Beyond the never ending strife in the Palestinian Territories and the seething anarchy that is Iraq, there’s a transformation going on in the Middle East. At least that’s the contention of a series of articles in Newsweek, which examine how the region’s business centres are gearing up to diversify past oil production and into media, finance and other ventures.
Warren and Steven wax lyrical as they watch the Shakespeare Code…which came across as quite entertaining when it was the second episode of a new and exciting season of Doctor Who, but after an epic season comes off as a somewhat smaller tale of wordsmithery and witchcraft. No matter, as our intrepid pair use the time alloted to ramble on about things Who and otherwise. Hey nonny nonny! (feed, web, direct download)
Every once in a while, I miss working in local television. Then a watch a news segment of such mind-melting stupidity that I remember why I held the entire process in contempt much of the time. Seriously, Fox, “anonymous hacker gangs? LULZ?”
There have been quite a few documentaries about Iraq in recent years, but No End In Sight is interesting in that it has appearances by a lot of the heavy hitters behind the war, including Richard Armitage, Colin Powell and Jay Garner. The film is former dot.com mogul and director Charles Ferguson’s first foray into motion pictures, but from the looks of the trailer it’s pretty solid.
Trailers from Hell is a site showcasing terrible old trailers for Z-grade movies, with commentary by Hollywood luminaries like Joe Dante and John Landis. The trailers are terrible, the commentary is informative and funny, and that’s that. (courtesy of Boing Boing)
I’ve been a William Gibson fan since Neuromancer blew my mind nearly two decades ago. Gibson’s latest book, Spook Country, is a futuristic romp set in the weird, hyperactive world of 2006. Amazon interviewed Gibson at length (part one, part two and part three) about his writing process, the role of the Internet in his work and other salinet points of interest.
With no new Who on the horizon for a good long while, we’ve decided to integrate our regular podcastian ramblings with some rather jaunty (and as usual, rabidly off-topic) commentary to go with each episode from Series 3, starting with this one, recorded during a viewing of “Smith and Jones.” Now you can watch Doctor Who with our deep and meaningful musings about the goings-on on screen…at the same time! What an age we live in. Next up, jet packs and robot butlers. (feed, web, direct download)
Dick Cheney has taken the lame-duck post of Vice President and made himself into at the very least a “co-president,” if not the actual, secret President. Chilling stuff, courtesy of the Guardian.
It’s entirely likely George W. Bush is going to leave Iraq to his successors, primarily because to do otherwise would be to admit he was wrong to invade in the first place. The Boston Globe examines what the world will look like once Bush leaves office, and it ain’t pretty.
I put together another video, this time of DJ Andy Daniels (of HedKandi fame) at Opus Bar in Yaletown. For my next video, I’d like to do something more documentary-ish, so any suggestions are welcome. Meantime, enjoy.