Collected posts from the various blogs I’ve contributed to since 2002.
“Your search query for ‘The Flames of Hell’ did not return any results. Please modify your search query and try again.” *phew* [all translations search at www.crosswalk.com]
Sometimes a director can come along and catch you out with a wonderfully surprising film. Despite the recent success of Iranian cinema, that’s what Samira Makhmalbaf managed to do to me with the marvellous Blackboards. I guess that’s why I’m so pleased to see her featured in the Guardian’s 40 best directors feature. Generally it’s a good list. I’m not sure that after the travesty that is their latest work I’d put the Wachowskis in there, but perhaps if I’d stuck with the first film in isolation I’d be better able to think about the effect they’ve had on the industry. Somewhat surprised to see the name Coppola missing too, but what would one of these lists be if it didn’t leave us wondering why certain names were missing? ...
The ivory tower of academia has never really existed. As long as there have been institutions of learning, there have been political pressures on them. Want to ensure a subject is studied? Pay to employ a Chair in that discipline. In England today, HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council For England) applies a number of criteria to the funding it provides to HE institutions. The government’s widening participation agenda is a key example, as is the notion of quality assurance. Institutions who do not buy into those agendas will lose out on funding. In the USA, most institutions have a much lesser reliance on government funding, but federal funds still carry some weight. In a cash-strapped sector, any income is important income. ...
Dear Mr. Bush, With reference to your speech on Thursday, I felt there were two observations you might like to note: Iran has a directly elected democratic assembly Women do not have the right to vote in Kuwait Selectively chosen, it’s true. But we all play that game. yours? James.
A little time to catch up with the news never seems to be time wasted. In the absence of anything else to say I thought I’d share my favourite stories from BBCi today. There have been some good ones: li { padding-bottom: 8px; } .contentlist { list-style: none; margin-left: 30px; } “The US-appointed governor of Iraq’s holy Shia city of Najaf, Haydar Abdul Munim, has been jailed for 14 years on charges of corruption, extortion and false imprisonment.” “A man who was imprisoned by the US military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is suing the Pakistani and US governments for damages worth over $10m” An attempt by America’s National Rifle Association (NRA) to “out” Hollywood stars who support gun control appears to have backfired. The NRA published on its website a blacklist of famous people who are opposed to certain forms of gun ownership. But after news of the list leaked out, thousands of Americans have asked to be added to those of the stars. More on that last one at nrablacklist.com. If you have speakers, make sure they’re on. ...
I’ve been trying to find a link for this, and not succeeding. So much as it irks me it will have to be without reference that I refer to Paul Wolfowitz’s comments that the recent spate of bombings in Iraq could be directly attributed to Saddam Hussein and his cohort. That those comments were made publicly is intriguing. The party line has been that these attacks are being not only carried out, but also co-ordinated by ‘foreign fighters’, extra-nationals who are taking advantage of the situation to work out their aggressive feelings towards the western world. If that is the case, it is entirely possible to pass the bombings off as acts of terrorism. ...
So I’ve been thinking a little bit about this leadership race in the Tory party. When they started talking about it, the language all seemed very familiar. Uniting behind one [white, male, middle/upper-class] figure (whether they like him or not), talking about the need for unity and thereby sidestepping an open election. And then I realised what it reminded me of. University Christian Unions. Or at least those affiliated to UCCF. Perhaps the Tories have been reading this article? Or perhaps it happened the other way around, some years ago? ...
What’s the worst way to bluff, and pretend you have something? Could it be insisting you don’t? That appears to be what Saddam Hussein is being accused of, at least according to this BBC report: “Saddam Hussein may have been pretending to possess weapons of mass destruction, the US Congress is expected to be told by the man in charge of the US-led hunt for Iraqi weapons.” Please remind me, how exactly is that meant to work? Surely we’re not meant to believe he’s quite that stupid. Just because one head of state is, doesn’t mean they all are, surely? ...
Arriving in Copenhagen, on my way between visiting Kari {we had a great time, thanks for asking} and arriving back in the UK, I was surprised by the news that the airport had been closed due to a power failure. Sitting in the darkened departure lounge, surrounded by others whose flights had also been cancelled, I gathered that half of Denmark and Sweden had been affected. My mind of course turned to the recent outages in London and further back to the rolling blackouts in California which we all laughed so much at. ...
It’s amazing what you can learn from “the nation”’s favourite drug. After watching some of the Today Show and then a little news from the WTO ministerial on a mexican news network, I switched to an unnamed network to see the familiar sight of a preacher in full flow. It’s amazing what you can learn. Today I discovered that I am, in fact, a worshipper of Ba’al. You see, from time to time I’ve been known to slip the odd feminine pronoun into discussions of God. But now I have been convicted. I have discovered that that is a sure sign of just one thing: Ba’al worship. ...