An Eye for and Eye
So who's side are you on in this war on terror?
When did you enter the story. Where did you grow up? Where were you standing?
Steven Spielberg picks up with four Americans helping a group of Palestinian terrorists jump over a fence into the Olympic Village and start the events that lead to the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and trainers.
This movies seems to make many important arguments that other movies are also making right now. The most critical argument seems to be that no one is seeking the middle ground. Everyone in these moral dramas seems to be corrupted.
I did like this movie. When I first read about it I was worried that there would be a 20 minute scene where they would build this team of experts in their fields and then show how they could instantly bond with the group.
This didn't happen, I guess we will have to weight for the next Michael Crighten movie.
For the most part the movie drifts in and out of a morality drama and an espionage thriller and both parts work well. Not everything is perfect but good enough.
As for my opening comments, I would love to see a movie told from the other side. The only thing that I have read of the Palestinean plight has been the Joe Sacco graphic novel and it is marvelous. If anyone has any movie or book ideas pass them on.
Traveling Soviet-Style Aboard America’s $30,000,000,000.00 Nostalgia Toy!
Peter Bagge has a new 4 page comic, called Amtrak Sucks, posted up on the Reason website. It is about traveling the west coast on Amtrak during the holidays. Peter is advocating for the dismantling of Amtrak and doing away it.
I've only been on Amtrak once. It was uncomfortable, smelly, and hot. I got really drunk, met great people, stayed up all night and had the time of my life.
Does the government always need to be efficient? Maybe the railway system should be a messed up confusing method of travel. Maybe Peter shouldn't expect so much from everything. Hey he got a comic out of his trip. Most people just get a hangover.
Unchecked presidential power
This is a few days late but.. The Strib prints an editorial by my favorite geek, Bruce Schneier. I have seen him speak on cryptology and security on 4 different occasions and was able to talk to him at length after one of them.
The first time I ever saw him he was on a book speaking tour with Neal Stephenson for Neal's book Cryptonomicon. It was the first time that I had ever gone to a reading for a "Sci-Fi" author. The reading was at a B&N in Burnsville, MN, which is about a 5th ring suburb. It was that day that I looked at the people around me and realized I was now a geek and could possibly never have sex again. Thank God that didn't happen.
He is a wonderful futurist and has a unique opinion on everything. Try his blog.
BSG 2.0 – A Dedication
Now as for the DVD of the first 10 episodes of Battlestar Galactica there is a bit more to it than he is telling you.
When he says that it, along with four other December 20th DVD releases, is a "lump of shit", I think what he is trying to say, is that it is the same old lame, boring, unchallenging crap that gets played over and over on TV/DVD these days.
He should also say he hates sci-fi and wouldn't even give it a chance if money was slowly sliding out of the front of his TV.
He hasn't watched the new Battlestar Galactica, and if he did he came into it with the same piss-poor attitude that he takes into his yearly rectal exam.
I'm sure he looks at the website pictures and thinks that the show is full of models posing as actors, with cheesy plot lines like a wandering civilization looking for a lost Earth. All the while the humans are fleeing from Cylons, who no longer look like tin cans but hot sexy humans .
Knowing my brother he looks at the shows critical success and equates that to mainstream writing. He also figures that by season 2 any edge the show might of had would be beaten down by the network and advertisers.
Thank god he posted that review because I almost bought the DVD. I would have had give it away as a Christmas gift, maybe to him.
Drilling for Oil
My brother and I went to see Syriana today and then we rewatched the bittorrent of last nights Charlie Rose with Syriana's director and screenwriter Stephen Gaghan. The movie was really interesting and like his earlier movie Traffic nobody comes out of this looking good.
The Charlie Rose interview had many things that I found just as interesting. The cast of shady oil men, lawyers, politicians, CIA, Middle Easterners that he met in real life to bring this fictional tale together made a story that was too unbelievable to be told. He actually had to tone down reality to make this story work.
The only thing wrong with the interview was that Gaghan said the 70 percent of the worlds oil was in the hands of country's that the US is at war with. I don't think that is correct. I will dig in. If anyone else knows the truth to this please email me.
Go see Syriana it will be one of the few smart movies of the season. But then again I haven't seen the Usher movie yet.
Can you say Road Trip
Twice.
Only Twice.
Yes I said only twice have the Twolves won all four games of a four game road trip. I know it is weird sounding, but it is true. Even with the greatness of the man pictured above they were unable to do it. But then again he was surrounded by losers.
These Timberwolves of today are playing like a real team. They suck when it doesn't matter and play real basket ball when it does.
Hey the game doesn't start until half way through the fourth, so as long as you are within 15 points and aren't in foul trouble you've got a shot.
Sleeper Cell
I have watched the first 2 nights of Showtime's "Sleeper Cell". This is their 10 part mini-series that portrays the activates of an extremist Islamic terrorist cell in Los Angeles.
So far the the episodes have been great with both nights ending in highly intense scenes. It reminds me a bit of 24 but without the overbearing Jack Bauer.
My only gripe is that the cell is made up of a multi-ethnic group that resembles a Benetton ad. One of the guys looks like Andy Richter for christ's sake. Come on.
"We are the world. We are the Children."
A Year Without Agnes
A few months ago my friend Matt and I were given a backroom / back halls tour of the Walker Art Center. One of the paintings that we saw and that blew my mind was an Agnes Martin.
It has been a year since she died and the NY Times Magazine has a nice piece on the last page of this weekends magazine. It is written by the American artist Susan York.
It’s the final month of 2005 and it is time for end of the year Lists
The Christian Science Monitor is the first out of the gate with its list:
The New York Times also steps in with 100 Notable Books of the Year
Guardian Unlimited has released its Books of the Year
The New York Times 10 Best Books of 2005