Hyrcanian Forests

 

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1584

Hyrcanian forests form a unique forested massif that stretches 850 km along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. The history of these broad-leaved forests dates back 25 to 50 million years, when they covered most of this Northern Temperate region. These ancient forest areas retreated during the Quaternary glaciations and then expanded again as the climate became milder. Their floristic biodiversity is remarkable: 44% of the vascular plants known in Iran are found in the Hyrcanian region, which only covers 7% of the country. To date, 180 species of birds typical of broad-leaved temperate forests and 58 mammal species have been recorded, including the iconic Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana).

Brief synthesis

The Hyrcanian Forests form a green arc of forest, separated from the Caucasus to the west and from semi-desert areas to the east: a unique forested massif that extends from south-eastern Azerbaijan eastwards to the Golestan Province, in Iran. The Hyrcanian Forests World Heritage property is situated in Iran, within the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests ecoregion.  It stretches 850 km along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and covers around 7 % of the remaining Hyrcanian forests in Iran.

The property is a serial site with 15 component parts shared across three Provinces (Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan) and represents examples of the various stages and features of Hyrcanian forest ecosystems. Most of the ecological characteristics which characterize the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests are represented in the property. A considerable part of the property is in inaccessible steep terrain. The property contains exceptional and ancient broad-leaved forests which were formerly much more extensive however, retreated during periods of glaciation and later expanded under milder climatic conditions. Due to this isolation, the property hosts many relict, endangered, and regionally and locally endemic species of flora, contributing to the high ecological value of the property and the Hyrcanian region in general.

Criterion (ix): The property represents a remarkable series of sites conserving the natural forest ecosystems of the Hyrcanian Region. Its component parts contain exceptional broad-leaved forests with a history dating back 25 - 50 million years ago, when such forests covered most parts of the Northern Temperate region. These huge ancient forest areas retreated during Quaternary glaciations and later, during milder climate periods, expanded again from these refugia. The property covers most environmental features and ecological values of the Hyrcanian region and represents the most important and key environmental processes illustrating the genesis of those forests, including succession, evolution and speciation.

The floristic biodiversity of the Hyrcanian region is remarkable at the global level with over 3,200 vascular plants documented. Due to its isolation, the property hosts many relict, endangered, and regionally and locally endemic plant species, contributing to the ecological significance of the property, and the Hyrcanian region in general. Approximately 280 taxa are endemic and sub-endemic for the Hyrcanian region and about 500 plant species are Iranian endemics.

The ecosystems of the property support populations of many forest birds and mammals of the Hyrcanian region which are significant on national, regional and global scales. To date, 180 species of birds typical of broadleaved temperate forests have been recorded in the Hyrcanian region including Steppe Eagle, European Turtle Dove, Eastern Imperial Eagle, European Roller, Semicollared Flycatcher and Caspian Tit. Some 58 mammal species have been recorded across the region, including the iconic Persian Leopard and the threatened Wild Goat.

Integrity

The component parts of the property are functionally linked through the shared evolutionary history of the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forest ecoregion and most have good ecological connectivity through the almost continuous forest belt in the whole Hyrcanian forest region. Khoshk-e-Daran, is the only component that is isolated, however it still benefits from a high level of intactness and contributes to the overall value of the series. Each component part contributes distinctively to the property’s Outstanding Universal Value and the components together sustain the long-term viability of the key species and ecosystems represented across the Hyrcanian region, as well as the evolutionary processes which continue to shape these forests over time.

Several component parts have suffered in the past from lack of legal protection, and continue to be negatively impacted to some extent by seasonal grazing and wood collection. The sustainable management of these uses is a critical issue for the long-term preservation of the site’s integrity and it will require strong ongoing attention by the State Party.

Protection and management requirements

All component parts of the property are state owned and strictly protected by national legislation. In the case of protected areas through the Nature Conservation Law and for areas outside of the protected areas by Iran’s Heritage Law. It will be important to align the boundaries of the existing protected areas to those of the property following inscription on the World Heritage List so as to harmonize and streamline the management and protection regime across the site as a whole.

The management of the property’s components is under the responsibility of three national agencies, the Iranian Forests, Range, Watershed and Management Organization (FRWO), Department of Environment (DoE) and the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO). A National Steering Committee is in place to ensure coordination across the series as a whole. This mechanism will need to be maintained in order to guarantee comprehensive management of the site into the future, based on a common vision and supported by adequate funding. Each component part has a management plan however, a “Master Management Plan” for the whole property is also a long term requirement. The national and component specific plans should be maintained, developed and updated regularly together by the responsible management institutions, in cooperation with ministries, universities and NGOs.

Public access and use of the area is legally regulated and logging, grazing, hunting and most other uses that may potentially impact the property are strictly prohibited within all component parts. Vehicle access and other uses and activities that may potentially impact the property are also either forbidden or strictly regulated. However, enforcement of access and use regulations is not always effective and requires strengthening. Particular attention is required to maintain and enhance where possible, ecological connectivity between components and to ensure effective regulation of seasonal grazing and wood collection.

The 1943 Famine in India and the Role of Winston Churchill

https://theredphoenixapl.org/2019/01/05/the-1943-famine-in-india-and-the-role-of-winston-churchill/

From Octubre, Organ of the Communist Party of Spain (ML), January 2019.

If we do not investigate history strictly, we could speculate that Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain in two periods (1940-45 and 1951-55), was a jovial man, a great leader and a man of much charisma. . However, history tells us that behind this bright facade lies an obscure truth: Churchill carried out an economic and military strategy in Bengal, India, during the Second World War, which caused a famine that ended up killing millions of people. This theme is not taken up in the history books, nor is it remembered as a controversial fact. However, it is worth examining it to make known one of the cruelest and most deplorable events in world history.

Very few people today know about the genocide in Bengal, let alone how Churchill planned it. Churchill’s hatred of the Indian people led several million people to die during the Bengal “famine” of 1943. “I hate Indians. They are a bestial people with a bestial religion,” he said.

The 1943 famine in Bengal was one of several famines in Bengal, an administrative division of British India that was under the British Crown. It is estimated that around 2 million people died of malnutrition in that period. Much of the consequences were due to the decisions of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, as he feared that the Japanese would advance through Burma and attack the eastern border of Bengal. As a preventive measure, a scorched earth initiative was launched in two parts, eastern and coastal Bengal. The impact of the policies on the development of the famine was decisive. At the end of March 1942, Governor Herbert, acting under the direct orders of Winston Churchill, issued a directive requiring that surplus stocks of rice and other food be removed or destroyed throughout Bengal.

That year Bengal had a better than normal harvest, despite the state of war that extended to the Asian colony. The British army took millions of tons of rice from the hungry people to send to the Middle East, where it was not even needed. When the hungry people of Bengal asked for food, Churchill said that the “famine” was caused by the Bengalis “multiplying like rabbits.” The viceroy of India declared that “Churchill’s attitude toward India and the famine as negligent, hostile and contemptuous.” Even the right-wing imperialist Leo Amery, who was the British Secretary of State in India, said he “did not see much difference between his [Churchill’s] and Hitler’s outlook.” Churchill rejected all offers of aid to send rice to Bengal; Canada offered 10,000 tons. Meanwhile, several million men, women and children died of hunger in Bengal.

The British tried to limit the dramatic situation by attributing it to the bad times that India had had in that period. However, as noted by economist and Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, there was no overall shortage of rice in Bengal in 1943: its availability was somewhat greater than in 1941, when there was no hunger. In part, this was what led to the slow official response to the disaster, as there had been no crop loss and, therefore, hunger was unexpected. One of its root causes, says Sen, was the rumors of the shortage that caused hoarding and price inflation. This was caused by the rapid demand in wartime that made rice consignments an excellent investment (prices had already doubled over the previous year). In Sen’s interpretation, while the peasants owners of the land where the rice grew and the workers in industries in urban areas and on the docks saw their salaries rise, it led to a disastrous change in the situation of groups such as landless peasants, fisherfolk, barbers, hullers of rice and other groups who found that the real value of their salaries had been cut by two-thirds since 1940. Churchill prevented the alleviation of the burden on India, and on the contrary increased it. The Indian industries were converted to help in the manufacture of weapons and uniforms for the troops in Africa and those near Japan. This left the large Indian cities without industries for basic necessities that, together with an increase in grain shipments, caused the collapse. When the factories were occupied with arms manufacture, goods such as agricultural and livestock tools were in short supply. This led to a decrease in agricultural production and an inability to deliver the amount of grain that the British required to be produced; Indian landowners delivered the grain to local food warehouses. Having less grain available for trade, the price doubled while with the war effort salaries were frozen for 5 years. This led to 2 million people dying in 1943 in the worst famine in India in the 20th century. In short, although there was enough rice and other grain in Bengal to feed people, they did not have enough money to buy it.

As stated above, more than 2 million people died in Bengal due to this terrible situation. It is one of the most terrible and dishonest crimes against humanity that is known.

Glazastik, The Russian Big-Eyed Guy - Raw Clip

 

This clip is taken from Putin's G8 press conference in which a protester was strangely eyed by the now-famous Glazastik (Big-Eyed Guy).

PolitiFact - Ronald Reagan's son says his father got the Saudis to pump more oil to undercut USSR

 

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/mar/13/michael-reagan/ronald-reagans-son-says-his-father-got-saudis-pump/

The Cold War is back. Or at least, some version of it has returned, with Russian troops on the move across the Crimean Peninsula with the oddsmakers predicting it will once again be Russian territory.

For critics of President Barack Obama, this is a prime opportunity to demonstrate how poorly he stacks up compared with the man who did all he could to topple the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan.

Reagan’s son, Michael Reagan, offered this advice for Obama on the Townhall.com website:

"I suggest that President Obama might want to study how Ronald Reagan defeated the Soviet Union.

"He did it without firing a shot, as we know, but he had a super weapon -- oil.

"Oil was the only thing the Soviets had in the 1980s that anyone in the rest of the world wanted to buy, besides ICBMs and H-bombs, and they weren't for sale.

"Since selling oil was the source of the Kremlin's wealth, my father got the Saudis to flood the market with cheap oil.

"Lower oil prices devalued the ruble, causing the USSR to go bankrupt, which led to perestroika and Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of the Soviet Empire."

It seems like a reasonable narrative, but as we’ll see in this fact-check, the record isn’t quite as robust as Reagan fils might like.

We made several efforts to reach Reagan for official records that would back up his claim, and we did not hear back.

The basic oil market numbers

We can see what happened with oil markets during Reagan's time in office by looking at volume -- how much was pumped out of the ground -- and price. The U.S. Energy Information Administration provides the production numbers, and what we see partly backs up Reagan’s point and partly does not.

For the first five years of Reagan’s administration, Saudi production fell steeply. Then in 1986 it popped up, followed by a dip the next year, and ending with another rise.

The Energy Information Administration also provides pricing data and it too both supports and undercuts Reagan’s statement. Prices fall in 1986, then recover in 1987 followed by a decline in 1988. Prices remained below what they had been in 1985.

By several estimates, the drop in prices cost the USSR $20 billion a year. If the plan was to hurt the Soviet Union, it succeeded.

What is unclear is whether the Saudis ramped up production at Reagan’s request. We look at what the record shows on that front.

The evidence in support of Reagan intervention

Paul Kengor is a Reagan biographer who believes the Gipper has not received the credit he is due for waging economic warfare against the USSR. Kengor told PunditFact that Michael Reagan is correct when he says his father was behind the Saudi’s decision.

"They did this strictly to help us hurt the Soviets and as payback for us helping them in the past," Kengor said. "It was a big risk for them."

Kengor pointed us to the book Victory: The Reagan administration’s secret strategy that hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union, by Peter Schweizer. In that book, Schweizer describes a 1981 meeting between CIA director William Casey and his Saudi counterpart. At that meeting, Casey shared CIA reports on Soviet oil production.

"By raising the issues of oil prices and the U.S.-Saudi Arabia security relationship in the same conversation," Casey was in effect saying the two were related," Schweizer wrote.

Schweizer cites an unnamed U.S. official for this information. A former National Security Council official referred to Casey’s contacts with Saudi Arabia during a recent panel discussion but in less detail than in Schweizer’s book.

But move forward to 1985, when the Saudis actually made their production hike, and Schweizer wrote, "What factor lay most heavily on the mind of the Saudis when they made this decision is anybody’s guess."

We asked Kengor for the best documentation they could find to support the claim of Reagan’s direct intervention. We have yet to receive that.

However, there is an ample public record on the factors within OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, that shaped the Saudi Arabian production strategy. Plus, the Reagan administration made efforts to push prices back up. We turn now to the information that tends to undermine Reagan’s assertion.

The evidence against

James Williams is an Arkansas-based consulting economist in the oil and gas industry who worked with producers in West Texas in the 1980s. Williams told us that in the first half of the decade, OPEC had an agreement to keep prices high through a system of production quotas. Members promised to limit the number of barrels they would pump. With less supply, prices would be higher.

"The Saudi Arabians were dropping production faster than the rest of OPEC," Williams said. "They bore a disproportionate share of the effort to prop up prices."

The problem was, not every member followed the rules. There are many references in the public record of Saudi resentment. Economist Darwin Hall at the California State University at Long Beach described it in a 1992 article in Energy Policy.

"At the OPEC meetings in Geneva during the period from 1982 to 1985, Sheikh Yamani, the oil minister of Saudi Arabia at the time, repeatedly threatened to expand output unless Iraq and Iran stopped cheating on their agreed quotas," Hall wrote. (Iran and Iraq were at war and needed foreign currency to finance their militaries.)

While OPEC wielded considerable clout on world energy markets, internally, it had no way to enforce the terms among its signatories. Philip Verlager, an energy consultant, said Saudi Arabia had more oil capacity than anyone and so had more power.

"From 1981 to the end of 1985, Saudi Arabia took on the swing producer role in OPEC,"  Verleger told PunditFact. "Then in 1986, they threw in the towel and prices collapsed."

In six months, the spot price for oil was cut in half.

Verleger said Michael Reagan "is wrong." He and many other writers say the Saudis boosted production to send a message to other OPEC members.

Another bit of information from Saudi Arabia also undercuts the Reagan claim. Dick Combs, a foreign service officer and author of Inside the Soviet Alternate Universe, noted that Saudi King Fahd was not a strong supporter of the shift in 1986. He fired his oil minister and cut back "domestic oil production to enhance Saudi revenues."  

If the Reagan doctrine was to keep prices as low as possible, U.S. actions weren’t always consistent with that goal. As prices fell, the U.S. oil industry collapsed.

"In April 1986, Reagan sent (Vice President George H.W.) Bush to Saudi Arabia to get the Saudis to cut production to bring prices up," Verlager said.

According to newspapers at the time, Bush told King Fahd that the United States saw the hit on the domestic oil market as "a threat to national security."

Our ruling

Michael Reagan said his father got Saudi Arabia to flood the market with oil in order to drive down prices and undermine the Soviet economy. The numbers on production and pricing show that Saudi production rose, then fell, and then rose again. In the middle of 1987, prices were close to what they had been at the beginning of 1986, although they fell again and never went as high as they had been in 1985.

The pattern of production and prices do not fit neatly with Reagan’s statement. We have no public documents to confirm that Reagan asked the Saudis to use oil as an economic weapon against the USSR.

On the other hand, we have an extensive public record that Saudi Arabia was fighting with its OPEC partners and had warned them for years that it would raise production to make them pay a price for cheating on their quotas. We also see that Saudi Arabia charted its own course in setting oil prices and the consensus view among oil experts is OPEC, not Reagan, shaped their production decisions.

Finally, we have Bush calling on the Saudis to help send prices back up. This is exactly counter to the Reagan strategy in the statement.

There might be an element of truth in the claim, but the public record strongly points the other way. We rate the statement Mostly False.

Now listening to Back To The Future III by Alan Silvestri and Octopussy by John Barry...

 

The Future is Now - Back to the Future Part- Pepsi Perfect

 

Review: Resident Evil (Director’s Cut)

 

https://www.oldgamehermit.com/2016/11/review-resident-evil-directors-cut/

As you may know, tackling my backlog is the main reason I started this site. Well, with that in mind I continue to proceed with both my PS1 era playthroughs and my creepy Autumn game initiative, with a review of the Playstation classic: Resident Evil. This is a title that is heralded among gamers as one of the greatest survival horror titles of all time. Without a doubt, this is the game that really launched the genre into the mainstream.

My very first experience with Resident Evil was the enhanced remake of this game back on the Nintendo Gamecube, but for this review I wanted to go back to the roots of the series. So I chose to play through the Director’s Cut edition of game. That being stated, let’s go ahead and take a moment to clear up any confusion regarding the different retail versions of Resident Evil that exist.

First, there is the original release: This is the game in it’s purist form. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best… The original US version of Resident Evil came under heavy criticism due to censorship. For whatever reason, Capcom decided to cut a number of scenes from the game. These missing visuals include references to smoking and also some of the more violent imagery. However, despite these cuts, the game still received a Mature rating. So, to me and many others, the decision to censor the game made little sense in the end.

Second, we have the The Director’s Cut. Originally, this release was marketed as being the uncensored version of the game. But, it was later found to contain the same edits as the vanilla release (apparently due to an error). This version of the game does feature a few enhancements to the playcontrol, as well as a new Beginner Mode and “Arranged Mode” (sort of a remix for item and monster placement). A second (corrected) version of the Director’s Cut was eventually released. This version also added controller vibration support. For many, this is considered to be definitive PlayStation version of the game – and this is the version I’m focusing on for this review.

Third, The remake: In 2002, a remake of the original game was released exclusively on the Nintendo GameCube. This was the first version of the game that I experienced. This version includes revamped graphics and sound, a higher degree of difficulty, and some other major and minor changes.  Recently, an enhanced HD version of the remake was released. I have decided to review this new version separately at a later time. So for now… on the the review.

The story for Resident Evil takes place in the fictional locale of Raccoon City. Recently a number of bizarre murders have occurred on the outskirts of the area. To investigate, an elite group of police officers known as “STARS” were dispatched to the scene. When this group did not return, a second team was sent to assess the situation. The game begins with this second crew locating the crashed helicopter of the original team. While investigating the crash, the STARS are attacked by a pack of enraged, monstrous dogs. Unable to combat them effectively, the STARS officers run to a nearby mansion for shelter. Inevitably, the team gets split up in the chaos. The goal of the game is locate your missing companion(s) and explore the mansion for clues regarding the whereabouts of the former STARS team members. As the player, you can choose to control either STARS’ member Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield. Each character has their own set pros and cons, and the flow of the story will change slightly depending on which you choose. Regardless of your selection, the overall plot is the same.

It doesn’t take long for the hero to realize that things at the mansion and surrounding area are far from normal. The place is crawling with zombies! As you continue to play and explore, the story-line that unfolds is one of classic B-movie horror.

The basic premise of the game is to explore the mansion and locate your fellow STARs members and then escape. Initially, a large part of the mansion is closed off, but as you continue to explore you will obtain keys and other items of interest. These items enable you to continually probe deeper and deeper into the mysteries that lie before you.

As each new area is unlocked, every step into the unknown is wrought with danger. As you play, you’ll soon realize that the comfort of trekking through familiar territory is quickly replaced with dread each time you set foot into a new unexplored wing of the mansion. You never know what type of horror may be lurking around the corner. To make matters worse, weapons and ammunition are a scarce and valuable commodity.  This is made even more so by a very limited inventory space. Your character can only hold so many items. So often, you will find yourself stumbling upon something of value, with no way to hold it. Luckily, there are special storage boxes located at various locales in the game. These can be used to store your valuables and free up precious inventory slots.

Resident Evil does a masterful job of keeping the tension at a fever pitch. Everything from the creepy atmospheres, to the music, to the gruesome monsters is masterfully crafted. The game does lack in a few crucial areas however. The first, being the play control. This game controls very similarly to many of the early third-person 3D games of the era, which I’ve always found to be somewhat problematic. Your character moves in a tank-like fashion. You point them in a specific direction and then move them forward. This makes for some rather stiff and clunky navigation. Combine this with turning the corner into a room full of zombies and it can make for a easy death – simply due to the difficulty of trying to navigate away from danger. As I mentioned, other games of the time had the same control scheme (Tomb Raider, Silent Hill, etc). Second, the voice acting is simply horrid. I mean, it’s REALLY bad. But I’m able to overlook it by imagining the whole thing is a spoof of a terrible B-movie. (Sadly, I don’t think that was the actual intention of the developers.) Finally, the whole inventory system is overly cumbersome. I understand how space-management can be an important aspect for some games, but in the case of Resident Evil, I feel it’s largely unnecessary.  For example, to even save your game you are required to keep “Ink Ribbons”. These are a consumable item that can be used at typewriters you may find scattered around. Using a ribbon in a typewriter will allow you to save your progress. So yes… you can technically blow all of your saves by running out of ribbons and find yourself in a heap of trouble late in the game.

Despite these annoyances, the game is a masterpiece. It’s certainly worthy of the hype it receives. On top of the excellent storytelling and tension that you get from the game itself. Having two characters to choose from adds a good level of replay-ability to the game. While the background story for both Jill and Chris are the same, each characters sees the scenario unfold differently. Plus, there are differences when it comes to playing the two characters. For example, Chris is a bit tougher and can seem to take more of a beating. But Jill can hold more gear and is able to pick locks, this allows here access to more of the mansion right from the beginning. And if that’s not enough, the Arranged Mode featured in the Director’s Cut mixes things up even more, giving even veteran players a new experience.

All in all, I recommend Resident Evil for nearly anyone who loves retro gaming. For fans of the survival horror genre, this is a must-play. I know that the new HD Remake of the game is shiny and tempting, but there’s really something charming about the original PS1 version that is also deserving of your attention.

Difficulty: Variable –  The Director’s Cut version features three levels of difficulty: Beginner, Original and Arranged. The Beginner option reduces the difficulty of the game dramatically. Monsters are weaker, ammunition is more plentiful, and there seem to be fewer monsters overall. Original difficulty matches that of the game during its original release. Arranged is a bit of a different bag. Arranged Made changes the location of items and monsters, making the game completely different for players that already know their way around. – Generally speaking – I do recommend the Original mode of difficulty for most players. But gamers that simply want to enjoy the storyline may find Beginner mode more suited to their tastes.

Story: The story line behind Resident Evil is surprisingly complex. It’s starts out simple, but slowly builds as layer upon layer is uncovered by the player as they proceed through the game. Much of the plot reminds me of what you might find in a cheesy B-grade horror flick, which is fine by me. It works well here. I have not played any other games in the series yet, but I think it’s safe to assume that the plot will only expand in later games. I’m interested to see what’s to come.

Originality: For many, Resident Evil is the original survival horror title. It may not technically be the first in the genre, but it certainly paved the way. A lot of the game design elements seen in Resident Evil come from other games, but it’s combined here in a way and in an atmosphere that makes it all unique and memorable.

Soundtrack: This game features a very minimalist soundtrack, which works very well. Music is used to queue up tension, or in some cases even relief. (Anyone exploring the mansion who opens an unknown door – only to hear the “Storage Room Music” knows exactly what I mean.) Sadly, the game suffers from some pretty terrible voice acting.

Fun: Resident Evil is the perfect game for late Autumn nights. This is one to play in a quiet house with the lights off. I had a blast with this game. Admittedly, more than I expected to.

Graphics: The pixelated graphics and the low resolution FMV movies are very dated by today’s standards. But at the time of the release, they were considered very well done. Despite the dated look, Resident Evil still manages to capture the spooky atmosphere it needs to succeed.

Playcontrol: This is one of the weaker points for the game. The character in the game is controlled using the old, clunky “compass rose tank” style of movement. Players used to modern 360 degree movement will need some time to get adjusted. Overall the controls feel stiff and antiquated. But in the long run, they are manageable.

Mature Content: Extreme violence and gore. Some language.

Value:  This game is available as a PS One Classic on the Playstation Network for $9.99. Even today, this price is well worth it.

Overall score (1-100): 90 – If you’re curious to see what the hype is all about, or if you’re interested in the seeing the origins of the survival horror genre, this is the game for you. In fact, as long as you’re not completely adverse to games that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up… I recommend Resident Evil to nearly anyone old enough to play it. It’s a real classic.

ASMR - Annual Physical Exam with Dr. Hastings

 

Remembering my favorite theater, Empire Granville 7 Cinemas

 

The now closed Empire Granville 7 Cinemas at 855 Granville Street in 2016

I acquired the Harry Potter audiobooks recently. I read the Harry Potter novels for the first time when I was in my early teens. I knew about these novels, and about how popular they are, long before I picked them up. But, since I'm not the kind of person that usually goes with the flow, I didn't read them. When I was 15 years old, however, I overheard some girls in school talking about the Harry Potter novels. Now I don't remember exactly what they said, but their talk made me interested in the novels. One of the girls said that the fourth novel in the series is the best one. So, out of curiosity, I then decided to read these novels. I picked them up at my local library, but I had to wait for days, and even weeks, to get hold of some of them because they were hugely popular at that time. The novels are meant for children, but even teenagers and adults can enjoy reading them because they're quite well-written and because the story is quite interesting. Well, I have to admit that I enjoyed reading them so much that I read them for hours at a time. The only other novels that I read with this much interest at that time were the Death Gate Cycle novels by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Therefore, I finished reading the Harry Potter novels quite quickly. The novels made the author, J. K. Rowling, a very wealthy woman. Some people don't like the novels because of their popularity and because they're fantasy novels. But, objectively, these novels aren't bad at all, and I'm not surprised that they became so popular. It's obvious, however, that these novels have been specially promoted by the publishing industry and by the media. In England and in the USA, books don't just become popular. If a book or a film becomes popular, this usually means that the establishment wants them to become popular. In the world of the novels, English society is divided into very distinct classes. Wizards are kind of like the nobles of this world. There aren't many of them, they have their own hidden world, and they have powers and privileges that ordinary, non-wizard people (muggles) don't have. There's even an insulting word in the world of the wizards for wizards that aren't of pure wizard blood. This word is "mudblood". Therefore, I guess that it's understandable why the Harry Potter novels are so popular in oligarchical, right-wing, and anti-democratic states like the USA, England, Poland, and the Russian Federation. Not surprisingly, the Harry Potter novels were soon adapted to film, with some of the most famous British actors playing the roles. The films are enjoyable as well, and it's clear that an effort was made from the beginning to make them entertaining and well-made. So, some weeks ago, after seeing the films again, I decided to read the novels again. Instead of getting the novels, I later decided to purchase the audiobooks because sometimes I prefer to listen to audiobooks. However, when I read some of the user reviews of the audiobooks that were narrated by Jim Dale, I decided to get the audiobooks that were narrated by Stephen Fry. It seems that many people didn't like listening to Jim Dale's narration. The only problem is that the audiobooks with Fry's narration aren't readily available for purchase, especially in North America. It's not even easy to obtain these audiobooks in used condition for a low price on eBay. Fortunately, I was able to find the audiobooks in MP3 format on some website after realizing that I may be able to find them for free on the internet. So far, I've finished listening to the first few chapters of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' (1997). I've got to agree with the user reviews on Audible. The versions with Stephen Fry's narration really are good.

I've already mentioned in an earlier post that Ready Player One is one of my favorite films of the 2010s. The race for the first key at the beginning of the film is a favorite of mine. It's a fast-paced race, but I specially cut out and saved this segment of the film on my computer. I've seen the race many times since then. Moreover, I watched the race in slow motion on a number of occasions, almost frame by frame. I think that just about everything in the race looks really good. Wade Watts's avatar, Parzival, drives the DeLorean car from the Back to the Future films. Samantha Cook's avatar, Art3mis, rides on the famous red motorcycle from the film Akira. Also worth noting is that Parzival's color in the film is blue and that Art3mis's color in the film is red. The DeLorean and Kaneda's bike are shot very well during the race, from various angles. In fact, every item of pop culture looks really good in Ready Player One. One example is Daito's Gundam, which looks phenomenal in the fight with Mechagodzilla. Many frames of the race, as I've noticed, look very good by themselves. If you take screenshots of the race, they wouldn't look bad as a poster or as wallpaper on your desktop. There are some beautiful views of New York City during the race, for example. So, the people that designed and created the race can be applauded, in my opinion. Nowadays, special effects in Hollywood films rarely impress me, but the CGI in Ready Player One looks fantastic. There are other standout sets in the film too, like the Overlook Hotel and James Halliday's childhood room. Another scene that I often watched is the talk between Parzival and Art3mis in Aech's garage. Parzival and Art3mis look good throughout most of the film, but, in Aech's garage, they look particularly good. And their conversation isn't dull either. In fact, I like the designs in the film so much that I bought the book 'The Art of Ready Player One' (2018) by Gina McIntyre. Anyway, since I enjoyed seeing the film, I got the novel by Ernest Cline some time later. I bought the audiobook on Audible first. When it comes to the novel, it seems that some people love it and that some people hate it. The people that hate it usually hate it because they think that it glorifies "nerd culture". The people that love it usually love it because it's rich with nerd culture. I don't consider myself to be a nerd, but I still like some aspects of the novel. I'm not going to lie. I like just about all of the pop culture from the 1980s. I think that, in the USA, the 1980s was the last decade that consistently delivered well-made and original cultural products. By the 1980s, the USA was already in a state of degeneration, but, when it comes to pop culture at least, the Americans could still make some good things. Anyway, there are many pop culture references in the novel. Soon after I finished listening to the audiobook, I bought a used copy of the novel as a reference of 1980s pop culture. The novel turned out to be a page-turner the first time I listened to it. But there are some aspects of the novel that can be criticized. For example, the novel isn't particularly well-written. The world-building can be criticized because it's often hollow and unimaginative. The author's humor is also not for my tastes. So, I think that I probably won't read or listen to the novel from beginning to end a second time, but I wouldn't call it awful, especially for a novel published in 2011. However, this is my review of the novel, and the film is somewhat different. As some people have already pointed out, the film is considerably better than the novel, partly because it excludes the cringy things from the novel. The characters are more appealing in the film than in the novel as well.

Originally posted on September 26, 2016:

I've got to say that I miss Granville 7 Cinemas. I remember the first time when I saw a film at this cinema. It was in 2004, when I attended high school. I found out that Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is being screened at this cinema. Granville 7 Cinemas was one of the few cinemas in the city that was screening this film from Japan. So, I made the decision to go and see the film there. Back then, I checked movie showtimes in newspapers. It may have been the first time that I saw a film at a cinema in the center of the city, and I had a good time because Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is visually a fantastic film. In my opinion, it's one of the last great anime films because already in the 2000s the anime industry in Japan began releasing dull and unoriginal films and series. The last anime film that I saw in a theater is Your Name (2016), by the director Makoto Shinkai, and I wish that I hadn't gone to see it in a theater. Not surprisingly, this dull and unoriginal film got praised by the bought and paid for film critics, and the gullible public actually turned this film into a hit by going to see it and by believing that this boring film is actually good. Well, if you compare it to the many other bland and unoriginal films that get made nowadays, perhaps it doesn't seem bad. For me, however, this film is just another example of the growing irrationality and anti-scientific thought in the West, in Japan, and in other states (like the Russian Federation) that can be called economic and cultural colonies of the West. The story in Your Name is a kaleidoscope of New Age nonsense. The animation is technically fine, but it's still bland. None of the scenes struck me as being memorable. The characters aren't interesting. There is no brilliance in the film. I think that the fact that some people are calling Shinkai the new Hayao Miyazaki is laughable. None of the new anime directors in Japan can be compared to Miyazaki. Even Miyazaki himself hasn't made a good and memorable film since Howl's Moving Castle (2004). By the way, Howl's Moving Castle is another anime film that I went to see in a theater. I saw it several times at Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas, in the center of the city, and I have good memories of seeing it as well because seeing it in a theater was actually an experience. Anyway, I enjoyed seeing Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence so much that I decided to see it a second time, and I brought a girlfriend of mine with me. I've got to admit that when I was attending high school, I rarely went to see films in theaters. I wasn't into doing this. Only when I reached my twenties did I begin going to theaters often. So, in 2012, when The Dark Knight Rises was being screened, I decided to see the film at Granville 7 Cinemas. Seeing the The Dark Knight Rises in a theater was a good experience for me. It's a flawed film, but, artistically, I think that it's better than The Dark Knight (2008), which is a ridiculously overrated film. It was summer and the weather was good. The showtime was in the evening. It was then that I found out that the cinema is going to be closed soon. This was a gloomy surprise for me. It definitely made me feel sad. Another memorable viewing at this cinema for me was of Thor (2011). Perhaps this is the reason why Thor is one of my favorite Marvel Studios films. If I had known that this cinema would close so soon, I would have gone there more often. Granville 7 Cinemas was one of those old style cinemas, with large, wide auditoriums and halls with fine decor. Sure, it wasn't that old, and it wasn't a movie palace, but it still had its charms. It opened in 1987. In the 1980s, well-built buildings were still being constructed. It was clear that some thought went into designing Granville 7 Cinemas and its interiors. It wasn't like the bland cinemas that began to be built in the 2000s. In the early-2010s, it remained as one of the three large cinemas in Downtown Vancouver, the others being Scotiabank Theatre and Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas. Some people claim that the closure of Granville 7 Cinemas was due to growing competition from home video and television. Others claim that attendance was affected by the fact that Granville Street became a place where homeless people began to hang out. These factors may have played a role in the poor attendance. But I think that the main factor was the economic depression that began in 2008. Since the media in Western countries is controlled by an oligarchy, it's rarely mentioned in the news that the depression that began in 2008 hasn't gone away. Economic growth in Western countries since 2008 has been almost nil. I think that the depression is the factor that caused the closure of cinemas. Almost no new cinemas have been built since 2008. There have only been closures of cinemas and of other businesses. People aren't spending their money like they did before the financial crisis of 2008. I think that another factor contributed to the closure of cinemas in Vancouver. If I'm not mistaken, almost all cinemas in Vancouver are now owned by Cineplex Entertainment. This means that Cineplex Entertainment now has a nearly complete monopoly in the city and in the rest of the province. Since Empire Theatres left the movie theater business in 2013, prices for tickets have gone up by several dollars at the cinemas owned by Cineplex Entertainment.

On Seabreeze Walk in Downtown Vancouver. Summer of 2019.

 

No, a Majority of Millennials Don't Support Socialism

 

The Harvard University survey, which polled young adults between ages 18 and 29, found that 51 percent of respondents do not support capitalism. Just 42 percent said they support it.

Polish prostitutes: Meet the forest whores outside of Warsaw

 

https://matadornetwork.com/abroad/polish-prostitutes-meet-the-forest-whores-outside-of-warsaw/

We were driving at about 100 clicks an hour. I’d seen some pretty forests in Poland, but this wasn’t one of them. Dark, craggy, and apart from the passing traffic it would be considered isolated. It wasn’t a freeway, it was more an interstate back-road. I saw a lady standing by the curbside in the sand by some trees. There was a large black plastic bag by her side.

Lots of makeup, attractive, and well dressed. Something seemed not-quite-normal. It was a strange place for such a lady to just be hanging out. Within a couple of minutes, I saw another. My mind subconsciously twigged. It was the third spotting, two ladies in matching mini-skirted uniforms, that erased any doubt in my mind. I had entered the lands – of the Polish forest whores.

Brothels, whorehouses, chicken houses, cat houses, dens of iniquity, knock shops, houses of ill repute, and bordellos are illegal in Poland. As the old adage goes, pimping may not be easy, and in Poland, pimping is also illegal. However, in Poland, consensual prostitution — selling sex — is perfectly legal. Motivated by these laws, industrious Polish prostitutes have taken their wares and prominently displayed them along roadsides that cut through the forests surrounding many cities in Poland.

Commonly, these ladies are referred to as tirówki. TIR is an abbreviation for Transports Internationaux Routiers — the moniker given to the many heavy-duty truck drivers that also travel these same wooded roads. I won’t profess to know who the main clientele of the forest prostitutes are. I will say that with drivers facing endless hours in the truck cabin away from home, well, combine that with the tirówki nickname and the conclusions are there to be drawn.

Despite the legality of prostitution, the forest prostitutes are members of the only profession that officially remains un-taxed in Poland. Unfortunately, this also means these citizens are not entitled to any social benefits, such as healthcare and other social welfare. In a country where all efforts to promote safe sex are hindered by the dominance of the Catholic Church, this is worrisome.

According to the daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, 10% of all Poles under investigation by the tax office have reported their occupation as “prostitute.” The Warsaw Business Journal wrote about Polish tax authorities having to instigate procedures and systems specifically to interview the vast numbers of people claiming to be prostitutes. Avoiding income tax may not be so easy. Self-proclaimed prostitutes are now being asked to provide evidence of their working life, such as photographs or client testimonials.

Driving from Warsaw to Augustow, I would estimate that I saw around 40 forest prostitutes. Certain Polish legislators are not happy with this level of street prostitution in Poland. So, in 2007 a proposed nationwide ban on miniskirts, heavy makeup, and see-through or low-cut blouses was proposed, considered an appropriate method to rob prostitutes of means of advertising. Fortunately, the ludicrous proposal was not acted upon.

Personally, I didn’t expect to see scores-of-whores adorning the forested back roads of the Polish countryside. That morning, I was researching one of the most ancient forests in Europe, located not far from where these photos were taken. By lunch, I was reminiscing with friends about the surreal and strange world of the forest-dwelling prostitutes of Poland.

The thing is, I have many female readers. Above all, I respect, protect, and admire women the world over, especially those nearest and dearest to my own heart. I make no personal judgments on these forest ladies. Sadly, I am sure many of them are working as prostitutes so that they may simply have a roof over their heads, and meals each day.

Even sadder is that many are probably seeing their dangerous jobs as a way to get that new BMW or big-screen TV.

Now listening to Looking Glass by Looking Glass and Sleeping With The Enemy by Jerry Goldsmith...

 

Pokémon Gold Silver and Crystal (Nintendo GameBoy Color) - Retro Game Review - Tamashii Hiroka

 

Today Tamashii reviews Pokémon Gold Silver and Crystal for the Nintendo GameBoy Color, games that recently the general public have turned on. Are these Pokemon games as good as we remember or are we blinded by nostalgia? How do they stack up when compared to modern games like Pokemon Sun and Moon?

The Vision of Escaflowne is from the Golden Age of Anime

 

A still from the Vision of Escaflowne (1996), directed by Kazuki Akane

I just realized that I haven't reviewed some of the books that I mentioned in my earlier posts. First of all, I finally finished reading two autobiographies, which I got hold of because of curiosity, though this happened months ago. Joan Fontaine's book, 'No Bed of Roses' (1978), does contain some interesting information, at least for me. This book is hard to obtain now, even on the internet. I was able to find it at a library, however. The most interesting part of the book for me was the beginning, in which Fontaine related her early life. This woman was born in Japan in 1917 to British parents, but she grew up in the United States. Her father was in his fourties when he met her mother in Japan. Interestingly, he died in North Vancouver, which is exactly where I reside. Fontaine had an older sister, Olivia de Havilland, who was a more famous actress than her. Fontaine died in 2013, and Olivia died in 2020, when she was 104 years old. Fontaine wrote that Olivia was intelligent and that she did very well in school. Olivia also began her Hollywood movie career earlier than Fontaine. I think that both of the sisters looked rather good. Well, both of them became actresses, after all. And in the movie business you usually have to have good looks in order to make it. I even bought a poster of Olivia. This poster is a black & white photograph of Olivia that was taken when she was in her twenties. This poster is the only black & white poster that I have, and it's also the only poster of an actress that I have. All my other posters are 1980s movie posters, paintings, or landscapes. Now, some people think that Olivia is the most beautiful actress from Classical Hollywood cinema and even the most beautiful actress ever. Well, she certainly looked good enough for me to buy a poster with her face, but people should remember that even during the Golden Age of Hollywood actors wore makeup. And this is one of the reasons why they looked attractive. The right cinematography also helped them to look good. This doesn't mean that they looked bad without makeup. This simply means that makeup made them look more appealing in films and on photographs. But I think that I have to agree with the people who think that Olivia was a beautiful actress, at least with makeup on her face. When it comes to Hollywood actresses, she was definitely one of the most attractive. If Olivia had written an autobiography, I would have read her autobiography before I read Joan's autobiography. As to be expected, most of Joan's book is about her movie career, which is considerably less interesting than I would have liked. The films that she starred in are almost all worth seeing, but reading about them, and about what happened to her, wasn't very interesting for me. When it comes to Joan's political views, it appears that she wasn't particularly political, but she still came off as a kind of liberal, I suppose. Since she was an actress, it's clear that she had to support the American establishment because Hollywood is a very politicized industry. The USA is obviously a right-wing state. Nowadays, I think that it can even be called a semi-fascist state. Real leftists, and especially communists, weren't tolerated in Hollywood, especially after World War II. Charlie Chaplin, for example, was a known supporter of the Soviet Union during World War II, and he got driven out of Hollywood because of his politics. There's information that George Orwell, Mr. 1984 himself, secretly accused Chaplin of being a secret communist and a friend of the Soviet Union. Contrary to what some right-wingers say, Hollywood was not some haven for communists, even before the Cold War began. I've seen many Hollywood films that were made before and after World War II. I can say that not one of them featured pro-Soviet or pro-communist comments or propaganda. On the contrary, some of the Hollywood films that I've seen featured only anti-Soviet and anti-leftist comments or propaganda. It's unthinkable that a pro-Soviet or pro-communist film or book can be released in the USA. This has never happened. It's possible to get neutral books or pro-Soviet books from minor publishers, but these are rare. For example, you won't find a book by Grover Furr at a book store or even at a library. None of the major publishers have ever published a pro-Soviet or pro-communist book. Perhaps there were exceptions during World War II, when the USA was an ally of the Soviet Union, but this lasted only for a few years. Since just about everything is controlled by an oligarchy in the USA, a person can't obtain truthful books or information about the Soviet Union, about Mao Zedong, about the Soviet economy and society, about Joseph Stalin, about the collapse of the Soviet Union, and about many other topics. Anyway, since Joan Fontaine wasn't one of the actors or filmmakers that got expelled from Hollywood, it's clear what her political views were like. In fact, at the end of her book, she clearly made a few anti-Soviet, anti-South African, and pro-American remarks. But is her book worth reading? I'd say that it is worth reading, especially for those people who are interested in Classical Hollywood cinema.

Eileen Rockefeller's book, 'Being a Rockefeller, Becoming Myself: A Memoir' (2014), was a somewhat less interesting read for me than Joan's book. And, again, the beginning of the book, in which Eileen related her early life was the most interesting part for me. I got the impression that she didn't have a happy childhood. But there's also the possibility that she didn't want the reader to think that she had a happy childhood. I've read articles about her, and it's clear that she's very much aware of what many people think about her famous family. She doesn't want people to think that she had it good simply because she's a Rockefeller and because she had a privileged upbringing. It seems that she wasn't as close to her parents as her other siblings, and she wasn't particularly close to her siblings either. She has five older siblings (three sisters and two brothers). I think this means that her mother, Margaret McGrath, was popping out babies for about a decade or more. Well, Eileen was born in 1952, and she can be called a baby boomer. The two or three decades after World War II were a pretty good time for the USA. The economy was booming at that time, and it's not surprising that white American women were giving birth to many children. As to be expected, because of her family's status and wealth, Eileen attended all-girls schools and private schools. If I remember correctly, she even had a mentor, Norman Cousins, who probably taught her something about international relations and world affairs. In the book, Eileen revealed some of the ways in which her parents raised her. I definitely learned a few things from these accounts. One example is that her mother wanted her and her siblings to spend some time with farm animals in order to gain empathy. Overall, the book is not a bad read, I suppose. Eileen very much reminds me of one of my grandmothers, my father's mother. Her personality and the way she writes are very similar to my grandmother's. Eileen's book is easily available. I bought the audiobook on Audible. If you're looking for more juicy information about the Rockefeller family, I think that this book isn't for you. In the book, Eileen didn't even reveal what her political views are like, though she did mention some things about her siblings. Since Eileen had an upper class upbringing, the book is very much a work by an upper class, well-behaved woman. It's by an American woman, but still by an upper class woman. Therefore, you won't come across any words about female anatomy, like in Joan Fontaine's book. But I guess that Eileen still couldn't help herself from time to time because there are some jokes in the book. And she also included one rather memorable episode in which she had a fight with her husband. The difference between upper class people and lower class people is actually quite staggering in Western countries. I've had to deal with lower class people my whole life, but only as an adult, after seeing some films and reading some books, have I done some thinking about this issue. I can say that lower class people don't get a good education. Therefore, they don't know much and they can be easily manipulated by the authorities. Many of them are not well-behaved. They can easily be rude, cruel, vile, or bigoted. They obviously don't have much money, and, therefore, they don't dress well or have good taste. If they eat out, they almost always go to fast food restaraunts. In fact, I once heard Andrei Fursov mention in one of his interviews that people from the upper class in England like to make fun of the way people from the working class and the middle class dress and behave. And the activities of lower class people rarely go beyond watching television, watching sports games, or talking about their monotonous lives and lower class issues with their lower class friends.

One of the television series that I finished watching a few months ago is Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. It's another memorable show from the talented director Hideaki Anno. Two of his other shows, Gunbuster and Neon Genesis Evangelion, are some of my all-time favorite shows. Nadia could have been another all-time favorite of mine had it not been for its length. The series contains 39 episodes, and about a third of them can be called filler episodes. Several of them are simply terrible. The series shares some similarities with the works of Jules Verne. It starts out quite well. As is the case with some of Anno's other series, some of the early episodes of Nadia aren't particularly good. Some are good. Some are passable. It's in the second half of the series where the truly fantastic episodes are to be found. The problem with Nadia is that these must-see episodes are the four very last episodes. They are as good as, or even betten than, the best episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. But, in order to fully enjoy watching them, the viewer has to sit through the preceding episodes, which range from good to bad. Still, in my opinion, Nadia is another must-see show from the golden age of anime. Another series that I finished watching some months ago is the Vision of Escaflowne. This was my third time watching this series. The Vision of Escaflowne is an even better show than Nadia because it's consistent and well-made from beginning to end. There are almost no filler episodes. The story of the show shares some similarities with the story of Nadia. Both stories feature Atlanteans, for example. And, like in Nadia, there are some Masonic influences and symbolism in the Vision of Escaflowne. The main villain in the show is Isaac Newton. I watched the Vision of Escaflowne for the first time when I was a child. I watched reruns of the show on television. The dub that was created for the show is quite good, but, for my latest viewing, I switched the track to Japanese (with English subtitles).

Just finished watching They Live (1988) and Krull (1983)...

 

Just finished watching The Thing (1982) and Licence To Kill (1989)...

 

Retro Review: Resident Evil 2 (1998) - BagoGames

 

https://bagogames.com/retro-review-resident-evil-2-1998/

It is no secret that I’ve played the Resident Evil games multiple times; all the ports, the remasters, and so on. I just can’t get enough of these games, I started off with Resident Evil 0 in November, beat the REMake and Resident Evil 2 1998 very recently.

I plan to continue my adventure with Claire, then hopping into Jill’s shoes to fend off Nemesis. It has been a least a decade since I plodded through Capcom’s seminal 1998 adventure, and I dusted off my PlayStation Vita so that I could play it more at ease and with less uglification on a big screen. I probably will still play it on the GameCube, and PS1 when I have the time, but the Vita was the most viable option for my schedule at the present time.

For the late comers to the series who only have played the remakes, coming back to the original tank controlled goodness might pose an issue. The Resident Evil 2 Remake was perfection, the controls, the atmosphere, the tweaked story; I loved ever minute with that game. After beating it several times I knew I had to go back, I wanted to see if my memory of the game, the game itself and skills held up against a decade of absence. Well, one of the three held up and it was the game itself.

The core story from the Remake is still there, obviously it isn’t as fleshed out seeing the technical difficulties back then, but it’s still enjoyable. Just a note, on the Vita version you start off with Leon’s A scenario, you can’t pick Claire’s for some reason. After beating Leon’s first scenario I discovered how to “switch” discs on the Vita, so you actually can start as Claire as you like. Hold the blue PS Vita button until settings comes up, then chose “reset game.” This will allow you to chose between disc 1 and disc 2. Disc 1 is Leon and Disc 2 is Claire, so you can start as Claire if you like from the get go.

You meet Claire at a gas station and attempt to get into Raccoon City; a flaming truck separates you both and you run to the safety of the police station. Leon has his challenges and Claire has hers, the stories differ much more in the 1998 version. Leon never meets Mr. X, he’s Claire’s problem the whole time. I think that’s neat, it saddens me a bit that Capcom made both campaigns in the remake so very similar.

Controls for the original Resident Evil games are ROUGH! Not going to lie, I died a few times just trying to get into Kendo’s gun shop because I didn’t want to waste my ammo on zombies I would never encounter again. I had to teach myself to use the D-pad on the Vita because using the control stick was certain death. If you’ve never played a tank controlled game let me try to explain it to you as simply as possible.

The direction you’re going on the D-pad doesn’t change even if the fixed camera angle changes so you’ll find yourself turning around on instinct. I hope that makes sense, that is the biggest challenge in the game if you want to dodge the zombies to save precious ammo. The rest of the controls are pretty standard, Right Trigger and X is fire, X alone is interact and Circle is menu where you can use herbs, reload you weapon and check out the map.

For the time the graphics were amazing, I would play in my room on my inflatable chair and my Dad would walk in and watch me play for hours at a time. He would say that these are better than movies nowadays, something that he would continue to say up until his death.

Had I not played on my Vita I would probably have been a bit more disappointed in them because they would have been stretched onto a 42 inch screen. The Vita’s screen is about as big as the new iPhone’s which makes it perfect for playing older 3D games. The cut-scenes are still a sight to behold though, and I can’t wait to see them playing on the GameCube on 480i.

When I first started my trek back into Raccoon City I was generally concerned that my love for this game came from all the nostalgia that my life connected to it. I can happily say that I was not blinded by nostalgia. This game is genuinely great, and even though it is a tad ugly from what we are use to today it still shines. The controls, once mastered, are easy to use. The story is just as epic as it was when I was nineteen, and even though the scenarios are short, you can play them over and over again to unlock cool treats. I was not mislead by nostalgia like some, including myself, have been recently.

If you’ve played the Remake of this title and not the original you owe it to yourself to track down a copy and enjoy it. Yes, you may think it is ugly and that the controls are a bit tough at the beginning, but seeing the police station in all it’s pre-HD glory is something to behold. I can’t impress upon you enough that you NEED to play this piece of history. It’s so wonderful and amazing to go back, and as you play to get excited for the next remake, Nemesis.

Bill Kaysing on the American propaganda machine

 

In Opinion: Ukraine's shame—an epidemic of human trafficking

 

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-human-traffciking-416319

Ukraine remains one of Europe's most notorious sources of human trafficking.

Since 1991, more than 160,000 men, women and children have been exploited for labor, sex, forced begging and organ removal, according to a mid-2015 report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Ukraine's Ministry of Social Policy, with recommendations from domestic and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), is currently in the final stages of updating the country's five-year action plan on combating human trafficking.

However, recent challenges—like Russia's continued aggression in eastern Ukraine and the country's 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs)—have diverted the government's attention and resources from meaningful anti-trafficking collaboration.

The result has been an extreme overreliance on NGOs to raise awareness, assist victims of trafficking and promote legislative reform to comply with international standards.

"Since the security situation started in the east of Ukraine, other things were blocked. All money went to subsidies, to the military, to IDPs," says Olga Streltsova, the IOM's adviser to the Ministry of Social Policy, the main body in charge of Ukraine's anti-trafficking program.

The predicted budget for this next action plan has been slashed by 30 percent relative to the previous plan, which covered 2013–15. Outside contributors, such as human rights organizations and foreign governments, will continue to supply the vast majority of funds to the program.

These donors will contribute the equivalent of $1.47 million through 2020, or more than 92 percent of the entire bill. The other 8 percent will be divided almost equally between local governments and the central government. Funding from the latter will not kick in until 2017.

The money issue "is a big problem for our government," says Tetyana Taturevych, social programs manager for the NGO La Strada–Ukraine. "When we start talking about trafficking, they start to think, 'Oh, that's not a big problem for our society. We don't have money, we have a war.'"

While the government of Ukraine has consistently pledged reform to meet international obligations—for example, as a signatory of the United Nations's Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children—it has failed to adequately support anti-trafficking organizations that do the bulk of the work.

"Our government so far has not given civil society a defined role in the national referral mechanism," says Hanna Antonova, a counter-trafficking coordinator at the IOM. The referral mechanism is the process by which law enforcement refers alleged victims of trafficking to anti-trafficking organizations to receive psychological, legal and social support.

For the past four years, the number of trafficking victims referred to the IOM for assistance by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies has decreased by roughly half annually.

In 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, there were 232, 105, 52 and 27 victims referred, respectively. These numbers are dramatically different from those of the IOM; the average number of victims identified annually by the IOM has remained close to 1,000.

Moreover, President Petro Poroshenko's effort to push through legislation that would decentralize authority and empower Ukraine's regions threatens to reverse progress in efforts to combat trafficking.

If passed, NGOs may have to collaborate with officials from more than 20 different oblasts. Each regional administration would decide how to prioritize anti-trafficking prevention efforts and assistance to victims, if at all, throwing nationwide coordination efforts into disarray.

"We don't know what decentralization will look like," says Antonova. "If the local administration does not believe that trafficking is a problem for this specific region, then they are not going to allocate any funding, or they will allocate so little funding that it is not going to make any difference."

International bodies such as the U.S. Department of State and the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) have also criticized Ukraine's government for not devoting enough attention to the issue.

For instance, for the third straight year, Ukraine has been placed on the State Department's Tier 2 Watch List, avoiding an otherwise mandatory downgrade to Tier 3 (the worst ranking) simply because it has a written anti-trafficking action plan.

The State Department notes with concern the decreasing number of prosecutions of traffickers, as well as "poor coordination at the national level" between the 15 ministries responsible for anti-trafficking work.

GRETA's first-ever report on Ukraine's anti-trafficking program, published in September 2014, also acknowledged poor coordination among government ministries. The executive interdepartmental council on human trafficking—headed by ministers, deputy ministers and representatives from civil society—has not convened for five years.

Despite the government's shortcomings, some positive steps have been taken. The Ministry of Social Policy plans to re-adjourn the interdepartmental council in early 2016, and has sent letters to NGOs in the anti-trafficking coalition requesting that they nominate representatives to the council. And throughout the past few years, the ministry has implemented campaigns to raise awareness about human trafficking through television and radio broadcasting, and the publishing and distribution of books and pamphlets.

Yet more needs to be done, especially since the war in the east has created a large population of individuals prone to exploitation.

"We have a proverb," warns La Strada–Ukraine's Taturevych. Translated from Russian, it states: "Sink or swim; if you are drowning, you are on your own." Currently, only NGOs—and not the Ukrainian government—are struggling to keep those vulnerable to trafficking afloat.

Officials from Ukraine's Ministry of Social Policy did not respond to interview requests.

The Arab World, Heritage and Civilization

 

'The Arab World, Heritage and Civilization' is a documentary produced in the framework of UNESCO's Arabia Plan, that provides an overview of the history of the rich Arab civilization.

Now reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest...

JAWS THE REVENGE - Composed and Conducted by MICHAEL SMALL

 http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.9502/.f

In 1987, Universal Pictures presented the fourth and final installment in the Jaws series -- Jaws the Revenge -- this time with Michael Small along to provide the musical thrills. MCA Records announced a soundtrack LP at the time of the film’s opening, but after the box office proved disappointing the LP was canceled. Now Intrada has rectified the score's absence on CD with this premiere release of the complete score. Small blended the original shark theme by John Williams with a considerable amount of newly composed music. Small begins his Jaws The Revenge score with his own adaptation of Williams’ classic Jaws theme, a particularly fierce rendition adding a musical sound effect like a monstrous roar. Ellen Brody is the principal character now, and Small gives her a strong, emotional main theme, played in more delicate versions early in the score but heard in a forceful rendition at the story’s turning point, when she heads out to take on the shark by herself. Small also supplies a taunting, repetitive motif to suggest Ellen’s growing obsession with the shark, suggesting an unseen, menacing force just out of view. He closes the score on an end title featuring a vigorous version of the Williams theme, which brings the Jaws scores full circle.

Much of the new music by Small ended up on the cutting room floor and several cues were dialed out before completion. Still others were simply re-tracked into scenes for which they weren’t originally intended. Intrada was given access to the complete ¼″ 15 ips two-track stereo session mixes vaulted by Universal Pictures in pristine condition. These master elements not only allowed Intrada to present every cue in the manner recorded by Small but also to include alternate print takes of several cues.

Jaws the Revenge begins with Ellen Brody still living on Amity Island following the death of her husband. She blames his fatal heart attack on the stress from his battles with the sharks that plagued their island a decade earlier. Her youngest son, Sean, has followed his father into Amity’s police department, but after he is brutally killed by another shark, Ellen flies to the Bahamas to recover from the trauma and visit her other son, Michael. Ellen begins to believe that the shark that killed her son has followed the family to the Bahamas and Ellen soon sets off to go mano a mano with the predator.

Michael Small's oft-requested musical support for fourth Jaws installment finally makes premiere release! Entire score appears in dynamic stereo from original session mixes, courtesy Universal. Small makes use of famous John Williams shark motif but surrounds with considerable original material of his own. As Ellen Brody becomes convinced shark is on vendetta to wipe out her remaining family members, she fights back with vengeance of her own. Composer Small fights for survival right alongside her. Action abounds! Another asset: Bahamas setting provides rich new environment for composer - and shark - to play in. Significant post-production editing of film relegated sections of score to cutting room floor. Intrada now presents every sequence as Small intended, including the segments edited out of finished production. Alternates also appear as "extras". When composer has his say, he wraps final credits with superb rendition of Williams complete "Jaws" theme then offers brief final coda of his own. Exciting music! Michael Small conducts. Intrada Special Collection CD available while quantities and interest remain!