i drove by this crime scene today, not far from uc santa barbara, where i work.  there were satellite trucks all the fuck over the place... i also learned this morning that the daughter of a woman who works on the crew of my boss's cable-access television program was one of the victims of this mass murder.  it's scary to think about all the ways that the ripples of this carnage might impact the lives of other people i know, work with, & care about...

damn... sad days indeed...



photograph by lauren rudser, courtesy of the ucsb daily nexus
_________________________


From the Los Angeles Times

Ex-Postal Worker Kills 6, Commits Suicide in Goleta

By Steve Chawkins and Michael Muskal
Times Staff Writers

9:00 AM PST, January 31, 2006

A former postal employee went on a rampage in a mail sorting facility Monday night in Goleta, where she killed six people before turning a weapon on herself and committing suicide, authorities said this morning.

Police from several local and federal agencies were investigating the scene of the carnage, a 20,000-square-foot mail processing plant on Storke Road in Goleta, a bedroom suburb of Santa Barbara.

No identifications were immediately available nor was there any motive for the incident that began before 9:15 p.m. Monday. It was the latest in a string of shootings over the past decades that have made the phrase "going postal" a synonym for murderous anger.

In a statement issued in Washington, Postmaster General John E. Potter said the families of the victims were being notified and counselors would be available to the families and employees at the plant.

"Our heartfelt prayers and condolences go out to the families of the victims and to our employees who have suffered through this tragic incident," he said.

The former worker approached the plant on a commercial street in Goleta as the night shift was inside. Francisco Torres, a high-rise dormitory at the UC Santa Barbara, is about a quarter-mile away.

Two bodies were found outside the plant, presumably killed as the shooter made her way inside. About 300 people are employed at the plant, but there were fewer working on the night shift when the woman entered.

Once inside, the woman began firing at employees, according to investigators. Two wounded women were taken to a Santa Barbara hospital. One died and the other was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head.

During their search in the early hours this morning, authorities, accompanied by a SWAT team, recovered four more bodies, including one believed to be the shooter. Some postal workers escaped to a nearby fire station and huddled in small groups, shell-shocked.

Police set up a command post in a nearby shopping shelter. Dozens of agencies, including the FBI and the postal police, were present.

One group of people, apparently a family, kept asking "Can we walk here? Do you know what is going on?"

They explained to anyone who would listen that they hadn't heard from their relative all night, that she hadn't come home and that she didn't answer her cell.

"We don't know," said one. "We just don't know."

Monday night's shooting was one of the deadliest since a series of high-profile cases in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, including one in which a part-time letter carrier killed 14 people in Edmond, Okla., then killed himself.

In 1993, fired postal employee Mark Richard Hilbun killed his mother, then walked into a post office in Dana Point and shot two workers, killing one. He was convicted of murder, attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison.

In August 1989, postal worker John Merlin Taylor of Escondido, Calif., killed his wife at their home, then drove to the Orange Glen post office, where he shot and killed two colleagues and wounded another before committing suicide.

---

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

i was born on april 29, 1966. juh-eeee-zusss, here it is, 2006, my next “big day” being exactly three months away from today... and if birthdays are to be treated like other important anniversaries, this would be a big one coming up, right?

FUCK!

for the past several weeks (months?), i’ve been thinking about how to celebrate this impending passage into my fifth damn decade...

right now, at this point in time, i’ve settled on two options. and, pretty much no more than two options.

here’s the first idea: this one came to me most recently...

i hadn’t even realized, until 2 or 3 weeks ago, tops, that the biggest annual music festival in the entire western region of the country, the coachella valley music festival



(actually, it’s probably the biggest in the country, now, right?), is going to be happening on the weekend of that very birthday (April 29th & 30th).

my only trip to coachella before was on an extremely hot weekend in 2004 with a group of 5 other friends.



i had a fantastic time. all of us did... we just anteed up for the first day of the fest, which turned out to be a very, very hot day on may 1st no less in the gorgeous desert valley of coachella, near the town of indio...

our group of six was comprised of two permanent ucsb staff members (my ex, jay, & i), three sociology department graduate students from uc santa barbara (joanna d., joe c., & sara [“smason” here in the buzz]), and (then) english department grad student samara p. (whom i’ve mentioned several times in this blog to date, along with jay & sara).

we ended up that weekend crashing at a trailer-park retirement community where joanna’s grandmother lived, who graciously let us into her home for two entire nights... for free. it was well timed, to boot, 'cause she went away on some vacation the morning of the festival’s first day. we had the run of the place after that...

jay & i had sorta become veteran concert goers over the years, but as she had a particularly scary experience at a clear channel-run, one-day fest called the “inland invasion” in late summer 2002, i was pretty sure that she would never join me at another music festival ever again. (let me put it this way, her experience there was sort of like the trial i had nearly one year later in the arches national park region of utah, except much, much worse.... i mean, just keep in mind that we were @ an event put on by kroq-fm in los angeles & fucking “clear channel communications”!!! [it’d be an entire blogstory unto itself!])

the fact that radiohead was headlining day #1, though, plus the raves of friends who attended previous coachella festivals (in regards to the overall organization & humane planning of it), convinced jay to give this one another try...



it’s sort of strange to reflect upon it now, as coachella 2004 was sort of a magical, catch-lightning-in-a-bottle experience for us... an almost amazing idyll (perhaps the last of its kind, ever?) for me & jay... nothing really went right between the two of us that summer &, come fall, our long-term (nearly 9 year-old) live-in relationship was just about over... i was even afraid that our fourteen year-old friendship was going to die an outright death, too... we’re managing to hold on to that, though, for what it’s worth (which is a lot, i think.)

(it’s still very hard to put it all in those terms... i now see that it’s all been for the best [our split, that is], however difficult it is to admit that...but i’m still extremely sad about all of it, of course)

=(

but back to that springtime “idyll”... like i indicated above, jay was lured to coachella primarily by day one’s 2004 u.s.-exclusive-engagement of the amazing post-rock musical giants, radiohead... radiohead was absolutely her favorite band at the time, & i’m sure will always have a special place in jay’s heart, forever... (she and i had seen them at the hollywood bowl during late summer 2003 & we both thought that it was a fantastic show, even though our seats there demanded binoculars for maximum impact, & despite the fact that the very idea of seeing a concert like that had sorta come to be anathema to me, late-blooming punk-rocker that i am... radiohead, though, somehow manages to pull off the whole “arena-rock” type of production about as well as any band could possibly do now [or so it seems to me])



overall, coachella’s about as well-run as a music festival of its kind can be... the lines aren’t bad, no unruly hooligans are to be found burning toxic piles of empty plastic beer cups,—something that we actually experienced firsthand during that inland invasion fiasco (a practice that seemingly has become a staple of every ill-conceived, profit-maximizing music festival since woodstock ’99 perhaps?)--there are a lot of options for getting out of the sun, no lines for overpriced cups of water to battle the dessicating heat, manageable lines for food, and for the portapotties (which were all clean, numerous, & easily accessible)...

the crowd at coachella ’04 seemed to me to be mostly lovely, inspiring, & wonderful, in fact... during a breather in the shade tents, i was very struck by just how beautiful everyone seemed that day, all of the women, men, teens, children, everyone in attendance... langorous, not pushy, just chillin’ like the rest of us, grooving on all of the amazing sounds & performances on display...






we spent most of that day on a steady, pleasant bender, which can often seem a prerequisite for festivals of that kind (at least in some sense)... even the beer garden was well-managed (if the people in it a bit like the worst off of the coachella crowd, from my perspective... i mean, no one there was particularly unruly or aggro or anything [something that really annoys me about drinking culture overall, and about hanging out in crowded bars, i guess], but the folks who needed so much alcohol for their experience that day were a little worse for the wear, i think... i really didn’t want to spend much time in there, although the one beer i think i had there was perfectly enjoyable...)

what made it all for me was the experience of being exposed to amazing acts like the danceable, electro-influenced rock group kinky (a really, really good band from mexico) on the main stage that afternoon (the first band we saw that day, actually).



kinky is a band that i almost certainly would be unlikely to see under other conditions (at least living 90 miles from los angeles, like i do), and i had a great time rocking out to their set, along with everyone else in our party... the big performance tents during the course of the day seemed a bit unnavigable for the lot of us (too hot, too crowded, unfortunately, especially with a neophyte festivalgoer like samara to consider), so we mostly took in the acts of the main stage & bits and pieces of other groups playing the other outdoor stages (i’m recalling seeing and you will know us by the trail of dead, q & not u, moving units, & desert sessions , among other snippets)... but it was mostly the main stage for us for the bulk of the day... the entire sets of kinky, a challenging but fabulous set in the heat of the ‘may day’ desert sun by one of my all-time personal faves, the (international) noise conspiracy (most of whose members i’ve met during their rise [and recent stumble] onto a major, corporate u.s. label]),





the pixies,



and then radiohead...





saw a bit of kraftwerk after that, as well (just enough to get a taste of their schtick, but we were pretty fried at the point in time...in several ways). like i said, one of our party had never done a festival like this at all & our musical tastes were fairly divergent, so we were pretty careful to look out for each others’ limits & chemistries, & coordinated our comings & goings like clockwork (thanks in large part to jay’s organizational skills, thank you again, dear! =). certainly, there were things about the day that we would have done differently if it was just the two of us, say: such as pushing our way even closer, through the crowd, to see radiohead’s headlining set; taking in more of what was going on in those sauna-like tents (perhaps); staying for the second day; sucking the very marrow out of the thing, even... (i only sort of regret missing the flaming lips now legendary set, the next day, but since i’m not a major cure fan, it just didn’t seem like something we even needed to put ourselves through in marathon fashion.)



for my money, in retrospect, it was about as good a festival experience (of its type) that i could imagine having...

if there’s any “counterculture” out there during this particular, scary, corporate moment that we find ourselves living in, it's represented largely by bands like these (coming from a range of musical genres & interests), these audience members (who were fairly diverse, it seemed to me, if limited to people willing & able to pay well over $100 a day, per person, for the experience), even that promoter (the respectable goldenvoice productions, which puts it all together). (there is certainly more stuff in the grassroots, in the underground scenes, the diy spaces, etcetera, where the real resistant shit truly gets worked out, but all of it adds up to something important, i think...)



so, given that experience, i decided to wait on the announcement of the 2006 lineup (this tuesday) & will maybe do the whole coachella music festival again on the weekend of my gasp.... 40th (fucking) birthday... (having trouble spitting that out still...)

it’s going to be really different, though... i’m not really sure who all is going to show up with me this year... if it happens, i’m definitely going to do this one more my way.... strangely enough, i’m not sure who all is willing to join me that weekend, or how to negotiate that matter in advance (it starts to feel a little heavy, just thinking about it)... i’m a god-damn “free-agent” right now (& i’m not really talking about being single, for what that’s worth, so much as my not having the same sorts of responsibilities i had when jay & i were still in the relationship)... key parts of our social circle have either left the santa barbara area (miss you sara!!!) or are no longer around us any more... housing or camping, too, is a wide-open proposition (as that retirement community is unfortunately out of the question [what a strange and wonderful experience that was, though ;)



i start to feel a little bit nervous about the whole matter... sort of like how i felt before i left for my trip to philadelphia & new york city last summer, my first ever trip of its kind for me... but, the thing is, that worked out so well! i truly want to have more experiences like that (seeing unique & interesting things, meeting cool new people, & deepening relationships with folks i already know & admire)... my past 6 months, unfortunately, haven’t much allowed for that sort of thing (except online here, which is, of course, alternately strange, inspiring, wonderful, challenging, & disorientingly surreal...)

if i do indeed go, i guess i may be seeing more of the “kcsb kids” around at the show this time around... i dunno... it’d certainly be cool to meet up with any of y’all who have read this far, if only for a chat or a hug ;)

& i’ll have to talk with samara & jay about this in more detail (sara, long-distance, too)... 'cause i trust that they are all looking out for my best interests, that they’d want to spend the day with me, and simply because talking is important...

the thing is, assuming even one day of the festival is to my liking, it could be a really good time, no? the thing is, i’m not really sweating those details (the “is this the right way to spend a day like this?” sort of questions) too, too much... my attitude, should i in fact decide to do this, would be ‘let the chips fall where they may’...



otherwise, here in s.b. that same weekend, there’ll be “a new fiesta in the making as we speak... out @ the moontower” (to quote matt mcconaughey’s classic character, wooderson, in ‘dazed & confused’).

carpe diem, teodoro... it’s not like i can’t have a big party to celebrate the big “four oh” the following weekend, right? (with the only complication being cinco de mayo festivities here in santa babylon, i guess.) or on the same weekend, in lieu of the festival...

here’s what i’d envision for that one, whenever it ends up happening: live band/s, DJing, afterparty, & reasonable abandon (my parents & brother's family are sure to be there, at least for some of it =), most likely @ a local establishment (still to be approached), & open to the public... (any of y’all of course would be invited! 8D

more to come on all of this...

thanks for indulging me, y’all: i was just needing to get some of this str8 in my head...

LuV,
freaksted


(note: i nicked these pictures mainly from the galleries @ the official coachella website, & one of t(i)nc from that band's official site...)

we probably ain't going "down the river" on monday, peeps...

kcsb's stream has been down for a few days... (it's been acting up & we're reduced to doing a series of diagnostics regarding the problem).

there's a chance you'll be able to tune in, since my show starts at 9am (running until 11am), and our engineer is likely to be in no later than then...

i can just make no guarantees... sorry!  (it'll get better, soon, though... i promise...)

whatever happens, "never get off the boat," er... i mean, "i'll post my playlist for you, regardless..."

& thank you all for all of your interest in the various kcsb programs produced by buzzfriends djmark & me, fpt!

(for the [no more than handful] of y'all who are on the central coast of california [aka, the "tricounties"], you can definitely tune in, however, at 91.9 fm.)

if you get a chance, give it a try online, this monday, at 9-11am, pst...

otherwise, stay tuned!!!  there'll be plenty more fireworks in store!

"fuck these fascists!"
________________________________________

Published on Friday, January 27, 2006 by BBC
US Plans to 'Fight the Net' Revealed
by Adam Brookes
 
WASHINGTON - A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks.
Bloggers beware.

As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer.

From influencing public opinion through new media to designing "computer network attack" weapons, the US military is learning to fight an electronic war.

The declassified document is called "Information Operations Roadmap". It was obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University using the Freedom of Information Act.

Officials in the Pentagon wrote it in 2003. The Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, signed it.

The "roadmap" calls for a far-reaching overhaul of the military's ability to conduct information operations and electronic warfare. And, in some detail, it makes recommendations for how the US armed forces should think about this new, virtual warfare.

The document says that information is "critical to military success". Computer and telecommunications networks are of vital operational importance.

Propaganda

The operations described in the document include a surprising range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks.

All these are engaged in information operations.


Perhaps the most startling aspect of the roadmap is its acknowledgement that information put out as part of the military's psychological operations, or Psyops, is finding its way onto the computer and television screens of ordinary Americans.

"Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic audience," it reads.

"Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public," it goes on.

The document's authors acknowledge that American news media should not unwittingly broadcast military propaganda. "Specific boundaries should be established," they write. But they don't seem to explain how.

"In this day and age it is impossible to prevent stories that are fed abroad as part of psychological operations propaganda from blowing back into the United States - even though they were directed abroad," says Kristin Adair of the National Security Archive.

Credibility problem

Public awareness of the US military's information operations is low, but it's growing - thanks to some operational clumsiness.

Late last year, it emerged that the Pentagon had paid a private company, the Lincoln Group, to plant hundreds of stories in Iraqi newspapers. The stories - all supportive of US policy - were written by military personnel and then placed in Iraqi publications.

And websites that appeared to be information sites on the politics of Africa and the Balkans were found to be run by the Pentagon.

But the true extent of the Pentagon's information operations, how they work, who they're aimed at, and at what point they turn from informing the public to influencing populations, is far from clear.

The roadmap, however, gives a flavour of what the US military is up to - and the grand scale on which it's thinking.

It reveals that Psyops personnel "support" the American government's international broadcasting. It singles out TV Marti - a station which broadcasts to Cuba - as receiving such support.

It recommends that a global website be established that supports America's strategic objectives. But no American diplomats here, thank you. The website would use content from "third parties with greater credibility to foreign audiences than US officials".

It also recommends that Psyops personnel should consider a range of technologies to disseminate propaganda in enemy territory: unmanned aerial vehicles, "miniaturized, scatterable public address systems", wireless devices, cellular phones and the internet.

'Fight the net'

When it describes plans for electronic warfare, or EW, the document takes on an extraordinary tone.

It seems to see the internet as being equivalent to an enemy weapons system.

"Strategy should be based on the premise that the Department [of Defense] will 'fight the net' as it would an enemy weapons system," it reads.

The slogan "fight the net" appears several times throughout the roadmap.

The authors warn that US networks are very vulnerable to attack by hackers, enemies seeking to disable them, or spies looking for intelligence.

"Networks are growing faster than we can defend them... Attack sophistication is increasing... Number of events is increasing."

US digital ambition

And, in a grand finale, the document recommends that the United States should seek the ability to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum."

US forces should be able to "disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum".

Consider that for a moment.

The US military seeks the capability to knock out every telephone, every networked computer, every radar system on the planet.

Are these plans the pipe dreams of self-aggrandising bureaucrats? Or are they real?

The fact that the "Information Operations Roadmap" is approved by the Secretary of Defense suggests that these plans are taken very seriously indeed in the Pentagon.

And that the scale and grandeur of the digital revolution is matched only by the US military's ambitions for it.

© BBC MMVI

______________________________

                



Zoyd Wheelers Fenstersturz
(Zeichnung zu Vineland von Thomas. Pynchon)
by MAX P. HAERING



the mysterious, elusive, & brilliant thomas pynchon.

los angeles times: calendar live

ON THE SET

Mexican culture in a sweaty headlock

Jack Black teams with "Napoleon Dynamite" director Jared Hess for "Nacho Libre," a film with a respectfully knowledgeable view of Mexican pop culture.

By Reed Johnson
Times Staff Writer

January 22, 2006

TLACOLULA, Mexico -- Jack Black's comic antics often leave audiences in stitches. Now Black himself is being sewn back together, a jagged line of dark thread embroidered around his eye.

His impromptu surgery was necessitated by a stunt sequence in his latest cinematic venture, "Nacho Libre." That's what comes from being a successful Hollywood leading man with a bent for throwing yourself headfirst into the action, literally.


 

"I'm delicate, like a piece of china," says Black, whose barrel-chested bulk is more suggestive of the Great Wall than a Ming vase. "I dived ... and fell on some people and I hit a chair. Busted my eye. It was fun: I got a nice little three-day vacation. Scarred for life — the scar's not going to go away. But that's part of the job."

Funny guy, this Black, and, in his own unique way, surprisingly agile and athletic — which you already knew if you saw him crank up those righteous guitar solos in "High Fidelity" and "School of Rock." These may be just the qualities he'll need to carry off the stout title role in "Nacho Libre," a bruising comedy that director Jared Hess ("Napoleon Dynamite") and a Mexican American crew spent filming here last fall. The Paramount Pictures release, which is being produced by Nickelodeon Movies along with Black's production company, Black and White Productions, is slated to reach theaters this summer.

Fresh off his appearance as a smarmy action-film director in Peter Jackson's "King Kong" remake, Black stars in "Nacho Libre" as another kind of high-spirited scrapper risking life and limb to pursue his obsessively offbeat dreams. He's Ignacio (a.k.a. "Nacho"), a Norwegian Mexican kitchen worker and priest-in-training at a Mexican orphanage, with a heart of pure gold and a midsection of pure cellulite.

Various complications naturally ensue, and when the orphanage is threatened with closure, Nacho dons a mask and moonlights as a luchador, a practitioner of the anything-goes style of Mexican professional wrestling known as lucha libre ("free fighting"). Black describes his character as "a little bit vain, but he's also a little sweet and innocent."

Lucha libre is a longtime fixture of Mexican pop culture that reached its commercial and creative zenith between the 1940s and early 1980s. That's when star wrestling personalities such as Santo and Blue Demon ruled the ring and a slew of Cine Luchador flicks transformed a marginal "sport" into a full-blown subculture. ("Nacho Libre" takes place in lucha's 1970s heyday.) Several of these flicks were camp masterpieces, and their melodramatic plots frequently involved a more or less heartfelt element of personal struggle as the heroic luchador battled evil adversaries and fickle fate.

And although "Nacho Libre's" lead role is being played by a non-Latino who estimates his Spanish vocabulary at 40 words, the filmmakers say their movie takes a respectfully knowledgeable, if humorous, view of Mexican popular culture. "We didn't want to be a gringo-Hollywood production," says co-producer Julia Pistor.

Even granted lucha libre's innate absurdity, the goofy premise of "Nacho Libre" may seem like something cooked up after one too many mescals. Not so. It's loosely inspired by a real-life Mexican priest who, for more than 20 years, lived a double life as a luchador nicknamed Fray Tormenta (Friar Storm), taking part in some 4,000 bouts. Some of the money he earned went to fund an orphanage that he ran.


 

Though the "Nacho Libre" team met with Fray Tormenta, who still lives near Mexico City, the idea wasn't to make "a straight-ahead biopic," says Mike White, the movie's co-screenwriter and Black's production partner. "It's funny," White says. "We're doing a movie about something that's very inauthentic, but it's so authentic in Mexican culture."

Though lucha libre's conventions — elaborate body-slamming maneuvers, flashy capes and masks, midget wrestlers — are less well known on this side of the border, lucha libre has gradually developed a fervid U.S. following. Black is now among the devotees. "I knew the Mexican wrestlers," he says, pausing between scenes under the withering Oaxacan sun, while an assistant teases his long, shaggy hair into fighting trim. "I thought they looked cool, but I'd never been to a match. There's a lot of impressive moves. But also the theatricality is so fun to watch."

The only thing in the movie more theatrical than the lucha libre throwdowns may be the dramatic Mexican backdrops. Much of "Nacho Libre" is being shot in this majestically beautiful corner of southern Mexico, about a six-hour drive from Mexico City. Prized for its rich indigenous culture, the state of Oaxaca also is one of Mexico's great culinary meccas. "It's been a struggle to keep a fighting weight," says Black, polishing off an elote — corn on the cob slathered in mayonnaise. "Much of the movie I'm shirtless. Fat is funny."

Unlike many Hollywood films set in Mexico, "Nacho Libre" aspires to a truly bicultural sensibility. Most of its principal and secondary roles were cast with Mexican or Mexican American talent: Ana de la Reguera as an angelic young nun, Sister Encarnación, who teaches at the orphanage; Héctor Jimenez as Nacho's wrestling partner and faithful sidekick Esqueleto (the Skeleton); Carla Jimenez as a spoiled rich girl with an unrequited crush on Esqueleto; Richard Montoya of the Los Angeles-based theatrical comedy ensemble Culture Clash as Nacho's chief rival for the beautiful Sister Encarnación's friendship and romantic favors; and the "Galindo brothers," a wrestling tag-team of Oaxacan pseudo-siblings.

"It's not just a Jack Black movie where he's the engine driving the comedy," says White, who worked on the screenplay with Hess and the director's wife and collaborator, Jerusha Hess. "Jack is a really funny element among many elements. This is a world you would want to get inside and experience with or without Jack as a protagonist."

White compares the movie's depiction of provincial Mexico, with its picturesque pueblitos and cactus-studded vistas, to the affectionately tongue-in-cheek way that small-town Idaho appeared in "Napoleon Dynamite." "We don't want to do 'Three Amigos,' where the source of comedy comes from stereotypes or movies you've seen before," White says.

Black may not be the movie's sole raison d'être. But no one visiting the set last fall could miss his fireplug presence, striding around bare-chested in red-and-blue wrestler's tights, white boots and a matinee-idol's pencil mustache. To prepare for the role, Black says, he trained with a wrestler in Los Angeles who "taught me some kick-ass moves" and how "to use the ropes for maximum velocity."

Asked to name his favorite technique, Black narrows his eyes and a wicked smile slithers across his face. "I'm going to go with the python squeeze. Woe to he who doubts the fury of the dreaded python squeeze!" But Black allows that he leaves some of the heavier lifting in the film — diving off cliffs, being engulfed in flames — to his stunt doubles, one of whom broke three ribs during filming.

Facing fears ... of grasshoppers

As Black prepares for another scene in which a disconsolate Nacho has gone into the desert to search his soul, he's girding his loins to try one of Oaxaca's signature foods: chapulines, or grasshoppers. "This whole movie for me has been about facing my fears," he says. "Today I am going to face one of my biggest fears: eating grasshoppers."


 

White, Pistor and other crew members who've taken shelter from the sun under a white plastic tent chuckle at Black's repartee. On a hillside some hundred yards away, clumps of people from the nearby village have gathered to watch the proceedings. No one from the film crew or security staff seems to mind, a reflection of the high-spirited but low-stress atmosphere that the crew attributes to Black and Hess' genial influence.
 
A gangly, stork-like figure in shorts and plaid shirt, Hess scampers across the rocky hillside where the day's sequences are being shot, sidestepping cactuses and burro droppings. Visible on a peak directly across the sun-streaked valley are the bleached ruins of the ancient Indian site of Yagul. "It's just so quaint, and I feel like it's such a beautiful part of Mexico," says Hess, who learned to speak fluent Spanish while serving in Venezuela as a Mormon missionary a few years ago.

Hess has become enthralled with "the whole aesthetic and the vibe" of lucha libre. But while the sport is wrapped in mythic personalities and heroic clashes between técnicos (good guys) and rudos (bad guys), luchadores don't possess superhuman qualities, Hess points out. Instead, their appeal derives from their flesh-and-blood triumphs and defeats, and it's this all-too-human quality that helps Nacho's character come alive on the screen, Hess believes. "I find it unrealistic when characters in a film just have one objective that you're going for," Hess says. "Nacho has a lot of characteristics. He does have a lot of very Don Quixote-like adventures."

Hess politely excuses himself and dashes off to talk with his crew. The sun is beginning to slip behind the mountains, and there's still some more filming to be done. "You got the scoop?" Black asks a reporter. "Not till you see me eat the grasshopper, you don't."

After filming wraps up for good, Black says, he's going to need a vacation to "heal up some bangs and bruises." As for "Nacho Libre," besides the movie there's already a video game in the works. Will there be action figurines too, or perhaps lucha versions of the old Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots?

"There'd better be a Galindo action figure," Hess says, speaking of the wrestling team. "Those guys blew my mind."

If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.

Article licensing and reprint options

---

Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times

lyrics for "bomb the world (armageddon version)" by michael franti & spearhead



I don't understand the reason why
You tellin' us all that we need to unify
Rally round the flag
And beat the drums of war
Sing the same old songs
Ya know we heard 'em all before

You tellin' me it's unpatriotic
But I call it what I see it
When I see it's idiotic
The tears of one mother
Are the same as any other
Drop food on the kids
While you're murderin' their fathers
But don't bother to show it on CNN
Brothers and sisters don't believe them
It's not a war against evil
It's really just revenge
Engaged by the poorest by the same rich men
Fight terrorists wherever they be found
But why you not bombing Tim McVeigh's hometown?
You can say what you want propaganda television
But all bombing is terrorism



(chorus)
We can chase down all our enemies
Bring them to their knees
We can bomb the world to pieces
But we can't bomb it into peace
Whoa we may even find a solution
To hunger and disease
We can bomb the world to pieces
But we can't bomb it into peace

911
Fire in the skies
Many people died
And no one even really knows why
They tellin' lies of division and fear
We yelled and cried
No one listened for years
But like, "who put us here?"
And who's responsible?
Well, there's no debatin'
Cause if they ask me I say
It's big corporations
World trade organisation
Tri-lateral action
Tri-lateral action
International sanctions, Satan
Seems like it'll be an endless price tag
Of wars tremendous
And most disturbingly
The death toll is so horrendous
So I send this to those
Who say they defend us
Send us into harm's way
We should all make a remembrance that
This is bigger than terrorism
Blood is blood is blood and um
Love is true vision
Who will listen?
How many songs it takes for you to see
You can bomb the world to pieces
You can't bomb it into peace

(chorus)



Power to the peaceful
And I say, love to the people y'all
Power to the peaceful
And I say, love to the people y'all

my friends djMark & lirpa both noticed some fotoblogging i had done over the summer @ flickr.com that i had made a link to in my myspace page... i mostly posted pix that i took in august during an unusual vacation for me, my first-ever, solo, non-business-related trip, in fact (post-breakup), to both philadelphia

 

and nyc (in two installments).

 

all of the pictures i took were captured with a series of disposable cameras... i had thought about buying a digital camera before the trip, but knew nothing about them & ran out of time... i discovered during my journey that the more i wandered around the east coast & took fotos, though, the more i wanted to keep doin' it! from my cocoon of despair & confusion began to emerge a full-fledged shutterbug (& please keep in mind that my mother was being treated for cancer @ the same time as that trip, so i wasn't just simply wallowing in 'dating' blues in self-pitying fashion)...

anyways: practically no one on myspace really noticed (such is the nature of that online community... + i'm a wee bit older than the average there [ha!], which has always made me slightly uncomfortable with having a myspace account at all)... practically no one noticed, that is, except for mark & lirpa, & maybe a handful of other frenz & family members...

well... out of all that initial flickr/myspace blog energy came a later invitation from those two to start a buzznet account, which, in all honesty, has changed my life.

sure, this shite ain't perfect, but i personally really needed to reach out to a larger community--something radio work has certainly allowed me to do, but which is a tall order in this gentrified region of the "golden" state...

as a result of my membership, i've made a bunch of friends in three relatively short months (including deepening my ties to djM, lirpa & their 2 wonderful children, paisley & otis)...

here's the thing, then... re: that beautiful painting mark gave me the other day for helping him get up to snuff to start his first ever gig as a full-fledged fm radio dj?... on 1 level, i don't feel like i really deserve it, 'cause i've gotten so much more from them than any extra effort i put into answering mark's self-described "stupid questions" (damn, answering radio-related questions is what i largely do for a living! it's the least i can do, especially for a friend!! =)



i don't know how to thank the two of them enough, or also so many of y'all (who have even waded this far into this particular entry), for helping me to reimagine a very difficult phase of my life as actually being one of rebirth (& i'm hoping, even, evolution)...

the least i can do is to share some of these thoughts with a number of U collectively, in this site, & with others (such as my very best friends from santa barbara, for instance--jay, sara, & samara, luis & doina, john b., keith r., my boss elizabeth robinson, my longtime coworker bryan, my roommates since i joined 'laguna house,'--sara b., laurel, & keira--so many of the student managers @ kcsb,--chris m. & carlotta, esp.--kcsb's great programmers, and so on... plus my family, of course (both immediate & extended)... i just want to express appreciation to you all for being there for me, and for being such important parts of my life...

o.k. enough of my blather... y'all must think i'm some sorta hippie!

but back to U 2, "dj"mark & april (is it o.k. for me to call U that for once, lirpa?;) ~ not only am i gonna think about other concrete ways to pay U back for your luv & generosity (besides writing a unsolicited tome)... i also just wanted to show U just how special a location mark's "sound salvation" piece has already assumed in my space (in the haven i've been calling my bedroom since late winter, 2005)...

U twose, so many of y'alls... i just don't know where i'd be withoutcha!!!!!!!!

with LUV & in solidarity,
ted

(the freak power ticket on kcsb 91.9 fm, alternating mondays from 9-11am pst in santa barbara, california)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Broadcast

gene wilder: "the wondrous boat ride [excerpt]" (hip-o records) (from the
    original motion picture soundtrack to willy wonka & the chocolate factory,
    lyrics & music by anthony newley & leslie bricusse) (occasional freak power
    ticket theme song)




david bowie: "oh! you pretty things" (virgin records)



seu jorge: "oh! you pretty things" (hollywood records)



rogelio mitchell: "gotas de lluvia en mi cabeza [raindrops keep falling on my
    head]" (arena records)  (released under the name "rogers mitchell" in chile in
    the early 1970s: very rare!!!)



the weakerthans: "a plea from a cat named virtute" (epitaph records) (canadian
    pride, kiddos!!! ;)



world/inferno friendship society: "cats are not lucky creatures" (the label with
    the golden arm [european import])

bill hicks: "the war" (rykodisk)  (radio edit)

angelo badalamenti: "jitterbug" & "mulholland drive" (bmg/milan) (music bed
    for playlist review voiceover)

the damned: "song.com" (nitro records) (take two from jan. 2nd)

mos def: "freaky black greetings" (geffen records)

saul williams: "list of demands (reparations)" (fader records)

michael franti & spearhead: "bomb the world" (boo boo wax)

nina simone: "i wish i knew how it would feel to be free" (harmless records)



the make-up: "do you like gospel music?" (dischord records)

neil young: "untitled" tracks from dead man soundtrack (music bed for
    playlist review voiceover)

john trudell: "bombs over baghdad" (rykodisk)

stan ridgway: "monsters of the id" (redFly records) (cover of mose allison's
    anti-vietnam war classic by the former lead singer of wall of voodoo:
    dedicated to buzznetter "white rabbit")

the decemberists: "16 military wives" (kill rock stars)

motorhead: "bomber" (castle us)  (lemmy tell U!!!! ;)



the (international) noise conspiracy: "black mask" (g7 welcoming committee)
    (version #1, circa 1999)

the (international) noise conspiracy: "black mask" (american recordings) new
    release



luis prat: "¡zapata vive!" (self-produced)

seu jorge: "tive razao" (wrasse records)  new release

anyone out there read timothy leary's later works on cyber culture?  i've been thinking about issues suggested by my three months on the buzz, doing consistent blog work, & observing a more collective experience as a result... it all seems rife with amazing potential as well as no small peril... this has gotten me thinking about the little i know about dr. leary's later intellectual focus on computer technology & the human mind...

where would one go to start dealing with his musings on the subject?  any definitive books out there (by leary, or by any other important thinker?)...

i'm sorta familiar with pop culture representations of cyber life by such filmmakers as the wachowski brothers (with the matrix series), or david cronenberg's videodrome & eXistenZ... a long time ago, too, i read gibson's neuromancer, but really didn't get much out of it...

so, where to go with leary? (assuming he's worth considering...) philip dick's probably a must... what about good nonfiction musings on what in god's name we're doing to ourselves by spending so much time online (assuming that we do)... i'm just curious what all ya more experienced tech heads recommend for a neophyte curious mind like my own...

~ comandanta ramona, rest in peace~ freakpowertix



christian science monitor

World > Terrorism & Security
posted January 4, 2006 at 11:00 a.m.

Zapatistas start political tour of Mexico

The leader of the military group promises to advance its socialist, pro-Indian cause through peaceful means.

By Arthur Bright | csmonitor.com

Twelve years after a short but violent New Year's uprising in Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state, the Zapatistas have launched a new campaign to reshape the nation - a political campaign.

The leader of the Mayan Zapatistas, Subcomandante Marcos, launched a national tour Sunday to rally support for the group's pro-Indian, socialist policies, reports the Associated Press.

Thousands of supporters cheered as Subcommandante Marcos, the Indian rights movement's ski-masked leader, roared through La Garrucha on a black motorcycle with a Mexican flag tied to the back and the initials of the Zapatista military army, EZLN, painted in red on the front.

The caravan's trip through all 31 states and Mexico City is meant to influence Mexico's July presidential election. Marcos has said Zapatista leaders will reach out to leftist groups across the country, creating a national movement that will "turn Mexico on its head."

The political tour, dubbed "The Other Campaign" in a reference to Mexico's 2006 presidential elections, is a marked departure from the Zapatistas' first appearance in 1994. On New Year's Day that year, the EZLN emerged from the Chiapas jungle and attacked Mexican soldiers and police, in the hopes of fomenting a socialist movement to aid the state's poor indigenous population. The EZLN succeeded in capturing several towns, and by the time a cease-fire was reached in March, about 150 soldiers, rebels, and civilians had died.



Since then, the Zapatistas' operational focus has been political, not militant. In 2001, they campaigned across Mexico in support of an Indians' rights bill proposed by President Vicente Fox, then just recently elected. The Mexican Congress, however, approved a watered-down version of the bill, to the Zapatistas' dismay.

Most recently, the EZLN declared a "red alert" in June 2005, recalling its commanders and warning outsiders to stay out of its territory, reported The Christian Science Monitor.

Major newspapers in Mexico City speculated that the Zapatistas were preparing a new armed offensive, coinciding with the unofficial start of the race for the 2006 presidential elections.

After four weeks of silence, Marcos sent word from his jungle hideout to end the red alert. The announcements that followed, however, did little to shed light on what was going on.

What happened, reports the San Diego Independent Media Center, a grass-roots website, was the establishment of the "Sixth Declaration of the Lacondan Jungle" or the "Sexta," which has become the platform of the current tour.

The text of the Sexta calls for a different approach in Mexican politics where different sectors of society will be united in movement for social change. Previously an indigenous peasant movement, the Zapatistas propose to bring together workers, rural and urban poor, people of oppressed sexual identities, teachers, students, other indigenous groups, small businesses, NGOs, cooperatives and collectives and independent individuals. The purpose of the national tour is to visit and listen.

However, The Other Campaign also appears to be predicated on faulting Mexico's current political and economic systems. Reuters reports that Marcos said the Zapatistas will not participate in Mexico's elections nor become an official political party, as he says the political system itself is corrupt.

In Palenque – where he arrived in a long convoy of Zapatistas, journalists and police and was greeted by about 6,000 supporters – the apparently unarmed Marcos blamed Mexican poverty on corrupt politicians and called for grass roots activism.

"This all has to change, and not from above where the right-wing is spreading its lies, but from below and from the left," he said.

Marcos expressed similar thoughts in San Cristobal, where he told a crowd the Zapatistas "are not a government or a political party or, the worst thing in the world, a house of lawmakers," and promised that the movement would "turn Mexico on its head."

Despite the criticism, the Mexican government welcomed the Zapatistas' political tour, the BBC reported, and said that it "showed the group's determination to contribute to political debate within Mexico."

"It is an achievement of Mexican democracy and Mexican democracy guarantees the free expression of these ideas," Ruben Aguilar [a spokesman for President Vicente Fox] said.

"In that sense, it is recognised that the Zapatistas intend, through the political route, to make their points of views and ideas known."

While the direct effects of the Zapatista's nascent political campaign remain to be seen, it appears to have already spurred the Mexican government to renew its focus on indigenous groups, reports AP.

President Fox launched what appeared to be a competing mission Monday: a weeklong tour of Indian communities based in several states.

"There are issues pending about the use of natural resources. There are issues pending about land and territory," said Xochitl Galvez, head of the government's Commission for the Development of Indian Communities. He said those, as well as conflicts about the judicial standing of Indian communities, "will have to be dealt with."

The iconic Subcomandante Marcos, whom Mexican officials believe to be a middle-class philosophy teacher according to the BBC, has dropped his military title for the tour, instead adopting the title of "Delegado [delegate] Zero." His tour will travel over the next six months from Chiapas, Mexico's southernmost state, all the way north to the US border.

o.k. was reminded of this 2005 release during the course of the day:



sleater-kinney: the woods (sub pop)

a'ight... i'll bite, this goes down too (a recent plug in my buzzblog):



seu jorge: cru

top ten lists stress me out. i can’t even keep straight what’s a “new release” or what’s 2 or more years old. it goes with workin’ at a college/community radio station, i guess... it’s all one big jumping-off point...

i free associate more than list, anyways...

a stab at 2005 (?) free association... good records!:

the (international) noise conspiracy – armed love (released one year late, due to label problems, i first heard it on import a ways back)


tom brosseau – what i mean to say is goodbye



angela correa – correatown



the decemberists – picaresque



david rovics – for the moment


michael franti – love kamikaze: the lost sex singles & collectors remixes

(oh, yeah, baby!!!)



world/inferno friendship society – me v. angry mob .... import only e.p. release



gogol bordello – gypsy punks



hmm...

just because...

i once worked for the UAW... I'm not at all surprised by the sort of serious charges alleged below... sickening "business unionism."  i just wish most of the corrupt, capitalist-loving, "satan's cocksucking" (bill hicks reference, that one) unions in the u.s. would just wither away & die... building alternatives are so difficult, though... will put up a link to the industrial workers of the world next: iww.org (tiny, imperfect, but the principles are dead-on...more likely to rebuild a u.s. labor movement from scratch with those values, than having dinosaurs like the UAW reformed! however long the odds)...


here, here to the obu! in solidarity, freax
-----

www.commondreams.org

Published on Tuesday, January 3, 2006 by Agence France Presse
US Autoworkers Fight UAW-Agreed Health-Care Cuts

Grassroots pressure is mounting for a recount of a critical vote that ratified changes in the United Auto Workers' labor pacts with struggling automakers Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp.

Several union members employed by Ford said last week they intend to ask the union to release the detailed results of the recent vote, in which the contract passed by a narrow 51 percent to 49 percent margin.

The spillover from the controversy at Ford also could raise questions about the changes to contract changes that are scheduled to alter health-care benefits for blue-collar workers and retirees at General Motors in 2006.

Disgruntled workers are also planning to circulate a petition inside Ford plants calling on the union to submit the contract changes to a second vote, said Steve Fisher, a Ford employee from Sandusky, Ohio, who is currently serving as a spokesman for the workers critical of the contract vote.

"Ideally, we'd like a revote," Fisher said. "The numbers just don't add up."

Fisher noted that even partial returns from Ford plants show the contract changes being rejected by wide margins in places such as Louisville, Kentucky, and the truck assembly plant in Ford's historic Rouge Manufacturing Complex in Detroit.

Ron Lare, a union activist from UAW Local 600 in Dearborn, Michigan, said he had noted little security around the ballot boxes used in the ratification vote, which was held just before Christmas, December 25.

Fisher said the protests were just getting started and dissatisfied union members had not yet settled on a strategy. Another possibility would be joining a lawsuit filed by disgruntled union members who asked a federal court in Detroit to set aside the UAW's agreement that trimmed the health care benefits of GM workers.

If protesting Ford workers uncover any evidence of collusion with management or ballot-box stuffing, that could bolster objections of GM retirees who have argued the union did not have the right to negotiate away the benefits of retired workers, Fisher said.

Paul Krell, a UAW spokesman, declined to comment Friday on the protest, noting he had not had an opportunity to review the complaints.

However, Ellis Boal, a Charlevoix, Michigan, attorney who provided legal advice to a variety of UAW dissidents, confirmed that he has been asked to advise disgruntled union members employed by both Ford and GM.

"I haven't been retained by anybody, yet, but I expect to be," he said.

Boal also said he plans to argue that the union's own internal election guidelines automatically call for recounts in any election for officers where the winning margin is 51 percent or less. The same principle should apply in ratification votes, Boal said.

Union dissidents also have challenged bankrupt auto parts supplier Delphi Corp's demands for sweeping cuts in wages and benefits.

Both GM and Ford are under intense pressure to cut costs because of falling market shares and mounting financial losses. GM has lost more than four billion dollars in the first three quarters of 2005 and Ford's automotive operations lost more than one billion dollars as the automakers used costly incentives to prop up sales in the face of declining market share.

The financial problems at both companies has been exacerbated by a decline in the sales of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles as gasoline (petrol) prices have risen.

Fisher said he realizes that, given today's climate, the union has to make some concessions, including giving up part of cost-of-living raises and a one-dollar per hour pay increase scheduled for next September.

However, there is concern about a plan to shift the retiree health-care costs to a trust outside the existing health-care system in place at Ford. Trusts have been used by the UAW at Caterpillar and Detroit Diesel, and they have gone broke.

"This one is designed to fail in seven to 10 years. Then what will be left?" Fisher said.

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse

"one of these days i gotta get myself organizized" (travis bickle [robert deniro], taxi driver, 1976)



i made a concerted effort today to get myself more "organizized"... went out to the isla vista food co-op (close to campus) & bought the "slingshot 2006 organizer."



i've been relying on these things for years now... they come in two sizes... my favorite is the "classic" pocket version: "a 160 page pocket planner (4.25"x5.5") with radical dates for every day of the year, space to write your phone numbers, a contact list of radical groups around the globe, menstrual calendar [no joke, allya dudes with 'good attitudes about menstruation';)], info on police repression, extra note pages, plus much more. Choose from a world record 48 cover colors printed with either black or silver ink (depending on how dark the paper stock is - you get to pick the cover color, not the ink color)."
-- slingshot.tao.ca


The other style, for y'all with busier, more important lives, runs 5.5"x8.5", & is bound with spiral wiring... you'd need some sorta bag or briefcase to carry that one, & it doesn't hold up to a lot of jostlin', just fyi...

here's what the slingshot collective (which also puts out an excellent quarterly radical newspaper) says about purchasing these puppies:

"If you can, we strongly, STRONGLY urge you to buy your organizers IN PERSON from a local independent bookstore or Infoshop. Your purchases help these excellent projects keep going. Having non-corporate spaces in our communities is essential to freedom. PLEASE don’t buy organizers on-line or by mail order if you live in a community that has a local bookstore, i.e. any big city in the USA or Canada and almost any major college town. Get off your computer, on your bike and out into a bookstore -- it will make you happy! Mail order is depressing when you can deal with real, live people! And those people need you and your $5!"

go to the website above to find out more about where U might buy a slingshot organizer in your area! or, if U really insist, on where to buy one online!

This public service message is brought to you by the "freakpowertix collective," a growing anarchist organization of voices in my head...

special edition of The Freak Power Ticket (subbing from 7-9am, pacific, kcsb 91.9 fm in santa barbara, california)



jello biafra: "kcsb station identification spot"
the damned: "song.com" (nitro records)   [fer all my buzzfriends!!!]
the make-up: "at the tone... (the time will be)" (dischord records)
the make-up: "we can’t be contained" (dischord)
kate bush: "running up that hill (a deal with god)" (emi) [anonymous dedication =)]
sly & the family stone: "stand!"  (epic) 
sly & the family stone: "don’t call me nigger, whitey" (epic)  [dedicated to         
            richard pryor, r.i.p.]
the geraldine fibbers: "california tuffy" (virgin)  [edited]
ryuichi sakamoto: "undercooled" (warner bros. records)  [music bed for my
            voiceover/playlist review]
the descendents: "weinerschnitzel" (sst records)  [dedicated to friartuck, luv
            "milo"]
ryuichi sakamoto: "coro"  (warner bros.)  [music bed for playlist voiceover]
the descendents: "coffee mug" (epitaph)

the descendents: "when i get old" (epitaph)
the haints: "when i’m gone" (springman records)  [my sacramento homies,
            groovie ghoulies, acousticized! ;)]
the haints: "message to pretty" (springman records)  [cover of love’s song from
            its 1966 debut album: i dedicate this to arthur lee himself]
the groovie ghoulies: "the lizard king" (green door records)  [the real lizard king
            is godzilla, not jim morrison!]
the groovie ghoulies: "the king kong stomp" (green door records)
love: "alone again or" (elektra)
calexico: “alone again or” (quarterstick records)
the polyphonic spree: "it’s the sun" (hollywood records)  [for otis "l’il o"
            regester & esp. for his sister paisley, aka “carrotjuice”]
the geraldine fibbers: “swim back to me” (virgin)
donovan: "atlantis" (raven records [import])  [for sacramento, which i’m hoping
            will not be the next new orleans!]
the geraldine fibbers: "claudine" (virgin)  [instrumental music bed for playlist review/voice-over]
the (international) noise conspiracy: "a small demand" (edited) (american recordings)
the (international) noise conspiracy: "black mask" (american)
the geraldine fibbers: "butch" (virgin)
kepi ghoulie: "the algebra song" (pop rockit records)  ["it's something U can't measure/
            something U should treasure.../don't try to figure it out, it's beyond us": i'm feeling so
            cosmic & inspired recently! (such a hippie! ;)]

awwww... fuck!!!

i'm subbing for this dude tomorrow on kcsb 91.9 fm, santa b-eazy...

7-9am pacific.

webstream at kcsb.org

the reason i hesitated to mention it? i wasn't sure how much time i'd have to get ready... performance anxiety... it's not "the freak power ticket," but simply an echo... but echos can move mountains, no? ;)

y'all can message me during the show, if you want & are able... i'll be checkin'!

freakyPT

your bill hicks sunday/new years sermon, 2006: “it’s just a ride” (from the video recording, “bill hicks – revelations,” uk, channel 4 [tiger aspect], 1993).

transcript from www.gavinsblog.com




...You've been fantastic and I hope you enjoyed it. There is a point, is there a point to all of this? Let's find a point. Is there a point to my act? I would say there is. I have to. The world is like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think that it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. [Audience member shouts 'bollocks'] There is a lot denial in this ride, the ride, in fact, is made up of denial "All things work in Goatboys favour". The world is like a ride at an amusement park. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question, is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride..." And we... kill those people. Ha ha "Shut him up." "We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real." Just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. Jesus mudered; Martin Luther King mudered; Malcolm X murdered; Gandhi murdered; John Lennon murdered; Reagan.... wounded. But it doesn't matter because: It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love.



The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defences each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace. Thank you very much, you've been great. [Applause] I hope you enjoyed it. London, you were fantastic, thank you, thank you very much. [bow] [bow] [three shots ring out - Bill crumples to the ground] CUT: Bill slams against the Monolith, and slides to the ground CUT: the riderless white horse walks along the road, away from the camera VO: It's Just A Ride... It's Just A Ride...