Too Little Time

Ever have one of those weeks where you have lots to say, but not enough time?

Well, my blog is suffering that very fate; I have many things to write about, yet can't find the time. My old boss came back recently and I am now actually beginning to earn my wages by doing real financial work and not as a full time blogger. In fact, I haven't been this busy since December when I was preparing for year end. Of course, that lasted 2 days before I left everything scattered on my desk and abandoned it for Julian to finish while I ran away for a few weeks... so let's hope this time I make the most of it.

The unfortunate timing of this relates to the fact that I recently watched The U.S. vs John Lennon and it gave me many things to write about. Seriously. Not because it is an amazing documentary or anything, but mainly because there are some parts of it that really touched some nerves with me and I really want to put it all in here. So hopefully I can make time. I mean, who do I think I am trying to this boring reporting when I should be blogging?

What I will say right now is that The U.S. vs John Lennon is a very interesting watch if you don't really have much knowledge of John Lennon's involvement in the peace movement of the 70's. It starts back in the 60's with the American backlash towards his whole 'bigger than Jesus' comments (still one of the most widely misunderstood statements I know of) and goes right through to when he was finally given his green card in 1976. For me, it was a little too vague on some things, but then I pretty much knew most of what was going on.

However, there is some great footage that even I hadn't seen before, such as the last half of his argument with the editor of the New York Times (the first half can be found in the Imagine film, where John begins by complaining she put in an article about him that didn't mention anything about "Peace" - he didn't care that she was calling him a nutcase, so long as she mentioned "Peace"). But for me, even after his arrogance about people using Give Peace a Chance as the anthem for the Peace movement, showed how much ferocity he had towards getting the message out there. The look in his eyes when he tells her he was "proud they were singing my song and I'll be proud to sing it with them" was pretty intense.

And then there was his very public declaration of support for the Black Panthers, and the footage of him at various anti-war demonstrations/concerts in New York. All very worthwhile for a fan like me, and again gives a good view of his dedication to the cause.

So I do recommend this film to anyone who wants to understand how much the U.S. Government hated John Lennon, even if it isn't as detailed as I would have liked. You will still get a good understanding of how the FBI worked in those days and how it all relates to the modern times... but that I will go into in my next blog. Hopefully I'll get that up tonight or tomorrow.

Now I have to get this report finished... somehow.