Not to put too fine a point on it, but the poster for TURNING GREEN lies. It showcases Tim Hutton, Colm Meaney, and Allesandro Nivola, but while they’re prominent figures in the film, it ain’t about them. Off in the lower right, with his back turned towards the camera, there’s your protagonist: A teenage boy, played quite engagingly by newcomer Donal Gallery. I can understand the motivation for pitching the name players in your marketing, but really, can’t you at least show the kid’s face?
Granted, beyond that poster, Michael Aimette and John G. Hofmann’s TURNING GREEN has had as convoluted a history as can be imagined: The story of James, a teen who, with his brother, has been shipped by their father to Ireland and who decides to rally up the cash for an escape by peddling contraband pornography to his classmates — much to the displeasure of his bookie boss Nivola and the bookie’s enforcer Hutton — the script was a finalist on the first season of PROJECT GREENLIGHT (the one that ended up producing STOLEN SUMMER — dodged a bullet there, eh, guys?), was actually shot in 2004, has been in release since 2005, and is only now making its U.S. debut. It’s a small film, but a cleverly conceived, beautifully photographed, and well-performed one — as neat a directorial debut as I’ve seen this year. Ben Affleck and Chris Moore should be kicking themselves.
Aimette and Hofmann gave me some insight into the film’s extended genesis and the olfactory-challenging lengths to which Tim Hutton would go to develop a character. Click on the link to hear the interview:
With more people behind bars than any other nation (2.3 million) can Obama really be called the leader of the "free world" ? 97% of inmates return to our communities and the question becomes as what? Currently prisons are doing nothing more than breeding anger, racism and hate which is then released onto our communities. There is a direct link between the violence we see on the streets and what is happening behind bars.
www.obamaanswerthis.comWith more people behind bars than any other nation (2.3 million) can Obama really be... more
Michael J Shirley is wanted for questioning for the murder of Brandi Duba, the mother of two children in Whitwell, Tennessee in Marion County which reportedly occurred between 12 o'clock am and 1 o'clock am on November 3. It is said that the mother was murdered only two feet from her children while they slept.
In this video I find the reporters from WTVK Channel 9 News and WRCB Channel 3 News on the scene in preparation for their story coverage at the residence where the victim lived. It is said that Michael J Shirley had been dating Brandi Duba for only 6 months prior to this violent incident in Marion County, in Whitwell, Tennessee located just north of Chattanooga, Tennessee.Michael J Shirley is wanted for questioning for the murder of Brandi Duba, the mother... more
Right-wing, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry interrupted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she spoke outside the Capitol building last Thursday on the new Democratic healthcare reform bill. Terry yelled, “Nancy Pelosi, you will burn in hell for this!”
Pelosi responded by thanking the “insurance companies of America.” Terry and his small crew of right-wing Christian militants staged a street theatre protest earlier that day as Congressional workers were arriving at their jobs. The handful of protesters were dressed for the upcoming pagan holiday as demons, with one wearing a Pelosi face mask, and another the likeness of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Terry, who founded the notorious Operation Rescue, is on a crusade against healthcare reform that includes a government option because he says it will provide abortions, even though President Obama has stated that it will not. Since August, Terry has been running around the country disrupting town hall meetings and threatening violence to government officials who support abortion.
Terry used the upcoming Halloween holiday to announce a scary contest for the conservative Christian set. The kind who run around with “fags burn in hell” signs at funerals.
Terry called on his comrades to participate in “Burn in Hell,” anti-healthcare reform protests by lighting up effigies of Pelosi and Reid. There’s even a youtube video showing the faithful how to build the effigies and set them ablaze.
Participants in these demonstrations were encouraged to send in their photos and videos from their Halloween burnings for a chance at prizes, including a Washington trip during Roe v. Wade anniversary week in January. Roe v. Wade was the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in America.
Explained Terry, “We are giving people a way to peacefully vent their anger at the murder that Pelosi and Reid are trying to ram down our throats.”
Of course, by “murder” he’s not referring to the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or the countless poor folks who die because they cannot afford to pay for healthcare.
“If Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid force us to pay for child killing and they die unrepentant, they will burn in hell for this,” Terry told the Huffington Post. But not for allowing more children to die in the wars or because their parents can’t afford healthcare.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland, was not thrilled with the contest: "I don't think appealing to people's anger and in effect inciting them to acts which either display or in any way project violent acts is consistent with rational discussion of very critical issues."
But it is consistent with the way right-wing Christians have always dealt with those they don’t like. When they weren’t burning witches and faggots in ages past, they were inciting violence against Jews and others.
Terry can say that the intention of his burnings was a peaceful venting of anger, but those of us who have been victims of his brand of Christianity don’t find his words very reassuring.article by Tommi Avicolli-Mecca, from BeyondChron
Right-wing, anti-abortion... more
Ti West sure digs his retro. In THE ROOST — his tidy little horror film about a group of travelers threatened by some really nasty bats — he added a wraparound featuring Tom Noonan in tacky butler drag, holding forth in front of a cardboard set as host of a local Saturday Night Chiller Feature broadcast. For THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL — which reunites West with Noonan and adds in Mary Woronov for good measure — it’s a blast from the eighties, complete with a really gnarly font and a freeze-frame for the opening titles.
Elbow-in-the-ribs tip-offs aside, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL — about a college student (Jocelin Donahue) who goes to an isolated abode for a babysitter gig and (surprise!) encounters more than she bargained for, including Noonan and Woronov as her clients — shows off West’s skill at building atmosphere and his predilection for eerie nuance over gross-out gore. The SAW franchise (and if any series deserves the term “franchise,” it’s that one) may be more efficient in logging a body count, but HOUSE is the kind of film that reminds you how cool it is to settle back and just let the dread soak in.
West shared some spooky goings-on that happened on-set, and talked about the audience’s responsibility in making sure that the labors of horror’s more unique visionaries don’t completely vanish from the screen. Click on the link to hear the interview.
Crop Protection; Booby traps, armed guards getting common
Marijuana growers in Ontario are resorting to an increasing array of brutal tactics to protect their outdoor crops, including bear traps, spike boards and armed guards, warn provincial police.
The alarming security measures were a common discovery during the OPP's annual marijuana eradication program that wrapped up earlier this month. Newly released figures show the eight-week operation, scheduled to coincide with the end of growing season, yielded 118,443 marijuana plants -- 10,000 more than last year -- that police estimate would have amounted to a street value of about $118-million. More than 200 grow-ops were discovered, resulting in 110 charges against 56 people.
"Marijuana grow-ops pose a real threat to both public and police safety. The cultivation of marijuana in Ontario has reached epidemic proportions," OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said.
Police found grow-ops in the Brockville, Bancroft and Owen Sound areas, some fields with as many as 9,000 plants. At one grow-op near Smiths Falls, a barn was found to contain more than 1,500 kilograms of processed bud ready for sale.
"Since 2002, we've seen a steady increase in outdoor marijuana growth," said Inspector Bryan Martin of the OPP's drug enforcement section. "It's economics. It makes sense to have one large plantation with a single harvest than to have several indoor grow operations to get the same number of plants."
One grow-op discovered by police near Renfrew last summer contained 40,000 plants, with an estimated street value of more than $40-million.
With more tracts of rural Ontario land being taken over by marijuana plantations comes a growing need for organized crime to ward off police, other criminal groups intent on stealing crops and the public.
Insp. Martin said police are encountering an alarming increase in the number of booby traps, cameras, armed guards and other security devices surrounding grow-ops. Common booby traps include hidden animal traps with metal claws and spike boards suspended from trees designed to impale trespassers when they step on trip wires. Armed guards, usually illegal immigrants hired by organized crime, are also becoming increasingly common, Insp. Martin said.
This summer, police discovered an armed guard and several pitbulls at a grow-op in Apsley, near Bancroft. The guard was found with a diary that contained instructions to shoot trespassers.
In another case, two people driving ATVs near Minden last summer stumbled across a grow-op and were pistol-whipped by armed guards. When they managed to escape, the guards opened fire, but no one was injured.
"This isn't a couple of good ole' boys growing a couple of plants in their backyard. This is a criminal operation and they want to protect it at any cost," said Insp. Martin, noting his department spends about 60% of its workload dealing with marijuana grow-ops.
The growth of marijuana production in Ontario has also made for a lucrative trade business with organized crime in the United States, he said. In a criminal operation known as "brown south, white north," marijuana is shipped south in exchange for crystal meth and crack cocaine, which are then imported to this country.
The U.S. Department of Justice now calls Canada a "source country" for marijuana. Police also say gangs are trading Ontario-produced marijuana for cash and guns.
"It's not just grow-op locations that are a public safety threat because if the marijuana makes it south, drugs and guns come back to our local communities," Insp. Martin said. "It's a reciprocal effect."
You could probably forge a good, absurdist, dark comedy out of a government where racial identity can be declared and reversed by official decree, and white parents whose child’s skin is, because of a genetic quirk, darker than theirs struggle to get their kid designated Caucasian. I can imagine Terry Gilliam going to town on something like that, or maybe even Kevin Smith in a more thoughtful mode. But this isn’t absurdist comedy, this was South Africa in the throes of apartheid, and the story told in Anthony Fabian’s debut feature, SKIN, turns out to have been all too real.
The actual person, Sandra Laing, suffered through a kind of industrial-strength crisis of identity, with her parents determined to ensure that her privileges be protected via that all-important white designation, and her own growing awareness that, whatever the government stamped on a piece of paper, she would have no shortage of difficulty in finding a place in so divided a society. Director Fabian shot the film in South Africa, and brought together a strong cast, including Sophie Okonedo as Sandra and Sam Neill and Alice Krige as her parents. The result is quite moving — a human and unusual perspective on the insanity of institutionalized racism.
Anthony Fabian and I got a chance to talk about his motivation for taking on this project, and how the dictates of apartheid could twist the motives of even the best-intentioned of parents. Click on the link to hear the interview.
“Lars von Trier doesn’t like to fly.” “Lars von Trier isn’t going to talk to a lot of press.” Yeah, yeah; yadda-yadda. But just because he isn’t talking to us doesn’t mean we can’t talk about him, particularly about his childhood. I have it on good authority that he refused to eat his sandwiches until the crusts were cut off, and he slept with a night light until he was fifteen.
Seriously, though, I came out of ANTICHRIST — von Trier’s latest film which has been freaking out audiences from Cannes forward — aching to delve further into it. And with the director (did you know he got atomic wedgies every day after gym?) unavailable, I decided to carry on the conversation with a couple of people who could provide some intriguing perspectives on the film: Monika Treut, director of SEDUCTION: THE CRUEL WOMAN, GENDERNAUTS, and GHOSTED; and Steve Biodrowski, editor of Cinefantastique Online.
You can click on the link above to hear the discussion. And Lars, next time, we really want to get your insights directly. We promise we won’t mention how you were subjected to swirlies on a weekly basis.“Lars von Trier doesn’t like to fly.” “Lars von Trier isn’t going to talk to... more
Fierce fighting erupted in Kabul this morning as Taliban gunmen stormed a UN guesthouse close to the diplomatic district of the capital in an attack that militants warned marked a the start of a bloody countdown to the new Afghan elections.Fierce fighting erupted in Kabul this morning as Taliban gunmen stormed a UN... more
In early July 2008, three teenaged friends tormented a homeless man in a motel parking lot. They taunted, smacked, pushed, dragged, carried and yelled at the 54-year-old victim. As if that wasn’t enough, a fourth teen recorded the profanity-laced attack with his cell phone.
Broward Sheriff’s Office detectives saw the two videos called “Beating Up a Crackhead,” parts one and two online. They discovered the recorded assault during their investigation of the April 2009 attack of two men, Craig Cohen and David Villanova, in Oakland Park. One of the teens in the video was once a suspect in the Cohen and Villanova beatings.
The first video lasts two minutes, 34 seconds, and the second lasts one minute, 14 seconds.
The apparently intoxicated and physically unstable Cunningham repeatedly asks his assailants to leave him alone. They continue to taunt him, laughing and joking during the attack, slapping him in the head, pushing him on the ground, grabbing his arms and legs and carrying him down Southeast 5th Street.
At one point, one assailant turns to the camera and says, “You got this?” His friend with the cell phone responds, “I got everything, bro.” Cunningham, who was not injured in the attack, never reported it to law enforcement.
Brandon Edwards and William Sleight have been arrested. Detectives are looking for Nicholas Bakum and are asking for the public’s help identifying the fourth person involved. On the video, he is wearing dark shorts and a dark hat with no shirt.In early July 2008, three teenaged friends tormented a homeless man in a motel parking... more
The lower league matches seem to be getting lots and lots and lots and lots of violence. This year alone at least 30 major incidents of brutality have interrupted matches.The lower league matches seem to be getting lots and lots and lots and lots of... more
A group of San Jose police officers are on the other side of the law, after using what some experts call "excessive force" on an unarmed San Jose student after responding to a roommate dispute.A group of San Jose police officers are on the other side of the law, after using what... more
I don't think I have read this many casualties in a single bomb blast in Iraq. I am nervous. My good friend's husband was just deployed to Iraq a few days ago for 12 months.
2 suicide bombs exploded in downtown Baghdad today targeting the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad provincial administration,
The devastating attacks occurred just hours before Iraq's top leadership was scheduled to meet with heads of political parties on Sunday and reach a compromise on the disputed election law ahead of a crucial parliamentary vote in January.I don't think I have read this many casualties in a single bomb blast in Iraq. I am... more
A woman carrying a child walks unconcerned past a trolley containing the dumped, hooded body of a man, the victim of bloody drugs battles sweeping through Rio de Janeiro's slums.
Brazil's president today promised to deal with traffickers after a weekend of chaos in Rio which claimed the lives of more than 20 people.
The latest violence came two weeks after the city won the 2016 Olympics, adding to fears that Brazil would be unable to guarantee the safety of competitors and visitors to both the Games and the 2014 football World Cup.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said: "We'll do anything it takes and make all necessary sacrifices so we can clean up the mess these people are imposing on Brazil."
Police said the death toll from weekend clashes between gangs had risen to 21 after more bodies were found in the Morro dos Macacos (Monkey Hill) slum, where gangs also shot down a police helicopter, killing three officers.
Mr da Silva said the government will provide emergency funding to fight the gangs that control many of Rio's 1,000 slums.
He said: "It will take time to resolve the problems. When you have a conflict of this magnitude, the innocent people always pay the price."A woman carrying a child walks unconcerned past a trolley containing the dumped,... more
Many residents of some of Rio de Janeiro's worst slums are fleeing their homes to escape a drug war that has left part of the Brazilian city in ruins, and killed a dozen people.
Smoke rose from the smoldering wreckage of a police helicopter shot down by drug gangs Saturday, while eight buses burned and gunfire filled the air in the slum of Morro dos Macacos.
Police say the fighting broke out early Saturday when one of the city's three main drug gangs invaded the area in an attempt to expand its territory. Ten suspected gang members were killed in subsequent gunbattles with police. Several people were injured.
Two police officers riding in the helicopter were killed. Police say the aircraft exploded on a football field after the pilot tried to make an emergency landing with the aircraft in flames. Four people on the helicopter managed to escape the flames.
Hundreds of police officers were sent into the area to end the fighting.
The outbreak of violence comes just weeks after Rio won the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
Rio has long been known for its high crime and murder rates, and has more than 1,000 slums or shantytowns, known as favelas.
- Article from VOA News on October 18, 2009.Many residents of some of Rio de Janeiro's worst slums are fleeing their homes to... more
Another federal agency has been brought into Congressman Vern Buchanan’s investigation into fixing the gaps in the federal database entry of offenders' DNA that prevented local authorities from getting a DNA match on accused serial home invader and rapist Delmer Smith III.
Smith is accused of committing a series of violent home invasions in Sarasota in which women were beaten and raped in their homes. He is also a suspect in seven other similar attacks in Manatee and Sarasota, including the beating death of a Sarasota woman in her home.
On Thursday, Buchanan, R-Sarasota, met FBI officials in order to search for answers in eliminating a DNA backlog of more than 290,000 samples of federal convicts that have not been entered into the system.
Smith’s DNA was among that backlog throughout the four months Sarasota authorities say the ex-federal prisoner committed the series of home invasion attacks. Sarasota County Sheriff’s detectives had DNA from four home invasions but obtained no match from federal databases.
It was only after a bar fight that resulted in Smith’s arrest, that his federal record became apparent. Local authorities asked for entry of his DNA into the federal system after finding property stolen from several of the home invasions.Another federal agency has been brought into Congressman Vern Buchanan’s... more
Juarez, Mexico has become a war zone featuring the sort of ghastly crimes Americans thought only happened in Africa a la 'Blood Diamond'. Drug cartels waging all-out war have plunged Juarez into a melee of retaliatory violence. The situation is worse than previously reported by Vanguard eight months ago. (http://current.com/items/89845362_narco-war-next-door.htm)
These are some of the most disturbing quotes:
" New figures released to CNN on Wednesday by Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz indicate the death toll for this year has already surpassed 2,000 homicides -- almost 400 more murders than the total count for 2008.
"It has been 22 months of this war, and it hasn't stopped. The violence has increased, and the possibility that it will stop is becoming more remote," Reyes Ferriz told CNN in a phone interview."
"A government source close to the investigation told CNN about a case where a relative of a drug cartel member was tied to two trucks and stretched until his arms where ripped apart. Dismemberments and beheadings have become a common method of retaliation."Juarez, Mexico has become a war zone featuring the sort of ghastly crimes Americans... more
Sexual violence is used as a war tactic against women in Guinea. The details given by survivors are graphic and hard to erase from your consciousness.Sexual violence is used as a war tactic against women in Guinea. The details given by... more
The number of deaths continues to rise. 27 "suspected" gang members and 3 dead civilians in the cross fire. Will killing the street vendors prevent the drugs from reaching the streets? Is this more of a message to those who shot down the helicopter than a resolution? Blessings out to the police and people involved.
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RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Police killed seven suspected drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, bringing to 33 the total number of deaths since the city's worst recent outbreak of violence erupted over the weekend.
Three suspects were killed after they opened fire on police searching a slum in the north of the city for gang members linked to shooting down a police helicopter on Saturday, police spokesman Oderlei Santos said.
Four others were killed in separate operations in the city's wealthier southern zone, police said.
State authorities have mobilized several thousand police to secure the city and search for drug traffickers who brought the helicopter down, killing three police officers.
Twenty-seven suspected gang members and three residents caught in cross-fire between gangs have been killed since Saturday in violence that has tarnished Rio's image only a few weeks after it was awarded the 2016 Olympics.
The image of a dead suspected trafficker stuffed into a shopping cart and left on a road was carried by Brazilian and international newspapers on Wednesday, an example of the extreme gang violence and a sharp contrast to the scenes of joy on Copacabana beach broadcast around the world this month when Rio won the Olympics.The number of deaths continues to rise. 27 "suspected" gang members and 3 dead... more
