I’ve been listening to Johnny Cash’s American V: A Hundred Highways, and all I can say is “wow”.
From now on, if I ever meet up with anyone from an emo rock band, I’m making him or her listen to any of its tracks — perhaps the cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s If You Could Read My Mind — and say “Hear that, poseur? That is what heartbreak really sounds like.”
July 4th, in addition to being America’s Independence Day, is also Filipino-American Friendship Day.
As a friend of the Philippines, America is like Beverly Hills 90210’s Steve Sanders — generally seen as a friend to Brandon Walsh, even though he’s often a dick and has more money than brains. President William McKinley’s mission of “benevolent assimilation” included “civilizing and Christianizing” the Philippines, even though there was a civilization there and the country was mostly Christian already, and the “independence” granted to the Philippines in 1946 included a U.S. military presence and a trade act that made the Philippines an economic ward to the U.S., with provisions such as the disallowance from manufacturing or selling any products that might “come into substantial competition” with American businesses. The terms of the trade act were so dickheaded that even the U.S. State Department opposed them.
(I’m aware that American colonialism has had positive results on the Philippines as well, most notably its democratic traditions, which someday both the Philippines and the U.S. will figure out. The Philippines could also stand to learn a thing or two about American gumption and dynamism.)
For a more comprehensive writeup, go check out the Philippine History Group of Los Angeles’ essay, The Independence Day That Wasn’t.
Speaking of Steve Sanders: where are the kids from Beverly Hills 90210 now?
Here’s one big reason to attend DemoCamp tonight:
Fresh camel meat with bearnaise sauce!
Actually, it’s our special guest, Damian Conway, who’ll be presenting his current project, a little scripting language you might have heard of called Perl 6.
DemoCamp 7 will take place tonight at 6:00 p.m. at No Regrets (42 Mowat Avenue). Since No Regrets is a restaurant, the after-DemoCamp social will also take place there. To find out more about the event, see the DemoCamp 7 wiki page.
To my American readers, friends and relatives: Happy Independence Day!
Bill Pullman played the president in Independence Day.
In honour of this day, here’s Bill Pullman’s speech to the troops before the final assault on the aliens in Independence Day [1.6 MB MP3 file]. Enjoy!
I spent the holiday away from the computer, and Wendy and I had fun taking her parents around town. I hope your weekend was fun, and welcome to a short working week!
In honour of Canada Day, here’s Ren and Stimpy singing the Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen theme [1.9 MB MP3 file] (which I first posted in this entry).