Equivocation Nation

work

2010-06-14T15:50:00.000+01:00

These guys are good:

http://amsterdamaanhetwerk.nl/

It's been a while...

2010-04-22T01:40:00.002+01:00

I've been getting into webdesign. This is my new site for webdesign stuff:

Ysbeer Media

And this is my new blog:

The decline and fall of pop

I worship at the altar of Brangelina

2008-04-16T22:14:00.000+01:00

I went for a drink with two old friends recently, and one of them asked me who I'd rather see the celebrity deathclock start on soonest, Britney Spears or Amy Winehouse? I didn't really have to think about it, I'd much rather have another Amy Winehouse album than a Britney album, so I marked miss Spears for Death. My other friend protested that caring about celebrities personal lives is for women and homosexuals.

I don't agree, it's pure performance art. What we think of as a celebrity's 'private' life is a gestalt entity consisting of their actual private life, the publicists' and agents' spin on their private lives, tabloid journalists idea of what will sell more copies and the public need for entertaining scandals. By the time you read about it, if it bears any resemblance to reality, somebody hasn't been doing their job. If you think that a magazine has any idea what Brad Pitt's private life is like, you're an idiot. It's an industry that involves hundreds of thousands of people building scandals out of the most mundane and unremarkable things.

'The Hollywood insider' (not the magazine) is the character that makes a lot of gossip journalism possible. These are usually failed celebrities themselves, and they can be either bitter or benevolent about it. They're the people who hang out at the parties and then sell their stories to the papers. The jilted lovers, the confidantes eager to write tell-all books, the gal pals who write the gushing blurbs about the dresses at the wedding, or the simplicity of the decor. Or they can be the people 'revealing' drug problems, eating disorders, etc. Usually anonymously, always for the stars' own benefit, of course. Seeing as they are betraying the confidences of their so-called friends, there is really no reason to take anything they say to heart.

Why are the lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous so compelling? It's not just the gossip, there's something archetypical going on here. The whole Brangelina thing has seriously religious overtones, for me at least. Brad is a bit like a sun god avatar, a blonde, smiling, good-natured actor, who marries Angelina Jolie, who always reminded me of Kali, the blood obsession, the tattoos, and she just looks like the pictures. Beautiful but deadly, and a mother. They've slid firmly into the part of my brain that keeps various religious cosmologies apart, probably because they spent a lot of time and money tapping into the same archetypes as those gods. The Greek pantheon is filled with jealousy, rage, adultery, murder, incest and rape. They realised that seeing the divine dragged through the mud is one of the great joys of life. Perfection is as boring as it gets.

I also can't enough of the ridiculous excess. If all the money and the fame doesn't create larger than life personalities, then what does? Having so much money you don't even know what to do with it anymore, can't be good for you, nor can being recognised on the street give you a humble disposition. I was spellbound watching "The Fabulous Life of Celebrity Pets". I can't see why anybody wouldn't want to watch a documentary on how to spend a middle management salary a day on a dog. It's the kind of lunacy that just makes me happy. If you don't like that attitude, feel free to be horrified that there's a dog that's richer, more famous and that has a better life than you, and not because it can talk or cured cancer in a whimsical laboratory accident. That is at least as valid a reason to keep watching.

If I ever become famous, my friends have my permission to sell any stories, real or imagined to the press. Though I prefer imagined, because I don't think there's anything I've done in the last ten years that qualifies as a scandal. I'm thinking something along these lines:

"He sat in the room, covered in coconut oil and wearing only lederhosen, forcing the midgets to dance with his whip, while he halfheartedly tried to strangle the swan. It was then that I realised that Hollywood had changed him."

In fact, let's make it contest. Whoever leaves the best interview snippet in the comments section along with his name and postal address, will get my copy of "The Man Who was Thursday" by G.K. Chesterton. Make your entry 100 words or less. Contest closes the 16th of May. I will not correspond with you about whether or not you've won. The winner will be announced on this blog on the 17th.

Reviews for march

2008-03-31T14:43:00.000+01:00

Kenzo Kitakata's Winter Sleep is apparently only the second of the hundred books he's written to be translated, and I can't say how happy I am that someone is going to those lengths to bring us modern Japanese authors besides Haruki Murakami. Kitakata is described on the jacket as the 'Don of hardboiled detective and mystery writing in Japan' and it does tend to remind me of 'Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'. But Kitakata doesn't use a fairytale to represent the inner world. His main character is an ex-con artist philosopher and his lack of interest in money, social conventions and anything besides his art is neatly captured in the sparse language, which acts as a metaphor for his artistic pursuits and how they isolate him from society.

The artist secludes himself in a cabin in the mountains to paint without interruption, but an attractive older art dealer drops by and tries to get him to switch galleries. He's unconcerned with the piles of cash she brings whenever he lets her take a painting away, and she ruthlessly tries to manipulate him any way she can. The other woman is a young girl trying to become a painter herself. He becomes her lover and teacher and the foil for explaining Kitakata's artistic theory. The third main character is a mentally disabled murder with talent, who becomes obsessed with his paintings, who he teaches to paint, so he won't have to kill again. the characters dance around each other for a while, moving towards a not very happy ending. The artist needs to finish his masterpiece, and his two protogées need to become artists before the winter is over.

What I found most interesting about the book was the way in which artistic growth could be captured in the hardboiled scheme, it seemed a bit incongruous, but turned out to be a fantastic find. It also revealed why authors like Murakami are so fond of a pulp genre that's hardly used by anyone in the states and Europe anymore. Early translations of Spillane or Chandler must have looked like desert landscapes to the Japanese. A barebones mystery, dotted with references to alcohol, cigarettes and beautiful women, all centered on lonely and fundamentally self-destructing characters. But the Japanese probably never regarded it as genre fiction, I like to think they viewed it as a kind of philosophical zen poetry about these themes, with the actual mystery or detective story as completely inconsequential.

Katherine Dunn's Geek Love is apparently some kind of classic, having been nominated for a National Book Award in 1989. It details the family life of a Carnival proprietor, his wife and the freakish children they made experimenting with chemicals and radioactivity.

Just like the characters, this book's outward displays of unique weirdness really doesn't make for interesting insides. There are no interesting twists, no revealing descriptions, no fascinating characters, despite all the effort expended to make it into an engrossing macabre fairytale, it's really just a grotesque catalog of perfectly ordinary episodes, only ugly because they don't coalesce into anything more than that. For all your freak show needs, watch any episode of Carnivale, which manages to pull off everything Dunn wanted to do and more, sans the family relations angle.

Dana Vachon's Mergers and Acquisitions starts off like a fresh Brett Easton Ellis, but manages to stay quite lighthearted in tone, except for the incongruous suicidal girlfriend subplot. The main character is a slacker investment banker, who manages to work his contacts for a job at a rapidly disintegrating Wall street firm, while of course remaining somewhat aloof to the bizarre personalities and extreme temptations of life among the super wealthy idiots.

Most of the book is a somewhat entertaining farce about the main character's total lack of talent and surprising bad luck in his new job. His considerably dumber friend does better, because he's mistaken for a more senior and competent banker than he actually is, and because everyone has slept with his sister at some point. The whole thing isn't exactly biting satire like the cover blurbs would have you believe, what's missing is the dark underbelly Ellis and Jay McInerney always seem to find.

It's quite hard to write convincingly about a completely superficial world, but if you can't find anything substantial at all in the plot, it becomes almost impossible. The suicidal girlfriend is supposed to be that anchor, but Vachon just writes her as a mopey chick that wants to kill herself because her impotent father is raising another man's child as his own with his latest trophy wife. They grow apart and she dramatically attempts suicide, but lives, now alienated from him. He manages to suck-out and gets a lot of money and recognition for nothing, amidst various misadventures. I'd describe this book as a slightly more cynical version of 'the Secret of My Success', Micheal J. Fox's 1980's business comedy.

Maybe I just need to know the Wall street deal makers some of these people are supposedly based on, whose pathetic loneliness and desperation will certainly be enough to sue Vachon for the unflattering descriptions he provides. But there's no reason for me to care about super-rich jerks and the vapid, privileged hipsters they spawn otherwise.

We own the Night was competent and that's really all there is too it. Marky Mark and Robert Duvall are the cop father and son duo that try to rope black sheep club-managing brother Joaquin Phoenix into helping them catch some of the drug dealers hanging out in his Brooklyn nightspot. He refuses, and after his brother takes a bullet from a regular customer, he goes undercover to catch the assailant. He gets hurt and the purposely vague Eastern European escapes, then kills his father. The brothers reunite to catch him, Joaquin now a provisional cop planning to join the good fight as soon as family business is dealt with. He deals with it, taking up the gauntlet and finally admitting he loves his brother, who takes a desk job because he can't take working on the streets anymore, but losing his girlfriend because she just doesn't understand why he has to do this. The movie is supposed to be set in 1988, but the Blondie songs in the club sequences at the beginning are all from 1979-1982, which is my only quarrel with the movie. Nothing amazing, but well worth the trouble of going to see, solid acting all round.

Lars and the Real Girl is one of those bittersweet films from the Wes Anderson school of film making. There are the kooky characters presented with a lot of understatement, the social misfits trying to grow up, the tortured relationships between everybody, etc. The script is by one of the writers of six feet under and that shows, it's high quality, but a bit too episodic. The story centers on Lars, a 27-year old programmer with severe social anxieties, played surprisingly well by Ryan Gosling. He lives in a shed outside the family home where his older brother now lives with his pregnant wife. His brother's wife and all the other people in the small Alaskan town they live in are urging him to get a girlfriend, he's even being pursued by girl just a little bit less adorably awkward than he is. One night he snaps and orders a real doll over the internet, but he believes her to be an actual person. A kindly psychiatrist convinces everybody in the town to play along and soon 'Bianca' the wheelchair-bound half-Danish, Half-Brazilian Nurse is more popular in the town than Lars himself is. He begins to have fights with her, and is also begin to like the titular 'real girl' a lot more. Predictably, 'Bianca' isn't breathing one morning and at the funeral Lars finds comfort with the real girl. The big surprise for me in this movie was how well Ryan Gosling managed to play both Lars and 'Bianca', getting both the tics and mannerisms of the man and of the one-sided relationship with the doll absolutely perfect. And this from the guy who was in 'the Notebook', a saccharine tearjerker a movie like this is the insulin for. The balance between quirky comedy and drama was just off, though. It was a good film, but a bit more tension, uncomfortable weirdness and at least a mention of sex (those dolls are anatomically correct, after all) would have made it great.

Mad Men is the new show by the production team and one of the writers behind 'the Sopranos'. Apparently David Chase was so impressed by the pilot script he hired creator Matthew Weiner on the spot for the last season of his show. And it's clear why, Mad men doesn't have the Soprano's easily explained conceit -mobster character study through psychiatrist- but it does have the same appeal, a great cast struggling with superior scripts with multi-layered things to say about American Society. The show is set in 1960, and deals with the professional and private life of Don Draper, a creative director for a Madison Avenue advertising agency. His colleagues and city mistresses don't seem to know anything about his private life, and his wife doesn't seem to care about his job. The show is dedicated to being period specific and representing a 1960's microcosm that also explains where modern consumer society comes from. So there's a lot of smoking drinking and cheating on wives going on, absolutely charming racism and misogyny (Draper's wife sees a psychiatrist who calls him the following evening to tell him what she talked about) and gems of wisdom about the advertising business and some of the classic campaigns of the sixties. The famous 'lemon' volkswagen' campaign is ridiculed by Draper and colleagues. There's some fantastic lines in every episode but these from the second episode are just immortal:
"Have you ever been in love mister Draper?"
"Love doesn't exist. Love was invented by a man like me to sell nylons."
All said while knocking back an old-fashioned and chain smoking. BBC 2 is showing it on Tuesdays, there's no DVD yet, but there will be one soon.

Last but not least, I'll be reviewing a lifestyle/youth craze from the depths of urban despair in post-industrial France and Belgium.. I originally thought it would be some kind of music craze, but it doesn't have any signature songs, except this one, a remix of a cover of a French 80's classic by artist Yelle.

Predictably, they whole thing is already over six years old, being invented, or maybe co-opted by the manager of Parisian club MetroPolis. Tecktonik is a registered trademarked and has it's own line of products. The hairstyles and fashion are clearly defined, as is the dance.
This is what they look like....

The only workable definition of any kind of ethos behind it is no rebellion, no statements and no messages. The name reflects the clash of more Southern European (read : Metrosexual) types of dancing with more Northern European (read: Violently Heterosexual) styles. The movements are a representation of that tectonic shift when the continental plates hit each other. Style over substance. Thank god the beef is there, or it might seem anemic even by fad standards. Hardstyle and jumpstyle dancing enthusiasts are already using it as a self-defining exclusion. Tecktonik is gay, what they do is more acceptable.

The fact that I'm talking about what is essentially a trademarked youth culture concept, should chill you to the bone. It's not the kids who decide what's cool, even in the underground, it's a guy in a suit. It's only cool because it sells energy drinks and t-shirts. This is the one of the most bankrupt crazes I;ve ever seen so much so that there is no message, and the music is an afterthought. The Yelle video is basically an add for expansion into Northern Europe.

Fitna fails to stoke fires of Holy Wrath, Pre-millenial dispensationalists bitterly disappointed

2008-03-30T18:16:00.001+01:00

Geert Wilders' hardcore fan base was a bit disappointed with the film, some of them were quoted in the NRC as thinking he hadn't really expressed himself. No riots in Holland, some diplomatic kerfuffle, i.e. Jordan considering withdrawing it's ambassador and predominantly student protests. Also on the cover of the NRC is the fantastic news that Jihadist website Al-Ekhlaas (true devotion) is only somewhat sarcastically endorsing the message of the movie. Surely that wasn't part of the plan. Islamic public figures across the country are gearing up for the debates next week, which might actually do some good. Not to be outdone, professional ex-Muslim provocateur Ehsan Jami is now planning to release a cartoon depicting Mohammad as a pedophile.

Luckily, this also means that the Christian Democrats' plan to go out in a blaze of glory is ruined and they'll have to face up to the reality of seeing the 4th cabinet in seven years fail miserably in the nesxt two to three months. There was a distinct feel of the apocalypse junkies in the 'left behind' series to the government's pres releases these anxious weeks leading up to the release of the film. How they would have loved to rally the country behind the Christian values less than a third of the population believes in, only to be dramatically felled by Moorish Scimitars, happy in the knowledge that their place at the Lord's right hand is secure. All is not lost though, it took months of campaigning by concerned imams get the Middle East fired up about the Danish Cartoons, so there's still hope for that plan.

The streets running red with Blood is out, though. Dutch Muslims seem to be taking the whole thing in stride, more interested in the one thing that successive Dutch governments have claimed to want to initiate, an open dialog with the Muslim minority in the country about the role of their religion in society. It's oddly fitting that this should be accomplished by a right-wing opposition party's rejection of the principles in their holy book, and not by strenuously avoiding offending Muslims, as was the political paradigm. This might be the best thing to have happened in the debate since the sixties, or I could be proven wrong when I turn on the news in half an hour. Fingers crossed.....

Geert Wilders' 'Fitna' might harm Dutch Trade, his oponents have assured us.

2008-03-18T00:36:00.004Z

Dutch shockpol Geert Wilders has a new plan to disseminate his ideas about the Islam and Muslims in general. The film 'Fitna' taken from an Arabic word that can be translated as anarchy, or a test of faith, is definitely coming out this month, despite rather mild protests in the Arabic world and expertly managed fear-mongering by Christian coalition part CDA.

Wilders is a catholic politician who left major liberal party VVD in 2004 to form his own party, with a program apparently taken directly from the last three decades of Republican presidents in the United States, featuring such gems as smaller government, lower taxes and freedom of the individual, prompting political commentators to label his program as 'Reagonomics for Holland'.

The other main strand of his strategy is picking up the racist voting bloc that was disappointed with the failures of Pim Fortuyn's party after his death, and managing to get more death threats than Ayaan Hirsi Ali, after the death of Theo van Gogh, necessitating similar round the clock protection. Now he wants to make a film as well, reaching even more audiences with an outwardly reasonable argument that's going to be correctly assessed by the intended audiences, i.e. moderate muslims and non-muslims as having a vaguely objectionable subtext.

Because that's the main problem with Wilders' arguments against Muslims, he never continues along the same lines to pronounce the same verdict on other religious leanings. Of course the long standing suspicion that he is an Israeli agent might have something to do with this, or his catholic upbringing.

The Christian democratic party CDA has done everything in their power to make the release of the film a disaster. Wilders merely announced that he was making a film, then asked everyone, especially Dutch Muslims, to please remain calm. It's thanks to the prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs that Islamic protesters managed to burn a Dutch flag along with a Danish one. Thanks should also go to the left-liberal establishment and their various misinformed celebrities for organising a great deal of useless demonstrations. How come none of these bastards are willing to protest the parties actually in power at this time, but are always available to kick an opposition party when it's down?

Now his American provider has kicked him off their server under some vague 'objectionable content' regulation and Dutch bloggers Youtubers have slapped together a series of films where they're apologising for him. I don't agree with Wilders' politics, I think he's at best a demagogue, but that doesn't mean he can't do this. Freedom of speech is far to easy to defend if it's just the things you happen to agree with. I want to see that movie and form my own opinion, I'm not interested in left-liberal or christian-right censorship, both are patronising and ultimately a lot more damaging than anything the movie will stir up.

McCain's presidential airs in Iraq, Hillary's dogfight with Barrack

2008-03-17T18:11:00.005Z

While John McCain is taking an advance on Presidential diplomacy by visiting the war torn Iraqi countryside, the democratic race is as split as ever. McCain is in Iraq as a senator, but he's also taking some time off to spearhead one of his issues. The CNN footage of McCain walking from briefing to briefing with his coffee cup is priceless. He's not only managed to steal a march on the eventual democratic candidate in the Presidential race, but also manages to make President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" banner look like the Hollywood-style showboating it was. If you want to walk around in Iraq, you drink coffee and talk to the people on the ground. Everybody's waiting for the sniper bullet to hit him in the shoulder, so he can pull a Herzog.

Newt Gingrich has called for a saner, more realistic presidential election, he's not even thinking about committing to the race until October of this year. Statistically, it's not the money that's deciding in any election, as Gingrich is claiming, it's just the candidate's likability, which gets the votes and the money, at least eventually. Trying to find the research about this referenced in 'Freakonomics', I found this blog post where Gingrich answers questions, surprisingly eloquently and sane. But Gingrich is either going to get rudely disabused of his notions, or has the most dirty, underhanded trick in the history of the Republican party waiting or John McCain. Let's not forget that he was having an affair while trying to impeach Clinton for the Lewinsky thing, or that he was the author of that 'Contract with America' which is not half bad, i.e. I disagreed with less than half of it.

A recent poll by CNN states that Obama is the preferred candidate of Democrats in The United States. However, he only has a ten point lead in a poll that has a five point error margin, and consists of a suspect and rather small sample size. The same poll points to similar percentage of Democrats disagreeing with the superdelegate system. This is odd enough in itself, but especially in light of do-over primaries that might be needed to decide the candidate. I don't know what the point of this CNN poll was, exactly, but the message is clear, somebody needs to be a clear winner in this thing. Back room deals, bribery and caucus-rigging are going to be necessary for anyone to get the majority, but some kind of PR-blow needs to cover this effectively.

There's a good chance it'll be race-related as both sides have their problems with those issues. Bill is doing his best to nuance the calculated things he said in South Carolina, and Obama has had to make excuses for whatever that insane preacher said this time. This is not a religious disagreement, though it would probably be in Obama's interest to cast it that way. Rev. Wright is a social preacher in typical African-American tradition, except that he likes his conspiracy theories as well. Obama needed the association with the reverend when he wasn't black enough, but now he's '...like a caramel coloured Kennedy, you know some Vin Diesel, or the Rock kind of shit...' * the Reverend's speeches about the government giving everybody aids are a bit of an embarrassment.

But the real problem for everyone but McCain is the missing media coverage. Usually the National coverage of a presidential election falls into two acts. One or both of the parties declare the field open, the many candidates are on more or less equal footing, the wins and losses of the primaries weed out the nuts, then the boring, staid characters, the front runner and one or two also-rans last a bit longer, usually over some issue. The party conferences bring the candidate some new luster, rifts are healed etc. There's a short intermission, national organisations are built and re-built, the stage is set for the actual election, act two.

This first act is just lasting too long. Obama is in danger of peaking too early, handing Clinton a lot of votes that she can quietly amass in his slipstream as leader. Clinton is in danger of disappearing from the stage completely before the summer is out. The more the media tries to move on, the louder she'll have to scream about things that don't really matter. Instead of do-overs, the DNC should be thinking of moving the convention up before these things happen to either candidate.

* From an informal interview with Chad, 21, college student in an Amsterdam coffeeshop.

Hillary still alive, Nader joins the fray, McCain gets the nod.

2008-03-02T21:43:00.007Z

Hillary Clinton is still in the race for the democratic nomination after most projections declare her the winner in Texas and Ohio. That doesn't mean the Clinton campaign is back from the dead yet, these were must-win states, needed just to stay in the game. Obama still has the same lead and Hillary still needs a Carvillesque zinger. Clinton has the same problem this time around that George Bush Sr. had against her husband, the media cycle is running a lot faster than she expected and the other side is doing a much better job of presenting a consistent and appealing image.

Clinton was forced on the defensive by Barack Obama's delegate lead, while he has proven a master at magnanimously forgiving her for portraying him as 'all talk'. Most of the rumours about Obama that would have been useful to the Clinton campaign have been done to death, and are sliding off him like water off a duck's back. Only the Israel-Jewish conservative axis is still using his attending a madrassa and wanting to talk to the Palestinians as the 'first signs of your candidate's co-optation by the Islamo-fascist Junta'. Obama's only weak spot that will stick, is his relationship with Tony Rezko, tenuous though it may be, but since Matt Lauer dug up that picture of Hillary and Bill standing next to Rezko, she can't really exploit this, besides the fact that this would open up her campaign financing can of worms. There are more shady characters at the average Clinton fund-raiser than at the Hanoi Hilton in 1973.

The last thing an already divided democratic vote needed was the charming news that Ralph Nader and the green party are going to draw votes on the extreme left again. While the democratic nomination is not yet secured, there's no reason to worry about this too much, but whoever gets it will have to do a public appeal, urging people not to vote Nader and Nader himself to give up, for the sake of the country. What they're overlooking is the fact that a good win for Nader might finally motivate the Christian Conservatives to set up their own party. The Democrats might lose votes on the left, but imagine what a more right-wing movement would do to the Republicans. More and more polls are saying that the unusually high voter turnout expected in this election will prove once and again that the population of the United States of America is far more liberal than everyone thought. John McCain is a much more serious threat to the Democrats' voter base than Nader will ever be.

McCain got the nod, and Mike Huckabee is out of the race, but it's still by no means certain that John McCain will win the presidency. In an interview with dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, The always diplomatic Christopher Hitchens said; "Now McCain will be forced into some kind of unholy alliance with one of those Christian thugs.." Or not, E.J Dionne's columns in the Washington Post are markedly more positive about the Republican party's chances to rid itself of the undue influence of the Christian conservatives, finally returning to their fiscal conservative roots.

Ronald Brownstein's latest book, 'The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partizanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America' has a very interesting perspective on the last quarter century of developments in partisan politics. The Democrats were the first group to use the tactics used by the Conservative Christians today. In the late fifties they started to try and work the dixiecrats in the south out of the party by polarising public opinion and manipulating Democratic party politics. They succeeded with Lyndon B. Johnson's social democratic reforms, which where a sort of clarion call for the new left. The public shrugged and the following voter migration sowed the seeds for the extreme partisanship by making the Republicans more Christian and Conservative as the Democrats became more Liberal and Progressive. So really the Democrats are to blame for George W. Bush.

Reviews for this month

2008-02-28T14:01:00.003Z

I'm going to start doing monthly reviews of things I've read, seen, etc. This month's books;

Osamu Tezuka's Buddha is a bona fide comics masterpiece. I don't usually like a reading manga, the perversely Japanese subject matter, either incomprehensible, graphically violent or cloyingly sweet, or all three simultaneously, usually make it a grating and unrewarding experience, that can't be fixed by stylistic wizardry.

Tezuka is credited with inventing the 'big eyed' style of manga, but where other authors use it indiscriminately, he only uses it for effect, i.e. only beautiful, innocent and pure women are portrayed as such. Most of the other characters are drawn in a variety of styles, most of them looking more like early Disney characters. This is a very conscious choice, the majority of characters serve the purpose of stand-ins for readers with basic questions about Buddhism.

The story dictates what everything looks like, but not to the degree where it gets annoying. Backgrounds can be lush and detailed or spare and mostly blank depending on the effect Tezuka's looking for. The entire story is presented with incredibly sophisticated cinematic techniques, and all that bizarre manga symbolism is presented completely in context, and entirely understandable for once. It really makes clear how well these angles and facial expressions can work when wielded with some subtlety.

The story sticks quite closely to the life of Buddha, but without delving into superstitious magic or the always unhelpful zen paradox. It mostly points out the obvious reasons why the teachings where necessary at the time, why they were superior to dominant theology and why they're still relevant today. Tezuka goes to great lengths to cast a different perspective on any demons or gods that appear in the tale, preferring to point out the humanity of the characters and staying as far away from metaphysics as possible, presenting the Buddhist philosophy as a straight-forward answer to modern living.

Having tried to wrestle through the Tibetan book of the dead last month, I can't tell you how refreshing and enlightening this comic was. At around three thousand pages it looks imposing and complex, but it's actually as clear and unassuming a religious text as you'll find. No useless celestial hierarchies, no dead language jokes. Just a very entertaining look at why you really shouldn't be afraid of death.

Pierre Bayard's 'How to talk about books you haven't read' is pretty much the exact opposite. It is not, like the title suggests, the bluffer's guide to appearing literate and cultured, but rather a clever exploration of why it's more important to know how to discuss books, their relationship to each other and to you, than to actually read them all.

Bayard illustrates his points with recognisable anecdotes and examples from literature. His brief summaries of famous books are of course littered with inaccuracies that you guess must be there, but can't put your finger on, even if you've just read the book he's talking about. He reveals that he did this consciously towards the end of the book, to make the point that the unreliability of the human memory is the main reason you have to bluff about books you have read at least as much as abut those you haven't.

Even more controversial is his assertion that critics needn't read the books they review, that in fact it's usually better that they don't. My review of Buddha is case in point. I liked it so much that instead of coming up with a pithy one-liner or two, I ended up singing it's praises to the detriment of giving anyone a clear idea of whether or not they should read it. This onion av club review, though it only covers the first book of the eight, perhaps intentionally, is a lot clearer on what's good about it, and what isn't.

I actually read 'The Raw Shark texts' by Steven Hall some time ago, but I still think I should mention it. It's not perfect, but the concept and a lot of the quirky ideas in it are reason enough to read it. The protagonist is an amnesiac who's getting packages from his pre-amnesia self. His former self gives him the advise that piecing together his memories will probably lead to far more trouble than trying to live without the knowledge. Of course, it's irresistible for the hero to find out.

The reason he's an amnesiac is that he's being hunted by a 'conceptual shark', which has the entirety of information as a habitat. It's also being hunted by a self-replicating intelligence that's a hundred and fifty years old, and is continually trying to take over new bodies through hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, conditioning and old-fashioned education. The reason it's such a voracious entity is it's origin as a dying man's desire to live on in another body, multiplied by the need for all the bodies to synchronise information regularly, which only strengthens it's instinct for self-preservation through endless positive feedback.

And those are just two of the ideas Hall wants to get across, the rest of the book is littered with interesting number and language jokes. It's also the book's only major flaw. Hall needs every last scrap of realism and believability for the ideas, leaving none whatsoever for the main character or the villains, love interest and mentor. The prose alternates between fiery and compelling for the ideas and limp and uninspired for the relationships. But in proper sci-fi tradition, you probably won't care, the ideas are more than interesting enough.

As for movies, I've only watched three recent ones, but they were all quite good.

There will be Blood rightly deserved it's Oscar. Daniel Day Lewis stars as an early twentieth century oil baron with an all-consuming greed. His struggle to make enough money to never have anything to do with anyone else ever again is captivating to watch. Even though the film is almost three hours long, it flies by, from one scene pregnant with doom to the next. The finale is an awe-inspiring diatribe against his main antagonist, a delightfully oily and insane teenage preacher played by Paul Dano. It's quite a stylistic break with P.T. Anderson's previous films, especially because of the spaghetti western effects, like the almost unbearably slow tension building scenes, the spare, rugged and beautifully harsh backdrops as stand-ins for the characters inner lives and tight close-ups in the most dramatic moments, all in the service of what is basically a rather complex character study of an arch-capitalist in the tradition of Citizen Kane.

Ridley Scott does a gangster movie with Russel Crowe and Denzel Washington, and though it's good, it suffers from Scott's indecision on whether to follow the gangster movie template or make it a Ridley Scott thriller, ending up with something that's neither. If American gangster had been half an hour shorter, it would probably be the better for it. Based on a true story, Washington plays Frank Lucas, the black drug dealer that co-opted the Maffia into his own New York based empire. He manages to buy the drugs directly from the growers in Vietnam and has them shipped over to the U.S. in Body Bags. Russel Crowe is Richie Roberts, the officer trying to catch him, albeit considerably slower than in other movies. It takes Crowe more than half the movie to even figure out it's Frank Lucas he needs, giving Washington the time to employ his entire family in the business and be the hardworking businessman and lovable family man at the same time. Washington has a hard time trying to fit a Tony Soprano-esque character arc into 30 odd scenes. Russel Crowe is almost the standard dedicated cop with a messy personal life and doesn't really do anything but play that tired old cliché. The movie ends with Frank Lucas caught, but in the epilogue he still manages to finger every corrupt police officer in New York.

Charlie Wilson's War is exactly what I hoped it would be. A tight and interesting political satire by Aaron Sorkin with no possibility of him getting lost in some sprawling, dense forest of plots and counter-plots, seeing as it's all based on true events. Tom Hanks does a fabulous job as the titular character, the drinking, cocaine snorting and womanising representative for a Texan district, who is also a prominent member of the congress black ops committee, but it's Philip Seymour Hoffman's dour, rude and argumentative CIA agent that almost blows him off the screen. Julia Roberts fills a role perfect for her generally wooden acting as the right wing heiress that brings them together to arm and train the mujahedeen, who are fighting the Russians in Afghanistan. The movie ends with the acknowledgment that if the U.S. had spent as much money on rebuilding Afghanistan after their war, the U.S. wouldn't have been occupying it now. Excellent political satire based on true events that is, except for a few necessary character development moments, never cloyingly sentimental or overly simplistic about a complicated and multi-faceted historical development, which is still highly relevant.

Final Natalee Holloway update

2008-02-27T21:05:00.000Z

Avid readers might have noticed that the stream of news from this direction has dried up somewhat. I'm sorry for those who've come to rely on brand new Natalee Holloway snippets, but there's really nothing left. Yeah, Natalee's parents hired a sub, Joran is in a mental institution, etc. But the big story is over and it didn't amount to all that much in the end. If you're into Justice, you can take comfort in the fact that Joran van der Sloot won't have much of life, at least not for the next couple of years.

I'm still annoyed that I was able to scoop all these reputable news organisations with what were essentially on the fly translations of the news and the various special reports, they couldn't get somebody to translate some of this? Maybe I misjudged the scope of this story, but at least people on the internet were interested. I just expected better of them, I guess.

I stand by my assessment of the various 'experts' and their theories, usually about Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, they acted suspiciously, but so what? The only one that admitted to anything is Joran, even though this doesn't mean he'll hang for it. It's true I don't like Dr. Phil McGraw, though I do sometimes find his show entertaining. The main reason isn't that he interferes with media circus celebrity-nonsense cases like this one or Britney Spears or the custody battle for Anna Nicole Smith's baby, for instance. It's his inability to be honest about what he's doing, i.e. turning news and psycho therapy into entertainment and why's he's doing it, it's his job, that annoys me. He should at least take some responsibility for when it goes horribly wrong. Maybe being sued by Britney's family will bring forth a kind of public apology.

After all that talk of responsibility, it's my turn to apologise for not checking out or retracting the Lorenzo van Rijn story. But in my defense, I was just reporting what everybody else was reporting. I'd love to have had the resources or contacts to call Aruba and ask somebody there, but I don't, I barely have enough time to update a few times a month. but I'm more than willing to except responsibility in this matter, I strive to be factually correct, and if I'm not, you can call me on it.

Anyway, thanks to all the people who left comments, even ones I didn't agree with, that week was just great. I'm going back to writing longish essays about whatever, and maybe follow the primaries a bit more.

Mitt Quits, McCain reigns, Huck stuck.

2008-02-08T00:10:00.000Z

Mitt Romney quits the race for the presidency, after having spent a recorded 35 million dollars on his campaign. "I feel I have to now stand aside, for our party and for our country," the former Massachusetts governor told the shocked crowd. mitt Romney is suspending his campaign, which means he can hold on to his delegates until the Republican National Convention this summer. He did not, as the press was speculating say a significant amount of positive things about John McCain.

His decision leaves Mike Huckabee in a lurch, as to whether or not to quit the race as well, as previously requested by Romney. Romney apparently decided to not be the spoiler himself, and not, as was speculated as well, because he's thinking of his future in the party. McCain is expected to start a dialog with the conservative wing of the party, many of whom are adamantly opposed to McCain for voting against the two tax cuts by president Bush, his views on immigration and calling them "agents of intolerance".

Natalee Holloway Update 42: Daury Rodriguez hires lawyer, wants name cleared. Deepak and Satish Kalpoe suing Dr. Phil

2008-02-06T23:49:00.000Z

Daury Rodriguez, named as the accomplice in the dumping of Natalee Holloway's body by Joran van der Sloot is suing van der Sloot. 'We used to play soccer together. I wouldn't call him a friend, especially not now. I don't even have a boat." His lawyer Chris Lejuez, says van der Sloot's confession was very damaging to his client's reputation and that they want his name cleared of any connection with the case.

Deepak and Satish Kalpoe are able to sue Dr. Phil McGraw for using tape manipulation to suggest their guilt, a Los Angeles judge ruled today. Dr. Phil and CBS tried to halt the case by calling into question the legalities of suspects in a case to be tried in Aruba suing an American TV host. Dutch and American forensic experts have conclusively proven that McGraw 'doctored' the tapes.

2008 Super Tuesday: McCain Triumphant, religious vote split. Democratic vote torn between two lovers

2008-02-06T13:06:00.000Z

John McCain is riding high after his California win and seems to have managed to recapture the old Republican power base of fiscal conservatives, all his supposed moral failings have translated into the crumbs Romney and Huckabee are fighting over. They're only winning states they were going to win anyway, and are both failing to capture any new voting blocs. If McCain can capture the gulf coast as well as the North West, he has his nomination. Check out the NPR map.

CNN is providing a nice tally of yesterday's results. Full of upsets for Clinton, the democratic side is looking increasingly split. Clinton won California, but the Midwest is Obama country now. There doesn't seem to be a decisive winner in the South yet, Clinton losing key states like Alabama and Georgia, despite securing early endorsements. But it's still wide open, a decisive win in a big state in the next couple of weeks can boost either campaign.

Natalee Holloway Update 41: Andrew Hodges on Dutch TV, Deepak and Satish still involved. Lorenzo van R. believed to be 'Daury' by Native Arubans

2008-02-06T00:43:00.000Z

Andrew Hodges, the forensic psychiatrist who has been involved in the case since the beginning, has just espoused the theory that Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were responsible for raping Natalee together with Joran van der Sloot. "He is lying on that tape. I suspect the kalpoes are involved. They were cleaning their car obsessively after the disappearance, for one thing."

Meanwhile Dutch TV program Netwerk reported that the Arubans know who Joran's accomplice with the boat was, a certain Lorenzo R., his half-brother. Lorenzo R. is a known underworld figure on Aruba. He was arrested in November of last year in connection to an illegal marijuana plantation. Apparently they've kept quiet about this because Lorenzo's superiors in the Aruban underworld were not prepared to do without him. He is already being held for questioning by the police.

Hillary-Barrack or Obama-Clinton, Democrats playing safe no matter what., Republicans set to devour selves.

2008-02-05T22:36:00.000Z

Sorry to disappoint the people looking for more hot Natalee Holloway updates, but there's really nothing more to report. It looks like the story is being buried in the U.S. by the election coverage, which gives me an ample opportunity to give a last minute rundown of the situation according to me. It's not so strange that the Holloway story is disappearing, seeing as politics has never been sexier; A woman, A black guy and a Mormon? There's only one traditional looking candidate, but he's always good for a hot soundbite.

In my previous post about the primaries I was chuckling at the huge pack of Republicans popping up and how interesting the race would be for them. Unfortunately, Rudi's strategy didn't pan out and he had to leave. Well, everyone saw that one coming. Who the hell waits until Florida to start campaigning? Rudi blew it, and he never even realised the whole 9-11 thing was dead in the water as soon as he started.

Ron Paul is still hanging on, as all proper goofballs should. He has no hope in hell of coming away with any kind of bargaining power, though. Unlike Mike Huckabee, who's definitely trying to capture as big a piece of the conservative christian vote as possible, even though it's hard to say how this will translate to bargaining power.

Mitt Romney is fighting his weird cult-member image with business credentials and it seems to be working. There's a real possibility that he might capture the religious vote and if he doesn't, Mike is available as vice-president. It's gonna be a tough fight against McCain, the two are head to head, especially in California, which is only just waking up.

The bizarre turn around of the last few weeks is that the bulk of conservative commentators is turning on McCain for a variety of garbled reasons. This kind of infighting is more common on the left side of the political spectrum, and I'm really relishing it. Let's hope the general public in the U.S. realises the insanity in this and stops listening to those idiots. FOX news is not journalism.

Even better would be that they get together and set up a third party on the extreme right. It's about time and that would open up the possibility for a decent far left party as well. Some coalition politics would not only lively up congress and the house, but there would be room for a wider variety of viewpoints in cabinets, committees, etc. Just imagine, the U.S. a mature democracy where party affiliation is a reliable indication of policy decisions, and where personal charisma takes a back seat to voting record.

The democrats are not putting all their eggs in one basket, last week's mutual vice presidency admissions are quite obviously engineered by the DNC. They probably promised their delegates to whomever wanted a democratic win most.

Who's eventually going to emerge candidate for either party will be much easier to gauge tomorrow, but it we know it's going to break down into four scenarios.

-Obama versus McCain. One of the two nightmare scenarios for conservatives. No one to vote for, nothing to gain. McCain is fantastic at dirty tricks, but nothing has stuck to Obama yet and even if it did, by that point the image contrast between the two is going to be obvious. Obama is ridiculously dynamic by comparison, and he can throw so many old peccadiloes at McCain it's ridiculous. McCain doesn't have the same appeal, and certainly not with the voters they'll b fighting for, the conservatives.
EDGE:Barack Obama

-Clinton versus McCain. The other nightmare. This one will definitely be the most entertaining. The Clintons are at least as good as he is at burying their opponents under layers of accusations, but if McCain is still missing the vital christians, he won't stand a chance. Hillary could even steal them if she pitches it right. Like Ann Coulter promised, she'd campaign for Hillary before she'd call McCain anything less than 'uncomfortably close to the Antichrist'.
EDGE:Hillary Clinton

-Obama versus Romney. This one would just be weird. 'Change' versus 'Economy', White men and churchgoers who would actually go out and vote versus everybody else, most of whom wouldn't. By far the most polarising and uncomfortable presidential race, even for the candidates. There's no obvious winner in this one, and just might split the U.S. down the middle for the hundredth time. Neither has enough history or serious policy failures behind them, so it would be another image over issues race.
EDGE:Who knows?

-Clinton versus Romney. Hillary has this one in the bag, Romney's grasp on the electorate is too tenuous to stand up to Clinton's barrage of communication. She's running a highly focussed campaign, picking exactly the groups that she wants to reach, and reaching them perfectly. Romney's personal fortune is peanuts compared to what Clinton can get with a few vague promises to lobbyists. And the experience the Clintons have is going to make mincemeat of his business credentials, she might also try to steal the religious right away from him, if all the other voting blocs are secure.
EDGE:Hillary Clinton

Definite answers from the exit polls in four hours.

Natalee Holloway Update40: Peter R. De Vries will appear on Larry King, Inside edition. Van der Sloot at undisclosed location. Prosecutors biding time

2008-02-05T20:10:00.000Z

It's all quiet on the Joran front today. No new statements by the parties involved. Except for de Vries' production company, which let everyone know he's reached agreements with Larry King and Inside edition. Oprah is apparently out of the picture.

Joran van der Sloot has siad, thorugh his lawyers that he's talking to the police and is fully cooperating this time. They have been appraised of his location. Meanwhile, they're investigating who 'Daury' is and what he did exactly. If he confirms part of van der Sloot's confession, van der Sloot can be arrested in Holland.

The whole thing is dying down again, waiting for a trial. Most of the quality newspapers and state-sponsored TV programs have already used the case a launching pad for complaining about having to compete with commercial stations for the common denominator, due to the government's semi-privitisation initiatives. Or that the police and the prosecutors should have entrapped Joran himself, conveniently forgetting that van der Eem offered his services to the police first.

Van der Eem (34)gave an exclusive interview with de Telegraaf today where he claims to have been disgusted with van der Sloot, and that he hung up on him after van der Sloot called him in tears after the show last Sunday. Van der Eem, a father of two and a businessman, managed to convince Joran that he was a major drugdealer and that he had paid work for van der Sloot.

On last notable bizarre detail is the medical expert Dr. Ernst Stolz claiming that Natalee might have died due to a rare allergy to prostate fluid. It's an extremely rare condition with fewer than six reported cases a year in Europe, but it presents with the symptoms that van der Sloot described.

Natalee Holloway Update 39: ABC's 20/20 special report starts in half an hour. Rumours about de Vries cancelling Larry King and Oprah.

2008-02-05T02:04:00.000Z

Joran van der Sloot has now been formally named a suspect in the murder of Natalee Holloway. His statement to the effect that he did not know whether or not she was alive when her body was dumped means the prosecution can and will demand more severe punishments.

Gerard Spong, a prominent Dutch attorney, stated earlier today that there is a very real chance that van der Sloot may win the criminal case, but will be unable to win a civil suit brought by the surviving family members. Since there is an extradition treaty between the Netherlands and the United States, possible damages may be "..far more than he will ever be able to repay. The American system for awarding damages can have devastating results."

Peter R. De Vries is 'reconsidering' some of his American TV appearances. His production company Endemol is citing "completely ridiculous demands" regarding exclusivity of interviews, formats and availability. De Vries will definitely appear in Alabama, but all other engagements may be off. "I have enough to do here." De Vries declared in a statement. "I might just leave it, if they keep this up."

Natalee Holloway Update 38: Joran's lawyer: "Confession was a lie" Psychologist: "Joran might be a pathological liar" Lawyer is not 100% about Joran

2008-02-04T21:44:00.000Z

Joran's Dutch Lawyer, Bert de Rooij, is prevaricating about his guilt, the truth or lies in the taped confession. "Every time he releases a statement, we have to figure out if he's telling the truth or lying."

Hans Mos just declared that he will wait for Joran to come in, but not indefinitely. "The story fits the facts, Joran incriminates himself, so he is a suspect, but we will not arrest him on this evidence. he should come in, for his own good as well."

Natalee Holloway Update 37: Joran's lawyer offers a talk between him and the prosecutors, Makes weak excuses, Joran is addicted to gambling, in debt

2008-02-04T21:37:00.000Z

Joran's Dutch Lawyer is making excuses for Joran now. He's apparently a pathological liar and needed money for his gambling addiction, and this is why he told the 'lies' about Natalee's disappearance. De Vries has 'twisted' the evidence in his advantage.

Hans Mos and a Law psychologist have just joined the discussion and are not buying it. There argument is that the other evidence fits the story, and the main part that's interesting is the 'missing' part of the story between Ntalee dying and "Daury" showing up to dispose of the body.

Hans Mos has just claimed that the 'Daury' that appeared in the papers yesterday is a different one. The last names, beeped in the show, are different. Hans Mos has already contacted the 'real' Daury. He's hoping that Joran will help them with what actually happened this time.

Natalee Holloway Update 36: Joran's confession, Natalee dumped in Ocean, possibly Alive!Accomplice 'Daury'found.No arrests made.Prosecutors 'Cautious'

2008-02-04T17:22:00.000Z

This is a round up of the last few posts, it looks like the investigation is moving forward, but until something new pops up, we'll just have to wait. But here's the recap:

Joran van der Sloot, an earlier suspect was filmed with hidden cameras by Peter R. De Vries while in the car of a friend, Patrick van der Eem, who had offered his services to De Vries when he met van der Sloot. Van der Eem was paid about 25.000 euros for his part in the operation. Van der Eem previously offered his help free of charge to the police, yet they were legally bound not to entrap a former suspect.

Over the months of their acquaintance, van der Sloot began to trust van der Eem, who never brought up the case. After Joran returned from Aruba following his second arrest and release, the sting began in earnest. Van der Sloot told van der Eem that she died while they were engaging in sexual acts, describing her death in a way that resembles an epileptic fit.

An Aruban friend that van der Sloot described as 'Daury' helped him dispose of the body by dumping it in the ocean. During the TV show, a man named Daury, a former friend of van der Sloot's was found, but he can prove that he was in Holland at the time of Holloway's disappearance. Another friend of van der Sloot's, previously detained for questioning by the prosecution, Steve Gregory Croes, is now rumoured to be the one who helped van der Sloot.

Van der Sloot's confession makes it clear that Deepak and Satish Kalpoe are not implicated in the disappearance of Holloway at all. He describes them as 'Losers and Dupes' and brags about his sexual prowess in comparison to the brothers. Van der Sloot's father is implicated in various legal strategies and maneuvers, including instructing Joranj to stay silent, and smuggling a phone into his cell.

Van der Sloot believed himself to be untouchable by the prosecution and the police. "They're idiots. I played it so well. They have nothing on me." Van der Sloot also made numerous remarks to the effect that he was planning to make a lot of money from appearances on television, book deals, out of court settlements for defamation of character.

The days before the show aired, van der Sloot's lawyers denied that he was in trouble, but soon after a phone interview with the Pauw en Witteman television show where he claimed all of the things he said to van der Eem were menat to impress him, his lawyers released a statement to the effect that he should have kept his mouth shut.

Despite the case appearing solved to the general public, the Aruban justice department can not say with certainty when there will be arrests, and if van der Sloot can be convicted, and if so of what exactly. If Natalee Holloway was dead at the time of the dumping of the body, van der Sloot is only guilty of obstruction of Justice, disposing of a corpse and perjury.

Peter R. De Vries will be seen in all major American talk shows this week. Almost half of the Dutch population tuned in Yesterday evening for his documentary. ABC will be screening an edited version of this programme tonight.

Natalee Holloway Update 35: Joran's house searched. Peter R. De Vries calls for Joran 'to come clean' Arubans guarded at press conference.

2008-02-04T16:44:00.000Z

Joran van der Sloot's last known address, his house in Arnhem, has been searched at the request of the Aruban Justice department. Police have also searched his Grandmother's house where he was reportedly staying over the weekend. The apartment complex in Drachten where he is reported to be right now is being secured by a private security firm and the police. This just in... the apartment complex is not van der Sloot's location, the dutch news has just released an interview with the inhabitant of the apartment, it's all a misunderstanding due to the fact that his name is Johan.

Peter R. De Vries recently said in an interview; "Even if this all a lie....I don't think so. There is no one in the world you are going to impress with a story like that. It's going to be hard after lying for so long, to his parents, to everyone, but he has to come clean, now more than ever."

The press conference by the Aruban prosecutors was remarkably less optimistic than the interview with Hans Mos. "They are being cautious.." Lex Runderkamp, legal expert told the NOS journaal. "They can't convict him yet, and before they can arrest him they need more."

Natalee Holloway Update 34: Peter R. De Vries centre of Media Circus. Joran possibly still in hiding Press conference this afternoon

2008-02-04T12:02:00.000Z

Peter R. De Vries will be on Larry King on Wednesday, is still in talks with Oprah Winfrey and others. Yesterday's edition of his show had a record of 7 million viewers in Holland, almost half of the entire population of the country.

The appartment complex where Joran might be hiding is practically under siege by journalists. Local inhabitants have hired a security firm and police are standing by as well, even though it has not yet been confirmed that van der Sloot is residing there presently.

The car used in last night's hidden camera sting operation is for sale at a second hand car dealer, for 63.900 euros. It is unknown at this point if it still contains the elaborate camera set up that de Vries installed.

The press conference in Aruba is at 12.00 local time, which is 11.00 am in New York and 8.00 am in Los Angeles.

Natalee Holloway Update 33: Steve Gregory Croes, former suspect may be "Daury", pressconference by Arubans tonight..

2008-02-04T11:43:00.000Z

Steve Gregory Croes, who was also arrested two and a half years ago, but later released is currently suspected of being "Daury" by dutch newssite www.Fokkinel.com and VKmag, who earlier had the English transcript of the interview that Peter R. De Vries had with Hans Mos. There has been no confirmation of this rumour so far, by any other source.

Apparently there's a press conference later today by the Aruban Justice department at 12.00 am local time. They have been working quietly behind the scenes to secure an arrest voor van der Sloot before the story would break, but the judge denied their request, despite the taped confession, on the grounds that van der Sloot has been arrested and released twice before. He and others can be called in for questioning, but not against their will.

Natalee Holloway Update 32; Nothing more to report for today

2008-02-04T00:03:00.000Z

That's it for now. The late dutch news reports only that De Vries believes that the Aruban Justice department has enough to reopen the case, but that it will take a lot more work for Joran to be convicted.

The Aruban Prime Minister has said that Joran van der Sloot has caused 'untold damage' with his 'unbelievable and untruthful claims".

A legal expert (Lex Runderkamp) has just declared on the Dutch News that it's a very important legal distinction if Natalee was dead or Alive when she was dumped in the sea. If she was dead at the time, the person who dumped her body in the ocean is only guilty of a severe degree of grave robbing, but if she was alive, it's at least manslaughter. In any case, it's far from a done deal, legally.