Cartoon Time.

My Favourite Movies: Underworld

I was just dying to see this (no pun intended) from the moment I saw Kate Beckinsale drop 6 stories bounce once to absorb her momentum and then casually keep on walking without any effort at all. That, I said to myself, is how immortal supernatural creatures should be - graceful, unafraid and drop-dead gorgeous. My only fear was that the rest of the movie wouldn’t live up to the preview. Mostly, except for a few wobbles, it actually exceeded my expectations.

The plot is a fairly simple one. It’s a love story as well as an echo of a love story between a vampire (Beckinsale) and a Werewolf (or actually descendent of the original immortal who is later ‘turned’) - played by Scott Speedman - which shadows an earlier love story that started off a 600 year old war between the vampire overlords and the werewolf slave race. It is, in many ways, a long story. Anyway, in the present the war is almost over – or at least that’s how it seems until a traitor is discovered in the vampire coven followed by lots of dead bodies! But it’s not the plot that sold me on this film and it’s not even the lovely Kate. What I liked so much, I could almost say loved, is the whole look and feel of the movie. For one thing both vampires and werewolves use guns against each other – silver bullets on one side (as you might expect) and ‘liquid light’ bullets on the other (as you wouldn’t really expect). One thing that did kind of confuse me however, is why no one wears body armour. Maybe their apparent immortality makes them too arrogant to even consider dying?

The special effects I thought were generally very good – especially the werewolf change process. The many fight scenes were suitably fast, brutal and well choreographed. The acting was largely good except for the suitably named Craven played by Shane Brolly who was actually appalling. I honestly don’t know how he got the job. My favourite actor in this movie was Michael Sheen who played Lucien, the werewolf forced to watch his vampire lover and their unborn child burn to death under the rays of an unforgiving sun and under the orders of an unforgiving father. He was quite simply superb and acted everyone else off the screen by his very presence.

I was honestly less than impressed by both the sequel and the prequel – especially the prequel which I thought was both very boring and completely unnecessary. At least Underworld: Evolution had a few saving graces though none of them come to mind readily! Anyway, if like me you enjoy the whole vampire genre and are looking for something more than the usual garlic and neck biting this could be for you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have on numerous occasions.

Cartoon Time.

Reducing World to Good and Bad Leads to Trouble

by Caroline Arnold

For the Kent Ravenna Record-Courier (Ohio)

Sunday, June 6, 2010

"Incredible how the top dog always announces with such an air of discovery that the underdog is childish, stupid, emotional, irresponsible, ... incapable of learning - but for god's sake don't teach him anything! - and both cowardly and ferocious. The oppressed is also treacherous, incapable of fighting fair, full of dark magics, prone to do nasty things like fighting back when attacked, and contented with his place in life unless stirred up by outside agitators. ... Once I learned the tune I stopped believing the words - about anybody."

Alice Sheldon, writing as James Tiptree, Jr., 1973

In Kent we've heard those tunes and believed those words about Underdogs since May 4, 1970; they're still being hummed: "They destroyed private property," "outside agitators were responsible." We're now hearing those tunes from our southwest border: "Remember, Illegal is illegal, whether it's a bank robbery or a person who sneaks across the border illegally, and we need to deal with it as harshly as we can." After a bruising spring, with an earthquake in Chile, a volcano in Iceland, a mine disaster in Appalachia and an oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, Americans celebrated Memorial Day with food, flag-waving parades and prayers for soldiers lost in elective wars. In the Middle East poor people went hungry, mourned civilians killed in those wars, (90 percent of all war casualties today are civilians - the majority women and children) while being buffeted by powerful economic, political, technological or natural forces over which they have no control.

Then on Memorial Day a Turkish ship manned by civilians without firearms and carrying humanitarian aid to blockaded Gaza was boarded by Israeli soldiers in international waters. Nine civilians were killed; the Israelis claim self-defense. This caused hardly a ripple in the U.S. media, and the Top Dogs' same catchy tunes started circulating: "They deserved it," "that's the only way to deal with those people," "innocent" people do not carry knifes and clubs." Our president expressed mild regret, while suggesting that an investigation conducted by Israel alone would be adequate to manage the situation. To reduce the complexity of the world we live in to manageable dimensions, we like to reduce everything to immutable binary oppositions: Everything is zero or one: on/off, right/wrong, good/evil, true/false, male/female, God-ordained/work-of-Satan, loving/hateful, secure/dangerous, pure/corrupt, worthy/unworthy, human/non-human.

These binary oppositions cause a lot of trouble. They tempt us to sort instead of think, to dismiss instead of examine; they make it easy to refuse to negotiate, and to despise those who disagree with us. They divide us into Good Guys and Bad Guys, Top Dogs and Underdogs. We should be wondering whether a world where the Top Dogs are furnished with robotic weapons, nuclear warheads, advanced technologies for murder, mayhem, oil extraction and communications media can be managed at all. We should be wondering whether, in a world in which "terrorists" (or anyone accused or suspected of being one) can be targeted by the CIA for extermination or torture, stripped of constitutional rights and protections, or put on a "no-fly" list, (but not prevented from buying guns) we can even be human, trust one another, help one another, govern ourselves and manage human affairs rationally, fairly, sustainably and humanely. Most people don't like the way the world is going, but instead of trying to fix things, keep singing the same old songs. We want to be rich, powerful, popular, in charge, free to carry a gun and shoot it, to have the power to keep Underdogs (poor people, women, brown people) under control, to get rid of Bad Guys, to use the earth's riches for our cars and comforts.

Tiptree called the tune: "We can't live with _____ (fill in the blank with your favorite demons: terrorists, socialists, insurgents, illegal immigrants, Taliban, Palestinians, Israelis, Islamists, political activists, students, abortionists, gays, feminists, "other" ). It is therefore just and necessary to kill them, injure or disable them and/or destroy their livelihoods in order to _____ (insert your favorite noble purpose: get rid of them, teach them a lesson (though by definition they are incapable of learning), pacify them, free them from ____, control them, bestow on them ____ (democracy, law and order, salvation, "other")" This should make it easy to settle everything by lining up well-fed Top Dogs on one side with stun-guns, Tasers, drones, radio-guided missiles, robotic warriors, cluster bombs, nuclear warheads, giant aircraft, ships, earth-movers, satellite communications and commercial media - plus all the oil and money needed to manufacture and deploy them - and hungry, barefoot Underdogs on the other side with knives, rocks, bottles, clubs, sharpened sticks, IEDs and homemade rockets.

I'm disappointed that President Obama has failed to manage the world. But I fear it's because the world we have constructed out of our old tunes and words is fundamentally unmanageable. It has badly skewed systems of communication, catchy tunes instead of news, too much information and too few community-based information tools to manage it. The present world is too large, too fragmented, too polarized, too unequal, too full of technology for war, too driven by fear and hate, too reckless with natural resources and human life and too committed to the old, deadly words and tunes of our Top Dogs.

I always suspected that smart was sexy.......

Just Finished Reading: The Motorcycle Diaries – Notes on a Latin American Journey by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

This has been in my pile-of-books since I saw the movie of the same name (although I understand that the movie concentrated on the diaries of Che’s friend and companion Alberto Granado). Taken as a straight travelogue this is interesting enough. Two young men in their 20’s set out on a journey across South America with far too little planning and far too high expectations of ultimate success. Both of them write diaries of their adventures which are eventually published. The defining thing about both books – though I have yet to read the Granado account – is that one of the young men later becomes a defining icon of the 1960’s. For one of the adventurous young men is the 23 year old Ernest Guevara – later known throughout the world simply as ‘Che’ (which is apparently the widely used slang name in Latin America for anyone from Argentina).

Whilst very readable and often funny I did find this slim volume a little disappointing. The film certainly made great play of the events during the epic journey that shaped Che’s later revolutionary radicalism. There were several instances mentioned in this book where the treatment both of the poor and the native population caused Che to examine closely some of the oppressive regimes they motored through but there was nothing like the flash of realisation I was expecting. This is not the story of how Ernesto became Che but the story of how two friends managed to stop from killing themselves on a badly thought out and poorly planed adventure. Despite the fact that this book will not really help you understand how a young doctor to be became a revolutionary, this is still an interesting read. It represents a snap-shot of South American life in 1952 and can stand on that alone. It also puts some context into the pre-Che personality of a future revolutionary which, again, is interesting in itself. Just don’t, as I did, expect it to tell you much about why he was so central to the Cuban revolution and why he died in Bolivia fighting for what he believed in.

Cartoon Time.

A(nother) Book Meme.

Thanks to Rust belt Philosophy for this:

Do you snack while reading?

Often yes. I also read during my lunch-break at work so sandwiches could be involved too.

What is your favourite drink while reading?

Old Jamaica Ginger Beer

Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

Oh, I really hate it when people write in books. If you want to make notes then use a pad like normal people!

How do you keep your place? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat?

I use anything that comes to hand though for years I’ve been using the rip-off part of my payslip. They’ve changed its design so now I used everything from old credit cards to discarded bus tickets.

Fiction, non-fiction or both?

Both. My preference is for fiction but I read quite a bit of non-fiction too. I’d miss out on far too much if I didn’t. There’s a natural part of me that once it becomes interested in a subject – which could be just about anything – I feel the need to read up about it.

Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere?

I can stop a book in mid-sentence, though I prefer to stop at least at the end of a paragraph. I’m not driven to finish a chapter – mostly for practical reasons (sleep and work).

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?

I have ripped a book in half before now when I became very angry at what it said. To cut a long story short I’d had a particularly bad day with my (then) girlfriend and was disgusted to read about how wonderful the day was supposed to be – according to a yearly horoscope book I was reading. So I read out the passage to her and then ripped the book in half and threw it in the bin under my desk. The people I work with – this all happened in my office – where plainly stunned at how I had treated a book. They knew how much I valued them. Looking back on it the whole incident was highly amusing.

What are you currently reading?

The Age of Ra by James Lovegrove, Consciousness – A Very Short Introduction by Susan Blackmore, Voltaire’s Bastards – The Dictatorship of Reason in the West by John Ralston Saul and The Bloodless Revolution – Radical Vegetarians and the Discovery of India by Tristam Stuart.

What is the last book you bought?

It was a pair of books on special offer: The Making of Modern Britain – From Queen Victoria to VE Day by Andrew Marr and The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Do you have a favourite time/place to read?

Saturday at home, although I can (and do) read just about anywhere. When I’m awake enough I like to read in bed for 10-15 minutes just before turning in for the night.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?

I don’t care really – though if a series is good enough I do find myself both itching to read the next instalment and restraining myself so the experience isn’t over too soon.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?

Alan Furst – probably the best historical spy novel writer I’ve had the great privilege to read.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?

If I’m anywhere near a computer, yes. Google is very useful in that regard.

How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author's last name, etc.)?

The books that I can fit on my shelves are organised by author (fiction). I also have two complete bookshelves containing the books I bought for my two recent courses. The rest – the unread piles(s) tend to be pretty randomly organised (although technically by date – sort of). I do, however, have fiction piles and non-fiction piles.

Background noise or silence?

At home – at weekends – it’s music. Evenings normally silence after muting the TV. At work it’s the hum of conversation and the ringing of telephones. Fortunately people have learnt to leave me alone (mostly) when they see a book on my desk. I don’t mind too much about necessary interruptions though.

Cartoon Time.

'Too Fat' for Empire? Military Generals Target School Lunches

by Mary Clare Jalonick for Associated Press

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

WASHINGTON - School lunches have been called many things, but a group of retired military officers is giving them a new label: national security threat. A new report being released Tuesday says more than 9 million young adults, or 27 percent of all Americans ages 17 to 24, are too overweight to join the military. The retired officers are saying that school lunches have helped make the nation's young people so fat that fewer of them can meet the military's physical fitness standards, and recruitment is in jeopardy.

The officers' group, Mission: Readiness, was appearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday with Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The military group acknowledges that other things keep young adults out of the armed services, such as a criminal record or the lack of a high school diploma. But weight problems that have worsened over the past 15 years are now the leading medical reason that recruits are rejected. Although all branches of the military now meet or exceed recruitment goals, retired Navy Rear Adm. James Barnett Jr., a member of the officers group, says the obesity trend could affect that. "When over a quarter of young adults are too fat to fight, we need to take notice," Barnett said. He noted that national security in the year 2030 is "absolutely dependent" on reversing child obesity rates. Recruitment isn't the only problem posed by obesity. According to the report, the government spends tens of millions of dollars every year to train replacements for service members discharged because of weight problems. This isn't the first time the military has gotten involved in the debate over school lunches. During World War II, military leaders had the opposite problem, reporting that many recruits were rejected because of stunted growth and inadequate nutrition. After the war, military leaders pushed Congress to establish the national school lunch program so children would grow up healthier. The program was established in 1946, "as a measure of national security," according to the original bill language.

Today, the group is urging Congress to eliminate junk food and high-calorie beverages from schools, put more money into the school lunch program and develop new strategies that help children develop healthier habits. The school lunch bill, currently awaiting a Senate vote, would establish healthier options for all foods in schools, including vending machine items. The legislation would spend $4.5 billion more over 10 years for nutrition programs. The Army is already doing its part to catch the problem earlier, working with high schoolers and interested recruits to lose weight before they are eligible for service, says U.S. Army Recruiting Command's Mark Howell. He added that he had to lose 10 pounds himself before he joined the military. "This is the future of our Army we are looking at when we talk about these 17- to 24-year-olds," Howell said. "The sad thing is a lot of them want to join but can't."

[It would appear that there are some people who think that American society should be dedicated to one thing above all else – War. I can’t help but wonder what that means for the rest of the world. I hazard to guess that it won’t be peace.]

Just Finished Reading: The Language of Stones by Robert Carter

In an England that is not quite England, in a 15th Century that is far from our 15th Century, trouble is brewing. Prophecy says that The Realm is approaching a crossroads in its history, a crossroads that could lead to an age of peaceful plenty or to an age of war and death. At the centre of this prophecy is a young boy – Willand – an orphan brought up in secret, a child with an unknown past and a difficult future, a child who may be the reincarnation of The Realm’s greatest hero – Arthur. But before prophecy can play itself out Willands protector – the aging wizard Gwydion (also know by some as Merlin) – must both teach him about and protect him from the many dangers abroad in the increasingly troubled land.

This is by far the most standard Fantasy novel I’ve read recently. It is in large part very reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I’m fairly positive that I picked up on some straight references to the one text that birthed them all. Of course it’s just as possible that both texts rely heavily on the original Arthurian legends which is where at least some of the similarities come from. Although derivative to a great degree this by no means indicates that it’s a poor knock-off – it isn’t. Language of Stones is actually quite a page turner. Despite its size – at just under 600 pages – I managed to ‘blast’ through it in just over a week (which at the moment is very good indeed). Both the main and the many subsidiary characters are well drawn and are believable in context. The dialogue is well constructed and is full of the kind of pagan wisdom I would expect from this sort of book. The retelling of history of this place that is not quite our world is fascinating and the underlying story is very believable indeed. On just about every level this is an interesting and highly enjoyable read. I have recently discovered that this is, rather inevitably, the first book in a trilogy (though it can actually be read as a totally stand-alone work) and I will see about getting the other two books. I’m interested to know who things turn out which is always the sign of a good book. Recommended to all classic Fantasy fans.

Cartoon Time.