The Pakistani military seems to be adopting a Sri Lankan solution to its problem in the Swat Valley. May not have had much of a choice in the matter as the Taliban are a problem on both sides of the border. The Germans have had about all they can stand of the Taliban, and they won't stands no more. The Germans have a 10 most wanted Taliban fugitives in Afghanistan and they've gotten nowhere in the hunt for them. And the Germans are getting restless. Meanwhile, with at least 50 militants reported dead, Pakistani Defense Secretary Syed Athar Ali expects the valley to be secured in the next few days. The military is turning it's weary eye on the next likely target: South Waziristan. Being squeezed between the Germans on the west and the Pakistanis on the east could make things very difficult for the Taliban. Of course, when the dust clears the real challenge for the Pakistani government is what led to this trouble in the first place: they have to prove they can govern.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The War in Cyberspace
Team Obama opted to open a new front on America's War on all Things. The president, in his speech on Friday, declared that the U.S. isn't exactly ready for a crisis in cyberspace. The administration released a 76-page Cyberspace Policy Review. While it makes recommendations about the creation of a Cybersecurity Czar, the creation of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, and addresses Civil Liberties, it leaves a few questions unanswered, such as "How will the nation respond in the face of a major cyberattack? How can the United States persuade other nations to help defend the global Internet?" and how many avatars can dance on the head of a pin? That has launched another round of swine flu as defense contractors, who know pork when they smell it, are already lining up for their place at the trough. The Pentagon is preparing a new operational command to cover cyberspace. Whether Web.Com will be staffed with hacker soldiers or cyberninjas remains to be seen.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Terminator: The resistance is not futile
Terminator: Salvation is very good at what is: a big, loud, and bleached summer blockbuster with lots of explosions and gunplay in a grim future. If the first movies were about the inevitablity of Judgement Day, and if Sarah Connor Chronicles was about becoming the people who survive it and fight the war against the machines, Salvation is about the earliest period of that fight, and it's a grim struggle.
Humanity comes in two flavors in this movie. There are the remnants of humanity's militaries trying to fight the war armed with big guns, huey helicopters and warhog tank busting aircraft. Then there are the desperate civilians trying to survive and will to do anything to do so. This Terminator movie pushes the mythology forward by introducing "Road Warrior" elements along with a dash of "Apocalypse Now." It's shot with much of the color bleached out. Most of the characters that survive in this movie get little more than what feels like an introduction for later installments of the franchise. And through the magic of digital imagry, Arnold Schwartzenegger gets a cameo in the role he made famous.
Some questions are left hanging. Skynet is harvesting humans, but it is unclear exactly why. To make T-800s seems inplicit, but the connection is never quite made. And where is the resistance getting it's tech? Vaio seems to still be in business in this movie but aside from roaming the ocean in subs, the military-led portion of the resistance seems pretty well supplied considering that most of the world has been recently nuked.
And what is it about San Franciso this movie season anyway? In the world of The Terminator, Skynet runs the city. Over in the Star Trek alternate reality, the city, which is home to Star Fleet Command and Star Fleet Academy, is being targetted by the bad guys.
Still, as the next installment in the francise, Terminator: Salvation is a step in a new, post-Arnold direction. With Christian Bale in the role of Batman, umm John Connor, the series seems to be in a sort of reboot mode. Since it will probably make enough to merit a sequel, let us hope that the drama and character of those movies will live up the special effects work. Otherwise, it may meet the lamentable fate of the excellent Sarah Conner Chronicles which was terminated by a force more malignant than Skynet: The Fox Network.
Humanity comes in two flavors in this movie. There are the remnants of humanity's militaries trying to fight the war armed with big guns, huey helicopters and warhog tank busting aircraft. Then there are the desperate civilians trying to survive and will to do anything to do so. This Terminator movie pushes the mythology forward by introducing "Road Warrior" elements along with a dash of "Apocalypse Now." It's shot with much of the color bleached out. Most of the characters that survive in this movie get little more than what feels like an introduction for later installments of the franchise. And through the magic of digital imagry, Arnold Schwartzenegger gets a cameo in the role he made famous.
Some questions are left hanging. Skynet is harvesting humans, but it is unclear exactly why. To make T-800s seems inplicit, but the connection is never quite made. And where is the resistance getting it's tech? Vaio seems to still be in business in this movie but aside from roaming the ocean in subs, the military-led portion of the resistance seems pretty well supplied considering that most of the world has been recently nuked.
And what is it about San Franciso this movie season anyway? In the world of The Terminator, Skynet runs the city. Over in the Star Trek alternate reality, the city, which is home to Star Fleet Command and Star Fleet Academy, is being targetted by the bad guys.
Still, as the next installment in the francise, Terminator: Salvation is a step in a new, post-Arnold direction. With Christian Bale in the role of Batman, umm John Connor, the series seems to be in a sort of reboot mode. Since it will probably make enough to merit a sequel, let us hope that the drama and character of those movies will live up the special effects work. Otherwise, it may meet the lamentable fate of the excellent Sarah Conner Chronicles which was terminated by a force more malignant than Skynet: The Fox Network.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
'Sita' is all heart and blues
Last year's Persepolis was an indication of the direction hand painted animation is taking: personal, ideosyncratic visions. That theme is restated in this year's offering, "Sita Sings the Blues." "Sita" is a retelling of the ancient Indian epic, the Ramayana, from Sita's point of view.
It is lively and quick. It is sad, sarcastic and sassy. It is at once epic and intimate. The art is often inventive and its energy is infectious. The movie also offers a poke in the eye to Bollywood convention. Anyone who has sat through a Bollywood movie is familiar with the intermission. This movie has a 2 minute intermission that is quite funny. Ravana carrying and drinking several sodas at once while waiting for Ram to come out of the bathroom is priceless. And the occasional commentary on the part of the three "puppets" is often as amusing as it is enlightening.
But the movie is also about the pain of loss, the end of a love story, and it is this that connects the eternal of the Ramayana to the modern day breakup story that provides its frame. The story is told through a wonderful array of art forms, each touching on a different aspect of the story, which includes traditional Indian art forms, but clearly inspired by manga forms, as well as a very vigourous line drawing style.
Sita Sings the Blues is more profound than it's breezy nature implies. It offers a wonderful view of the future of handpainted animation while addressing eternal themes for modern audiences. Sita is well worth the effort to find and see in the theater.
It is lively and quick. It is sad, sarcastic and sassy. It is at once epic and intimate. The art is often inventive and its energy is infectious. The movie also offers a poke in the eye to Bollywood convention. Anyone who has sat through a Bollywood movie is familiar with the intermission. This movie has a 2 minute intermission that is quite funny. Ravana carrying and drinking several sodas at once while waiting for Ram to come out of the bathroom is priceless. And the occasional commentary on the part of the three "puppets" is often as amusing as it is enlightening.
But the movie is also about the pain of loss, the end of a love story, and it is this that connects the eternal of the Ramayana to the modern day breakup story that provides its frame. The story is told through a wonderful array of art forms, each touching on a different aspect of the story, which includes traditional Indian art forms, but clearly inspired by manga forms, as well as a very vigourous line drawing style.
Sita Sings the Blues is more profound than it's breezy nature implies. It offers a wonderful view of the future of handpainted animation while addressing eternal themes for modern audiences. Sita is well worth the effort to find and see in the theater.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Star Trek - The Reboot
What a difference a new creative team can make. Star Trek is the first franchise this moviegoing season to get a makeover, and what a makeover it is. A short scene establishing the ground rules of the reboot occurs during a discussion of the consequences of time travel. It's not a complete reboot, but it comes pretty close.
J.J. Abrams and his crew have taken inspiration from the innovations of recent science fiction storytelling. The first thing you notice is that this is a lived-in future. You especially see that in the shuttles -- of which there are plenty of -- where riders actually have to buckle up, and the shuttles show wear and tear. While the Enterprise has a nice and shiny bridge, engineering looks like an industrial plant. With obvious exceptions, the movie is mostly faithful to physics. But the storytelling basicsare inspired by that other 800 pound gorilla franchise in the room: Star Wars. The Campbellian Hero's Journey informs the new Star Trek.
This is not to say that Abrams has chucked the whole Star Trek mythos and its more than 40 years of history into the dumpster. Abram's claims that he knew very little about Star Trek is clearly bunk. Long-time fans will recognize all the winks-winks, nudges-nudges embedded in the film. But Abrams and the writers have clearly bracketted out much to liberate the film from the barnacles that had accumulated on the hull of the franchise.
This is an origins story and it's central characters are Kirk and Spock. Kirk turns out to be quite a hell-raiser as a farmboy who is initially more trouble than he's worth. Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) is a troubled child of two worlds. It's both bracing and refreshing to have the chauvanism of Vulcan society exposed and contrasted to its dedication to logic and reason.
In the end, this is one of the most refreshing Star Trek movies in years. It opens up the franchise to new possiblities and loosens the grip of the ghost of Gene Roddenberry. May this new Trek live long and prosper.
J.J. Abrams and his crew have taken inspiration from the innovations of recent science fiction storytelling. The first thing you notice is that this is a lived-in future. You especially see that in the shuttles -- of which there are plenty of -- where riders actually have to buckle up, and the shuttles show wear and tear. While the Enterprise has a nice and shiny bridge, engineering looks like an industrial plant. With obvious exceptions, the movie is mostly faithful to physics. But the storytelling basicsare inspired by that other 800 pound gorilla franchise in the room: Star Wars. The Campbellian Hero's Journey informs the new Star Trek.
This is not to say that Abrams has chucked the whole Star Trek mythos and its more than 40 years of history into the dumpster. Abram's claims that he knew very little about Star Trek is clearly bunk. Long-time fans will recognize all the winks-winks, nudges-nudges embedded in the film. But Abrams and the writers have clearly bracketted out much to liberate the film from the barnacles that had accumulated on the hull of the franchise.
This is an origins story and it's central characters are Kirk and Spock. Kirk turns out to be quite a hell-raiser as a farmboy who is initially more trouble than he's worth. Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) is a troubled child of two worlds. It's both bracing and refreshing to have the chauvanism of Vulcan society exposed and contrasted to its dedication to logic and reason.
In the end, this is one of the most refreshing Star Trek movies in years. It opens up the franchise to new possiblities and loosens the grip of the ghost of Gene Roddenberry. May this new Trek live long and prosper.
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