Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Frog Emperor of Brigadoon

CD in Play: Kevin Ayers, The Best Of...

OFA Level II

Holy Crap. Just got the book I need for my course. My exam is on the 29th and classes run 9am to 5pm from the 24th to the 28th. The book is a leviathan in its proportions. Tonnes of info and so very little time to learn. Interesting fact: necrotizing fasciitis consumes flesh at a rate of 3cm an hour.
I have begun inqueries into whether or not Arctic and Antarctic stations require a full-time First Aid Attendant. I sent emails to the Canadian Polar Commission and the British Antarctic Survey. (Since I am eligible to work in the UK itself) I doubt that their medical staff would require someone at my moderate level, but it is worth a shot. Maybe these people would be worth a go? I'll be looking at domestic options too, quite obviously, but the idea of heading to the polar regions is pleasing to me.

Clustr Map Madness

Wow, the map on my side bar is becoming beautifully cluttered. Please, If you visit here, feel free to say hello and state where you are from.

Kevin Ayers

Why this man's music is not more widely know is beyond me. Ayers was a member of The Soft Machine in the `60's. He left around 1968 or 1969 and started releasing solo albums. I have been listening to his Best of... which shows him to be an extraordinarily gifted and unique musical talent. The man has been criminally ignored.

OSPAAAL

Organización de Solidaridad con los Pueblos de Asia, Africa y América Latina (Organisation for Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America) has a listing on Wikipedia that stating that it "is a Cuban political movement with the stated purpose of fighting globalisation, imperialism, neoliberalism and defending human rights. It publishes the magazine Tricontinental.
OSPAAAL was founded in Havana in January 1966 after the Tricontinental Conference, a meeting of leftist delegates from Guinea, the Congo, South Africa, Angola, Vietnam, Syria, North Korea, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Chile and the Dominican Republic. Mehdi Ben Barka, the Moroccan leader of the Tricontinental, was murdered the year before, allegedly with complicity of the CIA.
One of the main purposes of the organisation is to promote the causes of freedom fighters in the Third World; for example, OSPAAAL strongly supports Hugo Chávez and demands that the Cuban Five be released. Social development is a recurring theme in OSPAAAL publications, it is called a human right by the organisation.
Curiously for a political organisation in a communist state, OSPAAAL has willingly cooperated with ecologists and religious organisations in the past."
OSPAAAL has been responsible for some very eye-catching propaganda posters in the past. (see this link) Whether you agree with the politics or not, one cannot help but admire the artistic talents behind them. They covered many areas, even tackling movie posters for films seeing release in Cuba. The following posters are by Rafael Enríquez, Rafael Morante and the film poster's artist is unknown to me. (It is a Japanese film directed by Keiichi Ozawa - Kaze no tengu (1971) or Duel in the Wind in English)

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi. I'm Trent. I'm that big red dot about 1300 km north of you....

I'd like to know who came here from iceland, and more to the point, if she was cute. You need to find some Icelandic Goddess to play Freyja to your Odur (you god of sunshine, you).

So, you, Icelandic goddess, if you are reading it, I would personally like to vouch for Mag as being single and desperately looking for a reason to move to Iceland. If you're a hot ice-babe, and reasonably single and are looking for the an artsy, cerebral berserker type, I know where he lives.

At least, I used to. I think he's moved again. But I can track him down. Just give me an email, and I'll set you up.

17 May, 2006 18:00  
Blogger Magnus said...

Asshole.



It's Óðr, which is really just another name for Odin. Freyja is another name for Frigg.

17 May, 2006 19:40  
Blogger Loki said...

re: Kevin Ayers... absolutely! one of the utterly unsung geniuses... the world that didn't make him Number 1 has a lot to answer for...

30 May, 2006 00:06  

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