TONIGHT in LA! INTL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY ARTSHOW

What up fellow humans! Today is International Human Rights Day and in honor of it, Bayan USA is putting on an artshow/open mic at the Downtown LA Art Walk.

Live performances by Shining Sons and many others.. Also, come and check out the first-ever Human Rights video installation I helped to put together with my brotha Chris. Aww yeah, experimenting with new forms, but still stepping up the content!

Come thru tonight, peep the art, enjoy the performances, and learn about the current state of Martial Law in the Southern Philippines (Maguindanao), plus what we need to do here in the U.S. to put international pressure on the Arroyo government to stop it ASAP.

Thanks y'all and hope you can make it!

WHERE: Fernando's Hideaway (F Square Printing), 519 S. Spring St., LA, CA 90013

WHEN: Thursday, December 10, 2009 (7-10pm)

NEVER AGAIN TO MARTIAL LAW!

-ET

VIGIL TONIGHT for MELISSA ROXAS in LA!

Our friend Melissa Roxas and her companions Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc were abducted at gunpoint last week in the Philippines. Melissa is a Filipina American from Cerritos who moved to the Philippines in 2007 to dedicate her life to working for human rights and serving the people as a community health worker. After a barrage of press releases, Facebook and Twitter posts, Roxas and Carabeo were soon released from captivity, but Handoc is still missing. It's important to recognize the power we have to affect the situation in the Philippines so thank you all for spreading the word. We are holding a vigil for them and the more than 200 people who have involuntarily disappeared as a result of government repression since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo became president in 2001. Please come and show your love and support tonight.. Vigil in front of the Philippine Consulate Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 7:30 PM 3600 Wilshire Blvd. (a few blocks east of Western) Los Angeles, CA 90010

Top 12 Reasons Against Gay Marriage

thousands hit the streets of LA last night after california supreme court upheld prop h8 which denies same sex couples the right to marry.  my friend regan reposted this list which hit the web in february of '04, the author is unknown to me.

Top twelve reasons homosexual marriage should not be legal:

1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.

2. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people can’t legally get married because the world needs more children.

3. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful, since Britney Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.

5. Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are property, blacks can’t marry whites, and divorce is illegal.

6. Gay marriage should be decided by people not the courts, because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of the minorities.

7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

8. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

9. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

10. Children can never suceed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why single parents are forbidden to raise children.

11. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven’t adapted to cars or longer lifespans.

12. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a “seperate but equal” institution is always constitutional. Seperate schools for African-Americans worked just as well as seperate marriages for gays and lesbians will.

-tadillac

OUST GMA! Reeeeeeeemiiiiix!

here's a remix of the video we projected in front of the Sheraton LAX during our rally against Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's scheduled visit to Los Angeles on November 21, 2008.. featuring "Let's Call It Off (Girl Talk Remix)" by Peter, Bjorn & John. download here! -ET

Progressive Guide to the CA Propositions & "The Poster Maker"

In response to Tadillac's last post, I usually don't like doing things simply cause they fall into a certain category but I think this Progressive Voter Guide is a good way to quickly learn about the 12 different propositions on this year's California Ballot from a "CHANGE we need" point of view. Check it out. -------- Tomorrow is the NBA's season opener with the Lakers up against the talented, young Blazers. I know the hype right now is around the Bynum/Gasol "twin towers" (how'd I guess people were gonna start calling them that?) thing, but after seeing the Trevor Ariza dunk last Saturday against the Oklahoma City Thunder (my deepest condolences to all the Seatlle folk), I'm really interested in watching how this dude develops. Check out this short mix of Trevor Ariza's, aka "The Poster Maker's", posterization. What a nickname! -Chris G.

Man, Yall Are Fucked Up...

I saw these on the news today. Makes me wanna rethink about being in Mass Movement... :( Get your fuckin' lazy ass out of bed and vote. -Chris G.

Xylophone Films and Kid Heroes Productions...and Christine

as undergrads at ucla, having just got our feet wet in this video shit, e.t. talked me, michele gutierrez and christine araquel into filming the pilipino culture night. having no idea what we were doing we met with a.j. calomay who basically put us on game. ever since then, a.j. and his crew at xylophone films along with his homie patricio ginelsa of kid hero productions have been huge role-models for both of us. here's patricio and a.j.'s latest latest voting psa starring christine: you can cop the philip vera cruz t-shirt that christine is wearing at beatrock. the first time that a.j and patricio worked with christine was for the native guns music video for "champion": -tadillac

Tina Slaps Again

tina fey clowns sarah palin again on snl. the skit might not seem that funny if you didn't see palin's real interview with katie couric. watch the snl skit first and then check out the real interview, the combination is hilarious! the real interview: just because palin is a dumb-ass doesn't mean she can't get into the white house. remember this pooter: see palin go head-up with joe biden in the vice presidential debate this thursday night. -tadillac

Some More People's Art

I'm almost sure that all you devoted readers of the Mass Movement TV blog (Yes! I'm talking to you!) dig dope ass-funky fresh-sucka free art work. My homegirl (aka Sistargirl, aka Bong) is laying it down for pinay artists and she's currently in the process of working on a Mass Movement Vinyl piece for us! A picture of that will definitely be posted once it's finished. But if you're the type of person (which I know you are, right?!) that would rather own an originial piece of art instead of going online, googling an image of it, slapping it as your desktop wallpaper, and then nailing your computer to your actual wall for all your guests to ooh and ahh about, then you should peep her work here: myspace.com/sistargirl Here are some photos (but I know you'd rather own 'em): She's got pieces, purses, jewelry, stuff for you to wear, show off, whatever. If it's not on her site, send her a message and ask. So unless you're not down with anything cool, check it out hurr (for the third time). -Chris G.

Wordle Up

Saw this on the Blue Scholars blog and had to do one of the book I'm reading by Amado Guerrero titled, "Philippine Society & Revolution" (found it on PDF). It's called WORDLE. You copy and paste a bunch of text into the site and it figures out what words are used the most and . The bigger ones are the ones most used. Ain't it interesting that "U.S." is the word used the most in this book? Bigups to E.T. for hooking it up with the book from his PI expo trip this summer. -Chris G.

The Chinese Magic Johnson

What's up with it, four people that read this blog. It's been a minute since I last posted. I've been in mourning since the Lakers loss the championship but I'm slowly coming to terms with it. Speaking of the Lakers, the team picked up China's Sun Yue. My homie says that she saw him playing in China and that Sun is the Chinese Magic Johnson. He's 6-9 but can play everything from point to power. Can't wait to see him as a Laker. And although I love what Pau Gasol has done for the Lakers last year, after that racist ass picture with Spain, I'd like to see his ass get knocked out by Sun Yue. -Chris G. ...Ooh! I gotta share this. My high school teacher and lifelong mentor & friend, Leibs, sent me this the other day. The republicans should use this for their campaign. It sure did swing my vote. "Shawty swing my way..."

Sarah Palin and The Daily Show

cindy just sent me this clip of jon stewart putting the republicans new gender card on blast. honestly, i don't really watch the daily show but now that i gots FREE CABLE at my new apartment i might be tuning in more! -tadillac

Best Part of DNC

i have to admit, i did get a caught up in all the hype around last weeks DNC. it was interesting to see the whole entertainment value of the convention and the way it was packaged for media consumption. i mean shit, stevie wonder was the opening act! The fact that each keynote speaker was introduced by a mini-doc video acknowledged the emotional power that film can have. i thought the use of narration in the videos were really effective, first they were scripted perfectly and then the choice of narrators was pretty slick. here's michelle obama's video intro. what better way to hit home the theme of "family" than her mamma's voice. (even though it plays off the african american grandmother stereotype, think the movie "soul food", it works for a DNC audience): the subtle music is my favorite part of barack's video. peep the well written and performed narration, unlike the other videos that are narrated by someone directly related to the person (michelle obama's mamma, hillary's daughter) barack's is narrated by the unidentified, omniscient "voice of god": but the best performance at the DNC happened on wed. at the denver coliseum... -tad -tadillac

Blue Scholars Report From DNC

the homies geo and saba aka blue scholars performed at one of the protests at the democratic national convention in denver on monday. peep their report back here. the scholars are still on the freshly dipped tour with hiero and tanya morgan. goin back to cali next month, sf on 9/18 and santa cruz on 10/2! -tadillac

Republicans and Depression

tim hit me with this video. it's pretty funny but the crazy thing is that it's true!

you can read the real article here or just look at the ad below for proof. it's probably not that big of a coincidence since the marketing brains behind the republican party are probably the same people who help slang legal drugs. yaaaaaaaayyyy legal drugs! booooooooooo old rich, homophobic, racist, born-again white men! -tadillac

"Somethings Gotta Give" by Big Boi feat. Mary J.

when was the last time a presidential election EVER got this much hype? more than anything i think its a sign of just how bad shit is right now. either way, artists are finally steppin up and realizing their potential: -tadillac

"No Homo(phobia)" Vote NO on Prop. 8!

just heard from my sister thai that Proposition 8, a proposed amendment to cali's constitution to eliminate same sex marriage, will officially be on the november ballot. BOOOOOOOOOO!!!! ever since cali's supreme court ruled that any prohibitions on same-sex marriage is considered a violation of the state's constitution, paranoid and conservative dumb-fucks have been trying to get this proposition on the ballot. this shit is so stupid even john mccain opposes it! even if your a total homophob bible-banger (whoa i just felt a earthquake! seriously!) just look at the economic revenue that same sex marriages could generate for our broke-ass state. According to the UCLA School of Law, cali could generate $683.6 million over the next 3 years and over 2,178 jobs in travel-related business. if nothing else, just listen to ali wong and sir charles:
What Charles Ses - Episode 2 from Ali Wong on Vimeo. speaking of the november election, cop blacklava's new obama shirt: -tadillac

What Keeps Me Going

i'm working on some grant reports and had to document any press that my film pilgrimage got and i came up on this write-up in the bay city news. reason for this post is not the article but the comment that someone left on the website. check this shit out: Comments from Examiner Readers 2:10 PM MST on Thu., Jan. 17, 2008 re: "U.C. student's film screens at Sundance" M.S. Jackson said: While it is not pretty that this happened to Japanese Americans there is no question that that comnmunity was very insular (and still is)and mysterious and Japanese during a period when their country of origin was as truly evil as Nazi Germany. Also, there were pleanty of legitimate spies within the Japanese American community so it was not a 100 percent unfounded paranoia, especially when considering the full scale war between Jaopan and USA at the time. It would be easier to swallow this tripe if a Japanese American would do a documentary on the mass murder that is as much their heritage as the mild suffering in the internment camps. Using the term concentration camp is a cheap and illicit attempt to cash in on the real suffering and death that Japan (and Germany)rained on their victims. In any event, I would have thought Japanese Americans would have percieved themselves as too superior for self pity. wow! i've always thought that most people who leave comments on websites, especially youtube, (or call into talk radio stations) got problems and this only proves my point. but at the same time i think its good for us to read this shit once in a while cause it keeps us grounded and reminds us why we do what we do. i think the biggest wake-up call i ever got was when someone left a hate message for my dad when i was an undergrad at ucla. some muafucka straight up said "nakamura you jap, you're gonna get it!". ahhh america! -the mysterious evil one

Oh My Gooooodness!

first saw this scary ass photo on poplick.com and thought it was too funny not to re-post. let's go obama! -tadillac

Beau Sia's APIA Vote speech

poet beau sia performs a "fireside chat" version of the speech that he delivered at last months APIA vote town hall that all three presidential candidates flaked on. what i like about this piece is that it was very appropriate for the audience at the townhall. beau knew that crowd would range from japanese american senior citizens to young southeast asian high schoolers. i think knowing your audience is one of the most important parts of being an effective spitter. beau can come a lot harder and clever if he wants. here's his response to rosie o'donnell's dumb ass ching chong comment on the view. his "plus size lesbians" line is classic. -tadillac