Hard News: Off the back of the deck
185 Responses
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Oooo, Several Small Animals Grooving In a Cave With A Pict- I really must get out my ooollllldddd LPs and get'em into other formats...'and the wind cried Mary'-
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Almost Islander, its Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict One of the best song titles ever.
BTW why do you have to put two spaces after the italics __? I don't have that problem on other systems using <i></i>
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I find it meditative rather than melancholy
It's the repetitive circularity of the melody, exacerbated by the lyrics... it sounds like the beginnings of someone cracking up. Elegantly.
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Kia ora Peter - o dear. I love that track and - I forgot its real name. Senescense looms-
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why do you have to put two spaces after the italics
Peter, its a relatively new System glitch.
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grumpy conservative Paul Craig Roberts sums up Bush's subservience to the Israeli killing machine very succinctly:
Roberts quotes Olmert:
“Early Friday morning the secretary of state was considering bringing the cease-fire resolution to a UNSC vote and we didn’t want her to vote for it,” Olmert said. “I said ‘get President Bush on the phone.’ They tried and told me he was in the middle of a lecture in Philadelphia. I said ‘I’m not interested, I need to speak to him now.’ He got down from the podium, went out and took the phone call.”
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It appears that the IDF used white phosphorous in the attack on the UNHCR compound in Gaza.
If you're looking to accidentally burn down warehouses full of food and medicine, you couldn't pick a better munition.
The excuses so far have been: 1. it was a mistake, followed by 2. two Hamas fighters fired on our guys then fled into the compound, it's their fault.
Neither really washes. The degree of callousness here is astounding.
Gordon Brown has described the attack as "indefensible" ...
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The international Red Cross said Tuesday that Israel has fired white phosphorus shells in its offensive in the Gaza Strip, but has no evidence to suggest it is being used improperly or illegally.
The comments came after a human rights organization accused the Jewish state of using the incendiary agent, which ignites when it strikes the skin and burns straight through or until it is cut off from oxygen. It can cause
horrific injuries.The International Committee of the Red Cross urged Israel to exercise "extreme caution" in using the incendiary agent, which is used to illuminate targets
at night or create a smoke screen for day attacks, said Peter Herby, the head of the organization's mines-arms unit."In some of the strikes in Gaza it's pretty clear that phosphorus was used," Herby told The Associated Press. "But it's not very unusual to use phosphorus to create smoke or illuminate a target. We have no evidence to suggest it's being used in any other way."
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Who would have guessed that part of Radio New Zealand's public service mandate was to provide a home for more awesomely crapulous music that you could shake a colostomy bag at..
About 10 years ago, one insomniac night, I tuned in, and there was a kind of fore-runner to 'Matinee Idyll' playing - the 20 (or whatever) worst songs ever recorded.
It was where I first heard William Shatner's 'Mr Tamborine Man' - which I dreamed about last night.
Yes really.
I think it was the Parmesan On Vogels dinner I had.
Re: 'Windmills of Your Mind' - for years I thought it was a Leonard Cohen number.
Probably the best version though was this one:
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Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict - is great for bored little kids in the car - as is flying the helicopters from We don't need no education as loud as possible down low over the back seat ....
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The International Red Cross said Tuesday that Israel has fired white phosphorus shells in its offensive in the Gaza Strip, but has no evidence to suggest it is being used improperly or illegally.
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"In some of the strikes in Gaza it's pretty clear that phosphorus was used," Herby told The Associated Press. "But it's not very unusual to use phosphorus to create smoke or illuminate a target. We have no evidence to suggest it's being used in any other way."
Okay, I've been annoyed at the International Red Cross for a few of things they've said in the past, but this does put them up in my estimations. It may be that the IDF has broken the rules around its use, but they're not going to call it that without actually being satisfied. This is almightily even-handed, and especially so from an aid organisation.
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3410,
However, Herby said evidence is still limited because of the difficulties of gaining access to Gaza...
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Okay, I've been annoyed at the International Red Cross for a few of things they've said in the past, but this does put them up in my estimations. It may be that the IDF has broken the rules around its use, but they're not going to call it that without actually being satisfied. This is almightily even-handed, and especially so from an aid organisation.
The LA Times has a story describing one death and multiple burn injuries from what appears to be a WP attack. I'm not sure that "it was an accident" washes -- using WP over residential areas seems to involve an unacceptable degree of callousness to me.
A Wired backgrounder quotes Human Rights Watch as saying the use of WP "violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life."
It's not clear how robust the other reports of WP injuries are -- and of course, Israel won't let in intenational media or human rights observers to find that out.
But really, what has been done to the UNHCR compound is an outrage.
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using WP over residential areas seems to involve an unacceptable degree of callousness to me
Didn't that go out the window when the tanks rolled in, and then again when a school was bombed? I mean, I appreciate the egregiousness of this particular allegation, but surely we're talking degrees of callousness all of which are well beyond unacceptable?
I don't think there's much in the way of aesthetic brownie points in getting your war porn through a different channel.
Russell: can the fact that I'm not responding to this one count as an extenuating circumstance next time I tell Craig to jump into the nearest body of water at his disposal? Nearly made a vein pop there, I can produce a medical certificate to that effect.
Any film critic who includes a comment like this:
Ari Folman’s animated documentary – is that a first?
Isn't deserving of the name :-)
No, it is not the first.
There have been several animated documentaries, not least Disney's Victory Through Air Power. And if its live action segments take it out of the running, then why not Our Friend the Atom, or Of Stars and Men?
Sheesh... everyone's acrylic these days. Wait, did I say "acrylic"? I meant "a critic". Besides the quibbling on this small point (Bashir's claim is to be the first feature length animated documentary, but it's utterly beside the point) it's an extraordinary and timely and important film and people should go see it.
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The LA Times has a story describing one death and multiple burn injuries from what appears to be a WP attack. I'm not sure that "it was an accident" washes...
I wasn't trying to get into the debate over what happened, or whether it was illegal. It may well have been a deplorable war crime.
I was looking at a quoted statement of the International Red Cross, and remarking that it was nice that they hadn't jumped the gun - even if it was true, they hadn't seen evidence to know it was so said so.
I would at most have expected that if they hadn't the evidence to back up a claim, they'd just have said nothing. They didn't, and I thought it quite good of them. If they were now to come out and say there is sufficient evidence of use of white phosphorous that violated the laws of war, I'd be rather more inclined to believe them.
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I was looking at a quoted statement of the International Red Cross, and remarking that it was nice that they hadn't jumped the gun - even if it was true, they hadn't seen evidence to know it was so said so.
No, I got your point. I wasn't meaning to have a go at you.
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Russell: can the fact that I'm not responding to this one count as an extenuating circumstance next time I tell Craig to jump into the nearest body of water at his disposal? Nearly made a vein pop there, I can produce a medical certificate to that effect.
You'll have to work it out between yourselves. I'm going to the Big Day Out.
Byeee!!
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Besides the quibbling on this small point (Bashir's claim is to be the first feature length animated documentary, but it's utterly beside the point) it's an extraordinary and timely and important film and people should go see it.
I wasn't quibbling with Bashir's claim (though Victory Through Air Power is 70 minutes - just enough to have qualified it as feature-length animation for Academy purposes, easily long enough for feature-length film).
I was quibbling with Philip neither knowing nor taking to time to check - he wasn't repeating a claim made about Bashir - something that would have been entirely reasonable - he was just guessing. There is a wikipedia page title 'Animated documentary'...
[I also didn't appear to have the option of leaving a comment there, which I tried to do before heading back here to make it]
One of my bug-bears is people who forget (or ignore or never knew) history. Particularly when they should know better (sports commentators about sport - best ever this or that; film critics and film, etc.) Plus, Victory Through Air Power is great. And this was my opportunity to suggest it to everyone!
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You'll have to work it out between yourselves. I'm going to the Big Day Out.
Byeee!!
Have a nice day, and don't worry about. Giovanni and I have a very strong difference of opinion, and we're going to deal with it without Cronenberg-ish cranial splatter all over the virtual carpet -- must be one of those days that ends with a Y. :)
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You'll have to work it out between yourselves. I'm going to the Big Day Out.
Byeee!!
The moderator is gone. Let's trash this joint - who's with me?
I was quibbling with Philip neither knowing nor taking to time to check
Not his day job at this point, one would have to say (and oh so regrettably, as I have had cause to lament on these very pages). I do like his blog a lot, although admittedly he had me at Pasolini. Cultural chauvinist that I am.
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The moderator is gone. Let's trash this joint - who's with me?
You'd be setting a great example by settling things out in the middle of the Negev. Minimise civilian casualties & all, y'know.
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although admittedly he had me at Pasolini. Cultural chauvinist that I am.
See, Passolini I just don't get -- though 'Salo' would be a pretty tough entry point for anyone. To be fair, it took me a long time to get Fellini and read Visconti as anything more than yummy eye-candy. So I'm quite willing to admit my dislike of Pier Paolo may be down more to a deficiency in my understanding (or even that the strong element of Épater la bourgeoisie is less shocking in our more libertine age, which mightn't be a good thing for art), than any lack of merit in the work itself.
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See, Passolini I just don't get -- though 'Salo' would be a pretty tough entry point for anyone.
What can I say? I'm a fan, and will in time bore to tears anybody who might be foolish enough to come within a fathom of my blog on the subject of his nostalgia for the pre-industrial era and childhood spent in rural Friuli read against his later life and writings in the slums of Rome.
Salò is an uncompromising and difficult film, of its time to an extent but also timeless, and a lot more so for Italians who so desperately need to be reminded of certain things. Not the easiest of entry points, though, I agree - you might find more joy in The Gospel According to St Matthew, Hawks and Sparrows or The Canterbury Tales. Or any of his poetry, if translated.
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There is terrific Italian film of the last decade that I would urge people to see, Moretti's Dear Diary. It's an oddly disjointed multi-episode affair - at times comedic, at times dramatic, at times elegiac, at times documentary - with at least one moment of high cinema: the end of the first episode, in which Moretti travels on his Vespa to the spot where they murdered Pasolini.
(Available at Aro Video in Wellington and at comparably furnished video stores nationwide, with subtitles naturally.)
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But you sat through the season of dreary German films on the profound theme of the general suck-i-tude of being a woman?
Heh. I was less than impressed by that lot myself. Although I must disagree on Antonioni - I've seen three of his films now and loved them all. That meditative quality with all those long shots is really appealing to me. Plus: ridiculous hippies shagging uncomfortably in the desert and big explosions in Zabriskie Point! What's not to like?
It now occurs to me that I have spent a lot of time over the last year sitting in a dark room with Craig, all unawares. Weird.
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