Saturday, January 13, 2024

Terminator Genisys

Ava and C.I. often talk about how their reviews are "snapshots" and that you're reacting in real time and often to things in the culture at that moment and that something may be enriched with years, etc.  And I nod along and think I follow along but?  It really hit home Friday.


We ended up watching Terminator Genisys (I think on AMAZON).  This film came out in the summer of 2015.  I didn't hate it back then but we really enjoyed it.  

It was basically a reboot of the franchise.  Skynet has taken over and John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect his mother Sarah Connor.  So far, that's The Terminator from 1984.  But when he goes back, or starts going back, things change right as he's leaving.  There's been a change in the timeline.  When he arrives, in 1984, Arnold's Terminator is already there -- not from moments before.  In this timeline, John sent Arnold back in 1973, not 1984, and he's protected and trained Sarah for 11 years before Kyle appears.  

It's a tight paced film.  And it's a really good film.

I didn't care for it in 2015.  I didn't hate it, but I didn't care for it.

Watching it now the only real problem is Jason Clarke who would have been fine as a machine but not as John Conner.  SPOILER: In this film, John Conner is taken over by the machines.  That might be the argument for casting him.  But even if John goes bad, we're supposed to like John.  Jason Clarke cannot deliver warmth on screen.  Clarke was wrong for the part.  And they were wrong to make John a bad guy.

That said, the film works in many other ways and you do care about Emilia Clarke's Sarah and Jai Courtney's Kyle.

The film didn't make it to $100 million in ticket sales in the US,  But it made $440 million worldwide which puts it right behind T2 in terms of global box office.  

It was supposed to be the first of three films but the other two got scrapped.


So that's the film.  And it is strong in many ways.  I would point out that it's not 1984 anymore.  And that even in 1984, James Cameron created more roles for women than this 2015 film did.  (Nancy and Ginger come off as real people in the first film.  Kyle Reese's mother -- true of the father as well -- does not in the 2015 film.)  And why is the future they're coming back from so male dominated, by the way?  


Now why did I not like it in real time?


The most obvious reason is John Conner.  They cast an ugly man in the role who has no personality whatsoever and they made John evil.  And that's not how we want it to go out.  We want John to be likeable and we want Sarah to have a functioning vagina and not one with a vice-like grip that results in John's head being deformed in the birthing process and looking like Jason's Clarke's misshapen head. 

 Each time they tend to promote these films as 'the last chapter' -- not 'the latest chapter.'  So we're convinced that however his new film ends, this is how the story ends.  And, no, we don't want charm-free Jason Clarke as the last statement on John Conner.

Equally true, the franchise took a huge hit with the third film.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was not a good film.  It wasn't directed well, it was written well.  Too much Arnold and too sudden of a move towards 'growing' his character after T2.

Nick Stahl is not a bad actor but he was too young for the role.  A youngish woman might have helped his performance work.  But he was cast opposite a rock: Claire Danes.  She was awful.  Robotic.  Cold.  We'd already seen in The Mod Squad that she had no appeal on the big screen so it was insanity to cast her as the female lead.

That film was so bad, it did real damage to the series.  It's the only one I hate.  I like or love the other films. 


If Terminator Genisys had been the third film, the one that followed T2, I think it would have been better received.  


Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Friday, January 12, 2024.  Another Mom For Bigotry goes down and flames out, Iraq has an unidentified flying object and a say-one-thing-to-the-people-whisper-something-else-to-the-US-government-privately prime minister, South Africa lays out the case on genocide being carried out in Gaza, and much more.

One of those wind down the weeks with a ton of topics to cover.  Let's start with the US and some good news.

Let's all have a good laugh with Paul about Moms for Bigotry just living their own true selves and getting exposed for it.  John Russell (LGBTQ NATION) reports:



Blair was arrested on January 5 and charged with seven counts of theft of property. Local ABC affiliate WATN reports that she was caught on security camera “skip scanning” items at the self-checkout at her local Target store in Collierville, Tennessee, on seven separate dates between November 25 and December 20. According to the Los Angeles Blade, the stolen items ranged in price from $63.38 to $140.49 and totaled $728.61.


You know this wasn't her first time.  And she thought she could sit in judgment?  Do we need to send some social workers out to check on her children since clearly she is not just a flawed human being (as we all are) but she's also a criminal.  

Those busybodies should have been told to shut up long ago.  But you had 'left' posers who  thought they were cool -- or at least said they were cool and treated them like they were cool so that Mother Tucker Carlson would bring them on his FOX "NEWS" show.  Rights and LGBTQ+ people be damned, those 'left' posers just wanted to sit down with Tucker on TV.  And I mean people like Glenneth.  And I'm going to stop right there because there's another name that I'm going to take the newsletter -- don't know if you caught this week but a certain woman apparently is no longer Tucker's pal and realizes how toxic he is -- after going on his FOX "NEWS" show repeatedly, after defending him when FOX "NEWS" rightly fired him, after . . .  And apparently now you just dispatch your husband to act like none of that ever happened and have your husband explain -- on streaming -- that you've always been opposed to Tucker.



An unidentified flying object seen in a video flying over a U.S. operations base in Iraq has been officially named "the jellyfish" UAP, according to UFO enthusiast Jeremy Corbell.

The UFO enthusiast shared the "RAW footage" of the October 2018 sighting on his YouTube channel on Tuesday. The video appears to show the jellyfish-like object flying over a military base at a consistent speed and moving in one direction. Corbell said the vehicle was filmed over the Persian Gulf at night on an undisclosed day and time.

Corbell, who has reported on UFOs for years, said the object moved through a sensitive military installation and over a body of water, where it eventually submerged. After around 17 minutes, Corbell said the UAP reemerged from the water and flew suddenly at a speed far more rapid than what technology could capture on camera.

"This UAP of unknown origin displayed transmedium capability," Corbell posted on X (formerly Twitter). "The origin, intent and capability of the Anomalous Aerial Vehicle remains unknown."



 
Not that it matters since the government can't seem to do much of anything. Lara Seligman  and Erin Banco (POLITICO) report:

Iraq’s prime minister privately told American officials that he wants to negotiate keeping U.S. forces in the country despite his recent announcement that he would begin the process of removing them from the country.

Senior advisers to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told U.S. officials that his declaration was “an attempt to satisfy domestic political audiences” and that Sudani himself “remained committed” to negotiating the coalition’s future presence in Iraq, according to a Jan. 6 State Department cable obtained by POLITICO.


So he's called for US troops to be expelled publicly, he has declared US troops assaults on Iraq's military are a violation of its national sovereignty but that's just to appease the Iraqi people.  

Interesting.  And telling.  So we're still where we were back in late 2003.  A puppet government can't rule Iraq without US forces because it's not of the people and by the people.  In March, the 'new' Iraq will be 21 -- drinking age!  That's how long US forces will have been on the ground to impose the government on the people.  It's not taking.  How many more years are going to be wasted on this?  The Iraqi people have the right to have a government that they want, that they choose.  

Chenar Chalak (RUDAW) reported yesterday, "The Iraqi government has started disseminating a survey through SMS, asking citizens of the country whether or not they support the expulsion of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), amid a series of American retaliatory strikes targeting bases of government-linked militia groups."  What's the point?  When you know the prime minister has been lying publicly about this, what's the point in even taking a minute of your time to vote in that nonsense poll?

Now let's move to the assault on Gaza.  This is from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!



NERMEEN SHAIKH: South Africa has accused Israel of acts of genocide against Palestinians in opening remarks today at a historic hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. At the hearing, South Africa demanded an emergency suspension of Israel’s aerial and ground assault on Gaza, which it said was intended at bringing about, quote, “the destruction of the population of the territory.” In a detailed 84-page document launching the case late last year, South Africa alleged that Israel has demonstrated that intent. The International Court of Justice is hearing South Africa’s arguments today, and we’ll hear Israel’s response to the allegations on Friday. South Africa’s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola addressed the court at the opening of the hearing.

RONALD LAMOLA: Madam President and distinguished members of the court, it is an honor for me to stand here in front of you on behalf of the Republic of South Africa on this exceptional case. “In extending our hands across the miles to the people of Palestine, we do so in the full knowledge that we are part of a humanity that is at one.” These were the words of our founding president, Nelson Mandela. This is the spirit in which South Africa acceded to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide in 1998. This is the spirit in which we approach this court as a contracting party to the convention. This is a commitment we owe to the people of Palestine and Israelis alike.

As previously mentioned, the violence and the destruction in Palestine and Israel did not begin on the 7th of October, 2023. The Palestinians have experienced systematic oppression and violence for the last 76 years.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: That was South Africa’s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola addressing the court at the opening of the hearing. South Africa lawyer Adila Hassim was next. She began by citing Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza in her opening argument.

ADILA HASSIM: For the past 96 days, Israel has subjected Gaza to what has been described as one of the heaviest conventional bombing campaigns in the history of modern warfare. Palestinians in Gaza are being killed by Israeli weaponry and bombs from air, land and sea. They are also at immediate risk of death by starvation, dehydration and disease as a result of the ongoing siege by Israel, the destruction of Palestinian towns, the insufficient aid being allowed through to the Palestinian population, and the impossibility of distributing this limited aid while bombs fall. This conduct renders essentials to life unobtainable.

AMY GOODMAN: South African lawyer Adila Hassim continued by laying out what South Africa says was a series of genocidal acts, including mass killing, displacement, denial of humanitarian aid, and more. She began on the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.

ADILA HASSIM: The first genocidal act committed by Israel is the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza, in violation of Article II (a) of the Genocide Convention. As the U.N. secretary-general explained five weeks ago, the level of Israel’s killing is so extensive that nowhere is safe in Gaza. As I stand before you today, 23,210 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during the sustained attacks over the last three months, at least 70% of whom are believed to be women and children. Some 7,000 Palestinians are still missing, presumed dead under the rubble.

Palestinians in Gaza are subjected to relentless bombing wherever they go. They are killed in their homes, in places where they seek shelter, in hospitals, in schools, in mosques, in churches, and as they try to find food and water for their families. They have been killed if they failed to evacuate, in the places to which they have fled, and even while they attempted to flee along Israeli-declared safe routes. The level of killing is so extensive that those whose bodies are found are buried in mass graves, often unidentified.

In the first three weeks alone following 7 October, Israel deployed 6,000 bombs per week. At least 200 times, it has deployed 2,000-pound bombs in southern areas of Palestine designated as safe. These bombs have also decimated the north, including refugee camps. Two-thousand-pound bombs are some of the biggest and most destructive bombs available. They are dropped by lethal fighter jets that are used to strike targets on the ground by one of the world’s most resourced armies.

AMY GOODMAN: South African lawyer Adila Hassim concluded her remarks by outlining the need for an emergency suspension of Israel’s assault on Gaza.

ADILA HASSIM: All of these acts, individually and collectively, form a calculated pattern of conduct by Israel indicating a genocidal intent. This intent is evident from Israel’s conduct in specially targeting Palestinians living in Gaza; using weaponry that causes large-scale homicidal destruction, as well as targeting — targeted sniping of civilians; designating safe zones for Palestinians to seek refuge and then bombing these; depriving Palestinians in Gaza of basic needs — food, water, healthcare, fuel, sanitation and communications; destroying social infrastructure — homes, schools, mosques, churches, hospitals; and killing, seriously injuring and leaving large numbers of children orphaned.

Genocides are never declared in advance. But this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies a plausible claim of genocidal acts.

In the Gambian Myanmar case, this court did not hesitate to impose provisional measures in relation to allegations that Myanmar was committing genocidal acts against the Rohingya within the Rakhine state. The facts before the court today are, sadly, even more stark and, like the Gambian Myanmar case, deserve and demand this court’s intervention.

Every day there is mounting, irreparable loss of life, property, dignity and humanity for the Palestinian people. Our newsfeeds show graphic images of suffering that has become unbearable to watch. Nothing will stop the suffering except an order from this court. Without an indication of provisional measures, the atrocities will continue, with the Israeli Defense Force indicating that it intends pursuing this course of action for at least a year.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: South African lawyer Adila Hassim. She was followed by attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, who outlined what South Africa said was clear evidence of genocidal intent by Israel.

TEMBEKA NGCUKAITOBI: The intentional failure of the government of Israel to condemn, prevent and punish such genocidal incitement constitutes, in itself, a grave violation of the Genocide Convention. We should recall, Madam President, that in Article I of the convention, Israel confirmed that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law, and it undertook to prevent and to punish it as such. This failure to prevent, condemn and punish such speech by the government has served to normalize genocidal rhetoric and extreme danger for Palestinians within Israeli society.

As MK Moshe Saada from the Likud party has said, the government’s own attorneys shares his views that Palestinians in Gaza must be destroyed. I quote: “You go anywhere, and they tell you to destroy them. In the kibbutz, they tell you to destroy them. My friends at the state attorney’s office, who fought with me on political issues in debates, said to me, 'It is clear that we need to destroy all Gazans.'” “Destroy all Gazans.”

Israel is aware of its destruction of Palestinian life and infrastructure. Despite this knowledge, it has maintained — and indeed intensified — its military activity in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: Excerpts from South Africa’s arguments at the historic hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague accusing Israel of acts of genocide. When we come back, we go to Johannesburg and Jerusalem for response.




There were many other topics we didn't get to, sorry.
                                                                            
The following sites updated:



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