Politics Before Noon.

It's getting to be a theme, I know. But the fact of the matter is that the world is very politically-charged at the moment. "Beautiful systems dying, old fixed orders spiraling apart..." And change is in the air. And art is, or should be, on the cutting edge of it all...

I had complaints on Friday, when three of our soldiers in Afghanistan were killed, about the lack of that war's presence on our stages. And, perhaps, its absence there is one reason why it is absent (or at least not as present as it should be) in our politics. All that aside, though, this makes me so proud to be a Canadian. Even if our government and our artists haven't said or done as much as they should, 'ordinary' Canadians are doing what they can. Hundreds lined the road home for our fallen heroes yesterday; one of the greatest grassroots traditions we have come up with in recent history, I think.

Then I saw this on BlogTO this morning. It is a video from quite a clever campaign by War Child Canada to raise awareness and "support" for child soldiers in Darfur, the Congo, and Sierra Leone. Apparently there are going to be more videos in the future. I, for one, think it's a really intelligent way of making their point and getting the message across. For some reason, things like this tend to have a greater impact than the hundreds of words generated in the press. Both are important, without a doubt, but there is just something about the "viral video" that catches...which is great for artists with opinions and ideas out there.

A couple of guys I had some classes with in university started their own series of web videos, which I will link to as soon as I can remember what both their names were--one was Joey. The one who dated a girl on my floor in first year. I really didn't know them well--a friends of friends kind of thing. Anyway, my point is, their videos did really well on the web. They were self-written, self-produced, and garnered some pretty big attention. So it's a really great way of getting yourself out there as an emerging artist...more on this later, perhaps.

Last but not least, some of my favourite political art: The Daily Show. Jon Stewart is a genius. Essentially. And, for all its ridiculous antics, the show is quite intelligent (but do I really need to defend it to a country that has embraced Rick Mercer? I think not). Mr. Stewart did quite the send up of Canadian politics last night...Clips available here. It was also talked about in the Star and the Globe and Mail. As well as on cable morning shows. Politics is serious business. It kills people. But sometimes you have to laugh at it, too.