- UN Human Development Report 2005

USA Ranking on Journalistic Press Freedom Index: #32
(#1 Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands tied)- Reporters Without Borders 2005

USA Ranking on Political Corruption Index: #17
(#1 Iceland and #2 Finland)- Transparency International 2005

USA Ranking on Quality of Life Survey: #13
(#1 Ireland and #2 Switzerland)- The Economist Magazine ...Wikipedia "Celtic Tiger" if you still have your doubts.

USA Ranking on Environmental Sustainability Index: #45
(#1 Finland and #2 Norway)- Yale University ESI 2005

USA Ranking on Overall Currency Strength: #3 (US Dollar)
(#1 UK pound sterling and #2 European Union euro)- FTSE 2006....the dollar is now a liability, so many banks worldwide have planned to switch to euro

USA Ranking on Infant Mortality Rate: #32
(#1 Sweden and #2 Finland)- Save the Children Report 2006

USA Ranking on Human Development Index (GDP, education, etc.): #10
(#1 Norway and #2 Iceland)- UN Human Development Report 2005


So much for those "socialist" Europeans and those "backward" Asians, hm?
We can do better than this.

Miscellany:
*Only 18% of Americans own passports and bother to travel outside of the US.
* 85% of US soldiers in Iraq believe that they are there to get revenge for 9/11.
* New international student enrollment in US grad schools has decreased by 6%, because of xenophobic post-9/11 US visa restrictions, jacked-up tuition fees and better educational opportunities in the EU and Asia. So no, not everyone wants to come here anymore, because it's become a land of incredibly limited opportunity, and we've lowered our educational standards.


MYTH 5: The US government loves to help other countries.

TRUTH:
This is a myth. The US government tends to be motivated by interests, not humanitarian principles.

Denmark gives the most amount of its GDP (1.01%) to developing countries; Norway gives 0.91%; the Netherlands give 0.79% and so on until the end of list, where the USA sits. Yes, America ranks DEAD LAST in foreign aid at a pathetic 0.1% of its GDP, compared to the other 21 nations listed as developed nations. The idea that the US government is a heroic bunch that runs around the world helping the poor and the disempowered is not backed up by the evidence. We have one of the stingiest governments on earth.

Most Americans believe the US spends 24% of its budget on aid to poor countries; the actual amount is well under a quarter of 1%. Our country also ranks #5 on asylum-seeker acceptance rates (#1 is Denmark and #2 is Canada).

For you self-congratulatory, redneck-inspired conservative fuckwads who will start to say, "B-b-b-but you're anti-American! M-m-m-moonbat! G-g-g-god bless the USA!" I answer, "Go fuck yourself. We can do better." Stop blindly believing everything your president tells you. Come back to us only when you start realizing that the $400 billion your president has allocated to his Roman Empire-style military overstretch could be better spent on correcting the sociopolitical and economic problems in the arenas that I've listed above.

For you liberal shit-heels who will start to say, "Yeah! Right on!" I answer, "Grow some fucking balls." That goes for women and the LGBT community too, and don't call me a sexist either: I'm more than comfortable with being a female, but I believe balls can be useful in situations like these. Instead, stop apologizing for being the "liberal elite," and start championing un-abashed excellence in everything, not mediocrity. Help your reps and senators take back Congress, and stop dithering while the political tides are turning in your favor right now. The conservatives are terrified now; TAKE advantage of that. And don't waste time trying to explain rational things to any homophobic Christians, or hyper-patriotic losers who wave and cheapen our American flag only for a self-esteem buzz, or those testosterone-filled, gullible, culturally-ignorant military recruiter robots who lack even a basic intelligence. THEY CANNOT BE REASONED WITH. They don't understand statistics, elaborate charts, legislative proposals or complicated scientific explanations. Just let them go. Let them go.

In the meantime, stop being SHEEP and get up and do something before some bright and ambitious Chinese, Indian and the European students grow up to be international leaders and make your lazy, self-absorbed kids irrelevant on the world stage.

Pick of the day

Swirling Eddies - I've Got An Idea


Wow, I didn't know there was a video for this one.... talk about weird!!!

Pick of the day, from back in the day...

77s - Ba Ba Ba Ba


I swear that hole in the ozone layer is due to all that hair spray Mike Roe used in THIS video.

For more 77s' mayhem, go to: http://xianvideos.blogspot.com/2007/08/77s.html

"THRILLER" 25th Anniversary

Original video (1982)


Live performance in Japan (1987)


TRIBUTES:

Bollywood version, India


Prisoner version, Philippines


Lego version


Second Life version


Final Fantasy version

Seperated at birth

Robin Williams and Bono

left: Robin Williams (b. July 21, 1951)hands out bagels at the recent writer's strike in Hollywood
right: Bono (b. May 10, 1960) at some fundraiser thingy with Oprah (not pictured, thank God)

Tears for Korea

What Happened To The Good Ol' Days?

by Ken Greene

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate bleu cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren’t overweight because we were always outside playing.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day… and we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all!

Gas in Saipan now more expensive than in Hawaii

SAIPAN, Northern Marianas — Gas on America's far-flung Pacific islands is now topping $4 a gallon.

It's highest on the U.S. Northern Marianas islands of Rota and Tinian, with even regular gas going over the $4 mark.

On Saipan today, it's $3.89 a gallon for regular and $4.18 for premium. That's a 10-cents-gallon increase over yesterday.

The prevailing wage for the islands' major workforce of 20,000 foreign workers is just $3.55 an hour.

Officials of Shell Oil Co. in the region say the company has been forced to increase the retail price because their supplier in Singapore has been increasing its prices.

(Honolulu Advertiser)

Japan: One Mouthful at a Time

Shiga Prefecture’s government is calling on the public to eat enough bluegill fish to eradicate it. The “catch-and-eat” drive for Lake Biwa in the prefecture follows a rare expression of contrition from Emperor Akihito, who has admitted bringing the fish home in 1960 as a gift from Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago. The bluegill is Illinois’s state fish. It has turned into a nuisance in Japan’s rivers and lakes, steadily destroying native species.

Shiga’s Web site is offering recipes for deep-fried, marinated and chili-sauce bluegill.

Two Koreas agree on rail timetable

North and South Korea have agreed a timetable for establishing cargo rail services between their two nations, the first for more than 50 years.

Trains will begin crossing the border on 11 December, connecting South Korea with an industrial zone in the North.

The agreement came after a three-day meeting in Seoul between South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and his North Korean counterpart Kim Yong-il.

The talks were the first between prime ministers of the two Koreas since 1992.

They followed a historic summit last month between leaders of the two nations, only the second since the Korean peninsula was partitioned more than five decades ago.

The leaders signed an accord calling for greater peace and economic partnership, and the prime ministers have been using their meeting to implement some of the proposals.

'Expand investment'

There is currently no rail service between North and South Korea. In May, two trains crossed the border in a test-run and South Korea has since been pushing for more regular rail links.

Under the deal, cargo trains will run along a 25km (16 mile) section of track linking Munsan in the South with Bongdong in the North.

This would improve access to the Kaesong industrial complex, a joint economic zone on the North Korean side of the border.

South Korea has also agreed to repair roads and railways linking the complex with other parts of North Korea, and to help with the development of a shipping district in the North's port city of Haeju.

"The agreements set the stage for our companies to expand investment in the North and substantially contribute to its economic development," the South Korean prime minister said in a statement.

The two sides also agreed to begin negotiations on setting up a joint fishing zone around a disputed sea border in the first half of next year.

The area has been the scene of serious naval clashes in the past.

The two Koreas have been divided for more than 50 years and remain technically at war, but in recent years ties have improved under Seoul's policy of economic engagement.

Pyongyang's broader international ties also appear to be taking a turn for the better.

In February, North Korea agreed to end its nuclear programme in return for aid. It is currently in the process of disabling its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

THE TWO KOREAS
1910: Korean Peninsula colonised by Japan
1945: Divided into US-backed South and Soviet-backed North
1950-1953: Korean War, no peace deal signed
1987: North Korea bombs a South airliner, killing 115
1990s: South Korea introduces conciliatory Sunshine Policy
2000: Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung hold first leaders' summit
2007: Kim Jong-il and Roh Moo-hyun hold second leaders' summit

Bike sex case sparks legal debate

The case of a man convicted of simulating sex with his bicycle has sparked a debate about human rights and the privacy of an individual.

Internet message boards have been buzzing with comment about the case of Robert Stewart, 51, from Ayr.

He was reported by cleaners at a hostel who unlocked his door and found him engaged in a sex act with his bike.

Stewart was put on the Sex Offenders' Register, which some posters said was an over-reaction by the sheriff.

Stewart admitted a sexually aggravated breach of the peace by conducting himself in a disorderly manner and simulating sex. As well as being put on register for three years, he was put on probation for the same length of time.

More than a million people have read the story on the BBC news website and it has been hotly debated on forums elsewhere.

One contributor asked: "Would they have done the same to a woman with a sex toy?

"Apart from the fact that the sex toy was manufactured for the purpose, and a bicycle wasn't, I really don't see that the two acts are all that different."

Another blogger said: "I am more disturbed by the sheriff's ruling than the act of having sex with a bike."

Those discussing the case online were also worried about the future implications.

One person wrote: "It's bad news for privacy in the UK because of how a ruling like this could be used to support similar cases in future."

Legal experts said he would have been placed on the Sex Offenders' Register under Section 80 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

This states that a person should be put on the register "if the court determines that there was a significant sexual aspect to the offender's behaviour in committing the offence".

This is not the first legal case involving someone simulating sex with an inanimate object.

* In 1997 Robert Watt, 38, was fined £100 for trying to have sex with a shoe in an Edinburgh street
* In 2002 the same man was arrested for simulating sex with a traffic cone in front of a crowd of people
* Earlier this month, sentence was deferred on teenager Steven Marshall, from Galashiels, who admitted simulating sex on a pavement while drunk.

Human rights lawyer John Scott told the BBC Scotland news website that the case raised important privacy issues.

He said: "It certainly prompts questions about what people can and can't do behind closed doors with inanimate objects.

"However, the difficulty is that the man involved in this case pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace so these issues of privacy weren't considered by the court."

He added: "The sheriff had to act on the guilty plea and make a decision about whether or not there was a sexual nature to the offence. Clearly there was and that's why the man has ended up on the register."

However, Mr Scott said it should not be seen as a test case or one that would set a precedent in the future.

"This case should not prevent people who want to engage in this sort of activity doing so.

"What I would say to a client of mine that wanted to do this kind of thing is as long as it's behind a bolted door, with an inanimate object, then each to their own."

Man caught trying to have sex with his bicycle

A man caught trying to have sex with his bicycle has been sentenced to three years on probation.

Robert Stewart, 51, admitted a sexually aggravated breach of the peace by conducting himself in a disorderly manner and simulating sex.

Sheriff Colin Miller also placed Stewart on the Sex Offenders Register for three years.

Mr Stewart was caught in the act with his bicycle by cleaners in his bedroom at the Aberley House Hostel in Ayr.

Gail Davidson, prosecuting, told Ayr Sheriff Court: "They knocked on the door several times and there was no reply.

"They used a master key to unlock the door and they then observed the accused wearing only a white t-shirt, naked from the waist down.

"The accused was holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex."

Both cleaners, who were "extremely shocked", told the hostel manager who called police.

Sheriff Colin Miller told Stewart: "In almost four decades in the law I thought I had come across every perversion known to mankind, but this is a new one on me. I have never heard of a 'cycle-sexualist'."

Stewart had denied the offence, claiming it was caused by a misunderstanding after he had too much to drink.

The bachelor had been living in the hostel since October 2006 after moving from his council house in Girvan.

He now lives in Ayr.

Xian artists blog hits 50 posts!

Now includes the following:

Vengeance Rising
One Bad Pig
Valeri Barinov
Jerusalem
Idle Cure
Rick Cua
Havalina Rail Co.
Mortal
Blackhouse
Petra
Bloodgood
Keith Green
L.S.U.
Altar Boys
Gospel Blues artists
Kansas
U2
Mark Heard
Bob Dylan
Lone Justice
Over The Rhine
Sixpence None The Richer
Bruce Cockburn
Violent Femmes
Leslie "Sam" Phillips
The Alarm
Sweet Comfort Band
After The Fire
King's X
The Call
Paul Clark
Vector
De Garmo & Key
Danielson
Sufjan Stevens
Smashing Pumpkins
Phil Keaggy
Steve Taylor
Stryper
Crumbacher
Undercover
Lost Dogs
Adam Again
The Choir
The 77s
Daniel Amos
Second Chapter Of Acts
Resurrection Band / REZ
Randy Stonehill
Larry Norman

http://xianvideos.blogspot.com

Top 10 for women

The World Economic Forum released a Global Gender Gap Report - a list of the top counties that have managed to narrow the "gender gap":

1. Sweden
2. Norway
3. Finland
4. Iceland
5. New Zealand
6. Philippines
7. Germany
8. Denmark
9. Ireland
10. Spain

The United States, the "world's leading economy", is 31st. They were 23rd last year.

Way to go, guys. Let's all hear you now: "U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!".... "We're number... 31!" Woo hoo!

Read the full article here.

New videos here!!! :-)

Both of these videos were shown at the Busan International Edutainment Expo, November 2007, in Busan, South Korea.

Promo video for Friends English Camp in December 2007:

(music: "El Nino" by Red Elvises)

Promo video for Friends English Academy:

(music: "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by War)

Political rants

So Bush wants freedom and democracy in Iraq and Cuba, eh? Should go hand-in-hand with the freedom and democracy the US installed in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's worked out well, yeah....

Oh yes, Gloria Arroyo pardoned Estrada. Good job GMA. You know I used to actually have a little respect for you. Your anti-death-penalty stance and all. But now, you pardoning Erap is like Clinton lying about Lewinsky. They should kick you out of Malacanang and feed you to the dogs.

You and Mayor Lim too.

New Blogs

Actually, these are more like "Vlogs"....

The History Of Christian Rock
http://xianvideos.blogspot.com

Includes promo videos and performances from: Keith Green, L.S.U., Altar Boys, Kansas, U2, Mark Heard, Bob Dylan, Lone Justice, Over The Rhine, Sixpence None The Richer, Bruce Cockburn, Violent Femmes, Leslie "Sam" Phillips, The Alarm, Sweet Comfort Band, After The Fire, King's X, The Call, Paul Clark, Vector, De Garmo & Key, Danielson, Sufjan Stevens, Smashing Pumpkins, Phil Keaggy, Steve Taylor, Stryper, Crumbacher, Undercover, Lost Dogs, Adam Again, The Choir, The 77s, Daniel Amos, Second Chapter Of Acts, Resurrection Band, Randy Stonehill, Larry Norman and many more.

7 Shades Of Black
http://7shadesofblack.blogspot.com

My favorite Smashing Pumpkins performances. I am currently collecting the best live performances of the entire "Zeitgeist" album, with more albums to follow in the near future.

Taco Bell crosses the border ...into Mexico???

Spreading E. coli one country at a time...

One of the most amazing things I've ever heard in my lifetime

The Smashing Pumpkins do a 13-minute version of "Heavy Metal Machine" on AOL. Wow.

Israel unveils a new tourist marketing campaign!!!

More here:



Oy vey!

Weird URLs of the day

http://www.angryalien.com/0406/reservoirbuns.asp
(not safe for work)

http://www.yourethemannowdog.com/
(ok for work)

No cops in sight

Today, I was taking a break in the "garden" on the roof of our school and suddenly heard a squeal of brakes and a crash from the street below. Looking down, I discovered that someone driving a small red car hat hit a child riding a bicycle as he was crossing the street. Never mind that he was on the crosswalk, drivers in Korea pay little to no attention to crosswalks, yield signs, stop lights, pedestrians or even other motorists.

Here's the car:
Here's the bicycle:And, amazingly, there were no police, no ambulance, no witnesses, etc. Everyone just went about life as though this were a normal occurance. The woman driver eventually bundled the boy into her car, and drove off (after executing quite a dangerous U-turn into oncoming traffic), presumably towards the nearby hospital.

Any other country, the police would have shown up, made inquiries, questioned the driver, summoned paramedics, etc. In China, a crowd of onlookers would have surrounded her car until police arrived, then give the police their version of events and the crowd would decide the penalty then and there.

Why on earth should I actually expect the Korean police to do their job????

Dan from Dandan

My friend Dan Shor, as Billy the Kid, plays cards with Keanu Reeves (Speed, The Matrix) and Alex Winter (Lost Boys).



Dan tries to impress the girls at the mall. Geek!



Also, Dan in a music video by Kansas.

Recent video projects

New video I made at 3:00 am.

Watch it on YouTube


or Myspace.


See more video projects here.

My recent video playlist

The Price Of A Pizza In Iraq: An Eye And A Leg

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Constantine Rodriguez had just fetched chilli peppers and was going out to get some onions when he heard the siren for an incoming rocket. All he remembers was a door blasting open and a loud explosion.

A quiet man from the former Portuguese colony of Goa in southwestern India, Rodriguez was working at a Pizza Hut restaurant at Taji, one of the main U.S. air bases in Iraq, when he was caught up in an attack.

He is lucky to be alive, said Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Martin, the surgeon who treated him earlier this month at the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad. Shrapnel took out an eye, pulverized one of his legs and damaged his torso. He lost a lot of blood, but surgeons were able to save him.

As he lay recovering in hospital, all he could think of was the new wife he had left in India when he went to Iraq last year, and the 7 1/2-month-old baby he had never met.

"I had gotten the capsicum. And I was going to get onions," Rodriguez told Reuters from his hospital bed. "I heard the siren ... What happened after I don't know.

"I don't blame anybody. Just take care of me and my family. One leg. One eye. What can I do with my family now?"

The Kuwaiti firm that employed Rodriguez, Al Homaizi, operates 11 Pizza Huts, 13 Burger Kings and five Taco Bells on American bases in Iraq, said Joe Petrusich, who runs the firm's Iraq restaurants.

It employs about 300 workers, recruited in Kuwait but nearly all from poor countries in Asia: India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Philippines.

They are a small part of the vast army behind the army -- the tens of thousands of "TCNs" -- "third-country nationals" -- hired to feed U.S. troops, wash their laundry, build their compounds and clean their toilets, for salaries of at most several hundred dollars a month.

The U.S. military says that by contracting out tasks like cooking and cleaning, it can provide its soldiers with a better environment at a lower cost.

CONTROVERSY BACK HOME

For poor countries, allowing their citizens to work in Iraq has been controversial and often politically sensitive.

India has told its citizens not to work in Iraq since 2004, when three Indian contractors were kidnapped and demonstrators took to the streets at home complaining the government did too little to protect them.

But there is little a country can do to prevent its citizens taking work that pays much better than jobs at home.

The Philippines now puts stamps in new passports saying they are not valid for travel to Iraq.

Petrusich said the firm still employed Filipino workers in Iraq, as long as they have old passports without the stamps.

Al Homaizi is Pizza Hut's franchise in Kuwait, with 45 restaurants in that oil-rich Gulf state, where nearly all workers are recruited from poor Asian countries. The firm offers staff at its Kuwait restaurants double pay if they go to Iraq.

For Rodriguez, that was the equivalent of about $450 a month, enough finally to find a wife and start a family back in India after 10 years of working in Kuwait. The average per capita income in Goa is about $1,100 a year.

Petrusich said Rodriguez would receive free medical care in Kuwait, including physiotherapy and a prosthetic leg, and one-off payments totaling 18,333 Kuwaiti dinars, about $55,000, if he is finally deemed permanently disabled.

"I'm very close to these guys. I've known all of them. I know we do everything we can," he told Reuters by telephone from Kuwait. "It's just an unfortunate situation that has happened."

Borat vs. Latka

My fave pics on Flickr

Tarantino goes local in Manila

MANILA, PHILIPPINES: Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino was forced to hop into a pedicab to escape flood-induced gridlock in the streets of Manila on Wednesday (August 15th) on his way to the presidential palace to receive a film award from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Tarantino said he and Filipino filmmaker Amable "Tikoy" Aguiluz were in a limousine that had been stuck for about 2-1/2 hours on a bridge close to Malacanang palace when Aguiluz suggested they leave the car and proceed on two separate pedicabs - one for each of them.

"It was a lot of fun. It's the way it is, I guess. ... It was wild," he told reporters later. "No worries. I've done more serious things than that."


Tarantino talks about his ordeal

About 15 minutes later, they reached a street corner near the palace gates where a car picked them up, he said.

Tarantino and Aguiluz were 40 minutes late for the scheduled ceremony but they were still 30 minutes ahead of Arroyo, who was a victim of the traffic jams in the Philippine capital's flooded streets Wednesday (August 15th).

Pounding rain from Typhoon Sepat flooded parts of metropolitan Manila, prompting authorities to suspend classes, briefly stopping a commuter train and slowing Arroyo's convoy.

Tarantino _ well-known for his films "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill" _ was in a traditional Filipino formal shirt called Barong Tagalog but wore sandals. He was handed a size 13 black leather shoes because sandals and rubber shoes are not allowed inside the palace during presidential ceremonies, a staff of the National Commission on Culture and Arts said.

Tarantino, who is writing a book about the Philippine films, particularly the horror and action films he saw in his youth, was one of the three Lifetime Achievement award winners in the 9th Cinemanila, a film festival featuring foreign and local movies.

Chatrichalerm Yukol, a member of Thailand's royal family whose historical epic "King Naresuan" was shown during the festival, and Belgian independent film director Robert Maleangreau also received the same award from Arroyo. (AP)

CineManila Ad:


MANILA, Philippines -- Quentin Tarantino would not eat fish, even something as tempting as crisp-fried tilapia served at dinner on Saturday at Café Havana at Gateway Mall in Cubao, Quezon City, where the 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival is being held from Aug. 8 to 19.

He was a hearty eater and merry drinker, though. He polished off a serving of pancit luglug along with his medium-rare steak, pizza and gambas, which he mixed with his noodles. He said he had tapsilog (a combo meal of eggs, fried rice and beef) at breakfast.

It was his fourth day in the country, and he was having dinner with Wieland Speck, director of the Berlin film fest's Panorama section and chair of Cinemanila's International Competition; Robert Malengreau, founder of the Brussels independent-film fest and chair of the Asean Competition; and Tikoy Aguiluz, Cinemanila founder-director.

Tarantino, the international film icon behind such relentless genre-benders as "Reservoir Dogs," "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill," is here to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the festival. He is also premiering his latest movie "Death Proof," which could have been inspired by Russ Meyer's raunchy and foxy female posse.

In a strange twist, he brought for screening at the film fest a few films from his collection of Philippine B-grade movies: Cirio Santiago's "Ebony Ivory & Jade" and "The Muthers," and Robert Vincent O'Neill's "Wonder Women."

This is Tarantino's first trip to Southeast Asia, which he had promised Aguiluz three years ago he would undertake, saying he wanted to meet his movie icons Santiago and National Artist Eddie Romero. He finally met them on Friday in a film forum they moderated.

Another icon was the late National Artist Gerry de Leon. "I'm a huge, huge fan of Gerry de Leon," he revealed to film students in the four-hour master class he conducted before dinner.

He could hardly contain himself from raving over De Leon's "soul-shattering, life-extinguishing" movies on vampires and female bondage, particularly "Women in Cages."

"It is just harsh, harsh, harsh," he said, and described the final shot as one of "devastating despair."

Asked why he was so deep into B-grade movies to the point of making his own appear like one, he said those movies he enjoyed in his youth were no longer being made so he was just giving back to a generation that had missed that stuff.

"My relationship with Filipino cinema is that I find the movies beyond interesting—they're fascinating," he said. "Nowhere else in movie history can you find this kind of cinema. There are two Filipino movie industries—the movies of Bernal, Lino Brocka, Tikoy, and the alternative film industry that produced the movies of Cirio Santiago not intended for the Filipino public, those war movies and vampire movies of Gerry de Leon and Eddie Romero made for American viewers. In this, Philippine cinema stands alone."

The most exciting revelation Tarantino made at dinner was that he was now starting to write a book on these B-grade Filipino movies, to be called "Bamboo Gods, Iron Men and Wonder Women."

We thought he was just in a jocular mood after several drinks, but he added he had just finished writing the introduction that morning. (So that was why he didn't arrive for lunch at Cibo.)

He even found the time to watch Weng Weng in "For Your Height Only." The screening of such movies at Cinemanila was just his way of giving back to Filipino audiences this rich film heritage they had missed. And, in a kind of symbiosis, he said he was taking home DVDs of the films of Brocka, Bernal et al.

"To further immerse myself in Philippine cinema," he said. "I'm taking my lifetime master's in cinema, and the day I die is the day I graduate."

Philippine Inquirer

Quote of the day

"If you're watching "Rush Hour 3," you obviously didn't have anything better to do."

-Roger Ebert

Smashing Pumpkins in Korea, 7/4/2000

SMASHING PUMPKINS TOUR AD

Smashing Pumpkins in Asia

I've compiled a list of Pumpkins dates in Asia - it seems nearly every two years since 1992 Billy Corgan and gang have shown up here in Asia and last time he came here was as a solo artist in 2005. So I think he is due to visit over here again on the new Pumpkins tour......

Billy Corgan

(with Smashing Pumpkins)
1992/02/21 Club Quatro Osaka, JP
1992/02/23 Club Quatro Nagoya, JP
1992/02/24 Club Citta' Kawasaki, JP
1992/02/26 Club Quatro Tokyo, JP
1992/02/?? [Japanese TV] Tokyo, JP

1994/02/09 Sun Plaza Tokyo, JP
1994/02/11 On Air West Tokyo, JP
1994/02/12 Club Quatro Nagoya, JP
1994/02/13 Club Quatro Osaka, JP

D'arcy

1996/02/19 Archaic Hall Osaka, JP
1996/02/20 IMP Hall Osaka, JP
1996/02/21 Aichi Kinro kaikan Nagoya, JP
1996/02/23 Todoroki Arena Kawasaki, JP
1996/02/26 Todoroki Arena Kawasaki, JP
1996/02/27 Shibuya Kokaido Tokyo, JP
1996/02/29 Thai-Japan Bangkok Metropolis
Youth Centre Bangkok, Thailand
1996/03/02 World Trade Centre, Singapore

James Iha

1998/06/23 (unknown venue) Tokyo, JP
1998/06/23 Nihon Budokan Tokyo, JP
1998/06/24 Koyakuin University Hachioji, JP

2000/06/20 Pacifico Yokohama, JP
2000/06/21 Kenmin Hall Sendai, JP
2000/06/24 Koseinenkin Hall Hiroshima, JP
2000/06/25 Zepp Fukuoka, JP
2000/06/27 Castle Hall Osaka, JP
2000/06/28 Koseinenkin Hall Nagoya, JP
2000/06/30 Budokan Tokyo, JP
2000/07/02 Kokusai Forum Tokyo, JP
2000/07/04 Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium
Seoul, Korea

Melissa Auf der Maur

(with Zwan)
2003/02/01 Zepp Tokyo, JP
2003/02/02 Zepp Osaka, JP
2003/02/05 Club Diamond Hall Nagoya, JP
2003/02/06 Liquid Room Tokyo, JP

(Billy Corgan solo)
2005/08/01 Namba-Hatch Osaka, JP
2005/08/03 Club Diamond Hall Nagoya, JP
2005/08/04 Shibuya-AX Tokyo, JP
2005/08/05 Shibuya-AX Tokyo, JP

(with Smashing Pumpkins)
2007/09/01 Hezarfen Airport Istanbul, Turkey

Jimmy Chamberlin
........
pictures from the Japanese Smashing Pumpkins fan site

Smashing Hotel Rooms? What Visiting Stars Do in Korea

A bevy of international music stars will come to Korea for concerts this year. They will make a deep impression on numerous Korean fans with their performance, but what impression will the stars come away with? The Chosun Ilbo asked sources in the performance industry for a glimpse of the life some famous musicians enjoyed during their visit to Korea.

Can’t live without booze

Many (mostly Rock) musicians proved that they couldn’t live without alcohol by spending every spare minute here drinking. The now-disbanded heavy metal group Pantera would have won the competition for the hardest visiting drinkers. The group enjoyed themselves at the Walkerhill Hotel casino all night on the night before their gig, drinking two or three 500 ml bottles of liquor a head. After getting a bit of sleep at the hotel, they gave the planned concert, with the help of more liquor stored in 10 beer glasses at the corner of the stage.

The British singer Sting kept a low profile by enjoying some wine privately in his hotel room, but he spent as much as W4 million (US$1=W938) on meals and wine during his four-day stay. Of course, he paid for it himself. Another heavy metal group, Rage Against the Machine, spent W2.5 million on wine here.

Counter-intuitively, according to a staffer with event organizers Access Entertainment, Metallica, who have been nicknamed “Alcohollica” for their dedication to booze, did not touch a drop during either of their two Korea visits.

Shopaholics

Sharon Osbourne, the wife of Ozzy Osbourne, showed what a shopaholic is like during their Seoul visit. She bought knockoff bags and watches worth some W5 million in Itaewon, the well-kwon pirate brand district in Seoul. Craig David brought home a Korean-made MP3 player he bought at the TechnoMart shopping center and about a dozen antiques including paintings and stone statues from Insa-dong. A staffer with Private Curve said many pop and jazz musicians like to look around Insa-dong and buy antiques to take home.

Out walking

When British rock group Oasis visited, they encountered some young fans of the Korean boy band TVXQ in front of the group’s agency SM Entertainment in Apgujeong, Seoul. Some of them recognized the world famous group and followed them. Some 10 minutes later, Noel Gallagher asked them why they kept following and gave them his autograph to send them away.

Limp Bizkit singer Fred Durst also spent some time in Korea walking around Apgujeong. He ran into a cable music TV crew team who were doing street interviews and, feeling a sudden urge for fun, shouted in front of camera, “I, Limp Bizkit, have come to Korea.” Failing to recognize him, a reporter was dumbfounded, and Durst, now also confused, went on his way. But a producer recognized him belatedly and drove after him, succeeding in landing an interview.

When Eric Clapton was in the country for his first concert here a decade ago, he bought three pairs of socks for W10,000 from a street vendor while strolling around the busy streets of Seoul’s Gangnam. The elderly vendor threw in another pair for free saying, “You have grown old gracefully.” Clapton thanked him and left.

Fights

When Boyz II Men came to Korea in 2005 to give a joint performance with Korean girl band Big Mama, they got into a fight over music. It was resolved magically by getting them to play poker for US$1 stakes. Smashing Pumpkins was so notorious for discord between members that they sat separately on the plane and had separate meals in Seoul. A source from event planners Yellow Nine said members also went to separate bars after their concert.

Cleanliness

All bad boys the Prodigy really wanted in Korea was a sauna. When they came here in 1999 for the Triport Rock Festival in Incheon, their performance was canceled due to heavy rain. The group’s manager called the festival organizers and asked to change the hotel because the place where the Big Beats combo were staying would not allow them into the sauna because of their tattoos. The firm had to decline, saying no hotels would tolerate body art of such dimensions.

The Hip-Hop group Black Eyed Peas, who attended the Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon last year, were unwilling to wear their expensive shoes costing W2-3 million on the muddy stage, so they bought Wellington’s boots worth W4,000 on the spot and performed in them instead.

(englishnews@chosun.com)

Smashing Pumpkins are a Christian rock band?

We all know that Billy's been writing lyrics with religious overtones for many years now, but did you know that current guitarist Jeff Schroeder used to be in Christian rock bands like Violet Burning and Lassie Foundation? Or that new bassist Ginger Reyes was in the all-girl Xian band the Halo Friendlies? Or that new keyboard player Lisa Harriton played on a lot of praise and worship albums for Word Records?

List of Lasts

Last Movie I saw: Casablanca, it was on TV the other night with Korean subtitles.

Last Book I read: The Man Who Ate Everything, by Jeffrey Steingarten.

Last Meal: the aforementioned Huevos con chorizo and horchata at Taco Amigo in Seoul.

Last spin in my Ipod: Bullet With Butterfly Wings, by The Smashing Pumpkins. I played this about 12 times, while riding the KTX from Cheonan and subway in Seoul last night. I'm still blown away by the intensity of the playing on this song. Tarantula, off their new album, while a good song, seems to just TRY TOO HARD.

Last phone call: from Lisa about 30 minutes ago, saying she apologizes but she's too hung over and can't get out of bed to meet me for coffee. :-)

Last email: 5 days ago, to Mark who lives in PDX.

Last time I was infuriated: before lunch thinking of how much Americans don't really care about politics and health care, only about who won American Idol or did Paris Hilton get out of jail too soon/too late, etc. (but maybe that was just from low blood sugar)

Last really great day: today is the greatest, day i've ever known.....