Archive for October, 2009

AUTUMN IN SHANGHAI

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Israel does not lag behind when it comes to making friends with rising superpower China. But it is not just making friends, it is the marketing of Israel that seems more important. Jazz saxophonist and writer Gilad Atzmon wonders if China can really accommodate Israel, a country with a bourgeoisie ...

ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT CRISIS?

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

With the United States as the nation with the highest income inequality, growing unemployment and with more people losing their homes, is there any likelihood that things will get better for the people? Not a chance, as former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts said, "The crooks have ...

SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

The direct-to-video Grudge 3 might be more bloody - give or take a few gallons, but as Critic After Dark Noel Vera says, there's a distinct aroma pervading the air, as if of a corpse kept on display way past its time of burial. Not a big fan of Takashi Shimizu's ...

THE LOST HISTORY OF HELMAND

Monday, October 26th, 2009

If you look beyond the soldiers, and into the distance, what you are really seeing are the ruins of one of the biggest technological projects the United States has ever undertaken. Its aim was to use science to try and change the course of history and produce a modern utopia ...

THE RICH HAVE STOLEN THE ECONOMY

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

A few powerful interest groups in America are using their power to monopolize the economy for themselves. They are so well off that there's even a new magazine for them - How To Spend It. In the meantime, unemployment and homelessness continue to spiral away. By former Assistant Secretary of ...

TENTACLE LOVE

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

The story and action might be comic-book inspired but when it comes to tentacle sex, Yo Kobayashi's La Blue Girl: Revenge Of The Sex Demon King certainly delivers the goods. Stephen Tan reviews. Hidden over 1,000 years ago, in the shadows of history, lies the legend of a war between two ...

THE SIREN SONG OF WORLD PRAISE

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

The disappointment of not hosting the 2016 Olympics has now turned into joy as Barack Obama is lauded and feted by the media after receiving this year's Nobel Peace prize. But as commentator Niranjan Ramakrishnan cautions, if the US president ignores his own backyard, he could easily follow in the ...

P2P SITE COALITION TO HELP INDIE FILMMAKERS

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Several of the largest BitTorrent sites including Mininova, The Pirate Bay and isoHunt have joined a coalition of file-sharing partners in an ambitious project to help filmmakers get their work out to the public. Founded by the director of Steal This Film, the VODO project debuts its first title on ...

DIRTY DOZEN REDUX

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Quentin Tarantino's latest, Inglourious Basterds, is an entertaining enough and harmless enough movie; but what Critic After Dark Noel Vera doesn't get are all the hosannas proclaiming it (and Tarantino) as the Second Coming. Quentin Tarantino may be comfortable in exploring "everything troubling and uncomfortable about the fact that a love ...

AHMED RASHID’S WAR

Monday, October 12th, 2009

For Afghanistan, an exit strategy involving Iran, Russia and China as well as Pakistan and a national coalition is the only medium-term solution. As writer and political commentator Tariq Ali says, more troops is totally counter-productive. But as the war continues, more Afghans and NATO soldiers will continue to die. After ...