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I really see alot of my life in this clip, I just hope it ends better lol The time is coming and soon I hope. You may never know the battle is waging until it hits you in the face. There are plenty of opportunities to do the will of God some people just fumble the football drop it and toss you a hockey puck. Thats not God's will that is replacing the will of God with the will of man. Worship Only God. Once something is in the past the enemy will often pick it up and run with it. As we all know he will do that with Jesus's job too but the scriptures and the truth will need to be lost. Somewhere in the East or europe is where it will launch from probably. We shall strike hard when we do.

If you cannot view the video then check this out....
http://nccomputers.com/wordpress/?p=104

Overall, this volume works to reestablish Murdock's relationship with his wife, Milla. Milla's been in this book for some time, but with everything else going on it was easy to put her on the backburner. Writer Ed Brubaker uses the issues comprising this volume to get everyone on the same page about Matt and Milla's complex relationship as well as set up some conflict involving the two.

It's not all romance, though. Brubaker also has a new enemy (sort of) for Daredevil to combat, one who is going to give the Marvel Universe as a whole some fits. Before we discover this villain, though, Daredevil must get to the bottom of the Gladiator's atypical return to mindless violence.

The art by Michael Lark fits the tone of the book perfectly with a great mix of super heroics and crime noir. And the original covers by Marko Djurdjevic are literally breathtaking.

In summation, this volume was largely a chance to reacquaint the readers with Daredevil's personal life as well as set up some major conflict to come, but at no time did it feel like "filler" material. Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark continue to make Daredevil a must read.

Even though they're both working for the CIA, Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe find themselves at odds in their upcoming film Body of Lies. While DiCaprio is out risking his neck trying to infiltrate a major terrorist network in Jordan, Crowe, his superior, is safely out of harm's way, taking credit for all the hard work. And, to make matters worse, besides being a manipulative, power-hungry bastard, Crowe is a fat tub (he reportedly gained 63 pounds for the role). I imagine that going into Body of Lies, Crowe lobbied pretty hard to convince director Ridley Scott, whom he's working with for the third time (Gladiator, American Gangster), that his character needed to be on the large side to be a convincing jerk. Even though I don't see this as a Raging Bull type situation and believe Crowe mostly wanted to stuff his face for six months, I have to admit that Crowe's distended belly and bad wig make the idea of an even confrontation with DiCaprio a little more believable -- because, even with his fancy handgun, there's no way Romeo could take out Maximus in his prime.

The Body of Lies trailer begins with Crowe talking about the realities of a global war, while satellite images and wide-angle shots of an unnamed Middle Eastern city are shown. We then see a special forces unit moving into position just before a man sets of a bomb with a cell phone in a busy shopping area. Shifting to Washington, D.C., Crowe offers a bleak warning about the end our way of life, while, elsewhere, DiCaprio calls out Crowe for being worthless without the work he does on the ground. After a quick shot of a car bomb exploding, the trailer transitions to DiCaprio preparing for a mission and then engaging in a gun battle while hanging from the side of an SUV. In the next scene, we see the CIA tracking DiCaprio with a satellite, as Crowe sits on a sailboat docked next to his house and shovels cereal into his mouth.  In the remainder of the trailer, we're introduced to Mark Strong, the shady head of Jordan's covert operations, and watch as DiCaprio's cover is blown and Crowe does nothing to help him, setting up a final confrontation. My favorite part of the trailer comes when Crowe's wife finds him talking on the phone outside his home at 6am and Crowe, who's wearing a bathrobe, explains that he's "saving civilization." Body of Lies opens October 10, 2008. Check out the trailer at Zuguide.com.

          M-ai tratat ca pe un sclav trist, eu eram liber şi fericit. Te-ai temut de Creaţia ta pentru că nu puteai cuprinde cu seninătate nimic din ce e nobil.

          M-ai dat ca pe un sclav, unui alt Stăpân. Eu am ajuns Gladiator şi Imperiul buimac al existenţei tale se clatină. Nu eşti decât un demon inventat din propria greşeală şi neputinţă. Un bostan paranoic, singur şi trist.

          De azi înainte nu-mi voi aparţine decât Mie! Ştii de ce?! Pentru ca tu, să faci asta, n-ai să poţi vreodată, Iudă îmbujorată artificial! Căci e normal, ambiţios decăzut, să ai îndoieli atunci când certitudinile-ţi lipsesc! Pentru că fragmente din trecut pot oricând deveni viitor. Pentru că nu ştii să zâmbeşti la o rază de vis! Cu atât mai puţin atunci când primeşti o castana în dar. Una pe care nu tu ai adunat-o şi n-ai habar că Fericirea poţi în ea s-o regăseşti chiar şi-ntr-o altă Limbă a Pământului!

          Pricepi, nu-i aşa?! Măcar atât! Şi acum, e lesne de înţeles, poate în continuare să-ţi fie frică!

Fereşte-te de icoane! Căci Eu l-am iubit pe Iuda!

Notă: Orice asemănare cu personaje reale nu e deloc întâmplătoare! Iar povestea asta nu e rodul imaginaţiei mele...

The viewer is welcomed by the following ominous message, describing the socio-political context of Death Race:

The full text reads:

"2012-The United States economy collapses.
Unemployment hits a record high.
Crime rates spiral out of control. The prison system reaches breaking point.
Private Corporations now run all correctional facilities for profit.
~
Terminal Island Penitentiary streams a series of Cage Fights live on the Internet.
Prisoners fight to the death, creating a ratings sensation.
They are the new Gladiators and Terminal Island is their Coliseum.
~
But like the mob of ancient Rome, the modern audience soon becomes bored.
They demand more...
Death Race is born."

Regarding predictive programming, those opening lines are quite self-explanatory and need no further explanation. To gauge if the context given by those introductory lines gives a plausible rendition of the nature of a future American society, let's go over them in some detail.

1. 2012 - The United States economy collapses.
   There's already much to do at present times, October 2008, of a possible financial meltdown that could not only wreck the US economy but of which the shock effects could be felt throughout the world.
   It's beyond the scope of this current review to go try to demonstrate that the World is indeed amidst a financial crisis that may sooner rather than later escalate into one big enough to cause the US economy to plunge into a major depression. Therefore for anyone who is at least a bit Google-clever but who, unfortunately, has been living on the moon for the past two months here's a search-query to help convince you that there indeed is such a thing as a global financial crisis currently going on which has the potential of tanking the US economy in the not too distant future.
2. Unemployment hits a record high. The prison system reaches breaking point.
   These societal developments, if becoming a reality, are trivially premised on item 1, so there need be no further elaboration apart from showing that prison populations are indeed on the uprise:
   

   http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/corrtyp.htm

   

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_the_United_States

   The excerpts of the next article are also most elucidating:

   More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year and the federal government $5 billion more, according to a report released yesterday.

   With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving far-more-populous China a distant second, according to a study by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.

   The growth in prison population is largely because of tougher state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s. Minorities have been particularly affected: One in nine black men ages 20 to 34 is behind bars. For black women ages 35 to 39, the figure is one in 100, compared with one in 355 for white women in the same age group.
   Source: New High In U.S. Prison Numbers - Growth Attributed To More Stringent Sentencing Laws

   In addition, the female prison population is growing even faster as this excerpt from a short article, dated May 2006, demonstrates:

   The number of women in state prisons has grown exponentially in the past three decades, growing at more than twice the rate as the male population, according to a report from the Women's Prison Association.
   [...]
   Most of the increases in female imprisonment can be traced to the war on drugs, the report said. More women are being sent to prison for drug offenses -- notably methamphetamine use -- while convictions for violent crimes have fallen. Experts called for alternative sentencing for female prisoners, including addiction treatment for drug offenders.
   Female Prison Population Grew 757 Percent Since 1977, Report Says

   Once again, articles such as the one above as well as the Dutch documentary referred to in the reference section reinforce the notion that the so-called War on Drugs, rather than being an effective collective effort to try to bring a halt to the damaging effects of narcotics, is quite contrarily, apart from hopelessly failing in what it pretends to do, an efficient catalyst for increasing the scope of law enforcement and for feeding the Prison Industrial Complex.

3. Private Corporations now run all correctional facilities for profit.
   The current developments in the prison industry are such that more and more prisons emerge that are neither state- nor federally managed but indeed owned and operated by private corporations; prisons are being privatized.
   The prospect of privatized prison is the likely outcome of a rather alarming trend that can already be witnessed today is supported by a documentary already made in 1999 by Dutch Television. It has been placed on Googlevideo, also see the reference area below. I highly recommend it, the spoken language is mostly English with a minimally contributing Dutch voice-over.

   Since the goal of any corporation, by its commercial character is to strive to maximize profit, a danger emerges of potentially conflicting interests between the pursuit of profit and ethically acceptable treatments of prisoners. For instance, cutting costs in guard labor may negatively interfere with properly managing the prisoners. As such, riots may break out, or prisoners may end up getting killed by belligerent fellow prisoners. Also the commercial exploitation of prisoners, in the form of slave labor, or, similar to the thematic centerpiece of the movie, as slavish actors in commercially attractive but macabre forms of entertainment.

4. Prisoners fight to the death, creating a ratings sensation.
   If society indeed is plunged into systemic misery then unfortunately the psychology of a human is of such generally pathological degree that it derives pleasure in the knowledge that there are other people doing worse than he or she is. If one is but a stone's throw away from the gutter, then what better way to gain some sense of perverted satisfaction than to observe another person doing even worse off than you do?

   Indeed, the phenomenon of taking pleasure in witnessing other people's suffering is well known all over the world as is reflected by the reality of many languages having unique words to identify it. For instance, the Dutch call it 'leedvermaak', whereas the Germans call it 'Schadenfreude', a word that was even adopted as schadenfreude by the English language. Hence it would come as little surprise that, based on regrettable but basic human psychology, and as macabre as it may be, that there would be enough people willing to support a market based the idea of broadcasting filmed fights of people trying to kill one another.

5. They are the new Gladiators and Terminal Island is their Coliseum.
   
   However, the idea of one person trying to bash in the head of another person for the enjoyment of others is hardly new at all and indeed was already quite commonplace no later than the days of the old Roman Empire.

   
   The notion of prisons turning commercial is reflected by the high prices viewers have to pay in order to watch Death Race live, although I ignored taking into account any inflationary corrections. Since the race comes in three stages, at $99 dollars each, or $250 for all three, and taking into account that the bloodthirsty viewing audience consists of millions of viewers at any one go, it doesn't take a rocket-scientist to figure out that this kind of business is simply too lucrative for unscrupulous entrepreneurs to let pass unexploited.

   Sad as it is, the unconscientious businessman is of course only partly too blame for the emergence of modern day gladiator games since if there wouldn't have a been a market for it, represented by all the hordes of viewers out for blood, the idea of a Death Race would not have been commercially viable to begin with. It's but a simple consequence of the elementary economic law of demand and supply.

   Besides being the next generation of the gladiator games, the fictional but potentially real phenomenon of Death Race is akin to the existing phenomenon of the snuff film, by virtue of people getting filmed while they are getting killed for none other reason than commercial exploitation. However, contrary to a snuff movie, in Death Race family members do not get paid a single dime for the sacrificial acts of the actors. For all practical purposes, the participants in Death Race are acting out their part as mere slave laborers since all a racer can look towards is the exceedingly unlikely prospect of merely leaving prison and returning to society. Therefore, in essence, Death Race embodies the ethically questionable entertainment amalgamation of the gladiator game combined with the snuff movie, although without the bad script and with an utterly expendable and cheap acting cast. As such, the creative minds behind neo-gladiator prison games save themselves both the effort for procuring inferior movie-scripts as well as saving expenditures on acting.

   
   As the movie shows quite clearly, the idea of the inclusion of women into pits of death is, is not an altogether new but nonetheless quite exotic phenomenon. But with the rise of female inmates this may not be an entirely fictional and far-fetched prediction. Movies such as Death Race, in which women function as racing navigators, serve to help prepare the public for such a (similar) development becoming reality in the future. Given the abhorrent nature of those games, a rightful remark would be, "emancipation is a b!tch", meant quite literally.

The movie features prisoners being tracked by a global positioning system (GPS). It is a known fact of today's society that the familiarity and ubiquitousness of the GPS is on the rise all over the world[1][2][3]. In some cases, such as sex offenders, the reason for doing so, in the light of preventing recidivism, seems to be quite justified. However, in spite of all the convenient practical benefits, if and when people are tagged like sheep for all the wrong reasons then this is cause for grave concern and invokes questions of ethics regarding privacy and the potentiality for authoritative abuse by whoever is responsible for doing the tracking. Combine a dictatorial regime with mandatory tracking of its citizens, through implanted RFID chips for instance, and basic civil rights now will be decided by the despot to respect or not.

For instance, on a prima facie level it may be justified to tag and track felons, on the basis of the virtue of protecting society against recidivism. However, what if the laws of the country are such that not all felons are in actual fact a danger to society? For instance, some American states may regard the smoking of marijuana a major offense and convict all those who get caught as felons. As such, otherwise law abiding and productive members of society may find themselves being treated, by law enforcement officials as well as the rest of society, as dangerous criminals for the rest of their natural life. From a purely humane point of view alone such a profoundly discriminatory punishment surely is too much to bear and in violation of any decent standard of civil rights.

At any rate, be that as it may, regarding predictive programming, the movie normalizes the mandatory provisioning of prisoners with GPS.

The antagonist, prison warden Hennesey, firmly asserts herself as director of Death Race.

In the movie the role of antagonist is fulfilled by the organizer of Death Race, the prison warden of Terminal Island Correctional Facilities, a female by the name of Hennesey. At the end of the movie, the protagonist, a former career racer named Ames who was framed and jailed by Hennesey and thus coerced into participating in Death Race, together with another imprisoned racer miraculously manage to break out of prison and escape to certain freedom. As an appetizing bonus, the evil prison warden gets blown up to kingdom come, and they all, minus the warden and a few dead racers, live happily ever after.

The protagonist meeting the antagonist.

The happy ending of the movie suggests to the following scenario. Here you have one convicted felon, even though he is innocent and therefore wrongfully incarcerated, together with another convicted felon manage to break out of prison and subsequently stay out of prison without being haunted by the law which normally should work hard to put the escaped convicts behind bars again. Hmmmm.... does this end scenario sound likely to be possible to happen in real life too? And yet, the happy ending suggests that it is.

Again it is this theme of hope that gives the gullible viewer some sort of false sense of security that, if such modern day Gladiator games ever should be revived, there is this chance of getting around its final outcome, and escape certain death. That is, apart from winning a sufficient number of races to qualify for release into the public, if you are cunning, daring and lucky enough you might just be able to escape into freedom and live a peaceful life afterwards. Should these kind of sadistic and essentially inhumane games ever become a reality I would not bet my two cents on the possibility that whoever are the creative minds behind them leave open any systemic glitches ready to be exploited by the exploited (i.e. the incarcerated).

References:

1. World Prison Population List (fourth edition) (2003)
2. Prison Privatization: Recent Developments in the United States (2000)
3. 'How far can you bounce?': The extraordinary taunts of sick ghouls who jeered as a teenager leapt to his death (2008)
4. Americans starting to implant RFID chips in humans (2006)
   

5. NOW on PBS 419 Prisons for Profit
   [googlevideo=http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-461339317435460598&hl=nl]

6. War on Drugs (The Prison Industrial Complex) (1999)
   [googlevideo=http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=864268000924014458&hl=nl]

7. 
   Death Race 2000 (the original of 1975)
   
   In the year 2000 the United States has been destroyed by a financial crisis and a military coup. Political parties have collapsed into a single Bipartisan Party, which also fulfills the religious functions of a unified church and state. The resulting fascist police state, the United Provinces, is headed by the cult figure "Mr President" (Sandy McCallum). The people are kept satisfied through a stream of gory gladiatorial entertainment, which includes the bloody spectacle the Transcontinental Road Race, depicted as a symbol of American values and way of life.

   The race is held in three segments from east coast to west, and scored both by traditional methods of timed checkpoints, and also by the fatalities ("scores") achieved by the drivers, including spectators, drivers and race crew. Scoring is 10 points for women of child-bearing age, 40 for teenagers, 70 for children under twelve and 100 for folks over 75. The winner of the race is the one who runs over the most pedestrians rather than the first to cross the finish line.[2] The cars are equipped to kill, bearing anti-personnel weaponry ranging from blades to rockets, and the drivers and their cars are themed in a manner reminiscent of the Hanna-Barbera animated series Wacky Races of the late 1960s.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Race_2000

Victoria Memorial

Last Sunday, Tim and I participated in the London Freewheel, the second largest cycling event in Europe. It was one of those things I always considered doing when I lived in London, but never did. The centre of the city was closed to traffic from Buckingham Palace to the Tower of London.

Minor setback: I didn’t have a bike. I was tasked with making enquiries about renting one, but I forgot. Crap, isn’t it? A writer, and the best excuse I can come up with is: I forgot. At least it’s the truth, which in this instance I will now attempt to present as ‘refreshing’.

The day before the event, Tim stood outside talking to his neighbour. Michael was attired in t-shirt and a spectacularly unflattering pair of cycle shorts. I mean, really. The Stretchy Lycra Brigade talk about cycling shorts being padded and comfortable, as if that is a valid excuse for wearing them.

ANYWAY, I didn’t fail to notice that Michael was propped against a mountain bike, so after spending some time getting acquainted, I asked if I could borrow it.

“Hi, I’m Niamh.”

“Michael-”

“Nice to meet you. HEY, any chance I could borrow your bike tomorrow?”

“Errr, I suppose. What was your name again?”

Later, I said to Tim:-

“Michael, nice guy. How long have you known him?”

“Ah, that was the first time we’ve met.”

The day was gorgeous. Tim and I cycled across Clapham Common and picked up our fluorescent bibs and armbands at the corner. Since it was a designated access point, a route to the city had been laid out along back roads. We were in a group of fluorescent people and held up the traffic for miles.

Tim; image courtesy SkySport: thanks a million.

The Brits being British, they turned out in their best suits: Wonder Woman ignored her powers of flight in favour of more conventional transport; there was a gladiator and a couple of bears; some bicycles featured bunting and foliage.

Image courtesy SkySport: thanks again.

After cycling three quarters of an hour, we came through a pair of ornate gates, beside which stood a huge fountain. A couple of bronze statues reclined on the bottom, overlooked by a couple of bland, marble figures, topped by a gold figure frozen on the brink of a suicide leap.

“What is this?” I asked Tim.

He looked at me in horror: “It’s BUCKINGHAM PALACE,” he said, appalled.

Indeed, when I looked back over my left shoulder, there was a queen-sized structure.

“You might not recognise it,” continued Tim, “it’s only the most famous landmark in Britain.”

“I thought that was London Bridge?”

We cycled down The Mall to Trafalgar Square, down Northumberland Avenue to Embankment and all the way along to London Bridge and the Tower of London. It was a unique way to view all the major sights of the city: Whitehall, Nelson's Column, St Paul's Cathedral, The Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.

On the route back, Tim and I stopped in St James’s Park for 99s and spent time with a few of the 50,000 cyclists that took part.

St James’s Park

London Eye, from the park

Admiralty Arch

Onlooker

Requiem for a Dream

Do the Right Thing

Jungle Fever

Malcolm X

The Hurricane

Antwone Fisher

Man on Fire

Identity

Full Metal Jacket

Irréversible

Gladiator

A Beautiful Mind

Cinderella Man

What Dreams May Come

Good Will Hunting

300

Hate

The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Game
Forrest Gump

City of God

The Color Purple

Schindler's List

The Shawshank Redemption
Smoking/No Smoking

Le Grand bleu
Nikita
Léon

Walk on Water

An Inconvenient Truth

Fahrenheit 9/11
Sicko
The Big One
Bowling for Columbine

Bigger Stronger Faster

Ghost in the Shell
Princess Mononoke
Ice Age
Ice Age: The Meltdown

...

Taken from Wikipedia, "In sports, a farm team, feeder team or nursery club, generally refers to a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher level at a given point. This system can be implemented in many ways, both formally and informally."

There are a couple of key things to take away from that summary... 'experience and training' / 'moving on to a higher level.'

In reflecting on my career, the different companies I've worked for, the roles I've filled, my skills, the projects I've worked on, my successes, my missteps, and how I've grown personally and professionally, I realize this... I am a major league player.  I may not have hall of fame numbers, but I'm damn sure a big league player.  In my almost 4 weeks here I have seen some pretty phenomenal examples of everything in this environment.

Git Yo' Damn Job Done!

These are the words of "The Playmaker", Michael Irvin, former Dallas Cowboys Wide Receiver.  Michael Irvin was great because he was hungry.  He wasn't going to let anyone out work him.  So, when game time came around, Irvin would fire up his team with raging emotion.  Everyone had an assignment.  Everyone had a role in helping the team win.  GIT YO' DAMN JOB DONE!

Are You Not Entertained?  ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?  Is This Not Why You Are Here?

Yeah, the work is hard, it demands a lot, and things don't always go the way we want. "Did you really come to Europe to be miserable each day?  If this place, or if things suck so much, just go home.  You can go back home, where everything is familiar.  You can bitch and be miserable with all the comforts of home.  You can sleep in your own bed, drive a car, and be around your friends and family.  Why come to Europe to bitch and be miserable?  Why turn your life upside down and make so many sacrifices to bitch and be miserable?"

I Didn't Come Here For This Sh... Shut Yo' Mouth!

I accepted this opportunity because I was bored... sigh.  Boredom, and doing things out of boredom, is usually when I get myself into trouble.  Well... once again I have found just the right formula to get myself into trouble.  After yet another one year stint at a job, I was left without any motivation or fire to perform at a high level in a new job.  So, this job, and the opportunity to come to Europe, seemed liked the perfect remedy for my flame out.

I knew coming here would require some serious sacrifice, and would be full of challenges.  But, that's what I wanted.  I wanted to get a different look at things.  I really thought that was the answer.

Admittedly, I had some doubts going into it.  But, I figured that I could suck it up for one year.  I assumed that there couldn't possibly be anything that would come my way that I couldn't deal with or overcome.  I should have acted based on my doubts.

I came here to work hard, do what I do best, and have a great living and travel experience in Europe while doing it.  That's my mantra.  I was armed to obliterate anything that could possibly get in the way of that.  I did not come here for this shit... point blank.  I'd much rather live in my lovely home, drive my great car, and be close to friends and family, than deal with this.  I did not have to come to a foreign country to deal in these types of conditions.

People tell me there's always going to BS at any job and in any situation.  I have to learn to accept that.  Not everything is black and white.  Not everyone is a 'bottom line' type of person.

A co-worker told me not to let the people I deal with on a day-to-day basis run me off.  Oh no, they're not running me off. If I got agitated enough I'd gladly face off with my irritant / annoyance to set things straight.  But, this isn't about being irritated and annoyed.  This is about things falling short of expectations.  I've got better things to do with the next year of my life than stay in a situation I'm not satisfied with.  As I told a Director I reported to at The Home Depot, "I've been in the game too long for this."  I then proceeded to verbally tee off on him for handing me some garbage.  This situation will be no different.

One Way Ticket Back Home

I have a one way ticket back to ATL.  It's obviously for good reason.  Gas up Air Force One.  I'm going home.  Oh, keep an eye out for any job openings for me.  It's kind of hard to find a job from across the ocean.  See you soon, friends.

Red and purple heel with bow, Karen Millen, £120

Gladiator Sandal in Bronze, Oasis, £30

Black shoe with details, Asos, £30

Το Gladiator που αποτελεί και τη μικρότερη σε μέγεθος ψύκτρα από τις δυο, διαθέτει ανεμιστήρα 92mm που περιστρέφεται από 1200 έως 2800 στροφές το λεπτό. Ο παραγόμενος θόρυβος κυμαίνεται από 19,6 έως 26,4dBA (δυνατότητα ρύθμισης μέσω PWM controller). Το βάρος του OCZ Gladiator είναι 510gr ενώ οι διαστάσεις του είναι 3,17 x 92 x 140,2mm.

Το Gladiator Max από την άλλη ζυγίζει 740gr και έχει διαστάσεις 63 x 120 x 165mm ενώ ενσωματώνει ανεμιστήρα 120mm που περιστρέφεται με ταχύτητα από 800 έως 1500 στροφές το λεπτό. Τα επίπεδα του παραγόμενου θορύβου κυμαίνονται ανάμεσα σε 19,6 και 26,4dBA.

Και τα δυο νέα CPU coolers της OCZ διαθέτουν αλουμινένιο "σώμα" και πτερύγια και τέσσερα χάλκινα heatpipes που όπως αναφέραμε έρχονται σε απευθείας επαφή με το heatspreader του επεξεργαστή χάρη στην τεχνολογία HDT. Είναι συμβατά με τα sockets 754, 755, 939, 940, AM2, AM2+ της AMD καθώς και με το socket LGA775 της Intel.

10,000 B.C.
Yang pertama 10.000 B.C. Sutradara Roland Emmerich ituh emang suka main fakta kali ya (misal: mengirimkan virus komputer lewat Macintosh untuk membunuh alien di film Independence Day). Jadi dengan sangat berat hati kami menginformasikan bahwa para mammoth bukanlah alat untuk membuat piramid. Lagian, mammoth nggak hidup di padang pasir. Buat apa rambut tebal kalau harus tinggal di tempat begituan? Dan... jaman begono belum ada piramid, seenggaknya sampai 2.500 SM atau lebih.

Gladiator
Kaisar Commodus sama sekali bukan sister-complex seperti yang digambarkan dalam film. Alkoholik yang kejam, benar juga sih, tapi enggak secengeng itu. Dia bahkan mampu memerintah lebih dari satu dekade dan bukan hanya beberapa bulan aja. Dia juga nggak membunuh ayahnya sendiri, Marcus Aurelius, yang aslinya wafat karena penyakit cacar. Dan terakhir, alih-alih dibunuh di arena gladiator, Commodus sebenarnya dieksekusi di kamar mandinya sendiri.

300
Walaupun film ini mengambil latar berdasarkan kejadian nyata yaitu Battle of Thermopylae, film ini kebablasan dalam berkreasi dengan stylenya. Yang paling keliatan adalah si Raja Persia Xerxes nggak setinggi 8 kaki seperti yang digambarkan oleh Cirque du Soleil. Lalu konsul di Sparta hanya boleh diikuti oleh orang yang berusia 60 tahun lebih, dan nggak ada satupun orang seperti Theron yang diperankan oleh Dominic West yang berusia 37 tahun. Dan para pejuang Sparta pergi ke medan perang dengan menggunakan baju besi, bukan hanya celana dalam seksi dari kulit.

The Last Samurai
Orang jepang di akhir abad 19 tidak menggunakan tenaga dari luar negeri untuk memodernisasikan militer mereka. Kalaupun iya, kebanyakan adalah orang Perancis, bukan Amerika. Karakter Ken Watanabe diambil dari orang bernama Saigo Takamori yang mati karena melakukan bunuh diri, atau "seppuku," karena menderita kekalahan dan bukannya mati karena dibredel peluru. Lagian, diragukan sekali bahwa seorang veteran perang pemabuk berusia 40an, bahkan yang punya ramput indah pun, bisa menguasai sumpit dan pedang samurai seahli itu.

Apocalypto
Film ini telah berhasil membuat migrain departemen Antropologi. Memang benar suku Maya mengorbankan manusia untuk upacara tapi bukan untuk Kulkulkan, si dewa matahari, dan hanya petinggi-petinggi yang diambil dalam perang saja yang dibunuh. Para penginvasi yang datang pada akhir movie seperti pahlawan kesiangan aja, karena 90% dari penduduk Amerika asli meninggal karena cacar yang ditularkan dari babi Spanyol yang terinfeksi.

Memoirs of a Geisha
Kedewasaan geisha, atau "mizuage," hanyalah sebuah perubahan penampilan, dimana ia merubah tata rambut dan pakaiannya. Proses ini tidak melibatkan geisha jadi lebih intim dengan pelanggannya. Dalam sebuah adegan klimaks dimana Sayuri menyuguhkan tarian megah pada para penonton, settingnya - seperti sepatu berhak, salju buatan, dan lampu-lampu aneh - lebih kelihatan seperti Sutudio 54 daripada Kyoto sebelum masa perang.

Braveheart
Mari lupakan sejenak bahwa kilt -semacam rok tradisional Skotlandia- belum digunakan sampai kira-kira 300 tahun setelah William Wallace. Menurut film ini, pesona dari mata biru Wallace saat perang Falkirk sangat powerful, dia berselingkuh dengan istri raja Edward II, yaitu Isabella dari Perancis, dan menghasilkan Edward II dari hubungan itu. Tapi berdasarkan buku-buku sejarah, Isabella baru berumur 3 tahun pada saar perang terjadi, dan Edward II baru lahir 7 tahun setelah kematian Wallace.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Pada 1585, menurut settingan film ini, Ratu Elizabeth berusia 52 tahun - Cate Blanchett baru berumur 36 pada waktu main - dan ia tidak dilamar oleh orang sepeti Ivan the Terrible (yang sudah mati pada jaman itu). Dan walaupun dalam movie dia digambarkan sedang menggiring tentaranya ke Tilbury dengan menunggang kuda putih dan dilengkapi dengan baju besi lengkap dengan pedangnya, pada kenyataannya sang Ratu hanya bisa menunggang dengan posisi menyamping dan membawa tongkat kecil. Dia lebih seperti mayoret daripada menyerupai image Joan of Arc.

The Patriot
Figur perang revolusi Francis Marion, peran dari Mel Gibson, bukanlah orang yang berpikiran jauh ke depan demi keluarganya seperti yang digambarkan dalam film. Dia adalah pemilik budak yang tidak menikah (dengan sepupunya) sampai perang usai. Para sejarahwan juga mengatakan bahwa ia sering membunuh Indian Cherokee. Ditambah lagi, di perang Guilford Court House dia berhasil membunuh musuh bebuyutannya dari Inggris? Yang bener aja, bangsa Amerika sebenarnya kalah dalam perang itu.

2001: A Space Odyssey
Menurut film ini, pada tahun 2001 manusia sudah berhasil melakukan perjalanan ke Jupiter, debat kecerdasan dengan computer, dan lompatan kuantum di evolusi manusia. Alih-alih, kita malah dapat Stasiun Luar Angkasa MIR jatuh dari langit, Windows XP, dan Freddy Got Fingered. Kelihatannya pelajaran yang kita dapat dari sini adalah kadangkala jauh lebih baik kalau semua hal di film itu benar-benar tidak terjadi.

Score Playlist

Originally uploaded by Arjay Arceo

Listening to my score play list.

Love it.

Listen.

The Gladiator Soundtrack and Collateral Soundtrack.

What is Rome exactly? Is it a giant empire? Is it an ideal? Is it a sign of how a nation can rise and fall? Is it an example of how corrupt men can bring down an entire empire made up of millions of people and multiple countries?

            All of these questions are examined in some form or another in the 2000 historical fiction epic Gladiator.

            The film follows the story of Maximus (Russell Crowe, Cinderella Man), a Roman general who is a confidant of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris, The Count of Monte Cristo). It begins on the battlefields of Germania, where Maximus leads the Roman army to a glorious victory. The emperor watches and commends Maximus on his success. Soon the emperor’s son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line) and daughter Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) arrive. Commodus has an incestuous lust for his sister and a desire for his father’s throne. The night before Maximus is supposed to go home, Commodus strangles his father and thereby assumes the title of emperor. He arranges for the murder of Maximus’ family and also finds a way for Maximus to be captured and put into slavery. Soon, Maximus is a crowd-pleasing gladiator fighting alongside fellow captives (including Djimon Hnounsou, Blood Diamond). Commodus decides to hold a festival of games in memory of his father, so Maximus is sent to Rome to fight against the tyranny of the man who killed his dearest friend.

            The first thing that sticks out from Gladiator is the remarkable CGI recreations of the great city of Rome, which are supposedly pretty accurate. The Colosseum was recreated physically about 1/3 of the way while the rest is CGI. The epic shot of Commodus arriving in Rome being greeted by members of the Senate is, well, epic.

            The acting on the part of Joaquin Phoenix is absolutely brilliant. It was a completely different role that in Walk the Line. Now he is a cruel tyrant, dominating an empire with an iron fist while attempting to coerce his sister into, ugh. Nasty son of a man.

            Russell Crowe did receive an Academy Award for his part in this film. And I question the Academy’s decision. It seems to me that he is nothing spectacular in Gladiator. Yes, he is good, but not necessarily worthy of an Oscar. Now, maybe for Cinderella Man, I could see it happening (by the way, Paul Giamatti should have won Best Supporting Actor for that).

            The rest of the film was stunning. The fight scenes were excellent, the CGI fantastic, and the acting stunning. I like this film and think it is very well done.

Grade: A-

     

Nacido en la ciudad irlandesa de Limerick, el 1 de octubre de 1933, Richard St John Harris, fue el hijo mayor de los nueve que tuvieron el matrimonio formado por Ivan Harris y Mildred Harty. Su padre era comerciante de harinas.

Realizó sus estudios en un colegio religioso de la orden de los jesuitas, el Crescent College. Destacó durante aquella etapa como jugador de rugby, y su futuro se preveía como estrella de este deporte, pero al enfermar de tuberculosis, tuvo que abandonar totalmente el deporte.

Después de recuperarse totalmente de la enfermedad, Harris decidió trasladarse a Londres. Su vocación estaba dirigida a la dirección teatral. No encontró cursos en los que matricularse relacionados con esa profesión, y tuvo que hacerlo en lo más relacionado, la interpretación. Se apuntó a clases en la Academia de Música y arte dramático de Londres, y un tiempo después, cuando todavía era estudiante, alquiló el Teatro Irving del West End, para producir y dirigir por cuenta propia, la obra de Clifford Odets, “Winter Journey” (“The Country Girl”). Tuvo un gran éxito con ella, pero al acabarse la financiación, Harris tuvo que dar por terminado el proyecto.

Completados sus estudios, se unió a la compañía de Joan Littlewoody, y comenzó a actuar en representaciones de las producciones del West End. Una de las mas destacadas de ellas, fue “The Quare Fellow”, de 1956.

Hizo su debut en el cine en 1958, en la película “Alive and Kicking”, y al año siguiente trabajó con el por entonces director de prestigio, Michael Anderson, en “Misterio en el barco perdido”.

Comenzó con buen pié los años 60, al participar en producciones importantes como “Los cañones de Navarone” (1961), o “Rebelión a bordo”, del siguiente año, en las que ya había conseguido papeles de relevancia, y estableciendo, sobre todo en esta última, un duelo interpretativo con dos grandes figuras del cine que figuraban en el reparto: Marlon Brando y Trewor Howard.

Su primer papel como protagonista lo realizó en “El ingenuo salvaje” (1963), dirigida por Lindsay Anderson, en la que su interpretación de el minero estrella del rugby Frank Machin, le valió el reconocimiento del jurado del festival de Cannes, en el que fue galardonado con la Palma de Oro al mejor actor. También su trabajo mereció una nominación en los premios Oscar de aquel año, en la misma categoría.

Su siguiente trabajo fue bajo la dirección de Sam Peckinpah, en una de sus mejores obras, “Mayor Dundee” (1965), junto a Charton Heston, en la que interpreta a un inmigrante irlandés que combate durante la Guerra de Secesión.

En 1966 interpretó a Caín en “La Biblia”, de Jhon Huston.

Después de estos papeles, el espectador comenzó a esperar los estrenos de las películas en las que participaba, y las productoras y directores contaban cada vez mas con el.

En 1968, su interpretación del Rey Arturo en el film musical de Joshua Logan “Camelot”, en la que su voz como cantante se escuchaba por primera vez, recibió otra excelente acogida por parte del público.

Esa nueva faceta de cantante, descubierta a través de este film, le abrió un nuevo campo, y aunque no muy conocida en España, si se hizo famosa en otros países, en los que sus discos han sido muy valorados y esperados con expectación. Una de sus canciones más escuchadas fue "Mac Arthur Park", de su álbum "A Tramp Shining".

En 1970 trabajó junto a Sean Connery en “Odio en las entrañas”, de Martin Ritt, en “Cromwell”, de Ken Hughes, y en el título que le daría verdadera fama mundial, y por el que pasaría a ser verdaderamente reconocido : “Un hombre llamado caballo”, de Elliot Silverstein, en el que daba vida a Jhon Morgan, un aristócrata inglés, secuestrado por una tribu india.

A esa década pertenecen también títulos como, “El hombre de una tierra salvaje”(1971), “Robin y Marian”(1976), “El puente de Cassandra”(1976 “Orca, la ballena asesina” (1977) o “Patos salvajes”(1978), que ya iban marcando un cierto declive en su carrera, que se remarcó en la siguiente década.

En 1971 había hecho su primera y única incursión en el campo de la realización, dirigiendo “Bloomfield”, que obtuvo discretas críticas.

En los 80, su afición al alcohol y las drogas, junto con la mala elección de sus papeles, hizo que su fama como actor disminuyera.

En 1990 se le ofreció un papel en “El prado”, de Jim Sheridan, por el que conseguiría ser nominado al Globo de Oro y al Oscar al mejor actor. Le siguen en esa década pequeños pero interesantes papeles en “Sin perdón” (1992), de Clint Eastwood, o el western del independiente Sam Shepard, “Lengua silenciosa” (1994), en el que interpretaba al padre de River Fénix, este, en su último papel para la pantalla.

Ya en este milenio, el año 2000, hace una excelente interpretación de Marco Aurelio en “Gladiator”, de Ridley Scott.

En 2001, le ofrecen el papel por el que será más conocido por la nueva generación de espectadores, el de el profesor Albus Dumbledore, en “Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal” (2001), papel que repite en la nueva entrega del personaje que da título a la película, esta vez titulada: “Harry Potter y la cámara secreta” (2002), que no llegaría a ver estrenada, pues su estreno se realizó un mes despues de su fallecimiento. Ese mismo año había trabajado también en una nueva adaptación de “El Conde de Montecristo”, la obra de Dumas, y en “My kingdom”, exhibida por primera vez el 25 de abril de 2003, seis meses después de su muerte.

Harris, que no siguió las pautas en su forma de actuar, de la mayoría de los actores nacidos de las academias británicas, se caracterizó, sobre todo en su primera etapa, por su histrionismo a la hora de interpretar.

El alcohol y las drogas afectaron a Harris durante toda su vida, acelerando su envejecimiento,  llevándolo a crisis económicas importantes en dos ocasiones, e influyeron en que se alejara del cine durante años. Incluso al final de su vida afectaban a su trabajo, y según sus propias declaraciones, pusieron en peligro su participación en la saga de “Harry Potter”.

Mujeriego empedernido, y reconociéndose a sí mismo como “el peor marido del mundo”, estuvo casado en dos ocasiones. De su primer matrimonio (1957-1969), con Elizabeth Rees-Williams, tuvo tres hijos. De su segunda mujer se divorcio en 1982.

Falleció el 25 de octubre de 2002, a causa de la enfermedad de Hodgkin (un tipo de cáncer), en el hospital University College de Londres. Tenía 72 años.

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Para ver su filmografía completa, pincha aquí

Swanson 

300 - The graphic adaptation of the Frank Miller novel, 300 must be the quintessential testosterone movie! Retelling the Spartans' improbable Battle of Thermopylae, this movie is about pure and unadulterated violence. Thousands amongst thousands of men, magicians, and exotic beasts fight to the death. Ahh Woo!

Gladiator (1992) - If you were thinking about Russell Crowe's Roman saga, that is NOT the movie we are referring to. This 1992 feature film is the story of 2 teenagers from the mean streets of south side Chicago who are trapped in the gritty, dirty world of underground boxing. One fights to get his father out of danger related to illegal gambling debt. The other fights for the money needed to get out of the ghetto. And in the end, they are pitted against each other for an explosive ending. Easily one of the more underrated movies of our lifetime.

Any Given Sunday - Oliver Stone paints a masterful depiction of life in professional football. What really gets me about this film is Al Pacino's halftime speech for the biggest game of his teams' year. Adversity, a willingness to fight against impossible odds, and coming to grips with your own limitations - If you're ever been a competitor, this movie will undoubtedly fire you you up!

The Program - Much like 'Any Given Sunday' this 1992 film is also about the football world, this time delving into the dirty underbelly of college football. From being expected to make the bowl game to drug & alcohol abuse, this movie lets you see what it's like for these characters to deal with the adversity of college life. Pressure surrounds them. Competition divides them. Glory unites them.

Fight Club - A lonely, remote thirty-something young professional seeks an escape from his ordinary life with the help of an underground fight club. In this club, boxing matches and harmless pranks soon lead to an out-of-control spiral towards oblivion. Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club takes the audience into a world that finds discomfort with consumerism and changes in the state of masculinity in American culture, and throws violence around as if it is the problem solver.

Equilibrium - Set in a very fascist futuristic world, one guy, played by Christian Bale, turns against the establishment and fights the resistence neo-kung-fu style to overturn the regime.

Braveheart - In this period film, you will see lots of blood! Mel Gibson is a Scottish patriot, doesn't like the authority that rules his land, and takes matters into his own hands as he and his mob of rebels fight back against the English with everything from pitchforks to giant swords!

The Matrix - Who doesn't know about the Matrix... In this futuristic film an ordinary man gets awakened from his 9-5 life of servitude to the reality that the world is not what he thought it was. From then on, "Neo" learns how to fight all from downloaded information directly into his brain. "I know Jujitsu" .... damn Neo, it took me four years to learn a quarter of what you did in ten minutes.

Flash Point - Quite possibly the best MMA-adapted kung fu movie of ALL time, this movie is about an agent who battles against the powerful forces of a powerful Vietnamese gang. Donnie Yen, who plays the protagonist, says that the final fight sequence was the hardest scene he has ever had to shoot in his lifetime. You have got to see it to believe it. (HINT: It's on YouTube)

Absolutley gorgeous turquoise pumps from the 1950's. Suede and leather... incredible details on this shoe. Marked a 7.5, maybe you will be the extremely lucky winner of this pair.

How hot is the back of this shoe!?! Black and white fish scale look. LOVE IT.

Scorching hot styling of rouched red patent leather on black suede and a high heel... for a dangerous woman.

I love aqua shoes. I can't help it. Its one of my favorite colors. Aqua leather + cute cutouts and peep-toes = adorable.

Cute chunky spectator pumps in perfect nuetrals. Chic and trendy-looking at the same time, likely to look good for the long run.

This shoe is for real punk fashionista, not wannabees. I love tough fashions but I'm still too girly for these. I know there are girls who can wear this shoe well without letting the rest of the outfit go too far. This much skull hardware makes these quite special.

I never get tired of a bright multi-colored pump. They're just so entertaining to see. And how about the cool angle this ebay seller gives us on the shoe?

I recently discovered Rihanna wearing what cannot even be construed as bad taste, Gladiator sandals are all the rage, but this sort of things just cries.. well it cries, 'i wanna go to my Mommy!' extremely disturbng they be.. :s

These shoes were designed by Balenciaga, and cost $12000. Frankly, these look like the love child of a henchman in Julius Caesar's army and Andy Warhol's art on a dull day, probabbly procreated in an S&M session.

I digress, Gladiator heels are a risk, you cant just risk wearing them in any style.

1. These are actually inspired from the Gladiators, or if you take a closer look at Roman shoes of eons back you will be able to see the similarities.

See the similarities? (btw, this is a shot from an actual Roman Bath House in York, UK. you should visit and check it out!)

So coming back to the Rules of Gladiator Sandals

1. They shouldnt be above the ankle (it ruins the whole point, these are inspired from the gladiators, not from an Odyssey in space.

2. heels, c'mon. Wearing a Gladiator sandal with heels makes u as credible a fashion diva as Dina Lohan is considered a good mother.

Oddly named the "Jake" Multi strap shoe, this is one heel you will be able to bear out the day with since it's only an inch and a half high.  Just think...these shoes with some amethyst tights? You're in business instantly.

"Jake" heel; £55.00 at Topshop