A lot of Yahoo! users (and by extension, a lot of people around the world) have something on their mind. It’s not the war in Iraq, nor is it the war in Afghanistan. It’s not Obama and his peace prize. It’s not even the economy, gas prices or unemployment rates amazingly enough. No. If Yahoo! rank their most popular searches accurately it’s something a touch more trivial. (more…)
Generation Kill: A viewing guide
If you have HBO, I hope you’re watching the incredible miniseries Generation Kill. It’s as realistic a portrayal of combat in general and the war in Iraq specifically that you’re going to find.
The authentic dialogue is one of the series’ strengths, but average viewers often feel adrift in a sea of acronyms — or so I hear.
One of my reading pursuits has always been war memoirs, usually the variety written by enlisted men or junior officers. So, this background gives me a bit of familiarity with the terms used in the show, and I can pick up a lot of it pretty quickly.
Of course, to make a viewing guide for the show, I had to do plenty of research. Some of these things may be explicitly explained in the show, but maybe you missed that episode.
Naturally, I may make mistakes. Let me know. I consider this a work in progress, especially seeing as how the series hasn’t completed its run yet. It will be updated and corrected as needed.
The goal is simply for it to be helpful
Here’s what I came up with.
A lesson from The Kingdom
I watched (half paid attention to) The Kingdom last night. As with any action movie, the narrative culminated in lots of explosions, automatic rifle fire and death. But none of the good guys died, and the hostage was saved. Time to leave the building.
As soon as I saw Jennifer Garner’s character take note of a child’s crying behind a door, I knew that they were about to take a detour, and the destination would be death.
Sure enough, the American’s sympathetic stalling led to the death of one of their number and two others besides.
But as I watched, I noted the cross-cutting between the three dying individuals. Mechanically, the incident provided the cursory death of a good guy, but thanks to the editing, it became something more.
It was a reminder that Over There, “good guys” and “bad guys” alike are dying for what they believe in. Maybe everyone is misguided; it doesn’t matter who is right or wrong.
Death is the common denominator.
Do-gooders Unite
Christopher Hitchens has found a cause.
It’s a pretty good one too.
In the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniya, the American University of Iraq has just opened its doors. And it is appealing for people to donate books.
