Danger of Power

Conditions: Severely Displaced.

Doing Something

President Obama really stepped in it when he said ages ago that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a red line. Because now that we are at that red line the sheer lack of actual viable options available to the military is becoming more and more obvious. They can’t blow up Assad. They can’t take out all the remaining weapons, without inflicting a horrific deal toll of their own. They can’t invade. And yet pride demands that something must be done.

What appeared to be imminent U.S. military action against Syria will have to wait -- at least for another week. Now that U.S. President Barack Obama is asking for Congress' approval before launching strikes, he must wait until at least September 9, when lawmakers come back from recess.

In the meantime, he's getting heaps of criticism from both sides of the debate around the world.

"We can't understand how you can promise to help those who are being slaughtered every day in the hundreds, giving them false hope, then change your mind and say let's wait and see," said the Syrian National Coalition, a key group of Syrian dissidents.

But Iran, a staunch supporter of the Syrian regime, warned the United States will pay a price if it strikes Syria.

- edition.cnn.com

And so here we are, teetering on the brink of another middle eastern war. We never really learn anything, do we?



Film Review: Kick-Ass 2

Famous for being the movie that Jim Carrey denounced in the wake of various real world shootings, after watching the film myself I have to wonder why he bothered. Not denouncing the film as such, but showing up in the first place. He plays Colonel Stars and Stripes, an ex-mob enforcer turned good who was inspired by Kick-Ass and is assembling a team of costumed heroes to help police the streets at night. It’s a surprisingly restrained performance from Jim and, spoilers I guess, he is the first guy out once the villain starts killing people. It’s more a cameo than an actual character, and while he is good in the role, the role is so limited it’s hard to see the point. This sequel essentially re-tells the first film, where Kick Ass puts on the suit out of boredom, teams up with the other various costumed characters, and then gets attacked by the kid of the bad guy from the first film. This guy provides what drama and purpose there is in this film, as he recruits an army and starts killing people in his quest for revenge. But despite how terrible his actions are, the character comes off as such a whiny idiot that it just comes across as a complete misfire.

I feel the actual point of this film is in the secondary story about Hit Girl. She is caught between the world of fighting bad guys and the world of a teenage girl. We explore this through a series of high school clichés where she first gets prettied up, then gets bullied and dumped. She has made a promise to her new adopted father not to fight anymore and she sticks to that promise and fights without resorting to violence. But eventually she can’t deny who she really is and joins in with the others for the big finale brawl. Which is a relief because I found pretty much all of the high school stuff excruciating.

So what is this film? As a reality-based look at what would happen if people pretended to be superheroes it does solidly reinforce the idea that by becoming a superhero you only end up inspiring more violence and chaos. And the consequences of living that kind of life are shown pretty starkly. These are good things. However there is something just not right with this film, everything seems much less important and I guess cinematic than it really should be. The humour feels way too forced and juvenile, the action is weak and simplistic, and the characters are just too cardboard-ey. Given the rating this is a film that needs to speak up to an older audience instead of the kids it seems bizarrely aimed at. They make a try – for instance there’s an older couple whose son was murdered and they now patrol – him with a bat and her with a brick in a handbag. This kind of thing could go anywhere but like most of the other characters it just gets lost in the shuffle. Ultimately despite all the horrible things that happen to Kick Ass as a result of his crime fighting the ending is far too light and airy. I don’t know if they toned things down or just didn’t know how to commit to the ideas that are in a story like this, but it just does not deliver. One punch out of five.



- Peace Out