http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Sat, 6 Jan 2007 16:59:42 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/01/06/165942.php Rohan VenkatAlthough I had Volver and World Trade Center at home, I thought I should be starting my awards season experience with something bigger, a proper cinematic experience. You see, I had just come out of a pre-New Year's eve Indy Jones back-to-back triple feature, a fun experience if there ever was one, and was looking for something that would equal the style and substance of the Indy Jones pictures, but get rid of all the camp. Luckily enough for me, the Qatari cinemas, not reputed for screening too many awards season flicks, were showing Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.I didn't know much about the movie, except that it was Alfonso Cuaron's (of Y Tu Mama Tambien, and Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban fame) post-apocalyptic world, and had something to do with global infertility in humans. And that's all Cuaron actually tells us. Right away, we're immersed in this gritty, dirty, terrifying world, where everything seems to have gone wrong, but we aren't given any explanations for it. I say we're immersed in the world because we aren't introduced to it, almost as if we actually did live in that world and were watching a movie then.So there we are, in 2027, in London, England, seemingly the only country that has survived, if you can call it that, the war and complete destruction of the rest of the world, and we see the top story of the day blaring out on the ubiquitous TV screens. The world's baby, the youngest person alive at 18 years old, has just died. We're shown mass outpourings of grief all over the country and the world, shock at the loss of this individual, more signs, in fact, that humanity doesn't have much hope ahead of it.Cuaron doesn't treat us to super-technical wizardry or amazing innovations to tell us about how the world is different in the future. Instead, we see how the world has changed for the people, how Britain's turned completely anti-immigrant and is even deporting huge numbers of non-Britons, how religious groups are saying that the worldwide infertility is the punishment of God and how the government has begun to hand out suicide packs allowing you to go "the way you want to."But, again, this information is dealt to us in tiny doses, in small fleeting observations, just as we might infer the socio-political atmosphere of a movie set in Mumbai, without the filmmakers actually meaning to tell us what the socio-political atmosphere is.The plot surrounds former activist Theodore Faron, played by Clive Owen, a government agent who is suddenly thrust (back?) into the world of the rebels fighting against the government's deportation of immigrants and its other policies that they believe resulted in the dystopian world they now live in. And the reason for him to come into this world? He has the necessary influence and papers to be able to safely transport a young girl out of the capital to a "fugee" camp, wherein lies a growing organization committed to improving the status of humanity, even at the risk of angering the government. Why is the girl so important? She's the first person in 18 years to be carrying another person in her. That's right, she's pregnant.But don't worry, I haven't given away the story to you, this is all just the beginning, it's the authenticity of this future world that gets me to write so much, that allows me to say so much about what happens in those first 20 minutes of the movie. The story is just about to begin.Clive Owen plays a reluctant hero. He wants to help, but it takes him some time to get past his own inner problems before he gets completely committed to the task and its outcome. But we see this initial lack of empathy with those around him, the rebels, we see him slowly allowing that political activist of old to take over the disenchanted government employee. And we believe in him. This isn't quite the guy we would be, no, we'd probably be all out to help, smart, kind, and heroic. But, sorry to burst our collective bubbles, this is the guy who'd probably end up actually doing something like this.Claire-Hope Ashitey plays the other character who's most with us throughout the film, which does end up almost like a road movie/running away movie/running towards movie in the end, as the young girl who all the fuss is about, and while she does put up a wonderful performance, she's sitting right next to Owen the whole time, and so can be excused if she doesn't exactly shine through. Still, she is convincing, invites genuine sympathy, gets to meet some marvelous actors, and now has an amazing start to her career.With smaller roles, we get to see the two other big name actors that help round out the stellar performances in the film, Julianne Moore, and to a larger extent, Michael Caine. Moore plays Owen's former wife, and the leader of the little rebel band that brings his character back to the action, and Michael Caine plays Owen's award-winning cartoonist friend, who leads a lonely life out in the country but springs to life when he has to help our friends, and provides some useful comic relief, or rather some lightness in the face of all the sombre events unfurling around the little group.And then there's the directing. Technically this is a brilliant movie, and it's got some of the most amazing scenes, both subtle and obvious, that I've seen the whole year. Having received 91% freshness over at Rotten Tomatoes, reviews filled mostly with praise for Cuaron more than anything else in the movie, with one critic even going so far as to call it the finest movie of the millenium before sobering up and saying that it may not be the best of the millenium but it's still one damn fine movie. Cuaron certainly has a keeper here. There are a few particular scenes, and if and when you watch the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about; it hits you on both the obvious and subtle levels at the same time, and really gets you thinking about both the subject matter and the filmmaking behind it. These include a number of single-take shots through war-torn suburbs that really get you right in the gut, and one particular one that is very much the focal point of the film. You're going to enjoy these scenes, whether you just like films, or you're a die hard connoisseur.I have just one problem with the film, and it's probably more to do with my having gotten used to the TV format and/or multiple features, but I didn't feel it was enough. I thought it was too short, that we could've spent some more time in that world, certainly no more time for that story in particular, but at the end of it, I just wanted to be treated to some more of that world through those marvelous eyes. But I'm sure this will clear up for me from just having a second viewing of the movie, this time with other people, since the theater was practically empty when I watched it, and I look forward to discussing it with other people.There were a lot of little touches that I loved as much as the big social commentary that the makers, right from novelist P.D. James, to writer (with a host of other writers) and director Alfonso Cuaron made sure made it to the overall story. Things like the way Kee and her lady companion reciting "Om Mani Padme Hum", whenever they were worried, the way "shanti" had become a word of the local culture, the way the future is depicted in non-futuristic ways with the cars and weapons of today, albeit a lot more battered and broken, the way that the immigrants in their internment camps join together in a rebellion shouting "Allah'hu' Akbar", despite mostly coming from East Europe, the way the immigrant question is made significant and the way the movie ends.All in all, I have to say I picked a magnificent film to start off the awards season with, a technically superb, artistically marvelous film that one really has to catch at the cinema to enjoy to its fullest, and one that I will most definitely be watching again. Video57871@blogcritics.org Sat, 6 Jan 2007 16:59:42 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/11/28/142600.php Rohan VenkatThree days from today, HE Sheikh Joann bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Torch Relay Ambassador, will use a little torch that he's held in his hand while traveling over 50,000 km to 15 countries in Asia, to light a spectacular flame on Khalifa Tower, thereby officially opening the 15th Asian Games, Doha, 2006. It's quite an achievement for Qatar, one of the world's smallest countries, to be hosting the second largest sports event on earth, and all efforts have been made to ensure that this only recently overhauled city is satisfactory in every way possible for the Games.For those of you who don't know, Qatar is a tiny country of about 850,000 people, situated on the Arabian peninsula, sitting right next to it's more famous neighbours Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Rich from its extensive natural gas reserves -- some of the largest in the world -- and famous for such initiatives as the WTO Doha Round, Al Jazeera, the Doha Debates, and Reach Out To Asia, the country has always had a slightly more sober reputation than that of Dubai. That's because the authorities in Qatar are not worried about natural resources and do not need to rely on forcible media attention to invite money into the country. Thus, Doha is being developed as the educational, cultural, media-oriented, sports capital of the region, as opposed to Dubai's tourist, businessman, shopping haven.The Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, ever since he took the throne in 1994, has focused on developing Qatar's infrastructure, and integrating the economy with the rest of the world, while taking care to ensure that the money is leaving by the droves. And the Asian Games is just one of the aspects of his plans for the country. Like many of other smaller Gulf Cooperation Council states, Qatar has that unique demographic feature of the region, wherein foreigners in the country, such as myself, outnumber the local Qataris, almost 3 to 1. At the present rate of development, Qatar, already one of the richest countries in the world, is expected to come close to having the highest GDP per capita in 25 years.The Asian Games, Doha, 2006, labeled by the organisers as the "Best Games Ever," will run from the 1st to the 15th of December. Qualifying rounds have already begun and will feature 45 countries in over 39 different events. Starting off will be a massive opening ceremony on the night of the 1st. Its producer, David Atkins, describes it as "far more ambitious in scope than Sydney" and will include over 7000 performers, a huge array of material built specifically for the ceremony, and tons upon tons of fireworks. Attending performers include Jackie Cheung, Sunidhi Chauhan, Majda Nojoom, and Jose Carreira, and political bigwigs like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and of course, Sheikh Hamad himself, will also be present. Having had a chance to see a full dress rehearsal for the ceremony, to be held at Qatar's State-of-the-Art Khalifa Stadium, right inside the purpose built Sports City, I can honestly say that the ceremony is a massive performance -- one that will be remembered in Qatar for a very long time.Of course, this whole month, and the past two years will be remembered in Qatar for a very long time. While the authorities are busy preparing the city for the Games, this rapid development -- which many believe included grand plans that weren't carried out early enough -- has spurred on inflation by relatively large numbers, never before experienced in Qatar. And it's already caused huge headaches for residents with the immense construction and infrastructure over hauling, many of which started early but finished very late. Of course, it's doubly difficult since Qatar is still a very young country, and so it was not a matter of ensuring everything worked well -- as it might have been in older cities -- but creating the infrastructure for things to work. This was then affected by the fact that many other development projects were already going on in the city, which had to be derailed by the Asian Games' plans.Still, after all of that, the Games are here, and its time for Qatar to reveal itself to the world. The whole face of the city has been transformed to the various colours of the Games, and signs everywhere declare "The Games of Your Life" and "Be There". And indeed, all of us here in Doha are going to be there, and hopefully, Asia will be watching as well.Expect some sporting news as soon as the Games begin, on the 1st of December. Sports56378@blogcritics.org Tue, 28 Nov 2006 14:26:00 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/10/13/073016.php Rohan VenkatCars are rushing by, people are hurrying past, and everyone’s going faster now. Then it all calms down. One or two cars go by at breakneck speed, the people have reached home, and the whole place turns quiet. In the distance you hear the first few cries of "Allah'hu Akbar", which gets closer and closer and soon surrounds you. It's time to go break the fast.It has become a ritual for me. Every year, every time Ramadan comes around, I stand outside just before Iftar and wait for the Azan to come. It's quite lovely to see how all that rush suddenly turns to absolute silence, followed by those instantly recognisable words that mean you can now go in and take care of your throat that's been dry all afternoon.For the uninitiated, Ramadan is Islam's most holy month, where Muslims are expected to refrain from the worldly pleasures of food, sex, music, and the like between dawn and dusk if they are physically able to do so. It is a month that emphasises the following religious practices and a greater commitment to God and faith. Even though I'm not Muslim, I live in a Muslim country and have fasted in the Islamic fashion during the Holy Month for the past four years now. It has nothing to do with religion, a little to do with will power, but mostly for the experience. Fasting is not as unpleasant as it sounds. Sure, I don't go the whole nine yards with the Islamic fashion. I still listen to music, tell a few white lies, and take liberties with my language before dusk, but even those aren't as serious as the complete physical and mental starvation required of a Moun Vrath. Instead, the month of Ramadan can be quite fun.Work and school starts later and finishes earlier, just six working hours in the day. For me that means getting up an hour later and sleeping even later than usual. Fasting the whole day also means you don't feel guilty stuffing yourself with food after sunset. Just like the month of December for the Christian world, more people put on weight during the month of Ramadan and the Eid that follows it simply because they eat more than they usually do in a lesser amount of time. During working hours, it gives you an excuse to do no physical exercise you don't want to do. Meaning you can still play football with friends; but go to the supermarket to buy something? Nah, fasting; don't want to get too dehydrated.Then there's getting to be a part of the whole shindig. As a vegetarian, I don't get much choice beyond appetizers with traditional Arabic Ramadan food, but there's traditional Indian Iftars as well -- all those spicy bajias, with special Ramadan Juice, and an occasional Baked Beans sandwich. It also means you get invited to lots of people's houses for Iftar parties and have a taste of the Iftar special buffets at the local restaurants. If you are a Non-veggie, well, you're surely going to have a great time eating, with little opportunity to burn it all off. With all this food comes the great atmosphere of the Iftar -- lots of people sitting together, truly enjoying food, after a day of not eating anything.Another part of the month of Ramadan is, as I said before, the will power that goes into fasting. It's one of those things you always think you can do, and since everyone else around me is doing it, I test myself to see if i can successfully do it, too. That's how it is for the first few years, after which it just becomes normal and a change of pace to look forward to.There are also the true Islamic reasons of fasting: self-purification, self-discipline, and spiritual growth. This helps you to better sympathise with those who aren't as privileged as you are. There is the nine-day holiday, the light at the end of the tunnel, the festival of Eid al-Fitr -- where everyone visits everyone else. You get a week and two weekends to do anything you want and have fun.Ramadan is always an interesting part of my year. Honestly, it is something to look forward to and a change in the daily routine that helps you appreciate your regular routine more. It's an opportunity to immerse yourself in a different culture without necessarily having any religious agenda. It also further develops your resolve and self-discipline.In the end, it's quite an experience. I suppose, inshallah, I will continue to fast during the month of Ramadan, no matter where in the world I am, and enjoy doing it as well. Tastes54344@blogcritics.org Fri, 13 Oct 2006 07:30:16 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/02/04/125128.php Rohan VenkatA car built early in the 20th century, and a car built now, about 100 years later, isn't an extremely radical shift; sure there have been changes, but the concept is the same, and all we have done is improve/build over, right?Hold that thought.A prokaryote (Eubacteria), at the dawn of life, the archean era of Precambrian time, is, in fact, the same concept, as a multicellular organism such as the relatively recent Hydra; it's the same concept just improved or built over.Now forget the car analogy, and move to AI (artificially intelligent) creatures. A simple electronic robot on wheels hits an obstruction and "learns" that it mustn't do that again. It stores this information, and now has an updated map of its immediate area. A century from now, AI may look radically different, but the concept will still be the same, only improved/built over.Of course, see, these improvements can be drastic as well. The discovery of semi-conductors, and a theoretical discovery of commercially viable superconductors in the future, could, if brought down (or up) to "human" scale, correspond with the drastic change in the way organisms reproduced, from asexual reproduction to sexual reproduction. Meaning, the recent development of robotics allowing two similar robots to exchange the information which each has gained, which is what mating is, at it's most basic level, if conjoined maybe with the power of superconductors, just might be an equivalent drastic change. What am i getting at? You'll see.I remember reading about this in HG Wells' The Time Machine, and I'll use that analogy here. Imagine if there were 2 dimensional creatures, let's call them the "flatties". Now, these creatures have absolutely no concept of height, but, if they had complex brains like ours, they could theorize about the possibility of other dimensions.Now here I am a "three-dee", who is theorizing about a being, which is Multi - Dimensional, who has put together a creature with AI, using hydrocarbon-based energy, rather than electrical energy. Just as we could create a Flattie AI creature, it's brain and body would have to have height even though the flattie would only understand the 2D parts of its body. Now this creature has a brain that it can't fully understand. Isn't that strikingly similar to us human beings? I'm reminded of a statement in a Mario Puzo Book, The Fourth K, "Our Brain is so complex, that, if it were simple enough for us to understand it.....we would be that simple.....our brain will never catch up with our brain." Confusing? Read it again, you'll get it.This Being I have in mind, which has 'created' the hydrocarbon based life, isn't Divine or Supreme, just another guy/gal/thing, who is like the scientists/electrical engineers who put together AI creatures. The Being might or might not tamper with the actual thought process/actions of the thing he/she/it has created, but the Being has tampered with it, externally, by continuously improving it, adding certain things and removing others to see what happens, explaining "evolution" from a simple unicellular creature, to the complex multi-cellular creatures we are now.This Being doesn't (necessarily) know who, how, or why the rest of matter was created (the universe, planets, gas etc), it just does what it can with what it has.This particular theory can be expanded to a whole race of multi-dimensional beings, just like more than one human is working on AI creatures, each one trying their own versions of hydrocarbon based AI forms. Or not. Who knows? This is a repost, with a lot of editing, from My Blog. The theory doesn't try to explain all of creation, just our own. Culture43168@blogcritics.org Sat, 4 Feb 2006 12:51:28 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/01/25/153842.php Rohan VenkatSheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait for 27 years, having lived through an assassination attempt, and an Iraqi invasion, died on Sunday 15th January. In actual fact, Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, Sheikh Jaber's half brother had mostly been in control of the country, ever since Sheikh Jaber's suffered brain hemorrhage five years earlier. Immediately after Sheikh Jaber's death, the crown prince, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, was named the new Emir, despite his own precarious health, which has been steadily deteriorating since he underwent colon surgery in 1997.Five days later, in a virtually unheard-of move in the Arabian Gulf, a newspaper called for the new Emir to abdicate and pass on the ruling responsibilities to another member of the ruling family, "who is able to carry them out". The very same day, a number of members from the ruling family called on the Prime Minister to take control of the country, because of the new Emir's ill health. The Cabinet issued a statement, expressing deep sorrow over the health of Sheikh Saad, and therefore "decided to invoke constitutional procedures under article three of the 1964 succession law." This law allowed them to take the matter of the ruler to parliament, if the Emir "loses the physical ability to perform his duties".Sheikh Saad responded to this by insisting that he still wanted to become Emir, and asked for a parliamentary session for him to take his oath. The Cabinet then sent a letter to the parliament saying that the Council of Ministers all agreed that the "His Highness Emir Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah has lost his health capability to exercise his constitutional prerogatives". The Speaker agreed and called a special session of parliament.Late Monday, the news leaked out that Sheikh Salem al-Ali al-Sabah, cousin and long time supporter of Sheikh Saad as well as head of the national guard, had met and discussed the political crisis with Sheikh Saad, leading to an agreement on Shiekh Saad's behalf that he would step down from the throne. By mid-Tuesday though, parliament had received no confirmation from Shiekh Saad that he would in fact abdicate, despite delaying the session twice, in the hope that the letter of abdication would arrive.Finally after the long wait without any sign of the letter of abdication, parliament went into session, and voted unanimously to remove Sheikh Saad from office, 10 days after he had taken it, and briefly took control into their own hands, before naming Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah as new Emir of the country, ending the political crisis. The vote was the first of its kind for the Gulf. The Speaker of the Parliament, Sheikh Jassem al-Kharafi then confirmed the news that Sheikh Saad's letter of abdication was received by parliament, immediately after the vote had taken place.That concluded a week of heavy political drama in the Arabian country that holds about 10% of the world's proven oil reserves, and it was the first time any parliament has ever removed a hereditary head of state from office in the Gulf through the power granted them under a national constitution. Politics42755@blogcritics.org Wed, 25 Jan 2006 15:38:42 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/01/22/115048.php Rohan VenkatStarting in the late 70's Marvel published a book called What If, which explored possible storylines, that broke off from the actual universe's continuity, based on one particular event happening in a different way, or a different choice being made by the characters. In 1998, What If #105, written by Tom DeFalco, who is often credited (or blamed) with the Clone Saga of the Mid-90's, focused on "What If Peter and Mary Jane had raised their baby?". The point at which the book diverges from continuity is where, rather than Peter and Mary Jane Parker's baby daughter 'May' getting kidnapped and dying, she is returned safely to her parents.Now, 15 years later, May "Mayday" Parker is in high school and, to her parents' concern, is excelling at basketball, clearly developing spider-powers of her own. And then Normie Osborne, the Green Goblin's Grandson, sets out to restore the family name, and May, donning her 'uncle' Ben Reilly's Spider costume to fight him, and continue to fight crime.The What If book sold well enough for Marvel to create a whole new book, Spider-Girl set in this MC2 (Marvel Comics 2) Universe, to follow the exploits of the "daughter of the true Spider-man." Approaching a hundred issues, making it Marvel's longest running book with a female lead, and with a creative team that has consistently churned out entertaining issues with smart writing, and great art, Spider-Girlis, in Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada's words, "the little book that could". Tom DeFalco who's written almost every issue, gives both the younger audience they're due by keeping it light and all-ages friendly, instead of an over-mature, gritty book that's all too common in the industry these days, and also giving older Marvel fans a reason to keep reading by skillfully introducing in various characters from Spider-Man's past and artists Ron Frenz and Pat Oliffe translate this writing into some great art. At one point of time, the MC2 universe included a few other books featuring the successors to the Avengers, A-Next, the Fantastic Five, and others, but all of these were canceled due to low sales.And Spider-Girl too hasn't exactly had a free run. Plagued by low sales, Marvel repeatedly canceled the book throughout its lifetime, and every time the small but enthusiastic community of Spider-Girl fans found out, they went up in flames, writing letters to Marvel to save the book, persuading shops to order more copies of it, showing the book to as many people they could and asking them to buy it, and more. At the forefront of this Spider-Girl Blitz was the One, True Spider-Girl Message Board at Comic Boards.com which is often frequented by creator/writer Tom DeFalco himself. DeFalco once said "The grassroots support from the SG message board has been fantastic. Those fans have managed to keep Spider-Girl alive. They never gave up on the title. Not even when Marvel canceled it and told me there was no hope of ever bringing it back. Spider-Girl lives because of her fans!"As a result of their, and others efforts, Marvel guaranteed that the book would last till a certain issue, and kept pushing this number farther away, until it seemed like the book was safe. In addition, the collected digests of the early issues started selling much better than the ongoing comic itself. But then, a few days back, the news leaked out that Spider-Girl was definitely going to be canceled after the 100th issue, and Joe Quesada confirmed it at his weekly interview with Newsarama saying "Unfortunately, outside of a last minute call from the Governor, Spider- Girl is canceled. It's been fun watching fans rally around this title over the years and I'm as sad as all of them, but like I said, I can't let emotion get in the way of what I see as the proper business decision."Once again the fans have gone into battle mode, prepared to do anything to save the book. DeFalco and fans feel they can save the book, through a new storyline starting in issue #97. Also planned is a sequel to the recent Last Hero Standing event, named Last Planet Standing. If the sales of the book rise beyond the 25,000 mark, then Marvel will certainly reconsider their business decision, and might save the book. But in the end, this rise in sales will have to be maintained beyond 100 and as far as it can go.The main problem is obvious. Spider-Girl is a lone, female lead, in a male-dominated industry. In addition, Spider-Girl is set in an alternate universe to the actual Marvel universe, meaning the characters in the book are not relevant with any other plans that Marvel makes for its universe, and its characters too cannot be used outside the book. As a result, Marvel doesn't advertise or support the book, which means a lot of potential fans are unaware of it.As a longtime fan of the book, I assure readers that this is a classic, fun Marvel book with a great creative team, that has achieved the impossible with a female-lead book. I'd recommend this book to anyone whose a comics and Spidey fan.Here's hoping Mayday lives beyond 100 issues! Books42568@blogcritics.org Sun, 22 Jan 2006 11:50:48 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/01/03/055131.php Rohan VenkatAs the franchise progresses, the directors of the Harry Potter movies have had to deal with a bigger book each time, resulting in every movie being longer than the last. Despite this, with movie four being around 2 and a half hours, many fans still complained about the way the movie missed out on huge portions of the book. In defense of Michael Newell, I have to say, that he has indeed created a good, maybe even great, film. What fans of books and comic books don't seem to realize when they go to watch the feature film adaptation is that the movies are not made exclusively for them. The director and studio have to assume that the audience is not familiar with the franchise the way a die-hard fan is, and therefore make a movie that displays the story in a format that this audience can understand, and also appreciate as a movie itself. This means the movie can't go on for 4 hours, detailing as much of the book as possible. Keeping the audience's interest is hard as it is beyond an hour and a half, and Newell has made a movie that maintains the momentum for most of its two and a half hour length. Considering these constraints, Newell has made a fine movie, having chosen very carefully what and how much of the book he would translate to the screen.Personally, I would have preferred a movie that spent as much time on the interaction between the various characters, and the way their relations change in the story, as the film spent on detailing Harry's escapades. Newell had to cut down such relationship events, like Harry and Ron's fight to a very few short scenes, simply because there wasn't enough time. And this is where I think the Warner Bros. might fail the fans. Having a different director for each movie does give us fresh views of the characters, and shows us the different dimensions of the stories, but it also eliminates the possibility of a 'for-fan's' movie on the DVDs. At the end of the seven movies there won't be one single director to wrap up the whole thing, so it is very unlikely that fans will get the movies that we wanted. To date, none of the movies have Director's Cut or Special Edition version, the way Peter Jackson included the full 4 to 4 and a half hour movies in the SE DVD, which showed the stories in much more detail, and didn't have to worry about the mainstream audiences complaining about the length of the movies.In fact, that's what I felt throughout the fourth film, hoping that we would get a Director's Cut edition that did the same, because, this movie in particular, compared to the earlier ones, loses that touch of familiarity we have with the characters. That connection - I felt as if I knew all of them in the third movie - was lost, to some extent in this one. The reason is obvious; this movie is much bigger, in terms of length as well as scale. The Triwizard tournament is such a big event that everything around it would naturally get trivialized, and Newell tried to reduce that by also concentrating on the Yule Ball, but it still doesn't quite capture the whole atmosphere of the relationships in the book. There were a few rumors back in 2004 that the first movie would get a Director's Cut, but it never came. Let's just hope that the directors of the last 3 keep the fans in mind, and do their own versions, and it wouldn't do WB any bad to push for one either, because it wouldn't hurt DVD sales, at all. Video41749@blogcritics.org Tue, 3 Jan 2006 05:51:31 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/01/01/232110.php Rohan VenkatPolitics and History have always intrigued me, and I've always planned to have something to do with them when I choose a career. 'Course, there's so much else that also interests me that I've finally set my sights upon journalism, so that I can 'potentially' be involved in everything that interests me.Noel Barber's book, Sakkara, is full of historical politics. It is the story of 2 families, one high-class Egyptian, and the other high-class British, and with special focus on the lives of Serena, the daughter in the Egyptian family, and Mark, one of the sons in the British family, as they journey through Egypt's tumultuous history between 1919 and 1953. The rest of the members of both of the families also play major roles: a sports-crazed man, who ends up in a wheelchair; a rebel, and by rebel I mean a REAL rebel, fighting against the King of Egypt and the presence of the British in Egypt; as well as the fathers, both with political professions; and the mothers, who are both fashion-obsessed. Besides the two families, only a few characters play major roles, and the most major is Jim Stevenson, an American Intelligence Officer.At first, there are 2 major plotlines, the political side, which explores the factual history of Egypt, as a British Protectorate (meaning, they 'protected' it just so they could use the Suez Canal whenever they wanted to), and the romantic side, which explores the relationship between Mark and Serena, even though Serena is married to Mark's sports-crazed brother. A warning here, the story involves romance between 'in-laws' that is generally considered wrong, and yet Barber tries to make us believe that it is alright, using that robust, unbeatable excuse, which we call Love, no less. As the book moves on, the major characters experience a series of tragic events, including, death by various means, assassination attempts, a rebellion, and a lawsuit, which doesn't nearly include everything else that's going on, because there's a whole lot more. And yet the love between Mark and Serena perseveres, and slowly the two sides of the story, politics and romance, merge, bringing in another character, King Farouk, a bloated, perverted, Dictator Monarch.The story never lags, but isn't exactly a 'page-turner' either, and involves some real and some fictional happenings, written from the view of Mark. The book has some action, but not much, and it is mostly concerned with the Egyptian Rebellion against the Monarchy, and also the British versus the Italians and Germans in World War Two. Noel Barber has skillfully woven actual events and fiction, into a good chunk of reading, if you enjoy that kind of story. The book basically shows how the Good Times, in this case the constant partying, and everyone enjoying themselves all the time, never last, and of course, it's always there, the inevitable, perseverance of Love. (Have I used that too many times already?)As such, it's the kind of book that wouldn't much excite someone if they don't already enjoy history and politics, as its plot concentrates on these most of the time. For those who do enjoy history and politics, it provides an authentic view into the atmosphere of Egypt, and an 'inside' view of the political differences between the locals and the British 'protectors'. There is, of course, that romantic side to it, but it seems to have been added just to fill pages while the rest of the story unfolds. So there you have it, if you can find it. Get the book if you enjoy history and politics. Otherwise, look elsewhere. Edited: JA Books41686@blogcritics.org Sun, 1 Jan 2006 23:21:10 EST