The Olympics are on 19 days away now and here are some items about the Chinese government’s efforts to control every aspect - From the environment to what people can see and hear.

How they are combating pollution, or not as the following item reports:

Beijing Begins Massive Shutdown To Curb Pollution Before Olympics

Beijing’s Olympic shutdown begins Sunday, a drastic plan to lift the Chinese capital’s gray shroud of pollution just three weeks ahead of the games.

Half of Beijing’s 3.3 million vehicles will be pulled off the roads and many polluting factories will be shuttered. Chemical plants, power stations and foundries left open have to cut emissions by 30 percent _ and dust-spewing construction in the capital will be halted.

In a highly stage-managed Olympics aimed at showing off the rising power of the 21st century, no challenge is greater than producing crystalline air for 10,500 of the world’s greatest athletes.

“Pea-soup air at the opening ceremony would be their worst nightmare,” said Victor Cha, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University.

Striking venues and $40 billion spent to improve infrastructure cannot mask Beijing’s dirty air. A World Bank study found China is home to 16 of the 20 worst cities for air quality. Three-quarters of the water flowing through urban areas is unsuitable for drinking or fishing.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has repeatedly warned that outdoor endurance events lasting more than an hour will be postponed if the air quality is poor.

» Full story

- An item about the American television channel NBC, who paid millions for exclusive coverage of the events for the USA and what will happen and what would they do if anyone protests during the ceremonies:

NBC Officials Uncertain What Censorship They Will Face In China During Olympics

For several years now NBC has meticulously planned all the details for its coverage of the many sports events at the Summer Olympics in China.

But with the Games only 19 days away, many at the network are concerned about how they will be permitted to cover any unscheduled events, like political protests or government crackdowns — or whether the Chinese government will allow them to cover such things at all.

One of the most common hypothetical questions NBC officials have bandied about involves the opening ceremonies on Aug. 8.

Hundreds of athletes will parade into a stadium in front of world leaders, including President Bush, and a huge global television audience. If an athlete holds a protest sign or waves a Tibetan flag, how will the Chinese hosts react? Will the television networks show the scene? How will the Chinese handle the media for the rest of the Games?

The stakes are high for both the network, which paid $900 million for broadcast rights for the Olympics, and the reputation of NBC News. If it covers any controversies aggressively, it risks drawing the ire of the Chinese and interfering with coverage of sports events. But if it shies from coverage of any protests, NBC risks being criticized in the West for kowtowing to China — particularly since its corporate parent, General Electric, is aggressively expanding its investments in China.

It is a moot point actually. Since the broadcasting of pictures from the Olympics will be done by the Chinese government controlled television stations, if there are any protests it will never be seen. The screens will just go black.
» Full story.

- Lastly one from the Guardian about the knock on effect from Bjork’s appearance in Shanghi:

China to screen setlists for anti-government songs

Björk’s protest song forces China’s Ministry of Culture to review musicians who ‘threaten national unity’ or ‘violate religious policy or cultural norms’

Sean Michaels/Friday July 18, 2008

When Björk yelled “Tibet! Tibet!” at a concert in Shanghai earlier this year, she might as well have been shouting “O Chinese government - crack down on foreign artists!” Though the state’s initial response was just to rebuke the Icelandic singer, they have now implemented new policies to guard against musicians who “threaten natural unity”. China will not just be screening artists’ work visas - they will even be screening setlists.

“Any artistic group or individual who has ever engaged in activities that threaten our national sovereignty will not be allowed in,” the Ministry of Culture announced in a statement. Artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas will be under particular scrutiny.

China has already banned pop festivals and restricted outdoor events in the lead-up to this summer’s Olympics, fearing protests or simply unruly crowds. Björk seemed to have protesting in mind when she performed her song Declare Independence in March, throwing Tibet’s name into the mix.

China has occupied Tibet since the 1950s, calling it their own rightful territory. The Tibetan independence movement - long active on the world stage - has received renewed attention in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

China has now promised to ban any performer who “threatens national unity”, “whips up ethnic hatred”, “violates religious policy or cultural norms” or “advocates obscenity or feudalism and superstition”. These conditions are sufficiently vague that we suspect Ringo Starr could be banned, say, just for singing of a superstitious Octopus’s Garden. The Ministry of Culture will also be reviewing setlists for hints of trouble - for example, any songs called Declare Independence. Even encores will be subject to government scrutiny. “Nothing that has not been approved will be allowed to be performed,” they have stated.

» Full article

… always finish with a song:
Bjork - Declare Independence:

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you… The Vegetable Orchestra:

Found via Noise Addicts:

The Vegetable Orchestra performs on instruments made of fresh vegetables.

The utilization of various ever refined vegetable instruments creates a musically and aesthetically unique sound universe. The Vegetable Orchestra was founded in 1998. It consists of 11 musicians, a sound engineer and a video artist. Based in Vienna, the Vegetable Orchestra plays concerts in Europe and Asia. From time to time workshops are given - on how to manufacture an instrument or on musical topics.

There are no musical boundaries for the Vegetable Orchestra. The most diverse music styles fuse here - contemporary music, beat-oriented House tracks, experimental Electronic, Free Jazz, Noise, Dub, Clicks’n’Cuts - the musical scope of the ensemble expands consistently, and recently developed vegetable instruments and their inherent sounds often determine the direction.

… as an encore at the end of the concert and the video performance, the audience is offered fresh vegetable soup.

Link: vegetableorchestra.org

Today, which you’ve probably noticed, is Beatles Day.

Below are a couple of tracks that are on the ScouseVeg Jukebox, plus a video of the best cover version ever of one of their songs followed by the lads themselves belting out a tune.

- First one is the track that was voted Liverpool & Merseyside’s favourite…

The Beatles - In My Life:

- Next is a Paul McCartney track he wrote about Linda (which if you play backwards gives you a smashing recipe for Lentil soup):

Paul McCartney - Maybe I'm Amazed:

Video:

This is a YouTube clip I found via Digg:

…What…what…

*speechless*

Who is that presenter ? I remember her face but forgot her name.

Anthony Kiedis »

‘Kiedis recently went vegan after learning about the worldwide depletion of fish in the oceans and after a doctor recommended a healthy vegan diet for his son. “Soon after I [went vegan] I saw some documentary footage of what happens in the factory farming of cows …. It sealed the deal”, says Kiedis, who documented his earlier hard-partying ways in his autobiography, Scar Tissue.’

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Scar Tissue:

. . .

Leona Lewis »

‘By contrast, Lewis – who blew away The X-Factor judges in 2006 – has a squeaky clean history. And when it comes to the dirty business of animal abuse, she’s a woman of action. “I am vegetarian so I don’t have clothes, shoes or bags made from leather or suede or any animal products. … I’m on a mission”, she says.’

Yesterday:

(Not the Beatles song)

. . .

» Full article

Some clips from last night’s concert have started to appear on YouTube.

This one is Paul playing George Harrison’s ukulele and performing his song “Something”:

Added to the Jukebox.

I’ve always liked Kasabian. They produce some excellent music and now they’ve really gone up in my expectation with them joining PETA in signing a petition on seal culling.

Item via Starpulse:

British rockers Kasabian are following in Morrissey’s footsteps by protesting against Canada’s annual seal hunt. The former Smiths frontman has long criticized the country for its yearly cull and has vowed never to perform in Canada while the practice is still in force.

And now Kasabian have signed a petition, launched by People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA), which appeals against the Canadian government’s decision to allow the killing of baby harp seals.

Frontman Tom Meighan says, “I think it’s just common sense really, I mean, of course I don’t think it’s OK to smash a baby seal’s skull. I’d never wear fur, it’s such an ugly thing to do.”

» Link to article

- The full story from peta2 // Out There section:

Kasabian Gives Fur the Cold Shoulder!

If you thought you couldn’t love Kasabian any more than you already do, then get ready to punch the air in an excited fashion. Or in the ladies’ case, get ready to swoon uncontrollably, because the Leicester lads are lending a hand to peta2 by defending the furry animals of the world and their right not to be turned into coats, collars or cuffs!

Like most people, the members of Kasabian were shocked to hear that this year, hunters will bludgeon to death more than 300,000 baby harp seals. The fur industry says that it is killing more seals because of an increase in demand for fur.

This means that anyone who buys a rabbit, mink or fox fur coat or a jacket trimmed with fur is creating a demand for the furs of baby seals, who are often skinned while they are still conscious. One ray of sunshine for animals is that they have the mighty Kasabian on their side, who don’t wear any fur – old, new, cat, dog, fox, seal or hedgehog – none!

Read the whole story here and whilst you are there order your FREE “No Fur” badge:

» Added to the jukebox:

Kasabian - (David Bowie cover) Heroes:

Kasabian - L.S.F (Lost Souls Forever) :

In the garden of Eden, honey,
Don’t you know that I lo-ove yo-ou?
In the garden of Eden, baby,
Don’t you know that I’ll always be tru-ue?
[Bart chuckles]
Homer: [quietly] Hey Marge, remember when we used to make out to this hymn?

What ? Sorry…? it isn’t…?

What is it then..?

» An article in the Guardian, plus a couple of recipes from Sarah Kramer, a Vegan author from Canada. I’ve read a couple of her books. Recommended.

The garden of vegan
Wednesday February 6, 2008
The Guardian

Kitsch, lively and glamorous, Canadian food writer Sarah Kramer bucks all the vegan stereotypes. She tells Leonie Cooper why an animal-free diet is cool

Veganism has rarely been associated with glamour; until now. Sarah Kramer not only produces gloriously kitsch vegan cookbooks, but also runs a tattoo shop with her husband, takes photographs, and appears in the occasional zombie flick. If ever a person was needed to dispel the notion of a vegan as a pale, insipid creature, Kramer is the woman to do it.

She has been a vegetarian from birth. “My dad is a hardcore meat eater, but my mum was head of the kitchen and she was vegetarian. She passed away when I was 10, so I didn’t get to have a long intellectual conversation about it, but she loved animals, and thought that eating them was wrong and passed that down to me.” Kramer was raised on typical 70s veggie fare of mostly lentils and beans, although she “did a little experimenting in high school” with meat.

She fell upon veganism in her 20s, when bedridden with chronic fatigue syndrome. Her doctor encouraged her to drink homogenised milk and eat liver, but Kramer did some research at the local library. “Everything leaned towards a plant-based diet,” she says. So she switched from her “lazy vegetarian diet” of pasta, pasta and more pasta, to whole grains and fresh vegetables. “Once I changed my diet, my illness took a turn and now I’m 100%.”

She readily admits, though, that being a vegan can be overwhelming at times. “The list of what we can’t do is quite long and I think that’s why sometimes people fall off the vegan wagon.” But the thought of turning to meat is anathema to Kramer: “To me it would be like drinking a glass of blood.”

A celebrity chef in her native Canada, she began to spread the vegan gospel in the late 90s, when, with her friend Tanya Barnard, she made a photocopied zine packed with the pair’s favourite recipes to give to friends and family as a Christmas present. “Everybody fell in love with it, so we made another run of 1,000. The internet was a new and wild and exciting place then, so I started selling them on the web and at punk-rock shows and we sold out almost right away.” A book deal followed, and How It All Vegan!, published in 1999, featured recipes from the original zine alongside dishes Kramer’s mother cooked for her as a child, such as Big Ben’s Lentil Burgers, named after Kramer’s brother, and a baked-bean and potato casserole. The award-winning 1950s-style book also featured a house-and-home section, with a list of 45 things to do with vinegar, recipes for lipgloss, dog biscuits and vegan flea spray. Two more books followed - The Garden of Vegan and La Dolce Vegan!, her first solo endeavour.

Kramer is currently hard at work on the fourth in the series, Vegan-A-Gogo, a travel-sized compilation of the best bits from the first three books. As she explains: “People get in a panic because they want to make miso gravy but don’t have their cookbooks with them.”

Last year, Victoria Beckham was spotted carrying a vegan diet book, Skinny Bitch, by former model agent Rory Freedman and former model Kim Barnouin. It became a bestseller. But, as Kramer points out, the book advocates veganism for weight-loss rather than for compassionate reasons. “I get a lot of letters from young girls who want to get skinny, and it scares me,” she says. “Restricting food so you can lose weight is not healthy. Diets are for suckers. If you only eat certain foods to lose weight, it’s gonna come back and bite you in the butt.”

She prefers to lead by example by serving “non-believers” magnificent dishes of vegan food and then “hearing them moan in ecstasy over something they didn’t think could possibly taste delicious.” Her favourite dish as such is an apricot cheesecake made with tofu. “Even my step-mum, who doesn’t like tofu, loves that recipe. It’s one of my favourites, especially when I go to one of my friends’ houses for a party - you see people eating it and loving it, and then when they find out there’s tofu in it, they freak out. And then they have another piece.”

» Click to read the full article and to see her recipes for Portobello mushroom bake, Brainless banana pancakes and Sarah’s blueberry dilip (a crumble, of sorts).

Extra links:

Sarah’s website: http://govegan.net

Peta2.com feature on Sarah: http://www.peta2.com/stuff/s-sarahkramer.asp

Still tinkering about back here. Normal service will resume very soon.

Found something of interest regarding Leona Lewis via TheCheers News website »

Leona Lewis won’t wear leather because she is a vegetarian

The 25-year-old beauty wants to create a line of non-leather shoes and bags, and has also stopped wearing diamonds in protest at the way they are mined.

She said: “I have been a vegetarian since I was 12 and I hate the thought of animals being killed just for our pleasure, so I won’t wear leather.

“I would love to create my own range of non-leather bags and shoes that are affordable because it’s not easy for everybody to buy alternatives.

“Also, I know diamonds are supposed to be a girl’s best friend but it’s impossible to know for sure where they have come from so I find it is safer just to avoid them altogether.”

In recent years, issues have been raised over the mining of ‘conflict diamonds’ in war-torn African countries such as Angola and Sierra Leone, where the profit from their sale has been used to fund continued fighting.

» Full article

This gives me a weak excuse to add a cover version done by Leona to the Jukebox.
- Recorded on the Radio 1 Live Lounge: A cover version of Snow Patrol’s “Run” :

» Leona Lewis - Run (Snow Patrol Cover)