So, Iraq was formally “handed over” to the Iraqis yesterday and in a totally unrelated event, the US plans on building the worlds biggest embassy known to mankind in Bagdad. With 1,700 employees it has an operating budget of up to $1bn (that does not include the cost of constructing the embassy building itself). John Negroponte, who has been the US Ambassador to the United Nations for the past two-and-a-half years (Can’t remember him? Think: Vetos), is to be the new ambassador to Iraq and will be “provide policy direction and coordination for all US government activities in Iraq”.
In other news, a woman gave birth to a frog and a study by the Media Group at Scotland’s Glasgow University, found Israelis were quoted more than twice as much as Palestinians in reports, confusing viewers and favouring the Israeli position.
And for the many many many people coming to this site from google land other search engines looking for some info on Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, all I can say about that is, a well-known exile politician with close links to the CIA and MI6 is a very suspicious choice of leader for the world’s biggest oil well. Remember Carlos Castillo Arma (Guatemala), Manuel Noriega (Panama) or Augusto Pinochet (Chili) or all the other US planted leaders?
Thanks to a few brave men and corporate sponsorship, space will no longer be the realm of mere governments and their institutions, but also big fat corporations that will charge people ridiculously high amounts of money for a brief barf trip into space.
Space Ship One (what a charmingly original name) was succesfully sent into space (the internationally accepted 100KM or 60Miles) by traveling up to 62.21 miles and became the first private built object to do so since that one time i kicked my brother for recording Conan The Barbarian over my Guyver tape (long story…way in the past…).
The pilot (Mike Melvill) once being weightless, proved this by using the scientifically accepted method of opening a bag of M&M’s and watching them float through the cockpit.
Did you know that the German abbreviation “Stasi” is actually short for the german word “Staatssicherheit“, which roughly translates to State or Homeland Security.
The Stasi was the secret police force of the communist-controlled German Democratic Republic.
The Stasi used a huge network of informants to repress the citizens of East Germany. It was not uncommon for members of families to spy on each other for fear of blackmail, as a result of physical threats and even because of monetary rewards from the secret police force. In the late 80s, the Stasi had nearly 175,000 official informants on their books, roughly one informant for every 100 people. (Some estimate the size of the “unofficial” Stasi informant force as nearly 10 times this level.) The Stasi maintained a force of over 90,000 uniformed and plain-clothes agents.
In 1990, when West and East Germany were reunited, the Stasi was dissolved. Many sought retribution for the pain, suffering and even loss of life caused by the East German secret police through the court system. However, a final decision by the unified German court in 1995 stated that former Stasi officials could not be prosecuted for taking part in or conducting Cold War espionage against the West.
Have you seen it? You should. It’s the story of a kid growing up in east Berlin before the fall of the Berlin wall and the socialist regime with his mother and sister. His mother -a proud socialist- works as a consumer activist serving the people by sending letters to companies about their products and how they can be improved.
When she one night sees her son at an anti-communist march, she has a heart attack and falls in a come…for 8 months. During those 8 months, the Berlin wall falls, communism is no more and the world around them changes. She being in a coma and oblivious to those changes, one day awakens.
The doctor tells her son that there’s a large chance of her not surviving another heart attack and that she should under no circumstance come under any pressure. The son knowing that the fall of communism, the reunification of Germany and all the changes it brought would indeed be such a shock to his mother, does everything in his power to make the world around her look as if nothing has changed at all.
From getting his friend and colleague, Denis (Florian Lukas) to produce 80′s style news interviews to trying to get his hands on old consumer brand goods (or just their packages), he’s relentless in his strive to bring back “the olden days” of East Germany.
After “Run Lola Run” (Lola Rennt) this is now my new favorite German production of all time.
One shouldn’t be misled to think this movie glorifies communism in any way, but it rather shows the fight of this young man against the changes taking place around them (however positive) for the sake of keeping his mother alive as long as possible. The movie has its funny moments but isn’t a comedy. Very good acting by Daniel Br?hl (Alex) and Katrin Sa? (Christiane Kerner).
Watch it. You won’t regret it.
You can read a full Synopsis of the story at the official Good Bye, Lenin site (the music used there (“Summer 78″) is a snippet of the score used in the movie. A damn good score by Yann Tiersen.)
Watch the trailer here.
