been geekin' out hard on some afghanistan lately. tryin' to understand how a place can be so resistant to the power of foreign militaries + macdonalds/wal-marts. thinking about how to appropriate said powers of resistance into my own personal lifestyle. dont think im going to start here tho:



this flick is about powerful afghan warlords who get their kicks and vaunt their power amongst themselves by buying young dudes and dressing them up like girls and training them to dance and sing [via michael jackson/justin timberlake] for all their friends and then compete to get with them (by way of sex) afterwards. i saw this one on the frontline website for a while but never wanted to watch it cause i have a weak heart and thought, as a former childcare professional, such content might actually kill me. turns out what struck me most was the similarities between this so called "bacha bazi" culture and the ways in which we exploit children right here at home (US of A). also the resiliency of the kids who are just trying to be alive and make sense of the fucked up world they've by chance gotten caught up in. you can see the film in its entirety here.

on a lighter note, adam curtis is (i think) making some films about afghanistan as we speak. he keeps a pretty thorough record of his thoughts and musings as well as links to crazy old bbc footage on his blog. lots of crazy stories and events that it seems history has forgotten. its a lot to digest so take your time.