Capitalism is about using money to make money for people who already have more of it than they need. Its institutions, by their very nature, breed inequality, exclusion, environmental destruction, social irresponsibility and economic instability while homogenising cultures, weakening the institutions of democracy, and eroding the moral and social fabric of society. – David Korten

The Miniature Earth is powerful piece of multimedia that shows us the statistics of life on earth. The message? = Be thankful for what you’ve got and help others, especially those you don’t know, by treating them as human beings no matter what the differences are. The world is not the way it is by accident. It is like this because of greed and fear. Greed is NOT what we need and fear should NOT be let near. Be bold, but be nice. Share.

This was sent to me by a friend on Facebook and duly passed around. But I need to put it here alongside some related videos, especially given the time of the year, as a reminder of how unjust this world is. Don’t close your eyes.

The Miniature Earth

Next up is a piece from Avaaz.org Avaaz (meaning “voice” or “song” in Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, and other langauges) is a community of global citizens who take action on major issues around the world. The video is made by Agit-Pop and features the music of Dj Spooky.

Stop the Clash of Civilizations

And the final word goes to Alan Watts, with the help of the animation skills of the South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Prickles and Goo

Wow, what can I say. “Blown away” would be a could place to start in attempting to describe the experience of a Dan Deacon gig.
I had heard some of his music a few months back and couldn’t get enough of it. I missed the show he piut on last time he was in town but was sure to get myself on down to Whelans on Wexford St to witness one of these spectacular shows. Your Only Massive did a great warm up for Dan and got the crowd to shake their cool away in reference to people who are “too cool” to dance. Luckily I had located mysself on the balcony so was kinda excused! It’s not that I don’t dance, it just well, you know… I’ve gotta be really into it or someone on the dancefloor! Anyway I wished I was down there in the thick of it for this gig. It was fantastic. It was great to see a level of crowd interaction with and artist like this, it is certainly something new and unique. Dan inspires you to get on down, have a laugh and be part of a crowd. He sets up on the floor as opposed to the stage and gets people to get in close. He controls all the lighting for his set-up and the lighting is about as basic as it gets. A glow in the dark skull and a spotlight that are synced with the music provide all the light needed and also create the atmosphere to keep the crowd engaged.

So here I present to you a little video clip of the night. It is ten minute quick cut of Dan Deacon’s amazing show in Dublin on December 2nd 2007. The audio quality is awful from the digital camera i was using so please don’t take that as an indication of the sound quality. The camera just doesn’t like the bass! The sound was fantastic (spot on Gerry!)… the atmosphere was electric. Dan is the Man.

There was lots more good footage but it’s best to keep it short here as the sound quality does not do it justice. A good idea maybe would be to turn down the video sound and listen to a better audio recording by Dan over it. I also took a small number of photos, the best of which is above, check out the rest on my flickr.

So here’s the video…

and the music video for Crystal Cat…

Nialler9 has posted about both shows, so head on over there and check out his reviews and some courtesy mp3s.
There is a great interview / podcast over at The Sound Of Young America that you should check out too