Month: January 2004

The International Herald Tribune has a story about the failure of France and Germany to impliment EU directed changes in the law, despite both nations being the “”big bullies”” of the EU. Apparently, in a ranking of all EU countries on the matter, France and Germany come in dead last. I’m still not entirely sure how the EU works, but the system of a bunch of bureaucrats passing regulations, and then “”hoping”” they are implimented by the national governments is a prescription for disaster. Anyway, if you don’t like France and Germany, it’s a good article to use in some cocktail debate. England was number one, which is pretty strange.]]>

New Scientist]]>

Scarlett Johansson are stuck in the Tokyo Hyatt bored, unable to sleep, and dealing with a foreign culture and absent spouses. Although you’d expect some sort of cheesy Hollywood romance to bloom, the film aims for something beyond sex–intimacy. One review was really accurate. The movie starts with a shot of underwear clad Johansoon lying on a bed. At first giggle you might laugh at this shot, but then you start to realize that a woman in her underwear is not necessarily about sex, but more about being intimate and trusting of someone. Building on those themes are what the movie does, and it’s a kind of wild tale as the two weave there way through Tokyo. I could relate to the numbing effects of long distance travel, and have to deal with the translation issues nearly every day (in fact, I think I could understand the broken English spoken by some of the Japanese better than most after spending so long dealing with my wife’s crazy friends). I also enjoyed some of the “”characters”” that the movie poked fun at, including the Hollywood bimbo and the overimportant American business travellers. I highly recommend the film if you thought Royal Tennebaums or Rushmore were worthwhile flicks. It is not for everyone (and that’s not bad). Actually made me want to visit Tokyo (though I’ve wanted to do that for some time now).]]>

Foxnews reports that the last combat-injured veteran of World War I has passed away. More suprising than that (to me) is that there are only about 1,000 World War I veterans left.]]>