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Why 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' stinks, and what it says about the entertainment industry

Michael Hiltzik
The Los Angeles Times
Mon, 28 Dec 2015 16:46 UTC
Star Wars The Force Awakens
© David James / Disney / LucasfilmHaven't we seen this movie before? Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega) run for their lives in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
On Christmas Day, I fulfilled my duty as an American consumer and took the family to see the new Star Wars movie. The excursion solved a mystery: Why do so many of the reviews, even the enthusiastic ones, carry an undertone of disappointment?

The simple answer is that Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is not very good. It's professionally made in the sense that it displays an industrial level of Quality Control. But it's depressingly unimaginative and dull in long stretches, and -- crucially -- reproduces George Lucas' original 1977 movie slavishly almost to the point of plagiarism.

This isn't to say that it's not an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. If you're among the millions who plainly have done so, bless your heart. The issue, however, is whether The Force Awakens even deserves to be considered as a movie, because it's not. It's the anchoring element of a vast commercial program, painstakingly factory-made for maximal audience appeal, which means maximal inoffensiveness. The result tells us a lot about the state of entertainment today, and about the future of Hollywood.

The most important thing to know about The Force Awakens is that it's the first Star Wars feature produced by the Walt Disney Co. since its $4-billion acquisition of Lucas' production company, Lucasfilm, in 2012. The deal reflected Disney Chairman Robert Iger's strategy to snarf up the best franchise-oriented producers, including Pixar (acquired in 2006 for $7.4 billion) and Marvel (acquired in 2009 for $4 billion).
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Airplane

Air Canada 'flight from hell': Freak turbulence injures over 20 on Shanghai-Toronto route


RT
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 23:42 UTC
Injured Air Canada flight passenger
© Darren Makowichuk/Postmedia NetworkCalgary EMS transport one of numerous patients from a Air Canada flight after experiencing turbulence at the Calgary Airport in Calgary on Wednesday Dec. 30, 2015.

Twenty-five people received turbulence-related injuries on an Air Canada flight AC88 on its way to Toronto from Shanghai. The plane was diverted to Calgary, Alberta to treat those affected. Some had to be taken to hospital, with at least 6 reportedly in serious condition.

EMS confirmed that 25 people had been injured, with 21 transported to hospital, including three children. None of the injuries were life threatening, an EMS official told the media.

Air Canada has confirmed that the plane successfully landed in Calgary after encountering turbulence en route.

Fifteen transport units were dispatched to Calgary airport, and additional help was recruited from outside the city, the EMS official added.

There were 332 passages and 19 crew members on board the flight. According to Air Canada, "some will require hospitalization for assessment."

Comment: As extreme weather continues to rage across the planet, such 'freak' turbulence may become a lot more common. For related articles, see also: Update 2 January 2016

Still no word on what caused the turbulence, but one Canadian specialist has an interesting theory:

Toronto Globe & Mail, 31 December 2015
Pointing to passenger reports of rapid up and down movement in the plane, Wayne Hocking, a physics professor specializing in atmospheric turbulence at the University of Western Ontario, said that breaking "gravity waves" were a more likely culprit. Those are undulating currents of air that can cause severe up-and-down turbulence for aircraft. They can be caused by a range of factors, including heat from the ground, or hot and cold air fronts colliding in the atmosphere.

But in this case, Prof. Hocking said, it is probable that any gravity wave would have been caused by air flowing over the mountains of Alaska below. When air goes over a mountain it continues moving in the pattern of the mountain peak rather than flattening out, and before moving as a wave into the upper atmosphere, Prof. Hocking explained.

"The oscillation up and down is an absolute indication that this is gravity waves," he said.

Aircraft damage caused by these waves is uncommon, he added, but it can be serious.

"It's pretty rare. The bottom line is, you might have a dozen occurrences a year. It's a bit like tornadoes. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, you damn well want to know about it," he said.


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Eye 2

Greed & neglect are driving America into the ground


Paul Craig Roberts
Thu, 31 Dec 2015 04:00 UTC
White House
© Unknown
One hundred years ago European civilization, as it had been known, was ending its life in the Great War, later renamed World War I. Millions of soldiers ordered by mindless generals into the hostile arms of barbed wire and machine gun fire had left the armies stalemated in trenches. A reasonable peace could have been reached, but US President Woodrow Wilson kept the carnage going by sending fresh American soldiers to try to turn the tide against Germany in favor of the English and French.

The fresh Amerian machine gun and barbed wire fodder weakened the German position, and an armistance was agreed. The Germans were promised no territorial losses and no reparations if they laid down their arms, which they did only to be betrayed at Versailles. The injustice and stupidity of the Versailles Treaty produced the German hyperinflation, the collapse of the Weimar Republic, and the rise of Hitler.

Hitler's demands that Germany be put back together from the pieces handed out to France, Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, comprising 13 percent of Germany's European territory and one-tenth of her population, and a repeat of French and British stupidity that had sired the Great War finished off the remnants of European civilization in World War II.

Comment: This tragedy is not just happening in America - it's happening everywhere that Western oligarchs and their lackeys have established power:

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Star of David

Sheldon Adelson: Israel's elephant in the room at the GOP debates

Aaron Dykes and Melissa Melton
The Daily Sheeple
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 00:00 UTC
Sheldon Adelson
Are the debates for the 2016 GOP primaries really about the candidates, their positions, the polls and the memorable statements that voters will connect with - or is it just about the one man they can't ignore?

The 5th GOP debate was hosted by Sheldon Adelson at his Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas - and as every gambler knows, the House always wins. Adelson has bankrolled many of the candidates, and nearly all of them have met with the multi-billionaire to seek his favor and funds.

Comment: For an in-depth historical play by play of how Israel-firsters, or Zionists, have been rigging the game in their favor for many decades, see:

The Controversy of Zion - One of the most controversial books ever written

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Bomb

Dozens killed and wounded in multiple suicide bombings in Kurdish-controlled Syrian city


RT
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 23:25 UTC
Map of Syria
© Google Maps
A string of explosions rocked the northeastern Syrian city of Kamishli, targeting its Kurdish and Assyrian Christian population. Dozens of people were killed or wounded, according to a Kurdish spokesman cited by Reuters.

Twin suicides blasts targeted two restaurants in the city, according to Kurdish YPG militia spokesman Redur Xelil, as cited by the agency. Blaming Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) for the terror acts, Xelil said he believes dozens have been killed or injured.

At least 16 people were killed and 35 wounded in the attacks, according to Syrian news agency SANA.
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Mr. Potato

The schizophrenia of HRW's Kenneth Roth: Alloush both good and bad, but Assad is always evil


Moon of Alabama
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 23:20 UTC
alloush
Can someone explain the logic or thought behind these tweets of Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth?


Alloush was released from jail, which was then one of the demands of those peaceful protesters and Human Rights Watch, so he could "taint" the "uprising". But he also was a valid "choice" for the Syrian people even as Roth's own organization accused him of war crimes? How does that compute?
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Stormtrooper

New Year's Eve festivities cancelled in Brussels over new phony terror threat


RT
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 20:34 UTC
Belgian soldiers stand guard on Brussels
© Francois Lenoir / Reuters Belgian soldiers stand guard on Brussels' Grand Place, December 30, 2015.
The authorities in Belgium's capital have decided to cancel the city's traditional New Year's festivities because of the threat of terrorist attacks. The move comes after the arrest of two people suspected of planning an attack targeting the holiday.

In a Wednesday meeting, Brussels's mayor Yvan Mayeur and Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon took a joint decision to cancel Thursday evening's festivities.

"Together with the interior minister, we've decided to not have the celebrations on Thursday evening," Mayeur told the state broadcaster RTBF Wednesday night.

About 100,000 people attended the festivities and fireworks last year, according to authorities.

"The fireworks and all that was expected to bring together many people in the center of Brussels [Thursday] evening. Given the risk analysis, we are forced to cancel [the celebrations]," Mayeur said in a live address on the local channel La Une.

Comment: Meanwhile...

Belgian soldiers 'had orgy' with female cops during Brussels lockdown, paper claims

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Arrow Down

Scottish children experiencing huge increase in poverty, hunger and mental health issues as a result of imposed austerity measures


RT
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 13:13 UTC
hunger scotland, poverty scotland
© Getty
Crippling government austerity measures are forcing schoolchildren in Scotland to go hungry, steal food from their peers and develop mental health issues, teachers have claimed.

An Education Institute of Scotland (EIS) survey, which quizzed more than 300 primary and secondary school teachers about life in Scottish schools in 2015, found there had been a 51 percent rise in the number of children going to school hungry.

One in five respondents identified an increase in the number of times pupils stole food from their peers and asked teachers for sustenance, according to the findings.

Comment: Austerity measures imposed by the political elites inflict needless suffering on the most vulnerable in society and are seriously endangering the lives of the next generation. The greed of these psychopaths is boundless and society will continue to suffer their depredations until we begin to understand the phenomenon and unite against this menace.

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Airplane

Small plane crashes into Anchorage office building; pilot killed

Chris Klint
Alaska Dispatch News
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 17:56 UTC
Plane crash
© Loren Holmes/AdnPlane crash
A single-engine plane owned by the Civil Air Patrol in Alaska swiped a six-story office building in downtown Anchorage early Tuesday morning, ripping off a wing, then crashed into the next-door building, killing the pilot and sparking a roaring, fuel-fed blaze.

The plane, a Cessna 172, had one occupant, officials said. Authorities identified him as Doug Demarest, a licensed pilot, a first lieutenant with the Civil Air Patrol and an adventurer and photographer who lived in Anchorage. A spokeswoman for the CAP, a federal search and emergency-services agency with more then two dozen aircraft in Alaska, said the flight was not sanctioned but wouldn't say whether the plane was stolen.

The FBI took the unusual step of taking over the crash investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board. Authorities provided few details Tuesday about what they had learned so far, but Staci Feger-Pellessier, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Alaska, said officials didn't believe the crash was an act of terrorism.

NTSB Alaska Region Chief Clint Johnson said the FBI was brought into the investigation because of unspecified evidence investigators uncovered. "Some evidence warrant(ed) us bringing them into the investigation," said Johnson, who declined to elaborate further.

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Pills

No stopping the epidemic: Doctors refill opioid prescriptions after patients overdose

Janice Wood
PsychCentral
Tue, 29 Dec 2015 00:00 UTC
prescriptions, opioid, painkiller
A new study has found that more than 90 percent of patients with chronic pain continue to receive prescription opioids after an overdose.

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, also noted that these patients are at a "high risk" for experiencing a repeated overdose.

For the study, researchers used Optum, a large national commercial insurance claims database with data on 50 million individuals collected over a 12-year period.

The researchers identified nearly 3,000 patients who experienced a non-fatal overdose while taking opioids prescribed for chronic pain. The data showed 91 percent of those patients continued to be prescribed opioids after the overdose.

Comment: This may explain why deaths from drug overdoses have hit an all time record in the US. BigPharma has been pushing opioids for years, thus prescriptions for these drugs have risen by 300 percent since 1999. Since 2000, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased 137 percent, including a 200 percent increase in the rate of overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers and heroin.

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