- Inside Her Majesty’s Listening Service. Britain’s GCHQ, NSA’s partner in crime. (H/T JG)
- Are Bitcoins really just two-bit tulips?
- Arizona city to checkpoint operators: Get out of town.
- “Where’s their nerve? Today’s comics mock poop, not the powerful.” Truth. Well spoken.
- The 15 best movies that didn’t win Oscars. Some good ones in there.
Taxi Driver, Shawshank, Dr. Strangelove, Grand Illusion, Singing in the Rain, Vertigo, Clockwork, It’s a Wonderful Life, etc., were so much better than some recent movies. (I am looking forward to seeing what Hollywood has done to Divergent and later, Legend, two decent YA dystopian novels.)
I had a love/hate relationship with Tree of Life and Psycho. 😉
Oh, to bring back George Carlin, who wasn’t afraid of anyone. I didn’t always agree with all of his mocks, but at least he had no problem with speaking truth to power.
Forgot to say, a movie they totally ignored this time around was “Side Effects.” I think it should have been at least nominated for best screenplay and direction. I saw it 3 times (I was doing a deconstruction study with some bookish folks on the storyfix website) and each time the script and direction drew me in.
That check point near Arivaca has been in the news the last month or so. The residents took their complaint to their duly elected U.S. Representative, Raul Grijalva (D). He told them basically, tough luck, doesn’t matter if it violates their rights, he won’t pursue having it removed. So much for the party of freedom, civil rights and watching out for the little man.
Those check points are also on all the roads in AZ that run north from the border. There isn’t a paved road I can leave town on that doesn’t get filtered through a checkpoint at some spot. In the past, the Supreme court has ruled them OK.
Tulips: “Dutch government officials stepped in to calm the market…” They spelled “destroy” wrong.
“In a matter of days, the tulip market was pretty much gone.” That’s what happens when “officials” step in to “help”.
Funny that with all the historical examples, people still refuse to see it.
Clare the earwiggers work at GCHQ not GMHQ. Anything you read about them believe less than 10 percent as disinformation is their forte. Particularly if it’s a leak. Deliberate leaks often turn wheels within wheels far more frequently than people think.
Thank you, Roger. It’s hard to keep all those alphabet soupers straight! Fixed that.
I hear ya on the disinformation, though. The world is governed by lies — and spies are the champion liars of all.
WL — You liked Side Effects? Liked it a lot, I take it. I thought it was one of the most ludicrous, pompous, and boring movies I’ve seen in a long time. Oh well. To each her own.
When my family goes through the “current releases” movie selection they say, “Good grief. They could make better movies from your stories.”
How I take that depends on my mood.
As we all know, dissent is being gradually but consistently stifled. Jay Leno, on NBC (? I get the MSM networks confused), told Obama Jokes. Despite what I think were good ratings, he was canned after something like over 15 years and replaced by Jimmy Kimmel, who is a BFF with Michele Obama. Leno’s last show, I believe, had a spectacularly large viewing audience. In a fascinating choice of wording, Leno said he didn’t want change but the network did.
Here’s a couple of articles on a possible stifling of dissension. I wasn’t following your blog then – my loss – so I don’t know if you discussed it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2781892/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2703659/posts
Side Effects wasn’t really my kind of movie, but after analyzing it from a “story” perspective, I have to give it kudos for manner in which it revealed the plot points. I thought that the script was as good or better than many others in 2013. I probably would not have chosen to watch it on my own, but I became intrigued when a bookish website did a deconstruction class. focusing on how to reveal plot points and pacing. I watched it twice for that class, then a third time as hubby thought he might like it. He didn’t. 🙂