lightning strikes twice

Fascinating insight into draft day 2006 – Bryan C of Toronto is high on Marcus Williams, but what do the other GMs think?

Just finished reading Emergency Sex, an amazing look into the existence of three kindred spirits, Andrew, Heidi and Ken, who feel compelled to change the world for a variety of reasons.  It covers the time they spend in Cambodia, Rwanda, Somalia, Bosnia and Haiti during the ’90s, and the humanitarian crises they experience.

This book is full of spirit, and also disgusting.  Not disgusting in the way it is written, or in the spirit of the protagonists, but disgusting in the realisation that people can be so devastatingly brutal to each other.  I’ve read a little about Rwanda, and seen the film Hotel Rwanda, but the graphic first hand accounts of the forensic work of Andrew Thomson were shocking in the extreme.  I admired the bravery that they showed not only in the original experiences but also in the honest and forthright writing, where they never fail to question the motivations of everyone, including themselves.

A very important book that puts the stress of western life into perspective as truly unimportant.

starring Clive Owen and Michael Caine

Like 28 Days Later, but with a bigger budget and better actors.

This is a fantastic story about life on Earth in the not too distant future, where the worlds women have all become infertile, and the youngest person in the world, an eighteen year old, has just been murdered.  Clive Owen is one of the lucky ones, he’s a citizen of a first world country in a world where the borders have all been shutdown and refugees (or “fugees”) are a scourge and treated like animals (like many refugees today).  But he becomes embroiled in a humanity changing event when he takes an opportunity for “easy” money.
The best thing about the setting (and the portrayal of it) is that it is different and scary, but also very believable — there’s no need for a suspension of disbelief to get into this film.  Cinematography and effects are amazing.
Terrifying and brilliant.

9/10