- Culture
- 29 Nov 04
America’s covert operations are in a field of their own.
Republican sorts who refuse to watch imperial bastard Brit TV will have missed the three-part Channel 4 series made by Jon Ronson, Crazy Rulers Of The Planet.
The first installment was given over to the former Guardian hack’s new tome, The Men Who Stare At Goats, which reads like something out of the X-Files but is sadly not sci-fi.
“In 1979 a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the US Army,” he explains on his www.jonronson.com site. “Defying all known accepted military practice – and indeed, the laws of physics – they believed that a soldier could adopt the cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them. Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion. And they really weren’t joking. What’s more, they’re back and fighting the War on Terror.”
Which seamlessly brings us to www.sorryeverybody.com, the hi-tech equivalent of a horse hair shirt.
“Some of us – hopefully most of us – are trying to understand and appreciate the effect our recent election will have on you, the citizens of the rest of the world,” reads the introductory blurb. “As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us are truly, truly sorry.”
On behalf of the aforementioned rest of the world, we except their apology, albeit with a “If you’re really, really, really sorry how ‘bout taking out some Christian fundamentalists?” caveat.
On a completely different tact, Caught In The Net would like to tell you about a super new word we’ve discovered – Fagtag (verb). To amass a group of like-minded individuals and converge on a designated venue on a given night.
That’s what gay rights campaigners have been doing in Australia to counteract the homophobia and “no queers” policy of certain clubs and bars. Find out more at www.fagtag.com.au
Which just leaves time for quick visits to www.thetoiletonline.com/leaveit.htm (there’s no such thing as too much Bush-baiting); www.24frames.co.uk/popbitch_napoleon_dynamite_screenings.phtml (The cult movie of the year, Napoleon Dynamite, is coming soon to Ireland); and www.u2news.com and www.atu2.com (U2 news resources par excellence).b