ElectroPoliticoSpace Rock

Ok I was wrong! After hearing a couple of new live tracks a few weeks ago I was convinced Muse had out prog rock'd even, well, Muse themselves. After a few listens of 'Black Holes and Revelations' it becomes apparent that this is not the case (bar the last track on the album). Gone (almost) are the grand epic 'The Works' era rock opera like masterpieces. In its place comes a more electronic, dance like album that will definitely appeal to a mainstream audience (the album made no 1 in its first week in the ARIA charts). Think ELO recording 'Queen II', being produced by Faithless. Even that eclectic description doesn't do this album justice. Like the latest Pearl Jam and Neil Young albums, Muse have taken the gloves of and are taking the fight up to Bush, Blair and their western cronies , with their most political album to date. Album opener 'Take A Bow' takes aim at Blair and/or Bush with the eerie refrain of:

"You'll burn in hell
Yeah you'll burn in hell
For your sins"

lingering on long after the CD finishes. 'Soldiers Poem' examines a soldier who's lost all faith in his/her government:

"How could you send us all far away from home
When you know damn well that this is all
I would still lay down my life for you

And do you think you deserve your freedom
No I dont think you do
Theres no justice in the world
Theres no justice in the world
And there never was."

City Of Delusion, Assassin, Exo-Politics also have strong political overtones.

Standout tracks for me are 'Map Of The Problematique', Starlight, Exo-Politics, Invincible and my once hated 'Knights of Cydonia'. This last track has to be heard to be believed, you can check out the video here. Not many bands would have the balls to record something so outlandish, let alone have it as an album closer. A brave new Muse has entered our world, and things are starting to look up.

Hard(l)ie done it

It seems James Hardie Industries has finally had a victory of sorts in its endeavor to get the Australian taxpayer to assist paying for its incompetence/negligence. Still, many are unsure if this means anything at all, as explained by Bernie Banton:

"Asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton describes the decision as a step in the right direction, but that the final funding agreement could still be in jeopardy because of a tax office ruling last week that refuses to recognise the compensation fund as a charity.

"It means that for Hardie's the money going into the fund won't be taxed, so it's great for Hardie's, but the problem is the fund then could be taxed when the money's outgoing," he said."

I don't often find myself being in agreement with both the treasurer Peter Costello and John Howard, in that James Hardie should pay up from its own pocket. As John Howard said "We strongly believe (Hardie) should meet the obligations to its workers...I do not support a situation where some of James Hardie's responsibility is shouldered by the ordinary Australian taxpayers in some kind of special deal."

I realise its not a great situation for the asbestos sufferers to be in, as any money at this stage would be welcomed. But they (and the ACTU and Labor) should stop supporting the bad guys here and realise that James Hardie will do whatever it takes to avoid paying the victims compensation for their own negligence.

Update: Just to prove how much of stuggle it would be for James Hardie to pay out this asbestos sufferers along comes this:

"The top executive at James Hardie Industries has received a pay rise of more than 60 per cent in the past year.

The report shows the pay packet of CEO Louis Gries grew to $4.7 million, including bonuses and other benefits."

Animal Rights Riffs

As World Vegan Day approaches in the US on June 21 (although here in Australia its celebrated on October 29) its probably a good time to think of the top 10 animal rights songs. Taking cue from PETA's top 10 animal rights riffs I've decided to try for an alternative 10.



Moby- Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad- Moby, a passionate supporter of animal rights and a vegan, has lent this song to the climax of the movie Peaceable Kingdom.

Chrissie Hynd- I'll stand by you- Previously lead singer from The Pretenders, long time animal rights activist Chrissie has dedicated this song to animals both at PETA and at Farm Sanctuary benefits.

Frenzal Rhomb- Guns Don't Kill Ducklings, Ducklings Kill Duckling- Aussie band with all bandmembers being passionate about animal rights. This song describes gun shooting from the pov of a paranoid duck shooter.

Silverchair- Spawn Again- Couldn't be an animal rights song list without something penned from famous Aussie vegan musician Daniel Johns.

Peter Gabriel- Shock The Monkey- While not specificaly penned against Vivisection (rather a look at the human trait of jealousy), Peter Gabriel is a big animal rights supporter and has actually jammed with Bonobos monkeys as a part of an investigation into their intelligence.

Spearhead- Red Beans and Rice- Led by long time environmentalist and vegan, Michael Franti originally wrote this before he was Vegetarian. Now seems to have changed the lyrics when singing this one live.

Manic Street Preachers- Small Black Flowers that Grow in the Sky
- one of the last songs written by Richey James Edwards (he dissapeared the year before the album was released) about the maltreatment of animals in captivity.

Propagandhi- Nailing Descartes To The Wall.

Nina Hagen / Lene Lovich - Don't Kill The Animals.

Prince- Animal Kingdom.

Update: other songs I've just been alerted to:

The Church- Locust- Penned by vegan Steve Kilbey.

Siouxsie and the Banshees- Skin- Siouxsie's pro-animal rights/anti-fur and leather anthem.

Rolf Harris- Slaughter on the Ice. You can see the You Tube video here


Any other additions/ deletions?

All Praise The Great One

No I'm not talking about those 8 legged critters who unsucessfully tried to lure John Pertwee to his death at the hands of the queen 'is that fear I see in your mind?' spider. Instead I'm referring to Michael Franti's latest film "I Know I'm Not Alone'. Unlike his namesake, Franti has made a gentle, compassionate documentary about the suffering caused on all people affected by the occupations of Iraq and Palestine. Taking the effort to leave the safer well worn path taken by media commentators and politicians, Franti, armed only with his guitar, mingles with taxi drivers, kids in the street, musicians, DJs, US soldiers, Israeli soldiers etc to learn more about the current situations in Iraq, Palestine and Israel. It sounds like it could be easily have been an exercise in self-aggrandising. Fortunately Franti comes across as humble, a filmaker who is simply bearing witness to the views of the people caught up in horrific war zones.

Highlights include getting US soldiers to play DJ with Iraqi's at a previously unknown radio station, the interview with a former Israeli soldier who is now a peace activist, heavy metalband- The Black Scorpions, the Palestinian youth who wished to speak to Israli soldiers over the disputed green line, and of course the numerous times Michael sings 'Habibi' with the locals.

Definitely worth watching when it hits the cinemas later this year. If you feel like ordering the DVD now check out"I Know I'm Not Alone'.

Heathen Blasting Heaven

Thanks to tigtog over at LP for alerting us to this new game coming out of the USA.

Talk To Action give a good run through of the game here.
Here's a few snippets of information:

"Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.

The game, slated for release by October 2006 in advance of the Christmas shopping rush, has been previewed at video game exhibitions, and reviewed by major newspapers and magazines. But until now, no fan or critic has pointed out the controversial game's connection to Mr. Warren or his dominionist agenda."

"This game immerses children in present-day New York City -- 500 square blocks, stretching from Wall Street to Chinatown, Greenwich Village, the United Nations headquarters, and Harlem. The game rewards children for how effectively they role play the killing of those who resist becoming a born again Christian. The game also offers players the opportunity to switch sides and fight for the army of the AntiChrist, releasing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on conservative Christians and their panicked proselytes (who taste a lot like Christian).

Is this paramilitary mission simulator for children anything other than prejudice and bigotry using religion as an organizing tool to get people in a violent frame of mind? The dialogue includes people saying, "Praise the Lord," as they blow infidels away."

"Could such a violent, dominionist Christian video game really break through to the popular culture? Well, it is based on a series of books that have already set sales records - the blockbuster Left Behind series of 14 novels by writer Jerry B. Jenkins and his visionary collaborator, retired Southern Baptist minister Tim LaHaye. "We hope teenagers like the game," Mr. LaHaye told the Los Angeles Times. "Our real goal is to have no one left behind.""

"As part of its marketing pitch, Left Behind Games hypes the realism with which it portrays the neighborhoods of New York City. There is, for the most part, a remarkable verisimilitude except for one detail - all of the ambulances have 911 painted on their roofs. In the reality-based world, most ambulances have a red cross on top. Yet the game designers make prominent use of these 911 ambulances to evoke the tragic events of September 11, 2001. The historical context of 911 is invoked as if to say, We are living in the End Times, and Muslims are among the kinds of infidels whom you should fear, whom you should be prepared to kill for your cause.

For game enthusiasts, there is also a multi-player mode, in which you can go online and battle to take territory from other players. If you happen to blow away a neutral party - and collateral damage is inevitable in the End of Days - then you will lose "Spirit Points". But you can power back up with merely a brief timeout for prayer, or by converting one of New York's terror-stricken citizens."


Looks like the gamers that make it to the end of this biblical bloodshed will pass at least 2 prerequisites to enter Bush's admin.

Rockin' the Right

A list of the 50 greatest conservative rock songs can be found here.

Note that these are songs that toe tapping Tories love rather than songs performed by conservative minded musos.

'Won't Get Fooled Again' is hardly surprising as Pete Townshend refused to let Mike Moore use this song in Fahrenheit 9/11, either is 'Sweet Home Alabama .

any others to add?

LOST in Philosophy

There are 2 types of Lost fans. The first type love the drama, romance between the hunks and hot babes, and the beautiful scenery. The second type includes geeks like me who have been craving for a tv drama that had mystery, sci-fi etc since Twin Peaks was unceremoniously dumped by ABC back in '91.

I'll ignore the 1st group (although my partner is one of them) and concentrate on my new Lost theory for the geeks. For those of you who are up to the current episode in Australia don't worry, I won't throw any major spoilers in here.

The minor spoiler is that we find out Desmond's name is David Hume. That got me thinking- Is Lost really an education tool for the TV generation to be taught literary classics (I'll include pomo works here to save any arguments) and philosophy. As regular viewers now know there are 3 famous philosophers who have characters named after them. Besides Hume there is also Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke. Wikipedia has a good section on the philosophy of Lost here Its interesting to note the interaction of Desmond and Locke in Season 2, as in real life "David Hume also happened to be fond of John Locke's work." Also to back this theory up one of Locke's (the philosopher) central concepts was a title to a season 1 episode, Tabula Rasa. In the series Danielle Rousseau has taken aboard her namesake's theory of the 'noble savage' by living alone in the jungle, refusing to join either the 'losties' or 'the others'.

Many literary references are scattered throughout the first 2 seasons. A few seem to have a direct bearing on the Lost storyline at that point in time (Sawyer reading 'Watership Down', 'Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret' and 'A Wrinkle In Time'; Locke lending Henry 'The Brothers Karamazov'; the crossword clue of 'Gilgamesh' (Locke and Eko?); a copy of 'The Bible') In addition the season 2 finale seems to be heavily influenced by Homer's 'Odyssey', with a certain character that is introduced in the finale being a direct reference to her namesake in Homer's epic.

Other references seem to be having a dig at fans' theories ('The Turn of the Screw', 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' and 'The Third Policeman').

My own personal favourite is the Watership Down reference. Walt foretelling the disaster awaiting the Losties when the hatch is opened parallels 'Fiver' foreseeing great danger to the warren. The Losties going from hatch to hatch seems to match the story in the novel of rabbits searching though the different warrens (each one presenting different problems). Will the Losties find their own 'Watership Down' haven?

Reading too much into it? Consider this comment:

"I think 'Lost,' more than anything else on TV to date, provides a forum for philosophical and critical discussion," says Amy Bauer, an assistant professor of music at the University of California-Irvine who moderates a peer-reviewed online journal, The Society for the Study of Lost.
Of course I could be wrong and the whole series will be nothing more than a TV version of Alan Moore's great comic series 'The Watchmen'. Alas, we'll only know this when the last episode airs.

What do you guys think?

Thanksgiving Day

I wasn't sure if this was a joke, but it appears to be legit.

Are we supposed to be eating Turkey also for this day of celebration (or Tofurkey for us vegans)?

I don't have a problem with Christian groups wanting to "celebrate and give thanks for our God given heritage as a nation and to demonstrate the God given values of honour, respect, thankfulness and gratitude towards our fellow man that have made us the great nation we are." But why should we as a nation be celebrating this. What about people from other religions or atheists? Seeing Bomber Beazley's statement comes as no surprise though!

Seal Wars 2006

Conservation group, The Sea Shepherds have started giving regular updates for the Canadian seal hunt that began on March 25. Check out their arguments here as to why this 'hunt' is actually "largest mass slaughter of marine mammals in the world."

A few point they make:

"-The slaughter of seals is incredibly cruel (a post mortem survey has shown that 42% of these babies are skinned alive)
-It is a threat to the survival of the species
-It is a threat to the survival of cod
-It is a slaughter done mainly for unessential, vanity, and luxury items, and therefore, is unnecessary
-It is unethical to slaughter newborn seal pups (About 95% of the seals to be slaughtered are babies less than four weeks old)"

Elsewhere the Humane Society has more information about this here

In addition anyone who wishes to witness/film the seal hunt risks being charged with being being too close to a seal hunt without a permit, as 11 Sea Shepherd members found out last year.

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone that has anything to add on this.