Time For A Revolution

Conditions: All we can do is just sit, sit, sit ...sit

Entropy


Madness? This! Is! SPARTA!

The number of names on a highly classified U.S. central database used to track suspected terrorists has jumped to 875,000 from 540,000 only five years ago, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said.

Among those was suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, whose name was added in 2011. The increase in names is due in part to security agencies using the system more in the wake of the failed 2009 attack on a plane by "underpants bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in Detroit.

Intelligence and law enforcement officials acknowledged in Congress that they had missed clues to that attack despite Abdulmutallab's name appearing in the main database, known as TIDE.

- reuters.com

So nearly a million people are on the American terrorist watch list. A million. One Freaking Million. Since the total number of people in the U.S armed forces is around 600,000, I think it’s safe to say this is a system that is going out of control. I mean, these terrorist could just simply line up and walk into America. Something seems seriously, seriously, wrong when you have a list of bad guys so big that you can’t effectively use it any more.



Film Review: Jurassic Park (in 3D)

Not only can it be said that Spielberg kicked off the modern era of blockbuster movies with Jaws in 1975, it also can be said he kicked off the post-modern era of Computer Graphic blockbuster movies, with Jurassic Park in 1993. I understand that initially the CG guys were brought in to the planning for Jurassic Park only as an experiment, but when their preliminary tests proved so remarkable the focus for making the movie changed to include CG beasts as well as practical ones. And what an effect it had. I will never forget sitting stunned in a darkened theater, watching an actual, honest-to-megatroid, real-life Tyrannosaurus Rex stomp through a fence and attack two SUV’s. It’s a defining moment in the history of movies. And here we are, thanks to the commerce of 3D re-releases, able to again enjoy Spielberg’s creation on the big screen.

While the 3D as usual does spoil things a bit, the quality of the film is still there and appreciated. However, there are some problems here. Like most modern day CG blockbusters the film gave birth to, the effects are superb, but the story has some issues. Michael Crichton was always good for a terrific setup, and this is one of his classics. The conudrum of modern scientists getting so carried away that they invent something that they then couldn’t control is a rich field for drama. Here it’s an industrialist funding a project to make dinosaurs in order to setup a zoo. Of course it all goes wrong, and it’s up to a ragtag bunch of kids and experts to try and survive. However, ultimately and despite the lofty questions early on, the film doesn’t have any answers, and doesn’t really have an ending either. The film just stops and ...oh look, birds.

I’ve always found the film a curious and jarring mix of tones as well. One moment it’s light hearted and fun. Then suddenly it’s ponderous and worried. Then suddenly it’s scary and violent. Then funny. Then scary again. It’s all over the place from scene to scene, unable to settle down into one tone and then stick to it. There’s also the issue of Spielberg not wanting humans to hurt the dinosaurs. It’s a weird decision, and the movie suffers for having the humans unable to inflict anything back on the raptors that cut them down. However despite this the key scenes are as chilling and fantastic as ever, brilliantly composed and executed. Ultimately it’s an effective action movie, with a few bits to catch your breath, that suffers from some inconsistent tones and characters. It was a return to success for Spielberg at the time, but perhaps not exactly a return to form. Four roars out of five.



- Peace out