The enemy is not always stupid.
Or wrong. Or a propagandist.
Our own leaders have proven themselves all three.
It's not unpatriotic to acknowledge the truth.
Accepting a lies, stupidity and propaganda is. From anyone.
Zawahiri message.......
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/22/zawahiri.video/index.html
Private Militaries in Iraq
Navy Seals article on private militaries (Halliburton, Bechtel, etc) run amuck in Iraq.
Law finally catches up to an error? Or a symptom of the rot?
http://www.navyseals.com/community/articles/article.cfm?id=10418
Law finally catches up to an error? Or a symptom of the rot?
http://www.navyseals.com/community/articles/article.cfm?id=10418
Movie Marathon
A few mini reviews from a recent movie splurge while visiting Rio, dodging the bad guys in the streets ....
"Volver" (Return), Pedro Almodovar-
This Almodovar still another slog through compelling domestic strife. And I'm feeling lonely once more. Everyone else likes his work.
The film mother of leading lady Penelope Cruz's excellently portrayed character returns ("volver"...) after 20 years away. Ever since that night so long ago when she set her husband and his hippy lover afire as they slept- the lover the mother of her good friend now dying of cancer. One imagines the murder was not especially for the betrayal of her marrriage bed, but because her daughter had also been impregnated by daddy, thus rendering Penelope's daughter her sister. Confusing, but it gets better...
Penelope's stand in father Paco tries to molest her daughter-sister in the kitchen, who of course stabs him to death as any decent, adopted daughter-sister would. And as any hysterical, dysfunctional wife-mother-sister also, Penelope stuffs Paco in the freezer until she has a moment in her busy life to bury him at their favorite, riverside trysting site.
The rest of the movie has Almodovar maneuvering characters between assassinations, incest, "the return" ad nauseum, cooking to pay the bills and XLNT plot complexity as everyone pretends or believes the returned mother must be a ghost. (?)
Driving home the title, we are treated to multiple "washing" and "revolving" (read: "returning") images. Endlessly repeated scenes of spinning windmills, a revolving front end loader washer closeup, characteristically Almodovar bird's eye views of Penelope washing the dishes, washing the blood off, washing clothes. Washing up, period. Out, damned spot!
But all's well that ends well, as the family- less Paco, the mother's ex husband and her friend's hippy mother- are happily reunited. And mother gets to wash away (again) her guilt. First, by caring as a ghost the family and villagers are somehow unaware of, for Aunt Paula until her death. Then, for her cancer ridden friend, the one whose mother she set aflame.
And like that. The rewards of of the life of your typical, dysfunctional Spanish family.
"Little Miss Sunshine", by an unknown duo with a recent, surprise nomination for an Oscar as Best Director(s)
Speaking of dysfunctional.... Wonderful acting and portrayal of the banality of goodness, an oxymoronically honest Hollywood reply to Tarantino and clones banality of evil of flicks, like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, etc. It's hilarious, in your face, worth seeing. A failed Success Guru, his heroin addicted father kicked out of the nursing home, the dark, brooding son who has taken a vow of silence until his career as an astronaut takes off, the much suffering mother, and of course Little Miss Sunshine, whose hopes of mini stardom are doomed from the beginning. Great fun trekking down the highway, the whole family push starting their old VW bus with the by now dead father in back. A must see.
"White Planet", by some French photographers whose names I'll never remember anyway.
Tour de force photography in the Arctic, under, above and within the ice cap. What's left of it, that is, as the global warning finale graphically highlights. It's one of the best scenes, too. An aerial shot as an extremely anxious looking polar bear, grovels - swims - grovels across intermittent, crumbling ice flows and water until he finally reaches solid ice- and absolutely goes apeshit with joy. Closeups of whales, polar bear family, octopuses in mortal combat with crabs and eels, foxes, wolves on the hunt, fur seals and their pups hunted, walruses, elephant and leopard seals, birds of all kinds, etc. Photography not what you would call esthetically rendered, but truly impressive technology in a forbiddingly austere, beautiful world. One I for some reason found sad. I don't know why. An accessible, graphic natural history version of the otherwise excellent but statistic ladened Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truths", without the preaching. Worth seeing.
"Casino Royale".
Simply the best James Bond flick in 30 years. If you like glitzy action spook films too, don't miss it. A "real" JB, for a change, no smarmy English poseur this one. Tough guy who references all previous Bond flicks to his drinks waitor suggestion of a Martini, "stirred, not shaken" with a "You f****** nuts?"
Daniel Craig (who?), the new Bond recently visited Txai Resort in Itacaré, Bahia, not far from our home on the Marau Peninsula. When I met with Txai's developer at the Marriott in Copacabana earlier this week, he mentioned meeting him at Txai recently. When I asked what Daniel Craig was like, he replied "Just a typical nice guy like anyone else. Oh yes, accompanied by two (2) lovely ladies." Afterall...
"The name is Bond..... James Bond."
"Volver" (Return), Pedro Almodovar-
This Almodovar still another slog through compelling domestic strife. And I'm feeling lonely once more. Everyone else likes his work.
The film mother of leading lady Penelope Cruz's excellently portrayed character returns ("volver"...) after 20 years away. Ever since that night so long ago when she set her husband and his hippy lover afire as they slept- the lover the mother of her good friend now dying of cancer. One imagines the murder was not especially for the betrayal of her marrriage bed, but because her daughter had also been impregnated by daddy, thus rendering Penelope's daughter her sister. Confusing, but it gets better...
Penelope's stand in father Paco tries to molest her daughter-sister in the kitchen, who of course stabs him to death as any decent, adopted daughter-sister would. And as any hysterical, dysfunctional wife-mother-sister also, Penelope stuffs Paco in the freezer until she has a moment in her busy life to bury him at their favorite, riverside trysting site.
The rest of the movie has Almodovar maneuvering characters between assassinations, incest, "the return" ad nauseum, cooking to pay the bills and XLNT plot complexity as everyone pretends or believes the returned mother must be a ghost. (?)
Driving home the title, we are treated to multiple "washing" and "revolving" (read: "returning") images. Endlessly repeated scenes of spinning windmills, a revolving front end loader washer closeup, characteristically Almodovar bird's eye views of Penelope washing the dishes, washing the blood off, washing clothes. Washing up, period. Out, damned spot!
But all's well that ends well, as the family- less Paco, the mother's ex husband and her friend's hippy mother- are happily reunited. And mother gets to wash away (again) her guilt. First, by caring as a ghost the family and villagers are somehow unaware of, for Aunt Paula until her death. Then, for her cancer ridden friend, the one whose mother she set aflame.
And like that. The rewards of of the life of your typical, dysfunctional Spanish family.
"Little Miss Sunshine", by an unknown duo with a recent, surprise nomination for an Oscar as Best Director(s)
Speaking of dysfunctional.... Wonderful acting and portrayal of the banality of goodness, an oxymoronically honest Hollywood reply to Tarantino and clones banality of evil of flicks, like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, etc. It's hilarious, in your face, worth seeing. A failed Success Guru, his heroin addicted father kicked out of the nursing home, the dark, brooding son who has taken a vow of silence until his career as an astronaut takes off, the much suffering mother, and of course Little Miss Sunshine, whose hopes of mini stardom are doomed from the beginning. Great fun trekking down the highway, the whole family push starting their old VW bus with the by now dead father in back. A must see.
"White Planet", by some French photographers whose names I'll never remember anyway.
Tour de force photography in the Arctic, under, above and within the ice cap. What's left of it, that is, as the global warning finale graphically highlights. It's one of the best scenes, too. An aerial shot as an extremely anxious looking polar bear, grovels - swims - grovels across intermittent, crumbling ice flows and water until he finally reaches solid ice- and absolutely goes apeshit with joy. Closeups of whales, polar bear family, octopuses in mortal combat with crabs and eels, foxes, wolves on the hunt, fur seals and their pups hunted, walruses, elephant and leopard seals, birds of all kinds, etc. Photography not what you would call esthetically rendered, but truly impressive technology in a forbiddingly austere, beautiful world. One I for some reason found sad. I don't know why. An accessible, graphic natural history version of the otherwise excellent but statistic ladened Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truths", without the preaching. Worth seeing.
"Casino Royale".
Simply the best James Bond flick in 30 years. If you like glitzy action spook films too, don't miss it. A "real" JB, for a change, no smarmy English poseur this one. Tough guy who references all previous Bond flicks to his drinks waitor suggestion of a Martini, "stirred, not shaken" with a "You f****** nuts?"
Daniel Craig (who?), the new Bond recently visited Txai Resort in Itacaré, Bahia, not far from our home on the Marau Peninsula. When I met with Txai's developer at the Marriott in Copacabana earlier this week, he mentioned meeting him at Txai recently. When I asked what Daniel Craig was like, he replied "Just a typical nice guy like anyone else. Oh yes, accompanied by two (2) lovely ladies." Afterall...
"The name is Bond..... James Bond."
NY Times: Rio's 'Civil War'
I don't have "TimesSelect", NY Times premium access. If you have it, check out the article on the explosion of violence in Rio. I've spent the last 3 weeks here and can confirm how serious violence, always endemic to Rio, now is. For the rich, the poor, the law abiding, the criminal. Close to 20,000 violent deaths in Rio last couple years. Crime statistics leave Palestine, Gaza Strip, almost everywhere in the dust.... Rivals worldwide are limited to a few places like JoBurg, Sao Paulo, Mogadishu, Kapaa, Dafur, Washington D.C...
GLOBALIST
War That Doesn't Speak Its Name Rages in Brazil
By ROGER COHEN
Published: January 10, 2007
Rio de Janeiro's taint of blood is the consequence of combining extreme wealth and extreme poverty in a city awash in cocaine and other drugs.
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GLOBALIST
War That Doesn't Speak Its Name Rages in Brazil
By ROGER COHEN
Published: January 10, 2007
Rio de Janeiro's taint of blood is the consequence of combining extreme wealth and extreme poverty in a city awash in cocaine and other drugs.
To continue reading this article, you must be a subscriber to TimesSelect. Log in now.
Upgrade to TimesSelect
Cloning, Clogging Crocs
There is no end in sight for the ongoing popularity of Crocs , the soft, lightweight, bacteria and odor resistant, orthotic shoes that were catapulted into the spotlight over the past three years. Although comfortable, many still feel that the bright colors of the croslite PCCR material used to make Crocs are a bit over-the-top, and El Naturalista Clogs can be a good stand-in. The Spanish clogs are made of supple leather that is naturally tanned and conditioned by skilled artisans, using vegetable extracts, animal fats and sunflower oils. Olive oil gives the leather its final finish and makes the leather repel water, dust and dirt. The uppers are hand-stitched and attached to contoured, cushioned footbeds with rubber soles that will provide great grip on just about any surface. They are available in six understated colors. Price: $135.
A good example of someone who doesn't "get it"... And for $135, yet.
Clogs have been around for eons, ask any little Dutch girl. While Crocs® work because of the the material, crosslinked LDPE I think. It's not about style, form, color. And it's definitely not about paying $135 for a pair!
KISS. And try to focus: It's about the non slip, comfortable, water impervious, lightweight material. A non-proprietary cross linked expanded polyethlene (LDPE) foam, Leather, cloth, rubber, etc don't work.
Unless you think it's really ALL about "style", appearances, peer pressure.
Is it?
Candor or Courtesy
What do you say? Prefer candor or...... 'nice'? Honesty or
dissumulation? Frank or fractious?
dissumulation? Frank or fractious?
According to Tom, ya can't have it both ways.
Me, I'm just looking for an excuse......
> He who dares not offend cannot be honest.
>
> -Thomas Paine, philosopher writer (1737-1809)
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