H2O

The movie below is from 1929 and done by Ralph Steiner (an artist I am researching). This movie, H2O is amazing. He builds the whole thing thinking only of form and using only water. It is beautiful... how he makes parts of it so abstract, I do not know.

So... if you have 12 minutes, take a look and "ahh" yourself.

What Times We Live In

It is quite interesting to hear the blame game being played all around our country. Who is to blame for our current economic crisis? What can we do to fix it? Hmmm… Let’s take a step back, take a deep breath and think about it.

It could be the failing housing market, it could be the rotten banks and Wall Street, it could be President Bush… it could a lot of things. The two things I have not heard mentioned are number 1, Greed and number 2, the Industrial Revolution is over.

1. We must all own up to our part in greed. Need the bigger house, the bigger car, lots of toys, eating out… the excess. Maybe it wasn’t the bigger house or car for some… maybe it was the new clothes, new furniture, air conditioning, etc. Whatever we needed (or should I say wanted) we got, taking the debt for granted. With this new found freedom of excess, of course the creditors and banks would profit. No one is innocent in this mess, we all played our part. There is also a part we must all play to fix it… and there is NO quick fix. We took on the mortgages we couldn’t afford; the banks let us take them. We used credit to purchase outside our means; the creditors allowed it. Nobody tried to slow down or think… and then the bottom fell out. Hmmm… big surprise.
   
   It is very interesting that people are worried about their grandchildren’s grandchildren having to pay for this latest round of bailouts, but the type of environment they live in doesn’t cross their minds. Do you now see a little of what greed does to us?
   
   
2. We rode the high of the Industrial Revolution for nearly a century and we all know “all good things come to an end.” Industry is being overrun by technology, at a pace we never imagined. Technology isn’t going anywhere, it is growing everywhere. We cannot hide from it. As our savvy for technology grows, the need for people in the workplace will diminish. We must learn to integrate into our lives. People will no longer build our cars, robots will. We need to plan for this now!! We are now in the Technology Evolution and we just need to get used to it. Industry and money are changing and there is nothing that can be done to reverse it. I just hope movies like “I, Robot” stay as fiction and do not foretell our future.

It is my opinion that we as a nation should chose to “Go Green”. With the sun and wind technologies that we have available to ourselves, we can temporarily create jobs, lessen our dependence on foreign nations, and save the earth. The sun catchers and wind farms are quite artistic looking and could greatly decrease our need for coal power. Our automakers have the technology to build “green” cars, but don’t because it is not cost effective in America. Well… let’s make it cost effective. Supply and Demand is a concept that will never die.

I will end now… as I can go on and on and on. But I want to end with (and don’t be afraid of it) the Golden Rule:

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

If we all lived by this rule, don’t you think the world would be a better place?

Good Times

Pictures from my families' Thanksgivings...

Jules getting a snack at Thanksgiving.

Uncle Steve and Vern.
Boomer enjoying himself.
Cutting the Turkey.

Hanging out.

Guess who the scene stealer is?

The ladies cooking dinner.

The guys watching football.

Grandma and Grandpa at Thanksgiving.

Nick and Heidi.

Pictures from Christmas...

Drive to Aunt Val and Uncle Jim's House.

Nice face Lisa...

Aunt Val gets KO'd.

Gina catches the action.

The boys duking it out...

Whose winning?

Boxing sitting down?

Real life wrestling.

Smoke opening his gift.

New Snow.

Ice forms on the drive.

Angel's new toy.


Our new addition... Emma.

To Whom it May Concern:

So I haven’t said much since the election… I was quite pleased at the outcome and think America could be on the road to return. Enough about that though. This blog is going to me more venting for me than anything.

On November 12th, I started getting an “attack”. While that may sound bad, I have been suffering them for at least that past 6 years… NO big deal. However, since it was at work, one of my bosses made me go to the emergence room because she thought I was having a heart attack. Well learn the symptoms of a heart attack sweetie, ‘cause I wasn’t suffering from them. So the ER visit turns into a 4 days stay because no one can figure out what is wrong and the same alkaline phosphates that have been elevated for at least 3 years are elevated. SHOCKER. So… I end up having to experience a horrible IV, x-rays, ultra sound, countless blood work, MRCP, and an ERCP (too much detail for something you can research) and STILL have no answer. Oh yeah… did I mention that I missed the TSO concert???

So let’s see… since leaving the hospital, I have seen my GI doctor now 3 times, changed meds, had another ultrasound, more blood work, another endoscopy, even more “attacks” have occurred, am awaiting a liver biopsy and STILL have no answer. Well… I did get one possible answer, but if this doctor will not sign off on getting me a full hysterectomy, then I am not coming off of my Seasonale.

If you cannot tell yet, I am quite bitter about the whole experience… especially with being allowed the privilege of paying thousands of dollars for all this and of course not having any answers. Not knowing was a lot better… trust me.

Do people care? Probably not. I am sure my boss feels quite proud of herself, but I don’t feel that she truly cares. Not too many people do, but I know which ones do and I thank them. (You know who you are) Also, if I do not want to tell these people that do not care anything about what is going on, why should I? It is none of their business… and besides they only half hear anyway (many of them still think I had a heart attack).

Even as I write this, I am reminded of the irony as I am sitting through an attack. I have gotten quite used to them. Had one last night at my Aunt and Uncle’s house too... joy.

I am sure they will continue to happen… what does it matter anymore? I have gotten used to all the other pain.

P.S.
For all my “Celiac Disease” all-knowing co-workers – my GI doctor has said many times that what is happening with my liver has nothing to do with Celiac Disease, so get off your damn high horses.

Election Results as they happen!!

November 4th is almost here

Okay, so November 4th is almost here. A part of me is so thankful because that means an end to all the phone calls and ads (especially the negative ones). However, there is still a part of me that absolutely fears that day and what it could mean for me, my family, my friends, my country, and our futures. Some polls have Obama with a 10-point lead and others say a dead-even tie. I guess there is no easy way to know until that fateful Tuesday when the polls start closing and ballots start being counted. For me the outcome is crucial, a change for the better or my sign that Canada is looking like my new home. While I have cast my vote early, my loyal readers (all one of you) may not have, and so I choose to try to sway you one last time before you head to the polls.

While truly in effect no President can “by himself” instill the changes/plans they preach about during their campaign, it is only Congress that can make the changes. The President does become the biggest and most powerful lobbyist in the United States. So now when you look at the plans, ideals, and pasts, who do you really think can enact change? When you look at past committees, college lives, community organizing, etc, who has the greater chance of truly bringing Congress together for bi-partisan decision making?

I could sit here and tout about who was at the top of their class and who was 3rd from the bottom, and talk about who voted with Bush’s ideals the most, but you already know all that. And if you don’t, then I feel really sorry for you to have to make an uninformed decision.

Before I end, I do want to talk about scandals… I will mention one that involves a Presidential Candidate, “The Keating Five”. No need to elaborate, as if you were over the age of 15 in the late 80’s/early 90’s you will remember it, and if not, go ask you parents. Next, a couple of scandals involving a Vice-Presidential Candidate, “Trooper Gate” and “The Natural Gas Pipeline”. Trooper Gate is over done, but I will explain the Natural Gas Pipeline. Here is what the AP uncovered:

• Instead of creating a process that would attract many potential builders, this VP Candidate slanted the terms away from an important group — the global energy giants that own the rights to the gas.
• Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders, this VP Candidate had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.
• The leader of this VP Candidate’s pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman's former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada's lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal, interacting with legislators in the weeks before the vote to grant TransCanada the contract. Plus, a former TransCanada executive served as an outside consultant to this VP Candidate’s pipeline team.
• Under a different set of rules four years earlier, TransCanada had offered to build the pipeline without a state subsidy; under this VP Candidate, the company could receive a maximum $500 million.
• “this VP Candidate held firmly to her fundamental belief that Alaska could best serve Alaskans and the nation's interests by pursuing a competitive approach to building a natural gas pipeline," said this VP Candidate’s spokesman Taylor Griffin. "There was an open and transparent process that subjected the decision to extensive public scrutiny and due diligence."

Just have to mention here that these scandals are from the same ticket. And the other ticket… no scandals found. :)

Lastly, one candidate has often been compared to John F. Kennedy. And rightly so there are some striking similarities. He is also a first-term Senator, he is also running on the fundamentals of change during a time our Country needs it, he is young, and he has never served in the military. So in the words of that great leader, John F. Kennedy:

"The world is changing. The old ways will not do... It is time for a new generation of leadership."


Vote for Obama!

Very Important... Please read.

This was written by Eric Johnson, the son of a family a friend. It was published in the Grand Forks Herald on Friday, Sept. 19, 2008.

Avoid 'Tropic Thunder' a cruel comedy

The new movie “Tropic Thunder” is a sad reminder that among all disadvantaged groups in America, the developmentally disabled are unique in the particular brand of prejudice and ridicule they must endure. Even before its release, the comedy drew fire for its treatment of the mentally disabled. I rushed out to see it, as it piqued my interest on several levels. I’m an occasional stand-up comic, a full-time law professor teaching and writing about media law, and my brother is severely retarded.

Ben Stiller stars in the DreamWorks picture as a struggling actor, the high point of whose career is taking on the role of a man with mental retardation. Stiller’s portrayal of the mentally disabled man is an over-the-top caricature played up for laughs — which it got plenty of when I saw the film.

Meanwhile, co-star Robert Downey Jr.’s character makes copious use of the word “retard.” In a line apparently designed to take root as a popular catch-phrase and T-shirt slogan, Downey’s character warns Stiller’s, “Never go full retard.”

I hope most people will recognize the film for what it is: heartless and cruel. DreamWorks and the film’s actors have tried to take the moral high-ground by arguing that the film is an equal-opportunity offender. But that’s not true. For instance, while much of the film’s subject matter plays off of African-American stereotypes, it does so with the foil of a black character, played by Brandon T. Jackson, who points out the bigotry and provides a discourse about it. No such perspective is offered on behalf of the developmentally disabled, who are lampooned with impunity.

Furthermore, while a spectrum of racial and religious minorities fill the ranks of Hollywood shot-callers, the developmentally disabled do not. And, in frankness, they
never will. That’s the nature of this disability and its peculiar curse. So while racial barbs and religious slurs might, in the context of a big Hollywood collaboration, qualify as some form of collective self-mockery, there can be no such excuse when the developmentally disabled are made laughingstocks.

Downey, for his part, defended the film on the basis of the First Amendment. “You know, if I want to protest something because it offends me, that’s my right as an American,” he said at the movie’s premiere. “And it’s also any artist’s right to say and do whatever they want to do.” Co-star Jack Black offered a similar defense. “Obviously, that’s what America is all about,” he said. “If you’ve got something to say, you are free to say it.” We all cherish the First Amendment. Playing the free-speech card in this circumstance, however, is a dishonest way of trying to deflect criticism. The question is not constitutionality; it is civility. The taunts in the film are not illegal, nor should they be, but they are hateful and sickening. Ideals of artistic freedom cannot relieve even the best-paid bullies from moral responsibility for what they say and do. The fact is that even among the various species of hate speech, ridicule of those with retardation is unique in its brutishness. Unlike racial minorities, religious adherents or the physically disabled, those with developmental disabilities cannot well defend themselves with wit and well-crafted retorts. That’s why the arguments of Downey and Black — that everyone has the right to say whatever they want — are especially hollow.

Stiller, the film’s director, star, co-producer, and, along with a collaborator, author of the story and screenplay, took a different tack in dealing with the criticism. “I feel if people see the movie, I’m confident that they’ll get where we’re coming from in the film,” Stiller said. Having seen it myself, I think it’s fair to say that where Stiller comes from is a shallow reserve of material and talent upon which to draw. Stiller’s creation of a developmentally disabled character for “Tropic Thunder” was neither difficult nor clever. In fact, Stiller’s performance is indistinguishable from the antics of the lout we all remember from middle school who never missed an opportunity to point and laugh at the kids getting off the “short bus.”

Here’s hoping moviegoers will think twice before patronizing and praising such sad and dehumanizing fare.

Johnson is an assistant professor at the UND School of Law