Crisis in Haiti - More thoughts on the subject · Sunday January 17, 2010 by colin newell
Letter to the editor of the Times-Colonist…
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said this week he was launching an appeal to raise $550 million for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.
U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan Chase paid its investment bankers $9.3 billion in 2009.
That’s our world.
Ian Laval in Brentwood Bay
That is our World in 2010.
Let’s change it.
2010 series Life in the Byte Age chapter one · Sunday January 3, 2010 by colin newell
I have a couple of things in common with some of the big pop stars in the World. I have written an albums worth of music and a chunk of the lyrics to go along with it.
One of the biggest differences is – I have sold under 1000 CD’s (compared to millions and millions for some artists) and that is (in part) because I am decidedly, if not staggeringly, less talented than most.
The other thing I did is, having embraced modern technology, having made some, if not all, of the material free to hear online prior to purchasing – on CBC3
One thing I feel very strongly about is the ability to protect intellectual property – but in order to do that, one must live within a society that subscribes, at least on some level, to the theory that music (and the arts) are actually worth something.
U2’s front man, Bono is calling for better restrictions on the internet to protect artists and their work. In his regular column for the New York Times, which the pop singer began a year ago, Bono says downloading is becoming all-encompassing.
“The only thing protecting the movie and TV industries from the fate that has befallen music and indeed the newspaper business is the size of the files,” he wrote.
Bono predicts people are only a few years away from downloading movies in a few seconds.
And I think that Bono and I are seeing exactly the same philosophical and ethical phenomenon: That society as a whole sees music and art, movies and television as something to be picked off of a communal apple tree. With impunity. Without a twinge of guilt. Because it’s there.
Most of my creative friends (and an equal number of the non-creative ones) feel that it is OK to download (steal) music and movies and TV shows. Some insist that they will tend to buy more music if they have the opportunity to download some first. That is like saying, “I promise to buy more fruit as long as I can steal some of the vegetables…”.
I mean, if the same rules, that applied to the internet, applied on the streets of your town, we would be free to loot stores of their goods. What is the difference?
I can proudly say that I have yet to download a song, movie or a TV show. It is about worth. Having been through the exercise of actually taking out 10 months of my life to produce, what I thought, was some good music – I always felt that it was worth something.
Where Bono and I might diverge in opinion is this: We have opened the flood gates to a lifestyle – and a conscience free choice in behavior. I find it hard to believe that we can now close these doors after they have been opened.
This is Blog Number 602 since the Spring of 2005. Crikey!
2009 a year in review - part three - Joy, World Peace, and fighting · Tuesday December 29, 2009 by colin newell
Many, many years ago one of my, now fully grown, nephews declared while hoisting a plastic sword (or light saber…) over his head…
“I believe in Peace, Harmony… and fighting…”
Which is something that must have been on Vancouver city council’s mind when they made the bizarre and unexpected decision to sanction and approve the exhibition of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA, UFC, whatever…).
MMA: defined as: two competitors using techniques from boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and other fighting styles to knock each other out. It used to be called “extreme fighting” but now those who run this pathetic excuse for a sport prefer to call it “mixed martial arts” — sounds so much more civilized is all…
Call me a sissy but I have always thought that there is very little “sport” in two guys pummeling each other into a senseless mass. I mean, come on. Pinning someone and delivering kidney shot after kidney shot (or head shots) is not sport. It is barbarism, pure and simple.
And, ironically, I actually feel for the combatants that choose this avocation and blame the promoters and audience for getting off on it. Because, hey, it is oh so Toss the Christians to the Lions mentality.
Vancouver Counselor Andrea Reimer, who voted against the motion said “It’s become very hard for me to see the logic in passing this motion … I’ve spent a lot of time . . . dealing with the fallout of kids who have been desensitized to violence because of adult sanctioning of violence, but then adults also saying it’s not appropriate for children to participate in the same level of violence that we have sanctioned ourselves.”
Can’t touch that. Thank-you Rafe Mair for getting that word-byte from Andrea.
More locally, there is some talk among city folk in and around Victoria out through the West Shore (read, Langford, Colwood, Trailerland…) thinking about getting some of that MMA action here on the lower Island.
And no, some of the action in and around the West Shore council meetings, although taking advantage of verbal sparring, bullying and other goon like behavior, may appear to be a form of Mixed martial arts – it ain’t.
For me, integrating brutality and senseless violence into a public spectacle was one more step in the de-evolution of the Province of British Columbia.
2009 a year in review - part one · Monday December 28, 2009 by colin newell
One of the more challenging aspects of wrapping up a year is getting a sense of what the heck it was all about; summing up the highs and lows and moving forward with a sense of closure and anticipation of growth and evolution.
2009 was difficult in light of some of the deeply personal challenges that arrived at our feet (many of which we are still unraveling) and utterly brilliant in the number of bright and shiny doors that opened.
Photo right – Given the opportunity to write for EAT Magazine on a monthly basis has opened doors… and menus!
And the thing that is most ironic or perhaps eloquent or even bittersweet is that you can experience tragedy and opportunity at the same time. In immensely lethal doses.
And guess what? It tastes like a macadamia-nut and maple infused slice of French toast. Really, it does.
Because while my dear wife and spent evening after evening sitting on the lanai of our Kona area condo, we tasted the saltiness of our tears combined with the bracing fruit of a California Merlot, followed by a Pinot Noir, followed by a Shiraz, – all with great home cooked food of course!
Some would say that the combination of tears, sadness and laughter is a sign of madness – in our case it was a part of healing and re-birth.
We spent almost the entire month of November 2009 in the tropical womb of Hawaii, surrounded by friends, given our space – to meditate and find peace as we neared the conclusion of a tumultuous year.
And what made it the most difficult was the loss of our Wing-Man – my Mom-in-law. She was like the proverbial co-pilot, who when faced with a insurmountable ethical, moral or technical question, would look at the dashboard of the cockpit, illuminated with a zillion possible answers, glance over the console, through the windscreen and down onto the unforgiving World below, furrow her brow and toss out the most obvious and logical answer possible.
Yup. That was what she was like. She always had the answer. Which left me with that sweet option of being along for the ride – maybe pulling my weight… maybe not.
And losing that creature-feature in your life is like losing the aircraft hydraulics or tail rudder… no so easy when you are in charge of the crew and passengers.
Now I am the captain. And it is a tough role trust me. Still getting a feel for the cap and the uniform. It’s still kind of sticky but it think I am up for it.
Anyway. 2009 was one of those years where it occurred to me that there were going to be way more opportunities than time to actually do everything justice.
These stories and some of their outcomes in Part two!
