Rubble Kings

Who knew the movie The Warriors was actually a pretty watered down truth of the reality in South Bronx in the late 60s/70s! American imperialism and capitalism igniting fury in the oppressed, violence and gang culture were strife.

Netflix have commissioned some great documentaries, this is one of them - highly recommended.



The Chemical Brothers - Snow

Give it a chance. Maybe skip 30 seconds or so, but then turn it up loud, close your eyes and feel it !

Went to see American Ultra last night at the cinema, such a great movie.. Perfect casting. Unique concept including comedy, romance and action. Unpredictable. Love love loved it. This song was playing during one of the scenes and it was perfect. Go see.

Tony Benn speech

Thom Yorke "Harrowdown Hill"

Oldy but goody, based on the death of Dr David Kelly back in 2003. An equally disturbing story if it were suicide or murder.

Life, what is it but a dream?

A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July --
Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear --
Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream --
Lingering in the golden dream --
Life, what is it but a dream?

- Lewis Carroll





Life is but a dream...

Thoughts this morning

I like Sunday mornings as it's the only day of the week that Dara doesn't get up for work. We have nothing to do but chill, talk, drink tea, read. It just feels so good to wake up after a good nights sleep, with no hangover, in a comfortable place with no rush to do anything. Even better being next to someone that you love. That couple of hours is just absolute bliss. I'm a smug bitch. 

This Sunday morning Dara read the news and I read some of my book. We conversed, as you do, putting the world to rights.

I mentioned that I'd seen a post on Insagram by someone I follow ('that_paleo_guy'); he posted a picture saying 'SATURDAY SOCIAL MEDIA SHUTDOWN #saturdaysocialmediashutdown' and in the caption he put "Time to detox from social media for the day. Shutting off the cell phone and tablet until the sun comes up tomorrow morning. No notifications, no distractions from the digital world, no blue lights, no nothing. Time to refresh. I'll see you all in the am. #peaceout #timeout #refresh #reset #reboot #unwind #familytime #metime #nodistractions #feelgood" - I thought that was a good initiative.

I also told him about this set of photos by photographer Izabela Urbaniak of her children enjoying technology free summers. 

I have mentioned before on my blog (and in conversation with D) that I really do appreciate my morning walk with Finn as a time to be away from the madness of the world, to not absorb information, to just be with nature. However, I still feel like I spend way too much time sucked into the internet, scrolling though status updates on Facebook and new posts on Instagram. It's often the first thing I think to do when I wake up - check for notifications, refresh, refresh, refuckit. It can't be healthy. This guy explains it well:

"Generation of idiots, smart phones but not people!" Oh dear.

I thought to myself on Sunday morning "I am going to spend less time online and more time in life, organic, natural life." I enjoy using social media as a platform to connect and share photos, humour, interesting articles, perspective on things, it's a great thing but it shouldn't be as pertinent on my mind. 

When I do eventually nestle down and start a family, I'm going to encourage alternative methods of enjoyment and stimulation. I don't wish to deprive my future sprogs of technology as we do live in a technological world, I want them to fit in but I don't want them to be consumed by it. I'm sure not many people admittedly want their kids to be obsessed with technology but undeniably, TV or a game on your iPhone are useful solutions to curing a child's boredom while you're occupied with something else. I will strive to avoid this - summer's without technology sound dreamy and unimaginable in this day and age, yet it wasn't that long ago that these technologies were invented. Let's take a leaf out of Dollyandfife and Izabela Urbaniak's book. 

Let's go outside, let's get sucked into the natural world more often.

Reflecting on my current state of mind...

We all change and evolve as we go through life, we have different information sources around us, different influences. Thinking about my own mindset - At this current time the things that are most influencing my outlook are; videos I watch on Youtube (The Young Turks, The Trews, Secular Talk, The Labour Leadership campaign, mostly Jeremy Corbyn ), the book I'm reading (currently: The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire), the conversations I have (mainly with fellow dog walkers and Dara), the things I see on Instagram (I follow a wide variety of people but my favourites besides my friends are - dollyandfife, moistbuddha, michelgaubert, mydaywithleo, beigecardigan, fuckjerry, thefatjewish), work and my goals for the future. (It's ironic because most of what influences my outlook on life I have accessed via the internet, the thing I want to spend less time on is the thing that's educating me. Handy but addictive.)

At other times in my life I may have had or may have more conversations with different people to those I converse with at the moment. I may watch or have watched more TV rather than Youtube videos and on completely different subjects, the books I have read or will read cover completely different topics, so the influences on my mind and my perspective are variable but at the moment, the things that most influence my outlook:

• Youtube
  - Learning about politics, philosophy, spirituality, injustice, flaws in society, humanity...
• Books
  - Same as above and in addition, oppression
• Conversations
  - Talking about these things in conversations, and I've also been talking about history and how much society has changed and is changing (I'm thinking of a recent conversation I had with Tom and Frank who I met walking the dog, they were telling me what life was like when they were young back in the 60s and 70s)
• Instagram
  - The people I mentioned that I like best on Instagram crack me up and remind me that although things are shit and the world often lacks humanity, society is broken in ways but we sometimes just have to laugh. We mustn't take eveything too seriously as it will ruin us. We have to continue to find humour in the world. Other people I follow are inspirational in other ways.
• Work
  - My workplace pleases me and my boss inspires me as he is so successful and intellectual. I am grateful to be in this position. 
• Goals
  - I'm mentally planning our wedding, I'm thinking about finance and how long it will take for us to buy our own house. Naturally the thought of 'nesting' leads me to thinking about starting a family, popping some sprogs out...

Within that I watched Russel Brand's last ever episode of the Trews, watch here:

"I think that we've gone as far as we can with the Trews for now. And the thing that's been interesting over the course of the year is the reaction to some of the stories that we've reported on and the reaction in the press and on TV, to me.

... So it's been like an extraordinary time for all of us, there's a presidential election in America that's thrown up ludicrous characters like Donald Trump but also the potentially optimistic participation of Bernie Sanders. Is there a possibility through conventional political means to return the will of ordinary people to the seat of power it's a really big question. When I talked about revolution at the beginning of this mad journey on Jeremy Paxman, I was kind of gung-ho and stuff but I think what revolution means, well what revolution literally does mean is a change of power not using the conventional means of power. We're gonna have to come together in a different way to create the change. Now I believe that more than ever. I really believe in change, I feel really optimistic about the inevitability of change...

... I believe in the possibility of ordinary people to change their circumstances if they come together, and I believe in me and the Trews and what we've been doing. I'm gonna be learning, 'cause I know change is coming and I want to be part of that.

... I can't do it the service it requires until I go away and learn some stuff so that when we come back it will be more truthful, more inclusive than ever, 'cause the worlds going mental and more than ever ordinary people need to come together.

... I'm going away to think and to learn, because its worth it, because this is an important time because there is a possibility of change.

... So really the obligation to tell the truth as always lies with you as much as it does with me. The only real weapon we have is to be truthful with ourselves, truthful with one another and to formulate new organisations, new ways of pursuing change."

So all of that combined going through my mind is probably why I've been having the weirdest dreams. The capacity of the mind and it's ability to process information is unreal. It would be a shame to waste it on gossip and game shows. Russel Brand talks about Truth being the only weapon we have, I think the real weapon is our mind. Being truthful is something we should all live by for sure but it is our mind that we must harness and evolve. The mind is the tool which we use to channel our energy, our mind is what we use to set our goals and obtain them, our mind controls our emotions, our perceptions, our behaviour. Our mind gives us the ability to make a difference in the world through our consciousness, our minds are what makes us unique.

We should strive to share ourselves through interconnectivity, be equal and one with everyone and everything. We don't need to be rich, popular or highly educated to acquire that. We should be open minded not ignorant, continuing to learn. While it naturally scares us, change is inevitable, so let's embrace it and influence it positively.

As we learn, reflection is so important. Allowing time to process information that we take in and to consider alternative perspectives, that in itself exercises the mind and develops intelligence.

WORD! Eve Ensler

Q: There are a lot of causes out there that are being talked about, you know, poverty, sickness and so on. You spend eight years on this one. Why this One?

A: I think that, if you think about women, women are the primary resource of the planet. They give birth, we come from them, they are mothers, they are visionary they are the future. If you think that the U.N. now says that one out of three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in their lifetime, we're talking about the desecration of the primary resource of the planet. We're talking about the place where we come from, we're talking about parenting. Imagine that you've been raped and you're bringing up a boy child. How does it impact your ability to work, or envision a future, or thrive, as opposed to just survive? What I believe is if we could figure out how to make women safe and honor women, it would be parallel or equal to honoring life itself.

Eve Ensler

Ships? Sure I'll sail them...

Ships?

Sure I'll sail them

Show me the boat,

If it'll float,

I'll sail it.

Men?

Yes, I'll love them.

If they have the style,

to make me smile,

I'll love them.

Life?

'Course I'll live it.

Just give me breath,

Up to my death,

And I'll live it.

Failure?

I'm not ashamed to tell it,

I've never learned to spell it,

Not failure.

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Live and Unplugged

A true and beautiful soul. Feed your soul through Maya Angelou, listen here: