Christian Schmidt, Stuttgart, Germany.

The US-UK invasion of Iraq alone displaced some 4 million people, of whom almost half fled to neighboring countries. And Iraqis continue to flee from a country that is one of the most miserable on earth after a decade of murderous sanctions followed by the sledgehammer blows of the rich and powerful that devastated the ruined country and also ignited a sectarian conflict that is now tearing the country and the region to shreds.

N.C.

Kristoffer Lislegaard + Burial + Johnny Rock + Braden Deal.

My words are very easy to know, and very easy to practise; but there is no one in the world who is able to know and able to practise them.

L.T.

-MUSIC-
Antonio Vivaldi – The Four Seasons “Summer” III.Presto

-LIST OF FILMS-
Maleficent (2014), Robert Stromberg
My Girl (1991), Howard Zieff
Boyhood (2014), Richard Linklater
Marie Antoinette (2006), Sofia Coppola
Grease (1978), Randal Kleiser
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Wes Anderson
Chicago (2002), Rob Marshall
Mean Girls (2004), Mark Waters
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015), Christopher Landon
The Wolf of Wall Street (2011), Martin Scorsese
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), David Yates
Jennifer’s body (2009), Karyn Kusama
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), David Yates
Moulin Rouge! (2001), Baz Luhrmann
Belly (1998), Hype Williams
Spring breakers (2012), Harmony Korine
Legally Blonde (2001), Robert Luketic
Whiplash (2014), Damien Chazelle
Big Eyes (2014), Tim Burton
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), George Miller
Only God forgives (2013), Nicolas Winding Refn
Hard Candy (2005), David Slade
The shining (1980), Stanley Kubrick
The Aviator (2004), Martin Scorsese
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Stanley Kubrick
Alice in Wonderland (2010), Tim Burton
Fifty shades of Grey (2014), Sam Taylor-Johnson
Inglourious Basterds (2009), Quentin Tarantino/Eli Roth
American Beauty (1999), Sam Mendes
Upstream color (2013), Shane Carruth
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Matt Reeves
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Wes Anderson
The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Wes Anderson
Born to be wild (2011), David Lickley
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Wes Anderson
Skyfall (2012), Sam Mendes
Apocalypse Now (1979), Francis Ford Coppola
The Martian (2015), Ridley Scott
Pan (2015), Joe Wright
The Virgin Suicides (1999), Sofia Coppola
Ruby Sparks (2012), Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Big Fish (2003), Tim Burton
Her (2013), Spike Jonze
Top Five (2014), Chris Rock
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Shekhar Kapur
Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Wes Anderson
Into the wild (2007), Sean Penn
Life of Pi (2012), Ang Lee
The tree of life (2011), Terrence Malick
Lost River (2014), Ryan Gosling
Melancholia (2011), Lars von Trier
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Mike Newell
Fight Club (1999), David Fincher
The Truman show (1998), Peter Weir
The Revenant (2015), Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Hugo (2011), Martin Scorsese
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Chris Columbus
The Matrix Revolutions (2013), Andy Wachowski/Lana Wachowski
Avatar (2009), James Cameron
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Bryan Singer

Beeple (Mike Winkelmann), Appleton, WI, USA.

Words that are strictly true seem to be paradoxical.

L.T.

Chris Round, Sydney, Australia.

I think we have to be cautious in interpreting ISIS claims of responsibility for terrorist attacks. Take the worst of the recent ones, in Nice. It was discussed by Akbar Ahmed, one of the most careful and discerning analysts of radical Islam.
He concludes from the available evidence that the perpetrator, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, was probably “not a devout Muslim.

N.C.

Levi van Veluw, Arnhem, Netherlands.

There are serious barriers to overcome in the struggle for justice, freedom, and dignity, even beyond the bitter class war conducted ceaselessly by the highly class-conscious business world with the “indispensable support” of the governments they largely control.

N.C.