Today in The Middle East: Unrest, revolt and revolution

The popular uprising in Egypt gave Washington a bit of a headache; Mubarak had been an ally for three decades. A moderate leader at peace with the Israelis despite being somewhat repressive in his own land. But how could the most free nation on the planet continue supporting him with one hand while professing to support the universal rights being demanded by the protesters in Cairo? The answer was - it couldn't - and Mubarak was "let go" seeing as the Egyptian army could probably maintain the country on it's moderate path, keeping peace with Israel and begin to address some basic reforms.

Bahrain which also began to feel the waves of revolution, posed a more difficult situation for the US. Unlike Egypt a brutal crackdown was taken against protesters there. Security forces opened fire Friday on Bahrain's protesters wounding at least 50 people as thousands defied the government and marched toward Pearl Square in an uprising that sought to break the political grip of the Gulf nation's leaders.

The US condemned the use of violence against protesters in Manama but chose its words very carefully. Secretary Clinton said: "Bahrain is a friend and an ally and has been for many years and while all governments have a responsibility to provide citizens with security and stability, we call [for] restraint." President Obama spoke of universal rights, but US interests hang in the balance, perhaps even more so than with Egypt.

Sunni kingdoms like Bahrain and larger neighbour Saudi Arabia are allied with the US and are crucial counterweights to Iran's growing influence in the region. Bahrain itself is home to the US Navy's 5th fleet and is a key pillar for US regional military infrastructure.

Thankfully, today troops have been withdrawn from confronting the mainly peaceful protesters, an jubilant demonstrators feel empowered. A dialogue has apparently begun with the ruling royal family. Critical here is not just Bahrain's image of itself as a modern, relatively liberal Middle Eastern country, but the extent of outside influence. President Obama and British Foreign Secretary William Hague, all phoned the monarchy urging a peaceful solution and it appears for now their words were heard. Or should that be threats, what with CJCS Admiral Mike Mullen being sent to the region today.

Interestingly, Iran was quite quick to voice it's congratulations to the people of Egypt in achieving their goal in a peaceful manner but hypocritically violent in retaliation against Iranians protesting against them this week. The Iranian Parliament's conservative MPs even called for the execution of protest leaders.

Protesters in Sanaa, Yemen marched to the Ministry of Justice, demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh leave office immediately. Riot police shot dead a protester and injured five others when they opened fire on the thousands of demonstrators. Four others were killed by police in Aden and another lost his life in Taiz when a grenade was thrown from a car at protesters.

Protesters clashed with government supporters in Jordan on Friday, where crowds had gathered to demand political reform. Police moved in to separate the groups and activists say eight protesters were hurt in the scuffles. It was the seventh week in a row that crowds have gathered after Friday prayers to urge economic and political reforms. Admiral Mullen recently visited Jordan which like Egypt, has a peace treaty with Israel. Mullen assured King Abdullah II of America's commitment to the security of his kingdom.

Despite the tense situations in the Middle East, nothing is comparing to the bloodbath that's currently happening in the the North African country of Libya where Colonel Gaddafi's forces have killed over 200 protesters against his 40-year regime in only a few days. Soldiers have been using heavy weapons to quell protests and even a funeral procession came under mortar fire at the weekend.

Gaddafi is unlikely to respond to either political rhetoric or even military threats. To to save both his skin and his power, he's unlikely to shrink from more violence. It's doubtless he will see anything other than the harsh measures we see coming from there now as his only option.

I think it's high time that the man Ronald Reagan dubbed the "mad dog of the Middle East" got put down!

Source: BBC News / Sky News / Fox News

If Philly has a Rocky statue; why not a RoboCop one in Detroit ?

That was gist of an argument tweeted recently to Dave Bing, Mayor of Detroit, Michigan. Sadly Mr. Bing did not appear to think a statue of a fictional police cyborg created from the remains of a murdered cop by a fascist monopoly who then went on to brutally dispense justice in a future-Detroit by violently killing or maiming lawbreakers before finally breaking his programming and continuing to violently kill or maim lawbreakers by his own accord, was appropriate to have immortalised in stone [or any other material for that matter]. It's probably unsurprising for you to learn Bing is a Democrat.

Right: The bronze statue of Rocky outside a Philadelphia museum

Detroit itself however had other ideas and the people of probably the worst hit city in the United States by the economic downturn became galvanised. One local non-profit group "Imagination Station" was quick to organise a Facebook campaign to fund and construct a $50,000 two-metre high-plus sculpture of RoboCop on privately owned land near the Michigan Central Depot in downtown Detroit, unless the Mayor relents under pressure to have the statue erected in a public location. "It would draw tourists, just as the Fonzie statue known as "Bronze Fonz" does in Milwaukee. Plus, it's just a cool idea," Brandon Walley one of the organisers said.

Amazingly in less than 10 days of the appeal starting, the group had raised more than $25,000 from donations through the Internet. The effort was then considerably helped out by a single $25,000 donation from San Francisco businessman Pete Hottelet, owner of Omni Consumer Products, who produce products based on TV and movie products like the True Blood drink from the show True Blood and Stay-Puft marshmallows from Ghostbusters. The real-life company is named after the fictional oppressive megacorporation that created RoboCop in Paul Verhoven's 1987 movie, well known as my favourite movie of all time.

Peter Weller, who first played Alex Murphy/RoboCop said that the homage to the fictional crimefighter would be good for Detroit. "I think it's a great thing." Jerry Paffendorf one of the RoboCop campaign leaders said he hopes the RoboCop campaign inspires residents and leads to other projects. "If people can raise money for something like RoboCop, then they can do it for their neighborhoods or their schools," he said. "Sometimes it takes a RoboCop to open up the consciousness of these things."

http://detroitneedsrobocop.com/

Sources: Detroit Free Press / detnews.com / SkyNews

Revolution in Egypt but Obama must act!

Upon seeing the success of nearby Tunisians ousting their own President, the people of Egypt who had been living under the oppressive rule of President Hosni Mubarak for 30 years decided that it was finally possible to change the country for themselves. For almost 3 weeks the eyes of the world have been on the country that links Africa with Asia.

While it was good that under Mubarak, Egypt kept peace with Israel, established and close ties with the West and opposed Islamic extremism; it was unfortunate he kept his country under emergency law which restricted freedom and gave all but totalitarian control to the police.

On Thursday, after many days of unrest that saw about 300 people dead, Mubarak had again told Egyptians that he would stay in power until elections planned for September. But on Friday 11th February, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced the resignation of the eighty-two-year-old dictator.

U.S. President Barack Obama says the resignation marks only a beginning of Egypt's transition and that Egyptians had made it clear that they will accept "nothing less than genuine democracy."

Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi is now acting as President of Egypt and his Council pledged today to eventually rescind power to an elected civilian government. They also reassured allies that the peace treaty with Israel will be abided by. While they announced that they will retain members of the government appointed by Mubarak in his final weeks, they do so as a stop-gap measure to keep the country operating. The Council also urged the public to "work to push the economy forward."

A random Egyptian who I've decided to quote, Weszam Elmelegi posted on the Facebook: "This is our victory. Our freedom. Our Egypt. Egyptians have taught the world one lesson: when the people speak, their voice is not words. It is thunder. And when thunder strikes the entire forces of nature listen. Because thunder is sent by God. Ours is one of the most honorable revolutions in history. We did not fall into the pit of civil war. We did not get any help from any government."

That's right Mr. Elmelegi, no help at all.

The events in Tunisia and Egypt are as significant as the fall of the Shah of Iran and the fall of the Berlin Wall and it will be up to the United States to confirm the Egyptians success or failure for our way of life. When the wall fell, Reagan and Bush flooded the former Warsaw Pact nations with individuals who knew how to create the institutions of free societies. Now, those same countries are vibrant democracies that love the stars and stripes. In Iran in the late 70's however, ineffectual Jimmy Carter sat on his arse and didn't deploy advisers, leaving Iran to the Iranians. Before long, any democratic reformers "disappeared" and Islamic fundamentalists reigned supreme. Nowadays, Iran is in a race to develop a nuclear weapons and led by a complete nutter who demands the destruction of the "Satanic" United States.

Thankfully today, the US is led by the extraordinarily decisive and popular Nobel Peace Prize winning President who is so not Jimmy Carter. No, Obama is more like Reagan, so much so he's apparently "The Gipper" now!

This Mechanic doesn't fix cars...

...well actually he does kind of, but its more of a hobby like listening to the exact same Schubert record over and over again like some sort of bizarre obsession... but I digress.

Jason The Expendables Statham takes a well deserved break from driving cars insanely through a movie [The Transporter Trilogy, The Italian Job, Death Race] to present himself as Bishop, a subdued killer for hire. We're treated to an example of his craft and through his interaction with his agents we learn that this man is the best in the business of killing without leaving a trace [and although he doesn't seem to wear gloves, he never leaves prints - yes, he's THAT good!!!]. When he's hired by his agency to kill someone he knows, he starts down a road that teams him up with his mentor Harry[Donald Sutherland]'s son Steve [Ben 3:10 To Yuma Foster] whom he trains to become an assassin too.

If you think you've seen this before - you have; but you may have seen the superior-in-many-ways Charles Bronsan & Jan-Michael Vincent original The Mechanic [1972]. In that movie Bishop [Bronson] was a tragic figure who popped pills because of the stress and paid a prostitute to compose love letters to him because he can't risk human friendship. Statham's Bishop didn't seem stressed out at all and actually screwed the prostitute. The way Bronson's Bishop trained Vincent's Steve was done in such a way that makes perfect sense of it's clever ending. Alas you don't get that in 2011 and the training is nothing more than a Rocky-esque montage that somehow culminates in Steve going from a bum to the equivalent of a special forces soldier in the space of a few months.

But the exceptional character development and a well constructed plot is hardly what you expect in a Jason Statham movie and certainly not why I wanted to see it. No, I wanted some hard and fast action and this movie is not light on it. Foster and Statham are very physical and while it does take a while to truly open up the killing is delightfully theatrical as well as utterly implausible at times.

The movie's pace is a welcome change for Statham who sometimes seems like he's constantly on Crank [see what I did there?]. Director Simon Tomb Raider West seems to use Foster, who is a far superior actor, to subdue Statham's pace just enough for you to enjoy each on-screen death at a pace you can relish. West's trademark use of "overkill climactic death scenes" such as Cyrus the Virus' end in Con Air and Colonel Kent's suicide-by-landmine in The General's Daughter come to mind when you see the climax of this particular movie.

Final Verdict: This is a highly predictable and formulaic action movie with a bare hint of Shakespearean tragedy if you're prepared to excavate. So if you hate those or hate Statham then you won't find anything here, but after 3 weeks of Season of the Witch, The Kings Speech and Black Swan I found exactly what I wanted.

Colonel Creedon Rating: ****

Long Live The Gipper!

If someone asked you "Who was the greatest President of the United States of America, and why?" What would you say?

Washington, for setting America on course to be a great democratic republic?
Lincoln, for his leadership during the Civil War, abolishing slavery and strengthening the union?
F.D.R., for his leadership during WWII, helping to create the UN and introducing Social Security?
Ike, for creating the Interstate system and presiding over the inception of the Cold War?
or
Harry Truman for having the balls the drop the A-Bomb?

All those answers are good in their own right, but here in the Bunker they'd be incorrect and you'd be wrong! The greatest President of the United States of America was former actor Ronald W. Reagan, 40th President, and a towering, visionary figure in the history of the Republican Party, the United States and the world.

During his terms in office, Reagan's policies reflected his own beliefs in individual freedom. "Reaganomics" enhanced the economy through tax cuts and job creation programs which led to the creation of 16 million jobs, unprecedented GDP growth and an 8% decrease in inflation.

Reagan expanded the military by an astonishing 40% during peacetime [including commissioning a fresh faced USMC Lieutenant with a penchant for Burger King sandwiches] though his policy of "Peace through Strength". He escalated the Cold War by abandoning détente, formally denouncing the USSR and creating the Strategic Defence Initiative. This expansion, coupled with US pressure on Saudi Arabia to increase oil production, lowered the price of oil - one of the USSR's key exports - forcing the Russians to bankrupt themselves to keep up with the US. This effectively brought a peaceful end to the Cold War and Reagan was able to ask the now-impotent Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!"

Trivia:
-Reagan is the oldest man elected to the office of the presidency [at 69].
-He became the first serving POTUS to survive an assassination attempt [in 1981].
-He was the first American president ever to address the British Parliament [in 1982].
-He made GPS free for for civilian use in navigation [in 1983].
-Reagan won a record 525 electoral votes in the 1984 Presidential Campaign - the most of any candidate in United States history - He won EVERY state with the exception of opponent Walter Mondale's home state of Minnesota.
-As Reagan was going under aesthetic for colon surgery in 1985 it caused the first-ever invocation of the Acting President clause of the 25th Amendment.
-He made 376 judicial appointments, the most of any US President.
-In 1991, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was dedicated and opened to the public. Five presidents were in attendance marking the first time that large a number of former presidents were gathered in the same location.
-Upon taking command of U.N.E.T.I.D.A. Special Operations Bunker 14, Colonel "Whopper" Creedon decreed that the only photograph of a historical political figure ever to be displayed there was that of Reagan, a directive that stands 11 years later.

Political historian M.J. Heale summarized the consensus reached by scholars: That Reagan rehabilitated conservatism, turned the US to the right, practiced a pragmatic form of conservatism that balanced ideology and the constraints of politics, revived faith in the presidency, American self respect and contributed to the victory in the Cold War.

I salute "The Gipper" on this, the 100th anniversary of his birth and declare him The Greatest President of the United States, of all time!

DOD Announces the National Security Space Strategy

Yesterday, the Department of Defense announced the release of the National Security Space Strategy (NSSS), signed jointly by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

It is derived from the National Security Strategy and the National Space Policy and outlines necessary changes to enhance national security through DoD and intelligence community activities in space. It is the culmination of a lengthy and detailed Space Posture Review conducted in close consultation with other agencies and allies.

SECDEF Gates said "The National Security Space Strategy represents a significant departure from past practice. It is a pragmatic approach to maintain the advantages we derive from space while confronting the new challenges we face."

The NSSS is driven by an evolving strategic environment. Space is crucial for military operations and intelligence collection, but it is increasingly congested with satellites, orbital debris, and radiofrequency interference; contested by countries developing counterspace capabilities; and competitive with an increasing number of spacefaring countries and companies.

The NSSS will be implemented by updating guidance, plans, doctrine, programs, and operations to reflect the new strategic approach. The DoD's fiscal 2012 budget will contain initial steps toward implementing the strategy, and the department will use the coming year to lay the foundation for changes in fiscal 2013 and beyond. The new Defense Space Council, chaired by Secretary of the Air Force and Department of Defense Executive Agent for Space Michael Donley, will help oversee implementation.

"The strategy provides a basis to update defense plans and programs and make the hard choices that will be required to implement the strategy," Gates continued. "We look forward to working closely with Congress, industry, and allies to implement this new strategy for space."

Colonel "Whopper" Creedon of UNETIDA speaking from the Egyptian National Authority for Remote Sensing And Space Sciences where he is currently "securing data" welcomes the DOD's new initiative. "Once the Air Force gets funding for anti-satellite tech we'll be able to knock all sorts of useless shit out of the stratosphere" smiled the Marine. "There's actually a french thingy I want to eliminate because it's making discoveries. Discoveries that the US have more of a right to make."

John Barry 1933 - 2011 R.I.P.

The legendary English film score composer John Barry Prendergast, OBE died on Sunday at age 77, from a heart attack.

Barry began playing the piano at age 9 and later trained as a classical pianist. He was however more drawn to jazz and loved playing the trumpet. He began composing as a bandsman in Cyprus and Egypt and began arranging music for his band, The John Barry Seven before debuting as score composer/conductor in 1960 for Beat Girl.

Over his 50 year career John Barry received 5 Oscars [with 2 additional nominations], a BAFTA award [with 2 additional nominations], a Golden Globe [with 10 additional nominations] and a Grammy [with 2 additional nominations] for composing the scores to Born Free, The Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy, Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, Chaplin and Mary, Queen of Scots.

John Barry also composed the scores for Zulu, The Ipcress File, The Deep, Game Of Death, Starcrash, The Black Hole, Jagged Edge, Indecent Proposal, The Specialist, Mercury Rising and Enigma to name but a few of his some 100 movie scores. Among his many TV themes were of course the Born Free TV series and the Roger Moore & Tony Curtis action show, The Persuaders!

Barry was best known however, as the man who composed most of the scores for the James Bond series of movies. The producers of Dr. No in 1962 were so dissatisfied with Monty Norman's James Bond theme that they had Barry re-arrange it. Authorship of the theme would later be called into question following a Sunday Times article crediting Barry with the theme and it even went to court in 2001. The courts subsequently granted sole compositional credit and royalties to Norman, but Barry has publicly defended his authorship of the theme in subsequent years but never challenged the registration of the songwriting credit with the Performing Right Society.

When the Bond producers discovered their choice to score From Russia with Love, Lionel Bart could not read music; they again turned to Barry to help them out and thus began his tenure with 007 scoring 11 of the first 14 James Bond adventures. In From Russia With Love he introduced us to "007" an alternate Bond theme which is as memorable as Norman's own and appears in four other movies in the series. He excelled at bringing "big band" brassy music to Bond highlighting his own jazz roots especially in Goldfinger, but as he matured he became both more melodic for Moonraker and contemporary in A View to a Kill, before embracing a remarkably more modern effort for his final Bond score, The Living Daylights. In 1997 he gave his blessing to his successor whom he so obviously influenced, David Arnold who has since composed the music for the 5 most recent Bond movies using a highly stylised form of many of Barry's themes and motifs.

Barry is survived by his fourth wife Laurie, son Jonpatrick, and three daughters; Susie, Sian and Kate and grandchildren.

Born Free and Diamonds Are Forever lyricist Don Black said: "When he played you a melody it was like an unveiling. You didn't question it because you knew he had been up all night working on it and getting it right."

Season of the Witch is burned at the stake

What a great movie to start the new year with. A medieval, fantasy, action, buddy-movie directed by director Dominic Swordfish Sena with Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman as 13th century crusaders. What the fuck could possibly go wrong...?

Yes, you guessed it - almost everything.

Strangely Cage's torch didn't spontaneously extinguish in this scene

The movie opens with the execution of three suspected witches, revealing of course that not all of them were as innocent as they all were in reality. We are then treated to a montage of some of the final battles of the Crusades [with a chronological date on screen being 50 years after the crusades ended] featuring hopeless CGI armies. The scenes establish that our hero knights Behmen [Cage] and Felson [Pearlman] are the best of friends who later break their oath to the church once they are sent to kill innocents. They return to the coast of Styria [a province of Austria - a landlocked country somehow now with a coastline?] where they discover their homeland is in the grip of The Black Plague. Believing the plague to be a blight of the Devil brought down at the behest of a young witch Anna [Claire Foy], the church sends our heroes on a quest to deliver her to a remote monastery where she is to be judged by the monks there. The quest itself is the bulk of the movie and is very D&D/LOTR-style as our heroes are accompanied by a range of diverse characters including a noble paladin Eckhardt [Ulrich Centurion Thompson], the sneaky rogue Hagamar [Stephen Shatch Graham] and the cleric Debelzaq [Stephen The Bank Job Campbell Moore].

You can't really see it but they're looking at a map that would not be out of place inside a 1970's D&D module

Cage turns on his "pain" switch as opposed to his "manic" one and delivers his lines [and out of place one-liners] in his usual American twang not making any conscious effort to sound Germanic [which in retrospect might be a good thing] and acts pretty much like he's being directed by the man who directed him in Gone in 60 Seconds which was not Cage or Sena's fines hour but this movie proves to be slightly more entertaining because you're just waiting for the next ridiculous, line, set piece, bad CGI or unnecessary plot point to make you laugh at this incredibly hilarious movie. Some of these highlights include: The attack of the Werewolf-wolves, a Monty Python-esque "Bridge of Doom" sequence and a wholly unconvincing CGI demon in the climactic battle.

The much vaunted "even more vicious" Warewolf-wolves

The movie suffered a tumultuous production history. Written by Bragi F. Schut in 2000 it was bid on by numerous studios until MGM won. Due to some financial issues in 2003 it went to Columbia Pictures where producers worked with Sena to perform location shooting throughout Europe but they couldn't find a suitable 14th Century castle. The project eventually went to Relativity Media, and with Sena officially attached. Creative discussions led to avoiding excessive violence and gore so it could be marketed to a broader audience. Cage eventually became available in 2008 and was cast in the starring role. With a budget of $40m, and much of the budget was covered by Relativity with pre-sales to distributors outside the United States. Most of the principal photography took place in practical locations in Austria, Hungary, and Croatia with several days committed to filming on greenscreen. Principal photography was completed by April 2009, but the cast and crew re-gathered a few months later to film additional battle sequences on greenscreen only - and boy does it show.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that this movie is shit from my review, and to be honest you'd be right, but it's a movie I did enjoy watching if not for all the wrong reasons. Watch it on TV with a beer.

Colonel Creedon rating: ***

TRON: Legacy

I distinctly recall watching the original TRON on a friends video player in late 1984. The idea that he could put in this big black cassette into a large box near the TV and watch this movie any time it was free for him to do so, was as awesome as the world that the movie itself transported us to. We had no idea who this Jeff Bridges was but we all knew Bruce Boxleitner from Bring Em Back Alive, so he was cool. It was a Disney movie, which even back then was against my ethos [no one dies horribly in Disney movies] but it’s high-concept and the extraordinary visuals of The Grid were enough to hold my attention. Graphically the movie has aged and if you’ve not seen it in many years you may even snigger at it’s realisation of computing since a common PC user nowadays has a much greater understanding and most people originally viewing TRON.

Fast forward to 2010 over 25 years later and Disney release a sequel every bit as visually stunning in 2010 as TRON was in 1982. The world of the grid was enhanced and upgraded using some of the most talented animators in the business and merged innovations with 3D technology with the most spectacular use of true IMAX ever seen to date. Sadly it was missing a soul.

Not to draw comparisons with Avatar as I know may reviewers have, Tron: Legacy being the big Christmas 3D movie - but I must address the fact that while it's 3D tech wasn't as "effective" as Cameron's work, Tron: Legacy was more successful in drawing you into The Grid then Cameron did with Pandora [although I know there's a "tribe" of blue-painted retards somewhere in the world that would disagree]. Cameron produced more extraordinary visuals to cover up the fact he has no plot but Disney's tech wasn't good enough to do the same for a lacklustre story and thus audiences may have been found wanting by comparison.

Legacy's plot is deeply flawed not because it's badly executed but perhaps it's just a tweaked version of the original with an excessive use of Star Wars. In the original Kevin Flynn is digitized into The Grid and must search for evidence of his company CEO's wrongdoing with the aid of Tron and escape. Here Sam Flynn is digitised and must search for his father whom he hopes to return to reality with the aid of Quarra. Star Wars is easily compared once you see Sam as Luke, Flynn as Obi Wan, Clu as the Emperor and Rinzler as Vader. [Rinzler is actually named after author and Lucasfilm Executive Editor, J.W. Rinzler.] Watch out for the "Here they come" line voiced by Quarra [Leia] as Sam [Luke] gets into the aircraft turret to shoot down bad-guy aircraft pursuing them.

The film thankfully doesn't let us down character department. Garrett Hedlund [Sam] has grown much since Patrolclus in Troy ['04] and by all indications he'll be in further Tron sequels. House's Olivia Wilde gets a haircut, zipped up in leather and generally keeps our attention on the screen for the "talkie" moments when we're not being visually and aurally assaulted. Michael Sheen puts in a bizarre cameo performance that wouldn't be out of place in The Matrix [but considering the Washowski's are going ahead with Matrix 4 and 5, perhaps this is his audition]. Stealing the show however, as always, is of course Jeff Bridges as the illogically aged Kevin Flynn who sounds a bit more like The Dude then '80's Kevin Flynn but to be honest, Bridges is so awesome even his dialogue can't distract us from just how fuckin' cool he is.

I won't review this movie without passing on a some-ways reluctant comment on the movie's score. It was created entirely by french musicians Daft Punk who have made their careers from producing tuneless droning noise for the House-music masses. Here however they've somehow used this noise and fused it to wonderful theatrical orchestrations[that often sound like The Dark Knight] to create something truly unique and extraordinary, a new update to magnificent sound space of The Grid.

Overall I may have had higher hopes for Tron: Legacy than what I got, but that's not so say that I was seriously disappointed. It works on a level that reintroduces us to, to quote Flynn's opening monologue "a world I thought I'd never see" again and I certainly look forward to seeing more once the opportunity arises.

Colonel Creedon Verdict: ****

Greens show true colour: Yellow!

The backstabbing bastards, The Green Party today prematurely withdrew as coalition partner from the somewhat controversial current government of Ireland. An Taoiseach Brian Cowan's already wafer thin majority was effectively destroyed by this "dick move" and probably isn't a surprise to anyone who has followed the nefarious antics of the Greens up to now.

While admittedly, things weren't all rosy in Leinster House; operations were proceeding in a somewhat orderly fashion: March 11th was the date set for a general election and only the passing of the new finance bill needed as part of Ireland's international bail-out package, remained on the agenda.

The Greens said they would support the passage of legislation for the 2011 austerity budget from the opposition side and wanted it rushed through the Dail to ensure an election was held sooner than March. Green Party leader John "Gormless" Gormley is hoping his decision will prompt the opposition parties to withdraw plans to table motions of no-confidence in the government and encourage them instead to get the finance legislation sped through parliament.

The fascist Blueshirts, The Fine Gael party and the socialist wankers, The Labor Party actually want the bill [partly because they didn't create it, but know it's necessary and can always just label it as a Fianna Fail action], which legalises changes to taxation made in the budget, passed by Friday and the calling of an immediate general election.

But Cowen, who stood down yesterday as leader of Fianna Fail amid some criticism of his political judgment, said such a time frame was too tight for the fiscal bill. "It's not possible to get it done in a week," he told RTE.

A storm is coming, will anyone survive?

The "Biggest Brother", Major Dick Winters R.I.P.

My friends, we recently lost a true hero and I apologise I was not here until now to address it. Major Richard "Dick" Winters, commander of Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division on D-Day has passed away at age 92 only days before what would have been his 93rd birthday.

Anyone who watched HBO's legendary successful mini-series Band of Brothers is familiar with the story of Maj. Winters, who as a lieutenant and 2IC of Easy Company jumped into Normandy to find himself promoted due to the loss of his commander's plane. Winters commanded his troops behind the German lines at Utah Beach near Sainte-Mère-Église. He positioned any paratroopers that remained to eliminate several monstrous Jerry artillery guns that could have thwarted the invasion of Utah Beach. Despite being recommended for the Medal of Honor, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross due to an insane quota system that prohibited anyone in his unit from receiving the medal again. His supporters at http://www.majordickwinters.com/ have been calling for him to be retroactively awarded the Medal Of Honor, but the always humble man himself never endorsed it.

Captain Winters commanded the company through Operation: Market Garden and The Battle of the Bulge before finally capturing The Eagles Nest and some of Hitler's most prized possessions. He left the Army in '46 as a Major but served in the Korean War later.

Was it not for Stephen Ambrose’s 1992 book Band of Brothers and Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks production of a series with the same name, Maj. Winters story, and that of Easy Company may largely have been forgotten. Were it not for his own historical accounts which helped make these projects what they were, they may never have had the impact thy did. The Major died Jan. 2 in Campbelltown, Pa., from Parkinson's. An intensely private man, Winters had asked that news of his death be withheld until after his funeral.

'When he said "Let's go," he was right in the front,' said fellow soldier William Guarnere, 88.

USS Enterprise skipper goes boldly indeed

The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) is the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. At 342m, she is the longest naval vessel afloat in the world. She displaces over 93,000 long tons and is due to be decommissioned in 2013 after serving for 51 consecutive years, the most of any U.S. aircraft carrier. The "Big E" is one of 11 Aircraft Carriers currently in US naval service and to command her is one of the most coveted assignments in the entire Navy.

The fortunate officer to hold the assignment of master and commander most recently was Captain Owen Honors who relieved Captain Ronald Horton on May 6th last year. He was due to take the massive vessel and her more than 5000 crew to the Middle East to support Operation: Enduring Freedom in the coming weeks. However, now he will not because - yes you guessed it - he fucked up!

Apparently Capt. Honors, while previously serving as the XO of the Enterprise, produced some non-standard videos in '06/'07 to entertain the crew. OK enough PC bullshit - the man made risqué videos where he constantly swore, insulted homosexuals, appeared with two "chicks" in the shower, observed two male sailors rubbing lotion on each other in another shower and a considerable amount of simulated masturbation. Basically he did everything save dressing up in drag and fondle fake breasts like Gary Busey did in Under Siege. Honors did however wear a dressing gown where it was suggested he wasn't wearing underwear - so maybe I'll leave it up to you to decide which is worse.

Naturally, the videos were never supposed to see the light of day outside the environment of the USS Enterprise. Lucas, they weren't even supposed to be seen by the ship's CO and Honors even takes the time to provide a "disclaimer" with the intent of absolving his superiors of any repercussions from the videos. However, these things always come to light don't they? Someone who was no doubt offended by the content provided the Virginian-Pilot newspaper with all it needed to break the story in its Sunday editions and to post an edited version of one video on its website.

"It's no worse then anything you'd see on Saturday Night Live or the Family Guy," said Houston native Misty Davis, who worked on the Enterprise's weapons systems during her 2006-2010 tour and is one of a growing band of staunch supporters of Capt. Honors to emerge in the past few days. The Navy top brass however were suitably unimpressed with the information released and were quick to launch an investigation.

Tuesday afternoon, Admiral John Harvey, Commander, Fleet Forces Command, relieved Honors in disgrace for demonstrating exceptionally poor judgment. Harvey stated that despite Honors’ incident free performance as CO, the admiral thinks his lack of professionalism calls into question his character and undermines his credibility to continue to effectively command. Captain Dee Mewborne, currently Chief of Staff for US Cyber Command and former USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CO, will replace Honors for the Enterprise's final overseas deployment.

One particular point that emerged is most interesting - that Capt. Honors was apparently told to stop his personal brand of entertainment in 2007 some years before he was elevated to CO himself. This leads to the question that if Captain Horton knew about the videos, did Horton's superior, the Carrier Strike Group Commander know too? And if so, why did Horton [now a Rear-Admiral] or Rear Admiral [now Vice Admiral] Daniel Holloway, Enterprise Strike Group commander in ’07, not take the necessary disciplinary action against Honors at the time? Were they saving their own skin or protecting their predecessors Captain [now Rear-Admiral] Larry Rice who was Enterprise CO before Horton took command in '07 and Rear Admiral (lower half) [now Rear Admiral] Ray Spicer, Commander, Enterprise Strike Group during it's 2006 deployment for not knowing about the videos or not acting upon them? Suspicious indeed, one would think that after Tailhook they'd have learned something.

Conspiracy theories aside, it is not uncommon for humorous “skit” videos to be produced by troops for the troops on board a ship/sub or even a base. It’s morale boosting and team building, as well as harmless fun provided of course that you use some measure of common sense and don't go out of the way to target a certain group of people [unless it's the french]. Now I may not agree myself with openly gay servicemen in the military, but neither would I condone the way they’ve been treated in Captain Honors' videos. By virtue of his grade he should clearly have known better; once you get the "eagles" on your shoulder you’re in a special class of officer and gentleman – not one that simulates being naked with only a shower cap on and calling people under your command cowards for complaining about the gay-bashing anonymously. You are a leader, a commander, you inspire courage, morale and dignity not parade around like an idiot in costumes for the entertainment of the...

...er, I'm actually going to stop there.

See two of Captain Honors' full videos here and here.

Source: Fox News/ABC/Sky

The Colonel's Bullets - January 4th 2011

NASA and Science and Entertainment Exchange have drafted a list of the least plausible science fiction movies ever made. Roland Emmerich's nonsensical movie 2012 which depicted the end of [most of] the world, featured ahead of two more apocalyptic movies - The Core and Armageddon.

Donald Yeomans, head of the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, says "It's absurd. The film-makers took advantage of public worries about the so-called end of the world as apparently predicted by the Mayans. The agency is getting so many questions from people terrified that the world is going to end in 2012 that we have had to put up a special website to challenge the myths. We have never had to do this before." NASA and the SEE also compiled a list of the top 10 most realistic sci-fi films, with Gattaca, Jurassic Park even Contact among the most "realistic" sci-fi films.

***

I regret to announce the death of Pete Postlethwaite OBE, one of England's more prolific contemporary actors. Among his numerous roles were Split Second, Alien 3, The Last Of The Mohicans, The Usual Suspects, Dragonheart, Æon Flux and Soloman Kane. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Giuseppe Conlon in In The Name Of The Father. In the past year, while battling cancer he appeared in Clash of the Titans, Inception and The Town.
Steven Spielberg called Postlethwaite "the best actor in the world" after working with him on The Lost World: Jurassic Park, to which Postlethwaite quipped: "I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was, 'The thing about Pete is that he thinks he's the best actor in the world.'" May he rest in peace.

***

According to the Executive Vice-President of IMAX David Keighley; Chris Nolan has had 4 or 5 meetings already with IMAX about The Dark Knight Rises. Bit depth improvements are being worked on so it will look more film like (when they project digitally). For The Dark Knight Rises they are trying to get more than 1,000 shades of color as film has over 4,000 shades of color and there will be a greater portion of The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX than there was in The Dark Knight.

***

Avatar was unsurprisingly the most pirated movie of 2010 with over 16.5m downloads according to Torrentfreak. A remarkable increase of 33% over Star Trek, the most pirated movie of the previous year. 20th Century Fox isn't crying all that much as Avatar grossed almost $2.8Bn at the worldwide box office. Read the full report here.

Sources: WENN / Collider / Hollywood Reporter

2010! - The Year In Review

We say goodbye to 2010. A year that gave us Jedward, vuvuzelas, Wikileaks and the iPad.

A year in which George Lee ran from the Dáil with his tail between his legs and Neil Prendeville masturbated on a plane; a year of considerable debt crisis in Europe and political crisis in Thailand.

The BP oil spill, flooding in Pakistan, earthquakes in China and Haiti and the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull.

We saw an end to combat missions Iraq, a sequel to Iron Man, Spain taking the World Cup and Chilean miners being rescued.

Stan McCrystal takes early retirement and Conan is ousted from NBC but opens triumphantly on TBS. Duke Nukem is declared "alive"!

And Whopper's Bunker celebrates it's 5th Anniversary.

Finally, as always, we remember those lost in 2010:
Barbara Billingsley, 94, American actress [Airplane! -"I speak Jive!"]
Tom Bosley, 83, American actor [Happy Days, Father Dowling Mysteries]
Geoffrey Burgon, 69, British composer [Robin Hood, Monty Python’s Life Of Brian]
Stephen J. Cannell, 69, American TV producer and writer [The A-Team]
Christopher Cazenove, 64, British actor [Dynasty]
Chao-Li Chi, 83, Chinese-born American actor [Falcon Crest]
Gary Coleman, 42, American actor [Diff'rent Strokes]
Robert Culp, 79, American actor [The Greatest American Hero]
Tony Curtis, 85, American actor [Some Like It Hot, Spartacus]
Dino De Laurentiis, 91, Italian film producer [Dune, Conan The Barbarian]
Michael Dwyer, 58, Irish journalist and film critic
Blake Edwards, 88, American film director, producer and screenwriter [The Pink Panther series, The Party]
John Forsythe, 92, American actor [Charlie's Angels, Dynasty]
Frank Frazetta, 82, American fantasy and science fiction artist
Ron Gans, 79, American voice actor [Transformers]
Greg Giraldo, 44, American comedian [Comedy Central Roast]
Peter Graves, 83, American actor [Mission: Impossible, Airplane!]
Bob Guccione, 79, American publisher, founder of Penthouse
Corey Haim, 38, Canadian actor [The Lost Boys]
Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, 61, Northern Irish snooker player
Phyllis Hodges Boyce, 73, American actress [Star Trek]
Dennis Hopper, 74, American actor and film director [Easy Rider, Speed]
Alan Hume, 85, British cinematographer [Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi]
Irvin Kershner, 87, American film director [Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back]
Andrew Koenig, 41, American actor, [Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Batman: Dead End, G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero]
Eugene Lambert, 82, Irish puppeteer and ventriloquist [Wanderley Wagon, Bosco]
Mick Lally, 64, Irish actor [Glenroe]
Simon MacCorkindale, 58, British actor [Falcon Crest, Manimal, Casualty]
Tom Mankiewicz, 68, American screenwriter [James Bond, Superman]
Bernard Matthews CVO, CBE, 80, British businessman [Bernard Matthews Farms]
Kevin McCarthy, 96, American actor [Invasion of the Body Snatchers]
Rue McClanahan, 76, American actress [The Golden Girls, Starship Troopers]
Grant McCune, 67, American Academy Award-winning visual effects artist [Star Wars]
Leslie Nielsen, 84, Canadian-born American actor [Airplane!, The Naked Gun]
Zelda Rubinstein, 76, American actress [Poltergeist]
J. D. Salinger, 91, American author [The Catcher In The Rye]
Jean Simmons, 80, British-born American actress [Great Expectations, Star Trek: The Next Generation]
Gareth Wigan, 78, British film studio executive [Star Wars, Chariots of Fire]
Edward Uhl, 92, American, co-inventor of the bazooka
Sir Norman Wisdom, 95, British comedian and actor
PC Zone, 17, British PC gaming magazine
We thank them for the entertainment they provided.

We also acknowledge the service of these military servicemen, astronauts and politicians who served with distinction:
General Lew Allen, 84, former NSA Director , former USAF Chief of Staff
First Sergeant Nick Bacon, 64, U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient
First Lieutenant Vernon Baker, 90, U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient
Corporal Melvin E. Biddle, 87, U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient
David C. Dolby, 64, U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient
Lieutenant General Dermot Earley, 62, former Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces
Major General John Fugh, 75, first Chinese American O-7 in the U.S. Army, former Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army
General Alexander Haig, 85, former U.S. Secretary of State, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Richard Holbrooke, 69, American diplomat, United States Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, former Ambassador to Germany, former Ambassador to the United Nations
Major General Jeanne M. Holm, 88, first female O-7 of the USAF and the first female O-8 in any U.S. service branch
Lieutenant Morris R. Jeppson, 87, USAAC officer, assistant weaponeer on the Enola Gay
Sergeant Allen Dale June, USMC, 91, American original Navajo code talker
Vice Admiral Sir Louis Le Bailly KBE, CB, 95, former Director-General of Intelligence, British Ministry of Defence
William B. Lenoir, 71, American NASA astronaut [STS-5]
First Sergeant David H. McNerney, 79, U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient
John Murtha, 77, American politician, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, former USMC Colonel
General Frederick C. Weyand, U.S. Army, 93, last commander of US military operations in the Vietnam War
Polish Leaders and former leaders, Ryszard Kaczorowski, Lech Kaczyński and 94 others killed in The Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash.
May they all rest in peace.

As always there is balance to the force and there have been deaths that are most welcome, make the world a better place and should remain unmourned:
Vivian Blake, 53, Jamaican drug lord, Co-creator of crack
Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, 56, Mexican drug lord [Sinaloa Cartel]
Abu Daoud, 73, Palestinian military commander, planned 1972 Olympics massacre in Munich,
Tomás Mac Giolla, 86, Irish politician, former IRA terrorist, former President of Sinn Fein, former president of the Workers Party, former Lord Mayor of Dublin
Leroy Nash, 94, American murderer, oldest death row inmate
Gerry Ryan, 53, disgraced Irish DJ and drug abuser
Michael Seifert, 86, Soviet-born Nazi war criminal
Paul Schäfer, 88, German religious sect founder and former Nazi,
Erich Steidtmann, 95, German Nazi SS officer and alleged war criminal
James von Brunn, 89, American white supremacist
May they rot in hell.

And now folks

HAVE A GREAT 2011!