First I got addicted to blogging, and now I try desperately to wean myself off again. So here is again an unimportant summary of the last days.
Firstly my face is full of pimples, and am so happy that Indymedia allows me to hide behind the computer; however, its going to be blamed on the senseless nights awake to cover events in Venezuela about the referendum, which are powered by Cola, coffee, excitement, adrenalin and fast food.
Though the excitement/adrenalin level was lower as usual, this might have had something to do with the lack of Spanish language knowledge, which made reporting events for me more a guessing game. At least it seems that the referendum passed without the feared military attacks of the opposition, though there seemed to be some oppositional paramilitary killer squads around.
Apart from the pimples my whole body seems to be covered in red spots, as a blood-thirsty insect seems to have a crush on me. Still haven’t evaluated what it exactly is, but these spots are itching all the time, apart from that I also developed my first allergy in a decade or two, and still haven’t found out the cause.
Nevertheless, at least now I have got access to BBC4 , and at least some programmes are actually interesting now on television, like yesterday there was a documentary about Chernobyl, and now for the first time i know, why the nuclear power plant exploded in 1985. Not that it gives much assurance that it would not be possible to happen again.
Anyway there have loads of mistakes been made, which can be especially be blamed on AUTHORITY.
Also, I am looking forward to the documentary about Al Jazeera on Saturday and about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on next Tuesday.
I really like the storyville series on BBC4. At least some intelligent programs. The history channel seems to be disappointing, in that the documentaries are so populist; if something is called “The trues story of” then it is offputting before even switched on.
Also the Community Channel is quite interesting, though nobody ever knows what is on when and they seem to repeat quite a lot of programmes.
On the other side it is the Edinburgh festival now, and actually, its pretty disgusting. If you don’t have enough money you are fucked, basically.
Yesterday the “motorcycle diaries” about Che Gueveras travel events premiered at the film festival, entrance fee 10 quid. Ken Loach and Paul Laverty workshop, screenings and discussions: 10 quid per session, too.
So I try to avoid the inner city totally, these loads of happy tourist faces are off putting. The military tattoo is as well.
Yesterday there was an international day at the Forest, which was okay, they have got a license for august and sell organic Gaelic Heather Ale for 2.50 pounds a bottle. It tastes nice, but is bloody expensive, too. And of course the toilets are always out of toilet paper, as usual, which can be pretty much annoying, if noticed too late. (further details censored)
Well, the international night did not work out as well as expected, i would have expected 60 or more people, but it seemed there were only about 30, and most of them were there with their group screening films and talk anyway.
The one event i watched this year at the Edinburgh festival was a comedy of Mark Thomas, it was excellent, and very refreshing and empowering, and he really gets his message across very sympathetically.
Also now, there is a Colombian Solidarity group, which is actually autonomously organised, and might be worth supporting. Though it looks quite professional, but was worried it would be another SWP frontgroup, which it doesn’t seem to be.
Anyway Mark Thomas show seemed to be all about politics, and when he tells the stories of protest, even here the local ones, they actually sound like fun. Even if I can’t remember it like that, they sound like fun and successful.