Supernatural Season 5 Episode 1

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The last time we left out heroes, Lucifer (the Devil) was about to rise, after being inadvertently being freed by Sam, and there in big trouble and then there whisked away to safety and appear on a plane all of a sudden. They then go looking for Cass, and discover he has been killed, and things just seem to get worse from there, when Meg (pictured above) shows up.

An excellent first episode, where we are introduced to another mystery, as to who exactly saved the guys from Lucifer and who brought back Cass to life, my guess is that God has finally decided to intervene, but it could be something else of course.

An great start to the new season, and very much looking forward to how things pan out.

Distict 9

Probably best to throw up the old spoiler warning here first:

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This past summer featured a lot of big Sci-Fi films, many of which were mostly disappointing (with the exception of J.J Abrams Star Trek), but we have also gotten films like excellent lower budget (but still high quality)fare like Moon and now after Summer we have gotten District 9, brought to us by South African director Neill Blomkamp (who was going to direct Halo at one point, before it fell a part).

Now, the theme here is clearly reflecting on apartheid, only instead of the indigenous South African populace being oppressed we have Aliens who ship is floating above Johannesburg. So thats the basic theme, and it certainly an interesting take using Aliens.

The film starts, when the South African government hire's a Multi-national to remove millions of alien refugees (referred to by the derogatory term "Prawns") and things kick off from there. I won't say much else, as I don't want to spoil anything else.

Suffice to say that things soon kick off and we get some amazing action as well as thoughtful Sci-fi.

The film is in my opinion a classic and well worth seeing, and is very much recommended.

(500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the lovely Zooey Deschanel in this Rom com, well it isn't your average Rom com and does a role reversal with Gordon-Levitt's character. So basically the whole Boy meets Girl paradigm is turned on its head, when compared to most Hollywood films.

The story is told in a disjointed manner, jumping back in forth between various stages of there relationship. This manner of telling the story is used to great effect and leads to many laugh out loud moments.

There is also a narrator, who reminded me a bit of the one from Pushing Daisies, in the way that the narration was done.

Both Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel have great chemistry and put in great performances.

Overall, this is a excellent movie and is highly recommended.

Aliens in the Attic

Not really my kind of film, but my little cousin loved it, so kids will love this.

The Proposal

A decent enough Rom-com starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Its fairly predictable and is saved by its likable leads. Worth while for fans of the genre.

The Hurt Locker

The movie follows a US Army bomb disposal team in Iraq. The story is told via a series of vignettes more or less of bomb disarmament missions, and it doesn't really take a political stance on the war either way and just follows these soldiers on the various missions.

The film illustrates starkly the separation between the occupier and occupied. This is best illustrated with language, with American soldiers often shouting at the local's in English and of course they don't understand, which leads to tense situations.

The movie is well worth seeing, and shows the horror of war very well.

Moon

Starring Sam Rockewell, as a man who is working alone on the Moon to harvest Helium 3 fuel. The film is a dark and brilliant Science Fiction film. I won't say too much, as I don't want to spoil anything. Suffice to say this is the best Science Fiction film, that I have seen this year so far. This film is very highly recommended.

Mesrine: Killer Instinct

An excellent biographic film on French gangster Meserine. Well worth seeing.

Inglorious Basterds

Tarantino's latest has a lot going for it, but it also doesn't.

The movie is split into 2 basically, one story follows the titular heroes the Basterds and a young Jewish Woman Shoshanna who's family was murdered by the Nazi's.

The Basterds basically come of as incompetent and its hard to believe them being such a terror to the Nazi's sometimes. Now I don't expect realism or anything, but we only ever get glimpse's of the Basterd's being really bad ass, and a lot of the other times they seems to be kinda rubbish at what they do.

Now Shoshanna's story is a lot better, at the start there is a excellent scene where a Nazi officers is questioning a man who is hiding her parents and we get to see the terrible events where her family is murdered and we get more insight into her desire for vengeance, which is picked up later, when she is running a cinema and it is chosen by chance to host a big Nazi premiere, giving her a chance at vengance.

The film was overall enjoyable, even with its faults and is especially worth seeing if you like Tarantino's stuff.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Never been a big fan of Harry Potter, but this wasn't bad. Worth a look.

G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

I have to say that this was actually surprisingly good. Sure Sienna Miller being smoking hot helped a lot, but for a Summer block buster action flick, this was decent. In fact it was superior to Transformers 2.

Now, I am no G.I. Joe fan, so I am not sure if this was respectful of the cartoons or anything. It did serve a lot of decent action and was entertaining.

Broken Embraces

The film is about a blind writer Harry Caine, who recounts what happened 14 years ago, when he was filming a movie, with his leading lady.

The movie is told via flash backs to recount what happened in the past. The movie is worth a look.

A Perfect Getaway

A excellent thriller set on a remote Hawaiian island, where a just married couple are on a honey moon adventure.

I won't spoil anything here, but the movie is fantastic and well worth seeing.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

So, this is basically a big Michael Bay spectacular. Things explode left right and centre, and Megan Fox is smoking hot. That is basically everything you get from the new Transformers.

One thing is that the US military, had far too big a role. I want to see the robots fight and not to see how much Michael Bays love the US military damnit!!!

So, if you liked the first film, you will like this too. Its a good action flick, with barely there plot and thats about it.

"Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid" By Jimmy Carter

Well, firstly after reading this book, all the controversy over it, is made doubly nonsensical after reading.

Its basically a factual take on the situation. Its sober, calm and reasoned and incredibly fair to both sides of the conflict. Carter basically doesn't pull any punches, when it comes to either side, and basically apologists of Israel aren't used to people actually calling Israel on there bull shit.

The book gives the history of the situation, presents the why of the conflict and potential solutions.

The book is highly recommended reading, if you want to learn more about the conflict.

The Hangover

An excellent comedy, which if you have seen the trailer, you already know what its about.

The execution and the performances are what really make this film. It is highly recommended and very funny. Well worth seeing.

Terminator: Salvation

Well firstly:
**SPOILERS**
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There was a lot of potential to this film, but ultimately it didn't live up to its potential.

Firstly, the start is really excellent, the helicopter crash scene is really well done. From here however, we basically go from action scene to action scene and there is very little reason to care about the other characters, and there is the whole aspect of some people not buying to Connor's being the saviour of humanity, which is mentioned at the start, but is barely touched on in the film.

If the film gave us more reason to care about the characters, who aren't John Connor or Kyle Reese, who care about due to earlier films. We see Connor's pregnant wife, but we know nothing about there relationship for example.

There is also the whole messiah aspect, which really could have been interesting, but is only barely touched on. We didn't really get to see what it meant for the resistance.

Now, onto Marcus, who's story was very interesting, but it was underdeveloped. The script really need more work imho.

Now the performances were excellent, the special effects were also top notch, especially the CGI Arnold.

So, ultimately a interesting movie, that didn't quite live up to it potential.

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Night at the Museum 2

A decent enough kids movie, its basically a repeat of the first film, just on a far large scale.

Only worth seeing if your kids wants to see it.

Looking for Eric

An excellent film, directed by Ken Loach.

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It basically tells the story of a huge Man U fan, who's life starts to fall apart and as a coping mechanism, conjours up Eric Cantona as a personal advisor of sorts.

The story and the performances are both fantastic and this is well worth seeing.

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Michael Jackson has passed away

From Sky.com/news
Michael Jackson 'Dies Of Heart Attack'


Michael Jackson dies in hospital after suffering a suspected heart attack, according to website TMZ.

Click here for full story

Just saw this on Sky News. The music industry has lost one its greatest genius and he will be sorely missed.

RIP Michael.

Iranian reformist protests

Its pretty late, but read the following article by Robert Fisk about the current protest going on in Iran, after election results were in all likelihood altered to elect the incumbent. Will discuss more of my opinion, on this tomorrow, but here is a link to the afore mentioned article:

Robert Fisk: Fear has gone in a land that has tasted freedom


In defiance of the ban on foreign reporters, The Independent's Middle East correspondent ventures out to witness an extraordinary stand-off on the streets of Tehran


Wednesday, 17 June 2009

The fate of Iran rested last night in a grubby north Tehran highway interchange called Vanak Square where – after days of violence – supporters of the official President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at last confronted the screaming, angry Iranians who have decided that Mirhossein Mousavi should be the president of their country. Unbelievably – and I am a witness because I stood beside them – just 400 Iranian special forces police were keeping these two armies apart. There were stones and tear gas but for the first time in this epic crisis the cops promised to protect both sides.

"Please, please, keep the Basiji from us," one middle-aged lady pleaded with a special forces officer in flak jacket and helmet as the Islamic Republic's thug-like militia appeared in their camouflage trousers and purity-white shirts only a few metres away. The cop smiled at her. "With God's help," he said. Two other policemen were lifted shoulder-high. "Tashakor, tashakor," – "thank you, thank you" – the crowd roared at them.

This was phenomenal. The armed special forces of the Islamic Republic, hitherto always allies of the Basiji, were prepared for once, it seemed, to protect all Iranians, not just Ahmadinejad's henchmen. The precedent for this sudden neutrality is known to everyone – it was when the Shah's army refused to fire on the millions of demonstrators demanding his overthrow in 1979.

Click here for the rest

Drag Me To Hell

Sam Raimi makes his triumphant return to the horror genre. Starring the lovely Alison Lohman, the story is about a bank loan manager, who has been cursed after refusing a old woman's request for a loan extension.

The film is nothing short of brilliant and puts the vast majority of other recent horror films to shame. We are given a fantastic blend of scares, and gross out comedy.

If you like Sam Raimi's past efforts, or just good horror films, then you will love this. This film is highly recommended.

US President's Speech to the "Muslim World"

A transcript of the speech can be found here:
President Obama Addresses Muslim World in Cairo


Well, an interesting speech to be sure. There is a lot to agree with here and a lot to disagree with.

Firstly, there is no "Muslim World" and no place called Islam. To try and address 1 billion people, who have some vague similarities due to a common religion. How exactly anyone can address 1 billion people is beyond me, take for example, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, those 2 countries could not be more different. However, it is best to put this aside and look at the content of the speech.

The first part of his speech is about violent extremism (more or less, there is other stuff mixed in there). While, I agree that the US has every right to defend themselves by going into Afghanistan, because of 9/11, but there tactics there have been pretty counter productive, especially due to the Iraq invasion. If the US can get it act together there, maybe then can actually effect a positive change. Giving aid to Pakistan to build schools and hospitals, and aid to develop Afghanistan is a step in the right direction.

My main issue with what Obama says here is that he seems to see Iraq as a simple mistake, which I find absurd. The US war against Iraq was a War of aggression, which is considered the supreme international crime and he even tries to excuse it by saying that the Iraqi's are better without Saddam, which is especially grating, as he has a huge problem with those who try and make excuses for 9/11. The US murdered 1000's in there war of aggression, and the criminals behind it, are still not behind bars and probably never will be.

Then, the 2nd major part is about Israel/Palestine. Firstly, I reject the Israeli narrative he presents. It is quite simple false. I know that Jews suffered what is perhaps the greatest crime in history, when Nazi Germany exterminated 6 million Jews, but to suggest this made it ok to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, against the wishes of indigenous population of Palestine is repugnant. What, was done to Jews by Europeans, did not give Zionists the right to go to Palestine to set up there own country and ethnically cleanse the indigenous population. Now, of course Israel is a reality and it should be excepted as such, but then so should the reality that its creation was a crime against the Palestinian people and that the Palestinian deserve justice for what was done to them.

Also, he make a good point about Holocaust denial, but the Israeli's have themselves denied the existence of the Palestinian people and more recently Israel approved a draft law to ban commemoration of the Nakba (the ethnic cleansing in 1948 by Zionists of between 700,000 and 900,000 Palestinians) by the Palestinians who still remain in Israel. It is absurd to condemn one sides denialism and not even mention the other groups denialism.

While, I agree with his comments about Palestinian violence against Israel, he seems to ignore Israel much greater violence against the Palestinians. The recent murderous rampage in Gaza, by the IDF, where they used weapons such as white phosphorous against civilians. While the siege in Gaza was briefly mentioned, it was however not condemned in anyway nearly as strong terms as his condemnation of Palestinian violence.

Now, he is right that both sides need recognize each other rights and that all involved will need to take steps to achieve peace, but the simple fact is that the US has enabled Israeli violence and the fact that Obama did not acknowledge this is disappointing. Will we actually see him take some concrete steps to reign Israel in? I mean something beyond mere words? If he expects the Arab states to use there influence to reign in the Palestinians, the US should be prepared to do the same with Israel.

As for his position on Iran's nuclear program. Personally, I can't take the US seriously here. We are talking about a country with more Nuclear weapons than anyone else and the only country to actually use them during war.

As for the parts, on Democracy, Womens Rights, Economic development and religious freedom, there isn't much to say, as I basically agree with everything said in those parts of the speech. So there isn't anything to discuss really. I do think he could have been more forceful about democracy, but considering the location of the speech, I could see why it wasn't done.

Ultimately the speech is interesting and welcome change from Bush, but words alone don't mean a whole lot and hopefully they will be back up by actions.