There is a fascinating online movie called Isfahan, inspired by Persian architecture and created by Cristobal Vila.
Category Archives: Film and Video
Little Mosque on the Prairie
It started with Little Joe on Bonanza; you’ve seen the reruns and you’ve hummed the theme song. Then Little Joe went family fare and moved into a Little House on the Prairie. This is the television icon of conservative, what-a-wonderful-life-we-all-had-in-the-good-old-days Americana, if ever there was. I have watched a seemingly infinite number of reruns of both programs, but to my knowledge the only Orientals in sight were Chinese; no Muslims crossed the prairie.
So it is certainly time for a Little Mosque on the Prairie, even if it debuts in Canada rather than Kansas. Yes, fellow Americans, Muslims can be funny and not just the butt of Islamophobic jokes. It may not be surprising that nearly 2 million viewers tuned into the premier of the new television series on CBC. Continue reading Little Mosque on the Prairie
Famous General Supports Iraq War
America has a number of famous generals who now serve as icons of our legendary military prowess. General Washington beat the red pants off of Lord Cornwallis. General William Tecumseh Sherman put the heat on those good old southern white boys down in Georgia. General Custer died with his boots on, as did all the men he led into battle. Then there were the heroes of World War II, the most cinematic being General George C. Scott, I mean General George S. Patton. It turns out that General Patton, like all superheroes, has risen from the grave and returned to tell it like it should be (since “like it is” is not going so well) in the War on Terror and Iraq. If you would like his revamped take, then all you need to do is go to YouTube and see him read the Patriot Riot Act, courtesy of a 21st century impersonator and vintage 20th Century Fox (no relation to Fox News this time) footage.
If you are disappointed that the footage here is from the movie, then rest assured that General Patton has indeed been seen, though not as many times as Elvis. Just ask Don Imus.
Luke R. Publican
Delta Farce: Jihad in Somalia?
[Illustration: Delta Force video game; insert, Somali soldier killed in heavy fighting in Mogadishu is dragged through the city’s streets in late March. Photograph: Mustafa Abdi/AFP/Getty]
The impoverished East African country of Somalia is continually in the news. Minority Rights Group (MRG) International announced a month ago that Somalia is now the least safe country in the world for minorities, edging out Iraq and Sudan for this dubious distinction. Nor can it be said that Somalia is safe for majorities, given its recent, bloody history. In the past month more than 1,000 people have died, rivaling the surging toll in Iraq.
In 1993, a decade before Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was shocked and awed into anarchic free fall, a team of U.S. commandos parachuted into Mogadishu, the capital of this strife-torn East African country. Two Blackhawk helicopters were downed and the warlord escaped. Hollywood’s cinematic version hit the screen eight years later with the same bad ending. Then came the video game, Delta Force Black Hawk Down. Now a savvy teenager, armed with cheats, could rewrite history and let the good guys win. But in Somalia today it is hard to figure out just who the good guys are. Continue reading Delta Farce: Jihad in Somalia?
The Last Halloween Remake in Amman
In 1978 Hollywood released Halloween. It was destined to become a cult classic with more cinematic lives than Star Wars. This was a ghoulish film about imaginable terror in an unimaginable way. A psychotic murderer named Michael Myers gets loose and reaks mindless havoc. Later he stalks the character of Jamie Lee Curtis in a hospital. In yet another sequel it takes back-to-back films to be thwarted in a plot to kill his seven year old niece. Next, the niece is kidnapped and raped by evil druids, then the shape of Michael returns again to stalk his favorite victim’s son. The finale, ominously subtitled Resurrection, has a group of college kids streamed into cyberspace as they try to escape the killer’s haunted house.
What does all this have to do with the current spate of suicide bombings in Jordan and Iraq? Continue reading The Last Halloween Remake in Amman