The following two movies will be playing this week at OFS:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (August 16-21):

From OFS: "Indiana Jones & the gang are back 27 years after they first thrilled us with Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s now 1957, and Indy finds he has run afoul of the red-baiters, sending him on a crash course with a group of Soviet agents attempting to locate a crystal skull deep in the South American jungle. It’s a not-to-be-missed bit of summer fun for Indy fans, old and new alike!"

Encounters at the End of the World (August 16-21):

From OFS: "In Werner Herzog’s new documentary, he travels to the end of the earth, Antarctica, to meet the hardy souls who live and work there—the researchers, scientists, and adventurers based at McMurdo Station—and to explore the world they live in."

Find the OFS Calendar here.

One of the things that is evident from all the discussions on this blog about the Port Militarization Resistance group and their activities in Olympia and Tacoma is that there is a huge difference in the underlying assumptions that people hold. Folks within the PMR use words like "empire" and "militarization," and I think that many who read this blog don't have the same context for understanding the meaning they are intended to convey. I wonder if would be possible to bring to the surface some of the context surrounding the meanings of those words through a shared set of documents, videos, podcasts, maps, etc. So, if you know of a good article, interview, analysis, or graphic, please put a link in the comments. After we've collected some material, we may be able to ground our discussion a bit more, and perhaps achieve a better understanding of the arguments, if not agreement on the positions.

The following two movies will be playing this week at OFS:

War, Inc. (August 8-14):

From OFS: "Co-written by star John Cusack (High Fidelity, Grosse Pointe Blank), this film features an all-star cast (Joan Cusack, Dan Ackroyd, Ben Kingsley, Marisa Tomei, and Hilary Duff) in a sharp satire of political intrigue and war profiteering in the Middle East. Rob Gonsalves of eFilmCritic.com calls War, Inc. 'a punk-rock Strangelove riff.'"

Savage Grace (August 8-14):

From OFS: "True-life story of the heirs to the Bakelite fortune. Father feels his lack of purpose, while social-climbing mother is desperate for acceptance. She’s far too close to their son, a relationship that only grows weirder as time passes and results in the tragedy that has made the Baekeland family infamous. Kalin’s first film since Swoon, it’s an "eerie, unsettling, uniquely creepy experience."—Seattle P-I."

Find the OFS Calendar here.

The following two movies will be playing this week at OFS:

Kenny (August 1-7):

From OFS: "The subject of this hilarious mockumentary is Kenny, a porta-potty delivery man, who's dealing with family tensions, fatherhood, and the ultimate "dirty job," while preparing for the upcoming Pump and Cleaner Expo in Nashville, Tennessee. William Thomas of Empire Magazine UK calls Kenny 'charming, disarming and funny as hell.'"

Iron Man (August 1-7):

From OFS: "At long last, Marvel’s Iron Man gets the big-screen summer blockbuster treatment: Robert Downey, Jr. plays Tony Stark, an inventive, super-rich, playboy arms manufacturer who, after seeing the business end of one of his creations, develops the ultimate individual suit of armor, and becomes a pacifist who’s not afraid to open up the can of whup-ass."

Find the OFS Calendar here.

[via omjp]

Contacts: Chance Kroll (510) 219-6155. Katee O (716) 479 2360.

COMMUNITIES RALLY TO PREVENT MILITARIZATION OF PUBLIC PORT

Tacoma, WA 7/31/08

On July 28, 2008, the USNS Brittin returned to the Port of Tacoma. This ship is transporting damaged equipment from the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team 2nd Infantry for repair and further deployment.

Community members, anti-port militarization activists and others from the peace and justice community of Washington and Oregon will descend on the Tacoma Federal Courthouse, 1713 Pacific Avenue, everyday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm to demand the withdrawal of the military from this port. These peaceful, family friendly vigils will continue everyday until the equipment is gone. Others intend to quarantine the equipment in the Port. Demonstrators site a variety of new and exciting tactics to be used in opposition of the military use of this public port.

“We hope to create safe space for all to voice their opposition to these crimes against peace and to resist the use of public lands to enable a bloody occupation,” says Olympia Port Militarization Resistance member Patty Imani. Many demonstrators oppose the use of their community as a “revolving door” for military equipment that is being used to commit war crimes. Tacoma, the larger community, and the world asserts that this war violates international law as defined by the Nuremberg Charter and Principles.

In the past, similar peaceful Port Militarization Resistance demonstrations have been met with overwhelming police violence. Police have illegally used chemical weapons and “less than lethal weapons” on people whose only crime was to attempt to uphold international law.

In March of 2007, this equipment left the Port of Tacoma for Iraq. Resisters sought to prevent the material from leaving, in hopes that this would prevent the deployment of troops. Through the use of enormous and unnecessary violence, police eventually cleared a path for this equipment to board the ship. There were 37 arrests. The equipment now returns on the heels of the soldiers, who returned home last month. 37 of these soldiers lost their lives in Iraq.

This press release was written by representatives from PMR. PMR is action-based coalition of anti-war activists who refuse their community's complacency in illegal occupations by stopping the military use of their streets, people, resources, and public ports.

[via YouTube]

Port Militarization Resistance in Olympia and Tacoma, Washington is aimed at stopping arms shipments going to Iraq. This is a brief look at whats been happening on the ground.

[via omjp]

Jeff Berryhill was arrested a short while ago at the port of tacoma. for allegedly trespassing.

We presume that he is being held at the tacoma city jail, however, that has yet to be confirmed.

The cops have said 'no bail', but then again, they always do.

Support for Jeff would be greatly appreciated in the form of jail solidarity or possibly bail.

That is all the information i have now, will keep you all posted.

tear it down!
-josh

As you may have noticed, I've been moving things around a bit.

• You'll now find the flickr stream of images related to Olympia down at the bottom of the page. (BTW: let me know if this looks ok on your browser -- I've only checked on FF.)
• I've added a permalink to a new weekly post: "Now playing at OFS."
• Finally, I've added an RSS feed from craigslist of jobs in the Olympia area.

If you didn't catch the previous post on "self-promotion," please have a look and let me know if you'd like that option.

We visited the Monarch Sculpture Park today, as a part of our "Bike Your Watershed" ride (somewhat coincidentally, but what the hell?). Anyway, it was about 10 miles south of the Chambers Lake trailhead -- flat all the way -- so an easy ride. There is one bit of the trail that isn't paved yet, and then there is a short bit along Rainer Rd. which isn't so pleasant, but it is only a few blocks. Here are some pictures from the Sculpture Park (click for a larger image):