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The latest slaughter of the innocent.
U.S. Forces Kill Seven Iraqi Women, Kids
Mon Mar 31, 5:36 PM ETBy ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON - U.S. troops killed seven Iraqi women and children at a checkpoint Monday when the Iraqis' van would not stop as ordered, U.S. Central Command said.
Yet another famous author--Margaret Atwood--on what America has become.
A letter to America
You're the 21st-century Romans. Your admiring friends used to know you well: land of the brave, home of the free. Now, as you obsess over the omens of war, we wonder if you know yourself, muses MARGARET ATWOODBy MARGARET ATWOOD
Friday, March 28, 2003 - Page A17[snip snip snip]
You're torching the American economy. How soon before the answer to that will be, not to produce anything yourselves, but to grab stuff other people produce, at gunboat-diplomacy prices? Is the world going to consist of a few megarich King Midases, with the rest being serfs, both inside and outside your country? Will the biggest business sector in the United States be the prison system? Let's hope not.If you proceed much further down the slippery slope, people around the world will stop admiring the good things about you. They'll decide that your city upon the hill is a slum and your democracy is a sham, and therefore you have no business trying to impose your sullied vision on them. They'll think you've abandoned the rule of law. They'll think you've fouled your own nest.
If Richard Perle hates your guts, you must be doing something right. Here's a link to Sy Hersh's latest piece in the
New Yorker that has been making the rounds (as seen below). I include the paragraph that shows the legacy of the BushJunta that will endanger us all in the future.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of last week was the failure of the Shiite factions in southern Iraq to support the American and British invasion. Various branches of the Al Dawa faction, which operate underground, have been carrying out acts of terrorism against the Iraqi regime since the nineteen-eighties. But Al Dawa has also been hostile to American interests. Some in American intelligence have implicated the group in the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, which cost the lives of two hundred and forty-one marines. Nevertheless, in the months before the war the Bush Administration courted Al Dawa by including it among the opposition groups that would control postwar Iraq. "Dawa is one group that could kill Saddam," a former American intelligence official told me. "They hate Saddam because he suppressed the Shiites. They exist to kill Saddam." He said that their apparent decision to stand with the Iraqi regime now was a "disaster" for us. "They're like hard-core Vietcong."There were reports last week that Iraqi exiles, including fervent Shiites, were crossing into Iraq by car and bus from Jordan and Syria to get into the fight on the side of the Iraqi government. Robert Baer, a former C.I.A. Middle East operative, told me in a telephone call from Jordan, "Everybody wants to fight. The whole nation of Iraq is fighting to defend Iraq. Not Saddam. They've been given the high sign, and we are courting disaster. If we take fifty or sixty casualties a day and they die by the thousands, they're still winning. It's a jihad, and it's a good thing to die. This is no longer a secular war." There were press reports of mujahideen arriving from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Algeria for "martyrdom operations."
I found it, then I lost it. Then my friend Frederic found it again. It's Robin Cook's "stop the war, bring back the troops" editorial in the Mirror. Great stuff.
COOK: BRING OUR LADS HOME
Mar 30 2003Let's send Rumsfeld and his hawks to war instead
By Robin Cook
This was meant to be a quick, easy war. Shortly before I resigned a Cabinet colleague told me not to worry about the political fall-out.
The war would be finished long before polling day for the May local elections.
I just hope those who expected a quick victory are proved right. I have already had my fill of this bloody and unnecessary war. I want our troops home and I want them home before more of them are killed.
Link, link, O link! It's a busy day for good articles on the Chimpy-Rummy Murder-Our-Troops special (which coincides with the Kill Iraqis special). Here's some news you can use.
Here's the latest rundown of all the protests around the world today. These people don't take a break! Good on 'em!
Here's a fabulous transcript of Daniel Ellsberg running circles around Aaron Brown from CNN. Brown, like every in the corporate media, tries to frame the debate in ridiculous terms, wasting everybody's time and distracting us from the real issues (a tactic the GOP has been very good at and that the Dems, hell, any opposition, needs to learn how to avoid.) "Are the protestors helping Saddam?" is not a real question, and certainly not something a thinking person should pose. So grow up. Ellsberg handles it with tact and intelligence.
Meanwhile, the killing continues in earnest. Here's a report on the massacre at Nasiriya. If I was a soldier, I'd be the shocked and horrified one they interview first. And I know I'd hate the prick they quote after--he probably is the kind who would have made my life miserable in high school. (I would have liked to have linked to the original story in the Times of London, but the link has now been archived and they're asking $$$ to access it. So thank Buddha for Information Clearing House.)
Holy Court Martial! Three British Privates are sent home after protesting civilian deaths.
Meanwhile in the very barely democratic America, a Louisiana shock jock is suggesting protestors should get a bullet in the head. Remember folks, the airwaves belong to us . . . Just kidding! They belong to massive conglomerates! My mistake.
In wacky news, the cute dolphins the navy were going to use to find mines and Iraqi frogmen apparently have minds of their own. They like to wander off for days and look for fish. "Flipper's f...ed, mate," as one sarcy Aussie puts it.
The criticism of the complete incompetence of Rumsfeld continues from various generals. Remember, we started the criticism long before anybody else!
And who's America's new enemy? It seems to be New Zealand, because they don't support Chimpy McCokespoon. Let's bomb their sheep! etc. etc.
Lastly, I would like to give "mad props" out to Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points Memo. Marshall's been analysing the BushJunta for some time now, and knows his stuff. He's even a bit of a future-scenarist, trying to figure out the possible variations in the fallout from Rummy's disastrous war plans. Give his site a look and get educated on not just what has happened but what might be.
A few more interesting tidbits from the "war":
Bush Proposal Would End Overtime Pay for Millions of People At last I turned off CNN's war coverage, I looked around, and BOOM! I had no overtime pay. At home the war against the working people of the country continues in earnest.
Iraqi Civilians Feed Hungry US Marines I'm posting this one because this story has been kept out of the news for the most part. It sounds like a cute "see, the Iraqi people do love us" story until you realize they fed the Marines because the Marines have had their meal rations cut down from three to one. Whoops! Not so heartwarming anymore.
Code Red Would Trigger a Virtual Lockdown Plans for martial law anytime Ridge-baby and his squarehead cohorts decide it. Could that happen on...say...election day?
Just checking in on the BushJunta Illegal Bloodbath. Here's the latest:
Hey Rummy, the blood's on your hands too.
Rumseld Ignored Pentagon Advice on Iraq
In an article for its April 7 edition, which goes on sale on Monday, the weekly said Rumsfeld insisted at least six times in the run-up to the conflict that the proposed number of ground troops be sharply reduced and got his way."He thought he knew better. He was the decision-maker at every turn," the article quoted an unidentified senior Pentagon planner as saying. "This is the mess Rummy put himself in because he didn't want a heavy footprint on the ground."
Here's a depressing report on--it's official!--why the entire Arab world now hates America's guts. Hey, I don't want to get blown up because of the Monkey.
But remember kids, this isn't a holy war! Or is it, when Marines are being asked to PRAY FOR BUSH! Makes me wanna puke.
Finally, in lighter news, the International Federation of Journalists is looking into charges that U.S. Troops Beat up indie (non-embedded) journalists in Iraq.
Pleasant dreams!
Yo my peeps, I just got back from today's protest march. Not as many people as last week, so I hear, but still about 2 blocks' worth of people. And for some reason I didn't see the usual suspects there today. It seemed to be all new faces. I did run into a few friends: Duncan, Candace, Jim. I heard my dad would be there, but I didn't see him. We did two die-ins along Street, which gave me a chance to rest my feet, ho ho ho.
Seriously though, where are all the black and Latino protestors? Seeings a lot of their sons and daughters are dying in Bush's empire-building slaughter, you'd think they'd be equally represented here, as they are in the general population. The question for us is why they aren't turning up and how we can get them to. There's passing references to "the racism of the anti-war movement" on KPFK, but I've never heard anyone lay out the case for that. So, what's up?
It's a nice sunny day today too, and there's birds savaging the bird feeder: blue jays and little tits. (That should increase the Google hits).
While wondering just now what ever happened to Whit Stillman, I came across this excellent article on him, which goes on at length about something I've never considered in his films: Stillman's Christianity.
Credit due, by coincidence, to my friend Phil's Unofficial Whit Stillman Home Page. And no, Phil doesn't know where Stillman is either.
I like to think that someone out there, possibly in Taiwan, is learning more than they ever thought they'd know about Santa Barbara County politics, after following my series of portraits of the Board of Supervisors. This week I take on Gail Marshall who has been the most controversial of them all--and not intentionally.
I also got to review Laurel Canyon, which stars the lovely Kate Beckinsale. Which reminds me, whatever happened to Whit Stillman? Isn't he due for a new movie sometime?
As Keanu Reeves would say, "Whoah." Check out this editorial from Pravda, enticingly called Will American Administration Declare War on Russia?
Colonel-General Valery Manilov, a member of the Federation Council from the Primorye region, said in his interview to Echo of Moscow radio station: "The decision to start the war on Iraq is a big mistake that the United States made. America gave an incentive for the rest of the world to unite in the anti-American coalition. It is obvious from the diplomatic point of view that no country in the whole world will wish to live and watch Americans using the military force whenever they want and like it to use. The world community will have to consolidate its military, political, economic, technical resources in order not to allow that to happen. The process is under way already. This is a unique moment, for it never happened before, not even during the USA's bombing of Yugoslavia. The world will have to unite and find a format to restrain America, the country, which opposed itself to the whole world."
Spend a minute in the company of a murderer. He looks so gormless, sitting there, awaiting a chance to suddenly get all serious like. Watch how he lunges at somebody offscreen, crazed hate in his eyes, then laughs in a "just kidding" way. Shpooky. Watch the Monkey King just before he condemns our sons and daughters to death!
Antonowicz's archive is here.
Of all the reportage I've read based in Iraq, the daily reports by the Mirror's Anton Antonowicz has been the best so far.
SAND BEFORE THE STORM
Mar 26 2003By Anton Antonowicz
IT IS mid-afternoon and I can barely see more than 300 yards from my ninth-floor balcony window. The desert wind from the south has been blowing since the middle of the night. It brings a sandstorm and the noise of the guns closer.
A strange blood-orange glow hangs across the city. From the American and British point of view, this is the wrong kind of weather.
The Iraqis have torched oil dumps to obscure and confuse the enemy attacks upon the capital, but nature, so much more powerful, is doing a far, far better job.
"In March we expect all kinds of weather - one day storms, one day rain, one day bright blue skies," my Baghdad friend tells me. "But this sandstorm is something that comes along once in a generation.
Talking about writing, here you can read my article on 2nd District Supervisor Susan Rose, my review of Gus Van Zant's Gerry, and my review of The Actors from the London Stage's version of The Tempest.
I've been on the go since I got back from L.A. Monday morning. I had to catch up with films to review, attend a class on DVD authoring, and interview Gail Marshall for this week's issue. So everything's on hold, blog-wise, except for maybe one or two things.
Below encapsulates a lot of what I've been saying and thinking this weekend.
George Monbiot: One rule for them
[Rumsfeld] is, of course, quite right. Article 13 of the third convention, concerning the treatment of prisoners, insists that they "must at all times be protected... against insults and public curiosity". This may number among the less heinous of the possible infringements of the laws of war, but the conventions, ratified by Iraq in 1956, are non-negotiable. If you break them, you should expect to be prosecuted for war crimes.This being so, Rumsfeld had better watch his back. For this enthusiastic convert to the cause of legal warfare is, as head of the defence department, responsible for a series of crimes sufficient, were he ever to be tried, to put him away for the rest of his natural life.
His prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, where 641 men (nine of whom are British citizens) are held, breaches no fewer than 15 articles of the third convention. The US government broke the first of these (article 13) as soon as the prisoners arrived, by displaying them, just as the Iraqis have done, on television. In this case, however, they were not encouraged to address the cameras. They were kneeling on the ground, hands tied behind their backs, wearing blacked-out goggles and earphones. In breach of article 18, they had been stripped of their own clothes and deprived of their possessions. They were then interned in a penitentiary (against article 22), where they were denied proper mess facilities (26), canteens (28), religious premises (34), opportunities for physical exercise (38), access to the text of the convention (41), freedom to write to their families (70 and 71) and parcels of food and books (72).
They were not "released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities" (118), because, the US authorities say, their interrogation might, one day, reveal interesting information about al-Qaida. Article 17 rules that captives are obliged to give only their name, rank, number and date of birth. No "coercion may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever". In the hope of breaking them, however, the authorities have confined them to solitary cells and subjected them to what is now known as "torture lite": sleep deprivation and constant exposure to bright light. Unsurprisingly, several of the prisoners have sought to kill themselves, by smashing their heads against the walls or trying to slash their wrists with plastic cutlery.
This weekend I'm in Los Angeles, hanging out with me friend Scott. I'm currently typing this on the big fancy computer he uses at his very very very big videogame company that will remain nameless.
On the way down here last night I listened to KPFK broadcasting various bits from the protest that was happening at that moment on Sepulveda in Westwood. That was interspersed with people calling in to vent on the war, most of it making sense (being KPFK) but with one guy mentioning the Illuminati (also being KPFK). Unbeknownst to me, there were protests in Santa Barbara on Thursday and Friday, the former being completely chaotic with people crossing the freeway, trying to stop it. I guess all seemed quiet where I was.
Anyroad, today's a sunny day, and we are off to Hurry Curry to get some Japanese curry for lunch. Then maybe a pop nextdoor to Giant Robot.
Later!
Operation Enlarge the President's Penis commenced, well, RIGHT NOW, and the Dresden-like annihilation of Baghdad is underway. (For some reason, the city lights are still on). By the way the whole thing is reported, it's like nobody is getting killed over there.
Yahoo! News - U.S. Begins Massive Air Assault on Iraq
Also keeping us cheerful on the "home front", it's Don Asmussen's Operation: Terrortubbies. Ho ho ho.
Okay, you need some good, cheap laffs these days. I'm finding them here at Rude Food, where foreign food products that sound smutty have been collected for your giggling pleasure.
Funny how the Mirror reports the attacks differently, compared to the antiseptic American press. They seem a bit off with their numbers, though.
Mirror.co.uk - MOST FEROCIOUS ATTACK IN HISTORY MOST FEROCIOUS ATTACK IN HISTORY
Mar 21 2003From Richard Wallace, US Editor In Washington, Alexandra Williams In Kuwait, And Bob Roberts In Qatar
?AMERICA and Britain began the most ferocious blitzkrieg in history as the military strike on Iraq began in earnest last night.
Cruise missile, smart bombs and satellite-guided weapons rained down on Saddam Hussein's key defence and communication sites in Baghdad destroying vital command centres missile batteries and airfields.
Scores of targets were hit in unison as precision-guided missiles were programmed to explode at the same time.
BLITZ: British troops unleash shells from a 105mm gun at
targets in southern Iraq as huge offensive gets underwaySimultaneously massed ranks of Allied troops, including Royal Marines, Desert Rats and Paras, launched the long awaited ground invasion, seizing the border town of Umm Qasr.
It was the awesome start to the round the clock "shock and awe" campaign designed to stun terrified Iraqis into paralysed submission. Around 1,200 targets are earmarked for attack by 3,000 bombs and missiles.
I had forgotten about Steve Bell, the Guardian's cartoonist. He was a favorite of a few of my friends during my years in England. He certainly draws the Monkey Fascist with some skill. You can also check out his complete archive if you wish. His drawings are exceedingly nasty and cruel, but his composition is clear and precise, and reminds me in places of Magritte.
Look to your right, and you'll see a new counter.
Yes, it's the fun-for-all-the-family Iraq Body Count counter! Wheeee! Granted, some nutbag will also have this on his site because it makes him happy, as he sits in his chair watching CNN non-stop, but the purpose it to remind us how many people Commander Bunnypants has murdered with his illegal war. (Yes, I know, Saddam has killed much more, but then it's not a contest, is it people? I mean, our score should be zero on that side, don't you think?)
Shock and awe is coming soon, don't worry. They little boys need to use their toys.
Other counters we need: Halliburton Profit Counter (and one for the Carlysle Group)
American Casualties Counter (because they're somebody's kids too)
And did anyone notice how the price of gas mysteriously went down today? Gee, war must be a good thing!
Photo from SFGate.com
Operation Bloody American Empire: Day Two
Low body count so far--good!--but of course these are early days...of death...yet. There were protests in France, San Francisco, New York, Norwich (UK), Kolkata, India (quite violent), Egypt (also violent), Sydney, Melbourne, Taipei (yay!), Hyderabad, Cincinnati, the five main cities of Scotland, and lots of other places, including Chicago (as reported on NPR, but I can't find a link). Phew! That's a list.
Meanwhile, China has told Bush to knock it off, and the Washington Times even mentioned impeachment and war crimes trial for Bush. Bloody hell!
And while nobody was looking, the Senate shut down the Smirk's Alaskan Oil Drilling boondoggle for the second time. So there's your good news for the day, hidden at the bottom of the entry.
Most importantly, what's it like on the ground?
Yahoo! News - Baghdad a City of Contrasts As War Starts
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The first day of war turned Baghdad into a city of contrasts: Explosions rocked the capital at dawn and hospitals cared for a few wounded, but most of the city was quiet and some children were on the streets riding bicycles or playing soccer.
The brain of a fratboy. The power of a dictator.
War begins in Iraq with strikes aimed at `leadership targets'
Minutes before the speech, an internal television monitor showed the president pumping his fist. "Feels good," he said.
Adbusters has an idea. Let's boycott all American brands in protest.
Adbusters: Boycott America
Some people are planning a total Made-in-America boycott. Some will boycott oil for the duration of the war. Others are planning public activism against the greatest symbols of the Brand America warriors: McDonald's, Philip Morris, Exxon Mobil, Texaco, the major automakers, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Starbucks, Nike, Disneyland, the Hollywood cinemas. Media activists can launch TV Turnoff campaigns against Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and MTV. The limits to your participation are the limits of imagination, and the brainstorming has already begun.
Out of despair, rage, and screaming impotence, comes my friend Jon's blog, called, for now, Broad Spectrum Antibiotics. (Don't ask why). That's two people I've got to start blogging this week--my karma is being polished somehow.
The blood of the innocents is on your hands, Fuhrer Bush.
Senator Byrd is the only true American in government to speak out about the end of everything we stand for. This has been posted everywhere else, but here 'tis again.
Senate Remarks by Robert C. Byrd
March 19, 2003"The Arrogance of Power"
I believe in this beautiful country. I have studied its roots and gloried in the wisdom of its magnificent Constitution. I have marveled at the wisdom of its founders and framers. Generation after generation of Americans has understood the lofty ideals that underlie our great Republic. I have been inspired by the story of their sacrifice and their strength.
But, today I weep for my country. I have watched the events of recent months with a heavy, heavy heart. No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. The image of America has changed. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.
Michael Moore on Bush's "Moment of Truth"
A Letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush on the Eve of War
Monday, March 17, 2003
George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DCDear Governor Bush:
So today is what you call "the moment of truth," the day that "France and the rest of world have to show their cards on the table." I'm glad to hear that this day has finally arrived. Because, I gotta tell ya, having survived 440 days of your lying and conniving, I wasn't sure if I could take much more. So I'm glad to hear that today is Truth Day, 'cause I got a few truths I would like to share with you:
1. There is virtually NO ONE in America (talk radio nutters and Fox News aside) who is gung-ho to go to war. Trust me on this one. Walk out of the White House and on to any street in America and try to find five people who are PASSIONATE about wanting to kill Iraqis. YOU WON'T FIND THEM! Why? 'Cause NO Iraqis have ever come here and killed any of us! No Iraqi has even threatened to do that. You see, this is how we average Americans think: If a certain so-and-so is not perceived as a threat to our lives, then, believe it or not, we don't want to kill him! Funny how that works!
As you can see to the right, I finally finished Peretz Lavie's The Enchanted World of Sleep. Lavie only gets really technical in a few chapters, but for the most part his look at the science of sleep is a pleasant "lay person" read. What did I learn?
* Before electrodes, scientists used to measure the moment of sleep when a patient would drop a tennis ball from their hand. In my case, it's a shot glass, but the theory is the same.
* There are 4 stages of sleep, and then REM sleep, and that's when dreams come. It's also when we lose all muscle control. When waking up from dreams, people usually go to another stage. However, in very rare cases, people can awake in the no-muscle contol part and feel like they're paralyzed. I hope this never happens to me--how freaky is that!
* There is no set time to sleep. If you can survive on 6 hours a night, then you need 6 hours of sleep. People who sleep 10 hours per night aren't necessarily more rested. In fact, they're probably more sleepy.
* I really wish the test case in their dream research, Mr. R, would publish a book. He could wake up from REM sleep and recount long, short-story like dream narratives. They reprint one in the book and it's very good.
* Animals don't have REM sleep, but they do dream, and that stage is called paradoxical sleep (meaning the animal is most at rest, but also most active in the brain.)
* The world record for going without sleep is 264 hours.
The last third of the book is on sleep disorders, namely insomnia, jet lag, sleep walking, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy. He also has some good things to say about children and when they "should" go to bed. A majority of parents force their kids to go to sleep at 8 p.m. so the adults can watch TV or whatever, then appear amazed that their children won't sleep at the chosen time, or that they then wake up at 5 a.m. Thankfully, I was never raised that way...and that's why I'm writing about this book to an audience of three people at 2:36 a.m.
Anyway, I also finished the MOJO magazine special on the Beatles early years. That might still be hanging around some newsstands. You'd think there wasn't much left to say about the Beatles, but because the writing staff is so good (Mark Lewishom is on there among other major music journalists) they have some insightful things to say, none of which I can remember right now.
So..now I can get stuck into The Iliad, which seems appropriate in this season of war and suffering.
I'm amazed that the BBC ran this story.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | 'Talking fish' stuns New York
Some Hasidic Jews reportedly believe people can be reincarnated as fishA fish heading for slaughter in a New York market shouted warnings about the end of the world before it was killed, two fish cutters have claimed.
Zalmen Rosen, from the Skver sect of Hasidic Jews, says co-worker Luis Nivelo, a Christian, was about to kill a carp to be made into gefilte fish in the city's New Square Fish Market in January when it began shouting in Hebrew.
If God is wise enough to appear in fish form, why did he choose a fish that was about to be decapitated, gutted, and fileted? That's bad planning from Mr. G, right there.
From Die Puny Humans
Meanwhile, I love to see how people access this blog. While a lot of come here looking for news and war and news and - did we forget - war, one person found my site by searching for "Real Golden Fuck". I'll let you puzzle that one out yourselves.
Here's an overview of the world vs. the Monkey Fascist
ABCNEWS.com : Bush Iraq Ultimatum Earns World Ire
Thousands of women and children will die tomorrow at the Monkey's hand. It's so depressing I don't know where to start.
Apart from my blogging comments on Divine Intervention, I got write a full blown review of it for the Valley Voice. Here 'tis.
Divine Intervention Turns a Comic Eye on Occupation
Pentagon aiming to kill anyone reporting the news out of Iraq "independently". If it isn't propaganda, you're dead. This is how the Fascists are planning to keep their bloody massacre of an entire city out of the news.
I found this in the BuzzFlash Mailbag. I'd like to find better info.
Excerpt of last Sunday's broadcast starting at 0:51:52Tom McGurk: "Now, Kate Adie, you join us from the BBC in London. Thank you very much for going to all this trouble on a Sunday morning to come and join us. I suppose you are watching with a mixture of emotions this war beginning to happen, because you are not going to be covering it."
Kate Adie: " Oh I will be. And what actually appalls me is the difference between twelve years ago and now. I've seen a complete erosion of any kind of acknowledgment that reporters should be able to report as they witness. The Americans... and I've been talking to the Pentagon... take the attitude which is entirely hostile to the free spread of information. I was told by a senior officer in the Pentagon, that if uplinks -- that is the television signals out of... Baghdad, for example-- were detected by any planes... electronic media... mediums, of the military above Baghdad... they'd be fired down on. Even if they were journalists... "Who cares!" said... [crosstalk]
Tom McGurk: " ... Kate... sorry Kate... just to underline that... sorry to interrupt you. Just to explain for our listeners. Uplinks is where you have your own satellite telephone method of distributing information."
Kate Adie: " The telephones and the television signals."
Tom McGurk: " And they would be fired on? "
Kate Adie: " Yes. They would be 'targeted down,' said the officer."
More Pipe Dreams Dept. If only, etc.
WorldNetDaily: Could U.N. use military force on U.S.?Posted: March 15, 2003, 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Art Moore
WorldNetDaily.comSome anti-war groups are urging the world body to invoke a little-known convention that allows the General Assembly to step in when the Security Council is at an impasse in the face of a "threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression."
The willingness by the U.S. and Britain to go to war with Iraq without Security Council authorization is the kind of threat the U.N. had in mind when it passed Resolution 377 in 1950, said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a human-rights group in New York City.
The Daily Mirror Does It Again
Yep, they're laughing. Murder can be fun!
This Saturday I managed the catch the last film of the Susan Sontag-curated "Classics of Japanese Film" series at the LACMA.
TWENTY-FOUR EYES
A devastating study of nearly two decades in the life of a teacher who comes to a small island in the sea of Japan and the twelve students (hence the 24 eyes) in her care. Starts off idyllic, but soon the War in Manchuria, then the Pacific War comes to disrupt the lives of everyone. Director Keisuke Kinoshita works the audience with this classic melodrama, and I would say half of the theater was reduced to blubbering tears, especially near the end where
Apparently, all of Sontag's choices have had either a subtext or a context of anti-war sentiment, and Keisuke Kinoshita's "Twenty-Four Eyes" struck chords with many in the audience, especially the war fervor that grips the students as the film develops, the accusations against the teacher of being "unpatriotic" , the grim economic future that ruins the educational chances of many of her students, the indoctrination through the schools. You could almost feel the audience bristle after some of the more anti-war lines, none of which I can remember now. The film was shot and framed beautifully, and the most horrific of realities understood through the most economical of shots (as the war progresses and the island have lost all their first generation of youth, we have a brief scene of younger teenagers (I assume something like 15 or so) being groomed and sent off to die as kamikaze pilots. It's a chilling scene of war madness, but Kinoshita doesn't give us music cues or scenes of villagers talking about what was happening; he just lets it play out (he also didn't have to explain it to his audience in the '50s.)
Ten years ago we would have watched this and thought abstractly about war and the toll it took on the Japanese. Now we see the film and it's like gazing into a mirror, and beyond that, the abyss.
Unfortunately, the film is not available on video or DVD as far as I know. Here's hoping you can see it sometime in the future.
Here's a longer version of the Norman Mailer essay taken from the New York Review of Books. There are some frightening quotes from the Chimp contained within. (This below is not one of them. The words have too many syllables, for one thing.)
Because democracy is noble, it is always endangered. Nobility, indeed, is always in danger. Democracy is perishable. I think the natural government for most people, given the uglier depths of human nature, is fascism. Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy. To assume blithely that we can export democracy into any country we choose can serve paradoxically to encourage more fascism at home and abroad. Democracy is a state of grace that is attained only by those countries who have a host of individuals not only ready to enjoy freedom but to undergo the heavy labor of maintaining it.
It's the eve, perhaps, of the Monkey Bastard King's illegal war, and I'm having some tea. I just came from a dinner party where the talk circled around and around the subject of the war and no matter how much we tried to talk about normal things we kept coming back to it. Is this like Vietnam all over again? Hardly: this is like World War II all over again, except, as one of my friends says, we're Germany.
I'll have more things to say later about this weekend, including the latest protest march (in the rain) and a viewing of a Japanese film called "Twenty-Four Eyes". But now I'm just savoring the last drops of democracy. Tasted pretty good while it lasted!
It's Friday and my profile on Naomi Schwartz has come out in the Valley Voice. For those of you outside S.B. County who don't know that Schwartz is one of our County Supervisors, the article may mean nothing. But give it a shot anyway.
Full circle with Naomi Schwartz:
First District Supervisor looks back on her career and ahead to looming state crisis
Not only does the White House get to pick and choose which reporters ask questions now, but they get to rewrite what the press quotes. This personal story from a writer over at the Washington Post has been causing quite a stir over at Poynter Online
Recently, I was working on a profile of the now-departed chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, R. Glenn Hubbard. I dutifully went through the White House press office to talk to an administration economist about Hubbard's tenure, and a press office aide helpfully got me in touch with just the person I wanted. The catch was this: The interview would be off the record. Any quotes I wanted to put into the newspaper would have to be e-mailed to the press office. If approved, the quotation could be attributed to a White House official. (This has become fairly standard practice.)
Since the profile focused on Hubbard's efforts to translate relatively
arcane macroeconomic theory into public policy, the quote I wanted
referenced the president's effort to end the double taxation of dividends: "This is probably the most academic proposal ever to come out of an administration." The press office said it was fine, but the official wanted a little change. Instead, the quote was to read, "This is probably the purest, most far reaching economic proposal ever to come out of an administration." I protested that the point of the quote was the word "academic," so the quote was again amended to state, "This is probably the purest, most academic, most far reaching economic proposal ever to come out of an administration."
What appeared in the Washington Post was, "This is probably the purest, most academic ... economic proposal ever to come out of an administration." What followed was an angry denunciation by the White House press official, telling me I had broken my word and violated journalistic ethics.
I swear I didn't force her to, but my missus Jessica has started her own blog.
Some thoughts on the turning of history
I read somewhere last week about how the illegal war for oil will be a historical event, not a political one (I think it was in Salon; maybe somebody can tell me), for true historical events change everything (whereas political events (Gulf War One) change things only a little). At least that was the point I think was made.
Anyway, my point, or my musing, is how this illegal war will be a historical event. The BushJunta is determined to recast this war as World War II all over again. If the Gulf War erased the "mistakes" (i.e. the protests, the bad feeling) of Vietnam, I think these old Hawks want to erase the Cold War, to bring us back to an obvious Nazi-like enemy, and a triumphant America that goes in and establishes dominance over the world--the full world, mind you, not the half that the Commies didn't take. Hence, no real surprise that the Bushies' PR people are cooking up these "Movietone" propaganda reels for consumption.
Let's also assume that we don't all get vaporized. Let's also assume that America doesn't turn into a totalitarian police state. What happens to our culture? Will everything before the war become unfashionable, so much a part of "the past" that it will start to look like "history" (in quotes). Is this the cut-off point for the century? Will all rock and pop music, and the hope it exudes, feel like naive rubbish? Will we be unable to watch TV shows and movies that are not situated in a wartime context, because the feelings expressed will seem so alien? (I had this experience when watching the Cherry Orchard, which became the crux of my review--none of the actors seemed to connect to the play's sense of a future, any future, instead playing everything comic and futile, like the butler that is left in the house at the end of the play.
Don't forget that the extreme right see the rise of youth culture (which reached its quick apex in the '60s) as all that went wrong in America. If they can turn back that clock, and all that youth culture has spawned, then they have won a decisive victory.
Question for further thought: what works of art (low- or high-brow) will comfort us post illegal war? What legends will be diminished, who will be reassessed?
Paul Krugman is always a good read, and this column is no exception.
George W. Queeg board the U.S.S. Caine, it was the business with the strawberries that finally convinced the doubters that something was amiss with the captain. Is foreign policy George W. Bush's quart of strawberries?Over the past few weeks there has been an epidemic of epiphanies. There's a long list of pundits who previously supported Bush's policy on Iraq but have publicly changed their minds. None of them quarrel with the goal; who wouldn't want to see Saddam Hussein overthrown? But they are finally realizing that Mr. Bush is the wrong man to do the job. And more people than you would think ? including a fair number of people in the Treasury Department, the State Department and, yes, the Pentagon ? don't just question the competence of Mr. Bush and his inner circle; they believe that America's leadership has lost touch with reality.
Can it get any worse than this (in a pre-war stylee?)
Yahoo! News - U.S. Navy, Marines Plan Movietone-Like War Films
Wed Mar 12, 4:38 PM ET
By Bob TourtellotteLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lights, camera, action! ... a helmet and flak jacket would be very useful, too.
If a war breaks out in Iraq (news - web sites), the U.S. Navy (news - web sites) and Marine Corps plan to film soldiers on the front lines of battle and bring their stories to movie audiences in video spots similar to the old Movietone film reels made during World War II, people involved with the effort said on Wednesday.
The idea, explained Marine Lt. Colonel James Kuhn, is to show people the real images of war and put a human face on the men and women fighting it.
Of all the depressing news, this is the worst, I think, the fact that the Democrats are announcing that once the killing starts they will stop talking about the war. Even hopeful Howard Dean and Shrub critic Paul Begala are planning to shut up at the moment when outrage will be at its highest.
So face it: for all the millions who will be marching on Saturday and holding a vigil on Sunday, we have nobody high enough in the Dems to represent us. Cowards!
The Monkey King will soon be, as far as some lawsuits (and the Pope) are concerned, a war criminal, with the blood of thousand of Iraqis on his hands. And to tell him in advance that we won't say a word about it...well, that makes you complicit.
Can we ship all the Christian fundamentalists off to live, fight, and die with all the other religious fanatics around the globe? Then maybe we'll have some peace.
This story out of Pat Robertson's Regent University is head-slappingly stupid.
Former student settles case with Regent U.
By TIM MCGLONE, The Virginian-Pilot
January 3, 2003NORFOLK -- A former Regent University law student who accused the school of ordering him to undergo counseling after classmates labeled him a ``demon'' has settled his lawsuit against the school for an undisclosed sum.
Herbert O. Chadbourne, of Saco, Maine, sued the university, its founder Pat Robertson, and two administrators a year ago, claiming civil rights violations, defamation and slander.
More for the bookpile! Just when I thought I had tamed the number of books waiting for me to read (not helped by myself either), here comes a lightning visit by my friend Scott, bringing me two gifts: We're Desperate: The Punk Rock Photography of Jim Jocoy, SF/LA 1978-1980, a photograpic anthropological study of the original punks, and City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. Fortunately, they're both photo-heavy so "reading" them will be a breeze.
Yet again, more proof that evil is currently winning.
Stan Brakhage dies
March 12, 2003STAN Brakhage, the prolific experimental director whose 1964 masterpiece Dog Star Man is among the most important American movies ever made, has died of cancer. He was 70.
The retired professor of film studies from the University of Colorado died on Sunday in a hospital in Victoria, British Columbia.Brakhage, who retired to Canada in September, made nearly 380 films, each lasting between nine seconds and four hours.
More evidence that if the Iraq war starts, it'll be complete chaos.
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Iranian-backed militia moves into northern Iraq Several hundred soldiers belonging to an Iranian-based Iraqi militia have set up a secret military camp deep in northern Iraq, in a move likely to alarm Washington.The fighters, who include many deserters from Saddam Hussein's army, slipped into the opposition-controlled north from Iran late last month.
They have now established a series of military camps inside Kurdish-controlled territory, including a major base at the foot of a mountain, near the village of Banibee, decorated with flags proclaiming "Allahu Akbar", or God is most great.
I hadn't heard it in a while, but maybe this is the song of the moment. It's at least how I feel this morning (when I should be doing work).
STREET FIGHTING MAN
(Jagger/Richards)Ev'rywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
'Cause summer's here and the time is right for fighting
in the street boy
But what can a poor boy do except to sing for a
Rock'N'Roll Band 'cause in sleepy London Town
There's just no place for Street Fighting ManHey! Think the time is right for a Palace Revolution
But where I live the game to play is Compromise Solution
Well then what can a poor boy do except to sing for a
Rock'N'Roll Band 'cause in sleepy London Town
There's just no place for Street Fighting ManHey! Said my name is called Disturbance
I'll shout and scream, I'll kill the King I'll rail at all his servants
Well then what can a poor boy do except to sing for a
Rock'N'Roll Band 'cause in sleepy London Town
There's just no place for Street Fighting Man
To try and escape the thought of the world's impending destruction, we went for a shop'n'eat trip to L.A. today. Took in Ranch 99, bought lots of Taiwanese snacks and groceries. Went and saw my friend Gene and his fiancee Alicia, and took them on a triple-whammy along one block of Venice Blvd.: Indian food at a "India Sweets and Spices" which made my nostrils sweat, and a trip next door (kind of) to the Museum of Jurassic Technology and its small partner, the Center for Land Use Interpretation. I believe I like the Museum of JT more for its layout and mood than the still-fascinating exhibits within. Their bookshop is always well-stocked with strangeness (it's where I got the book on sleep that I'm still reading), and I came away today with another to add to my stack: Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls by Edward E. Leslie, a compendium of true stories about castaways, maroons, and survivors throughout history.
After a short drive, we checked out the scabby remains of a Wherehouse chain in Culver City that was going through its death throes at 25% off. Any place that assigns a special section to "Urban Cinema" (i.e. movies with black folks in), and squeezes the "furrinner" section in between the above "subcategory" and the gay porn DVDs deserves to go under.
I did manage to snag the Remaster of the Rolling Stones Through the Past, Darkly for something like $15. Even on the car stereo the sound is astonishing. This is not a tiny improvement like most remasters; this demands a total reassesment of what the songs sound like. So...when are they ever going to remaster the shameful Beatles CDs?
Despite this, and Jessica getting a job (surely this is an aberration in this economy), I came home to despair again over this simple point:
GEORGE BUSH WILL BE THE DEATH OF US ALL.
No more, no less.
Read how Rummy squirms out of some real tough questions, not the softball scripted mess read to the Monkey-on-Goofballs last week. As I mentioned a few posts ago, David Dimbleby interviewed Rumsfeld on BBC's Newsnight, and got the feller's dander up. "Don't put words in my mouth," he says, a lot, as well as some other childish avoidance. And Dimbleby proceeds with--shock! horror!--follow-up questions.
Transcript: Donald Rumsfeld interview
8 1/2
You should know right here that Fellini's 8 1/2 is one of my favorite films--I'd like to say it's my favorite, but I may be forgetting something obvious. But I can't really think of any film that fills me with such joy every time I see it. It's a film just bursting at the seams with life, with beautiful women particularly, with wit and love and acceptance. Marcello Mastoianni's character Guido comes to learn all these things in the end, but in the film itself it's there from the beginning. (One critic writes how the early scenes in the spa portray the delusional bourgeousie, represented by the old warhorses of Wagner and Rossini on the soundtrack, but Fellini, being a cartoonist before he was a director, gives us all these wonderful faces passing by the screen (as opposed to faceless extras). S'Wonderful.
Anyway, this being the second time I've seen it on the big screen, I have to say that the print was dreadful, and not the re-released version that I saw in San Diego a few years ago. The new print had new subtitles--these old ones are awful, and only translate 50% of the soundtrack. You think the fest could have hunted the better one down. (The ones for the Sirk film were also crap). Still, it was a wonderful thing to behold.
It all seems like so long ago. In fact it was a week. At last my Cherry Orchard review has been posted.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF COUNT LUCHINO VISCONTI
What was originally a documentary for BBC's Arena program, gets an airing here on the big screen (digitally projected, but looking very nice in one of S.B.'s biggest theaters. I've seen one Visconti film before this--the devastating Death in Venice--and knew of some of the others. But I knew little else of the man. I didn't know he was a Count, an aristocratic Communist (what a paradox!), the lover of Zefferelli, a championship thoroughbred trainer, and an opera director. It was also slightly long, but maybe because I'm the uninitiated. Makes me want to watch The Damned, though.
In a slight bit of synchronicity, I recently completed an After Effects-based motion graphic in class to use for my Stekki Daiyo! Productions. (You can see the thing here) and for a temp track I used Brian Eno's "Another Green World." Only a few days later did I remember that this track was used as the opening theme for BBC2's Arena. So what should open up the Visconti film, but the Arena logo, using the same music, accompanying that "neon-message-in-a-bottle" graphic.
DIRTY PRETTY THINGS
Stephen Frears' latest was a pleasing diversion, but not as great as everybody at the fest was making it out to be--this was the third added screening. There's a lot of handwringing over the fate of illegal immigrants in modern-day London, but the characters were very one-dimensional. The immigration officials looked like two sleazeballs, all stubble and greasy hair. The lead actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, was always watchable, as Audrey Tautou did her best to erase the image of Amelie from everybody's mind, helped in no small way by a script that subjected her to much debasement. It looked good, too, but I have a feeling most everybody else was moved more than me.
Lastly, I passed through Urban Outfitters on my way home and snagged a book I've had my eye on for some time. The price was cut in half, and because it was the last in stock, I asked for and got an additional 10% off, total price $24 for the hardback. Supercade is pure eye candy for the videogame generation (I trusted the book immediately when it cut off the date of classic videogames at 1984, which I agree with wholeheartedly).
Film Fest Day Five
MAN WITHOUT A PAST
I haven't seen too many Aki Kaurismaki films. I saw Hamlet Goes Business a long time ago when I didn't have the sense of humor about the play (I was in high school, and it was a sacred text). I saw Lenigrad Cowboys Go to America and was bored to tears (but maybe that was in opposition to a friend who went on about it like it was drop down hilarious).
So maybe it's time that made this film most enjoyable. It's not the story so much (man is mugged, loses his memory, and creates a new life from the bottom up with the help of friendly, earthy vagrants, and a Salvation Army lady that becomes his lover) as Kaurismaki's pacing, ridiculous dialog, and deadpan delivery of pretty much everybody. It's something about the Finnish air, I think. Characters were all memorable, especially the tough-talking security guard with nothing to really back him up--his dog "Hannibal" which he promises will rip off offender's noses, is a docile, sleepy pet, and very cute. I had a good time, definitely. Sight and Sound said that Kaurismaki's treading water, but seeings I haven't seen that much, it was refreshing to me.
Rummy Gets Called on His Hypocrisy, Storms Off
I would have loved to have seen this.
People by Andrew Pierce It may have been all smiles on screen but David Dimbleby riled Donald Rumsfeld during his interview on Newsnight last night. Angry at being asked about his connections with President Saddam Hussein in the 1970s, Rumsfeld stormed out after the interview without saying a word.
I installed OSX 10.2 today. Of course, I did this on a separate partition so I can play around with it first.
Film Fest Day Four
ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS
Today I managed one film, which was a special screening of Douglas Sirk's Technicolor melodrama starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. The print was pretty rough, but what made the night special was that director Todd Haynes, whose Far From Heaven is a palimpsest of Sirk's film, introduced and talked afterwards about his film and Sirk's.
The film itself is on the surface a very straightforward "love will find a way" weepie, but you don't have to search too hard to find all sorts of weird things underneath, and I don't mean watching Hudson's performance with what is known now about his sexuality. The sexual wolfishness of the men (apart from Hudson), the awful children--Freud-espousing daughter, asshole son, the bitchy women, the deer that appears at the end. Like many films from the '50s, it just seems bizarre.
Haynes had some great things to say about Sirk's film, especially about the use of color. He mentioned how the very complex color schemes in Sirk are a far cry from today. "Now you can see a thriller--every shot is blue. Or a memory sequence. It's all gold. And that's it?" He also spoke about Fassbinder's own take on Sirk in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (coming out next month on DVD, with some commentary by Haynes), his next project (apparently a rhapsody on Bob Dylan that promises at worst to be fascinating), his move to Portland, his student days at Brown University, and much more. A very modest, affable man, and one of the few truly important American filmmakers at the moment.
Film Fest Day Three
THE SON (LE FILS)
Okay, now I've seen a brilliant film. You hope that something in a festival is going to come along and just leave you gasping, and for me, this latest by the Dardenne Brothers is masterful. I reviewed their last film, Rosetta, which equally impressed me, so I was a bit prepared for their style of filmmaking--documentary-style, rough, handheld.
The trouble is with the film is that there's a particular twist in the plot that occurs about 30 minutes into it that precludes me from discussing the film in any depth, for I hope whoever reads this will want to seek the film out. You can, however, find some dumb reviews online that will ruin it for you, so good luck to you.
(Fortunately, Roger Ebert shares my opinion and method of writing about this film, and winds up saying some good things about it. Ebert is a populist and a media figure, but I give credence to his opinions, even when I disagree. Maybe it's being in Chicago that does it.)
Anyway, what I can tell you about "The Son" is this: for the majority of the movie, the camera hovers around the neck and back of its protagonist, a carpenter who teaches juvenile delinquents in some sort of social program. He's asked to admit one more kid, but brushes the assistant off, saying he has no room. He then paces, anxiously, and seems intent on spying on the kid (who we have still yet to see). For about twenty minutes many scenes follow like this, with nothing explained. In fact, nothing seems to be happening at all. He gets a visit from his estranged wife. He does some situps. He paces some more. Sometimes he's at home. Sometimes he's at work. And all along the camera is on him like a hunted animal--you have to crane your neck to see the background sometimes, he's so close.
But then one line of dialog changes the entire point of the film. You realize that what seemed pointless, even strange activity, now has a purpose, as does the camerawork. It took my breath away, and from then on The Son becomes suspenseful and completely involving.
The symbolism, too, sneaks up on you, from what seems like ordinary surroundings. This too I can't really speak about as I'd give some more away. So, er, I really recommend it.
The audience left much to be desired, made up of people whose jaded nature was only matched by their ignorance. "That's it?" someone said at the admittedly abrupt ending. Others then chimed in: "That's it? Will there be a sequel?" and other such stoooopidity. What is with these people? Even the multiplex crowd aren't like this.
Expect more of this in our new Police State!
Lawyer Arrested for Wearing a 'Peace' T - Shirt
By REUTERSFiled at 7:56 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer was arrested late Monday and charged with trespassing at a public mall in the state of New York after refusing to take off a T-shirt advocating peace that he had just purchased at the mall.
According to the criminal complaint filed on Monday, Stephen Downs was wearing a T-shirt bearing the words ``Give Peace A Chance'' that he had just purchased from a vendor inside the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, New York, near Albany.
``I was in the food court with my son when I was confronted by two security guards and ordered to either take off the T-shirt or leave the mall,'' said Downs.
My Mom and her husband Abel ran in the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday, something they've done for many years (as well as marathons in London, Hawaii, and elsewhere). Anyway, they always wear American Flag running shorts to show their pride, having both become American citizens late in their life, and not as any sort of politics.
So. Along the route, they were caught up by another older jogger, who used the shorts as a way to start blathering on about Iraq, and how he can't wait to get rid of that bastard Hussain, and such. Turns out his son is in the Marines and stationed at Guantanamo Bay. He was very proud of his son, and gleefully related how recently "my son just punched one of those guys [the prisoners] right in the face! Ha! He knocked him right on his ass!"
Well, screw you Geneva Convention, too! Needless to say, this spurned Mom and Abel to run a bit faster and get away from this right-wing buffoon. But that's what's going on a Concentration Camp X-Ray.
Recently, I've been taking classes in Flash MX. I know it's not much, but if you click here, you'll be able to see what I made for my "animation" assignment. Play loud!
Day Two at the Film Fest
Only one film today, folks.
DIVINE INTERVENTION
Elia Suleiman's absurd look at the absurd Israeli/Palestinian conflict, done in a complete deadpan style, with hints of Bu
This is also incredible news. Bet this won't be on TV.
Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq warMartin Bright, Ed Vulliamy in New York and Peter Beaumont
Sunday March 2, 2003
The ObserverThe United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of war against Iraq.
Details of the aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked to The Observer.
Norman Mailer--now 80, by the way--weighs in on our last breath of democracy.
Gaining an Empire, Losing Democracy? by Norman MailerLOS ANGELES -- There is a subtext to what the Bushites are doing as they prepare for war in Iraq. My hypothesis is that President George W. Bush and many conservatives have come to the conclusion that the only way they can save America and get if off its present downslope is to become a regime with a greater military presence and drive toward empire. My fear is that Americans might lose their democracy in the process.
By downslope I'm referring not only to the corporate scandals, the church scandals and the FBI scandals. The country has gone kind of crazy in the eyes of conservatives. Also, kids can't read anymore. Especially for conservatives, the culture has become too sexual.
Iraq is the excuse for moving in an imperial direction. War with Iraq, as they originally conceived it, would be a quick, dramatic step that would enable them to control the Near East as a powerful base - not least because of the oil there, as well as the water supplies from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers - to build a world empire.
Film Festival Day One/Two
Your trusty blogging bastard has been given a press pass to the Santa Barbara Film Festival, which opened Friday night (the night I went to review the Chekhov play).
First of all, you can read my article on Flying A Studios that constitutes my coverage of the fest for this ish.
Then, bear with me as over the next week I give a few comments on the films I wind up seeing (I'm not doing the fest non-stop--I have other things to attend to, other writing assignments and such, but I've got at least one film per day).
RIVERS AND TIDES
Being the documentary on environmental sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, a big favorite of my friend Phil, who introduced me to his work. As Goldsworthy says in the film, his job is "to make all the effort look effortless." His sentinel-like cones of slate, his pools of leaves, his serpentine motif running through a majority of his work, all look beautiful in the photos, but the documentary by Thomas Riedelsheimer adds the dimension of time, which Goldsworthy's work is very much about. Seeing the pieces change over time as nature reclaims its materials is a major element. Goldsworthy has the patience of a monk (or a clay animator) and much suspense occurs watching him nearly finish a piece only to have the bloody thing fall apart. Good soundtrack by Fred Frith, working with what looked like a Swedish or Eastern European ensemble (credits went very quick).
SWEET SIXTEEN
Ken Loach's new film is a big, steaming chunk of Scottish depression, in which a 15-year-old tries desperately to improve his lot, only to have the fate of his class and social standing grind him down again. Many in the British press don't like Loach, seeing him as a melodramatic ol' Red lefty, but for American filmgoers not used to seeing realism on screen (or, if you live in Santa Barbara, outside in the streets), this must have seemed like the grittiest, grimiest, most despairing portrayal of being young, ambitious, and downwardly mobile they've ever seen (8 Mile is a completely safe and moral film and doesn't count). The two people next to me were particularly troubled and particularly clueless to the essentials to the plot. "Is that a knife?" she said when a knife appeared. Or they tried to second-guess the film using their limited knowledge of mainstream film. Also of bemusement was the woman's need to put her head between her knees anytime the film approached violence of any sort (yes, there's a stabbing, but even the Hayes Code would have let it pass). She didn't have her table in its upright locked position, but it'll do.
Despite all this, the film itself was pretty good--I didn't enjoy it as much as "Bread and Roses"--and the young lead bore a passing resemblance to another Loach hero, David Bradley in Kes. Added benefit: sensitive American moviegoers discovered the myriad uses of the word "fuck" and "cunt," which you haven't heard properly till it's come out of the mouth of a pizza delivery boy missing his two front teeth. Watch as the swear words above result in many more hits to this site.
THE EYE
The Pang Brothers (or should that be The Brothers Pang?) nearly deliver the goods in this Hong Kong/Thailand horror tail, indebted heavily to The Sixth Sense, Ka
Last night, meself and my theater-going chum Olivia went to check out The Cherry Orchard at UCSB's Hatlen Theater, having been assigned it to review. Hopefully, the Voice's Web site will publish it (they don't always publish my stuff online if I'm not the lead review or article). I wanted to have a look at some production photos elsewhere so turned to good ol' Google search. On the way there, I came across this pathetic Cherry Orchard Message Board, full of failed attempts by clueless undergrads to get easy answers over the Internet. How about using yer noodle?
No posts in a while, but now I'm back with this cheerful essay on the new police state and how we will soon join the ranks of other countries with "disappeared" people.
The Black Commentator - In the Time of Disappeared People
The Bush men have obviously been pondering the imposition of Permanent National Emergency for as long as they have been planning Permanent War. The discovery of a draft of the so-called Patriot Act II, rushed forward by Bush's national security conspirators in January for review by their allies on Capitol Hill, presents the public with a warning of - but not a defense against - a cunningly devised blueprint for the modern, total police state. Combined with the Patriot I, enacted immediately after September 11 by a nearly unanimous Congress, and through gross distortions of existing conspiracy laws plus the catch-22s of secrecy, Patriot II is the perfect tool to "disappear" any number of human beings for any reason to any place for any length of time.
And here's a story about how the fascists are planning to assign a "threat level" to everyone who buys a ticket for a commercial flight. Madness!
And for my friends living abroad, you may not want to come home anyway. Check out what happened to this Canadian woman when the airport INS people in Chicago thought she had a false passport. Her crime? Being brownskinned.
And finally, more proof that Evil is currently winning: Mr. Rogers died. Fred Rogers was a part of my childhood like I suspect many others--I always wanted a trolley like he did that would disappear into the wall and come out in another place--and by all accounts was truly a wonderful person.
Even though tongue in cheek, this page makes a good case for Mr Rogers being a Zen Master. After all, if Winnie-the-Pooh can be Taoist, then why not the man who asks, "How would you listen to a fish?" Expect a book version of this in about ten years.
