News And Links Dump

• It's obvious to anyone paying attention that Hollywood has increased its production of big budget war movies since the 80s success of Top Gun. What isn't as widely known is that the military generously allows Hollywood to use submarines, aircraft carriers, military bases and other such military equipment. But, in exchange, the military vets these screenplays. In other words, for a movie to have the military's cooperation in being filmed, it must present a favorable image of the U.S. armed forces. If a film refuses the Pentagon's propagandic edits, its producers can kiss military cooperation, and millions of dollars, goodbye. Operation Hollywood is a 57-minute documentary that explores this cozy relationship. You can download it here. • On December 13, 2004, computer programmer Clinton Curtis testified at a Congressional hearing in Columbus, Ohio, naming Republican Congressman Tom Feeney as the person who hired him to prepare vote-rigging software in Florida in 2000. The programmer claims that he designed and build a vote rigging software program at Feeney's request. Hmmm. Wonder why the mainstream media hasn't been covering that one. View Clinton's testimony here. • An interview with Gore Vidal about his forthcoming book, Imperial America. • Last year Quentin Tarantino shook television up a bit by directing the two-hour season finale episode of CSI. Now it appears that one of my favourite directors is going to shake things up a bit, too. Darren Aronofsky, the brilliant director of Pi, Requiem for a Dream, and 2006's The Fountain (fingers crossed), is going to direct an episode of Lost. • There's a new trailer floating around for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Aslan speaks, but that's not the voice I had in my head. Hmmm. • A muppets reality TV show? You betcha. • Check out the trailer for BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge, a Silver Hugo winning documentary out in January 2006 exploring three weeks of life on the frontlines of the guerrilla war in Iraq.