Right now they’re playing a game over at the Center for a New American Security in Washington D.C. It’s called the Climate Change Wargame. Attendees include the Director of McKinsey’s Global Institute, the President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy magazine, the Leader of Germany’s Green Party, a former majority leader [...]
Archive for July, 2008
A new kind of war game
Posted in Thinking, tagged al gore, center for a new american security, climate change wargame, the we campaign on July 30, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Trailer of the Week: You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
Posted in Watching, tagged adam sandler, you don't mess with the zohan on July 27, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Hairdressing; a traditional source of comedy. Israel-Palestine; less so. Owing a seemingly not insignificant debt to Borat, Adam Sandler’s Zohan promises to unite the two in a blissfully politically incorrect union. The New Yorker said it’s “occasionally very funny”, A.O.Scott in the NY Times named it “the finest post-Zionist action-hairdressing sex comedy I’ve ever seen.” [...]
“The Blair Years”: of underpants, cabinets and spin
Posted in Reading, tagged alastair campbell, the blair years, tony blair on July 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve been away in Italy for a fortnight and thus missed some slightly disconcerting comments on an old post I wrote round the time Blair was leaving office (thanks Matt for bringing things down to earth). I’m still fairly bemused as to how anyone might have come across a post I wrote in March 2007, [...]
Obama in Berlin, breaking down walls
Posted in Listening, tagged obama in berlin, obama speech, tiergarten on July 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Almost 100,000 people turned up today to see Barack Obama in Berlin. He spoke well, though not exceptionally, perhaps staying too close to a somewhat overwrought script. His previous speeches have ironically set an exceptionally high standard that’s hard to meet, let alone exceed. Still, there was lots to be encouraged by, not least his [...]
Burning Up, BBC2
Posted in Watching, tagged Burn Up, Marc Warren, Neve Campbell, Rupert Penry Jones on July 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Last night I found myself crying whilst ironing shirts. This was not because I live a life of tragic domestic drudgery (I rarely iron) but because I was watching an unexpectedly emotive BBC2 drama called Burn Up, starring my second-favourite Spooks-heartthrob Rupert Penry Jones (Matthew McFadyen remains no.1) and my third favourite Party of Five [...]
Does more money make for lesser music videos?
Posted in Listening, tagged Johnny Flynn, music videos, noah and the whale, viva la vida on July 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
So, much as I like the Coldplay album, especially played loud when driving long stretches of empty roads in the west of Scotland, I pretty much HATE the video for their single, Violet Hill. If you must, you can watch it here. How much money would they have got to spend on that? Loads. And [...]
Trailer of the Week: The Day The Earth Stood Still
Posted in Watching, tagged keanu reeves, the day the earth stood still, trailer of the week on July 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Today’s Trailer of the Week shows I’m not the only one to think climate change is the biggest threat to humanity since the atomic bomb. The Day The Earth Stood Still suggests that even if we’re bound for catastrophe, at least doom gives filmmakers a new reason to bring out the aliens again. Starring Keanu [...]
Climate change: apocalypse now?
Posted in Thinking, tagged apocalypse, climate change, the stern report on July 9, 2008 | 4 Comments »
So I went through a phase of existential terror when I was about 12 years old, as I became temporarily convinced we were doomed to die in a nuclear holocaust. All due to an alarming novel called Children of the Dust which I borrowed one day from the school library. Don’t ever let your children [...]
Rufus Wainwright at Kenwood
Posted in Going Out, Listening, tagged kenwood house, rufus wainwright on July 6, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I’ve just seen the delectable Rufus playing at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath and it was a dream. Although the skies had glowered on-and-off all day, there was, miraculously, no rain, and we sat in our striped deckchairs and drank in his luscious voice along with free fruit cider and a gradual music-drawn moonlight. I’d [...]
Trailer of the Week: Man on Wire
Posted in Watching, tagged james marsh, man on wire, philippe petit, trailer of the week on July 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Some three decades before 9/11, crowds stopped and stared at the Twin Towers in New York one day, transfixed by a sight wholly unexpected and logic-defying. A 24-year-old French man was walking on a steel rope, 410 metres above the ground. It was an extraordinarily bold stunt, not least because the young performance artist in [...]
