And, we're back.

Conditions: Hot and sunny. Good one, God. Way to stick it in, and break it off.

Well, we're back. The vacation was nice, thank you, but I feel the modern person (i.e, me) can only really stand a week of sitting in the sun reading before they go stark raving mad. So it's good to be back. Beep. The desk is how I left it, the computer sleeping quietly. The lazy cur. Awake, damn your motherboard, we have Things To Do.


Hussein

It seems a bit late to say anything about the execution of the dictator, but I don't care. This is my world, or at least my chunk of it. So. Saddam was scheduled to be executed for his crimes against humanity, but instead he was knocked off in a distasteful display of tribal vengance. Now I'm not a fan of the death penalty, but the very last thing that should have happened to Saddam is what eventually happened to him. Well I suppose the last thing that should have happened is him escaping, but this is a close second. This was supposed to be a unified, democratic Iraq, executing justice upon someone who deserved it. Instead it became, thanks to the internet playback, a mob-justice thing where the Shia got their revenge. And it's not the internet's fault. The transmission of the truth is not to be criticized. It's essentially the fault of the Iraqi rulers, who have struggled to actually be democratic amid a sea of tribal conflict and insurgency, and of course the Americans, who didn't properly bring the democracy in the first place. In this light then, it seems stupid of the Americans to hand Saddam over to a country that wasn't yet an actual peaceful, representative democracy, in order to serve justice to him. Perhaps the Americans were tired of looking after him, or perhaps they're anxious to leave the country altogether.
Whatever the reason, it's yet another bad decision by the idiots in charge.


Global Warming is upon us.

After making fun of the whole idea for many, many years, it seems those annoying people with white coats are actually correct. No, not the shrinks, who wil be first against the wall when the revolution comes, but the climatologists, who said the world weather was going to get screwed up big time if we didn't change our ways. Well here we are. In the northern hemisphere, great cities like London, New York and Lower Uncton are experiencing one of the mildest of winters on record. In fact there was an article in the New York Times, which I can't be bothered finding now, where the Polar Bears club (made of retired-police officers and the like, rather than actual bears, in case you were wondering.) (although a bunch of Zoo bears forming a club is quite an amusing idea.) (in case any of those Pixar guys are reading this, call me.) are deciding whether or not to quit after over 100 years of going swimming in the freezing waters of winter, now they are faced with this winter's balmy temperatures.

Meanwhile, down south, the summer season has been dogged by overcast skies and cold temperatures. Entire summer vacations have been spent watching and cursing the weather. In Australia, the drought has been going on for so long that the experts want to stop calling it a drought. Because the word 'drought' offers hope that at some point it will be over... There's no denying it, the weather patterns are distinctly 'off'. Like every other concerned citizen, I 'tut-tutted' my way through Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' (it needed more car chases). But this shit isn't funny anymore. I find myself looking rather seriously at my mountain bike, wondering about maybe, possibly, riding it to work - just every now and then, you understand. When the weather is warm and the winds are slight. Maybe on Wednesdays. When I feel like it. I'm not committing to anything, but even us most stoic of sceptics has to admit that the weather, she is not right.

Article ref: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011107H.shtml



Film Review: Deja Vu.

This isn't the first time that Ridley Scott has directed Denzel Washington playing a man on the edge, and it's not the first time Scott's made a film revolving around a band of technical people, their computers and one guy on the outside, and it shows in the final product. This is a very assured film, with everyone seeming in their proper place and suitable to what happens. And it needs to be, because the central premise is 'out there' and hard to swallow. Denzel does a good job of conveying that on behalf of the audience, but at the end of the day if you've ever seen the time travelling tv show "Seven Days", then this is essentially The Movie. It's set in the ruins of New Orleans, and is concerned with a boat full of women, children and navy men, so there's a fairly large dose of flag-waving and America the Great. It plays around with time travel, and does it in a pretty neat way so that when it's over you may have some entertaining questions to think about. Fate versus determinalism. Destiny as a manipulative process. The duty of opportunity. The structural integrity of a Humvee. Anyway, ultimately, it's a satisfyingly exciting thriller, with something to scratch your head over if you want to. I'll give it 4 out of 5 ear rings.


Hollywood in crisis.

Good article here at the New Yorker about Hollywood studios struggling with low box office returns, a good analysis of the dropping quality of studio films in the face of stiff competition, and the changing paradigm of movie distribution. Frankly, I don't care how long my flight is, or how cute a PDA looks, I will never be caught watching a movie on a two-inch screen. This is what books are for, people!



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