Good luck, René and Sandy!

101-0180_IMG.jpgI have just learned that my friend and bandmate, Rene, is moving back to NYC to attend nursing school. His partner, Sandy, is also going to be leaving California for New York to start school. I know that Rene must be excited to be going back to New York, even though he’ll miss San Francisco. You will both be missed.

…and cilia enters yet another chapter in its geographical expansion…

May 1, 2006 Action

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05-01-06_1552.jpg,
originally uploaded by mondelicious.

It was my privilege to march with 8000 to 10,000 people (The Los Angeles Times website reports 10,000 to 15,000) in a pro-immigrant rally in Santa Ana. Smaller in scale than the massive rallies in Los Angeles and other cities, but still inspiring.

A quick glance at the online coverage of the event reveals that there were about 60 counter protesters, but I did not encounter any.

Dubbed The Great American Boycott 2006, or A Day Without an Immigrant, this call to action is hoped to spread awareness of, and to protest against, recent immigration law reforms. People were encouraged to stay home from work or school, and to refrain from buying or selling anything today in order to demonstrate the significant economic contributions of immigrants in this country.

The catalyst for the wave of immigration policy protests is The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, aka H.R. 4437 (wiki). The result of this bill would be the creation of millions of felons and increased spending on border protection, in the form of 700 miles of fence. As Bill Hing of UC Davis School of Law points out in his article, The Moral Choice in Immigration Policy, fences and the increasing militarization of the border have not been effective deterrents to illegal immigration.

I am not sure that I can really claim that blanket amnesty would be a wise idea, but I am deeply troubled by the bill as it stands and I do not believe that it will make any of us safer.

More info about the bill can be found here.

My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro)

TotoroI have been on a Studio Ghibli mini-bender this week, in celebration of the fact that My Neighbor Totoro has finally been re-released on dvd, with a new English dub and the Japanese soundtrack.

My Neighbor Totoro is easily one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films. The English soundtrack from the US VHS release was definitely a bit screechy and left a lot to be desired, but it never prevented me from falling in love with the movie. What a disappointment it was when I learned that the Fox dvd release included neither the Japanese soundtrack nor English subtitles. The Disney re-release promises to be all that I had been hoping for. I am anxiously awaiting delivery from Amazon.

In the meantime, I amused myself with Howl’s Moving Castle and Pom Poko.
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Quiet mix

quietmix.pngThis set was originally intended for the “quiet” room of an art and music event that happened in Berkeley. As it turns out, I was too busy with the logistics of the event to make my appearance in said quiet room.

A couple of years later, when a friend generously lent me their 1200s and a mixer, I jumped on the opportunity to finally execute this mix. I added a discman and another cd player to handle any digital to digital transitions, and I went for it.

This was a Christmas gift to my three bandmates a few years ago. I still listen to it on occasion. I hope you enjoy it.

stream:

download: quiet_mix.mp3 (71.47MB)
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