Saturday, March 31, 2007

The level of political debate in the US

Sometimes I dispair at the standard of political debate in this country: newspapers seem to be dumbing down and Newsnight can be a little hit or miss. But much as much as I read about America's coverage, I was shocked to see this clip from Fox News: America's most watched news channel according to Wikipedia.



No one comes out well here. Rosie O'Donnel, someone I have previously had respect for, sounds like a mad ranting bint. Anyone stupid enough to swallow Loose Change's story deserves a thorough beating. Conserva-babe Kirsten Powers and radio-cockBill Cunningham are even worse. That a majority of Americans accept this idiot babble shocks me. America is the most powerful nation. It'd be nice if their media was intelligent enough to give a bit of proper discussion to its people.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

The hillarious overtones of 300


300 is already a very, very funny movie. When plenty of blood, high-camp sensibilities and Miller's style clash, you know the result will be good.

However, when the propaganda and xenophobic overtones smacked me about the face, it was wonderful. The story is one of the "free men" of Greece - freedom is an oft-mentioned concept in 300 - against the forces of "mysticism and tyranny" of Persia. The Persian God-king is fabulous (Iranians are sissies) and commands an enormous army of mutants (brown people and muslims are monsters), whilst the Spartans are almost unbearable masculine. They are all muscle and testosterone and rarely wear clothes, compared to the headscarves and leering masks of the Persian menace. The civilizations clash and the Free Men of Sparta gladly lay down their lives for their state.

Honestly, it was hillarious. The politics was so overbearing, even more than the gore, but twice as enjoyable.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Zurich's slogan

Zurich's new slogan is "Because change happenz".

I don't think I can say any more about that without vomiting.