I Wanna take you to a Ta Sar Ta Sar

Hi

This is going to be quite a long post, so if its not your thing, you may just want to go to my post from yesterday. Essentially I'm not sure if what I'm writing about is incredibly funny, or seriously disturbing, or both.

Due to obscene levels of work at UCLA, the main campus library is open on a 24 hour basis. Post 11pm students have to show ID, and, if they don't then they are asked to leave. On Tuesday night a student was stunned with a Taser gun by campus police four times. Police say this is because he refused to leave, the 'victim' says that he was very willing to leave, and the police were too brutal.

For those of you who may not know a Taser gun is sort of a cattle prod, like an electrocution device. Its not all that dangerous if the person it is being used on does not have a pace maker.

So far, So America. However, it just so happens that someone managed to capture the whole event (admittedly badly) on camera phone. The video is now all over youtube and the like, and can be found HERE (Be warned however, it is very long, and sort of disturbing). It has been viewed over 100'000 times. The local media has gone sort of mad over the whole thing, and there is a protest organized tomorrow.

As if the whole thing was not bad enough, the mentality of the police could be explained in the name of the said student. It was Mostafa Tabatabainejad. Sounds sort of Middle Eastern to me... (The LAPD are historically extremely harsh upon minorities, previously Blacks, now Mexicans and Islamics). Now, apparently this character is a bit of a fruit loop, and he was asked to leave several times before the police arrived. The police say that he attempted to get other students involved in his fight (and someone with the name of Mostafa Tabatabainejad inviting people to join in his fight would not go down at all well one would suspect). The police also say a taser gun is by far better than a baton, which is true, however that is like arguing that having your arm chopped off is not as bad as the plague. They are still both fairly rubbish places to be at.

Also, when asking for officer badge numbers, a student was threatened with being taserd themselves. Bit of a public relations disaster.

As if the whole thing were not controversial and disturbing enough, there are some extraordinarily comic elements to the whole thing. This revolves upon about six fundamental comic factors;

1) There is now a group on Facebook titled 'I forgot my Bruincard (ID) Please don't Taser me

2) Conversations revolving around general taser use. For example, Amanda (works in a library) commenting that, they had a taser gun in lost and found. Conversation then proceeds to discussion about general tasering, and that it could be quite fun to taser one another

3) The fact that taser sounds a bit like laser, and then I relized that playing laser quest in a library full of books and computers could be sort of fun

4) The protest organised for midday tommrow carries the slogan 'Since when was it ok to taser students?', which is quite an amusing tag line, especially when you consider G in your head saying "Presumably never"

5) Its quite a fun pass time to pretend your being taserd next to the protest poster;


6) The fact that Taser, when separated into octaves is ta-sar. When this thesis is applied, it fits quite well into Electirc Six's Gay Bar, as in;

I've got something to put in you at the TA SAR, TA SAR, TA SAR
and
Your a superstar at the TA SAR TA SAR

So, a disturbing look at post 9/11 America and obscene police brutality or a hilarious joke? Or both? Im just so confused!!

Sweet dreams my LA Ex

I have been rubbish at updating said blog, and there is a lot to say. however I have been told that my blog is far too long winded, so, here goes the quick version in no particular order;

1) Went to the oldest street in Los Angles, its owned by the Mexicans, it was in fact like a little bubble of Mexico. GOOD!

2) In this long, excellent street were people selling items, such as shoes. None of this glossy 'hi how ARE you?' stuff, instead a middle aged man muttering something about real leather, when the goods were evidently plastic EXCELLENT!

3) I want to go to Mexico in the summer now, at least for part of it, in particular Mexico City, as I have good reviews. Danica is going there I know for a fact, and I believe its easier to convince people to go to Mexico then to the States, which is odd. Holiday plans GOOD!

4) I have booked all tickets for Christmas to New York now ( I have relatives in the state, and parent/step parent are flying acorss from the uk. They promise to bring me copies of Heat magazine) It should be EXCELLENT!

5) I got my first shipment of UK television from Timothy in the post this week. Over fifty hours of excellent TV to trawl through, including Princess Nikki AMAZING!

6A) Timothy Martin, has gone from BAD to AMAZING, almost entirely because of being slow at shipping said DVDs, and now because of said DVDs arriving

6) Went to Santa Barbra this weekend. Its a smallish town of about 100'000 people, and markets itself as the 'American Rivera', however, the oldest building is from the 1920's, and was sort of identikit American Architecture, however with the difference that Pizza was about $30 BAD!

7) We did however go Kayaking, which would seem GOOD, but in fact turned very BAD, as we had no training, and went out on possibly the most windy day ever. As a result we almost got swept out to sea, and eventually beached, and had to carry very heavy kayaks in the freezing cold wind, when we were already soaking, or wearing only swimming trunks. VERY BAD!

8) The days in Los Angles are 30c, but as soon as the sun goes down (promptly at 4.30 every day) its gets freezing. This is BAD, but for November it is EXCELLENT. I sort of forget that Los Angles has been plonked in the desert, and so it responds much as a desert would in regards to its weather.

9) Dianne Fienstien got back into Congress AMAZING

10) Arnie got back to be Governor GOOD (the other guy was awful)

11) Prop 87, (the one about less reliance on oil, maybe even some public transport) did not pass BAD

12) The Republicans are already thinking about elections. The next Republican candidate for president could easily be Rudy Juliane (the Mayor of new York on 9/11) this means that the republicans could be in for another 4 years BAD!

13) However, the republicans have been hammered int he Mid terms. The next day UCLA campus was sort of bouncing, everyone was genuinely rather pleased GOOD!

14) I have decided that, despite loving traveling all over the place, since getting to Los Angles two months ago, i have not had a weekend of just chilling, messing around, talking, eating, or just pottering around. As a result this weekend is an empty one pretty much. EXCELLENT

15) I'm still on two novels a week, and one film, as well as having to write 32 pages within the next 3 weeks, on topics I honestly don't care about, and in fact don't need to care about because I only need to 'pass' in order to get my full marks for this year. As a result I genuinely don't need to care about work. Motivation in school work is at an all time low. BAD!

16) The level of working here is roughly the same as being in year 11 in the uk. Its total quantity not quality. As a result I do very very well in the exams here, as do all English students, which you think would be GOOD, but sort of DE-motivating again, so BAD!

So there we have it, the past week or so;

3 Amazing's
4 Excellent's
4 Goods
6 Bad's
1 Very Bad

So 11 positive, and only 7 negative. Therefore a positive week


I think that's pretty much it, There is something I need to discuss extensively, but its kind of at a tangent, and ill write it after I go shopping. Let me know what you think to the format, its not exactly chatty, more utilitarian. I'm not a great fan myself....