Masque

Friday Night:

"You have a face that is hiding something. What are you hiding?"

"What's your story, Jasmine?"

I don't have one, I'm sorry.

Life

"Paper Boats"

Sit on a train, reading a book
Same damn planet every time i look
Try to relax and slow my heartbeat
Only works when i'm dead asleep
Been thinking and drinking all over the town
Must be gearing up for some kind of melt-down
All i am is a body floating down-wind
What's wrong?
Nothing
Are you sure nothing's wrong?
Yeah
But you're sad about something
Yeah
So tell me what
I don't know
I can't tell you
All i am is a body floating down-wind
As the express train passes the local
It moves by just like a paper boat
Although it weighs a million pounds
I swear it almost seems to float
And as we pass by each other
Our heads all full of bother
We can't look, we can't stop
We can't think, we can't stop
Because we're stuck in our own paths
And it's the way it always lasts
But i need something more from you

I am so angry with myself. I am so resentful of this place but I am still more angry at myself than anything. Angry that I let myself fall into the trap of thinking that this place is or could be more than the godforsaken prison that I'd tried so hard to leave. Angry that I'd wasted my time and my youth trying to give this place a chance that it never deserved. Angry that I'd simply avoided the bits I didn't like to lead this deceitful life and letting reality rear its ugly face to bite my ass so hard.

I am so angry with myself because I was the one who decided to put myself in this cesspool of mediocrity, dumbing down and false pretenses and now I have no means to undo it.

I hate this place. You all can go fuck your pathetic, average lives. I hope you are happy with yourselves.

Piss out.

There is an ache in my heart
I know not where it comes from
Well maybe I do, but don't tell me

There is a longing in my soul
I don't know what it wants
Well perhaps I see it, but haven't reached for it

When the clouds drift overhead
And the wind sings to me of a dream
A fantasy plays out in slivers of white to a backdrop of rich black velvet
The vision almost real enough to touch entices then shatters into mere shards
Leaving the anxious rustle of fronds to fill the emptiness

Another way to paradise

There's something to be said about the use of images of poor, destitute African children (I assume they're African because the videos are inevitably in black and white) in promotional material that help their cause. Without fail, I am moved to tears when I see these skinny, frail kids lying on the streets, with their distended stomachs almost bursting from hunger. I have seen them for as long as I can remember watching TV.

But today, while watching the video for Footprints in the Sand, the official video for Sports Relief, I was hit by totally different emotions. I was angry. Majorly Pissed Off.

Stop flinging these pathetic images at me because you producers or directors out there know that they'll pull at my heartstrings and therefore my purse strings. I am SICK of seeing these kids cry on camera, begging in front of the lens with their doeful eyes and slack, open mouths while some celebrity tells you to give generously.

The formula is deceptively simple, just like all the movies about dancing on the street have. You know what's coming, in fact you can hear what goes on during the shoot or in the editing suite: Celeb Producer to young editor:"This is how it works boyo, and never forget this. The more miserable and desolate the kids look before the Chorus the better. Up the volume of the chorus at least 60% for dramatic effect so that it sounds like whoever that singer is is trying to tell them something important. Then hit them with the really bad images where they all look like crap shit and quickly tone down and throw some happy faces. This'll make the suckers think "oh, look, I can be the one to bring them this joy with the pocket change lying around!" Don't worry about making them too happy coz the first bit will make anything look happy and we don't want the audience to think that the kids don't need help anymore. Got it, Son?"


I really have nothing against these kids and I have no doubt that their suffering is completely real and I am not setting out to belittle that. But I DETEST those who whip out these images like a miracle gun whenever they want something. Your cause is honorable but find another way to do this folks or one day the rest of the world will be so desensitised to images of abject poverty just like we are now to violence, and then what will you do? Search for even harsher images? Show child sex-workers at work? We've seen these images since time immemorial and if nothing has changed (evident from the same messages we're getting in the visuals), maybe it's time to do something different. Sure, we'll never finish giving compassion and aid to those in need and the poverty is an ongoing situation that cannot be easily resolved. There are always others - more - who need help. But please, I beseech you, find another way that we aren't sick of. We are in danger of being so turned off by poverty that we might be getting dangerously close to giving up. After all, I've seen these pictures for more than 20 years already and if nothing's changed, what more can I do? Maybe its beyond me and I'll just leave it to those who have much more money and resources than me. Oh look! Here's the video clip of the cowboy on A.I.! * click *