Here's a pic of "my dogs" returning from a weekend junket in the Smokies. While they enjoyed the rustic cabin, I believe they enjoyed the trip to and from even more.
Author Archives: scottsoapbox
9/11 And A Dramatic View Of 2 Presidents
On the 5 year anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11, the country reflects on both how we got there and where we go from here. And not just the country – the movie industry does as well and gets vastly different responses.
Part 1 of The Path To 9/11 aired last night – HEAVILY edited due to pressure from President Clinton and his administration. I can say with confidence that it was heavy editing as it was 20 minutes shorter than it's time slot. These weren't small changes.
ABC bows to Clinton pressure and edits 9/11 series
The American television network, ABC, aired its controversial mini-series about the build-up to the September 11 attacks last night, but only after issuing three disclaimers that the drama was fictional and editing scenes that had attracted the wrath of Bill Clinton and members of his administration….
The version of the film given to reviewers emphasised that it was based on the findings of the 9/11 Commission report and suggested that the Clinton White House directly interfered with attempts to kill bin Laden, who later went on to direct the attacks.
Last week, the former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, the former National Security Adviser, Samuel "Sandy" Berger, and the head of the Clinton Foundation, Bruce Lindsey, wrote to Robert Iger, the chief of executive of Disney, which owns ABC, asking him to cancel the show. Harvey Keitel, one of the stars of the $40 million production, also said it should be re-edited.
Last night that pressure appeared to have had an effect: several controversial scenes had been edited and some had been removed altogether. A disclaimer reminded viewers three times that they were watching a fictionalised rather than a historical account of the years before the attacks.
Several commentators have already cried foul and hippocrocy, since the Clinton Administration had no problem with Micheal Moore's film Fahrenheit 911. Which most will agree took -uh- great creative license with the facts surrounding 9/11.
Meanwhile another docu-drama is focusing on the future resulting from the 9/11 attacks. The quite near future of 2007 in fact. October 2007, when President Bush is successfully assassinated in Chicago. Supporters are quick to point out that only recently a fictitious former president was assassinated in the hit show 24. Not exactly the same as displaying the depicting the assassination of a CURRENT SITTING PRESIDENT.
Film Festival Director Raves About 'Assassinate Bush' Movie
(CNSNews.com) – "Xenophobia, the hidden costs of war and the nature of civil liberties in a hyper-media age all come under the microscope" in a controversial movie depicting the fictional assassination of President Bush. [say what?]
So says Noah Cowan, director of the Toronto Film Festival, where the British-made movie will premier on Sept. 10….
Until now, the movie has been referred to by the Toronto Film Festival as simply "D.O.A.P.," but at a press conference in Britain Thursday, it was announced by the title "Death of a President"….
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Retro-Running
A new fad is spreading in Europe: running backwards. The inducted call themselves retro-athletes. They also consider themselves part of an "Xtreme" sport, as opposed to oh, stupid.
Let's break this down for a minute. Retro-runners think it's better exercise to run backwards. Doctors claim it isn't. Look, just because something is more difficult does NOT mean that it is better or even worthwhile. I mean it's difficult to break boards with your head, but that doesn't make it a worthwhile pursuit or even an extreme sport.
Now beyond the coordination issues and health benefit discussion, I'm sure you are all wondering… how do they know where they are going? The simple but sad answer is mirrors. Yup mirrors. Some try to looking over their shoulder instead of the mirror route, but neither option really works all that well. Crashing and tripping are common place. I guess that's Xtreme.
We really shouldn't be surprised however that Europe is again doing something @ss-backwards. They are getting kind of pathetic in their attempts to stay relevant in the rapidly changing global landscape…. They used to be the center of the world you know – now they are little more than a nice vacation spot.
The Path To 9/11
Airing this 9/11, is a docu-drama called "The Path To 9/11". While 9/11 changed the world forever, most of our perspectives on it began on that day. This show is setup to show us <i>how we got there</i>.
It is supposed to be exciting, eye opening and rather controversial. So tune in and see what happens when your country is short one Jack Bower.
Part 1 (3 hours) Sunday, September 10 @ 8/7c on ABC – Part 2 (2 hours) Monday, September 11 @ 8/7c on ABC
A quick preview of the show is below, borrowed from ABC.com:
NIGHT ONE
September 11, 2001. Teams of terrorist hijackers board four American airliners and take control of the cockpits. Passengers and flight controllers quickly learn something is terribly wrong….
February 1993. On a similarly ordinary day, New York is stunned by a deadly bombing at the World Trade Center. The discovery of a traceable van part at the site leads to the arrest of one of the conspirators, and he is linked to a mosque led by the Blind Sheikh, a radical cleric. A valuable FBI informant helps bring down the cleric and his cell. A manhunt for elusive WTC bomber Ramzi Yousef ensues, and he narrowly escapes capture in Pakistan, where he is linked to the attempted assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Yousef travels to the Philippines, where he tests an innovative small bomb that kills a flight passenger and comes close to bringing down the plane as well. He's almost captured again when a fire at his bomb-making lab exposes to Manila police his plot involving the simultaneous bombings of a dozen airliners.
Yousef is finally brought down when an informant in Pakistan tips off a team of agents working in coordination with FBI counterterrorism expert John O'Neill. Yousef's trail leads them to a rebel named Usama bin Laden.
Email Oops
We just noticed that there has been a typo in our email address for the last – oh – several months. oops.
Our address is staff [at] scottsoapbox [dot] COM…. our old address ended in .net…. sorry, if you've been thinking we hate you or something.
mgmt.