Dirty Dancing III Casting Starts Here…

Everybody else is talking about how the capture is so important to the Iraqi people and President Bush’s re-election campaign, or why the USA felt that broadcasting footage of a captured man was not in violation of the Geneva Convention when it cried foul during the Spring offensive. But I want to act like a McSweeney’s hipster, so I will instead focus my attention onto something trivial.

Operation: Red Dawn?!?!

What exactly was going through their minds? "This is possibly one of the most important missions we've undertaken since the end of May, so naturally we'll name it after a cheesy 1980s film" (incidentally, check out the review on the IMDb; it's quite amusing). At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but as the press briefing continued and the Lieutenant General talked about how the troops had split into two "Wolverine" squads, I realised the horrible truth: someone had put thought into this. A lot of thought. Somewhere deep in the Pentagon is a person with far too much time on his hands (or her hands). Was it a deliberate attempt to equate Saddam Hussein and his supporters with Patrick Swayze and a host of Brat Packers? The world has a right to know…

currently playing: Electrelane — Windmill

Best of 2003: Panjabi MC — Mundian To Bach Ke

The first of two songs chosen more for the memories they evoke rather than the quality of the song itself (although I do like this; if someone told you the concept of this record, you’d dismiss it out-of-hand, but when you hear the mix of Knight Rider and Bhangra, it just seems to fit perfectly); this one reminds me of the Easter weekend spent at the Outer Banks when a drunk Shafaq showed us how Bhangra dancing is really done, and an amusing drunken acappella version from this September 8-).