London riots, financial crisis, capitalism and new authoritarian regimes

Here are a few links to videos I've been watching online. First of all, the London riots. The first link is a sound byte whilst the second is a more organic documentary claiming that severe government cuts brought chaos to the streets of London.






After you have watched the above go check out the Flickr set the Metropolitian Police has uploaded with photos and footage from CCTV cameras. You can see a passer by trying to stop looting, a gang stealing a bike pushing the cyclist to the floor, another group entering an arcade and stealing from the employees' bags, cops getting run over by a car.

To finish off Zizek gets bombarded with images and comments upon them, ending his reasoning with the bleak prospect of the spread of Berlusconi like regimes. He argues for a radicalisation of the left for liberalism to be saved by the growth of a populist right wing

Well, enough food for thought. I need a video of a runnig cat, maybe with a Coldplay song, oh I have found one. I won't embed it so you can get lost in the world of You Tube. Kittens running on cat exercise wheel part 1

Your Paintings on the BBC

Quite an amazing project this one. It's a very professional way to deal with art and I wish it will extend to other European countries as well. My thought goes to Italy and its rich collection. It's great that the BBC is doing this, that's what I call public service. Here is the link to start exploring all the paintings the UK has to offer.

Walking Europe

Dr. Paul Gardner, a PhD graduate from Oxford, set off on a journey between London and Istanbul by walking the entire distance of 3280 km, in order to raise money and awarenes about Europe's cultural heritage. Inspired by the Grand Tour, the journey taken by European elites to find out about the great historical and cultural heritage of Europe, as well as two walkers of the 20th Century, he pushed himself into this great effort and ran a blog along the way. This is certainly a different way to experience places as opposed to more immediate forms of travelling that often times make the world a much flatter place. The chance to speak to local communities and spending 137 days to complete the journey made this a life-changing event. Paul raised money by generating interest and made a donation to Europa Nostra, the pan European federation for Cultural Heritage. He experienced various difficulties and harsh conditions. He visited important historical hallmarks in Austria, Serbia, Bulgaria before reaching Istanbul, the ancient capital of two major empires. (source: Europa Nostra magazine)

Hometown Glory

New voices needed for the festive period. Well, among the ones I manage to discover through the web I recommend Jack Penate and Adele. They are both from London and they are probably friends. Have a look at Jack's and Adele's myspace to hear some of their music. I really like the song Hometown Glory. The piano intro and her voice are really touching. There are various versions of the song around. Here is a stripped down guitar only version played in a library. What more do you want for Christmas?

This is London singin'

Free singing on a bus in London: it makes great community building. A recipe to export in every city. It seems that July is a great month for cities to get 'musical'.