Hot Ta Trot...
Firstly a big thank you to Charlotte at Exedra for finding me a mint copy of Sadaat Hasan Manto's 'Mottled Dawn' - a collection of short stories concerning the partition of India in 1947.

I am currently moist with anticipation as I wait for a first edition of Ishmael Reed's 'Conjure - selected poems, 1963-1970', signed by the man himself, from Abebooks in the States. This is seriously (rocking horse shit) rare.

Comps
On the competition front, I have missed a job lot of deadlines. No matter. Speaking of competitions, Turner Classic Movies has its own Short Movie competition, and I am hoping Da Bomb will submit something from her worthy canon.

German Cinema - No, really!
If you get a chance, check out the German film 'The Edukators' - from the same team that gave us 'Goodbye Lenin!' Another film worth seeing is 'Downfall', a portrayal of Hitler's last days, based on the account of his secretary, Traudl Junge. Her interview will be screened on BBC4 this Friday evening. It should make for an extraordinary viewing experience. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to watch both a BBC4 documentary about Hitler's favourite filmaker Leni Riefenstahl and her 1934 film 'Triumph of the Will', covering the Nazi Party congress of that year. Riefenstahl made (for the time) a visually groundbeaking film, but the speeches of various party members left me numb with boredom. Hitler may have been charismatic (or rather, he made you feel good about yourself), but on speeches alone, the 1934 rally had all the excitement of a Soviet Communist Party Congress, with talk of production quotas, 'hardening work ethics' and other such assorted crap.

If only things had moved on, for similar patriotic nonsense, by way of parades and deification, takes place in North Korea and Zimbabwe, only the choreography isn't as good as that of Riefenstahl & Speer.

You're probably wondering what point I am trying to make.

If people feel isolated, scared and are persuaded to believe they are worthless, any half-arsed sales leper can unite them under a banner of darkness. Does being scared let you off the hook for participating, i.e. 'we were only following orders' versus 'we were only following ideals'?

I have questions, but not many answers.

Don't be a sheep. Make your individuality count, especially when you know something is wrong.

Today's Election Tip
Please make sure you know the differences between an immigrant, migrant and asylum seeker, the next time a election candidate talks about 'immigration'. Ask them about:

• Tax receipts from migrant workers versus the cost of services they use (they contribute to the economy)
• The dependency of the NHS, hospitality and building industries on migrant workers
• Which nation gets the most UK work permits

Immigration is like sex; it's been around since the year dot, is natural and you'd be seriously hacked off without it. Check out the Home Office statistics for asylum and control of immigration. The fact is that an economy not only imports and exports goods and services, but also skilled people, e.g. the USA needs skilled tech workers, and the UK needs more curry chefs (i'm not joking). Finally, a large number of asylum seekers came from countries up shit creek at that time, so it was a jolly good idea to let them stay.

Guerilla Restroom Action
As a barfly/apprentice rent boy, one gets to frequent lots of restrooms. Check out the link for today.