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Name::Ahmed Arshi
From::Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
A new filmmaker rising from the edge of the horizon.
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Wednesday, August 31, 2005
My 4th Novel!!
The government-sponsored transcontinental expedition under the leadership of Captain Meriwether Lewis (right) and Lieutenant William Clark (left) set off down the Ohio River on August 31, 1803. The 40-member expedition wintered and trained near St. Louis before starting up the Missouri River in three boats on May 14, 1804. Lewis and Clark's three-year journey of exploration and discovery to the Pacific Coast and back stimulated western settlement and proved that an overland route to the West Coast was possible.
1303 - The War of Vespers in Sicily ends with an agreement between Charles of Valois, who invaded the country, and Frederick, the ruler of Sicily.
1521 - Cortes captures the city of Tenochtitlan, Mexico, and sets it on fire.
1756 - The British at Fort William Henry, New York, surrender to Louis Montcalm of France.
1802 - Captain Merriwether Lewis leaves Pittsburgh to meet up with Captain William Clark and begin their trek to the Pacific Ocean.
1864 - At the Democratic convention in Chicago, General George B. McClellan is nominated for president.
1919 - The Communist Labor Party is founded in Chicago, with the motto, "Workers of the world unite!"
1928 - Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera opens in Berlin.
1940 - Joseph Avenol steps down as Secretary-General of the League of Nations.
1942 - The British army under General Bernard Law Montgomery defeats Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps in the Battle of Alam Halfa in Egypt.
1944 - The British Eighth Army penetrates the German Gothic Line in Italy.
1949 - Six of the 16 surviving Union veterans of the Civil War attend the last-ever encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, held in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1951 - The 1st Marine Division begins its attack on Bloody Ridge in Korea. The four-day battle results in 2,700 Marine casualties.
1961 - A concrete wall replaces the barbed wire fence that separates East and West Germany, it will be called the Berlin wall.
1994 - The Irish Republican Army (IRA) announces a "complete cessation of military operations," opening the way to a political settlement in Ireland for the first time in a quarter of a century.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Minority Report
Is elite director Steven Spielberg on a quest or an exploratory journey? Does Spielberg want to become the late director Stanley Kubrick or is he just flirting with the possibility?
Last year, Spielberg picked up the pieces of the late Stanley Kubrick’s A.I and created a strange a twisted spawn that wasn’t Spielberg or Kubrick. Spielberg continues that journey with his latest film, Minority Report.
In Minority Report, Spielberg teams with Tom Cruise to adapt an infamous story from strange existential sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. The authors work has been adapted into other feature films including Blade Runner, Total Recall and last year’s Imposter starring Gary Sinise.
In this story of Dick’s, we follow the exploits of pre-crime detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise). Anderton is a driven and haunted man. He is tormented by the loss of his young son and believes that being part of the pre-crime division he can stop others from losing loved ones. Pre-crime is a new division of law enforcement in the year 2084. Pre-crime exists to stop murders before they occur and condemn the murderer before he has actually committed the crime. How man is able to accomplish this feat? Well, three genetically altered humans known as Pre-cogs dream into the future and then we capture their dreamt images and take the appropriate action. In some respect their dreams have to be unscrambled by Pre-Crime Agents and then addressed.
On one such day, Anderton finds himself being the subject of a pre-crime investigation where he has to race the clock to uncover a mystery to why he kills a man that he has never met. Could Anderton ever be a murderer?
The problems that I had with Minority Report were in the believability of the premise. For good science fiction you need to have some belief in what is going on. I had a hard time understanding that a man can be convicted and then locked away in suspended animation before he has even done anything. The movie even contradicts this point when it says that each one of us have a choice before we commit a violent act. If everything is seen and laid out how can we have a choice? The movie says the Pre-cogs are never wrong.
I felt very sorry for the Pre-cogs because basically they have been genetically manipulated to serve us as super-computers. We hook wires up to their brains and then basically imprison them in a chamber called the Temple where they are continuously drugged and half submerged in water. This is torturous, in-human and even slavery. Cruise character says to the man investigating Pre-crime Division (played by Colin Farrell), "It helps if you don’t think of them as human." Then I scream at the flickering film screen, "Of course their human! What are you some kind of slave-overseer?" The characters also dictate that they try to remain separate from the Pre-cogs. Is this some sort of relief for their conscience? Isn’t this just a justification of enslaving these gifted beings?
There is this greenish-hue displayed over the whole film gives it a rather dark feel that does have a lot in common with Spielberg’s last film, A.I. I am not sure if that hue helps the picture. It hindered it for me. I did wonder what the film would have been like if it were in full-color and we saw a fruitful and flourishing society. Also can you imagine how all the visuals would have looked in vibrant colors?
I had a lot of problems with the layout of the film and solidity of the plot. There were so many holes in the plot. Instead of chasing John Anderton, why did the police center in on his victim and protect him until Anderton came? There was a lot of the small stuff I didn’t understand. It is almost like Spielberg thinks we should know something before we even start watching.
I did like some of Spielberg’s action sequences but that damn hue alienated them for me. I couldn’t get into them because I felt like I was a pre-cog hooked up one of those machines. It is a necessity for an audience to be involved in any action sequence so that the adrenaline is transferred to the audience members. We want to be a part of the action and be pulled in. This wasn’t accomplished for me because I felt the hue was more of a shield than an aid.
When you think about what would it have been like if Paul Verhoeven (Robocop) would have directed this movie. I think he could have made a vastly superior picture. Spielberg does a lot to try to stray from the dark and impending storyline with attempts at interjecting humor. He humor attempts seem amateur and extremely forced. If Verhoeven would have made the film I believe that his kind of humor would have been noticed and it would have been successful.
In my opinion, the only successful Philip K. Dick transference to film was Blade Runner. In Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott developed and set the bar for dark futuristic films. His vision and the world he created were revolutionary. Now if you compare any other film set in a dark futuristic world you find that the film is just a carbon copy of Blade Runner. Minority is no exception. In Minority, Spielberg needed to find more comparisons and contrasts the just using an all-encompassing hue.
The acting of Tom Cruise and fellow co-stars Max Von Sydow and Colin Farrell isn’t very memorable. I do have to hand it to Farrell he does have his charisma down pact. I just hope that he finds a picture where he can really shine.
I can’t say that I enjoyed Minority Report if anything I probably groaned and shook my head through about 90% of it. I know my perspective is probably a minority but would the real Spielberg please make a movie.
(2 out of 5) So Says the Jaw Breaker.
check out the movie's website.
American Olympic gold medalist Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel in August 1926. Before setting out from Cap Griz-Nez, France, at 7:09 a.m., Ederle coated her body with layers of lard and petroleum jelly to insulate her from the cold waters. On that day, the sea was so rough that steamship crossings had been cancelled, but Ederle swam on in spite of being buffeted by waves and plagued by seasickness. She reached Dover at 9:40 p.m., August 6, after swimming the Channel in 14 hours and 39 minutes. This time broke the existing world record of 21 hours and 45 minutes set by British Navy Captain Matthew Webb in 1875.
Cleopatra VII, a Greek born in Alexandria, Egypt, took the throne alone at the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, in spring 51 BC. She was at the time the oldest child of Auletes, since two older sisters had died. She also had one younger sister whose name was Arsinoë. She was first briefly co-ruler with her father. She was subsequently co-ruler with two of her brothers, Ptolemy XIII, who opposed the Roman domination, and Ptolemy XIV. Since the Ptolemaic throne was transmited in matriliner fashion, the Kings had to marry their sisters in order to be qualified to rule. Following the deaths of her brothers she named her eldest son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion (44–30 BC).
In 48 BC, the advisors of Ptolemy XIII, led by the eunuch Pothinus, removed Cleopatra's power and forced her to flee Egypt. Her sister Arsinoë accompanied her. Later that year, however, Ptolemy imperiled his own power by injudiciously meddling in the affairs of Rome. When Pompey, fleeing the victorious Julius Caesar, arrived in Alexandria seeking sanctuary, Ptolemy had him murdered in order to ingratiate himself with Caesar. Caesar was so repelled by this treachery that he seized the Egyptian capital and imposed himself as arbiter between the rival claims of Ptolemy and Cleopatra. (It should be noted that Pompey had been married to Caesar's daughter, who died giving birth to their son). After a short war, Ptolemy XIII was killed and Caesar restored Cleopatra to her throne, with Ptolemy XIV as new co-ruler.
Caesar wintered in Egypt in 48 BC–47 BC, and Cleopatra shored up her political advantage by becoming his lover. Egypt remained independent, but three Roman legions were left to protect it. Cleopatra's winter liaison with Caesar produced a son whom they named Ptolemy Caesar (nicknamed Caesarion, little Caesar). However, Caesar refused to make the boy his heir, naming his grand-nephew Octavian instead.
Cleopatra and Caesarion visited Rome between 46 BC and 44 BC and were present when Caesar was assassinated. Before or just after she returned to Egypt, Ptolemy XIV died mysteriously. Cleopatra then made Caesarion her co-regent. She may have poisoned her brother.
In 42 BC, Mark Antony, one of the triumvirs who ruled Rome in the power vacuum following Caesar's death, summoned Cleopatra to meet him in Tarsus to answer questions about her loyalty. Cleopatra arrived in great state, and so charmed Antony that he chose to spend the winter of 42 BC–41 BC with her in Alexandria. During the winter, she became pregnant with twins, who were named Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios.
Four years later, in 37 BC, Antony visited Alexandria again while en route to make war with the Parthians. He renewed his relationship with Cleopatra, and from this point on Alexandria would be his home. He may have married Cleopatra according to the Egyptian rite (a letter quoted in Suetonius suggests this), although he was at the time married to Octavia, sister of his fellow triumvir Octavian. He and Cleopatra had another child, Ptolemy Philadelphus. At the Donations of Alexandria in late 34 BC, following Antony's conquest of Armenia, Cleopatra and Caesarion were crowned co-rulers of Egypt and Cyprus; Alexander Helios was crowned ruler of Armenia, Media, and Parthia; Cleopatra Selene was crowned ruler of Cyrenaica and Libya; and Ptolemy Philadelphus was crowned ruler of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Cleopatra also took the title of Queen of Kings.
There are a number of unverifiable but famous stories about Cleopatra, of which one of the best known is that, at one of the lavish dinners she shared with Antony, she playfully bet him that she could spend ten million sesterces on a dinner. He accepted the bet. The next night, she had a conventional, unspectacular meal served; he was ridiculing this, when she ordered the second course — only a cup of strong vinegar. She then removed one of her priceless pearl earrings, dropped it into the vinegar, allowed it to dissolve, and drank the mixture.
Antony's behavior was considered outrageous by the Romans, and Octavian convinced the Senate to levy war against Egypt. In 31 BC Antony's forces faced the Romans in a naval action off the coast of Actium. Cleopatra was present with a fleet of her own, but when she saw that Antony's poorly equipped and manned ships were losing to the Romans' superior vessels, she took flight. Antony abandoned the battle to follow her.
Following the Battle of Actium, Octavian invaded Egypt. As he approached Alexandria, Antony's armies deserted to Octavian. Cleopatra and Antony both committed suicide, Cleopatra by using a snake to poison herself on August 12, 30 BC. Cleopatra's son by Caesar, Caesarion was executed by Octavian. The three children of Cleopatra with Antony were spared and taken back to Rome where they were reared by Antony's wife, Octavia.
It is often said that Cleopatra used an asp to kill herself. "Asp" technically refers to a variety of venomous snakes, but here, it refers to the Egyptian cobra, which was sometimes used to execute criminals. There is also a story that Cleopatra asked several of her servants to test out various forms of suicide, before choosing the method which she believed to be most effective.
A Graeco-Macedonian by language and culture, Cleopatra is reputed to have been the first member of her family in their 300-year reign in Egypt to have learnt the Egyptian language.
30 BC - Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, commits suicide.
1617 - Rosa de Lima of Peru becomes the first American saint to be canonized.
1721 - The Peace of Nystad ends the Second Northern War between Sweden and Russia, giving Russia considerably more power in the Baltic region.
1781 - The French fleet arrives in the Chesapeake Bay to aid the American Revolution.
1813 - Creek Indians massacre over 500 whites at Fort Mims Alabama.
1860 - The first British tramway is inaugurated at Birkenhead by an American, George Francis Train.
1861 - Union General John Fremont declares martial law throughout Missouri and makes his own emancipation proclamation to free slaves in the state. President Lincoln overrules the general.
1892 - The Moravia, a passenger ship arriving from Germany, brings cholera to the United States.
1932 - Nazi leader Hermann Goering is elected president of the Reichstag.
1944 - Ploesti, the center of the Rumanian oil industry, falls to Soviet troops.
1957 - In an effort to stall the Civil Rights Act of 1957 from passing, Senator Strom Thurmond (D-S.C.) filibusters for over 24 hours. The bill passed, but Thurmond's filibuster becomes the longest in Senate history.
1961 - President John F. Kennedy appoints General Lucius D. Clay as his personal representative in Berlin.
1983 - Lieutenant Colonel Guion S. Bluford, Jr., becomes the first African-American astronaut to travel in space.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Vanilla Sky
Smooth operator director and writer extraordinaire Cameron Crowe expands his repertoire with a new romantic thriller that centers upon David Aames (Tom Cruise), a rich socialite who isn’t sure if he is dreaming or living his life. Aames is tortured by the thought that his true love, Sofia Serrano (Penelope Cruz), may not be real but the creation of his imagination during his photorealistic dreams. Aames’ friends, Brian (Jason Lee) and Julie (Cameron Diaz), seem to be a part of his dreams as well. Julie harbors a secret desire to make David her soul mate and that luscious desire will prove to be the event that spins David’s world into disaster.
Vanilla Sky is the kind of film that audiences will find subtly interesting or extremely annoying. Sky is no where near the caliber of a film that the indie hit, Memento was. I would compare it more to the 80’s film Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger except substitute the bullets for kisses and flirting.
The film starts out wonderfully as we see inside Aames’ inherited publishing empire and see a fracture of his future. The future scenes with psychiatrist Kurt Russell give us introspective into where David’s life is going and where his threats from within are coming from. I liked how the film releases a hint of where the film is going.
The center of the film will be what audiences will find is the most trying to sit through. If you aren’t pulling your hair out, stamping your feet and screaming at the screen then you are probably one of the few who will find this film subtly interesting.
The amazing aspect of the center part of the film is the performance by Cruise. We probably haven’t seen a performance this engrossing since Born on the 4th of July, but it’s just a shame that the film doesn’t support such a performance. If it wasn’t for the disastrous event in David’s life, Cruise wouldn’t have been very interesting to watch.
What is it about Penelope Cruz? I am not fond of her as a solid actress but there is this natural allure about her that is so very captivating. Her demeanor and pure charisma make us fall in love with her with every project she is in. It truly is amazing.
There are events, dialogue and happenings in Vanilla Sky that are hokey, science fiction like that will probably bug a lot of people. I love science fiction and I know they bugged me.
The film’s ending is surrounded in this hokey stuff and how can one really immerse himself in doubt if the film makes up our minds for us. This was one aspect that was so clever with Total Recall and Memento. In those films we made up our own minds but in Vanilla Sky it’s in black-and-white and explained.
Vanilla Sky was a very trying experience for me and the film definitely isn’t for everyone. There is some interesting dialogue, a couple interesting scenes, it’s nicely directed and Cruise is very good, but the film isn’t cohesive enough to recommend.
(3 out of 5) So Says the Jaw Breaker.
During the 15th century, Latin christianity made several attempts to contain the Ottoman Empire on the Balkans Peninsula. While these attempts either ended in utter failure (Nicopolis 1396, Varna 1444) or failed to reach the Balkans Peninsula (French expedition to Naples, 1494-1495), the Kingdom of Hungary, for a number of decades, was capable of standing up to the Ottoman challenge.
In 1521, however, the vital fortress of Belgrade (which previously had withstood several sieges) fell to the Ottomans.
With France, Spain, the Emperor entangled in the Franco-Habsburg War 1521-1529, Pope Clement VII. and the Republic of Venice entering the League of Cognac (1526), an alliance with France intended to break the Habsburg hegemony, there was little prospect for Hungary receiving any aid from the west.
An Ottoman army, reportedly 100,000 men strong, invaded Hungary, and, in the Battle of Mohacs, not only crushed the Hungarian army of c. 25,000, but also killed King Lajos II. (Louis II.)
The Ottoman expedition was intended to be a raid, was to crush the enemy, not to conquer. Factions of Hungarian nobles, independent of each other, elected Janos Zapolyai respectively Ferdinand of Habsburg king. For the next decades, the two contested the Hungarian crown - a situation welcome to Suleyman the Magnificent, as it divided the Hungarian force.
With Zapolyai's death, Ferdinand of Habsburg was the only King of Hungary. In 1541 an Ottoman force took the Hungarian capital of Buda. In the same year, Transylvania became an Ottoman vassall.
Central Hungary would become Ottoman territory, while the western and northern fringe of the kingdom (including parts of Croatia and most of Slovakia, then referred to as Upper Hungary) became Royal Hungary, the Habsburg Dynasty supplying the kings. In the east, the Duchy of Transylvania gained a greater degree of independence.
70 - The Temple of Jerusalem burns after a nine-month Roman siege.
1526 - Ottoman Suleiman the Magnificent crushes a Hungarian army under Lewis II at the Battle of Mohacs.
1533 - In Peru, the Inca chief Atahualpa is executed by orders of Francisco Pizarro, although the chief had already paid his ransom.
1776 - General George Washington retreats during the night from Long Island to New York City.
1793 - Slavery is abolished in Santo Domingo.
1862 - Union General John Pope's army is defeated by a smaller Confederate force at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
1882 - Australia defeats England in cricket for the first time. The following day a obituary appears in the Sporting Times addressed to the British team.
1942 - The American Red Cross announces that Japan has refused to allow safe conduct for the passage of ships with supplies for American prisoners of war.
1945 - U.S. airborne troops are landed in transport planes at Atsugi airfield, southwest of Tokyo, beginning the occupation of Japan.
1952 - In the largest bombing raid of the Korean War, 1,403 planes of the Far East Air Force bomb Pyongyang, North Korea.
1992 - Thousands of Germans demonstrate against a wave of racist attacks aimed at immigrants.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Hitler: The Rise of Evil
War films have been a staple Hollywood winner since the end of World War II and many of them feature a star-studded cast with blazing special effects, lots of explosions and occasionally real drama and even romance. The Third Reich and the Nazis naturally form a large part of such films, they were the ‘enemy’ after all, and there have been some excellent dramas detailing the Holocaust, the death camps, and the cruelty that was the German rule. Few, though, have focused on the rise of the instigator of it all, and possibly the most evil man the world has known, Adolf Hitler.
It’s widely known that Hitler was an Austrian by birth, had a somewhat normal childhood, was a talented but failed artist, and had a passionate hatred for everything about the Jews and most things non-Aryan. He fought in the trenches during World War I and was a dedicated and highly decorated soldier, being awarded two Iron Crosses. He learned of Germany’s surrender whilst in a military hospital being treated for the effects of a mustard gas attack. To say he was displeased with the German surrender is a gross understatement.
Following the war, he remained enlisted and worked as a spy as it were, reporting on the activities of various small political factions. It was whilst engaged in this that he crossed paths with the German Worker’s Party. His ire was raised instantly by the speaker he was listening to. For his passionate love of Germany and the rights of her people, he was invited back a week later to speak officially to the party faithful. In October of 1919 he delivered the first of countless speeches that would increasingly rally the disenchanted Germans from subservient losers in World War I to the most powerful military force in Europe in just two decades.
Hitler - The Rise of Evil is a biographical and personal insight into Hitler’s journey from failed artist to dictator, and most feared man in Europe. It examines his anti-Semitism at every step, his political aspirations, his desire to make Germany not just great, but pure, his desire to champion the people’s rights, his hatred for the weak and indecisive, and his ability to manipulate people as individuals and en masse. It details his rise through the political ranks, his ruthless attitude, his unstoppable passion to lead, his ability to squash insurrection, eliminate enemie, and the ability to turn on anyone that dare question his methods or wisdom.
There is much about his early life that is not known and some minor liberties have been taken, but little here could be declared a falsehood, and is dramatic license at worst. Naturally, as Hitler’s ascension continued, there is more that is factual than assumed, so much of this we can accept as fact. The story also takes a look at his more personal side, such as his love of Wagner, his fascination with and love for his niece, and his ability to manipulate even the sternest of opposition with carefully chosen rhetoric, mixed with deep anger that manifested itself regularly. Hitler, it seems, was not a man you would choose to upset.
Carlyle gives a sterling performance as Hitler, something that would seem unlikely given his natural Scottish accent, but Carlyle is no ordinary actor and makes a menacing Hitler. His ability to turn the charm on and off, and the anger, gives Hitler more depth than most previous dramas involving the dictator. The costumes, sets and makeup are first rate. There is no focus on that which has been well plundered already, World War II itself, and the bulk of the three hours, as said, is a detailed study of Hitler’s path from slightly troubled youth to Chancellor and President of Germany, and all the dramatic chapters along the way.
(4 out of 5) So Says the Jaw Breaker.
Check out the movie's website.
With little actual warning, the HK cops-and-robbers thriller Infernal Affairs destroyed all comers this past Christmas season. At over 55 million Hong Kong dollars, the film has gone on to become the territory's second highest-grossing local film behind Shaolin Soccer. Cries of "Box Office Miracle" were trumpeted by Hong Kong's so-called fourth estate, which advanced the opinion that Hong Kong Cinema was revived. Still, it would be preferable if a box-office revival came with an actual good motion picture. Thankfully, they pulled it off; despite some flaws, Infernal Affairs is pretty good stuff.
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai stars as Yan, a police mole in the triads for the past ten years. He's been deep, deep undercover for so long that he's started to question his focus and sanity. Meanwhile, he has a mirror opposite on the other side. Andy Lau is Ming, a rising cop who's secretly a triad mole. For the same ten years, he's been feeding information to Sam (Eric Tsang), a ruthless triad kingpin who Yan currently works for. Sam's archenemy is Organized Crime and Triad Bureau Inspector Wong (Anthony Wong), who's Yan's only link to the police force. On a routine drug bust, both sides discover the presence of a mole within their ranks, and both sides charge their respective undercover with finding the offending party. However, Ming's exact loyalties are not entirely clear, which may mean problems for both Sam and Inspector Wong. Meanwhile, Yan tries not to be killed by either side.
Other than the killer concept, there's really nothing ultra new about Infernal Affairs. The mirror-image cop/criminal thing has been done to death in everything from Running Out of Time to Face/Off, and Infernal Affairs doesn't really get out from beneath that. The concept of opposing moles adds an extra layer, but it's still nothing more than a minor tweak to genre convention. The weak female roles are a good example of how Infernal Affairs typifies its genre. Kelly Chen appears as Dr. Lee, Yan's appointed psychiatrist and probably the greatest-looking health practitioner ever. However, despite Chen's presence, Dr. Lee doesn't do much more than provide Yan with a love interest, and Taiwanese singer Elva Hsiao's ballyhooed cameo is obligatory character backstory. If either woman had been lost, it likely wouldn't have hurt the film at all.
Conversely, the character of Ming's girlfriend Mary is underused. As played by Sammi Cheng, she's an overly spritely novelist who spouts metaphorical dialogue as if there were no tomorrow. Unfortunately, the filmmakers don't use her character to further flesh out Ming. Ming is a bad guy who wants to be a good guy, but our only real clue to this is his apparent reticence when he first enrolls in the police academy. The young Ming is played fittingly by Edison Chen, who shines in roles requiring only three lines of dialogue and no wannabe gangster posturing. When Chen is onscreen, we see that Ming wants no part of the undercover life; but when Andy Lau takes over, his objections to the life of a mole seem external: big promotions, new apartment, bubbly girlfriend. If he's outed as a triad mole then he loses those things—a prime motivation for wanting to be good. Those things aren't properly explored; sometimes, it seems that he simply is tired of being controlled by Sam.
What it all comes down to is "why." Yan wants to ditch the undercover life because he's tired of living in darkness. Ming wants to get out for seemingly selfish reasons, but is that entirely true? The moral murkiness that's offered up makes Ming seem only self-involved, and not really a mixture of good or evil. Andy Lau does a fine job with the character, and even brings a sinister quality to the proceedings. Then again, it would have been nice to have some confirmation of what exactly was going on with Ming. The character work in Infernal Affairs has been lauded by a variety of critics. It happens to be excellent genre work, but no new ground is truly covered, and in Ming's case potential was wasted.
However, what Infernal Affairs gets absolutely right is the thrill of the chase. There are some contrivances along the way (With a molehunt going on, wouldn't the respective moles freeze physical meetings with the opposing side?), but the mounting chase between the two leading characters creates gripping cinematic tension. Likewise, the fates of certain characters are affecting, and some of the plot twists are genuinely compelling. Co-directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak manage the film well, providing sharp, efficient direction and the presence of mind to not deviate too frequently into unnecessary filler. It probably made some people happy to throw in the obligatory romantic subplots, but the directors wisely spend little time there.
The rest of the production is similarly top-notch. The other male actors are fine in their iconic roles. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai brings his subtle strengths as an actor to the tried-and-true character of Yan, and Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang and Chapman To (as Yan's triad buddy) are excellent in their roles. Wong, especially, makes the rather small part of Inspector Wong a memorable one. His subtle underplaying creates more of a character than probably existed on paper. Furthermore, the cinematography (by Andrew Lau and Lai Yiu-Fai, with an assist from Christopher Doyle) is exemplary. This may be the most fittingly shot film of the year, with the dark, cool colors of the triad underworld contrasting with the stark, bright beauty of Hong Kong's daytime cityscape. A lot of this stuff is award material; expect to see Hong Kong Film Award nominations for many of the participants involved.
Still, the question does come up: was Infernal Affairs worthy of all money made at the box office? Given its massive box-office take, some might judge the film to be a victim of massive hype, and be disappointed at the result. Such thinking isn't entirely beyond understanding; this isn't Shaolin Soccer, a film which was simultaneously familiar, original and thrillingly engaging. Infernal Affairs is simply good, solid commercial work with a marvelous production and some fine actors at the top of their game. It's a prime example of massive synergy, where you take the best of what's available and use it to its fullest. Forget fresh, inspired plotlines or startling thematic originality; this is simply a well-made, familiar storyline with all the big stars appearing in the same movie at the same time. And really, isn't a Hong Kong film like that worth the price of admission?
(3.5 out of 5) So Says the Jaw Breaker.
Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had been graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955 In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.
In 1954, Martin Luther King accepted the pastorale of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.
In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.
At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.
On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.
1676 - Indian chief King Philip, also known as Metacom, is killed by English soldiers, ending the war between Indians and colonists.
1862 - Mistakenly believing the Confederate Army to be in retreat, Union General John Pope attacks, beginning the Battle of Groveten. Both sides sustain heavy casualties.
1914 - Three German cruisers are sunk by ships of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first major naval battle of World War I.
1938 - The first degree given to a ventriloquist's dummy is awarded to Charlie McCarthy--Edgar Bergen's wooden partner. The honorary degree, "Master of Innuendo and Snappy Comeback," is presented on radio by Ralph Dennis, the dean of the School of Speech at Northwestern University.
1941 - The German U-boat U-570 is captured by the British and renamed Graph
1944 - German forces in Toulon and Marseilles, France, surrender to the Allies.
1945 - Chinese communist leader Mao Tse-Tung arrives in Chunking to confer with Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek in a futile effort to avert civil war.
1963 - One of the largest demonstrations in the history of the United States, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, takes place and reaches its climax at the base of the Lincoln Memorial when Dr. Martin Luther King delivers his "I have a dream" speech.
1965 - The Viet Cong are routed in the Mekong Delta by U.S. forces, with more than 50 killed.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Captain William Kidd
Although his name is synonymous with swashbuckling pirates, New York sea captain William Kidd denied to the end of his life that he ever acted like one. In 1696 Kidd reluctantly became a privateer for England and was expected to fight pirates on the open sea, seize their cargoes, and provide a hefty share of the spoils to the Crown. According to his British accusers, Kidd turned to piracy himself as the deadline for reporting to his employers in New York approached and he had not taken enough booty to fulfill his commission. Kidd himself did not know he was a wanted man until he dropped anchor in the West Indies in April 1699. He chose to surrender to the authorities and submit to a London trial, believing to the end that he could clear his name. After a trial in which important evidence in his favor was suppressed, Kidd was found guilty of piracy and hanged on May 23, 1701.
The Battle of Long Island took place on August 27, 1776. The American outpost of Colonel Edward Hand's sent word that the British were preparing to cross Long Island from Staten Island on August 22, at dawn. There were three frigates, the Phoenix, Rose, and Greyhound, and two bomb ketches named Carcass and Thunder, in Gravesend Bay. The frigates were anchored in the Namews.
British generals Cornwallis and Clinton had a force of 4,000 men that included Von Donop's corps of jaegers and grenadiers. The force started crossing to Denyse Point and they were covered by the guns of the H.M.S. Rainbow. Two hundred men of Edward Hand's withdrew to Prospect Hill, destroying the property and supplies that the British might use. The British boats returned to Staten Island and landed in Gravesend Bay with more then 5000 men. By noon, they had landed almost 5,000 men and about 40 cannons safely on shore. The Americans couldn't defend themselves and were pushed back.
The American forces were distributed on the evening before the battle. Their forces had a total strength of 550 in the area of Gowanus Road. To the left in the Flatbush Pass there were 1,000 troops, and to the right at Bedford Pass there was a force of 800 men with only 3 guns.
In the early morning hours on August 27, the Americans fired on a few British soldiers who were near the Red Lion Inn. A few hours later, the Americans were attacked by 200-300 British troops. These attacks started the battle. General Howe was trying to distract the Americans so that Grant could attack; the plan worked. This lead to a battle between Grant and Alexander. Though Alexander only had 1,600 men, he was smart to organize his men into the open, European style, rather than just hiding them behind cover. Grant, on the other hand, had 7,000 men, which meant that they were superior to the Americans. At the end of this battle, there were only 12 dead, and 5 wounded. The Americans were waiting to be attacked again.
The British had marched to Bedford, and were now behind the Americans. They had marched over 9 miles, with 10,000 men, and the Americans never detected them. Somehow the Germans (Hessians) on the British side began attacking the Americans. The Americans traveled along Port Road to Brooklyn because it was one of the few roads still open.
The heaviest fighting happened near Baker's Tavern. The Americans did really well against the odds presented to them. During the battles Washington was able to get 9,500 soldiers out into the field.
No one can give an exact number of Americans involved in the Battle of Long Island, but it is estimated that there were at least 10,000. It is also estimated that 1,407 Americans were wounded, captured, or missing, and 312 were killed. A British report says that there were 89 Americans officers imprisoned, and 1,097 other Americans were kept as prisoners.
There were 22,000 British and Germans on Long Island, and they had a total loss of 377. Five British officers, and 56 men were killed, while 13 officers, and 275 men were wounded or missing. Two Germans were killed, and three officers and 23 men were wounded.
According to both posession of the disputed territory and casualties, the British won this battle.
1626 - The Danes are crushed by the Catholic League in Germany, marking the end of Danish intervention in European wars.
1776 - The Americans are defeated by the British at the Battle of Long Island, New York.
1793 - Maximilien Robespierre is elected to the Committee of Public Safety in Paris, France.
1813 - The Allies defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Dresden.
1861 - Union troops make an amphibious landing at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1862 - As the Second Battle of Bull Run rages, Confederate soldiers attack Loudoun County, Virginia.
1881 - New York state's Pure Food Law goes into effect to prevent "the adulteration of food or drugs."
1894 - The United States congress passes an income tax law as part of a general tariff act, but it is found unconstitutional.
1910 - Thomas Edison demonstrates the first "talking" pictures--using a phonograph--in his New Jersey laboratory.
1912 - Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan of the Apes first appears in a magazine.
1916 - Italy declares war on Germany.
1928 - Fifteen nations sign the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact, outlawing war and calling for the settlement of disputes through arbitration. Forty-seven other countries eventually sign the pact.
1941 - The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumimaro Konoye, issues an invitation for a meeting with President Roosevelt.
1945 - B-29 Superfortress bombers begin to drop supplies into Allied prisoner of war camps in China.
1963 - Cambodia severs ties with South Vietnam.
1979 - Lord Mountbatten is killed by an Irish terrorist bomb in his sail boat in Sligo, Ireland.
1989 - Chuck Berry performs his tune Johnny B. Goode for NASA staff in celebration of Voyager II's encounter with the planet Neptune.
Friday, August 26, 2005
The Nineteenth Amendment
On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed, giving American women the right to vote. The amendment had been first introduced in Congress in 1878, setting in motion supporters who demonstrated, lobbied, marched and spoke out for woman suffrage. They were often met with venomous opposition. Early on, the two main factions of the movement disagreed about how to achieve their goal, but they ultimately united in 1890 to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association and worked together to get the amendment passed. By August 18, 1920, three-fourths of the United States had agreed to the bill. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment on August 26.
Now that the influential success of The Wedding Crashers has made it safe for R-rated comedies to corrupt us with gleeful raunch, along comes The 40 Year-Old Virgin to claim its share of the pie. Cut it a big fat slice. A howlingly comic revel in bad taste, it still finds time to make you feel good about Andy Stitzer, the carnally innocent hero of this bawdy bedtime story. Steve Carell, best known as a team player on The Daily Show, The Office and such movies as Anchorman, earns top-banana status as Andy. He is flat-out hilarious. See him wake up with morning wood and pee in his own face. Hear him talk to his collectible action figures; he repaints them on weekends when he's not making the perfect egg-salad sandwich. Watch him try to fake macho with his co-workers at a Smart Tech store by saying that when you touch a woman's breast, it feels like sand.
That nails it. He's a virgin, and the guys -- Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen and Romany Malco could not be funnier -- spend the rest of the movie trying to find a woman to bust his cherry. They tell him to act tough, "like David Caruso in Jade" -- a line for true connoisseurs of junk video. But sex freak Beth (Elizabeth Banks) and a drunk Nicky (Leslie Mann) scare him off. A speed-dating session is attempted, as is an ouch of a chest-hair waxing. (Carell did it for real; you can see the blood beading to the surface of his skin.) But Andy sets a more daunting task for himself than getting laid: finding one woman, building a relationship and making it stick. Her name is Trish, a divorced mom of three and the grandma of one. The terrific Catherine Keener plays her with such sexy warmth that this cinematic stag party, loaded with "know how I know you're gay" jokes and wicked jabs at male dysfunction, actually grows a heart.
Don't panic. The script, which Carell wrote with first-time director Judd Apatow, keeps firing off rude, raucous laughs. Apatow deserves to have his butt kissed in perpetuity for Freaks and Geeks and The Larry Sanders Show, and what he doesn't yet grasp about framing a scene he makes up for with his intuitive grasp of the architecture of a joke. Know how I know that Apatow has a big future making movie comedies? Because he knows that laughs fly higher and wilder when the characters keep it real. Without that, it's all Deuce Bigelow.
(3 out of 5) So Says the Jaw Breaker.
Saint Joan was born on January 6, 1412, in the village of Domremy to Jacques and Isabelle d'Arc. Joan was the youngest of their five children. While growing up among the fields and pastures of her village, she was called Jeannette but when she entered into her mission, her name was changed to Jeanne, la Pucelle, or Joan, the Maid.
As a child she was taught domestic skills as well as her religion by her mother. Joan would later say, "As for spinning and sewing, I fear no woman in Rouen." And again, "It was my mother alone who taught me the 'Our Father' and 'Hail Mary' and the 'Creed;' and from none other was I taught my faith."
From her earliest of years Joan was known for her obedience to her parents, religious fervor, goodness, unselfish generosity and kindness toward her neighbors. Simonin Munier, one of Joan's childhood friends, tells how Joan had nursed him back to health when he was sick. Some of her playmates teased her for being 'too pious.' Others remembered how she would give up her bed to the homeless stranger who came to her father's door asking for shelter.
Joan was 'like all the others' in her village until her thirteenth year. "When I was about thirteen, I received revelation from Our Lord by a voice which told me to be good and attend church often and that God would help me." She stated that her 'Voices' were Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret. At first her 'Voices' came to her two or three times a week but as the time for her mission drew near (five years later), they visited her daily telling her to 'Go into France' to raise the siege of Orleans, conduct the Dauphin Charles to Reims for his crowning and to drive the English from the land.
Joan went to the neighboring town of Vaucouleurs, which means Valley of many colors. There she spoke to the loyal French governor by the name of Sir Robert de Baudricourt. After many rejections he finally agreed to send her to the Dauphin who at the time was living at the castle of Chinon.
On the evening of February 23, 1429, she began her mission for God. In the company of six men, she rode through the Gate of France on her way to Chinon. Joan reached this town on March 6th, but was not received by the Dauphin, Charles, until the evening of March 9th.
After being accepted and approved by a Church council headed by the Archbishop of Reims, Joan was allowed to lead the Dauphin's army. This part of her career was meteoric. She entered Orleans on the evening of April 29th and by May 8th the city had been freed. The Loire campaign started on June 9th and by June 19th the English were driven out of the Loire valley. The march to Reims started on June 29th and by July 17th Charles was crowned King of France in the cathedral of Reims.
From this time on, for reasons know only to King Charles, the king no longer valued Joan's advice and guidance. She had always told him that God had given her 'a year and a little longer' to accomplish His will but the king seemed to take no notice of it. For almost a year he wasted what time remained to Joan, until in frustration, she left the court. Her last campaign lasted from the middle of March until her capture at the town of Compiegne on May 23rd, 1430. Her 'year and a little longer' was over.
Abandoned by her king and friends, she started her year of captivity. As a prisoner of the Burgundians she was treated fairly but that all changed when on November 21st, 1430, she was handed over the English. How she survived their harsh treatment of her is a miracle in itself.
The English not only wanted to kill Joan but they also wanted to discredit King Charles as a false king by having Joan condemned by the Church as a witch and a heretic. To obtain this goal the English used those Church authorities whom they knew to be favorable to them and the staunchest of these was Bishop Cauchon.
Joan's trial of condemnation lasted from February 21st until May 23rd. She was finally burnt at the stake in Rouen's market square on May 30th, 1431.
Twenty-five years later the findings of Joan's first trial were overturned and declared 'null and void' by another Church court, who this time was favorable to King Charles. It was not until 1920 that the Church of Rome officially declared Joan to be a saint. Her feast day is celebrated on May 30th.
1017 - Turks defeat the Byzantine army under Emperor Romanus IV at Manikert, Eastern Turkey.
1429 - Joan of Arc makes a triumphant entry into Paris.
1789 - The Constituent Assembly in Versailles, France, approves the final version of the Declaration of Human Rights.
1862 - Confederate General Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson encircles the Union Army under General John Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
1883 - The Indonesian island of Krakatoa erupts in the largest explosion recorded in history, heard 2,200 miles away in Madagascar. The resulting destruction sends volcanic ash up 50 miles into the atmosphere and kills almost 36,000 people--both on the island itself and from the resulting 131-foot tidal waves that obliterate 163 villages on the shores of nearby Java and Sumatra.
1920 - The 19th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving women the right to vote.
1943 - The United States recognizes the French Committee of National Liberation.
1957 - Ford Motor Company reveals the Edsel, its latest luxury car.
Allied troops led by French General Jacques Leclerc marched into Paris on August 24, 1944, liberating the city from the Germans who had occupied it since June 1940. Although ordered by Adolf Hitler to leave Paris a smoldering ruin, Paris' military governor Major General Dietrich von Cholitz lied to his superiors and left the city's landmarks intact. By noon of August 25, the French tricolor was again flying over the French capital. Crowds of jubilant Parisians, some of whom are shown here celebrating before the Arc de Triomphe that evening, rejoiced in their freedom.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Battle of Crecy (1346)
Crecy is the first major battle in which bowmen were pitted against knights. There is also some evidence that primitive small arms fire or "hand gonnes" were used. Until Crecy, knights fought each other on horseback. Here the French expected to have a battle with the knights of the smaller English army but the latter had been practising new ways of bringing down men in armour, most of the English army dismounted to do battle with the French, which was not the normal procedure.The longbow made a major debut at this battle which changed the way battles were fought for at least another fifty years. The English reinvented warfare, making chivalric battles an outmoded form of warfare.
The longbow was probably first developed by the Welsh and introduced into England about 1250. Shorter bows had been used down the centuries, they appear in use by both Anglians and Normans in the Bayeaux Tapestry. The longbow however had a much greater effective range, some claim up to 200 yards.
In 1298 Edward I used Welsh archers at the battle of Falkirk. The longbow was as tall as the man who used it. Arrows fitted with a bodkin (metal tip) could pierce chain mail at 100 paces if they contacted their target perpendicular to the body. The arrow flights were made from grey goose feathers. Edward I had been the first to experiment with the longbow in warfare and Edward III later pitted archers against Scottish Nationalist knights at Halidon Hill, Berwickshire (1333). The longbow was not considered a noble weapon, for it was the English yeomanry who brought down much of the French nobility here at Crecy.
The cross bow had a shorter range than the longbow, the French at Crecy used about 6,000 Genoese crossbow men in their frontal attack, and virtually ran them down as their own knights charged in.
At the tender age of sixteen, Edward III's son, the "Black Prince" as the French dubbed him from the colour of his armour [although some later say his black character] was in command on the wing at Crecy. Edward chose the battle site on the brow of a low hill where he set his men at
arms and archers. Edward surveyed the battle from a windmill2.These archers had been enlisted in England by officials, and were paid for from the exchequer. In all there were between 12,000 and 20,000 men under Edward (different sources vary- the first casualty in war is truth), the French cavalry was at least that number and all told Phillip VI's army consisted of 30,000-40,000 men. But Edward had a secret weapon, somewhere between 3,000 and 11,000 highly trained archers. They had been trained in the manner of a rapid rate of shooting.
Three thousand archers loosed 10-20 arrows each per minute, more arrows were brought forward or archers moved back to collect another supply. In the words of one commentator "arrows fell like snow". This mass volley of arrows was a new method of fighting and was first tried at Crecy. On one side of the hill lay a marsh and on the other side a forest. The battle line was 2000 yards long. The men-at-arms and spearmen were in three groups with the archers at either end arranged in a open "V' shape towards the enemy. Each archer had two sheaves of arrows each holding 24 arrows. The French were drawn up with the Genoese crossbow men and then behind them French knights on horseback.
In the fifty years after Crecy, knights dismounted to fight, they abandoned their horses and engaged in slogging matches on foot. For 200 years the longbow and infantry were placed to the fore in any battle replacing the position of the cavalry. Pictures of the battle of Crecy emphasise the stab in the back, the underhand blow. The French interpreted the new method of combat as anti-chivalric. The horse did not return to the battlefield until the 1400's when armour for these animals was developed and refined.
357 - Julian Caesar defeats the Alamanni at Strousbourg in Gaul.
1346 - Edward III of England defeats Philip VI's army at the Battle of Crecy in France.
1758 - The Prussian army defeats the invading Russians at the Battle of Zorndorf.
1765 - In protest over the stamp tax, American colonists sack and burn the home of Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson.
1830 - The "Tom Thumb" steam locomotive runs its famous race with a horse-drawn car. The horse wins because the engine, which had been ahead, breaks down.
1862 - Union and Confederate troops skirmish at Waterloo Bridge, Virginia, during the Second Bull Run Campaign.
1864 - Confederate General A.P. Hill pushes back Union General Winfield Scott Hancock from Reams Station where his army has spent several days destroying railroad tracks.
1875 - "Captain" Matthew Webb becomes the first man to swim across the English Channel.
1916 - The National Park Service is established as part of the Department of the Interior.
1921 - The United States, which never ratified the Versailles Treaty ending World War I, finally signs a peace treaty with Germany.
1925 - A. Phillip Randolph organizes the Sleeping Car Porters' Union.
1940 - The first parachute wedding ceremony is performed by Rev. Homer Tomlinson at the New York City World's Fair for Arno Rudolphi and Ann Hayward. The minister, bride and groom, best man, maid of honor and four musicians were all suspended from parachutes.
1941 - British and Soviet forces enter Iran, opening up a route to supply the Soviet Union.
1943 - The Allies complete the occupation of New Georgia.
1944 - Paris is liberated from German occupation by Free French Forces under General Jacques LeClerc.
1989 - NASA scientists receive stuning photographs of Neptune and its moons from Voyager 2.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Digital Fortress
One weekend, the NSA’s top cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, gets an urgent call from her boss, Commander Strathmore, to come to work. She arrives to the shocking news that TRANSLTR, the NSA's incredibly fast and infallible code-breaking machine against which even the best computer encryption software is useless, has at long last come face to face with its nemesis. Codenamed the Digital Fortress, it is an unbreakable code created by an ex-NSA cryptographer, Ensei Tankado, who had threatened to make it available for public use if the NSA didn’t make TRANSLTR’s existence known to the general public. As the repercussions of this comprise a deadly threat to the nation’s security, it sends shockwaves through the corridors of the NSA.
Even as Susan scrambles to find Ensei’s secret partner, she is puzzled, angry and scared that Commander Strathmore has inexplicably sent her boyfriend David, an ordinary university professor, on a dangerous mission to Spain to retrieve this unbreakable code’s key. Does the key really exist, and if so, will David ever find it and live to bring it back? It’s a race against time as secrecy, deceit and lies escalate, and Susan finds herself smack dab in the middle of it all. Faced with betrayal and terror, this young woman has to fight for love, life and country.
Once again, this Dan Brown novel emphasizes cryptography and details its origins, uses and various forms, and the subject makes for fascinating reading, if a bit dry. Through the central character of Susan, we come to see how cryptography has evolved in today’s time and also something about the NSA, its functions, capabilities and awesome power. With an ingenious plot whose exciting premise is further bolstered by a rapid pace, lots of suspense, interesting characterizations and a romantic entanglement thrown in for good measure, Digital Fortress is a cutting-edge techno-thriller that compels the readers to wonder how much the government is concealing from the public, and whether big brother is really watching everything everywhere. Dan Brown’s laudable detailed research makes this book so realistic it’s scary. Moreover, it will provoke readers to think and wonder if this loss of privacy and violation of human rights is justified by the number of horrific terrorist plots foiled and lives spared daily -- an interesting dilemma.
“Family,” among other things, connotes love, safety and comfort. Youngsters often count on a big brother or sister for protection; but what happens when they can’t be shielded from darkness and pain? Behind the Red Door aims to parse this very particular strain of heartache.
Kyra Sedgwick is Natalie Haddad, a starving artist who travels to Boston for a lucrative commercial assignment. After all, integrity doesn’t pay the bills. Only once she’s on location does she discover that her agent/friend Julia (Stockard Channing in a woefully underwritten role) has set her up. She’s been hired to work for her estranged older brother (24’s Kiefer Sutherland), a controlling advertising mogul. Her first impulse is to take the next shuttle out, but she turns heel to face him and, ultimately, her past.
Black and white shards of flashbacks, seen from Natalie's perspective, are sprinkled throughout the film. In her mind’s eye, brother Roy taunted her and failed to protect her from their tyrant of a father, but, most egregiously, he couldn’t save their mother’s life. Natalie chose to leave their Dorchester neighborhood home and moved to New York City. Roy stayed behind and became an affluent executive. Apparently, Stockard Channing has known each of them for some time (the film doesn't specify how) and, despite feeling “in the middle,” she is not above manipulating Natalie to see her brother for the first time in a decade.
Natalie means to do the job and get on the first plane out the next morning, but, true to form, Roy pressures her to stay for his birthday party. Natalie reluctantly attends, and far from welcoming home the prodigal sister, he practices cruelty. Only when his all-too-shallow friends leave, does he reveal that he is in the advanced stages of AIDS. He also confides that his last lover didn’t leave him, but that he died a year and a day ago – and that Roy didn’t tell anyone. Roy's secretiveness is a key component in the film and it is difficult to accept. After all, he is an openly gay man. He owns his own business and is, judging by a Cape Cod house that subscribers to Metropolitan Home would lust over, fabulously wealthy. (The gorgeous vistas that suggest tony Cohasset on the Massachusetts North Shore are actually St. John’s Newfoundland. Score another point for the Canadian film industry.)
Since Roy’s invited guests are mostly gay men, it is puzzling that he would keep a long-term relationship from them. It is not a hard sell, however, that Roy would want to mask his illness. In a society that worships youth and vitality, when you lose your hair you lose your power--and when you lose your T cells, you lose your ability to command.
Writer/director Matia Karrell (Oscar-nominated in 1988 for best live action short film for Cadillac Dreams) and co-author C.W. Cressler have not been content to merely cast a contentious relationship between Natalie and Roy. They have made Roy a piece of work, no doubt to show his growth throughout the film. But his character, as written, is nearly unwatchable. He is the kind of snob who not only sends back Petrus ’62, but makes the waiter feel that he should commit hari-kari for having despoiled his taste buds. Surely there are gay men who are as fastidious as Roy (when hospitalized he can’t endure his stay without his Gucci “kit” and Armani robe), but this guy is toxic and his redemption is difficult to accept.
Kyra Sedgwick has an easier time of it, and more to do. While Roy declines and learns to bellow less and plant impatiens, she is confronting past demons. While the death of their mother is a closed book for Roy, Natalie was too young when it happened to have a first-hand memory. She is keenly aware of the town talk that her father was tried for her mother’s murder, but acquitted due to lack of any hard evidence. When not monitoring Roy or managing his ad campaign, she finds time to have the sealed files re-opened, comb through them, and ultimately confront her father for the first time in fifteen years.
Although Behind the Red Door is in parts a schematic, more than a nuanced drama, both Kyra Sedgwick and Kiefer Sutherland portray sister and brother with dignity. The awkward set-up finally gives way to a portrait of a family of two, who are at last there for one another. Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, film and theater about AIDS have led the way to a greater understanding not only of the disease, but also of what it means to know someone who is gay. As AIDS/HIV disease has become a chronic, rather than terminal, disease, there is an urge to move on (of late reporters have been saying that more lives in the U.S. are being lost, for example, to the flu), so films of this nature are crucial to continuing awareness.
Behind the Red Door is one of the first efforts in a Viacom and Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation initiative launching on January 6, 2003. Its mission is to create programming that contributes to a better understanding of HIV/AIDS. The massive Viacom empire includes the Sundance Channel, BET, Simon & Schuster, CBS, MTV, UPN, Paramount, and Showtime – which produced this film. Perhaps this synergy can be leveraged in such a fashion that it can make a positive difference, fostering dialogue and promoting understanding.
79 - Mount Vesuvius erupts destroying Pompeii, Stabiae, Herculaneum and other smaller settlements.
410 - German barbarians sack Rome.
1542 - In South America, Gonzalo Pizarro returns to the mouth of the Amazon River after having sailed the length of the great river as far as the Andes Mountains.
1572 - Some 50,000 people are put to death in the ‘Massacre of St. Bartholomew’ as Charles IX of France attempts to rid the country of Huguenots.
1780 - King Louis XVI abolishes torture as a means to get suspects to confess.
1814 - British troops under General Robert Ross capture Washington, D.C., which they set on fire in retaliation for the American burning of the parliament building in York (Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada.
1847 - Charlotte Bronte, using the pseudonym Currer Bell, sends a manuscript of Jane Eyre to her publisher in London.
1869 - Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York, patents the waffle iron.
1891 - Thomas Edison files a patent for the motion picture camera.
1894 - Congress passes the first graduated income tax law, which is declared unconstitutional the next year.
1896 - Thomas Brooks is shot and killed by an unknown assailant begining a six year feud with the McFarland family.
1912 - By an act of Congress, Alaska is given a territorial legislature of two houses.
1942 - In the battle of the Eastern Solomons, the third carrier-versus-carrier battle of the war, U.S. naval forces defeat a Japanese force attempting to screen reinforcements for the Guadalcanal fighting.
1948 - Edith Mae Irby becomes the first African-American student to attend the University of Arkansas.
1954 - Congress outlaws the Communist Party in the United States.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Alive
In October 1972 a plane carrying a Rugby team of 45 from Uraguay to Chile crashes in the Andes. The survivors fend for themselves amidt the cold, in spite of injuries, and with a very limited supply of food. For 72 days they struggle to survive with only 16 actually surviving to be rescued in December.
The movie Alive tells their story for the world to see. It begins with the Rugy Team all upbeat about everything. But then their plane crashes and everything changes. The plane crash scene in the movie was one of the best ever from any movie. The wings and tail of the plane were torn from the body in midair before the plane even hit the ground. From that point the plane slides a good distance through the ice. Once out on the ground most of the survivors of the initial crash are injured in some ways. Some have broken bones and are unable to move. The only real food supply they have on hand is chocolate bars.
The Rugy team's captain becomes a leader of sorts for the survivors. He orchestrates rationing of the chocolate they have and asserts command over the others. After food supplies run out, his team begins to die off starting with the weaker members. After much thought and prayer the team's captain convinces those who remain that canibolizing the flesh of their dead friends is the only way they will be able to survive.
Bodies are arranged with their faces in the snow. Those who remain apparently did not want to know just who they were eating. From that position pieces of meat are cut from their bodies to be shared. Icey cold slivers of beef are passed around, and swallowed with great difficulty. A few of the strongest survivors are given the largest portion of the meat so that they can attempt to climb higher up the peak of the mountain to try to reach help and attract attention to airplanes or anything that may be flying over.
In the end there ultimately were survivors of this ordeal as the movie is based on a real world experience with survivors. To many this is the movie where people ate people and nothing more than that. But beyond canibolism the movie features, an incredible plane crash, and a survival of the fittest storyline veiled in prayer and religion that is a true adventure to behold.
Founder of the first warrior government (bakufu) in Kamakura, and its first Sei'itai Shogun. Son of Yoshitomo and the daughter of Fujiwara Suenori. In 1158 at the age of twelve, he received his first court title and shortly afterwards he was appointed an administrator. At the end of that year, the Minamoto lost the Hoagie War to the Taira forces, and young Yoritomo was sent to exile in Izu in the Kanto. Twenty years later, in 1180, a disgruntled prince Mochihito'o issued an imperial edict calling the Minamoto to rise against the Taira who were under the leadership of Taira no Kiyomori. Yoritomo, like a number of other Minamoto, used this edict to legitimize his call-to-arms against those associated with Taira no Kiyomori, or those who opposed Y