lovehatethings

Abuses persist as UN rights declaration turns 60 and this blogger wonders if anyone cares, if anyone is listening, if anyone can swat a few world leaders on the nose with a rolled up newspaper and say "NO!"

"In China, where the years since the declaration have seen enormous economic advances but iron-fisted one-party rule, several human rights activists were rounded up and arrested in the days leading up to the anniversary.

Police detained at least four activists after 300 intellectuals, dissidents and writers signed Charter 08, an open letter published online calling for democracy in China and timed to coincide with the celebrations.

In Zimbabwe, black-robed lawyers marched on Parliament and the Supreme Court to protest human rights abuses -- including the kidnapping of activists -- by supporters of President Robert Mugabe's beleaguered regime.

Meanwhile in Greece, young demonstrators rioted for the fifth straight day in protest at the slaying by police of a 15-year-old boy.

Other countries saw lesser violations of the spirit of the 1948 Declaration, such as in Iran, where state agents confiscated rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh's passport to prevent her from flying to Italy to receive an award."

Quite some time back I was fascinated by a series of comics that presented a surrealistic allegory of society called Tales from the Beanworld. Now enjoying a cult status revival through Dark Horse Comics which currently has a web comic online and through the re-issuing of all previous material in 2009.

If you are familiar with Larry Marder's bizarre creation, you, like me, are probably glad it's back. If not, check out the web comic. You may be a bit lost in the mythology, but there's something refreshing about a comic that's not superhero-based. I encourage people to check it out, with a healthy suspension of reality, and get ready for a CHOW RAID!

The Chow Raid from fashionbuddha on Vimeo.

Canadian Norman McLaren's pacifist satire during the Korean War. Music was done by painting "waves" directly onto the film stock's "soundtrack" strip. Much of his early animation was done the same way (painted frame by frame). Check him out on Youtube. He won an award in 1953 for best Short Form Documentary for this piece. The scenes with the wives and babies was originally pulled by the government which provided the grant for the film and was only reinstated in the 70s. Twisted, poignant, and mildly disturbing.
 

Leave it to a Canadian to figure out a mathematical formula for why we leave 'til tomorrow what we could do today.

The equation is U=EV/ID. The 'U' stands for utility, or the desire to complete a given task. It is equal to the product of E, the expectation of success, and V the value of completion, divided by the product of I, the immediacy of the task, and D, the personal sensitivity to delay.

Given the fact that the esteemed Prof. Piers Steel (sounds like a soap opera name) has written an entire book on the formula called The Procrastination Equation: Today's Trouble with Tomorrow, I remain a bit skeptical for a couple of reasons.

While the article says he has spent ten years studying procrastination, I would have much rather heard that he spent nine years thinking about it and then one year actually doing it. That said, his writing of a book on the subject totally invalidates his expertise as an expert in procrastination. In fact, by not writing a book on procrastination, I would say I'm actually a more valid source of procrastinary insight than Steel.

I further intend to prove my procrastination skills by announcing my first novel called Ulysses 2: My Trip to the Jameson Distillery in 1000 pages or More. I expect to be done eventually and dedicate my efforts, or lack thereof, to my good friend, the Chief Eventualist Officer, Mike Vardy at effingthedog.com.

I'm one of those people that always looks for the best possible deal on anything I can find and, admittedly, I will often waver to the cheap side of the "value" scale. When I fly, even though I'm a big guy, I'll always think to myself, "You can suffer a few uncomfortable hours." I will say that after looking at the opulent flying conditions available via this Newsweek photo collection of luxury airlines, I'm more than tempted to fork out a few more bucks when flying. In most of the cases shown, however, I don't think a few bucks is gonna cut it... maybe for my budget, I can splurge on in-flight meal with a domestic beer.

It was hard to keep it down to ten, but here it goes... sometime soon - solo artists.

Bend Sinister - Vancouver BC

Plants and Animals - Montreal PQ

Cuff the Duke - Toronto ON

Notes to Self - Toronto ON

The Weakerthans - Winnipeg MB

The Acorn - Ottawa, ON

The Russian Futurists - Toronto ON

Said the Whale - Vancouver BC

The Stills - Montreal PQ

Two Hours Traffic - Charlottetown PEI

You've gotta give it to ThinkGeek, they come up with some of the most cool concepts in gadgets. How many times have you thought it would be great to have a "walking down the street" song or a Barry White song as you moved across to pick up that special someone at a party. This shirt lets you customize your own personal soundtrack with a remote control that allows you to select the song of the moment... maybe Heat of the Moment. Maybe not High Fidelity, but certainly gives one of your lists a practical output. I'm sure the speaker doesn't have the greatest bass response... on second thought, maybe Barry White isn't the best selection... perhaps the White Stripes?

Leonardo DiCaprio has listed one of his Malibu Beach properties for $8,999,000. Now I'll admit that had he listed it for $9,000,000 I wouldn't have taken a second look, but, with Black Friday Fever just passed, $1000 dollars off of anything must be a good deal. The house "sits on the bluffs above the Pacific. A stairway leads to the beach cove below. The main house has two bedrooms and two bathrooms in 2,374 square feet. The master bathroom has marble fixtures and a steam shower. A separate guesthouse has two one-bedroom suites. There is a four-car garage and a large grassy area, and -- no surprise to DiCaprio followers -- the property is private."

Do you think there's a mail-in rebate available with a six to eight waiting period? I bet the Flypoints are off the hook.