Absolutely NOBODY is watching the Watchmen

Reality is worse than the Watchmen.

Alan Moore’s legendary graphic novel turned film ‘Watchmen’ is famous for it’s dark, gritty, anti-heroic dystopian perspective.It mocks the utopian ideology of Superhero comic books and juxtaposes it against real life history. Moore cleverly used real life 20th century historic examples peppered within the storyline to give it a quasi-realistic effect however it was always meant to be regarded as a work of fiction.

Bearing that in mind . . earth’s scientists have decided (mainly because of Trump) that we are closer to midnight than in the film . . by almost halfway.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/doomsday-clock-is-bleaker-watchmen-969479

 

The Doomsday clock in the Watchmen film being set to 5 – midnight.

 

The REAL Doomsday clock being set to 2.5 minutes to midnight.

I know we’vehad months to adjust and anticipate the daunting prospect (or lack of)  a Trump presidency, but still  . .  . . there is just no expecting this.

 

If a comparison of a real life event something from one of the most depressing,apocalyptic violent, nihilistic stories ever written isn’t enough of a warning to society in these most postmodern of times. . Then perhaps we should give up!

#DumpTrump: The anti-trump inauguration rally.

So it was a depressing day already, even after years of anticipation as we witnessed Donald Trump sworn into American presidency.

The more positive vibe of today was set when I arrived at Goldsmiths University to find this mural gathering a crowd outside in true anti-trump inauguration spirit.                           A creative display that summed up the theme of the day.

Inside the university Trump’s inauguration was being played live. Aside from a few disgusted students looking on, there was little interest. As I couldn’t attend the inauguration protest in Southampton, I decided to head to the one outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor square.

I am glad I did because the atmosphere was totally electric.

As I approached the embassy I could hear the music and a crowd already gathered outside with a party in full swing. There was a rousing speech and a festival vibe throughout as everyone shared their defiance of the harrowing developments of the day.

I heard singing and thought ‘that’s nice’ but didn’t realise until the next day it was Lily Allen singing in front of me:

 

Lily Allen’s new video

Lily used a lot of event footage for the video of her cover of Rufus Wainwirght’s ‘Going to a town. I couldn’t find myself in the vid but everythign loks much better in black and white/

 

 

I was only expecting some form of static picket line protest but then within half hour of being outside the embassy, the activist led us into a march that took us through Oxford Street to Piccadilly Circus before arriving back to the embassy.

It was one of the most active marches I can recall and there was strong reception and approval from the passing traffic with the majority of Bus and Taxi drivers honking their horns enthusiastically.

It was nice to feel the unity and realise not everyone had succumbed to that level of backward thinking. I met a few people were happy to be pictured getting involved.

Here’s a link to the complete route we took on the march to give you some idea of the activity. There’s another you can join on 18th March. #DumpTrump