Post-Section the Third, the Unsteady

Right, well I promised information of use of some kind. Well, turns out that Salam Pax got authenticated by various elements in the Westeren media, as well, an authentic guy. His blog is up and running again from Baghdad again and provides a bit of a local insight into what continues to happen (despite the fact that most of the ‘embedded’ reporters have gone home) in Iraq, the events you see in the news and those that you don’t. This is a typical latest entry pretty much demonstrating just how effectively coalition troops are maintaining ‘order’:

The latest in the line of stories which at the moment could only happen in Baghdad is an explosion the Karadah street, just off the main road. A photographer walks down that road and sees someone lying on the street with loads of blood around him and missing one leg. No one wants to get near him. The guy had a hand grenade in his pocket, the idiot. And somehow the detonator goes off, boom, bye-bye leg. The funny thing was that there were some people around the guy who looked around very nervously. No one would tell you what was going on. Until you meet the friendly small shop owner who knows everybody. He says the actual explosion happened in a tea-shop down the road where lots of no-good types meet. And the guy’s hand grenade blew up in that tea-shop but his “friends” were so anxious that no one comes in that tea-shop, snoops around and finds god knows what, they clean the place up real fast, drag him to the other end of the street and leave him there.
Why would he have a hand grenade in his pocket? Well, many reasons. I don’t think he is the fedayeen type, like that taxi driver I met a couple of days ago. It just happens to be the weapon of choice for house robberies, you can’t say no to a man with a hand grenade, can you?

Other fun stories include the one about the taxi driver mentioned, who was an extremist who cursed the infidel invader and then asked Salam, as his passenger, if he thought the Americans would find a hand grenade hidden under his dashboard, as they drove up to a checkpoint. Oh yeah, that’s what you need. We get in a taxi and our biggest concern is probably paying the bill. Having to wonder as you drive along in your cab if you’re shortly about to be blown up or killed by massive retaliatory fire is not so much a concern round these parts. Of course you can only guess or not as to whether all his stories are true, but like I say he has now at least been proven to be an authentic Iraqi living in Baghdad, and it doesn’t really read like he’s making stuff up.
Good we’re sending NZ troops into this mess, eh? I can only hope the extremists and hardliners still resisting will take the time to identify their uniforms, or perhaps their accents.

In non-the-world-sucks related news, (or maybe it does fall into this category, you / time will be the judge) an Aliens vs. Predator movie has been confirmed. Those strange sounds you hear are a million fanboys fretting / champing at the bit. Anyway, you can read what is known about it so far over here. Looks like a sequel to Matt Damon's version of The Bourne Identity is getting made too, which should be quite cool. I enjoyed the first one for its style and its Franka Potente. Oh, and shooting for SW Ep 3 has started. Rediscover your faith and get excited. Oh go on you cynics, Chebacca is going to be in it...and there'll be no cries of 'That's what we mean!'. Do you hear me?

Furthermore, Samurai Jack is cool, and you know it. I want a t-shirt with Aku on it. So does Josh. Aku is the best screen villain since Mojo Jojo (Did you know Townsville is simply a post-modern analogy for the current state of world affairs? Well, duh). And that's saying something. In the meantime I must content myself with downloading the great whopping files that are episodes, and watching or taping it Saturday mornings when I remember. But I urge people again to check it out, although if you get the wrong episode chances are you will have NO idea what is going on. But the thing has style, and style can definitely make up for substance in my opinion, especially where electronic entertainment is concerned.

Damnit, why am I not writing a thesis about postmodern trends in today's kidult animation? Oh well.

Must be time to end the torture. I should have done enough to stay clear of the next pogrom. Here's hoping. Blogger is now better it seems. Nice one. (This is what I wrote on Tuesday, now I'm not so sure. Editing and stuff is better now though) And that's about all he wrote, save:

The Castle AAAARRRRGGHHH.

Maybe he was dictating.