Super Bowl Sunday!!!

Hola

Today was an important day for the USA. It was the day of the Superbowl. Brief history:

Two American football leagues - the American Football League and the National Football League or AFL and NFL. One day, the heads of these two leagues decided to get together and create the biggest sporting event in the American calendar, in which the champion team of the AFL plays the champion team of the NFL. Pretty cool idea.

The 'bowl' thing puzzled me for a while, but Mr Wikipedia cleared things up for me. All the college football league games etc were known as Bowl games, after the Rose Bowl stadium, so called because of it's bowl-like shape. (Not the same as the cricket venue in Southampton.) There's an Orange Bowl, a Sugar Bowl (which I think is v. funny, is there a giant Sugar Spoon sticking out of it?) etc etc so Super Bowl is the natural progression.

I even went and learned some of the Am Foot rules. I learned about 'downs' or 'plays', how you score points (touchdowns are 6, kicking the ball through the goalposts is 1 and a something or other something conversion is 2.) I also learned while watching the game that there are few limits on the amount and nature of physical contact permitted. These guys are nuts! You aren't allowed to grab another players' helmet grill, or do something like drag them to the ground by the arm. You are allowed to pull hair (!!!) and generally shove a lot, and jump on top of anyone unfortunate enough to hit the floor. Very violent! People compare to rugby and say 'oh rugby's for real men cos they don't wear padding etc' but I dunno - rugby seems to have more decorum than American football.

The game today was Pittsburg Steelers vs Green Bay Packers. Packers won - I forget the score.

A lot of people told me the main draw for the Super Bowl broadcast is the commercial breaks - because advertising space during the broadcast is so in demand and therefore so expensive, companies tend to spend the most money on the ads they will be showing during the game. Hence the ads tend to be really cool. There were some cool ones, none too memorable, except for a pretty funny Chevy one -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwgJzNHvJ-c

And the other thing people watch for is the half time show. Now this is a big deal - they've had The Who play the half time show. It was the setting for Janet Jackson's infamous 'wardrobe malfunction' while performing with Justin Timberlake.

This year it was the Black Eyed Peas. Ohhhhhh dear. Oh Peas. What happened? They've been on a downward spiral for a while and I feel this was the culmination. Fergie Fergie Fergie. You caaaaaan't siiiiing! How have you had this gig for so long! Truly cringeworthy live performance. Guest artists were Slash, who rose up on a trapdoor platform rocking the opening riff to S.C.O.M, which would have redeemed the whole thing somewhat had Fergie not started howling over the top of it and then gyrating annoyingly around him - she did not look cool. There was also a cameo from Usher, who didn't sound great (the levels were rubbish throughout, apart from the gee-tar) but at least he can dance and look cool not lame. The production was astounding - hundreds of dancers surrounding the stage all dressed in head to toe white space suit type things, all moving in sync and creating arrows, hearts and letters on the pitch. Shame about the act itself.

We missed this part but apparently the other live act of the night screwed up royally as well - Christina Aguilera sang the National Anthem to open the game, and she got it wrong.

I just found out this too - 'The winning team receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won the first two Super Bowl games and three of the five preceding NFL championships in 1961, 1962, and 1965.' Which is nice as the Packers won tonight.

I watched the game in the room of a friend of Kait's from High School, called Chuck. Kait, Wave and myself made our way to Chinatown, stopping on the way to pick up crisps, cookies and wine. I feel that was the optimum way to be enjoying my first ever American Football - in a college student room, with college students, junk food, beer and roommates, just like on TV! It was a good night.

***

Funny thing - I'm now back at Loftstel and just listened to a really thought-provoking conversation between Bholi and Derek, both Nigerian by birth though Bholi's been in USA for a while.

They were talking about 911. Now, I remember the day. I was on the school bus going home when Esther Newson leaned over the back of her seat and said 'a plane has hit the Twin Towers'. And I probably went 'what?' and carried on reading. Honestly, I didn't even know what the Twin Towers were, or why it was significant that a plane had hit them. I remember arriving home and my mum had the TV on with every channel showing footage of the smoke and fire that was all you could see from the wreckage. And I asked her what was going on and I remember her saying, exasperated - "This is like the biggest disaster since World War 2" or something. And I thought 'wow...ok, that is a big disaster.' And I felt sorry for the people who had died, and lost loved ones, and lost livelihoods and would suffer post traumatic stress syndrome and all the other damage that was inflicted. Of course I did. But I still didn't really comprehend the significance. I'm not huge on politics, though I try to learn and understand these days. So to hear a conversation between two guys, only a few years older than me, who were in America on the day those planes hit those towers, was a real eye-opener. I've seen many news reports and read a lot of media that covers the attacks with witness accounts, politicians, those directly affected. But I've never met anyone who was here. Actually Derek was in Washington DC and Bholi was in upstate New York at college. Derek remembers that suddenly, the streets of DC were swarming with military vehicles and the sky was droning with every kind of aircraft the Pentagon had to send out. And Bholi (his mother was in NYC at the time) was at college and the whole place just shut down and they all got sent home. He tried to get to the City but the entrances had literally been sealed off, noone came in or went out. Same in DC. When he finally did get in, he said the streets were empty - he stayed with a friend who lives near Central Park, a place where the streets are never ever empty, but they were completely deserted.
They also mentioned Eric (which I think is probably Eric who lives in Loftstel, a hardened New Yorker of 38 years) who was somewhere around 14th St when the planes hit. And he didn't see the first one. But he actually saw the second plane go crashing into the tower, with his own eyes. Hearing that has really got me, because now I can sort of see it in my head. It must have been like watching the world come to an end. Here's the thing - the first plane that crashed, everyone thought it was an accident and of course chaos and panic set in but everyone ran towards it, thinking they needed to help at the scene of this accident and find out what was going on. Then the second plane crashed. Imagine watching an aeroplane be flown, in deliberate cold blood, into a fucking great tower. This thing that is going to cause so much death and destruction and there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it. I can't even concieve of the sheer fear and panic that must have immediately set into the hearts of everyone in America - someone has crashed a plane into our city because someone wants to cause us untold pain. Think how it would feel to watch someone drive a truck through your house, with your family inside, and all the threat that would be implicit in such an action. It's desperately painful to think of.

Bholi and Derek then relayed stories of people they knew or had heard of, on holiday in New York and not knowing how they'd get home, or people trapped miles from their homes, and noone able to reach anyone else on the phone. Everything shut down, no subway, no cabs, and hoardes of people walking through the City, away from Tribeca. Some people may have had to walk miles just to get home. Some people just slept in trains and doorways.

Those disaster movies, where humanity is being wiped out by a disease, or a meteorite is going to hit the Earth, and they have the refugees moved from their homes or people running in panic separated from their families. Ok, now those fictional tales are real.

I'm glad I have finally been able to realise what 9/11 really meant. And I hope the people of the USA and especially New York won't have to live in fear. Likewise London, Madrid, every other place that has come under terrorist threat. And as for terrorists...I'm not going to transcribe the words in my head right now, as I don't want to shock anyone who may be reading.

Thank you to Bholi and Derek for enlightening me so very well.

Peace and love, but particularly peacexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Further thoughts

Still Life at the Penguin Cafe

Seeing 'Home' has reminded me of the power of art. It harnessed the artistic medium of film to send a message. Someone else who did this to fantastic effect was choreographer David Bintley, with his piece 'Still Life at the Penguin Cafe'. It is an 8-section dance piece, which is about endangered species and our destruction of same. It begins with a voiceover by Jeremy Irons which tells of how mankind has recently caused the extinction of the Great Auk.

Each section focuses on a different animal. Each animal dances in the setting 'the Penguin Cafe' where the waiters are penguins and they introduce the piece by dancing with the human customers. The music was composed by Simon Jeffes, whose ensemble is called The Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

I was introduced to it for GCSE Dance and it has stayed with me as one of my favourite ever dance pieces. The dancers, choreography, costumes, music and message are all very beautiful.

These two links are both for the 'zebra' section - my personal favourite. Very soulful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiXeqkKSuDM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh0TPvus7r4

In case you didn't get it (like some of the utter numpties who have commented on these vids) the ladies in this number are representing the fashion industry and how it exploits animals. Thankfully these days there are a lot more laws governing this kind of thing - fur, crocodile skin etc. But it's not over, so it is still poignant. The ladies are wearing zebra skulls on their heads.

These are real zebras.
This is a horse, but if we put stripes on it it could be a zebra. (jezzikart.co.uk - Original piece by Jessica Bradley 'Jump')


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAi3VTSdTxU
What about sunrise, what about rain?
What about all the things that you said we were to gain?
What about killing fields, is there a time?
What about all the things that you said were yours and mine?
Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth, it's weeping shores?
Thank you Michael


If you make art, may you make socially conscious (but not in a pretentious annoying way) art.

Home

Home is a documentary film by director Yann Arthus-Bertrand, narrated by actress Glenn Close.

I urge you to see this film.
It is composed almost entirely of arial shots of the Earth. The images are astounding.
The narration takes you through the images, beginning with how life on Earth began, with blue-green algae, trees, carbon, oxygen. How the minerals in the earth are what gives it it's colours, and how volcanoes and then water shaped the landscape and created seas, rivers and ecosystems.

Visually it is truly, truly stunning. There were shots of forests, icy wastelands, mountains, multi-hued earth and seascapes that I didn't even know were on the planet.

The film moves on, telling how humans became civilised, forming towns in order to share knowledge and skills, the better to prosper. After this came the rise of agriculture as a means of survival, with groups of humans being able to work together to utilise the resources of the land instead of relying on instinct and luck to hunt and survive.
During this section there were many shots of very remote villages and towns in parts of Africa, depciting people who essentially still live a simple life of labour, dependent on the land and on everybody in their society playing their part.

The agriculture section was interesting to me. The shots of giant cornfields in the western USA with 6 combine harvesters working simultaneously in a row were sort of frightening - the sheer scale almost defies credit, particularly when compared with harvests in other parts of the world. Below is a labourer in Bangladesh during harvest.

The film also covered deserts and the need to feed local populations, and the resulting agricultural developments in irrigation and fertilisers. The circular shape of these fields is due to the configuration of pipes which supply the vast amounts of water necessary to sustain them.

That was another thing that caught me - the percentage of the World's water that goes on agriculture is huuuuge. Necessary to feed our ever-expanding population but huuuuge. There were mentions of the many uses of water worldwide - crops, drinking water of course, sanitation. But then there was also mention of things like golf courses and swimming pools. The amount of water that must be used to maintain the perfect lawns of golf courses and other recreational facilities or things of a purely aesthetic nature - it makes the mind boggle. There are nations in crisis and many more people and economies will suffer horribly from lack of water in the next quarter century. As long as the golf courses are still ok! It does make me feel ashamed that wealthy western civilisation has to spend so much goddamn money to entertain itself. Compare and contrast: I know which cost more. And I know who looks like they're having more fun. This kind of thing is a facade, where we have convinced ourselves that we do enjoy golf, all-singing all-dancing swimming pools, casinos, TV, etc etc etc but if we stood back and really reflected on the enjoyment we derive from them, we would be surprised at how little it actually is. If we could all be brave and admit that this manufactured world we live in isn't actually all we pretend it is, I think it would cause a change for the better. Don't get me wrong, I'm as adapted to modern life as anyone - I drive my car to the cinema to watch films or to buy imported food from megastore chains and wash my face with expensive cleansers and all that stuff. But it's not like I couldn't survive without it. It's not like any of us couldn't. We have lost track of the distinction between what we need and what we want.

Anyway. From agriculture we move to today's serious problems. Deforestation. Fires. Mass production, pollution, nations under threat.

You've heard it all before. Seen the documentaries, the TV ads, the news, the dreadlocked youths in the streets trying to get you to sign petitions. And the agruments - 'global warming does exist' 'does' 'doesn't' etc.

Thing is that's not the point. Whatever stance you take, whatever you believe, whatever label you choose to put on it - our planet is in trouble. Our planet, not the planet. (Note the difference: one denotes collective responsibility, one denies it.) People are dying, species have been wiped out.

There was a great example given in Easter Island, formerly home of the Rapanui people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island 'In recent times the island has served as a cautionary tale about the cultural and environmental dangers of overexploitation.'
I believe this is what we call concrete evidence - humanity is not invincible. We can seal our own fate or we can change it. We are the first and only known species with the real ability to do this and we should get on and make use of that, or Earth will become one big Easter Island. This is not an exaggeration. We feel too safe. Particularly people who live the kind of life I live. My day to day existence does not include poverty, hardship, climate influenced devastation. When it rains in England, my family's livelihood doesn't get destroyed. If there's a tsunami, people I love don't die. It's almost a question of 'if I can't see it, it doesn't happen.' But you've all heard of the butterfly effect - the concept that even the smallest action, like the beating of a butterflies' wings, can have untold consequences, because everything in this world is linked.

Here are a couple more of my favourite images from the film - examples of erosion in Madagascar.










The Earth is bleeding. I think these images look like wounds.











And here we have deforestation.

Which to my mind does not look so different from a battlefield strewn with bodies.

All linked. The systems on which our ecology and environment is based are intricate and fragile. Greenland's ice caps, which are most definitely melting, will affect sea levels worldwide and the change in sea temperature will damage coral reefs, home to countless species as well as a fairly vital ingredient for life - oxygen. I think we will one day pay for everything we have if more sacrifices are not made.

I reinforce my earlier point - whatever argument you want to make, whatever scientists you stand behind - this is happening. These images are not CGI, they are not artists' impressions, they are deadly real. It seems stupid to waste time arguing the fine points - let's just acknowledge what we must acknowledge and get on with dealing with it.

Of course humanity must evolve and progress, but I am only 20 and the rate at which we are developing really scares me. Population, number of cars on the road, amount of water used have all increased two, three, fivefold and more in only the last 50 years. I've got at least another 50 years in me so what the hell can I expect to see in my lifetime? If something doesn't slow down, I don't know that I want to find out. It's not a race. We are in competition with noone but ourselves. The great human flaw - the need to always be superior.

Of course a big human aspect to the whole issue is that of population growth, which is probably the main factor in the world's problems. We are increasing faster than the planet can supply us with resources - literally supply and demand. Demand is far too great. The person that suggests a mass homocide to thin down the population will of course be hung drawn and quartered. As will the person who campaigns for a law banning reproduction for the next few years to give Earth a chance to catch up. There's no way round it. The planet suffers, or human beings who have every right to be on the planet suffer, so really we are already paying a price (or rather innocent people in poor countries are largely paying the price). Massive dilemma. There are answers in renewable energy, sustainable fishing and eco-friendly lifestyles.

The butterfly effect works both ways. The smallest actions can make for the biggest differences in the crusade to preserve life as we know it. So, recycle. Walk short distances. Buy local. Don't drink bottled water - for God's sake, I'm from a country where the drinking water is perfectly safe, and in fact pretty good, so anyone from England who will only drink bottled water ought to be packed off to a slum town outside in Rio de Janeiro for a reality check. Or given a good wallop with a shovel.

Above all, noone should surrender. Apathy is the biggest killer. Just because it looks really bad now doesn't mean it can't be turned around. For all people's flaws, each and every one of us is also posessed with this great thing - will. So if we make it our collective will to not let our planet go to hell in a handbasket, it won't.
'One of the most successful national reforestation effort is the one undertaken in South Korea beginning in the 1960s. By the end of the Korean War, South Korea was almost totally deforested by a combination of heavy logging and reliance on fuelwood during the Japanese occupation. Relying on the creation of village cooperatives, hundreds of thousands of people were mobilized to dig trenches and to create terraces for supporting trees on barren mountains. Today forests cover 65 percent of the country, an area of roughly 8 million hectares.'
Would this have happened if the South Koreans had said 'well, we could give reforestation a go. But it probably won't work so let's not bother. Let's just sit here and wait for our nation to starve/freeze'? No it would not. We can but try. I for one think that nature is amazing and well worth the effort - better to fail having done our best than fail having done nothing. Because Mother Nature knows, you know. I don't want to go all biblical but she knows when it's time to remind humans who is boss, and I'm sure that if the time ever comes, she will rain down fire and brimstone or flood the entire earth.

And then she will say 'well I hate to say I told you so...'



In the words of the great poet, Cheryl Cole - 'Anything that's worth having is sure enough worth fighting for'

<<<<< (Not bad, but not as beautiful as Earth)

LET'S DO THIS PEOPLE

If you get the chance to see 'Home' I thoroughly recommend you do. You may dislike the commentary, or the tone, or the entire concept but I guarantee you'll learn something.

When I look out of my window

I can see two amazing New York City landmarks, all lit up (because it's night time) I am in awe of this fact.

Getting profound, man

I have been asked many times in the last week or so 'what are you doing? why are you here?'

Every time, I've given some contrived, mediocre answer about how I was nannying here last year and now I'm exploring...or I've said 'I don't know.' In fact usually I give that answer first. Some people are satisfied with that, either because they're not really interested or because they understand. Some poeple hear it and look at me expectantly, waiting for the rest. That's when I roll out the 'explore' spiel. I think next time I'm asked, I'd like to be able to give a real answer. To that end, I am considering the question at length. Here's what I've come up with.

Why am I here?

• Because it's elsewhere
• Because I'm running away from something
• Because I'm looking for something
• Because it's good for me to face my fear of the unknown
• Because people are supportive
  
• Because it's a place where I have been very happy before
• Because Broadway Dance Centre is here and it does me the world of good to have everything I know shaken up and questioned
• Because anything can happen in NYC
• Because I believe the hype
• Because I need to learn to be inependent, and it doesn't get much more hand-to-mouth than this
• Because I'd like my soul restored
• Because I want to meet new people
• Because I'd like my faith in life restored
• Because it sounds cool
• Because I want to get on with writing and where better to find inspiration than the home of Bob Dylan, Art Garfunkel, John Lennon, Woody Allen, Debbie Harry...Sex and the City...
• Because I'm completely looney tunes

There. Pretty comprehensive, if entirely unsatisfactory. Luckily not all of those reasons seem foolish, as many are already proving their worth. I think there's a good chance the rest will turn out to be equally strong and valuable.

Yessumxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

G.A.C!

How to have a productive evening:
1. Get home late
2. Ignore the quiet hour rule
3. Send someone for beer
4. Marvin Gaye
5. Harmonise
6. Lay down some tracks in the studio/kitchen



Welcome to the first recording session of the Greene Avenue Collective.

I'm not kidding, we recorded it on Garage Band.

Velvet & Wave on vocals (+ me of course)

Kait, music engineer/producer/owner of a Mac/vocals

Adam, musical director and bass

And err....here's our manager

And our contract!

Happy days!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yo yo what up. As they in these parts of Brooklyn. Fo' real.

Thought I'd include some lovely images of my current living quarters. I sleep on the top bunk above Kait. This means that if I'm chillin' in the room, I have to climb down the ladder every time I need something, for example my memory card reader, a book or my lip balm. So to circumnavigate this minor inconvenience, I simply keep everything on the bed. Everything I may possibly need. Cleanser, moisturiser, towels, socks, laptop, chargers, camera, books, pens, notebooks, DVDs, bag, wallet, PJs, jumpers, tissues. Granted it can make actually getting into bed a little tricky sometimes, but generally I'm finding it very convenient.

And then we have the question of laundry. There is a washing machine and a tumble dryer on the first floor, which work on a card system. Each load is $2 so the easy way round is to o sharesies on a card, which me and Kait have now done. We also save money by not bothering with the tumble dryer. Instead we take it in turns to transform our room into a Chinese laundry, like so. Currently - it's my turn!

***

So, a few plans for the rest of the week. Flexibility class tomorrow, probably with Charles.
Friday I am going to East Village cinema to see this thing called 'Home' http://www.homethemovie.org/ It sounds beautiful and FREE! And tonight I'm going to Central Park for walkies. Also Marisa is back from London today so I will go and visit her tomorrow or poss. Friday.

At some point we are planning on some cupcake making, thanks in part to Cupcake Wars - an American show on the Food Network (which I don't get at home). In the meantime I will satisfy my sweet tooth with...err...not sure actually. Apart from the odd Nesquik, my sugar intake is way down. But my clam chowder intake is up up UP. I wish clam chowder was a common food in England...funny thing is it's a staple dish of New England. Anyway it's délicieux.

Meet WAVE and JOE
They make me look ordinary
(Just kidding - noone is that daft)