Before you click on these web pages, I would like to say that I have a dream to one day travel to Alaska and my Dad and I have always talked about the ultimate guy road trips, driving the AlCan Highway. I’m more than likely going to be able to make it to Alaska some day. Not so sure about the road trip. But to get up to Alaska and see some of the untouched wilderness (or perhaps the not quite as touched as the lower 48 wilderness) because I have heard nothing but good things about the mountains and glaciers and national parks of Alaska.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1839724,00.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-03-22-earmarks_N.htm

but anyway, I wanted to write briefly about the rugged frontier spirit of Alaska. I am sure that it is there, unless you live in a major city. You probably have to be rugged and used to harsh conditions, or at least more harsh than most people are used to way down here in the south. But I am not quite sure what Sarah Palin is talking about. It seems that they get an awful lot of federal money (per capita). More than any other state in the union. I think I have heard that the cost of living is very high, so maybe that is one reason for the abundance of federal dollars. Hawaii also has a high cost of living (and they are number 2 in per capita receipt of federal money by the way) but Alaska still gets 4 times more money than the number 2 spot. I wonder how long they have been receiving this largess. I wonder if it has something to do with having senators that are very senior. Gosh, I wonder how much longer the lower 48 east coast big city lovin’ small town hatin’ liberal godless elites will want their tax dollars to kept headin’ North, to Alaska.

I guess my final points are: if your state receives a large amount of money from Uncle Sugar, can you really claim to be a role model for rugged individualism and going it alone frontier spirit? Since this money comes from the lower 48, should you really be preaching to them about pork barrel spending and big government?

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Source: UN

Sam, the primary principle, implies the use of rationalization but if this technique does not work then the second implement is Kam i.e. bribery. If this does not produce the desired result, then the tertiary principle is Dand or the vehement use of violence. If all three fail then the last machination is Bheet or sowing seeds of dissension and discord.

[...]

Indian's 50-year old history clearly illustrates the insidious use of the above mentioned principles of Sam, Kam, Dand and Bheet to outwit its ethnic minorities and ward off every crisis.

[...]

The Arthashastra gives us valuable clues to their political aspirations. We see that the Indians have in a typical Chanakyan manner, canonized their Kautilya. The Diplomatic Enclave of their capital city is named Chanakyapuri.

Read the full article from the archives of the Pakistani Defence Journal, written by one Group captain Sultan M Hali.

Thanks to Aman Bharti for the link.

I possess what can only be described as a raging huge mega-boner over French horror films, as they have consistently ranked among some of the most well-executed, terrifying, and beautiful films to represent the severely under-appreciated genre, so when I heard that a French film crept into the line-up at the 2007 HorrorFest, I shit myself in excitement. Of course, as this was originally an "8 Films to Die For" release (it was pulled from the line-up due to the MPAA being whiny ass faces and rating it NC-17), my expectations weren't too high, as Wicked Little Things was the only film I had seen from that year, and that movie made me so angry I punched a kitten.*

Frontier(s) follows a simple premise: a group of amateur thieves flee Paris after riots break out and get held up at a small inn owned by less than reputable characters. Their plans of a quiet night away from authorities changes course when their hosts reveal themselves to be neo-Nazi with both a taste for human flesh and the theatrical. What follows is a brilliantly crafted thriller that transcends your stereotypical gore-fest into a horror film that will go down in the annals of history as that one French horror film of 2007/8 that wasn't À l'intérieur.

This film contains a number of homages to classic and contemporary horror films, used against them in the guise of unoriginality. All Movie lists its primary influence as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a claim given credence toward the end of the film with the dinner scene, which features the twisted cannibalistic Von Geisler family discussing Yasmina's new role as the "brood mare" to their Master Race. Though glaring in its influence, it remains one of the most tense scenes I have ever seen, due in no small part to the phenomenal soundtrack that accompanies it and the stellar and incredibly disturbing portrayal of Le Von Geisler, the twisted leader and father of the pack, by French actor Jean-Pierre Jorris.

Another scene features an Achilles tendon snipped by a pair of shears, itself reminiscent of Hostel and no doubt appropriate, as the film displays many characteristics of torture porn. Though a good, solid portion of the film features scenes such as this, I would be hesitant to lump it into this category as it was entirely secondary to the story and only served to illuminate the perversity and sadistic nature of the Von Geisler family. Additionally, the scenes are brief, and no more twisted than anything found in Hostel and its ilk, which makes me wonder why the film was rated NC-17 in the first place. It could have been the allusions of underage rape, or it could have been the thematic elements (Nazis are always a touchy subject, especially when they eat human flesh). Whatever the case may be, in the end the scenes of torture and gore aren't entirely necessary, and I felt they some of them could be eliminated, or at the very least toned down. It does remain a testament to the film, though, that after viewing the film over a month ago, the acting, story, cinematography, and incredibly bad ass fucking score come to mind well before the blood and guts and various grotesqueries.

It pains me to see a movie I love so much be so critically derided, but I guess it comes with the territory. The influx of films that fall under the umbrella of torture porn seems to make ANY portrayal of torture and violence anathema, and the few reviews present on sites such as MetaCritic reflect this. Its perceived unoriginality serves as major fodder for these reviews as well, as much of what is presented is gleaned from other films (see above) and typical horror film tropes. While this does detract from the film in one way or another, I don't think it deserves immediate dismissal as a result, as I personally believe any idea, no matter how unoriginal or outlandish it may be, can be done well. This goes double for horror films, where the employment of various techniques can take the focus off a bad script and scare the shit out you. In the end, however, the only reviews that matter come from the real horror fans, and this film has received rave reviews across the board from those rare individuals who are sick and twisted enough to love horror more than anything in the world. Like myself.

My love of this film might seem hypocritical of me, what with my unabashed and often overtly discussed disdain of torture porn (remember: they are to be enjoyed, but not appreciated), but one only has to view Frontier(s) to understand where I'm coming from. While my cynicism prevents me from taking a leap of faith and saying that horror movies are on the rebound (some really good flicks have started coming out and are actually receiving attention), it does not prevent me from saying that the French are now the undisputed kings of horror. It is a superb film, yet not without its flaws, but they're so minor that they don't take away from the viewing experience. Highly recommended.

*It was an ugly kitten, don't worry.

Gênero: Suspense/Terror

Direção: Xavier Gens

Elenco: Karina Testa, Samuel Le Bihan, Aurélien Wiik

Duração: NF

Sinopse: Uma garota fica grávida e não quer contar para seus pais. Assim, para esconder sua situação, decide realizar um aborto. Sem dinheiro, é ajudada por um grupo de amigos, que começa a roubar os recursos necessários para que ela pratique a cirurgia. Assim, decidem partir para a Holanda a fim de cumprirem seu objetivo. No caminho, perseguidos pela polícia, os jovens acabam se refugiando em um terreno de mineração improdutivo onde descobrem que estão cercados pelo pior inimigo que poderiam imaginar: um grupo de neonazistas canibais.

Distribuidora: California

Classificação: ainda não desenvolvida.

Opinião: ainda não desenvolvida.

Horror movies these days take what we grew up on in the eighties / 90s and slaps them around the face.  They go for the jugular, and are on a whole a lot nastier and more ferocious than ever.  Take the Saw franchise, the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hostel 2 for example and we are living in an age, where almost anything goes.  Now thats either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you feel towards extreme cinema.

This stylish French take on the recent uprising or 'torture porn' as labelled by critics these days, follows in the wake of that other French treat Switchblade Romance (aka Haute Tension) and gives us a movie that pulls no punches.  Xavier (Hitman) Genz' film follows a group of friends (3 guys and a girl) who after escaping riots during a political uprising in what appears to be a near-future Paris, they take refuge in a local Hostel that turns out to be run by a family of degenerate Nazi serial killers.

Although the opening act kind of gives you the feeling of a very different film, this is similar to Texas Chainsaw and Hostel where at first unassuming strangers turn out to be psychotic nutcases, and it all about who will survive to face the end credits.  Like Switchblade this wallows excessively in the nasty stuff, with some stand-out blood soaked killings, helped by some good atmosphere and build up and genuinely scary villains (especially the Nazi father).  The story seems also to have a lot more detail to it than similar fair, with some real depth to the characters, especially the villains, although little light is shed on the rioting and the main heroic characters backgrounds - resulting in little care or understanding for their situation.

Still, this is a horror movie that truly shows how far such material can be pushed, and you wont come away without feeling more than a little shaken.  Quality carnage.

Verdict: 4 /5

Our psycho-social existence has been very much attuned to boundaries and differences within and without: Not only do we have the physical boundary of the skin which separates our interior from the exterior, but also have we built virtual frontiers of our consciences within as well as non-virtual barriers without ourselves.

Internal barriers

Inconsistencies of the “voice within” might lead to emotional difficulties, which are known to put our internal unity asunder. The effects range over many shades from discomfort or non-productivity to aggression, which are further reflected to our environment in so contradictory forms like remorse, fear, violence or rectitude and integrity.

In the same way, personality conflicts, whose causes and courses are as well multiple, not only lead to a swanking of humours – from melancholic to sanguine, choleric to phlegmatic as defined by the ancient Hippocratic school – but might express themselves further as frustration and intimidation. This thus can cause a personality complex of the napoleonic order, as viewed by Alfred Adler or of the narcissistic order, as defined by Erich Fromm or Sigmund Freud.

These internal conflicts culminate in confrontations within the faculty that distinguishes whether our actions are right or wrong – the human conscience – and thus to other grave consequences that might build a bridge to external barriers like aggression or segregation issues.

External barriers

Apart from building boundaries between countries, tribes and races, we misuse the internal difficulties and conflicts of our conscience as masks to justify our prejudices and misconceptions. As much as Iuvenalis’ “Mens sana in corpore sano” is of validity, so accordingly is “an unhealthy esprit in an unhealthy body” valid and in a global context “unhealthy conflicts of the conscience result in an unhealthy environment”. This resonates in the immediate environment as frontiers of all kinds: Ideological debates about Muslim women wearing headscarves or not, if Africans rob Germans of their jobs and women, if all Arabs are sympathizers of Al-Qaida, if Poles rob Germans of their cars and jobs, if juvenile delinquent Germans of foreign origin should be deported, if the “black sheep” in Switzerland are responsible for >70% of rapes and other criminal offences, if some human beings are superior to others just because of the colour of their skin?

These are just a few of these external barriers that arise from our deep-rooted inner disruption and prejudices.

Conscience in Arts, Frontiers of Arts

Artists of all times have thematized human conscience and the frontiers it poses, being it allegorical, emblematic or symbolical depictions of a personified Conscientia, or - more prevalent - the depiction of related moral faculties, like Justitia or virtues and vice, as well as metaphorical narrations of situations when conscience decisions have to be made. For example, the “Hercules at the crossroads” who, having to choose between a comfortable and seducing life or a virtuous, yet a life of labours, opts for the “arête” and honour. Such is the case with the numerous confrontations of a life in virtue versus a life in vice established in Christian iconography.

Maybe even more extensive are the art works that where created out of artistic conscience – they do not thematize the human conscience itself but rather show its consequences. Artists have always used arts possibilities/power to document, comment, criticise political and social circumstances. Most famous are Francisco de Goya’s “Disasters of War”, a still staggering comment on the Napoleonic wars on the Spanish peninsula. In the 1920s, artists like George Grosz or Otto Dix chose a veristic approach to the state of their time, suffering from the aftermath of WW I.

Of course, contemporary artists, too, have created striking comments on the circumstances of their world, such as Daniel Richter’s “Tarifa” paintings or Romuald Hazoumé’s “Dream” presented on the last Documenta XII. Both works also touch on the theme of frontiers. Richter depicts, sublimely or even ghostly, boatpeople trying to leave Africa in the hopeful search for a better life in Europe. Hazoumé’s installation of a boat made of plastic canisters points to the fate of refugees, in a more subtle way, but is also a comment to the many slave ships that raided the shores of Africa.

The omnipresent social differences are still a vital topic in contemporary art. Tuca Vieira’s remarkable photography of São Paulo, showing a ghetto and a rich quarter literally wall to wall, is of symbolic character – the dividing force of a simple wall could hardly be more striking. In a similar way, Yishay Garbasz’s photos of “The Fence” portray the reality of the Israelian-Palestinian barricade with its human and economic consequences.

Manifestations of frontiers, like the named walls, provoke arts’ reactions. The graffitis on the left-over of the Berlin wall are still an impressive evidence of Germany’s recent past. In a similar way, yet of more disturbing actuality, Banksy’s wall paintings on the Israeli Wall try a picturesque break through the concrete.

Painting on-site locations, street artists like Jean Michel Basquiat, Blek le Rat or Banksy have also broken one of the most elemental frontiers painters experience: the limitations posed by their material and painting ground. Some artists of the 20^th century had already reacted on this, in abstaining from the traditional frame, the visible frontier between painting and surroundings. In this spirit, Lucio Fontana, for example, literally cut through the canvas’ limitations with his “Concetti Spaziali”.

Aim of exhibition

The group exhibition Consciences and Frontiers is a part of an exhibition tryptich based on the complex topic of the human being and the world as his/her home. This multi-facetted thematic, which was opened with the exposition This world is not my home, Kunsthaus Tacheles Berlin and ranges through Settled Nomads to Consciences and Frontiers, is not intended to provide answers to our worldly circumstances but grant a forum or stage for reflection and debate about important issues that, due to our daily routine and their omnipresence, have sunken into the mediocracy of normality. The aim of this group exposition is to challenge national and international artists to articulate themselves on issues concerning the yawning gap between our conscience and our frontiers as well as the barriers within and without ourselves.

In this light, the chosen artists are invited to produce new works for the exposition based on the concept of the exposition but also planted on their diverse nationalities, cultures and positions. Of great importance is the representation of the numerous media in art, including painting, photography, installation, performance, street-art and video art. The conception of art as a language and the perception that in the multiplicity or diversity of its forms and nature there will be a higher probability of building a bridge of communication between the artists’ positions in their art and the audience.

The spatiotemporal emphasis of this exhibition trilogy as well as the artists’ rotation is meant to obtain different space- and ideology-specific perspectives for the expositions. While a few artists feature throughout the trilogy, new artists are brought on board to pick-up, re-pose, refresh as well as rephrase questions posed in the previous expositions. Furthermore, the interaction between the works and the audience in different contextual spaces and cities is expected to tickle a new dynamic and communication.

In their search for a new lead singer, the members of the current Steve Perry–less Journey extended an offer to Jeremey Hunsicker, frontman of Journey tribute band Frontiers. Despite being praised by Neal Schon as a dead ringer for Steve Perry, Hunsicker turned down the offer from his idols in order to be a dad. Which is admirable on a whole lot of levels. When fronting a tribute band, if you can say that you rebuffed an offer from the band to which you pay tribute (and be able to credibly laugh off that Filipino YouTube guy who finally got the gig) … well, that’s a kick in the pants, innit? Hunsicker somehow got a writing credit on the real Journey’s new Wal-Mart-only album, but he gets far more enjoyment out of filling clubs with his sound-alike (if not look-alike) act. In a twisted way, that may make Frontiers the coolest cover band around.

First appeared July 9, 2008 in Orlando Weekly.

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In places of conflict, it is important that we stand up to what are called 'human rights violations' - violence against innocent people who might not be representing either the State or the Terorrist, for individuals who see their lives as being more than just one of the two elements of a binary. But even more steadfastly should we stand up to protest intimidation, coercion and violence against the very defenders of human rights, individuals who spend their time and often their lives standing up for the ordinary citizen.

The Indian media and civil society generaly do take note, if only in passing, of such attacks on human rights actvists. So while many have suffered the fate of Binayak Sen in Chattisgarh, Sen's story has got some attention partly because he was responsible for bringing out the stories of those many people, because the doctor was a PUCL activist.

But when it comes to Kashmir, the Delhi media usually has silence to offer: it is a conspiracy of silence that seeks to mainatin the great consensus of not seeing Kashmir from any perspective but the one that makes the Valley an Integral Part of India. The Integral Part rhetoric is so deeply ingrained in most journalists and editors that they are loathe to even take note that most residents of this Integral Part see themselves as being chained to a body they don't belong to.

The greatest casualty of the media's decision to align itself with the establishment on the 'question'/'dispute'/'issue' of Kashmir is the truth about human rights. A free, liberal press should by now have exposed each and every unaccounted, secret, unnamed grave in Kashmir, which the security establishment claims are of foreign militants killed in encounters, but locals say they are of innocent individuals who just 'disappeared', and, in custodial death, won some soldier a bravery medal, some cash reward or a promotion. Or just the kick of killing someone from a place whose people don't see themselves as part of India.

Having failed to look beyond the vale in Kashmir, the least that the Indian media could do is take note of those who are finding such graves, documenting them despite being trailed and intimidated by the security establishment which does not want the buried secrets out. In the big black mark on democracy and freedom, a small dot is the Delhi press' failure to take note of the recent incident at the house of human rights advocate Parvez Imroz.

Imroz is a member of the Jammu & Kashmir Coalition for Civil Society which is involved in the International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice, which is conducting what its name suggests in the Indian part of kashmir. Their work has just begun, and the report they brought out on 900 unaccounted graves they have documented from just two districts - Baramulla and Kupwara - was not taken note of by most of the Delhi media. 29 skeleteons in Noida's Nithari village had the Delhi media on edge for two months, but 900 unknown graves in Kashmir didn't merit a mention. Some lives are more important than others; it depends on whether you died for sex or organ trade or for national integration.

One of the Tribunal's members, Angana Chatterji, writes:

Dirt, rubble, thick grass, hillside and flatland, crowded with graves. Signifiers of military and paramilitary terror, masked from the world. Constructed by institutions of state to conceal massacre. Placed next to homes, fields, schools, an army practise range. Unknown, unmarked. Over 940 graves in a segment of Baramulla district alone. Some containing more than one cadaver. Dug by locals, coerced by the police, on village land. Bodies dragged through the night, some tortured, burnt, desecrated. Circulating mythology claims these graves uniformly house 'foreign militants'. Exhumation and identification have not occurred in most cases. When undertaken, in sizable instances, records prove the dead to be local people, ordinary citizens, killed in fake encounters. In instances where bodies have been identified as local, non-militant and militant, it demystifies state rhetoric that rumours these persons to be 'foreign militants', propagating misrepresentation that the demand for self-determination is prevailingly external. Mourned, cared for, by locals, as 'farz'/duty, as part of an obligation, stated repeatedly, to 'azadi'. 'Azadi'/freedom to determine self and future. [Full article on the tribunal website - PDF] [Reproduced in Etalaat]

The eloquence of the first paragraph betrays the matter-of-fact way in which the tribunals' discovery of the mass graves is narrated. Much the same way as Kashmir's touristy beauty hides the pain of an eternirty of 'conflict'.

Chatterji also writes about being trailed and intimidated for this work:

On 04 July, sitting on a plane at Delhi International Airport, waiting to take-off, I received a phone call on my India mobile, caller 'Unknown': "Madam, we know you're leaving. Think wisely before coming back".

And the actualisation of such threats for other members of the tribunal:

On 01 July, we met at Khurram Parvez's home before addressing a press conference. Outside, jeeps with plainclothes men continued their observation, accompanied by a jeep with armed men in uniform. Later, Advocate Imroz, Khurram Parvez, Advocate Mihir Desai, and I went to the police station to lodge a First Information Report. We were not permitted to do so. For security reasons, Parvez Imroz is not staying at home. Khurram Parvez remains under surveillance. I must allow for distance before revisiting the graves.

And that this is nothing new:

Advocate Imroz, Khurram Parvez, other members of the Tribunal team, have long experienced injustices for their extraordinary work as human rights defenders. A lauded human rights lawyer, Parvez Imroz has survived two, now three, assassination attempts, the first from militants. Since 2005, his passport has been denied. Khurram Parvez lost his leg in a landmine incident. Gautam Navlakha and Zahir-Ud-Din have been intimidated and threatened, as has Mihir Desai, in their larger work.

And how it is not just the security establishment that threatens them:

It is noteworthy that the Government of India is adding intimidation to the death and rape threats delivered me by Hindu extremists for human rights work.

The Tribunal's mandate is simple:

Its mandate, in documenting Kashmir's present, is to chronicle the fabric of militarisation, status of human rights, and legal, political, militaristic 'states of exception'. The Tribunal's work will continue through the coming months.

By just talking to people, such are the oral histories that the Tribunal seems to be documenting, just like the 68,000 patients who visited a single psychiatric hospital last year in Srinagar to ask how they could live with the unspeakable stories of their own lives.

Torture survivors, non-militants and former militants, that I met with testified to the sadism of the forces. Reportedly, a man, hung upside down, had petrol injected through his anus. Water-boarding, mutilation, rape of women, children, and men, starvation, psychological torture. Brutalised, 'healed', to be brutalised again. An eagle tattoo on the arm of a man was reportedly identified by an army officer as a symbol of Pakistan-held Azad Kashmir, even as the man clarified the tattoo was from his childhood. The skin containing it was burned. The officer, the man stated, said: "When you look at this, think of azadi". A mother, reportedly asked to watch her daughter's rape by army personnel, pleaded for her release. They refused. She pleaded that she could not watch, asking to be sent out of the room or be killed. We were told that the soldier pointed a gun to her forehead, stating he would grant her wish, and shot her before they proceeded to rape the daughter. We also spoke with persons violated by militants.

The solidarity that the tribunal has won from the people in Kashmir is unsurprising, but it is disturbing to think the the number of people outside Kashmir who empathise with a project like this can be counted in one hand.

When she writes, "Each life in Kashmir has a story to tell," you wonder why nobody is telling these stories, why some stories must remain untold, like a patient who does not want to know of gangrene in an integral part of his body.

You cannot but agree with her when she writes, "The work of the Tribunal is an act of conscience and accountability, fraught with the charge of complex and violent histories."The word conscience in the midst of the restrained academic prose evokes guilt. It asks the gatekeepers of national integration, jinhe naz hain hind par woh kahan hain?

"สวช.จะเซ็นเซอร์แบบกัลยาณมิตร ยึดผลประโยชน์ของผู้รับสื่อเป็นหลัก และไม่ลืมคำนึงถึงผู้สร้างด้วย"

ปรีชา กันธียะ เลขาธิการ สวช. ให้สัมภาษณ์เมื่อวันที่ 16 มิถุนายน 2551

ดังที่ทุกท่านได้ทราบ หรือบางท่านอาจจะยังไม่ทราบ ว่าในขณะนี้ ภารกิจในการตรวจพิจารณาภาพยนตร์ฉายในโรง ได้ตกเป็นของสำนักงานคณะกรรมการวัฒนธรรมแห่งชาติ กระทรวงวัฒนธรรม ซึ่งค่ายหนังทุกค่ายจะต้องส่งหนังเพื่อทำการเซ็นเซอร์ ที่หน่วยงานสำนักภาพยนตร์และวีดิทัศน์ ซึ่งตั้งอยู่ในบริเวณของ ศูนย์วัฒนธรรมแห่งประเทศไทย

ขณะนี้ การดำเนินการได้เริ่มต้นมาพักหนึ่งแล้ว โดยแม้ว่าตามพระราชบัญญัติภาพยนตร์และวีดิทัศน์ พ.ศ. 2551 จะระบุว่า

"ในการตรวจพิจารณาภาพยนตร์ตามมาตรา 25 ให้คณะกรรมการพิจารณาภาพยนตร์และวีดิทัศน์กำหนดด้วยว่าภาพยนตร์ดังกล่าวจัดอยู่ในประเภทใด ดังต่อไปนี้"

แม้กฎหมายจะเขียนเอาไว้เช่นนี้ แต่เนื่องจากในขณะนี้ ทางกระทรวงวัฒนธรรมอ้างว่า กฎกระทรวงที่ใช้ในการจัดเรตติ้งภาพยนตร์ยังไม่ได้ส่งให้คณะรัฐมนตรีพิจารณา ทางกระทรวงวัฒนธรรม จึงเลือกที่จะใช้วิธีการ "เซ็นเซอร์" ไปพลางๆก่อน โดยได้มีการแต่งตั้งคณะกรรมการเซ็นเซอร์ชุดหลักขึ้นมา 7 คน ดังนี้

นายปรีชา กันธิยะ เลขาธิการคณะกรรมการวัฒนธรรมแห่งชาติ เป็นประธาน

(นายปรีชา กันธิยะ คือผู้ที่เคยออกมาต่อต้านชื่อหนัง "ผีกระชากหัว" อย่างรุนแรง โดยบอกว่าผู้ที่ปล่อยให้มีชื่อหนังแบบนี้ออกมาสมควรถูกลงโทษ และนอกจากนี้ นายปรีชายังดำรงตามแหน่งตามกฎหมายนี้ในการเป็นนายทะเบียนกลาง มีหน้าที่ในการเข้าตรวจค้นโรงภาพยนตร์ ตลอดจนร้านขายซีดีต่างๆในกรุงเทพมหานคร)

นายสงขลา วิชัยขัทคะ รองเลขาธิการคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา

นายอำนาจ บัวศิริ ผอ.สำนักเลขาธิการมหาเถรสมาคม

นายชัยวัฒน์ ทวีวงศ์แสงทอง เลขาธิการสมาคมสมาพันธ์ภาพยนตร์แห่งชาติ

นายสมบัติ ภู่กาญจน์ คอลัมนิสต์และผู้ทรงคุณวุฒิด้านศิลปวัฒนธรรมและสื่อสารมวลชน

พลเอกธันวาคม ทิพยจันทร์ ที่ปรึกษาสมาคมนักข่าวบันเทิงแห่งประเทศไทย

นางนพพร มุกดามณี รองเลขาธิการคณะกรรมการวัฒนธรรมแห่งชาติ เป็นกรรมการและเลขานุการ

และนอกจากนี้ ยังมีการแต่งตั้งคณะกรรมการอีกชุดหนึ่งขึ้นมาเพื่อช่วยงานในการเซ็นเซอร์ภาพยนตร์ ซึ่งเข้าใจว่า เป็นคณะกรรมการเซ็นเซอร์ชุดที่น่าจะกำลังปฏิบัติงานอยู่ในขณะนี้ด้วยเช่นกัน

ฟังๆดูจากคำให้สัมภาษณ์ของนายปรีชา กันธิยะ ที่บอกว่าจะ "เซ็นเซอร์แบบกัลยาณมิตร" คำนึงถึงประโยชน์ของผู้สร้าง และผู้ชมเป็นหลักนั้น อาจทำให้ผู้ชมบางส่วนรู้สึกเบาใจว่าคงจะไม่มีอะไร

ขณะที่ช่วงตั้งแต่กลางเดือนมิถุนายน ซึ่งเป็นช่วงที่คณะกรรมการเซ็นเซอร์ชุดใหม่เริ่มปฏิบัติหน้าที่ ภาพยนตร์หลายเรื่องยังดูออกฉายตามปกติ ซึ่งสาเหตุหนึ่งเป็นเพราะเป็นช่วงเปลี่ยนผ่านที่ยังไม่มีความแน่ชัดในการดำเนินการ

อย่างไรก็ตาม เมื่อต้นเดือนกรกฎาคมที่ผ่านมา คณะกรรมการเซ็นเซอร์ชุดใหม่ได้เริ่มปฏิบัติงานอย่างจริงจัง ซึ่งผลที่ตามมา ก็คือคณะกรรมการเซ็นเซอร์ชุดใหม่ได้แผลงฤทธิ์ให้ทุกคนได้ประจักษ์แก่สายตา ด้วยการสั่งไม่อนุญาตให้ภาพยนตร์แนวสยองขวัญจากฝรั่งเศสเรื่อง Frontier(s) ออกฉาย ด้วยเหตุผลที่ว่า ภาพยนตร์มีเนื้อหารุนแรงโดยที่ไม่มีเหตุผล

แม้ว่าตามกฎกระทรวงที่ได้มีการร่าง และคาดว่าน่าจะเสร็จสิ้นแล้ว ภาพยนตร์เรื่อง Frontier(s) ควรจัดอยู่ในเรต น.18 หรือ น.20 และภาพยนตร์เรื่องนี้ก็ไม่ได้มีเนื้อหาที่ขัดต่อกฎหมายข้อใดๆที่มีอยู่ในขณะนี้ แต่เนื่องจากทางกระทรวงวัฒนธรรมเลือกใช้วิธีการเซ็นเซอร์ในช่วงของการเปลี่ยนผ่าน และเนื่องจากทุกอย่างฉุกละหุกมาก ทางเจ้าของหนังจึงยังไม่ได้มีการยื่นอุทธรณ์ หรือดำเนินการอย่างอื่น ตัวหนังจึงอยู่ในสภาพ "ถูกแบน" ไปโดยปริยาย จนกว่าจะมีการเปลี่ยนแปลง

ซึ่งภาพยนตร์เรื่องนี้ เดิมมีกำหนดที่จะเข้าฉายในช่วงสิ้นเดือนนี้ และมีกำหนดที่จะฉายรอบสื่อมวลชนในสัปดาห์นี้ เมื่อผลออกมาเป็นเช่นนี้ จึงทำให้ทุกอย่างต้องถูกยกเลิก ซึ่งจากรายงานที่ได้รับมา ทางสายตรวจของกองเซ็นเซอร์ได้เดินทางไประงับการฉายหนังเรื่องนี้ ซึ่งเป็นการฉายเพื่อชมเป็นการภายในที่โรงภาพยนตร์แห่งหนึ่ง เนื่องจากตัวหนังยังไม่ผ่านเซ็นเซอร์ และพอส่งไปเซ็นเซอร์ ก็ปรากฏว่าตัวหนังไม่ผ่านเซ็นเซอร์

ซึ่งในขณะเดียวกัน มีรายงานถึงภาพยนตร์เรื่องหนึ่งที่ออกฉายไปเมื่อช่วงต้นเดือนที่ผ่านมา ต้องประสบปัญหากับการเซ็นเซอร์เช่นเดียวกัน โดยเนื่องจากกำหนดฉายของภาพยนตร์อยู่ในช่วงที่มีความลักลั่น เพราะเป็นช่วงที่มีการเปลี่ยนผ่าน ทำให้ทางเจ้าของหนังภาพยนตร์เรื่องดังกล่าวได้นำหนังออกฉายโดยไม่ได้ส่งเซ็นเซอร์ ซึ่งทางเซ็นเซอร์ได้ทราบเข้า และเข้าไปทำการตรวจสอบในโรงภาพยนตร์ ผลจึงทำให้ทางเจ้าของหนังถูกเซ็นเซอร์ปรับเป็นเงินหลายแสนบาท แม้ว่าเมื่อต้นเดือนมิถุนายน นายปรีชา กันธิยะ จะได้ออกมาให้สัมภาษณ์ว่า "อย่างไรก็ตาม ในช่วง 90 วันต่อจากนี้ไป เป็นช่วงเรียกทุกฝ่ายที่เกี่ยวข้องมารับทราบข้อมูลและแนวทางปฏิบัติงาน หากมีผู้ฝ่าฝืนหรือทำผิดกฎหมายโดยไม่เจตนา สวช.จะต้องเข้าไปตักเตือนและทำความเข้าใจเท่านั้น ยังไม่มีการลงโทษรุนแรง" (หนังสือพิมพ์ไทยรัฐ 31 พฤษภาคม 2551) ก็ตามที

ตอนนี้สถานการณ์ในวงการหนังอยู่ในช่วงตึงเครียด เพราะกฎกระทรวงที่ว่าด้วยการจัดเรตติ้งยังไม่มีวี่แววว่าจะได้เข้าสู่การประชุมคณะรัฐมนตรี (ขณะที่คณะรัฐมนตรีชุดนี้ ก็มีวี่แววสูงมากว่าจะได้ปฏิบัติงานต่อไปอีกไม่นานนัก ซึ่งอาจส่งผลให้กฎกระทรวงฉบับนี้ยังคงค้างเติ่งอยู่ต่อไป)

ขณะที่การเซ็นเซอร์โดยกระทรวงวัฒนธรรมก็เป็นที่รู้กันว่ามีความเข้มงวดอย่างน่ากลัว ซึ่งตอนนี้ ค่ายหนังบางค่าย ได้ทำการถอดหนังที่เป็นหนังแนวแอ๊คชั่น, ทริลเลอร์ หรือหนังที่มีฉากที่ "คาดว่าน่าจะรุนแรงในสายตาของกองเซ็นเซอร์" ออกจากโปรแกรมไปก่อน เพื่อรอดูสถานการณ์

ขณะที่ทางกลุ่มเฝ้าระวังทางวัฒนธรรม ของ นส. ลัดดา ตั้งสุภาชัย ที่เฝ้าติดตามเรื่องการเซ็นเซอร์ภาพยนตร์มาโดยตลอด ระยะหลังๆมานี้ดูจะเงียบไปด้วยกระแสข่าวทางการเมืองที่รุนแรงกว่า แต่ล่าสุด มีกระแสข่าวว่า กลุ่มเฝ้าระวังทางวัฒนธรรมมีแผนที่จะ "สร้างผลงานครั้งยิ่งใหญ่" เพื่อต้อนรับการประกาศใช้พระราชบัญญัติภาพยนตร์และวีดิทัศน์ พศ. 2551 ที่ทางกลุ่มเฝ้าระวังได้มีส่วนในการร่วมร่างกฎหมายฉบับนี้มาเกือบจะโดยตลอด

ซึ่งการสร้างผลงานที่ว่าจะเป็นอะไรนั้นยังไม่มีใครทราบ แต่อยากแจ้งไปทางค่ายหนัง หรือเจ้าของโรงภาพยนตร์ให้รับทราบไว้ ท่านคงไม่อยากตกเป็นข่าวหน้าหนึ่ง

รายงานโดย : เครือข่ายคนดูหนังแห่งประเทศไทย

มีปัญหา ความขับข้องใจ เกี่ยวกับการบังคับใช้พระราชบัญญัติภาพยนตร์ พ.ศ. 2551 หรือพบเห็นการกระทำที่ไม่เป็นธรรม พบเห็นการเซ็นเซอร์ที่เกินกว่าเหตุในภาพยนตร์เรื่องใด หรือใครมีข่าวสารใดๆ เกี่ยวกับกรณีนี้ สามารถแจ้งแก่เราได้ที่อีเมล์ movieaudiencenetwork@gmail.com

A Ram Mandir is being built at the site of the ancient sun temple at Martand (Mattan). This is not simply an addition to what is already there - it is a deliberate refashioning of Kashmiri Hindu worship to obey the dictates of Hindutva practice. But worst of all are the excessive displays put on ostensibly for the benefit of the Amarnath yatris, but which actually function as a warning to local Kashmiris: all along the route past Pahalgam, and to some extent on the Baltal route, banners and wall-slogans sponsored by the CRPF and the BSF (and occasionally, the Jammu and Kashmir police) welcome the yatris. These units also make available tea and snacks, and announce them as prasad. There is no constitutional separation of temple and state to be found here - the yatris, and those who guard them, are equally, and aggressively, Hindu. [Link]

Of course I'm not talking about The Bucket List in which Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson get 'movie cancer' (i.e. the kind without real symptoms) and set out to do all the things they haven't done. Obviously you'll get ill watching it so I could suggest either French horror Frontiers (neo-nazi cannibals) or the new boxset of the complete Lonesome Dove to aid your recovery.

All this, however, is mere dust compared to DVD of the Week and quite possibly one of the greatest works in American film, There Will Be Blood.

What more can be said about this true original? I'll say that it deserves and rewards your time so grab a copy, turn off the lights and enjoy pure filmmaking.

I celebrated my Nation's birth by watching movies all week. It was a pretty good mix of foreign films, rubber monsters, and boobs!

Frontier(s)

This brutal combination of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Nazis (now that's a match made in hell) makes for a pretty intense viewing experience. It's not quite the second coming of horror as it's been made out to be, but I still enjoyed it.
The "heroes" of Frontier(s) are actually pretty unlikable, but in the end you can't help but root for them since the villains are so despicable. What's worse than Cannibals? Nazi Cannibals of course! It's also the 2nd French horror flick I've seen in a month that had the recent Race Riots in France as a backdrop. Inside (A’linterieur) was the other. http://pacinofan.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/pseudo-review-inside-alinterieur/

Night of the Demons 2

Night of the Demons 2 is a lot like Beer. It's not fancy, new, or original but it gets the job done. All I wanted was some gore and nudity, and that's just what I got. Not quite a cult classic like the original, it was nonetheless a fun way to waste 90 minutes. Decent effects as well.

The Machine Girl (Kataude mashin gâru)

The Machine Girl is actually a Japanese movie made specifically for Western Audiences. It really shows since the filmmakers threw in everything Westerners have come to expect from Asian film:

-Everybody knows Kung Fu.
-The bad guys are Ninjas, Yakuza, or both.
-All the girls in Japan wear school uniforms w/ short skirts.

I guess I'm a sucker, since I enjoyed this tale of a girl w/ a machine gun arm out for revenge. It's filled with intentionally cheesy gore that can be silly at times, but ultimately adds to the movie's charm.

The Tingler

Definitely the most fun I had this week, The Tingler is classic William Castle Schlock (that's a compliment by the way).

Vincent Price is awesome as usual, here playing a scientist researching fear. His experiments lead to the discovery of the sex toy sounding The Tingler, a parasite that forms on the spinal cord in moments of intense fright.

The Tingler is technically a bad movie. There are huge plot holes (more like a plot craters) and the "special" effects consist of a rubber worm and a lot of visible wire. None of that matters, of course, because the movie is so much fun you'll easily overlook its shortcomings. This is a really entertaining Drive-in flick and highly recommended for B-movie lovers' liker myself.

It is a requirement to learn to distinguish things from one another. It is at the core of how humans learn, develop, and interact with the world around them.

Preliterate, isolated cultures do a great amount of differentiation in order to insure their survival and the continuation of the species. It's extremely beneficial to the species to have knowledge of the categories 'poisonous mushrooms' and 'building materials with insulating properties', for instance.

Categorization has its biological origins in saving the species time and expending of fewer calories, helping to insure our ultimate survival.

Nothing miscellaneous about it.

FRONTIER(S) ( 2008 )
This French-made blood bath follows the familiar (and reliable) Texas Chainsaw Massacre template. On the lam after a heist during a riot sparked by a controversial Franco-election, four young criminals (one a pregnant, guilt-crippled girl) find their way to a peaceful-seeming (seeming!) inn, en route to Amsterdam. Unfortunately for them the place is thick with cannibal Nazis living in a bizarre familial cult. Within the first half hour the gore-splattered survival horror begins and there’s little time to breath on the way to the ultra-violent, though thought-provoking finale. Frontier(s) scores big with beautifully cold earthy cinematography, effectively inducing dread. There are plenty of visceral thrills and enough smart surprising moments, great charachterization and solid performances to make this a stand-out not to be dismissed as the kind of torture-porn crap pushed by Rob Zombie and Eli Roth.
***

ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED ( 2008 )
This made-for-HBO doc offers a fairly nonjudgemental look at the genius/perv director's 1978 conviction for the statutory rape of a 13 year old girl and the dramatic life that led up to it. Some time is spent on his devastation over the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, at the hands of Charles Manson's "family" -- but the primary focus is the rape case, the difference between European and American reactions to that case and the unbelievable legal clusterfuck that forced him to flee the country soon after. (He's never returned to America and would be immediately arrested if he did). There's some nice use of soundtrack music from his biggest hit, Rosmary's Baby, and judiciously doled out clips of his oveure. There are several illuminating clips from  old interviews as well as new interviews with the people that knew him best (not to mention, a few moments spent with the rape victim today). It's all surprisingly less skeezy than it sounds and probably one of the best bio-docs I've seen, on par with Crumb.
***

RECOUNT ( 2008 )
This made-for-HBO movie is a nicely-balanced all-star take on the weeks directly following the 2000 Bush/Gore election fiasco. No matter whose side you're on, you have to appreciate the straightforward stick-to-the-facts historically-accurate screenplay. Kevin Spacey is typically (almost mundanely) good as Gore strategist, Ron Klain and I enjoy Tom Wilkinson (as Bush's) a little more every time he pops up in a movie. The top performance, though, is from a practically unrecognizable Laura Dern as flighty, clueless, self-absorbed Florida Secretary of State, Katherine Harris. Things start to drag a little in middle and unfortunately we know how it ends but for a political movie, it's more entertaining than most.
**1/2

FANTASTIC FOUR, THE (2005)
Jessica Alba can’t act, Dr. Doom is about as menacing as a the Tin Man, the sfx are unimpressive and The Thing looks a lot like a dried-up clump of crumbling crap, but FF still has a few things going for it. Probably the most kid-ready of the Marvel Comics adaptations, this story delivers the genesis tale of the super team (in space…atomic mutation from a…space thingy…or something) made up of The Thing (Michael Chiklis), Alba’s Invisible Woman, Ioan Gruffudd as Mr. Fantastic and Chris Evans as the Human Torch. There’s a little too much bitchy in-fighting and not enough clobberin’ time, but there’s something sincere about the way the story rolls that’s reminicent of Chris Reeves’ Superman. It’s a fun afternoon diversion that won’t stick with you for very long after the credits roll. **

4: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (aka Fantastic Four 2) (2007)
Although I don’t remember anyone clammoring for a sequel, FF2 delivers what the original didn’t — particularly action and better effects. The mysterious Silver Surfer has arrived on earth to ultimately destroy it with his matter-mutating powers. But it turns out he’s really not a bad guy, and with a voice like Larry Fishburne’s and that sleek silvery surf board how could you hate him? Dr. Doom returns as nothing more than a minor plot device. Characters, having been clumsily and broadly defined in the original seem to make a little more sense this time and the authentic comic-booky writing keeps things light and fun. Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman’s wedding is a central focus, filling the comic book movie’s mandatory-seeming love-is-hard-when-you’re-a-superhero-story quota. As forgettable as the original but far more fun and a solid entry into Marvel’s impressive roster of superhero movies.**1/2

The Kindle Edition of Analog Science Fiction and Fact features a double issue in July. As such, you will not receive an issue for the following month of August. For your convenience, issues are auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle at the same time the print edition hits the newsstand.

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May 25, 2008

Featuring Jesse, Art, and Freddie with special guest Seth

COMICS

• Captain America #38
• Ghost Rider #23
• Amazing Spiderman #560
• Dead, She Said # 1
• Gutwrencher
• The End League
• The Walking Dead #1 (SE)
• Mark Millar’s Fantastic Four #557
• Neil Gaiman’s The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch

DVD

• George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead
• National Treasure: Book of Secrets
• Vexille
• A review of the french horror film Frontier(s)

GAMES

• Age of Conan
• Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
• and more!

FILM & TV

• Deathnote live-action film
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
• The upcoming Lost season finale
• McG’s upcoming Terminator film
• HBO’s Recount
• Aliens in America, Bones, and House season finales
• Battlestar Galactica vs. Heroes

The Catalyst search demonstrates a very effective use of tag clouds to add/subtract terms as filters. One of its strengths is that it works by recognition, rather than by articulation. There is an offering of terms at the left, some of which you may 'recognize' as useful--rather than having to articulate a priori (i.e., by first dreaming up and them typing them into an "advanced boolean search" box) terms which may not be in the dataset anyway.  

I'm especially inclined to think that the insights behind this search functionality were informed by the fact that images are 'text-free zones' so the Getty designers/developers are likely much more accustomed to exercising their right-brain functionality. These are the kinds of search models that need to be explored and ported to left-brain dominant activities, like reading text on the screen. Far too many interfaces of our search interfaces can't find their way off the flat, two-dimensional reading plane -- but Getty has.

Only the initial search is needed to hit the 'side of the barn' (see Bates).

There is certainly no shortage of powertools, bloodbaths, or primal screams in this frenetic and entertaining horror flick. Apparently it is very popular right now to use the Texas Chainsaw Massacre formula in various locales in Europe. This one adds a neo-nazi twist. The movie is so chock full of gross-out moments you can never really catch your breath. I'm not sure if this pacing or similarities to at least 5 other movies (Is the director Xavier Gens a homie of Alexandre Aja?) lessened my experience, or perhaps it was my lack of empathy for any character including the main one. But there are plenty of chilling moments here to give this a recommendation.  Rating: 7/10

Esta pelicula es la recomendada del mes de mayo. En todo este tiempo a cosechado diferentes premios en todo el mundo y muy merecidos, ya que es una pelicula muy negra con un trasfondo muy oscuro.

Si sos impresionable no te la aconsejo para ver...es muy fuerte las escenas que tienen. Para que te des una idea...ni alta tension, masacre en texas y el despertar del diablo...la pueden igualar

Mira el trailer que vale la pena

TRAILER FRONTIER'S