Collected posts from the various blogs I’ve contributed to since 2002.
As my move to the US comes closer, Kari and I have been working through our CD collections to eliminate duplicates. As a result we have a few for sale. Let us know if you’re interested.
It’s good to know that the US administration is keeping close tabs on me. Two days before I headed stateside, the alert level was raised to Orange [the second-highest level, as we were repeatedly informed]. Today, as I arrived back in the UK, it returned to Yellow. Time to heave a sigh of relief for the threat of James has passed. Or something like that. Given that the alert level was still at Orange at the time, I was a little puzzled to find that no photo ID was needed in order to board my flight from Chicago to Cincinnati. Perhaps Homeland Security need reminding that the most devastating terrorist attacks in US history occurred as a result of the hijacking of domestic flights? ...
The capture of Saddam Hussein is, as has already been stated many times this morning, a surprising development. Not quite what I expected to hear of as I sat down with my cereal to browse the morning’s news. It’s probably good news, too. Whether it will lead to a cessation of hostilities remains to be seen. It is certainly a slightly more plausible reason to declare the war over than we have previously been offered, but Hussein was not the lone commander of remaining forces and a country under occupation is unlikely to roll over entirely, particularly when supplies of its most common natural resource are being rationed to its own people. ...
“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? ...