The first day of spring marks the beginning of the Iranian New Year, which is celebrated with bonfires, fireworks and dancing in the streets. This year, however, there was something new in the celebrations. The masses used the celebrations to express openly their hatred of the Islamic regime, in spite of attempt by the police to stop this.
Ewan McGregor plays a ghostwriter, for a former United Kingdom prime minister. He is replacing a previous writer, whose body was found washed ashore. In the process of writing, he discovers secrets that put his life in danger, in this Roman Polanski film, ripe with Hitchcockian twists.
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The Runaways
See The Runaways if for nothing else, Michael Shannon's performance, as the creator and agent of the historic all female group. He was perfect as a sleazy manager.
This movie is based on an autobiography of Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), who was lead vocalist in Joan Jett's (Kristen Stewart) pioneering all female, electric guitar band from the 1970s. Kristen Stewart did a good job, singing Jett's music. Fanning playing jailbait sex goddess Cherie Curry worked.
I didn't realize the historical role, Joan Jett played in Rock n'Roll before seeing this movie.
I started this blog in 2005. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bolivarian Revolution, the state of the arts, Iran and other disruptions have been debated over the years.
In the time since this blog started, several blogs came and went. I was lucky enough to meet some of the commenters in real life.
With social networks as Facebook and Twitter, being the prominent form, where does blogging fit in the mix?
The call issued by President Chavez to set up a new revolutionary international, the Fifth International, has provoked a passionate discussion in the ranks of the workers’ movement in Latin America and on a world scale. It is impossible for Marxists to remain indifferent to this question. What attitude should we take towards it?
Minneapolis based jazz singers Arne Fogel and Nancy Harms perform Alfie as a duet, at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Fogel hosts a radio show that airs in the Twin Cities area, devoted enirely to Bing Crosby on Jazz88 FM at the left of the dial. The Minneapolis Tribune says about Nancy Harms, ""...a quiet confidence, an innate sense of swing and languorously seductive phrasing."
Christopher Hitchens discusses Leon Trotsky with the author of a recent biography of Leon Trotsky, Robert Service. Hitchens defends Trotsky to the best of his ability. While this discussion is not a debate, Hitchens comes off weak, because he is discussing Trotsky in Service's language, that of clash of personalities and intrigues. The article by Rob Sewell is a clenched fist as opposed to Hitchens's taps.
An avalanche of books has recently been published to discredit Lenin, Trotsky and the Russian Revolution. First and foremost of these writers is Professor Robert Service. The aim of his latest book on Trotsky is to prove that Bolshevism leads to Stalinism and totalitarianism. Here Rob Sewell sets the record straight and explains the huge gulf that divided genuine Bolshevism from the monster of Stalinism that was built on the physical destruction of the Bolshevik party.
