domenica 24 gennaio 2010

And the today' Hitchhiking will bring us to: La legge ammazza-processi


Legge ammazza-processi, Flores d’Arcais: “Infame regalo alla criminalità”

di Paolo Flores d’Arcais, da "Il Fatto Quotidiano", 22 gennaio 2010

Non gli basterà. Non vogliamo rubare metafore a folklore e mitologia, piene di mostri mai sazi delle vittime loro sacrificate, perché non vogliamo in nessun modo trasformare in mito le miserabili bassezze di questo regime. Ma non gli basterà. Quella di Berlusconi è una bulimia totalitaria, la legge-dono alla criminalità – il processo “tana libera tutti” – era ancora calda della servile approvazione di un Senato prono “perinde ac cadaver”, che Berlusconi già sgaggiava il suo “non mi basta”.

Non ci stupisce. Berlusconi odia la democrazia liberale, lo abbiamo detto e ripetuto perché è Berlusconi stesso ad averlo proclamato infinite volte, per chiunque abbia orecchie da intendere. Per Berlusconi l’Italia non è una Repubblica democratica, è invece e solo “l’azienda Italia”, e come un’azienda, una sua azienda, va governata. C’è un padrone che decide, e dei dipendenti che obbediscono. Punto. Non basta che obbediscano, però: devono obbedire entusiasti, visto che il padrone decide quello che vuole, ma per il loro bene. In questo Stato-azienda non c’è ovviamente posto per magistrati indipendenti e per giornalisti imparziali, ma solo per vocianti eunuchi del servo encomio.

Perciò, dopo aver preteso in offerta le migliaia di processi che verranno interrotti (e regaleranno al paese migliaia di criminali in libertà), il bulimico di Arcore esige altre vittime, altri pezzi di eguaglianza repubblicana da mandare al macero, altri baluardi di legalità da calpestare in aule parlamentari troppo spesso già bivacco dei suoi manipoli.

A questo punto il problema non è Berlusconi, che la sua dichiarazione di guerra alla Costituzione l’ha già consegnata di fronte ai parlamentari europei democristiani poco più di un mese fa. Il problema sono coloro che – a parole e con gran rinforzo di nobili citazioni dei classici – si dichiarano fedeli alle libertà costituzionali, ma nei fatti tengono bordone a ogni ingordigia totalitaria del capo-regime.

La legge ammazza-processi, la legge “tana libera tutti”, passa ora alla Camera. Non è solo anticostituzionale, è infame. I tempi dei processi sono stati allungati a dismisura da leggi e leggine ad hoc, dai tagli alle risorse dei tribunali (dove mancano carta e computer, cancellieri e magistrati), e ora dalla mannaia del processo “interruptus”. Una legge che farebbe felice il mafioso Mangano, una legge che sta facendo rivoltare nella tomba Borsellino. Vedremo alla Camera se Fini e i suoi intendono la democrazia come Borsellino o come Mangano.


venerdì 15 gennaio 2010

Today's hitchhiking will bring us to a titanic entertainment ...Avatar!


A titanic entertainment -- movie magic is back!

From The Hollywood Reporter


A dozen years later, James Cameron has proven his point: He is king of the world.
As commander-in-chief of an army of visual-effects technicians, creature designers, motion-capture mavens, stunt performers, dancers, actors and music and sound magicians, he brings science-fiction movies into the 21st century with the jaw-dropping wonder that is "Avatar." And he did it almost from scratch.
There is no underlying novel or myth to generate his story. He certainly draws deeply on Westerns, going back to "The Vanishing American" and, in particular, "Dances With Wolves." And the American tragedy in Vietnam informs much of his story. But then all great stories build on the past ( "Avatar" premiered Thursday in London).
After writing this story many years ago, he discovered that the technology he needed to make it happen did not exist. So, he went out and created it in collaboration with the best effects minds in the business. This is motion capture brought to a new high where every detail of the actors' performances gets preserved in the final CG character as they appear on the screen. Yes, those eyes are no longer dead holes but big and expressive, almost dominating the wide and long alien faces.
The movie is 161 minutes and flies by in a rush. Repeat business? You bet. "Titanic"-level business? That level may never be reached again, but Fox will see more than enough grosses worldwide to cover its bet on Cameron.
But let's cut to the chase: A fully believable, flesh-and-blood (albeit not human flesh and blood) romance is the beating heart of "Avatar." Cameron has never made a movie just to show off visual pyrotechnics: Every bit of technology in "Avatar" serves the greater purpose of a deeply felt love story (watch the trailer here).
The story takes place in 2154, three decades after a multinational corporation has established a mining colony on Pandora, a planet light years from Earth. A toxic environment and hostile natives -- one corporate apparatchik calls the locals "blue monkeys" -- forces the conglom to engage with Pandora by proxy. Humans dwell in oxygen-drenched cocoons but move out into mines or to confront the planet's hostile creatures in hugely fortified armor and robotics or -- as avatars.
The protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a disabled former Marine who takes his late twin brother's place in the avatar program, a sort of bone thrown to the scientific community by the corporation in hopes that the study of Pandora and its population might create a more peaceful planet.
Without any training, Jake suddenly must learn how to link his consciousness to an avatar, a remotely controlled biological body that mixes human DNA with that of the native population, the Na'vi. Since he is incautious and overly curious, he immediately rushes into the fresh air -- to a native -- to throw open Pandora's many boxes.
What a glory Cameron has created for Jake to romp in, all in a crisp 3D realism. It's every fairy tale about flying dragons, magic plants, weirdly hypnotic creepy-crawlies and feral dogs rolled up into a rain forest with a highly advanced spiritual design. It seems -- although the scientists led by Sigourney Weaver's top doc have barely scratched the surface -- a flow of energy ripples through the roots of trees and the spores of the plants, which the Na'vi know how to tap into.
The center of life is a holy tree where tribal memories and the wisdom of their ancestors is theirs for the asking. This is what the humans want to strip mine.
Jake manages to get taken in by one tribe where a powerful, Amazonian named Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) takes him under her wing to teach him how to live in the forest, speak the language and honor the traditions of nature. Yes, they fall in love but Cameron has never been a sentimentalist: He makes it tough on his love birds.
They must overcome obstacles and learn each other's heart. The Na'vi have a saying, "I see you," which goes beyond the visual. It means I see into you and know your heart.
In his months with the Na'vi, Jake experiences their life as the "true world" and that inside his crippled body locked in a coffin-like transponding device, where he can control his avatar, is as the "dream." The switch to the other side is gradual for his body remains with the human colony while his consciousness is sometimes elsewhere.
He provides solid intelligence about the Na'vi defensive capabilities to Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the ramrod head of security for the mining consortium and the movie's villain. But as Jake comes to see things through Neytiri's eyes, he hopes to establish enough trust between the humans and the natives to negotiate a peace. But the corporation wants the land the Na'vi occupy for its valuable raw material so the Colonel sees no purpose in this.
The battle for Pandora occupies much of the final third of the film. The planet's animal life -- the creatures of the ground and air -- give battle along with the Na'vi, but they come up against projectiles, bombs and armor that seemingly will be their ruin.
More awards coverage
As with everything in "Avatar," Cameron has coolly thought things through. With every visual tool he can muster, he takes viewers through the battle like a master tactician, demonstrating how every turn in the fight, every valiant death or cowardly act, changes its course. The screen is alive with more action and the soundtrack pops with more robust music than any dozen sci-fi shoot-'em-ups you care to mention (watch the "Avatar" video game trailer here).
In years of development and four years of production no detail in the pic is unimportant. Cameron's collaborators excel beginning with the actors. Whether in human shape or as natives, they all bring terrific vitality to their roles.

Mauro Fiore's cinematography is dazzling as it melts all the visual elements into a science-fiction whole. You believe in Pandora. Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg's design brings Cameron's screenplay to life with disarming ease.
James Horner's score never intrudes but subtly eggs the action on while the editing attributed to Cameron, Stephen Rivkin and John Refoua maintains a breathless pace that exhilarates rather than fatigues. Not a minute is wasted; there is no down time.
The only question is: How will Cameron ever top this?



Opens: Dec. 18 (20th Century Fox)
Production companies: 20th Century Fox in association with Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Film Partners
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi, Laz Alonso
Director/screenwriter: James Cameron
Producers: James Cameron. Jon Landau
Executive producers: Colin Wilson, Laeta Kalogridis
Director of photography: Mauro Fiore
Production designers: Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg
Music: James Horner
Senior visual effects supervisor: Joe Letteri
Costume designers: Mayes C. Rubeo, Deborah L. Scott
Editors: Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron
Rated PG-13, 161 minutes

mercoledì 13 gennaio 2010

Today's hitchhiking will bring us to a....Shameful honour


Bettino Craxi, a fallen prime minister, is in favour again

A FUGITIVE from justice and the most thoroughly disgraced politician in Italy’s modern history, Bettino Craxi, a two-term prime minister, died in Tunisia in 2000. He had fled there six years earlier after losing his parliamentary immunity from arrest. Shortly before that, protesters outside the luxury hotel he used as his home in Rome had humiliatingly pelted him with coins.

As leader of Italy’s Socialists from 1976 to 1993, Craxi was among the orchestrators of a system in which the main parties, and their officials, fed off bribes extorted from companies bidding for public contracts. The cost of those kickbacks was routinely added to the price of the work, so this system contributed to the huge public debt under which Italians and their governments now labour. By the time he died, Craxi had been sentenced to a total of 11 years for corruption and illegal party funding, and been convicted or indicted in five other cases.

Yet the residents of Milan, his birthplace, may soon find a thoroughfare named in his honour. As the tenth anniversary of his death nears, on January 19th, the mayor, Letizia Moratti, has told officials to find a central street, square or park to name after Craxi. In Rome President Giorgio Napolitano has agreed to receive a delegation from the Craxi foundation (an outfit that promotes his “cultural and political heritage”) and is mulling an invitation to attend a ceremony in parliament.

Rehabilitating Craxi would dispel a cloud over his political protégé, the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. A decree by the Craxi government in 1984 secured Mr Berlusconi, then a mere businessman, his virtual monopoly of private television. But, as the prosecutors who put Craxi on trial protested, it also means discrediting them and the judges who convicted him. And all this comes as Mr Berlusconi is poised to introduce reforms that would curb the powers of the judiciary.

Like Craxi in his day, Mr Berlusconi claims he is the victim of a witch hunt by politically motivated magistrates. “The Italians then did not believe Craxi,” said his daughter, Stefania, who is a junior minister in the present government. “But today I see they do believe Berlusconi.”

From The Economist

martedì 12 gennaio 2010

Today's hitchhiking will bring us to Rosarno....


What the hell are more than ten thousand illegal immigrants doing in the countryside of Calabria? It’s obvious; they are creating wealth for the people that are exploiting them. In order to do this, they are living in the kind of unhygienic conditions that you would expect to find in a pigsty, they are paid very little and then under the counter, without any benefits whatsoever. The immediate and unwavering reply from the third-world burkes is always the same: "They are here by us to do the kinds of jobs that the Italians are no longer prepared to do!". On the contrary I say, pay the Italians a reasonable wage and there would be a string of unemployed local Calabrians ready and willing to take their place.
These immigrants work in the kind of inhumane conditions that the Italians are no longer willing to endure and that is why these people are here in Italy. So, I ask again, who actually scores from this situation? The new landlords, organised crime syndicates looking for cheap labour, or those looking to rent out hovels at sky-high prices? This is only the tip of the iceberg, the bit that is most visible. Immigrants are essentially a voter pool, they bring in votes for both the right wing and the left wing. They are a mass diversion tool that is used by the political parties. The Lega and the Pdl live of the black man, for them he is thebogeyman. The Pdwithoutanel and similar bleeding hearts stand up for them, at the expense of the lower echelons of society that live cheek by jowl with the immigrants and land up fighting over the few available resources. Votes to the right and votes to the left. Quite clearly then, in a Country where thousands ofexasperated illegal immigrants take to the streets in a village such asRosarno, swinging iron bars and setting fire to things, the rule of law has ended. Africans against Calabrians and, in the middle, are the ones who have never taken responsibility for the inflow of immigrants, for welcoming them or for helping them to settle in.
What do we want, cheap immigrant labour or immigrants that are integrated into our society? We don’t need more slaves, we already have enough of our own. And so, a revolt by these black Spartacuses can ONLY a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTafjHw7b9s" target="_blank">become a problem of law and order and a problem of control in our area. Minister Maroni, I ask you, also on behalf of previous Ministers of Internal Affairs: "Where were and where are the forces of law and order in Calabria, the very same forces that managed to immediately spot a 30 x 50cm banner against Schifani that was held up by a citizen yesterday in Reggio Emilia?".
The illegal Africans have always been there, skins glistening under the sun in the fields of the South and then rotting in the slums. So, where were and where are the various institutions that continually bust the chops of the last stallholder at the market because of hygiene, till slips, hawkers licences and employment tax, where the hell are they? Furthermore, why do we continue to pay them if they always and only spot the splinter and overlook the beam? Italy is a small Country with very few resources and a frightening unemployment rate. We must have the courage to admit that the immigrants are essentially an exploited labour force, a commodity for unscrupulous businessmen and for politicians and journalists who can’t pronounce their “R”s and rattle on endlessly about poisoned wells. A precious resource for the politicians that then proceed toleave these people to their own devices. There is a war going on, which sometimes explodes into skirmishes: immigrants and Italian citizens alike, all being taken for a ride. The Country ends at Rosarno.

lunedì 11 gennaio 2010

What is a journey?



"What is a journey?

A journey is not a trip.

It’s not a vacation.

It’s a process.

A discovery.

It’s a process

of self-discovery.

A journey brings us face to face

with ourselves.

A journey shows us not only the world

but how we fit in it.

Does the person create the journey

or does the journey create the person?

The journey is life itself.

Where will life take you?"