Iran in Chaos

It's always heart-warming to see chaos in a "belligerent Wog-country" like Iran where the government has introduced fuel restrictions. Since the rationing came into force on Tuesday night, twelve petrol stations have been torched in Tehran and there are unconfirmed reports that supermarkets and banks have also come under attack.

Mile-long queues, patrolled by police, now snake round central Tehran as drivers wait patiently for their allowance. The restrictions limit the private motorist to 100 litres per month, official taxi drivers to 800 litres. It's the first time in living memory that Iranians have had to face such restrictions and it's prompted a furious reaction. Partly because the rationing was brought in late at night with just three hours notice and partly because Iranians have grown up with idea that cheap petrol is their birthright. With the average price per litre just 8 pence (cheaper than water there), this is probably the cheapest country in the world to be a motorist.

The paradox is that Iran is the second largest oil producer in OPEC, but it lacks refineries and imports as much as 40 per cent of its petrol - to the tune of £2.5bn a year. With inflation now running at 20-30 per cent, the government is taking a stand. The rationing is predicted to last four months, maybe as long as six. And the knock-on effects could be profound. In Tehran alone, as many as 100,000 people supplement their income as unlicensed taxi drivers. In a city with limited public transport, they do a brisk trade.

Sounds to me like the US should go and liberate these poor unfortunate people once and for all.

Source: Sky News

Set Tasers on Stun

I see that in the United Kingdom, more police officers are to be armed with Taser stun guns.

Interestingly, use of the controversial weapons will no longer be limited to trained firearms officers, if independent medical advice backs the proposal. Crucially, the circumstances in which suspects can be stunned will also be widened.

A 12-month trial will extend use of Taser to specially-trained units who are not authorised firearms officers. They would also extend the use of Taser by authorised firearms officers where the criteria to use firearms does not apply.

Recently one of Britain's top policemen, Greater Manchester Police's Chief Constable Michael Todd volunteered to be shot with a 50,000 volt Taser stun gun in a bid to convince the public they are safe to use. He convulsed in agony as two wire barbs hit him in the back. "It hurt like hell!" he said.

Tasers work by firing metal barbs into the skin which then discharge a 50,000 volt electrical charge which is designed to temporarily disable someone long enough to allow police to detain them safely.

Although I'm a more "high velocity explosive projectile" kinda guy, there is something inherently melodic about the shrieks of someone being tazered as I showed here before. I hope they catch on, (and don't leg go) Muahahahahaha!

Sources: verious British Press, Sky News

Tom Goes Down

Tom Sizemore news will be very scarce for the next 16 months or so as that's the length of a sentence in the state pen that has just been imposed by a judge who ruled the alleged discovery of methamphetamine in the actor's car had violated his probation in a previous drug case.

Sizemore "has been in every program, and here he is again," Superior Court Judge Cynthia Rayvis said. He "abused the privilege of probation" and "needs to be in a lockdown setting." Rayvis recommended Sizemore be sent to the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County because of its noteworthy drug treatment program.

Sizemore's lawyer, Fay Arfa, argued that prison wouldn't help her client overcome his problem. She said Sizemore had "literally fallen from stardom, sitting in a jail cell by himself" and wants to recover. After the ruling, Arfa said Sizemore's legal team "will pursue our remedies on appeal."

Martin Sheen attended the hearing in support of Sizemore. "I don't think prison is appropriate for anyone who is in the grip of drug and alcohol abuse," he said outside court. Even so, Sheen said Sizemore could be successful in a prison drug rehab program.

In court papers, Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney alleged that Sizemore violated his probation by being under the influence of methamphetamine, opiates and marijuana, possessing methamphetamine and possessing drug paraphernalia. He faces up to six years in prison if convicted of all the charges.

Sizemore was convicted in 2003 of domestic violence involving his ex-girlfriend, former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. In October 2004, he pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and was placed on probation. The probation was revoked in 2005 when he was caught using a prosthetic device during a drug test. His probation was later reinstated, but he tested positive for drug use last year and was given another three years' probation which he has now violated.

Yes I still want him to play me in Colonel Creedon: The Movie, but it'll take a while to get that project off the ground and he'll be out by then :)

Source: Yahoo

The Iron Cast

This is the hottest image on the 'Net right now, the full cast of Iron Man which shows (left to right) Terence Howard in U.S. Air Force uniform as Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes, a strawberry-haired Gweneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and a bald Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane.

While the majority of filming on the Marvel-Paramount movie Iron Man has taken place in the Los Angeles area, the production is reportedly shifting to Las Vegas this week. Cameras began rolling today at Caesars Palace.

Details of the script are being kept under guard, and filming is expected to wrap by Wednesday night."

Sources: IGN, ComingSoon, RottonTomatoes

Snakes on a... ...Helicarrier?

Jon Favreau has pulled off the gutsiest move of any motion picture director of the 21st century. Today, Mr. Samuel L. Jackson began shooting his scenes for Iron Man, his character:

GENERAL NICHOLAS JOSEPH "NICK" FURY

The story was AICN's scoop (I'd say their first this year) and the source was trustworthy. It was so secret Fav himself didn't tell me.

I know many of you are saying "Isn't Nick Fury a Colonel? and isn't he caucasian?". Well yes (and no). While in the traditional Marvel Universe, Colonel Nick Fury is caucasian but in the Marvel Ultimates universe he's an Afro-American General and his likeness is actually based on Samuel L. Jackson (with his blessing) (left). It looks like that what I wrote about Fury over a year ago here is coming to pass. While we don't obviously have a Nick Fury or S.H.I.E.L.D. movie, this could be a stepping stone for one or an Avengers movie. Perhaps Fury could appear in the origin movies for the other individual Avengers too like Ant Man, Captain America and Thor.

I hope people understand that the Marvel universe as represented on screen is not the Marvel universe of the comic books or the Ultimates universe and they can accept cool interpretations and convergences of ideas like the casting of SAMUEL L. MUTHAFUCKIN' JACKSON as Fury.

Source: AICN

The Martian Experiment

A trip to Mars is not an early prospect. The United States has set plans to return to the Moon by 2018 and later head to Mars, but without setting a date. However The European Space Agency (ESA) yesterday called for applications for one of the most demanding human experiments in space history: a simulated trip to Mars in which six "astronauts" will spend 17 months in an isolation tank on Earth.

Their "ship" will comprise a series of interlocked modules in an research institute in Moscow, and once the doors are closed tight, the volunteers will be cut off from all contact with the outside world except by 40 minute delayed radio link. They will face simulated emergencies, eat ration packs, have daily work routines and experiments, as well as boredom and, no doubt, personal friction from confinement in just 550 cubic metres, the equivalent of nine truck containers.

The goal is to gain experience about the psychological challenges that a crew will face on a trip to Mars. Four of the crew will be Russian, and two will come from countries that are members of ESA, so 12 European volunteers are needed to fill those two spaces taking into account redundancy and backup.

A precursor 105-day study is scheduled to start by mid-2008, possibly followed by another 105-day study, before the full 520-day study begins in late 2008 or early 2009, so if you think you've got the right stuff download the application form here.

I myself am already a trained Marine Corps Flight Officer Astronaut for the purpose of weapons testing in space and would only be called to Mars if hostile life (or peaceful life that just looks too weird so we'd have to kill it anyway) is discovered there.

Source: Yahoo

British Bint goes down like a dog - Part 11 in my "Shoot First, Questions Never" series!

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate, support and condone the actions of the British police officer(s) who shot dead some woman in Sevenoaks, Kent last week.

37-year-old Ann Sanderson was engaged in a stand-off with armed police investigating reports of a woman with a gun in a deserted department store car park before being shot. I've no idea why she was doing it, but who cares?

Police were first alerted at about 1.20am to a woman in the High Street area with a gun. Witnesses described hearing shouting during a 20-minute stand-off, followed by a single gunshot at about 3am Monday.

Prior to the shooting, the only woman to have been shot dead by police since 1980 was 16-year-old Gail Kinchin who was unfortunately killed by West Midlands police while she was being held hostage. But hey - Shit happens!

I'm glad the Bobbies got to take down a more viable target this time. There should be no limit on age or sex for the righteous kill.

Source: SkyNews

The Dark Knight's new threads and wheels!

Oooooo!

Bats gets a new toy next summer when playing with his (new) old friend - The Joker. It's called The Batpod.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the gray-and-silver Batpod (OK it's the Bat-cycle) is "tricked out with grappling hooks, cannons and machine guns. The front and rear tires are both a monstrously huge 508 millimeters, and the engines are in the hubs of each wheel!!! Steering isn't by hand but by shoulder, since there aren't handlebars. Instead, there are shields that fit each arm like sleeves and have the ability to rotate around the bike's frame. The two foot pegs are set 3 1/2 feet apart on either side of the tank, which the rider lies on, belly down. That tank also moves up and down — you know, in case Batman needs to dodge bullets or slide under trucks." It's "built" by Wayne Enterprises' Lucius Fox, in reality, it was designed by Dark Knight production designer Nathan Crowley and built by special effects coordinator Chris Corbould. They produced six Batpods for the movie.

Check out this MSN video here.

Fat liberal bastard's new movie is pirated!

Piracy is a blight on both the movie and music industry and will eventually kill it off and finally the human race will have a chance to better itself. However, until that day we must contend with the "blight" of audio and video piracy.

Another blight on the entertainment industry is that stupid wanker Michael Moore and his seemingly endless anti-American films. Needless to say I was overjoyed that his latest rancid trash Sicko has been pirated. It has turned up on the web on those torrent and peer-to-peer content sites and it's apparently a DVD quality copy so now Moore and his distributor, The Weinstein Company, have to persuade people to go to the cinema to see a show that's available free on the Internet.

Muahahahahaha. Shove that up your fat ass Moore, you should have stayed in Cuba with your commie friends. Dumb fuck.

Source: IMDB

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - Not shit!

To be honest, I'm waiting for an original film this year that doesn't have a sequel number or a colon in the title. Until Transformers then, we have a superior sequel to a mediocre original first outing for the first-family of Marvel Comics, the Fantastic Four.

The original FF was a sub-standard origin story that introduced the main characters and the main villain and wrapped up by pitting the four heroes against the villian. I'll admit that I wasn't as upset by the "changes" the filmmakers made to the characters, except for Dr. Doom who should not have been cast with a pretty-boy like Julian McMahon thus requiring to need to see his face even after becoming (a rather camp) Doom (Muahahahahaha!).

I was prepared for something at least on-par with FF or Ghost Rider but so long as it was better than the 3rd outings of Spider-Man and the X-Men, I'd be happy. As I don't have a great affinity with the FF as I would for Spider-Man, Batman or obviously Iron Man, I can therefore review this movie on more on it's own merits as opposed to a movie version of something I've read as a comic book just as I would with Ghost-Rider, Daredevil, Elektra, Superman or the X-Men.
What I have read of the FF however, it seems (as far as the team goes anyway) that they nailed them this time, from the super-nerdiness of Reed to the playful antagonism between Johnny and Ben. It was obvious that the cast had grown comfortable with their characters and the team themselves had grown into a more cohesive unit. Thankfully this helped the somewhat lackluster plot along and wasn't drawn out unnecessarily like the excrement that was Spider-Man 3.

The effects and CGI in this movie was (thus) far the best I've seen this summer. The Silver Surfer was awesome and it was amazing to see how far the "liquid-metal" effect has some since T2. While I've never read a single comic-book page featuring the character, I found the character intriguing in his simplicity. I look forward to his own movie which is in the genesis stage now (screenplay currently being written by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski). The cloud formation that was Galactus was remarkable even though the "cloud" appearance undoubtedly has many Marvel purists up in arms and I'd probably be one of them too if a giant-humanoid wouldn't have looked so fucking ridiculous on screen, probably the only creative decision of Avi Arad's I'd agree with.

The screenplay was awful and could have been written by 12-year-old with a Star Trek technical manual but the direction was tight and well judged and most superior in pace and movement than the original. I was particularly impressed with the performance of Andre Braugher (left) as General Hager, somone from Reed Richards past who enlists the help of the scientist to investigate the strange phenomena that occur during the coming of Galactus.

Let me finish by saying if given a choice between a 3rd Fantastic Four or a 4th Spider-Man I'll take FF3 please.

Colonel Creedon Rating ***1/2

2IGTV Episode 43

Mark opens this 43rd episode for a change, with the latest technology news but we do not neglect the entertainment world with news about celebrities, Rose McGowen, Paris Hilton, Tom Sizemore , Wesley Snipes and The Hoff.
In television land: Fantastic news for "fans" of Jericho plus discover when your most anticipated games are released.
We also have some hot news from Hollywood for the movies, Ghost Rider 2, Die Hard 4.0, Thundercats, Wolverine and Bond 22.
Bonus: In this episode you'll get to hear The Colonel's own impersonation of Sean Connery that he's been working for 20 years to perfect.

All this and much more here.

Stars and Stripes Forever

On this day 230 years ago, one of the most striking and unique flags in the world, most commonly known as the Stars and Stripes was adopted by the United States. Originally it had 13 stars but they have since grown in number to 50, each representing one of the states. The 13 stripes represent the original 13 colonies that rebelled against the crown and became the Union.

Throughout the years it has become the most recognised symbol of the U.S. both as a nation state, government, and set of policies, but also as an ideology and set of ideals. It is a symbol of those who do more than anyone to protect this world against tyranny, terrorism and oppression, a symbol of a fearless people who will stop at nothing to bring freedom, liberty and justice to all.

I salute the flag, on this- Flag Day.

Information Source: Sith Apologist

Star Wars TV writers wanted!

It appears God himself will not be actually writing the Star Wars TV show. This is not necessarilly a bad thing as he should devote more time to promoting his religion and leaving something as simple as writing to common writers.

Apparently the folks from Lucasfilm were in Santa Monica looking for a few good writers for their upcoming live action TV show and met with writers from Lost, Battlestar Galactica and Heroes.

As far as we know at the moment, the upcoming TV show will have a commitment of 100 episodes which would guarantee syndication, be bankrolled 100% by God and all episodes would be shot in Australia or perhaps Vancouver, if the price is right.

Producer Rick McCallum has said that each episode would be given a budget of around 2 and 4 million dollars and would be catered to the teen/adult fans compared to the Star Wars films that were always catered to the teen and young children.

Expect the Star Wars TV show in Late 2009 at the earliest however.

Source: ISEB, theforce.net

Jessica to join the Corps

Jessica Simpson, last seen on the big screen in Employee of the Month and The Dukes of Hazzard, has a new movie lined up.

Simpson will star as a Marine Corps enlistee in Major Movie Star, a Millennium Films production to be directed by Steve Lake Placid Miner and will start shooting next month in Louisiana.

The story reportedly centers around a pampered actress who joins the Marines to convince a movie producer that she's fit for an upcoming military film. When she arrives at Camp Pendleton, she realizes she's made a huge mistake but decides that she has to stick it out.

The Warner Bros. project is based on a spec script by April Blair.

The film will have three things going for it: Marines and the other two...

...Eyes right!

Military Shock!!! Pace not to serve 2nd term!!!

In a shock announcement yesterday, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said that he will be advising President Bush not to re-nominate Marine General Peter Pace as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gates said he feared a contentious re-nomination hearing in the Senate that would focus too heavily on six years of war (while Pace served as Vice Chairman and later CJCOS) rather than the way ahead.

While Gates wanted to keep Pace, the first Marine to serve as CJCOS, for a second 2-year term in that job; he said he changed his mind because of the highly charged atmosphere in Congress over the length and direction of the Iraq war, which blew up this spring into a tough battle between Congress and the administration over war funding and ultimately unmet demands for measurable benchmarks of progress on the part of the Iraqi government.

Gates' choice of replacement is current Chief Of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Mullen. He said that, as with Pace, he had intended to ask President Bush to re-nominate Admiral Edmund Giambastiani as the Vice Chairman but that such a move became impossible once he’d decided on Mullen (right) because by law, the Chairman and Vice Chairman cannot be members of the same branch of service. Coincidently however, earlier in the week Giambastiani announced his intention to retire in August anyway.

As he will have to nominate a new Vice-Chairman as well so Gates has cleverly chosen U.S. Strategic Command chief Marine General James E. Cartwright. It appears that the Marines will retain their rightful presence in the top two hot seats that Pace held for 6 years.

Cartwright (left) has commanded StratCom since July 2004, where Gates said he is responsible for global command and control of U.S. strategic forces, computer network operations and Defense Department information operations. That experience, on top of his previous job as director for force structure, resources and assessment on the Joint Staff, make him “exceptionally well-qualified” for the Vice Chairman position.

The SECDEF vehemently denied that his decision anything to do with the way Pace had performed as Chairman, and he also declined to characterize the two high-level moves as a shakeup. “I think that this is an effort to do what I think is in the long-term interests of the services and the country, as well as the individuals involved,” he said. "General Pace has served our country with great distinction, and deserves the deepest thanks of the American people for a lifetime of service to our country and for his leadership.”

Seems to me that there has to be some give and take now that the damn Democrats are in control of the senate and a price must be paid for the President's necessary veto against them last month.

Souce: Military Times

Where the Marines lead: The Air Force follows!

The head of US Air Force Special Operations Command gave a strong endorsement for the special operations variant of the V-22 Osprey, saying it's as safe to fly as a commercial airliner.

Calling the CV-22 "a wonderful airplane," Lt. Gen. Mike Wooley said his command is confident the hybrid aircraft has emerged from its troubled history of crashes and fatalities and will deliver a "transformational leap" to commandos for their covert missions.

"The thing that we're excited about that the airplane brings to the fight is speed and range," Wooley said in Washington last month. "When you really get down to it, that's what the Air Force does: bring speed and range to the fight."

Controversy swirled around the Osprey program for years after two crashes in 2000 killed 23 Marines. The deadly incidents grounded the transport and sent the program back to the drawing board, forcing the Air Force and Navy - which is buying the Osprey to replace a portion of its search and rescue helicopter fleet - to mute their enthusiasm for the new transport.

But citing the Air Force's checkered history converting from a prop-driven aircraft fleet to jets, Wooley brushed aside the Osprey's past problems, saying the Navy and Marine Corps had worked out the kinks over the past several years of re-engineering.

"It's no different from jumping on a 777, an AC-130 or a CV-22 - something could slip, break or come loose at any time," he added. "But that's the aviation business."

The Marine Corps - which is purchasing the MV-22 to replace its fleet of Vietnam-era CH-46 Sea Knight transports - announced April 16 it planned to deploy the first operational Osprey squadron to Iraq in September. The announcement surprised critics of the program who speculated the Corps would send the Osprey on a lower-profile assignment.

Air Force spec ops pilots should get their first operational CV-22s by 2009, filling out the 50 aircraft buy in 2018. But that's not soon enough for Wooley who said the delay is "my biggest concern with that airplane." The AFSOC CV-22 will employ four crewmembers, adding a flight engineer to the mix. The Corps uses a three-man crew during its operations.

"Our machines are pretty dang complicated," Wooley admitted. "But they're pretty dang complicated because we designed them." He said the complexity of the flight systems needed for spec ops missions demanded the extra manpower "because there's a lot going on in the cockpit" and was not an indication that the Osprey was any more difficult to fly than other conventional transports.

The AFSOC version of the Osprey may also differ from the Corps' MV-22 by incorporating a chin-mounted gun - a modification the Air Force requested. The Corps will use a .50 cal machine gun mounted on the Osprey's loading ramp for fire suppression in a hot landing zone.

Wooley will send an Air Force team with the Marine squadron heading to Iraq this fall to learn what he can from the first deployment in hopes of making AFSOC's eventual stint in the combat zone error-free.

"We want to be there to learn those lessons the same time the Marines learn theirs."

Source: Military.com

Cop defends home against teenaged daughter - Part 10 in my "Shoot First, Questions Never" series!

You'll love this: An off-duty New Haven police officer shot and critically wounded his 18-year-old daughter, apparently mistaking her for an intruder after she sneaked out of their Stratford home and re-entered through the basement.

Eric Scott, 41, on the New Haven force for nine years, has not been charged in the Tuesday shooting. "Mr. Scott was under the impression his daughter had gone to bed for the night," Stratford Capt. Thomas Rodia said. "He did not expect his daughter to be outside or down in the basement."

Investigators said Tasha Scott left her home late Monday to meet a boyfriend. She triggered a backyard motion sensor light as she tried to enter through a basement door. Awakened by the light, Eric Scott spotted someone moving in the basement bathroom, police said. He fired his department-issued pistol once, hitting the teen in the knee. The bullet traveled up her leg and lodged in her thigh area, police said.

The teenager underwent surgery and was listed in critical but stable condition Wednesday morning. Scott has been on leave since being struck by a truck while on duty in November.

Source: Fox News

Flyboys: Better than Top Gun!

Hang on! This was supposed to be crap! The critics slated this on it's US release last September and now it's arrived in Western Europe. It's easy to see why it flopped, it could only be truly enjoyed by people who grew up reading old British war comic-books and unfortunately that's almost no-one in the US.
Allow me to elaborate; the characters here are a bunch of young guys who are either trying to prove something or escape their life in the US and all without exception are the richest example of War-Movie/War-comic characters I've ever seen assembled in one picture and it so fuckin' works.

James Franco, the best performer of the awful Spider-Man 3 is the main player here as a young rancher who escapes the US to become a flying ace with the Lafayette Escadrille a French squadron made up of US pilots in WWI. Yes, the French are "good guys" in this movie and are not portrayed as complete assholes - after all this is only based on a true story. The excellent Jean Reno (his excellence is proved by virtue of the fact he's not actually French) plays Captain Thenault the commander of the French airbase where our heroes' squadron is stationed.

In the air, the action is thick and fast if somewhat unrealistic and you must suspend your disbelief and leave common sense as well as any aviation knowledge you have at the door on the way in to appreciate that the producers of this film wanted to audience to enjoy themselves at an action movie as opposed to be watching a carefully crafted docu-drama. While there is a romance, it doesn't overwhelm the plot as it did in Top Gun and unlike that movie, no homosexual undertones can be extrapolated from the flyboy's language years later by Quentin Tarentino.

Sadly I predict that it will crash and burn amongst the Spider-Men, Pirates, Giant Robots and Die-Hards of this season on this side of the Atlantic, a pity. Nevertheless there is always DVD and I urge you to pick it up then.

Colonel Creedon Rating: ****

2IGTV Episode 42

In this Duracell-powered Episode 42. Major Indiana Jones IV news and fantastic Nicholas Cage shocker! Script-doctor Paul Haggis returns to Bond 22 and Chow Yun Fat wants more US lead roles. He-Man to return to the silver screen but Mark pulls the plug on The Colonel's Aliens vs. Predator 2 report. The Clone Wars returns and we reveal the next of Frank Miller’s works to be filmed.

In the world of tech: Why not order and pay for your food via Microsoft's new interactive dining table.

Oh yeah, we also give our final verdict on Heroes and talk about Pirates. It and much more is all here.