I'm Climbing Up Those Walls Again

Just a quick news analysis and a prediction for the future.

Recently the US Senate committee has placed almost all the blame on US intelligence failings on the CIA, and none on the administration. Note that it isn't that they haven't found anything on Bush, it is that they haven't started phase 2 yet (which isn't scheduled to be complete until, fancy that, after the election).

The committe is Republican dominated, and headed by a best friend of Dick Cheney, so take it's report lightly. Remember that Bush and Cheney immediately tried to find an excuse to attack Iraq after 9/11. When Richard Clarke said that it was time to go for Afghanistan, Rumsfeld actually said, "But there aren't any good targets there."


The administration is claiming that Bin Laden is planning to strike within the US this year, possibly before the election. Don't you find it funny that our intelligence is good enough to find out what the enemy is planning, but not his location? This is a longshot, but a possibility for the future:

Bush is still taking a lot of flak for never finding Osama. The only issue he can hold onto as we head towards the November election, is his ability to keep America safe. Right now, the American people are being told that Al Qaeda is going to try and strike later this year. Now, try and think of what would be a perfect save for Bush, one that would almost insure his re-election. What if the Al Qaeda plan was foiled in say, October. Even better, what if Osama Bin Laden was captured or killed in October?

This is complete and utter speculation, but not totally improbable. All I'm asking is that you keep an open mind concerning the administration's actions in the future, especially coming up to the election. The Republicans know that things are turning to shit, so they will try something at the last minute. What they'll do is hard to say.


So what do you think the two parties going to pull in October?

This lady was obviously unprepared for a perfectly reasonable scenario.

I may have mentioned before that I spent some time this summer reading Max Brook's The Zombie Survival Guide : Complete Protection from the Living Dead. I feel that, because of it, I am pretty ready for any sort of zombie outbreak.

Some may call me paranoid, but I have special concern for being prepared, because my house in Beverley is across the street from a funeral home. Should I wake up one night to the sounds of shuffling feet and groans, I'll quickly raid my own kitchen and then escape upstairs, destroying the staircase behind me.

I wonder if this would make a good skit for CCN. We have often talking about what we'd do if the rest of the world became zombies, except for Clemson, so how about we film a video on "what to do in case of a zombie attack" for Clemson students? We can have examples of dealing with the undead, and Kyle would make an excellent zombie with make-up abilities (or zombie-killer). It would be best if we took it completely seriously. Let me know what you think.

I've been playing a bit of the Thief 2 demo recently. I can't wait to get home and get my hands on Thief 3, as it has been getting good reviews (a lot better than Deus Ex 2 did). There's nothing quite like sneaking through the darkness, using a water arrow to put out a torch right next to a guard with an IQ of a gerbil, and then, after failing to club him in the back, stabbing him to death as his companions shrug his screams off: "Hmmm, must have been a rat!"

Robin Hood: Men In Tights was on last night.. what a great movie.

Aha! It's time for the weekend blackout again! Have a good weekend everyone.

I was right, most people over here pronounce "scone" in a way that rhymes with "bon" as in "bon fire." Many of my friends insisted that it is pronounced "scones" as in rhyming with "moans." Apparently a minority in the UK pronounce it this way, including this Irish guy I know. If the Irish prounounce it in the "moans" way, then that probably means Irish-Catholics do, and that's why Americans pronounce it the same way. Interesting, isn't it?

Well, a week from now I'll be packing to go home. From that point onward it'll be research for my honors thesis. I'll have a house all to myself for a week, which would be fun if I had anyone to visit. Maybe I'll take a trip.

I finally have managed to cook properly. I pan-fried some chicken for quesadillas the other day. Once I figure out making pasta, I'll run around yelling "bam!" and forcing my food on other people.

I've begun to miss Clemson a bit... I'm ready to move in to our ghetto apartment and begin life anew. I'm also ready to see my computer again. It's probably soooo lonely *sniff* I'm going to miss the food though. Ordinary grocery food is so good over here. Nothing like coming back from a run and downing a hot-cross bun, or maybe some Fruit Gums.

I've found a good midi-tracker, btw. Anyone interested in making some easy music with it? I'll post some of my songs soon, since midi-files are rather small. Caustic Cindex lives!

Well, last night my parents, my cousin Rosie and I attempted to watch Irreversible. I thought it might be this movie I read about... one that drove people out of the theater at the Cannes film festival... but I wasn't sure.

Well it was. Don't rent this movie. You'd be lucky if you could even find it in America. It has two of the most violent scenes ever depicted in a non-pornographic film, and I believe the director was attempt to get the audience to vomit during the first 10 minutes. For one thing, the camera is never still... it is always sliding around or spinning upside down. The story moves backwards in time (by the way, this is a French movie) and suddenly we find ourselves at a 'club' called the Rectum. That's right, the Rectum.

The Rectum is a gay dungeon, and the protagonist is looking for some guy there. You don't really see anything, but you can tell some really stick things are happening from all the groans. At the same time, there is this low buzzing noise, that, if it were played on a big system, would really really make you sick. The dark and damp looking multi-leveled club is full of naked men groaning and getting it on. The protagonist's attempts to find his mark are usually daunted by a request for a blow-job. Finally, after much fast-forwarding, he finds the man he was looking for. They get in a fight, and then suddenly the camera stays still as the protagonist spends 2 minutes beating the other man's head in with what looked like a fire extinguisher.

That pretty much ended the movie for us, but I hear that Monica Belluci is brutally raped later on (the man killed the other guy in The Rectum as payback). We didn't make it that far. Why did someone make this movie?

Well, I'm finally seen Fahrenheit 9/11. Since you all know me to be a devout liberal, it will come as no surprise when I proclaim it is a movie that needs to be seen by every person in America. Some of you might drag yourself to the cinema to see it. Others of you, the ones that are apathetic towards politics, probably won't go see it, but that won't stop me from making my case.

I don't care if you don't follow the news, but if you vote, you need to see this movie. You can't lose either way. If you already agree with most of the points being made, it'll intensify your emotions and give you a deeper sense of purpose by the time you leave. If you aren't informed enough to have an opinion, it'll at least open some doors for you, in any direction you wish to go. If you are a staunch Republican, then you can see what the other side is thinking, and re-enforce what you believe. It isn't a boring documentary, trust me, it doesn't drone on... the images keep you fixed the screen.

It is a recap of the past 4 years, starting with George W. Bush's 'win' in Florida. Then, we are taken to scenes of Bush's constant vacationing during the first half of 2001.

Later, we are treated to a black screen as we hear the sounds of 9/11 all over again. Moore doesn't need to show us the images of the planes hitting the towers, because we can remember them perfectly on our own. We see the shock on Bush's face when he is finally informed, during a visit to an elementary school. He continues to sit there in front of a class of children, for 7 minutes, looking a bit worried. Moore takes us back to his roots, and reveals the many ties the Bush family has with the Bin Laden family. Did you know that Bush Sr. still does business with the family in Saudi Arabia, even after 9/11?

We are taken through the fall of Afghanistan, after it is revealed that the US was attempting to open further channels between our government and the Taliban in the year before 9/11. We even had a Taliban ambassador tour DC.

Slowly but surely, the camera moves in the direction of Iraq. Moore pretty much skims the surface on the failed intelligence in going to war, mostly because we know the rest from TV and the newspapers. However, he does a fine job of revealing how rich a lot of people are getting off of this war. We are treated to footage of big executives talking about how much money they are going to be made. You almost forget that it is real.

Briefly, Moore begins to show our soldiers as being hicks who seem to enjoy the killing, but he quickly abandons that approach when he begins to talk to the families of soldiers who died. You see some of the more violent scenes from the war, the ones that were too racy to be shown on CCN or Fox. They can hit you pretty hard. Much of the focus is around a middle-aged mother who lost her son when his Black Hawk helicopter went down. At the end of the movie, we are as bewildered as she is. Why are we sending these people to die?

Please, if you don't pick up another newspaper or watch a minute of CCN again, see this movie. I really can't argue any more, but it has at least refueled my tanks, and I'm ready for a very bitter campaign this year.

I was watching Lexx last night (and discovered that they must cut some stuff out for the US run, because it was longer and erm.. uncut) and was delighted to see Craig Charles and Hattie Hayridge, two actors from Red Dwarf, who play Lister and Holly, respectively. They were the wardens of this all female prison that Xev, one of the main characters, was sentenced to.

On another sexual note, amongst the other 10 spams I get a day, I saw one from a "Dean Easley" with the heading: "bryan online booty call." I propose that we have an intervention, to save our dear friend Bryan from his descent into online pornography.

On yet another note, I'm still famous, bitch.

Go to Google, type in Matt Collin and hit "I'm feeling lucky." Guess who is numero uno on google search? That would be me! All other Matt Collin s in the world can read it and weep!

So far, Kyle is almost as famous, for when you search for him the first link is one having to do with him, but no picture!

Before I talk about anything else, I'd like to brag about my countless victories in Medieval: Total War, one battle in particular was awesome (Carter and his brother would appreciate this).

Recently, I invaded Rome and executed the Pope, setting up my own puppet Papacy, but the old regime made an attempt to take it back from me. They had a huge army, roughly equal in size to mine, but I was one the defense, so I had mine on top of a hill. I was a little nervous, because his units were more advanced than mine. The Pope had taken the lead with his 20 royal knights.

Just to pass the time before they got close enough to attack, I had my catapult lob a boulder at the Pope's knights. Catapults aren't usually very good at hitting moving targets, but I was bored. They aimed and fired, and the boulder not only hit the royal knights, but it fucking killed the Pope and only the Pope with the one hit. The first shot of the war killed their commander and head of state. Man, it was awesome. The resulting battle was easy, for the enemies moral was severely damaged.

Anyway...

The other night I had a one night stand with a delicious meal known as a Donner Kebab. Around midnight that night I got really hungry (probably as a result of my running). It's probably the unhealthiest thing you could possibly eat. Basically here is what it involves:

A huge big cylinder of meat (lamb I think, it doesn't really matter) that just sits there, rotating aaaallll day until you come along and order a large Donner Kebab. They shave (yes, shave) the meat off, then cover it with lettuce, and several sauces of unknown origin. It's the closest thing to hunting down a lamb with your bare hands and eating the whole thing. It's awesome.

The weather over here has been unusually wet as of late. Rain comes and goes every few minutes recently, as I found out yesterday morning. It was drizzling, so I was debating whether or not to get ready to run, when my dad called down from the attic, "Matt! It's sunny now! You can go for a run." I put on my treads, set the stopwatch, and bolted out the door. I went down the road and onto the country track that takes me out of the city.

After a few minutes, I passed a parked car, and then saw its driver running along the track in my direction. He didn't seemed to be dressed for running, but he was really kicking up dirt as he bolted passed me. I wondered why he was in such a hurry. My curiosity turned to horror as I felt drops of rain. I was already at the half way point, so I picked up the pace.

The end of my run takes me straight down a busy Beverley street, and I hit it just as the rain drizzle grew to a torrent. I was soaked, and of course the place was packed with traffic. I must have provided a good laugh for a few dozen people as I ran top speed over the train tracks. As I flew past the Minster, a man looked at me and said something funny, all I could make out were the words "see-through" which were probably in reference to my wet white t-shirt. As I got to my house I had to dart passed an old lady, who I gave a good scare to. That's ok, because old people deserve to be scared.