So one of my favorite movies of 2009 was 500 Days of Summer (thanks to Desi's influence). I think Zooey Deschanel is Fabulous! If she wasn't married to Ben Gibbard I am pretty sure she'd be married to me. In the movie she does do a little singing and I thought she did a phenomenal job. Since I loved the soundtrack to the movie I had to download it. One of the songs on the soundtrack is by a band named She & Him. Friday I learned that Zooey is in that band along with M. Ward (who I've been a fan of for a while). Since I am secretly having an affair with her I was shocked to find out she was hiding such a thing. When Taylor told me that Zooey was in that band I had to check out her music. Well I instantly fell in love with this album, check it out.
For years Sea World has been my happy place. My family has this great love for Sea World. We are not huge fans of places like Disneyland, I think it's because we have weak stomachs, ok I know its just Disneyland, how bad can the rides be. I think the teacups have scarred me for life. Well anyways we have always enjoyed a relaxing day watching the dolphins and other marine life do tricks and entertain us. Until I watched the movie "The Cove" I had never asked myself are the animals there actually happy? Is it moral that we keep these animals caged up practically for our own personal enjoyment? How selfish can we be? If we enjoy marine life so much why don't we take a small cruise out in the ocean and see these amazing animals in their natural environment, their home. One can take fairly inexpensive 2 hour cruises out in the ocean and see marine life.
Well I strongly suggest that you rent "The Cove". It's at red box for your convenience. The first step to solve any problem is to educate yourself about the problem. Here are a list of facts about what is going on in Taiji, Japan.
• About 23,000 dolphins, porpoises and other small whales are killed in Japan every year, making it the largest scale slaughter of cetaceans in the world.
• About 2,500 dolphins and other small whales are killed in the so-called dolphin drive hunt that takes place six months out of the year.The rest are killed with handheld harpoons out at sea.
(lovely dolphin blood bath)
• Operating with 13 motorized boats, the fishermen go out to sea at early sunrise and look for migrating dolphins. Banging on metal pipes submerged into the water, they terrorize the dolphins with a "wall of sound," causing the dolphins to panic.
• Terrorizing the dolphins with underwater sound, the fishermen herd the dolphins into a secret killing cove close to Taiji Town.
• Often times, dolphins die during the chase that can last eight hours or more.
• The Taiji fishermen claim that dolphins eat too much fish and therefore must be exterminated.
• Operating with a permit from their government, the Taiji fishermen have referred to the dolphin hunt as "pest control."
• The majority of people in Japan have no knowledge about the annual dolphin blood bath.
• The fishermen kill the dolphins with spears, fishermen's hooks and knives. Trashing about in their own blood, the dolphins emit high-pitched screams during the massacre. (As seen above)
• The slaughtered dolphins are processed into meat and distributed to supermarkets throughout Japan for human consumption.
• Dolphin meat from drive hunts in Taiji proved to be highly contaminated with toxic chemicals such as mercury, methyl mercury and PCBs.
• Repeated chemical analyses have shown that the level of mercury in dolphin meat is much higher than the maximum allowable level set by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan.
• Some of the dolphin meat is given to children as part of their school lunch program.
• The Japanese government and the supermarkets issue no warning that dolphin meat is mercury-contaminated.
• The fishermen of Taiji have told us that the Japanese people have no right to know about the dolphin hunt or the high levels of mercury found in the meat.
• Concealing this information from the public is a violation of Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution.
• Some members of the international aquarium and zoo industry are strongly connected to the Japanese dolphin slaughter, in that they pay top dollar for dolphins deemed suitable for commercial exploitation in dolphin shows and captive dolphin swim programs.
• Dolphinariums throughout the world, including Japan, repeatedly make the claim that captivity of dolphins promotes dolphin conservation and protection. (yah right)
• Several of the hundreds of captive dolphins in Japan's 50 dolphinariums were obtained through the dolphin drive hunts; yet the dolphinariums do nothing to educate the public to the hunt.
• The World Association for Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is the world's largest network of zoos and aquariums around the world.
• Dolphinariums that have conducted business with the dolphin killers of Japan have been welcomed into WAZA's network, although the trade in these dolphins clearly violates WAZA's Code of Ethics.
• The dolphins that are purchased by members of the dolphin captivity industry represent a much higher commercial value to the Japanese dolphin hunters than the ones that are slaughtered for meat.
• Live dolphins captured in a Taiji dolphin drive hunt recently sold for $154,000 per dolphin.
• The Japanese dolphin hunt will continue for as long as members of the international dolphinarium industry continue to reward the hunters for show quality dolphins, thereby making the hunt tremendously profitable.
• The most sought after dolphin species for public display are bottlenose dolphins, orcas, white sided dolphins, Risso's dolphins, pilot whales and Pseudo orcas, all of which have been targeted in the Japanese dolphin drive hunt.
Ok sorry for the long list, but it breaks my heart to finally know the truth. Next I want to quickly relate about the atrocity of capturing dolphins. These captured dolphins go to perform in places such as Sea World.
Captures of dolphins are traumatic and stressful and can result in injury and death of dolphins. The number of dolphins that die during capture operations or shortly thereafter are never revealed in dolphinariums (sea world) or swim-with-dolphins programs. Some facilities even claim their dolphins were "rescued" from the ocean and cannot be released. This claim is almost invariably false.
Training of dolphins is often deliberately misrepresented by the captive dolphin industry to make it look as if dolphins perform because they like it. This isn't the case. They are performing because they have been deprived of food.
Most captive dolphins are confined in minuscule tanks containing chemically treated artificial seawater. Dolphins in a tank are severely restricted in using their highly developed sonar, which is one of the most damaging aspects of captivity. It is much like forcing a person to live in a hall of mirrors for the rest of their life - their image always bouncing back with no clear direction in sight. (how would that make you feel seriously?)
Ok so the next time you think of going to Sea World or any place like it, think of what it takes for it to get there. Think of how these animals are taken from their homes and families to be confined in tanks to entertain us.
Well sorry for the novel, but I think it is a very sad thing what is happening and has been happening. The sad thing is that I had no idea that this was occurring.
So I am in class. Extremely ticked off at my employer, not my boss, but the freakin company. Well to take my mind off how much I want to send a bomb in the mail. I will distract myself from all the anger that I am feeling via blogging during my boring political science class.
Lately I've been looking back at the spring/summer fashion shows. Here are a list of my favorite looks for this season.
First off these are my 2 favorite looks for Chanel.
If I were you girls, the next funeral you attend pick up one of these classy chic Chanel looks! You'll be the talk of the funeral!
Next, here are my favorite 2 looks from the Marc by Marc Jacobs show.
I love the colors. It's refreshing to see such vibrant colors!
And for my favorite men's look I of course have to show my fav men's designer Antonio Azzuolo.
Its all about short shorts mixed with business wear! I wish I could go to work looking like this!
Ok I feel a little better now that i've blogged, but I still have an hour of class, snooze!
