Saturday, December 25, 1999
end of the century greets
Yes, I said century. I'm one of those people that believes the actual millennium changes when the year hit 2001. ANYWAYS. It's christmas, I'm at my parents, as I'm sure most of you are. (well, not HERE, but at your
respective parental units' place of dwelling.)
In a few days I will get in a car with Matt Cox and Katrina Ham and head to Kentucky, where I will pick up my friend Brandis and head to Florida to hang out with Katie Kwapish, Mike Swelsted and Justin Miller. Phish will play
for 2 days (5 sets) as we camp out on an indian reservation for 4 days. The most interesting part of the adventure isn't the the possibility of finding peyote, but rather the fact that on NYE, Phish will play from just before midnight until dawn. That's pretty cool!
I'm sure you've heard of Matt and Kat. Matt and I worked at Little Caesars together in 1993 and Kat and I have been really close since I came back home from CMU in 95. Brandis however, I've only met in person once. She random ICQ'd me on the computer while i was online about a year ago and we met at the Phish show in Indianapolis last summer. She amazed me by standing outside the venue waiting for people to clear out, looking at everyones faces trying to see me. When ours eyes met, she said "HOLD ME!, my eyes hurt from lookin' at faces." She's so funny. She named her son Lennon, which is
enough reason for me to respect the girl.
I made my first video compilation, and the corresponding CDROM version is on its way as well. The video has over an hour of films/shorts/etc. I've done ranging from high school to my most recent film classes at GVSU.
The CDROM will have behind the scenes production stories, deleted scenes, etc, as well as quicktime movie files of the films. They cost me to make them, so if you want one, the video will be $10 bucks and the CDROM will be
$7 bucks. I haven't actually made a bunch yet, just a few test copies, but if you want one, I could get it to you before March for sure. I gave away some copies of the video to family for Christmas, as well as gave copies to
people who helped me in the making of the different pieces. The new version that will be ready in February will be almost 2 hours in length, so that's plenty of entertainment for your money, right?
I'm about to graduate.
In February, I start shooting my new film, entitled Only As Far Away As The Next Breath. I need a big party scene to shoot in Ann Arbor, so if you want to be in a Danimatian Studios Production, then you've got to keep in contact with me. I'll let you know when we shoot. Basically, we're going to fake a party (when I film it, everything must be silent so I can control audio
issues.) Then when we're done filming, the real partying will begin. The rest of the film will be shot in Chicago and Grand Rapids. It's going to be a 16mm film, but I am shooting on MiniDV format, editing on a digital editing system, exporting back to MiniDV and having the final version put on 16mm film from there. At the length the film is looking to be now, if i were
to shoot it on film from instead of MiniDV, it would cost me $20,000.
(Which, ironically, is about $19,420 more then I have.)
As I said, I'm moving home to Farmington Hills in May. Paying off the $8000 in debts I've acquired since leaving Farmington Hills, and buying a new computer to edit movies on as well as purchasing a very expensive DVCPro format digital camera. So if you live near Farmington, you will only see me on the weekends, since I'll be working 2 jobs during the weekdays.
I know this is going to be a good year because Radiohead's new album comes out in April. Besides that, I'm excited (AND SCARED) to enter the real world. The only thing standing between me and graduation is Statistics.
I've been rather quiet lately. I pretty much speak only if somone makes me.
I'm a loudmouth when there's a crowd, still, but one on one you have to nudge me to speak my mind, which is usually blank anyways. I'm excited to finish writing the film and start production planning and most of all, shooting! It's going to be difficult to direct this one, I'm going to be on camera a lot. Edgar Blair will take over directing duties when I'm in front
of the camera. The script has some Sundance festival potential. I wish I could make a 35mm film, but that's way more expensive. I should just be happy to be doing flim at all. I've only done one. The rest have all been
videos.
Thats all from me. I have to go open more presents. I can't help but think next year I should shop for real instead of sending my sister out to do my shopping. Aren't I a cold bastard? ah well. Send me mail saying "I love you,
you insensitive fuck!" because chances are, I miss you.
As you may have guessed, this is my version of holiday cheer being spread. Do something nice for yourself. (and if you're not up for that, then do something nice for me.)
dan
"bighead"
--
________________________
http://www2.gvsu.edu/~boujould (but not for long!!!)
O ,
O .:/
O ,,///;, ,;/ Give a man a fish and he eats for a day
o o:::::::;;/// Give a man Phish and he grooves
o .>::::::::;;\\\ for a lifetime.
''\\\\\'" '; ';\
respective parental units' place of dwelling.)
In a few days I will get in a car with Matt Cox and Katrina Ham and head to Kentucky, where I will pick up my friend Brandis and head to Florida to hang out with Katie Kwapish, Mike Swelsted and Justin Miller. Phish will play
for 2 days (5 sets) as we camp out on an indian reservation for 4 days. The most interesting part of the adventure isn't the the possibility of finding peyote, but rather the fact that on NYE, Phish will play from just before midnight until dawn. That's pretty cool!
I'm sure you've heard of Matt and Kat. Matt and I worked at Little Caesars together in 1993 and Kat and I have been really close since I came back home from CMU in 95. Brandis however, I've only met in person once. She random ICQ'd me on the computer while i was online about a year ago and we met at the Phish show in Indianapolis last summer. She amazed me by standing outside the venue waiting for people to clear out, looking at everyones faces trying to see me. When ours eyes met, she said "HOLD ME!, my eyes hurt from lookin' at faces." She's so funny. She named her son Lennon, which is
enough reason for me to respect the girl.
I made my first video compilation, and the corresponding CDROM version is on its way as well. The video has over an hour of films/shorts/etc. I've done ranging from high school to my most recent film classes at GVSU.
The CDROM will have behind the scenes production stories, deleted scenes, etc, as well as quicktime movie files of the films. They cost me to make them, so if you want one, the video will be $10 bucks and the CDROM will be
$7 bucks. I haven't actually made a bunch yet, just a few test copies, but if you want one, I could get it to you before March for sure. I gave away some copies of the video to family for Christmas, as well as gave copies to
people who helped me in the making of the different pieces. The new version that will be ready in February will be almost 2 hours in length, so that's plenty of entertainment for your money, right?
I'm about to graduate.
In February, I start shooting my new film, entitled Only As Far Away As The Next Breath. I need a big party scene to shoot in Ann Arbor, so if you want to be in a Danimatian Studios Production, then you've got to keep in contact with me. I'll let you know when we shoot. Basically, we're going to fake a party (when I film it, everything must be silent so I can control audio
issues.) Then when we're done filming, the real partying will begin. The rest of the film will be shot in Chicago and Grand Rapids. It's going to be a 16mm film, but I am shooting on MiniDV format, editing on a digital editing system, exporting back to MiniDV and having the final version put on 16mm film from there. At the length the film is looking to be now, if i were
to shoot it on film from instead of MiniDV, it would cost me $20,000.
(Which, ironically, is about $19,420 more then I have.)
As I said, I'm moving home to Farmington Hills in May. Paying off the $8000 in debts I've acquired since leaving Farmington Hills, and buying a new computer to edit movies on as well as purchasing a very expensive DVCPro format digital camera. So if you live near Farmington, you will only see me on the weekends, since I'll be working 2 jobs during the weekdays.
I know this is going to be a good year because Radiohead's new album comes out in April. Besides that, I'm excited (AND SCARED) to enter the real world. The only thing standing between me and graduation is Statistics.
I've been rather quiet lately. I pretty much speak only if somone makes me.
I'm a loudmouth when there's a crowd, still, but one on one you have to nudge me to speak my mind, which is usually blank anyways. I'm excited to finish writing the film and start production planning and most of all, shooting! It's going to be difficult to direct this one, I'm going to be on camera a lot. Edgar Blair will take over directing duties when I'm in front
of the camera. The script has some Sundance festival potential. I wish I could make a 35mm film, but that's way more expensive. I should just be happy to be doing flim at all. I've only done one. The rest have all been
videos.
Thats all from me. I have to go open more presents. I can't help but think next year I should shop for real instead of sending my sister out to do my shopping. Aren't I a cold bastard? ah well. Send me mail saying "I love you,
you insensitive fuck!" because chances are, I miss you.
As you may have guessed, this is my version of holiday cheer being spread. Do something nice for yourself. (and if you're not up for that, then do something nice for me.)
dan
"bighead"
--
________________________
http://www2.gvsu.edu/~boujould (but not for long!!!)
O ,
O .:/
O ,,///;, ,;/ Give a man a fish and he eats for a day
o o:::::::;;/// Give a man Phish and he grooves
o .>::::::::;;\\\ for a lifetime.
''\\\\\'" '; ';\
Monday, December 13, 1999
Persuasion Speech - The Billion Dollar Crop
The Billion Dollar Crop
Dan Boujoulian
There is a debate across america that causes friends and neighbors to lash out at one another verbally. It escalates like a freight train pushing the limits of speed. At the helm of this train is Dr. Jack Kevorkian who vigorously fights for a persons right to die. Across the county there are millions who believe in this right to die. Applied in a different way the same people who would defend a persons right to die will gather against those who simply do things to thier own bodies. They are shunned and ridiculed, even by those addicted to the plant tobacco. These people are marijuana smokers. I am not standing in front of you today hoping that somehow, Marijuana will be legalized because of it. But I am going to give you one example of how the majority of society can be manipulated by a few dozen businessmen. If I accomplish any persuading in your mind, I want you to question everything you have been taught, as well as all new data that you cross in this 'information age.' Could what you beleive have been taught to you in order to benefit someone else?
At the turn of the century, many drugs were made illegal when a mood of temperance swept the nation. In 1914, Congress passed the Harrison Act, banning opiates and cocaine. Alcohol prohibition quickly followed, and by 1918 the U.S. was officially a "dry" nation. That did not mean, however, an end to drug use. It meant that, suddenly, people were arrested and jailed for doing what they had previously done without government interference. Prohibition also meant the emergence of a black market, operated by criminals and marked by violence. (ACLU)
It is classified with the harsh drugs cocaine and heroin. It is called addictive and put in a negative light. It is ignored that advances in neurobiology have provided a biological model for explaining substance abuse. Drugs of abuse affect the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with response and reward and now held to explain the compulsive self-administration of drugs. It is never considered that "THC, the active chemical in marijuana, does not affect dopamine levels.
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 established five categories, or "schedules," into which all illicit and prescription drugs were placed. Marijuana was placed in Schedule I, which defines the substance as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.
This definition is simply not accurate. However, at the time of the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana had been illegal for more than 30 years. Its medical uses had been forgotten and its "reefer madness" stigma was still prevalent.
But forget marijuana as a recreational drug for a minute, there are plenty of other uses for hemp in general. Providing over 50,000 products; paper, clothing, food, building supplies, fuel and medicine for instance.
At one time marijuana seemed to have a promising future as a cornerstone of industry. When Rudolph Diesel produced his famous engine in 1896, he assumed that the diesel engine would be powered by a variety of fuels, especially vegetable and seed oils. Rudolph Diesel, like most engineers then, believed vegetable fuels were superior to petroleum. Hemp is the most efficient of vegetables..
In the 1930s the Ford Motor Company also saw a future in biomass fuels. Ford operated a successful biomass conversion plant, that included hemp, at their Iron Mountain facility in Michigan. Ford engineers extracted methanol, charcoal fuel, tar, pitch, and ethyl-acetate. All fundamental ingredients for modern industry and now supplied by oil-related industries.
The difference is that the vegetable source is renewable, cheap and clean, and the petroleum or coal sources are limited, expensive and dirty. By volume, 30% of the hemp seed contains oil suitable for high-grade diesel fuel as well as aircraft engine and precision machine oil.
Henry Ford's experiments with methanol promised cheap, readily renewable fuel. And if you think methanol means compromise, you should know that many modern race cars run on methanol.
About the time Ford was making biomass methanol, a mechanical device to strip the outer fibers of the hemp plant appeared on the market. These machines could turn hemp into paper and fabrics quickly and cheaply. Hemp paper is superior to wood paper. The first two drafts of the U.S. constitution were written on hemp paper, however the final draft is on animal skin. Hemp paper contains no dioxin, or other toxic residue, and a single acre of hemp can produce the same amount of paper as four acres of trees. The trees take 20 years to harvest and hemp takes a single season. In warm climates hemp can be harvested two even three times a year. It also grows in bad soil and restores the nutrients.
Hemp fiber-stripping machines were bad news to the Hearst paper manufacturing division, and a host of other natural resource firms. Coincidentally, the DuPont Chemical Company had, in 1937, been granted a patent on a sulfuric acid process to make paper from wood pulp. At the time DuPont predicted their sulfuric acid process would account for 80% of their business for the next 50 years. (Downs)
Hemp, once the mainstay of American agriculture, became a threat to a handful of corporate giants. To stifle the commercial threat that hemp posed to timber interests, William Randolph Hearst began referring to hemp in his newspapers, by its Spanish name, "marijuana." This did two things: it associated the plant with Mexicans and played on racist fears, and it misled the public into thinking that marijuana and hemp were different plants. (Downs)
This negative propaganda regarding hemp altered the publics perception intensely. The future for marijuana was as bleak as my grade in this very class. Imagine if you will a pulse coming to a stop.
You must remember that Marijuana is medicine. It has been used for thousands of years to treat a wide variety of ailments. Marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.) was legal in the United States for all purposes - industrial and recreational, as well as medical - until 1937. Today, only eight Americans are legally allowed to use marijuana as medicine.
Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. No one has ever died from an overdose. It is also extremely versatile.
Four of its general therapeutic applications include: 1.relief from nausea and increase of appetite; 2.reduction of intra-ocular pressure, which is pressure within the eye; 3.reduction of muscle spasms; 4.relief from mild to moderate chronic pain.
Marijuana is often useful in the treatment of the following conditions:
ïCancer: Marijuana alleviates the nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by chemotherapy treatment.
ïAIDS: Marijuana alleviates the nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by the disease itself and by treatment with AZT and other drugs.
ïGlaucoma: Marijuana, by reducing intraocular pressure, alleviates the pain and slows or halts the progress of the disease. Glaucoma, which damages vision by gradually increasing eye pressure over time, is the leading cause of blindness in the United States.
ïMultiple Sclerosis: Marijuana reduces the muscle pain and spasticity caused by the disease. It may also relieve tremor and unsteadiness of gait, and it helps some patients with bladder control. Multiple sclerosis is the leading cause of neurological disability among young and middle-aged adults in the United States.
ïEpilepsy: Marijuana prevents epileptic seizures in some patients.
ïChronic Pain: Marijuana reduces the chronic pain caused by a variety of injuries and disorders.
Of the 588,963 marijuana-related arrests made in 1995, approximately 86 percent (503,350) were for simple possession. The remaining 85,613 were for sale or manufacture, a category that includes all cultivation offenses, including those where marijuana was grown for personal consumption. These new FBI statistics indicate that one marijuana user is arrested every 54 seconds in America.
It should be clear that marijuana is not deserving of the bad associations with it. This country would be much better off if it's people could decide what they can do with thier own bodies. Until that day, marijuana users will remain the silent masses they have been since prohibition started. Remember what George Washington said, "Make most of the hemp seed. Sow it everywhere."
Dan Boujoulian
There is a debate across america that causes friends and neighbors to lash out at one another verbally. It escalates like a freight train pushing the limits of speed. At the helm of this train is Dr. Jack Kevorkian who vigorously fights for a persons right to die. Across the county there are millions who believe in this right to die. Applied in a different way the same people who would defend a persons right to die will gather against those who simply do things to thier own bodies. They are shunned and ridiculed, even by those addicted to the plant tobacco. These people are marijuana smokers. I am not standing in front of you today hoping that somehow, Marijuana will be legalized because of it. But I am going to give you one example of how the majority of society can be manipulated by a few dozen businessmen. If I accomplish any persuading in your mind, I want you to question everything you have been taught, as well as all new data that you cross in this 'information age.' Could what you beleive have been taught to you in order to benefit someone else?
At the turn of the century, many drugs were made illegal when a mood of temperance swept the nation. In 1914, Congress passed the Harrison Act, banning opiates and cocaine. Alcohol prohibition quickly followed, and by 1918 the U.S. was officially a "dry" nation. That did not mean, however, an end to drug use. It meant that, suddenly, people were arrested and jailed for doing what they had previously done without government interference. Prohibition also meant the emergence of a black market, operated by criminals and marked by violence. (ACLU)
It is classified with the harsh drugs cocaine and heroin. It is called addictive and put in a negative light. It is ignored that advances in neurobiology have provided a biological model for explaining substance abuse. Drugs of abuse affect the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with response and reward and now held to explain the compulsive self-administration of drugs. It is never considered that "THC, the active chemical in marijuana, does not affect dopamine levels.
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 established five categories, or "schedules," into which all illicit and prescription drugs were placed. Marijuana was placed in Schedule I, which defines the substance as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.
This definition is simply not accurate. However, at the time of the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana had been illegal for more than 30 years. Its medical uses had been forgotten and its "reefer madness" stigma was still prevalent.
But forget marijuana as a recreational drug for a minute, there are plenty of other uses for hemp in general. Providing over 50,000 products; paper, clothing, food, building supplies, fuel and medicine for instance.
At one time marijuana seemed to have a promising future as a cornerstone of industry. When Rudolph Diesel produced his famous engine in 1896, he assumed that the diesel engine would be powered by a variety of fuels, especially vegetable and seed oils. Rudolph Diesel, like most engineers then, believed vegetable fuels were superior to petroleum. Hemp is the most efficient of vegetables..
In the 1930s the Ford Motor Company also saw a future in biomass fuels. Ford operated a successful biomass conversion plant, that included hemp, at their Iron Mountain facility in Michigan. Ford engineers extracted methanol, charcoal fuel, tar, pitch, and ethyl-acetate. All fundamental ingredients for modern industry and now supplied by oil-related industries.
The difference is that the vegetable source is renewable, cheap and clean, and the petroleum or coal sources are limited, expensive and dirty. By volume, 30% of the hemp seed contains oil suitable for high-grade diesel fuel as well as aircraft engine and precision machine oil.
Henry Ford's experiments with methanol promised cheap, readily renewable fuel. And if you think methanol means compromise, you should know that many modern race cars run on methanol.
About the time Ford was making biomass methanol, a mechanical device to strip the outer fibers of the hemp plant appeared on the market. These machines could turn hemp into paper and fabrics quickly and cheaply. Hemp paper is superior to wood paper. The first two drafts of the U.S. constitution were written on hemp paper, however the final draft is on animal skin. Hemp paper contains no dioxin, or other toxic residue, and a single acre of hemp can produce the same amount of paper as four acres of trees. The trees take 20 years to harvest and hemp takes a single season. In warm climates hemp can be harvested two even three times a year. It also grows in bad soil and restores the nutrients.
Hemp fiber-stripping machines were bad news to the Hearst paper manufacturing division, and a host of other natural resource firms. Coincidentally, the DuPont Chemical Company had, in 1937, been granted a patent on a sulfuric acid process to make paper from wood pulp. At the time DuPont predicted their sulfuric acid process would account for 80% of their business for the next 50 years. (Downs)
Hemp, once the mainstay of American agriculture, became a threat to a handful of corporate giants. To stifle the commercial threat that hemp posed to timber interests, William Randolph Hearst began referring to hemp in his newspapers, by its Spanish name, "marijuana." This did two things: it associated the plant with Mexicans and played on racist fears, and it misled the public into thinking that marijuana and hemp were different plants. (Downs)
This negative propaganda regarding hemp altered the publics perception intensely. The future for marijuana was as bleak as my grade in this very class. Imagine if you will a pulse coming to a stop.
You must remember that Marijuana is medicine. It has been used for thousands of years to treat a wide variety of ailments. Marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.) was legal in the United States for all purposes - industrial and recreational, as well as medical - until 1937. Today, only eight Americans are legally allowed to use marijuana as medicine.
Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. No one has ever died from an overdose. It is also extremely versatile.
Four of its general therapeutic applications include: 1.relief from nausea and increase of appetite; 2.reduction of intra-ocular pressure, which is pressure within the eye; 3.reduction of muscle spasms; 4.relief from mild to moderate chronic pain.
Marijuana is often useful in the treatment of the following conditions:
ïCancer: Marijuana alleviates the nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by chemotherapy treatment.
ïAIDS: Marijuana alleviates the nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by the disease itself and by treatment with AZT and other drugs.
ïGlaucoma: Marijuana, by reducing intraocular pressure, alleviates the pain and slows or halts the progress of the disease. Glaucoma, which damages vision by gradually increasing eye pressure over time, is the leading cause of blindness in the United States.
ïMultiple Sclerosis: Marijuana reduces the muscle pain and spasticity caused by the disease. It may also relieve tremor and unsteadiness of gait, and it helps some patients with bladder control. Multiple sclerosis is the leading cause of neurological disability among young and middle-aged adults in the United States.
ïEpilepsy: Marijuana prevents epileptic seizures in some patients.
ïChronic Pain: Marijuana reduces the chronic pain caused by a variety of injuries and disorders.
Of the 588,963 marijuana-related arrests made in 1995, approximately 86 percent (503,350) were for simple possession. The remaining 85,613 were for sale or manufacture, a category that includes all cultivation offenses, including those where marijuana was grown for personal consumption. These new FBI statistics indicate that one marijuana user is arrested every 54 seconds in America.
It should be clear that marijuana is not deserving of the bad associations with it. This country would be much better off if it's people could decide what they can do with thier own bodies. Until that day, marijuana users will remain the silent masses they have been since prohibition started. Remember what George Washington said, "Make most of the hemp seed. Sow it everywhere."
