Independent Progressive Thought

Since we have elections coming up ... Yes dear Americans, Canada has elections too and contrary to popular belief we are not a bunch of commies. Not that there is anything wrong with being a commie. In fact, some of my best friends are commies. An interesting article for those who might think that Stephen Harper might be worth voting for just to give the Liberals a wakeup call.

I think it is a good idea to stay on good terms with the US, both economically and militarily. But that certainly does not include participating in their misadventures across the globe. The article cites a poll and a surprisingly large number of Canadians want to keep a comfortable distance from American foreign and social policy. Given the fundamentally different natures of the culture, it should not be all that surprising that Canadians see things differently. If you are interested in opposing missile defence go to NOWAR-PAIX and download the PDF of the post-card and send it in. There is more information about upcoming actions on their website as well.

P.S. Come to think of it a party in the US with Liberal in its name would only have slightly better chance of getting elected than one that had Communist in its name.

posted by Nashib @ 8:24 PM

So I watched Kill Bill Vol. 2 last night. The first thirty minutes was really dumb and slow. For a supposedly polished assassin, The Bride makes a really dumb move. Before she made that move, I said to myself that if she made that particular move, I would kick Quentin Tarantino's ass for being a fool. Now believing any movie involves a wilful suspension of disbelief to enjoy. I was doing my part in believing that she is a polished assassin. Then she does this really dumb move which irritated me and everyone else I went with because now you can't suspend your disbelief any more (for a while). Enough about the silliness. The story is developed well albeit a little slowly during these first thirty minutes as well which sort of feels like a prologue to Vol. 2.

Then the real movie starts. There is some interesting symbolism in the way she escapes her grave (you have to watch the movie to know what I mean) and more about her relationship with Bill and more about Bill is revealed. At this point the avenging is in full swing and quite grotesquely enjoyable. Her training in the martial arts is entertaining due to a heavily stereotyped kung-fu teacher, who is stern and yet caring in a stern way. The martial arts sequences were well choreographed and the fighting was quite intelligent. The end was well done for many reasons. For one, Tarantino decided to forego the epic fight and take a much more interesting strategic approach to the duel. It also reveals the nature of the bride's relationship to Bill and Bill's human side as well as the Bride's human side. I enjoyed it more than Vol. 1.

Overall though, the movie felt a big egotistical because some of the movie was done just because Tarantino could get away with it. There was a lot of cinematic panache to some of the shots but in the end the point is that the movie should be entertaining without dragging unnecessarily. It does the former but fails a little on the latter. Definitely worth a watch given all the utter garbage that passes for movies.

posted by Nashib @ 9:59 PM