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My Best Songs 2006 ( A bit late)

“But Pan’s Labrynth is Del Toro’s show, in more senses of the phrase than one. His visual sensibility is in every frame of the film, and the fantasy sequences — mixing practical effects, computer animation and much more — have a terrible, beautiful quality to them, while the scenes in the real world manage to contrast the peace and beauty of nature with the brutal blasts of warfare. Pan’s Labyrinth is not for kids — it’s a bit too bloody and disturbing for that, including one truly terrifying image that Del Toro’s borrowed from Goya’s Saturn Devours His Children — but adult fantasy fans will find it a glorious, gripping feast for the eyes that not only creates stunning images but also has the story and characters to make it penetrate past the visual cortex and linger in that place where you keep nightmares and dreams.”

2) Children of Men

“This is how Children of Men breaks your heart: By showing you a world where the presence of a child is so important that it can end battles because that child must not be hurt. And you imagine if every war were like that — in Iraq, in Chechnya, in Dafur, in our own communities — and you weep because you know that they are not. Wandering the ruined halls of an abandoned school, Miriam observes that it’s ” …Very odd, what happens in a world without children’s voices. …” We have the sound of children’s voices, but do we truly hear them right here and now? Children of Men is full of bravura bravery and technical mastery, but what makes it moving is a rare combinations — an understanding of the life-or-death stakes of modern existence, and an unflinching refusal to look away from the equally terrifying possibilities of our damnation or our deliverance.”

3) Borat

“Like Alexis de Tocqueville did in 1831, Borat’s come to see how the American experiment is working. And, just as in 1831, the journey suggests it’s a bit of a work-in-progress. Borat may be one of the most politically interesting comedies of the past 20 years, just in terms of the breadth and audacity of its ideas. …

Oh, and there’s livestock involved. And jokes about poop. And gratuitous nudity — gratuitous male nudity — and that really dumb joke where you tell someone they’ve just eaten something disgusting after they’ve put it in their mouth. Of course, the ’someone’ in Borat is former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, and the ’something disgusting’ is, in fact, truly disgusting. … Mel Brooks was once told one of his films was vulgar. His response was ” … my film rises below vulgarity.” And so it is with Borat — there’s something here to offend everyone, which is interesting in that it makes you stop and think about what it is you’re actually offended by, and why.”

4) Thank You for Smoking
Similar to last year’s awards show darling Crash, Thank You for Smoking was released in theaters early on in the year. The first few months are normally used by studios as the designated dumping ground for films they don’t have much confidence in. And unless the studio launches a killer ad campaign, decent films released in January through March each year miss the boat when it comes to gathering awards which, in the case of Smoking, is a real shame.

How much do I love Thank You for Smoking? I put Thank You for Smoking on my Top 10 think list back in March and it never got bumped off.

5) United 93
When United 93 was approaching its release on April 28, 2006, the argument kicked into high gear over whether or not it was too early to release a feature film depicting the events of September 11, 2001. With the support of the family members of United 93 victims, Paul Greengrass proved he was right in launching the movie into theaters less than five years after those horrific acts of terrorism. I dare anyone to sit through this beautifully done tribute to the 9/11 victims without shedding a tear.

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My top Five Movies 2006

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Posted before but taking shape love this work

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"Everybody LOVES a math joke"

Iraq’s highest court on Tuesday rejected Saddam’s appeal against his conviction and death sentence for the killing of 148 Shiites in the northern city of Dujail in 1982. The court said the former president should be hanged within 30 days.

”According to the international conventions, it is forbidden to hand a prisoner of war to his adversary,” Saddam’s lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said.

”I urge all the international and legal organizations, the United Nations secretary-general, the Arab League and all the leaders of the world to rapidly prevent the American administration from handing the president to the Iraqi authorities,” he told The Associated Press.

Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI’s top prelate for justice issues and a former Vatican envoy to the U.N., condemned the death sentence in a newspaper interview published Thursday, saying capital punishment goes against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

After Saddam’s death sentence was handed down last month, Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, urged Iraq to ensure a fair appeals process and to refrain from executing Saddam even if the sentence is upheld.

Some international legal observers and human rights groups have also called Saddam’s trial unfair because of alleged interference by the Shiite-dominated government.

State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey said Thursday the Bush administration believes the trial was held in accordance with international and Iraqi laws.

”(The Iraqis) carried out their work in a transparent and open manner and they arrived at a verdict based on the facts in the case,” Casey said.

An official close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said Saddam would remain in a U.S. military prison until he is handed over to Iraqi authorities on the day of his execution. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to address the media.

A top government official disputed the court’s ruling that Saddam must be hanged within 30 days, saying the execution should be held after that time period. The comment comes amid debate over other legal procedures such as whether the presidency is required to approve the execution.

”The law does not say within 30 days, it says after the lapse of 30 days,” said Busho Ibrahim, deputy justice minister. There was no immediate explanation for the conflicting claims.

Al-Dulaimi, Saddam’s lawyer, warned that turning over Saddam to the Iraqis would increase the sectarian violence that already is tearing the country apart.

”If the American administration insists in handing the president to the Iraqis, it would commit a great strategic mistake which would lead to the escalation of the violence in Iraq and the eruption of a destructive civil war,” he said.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said there was concern about the potential for violence in carrying out the execution. ”I’m sure the Iraqi government is thinking through that and working with the coalition in terms of the impact that could have,” he said.

Attacks on Thursday killed at least 28 Iraqis, while the U.S. military announced the deaths of four American soldiers and a Marine.

In Baghdad, a suicide bomber carrying two empty plastic containers joined a crowd of people lining up to buy kerosene near a stadium, said Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry. The attacker then detonated his explosive-laden belt, killing at least 10 people and injuring 20 others.

Two bombs also exploded opposite a park in the South Gate area of Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding 43, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

Another blast targeted a police patrol in western Baghdad but missed, killing two civilians instead, police said. Four people were wounded.

Gunmen wearing police uniforms attacked an army checkpoint in the city of Balad north of Baghdad, killing three Iraqi troops and wounding eight people, authorities said. A bomb also killed an Iraqi soldier in a military vehicle near Qazaniya, close to the Iranian border, police said.

The U.S. military said a roadside bomb killed an American soldier and wounded another Thursday while they were on patrol north of Baghdad. Three soldiers also died from roadside bombs in the capital and a Marine was killed in western Anbar province on Wednesday, the military said.

With 100 American troops dead so far this month, December is the second-deadliest month of 2006 for U.S. military personnel. At least 105 troops died in October.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy said it believes four American security contractors and an Austrian are still being held captive after being kidnapped in southern Iraq six weeks ago.

The men went missing Nov. 16 when a large convoy of trucks being escorted by their Crescent Security Group was hijacked on a highway near Safwan, a city on the border with Kuwait. Suspected militiamen dressed in Iraqi police uniforms ambushed the convoy, taking 14 hostages, including the five security guards, and nine truck drivers who were later released.

”At this time, U.S. officials believe the American citizens are still being held by their captors,” embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said, without elaborating.

A video of the kidnapped Americans reportedly surfaced this week, showing them to be alive and in good condition. The footage, reported by McClatchy Newspapers, was believed to have been made about a month ago. If authentic, it would be the first proof that all five men survived the ambush.

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Saddam Lawyer Seeks to Prevent Handover

A safety assessment released on Thursday is expected to approve the entry of products from genetically identical cattle and other livestock into the human food chain.

The FDA indicated which way the wind was blowing back in 2005. Now an article published by its scientists in the journal Theriogenology dated January 1 forms the scientific basis of the approval. Larisa Rudenko and John C Matheson wrote: “[The FDA] concludes that meat and milk from clones and their progeny is as safe to eat as corresponding products derived from animals produced using contemporary agricultural practices”.

The pair said no special labelling of cloned meat would be needed, which has outraged some consumer groups. AP reports Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the Centre for Food Safety, said: “Consumers are going to be having a product that has potential safety issues and has a whole load of ethical issues tied to it, without any labelling.”

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Cloned meat safe to eat

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The internets best logic game

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Stuff From Kevin: 25 Really Addictive Flash Games

A look at a 747 being built in Boeing’s Everett, Wash., factory, the biggest building in the world by volume. Boeing’s factory in Everett, Wash., is the birthplace of a number of the company’s commercial planes.

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Inside the boeingfactory plant

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Some great art check it out