I was maybe ten minutes into Charlie Wilson's War when I had the thought: This has Aaron Sorkin all over it. I was SO right.

I love Sorkin's work. I know a lot of people feel he's too smart for his own good, but I think his expertise about politics and ability to get inside the characters' heads really worked well. I would have to do some more reading to know exactly how much of the movie is conveyed truthfully to how it actually happened, but I know there is only so far you can go until it stops being good theater.

But the details begin to not matter so much, when you think about what the movie really means. For those of you who don't plan to see it (or just don't know about it), Charlie Wilson's War is based on real events and real people. Charlie Wilson is a former Congressman for the Texas 2nd. His district didn't have much to demand of him, so he was in a perfect position to earn favors and develop all the right connections to get something done when he needed to. He served in Congress during the latter part of the Cold War.

The movie takes place during the 1980's, when Afghanistan had been invaded by the Soviets. The danger of this invasion was brought to Wilson's (Tom Hanks) attention by rich activist Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), a determined CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and a strategic visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is largely credited for leading the Appropriations Committee to lay down $1 billion worth of covert operations in the region.

I can see why this movie's been nominated for so many awards. It's not only clever and well done, but conveys an important message. Yes, the characters are complex and the acting is wonderful, the cinematography and costumes and sets are great...but that's not what it's about. It is as much about the US political process as it is about how we beat back the Soviets in the Mideast two decades ago.

It is about how Congress spent so much money to supply the Afghans anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry, trained them, gave them hope, genuinely sought to aid these ailing people in a humanitarian sense...and then refused to spend another $1 million to rebuild their schools, to provide infrastructure. The part of this that the movie leaves unsaid, of course, is that this lack of infrastructure is what caused the Afghanis to turn to the Taliban for help. And I think anyone who's been around much in the last 7 years understand where that went.

The movie ends with a quote from Wilson, "These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world. Then we fucked up the endgame." The US did a good thing in going to help Afghanistan back then. The Soviets were doing terrible things to them. With a bit more investment, we might have made an Arab ally in the mideast (one, I might point out, we sorely need at the moment). But the public largely didn't know the extent of the covert operation, and Congress wasn't willing to authorize another penny after the Soviets were out of the picture. The Taliban promised to educate the children - and at the time, something like 2/3 of the country's population was under the age of 14.

I think the film, by the nature of its story, portrays an unflattering portrait of the American legal process. Not that I would go so far as to say it is offensive or un-American. I really hope that no one reads that far into it...and if they are, I'd say it's a fair bet that it's due to Sorkin's reputation as a scumbag druggie Hollywood liberal. But I think the point of the movie is much more neutral in its political message: It may be easier in our minds to hit hard, and fast, and then leave everyone to do what they will...but it's not in their best interest, or in ours. The enemy of our enemy is only our friend if we make friendly gestures.

A person who is in any way insightful can't help but wonder what is in store for current US operations in the region. Yes, our country's actions of late have been far from covert, but the same basic principles still apply. After we pulled out of Afghanistan in 2001, the country was doing very well for a while, until they realized they lacked real economic support, and the Taliban came creeping back in. The same could happen in Iraq, whose citizens are less fond of us than even the Afghanis.

I think it's also true what the movie says about involving religion in a conflict of this type. The problem with having God on your side is that, inevitably, God will end up on BOTH sides. That is a dangerous game to play, and in the current global mentality shows few signs of moving away from it. All of this is a bit troubling, and I can only hope that the people who have all the influence, intelligence and resources are as aware of the danger...and wish they would make a self-sacrificing gesture and admit it.

==================

We also saw a preview for Valkyrie, a movie about the plot by Nazi officers on Hitler's life. Tom Cruise is playing the ringleader, Col. Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, to whom he bares more than a slight physical resemblance (which the real von Stauffenberg's family isn't terribly fond of, apparently XD).

Maybe I am just making this connection out of thin air because I've been writing FMA again, but if you read over the biography, you'll see that von Stauffenberg lost missing his left eye. That's the same eye Roy lost, and Roy also attempted to assassinate the Fuhrer. Differences in the details persist, but still... since I know for a fact that FMA is full of blatant Nazi Germany references (as well as Vietnam, WWI, Gulf War, Iraq, Iran-Contra, etc.), I can't help but make that little leap of logic.

Must suppress fandom. Must find stick to beat back fandom. Torches. Pichforks. EEK GONNA EAT ME~

No sleep tonight. Too many ideas. Must write.

*nods to* THIS

Also thanks to this conversation:


Caelan: *looks down at note sheet, which is still blank*
Caelan: If I were a superhero, my weakness would be procrastination...
Me: "What? A building's on fire? Twenty people trapped? Aw, I'll do it later..."
Commissioner X: *gurgle, flail*
Lene: "alright, alright. I'll go save them after I write some ankles*"
Caelan: "Aw, I'll write ankles later."
Lene: lol
Caelan: Yeah, it's so stupid. Even if I want to goof off it takes me forever to, for instance, reach up and turn on the PS2. Like, why on earth would I wait?
Lene: XD
Caelan: Nobody knows, for I am...
Caelan: THE PROCRASTINATORRRR

*note: ankles secret reference word to...something pretty obvious, if you were on the fm_alchemist forum when chapter 56 came out.

You are ROYKITTY, they are selective and
tempermental. They are great mischief makers
and can be troublesome if not properly treated.
However, often times their idea of 'proper
treatment' involves major spoiling. Be warned
if you own a home business of do a lot of work
while at home you may have to explain to your
boss that your cat ate your homework. True as
it may be, it won't work.


Which FMA Kitty Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

mmm...fire...

Working on a new royai project, this one is very angsty. It's all written in segments right now, but I have a teaser ready. So here goes:

Title: The Hawkeye Legacy (segment of Bringing Down the Horse)
Characters: Roy, Riza, Riza's father
Setting: Central, 2 years after Roy and Riza meet in Ishbal.
Synopsis: The Hawkeye family has always had strong men in military roles, but General Bastille Hawkeye never had a son. Riza has felt the pressure to be more than she is capable of -- namely, the opposite sex. That pressure has been the cause of so many father-daughter battles, but the last straw comes when the General confronts the last aspect of Riza's life that keeps her identity in perspective.

(Note: this story breaks from AMA, since we've learned in the manga that Riza is in fact not adopted, etc., and that her family has a strong military background. I want to go back and change AMA, as soon as I come up with a non-obtrusive way to do that. I am not the type that likes to break with the genuine character.)

( Go here )
-------------------------------------------

So what happens next? *Evil laugh*

...I haven't written that far yet.

And I have a physics midterm tomorrow, so you'll all have to wait.

*gasp...wheeze*

FINALLY! I FINALLY found a single figure, color, not in set. I was on that bitch like my dogs on fresh crap.

eBay INSANITY

This completes my figure set. I am a happy otaku. Thank you, lady from Tazmania. You rock. *smoochies*

Also:


You are a Samurai.
You are full of honour and value respect. You
are not really the stereotypical hero, but you
do fight for good. Just in your own way. For
you, it is most certainly okay to kill an evil
person, if it is for justice and peace. You
also don't belive in mourning all the time and
think that once you've hit a bad stage in life
you just have to get up again. It's pointless
to concentrate on emotional pain and better to
just get on with everything. You also are a
down to earth type of person and think before
you act. Impulsive people may annoy you
somewhat.

Main weapon: Sword
Quote: "Always do the right thing.
This will gratify some people and astonish the
rest" -Mark Twain
Facial expression: Small smile


What Type of Killer Are You? [cool pictures]
brought to you by Quizilla

1. Reply with your name and I will write something random about you.
2. I will then tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I will pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
4. I will say something that only makes sense to you and me. Or try to.
5. I will tell you my first memory of you.
6. I will tell you what color you remind me of.
7. I'll then ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your LJ (and be prepared to answer the question I ask in #7).

Ganked from moochiearisha. Answer to your question:

This is a long answer, but basically...

It's hard to say exactly why I like Fullmetal Alchemist so much. Maybe it drew so many parallels with what's happenning in Iraq right now that it wrenched my heart (I mean, holy cow you know how much I hate what's going on over there). It's supposed to more closely resemble WWII--the era, clothing style, architecture, trains, phones and stuff all match. There's strong military-industrial-political-machine-type criticism, if you know where to look. There's also a hugely strong humanitarian message: waging wars based on ethnicity and religion is immoral, and we pay with human lives. It also points out that no matter how much you want the world to have an equal-exchange way of working, nothing ever works that way. You can try to govern nature and human behavior, but such things are slippery and hard to pin down. We so often deal in idealisms and fantasy that we forget to be cautious, and in the process terrible things can happen. It's a good message. A bit depressing, but important to remember.

Also, Roy is sarcastic and smexy. If I had a choice between you and him, it'd be tough.

Hawkeye: *in civilian clothing (dress jacket, skirt and glasses, hair down) is walking down the street* -Car drives by and splashes her-
-Car stops and Roy gets out-
Roy: I'm so terribly sorry miss. Please allow me to pay for the cleaning. In fact, I'm so sorry I'm going to    offer you a ride in apology. (commentary by Dragonkazul:and the fact that the animation quality was such that you could tell he was trying not to bust up while giving that spiel about "oh, I'm sorry miss, I'll take you wherever you need to go, I really have never seen you before, this is totally incognito, hehehe, I'm the smartest cleverest guy ever, this is awesome")
Hawkeye: *gives him dirty look* I suppose that's acceptable
-they get in car-
Roy: *Laughing his ass off*
Hawkeye: What's so funny? Do you find anything funny, Major?
Armstrong: Nope
-they arrive at the base-
Roy: *still giggling*
Hawkeye: STOP GIGGLING COLONEL!

XD <333333

((As you may have guessed, I've been playing FMA and The Broken Angel. The gameplay can be cumbersome, and the environments feel cramped...but it's ok. I'll play anything with Royai.))

PS. Why is it that Squaresoft can do Royai in the games, but Bones refuses to appease the heaving masses and put some in the movie? grrrrr

Need translation, onegaishimasu!

Can get the hiragana, but the kanji throws me >_<<

So, finally dug out my camera's USB cable and took some photos of the cross stitch. I can't believe how many people have been pestering me about it O.o It might be close to done before I go back to school, but I'm working on another pattern for my mom which is going to take A LOT of time.

( cut for prettiness )

I've been giggling about it all morning.

I found a Washington Post article today talking about the decline of the Red Delicious apple, which as most of us know doesn't taste very delicious anymore. Anyway, the article gave some of the history of the apple:

"Jesse Hiatt, a farmer in Peru, Iowa, was trying to interest nurseries in buying and propagating a seedling he had raised and named the Hawkeye. Clarence Stark bit, so to speak, paid Hiatt for the rights, and then renamed the seedling the Delicious as a marketing ploy."

Hiatt and Hawkeye. Also, Delicious. So many bad, bad Royai thoughts *headdesk*. Anyway, from a quick google I can't find apples associated with any of the other FMA names, last or first. It would have been better, but I think this is good enough. I wonder if that was in any way intentional? XD

Finally revamped my journal with the paid status it deserves. If you're reading this from your friends page, come take a look! Plus, new Royai icons and others. Soon I will finish and get the FMA mood icons, pretty header and background up.

I'm in need of a muse for my Life in the Service fic. Anyone interested?