Michael Moore - got a gold in Cannes, and his movie will be released in the US, even if they are arguing about the age... has he done a generally good job by bringning documentaries into a new light - or is it just slightly polished porpaganda? Per Haddal, famed moviecritic has some interesting thoughts.
"In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director" said Alfred Hitchcock
"Most got attracted to the genre because they could tell a story on a low budget, with complete control and without commercial interference" - indie movies... using DV to tell a "true" story, but is there A truth, or just MY truth?
On a more thoughtful note - did a Google search on Lynndie England a while back, which naturally turned up lots of pages. But, the image tab was empty. I guess that shows how hard it can be to link an image to relevant phrases - and to keep the search base updated and linked with newsstories. AllTheWeb had 167 Web hits, 971 news hits and no images. As for the prison name "Abu Ghraib" they had 80 and 130 or so pictures, mostly related to car bombing.
25 inside - and 31,5 in the shade on the balcony (it eventually crept up to 34) - oh yes, early May in Norway... there is nothing "unusual" about the general climate. Right. Check.
(in centigrade, quick conversion gives 93,2 F... hot)
...and the sun was doing its thing...
Tuesday, May 11
Monday, May 10
On the other side
Just a short "think about it" - Lifeswitch - very well made site, in terms of messaage, content and useability. And there is the "ouch" factor as well... try it.
...and the sun gets in my eyes...
...and the sun gets in my eyes...
first mailed
so why should this look any different?
(yup, testing the new web interface and using the mail-in function as well, other than that nothing much so far today)
(yup, testing the new web interface and using the mail-in function as well, other than that nothing much so far today)
Sunday, May 9
coffe - Italian style
Slightly different from the last topic - the nice thing (and sometimes scary) about the net; how easy it is to jump from one thing to something completely different.
Trieste is hosting the second Espresso Expo this fall. The town was recently described by a norwegian author as "a port for a world that no longer exsist" - but clearly it is still partyall integrated into the current global latte-mania, with education and labs testing and classifying coffe.
"Perfect espresso is the ultimate coffee. It ranks with fine wine for the complexity of its chemistry" (Economist!)
Oh yes. Coffe time - again.
...and the sun is soon the right angle for leisurly reading on the balcony...
Trieste is hosting the second Espresso Expo this fall. The town was recently described by a norwegian author as "a port for a world that no longer exsist" - but clearly it is still partyall integrated into the current global latte-mania, with education and labs testing and classifying coffe.
"Perfect espresso is the ultimate coffee. It ranks with fine wine for the complexity of its chemistry" (Economist!)
Oh yes. Coffe time - again.
...and the sun is soon the right angle for leisurly reading on the balcony...
From Jessica to Lynndie
Back when the Iraqi operation still held some mystique and respect, the story of Jessica Lynch and her "heroic capture" and the almost-live-on-tv rescue operation (as directed by the Black Hawk Down The Movie crew?) made instant headlines and served to justify the presence. Then it turned out that she had never fired her weapon, not fought the Iraqis, not been mistreated - actually hardly guarded when she was rescued... the doctors had tried to contact the Americans to get her safely back. And finally she stood up for herself - and spoke out against the misuse of her story.
Now they focus is on prisons - and especially the actions of Lynndie England. 21 years old, pregnant - and an instant "celebrity" due to the pictures finally published by Washington Post among others. A product of the poor America? A scapegoat thrown out to avoid the big picture? Or just another wasted youth getting a kick from living on the edge? [all links to images this time]
War - a horror and a nasty time for all. The number of dead Americans rise each day. They are bombed, burned and attacked from the dark. And they are desperate to stop it. But can they? Is it possible? The famed Col. Kurtz said it in Apocalypse Now; "Because they could stand that these were not monsters. These were men... trained cadres. ..... Because it's judgment that defeats us. " So - the Vietnam syndrome? Or the general trouble of beeing in effect an occupying force? When you fight for you country, on your soil - the willingness to give something above (or below) and beyond is so much stronger.
And there is Willards coment: "We cut 'em in half with a machine gun and give 'em a Band-Aid" and Kurtz view on proper style; "We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene! " There is no simple answer, no 2+2 = 4 solution to the problem.
For another take on the paths of the two young soldiers - check the independent "Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England: An American odyssey"
And the final quote - from the extended Redux version;
Willard: Who's in charge here?
Soldier: In charge? I don't know, man. I'm just doing what I'm told - I'm just a working girl
...and the sun is hot today and was great yesterday - summer is here...
Now they focus is on prisons - and especially the actions of Lynndie England. 21 years old, pregnant - and an instant "celebrity" due to the pictures finally published by Washington Post among others. A product of the poor America? A scapegoat thrown out to avoid the big picture? Or just another wasted youth getting a kick from living on the edge? [all links to images this time]
War - a horror and a nasty time for all. The number of dead Americans rise each day. They are bombed, burned and attacked from the dark. And they are desperate to stop it. But can they? Is it possible? The famed Col. Kurtz said it in Apocalypse Now; "Because they could stand that these were not monsters. These were men... trained cadres. ..... Because it's judgment that defeats us. " So - the Vietnam syndrome? Or the general trouble of beeing in effect an occupying force? When you fight for you country, on your soil - the willingness to give something above (or below) and beyond is so much stronger.
And there is Willards coment: "We cut 'em in half with a machine gun and give 'em a Band-Aid" and Kurtz view on proper style; "We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene! " There is no simple answer, no 2+2 = 4 solution to the problem.
For another take on the paths of the two young soldiers - check the independent "Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England: An American odyssey"
And the final quote - from the extended Redux version;
Willard: Who's in charge here?
Soldier: In charge? I don't know, man. I'm just doing what I'm told - I'm just a working girl
...and the sun is hot today and was great yesterday - summer is here...
Friday, May 7
"Everybody is looking out for themselves - I am the only one looking out for ME"
- does society still have an obligation, or an aspiration for that matter, to protect every memeber and give us all somethinig more than we get ourselves? Are we to busy looking out for number one (and our closest family or friends) to bother with the big picture?
Is it right when people retire at 67 (or 62, or 60 based on special deals made during the good years)? Should they be allowed to or rather forced to? Is it so wrong to want to work - when the slogan "it's not a job - it's a lifestyle" still rings in our ears? Certainly a large number of those on the sidelines of retirement would like to contribute, to solve problems and "add value"... but they can't - not if the companies keep focusing on cutting direct measurable costs, and if the government thinks that old people should sit somewhere and do handiicraft (maybe drinking a glass of red wine - if it is Saturday, that is).
There has been talk of "brain drain" [ref wired, guradian ...?] from low-cost countries, with for example nurses moving from Sweden to Norway to make more, or educated people in general fleeing Iran. But should we launch the term "age drain" or "knowledge loss" to describe the daily reduction of overall competence? When someone retires today at age 67, they probably started working around 1960 - and have been doing their job longer than the "new guy" has been alive... how does this affect us? The worst challenge is probably coming up in the universities. In some areas 75-100 % of the professors are over 55 - that means that in 10 years or less, the majority of established knowledge and experience will drift off, to sit in the sun in Spain and drink cheap red wine. So what to do?
Is it right when people retire at 67 (or 62, or 60 based on special deals made during the good years)? Should they be allowed to or rather forced to? Is it so wrong to want to work - when the slogan "it's not a job - it's a lifestyle" still rings in our ears? Certainly a large number of those on the sidelines of retirement would like to contribute, to solve problems and "add value"... but they can't - not if the companies keep focusing on cutting direct measurable costs, and if the government thinks that old people should sit somewhere and do handiicraft (maybe drinking a glass of red wine - if it is Saturday, that is).
There has been talk of "brain drain" [ref wired, guradian ...?] from low-cost countries, with for example nurses moving from Sweden to Norway to make more, or educated people in general fleeing Iran. But should we launch the term "age drain" or "knowledge loss" to describe the daily reduction of overall competence? When someone retires today at age 67, they probably started working around 1960 - and have been doing their job longer than the "new guy" has been alive... how does this affect us? The worst challenge is probably coming up in the universities. In some areas 75-100 % of the professors are over 55 - that means that in 10 years or less, the majority of established knowledge and experience will drift off, to sit in the sun in Spain and drink cheap red wine. So what to do?
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