a broken lull.

CORPORAL RYAN DUPRE, YOU ARE A SICK FUCKING DISGRACE TO THE HUMAN RACE.

the liberation of iraq :

"The Iraqis are sick people and we are the chemotherapy," said Corporal Ryan Dupre. "I am starting to hate this country. Wait till I get hold of a friggin' Iraqi. No, I won't get hold of one. I'll just kill him."

i realize that this man is not the only one who's feeling like this out there but this is one sick statement to make. this man has got to be taken back immediately to the U.S.; he is not fit to be in the military - on a peace mission to liberate said-Iraqis, no less!

Posted by Anonymous | 11:31 AM |

There Is Just No Shame Left in the World.

from dark horizons:

Footloose: Variety reports that "Chicago" executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are looking at remaking the 1984 Kevin Bacon musical.

Kangaroo Jack 2: Entertainment Weekly reports that a sequel may take place "in Vegas, where the title character boosts some money and gets trapped in the circus".

come on. first off, footloose was released only 19 years ago. leave it; don't be that desperate.
and as for kangaroo jack 2, well, what can i really add to this bit of news?

Posted by Anonymous | 10:45 AM |

Been a Long Time

is this for real?
U.S soldiers in Iraq asked to pray for Bush [ abc news online ]
this is looking more and more like one of those dictatorships that you keep hearing about from one of 'those countries', doesn't it? really creepy. who the fuck did they (not) elect in 2000??

---

friday i got lucky. lucky with my musical finds, that is.
the week was fun, music-buying-wise. i had some money left and got a couple of albums that i'd been waiting for. but then the week ended on a great note when i visited the four used record stores downtown. and although i couldn't find anything that i had on my list, i did end up leaving with five cd's in my hands.

and they are:

+ public enemy - it takes a nation of millions to hold us back (the 2000 remaster, which i didn't even know existed; a gift from the gods)
+ joy division - unknown pleasures
+ bt - dreaming (eight-track single; never saw this one before)
+ pet shop boys - new york city boy (nine-track single; incidentally, i was listening to nightlife last week, so that's why i got it. and also, when you find a nine-track single, you don't ask questions, you get it)
+ 8 mile (was surprised to see this one. and i got it for next to nothing. i was kinda getting tired of the eminem single, so that's why i never got it; but at 8$ (canadian), i didn't have to think too hard about it)

god, okay. i will admit that i fell in love with 50 Cent's In Da Club the very first time i heard it. eminem and dre's production was outstanding. but then i heard about the hype, and the then i saw 50 on interviews (looking like a fuckin laidback joke). no way would i be getting this album knowing that millions of kids would also be rushing out to the mall on that very first day. but shit, i just heard 50's Places to Go on the 8 mile soundtrack. and it rocks. hard. what's kept me looking sideways at the bandwagon was 50's voice. although it sounds drugged outta hell, it has something. of course the lyrics are trite and shit, but i love his voice. man. now Get Rich or Die Tryin' is on my list. looking at me. whispering.

shit.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:13 AM |

Canada

i just had to write an entry just to share this with you.

Quotes About Canada
[ thanks to moeman for posting the link on daily kos today ]

please take the time to read it if a) you're from outside Canada, or b) you are from Canada.
infinitely inspiring.

---

in other news, i finally listened to The Streets' Original Pirate Material for the first time yesterday.. and it fuckin blew my mind. not that it's earth-shattering in any way, but it's simply a good collection of songs.
i was a bit nervous because i'd heard so much about it without hearing any of it; i mean, how could i know if it would fall into my realm of good music, you know?
but it did.
thank god.
and thank god for mike skinner.
the english rap didn't even faze me for one second.
i loved it. loved skinner's voice and his whole delivery.
and great stories too.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:29 AM |

The Academy Actually Grows Some Balls Just In Time.

MICHAEL MOORE WINS OSCAR AND GIVES ANTI-WAR/BUSH SPEECH (A SHORT ONE BUT MADE EXTREMELY SWEET DUE TO THE FACT THAT IT ALL AIRED ON NATIONAL AMERICAN TV (and yes, the world too; but america is the one who needs to wake up)).

made my day.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:41 PM |

bush's little inflated ego - $150 billion.

liberating iraqis - around 100,000 lives.

the comments sections over at daily kos - priceless.

----- links to articles that do a way better job than i ever could -----

PNAC (project for the new american century) - http://www.rupe-india.org/34/agenda.html
George W likes his cover-ups? no way - http://onlinejournal.com/Commentary/031903Burkett/031903burkett.html

Posted by Anonymous | 3:26 PM |

"F—k Saddam. We’re taking him out,"

...said President George W. Bush in March 2002, after poking his head into the office of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, TIME reports.

time magazine, march 24 2003.
[ link - drudge report ]

read the article for more proof that the hawks were after hussein's head for years now and that this attack is but a (thinly-veiled) smokescreen for a regime change favorable only to the bush administration.
it's an invasion.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:57 PM |

Bush's Attack on Iraq - Day 5

the invasion isn't going quite as well as it's being made out to be on american television.

i, for one, am glad to see it happening.
glad to see Iraqis not bowing down (who the hell was the bush administration thinking they were, anyway? liberators?) and kissing the american soldiers' feet as they pass. glad to see the Baghdad bombing only looking like a fireworks show and actually hitting now-empty government buildings. and i'm actually glad to see the americans missed most of Iraq's top officials in the bombings. not glad because i want Hussein to win, hell no, but because i want the US to look like fools after the arrogant chest-thumping they've displayed for the past two weeks as Bush's war was becoming more real.

and i'm also very thankful so many unflattering stories are coming out against the coalition's supposed easy war.
this is an invasion. and don't forget it.

and the british must be pissed by now since close to 75% of the "coalition" casualties are brits, uh?
how the hell did this happen? did rumsfeld put the british troops out in front to shield the american army?

i'd be pissed.
anybody seen tony blair lately?

Posted by Anonymous | 11:52 AM |

now, this is just stupid beyond stupid.

mtv europe has put up a blacklist of videos not to air during the war.
you got it, any video that mentions or shows missiles, war, children getting hurt (as a result of war), etc are now banned for the duration of the war because of its 'sensitive' subject matter.
and - yes - anti-war videos are now off the playlists (i guess michael moore's video for system of a down's boom scared some people, uh? i guess we're not mature enough to think for ourselves yet).

in the spirit of things, i would therefore also ask mtv to stop using the words war, missiles, bombs, etc, for the duration of the present war on iraq because i am a sensitive idiot who will not be able to stand hearing those words on my tv set.

(btw, u2's extremely offensive miss sarajevo is on that list.)

Posted by Anonymous | 8:57 PM |

quote - "1984 was a warning, not a blueprint!"

lmao.
one of the best quotes ever.

and on the news tonight they talked about the peace demonstrations that went on around the world today. montreal, new york, chicago, australia, the uk, ... everyone had at least 100,000 people participating at each event. as soon as i heard that an image flashed in my head - the news ticker on cnn this afternoon saying "tens of thousands" of protesters around the world. yep. this is "the most trusted source for news".

Posted by Anonymous | 8:02 PM |

"Look into space, it's around you."

inspiring.

---

in Bush's illegal invasion news, things are going rather badly - actually meeting resistance everywhere in the country either by Hussein's army or actual civilians who don't want to be invaded, Turkey now invading in the north to prevent "terrorist activity" (you can thank George later for that loophole), civilian casualty numbers being far worse than expected (and counting) in Baghdad (they're getting really good at only targeting key government buildings, aren't they? actually, those were all empty government buildings, if you wanna know. they all left last week, and were even able to take everything right down to computers with them).

i hope the Bush administration gets impeached and tried in international court for this.
can't wait to see Bush's face when that happens. it'll be like getting caught during a drunken romp with friends. a wake-up call.
and i even see him honestly not getting why they're doing this to him when they do put their hands on him.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:32 AM |

"Ce soir, une fée dans un pays hanté"

i came home from work last night around midnight and watched a little bit of tv before going to bed. but my late-night talk shows were nowhere to be found. if you also tuned in, you were able to see every major american network had an 'exclusive' live report from a journalist embedded with a regiment.

now, this struck me both as slimy (the 'exclusive' tag has been thrown around way too much these days; and not only with the war; as soon as someone as an interview with anyone they call it exclusive. of course it's exclusive since that's the only place you'll see that particular interview but that moniker really should be reserved for more extraordinary circumstances than the milkman's opinion on anything) and an unconscious self-parody on the part of the reporters.

we're definitely deeper into three kings territory than with the first gulf war.
the reporters don't know what the fuck they're into half the time. remember, these are not marines or trained soldiers here, they don't know what war really is outside of that little three-week training the army gave them. also, their only sources are pretty much the soldiers and commanders as they are sorely isolated inside the army machine.
remember, there are not news channels inside tanks.
they only get their news from the 'official' sources.

definitely three kings in the absurd seriousness they find themselves in.

and all of this just so we can feel (the audience) 'part' of the war and make a little money for the network.

i had a hard time taking them seriously as they're obviously just thrown in there as sitting ducks.
sure the army gives them access, but only limited access; see, for one, in order for a journalist to even be considered they had to give the army their sat phone id.
the official army reason?
so they can make sure the journalists get a good reception.
yep, that's really the official line they're giving.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:55 AM |

Oh, by the way...

CNN News Ticker:
Pres Bush says war could be 'longer and more difficult than some expect.'

what the fuck?
yeah, you said that, you dumbfuck.

so these guys are either a) hypocrites (we already knew that) for waiting 'till after the war started to talk about that (and about the cost to american and iraqi casualties, and the amazingly catastrophic cost of war), or b) just plain dumb for thinking it could be over in two days.

i say idiotic hypocrites.
how much longer will the american public and its media accept these frat boy antics?
these are the people governing your country (and now the world, apparently)!

i really can't believe the media is still choosing to keep its eyes closed.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:09 PM |

The Most Precise and Clear-Cut Definition of the Bush Administration's Attitude on International Policy

from the druge report:

Gorbachev, in a speech to a meeting of the Third World Water Forum, said, ''The move defies the
existence of the United Nations and international laws. The U.S. stance...means it regards other
nations as subject countries or states.''

Posted by Anonymous | 10:17 AM |

Is it gettin' heavy?

letter from the president:

(2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Sincerely,

GEORGE W. BUSH

first off, let me get a simple-minded scoff in there for that 'sincerely' written right above george w's name.
or else he's delusional beyond belief and should thus be taken out of office immediately.
believing god put you on this earth to be world leader is an insane premise.

second, does it mean that after the middle eastern countries the U.S. will then go to war against the itself? or is it just 'other' countries that can be included in this little pact?

osama bin laden was trained by the CIA and the U.S. government.
they aided him. sure they didn't tell him to fly planes into the world trade center but they sure as hell helped him build an army. too bad he then decided to fire upon the U.S.

and why the focus only on 9/11?
the U.S. never proved that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11.
quite the contrary, they proved that they had to resort to lying to get people behind their little war on 'terrorism' going.
if Iraq had anything to do with 9/11 there would be a U.N.-sanctioned war going on right now against Iraq.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:40 PM |

George W Bush Is Now (Officially) a Known Terrorist

Bush gave his ultimatum.
i find it weird that he forgot to mention that it was 'high noon'. i think that would've scared Saddam Hussein.
isn't it funny that George W Bush, in his attempt at rallying countries to disarm Iraq (under a legitimate U.N. mandate, no less), managed to achieve just the opposite by getting practically every country to turn on him and cross their arms instead? what did it? the greed? the foaming at the mouth? the insanely slimy proposition of war (don't talk to me about the 12 years he's had to disarm - there was no fuckin imminent threat to the U.S.; and whether it was on his own or not, Hussein was now disarming with the U.N. inspectors looking on. the Bush administration made sure to stop that process before he got too far and had actually disarmed. if the U.S. had proof of the banned weapons, then why didn't they go to the U.N. with it? and i'm not talking about xeroxing student papers from 1991 here)?

in other news:
'Operation Liberty Shield'?!?

who comes up with these things? is this Spaceballs???
(and it has that messiah-like ring to it that the administration seems to love when it comes to them but not when other world leaders have it.)
thank you George W Bush's Homeland Security for making the country, if not safer, at least look dumber by the minute.
wow, they really can make the world a better place, can they?

the world police is upon us (but they're also waiting, scared shitless, in their little corner; that's them, cowering behind the 'security' fences they built for themselves).

is George Orwell's 1984 still available?

Posted by Anonymous | 11:00 AM |

i will leave you with this quote from the flaming lips:

"feeling yourself
disintegrate..."

ps. happy st. patrick's day, everyone...

Posted by Anonymous | 9:49 AM |

Race for the Prize, "but they're determined. Theirs is to win, if it kills (us)"

i have only one thing to say this morning:
FUCK BUSH, RUMSFELD, and ASHCROFT FOR THEIR COLLECTIVE HARD-ON FOR WARMONGERING, OIL, and MONEY.

on a positive note, though, the Iraqi people must really be feeling good and grateful this morning 'cause the American Army is about to 'Liberate' them. lucky them; if i could, there's no place i'd rather be more this week than in Iraq. it must feel great to be there.
(but maybe i can arrange a trip to Iran for next fall and get liberated there. if not, then maybe north korea, or syria, or lybia... or maybe mr bush will come liberate me in right here canada if i can manage to wait the three long years it'll take him to realize just how massive a threat we also are over here. yeah, i'll do that. yay! we're all just about to get liberated!)

(and also, fuck you, mr bush, for your texas showboating; this is killing people you're talking about, not some poker game you have to win against jeb in your mom's basement. this guy's got a fuckin major chip on his shoulder (which he believes is god talking to him) and he's dragging us down with him.)

please hold this amazingly irresponsible bastard responsible for the international crimes he and his administration are about to commit.

ps. anyone else think that last week's lame US vote drama/delay at the UN was just so they could relocate their troops thanks to the Turkey fiasco? that's what i'm thinking now.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:14 AM |

SÅNGER FRÅN ANDRA VÅNINGEN (Roy Andersson, 2000)

(Songs from the Second Floor)

i rented this yesterday at blockbuster because it was a swedish film that seemed to have some credentials (cannes (wow, i just learned that it actually won the jury prize at cannes in 2000), the british independent film awards, etc) and i knew absolutely nothing about it.

the film is an existentialist tale. a gloomy end-of-the-world standstill hovers over the length of the film, with its characters living in a state of confusion, fear and self-doubt. not a very cheery subject, i know; but don't be fooled - the film is very funny. the trick is that it never takes itself too seriously, thanks to the extremely dry sense of humor (swedish, i assume) and the straight presentation of its characters (the film is told in portraits - scenes are made up of single master shots - incredibly well-crafted master shots, at that); think of the recent ikea tv spots and you got a great idea of the tone of the film. most of the time, the precise nature of these people's miseries are either never revealed or are presented much later without much relevance. the plot is not important here, it's the people and their views on existence that make it interesting to watch.

the dvd has no extra whatsoever but boasts a really good-looking picture that serves the magnificient cinematography very well. the (mostly live) audio is in swedish or french, with english or french subtitles.

:: rent it. this is one of the good films.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:48 PM |

"Throw off your shame or be a slave to the system"

i live in canada and don't get mtv (which, don't get me wrong, is a good thing), so i never saw one episode of jackass but i've always had nothing but good thoughts when the show came up through various entertainment medium. a few weeks ago i was able to rent jackass: volumes two and three on dvd. and i loved it. sure, not every stunt on the compilations were genius but as a whole i really liked the show and its people. and i can't wait for the movie to come out on dvd (in two weeks). so last night i was at work and ran into a coworker i hadn't seen in a while. we started talking. he talked about his new computer and how he had loads of downloaded songs and movies. mentioned the jackass movie and off we were talking about the show. seems like this smart chap had the whole three seasons on cd-rom now; and was making plans to lend them to me next week when he'd be working. oh, but the fun doesn't stop there, no way. he actually drove home on his lunch break to get them for me. he wasn't sure my computer would be able to run them since his is a lot faster and stronger, but i didn't mind. i would try 'em. and boy am i a happy man. they work. no bugging or anything. thank you, quicktime.

so now i've watched the first three episodes of season one.
i'm happy.

Posted by Anonymous | 5:51 PM |

"Yes, we feel bad in winter"

yesterday i mentioned the melissa auf der maur duet (le grand secret) on the indochine album. i just wanna add that her performance on that song is just stunning. and not in a fanboy-ish i-have-to-like-it-'cause-i-kinda-like-her way. no! i have goosebumps every time she comes on. but i'm not sure if you can grasp the whole thing if you don't understand french because a lot of it comes from the lyrics. but there's also something more to it. there's something in her performance that makes the lyrics come alive with ideas and imagination. she's just 100% devoted to this man. amazing.

that song still works on me and i had it in my head most of the night yesterday.

and the weird thing is, and i've talked about this before, is that on the video version, you can barely make out what she's saying. i just thought they'd buried her vocals in the mix and everything sounded like garbled french (even though i know melissa speaks very good french). so those lyrics hit me when i really first heard them.

btw, i finally made it! today's my last day of work. 4 days straight. could be worse, you say. but it started out with headaches and no friends at work. those evenings can get long and boring fast. but here i am, my last day. i have tomorrow off. and the roommate is even leaving for the weekend tomorrow afternoon! so tomorrow night is dvd night for me.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:51 AM |

"Comme une fille qui voudra prendre son temps, comme si c’était la dernière fois"

oh, come on, this is just stupid: french fries get new name in congress (yahoo). didn't Powell say the French were still America's friend and will still be after the war? this won't help. and how grudging and imperialistic can the U.S. get? land of the free, indeed. i thought it was just Bush & co but now it's gone to the congress' head (although i'm sure it's not congress as a whole, but still, is the cafeteria republican? do they vote on who serves the food after an election?). someone disagrees with you and they're now your enemy? (and btw, i don't know what kind of message this creates. i mean, aside from pissing people off. i don't think France's economy or culture will be touched by this. and 'freedom fries'? couldn't they come up with a better name than that? and that's name confuses me. does it mean that France is freedom?) i thought only Bush was dumb enough to think that way. i guess brainwashing does work.

and i don't know if congress has been following the news that well lately but if the way they're thinking, i sure hope they're prepared to wage war on the world.

i just popped in indochine's paradize. these are some of the best guitar sounds i've ever heard. wow. that just makes this buy even better. wow. le grand secret is now playing. this is the duet with melissa (auf der maur) (ha, just realized that i'm now talking about a french album - there you go, bush). awesome - we hear her voice loud and clear now. see, on the video version, her voice is kinda muddled under the instruments. must be because of broadcast quality. dunno about the radio. but this version rocks!

wtf? there's a single for le grand secret and it's got about five remixes on it - including one by tricky!!

Posted by Anonymous | 10:29 AM |

"A Military Industrial Illusion of Democracy"

oh, this is just sick.

in U.N. news, the U.S. is seemingly backing down a bit (but fear not, the war is coming very soon anyway. this is just last minute static) this week on the new resolution in that now they say they do have a couple more days to kill to wait for the vote.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:05 PM |

Day Off

well, i finally called in sick for tonight. it was to be my 8th work day in 9 days. i had enough.
the roommate was threatening to have either a get-together with some of her friends or just a one-on-one with this guy she knows. and i'd have to take off if it was the latter. but thankfully no. she's out now with the guy. they're at a restaurant and may catch Daredevil afterwards. so tonight's mine!

i finally found a video store that had Ringu. so i got that and some burger king. i'm all set.
see you all later.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:13 PM |

8 FEMMES (8 Women), françois ozon, 2002

what hit me first were the beautiful waves of technicolor magic coming at me from my tv screen. this put me right in the mood for old '50s musicals (both hollywood and french) and vaudeville theater. but don't be put off by the musical aspect of the film because tere are only individual songs that appear in different places in the film when need be. the songs merely act as interludes explaining the various women's inner thoughts to us.

the treatment is extremely kitsch. think glamor and marlene dietrich. from the stunning colors to the fake cardboard sets, everything's very tongue-in-cheek but told by these world class actresses. the script was adapted from a robert thomas play; very much a whodunnit but twisted out to something much more complex and fun by some incredible performances and an amazingly creative direction taken by ozon.

the cast director françois ozon was able to assemble is just stunning. think of a great french actress and she's there. and what's most amazing about this ensemble of very talented actresses are the different styles invovled and how seamlessly ozon was able to mix them all together (and in a style light years away from what they're accustomed to, no less; which is just a pure joy to watch). speaking of joy to watch, isabelle hupert is the sure standout in this film (and emmanuelle béart a very close second in a quieter role); she works her character to the bone and then just goes from there. she's simply delicious.

and what to say of the mindnumbingly rapid-fire dialogue? precison, precision, precision. this is one hell of a good time.

this is what you get when you ram together old hollywood musicals, hitchcock films, agatha christie plots, and a standout cast of the top french actresses.

:: seek it out, and have fun.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:09 PM |

Tomorrow ... is a Different Day.

thanks to Dark Horizons for this amazingly cool bit of news:
24 Fox has renewed "24" for a third season, keeping the single-hour format and a new crisis.

shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!
i mean, i knew bono had been honored and that (at least) gwen and shirley were there to give support. but shiiiiiiiiiit!
thanks to @U2:

PERSON OF THE YEAR: Stars from music, fashion, television, sports, movies, and even politics came out Friday night (Feb. 21) in New York to honor Bono as the MusiCares 2003 Person of the Year. The event, held at New York's Marriott Marquis Hotel, paid tribute to Bono for his musical and humanitarian achievements. The tribute included a concert featuring other artists performing U2 songs, and ended with Bono and Edge taking the stage for a 3-song set of their own: That's Life, Night and Day, and The Hands That Built America. The full setlist for the tribute concert:

BB King and Wynonna Judd - When Love Comes to Town
No Doubt - Sweetest Thing
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Stories For Boys
Mary J. Blige - One
Norah Jones - Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of
Patti Labelle - Angel of Harlem
And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Electric Co.
Garbage - Pride
Sheryl Crow - All I Want Is You
Elvis Costello - Kite

fuck me and your nextdoor neighbor. shit.
garbage did a fucking song?? look at that fuckin lineup, will ya?

Posted by Anonymous | 10:05 AM |