Returning

Hi. I’m back. Sort of? I don’t know. It’s not like I’ve been busy, too busy to blog. It’s just that I lose focus, which is why I’m bad at keeping in touch with people. It’s not like I love them less or don’t like talking to them. It’s just that I lose focus and then months go by and then you feel too guilty to make first contact, so you wait for them, all the while feeling more and more guilty and less and less able to make it right. And I hate talking on the phone.
Whatever. I’m sorry I’ve been gone, not because you miss me, but because I miss you. So I’m here, for now. And you can always email or call of course. It doesn’t mean I won’t lose focus again. It just means I like you.

You should see Blood Diamond. It’s good. It’s not perfect, but Leo’s Afrikaans accent goes beyond an accent and into the culture of speaking that can only come from real effort. And Edward Zwick made it. He also made The Last Samurai, a movie I love. And it has a message about Africa and diamonds. It makes some strong accusations against De Beers, the largest diamond company in the world, but I don’t know how unfounded they are. There was a big stink made by the New York Post (an utterly unremarkable paper notable only for its distinct likeness to diarrhea) that the film crew promised prosthetics to some of the amputee extras and then bailed on them. That was countered by the LA Weekly saying that no promise was made. In any case, money was raised for the kids and I’m pretty sure they got their prosthetics. Now if only artificial limbs could create real solutions in Africa.

I also saw Jesus Camp. Yuck. There’s some debate out there about it, Whether or not its indoctrination of children or whether the people in it are ethically sound, I don’t know. What I do know, and the worst part of it for me, is that every adult in the film speaks with division. All the language of both the positive people and the negative ones is divisive and meant to create a fervor about the corruption of American values. Makes me sick. And to be honest, it’s not that great. It’s about 90 minutes tops, and there isn’t really any resolution to the story or anything. It just sort of ends and you think to yourself “that’s it?” But, it will probably spark debate, which is what’s nice about controversial documentaries.

And I started watching Battlestar Galactica. Forgive me for a moment of complete dorkiness, I beseech you. BSG, as I shall refer to it, is about a band of about 50,000 humans lost in space after their machine creations, the Cylons, ambush and destroy their worlds. So these people are constantly on the run from the Cylons and fighting amongst themselves for a variety of reasons. It’s great because it deals with issues that we deal with in our (I’m sorry about this) “Post 9/11” world, including terrorism, liberty vs security, and the balance between the military and civilian government.

What’s up with this whole British hostages in Iran thing? Seriously, Iran, chill out. I know you feel like you’re running out of friends who hate Israel and oppress their women, so you have to do something drastic or whatever, but come on. Don’t forget about Syria. Or most of Iraq for that matter. And you could always opt for a new plan of “Oppression Lite.” Just look at China, worked for them. And now they’re holding the Olympics! You still have time. Tehran 2016. Come on, at this rate you’ll be a burgeoning democracy by then, with a US security force to boot! And look at how well that turned out for… Well, in any case, I prefer wars to hostage crises. Just feels more honest that way. So enough with the hostage taking.

This is now.