Monday, February 28, 2011

Suze Rotolo: RIP

Tomorrow Is A Long Time
There’s beauty in the silver, singin’ river
There’s beauty in the sunrise in the sky
But none of these and nothing else can touch the beauty
That I remember in my true love’s eyes
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’
Only if she was lyin’ by me
Then I’d lie in my bed once again
For reasons unknown to mister bijou this gorgeous love song, although written in 1962 and recorded in 1963, didn't make it onto to Dylan's second album, the awesome and groundbreaking The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. We would have to wait nine years to hear it on the equally awesome double album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2.

So it goes.

Dylan's lover, muse, teacher and girl-on-the-cover Suze Rotolo died 24 February 2011: Suze Rotolo/Rolling Stone

Also, Suze Rotolo (1943-2011): village voice

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Saturday, February 26, 2011

A Guy Called Gerald: Voodoo Ray

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Time for some foot-tappin' acid house. . .

Friday, February 25, 2011

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

W. H. Auden: Epitaph on a Tyrant

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.
W. H. Auden
21 February 1907 - 29 September 1973

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Bertrand Russell: Message to the Future

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Bertrand Russell interviewed in 1959 on the BBC programme Face to Face:



Bertrand Russell: wiki

Russell's In Praise of Idleness

Friday, February 18, 2011

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Bob Dylan: Hong Kong tour dates

According to boblinks:

4/3/11
Taipei, Taiwan - Taipei Arena details

4/6/11
Beijing, China - Workers Gymnasium details

4/8/11
Shanghai, China - Grand Stage details

4/10/11
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - RMIT University details

4/12/11
Hong Kong - Star Hall, Kowloon Bay details

4/12/11
Hong Kong - Star Hall, Kowloon Bay details

4/15/11
Singapore - Timbre Rock & Roots Festival details

4/17/11
Fremantle, Australia - West Coast Blues 'n' Roots details

4/19/11
Adelaide, AustraliaAdelaide Entertainment Centre details

4/20/11
Melbourne, AustraliaRod Laver Arena details

4/23/11
Wollongong, AustraliaWIN Entertainment Centre details

4/25/11
Byron Bay, Australia - Byron Bay Bluesfest details

4/26/11
Byron Bay, Australia - Byron Bay Bluesfest details

4/27/11
Sydney, AustraliaSydney Entertainment Centre details

4/30/11
Auckland, New ZealandVector Arena details

(dates are American style: month/day/year)

Oh, the Hong Kong dates are unconfirmed and represent shows that are under consideration by management. They may or may not happen.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The six emotions of revolution. . .

. . . are fear, humiliation, anger, dignity, exhilaration, pride.
They're not the same folks they were three weeks ago. They've tasted freedom; they've tasted power; they've re-invented themselves; they've become human in the full sense of the word.
3quarksdaily

Monday, February 14, 2011

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Sout al Horeya (the sound of freedom) -- Hany Adel, Amir Eid, Hawary, and Sherif Mostafa

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Uninstalling dictator . . . 100% complete ███████████


I went down and I said I am not coming back, and I wrote on every street wall that I am not coming back.
All barriers have been broken down, our weapon was our dream, and the future is crystal clear to us, we have been waiting for a long time, we are still searching for our place, we keep searching for a place we belong too, in every corner in our country.
The sound of freedom is calling, in every street corner in our country, the sound of freedom is calling.
We will re-write history, if you are one of us, join us and don't stop us from fulfilling our dream.
The sound of freedom is calling.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Eye | Land | View


Chinese New Year street lighting

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Egypt: El Mahalla el Kubra

Egypt uprising has its roots in a mill town: Los Angeles Times

April 6 Youth Movement (حركة شباب 6 أبريل‎) : wikipedia

Statement of the April 6 Movement on 6 February 2011: jadaliyya

Monday, February 07, 2011

Eye | Land | View


Monday afternoon

Contacted by Canon Care today . . . they have to get hold of a 'spare part' for the (still within warranty) Powershot G11. That, they say, may take two to three weeks, after which the 'repair process' should take three to five days. So that's mid-March. . .

Until then, a somewhat unfocused result produced by the old G7 . . . grhhh.

Sunday, February 06, 2011

Interview with a pro-democracy activist at Tahrir Square, Cairo

This interview is from several days ago but I think it is still worth watching.



I want to marry her.

Her name is Mona Seif and I will be keeping an eye out for her in the days, weeks and months to come.

Why?

Mubarak's agents of state security have not been abolished, they continue to arrest, beat, and "disappear" anyone they care to.

She is sure to be on their list.

Many have already been "disappeared", including Google executive and online activist Wael Ghonim. Here he is being snatched from a demo by plain-clothes thugs: youtube

He hasn't been seen or heard of since.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Radio Citizen feat Bajka: The Hop

For the weekend, a guilty please.

Be ready to fly on the street . . .

Friday, February 04, 2011

Egypt: day of departure

Egypt's organized opposition groups (click on image to enlarge). Update: "It's worth pointing out that a lot of the younger Egyptians regard these parties as irrelevant and are more attracted towards non-party activism or movements like Kifaya ("Enough")."

As I write it is just after 1pm in Cairo and today, Friday, is the "day of departure".

Tahrir (Liberation) Square is very full. The army is searching all who enter the square to try and weed out any armed pro-Mubarak thugs.

Al Jazerra live stream: here

If that stream is too 'choppy', go to Al Jazeera's youtube channel and scroll down that page.

Elsewhere, Guardian live blog for continual updates

To all, stay safe

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Eye | Land | View


Chinese New Year (3-5 February 2011)

Year of the Rabbit

To everyone . . . Kung Hei Fat Choi!

(and stay safe)

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Egypt: when and when not to tweet

This is a follow-up to the previous post.

Worth noting that in the weeks prior to the commencement of street demonstrations beginning on 25 January 2011 in Cairo and other Egyptian cities, people were requested NOT to use facebook or twitter for organizing. Both networks were being monitored by the state security services, organizations which had a long history of defending the state and not the people.

Things have changed. These days, the security services are too busy shredding, burning and burying documents: economist

Egypt: speak2tweet

Some engineers from Google, Twitter and a company called SayNow have now set up a service where people in Egypt can phone in to one of three voicemail numbers and the message will be converted to a tweet and posted: googleblog

Elsewhere, live stream Al Jazeera English