File Buz

OccupyLA Update

On October 2, 2011, John Bruning the UC-AFT Field Representative for UCLA, filed the following report:

I went to the OccupyLA march to City Hall on Saturday morning, not really sure what to expect. There was a wide variety of people there: progressives, libertarians, "Anonymous" types, socialists, anarchists, students, vets, older folks, etc.

Nearing the end of the second day, were still working through decision-making processes, goals, other structures, and next steps. Its a very collective process, which means that its a very slow process, but its also meaningful and it keeps power decentralized.

Weve overcome a few challenges so far and survived one night of "illegally" sleeping on the City Hall lawn. But we still have practical challenges to overcome for the movement to grow.

First is education. There are a few of us with backgrounds in organizing and direct action, but the vast majority are new to activism and dont know what to do. Theres been a lot of sitting around for the past few days, but theres movement to start holding workshops and skillshares soon.

Second is action. Everyone here wants to do SOMETHING. There was an action today at the Metro station, but it suffered from a lack of planning. We are looking into ways to most effectively plug ReFund CA and OccupyLA together, and the Thursday action at the downtown LA Bank of America is already being discussed here.

Finally, many people are trying to figure out how to take OccupyLA out of the park and expand into other communities. There has been talk of more public occupations around the metro area, and also reaching out to the rest of the 99% who cant be here, through workplace and community organizing.

I have to go to the General Assembly now, but its very exciting and theres a lot of energy here, and the next few days will be critical to see if this movement continues in LA and what form and direction it will take.

Available link for download

Oh Hey There An Update on Life as Head Girl and Whats On My Cinematic Mind

Hey guys, heres a voice from the past (like a month and a half ago or whatever). Does everyone remember me? If youre a little confused about me popping up in your feed/twitter/timeline etc etc etc, when I departed the blogging world on the night of the Oscars I told you it wasnt forever. I may not have blogged all of March, and this will probably be my only post for April but Im still here, chugging away. The reason? Im having my first weekend off in like, forever, thanks to a kidney infection which has slightly chucked my life off the rails for the past two weeks. And by that I mean Ive been forced to do this strange thing called relaxing. Which basically means that my parents and the doctor force me to stay home and I do more work. Hmmmm.

Anyways, this has been a crazy insanely busy term. I could probably count the amount of free lunch times Ive had in the past 11 weeks on my left hand. Not that Im complaining; I effing love being busy. Well, mostly with the extra-curricular things. School work is just the same as last year. Heres some cool things that happened in the last 11 weeks:


Got my name up the top of the prefects board, which still freaks me out immensely and every time Im in the hall I admit to staring at it for a minute and wondering if Im in real life or not. Kind of weird, but there you have it. Also, Im on the main page of the school website. All these reminders steal freak me out just a little.




In this past week me and my fellow head prefects went to a Young Leaders day, which is where there were five inspiring speakers there to inspire us leaders of the future. I actually felt like a better person for going to it (aside from the fact that I was pretty sick throughout the day), since the quality of speakers was so great. The theme was heroes, which was all kinds of awesome because they had a whole lot of references to movies. They even had a whole lot of clips from The Help which almost made me cry. Anyway, movie stuff out of the way, that day was just what I needed after coming off the back off a rough week.


I took some pretty photos a few weeks back. I still like my photography when I get the chance to do it.

Im hard at work with Stage Challenge with my Deputy Head Girl, Emma (whos birthday is today - happy birthday again girl!), and a team of totally amazing people. Weve had a lot of ups and downs but were finally right on track getting sponsors and getting our performance together. Theres under two months to go until show date, which definitely means that Ill be so far removed from this world and my life will be Stage Challenge from here on in.

If theres one thing Ive learned this term, its that support from others has pretty much been the greatest thing ever. It sounds kinda corny but when I cant do twenty things at once theres always someone to do one thing for me. People are amazing.

However, this isnt just a post on my life as Head Girl. While my movie watching has taken a significant drop (by this time last year I was well over 100 movies already, but this year Im around 80), Ive still been keeping an eye on the movie world. So heres ten movie related things that have been on my mind for the past few weeks:


Only God Forgives trailer - Theres no way that I cant compare this to Drive, it looks just a great as that. But what I love most, aside from all of the red, is Kristin Scott Thomas looking so badass. Ive always loved that woman (does she ever age?), but she looks especially fantastic here. And then theres that slow motion shot of Ryan Gosling in his suit getting ready to beat the crap outta some guy. Thats the stuff dreams are made of (okay, the violence isnt really necessary but you get where Im going).


Jessica Chastain being adorable on Facebook - every time Jessica posts something on Facebook I want to cry. But when she posted this super cute photo of her in front of a billboard showing her YSL Manifesto campaign on the River Seine, I was so unbelievably happy for the entire week. How adorable is she? The perfume is pretty amazing, too - I have a sample that I got last week tucked in my blazer pocket. Birthday present, maybe?


The Bling Ring trailer - Ive watched it 500000000 times and I still cant get enough. Sofia Coppola is perfection. Emma Watson looks stunning. Yeah, I cant handle waiting for it.


Spring Breakers - I just wanna see this so bad. Dont ask me why, because I really dont know. It just looks so different and out there. Plus, it didnt help that Alex at And So It Begins was so inspired by the movie that he came up with this awesome FYC for the Lammies.


The Great Gatsbys everything - I have the tiniest feeling that this wont be very good but it is one of my favourite directors adapting my favourite book with my favourite actor playing my favourite character. And theres also my favourite singer, Lana Del Rey, featuring a new song in the latest trailer. To go along with that, the production design looks stunning. One day Im gonna get rich enough to make a house that has everything in this slideshow. LOL.


Skyfall being more and more entertaining every time I watch it - I wasnt the biggest fan of Skyfall upon its release and now I finally know why: it is so unbelievably flawed it is actually kind of great. I really dont care that much for the story but Adeles perfect song and Roger Deakins perfect cinematography (along with sassy Daniel Craig and Ralph Fiennes) are the things I obsess over, and kind of detract from the really stupid decisions in the film.


Brit Marling - I saw Sound of My Voice the other day and I adored it, particularly Brit Marling. Ive loved her since I saw Another Earth this time last year, but she just keeps getting better. Cant wait to see The East. I wanna be her.

Garrett Hedlund in On the Road - Im still yet to read Jack Keruoacs original novel which means I cant really judge last years adaptation as a whole, but if there was one thing I was impressed with, it was Garrett Hedlunds performance. He was on fire. Definitely one of the best performances of last year outside of Matty M, Logan Lerman and Jessica Chastain.


Matthew McConaughey domination is complete - Speaking of Matty M, hes in Christopher Nolans latest! Already my most anticipated film for like, ever.


Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Smashed - Another great performance I saw recently was Mary Elizabeth Winsteads turn as an alcoholic in Smashed. Jennifer Lawrence aint got nothing on that. Where was her campaign?


Schindlers List on Blu-Ray - I finally got my own copy of the 20th anniversary blu-ray of my second favourite film, which came just in time since my original copy has been watched a few too many times. Im actually too scared to take it out of its case, it is so pretty.


Roger Ebert - I was so saddened by the loss of Roger Ebert last week that I actually had to stop myself from crying when I found out at school. Ive always adored his writing and it was a huge inspiration for many of the reviews you saw here back in the day. Ryan at The Matinee wrote a lovely tribute to him, which pretty much sums up my feelings towards Mr. Ebert. May you rest in peace.

So thats it, folks - Ill probably be back in a few months, but who knows? Im greatly enjoying retirement, but Ill keep you all posted every now and again. Keep an eye on my Twitter and my Tumblr. Until then, everyone stay golden. Whats on your cinematic mind, Im missing these discussions!

Available link for download