The Null Device

Posts matching tags 'villains'

2005/3/7

Looks like comb-licking neocon arch-villain Paul Wolfowitz isn't the only high profile candidate for head of the World Bank; looks like former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is in the running. She's the marketing type who changed the motto to "Invent" whilst slashing R&D funding and shedding jobs, turning the company that once pioneered everything from the computers the internet ran on to inkjet printers to calculators so good that they fetch TB-303-like prices on eBay to this day into something more akin to the outfit that sells Commodore-brand flash drives; apparently, when she got sacked, champagne corks were popped throughout the company.

Meanwhile, that hotbed of liberalism, the LA Times, wants Bono to get the job, because he'd be "the most eloquent and passionate spokesman for African aid in the Western world". I imagine Bob Geldof and Geri Halliwell already declined.

bono carly fiorina hewlett-packard villains world bank 0

2005/3/1

Comb-licking neoconservative architect of the Iraq war Paul Wolfowitz has been shortlisted to head the World Bank. Presumably someone in a position of power decided that the World Bank's image had become too soft and friendly or something.

neoconservatism paul wolfowitz villains world bank 1

2003/2/13

One possible side-effect of the recent France-vs.-Texas spat: more French villains in Hollywood films, replacing the usual British-accented bad guys.

The news from Beverly Hills is that producers are telling scriptwriters to 'think French'. This is a relief. For years, a British accent in a mainstream movie served as cinematic shorthand for shiftiness or downright evil. Now we can at least hope for a return to an older cinematic tradition in which the British are loyal sidekicks, chirpy corporals or colonels in the mould of David Niven.
For decades, the US love affair with France was sustained by admiration for its culture, food and wine. A visit to Paris has long been the ultimate stamp of sophistication among the US middle classes. It is hard to pinpoint when things began to change. It was certainly before September 11, as populist politics pursued by Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and now his son, sought to link liberalism with elitism and the hint of foreign conspiracy.

culture culture war france hollywood usa villains 10

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