tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62225706773803478312009-11-11T10:21:44.069-08:00ideas, thoughts, stories, reviews, on filmmaking, story concepts, and the human conditionJon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-12213551691822668052009-11-11T01:33:00.000-08:002009-11-11T10:21:44.110-08:002009-11-11T10:21:44.110-08:00

It's November 10th, 2009, the day before Veterans Day. President Obama visits Ft. Hood to mourn with those military families who lost friends and loved ones at the hands of a domestic "terrorist," who just happens to be a Muslim and who committed this crime so close to Veterans Day and while Obama is on the brink of making a decision to send tens of thousands more troops to the war in Afghanistan

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-3111493134132427732009-11-10T21:47:00.000-08:002009-11-10T23:42:46.032-08:002009-11-10T23:42:46.032-08:00

"Everyone else just sat down there and drunk their beer and looked at him and giggled at him," the woman said, starting to cry. "They just would laugh at him when he walked down with his Muslim clothes. . . . He was mistreated. He didn't have nobody. He was all alone. He went to his apartment there and was all alone." - Washington PostRight: Authorities knock on doors of Hasan's neighbors.The

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-73733453063652169242009-10-30T15:13:00.000-07:002009-10-31T01:42:55.358-07:002009-10-31T01:42:55.358-07:00

Grigor Sarkisyan tells us of his daughter who was denied treatment and died because of it, as Dr. Matt Hendrickson MD and others get arrested and protesters chant "CIGNA profits, people die, arrest the real criminals." This happened in Glendale CA as similar sit-ins at health insurance companies take place around the country. Over 900 people have signed up to risk arrest at these ongoing sit-ins

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-20614292734087555232009-10-25T19:02:00.000-07:002009-10-25T19:10:15.900-07:002009-10-25T19:10:15.900-07:00

This is a synopsis of the 28 minute French film by Pascale Bourgau who interviewed US military women raped on duty. It's been seen on European TV but not in the US. Pascale, a reporter for the Belgian channel RTBF (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon), while six months pregnant, along with Anne Barrier, toured the United States to meet these women and tell of their pain, rebellion and today,

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-11150481572940836992009-10-19T08:49:00.000-07:002009-10-19T08:53:44.856-07:002009-10-19T08:53:44.856-07:00

Los Angeles 10/15/09 – 12 arrested for a sit-in at Anthem Blue Cross offices as Maureen Cruise, Public Health Nurse, explains why single payer is not off the table. Along with a contingent of doctors, Cruise believes universal health care (a.k.a. single payer or medicare for all) is the only option. As Dr. Jo Olson recently told me, single payer is the only fiscal and moral solution. She has been

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-47223600970486516532009-10-19T08:46:00.000-07:002009-10-19T08:49:22.801-07:002009-10-19T08:49:22.801-07:00

Washington DC – Chanting “patients not profits,” citizens and health care providers held rallies and sit-ins at health insurance company offices in New York, Washington, Phoenix, Palm Beach, Portland, Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Reno. (Full list of cities and arrests below.) 54 were arrested to support an end to insurance abuse and win health care for all. 14 arrested in New York have not

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-61623635250485622932009-10-07T12:04:00.000-07:002009-10-07T12:14:32.210-07:002009-10-07T12:14:32.210-07:00

President Obama recently mentioned at a town hall on health care reform that he didn't support a single payer system because it would be too disruptive. He didn't explain what he meant by disruptive but industry professionals assume he refers to health insurance industry management and employees who would become jobless in short order under a single payer system. It's not clear if management

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-9560503423026682212009-08-17T22:16:00.000-07:002009-08-17T23:12:41.490-07:002009-08-17T23:12:41.490-07:00

Here's a rundown of the right's genius response to heath care reform based on interviews at this recent health care town hall in Alhambra CA.Solution for the 48 million uninsured: Life is tough. Get over it. Die.Solution for those uninsured who end up walking into hospitals: Well there should be some kind of program for them (duh - like government socialized health care?).Major concern: the

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-24120304836783182442009-08-15T02:05:00.000-07:002009-08-17T21:37:15.139-07:002009-08-17T21:37:15.139-07:00

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? How about if our troops kill a million innocent Iraqis and none of it is reported (no pictures, no video). Did it happen? What about if five billion people around the world decide to stop using banks and the present day financial infrastructure has to rely on corporate social welfare to survive, but they eventually

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-12406591976004516802009-08-12T23:29:00.001-07:002009-08-12T23:31:15.414-07:002009-08-12T23:31:15.414-07:00

The other day I went to a health care town hall meeting in Alhambra CA, with Congressman Adam Schiff. (D-CA) who supports a single payer health care system. The meeting was jammed with the now typical right wing nut cases. I hesitate to call them Republican, though most Republicans support what they do, but some do not, as you may have heard about Rep. John Isakson (R-GA) citing Palin as "nuts"

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-44501577622485108502009-08-11T01:23:00.001-07:002009-08-11T01:53:31.969-07:002009-08-11T01:53:31.969-07:00

There is a disturbing trend in Hollywood toward convention. By that I mean movies that are made with the conventions you'd expect to see in a given genre or even by studio. We expect certain types of films from Disney, and maybe certain other types from Warner, and something different again if the genre is horror, or romantic comedy and so on. This is convention and some people will even call it

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-13690068445239710282009-07-24T13:35:00.000-07:002009-07-24T13:37:06.343-07:002009-07-24T13:37:06.343-07:00

Find more photos like this on ComicsI took my son Chris to Comic Con for one day. It was so crowded and we were so tired from the drive down there and the parking hassles that we didn't think to check out the schedules and conferences. So all we did was walk the floor.Though that was pretty interesting and Chris enjoyed looking at the anime stuff which is what he's into. There are so many people

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-69142480818648948742009-07-19T01:07:00.000-07:002009-07-19T01:12:01.896-07:002009-07-19T01:12:01.896-07:00

Anyone who can should check out this awesome film. A true heartfelt story by Lori Petty. One week only at the Lamelle in Santa Monica. You may not get another chance to see it. It is a story of adolescent rape and as such is not easily able to get wide distribution - similar to Hounddog in that respect.I caught the world premier last year at the LA Film Festival. Not a dry eye in the house. The

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-40411410300902656712009-07-11T18:26:00.000-07:002009-07-11T18:32:07.198-07:002009-07-11T18:32:07.198-07:00

(HD Video - allow at least 5 minutes for this video to load or see the low def version)PASADENA CA - On Thursdays since, June 25, 2009, a group of protesters gathered at the intersection of Orange and Hill Avenues to hold a protest vigil, shown in this film, and which continues there weekly. Drive by and honk if you care to.So why after 60 years of Republican blocked attempts at nationalized

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-66548873772852706402009-07-07T00:37:00.000-07:002009-07-07T00:48:00.530-07:002009-07-07T00:48:00.530-07:00

Iranians have been holding a protest vigil since the Iran election in front of the federal building at Westwood and Veteran Avenues in West Los Angeles. On Sunday, June 28, 2009, about 5,000 of them took to the streets there in the march depicted in this film. Many would not be interviewed on camera, probably in fear of reprisals against their families in Iran by the Iranian government, as some

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-65065921003139411592009-04-17T20:21:00.000-07:002009-04-19T15:26:17.391-07:002009-04-19T15:26:17.391-07:00

If you're like me you don't hold onto money long enough to warrant keeping a bank account with the liability of bouncing checks when it nears bottom. So don't have one. Use money orders. Why direct deposit all your cash into some crooks' bank? It's your money. Put in in your wallet, or your safe. By the time I pay my bills all I have left is spending cash for food anyway.If you must have a bank

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-83777424682833316982009-04-09T00:08:00.000-07:002009-04-19T15:25:42.061-07:002009-04-19T15:25:42.061-07:00

There's a new movement in filmmaking. It's what you might call a "who need's Hollywood?", DIY approach. A number of new filmmakers have had some awesome success with this. The thing is there is no one way for everybody. Each filmmaker seems to find their own road. But there are some commonalities, like social networking, self-distribution, and audience interaction, and always hard work. Arin

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-84189900717148344382009-04-06T21:45:00.000-07:002009-05-15T20:20:14.807-07:002009-05-15T20:20:14.807-07:00

The Stop War Project seeks to stop all war for all time through the power of communication. I believe the troubles in the world stem from a lack of communication. If we all were more informed of what was going on in the world this might be very different. I believe we could even stop war this way. The Iraq war has gone on for six years, costing thousands of American lives and over a million Iraqi

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-47472579508278535482009-03-23T06:43:00.000-07:002009-04-23T22:51:59.378-07:002009-04-23T22:51:59.378-07:00

Hollywood, CA, March 21 2009 - Thousands of protesters gathered in Hollywood. This video, part 1 of a series, shows a Iraq war veteran who says he became aware, after serving in Iraq, that the real heroes don't wear U.S. uniforms. The real heroes are on the other side. He said hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have died at the hands of US troops and that the US is the largest terrorist

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-87163014031263735262009-03-21T10:05:00.000-07:002009-03-21T10:16:42.796-07:002009-03-21T10:16:42.796-07:00

Enough! - Protesters at AIG in LA from Jon Raymond on Vimeo.Los Angeles, March 19, 2009, 5:PM - As part of a nationwide SEIU sponsored protest, LA protesters outside of AIG were just as concerned about the billions of bailout dollars to all Wall Street firms as they were about the $165 million in AIG bonuses. They listed three demands from Congress:1) Pass the Employee Free Choice Act2)

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-12528278741488593272008-10-26T14:58:00.000-07:002009-01-20T12:34:38.599-08:002009-01-20T12:34:38.599-08:00

Apparently Ms.Stevens, in Everyone Sucks, her review of Synecdoche, New York , doesn't understand the difference between a value judgment and an objective criticism. She finds this movie "disappointing". Yet she says, "The movie's sense of temporal dislocation is profound and pervasive and very skillfully done..." Then, in the most self contradictory statement she could ever have written, "

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-50324725235234284692008-10-10T11:40:00.000-07:002009-01-20T12:36:25.145-08:002009-01-20T12:36:25.145-08:00

One of the major economic indicators that the government and Wall Street depend on, especially to tell us whether the country is in a recession or not, is the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). However, there are many who feel this indicator is inaccurate in reporting the real effect of the economy on people, especially people's happiness. The GPI (Genuine progress Indicator) was developed as one

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-89574468892838340162008-08-13T02:20:00.000-07:002008-08-23T01:13:53.168-07:002008-08-23T01:13:53.168-07:00

Did you know that the military's inclusion of embedded reporters as war correspondents was due solely to a law suit against the Pentagram by Larry Flynt? In this upside-down country of lying presidents, and corruption diseased politicians it seems almost natural that the one true champion of real American values is a world class pornographer. After all Larry Flynt went to the Supreme Court and

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-30373336921988579222008-07-11T22:30:00.000-07:002008-08-23T01:17:02.494-07:002008-08-23T01:17:02.494-07:00

The big news in the business world today was the fed’s seizure of IndyMac Bank, due to a recent run on holdings by depositors. It’s not everyday you get to see a good old fashioned bank run. When was the last one? Back in the depression? Oh, I forgot, we’re in a depression, more politically correctly known as a mild recession by this administration’s White House spinsters. What was that I

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222570677380347831.post-3666120699394584592008-06-30T21:38:00.000-07:002008-08-23T23:24:22.442-07:002008-08-23T23:24:22.442-07:00

It was a blast. I worked the Red Room a few times and the Hellboy reception, which was cool. They let us party a lot. I did something like 12 shifts and got a free ticket for each one.I met and spoke with Lori Petty. That was a highlight. I thought her film, The Poker House, was by far the best film there, although I haven't seen them all. But this would be hard to beat. With it's unique female

Jon Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857224026376530468noreply@blogger.com0