Delusions Of Fantasy

Conditions: Yeah, alright. 

Distant Horizons


Off the north coast of Australia there lies an island, that has existed on maps for 10 odd years. It appears to be a narrow and long strip of land, and is entirely fictional.

South Pacific Sandy Island, shown on marine charts and world maps, as well as on Google Earth and Google Maps, does not exist, according to Australian scientists.
[...]

According to BBC News, Sandy Island has been featured in publications for at least a decade. Seton said her team was expecting to see land when it went to study the area, not 4620 feet of deep ocean.

"It's on Google Earth and other maps so we went to check and there was no island. We're really puzzled. It's quite bizarre," Seton told AFP. "How did it find its way onto the maps? We just don't know, but we plan to follow up and find out."

- globalpost.com/

It’s more than a little surprising to find in this day and age that the work of cartography is based more on copying than exploration. And it makes you wonder as you gaze at your nearest Atlas, just what else out there doesn’t actually exist? Is Puerto Rico real? How about Key Largo? The Seychelles? You know, perhaps a committee needs to be formed to go check all these various islands to determine if they are actually there or not. And since I thought of it, perhaps I should head up this committee, for the equatorial leg of the excursion at least. For science.



Film Review: Argo

Ben Affleck directs and stars in this brisk CIA romp set in the 80’s and based on a true story. As the film points out, after the Iranian people depose their leader (who was set up with the help of the CIA), he escapes to America. The Iranians want him back for the crimes he committed. They then attack the American embassy, taking everyone hostage. Except for six people, who managed to sneak out of a back door and eventually find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. With the airport locked down, and the Iranians gradually figuring out that these guys are missing, time is running out. The best of the ideas available to the CIA is a crackpot scheme thought up by Affleck’s character, where a fake Canadian movie, called Argo, is used as a reason for the six to be visiting Iran looking for shooting locations. All he has to do is fly in, brief the six about their new identities, and they’ll all leave together.

Given current international tensions, I’m not entirely sure a movie about the Americans beating the Iranians is really needed right now. Ben treats it all with a fairly light hand, trying to keep it just about the tension and less about who the bad guys are. But eventually you have to have the big finale where the Iranians threaten, and the Americans win. It’s a well executed film, with a real period feel. And it’s well acted too.

At least, for most of the cast. Ben himself, oddly, seems to come across a little flat. His character is tasked with carrying the whole film on his shoulders, and he has a little bit of a backstory where he and his wife have separated and he misses his kid, but really it’s all too little, with not really any payoff when it’s put against this bigger backdrop of Iran post-revolution. In the end the tension comes at the airport, where the Iranian guards have to be convinced that the Americans are in fact Canadian filmmakers, and it’s all delivered very well. It’s not fantastic, but what it is is solid, another solid film from Mr Affleck. Three beards out of five.


- Peace out