Trip to Moon Palace Resort - Cancun, Mexico 2011

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We visit Cancun, Mexico in April of 2011 to hear beautiful music, explore nature and soak up the sun! This film documents the 8 days of beauty and excitement from start to finish!

We also visit Xel-Ha (http://www.xelha.com), an inlet of heavenly design and a sanctuary of amazing biological wealth within the Riviera Maya. Renowned as one of the most important Natural Wonders of Mexico, its rich underwater life and luscious jungle are complemented with unforgettable activities, world-class service, and an award-winning philosophy for its constant commitment to nature and social development.

We stayed at the Moon Palace Resort which is part of Palace Resorts;
http://www.palaceresorts.com

Produced by Jeff Zavala.
This is a ZGraphix production.
http://zgraphix.org

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Mayan Dancing at the Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico

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This film features a traditional Mayan dance performance live at the Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico.

The Maya maintain a strong link to the past through rituals, folklore and family. Fiestas, dancing and traditional music remain important as several festivals and celebrations occur throughout the year. On these special occasions, masks and elaborate costumes are worn by dancers, singers, and musicians.

The Feast of San Luis is celebrated during Easter. Traditional dances such as the Cortes Dance and the Deer Dance are held. The Cortes Dance uses drums, flutes, and rattles to dramatize the combined forces of the church and army during the European conquest. The Deer Dance is accompanied by the marimbas and symbolizes the important relationship between humanity and nature.

Ancient Maya dance is characterized by transformations of human beings into supernatural beings by means of visionary trance. Some think that hallucinogenic drugs or entheogenic medicines were used to put the performer into an altered state of mind. Once in this state of mind the participants were transformed into their wayob or soul companions. These soul companions were depicted through the masks and the costumes people wore in the dance. Some scenes are painted on pottery such as that from the myriad ritual meals of Classic festivals. These vessels depict humans, both kings and nobles, dressed in costumes. Their human faces are shown in cutaway view inside the costumes of the fantastic creatures they have become through the transformation of the dance. Some of these wayob are recognizable as animals like jaguars and birds of prey, but others just look like strange monsters.

For the Maya, dance was a very public affair. It induced visionary trances where either individuals or groups went into an altered state of mind that allowed them to communicate with the other world. Those who were strong enough to travel there, told stories about how the land had things like rivers and trees in this world. Some of the great Maya lords even depicted themselves dancing out over the abyss that leads into the otherworld.
One of the problems researchers have encountered is that the boundaries between humans dancing as supernatural beings and supernatural beings materializing in human rituals. The distinction between the two was never sharply made. Through dance, people became gods and gods became people even if it were only for a moment. It is important to note that these were more than just acts of civic pride or piety. They were considered to be direct connections to the otherworld.

Produced by Jeff Zavala.
This is a ZGraphix Production.
http://zgraphix.org

P. Sainath on Mass Media v. Mass Reality: From Farm and Field to Wall Street Deals

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Award-winning journalist ;P. Sainath - http://www.indiatogether.org/opinions/psainath/ - will speak on the failure of mass media to report

March to Save Our State - Austin, Texas 4/6/2011

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Led by union workers from across Texas, thousands of chanting marchers converged on the Capitol on Wednesday to protest the recently passed House budget's deep spending cuts to education, health care and state jobs.

"We are all in this together," Judy Lugo, president of the Texas State Employees Union, told the raucous, cheering crowd on the south steps of the Capitol. "Every Texan, now and for years to come, will suffer the consequences if the Texas Legislature does not change course."

"We must not pack our kids into overcrowded classrooms or dismantle our parents' and grandparents' nursing homes" or allow legislators to "paper over their mismanagement with pink slips for teachers and public servants," he said.

After gathering at Waterloo Park, the line of marchers stretched for five blocks on the route to the Capitol. Popular chants included "They say cut back, we say fight back" and "It's raining, it's pouring, Rick Perry is snoring."

The Texas State Employees Union, a lead organizer of the "Save Our State Rally," estimated that 6,000 to 7,000 people attended.

At the Capitol, Lugo pushed for spending more of the rainy day fund and asked legislators to find additional revenue to repair a budget shortfall caused by "decades of bad public policy" and a recession brought on by financiers, speculators and corporate leaders.

Workers, she said, "did not cause this problem, and we are not going to pick up the tab for it."

Senators have been looking for $5 billion in non-tax revenue to help pay for as much as $10 billion in additional education and health care spending that has been added to the Senate's version of the budget. The first phase of their findings will be laid out at a hearing today.

The groups also called for lawmakers to leave untouched the remainder of the state's rainy day fund. That money will be needed two years from now for the additional Medicaid costs that stem from federal health care reform, said Talmadge Heflin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a limited-government think tank.

A ZGraphix/Indymedia production.
Produced for Austin Indymedia by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.org

Videography by Jeff Zavala and Matt Gossage.

Photography by Rene Renteria.
http://renerenteria.com

Coleen Rowley on How Top Secret America Misfires

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Coleen Rowley, one of three whistleblowers chosen as persons of the ;year for 2002

James Galbraith on "The Great Crisis in the US and the World: Debt, Inequality, Fraud and Oil"

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Economist James Galbraith will discuss the roots and consequences of the financial ;crash and the ongoing economic crisis. A

Playing God with Planet Earth

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Imagine a time in the not too distant future when scientists try to mimic the effects of a volcanic explosion in a desperate bid to reverse global warming. Consider a climate emergency so severe that engineers create a sulphuric sunscreen, hoping to stop the melting of polar ice, turn back the rising sea and prevent the horrific storms that would send environmental refugees running for their lives. Playing God With Planet Earth explores the last ditch efforts of scientists and engineers trying to avert a planetary meltdown.As the threat of climate change grows more urgent, scientists are considering radical and controversial schemes to rehabilitate the climate. Since none of these wildand possibly dangerousideas have ever been tried before, the filmmakers used a distinctive painted animation technique (like a graphic novel) to explore these futuristic scenarios. Human ingenuity could temporarily roll back the effects of global warming. At the same time, it could cause catastrophic damage and spark deadly political conflict, says director Jerry Thompson. ; Weve interviewed some of the worlds leading scientists, engineers, environmentalists, lawyers, and disaster-relief workers about the possible consequences of intentionally manipulating the climateversus the risk of doing nothing.Salting the ocean with iron dust to trigger plankton blooms, shooting salt crystals into clouds to make them brighter, genetically-engineering robo trees to hoover carbon from the air -- these are just a few of the big ideas under consideration.But the one form of solar radiation management likely to work fastest in a climate emergency would be to mimic the effects of a huge volcano by spraying clouds of sulphuric acid into the stratosphere. Jet drones or high-altitude balloons could do the job. Quick and cheap compared to breaking our addiction to carbon and retooling the industrial revolution. Cheap and easy enough that any country feeling threatened by horrific storms or a rapidly rising sea level could decide to go it alone and launch one of these climate rehabilitation campaigns unilaterally. The problem? They might save themselves but cause unintended consequences for others by reducing rainfall, causing drought and mass starvation. Climate change and geoengineering could even lead to war.
Tinkering with the atmosphere: will it save the dayor trigger disaster on a planetary scale?Playing God With Planet Earth was developed and produced by Lightship Entertainment Inc. in association with CBC Television, with the participation of The Canada Media Fund, The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and The Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC. The documentary was directed and produced by Jerry and Bette Thompson, and executive produced by Terence McKeown.

The Blooming of a Movement - Documentary Film

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On Saturday, (3/20/10) thousands of people converged at the White House for the March on Washingtonthe largest anti-war demonstration since the announcement of the escalation of the Afghanistan war. By the time the march started at 2 p.m., the crowd had swelled up to 10,000 protesters.

Transportation to Washington, D.C., was organized from over 50 cities in 20 states. Demonstrators rallied and marched shoulder to shoulder to demand U.S. Out of Iraq and Afghanistan Now, Free Palestine, Reparations for Haiti and No sanctions against Iran as well as Money for jobs, education and health care!

Speakers at the Washington rally represented a broad cross section of the anti-war movement, including veterans and military families, labor, youth and students, immigrant right groups, and the Muslim and Arab American community.

Following the rally, a militant march led by veterans, active-duty service members and military families made its way through the streets of D.C. carrying coffins draped in Afghan, Iraqi, Pakistani, Somali, Yemeni, Haitian and U.S. flags, among those of other countries, as a symbol of the human cost of war and occupation. Coffins were dropped off along the way at Halliburton, the Washington Post, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and other institutions connected to the war profiteering, propaganda, and human suffering. The final coffin drop-off was at the White Housethe decision-making center of U.S. imperialism.

The A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition Organized this event;

Visit the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition Website for More Information:
http://AnswerCoalition.org

Produced by Jeff Zavala.
This is a ZGraphix production.
http://ZGraphix.org