Day 11: Star Wars, Easter, and Occupy Report back

Preface

So I have realized that I am probably not going to be be able to sustain content 7 days a week anymore. It was a very ambitious goal, but I have revised plans going forward. I am a student and a actor. I have lots of stuff going on in my life and therefore other commitments need to be fullfilled. The goal going forward is to have updates to this blog Monday-Thursday and then one or two posts in the Friday-Sunday block. I know everyone is busy and maybe fans will appreciate having only 5-6 posts a week as well. I am so proud of this blog and everyone that reads it. Starting this blog about 2 weeks ago I already have had over  500 views and lots of positive feedback. Please stick with me as I continue to revise content and consistency.
Love,
Will

Star Wars

So I recently watch all three Star Wars films (I say three because just like Indie 4 the prequel trilogy does not exist in my opinion). It has been at least 2-3 years since I have seen these movies. As a kid I was a Star Wars fanatic and I guess I got sick of them. Watching them now that I am older more critical of film I can honestly say I fell in love with these movies all over again.

These movies are good. Really, really fucking good. More importantly they are necessary. In the sixties and seventies there was a semi-concerning trend in cinema. Film as a whole was growing more and more arthouse, gritty, and experimental. Now I am not saying that this is bad. I love cinema in all of these styles, but there needs to be balance in an art form. If I went to the movies and all I could see was movies like Goodfellas, Tree of Life, Gerry I might kill myself.

As much of a cinefile and cinema snob I profess myself to be I need popcorn movies to. When Star Wars came out in 1977 it was a return to form. It reminded Hollywood that movies are suposed to be fun and that cinema, just like theater or any other art form for that matter, can fulfill two roles. It is important that movies are made to be art. We need something to force us to think critically of society, challenge us with style and form, and expand are imagination of artistic possibilities.

We also need entertainment. We need something we can sink 90-120 minutes into and just have a good time. I'm not saying Star Wars doesn't have artistic  qualities at all, but I don't think it is the main goal of the film. Once Star Wars premiered we saw a return to the Hollywood blockbuster for better or for worse.  As much I as I am excited to see films like Moonrise Kingdom, Great Gatsby, and Lincoln, I am looking forward to Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman, and The Advengers too.

At the end of rewatching these films I decided to challenge myself to rank these films. It is really hard for me though because they are all so good. If you held a gun to my head and told me to rank them though I think the order would have to go: Empire Strikes Back, A New Hope, and then Return of the Jedi.

What do you think? I think the poll this week will be "What is the best film in the Star Wars Trilogy?" It  will be interesting to see where people throw their vote.

Easter

So today was easter. For me at least it was the weirdest Easter I have ever been around for. I was raised Catholic so growing up Easter was a big deal. As I got older and I grew more and more resistant to Catholic dogma my parents made me go to church less and less. When I was young easter was a big family get together too. All my aunts and uncles and cousins all met up at my grandparents house and we grilled out. As I got older this happened less and less. Cousins moved out schedules got filled and we eventually stopped getting together.

My family still did the egg hunt. We still got a ton of candy in the morning and ate way too much of it.  Today was the least acknowledge Easter of my life though. I didn't celebrate with anyone. Didn't even call home I just woke up, did my homework, and watch a movie.

I guess my life crisis revolves around being old. I guess I've grown up and am finally at a point in my life where I can focus on things that are important to me. Its good but its also weird. I get nostalgia for the good old days hanging with the family and being together. I guess what I am trying to say thanks to my family. I am really happy I have these fond memories of Easter. I might not believe or agree with everything that the church stands for but Easter is important to me. It was a great excuse to see everyone and get together. I look forward to this summer and seeing people back home again.

Occupy

So this will be an interesting post. I am very conflicted in the Occupy chapter in Minneapolis. Some cities around the country have had lots of accomplisments and lots to be proud of. Here in in the Cities that has been less true.

A lot of the problems with the movement here is the way the GA was set up. There was a lot of focus on keeping the democracy as horizontal as possible. The idea was to keep the movement as leaderless as possible. Idealistically that makes a lot of sense, but it lacks a lot of practical application for things to actually get done. You really need an executive authority to be able to make decisions for the people they represent. Direct democracy hasn't existed since the Greeks.

I was at Loring Park to the relaunch of one of the two sites of Occupy Minneapolis. The start time of the occupation was officially 12, but activists were suppose to get there as early as 10 to start setting up. Socialist Alternative got there at about 11 and no one was there. Cameras showed up at about noon to film about 15 protesters under a canopy with one tent.

This addresses another problem with the Occupy chapter in Minneapolis. There is a significant responsible deficit within the core group. You frequently have activists commit to responsibilities they end up falling through on. Launch dates of protests matter. They set the tone for the entire movement. I am a very busy person and have therefore not gotten involved in leadership roles in the movements. I don't want to hurt the movement by not being able to do a good job with my work because I don't have the time to commit to the movement.

This is the end of the negative commentary of the events on Saturday.

At 4 pm there was a rally and march to Richard Davis's home. He is the CEO of US Bank, the bank that has both mortgages for John Vinje and Monique White. There are the two homes Occupy Homes is currently fighting for. This rally was very good. We had maybe 50 people march all the way up to the mansion. There were several very moving and powerful speeches. We ended the protest by making paper airplanes of Occupy Homes fliers and throwing them on Davis' lawn.

In looking for the videos of this rally I came across some very disturbing news. The occupy encampment at the People Plaza was attacked and shutdown by the police late in the night on Saturday. Protestors at the relaunch of Occupy seem to be under the impression that they had the city's blessing to sleep at the Plaza. Well whether that was misinformation or the police decided to crackdown because of low turnout this isn't very clear. What is clear is these police responded with unnecessary brutality. Here is a few videos to show the events that unfolded Saturday night.

This first one has the most egregious case of police brutality. Watch how violently this cop shoves this protestor to the ground:

Here is the full unedited version of events Saturday:

There are several more videos of events from various cameras and different angles if you want a wider perspective I encourage you to look here.

If you are concerned and want to get active and involved there is an emergency meeting and rally tomorrow (Monday April 8) 1pm at the People's Plaza. I encourage everyone to go.

With that bit of excitement I end tonight. See y'all tomorrow

Will