In the last few weeks, everyone around me (myself included) repeatedly asserted to one another how cold it was — so cold, we said, my gosh, it’s so cold — but Hoth scenes always put it all in perspective, don’t they?
via laurenmoran on the tumblr.
So speaking of Star Wars extreme-temperature location shooting, I was watching this segment on the Daily Show recently, and it ends up that there are protests and massive government upheaval going on in Tunisia, where the Tattooine scenes for Episodes IV and I were filmed. I didn’t know that.
To clarify: I knew the Tattooine scene-filming part. I even knew there was a town there actually called Tataouine, although the Lars homestead scenes were not set there, but instead filmed near the troglodyte architectural mecca of Matmâta, which is about 70 miles north of Tataouine (R.I.P., Owen and Beru).
The life-altering modern politics, on the shameful other hand, was brand-new news to me.
Photograph by Jamal Saidi for Reuters.
This is what a futuristic rebel alliance looks like.
The ousting of Tunisian president Ben Ali came as a result of public backlash in the wake of a sham election last October, condemned by the Human Rights Watch. This was followed by incendiary WikiLeaks which surfaced, detailing the president and his family’s lavish lifestyle in an impoverished country.
The revolt was largely organized via social media, relying heavily on texts, facebook, and twitter. Search #sidibouzid for the hundreds of thousands of tweets from Sidi Bouzid, the seat of the so-called Jasmine Revolution.
via the Peace and Collaborative Development Network.
Coming so soon after the 2009 election riots in Iran, which were similarly organized, some of the power-hungry dictators in the Arab world are getting understandably nervous about the precarity of their positions. I said goddamn. How now, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? You can’t hide technology from the people forever.
What I’m also trying to say, though, with both the “it’s so cold” story and the absolute ignorance of grave disturbances in another country’s Force until seeing it on a quasi-serious news program, is that I’m a shallow, isolated slave to materialism. It is not a proud moment.
Tags: #sidibouzid, 2009 election riots, a confession, Arab world, aunt beru, Ben Ali, candids, Daily Show with Jon Stewart, dictator, dictatorship, facebook, grave disturbance in the Force, hoth, Human Rights Watch, ignorance, images, Iran, It happens, Jamal Saidi, Jasmine Revolution, Lars family, Lars farm, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, materialism, Matmâta, movie quotes, movies, peace, photography, Pictures, protest, quotes, revolution, riot, screencaps, Self-audit, self-involvement, Sidi Bouzid, social media, star wars, stills, Tataouine, Tattooine, television will rot your brain, topple, Tunisia, twitter, ugly American, uncle owen, upheaval, vintage, WikiLeaks, writing
January 26, 2011 at 6:15 am |
love this
January 26, 2011 at 11:32 am |
Needless to say, Africa is a grossly ignored continent, the news on this has been out there through the main media channels since late December. There are those of us out there that have to stand watch over this type of thing.
Your isolation has NOTHING to do with materialism, the world is still a big place, and you going to miss some of it. You can’t do everything, and even if you tried, you would likely do more harm than good trying to attempt so much simultaneously. If you focus on making your little corner of the world good, then you are already leaps and bounds ahead of people all over the world.
But if you are still despondent about this and seek to educate yourself more about Africa, check out Cote D’Ivoire, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, the potential ripple effects from Tunisia through Algeria and Egypt…. water politics over the Nile river, drugs through West Africa into Europe. You can get lost in Africa.
January 27, 2011 at 2:09 pm |
If you focus on making your little corner of the world good, then you are already leaps and bounds ahead of people all over the world.
You always give me the best advice.
14 outgoing hits to your facebook page today from the link I threw up when crediting you for finding that winter graffiti. Baby can has stardom? Maybe I’d better put up a hover doodad on the link so the ladies know you are NOT on the market.
February 12, 2011 at 3:06 am |
Just want to pat myself on the back for my statement on 26 January, “ripple effects from Tunisia through Algeria and Egypt.” Egypt is down now, and today (12 Feb) is the fork in the road for Algeria to see if their people can stand up and throw down.