This Is England - a mini review

 

The film, This is England takes an unblemished look at race, homophobia, and class in the UK during the '80s. The film follows the story of a young lad who lost his father in the Falklands war and is bullied by kids in school. He meets up with a rag tag group of young skin heads who provide him with a family and protection and confidence. His mother notices the care they give her son and gives her blessing for him to be looked after by them.

Unfortunately, an old member of the group is released from prison and changes the dynamics of the group. He's filled with rage against the brown skinned as well as ultraviolent. He slowly alienates the members of the group but the young lad sees something in him and decides to stay by his side.

The film goes through the gradual deterioration of the social support of the group and the increase in racist attacks by the group. It culminates in a very upsetting and irrational attack that ends very badly. The ending is left a bit vague in that one is not clear on whether a murder has taken place or not. According to a summary posted on the film at wikipedia, a murder has taken place. Yet at the end of the film, the boys mother says the victim will be OK.

Either way, the attack is upsetting to watch and both the boy and the viewers are left feeling changed.

Personally, as the brown skinned kid in a group of mostly white people growing up, the film resonated with me. It reminded me of why I developed a very keen awareness of peoples read of me. Growing up, I often wondered whether 'friends' could tell that I was gay in addition to obviously being of color. I also had to consider whether there would be any negativity resulting from these realizations. Basically, any exchange with friends growing up had me wonder if I was going to wind up as Matthew Shepherd did. Sad but true. Fortunately, I never had any very bad experiences but needless to say I was hyper cautious about who I associated with.

The film shows my worst fears played to their end. I highly recommend the film as it shows the complexity of race, class, and politics intermingling to create our reality every day.

Here's a trailer:

If you get a chance, do check the film out. You'll be rewarded with a story that doesn't insult your intelligence and leaves you thinking.

Having an 80's moment watching a documentary on the Ramones.

Is it mandolin time again?

One of the challenging things about being a dilletante is the lack of time to pursue everything that interests me. One of the things I've been neglecting is my mandolin. I'm feeling very guilty about it as I look at it hanging on the wall. Ever since I stopped taking lessons at a local music school, my practice regime has really fallen by the way side.

 

Sure, I pick it up now and again to strum along with some music but I am certainly not going to progress doing that. This week, I'll be giving a local mandolin teacher a call and hopefully I'll be setting something up. I need to move it along kids!

Highline Park NYC Visit

After having a terrific Rosh Hashannah dinner with friends on Saturday, Sunday was the day to work it all off. I met up with two friends and like Japanese tourists, the three of us took our cameras on a photo walk.  We started on Riverside Drive at 79th street to see the new addition to the Riverside Park.  This stretch between 79th and 57th street is very nicely done and faces mostly Trump properties on the land side so you know no expense was spared.  The best parts were where they preserved the old ship yard details and commemorated the work that was done previously on that shore.

Next we went over to the new Highline Park which is a public park built on top of old elevated train lines.  The park itself is kind of like a highway but instead of road for cars, it's a walk way for pedestrians with wild flowers and grasses on both sides.  There was lots to see as it stretches from the Chelsea to the Meat packing district.  It was also very popular as the narrow walk way was filled with lots of people enjoying the sun and sights.  We spotted a few celebrities [actually I did] and were very glad that the park was not closed as it does get so full that they no longer allow people up the stairs onto the walk.

All in all a great weekend.  Here are the pictures from the Hudson river and Highline Park walk. Enjoy.
[note: if you don't see a wall of photos below, then be sad and click here to see the set page at flickr.]

Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee - Amazing animation

 

How to get an email when a friend or family member posts pictures to flickr

A question people ask over and over is:

 How do I get an email when my friends post new pictures to flickr?

 The answer is simple but a little tricky to find. In your account setup on Flickr go to the Email section and
in the "Receiving activity notifications email" and check "When your friends and family upload pictures"

 See below.

[So you also need to make sure that the people you want emails for are marked as friends or family and not just a regular contact!]
That's done by marking as a friend or family in the 'Edit contact' page when viewing contacts

Posted via email from sean808080's posterous

Busy weekend

Enjoyed a nice weekend starting on Friday. Had the day off and took my mom to look at an apt and enjoy a  deaf senior citizens BBQ party.  She saw friends she hadn't seen in decades and got caught up on all the gossip.

Saturday, I had an impromptu trip into the city to check out the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I hadn't been there in over 5 years and forgot how nice it is.  It's hard to take a bad picture there.  The draw for me was the exhibit of mandalas they had.  All lovely and well worth the rainy afternoon trip in.  The reward for the trip was a home cooked puerto rican meal made by a friends mother.  Mouth watering is how I'd describe it.

Sunday, I attended the NJ Deaf Fest.  It's a country fair kind of thing for deaf families and friends.  The exhibits and entertainment are targeted towards deaf folks and I volunteered some time to sit at the Children of Deaf Adults table to hand out information and tell about the organization.

All in all a great weekend.  Happy Monday!

Great swamp goodness

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I've been taking a lot of pictures lately haven't I? I'm reading a guide for photography that says you need to take pictures every day when possible and practice every function on the camera at least three times.  Makes sense to me..I"m a  big fan of overlearning.

I took these today at the Great Swamp National Refuge which is one of my favorite places to be. I'm so lucky lucky that it's local to me which means I can go any time I want to without feeling guilty about wasting gas.

Enjoy the pics!

Hillside Cemetery Visit

Yesterday afternoon, I made a little trip to a local cemetery that I drive past every day.  Hillside Cemetery is a cemetery founded in the late 1800's and is the final resting place of a number of historical figures and a celebrity or two.  Dudley Moore from Arthur fame was laid to rest here after a long illness.  He spent his final days in my town at the home of a beloved friend and after reading about his burial in 2002, it was nice to finally see his grave site

I have to say I was touched by the size of the cemetery and the stillness.  I am sure I will be going back to take some more pictures.  Here are the shots from yesterday, if you scroll down the page, and hover over the black space, more pics should be added. 
If you have a problem seeing the pictures, they are here.

Enjoy!

Scenes from NJ- Deserted Village @ Watchung

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After a rainy camping trip with very little opportunity to take photos, I took a quick side trip to the Deserted Village at Watchung Reservation here in Central NJ. The light was good and I got to spend some time learning my new camera. Here are the pictures.

Enjoy!