Links

History

The Bureaucrats Who Singled Out Hiroshima for Destruction - http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/08/hiroshima-nagasaki-atomic-bomb-anniversary/400448/ via @TwistedSifter on twitter

Miscellaneous:

Say goodbye to the weirdest border dispute in the world - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/08/01/say-goodbye-to-the-weirdest-border-dispute-in-the-world/ via nwhyte

A Renaissance painting reveals how breeding changed watermelons - http://www.vox.com/2015/7/28/9050469/watermelon-breeding-paintings via @TwistedSifter on twitter

Singapore's 1940s teenage weightlifting beauty queen - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33750637

How time zones confused the world - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33815153

A Rarity Reclaimed: Stolen Stradivarius Recovered After 35 Years - http://www.npr.org/2015/08/06/427718240/a-rarity-reclaimed-stolen-stradivarius-recovered-after-35-years via @TwistedSifter on twitter

Musicians

Dolly In Nashville: Authenticity That Makes Room For Rhinestones - http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/08/03/428791584/dolly-in-nashville-authenticity-that-makes-room-for-rhinestones?utm_source=tumblr.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150803 via rise_your_dead

Science:

Anti-thalidomide hero Frances Oldham Kelsey dies at 101 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33831451 She was also responsible for the FDA doing half the good work it does.

Wrestling:

Why do wrestlers so often die young? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33817959 The thing that really got me is WWE's response which was all 'we have a wellness programme now, and try to encourage them not to misuse recreational drugs', and that's actually mentioned in the article. It's like WWE PR department, did you not bother reading the article.

Adverts I Am Really Digging At The Minute

This F & F Schoolwear one, which is a perfect superhero take-off:

Watch on YouTube

And this Virgin Media football fan one. I particularly like the ostrich, it and I are soul-twins.

Watch on YouTube

100 Great Scenes In Not So Great Films - 2 - The Ethics Class Scene In Judge Dredd

The Statement For The Prosecution:

I'm probably not the best person to make this statement because I don't think the film is all that bad. Mainly it suffers from not being the comic, and the comic having a particularly rabid fanbase (I am one of them, even if Dredd isn't my favourite 2000AD character).

A lot of the backlash could have been avoided if they hadn't broken the golden rule of Judge Dredd, which is 'never show his face'.

They also made Hershey far too squishy.

On a personal note, ( spoilers follow )

It's little details like that that make me think that some love and attention did go into making this. Most of the problem is that, with the exception of the food droid bit (quote - "Be kind and peaceful to each other. Eat recycled food. It's good for the environment and okay for you.") the film forgets that Dredd is a satire. I try not to hold this against the film, since the comic sometimes forgets that too, but it's also part of the reason it got a rough ride from the 2000AD fans.

( Then there's a couple of problems with the plot (spoilers) )

The Scene Itself:

Which I again cannot get a clip of, mostly because people prefer to clip the 'I am the law' scene.

I can, however, get you the dialogue, care of IMDB:

Judge Dredd: [During an "Ethics" class, Dredd fires continuously at a "Judge" helmet and armor] ... The Judge's standard-issue helmet and body armor. Yours, when you graduate. Lawgiver-2 standard-issue sidearm, with 20 interchangeable rounds and voice-activated round system.
[to the Lawgiver]
Judge Dredd: Signal flare.
[fires a signal flare into the wall]
Judge Dredd: Yours, IF you graduate.
[walks over to a futuristic motorcycle]
Judge Dredd: Lawmaster, with rapid-firing cannons and a range of 500 kilometers.
[turns it on; it malfunctions]
Judge Dredd: Yours... if you can ever get it to work.
[cadets laugh]
Judge Dredd: All the things you see are toys; at the end of the day, when you're alone in the dark, the only thing that matters is this...
[holds up the Book of the Law]
Judge Dredd: ...the Law.
[slams the Book onto the table]
Judge Dredd: You WILL be alone. Upon retirement, you will take the Long Walk... which every Judge takes, outside these city walls, into the Cursed Earth. There you will remain for the last of your days, alone and carrying the Law. Class dismissed.

Why the Scene is so Good:

This scene is the closest the film gets to explaining the price of being a Judge. The Long Walk is how Mega City One deals with the 'what do we do with these over-trained violent people when we're done with them?' There is no retirement for Judges, after 25/30 years of service, they get sent out into the Cursed Earth, a radioactive post-apocalyptic wasteland to bring law unto the lawless, until they die. And that's assuming they reach retirement age, which very few of them do.

They give up everything (because they're basically forbidden from romance, children and pretty much anything that resembles a personal life - see also why Hershey should be less squishy) for very little in return. And the Academy is the point of no return. If you graduate, you're a Judge for life, and I think Dredd wants the cadets to know that, and what they're signing up for.

Secondly, once you know that, it helps you understand why Dredd feels so betrayed by any Judge, never mind one that he considers a brother, breaking the law. It's spitting in the face of the sacrifices all the other Judges make.

Thirdly, much though he gets mocked (and, spoiler, at least two more of his films will appear in this list) Sly Stallone can act, when the script plays to his strengths, and he's very good in this scene. It's the first time Dredd is given any humanity (the joke about Lawmaster), rather than sarcasm and bile, and he gets to be The Voice of The Law (capitals utterly required), again, rather than sarcasm and bile and having to be the front man for the incredibly irrational law of Mega City One.