Sigur Ros in Concert

Keep a candle lit on this one Indie rock aficionados. Sigur Ros has still got that special weirdness you can't quite touch.

Desolate and hopeful, the songs can be both overwhelming depressing and inspiring without even understanding a word of the vocals. They are that good.

For their live show, Sigur Ros translated their unique music into a stage performance with an intense simplicity. The venue set with bursts of color as dazzling as a fireworks display, wafting in on great clouds of blues and purple lights, bathing the light of the venue in sea greens and deep persian indigo.

The best concert I have ever been to by far, Sigur Ros is expert in drawing out primal emotion in its contemplative requiems. Strumming the guitar with the bow of a violin, the lead singer went into several minutes of silence, while the band took its time building the momentum of each song. The chemistry between the band and audience was electric, the audience giving into spontaneous claps at one instance of accelerating beats. And while the lyrics were indistinguishable, the mood of each song was clearly illustrated in the primal nature of his voice, the presentation of music and the rhythmic methodology of the leader singer's movements on stage.

Lantern Festival: A Retrospective

Exhibition in Cambridge Denounces Psychiatry

A haunted house in design with black walls and frightening imagery, a traveling exhibition called “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” has come to Cambridge. Run by the Citizens for Human Rights Commission, their exhibition has traveled to Boston and is focusing on the overmedication of children for ADHD and other psychological disorders. Kevin Hall, the New England Director of the Citizens Commission for Human Rights says, “We are trying to wake people up to what is going on.”

With the mood of a funeral parlor, giant posters scream ‘The Masterminds of Destruction” and “Redefining Man as an Animal”.

A picture of Hitler adorns the wall and the room is decorated with a cornucopia of poster board children zombified on psychiatric medicine.

“At the international office in California we have a permanent museum with ice picks and cages.” Says Hall.

Despite the shocking imagery, many that viewed the exhibit agree with the overall message. One such visitor, Lauren O’Neal says, “I think we need to reexamine certain things about psychiatry.”

Nicholas Jacob, a member of a pharmaceutical company, agrees that psychiatric medicines are overprescribed for children.

“When Ritalin first came out anyone who could get diagnosed for ADHD did, whether or not they needed it.” Says Jacob.

Elaine Burke, another member of a pharmaceutical company adds, “ Now they have patches for children that are too young to swallow pills. Kids that are like five years old and don’t know how the drug is affecting them. They’re too young to know if a drug is making them feel weird or off.”

However, both are skeptical of the exhibition because of the organization that has been running it. The hosting institution, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights is itself as a non-profit public organization. However, the organization was founded by the Scientologist Church and accepts donations from Scientologist private donators.

Daniel Preston, 37, has been demonstrating in front of the exhibition for three days because of the Citizens of Human Rights Commission ties with Scientology. He says, “I protest because they tell half truths.”

Preston is part of an organization called Anonymous, which rallies against Scientologist organizations like the Citizens of Human Rights Commission.
According to Preston, between four and twelve people have come out to hold posters and warn people that the exhibition is part of the Scientologist church.

Preston says, “There is nothing that says ‘brought to you by Scientology.’ The majority of people that go in do not know that this is a Scientologist organization.”

Indeed, on the outside of the exhibition there are no mentions of its ties with any religious institution. Instead, signs on the outside of the building call the event “A Public Awareness Exhibition”

Preston believes differently. He thinks that the organization is a front to lure people into the Scientologist church. He describes people being roped into the exhibition by Citizen’s of Human Right Commission members and being misinformed about how the information was in fact part of the Scientologist philosophy.

Despite his opposition to the exhibition, Preston does agree about the over drugging of children on psychiatric medicines.

“I was overmedicated as a child. I was on Ritalin until the age of 12 and I took myself off of it against my parent’s wishes. I could have long term medical problems like kidney damage from taking such high doses.”

His main disagreement with the Citizens of Human Rights Commission is their zero tolerance approach to psychiatric medicines. “Maybe some kids need to be medicated and some don’t. They say they are going after the cause but they aren’t. They are going after the whole.” Says Preston.

Jacob agrees, “Faith and science should not mix. I am a very religious person and I work in a scientific field and so I have to deal with the conflicts of the two. Religion should stay away from science and the two should not be intertwined.”

Some panels of the exhibit are extreme in their attacks against psychiatry. One particular panel links experimental psychology with totalitarian governments like Nazi Germany. Another depicts Freud defining man as a creature without a soul. Dan Itsy, one volunteer says, “We want to show that psychologists think that you’re a bunch of genes, you are just a mind, just an animal.”

Despite the opposition from such groups as Anonymous, Kevin Hall says that they have seen a rise in attendance, and a positive attitude in relation to the material.

As for the shocking images of the exhibition, Kevin Hall says, “Why we are showing what you call horror? Its hard to show our message with daises.”

Bubble Tea with Moot from 4chan.org

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