Paradise Lost, Damian Echols and the WM3

My brother recommended the Paradise Lost documentaries to me, something I knew absolutely nothing about, and went into completely cold. I seem to be a bit out of it as a lot of people seem to be in the loop, or to have at least seen the first one.
I watched all three over a period of about five days. I don’t think the documentaries are even particularly good; they're all overlong, and at least three or four hours could have been left on the cutting room floor. But the subject matter just grabs you round the throat. I’m not going to go into all the factual details as you can find them out yourself if you’re interested, but it involves three 8-year-olds being murdered, the ‘West Memphis Three’ – teenagers at the time who were fingered for the murders (basically because they wore black and listened to metal) and one huge miscarriage of justice. Just heart-wrenching stuff.

Spoilers coming! Skip to the next section after the gap if you don't know what happened and might watch them:
Throughout Paradise Lost 2 I was CERTAIN one of the children's stepdad's Byers was guilty (he had his teeth removed!) so by the third one when he changes sides to support the West Memphis Three, it feels unreal. The miscarriage of justice is so huge, so unfair, and so blatant it can’t be underestimated.
By the third one when you see they are STILL in prison in 2011, I was properly panicking. They didn’t show Damien Echols for ages and I was certain they’d fried him. I was certain from the first film he’d be dead before they sorted the whole mess out. And he would have been, if not for these documentaries and the support of such random people as Eddie Vedder, Johnny Depp and Henry Rollins.
The fact that they finally released them (after nearly two decades) and still made them plead guilty makes me sick to my stomach. The person who murdered those little boys is still out there. More than that; the police force that conspired to destroy Damien and the other teenagers’ lives should be brought to justice. What they did was unforgivable. The fact they forced them to still say they were guilty (just so they couldn’t sue, I presume) is absolutely disgraceful. I really hope they are going to be appealing from now until the end of time, because that wrong must be righted.

OK, you may read on!
Following watching these documentaries,  I tracked down a copy of Damien Echol’s book he wrote on Death Row, ‘Almost Home.’ (I had to track it down online as it doesn’t seem available to buy, unfortunately, well not unless you've got 3 grand knocking about) I highly recommend it, he writes in a very simple-to-read engaging way. I don’t normally like reading about people’s childhood, but he is such a compelling writer. There’s just something very interesting about him, and his matter-of-factness. There is just something so magnetic about him: he had sad, haunted eyes before his near-two decades in prison; now he looks like a ghost, and his eyes tell the whole story even if you didn’t know a word. He is such an eloquent, thoughtful person and he seems so calm in the face of this horrendous shit-storm, and the injustice that they still have to swallow to this day. It was inspirational to read about how he coped in prison.
They’re doing a big Hollywood movie of the story this year, and another documentary, West of Memphis, will be released soon, but this simple book told me more about the story than anything else. The way the police (and later prison guards) treated him was utterly horrific. But when he described becoming a Buddhist, and meeting his wife, it seemed somehow that he was destined for this path in life. His life before prison was even worse, in some ways. And he said he’d go through it all again if it meant meeting his wife. The way he speaks about her in the final chapter of that book is probably the most romantic thing I’ve ever read. I bawled my eyes out.
If you haven’t watched Paradise Lost, watch it. Watch the films, watch the new documentary when it comes out. It’s such an important story, it needs to be heard. I dread to think how many other people are languishing in prison because of prejudice and dodgy, ignorant, prejudiced police.
Also, if anyone has the Piers Morgan interview Damian and his wife, can they let me know? I spent about three hours trying to find a copy. I can only guess they’re saving the good shit for Paradise Lost 4 or it’s in West of Memphis. I can't remember if it was the Larry King interview or a clip of the Piers one I saw where they said to him 'So if you're sitting in prison all this time for a crime you say you didn't do, that must be quite frustrating?' and Damien goes, 'Frustrating is one word for it.' How restrained a reply is that?
It's not frustrating, it's sick. More needs to be done to right this wrong, to arrest the other suspect, and to bring the police to task. This situation has gone on long enough.
In the meantime, I hope Damian writes another book because I really want to read it. I also really hope that him, Jason and Jesse can find some happiness in the outside world. They've waited long enough.

American Idol: Feet Don't Fail Me Now

*Spoiler! Do not read this if you do not want to know the result!!!*
I spent the entire DAY avoiding Facebook, Twitter and Google in case I saw the result. Although I haven't blogged it much due to me generally being late watching it, I have absolutely LOVED this series of American Idol, mainly due to Adam Lambert (aka Feet Wentz). I didn't like the cut of his jib at first, but he has an extraordinarily good voice, and you don't hear me say that about reality show contestants very often. Obviously if he releases an album it will be shit, but I'd rather he had the cash than dull monkey-boy Kris Allen. What is he even doing in the final? It should be Katona-lite. Sexism!
Randy was looking quite natty tonight in his tweed. Paula looked like she'd had an accident at the Orangina bottling plant. Simon forgot to do his shirt up.
Why do they sing the same songs again? It's a swizz! I don't think Adam did Mad World that well the first time, he shoulda done Ring of Fire again. He looked cute in his flasher mac. And lovely teeth n all.
I think Aint No Sunshine is a good song for Kris Allen. But he's still sub-standard. Simon is teasing us! He can't really think Kris is better.
Didn't like Adam's suit or second song much. I like that guy who plays electric guitar though, he's cool. Ooh the judges seemed to like it, though. Why??? Simon Fuller's song choices blow!
The winner's single always reveals who they REALLY want to win. Adam sounded like a woman! Which is good, obviously. The song was shitty though, but it will still sell by the skip-full. Randy: Adam is not pitchy!
Fuck, I thought Kris sounded better on the single! Boo. I can't bear to look at his chimp-face no more, mountains or otherwise. That chin is getting out of hand.
It took me several hours to download but I just watched the result; I hope you've got a lot of patience because they sure do like dragging that shit out. They dug up Fergie, Cindi Lauper, Rod Stewart, Brian May... it was an aural tyranny!
Weren't Adam's wings nice? It was very Brandon Flowers/ Patrick Wolf-esque. And the platforms too. Did you notice he busted out the glitter eyeliner once all the votes were in! I never knew he was gay before (ahem).
And then; and then. I just can't believe the result. I was honestly stunned. I did not think Kris could win it for a second. The only good thing I can say about it is that Adam doesn't have to release that turgid single and he can go get a band together or something. He is so phenomenally good compared to Kris Allen it is actually pitiful how stupid and backwards the result is. 100 million votes? These people aren't fit to be left in charge of a phone! Perhaps it was that dog who accidentally rang 999 taking over the entire United States switchboard, that's the only explanation I can think of.
I still enjoyed the show untold amounts. But honestly. Adam was just brilliant. Justice has not been done. I demand to know figures, see vote counts, and if necessary, have Kris Allen killed.
Now I really need to go to bed.

Documentary- True Stories: Chosen

Last night I watched an utterly harrowing and affecting documentary on More 4. I don’t know if this has been on before but it is so powerful and definitely worth a watch on the catch up. You probably didn’t see it, because only someone as relentlessly depressing as me puts themselves through such painful stuff. I watched the one where they set up a camera on the Golden Gate Bridge to watch people topping themselves, too, and that was a laugh a minute as well, let me tell you.
Chosen was basically three interviews with three men who were abused by the same couple of teachers (and their friend) at a private boarding school at the age of 11. It was very simply shot, with no fancy special effects or reconstructions. It was literally just head shots of the men being interview interlaced with some photographs of them as boys. The fact that you could be so gripped by that for two hours tells you everything about the powerful nature of their words and their stories. I was totally lost in it, and afterwards I felt like their stories had become a part of my psyche, if that doesn’t sound too dramatic (oh, it does).
I was struck by the sheer dignity of these men; and how brave and strong they must have been as children to endure such horrific crimes. They were all so eloquent and composed on the surface; but you could see them falter often as they talked about the horrors they had been subjected to; and it was utter horror, repeated over and over. You could see how real it was to them even now, how it was just seared onto their memory forever. You can’t ever escape it or get over it, I suspect, you just have to learn to deal with it.
The loss of innocence, the fear, and the weight of keeping the secret all took their toll. I was impressed with the honesty of all three of the men, who admitted as victims they had felt special, it just became normal to be raped and it did not occur to them to tell their parents, and had even felt jealous when they found out they weren’t the only ones.
I can’t begin to imagine the inhumanity of their teachers, and that matron, who just looked on, but eventually blew the whistle. But even when the whistle was blown; the events were played down, the teachers got away with it, and the parents even sent the boys back to the school.
Not until years later once their parents had died did the men take action. On of the men said poignantly ‘our parents had thrown us to the lions’ but that instinct to protect their parents from the reality of the real harm that had been done to them was so strong. That was something amazing in itself, that they wanted to protect their parents, the way their parents had not been able to protect them. Some had not spoken of what happened in 30 years. Some victims would not come forward. But they had to speak out, because the abuse could have still been going on.
As it was, one of the teachers got sentenced to a miserly 12 months. The other got off scot-free, due to the passage of time/ good character/ blah blah blah. I don’t consider child abusers to be of good character, ever. The judges who make these decisions are just closet paedos themselves as far as I’m concerned; how else could they hand down such sentences? I hope they watch this film and weep and repent, because they need to. You could see the truth in the men’s eyes as they told their stories; it’s written there for all to see. The fact that one of the victims could describe the headmasters twisted testicle seemed to account for nothing. Their words; nothing.
Yet the grown men, the victims did not seem bitter. Utterly damaged forever, yes, but they forged own lives for themselves, with wives and children. They seemed glad they had stood up and been counted. They just wanted it not to happen again, ever. I don’t want to think that this could still happen these days.
But it will. And here my liberalness dissolves; because I say kill child abusers of this kind. Any man who can rape a child does not deserve to exist on this planet, and if that makes me sound Daily Mail, then I don’t give a shit. Because it can’t be more wrong than that headmaster, a man in a position of such trust, still being allowed to breathe air after raping children. It’s like knowing the bogeyman is still alive.
And what is the point in that? Just take the old man out and shoot him.