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NASA
Love Begins
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dirt enthusiast
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Cosmic Funnies
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
we're not kids anymore.
⁂
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Origami Around
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@rpedi
“If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve. Do what you love, and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities, don’t compromise, and don’t waste time. Start now. Not 20 years from now, not two weeks from now. Now.”
La vita est bella
Μ᾽ αρέσουν τα ζευγάρια που γερνάνε μαζί. Λατρεύω τον έρωτα που γίνεται αγάπη, και μετά ξανά έρωτας και μετά αγάπη ξανά μέχρι που τα δύο δεν ξεχωρίζουν. Φοβάμαι τα γηρατειά, την αρρώστια που αλλοιώνει την όψη, σκοτώνει την αξιοπρέπεια, την αδυναμία, την απώλεια που κάνει την αγάπη αβάσταχτη. Αυτό σου φωνάζει ο Χάνεκε στην Αγάπη. Ένα ανάποδο love story. Ξεκινάει με ένα σχεδόν happy end. Ένα ζευγάρι στα βαθιά γεράματα που ακόμα αγαπιέται, ακόμα μαθαίνει, ακόμα ανακαλύπτει λόγους για να είναι μαζί: “καμιά φορά είσαι ένα τέρας, καμιά φορά είσαι ένα παιδί” λέει η Αν στον Ζωρζ, όταν μετά από μια ολόκληρη ζωή μαζί τη ρωτάει πώς τον βρίσκει. Ίσως αυτό να είναι το μυστικό των όμορφων σχέσεων. Μόνο που αυτό δεν είναι το τέλος. Ο Χάνεκε αναποδογυρίζει την ιστορία για να σου δείξει τι γίνεται όταν η αγάπη μεγαλώνει, όταν γερνάει, γίνεται πιο βαθιά, για να χωράει τα πάντα, αλλά όχι και την αδυναμία, όταν δοκιμάζεται. Είναι μια ταινία που δεν είναι ροζ, αλλά δεν είναι και μαύρη. Ο Αυστριακός σκηνοθέτης ασχολείται με την αγάπη που κρατάει μια ζωή. Η αιώνια αγάπη εκείνων που δεν θέλουν να γίνονται βάρος ο ένας στον άλλο. Στέκονται μαζί. Προχωρούν δίπλα, δίπλα. Αφήνονται. Κρατιούνται. Δεν κρεμιούνται, γιατί αν κρεμαστούν νιώθουν ότι πνίγονται, πνίγοντας. Η Αν δεν θέλει να ταλαιπωρεί τον Ζωρζ και ο Ζωρζ δεν αντέχει να βλέπει την Αν να ταλαιπωρείται. Της έχει υποσχεθεί, όμως, ότι δεν θα την ξαναπάει στο νοσοκομείο και οι υποσχέσεις είναι για να κρατιούνται. Η αξιοπρέπεια φαίνεται να απασχολεί τον Χάνεκε πιο πολύ και από την αγάπη. Η Αν δεν αντέχει τον οίκτο του μαθητή της. Μετά το νοσοκομείο δεν τη βλέπει σχεδόν κανείς. Μια λέξη αρκεί για να τα χαλάσει όλα. Ο Ζωρζ δεν διανοείται να τα παρατήσει. Τα βράδυα προσπαθεί να της μάθει ξανά να τραγουδάει. Στο τέλος έρχεται, η λύτρωση, από αγάπη. Η ταινία ξεκινά με την Αν πεθαμένη και καταλήγει με τον Ζωρζ ζωντανό νεκρό. Οι απότομες σκηνές ξυπνούν τον θεατή. Οι απλές χειρονομίες, ένα απάνθρωπο χτένισμα, ένα τρυφερό άγγιγμα, το δέσιμο των χεριών, το κυνήγι του περιστεριού λένε περισσότερα από αυτό που δείχνουν. Σε διάφορα σημεία της ταινίας και στο αποστειρωμένο, αλλά άδειο σπίτι στο τέλος, τα περάσματα της κόρης εντείνουν την αντίθεση ανάμεσα στην επιφάνεια της ζωής και την ουσία των σχέσεων και μας θυμίζουν ότι η αγάπη αφορά δύο, αυτούς που αγαπιούνται. Η Αγάπη δεν είναι απλώς μια συγκλονιστική ταινία με εξαιρετικές ερμηνείες, που κέρδισε στις Κάννες και είναι υποψήφια για καλύτερη ξένη ταινία στα Όσκαρ. Δεν μοιάζει με καμιά άλλη ταινία και είναι σίγουρα σημαντική. Σε μια αντίστροφη από τη συνηθισμένη πορεία η χαρά γίνεται λύπη και η λύπη κενό. Ο Χάνεκε ήθελε να σου δείξει και την άλλη πλευρά. Σημασία έχει που αισθάνθηκες. Όπως και το Cafe de Flore, η ταινία θα μπορούσε να είναι μόνο στα γαλλικά.
Email and social media and games are obvious distractions. In my experience, the more subtle threat — particularly for non-fiction writers — comes via the eminently reasonable belief that you’re not ready to start writing, because you haven’t finished your research yet.
Steven Johnson, “Research As You Go” (cf. David McCullough)
This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism. Subscribe here to receive this round-up by email.
The Turkish PM is accusing Russia of directly supplying Assad’s forces with munitions after Turkish jets intercepted a plane flying from Moscow to Damascus, which Turkey says was carrying military equipment despite Russia’s denials.
In the battle for northern Syria, Syrian rebels in Aleppo have pleaded for heavy weapons, but still have none, and are running out of ammunition.
Rania Abouzeid in Foreign Affairs on how the “weapons trade is fracturing the opposition” in Syria.
A look at Saudi Arabia’s hand in assisting Syria’s rebels.
NPR looks at the conflict photojournalism of James Lawler Duggan, who, on leave from art school, has photographed Bahrain, Libya, Egypt and now Syria.
The US military secretly sent a military task force of more than 150 to Jordan to assist with the ripple effects of the war in Syria.
Thousands of Jordanians marched for reform.
Two Lebanese journalists with NOW were detained for an hour or so by Hezbollah for covering the funeral of Hezbollah commander Ali Nassif.
Gunmen in Sana’a killed a Yemeni man working in the security office of the US Embassy.
Here is the video of the House committee’s hearing on the Sept. 11 attack on the Benghazi embassy that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Unfortunately, House Republicans accidentally let slip the whereabouts of a CIA base during the hearing.
President Mursi has pardoned revolutionaries, announcing amnesty for those convicted of crimes and misdemeanors “in support of the revolution.” This could mean the release of several thousand prisoners.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reviews Chinua Achebe’s There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra.
Russia has become Iraq’s biggest arms supplier.
Dina Esfandiary argues that sanctions against Iran aren’t working.
The war in Afghanistan turned 11 over the past weekend, but not to a great deal of fanfare.
President Obama has nominated Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. of the Marine Corps as the top commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan. He will replace Gen. John Allen, who has been named as the new Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.
The troop surge reared its head in last night’s VP candidate debate.
Afghan officials are angry over a report released by the International Crisis Group which details the possibility of failed elections and civil war in Afghanistan’s future. Read the report here.
Seven members of Britain’s Royal Marines are under investigation for the murder of an Afghan.
The attempted murder of 14-year-old Pakistani education activist Malala Yousufzai has drawn a great deal of horrified international attention. Here, The Atlantic discusses the Taliban’s reasonings (if you can call them that) for trying to kill her.
Steve Coll talks on the NYRB podcast about the politics of the Bin Laden raid and the legal quandaries of the book released by the retired Navy SEAL detailing its execution. Coll reviewed the book for the NYRB last week.
One of the members of Pussy Riot has been set free. Read/watch Yekaterina Samutsevich’s first interview following her release, given to Christiane Amanpour on CNN.
Russia and the US will not be renewing a two-decades old pact on dismantling nuclear and chemical weapons in the former Soviet Union.
North Korea has made claims that its missiles could reach the US mainland. It made these claims following a US agreement with South Korea to extend the range of S. Korea’s ballistic missiles.
French police say they have foiled a massive bomb plot.
A Canadian naval officer has plead guilty to selling secrets to the Russians.
President Obama has issued a policy directive extending whistleblower protections to those employed by intelligence and national security agencies.
Here’s CNAS’ National Security Guide to the 2012 Presidential Election.
The breaking news this morning was that the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the European Union for the six decades of work it has done to unite post-war enemies.
The 2012 Tim Hetherington Grant for photojournalism, celebrating Hetherington’s legacy of photography and human rights, is now open for applications. Last year, an American photographer named Stephen Ferry won for his collection Violentology: A Manual of the Colombian Conflict.
If you would like to receive this round-up as a weekly email, you can sign up through this form, or email me directly at [email protected].
Photo: Logar Province, Afghanistan. US Army troops patrol near Baraki Barak base. Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty.
Mitt Romney and Barack Obama not only have different blueprints for America. They also have different blueprints for their campaigns for President of the United States of America. Look for example at the four key elements of message (PR), money (fundraising), media (advertising), and mobilization (field operations/get-out-the-vote). The Obama re-election effort is, arguably to an even greater extent than David Plouffe has already acknowledged the 2008 campaign was, modeled on George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign: In terms of message, the goal is to paint Romney (then John Kerry) early as a man of questionable character unfit for the presidency, present Obama (Bush) as a man of principle who you may not like but who is doing what he believes is right and who will stay the course, and thus define the election not as a referendum on the sitting President but as “the clearest choice of any time in a generation” between the two candidates. In terms of money, the campaign is walking on two legs, simultaneously using the advantages of incumbency to pursue big-dollar donors while also mining the wide network of small-dollar donors already built during previous cycles. Between them, the Obama campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and Priorities USA, the main pro-Obama “super PAC) are on course to raise something in the region of $900 million dollars by Election Day. In terms of media, the campaign and its closest associates has aggressively used its ability to spend early to try to define Romney before he could start using funds from his general election account to really present himself to the American people. This means the Obama campaign has had a high burn-rate and may be at a slight disadvantage when it comes to paid media in the final weeks, but also that many people have had a (negative) view of Romney from well before the Republican convention. In terms of mobilization, the campaign is trying to keep the key elements of the field operation under their own control, leveraging the amazing staff, volunteer, and targeting infrastructure built in 2008 and further refined in the years since, and using the stark choice between Obama and Romney to try to fire up an activist base who may have mixed feelings about the President’s first term. The Romney campaign, in contrast, has so far chartered a quite different course: In terms of message, the overarching narrative so far has been a referendum on the President’s performance on the economy and job creation—the famous “are you better off than four years ago”-question—and not a choice between two candidates. (With the campaign off balance and the Republican nominee behind in the polls, many in the party are pushing for a more positive and specific arguments for why people should vote for Romney.) In terms of money, the campaign has tapped into a network of wealthy big-dollar donors and done very, very well to keep up with—and sometimes surpass—Obama’s fundraising. Between them, the Romney campaign, the Republican National Committee, and Restore Our Future, the main pro-Romney “super PAC”, have more or less kept pace with the President and his closest allies, raising well over $600 million so far. But the money comes from fewer donors, many of whom have already given the maximum amount they can to the campaign itself, leaving them to explore alternative options such as outside political action committees if they want to give more. The main Republican operations have received much less from small-dollar donors. Importantly, the money has been raised across a number of different organizations who are legally prohibited from coordinating their efforts, complicating things in the final weeks. In terms of media, the Romney campaign has spent less than the President and his allies. The Republican nominee has talked about spending money “wisely” and campaign insiders have insisted that they are not so much behind as keeping their powder dry for the home stretch where they may well have an advantage in terms of raw financial muscle. (This reflects different strategic analysis. The Romney campaign seems cognizant of the rather short half-life of the direct effect television advertising has on voters’ behavior and the Obama campaign focused on the declining rates of return of increased spending.) In terms of mobilization, the Romney campaign is, by all accounts, clearly superior to the 2008 McCain operation, but is still nowhere near the scale and scope of the Obama field operation. (In part this reflects that Romney has had less time to plan as he had to navigate the primary, but also, as I noted in April, that the campaign has not prioritized using the primary as a way of building an operation for the general election, the way Obama did in 2008.) Instead, Romney will have to bank on the efforts of outside groups including not only the national party, but also Americans for Prosperity, the National Rifle Association, and the Christian Coalition. As the Democratic Party and its allies learned in 2004, it is very hard to integrate such efforts in ways that are both legal and effective. Till the last week or so, the Romney campaign has been praised for its calm, discipline, and professionalism, but when one adopts a wider, organizational, perspective, it is clear that the main components of the Obama campaign are much more integrated, centralized and controlled than the more sprawling assemblage of different aligned and often well-resourced, but ultimately independent, groups backing the Republican nominee—not unlike the difference between the Bush and Kerry campaigns in 2004, in fact. Why does this matter? Some political scientists studying elections argue that campaigns don’t matter much. The underlying logic of this stance is articulated with characteristic clarity by Larry Bartels, who has written: “In a world where most campaigners make reasonably effective use of reasonably similar resources and technologies most of the time, much of their effort will necessarily be without visible impact, simply because every campaigner’s efforts are balanced against more or less equally effective efforts to produce the opposite effect.” But, as we can see again this year, there is little evidence to suggest we live in such a world. Competing campaigns often have different resources and technologies, use them in different ways, and are not always equally effective. Hence we need to understand how they work, and their efforts are unlikely to simply balance each other. Dr Rasmus Kleis Nielsen is Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (University of Oxford) and an assistant professor of communications at Roskilde University (RUC) in Denmark. His book, Ground Wars: Personalized Communication in Political Campaigns, deals with how American political campaigns mobilize, organize, and target their field operations, using large numbers of volunteers and paid part-timer workers to contact voters at home at the door or over the phone. It has been published by Princeton University Press and is available on Amazon. Cross-posted to Politics in Spires
The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!
Randy Pausch Last Lecture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Beautiful backs for closing gowns at @tommyhilfiger (Taken with Instagram)
NYFW - SPRING 2013 - CAROLINA HERRERA (photos by Xavi Menós)
TEDx Statistics worth Spreading
For those having access to Political Studies Review here is my review of Asle Toje's book "The European Union as a Small Power: After the Post-Cold War", making two interesting points: first, that although there are numerous studies which try to conceptualize the EU's identity as an international actor, a few can depict its whole picture. Second, that it's about time to discuss the EU's role in the world after the EU euphoria era. In my view, Toje's book based as it is on an IR approach, offers a more comprehensive concept than previous studies do and one of the very first contributions about EU's role in the emerging international system.
