Taking The Overview.

Conditions: Sunny, warm.


Still No Evidence Iran Is EEEEVIL.

In a move sure to outrage the white house, experts still cannot find any evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Gossip? Sure. Hearsay? Absolutely. Wishful thinking? Totally. And while that may yet well be enough for Bush II to get the ball rolling, so far the facts frustratingly have yet to stack up.

Even his own administration appears divided about the immediacy of the threat. While Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney speak of an Iranian weapons program as a fact, Bush's point man on Iran, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, has attempted to ratchet down the rhetoric.

"Iran is seeking a nuclear capability ... that some people fear might lead to a nuclear-weapons capability," Burns said in an interview Oct. 25 on PBS.

"I don't think that anyone right today thinks they're working on a bomb," said another U.S. official, who requested anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. Outside experts say the operative words are "right today." They say Iran may have been actively seeking to create a nuclear-weapons capacity in the past and still could break out of its current uranium-enrichment program and start a weapons program. They too lack definitive proof, but cite a great deal of circumstantial evidence. Bush's rhetoric seems hyperbolic compared with the measured statements by his senior aides and outside experts.

mcclatchydc.com

Since it's been proven that lack of evidence is no barrier to the U.S military invading a country, I would advise Iran to make very effort to make things even more obvious. Remove the walls and roofs from every power station, for starters. They're only going to get blown off anyway.



Escape To ...Somewhere Else.

You know, sometimes when the news can get a bit too much, one's thoughts can turn naturally to space, where another planet may very well be drifting along, full of leafy trees and cool lakes, just waiting for a certain species to come along and set up camp.

Here on Earth, Cameron and his team are part of a new wave of astronomers who are scouring the galaxy for glimpses of unknown worlds and, in recent years, their success has been astounding. While our own solar system lost a planet last year, thanks to the unceremonious demotion of Pluto from planet to "dwarf planet", Cameron and his peers have found more than 250 new worlds, in solar systems far, far away. With almost every week that goes by, new discoveries are made. This evening, in fact, planet hunters in America are to declare a major coup with the announcement from Nasa of a newly discovered solar system that has striking similarities to our own.

- The Guardian

I think it's important to note that nothing about these new 'planets' is known, apart from their existence, so I wouldn't go packing your stuff just yet. I wonder if all this new attention to new planets is just a reaction to all the stuff happening on our own ball of rock. Oh sure, I'd like to care about the middle east, or the arctic ice, or the air quality, but there's a wobble in star 5211543beta that demands my every waking moment, dammit!



Better In Iraq?

After so many years, and so many deaths, could the situation in Iraq actually be starting to improve?

The U.S. military says violence has been reduced because of a new strategy of building outposts in neighborhoods and protecting civilians.

The strategy was backed by an increase of 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq this year.

The military says car bombs, sectarian killings, roadside bombs and other acts of violence are declining.

"We own the terrain," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commands a division south of the capital, said in a recent interview. Al-Qaeda "doesn't have the sanctuary anymore," he said.

U.S. troops encountered heavy fighting when they first established combat outposts and challenged insurgents in parts of Baghdad and elsewhere.

U.S. combat deaths spiked in April and May before declining in recent months.

"We're not giving that ground back until we have a sustained security presence," Lynch said. "That's just going to take some time."

- USAToday.com

There's two possible situations going on here. Either the terrorists really are starting to be driven out of Baghdad, or they are changing their tactics/regrouping for a different approach, restocking their bullet and bomb caches. And while I fervently hope that the U.S military has finally forced peace upon the civilians of Baghdad, I'm not yet prepared to cut them any slack. Now they are saying the right things, but they've been doing the wrong things for years.



Worse In Afghanistan.

So then how goes things in little old Afghanistan? Unlike Iraq, the forces trying to stem terrorism in Afghanistan are actually somewhat multinational. Unfortunately, with the Taliban reforming and bombings becoming more frequent, it's not making any difference.

There are some 50,000 European and North American troops in Afghanistan, most of them American but including 7,700 British backed up mainly by Canadian and Dutch soldiers. France has committed no troops for combat. Nor has Germany, whose soldiers are in the hitherto more stable and peaceful north.

Timo Noetzel, visiting fellow at Chatham House, describes his country's attitude in the latest issue of the thinktank's magazine the World Today. "The political debate," he writes, "focuses on two issues: the potential German involvement in combat, and criticism of the American conduct of operations. The complaint is that actions of the US forces are fuelling the insurgency, with collateral damage and mounting civilian casualties eroding community support."

Afghanistan, according to Gordon Brown, is the front line in the fight against international terrorism. Des Browne, the defence secretary, describes the fight against the Taliban as a "noble cause". Yet six years after US bombs drove the Taliban out, all the evidence is that, with support from across the border in Pakistan, it is regrouping and the insurgency is intensifying.

Insurgent and terrorist attacks are 20% higher this year than in the whole of 2006, according to the UN. There were more than 100 suicide attacks in the first eight months of this year compared to 123 last year and just 17 in 2005. More and more of the country is classified as being too risky for UN agencies and NGOs such as Oxfam to operate in.

- The Guardian

And of course the more dangerous it gets, the more likely forces are to revert to bombing shit from above, which leads to even more collateral damage and civilian deaths, which lead to more resentment and outrage, which leads to more terror attacks, which lead to more danger for the troops, which lead to more bombing from above, which....



Respecting The Customer.

Recently I, or more accurately, my car, received a puncture. Now, back in the old days this would be quite a chore, but I must say, this turned out to be an absolute treat. Not only did I not have to pay to have the puncture repaired, but the tyre technicians practically fawned over my car, even giving it a clean and taking a photo before summoning me from the comfortable waiting room. So this is what respect feels like? MMmmm, feels good. Why can't phone companies act like this?



Steampunk Artist.

If you look to your desktop today, you'll find bland, flat, uninteresting items of everyday life. Your phone, your keyboard, your monitor, all made out of flat dull smooth plastic panels. How boring. What happened to craftsmanship? Or character? Meet a guy who's the enemy of modern design.



LCD screen:




Keyboard:



http://steampunkworkshop.com/






What A Pretty Wrapper.



The earth can be a very beautiful place ...when seen from orbit. Let's take the tour.





Film Review: Resident Evil 3: Apocalypse

Ahhh, zombie movies. So many metaphors, so much mindless drooling. Zombie movies can display everything that’s good, and cheesily bad in films. Done well, zombies can be both scary, and a good metaphor for modern life. They can also simply be a mindless army of cannon fodder for the heroes to fight through. In contrast to pretty much everyone else, I actually enjoyed the first Resident Evil film. It took itself so seriously (which is the key to making crazy concepts work), and built this very creepy atmosphere via the music, the setting and even the acting. I thought it was quite well done. The sequel seemed to throw all that out in favour of cheap thrills, and now we have the third, apocalypse.

So named because the infamous zombie virus apocalypse has occurred, and the world has quickly become a desert planet, with a few pockets of survivors hiding out here and there. We join a team of them traveling in search of fuel and water, but they are not the point of the film. That would be Alice, our amnesiac hero who has been mutated into something very dangerous. She is hunted by the evil corporation that was behind it all and runs into the plucky band of survivors, who all eventually decide to head north to find peace in Alaska.

The film is only 90 minutes long, so there’s no time to waste. Quick introductions, then it’s on with the zombie fighting, which leads quickly up to a big finale in an underground laboratory. The film seems most interested in killing off the remaining few remembered characters one after the other, and really just seems to stand as a vehicle for Milla Jovovich kicking ass and looking cool. And while that’s fine, such as it is, it’s just unfortunate that the care they seemed to put into the first film is replaced now with quick and easy action beats. All the nuance and seriousness is long gone. Two crows out of Five.




Film Review: Fracture.

Thriller films rely heavily on two important things to work properly: character and plot. If they can’t portray some interesting characters being wrapped up in a really good plot, then they’ve fallen short. In terms of character, Fracture has done well. Anthony Hopkins portrays an evil tycoon who implements a plan to kill his wife and get away with it. He’s opposed by a hotshot D.A played by Ryan Gosling, who gets caught up in Hopkins’ game, and has to try and figure out how to stop him getting away with murder.

Hopkins and Gosling do really great work here, both of them fully inhabit their characters, an eccentric, intelligent and very cagey murderer with seemingly all the answers versus a young ace prosecutor who's focusing on his career more than the case he's trying. The problem lies in the plot. Specifically, the big ending. For every thriller has to have a big ending, a twist, a reveal, something that turns it all around. Unfortunately here, I don’t think it makes sense. See, the plot hinges on Hopkins switching guns with the cheating cop, so that the murder weapon cannot be found. That’s quite good. The issue is with Gosling in the end somehow tracing the bullet that killed the wife back to Hopkins’ own gun. That doesn’t make any sense.

I’ve done a bit of googling, and it seems there really isn’t an answer. Somehow the murder weapon, that belongs to the cop, and cannot be proven to be used by Hopkins at any point, is enough to get him in the end. It’s very frustrating when this kind of thing happens. You want it to make sense, because you enjoyed the film, it’s very well made. But no matter how much you try to piece it together, it just doesn’t add up. One gets the impression the filmmakers made themselves such a brilliant knot, they were unable to figure a way out to untangle it. Shame. Three bullets out of Five.




Film Review: The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

The old west has always been a beautiful setting for a film, and here director Andrew Dominik has captured each sunset, each mountain range and tree line with such grace that you could be looking at a painting. It feels real, too, with houses and people having that rough grimy lived-in look. But the setting is just the icing on the cake, the characters are the main course.

Despite featuring Jesse James and being set in the wild west, this is not a 'western'. Not at all. In fact, it's not even really about Jesse James. - The film starts up only a short while before James meets his end. In fact, it's about the kid who brings that end, Robert Ford (brilliantly played by Casey Affleck). A kid who meets his hero, and ultimately destroys him.

When you think of Jesse James, you think of a young hellion, charging around on a horse. You'd think Brad Pitt would be perfect for this, but the focus of the story is actually on the last few months of his life, when he was dealing with various injuries, trying to deal with middle age, and becoming totally paranoid that one of his friends is about to double cross him. Happily, that paranoia and weariness is portrayed by Brad Pitt so well that you're not even sure he's acting. Jesse is an enigma, and Pitt manages to make the the creaking legend idea work wonderfully well, with the help of the occasional narrator. And Pitt's matched nuance for nuance with Affleck's Ford, a kid who's always idolized James, and finds the legend in person to not be as great as he should have been, which then affects who he thinks he is. This is a film of shattered idols and harshness. It's raw in actions and yet cultured in their portrayal. This is a tragedy, complete with a king, a court and an usurper. And like any great tragedy, everyone falls in the end. This isn't really a standard movie with 'plot' and action beats and witty dialog. It's not a film for seasons or anticipation or excitement. What it is, is a carefully crafted world that you fall into and are immersed by for a couple of hours, before being released back to reality. Like a train passing through a forest at night, this is a haunting film. Four and a half lanterns out of Five.




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