Five Before Chaos

Long day of travel, but I’ve finally returned to the land of the sane. I heard about the Palin pick while in the airport. Our first MILF veep candidate. Great.  Does McCain not even know about the abuse of power scandal she’s in the midst of right now? Does he even care?

As I alluded to before, I didn’t go into Invesco. After trekking in the heat and waiting several hours, the heat was really starting to get to me in a serious way. Plus, I had my laptop with me and with the particular credential I had, I don’t think I could have brought it in. So I left, but not before eating some more Mexican food, that was conveniently nearby. I didn’t really realize how big this was until I saw it on tv and read the news coverage this morning.

One of the best things about the trip for me was seeing so many African-Americans that were just so damn proud and elated (especially the older folks). Regardless of one’s feelings about Obama, it really was refreshing, and dare I say inspiring to see the pride in the faces of so many who thought they’d never live to see the day where a black man would get the nomination. It was something deep. Real deep, and you knew it just from looking on their faces. They’ve been waiting for this for so long. You’d have to be a real asshole to denigrate that aspect of it and diminish their experience.

Part of me regrets not being in there. A big reason I wanted to go to this whole thing is that it is indeed historical. But on the way back, I did a good deed for a 16 year old kid,  who probably ended up having the biggest night of his life because of it, and I suspect that it probably meant much more to him than it would to me. So that sort of balances it out.

I still have the video of day 4 to put up as well as a few other things, but I need some decompression time first. I still have a hellacios week ahead of me with the wedding thing. Thanks for stopping by this last week.. my traffic was through the roof. I hope y’all found it somewhat entertaining. I had a blast, although I don’t think I’ll be seeking out a taco filled with pig stomach again any time soon.

And the madness continues…

Part 1:

Part 2:

All in all, not a bad speech, although there were a few things in there I disagreed with. I will say this… those aerial shots of the massive amounts of people are certainly powerful. ( I didn’t end up going in… more on that later – but it’s cool).

So far since I’ve been here, I’ve lost my ear buds, my flash drive, and my Sony stereo mic. Last time I checked, I still had underwear, so I’m doing ok.

Hide yer bongs, everyone…

Well, then… yesterday’s propaganda-du-jour was “Rebuilding America’s Strength”, or “Let’s Show Amurrica that we loves tha’ military”. Lots of soldiers speaking, etc., etc. I really found it sad that Iraq vet Tammy Duckworth, who lost both of her legs in Iraq, had no problem speaking to the party that for better or worse, shares responsibility for the loss of aforementioned legs.

Bill Clinton spoke. It was pretty much said a lot of the same Obama-da’-bomb speech everyone else gave, but the guy is such a good speaker that it still comes off as interesting, bunk notwithstanding. Biden…meh. I had to laugh as he said “I’m for the firefighters, I’m for the workers, etc.” I yelled “I’m for the credit cards companies!” Nobody noticed.

When Obama came out, the crowd was nuts. Ridiculously nuts. I really don’t get it. My ears are still bleeding. And it don’t mean a thing to that hungry guy on the street. It’s the end of the week and these people are making me cranky.

So I was in the zoo for much longer than I shoulda been last night (the one inside the arena). The Rage Against the Machine show apparently went off without a hitch, but having an aversion to the combination of “riot cops” and “cages” at this point in my life, I did the “insiders covering insiders” thing, as some have suggested.

Lemme address that point for a sec. I think this whole thing is the biggest farce I’ve ever had witness to. All of it. The pols backslap, preen, and shoot out the endless platitudes, hackneyed clichés, and false promises. The protesters also give their fair share of endless platitudes and hackneyed clichés, the only difference being they get ignored and sometimes get their heads bashed in.

As I’ve said repeatedly, for the most part, most of the protesters are on the right side of history, conspiracy theories notwithstanding. But I don’t see anything changing. My cynicism on both angles is deepened on the bus ride home every night, where I see endless amounts of homeless people who could care less about the Audacity of Hype or Free Mumia/Palestine/the Whales. They’re just barely surviving. And yes, I know, most of the things the protesters are fighting are directly tied to that. I just don’t see it changing much. If activism, as defined by some, were defined by actually accomplishing something instead of just doing something, there’d be a lot less activists. It does indeed make many feel more empowered. At this point in the game, it makes me feel even more frustrated, as there doesn’t seem to be much tangible progress. As a means of self-expression, it’s fantastic. As to results… meh.

And yeah, it’s easy to say, “well, what are YOU doing?” I think I’m doing something. Effective? I don’t know yet. I’m still waiting to see. But I’ve come to believe that it’s a war of information here.  But, hey, it’s easier to yell, I guess.

So yeah, we got access and I’m covering the monkey show inside. You and I have all seen the one on the outside… you don’t need to go to the convention to see that, and I’ve seen and been in it enough to know what’s going on. The access is about the inside. The inside is where the rot is, people.

I can’t believe I forgot to mention this, but I’m doing triple duty here in Denver. In addition to FC and GMD, Bil Simmon has asked me to shoot some film for Exit Voices, which you can access here.

I finally put together my vids from Tuesday, which I spent hanging around Civic Center Park, where there was constantly some sort of protest or action going on. It’s a 2 parter. Enjoy.

Part 2

I’ve still got a ton of video for ya’ll – I covered Civic Center Park yesterday, where there was a lot of protest action going on throught the day. It’s a lot to upload… so bear with me. You’ll dig it.

“Hey, dude… is there any silverware left?”- The Dead’s Mickey Hart to JD Ryan.

Photo credit: Doug DeMark Photography