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Author: Bryant

Read the record

February 20, 2005
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Final tally: around 58% of eligible Iraqi voters voted. My definition of success was 60%, so that’s a near miss. It’s close enough so that I don’t feel comfortable saying Bush missed that metric, but I wouldn’t say he succeeded either.

The ruling coalition needs 184 votes to reach a 2/3rds majority. The United Iraqi Alliance can reach that easily with the Kurdish parties, and fall just short if it teams up with Allawi’s Iraqi List. That means, in practice, that the UIA can form a weak ruling coalition with Allawi and a strong one with the Kurds. The price of doing business with the Kurds is a mostly independent Kurdish north, possibly including Kirkuk.

Turkey may or may not be willing to put up with that. Turkey also may or may not be able to practically do anything about it, but since the government of Turkey quite accurately sees an independent Kurdistan as a threat to the stability of Turkey, I wouldn’t rule out Turkish troops moving into Iraq. Somewhat alarmist, yes; still, it’s their country and they’ve had Kurdish rebels for decades. Under the imminent threat doctrine, Turkey has the right to take action.

That fact makes me suspect that the UIA is going to go for an all-Shiite coalition along with Allawi. Sistani isn’t dumb; he knows how Turkey would react. On the other hand, that risks pushing the Kurds into rebellion along with the Sunnis. And while the Sunnis have the advantage of access to Saddam’s old weaponry stockpiles, the Kurds have half of Iraq’s natural resources. Touchy situation.

Come on inside

February 19, 2005
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OK, so Guckert got his press pass as a representative of GOPUSA. Apparently GOPUSA is not linked to the Republican Party and thus their reporters can get credentials. Fair enough; I’m inclined to think that we want fairly lax standards for who can get into the press room and ask questions. More people asking questions is good.

However, if The Raw Story and BuzzFlash and, hey, even Daily Kos aren’t currently applying for daily press passes under the excitingly loose guidelines for accreditation — well, I don’t know what they’re waiting for.

Various mutations

February 19, 2005
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I’m currently in La Guardia Airport. In the ideal world, I’m in Boston, but that world was shattered sometime this afternoon. No biggie. Most of the annoyance I might otherwise feel is dispelled by the fact that the Fort Lauderdale airport has free wireless Internet. Cool beans for Fort Lauderdale, which has suddenly become my preferred transfer point for any air travel involving Florida but not involving Orlando. (Once in the past seventeen years, counting this trip, but still.)

I am also exceedingly happy to note that Mr. David Cronenberg has achieved funding for Painkillers, which is not his next movie or the movie after that, but rather the movie immediately following that one. The words “plastic surgery as performance art” make me quite cheerful. Remember “gynecological tools for mutant women”?

Oh, OK. A History of Violence (with Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello) is next, and London Fields is the one after that. While researching that, I discovered this interview with Maria Bello, which has my new favorite Cronenberg quote: “David Cronenberg was an incredible leader/father figure.” Right up there with “Cronenberg is to Toronto as John Hughes is to Chicago,” which I should really verify somehow someday. I remember getting it from a valid source but I’ll be damned if I can remember what it was.

Not just recommended

February 18, 2005
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Hey! If you’re in Boston, I’m providing you with plenty of warning and I will brook no objections that do not involve the need to babysit. The Saturday after next, February 26th, Days of Being Wild is playing at the MFA. It’s at 4 PM. I cannot even begin to explain how great this movie is, although I took a crack at it once. When I listed the top twenty movies of all time? Most of them were hard to choose and maybe Last Life in the Universe could creep on there and so on. But the top three, those were easy, and Days of Being Wild was among them.

So it’s pretty strongly recommended. There are shows all week long if you can’t make Saturday at 4. It’s one of the best movies ever.

Mmm sun

February 17, 2005
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For the record, this is the front door of my villa:

This is the view from the deck:

And this is the beach.

Follow the links for bigger pictures. Having a great time; wish you were here!

Touched with wings of fire

February 12, 2005
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I say “Well, I think I’m going to see Constantine after all.” And you say, “What? That’s stupid. Keanu, and Los Angeles instead of London, and dude.” And I say, “Well.”

Then the New York Times says, “How difficult is it to play a mythic figure like Gabriel as opposed to, say, a soccer mom?” And Tilda Swinton says “They’re exactly the same, because no one you play is ‘real.’ Every character is a construct, even if you’re playing a suburban mother. You’re looking for a construct in the way you look and talk, and you have either the mythic information about Gabriel, or what we know about suburban mothers, and then you just try to make it real. It’s exactly the same. So, you start with what we know about Gabriel as God’s messenger.”

The picture looks something like this:

Tilda Swinton as Gabriel

It goes a long way to unconvince me from taking a pass.

(You could also read Kip on the matter, who says basically the same thing, which is not surprising since I stole it all from him anyhow.)

Of all time

February 11, 2005
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After much internal debate, I’ve finished my top twenty movie list. In order of preference, even. The up-to-date list is here (cool site, by the by) but if you’re too lazy to click through:

  1. Magnolia
  2. Days of Being Wild
  3. Brazil
  4. Casablanca
  5. City of God
  6. Bullet in the Head
  7. Miller’s Crossing
  8. Crash
  9. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
  10. Ronin
  11. Blue Velvet
  12. Goodfellas
  13. The General
  14. Dead Man
  15. Full Metal Jacket
  16. The Incredibles
  17. Taxi Driver
  18. Peking Opera Blues
  19. Glengarry Glen Ross
  20. The Grifters

Yeah, I like genre movies. Possibly I like guy movies too; be your own judge. Yes, Miller’s Crossing is the best Coen Brothers movie. I don’t know if Days of Being Wild is the best Wong Kar Wai movie, but it’s the best one I’ve seen — I understand that In the Mood for Love may supercede it when I finally see that, though. Crash is the best Cronenberg movie because it’s the best cast he’s ever had, although Videodrome is a very close #2.

There are indeed a lot of movies I haven’t seen.

Sleek beastie

February 11, 2005
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I held a Playstation Portable in my hands today. Nothing about the experience made me any less impatient for the day when I will own my own. It is somewhat larger than the Nintendo DS, but the space is put to good use with the incredibly gorgeous and vivid screen, rather than being wasted with a (so far) useless touchscreen. The controls feel good. I did not experience the problem with the square button that many have reported. The analog stick is amazing. It’s a marvelous piece of technology.

I note with some pleasure that it is possible to transcode video for playback on the PSP. While you’ll only get about one movie per memory stick, it’s still a nice little feature.