Apocalyptics

There’s been plenty of solitude and wilderness before in post-apocalyptic films, but this is the first time it’s seemed like it might be a good thing. You could see the abandoned-Earth trope – a classic return to innocence – as a reaction to current global issues such as overpopulation and environmental pressures. But it’s still heavily marked by 21st-century, globalised attitudes. This is the post-apocalyptic landscape as drawn up by sustainability-policy committee: concerned with nature, but somehow hovering above it. In Oblivion, Cruise has his communications officer, Andrea Riseborough, constantly whispering flirty sweet nothings in his ear-piece, like some kind of sci-fi Nescafé Gold Blend advert , as he goes about his repair work down on the plains. With After Earth, it’s Will Smith technologically assisting son Jaden on his quest for a lost homing beacon – Supernanny meets David Attenborough (possibly with a bit of L Ron Hubbard). (via Post-apocalypse cinema: abandoned Earths and disturbing doppelgangers | Film | guardian.co.uk)

Through a top-secret program authorized by federal judges working under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the U.S. intelligence community can gain access to the servers of nine Internet companies for a wide range of digital data. Documents describing the previously undisclosed program, obtained by The Washington Post, show the breadth of U.S. electronic surveillance capabilities in the wake of a widely publicized controversy over warrantless wiretapping of U.S. domestic telephone communications in 2005. These slides, annotated by The Washington Post, represent a selection from the overall document, and certain portions are redacted. Read related article. (via NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program - The Washington Post)

The scale of America’s surveillance state was laid bare on Wednesday as senior politicians revealed that the US counter-terrorism effort had swept up swaths of personal data from the phone calls of millions of citizens for years. After the revelation by the Guardian of a sweeping secret court order that authorised the FBI to seize all call records from a subsidiary of Verizon, the Obama administration sought to defuse mounting anger over what critics described as the broadest surveillance ruling ever issued. A White House spokesman said that laws governing such orders “are something that have been in place for a number of years now” and were vital for protecting national security. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, said the Verizon court order had been in place for seven years. “People want the homeland kept safe,” Feinstein said. (via America’s surveillance state: anger swells after data revelations | World news | guardian.co.uk)

In the Playroom is a metaphor for the impossibility of a protective space safe from the reach of modern media. The quizzical disposition of youth and the pervasive nature of the media are symbolically represented in my images through tableau-vivant re-enactments of the very current events that adults might wish to keep out of their child’s world. Just as children make a game of pretending to be adults as a way to prepare and ultimately take on these roles in later life, so too do they explore things that they hear or see, whether or not they completely understand the magnitude of the event or the implications of their play. (via In The Playroom on Behance)

(via Romantic Ruins: Nature is Coming Back)

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said Wednesday that the attacks on 9/11 and in Benghazi were “judgments” from God. “It’s no secret that our nation may very well be experiencing the hand of judgment,” she said at a D.C. prayer event called “Washington: A Man of Prayer.” “It’s no secret that we all are concerned that our nation may be in a time of decline.” “Our nation has seen judgment not once but twice on September 11,” she continued. “That’s why we’re going to have ‘9/11 Pray’ on that day. Is there anything better that we could do on that day rather than to humble ourselves and to pray to an almighty God?” (via Bachmann: 9/11 and Benghazi were “judgments” from God - Salon.com)