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ORGANIC THREADS FOR CONCIOUS HEADS.....
Generation Organic
It's simple...
If you found out that you were un-knowingly subjecting
your body to harmful chemicals on a daily basis wouldn't common sense
say it's not healthy?
Now here are the facts:
1 - The average 100% cotton T-shirt only contains 73% cotton, the rest
is made up of chemicals and resins (some of which are listed below).
2 - In order to grow the 9 ounces of cotton required to make a standard
t-shirt, 3 ounces (17 teaspoons) of chemical fertilizers and 1/8 ounce (3/4
teaspoon) of pesticide active ingredients are used (that's almost half a cup).
3 - Cotton is a crop that constitutes 3% or the worlds total crop
yielding. Yet uses more than 25% of the worlds pesticides.
4 - In America Last year alone farmers applied 53 million pounds of
toxic pesticides to cotton fields.
5 - In the year 2000, 7 of the top 15 pesticides used to grow U.S. Cotton crops
were considered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as known human
carcinogens that have possible, likely, probable or Known side effects
to humans.
Here are just some....
Cyanazine - Birth Defects, Cancer & Respiratory problems.
Fluomenturon - Blood & Spleen Disorders.
Dicofol - Cancer, Reproductive Damage, & Tumours.
Methyl Parathion - Impotence & Foetal Damage.
Metam Sodium - Foetal Damage, Mutation & Migraines.
Chlorphynfos - Sterility, Impotence, Brain & Foetal Damage.
MSMA - Tumours, Liver Damage, Blood Damage, Central Nervous System Damage, Respiratory Damage.
Profenofos - Causes Eye Damage, Respiratory Damage & Skin Irritation.
Prometryn - Kidney, Bone Marrow and Liver Damage.
Propargite - Foetal Damage, Cancer, Eye Damage, Tumours & Eye Damage.
Sodium Chlorate - Kidney Damage.
Tribufos - Cancer, Tumours, Eye Damage & Respiratory Damage.
Trifluralin - Mutation, Foetal Damage, Cancer & Liver Damage.
WEAR ORGANIC
Your body will thank you!
It is estimated that there are as many as 25,000 different uses for hemp... even more than for duct tape!
Heres a few:
Hemp can be used for clothes
Hemp helps clean the soil. Rather than deplete the earth's natural chemical and mineral balance, crops of hemp actually leave the soil BETTER than it was before planting
Hemp leaves can be brewed to make tea
Hemp seeds can be roasted and eaten, ground into flour or pressed to get hemp oil
The stalk is pressed to make fibre for any number of uses... including paper
The "hurd" (or inside of the stalk) is used for animal bedding or mixed with mineral compound and blown into walls as loose insulation. (One of Germany's largest manufacturers uses hemp to insulate their cars!)
Hemp can fuel a car
Hemp is even used to make beer!
HISTORY FACTS
Hemp has been grown for at least the last 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and food. It has been effectively prohibited in the United States since the 1950s
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper
When US sources of "Manila hemp" (not true hemp) was cut off by the Japanese in WWII, the US Army and US Department of Agriculture promoted the "Hemp for Victory" campaign to grow hemp in the US
Because of its importance for sails (the word "canvass" is rooted in "cannabis") and rope for ships, hemp was a required crop in the American colonies
INDUSTRY FACTS
Henry Ford experimented with hemp to build car bodies. He wanted to build and fuel cars from farm products
BMW is experimenting with hemp materials in automobiles as part of an effort to make cars more recyclable
Much of the bird seed sold in the US has hemp seed (it's sterilized before importation), the hulls of which contain about 25% protein
Hemp oil once greased machines. Most paints, resins, shellacs, and varnishes used to be made out of linseed (from flax) and hemp oils
Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on hemp oil
Kimberly Clark (on the Fortune 500) has a mill in France which produces hemp paper preferred for bibles because it lasts a very long time and doesn't yellow
Construction products such as medium density fiber board, oriented strand board, and even beams, studs and posts could be made out of hemp. Because of hemp's long fibers, the products will be stronger and/or lighter than those made from wood
The products that can be made from hemp number over 25,000
SCIENTIFIC FACTS
Industrial hemp and marijuana are both classified by taxonomists as Cannabis sativa, a species with hundreds of varieties. C. sativa is a member of the mulberry family. Industrial hemp is bred to maximize fiber, seed and/or oil, while marijuana varieties seek to maximize THC (delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana)
While industrial hemp and marijuana may look somewhat alike to an untrained eye, an easily trained eye can easily distinguish the difference
Industrial hemp has a THC content of between 0.05 and 1%. Marijuana has a THC content of 3% to 20%. To receive a standard psychoactive dose would require a person to power-smoke 10-12 hemp cigarettes over an extremely short period of time. The large volume and high temperature of vapor, gas and smoke would be almost impossible for a person to withstand
If hemp does pollinate any nearby marijuana, genetically, the result will always be lower-THC marijuana, not higher-THC hemp. If hemp is grown outdoors, marijuana will not be grown close by to avoid producing lower-grade marijuana
Hemp fibers are longer, stronger, more absorbent and more mildew-resistant than cotton
Fabrics made of at least one-half hemp block the sun's UV rays more effectively than other fabrics
Many of the varieties of hemp that were grown in North America have been lost. Seed banks weren't maintained. New genetic breeding will be necessary using both foreign and domestic "ditchweed," strains of hemp that went feral after cultivation ended. Various state national guard units often spend their weekends trying to eradicate this hemp, in the mistaken belief they are helping stop drug use
A 1938 Popular Mechanics described hemp as a "New Billion Dollar Crop." That's back when a billion was real money
Hemp can be made in to a variety of fabrics, including linen quality
LEGAL FACTS
The US Drug Enforcement Agency classifies all C. sativa varieties as "marijuana." While it is theoretically possible to get permission from the government to grow hemp, DEA would require that the field be secured by fence, razor wire, dogs, guards, and lights, making it cost-prohibitive
The US State Department must certify each year that a foreign nation is cooperating in the war on drugs. The European Union subsidizes its farmers to grow industrial hemp. Those nations are not on this list, because the State Department can tell the difference between hemp and marijuana
Hemp was grown commercially (with increasing governmental interference) in the United States until the 1950s. It was doomed by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which placed an extremely high tax on marijuana and made it effectively impossible to grow industrial hemp. While Congress expressly expected the continued production of industrial hemp, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics lumped industrial hemp with marijuana, as it's successor the US Drug Enforcement Administration, does to this day
Over 30 industrialized democracies do distinguish hemp from marijuana. International treaties regarding marijuana make an exception for industrial hemp
Canada now again allows the growing of hemp
ECOLOGY FACTS
Hemp growers can not hide marijuana plants in their fields. Marijuana is grown widely spaced to maximize leaves. Hemp is grown in tightly-spaced rows to maximize stalk and is usually harvested before it goes to seed
Hemp can be made into fine quality paper. The long fibers in hemp allow such paper to be recycled several times more than wood-based paper
Because of its low lignin content, hemp can be pulped using less chemicals than with wood. Its natural brightness can obviate the need to use chlorine bleach, which means no extremely toxic dioxin being dumped into streams. A kinder and gentler chemistry using hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine dixoide is possible with hemp fibers
Hemp grows well in a variety of climates and soil types. It is naturally resistant to most pests, precluding the need for pesticides. It grows tightly spaced, out-competing any weeds, so herbicides are not necessary. It also leaves a weed-free field for a following crop
Hemp can displace cotton which is usually grown with massive amounts of chemicals harmful to people and the environment. 50% of all the world's pesticides are sprayed on cotton
Hemp can displace wood fiber and save forests for watershed, wildlife habitat, recreation and oxygen production, carbon sequestration (reduces global warming), and other values
Hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield
HEALTH FACTS
If one tried to ingest enough industrial hemp to get 'a buzz', it would be the equivalent of taking 2-3 doses of a high-fiber laxative
At a volume level of 81%, hemp oil is the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (the "good" fats). It's quite high in some essential amino acids, including gamma linoleic acid (GLA), a very rare nutrient also found in mother's milk
While the original "gruel" was made of hemp seed meal, hemp oil and seed can be made into tasty and nutritional products
CLICK TO GO TO THTC HOME PAGE
FREE BURMA CAMPAIGN UK
DJ Skunkboy is fast becoming one of the UK's top Hip Hop Turntablist's with more residancy requests turning up by the week. Skunkboy has over ten years of experience which he now shows off in mix sets all over the UK and across europe.
TEARING IT UP
Skunkboy is fast becoming the Hip Hop DJ of choice to support major UK acts and recently has supported Phi Life Cypher, Taskforce, Jehst, The Foreign Beggars, DR Syntax, A-Skillz, Dan Greenpeace, Lowkey and many more..... Skunkboy also made a name for himself as a battle dj'ing winning the Slickbeats DJ Battle League in his first year of battling and coming 2nd in the slickbeats grand final losing to the US DMC Supremacy Champion Etronik
Voted "Best Group" and winners of "Best single" at the Lyric Pad Hip hop awards 2005, Foreign Beggars are a 5 man crew comprising of rappers Orifice Vulgatron and Metropolis, Dj NoNames, Beat Boxer Shlomo and Producer Dag Nabbit.
SLOW BROILED ILK
The crew have released a slew of 12"s and Ep's and really made their mark after independently releasing their critically acclaimed, debut LP Asylum Speakers.
Foreign Beggars have collaborated and toured with the Cream of UK's Hip Hop movement, with Shlomo appearing on Bjork's album Medulla and NoNames having done cuts for Damon Albarn's Gorillaz project
FROSTED PERSPEKS
With forthcoming projects with Dj Sparo, Dj Vadim, Dudley Perkins, WildChild (Lootpack), OHNO, Scratch Perverts, Dj IQ, Dj Mentat and Euphrates, the crew see no boundaries with diversifying their sound. Foreign Beggars are also renowned for their explosive live performances, which recently saw them tear down Glastonbury, Fabric and Hip Hop Kemp in Prague. They have supported Public Enemy, Roots Manuva, Beatnuts, Masta Ace, Grand Master Flash, Talib Kweli, Wu Tang, Asian Dub Foundation, Last Emperor, Mark Ronson, Ja Rule, Blak Twang and many more.
HOLD ON - WITH SKINNYMAN
With explosive stage presence, intoxicating rhymes and an unmistakable voice, Skrein is steadily building a reputation for himself as Britains hungriest MC.
Touted by Choice FMs DJ 279 as one to watch for 2006, 2007 is set for the takeover. Skreins music ranges from eccentric to socially conscious, heart-warming to downright hilarious, playfully adapting his style to suit tracks conceptually as well as musically.
THE YOUTH
Skrein cut his teeth in the underground scene with his Underground Alliance (UNDALI) and Foreign Beggars, staying on the cutting edge of the UK urban scene collaborating with Taskforce, Skinnyman, Plan B, Jehst, Doc Brown, Dr Syntax, Dubbledge and Shameless over production from Ghost Town, Jimmy Wha Gwaan, DJ IQ and Dag Nabbit.
THE RETURN OF HIP HOP FT. SKREIN, NUTTY P
Skrein has left his mark firmly on the underground Hip-Hop circuit, performing alongside the cream of the countrys talent, touring overseas and supporting such well-known US acts as The Beatnuts, Maseo (De Le Soul) and DJ Numark (Jurrassic 5), tearing up shows from Cambridge to Sevilla, Scotland to Oslo, Ibiza to Poland, Glastonbury 2005 to his hometown of London.
Dj Blakey is currently one of the UK's best underground DJ's and widely respected for his skills and style that are far beyond his years.
Unlike most his counterparts he isn't just a turntablist. Blakey has been very active on the club scene, appearing at cutting edge clubs across Europe (Fabric/London, Zanzibar/Liverpool, Gatehouse/Derby, Rust/Copenhagen, Low Bap Festival/Athens, Labor/Hannover, Savannah/Ibiza); whilst regularly holding down residencies at London clubs such as Bar Rumba, 333, Sound, Herbal, Elbow Rooms and a resident with Electric Breaks
DJ Blakey @ 2003 UK DMC Final
DMC UK Champion 2004
DMC UK Team Champion 2003
DMC UK Runner Up 2003
DMC Liverpool Champion 2002/2003
DMC UK 2002 - UK Finalist
All Elements 2002 - Winner
Scissorhands 2002 - Winner
Vestax UK Final 2002 - 3rd Place
Blakey @ DMC 2004 UK Finals
Amongst the throng of beatboxers emerging today, there are few like Beardyman. A tirelessly innovative performer, Beardyman has always pushed the boundaries of what people expect from human beatbox, merging phenomenal beatbox skills with his left-field sense of humour and incredible musicality. After winning the well renowned Lyric Pad Beatbox Battle twice in 2004, he went on to win the title of London champion and UK runner up in the 2005 Championships and the following year became UK Beatbox Champion 2006. He successfully defended his title in June 2007 and is still UK champion. he will represent his country in the next World Beatbox Championships (Date to be announced.)
UK BEATBOX CHAMPION 2006/2007
Beardyman’s first musical venture was writing a symphony for his school orchestra at the age of ten. At fifteen, an introduction to drum ‘n’ bass led to his long-standing obsession with music technology. Now, in his live shows, as well as baffllingly good solo human-beatbox, he utilzes cutting-edge sound-mangling technology to create dance-inducing layered rhythms, breath-taking soundscapes, fully produced songs and tunes, mostly improvised and created entirely from the human voice. In Beardyman’s shows, no pre-recorded material is used, and everything is created live and in real time in front of the audience, who he takes on a mind-bending journey from dumbstruck to dancing and back again. His unique ablity to get any crowd going bananas has seen him play stages ranging from the 3000 strong Drum n Bass mash-up ‘Slammin Vinyl’ amidst a line-up of drum ‘n’ bass legends, to the gigantic childrens concerts Young Voices which tour the largest indoor stadiums in the country.
BEARDYMAN & JFB - LIVE BEATBOX/SCRATCHING
Check out the duo live at regular BATTLEJAM nights
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CLICK TO VISIT MYSPACE BATTLEJAM
Well worth a visit
Since starting to play out in 2001 Beardyman has shared stages with the likes of Andy C, Marky, Skibbadee, Shy FX, Skibadee, Jungle Drummer, Grooverider, Nextmen, Jazzy Jeff, Skinnyman, Terra Firma, Wordsmith, Foreign Beggars, Phi-Life Cypher and the Freestylers to name quite a few, and has acted as compere for a huge variety of events all around Europe, including the basketball arena at the 2005 Earls Court Urban Music Festival, venues all around London and Brighton and also various corporate events. He hosted ‘The Freestyle Show’ on Get Lucky TV from 2004 to 2005 with Klum-Z-Tung, the mind-bogglingly quick-witted freestyle-MC, with whom he performs as the Gobfathers. Once described as ‘the Fat Boys on acid’, their freestyle antics regularly send crowds all over the UK and Europe raving mad and gagging for more.
BEARDYMAN ROCKIN THE MIC AN THE MAC
Whilst continuing to tour and record for forthcoming releases, he finds time to co-run the ground-breaking night, ‘Battlejam’ with 2003 Vestax Champion JFB in his home town of Brighton. ‘Battlejam’, now in its 14th month is having to find larger and larger venues to house itself in, having earnt a reputation as the freshest night in town, fusing Hip Hop, Breaks, Reggae, Ragga, Dancehall, Jazz, Funk and Drum ‘n’ Bass into one sweaty but uplifting experience. Incorporating a different set of guest musicians and freestyle MC’s each month, everything at Battlejam is completely improvised. This is made possible by their unique use of newly developed live-sampling technology, ‘Serato Scratch-Live’, allowing levels of crowd participation and never before possible, JFB and Beardyman often sampling the crowd and scratching them into the madness.
THIS VIDEO HAS A HUGE CULT STATUS ONLINE. WITH MANY KNOWING THE VIDEO AND NOT KNOWING THE ARTIST
Beardyman’s commercial debut, the ‘Mr Maybe’ e.p. will be out in mid June and is available on i-tunes. It features a track made entirely of beatbox, 2 guitar tracks and a pure, one take, beatbox track. Beardyman’s sounds also feature on Groove Armada’s new album, and an all vocal breaks, DnB and Dub-step EP with Ed Solo, due out in June. Look out for an EP Uk Slam Poetry Champion Disraeli, a James Brown remix due for release on Trojan records and a solo album project with insane production guru Lee ‘Muddy’ Baker still under construction.
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CLICK TO VISIT BEARDYMAN MYSPACE
Beardyman has made guest appearances on Radio 1, and Kerrang Radio, has been featured on MTV and was recently featured on the BBC1 flagship, saturday-night variety show, “When Will I be Famous†hosted by Graham Norton.
Recently, Beardyman’s professional portfolio has stretched further to encompass voice-overs for the best-selling game ‘Buzz’ for the Playstation 2 and 3 and has also produced beatbox-based music for teen Sky channel ‘trouble’.
JFB
UK DMC CHAMPION 2007
Vestax Champ 2003
Currently:
Mixing, Beatjuggling & Scratching: Drum&Bass, Hip-hop, Breaks, Dub, Jazz, Funk & Beats in venues across Europe.
JFB first started mixing and scratching on local pirate radio in 1996 playing drum&bass. He developed his style with scratching and started playing party Hiphop Instrumentals around Brighton area for a few years. In 1999 JFB gained residency at the best local Drum&Bass night in town 'Meltdown' as well as the ocasional booking at Londons 'Movement' Night. These gigs continued as well as more residencies @Oceanrooms (when it was nightclub of the year) Substance (wicked multi genra party) & Minimelt (mid week Drum&Bass) As well as scratching with a highly skilled Improvised jazz act called 'VogueGyrator' & jamming with various musicains around town like 'J'm'Black & Kirsten Elliot' These regular gigs improved JFB's crowd control skills and he gained local following. In 2002 JFB got a computer and started home music production with 3EN and formed a project Called Abstractivity. In 2003 he won the Vestax champs @Endclub as well as releasing his first ep 'NoDestination' on 'OneEyeRecords' Also 'Ritz' on 'HospitalRecords' & 'Pompayup' on 'CookshopRecords' These releases increased his profile and he started getting regular bookings abroad in Austria,Romania,Bulgaria etc.. In 2004 JFB met 'Deekline, Wisard, DonnaDee & Ills' who incorpirated his scratching skills into their music. At the same time JFB started dj gigs with Ed Solo as well as scratching for various artists like: EvilNine,Tc Islam, Brockie, PressureDrop etc. & got loads more gigs too. In 2005 JFB decided to go further with his turntabalistic skills and started Beatjuggling.. JFB entered a local dj compertion in order to win the cash prize so he could pay the rest of his rent and hosting the night was an unknown (at the time) beatboxer called 'Beardyman' JFB got beardyman to practise some new ideas and in 2006 got the VirtualVinyl kit 'Serato' This enabled him to record Beardyman Live and beatjuggle or scratch with his beatboxing. This turned into the successfull night of 'Battlejam' Which is today breaking the boundries of live/electronic music.
With 1000's of moshpit's created in front of his turntables JFB is some serious shit! Check him out! Or Book Him Now!
In July 2007 JFB gained the title of UK DMC CHAMPION!!
Donna Dee
The funkiest freshest DJ/B-Girl DJ DONNA DEE. The Brainchild Events Promoter behind Throw down (Uk’s London’s No.1.B.boy/ dance off event.) Also a hard working Record Producer with 40 EPS and 3 Albums to date (check discography) Donna who graduated as a recording engineer has been behind various hits and successful dance Eps as a producer/engineer and songwriter over the past 10 years She has toured globally as a DJ showing genuine turntable skills mixing and scratching her funky breaks and hip-hop The last 5 years have been dedicated to the B.Boy scene, running events and shows alongside Mr E with her Throwdown team of dedicated Dancers and performers. Now sponsored by Eastpak Throwdown this year have performed around UK and Europe including hosting the stage at this years Nass Festival and Rip curl board masters (Check out videos below of this year’s Throwdown at Nass (4,000 people) and the Throwdown Octagon battle high lights). DJ Donna Dee is producing new Throwdown Dance Album, The funkiest grooves and breaks featuring various prolific artists from the UK Hip-hop scene…watch this space
THROWDOWN
Phi-Life Cypher is a Luton-based rap group, well known for their reputation from underground hip hop clubs. Phi-Life's achievements include appearing live on the BRIT Awards, touring and appearing on B-side tracks with Gorillaz and DJ Vadim and being voted Best Live Act at King's College, Cambridge. They are best known for their accomplished stage presence, freestyles and frenetic rhyming.
RAP IT UP
They are a 3 piece group – MC Life & Si-Phili are the emcees and DJ Nappa providing the beats (DJ/Producer). Their live show typically lasts around 45 minutes, however when Life begins his freestyles, crowds often find themselves caught up in his infectious raps and demand more.
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CLICK TO VISIT SI PHILI MYSPACE
PLC are currently on the Zebra Traffic imprint. A Brighton based label specialising in UK Hip Hop.
Discography
* "Baddest Man EP" (1998)
* "Earth Rulers" (2000)
* "Millennium Metaphors" (2000)
* "The Instrumentals" (2000)
* "Herbaholics" (2001)
* "The Chosen Few EP" (2002)
* "Higher Forces" (2003)
* "Over" (2003)
* "Rap It Up" (2004)
* "Playback" (2006)
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CLICK TO VISIT MC LIFE MYSPACE
HERBAHOLICS
The Plague
The Plague, has won ciritcal acclaim at film festivals around the world. It centres on 24 hours in the life of four mixed race friends.
The film tells a tale of urban life
British film The Plague has become only the second UK feature to make its debut on the internet.
The picture, directed by 23-year-old Greg Hall, has won the support of Oscar nominated film-maker Mike Leigh.
The film's "ticket price" for internet users was £4, entitling viewers to an unlimited number of plays and is now available on DVD through most online stockists.
The Plague, was made in three weeks with a budget of £3,500 roughly the food budget of most Hollywood movies!!
TRAILER - CHECK THIS OUT!!!
The most intense and insane thing I have ever done
Film director Greg Hall
Q. By addressing issues of racism and violence, would you like your film to be a catalyst for change?
A. Completely. To be honest, I have a slight issue with the word Racism.
In the past, racism was a very important word in learning about our history and the way we developed in societies. Now the word hatred is more important than racism.
Even in the film, there’s an Asian character who says ‘don’t want any more blacks or whites involved’.
There’s a black character who says, ‘I’m the nigger’. He’s playing up that role, he can be this. I think England and London, especially, represents a multi-cultural society.
We’re starting to break down a lot of the racial stereotypes. But there is still hatred and that’s what we have to tackle.
Bullet Boy deals with gun crime. To be honest, putting a young black man with a gun is often a stereotype which is very easy to put on a screen.
Instead of using these stereotypes, we should look further. It goes further than just being about gun crime.
It’s about hatred. It doesn't matter what gun you have in your hand. In your head, if you hate someone, that’s a very powerful thing.
Within The Plague, it’s doesn't seem like I’m settting up any stereotypes.
I’ve contextualised it with the society which we’re living in now. At the start, we see an image of Tony Blair and as he’s about to talk, we hear about the war in Iraq.
Even the Rastafarian character relates it to the Biblical Babylon city. He says you have to look round you, it’s everywhere, it’s Palestine, it’s McDonalds. It’s the arms trade.
I think that’s very important when dealing with hatred, racism and prejudice. When you deal with it on a local level, it is about how we treat each other as human beings.
When we look on it on a global level based on how we live, we can see that hatred is everywhere.
When we see how much money is spent on arms each year. When we go to war with Iraq, we turn on the TV and there’s the flag waving and the drum of war being beaten by the politicians to stir us up.
There’s a lot of hypocrisy within society in the way it’s set up. That’s what the word Plague means. It’s the vicious circle of hatred. Often, working class young black man with a gun is a very easy stereotype to attack.
At the end of the day, in poor working class areas, they don’t make guns, they don’t have the planes to fly in cocaine.
It’s the bigger issues. Sometimes the smaller elements are used to being picked upon. Mainstream society doesn't want us to turn round and actually contest why there’s so much hatred and why there’s this established conquering and dominating others.
That’s really what I wanted the film to contest. By looking at a street story of young guys growing up, I just felt it would be accessible to young guys growing up to see it and think this is a story which related to us.
They can look at the world around them and start to think for themselves.
HARD HITTING - HEADLINE MAKING
Q. What were your formulative influences growing up? What were you reading?
A. I’m a big Chomski fan. My middle name is Leon. Dad names me after Leon Trotsky. But I’m not a Marxist. I’ve always read politics, I try and read as much as possible.
I’ve just finished reading the Koran. I’ve read the Bible. I’m always reading books on philosophy. From childhood, I’ve never been attracted to one religion or one ideology.
As human beings, we should pick and choose what elements we find which are good to triumph and use all of them together to try and create a nicer world.
My next film is called Strangers in a Strange Land. It's a modern day love story. The main character is a nice middle class English woman who works 9-5, who meets an asylum seeker from Iran, who is a journalist.
He comes from a religious background based on the Ayatollah. It’s about these two different individuals coming together, finding their souls and their spirits amongst these backgrounds of religion and politics.
It’s set two years in the future, where there’s been a terrorist attack in King’s Cross. The Government has become even more right wing and brought in ID cards.
So it’s a projection of the future. And it has elements of Jesus walking the earth, a hippy from the Sixties who’s a librarian, who gets the kids to realise that instead of fighting each other on the estate, they should realise that they’re the ones actually being exploited.
By the end of the film all these elements come together and show resistense against the state, because they disagree with how right wing it’s becoming. It’s very much a projection of the future.
All filmmaking is biased. You manipulate footage. You are creating meaning. I’m very happy to acknowledge that, and I’ll openly say that my meaning is trying to contest a lot of the mainstream.
Hollywood cinema, which we’re often force-fed, is passive consumption.
People ask why do I have to be so serious. I go to the cinema because I like to escape reality. I turn round and say, ‘what does that say about reality’?
One of my favourite quotes is by George Orwell ,who when he was asked about Animal Farm, a journalist asked, ‘Do you think art and politics should always be together, or shouldn't you sometimes separate them'?
Orwell replied: "To even think that art and politics should be separate is itself a political thought."
And that’s always been my belief. And The Plague deals with certain themes but it does have a political context.
SKINNY MAN - FROM THE MOVIE SOUNDTRACK
Nice T-shirt!!!
Chris Morris.. Bill Hicks..
Coming soon
My Dad.. Bill Hicks