media: CD
who: Tori Amos
when: 2007
what: Although Amos has been very vocal about her criticisms of the Christian church, patriarchy with a capital "p" and American foreign policy in the past, her latest concept album (featuring Amos dressed in five different personas; a crticism of the virgin-whore binary) may be her most overtly political yet.
lyrics:
Yo George: I salute to you Commander/ And I sneeze/ Cause I have now an allergy/ To your policies it seems/ Where have we gone wrong America
Teenage Hustling: Me and my teenage hustling/ I’ve been working it since I was 14/ Me and my teenage hustling/ I’ve been working it since I was 14/ But you’ve been skanking around/ With your talentless trash/ You only shoot blanks/ At your cock-sure best/You better know/ How much you do
links: preview the whole album at myspace

media: film, Hot Docs film festival
who: Linda Hoaglund, Risa Morimoto
when: 2007
what: Based upon interviews with surviving kamikaze pilots, the film explores the history of the kamikaze and the remaining pilot's experiences and motives for their infamous suicide missions. The personal stories of the survivors interviewed manage to be powerful without being melodramatic. Although the historical, political and economic contextualization is not strong, a basic history of the Pacific War/World War II is presented and parallels between past and present history are implied.
links: page on hot docs