Posted 2:19 AM by Steve
Review of Osama "Haunting and Revealing"
This film is extremely well-done and conveys a sense of suspense (maybe a better word is dread) better than most movies could ever dream of. The cinematography captures life in an Afghan village and the excellent performances by the cast seem true to life.

The story is set in pre-democracy Afghanistan when the Taliban were cracking down with a force and brutal efficiency that would have shocked Hitler's SS. Their extremist version of Islam is forced upon the populace without regard to the effect on their lives or the necessity of an already impoverished and struggling people.

Women are not allowed outside their homes and require a male escort. In addition they are required to wear a Burka

It is a source of constant amazement to me that the same compassionate liberal folks who rightly condemn the third reich would defend, excuse or rationalize similar atrocities when committed by those in the Middle East. It's really a sort of subtle racism if you think about it.

This movie should put the myths to rest and should serve as a sort of "Diary of Anne Frank" for a new generation.

The atrocities of the Taliban and other extremist Islamic fundamentalists must be revealed to the resistant and skeptical west and "Osama", the first film to come out of Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, does just that.

Posted 12:39 AM by Steve
My review of "Dogville"

By making a fool of the character "Tom" in his film of "Dogville", Lars Von Triers also can't help but make a fool of himself with this exercise. By taking the same distanced approach to his study on human cruelty, the director ends up effectively holding a mirror to the artist rather than at society.

His story is forced and artificial by any stretch even before the cinematic trickery of the huge sound stage taking the place of realistic locations. The tiny number of people in a cramped setting (to call it a town would be generous)

Film is a medium of movement (as Kurosawa proved to great effect) and on this test Von Triers fails miserably. It's almost as if he was too lazy to craft a real film out of the bare bones of a story. My opinion is that if one wants to set out to capture the drama of the theater, one should write and direct a play.

This is not to say that the actors don't do a terrific job in their respective roles. Kidman is amazing and proves how formidable an actress she is once again. Also excellent is Stellan Skarsgard as a gruff farmer.In many ways, watching these great performances without location shooting or even realistic sets made this film seem like a rehearsal instead of a finished product.

Lars needs to quit trying to be so clever and start making films instead of pretentious nonsense. I am a huge fan and expected more. This is yet another case proving that film festival awards mean nothing.The dim view of human nature is certainly a pessimistic and narrow view with which to view our fellow man. It doesn't surprise me that someone with such a low opinion of his audience would fail to provide them with a finished product.

As usual, I realize there will be countless "film nerds" out there just chomping at the proverbial bit to lavish praise on this film because it is, well, pretentious. How do I know? I used to BE ONE. These "film nerds" make themselves feel better about their lack of lives by enjoying films that the average audience disdains or ignores completely. Their argument is that because it is "different" it is somehow good. A feeble argument at best and certainly no reason to watch a film.

Posted 10:11 PM by Steve
The promise of the Left (and of socialism) is that their philosophy is capable of "uniting the world" and turning mankind into a more "brotherly" community.

In fact, capitalism, commerce and progress has already done this. The instant transmission of ideas and reduction of distances brought to mankind by technology have had a tremendously positive effect. But this effect is a side effect of a demand of the market and therefore a good thing.

The secular left has eschewed the spiritual and rejected the religious. They have dismissed these higher concepts with disdain and scorn.

As Dostoyevsky says: "By interpreting freedom as the multiplication and the rapid satisfaction of needs, they do violence to their own nature, for such an interpretation merely gives rise to many senseless and foolish desires, habits and most absurd inventions. They live only for mutual envy, for the satisfaction of their carnal desires and for showing off. To have dinners, horses, carriages, rank, and slaves to wait on them is considered by them as a necessity and to satisfy it they sacrifice life, honor, and love of mankind. "

These words written in the late 1800's seem to reveal the shallowness of much of our current culture.

Posted 1:29 PM by Steve
This article from livescience.com was worth reading, especially in light of all the junk environmental science being regurgitated by the mainstream media:


Sun's Temper Blamed for Arctic Ozone Loss

By Robert Roy BrittLiveScience Senior Writerposted: 01 March 200511:01 am ET

A dramatic thinning of Earth's protective ozone layer above the Arctic last year was the result of intense upper-level winds and an extra dose of space weather, scientists said Tuesday.
Ozone, which screens out some of the Sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation, declined by up to 60 percent in the stratosphere over high northern latitudes in the spring of 2004. Officials issued a health warning earlier this year for residents of the far North.
In a new study, scientists conclude that an intense round of solar storms around Halloween in 2003 was at the root of the problem. Charged particles from the storms triggered chemical reactions that increased the formation of extra nitrogen in the upper stratosphere, some 20 miles up. Nitrogen levels climbed to their highest in at least two decades.
A massive low-pressure system that confines air over the Arctic then conspired to deplete ozone.
The most extreme solar flare ever recorded erupted on Nov. 4, 2003.
The flare spawned this coronal mass ejection, which hurled charged particles into space. The storm was one of 10 major solar eruption to occur in an unprecedented two-week span of solar storminess.
Upper-atmosphere winds associated with the system, called the polar stratospheric vortex, sped up in February and March of 2004 to the fastest speeds ever recorded, the new study found. The spinning vortex allowed nitrogen gas to sink from the high stratosphere, some 20 miles up, to lower altitudes.
The nitrogen gas is known to destroy ozone.
"This decline was completely unexpected," said Cora Randall, a physicist at the University of Colorado, Boulder who led the study. "The findings point out a critical need to better understand the processes occurring in the ozone layer."
Researchers from Canada and Europe contributed to the study, which drew data from seven satellites. The results are detailed in the March 2 online issue of Geophysical Research Letters, published by the American Geophysical Union.
Ozone is a form of oxygen. Its protective qualities make life as we know it possible. (Near the ground, ozone plays the opposite role, being the main component in smog.)
The upper-level ozone layer has thinned dramatically in the Southern Hemisphere in recent decades, creating a dangerous hole through which UV rays stream. The decline is due largely to man-made chlorofluorocarbons released into the atmosphere.
The new study suggests a better understanding is needed of how the Sun itself alters the ozone layer.
"No one predicted the dramatic loss of ozone in the upper stratosphere of the Northern Hemisphere in the spring of 2004," Randall said. "That we can still be surprised illustrates the difficulties in separating atmospheric effects due to natural and human-induced causes."
The thinning of the Arctic ozone layer continues, owing in part to cold temperatures in the stratosphere, according to a separate recent study that suggests a northern hole could develop as a twin to the southern one.
Exposure to excessive UV radiation can cause skin cancer. Animals and plants can be adversely affected, too.

Posted 9:52 PM by Steve
Sitting, watching T.V. and recovering from my injury has given me time to think so here are some random thoughts:


I was born and now I am. These two things I can say for sure. My memories of childhood linger, but they seem quite out of focus and vague. Anyone else my age feel that way?


They say live in the present, so I guess that’s a good thing in a way. Being blinded and controlled by the phantoms of memories is certainly no way to go through life.

It is also said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, so remembering the important lessons of life is also vital even if the details are a bit fuzzy.


It is said an “unexamined life isn’t worth living” and if that’s the case, my life is truly worth living for something within forces me to examine it incessantly.


But hopefully the examination of life reveals more than simply a “life examination”. Any self-examination should reveal the quality of your thoughts, ideas, actions, habits, principles and character. We do this to solve the riddle that is us.


Too many people want a standing ovation for just existing these days.


Socialism is a "saving lie". It let's the failed man say to himself, that the world is at fault for having caused his failure. 'Man clings to this saving lie, even at the expense of logic. For life would be unbearable for him without the consolation that he finds in the idea of socialism.'