thebadrash.com
19Nov/0710

Nazi Pop Twins documentary

Prussian Blue - the Nazi Pop TwinsYesterday, after watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (0/1) and Turistas (1/1) we flicked over to More 4 to watch a documentary which was first broadcast in July this year. It concerned Lamb and Lynx Gaede, the teenaged twins who comprise Prussian Blue, a Nazi pop band. I'd heard of Prussian Blue before, probably through the Popbitch message-board, but had never really given them much thought. The documentary offered some insight into these Nazi pop twins and the way they were manipulated and pushed around by their scary mother, April. The twins, aged around 14 or 15 in the film, were clearly? trying to distance themselves somewhat from the White Pride / National Vanguard movements.

The film was naturally full of unpleasant views , mostly espoused by the awful April and her equally unpleasant father. At onepoint, during a small argument about signing CDs for members of the White Pride movement, April could be heard saying to one of her daughters that she should help out for a bit and that "Then you can be as much of a cunt as you like for the rest of the evening". I hope that Lynx and Lamb find the strength to make the break with the atrocious philosophy forced on them by their mother. She's one of those annoying people, incidentally, who doesn't understand language or logic: the thought that she could define racism and that what she promoted wasn't racism because she didn't call it that. Sorry, it doesn't work that way.

Anyway, the documentary is well worth watching. It should be noted that such families are extremely rare in the USA... failure to remember this would be thoroughly anti-American.The reason they don't make many documentaries about all the other, normal families is that they probably wouldn't be as interesting as a film about some Nazi Pop Twins.

tombcn.com - my blog posts about travel, books, food and music

22Oct/071

Declining oil production threatens war & unrest

An interesting article from The Guardian, this. It seems that oil production did peak in 2006 after all, just as 'loony' George Monbiot predicted two years ago. As I noted previously, this isn't the first time that peak oil has been reported. But either way, it certainly looks like it has happened.

This is one of those things that probably will happen and probably will have a major effect on all our lives. By 2030, I'll be 50 and probably looking forward to several more decades of life. It's difficult to imagine a world where everything isn't made from, or transported with, oil. How will they manufacture plastics? I guess they'll have to replace them, and in the meantime, things will cost more. Is there some kind of secret vehicle propulsion technique which will be unveiled as the gas pumps get shut down? Almost certainly not. Will we be forced to reconsider nuclear power (claims about the abundance of fuel for which, I find distinctly suspicious)?

Along with climate change, peak oil and the ways in which it could affect all our lives is an issue looking large. Unlike climate change, it hasn't been addressed publicly by many people. Naturally, the two issues are inherently linked, but this doesn't mean that we can just sit around waiting for the oil to run out, and the environment will be fine. Both issues need to be tackled now, primarily with a switch to alternative energy forms and a marked improvement in energy efficiency. And as governments seem uninterested in doing much for either, we'll have to trust industry and business to solve these problems for us. Great.

tombcn.com - my blog posts about travel, books, food and music

4Oct/070

Brezhnev, Bush and Baghdad

An oldie but a goodie - this article by Nina Khrushcheva has an interesting perspective on  Bush, paranoia and rhetoric. Even though it was written more than four years ago, it feels relevant today.

Regardless of how true Bush's words about evil dictatorships may be, they are hardly made believable by of their repetitious, mechanical, Brezhnevian nature. Especially when "compelling" reasons to start the war in Iraq--from WMD to terrorism to democracy there--were based on falsified evidence and were devoid of consistency.

George Orwell was right: "All propaganda lies even when it tells the truth." As much as newspeak was a signature of the Kremlin, it is an equally apt description of today's White House. Its resolute war message is similar to Brezhnev's insistence on the superiority of socialism: Both lack public debate and are handled top-down.

Meanwhile, as some are again declaring Mission Accomplished in Iraq (we can but hope!),  Simon Tisdall has an interesting article at Cif with a timely reminder:

"Attempts to partition or divide Iraq by intimidation, force or other means would produce extraordinary suffering and bloodshed," the US government warned.

But many reply that, despite the surgistas' recent successes, extraordinary suffering is what Iraq has already got - and the illusion of central control cannot be sustained much longer.

tombcn.com - my blog posts about travel, books, food and music