Bless you my child...
I can hardly wait to get my new red hat !!!
(a) Dick Cheney
(b) Donald Rumsfeld
(c) Charles Graner
(d) George W. Bush
(e) none of the above
there is a reason why The Pentagon screened The battle of Algiers in 2003. the flyer for the screening read:
Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range.
Women plant bombs in cafes.
Soon the entire Arab population builds to a mad fervor.
Sound familiar? The French have a plan. It succeeds tactically, but fails strategically.
To understand why, come to a rare showing of this film."
commissioned by the Algerian government, based on the memoirs of one of the rebel leaders, directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, scored by Ennio Morricone, The battle of Algiers is a riveting film.
the movie chronicles the uprising of the Casbah, an episode in the Algerian war of independence. the uprising uses urban guerrilla tactics against the French authorities
the local police is overwhelmed. soon, a battalion of French paratroopers arrive in Algiers with a plan and a strategy
I don't often talk about movie 'extras', but I'll make an exception for this movie. The Criterion release of Battle of Algiers consists of three discs: the movie is in the first one, the second has a long interview with director Pontecorvo and technical details of the film, the third goes into questions of warfare and national security. all three discs are must-watch.
I should have done more animal posts. Oh well, there's always next year. It was a bit weird to be posting every day. I used to do it all the time, even several posts a day. I guess I've just been in the low part of the posting cycle for an extended period of time this time until NaBlo came around again.
Anyway, congrats to all who made it through. Go us!
Now I'm off to study. And get something to eat. And study. Tick tock, tick tock.
I leave you with today's superpoop. Go ahead and click on it - it's the funneh.
An excerpt from Awful library books
Canada
Young Giant of the North
Leitch
1964I was so excited to learn about our neighbor to the north. This was definitely written for an American audience. Toward the end was a nice historical timeline comparing Canada and the US. Too bad it didn’t get past the early 1960’s. I also loved a whole chapter dedicated to these mysterious Canadians. For those of you unfamiliar with our friends in Canada, here are some pictures of typical Canadians. Did you know that Santa is actually from Canada?
It's a bright Autumn morning in the small town of Chester's Mill. Claudette Sanders is having a flying lesson and Dale Barbara is hitching a ride out of town. Neither make it to their destination...
Inexplicably, an invisible barrier had descended over the town. a woodchuck is chopped right in half; a gardener's hand is severed at the wrist; the plane explodes and Dale Barbara, Iraq war vet turned short-order cook, is forced to turn back into the town he so desperately needed to leave
As the residents speculate about what has cut them off from the rest of the world, the Army searches for an inside man. "Barbie" is put in charge. But Big Jim Rennie, the mad who holds the town in his powerful grip, has other plans. And the Dome could just be the answer to his political prayers.
As food, electricity and water run short and children start to have premonitions of a terrifying Halloween, Barbie is forced to take on Big Jim, and his renegade supporters. Now time is running out for those under the Dome. Can they find out what has created in before it's too late?
Stephen King's mesmerizing new masterpiece - his biggest, most riveting novel since The Stand - features spectacularly sinister characters and a terrifying phenomenon. Under the Dome is a high-octane thriller, an apocalyptic vision and a fascinating allegory on a tyrannical state of political darkness.
Loved it. It is mesmerizing, it is big and, after an initial hiccup a little way in, it is riveting. The speed of moral decay is frightening and the division between Law and Order scary beyond measure. Buy it. Borrow it from the library or a friend (I'm in Harrow, if you wanna borrow my copy) - whatever. Just read it. It is good.
Here's a little surprise from "surprised kitty"
You're welcome.
Or maybe not.
Was Thanksgiving really just a few days ago? Wow. It's a distant and faint memory to me now. I think I'm losing my mind a little bit, but not as much as Memory Man from Friday. That seems like it happened forever ago, too. I'm not sure if that means I actually have punched through the space-time continuum, one of my life dreams, but it works for me.
I didn't get much of anything done this weekend but I had a good time. 'Sall good.
I forgot to pack my lunch today which ended up being fine because I also forgot I have a lunch meeting. Good thing he called to confirm. See - life works itself out on its own without my need to fret over it.
Here's another example of how time and the universe like to work in harmony for our benefit. This ad featuring Tiger Woods ran in today's WSJ.
Later, gators!
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