The Oscars

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Well, I didn't get to watch these, but I must say, I'm fairly pleased with the results, especially the supposed upset for best picture.

BEST PICTURE
Crash

I'm happy that this got the best picture. While I'm sure that Brokeback Mountain is a good movie, I was afraid that it'd be a huge sweep, and while that's find, that tends to exclude a number of really good other movies. Crash, by all accounts, is fantastic, about race relations in LA. I really wanted to see it.

DIRECTING
Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain

I was rooting for George Clooney to get this one for his movie Goodnight and Good Luck, which was just amazing. The directorial work on that was fantastic, and I'm sad that he didn't get it.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote

I really want to see this one. It was odd, because I hadn't seen any of the trailers or any hype for it before the awards season - but when I saw the trailers, it looked fantastic.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line

Haven't seen it, but I've also heard really good things.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit

I wanted to see this very much. Although, I haven't any of the others.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Brokeback Mountain by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana

I would have been happy with any of the other choices- Constant Gardener, A History of Violence, Munich, or Capote. All really good or good looking movies.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Crash by Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco

I was rooting for Syriana, but this also won best picture.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
March of the Penguins

Very cute, fun documentary.

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
King Kong, Joe Letteri, Brian Van’t Hul, Christian Rivers and Richard Taylor

Yeah, this deserved it. It looked fantastic, although it was too long.

Overall, I was happy with the choices. No major sweeps like the past couple years. I'm only annoyed with the fact that Goodnight and Good Luck, Revenge of the Sith or Munich didn't pick up anything, but there were A LOT of good looking movies out there this year. Come to think of it, Serenity should have been at least nominated. It should have swept everything.

Vermont Losing Prized Resource

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This article surprised me, in the New York Times:

Vermont Losing Prized Resource as Young Depart
POULTNEY, Vt. — Not long ago, Ray Pentkowski, the principal of Poultney Elementary School, published an unusual request in the school newsletter. Please, he urged parents, have more babies. The school desperately needs them.
He was half joking, but the problem is real. His school, down to 208 children, has lost a third of its student population since 1999 and must cut staff levels, he said, "for the first time in my memory."
Poultney, a town of 3,600 bordering New York, is just one example of a situation that increasingly alarms many in Vermont. This state of beautiful mountains and popular ski resorts, once a magnet for back-to-the-landers, is losing young people at a precipitous clip.
Vermont, with a population of about 620,000, now has the lowest birth rate among states. Three-quarters of its public schools have lost children since 2000.
Vermont also has the highest rate of students attending college out of their home state — 57 percent, up from 36 percent 20 years ago. Many do not move back. The total number of 20- to 34-year-olds in Vermont has shrunk by 19 percent since 1990.
Vermont's governor, Jim Douglas, is treating the situation like a crisis. He proposes making Vermont the "Silicon Valley" of environmental technology companies to lure businesses and workers; giving college scholarships requiring students to stay in Vermont for three years after graduating; relaxing once-sacrosanct environmentally driven building restrictions in some areas to encourage more housing; and campaigning in high schools and elementary schools to encourage students "to focus now on making a plan to stay in Vermont," said Jason Gibbs, a spokesman for Mr. Douglas.
The rest of the article here.

You know, this doesn't surprise me a whole lot, although I didn't know that we have the lowest birthrate in the country. I was born and raised in Vermont, and I love the state. It's small, quiet, low crime and very nice to look at. Unfortunently, jobs and prospects are fairly low here. The biggest employer is IBM (I'm pretty sure) and there have been cuts every now and then, and it's always a possibility that the company will pull out of Vermont all together. We depend on tourism, which is largely a seasonal job, with foliage season, ski season being the biggest.
Tourism is risky though. Often, people come up to see the quaintness of Vermont. The dairy farms, cows, beautiful leaves and the locals.
That's all been changing. People see this and move up, and want paved roads and the farms to smell nicer. The cows have been vanishing as more and more people - much like the kids leaving the state- have been leaving family farms for other prospects, not wanting to work seven days a week, twenty hours a day with a job that's slowly becoming harder and harder to keep up with. It's just not what it seems on the surface - Vermont is a very hard place to live, with extreme weather, distances and roads.
I don't know if I'll be leaving Vermont once I graduate. I've often thought about living in some places in New York, Ohio, the mid-west and south west of the country, places that I've visited and fallen in love with while there. But, I also want to raise a family here, because from everything that I've seen, that's the best place to do it. I wouldn't change anything of that.
I'm not a Gov. Douglas supporter. I've met him a couple of times, and he's a very nice guy, but I don't always agree with his policies. However, I do agree with him that we need work, and a sort of Silicon Valley project would make sense for the state- It would bring in some new industries that would be fairly environmentally friendly and would bring in new work. The only problem is that there will be a lot of resistance to the expansion of places like Williston (known for it's huge number of box stores - Walmart, Office Depot, Staples, Best Buy, Toys R Us, etc) and people - especially people who have moved in for the quaintness of the state, object because it destroys local stores. It's a dilema.

Breakthrough

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Well, I finally figured out how to update my iPod on the school computers. Really stupid little thing that I had to do, and missed. But, now, I can stick new music on, after I've been e-mailing things to myself for ages to retain it. You can't use an iPod to move music from computer to computer, but you can back it up, and have it on the music device. So, I can now listen to some songs, and a lot of podcasts with news and things for the bus. w00t!

Get A Move On

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Well, despite the lack of American help recently with all of our problems with our orbiters, the International Space Station is still to be completed.

ISS 'to be completed as planned'

All I have to say is good. Was there serious doubt that the project would not go on? It seems like that's a HUGE waste of money and effort. Due to be finished by 2010. That's only four years away, and these projects take a lot of time. Get a move on!

Bliss

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I'm going to see Philip Pullman.

That's right, Philip Pullman, the author who wrote The Golden Compass, Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass.

Along with him, Brian Aldiss, who's a really amazing Science Fiction writer.

Oxford is running a Literary Festival, and when I was there, I found a pamphlet with the topics and speakers there. Pullman, Aldiss and a couple other authors are doing one on the Science in Science Fiction. So, I just booked a ticket, VERY close to the front row, so I'm getting a good seat for this. I doubt that they'll be doing a signing, but just being there will be plain cool. 25 days from now then.

Went to Bristol yesterday, had a very fun time there. Great city, very clean, small, homely. Had lunch at a very good cafe, walked around a lot. It snowed. Hard. Literally, I've never, ever, seen a snowstorm come up so fast. It was sunny when we went into a building, ten minutes later, we get out and it's coming down extremely hard. Visibility dropped and for about a half hour (We went to the cafe) it just came down. Insane.
Pictures: http://norwich.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002520&l=9673e&id=70000497

Now, for class.

Latest Trip

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So, I did do a bit of travelling again, this time with the Marymount Students that we're studying with. We were scheduled to go on the trip, all of us in Lexia, but for some reason, Ryan, the project Coordinator, didn't know that and there was a number of last minute phone calls to get me to go. They were happy to have me come along, they were just surprised that we'd thought that we're going on as well. So last minute, I was going along.
Got up at about 8 on friday, showered, and got myself down the road to where we were getting picked up, and by around 9ish, we were off.
It was the first time that I've exited London via roadway. The numerous other times that I've left the city was through trains, and it was really cool to see a new side of the city. It was about a three or so hour ride to our first stop, Blenheim Palace, Winston Churchill's birthplace. Big house, with the family still living there, although we went to a different wing, one open to the public. Very well decorated, and boring. Our guide was interesting, but I really wasn't interested in china and chairs. There was a very cool display on Churchill's life, and of his paintings.
From there, we went on another couple hour ride to reach Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of the playwrite William Shakesphere, which was very cool to see. Nice, small town. All the book stores had huge sections on him, and there are some very old buildings. I didn't actually get to see his house, because of the expenses and time. So we all walked around for a while, went to a pub for dinner. Decent enough food and drinks there.
That evening we went to a play, Women Beware Women, which was long, slow and weird, but interesting, although I was falling asleep at times. I believe that it was put on by the Royal Shakesphere Company, and the actors were very good. We stayed in a bed and breakfast for the night.
The next morning, we got up, and drove over to Oxford, which I've already been to. There was a major protest while we were there, something about animal rights and anti-testing, as well as a pro-testing group that was huge. The police were out in force. I gathered that the anti-testing group had been violent in the past and they were completely surrounded by policemen and police women on foot, horse, motocycle and lorry. We did a tour around the city with a guide, a nice guy named Chris, who took us into one of the colleges and explained a lot of the history and interesting points of the city. We then scattered, and I got a cookie and lunch at a resturaunt. (It was about a 45 minute wait though) but worth it. From there, went around on my own, then stopped by the Eagle and Child again, got a drink, then got the bus and returned home.
Overall, a fun trip.
I've put the pictures that I took online, here: http://norwich.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002216&l=33832&id=70000497

iTV 3

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Not the station, but another development, (Sort of) with television on the internet. Like the internet, the ability to view TV and media through it is also increasing. We've seen television episodes on Yahoo, iTunes launching a video section that has done amazingly, and now, iTunes is being used to advertise for TV shows in much the same way that Yahoo was used for the show Supernatural.
According to Comingsoon.net, iTunes will be allowing viewers to download the pilot episode of Conviction, a new show on NBC for free between February 21st through March 3rd. While the show might not appeal to everyone who might otherwise purchase the episode, the option to download and retain the episode for free will certainly bring in some new viewers who essentially have nothing to loose by getting the episode for free.
The show is apparently about a group of district attorneys and their lives. While not the most original, this should give the show a boost with viewers, who can download the episode a full ten days before the episode hits the airwaves.
Along with the pilot, there the following episodes of the show will be on iTunes as well, opening an entire new audiance, abit one with money and high speed dialup, to watch the show on their computers. This could potentially open the market to new people, such as students or people with limited TV access, to see shows. Because of the pay per download nature, one can also eliminate advertising and commercials.
More to come, full article here: http://comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=13279

Goodnight and Good Luck

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Tickets were completely sold out for the concert, so I decided to see something else - the movie Goodnight and Good Luck, which has recently opened here. Despite what some people have told me, movies aren't as expensive, and even less so for matinees.
Goodnight and Good Luck. Easily one of the better films of 2005. Set in early 1954, a group of reporters at CBS become increasingly disturbed by the tactics that Senator Joseph McCarthy has been using to try and find suspected communists. They start by running a story on an Air Force officer who was kicked out of the service because his father had attended a suspected meeting, and he refused to disavow his father and two sibblings. The story was met with sucess, and the team moved on to the bigger fish, the senator himself, starting a short battle with him. A few blows were exchanged, and shortly thereafter, the Army began hearings into Sen. McCarthy's actions, which brought about his downfall.

Beyond the story, which was directed by George Clooney, there are two smaller side stories that added to the paranoia and tensions of the period. I thought that they worked well, although they didn't add very much to the overall story, beyond that.
Clooney is an absolute master at the camera and story with this. The camera works frantically at times, moving from person to person in the moment, or takes on the role of a news camera when needed. In addition, the choice to present this film in black, white and grey was absolutely brilliance, as it really brings the viewer right to the era and does not let go for a second. The dress, mannerisms and sound all contributed to this leading to a stellar period film, if that is the right term for a film so recent in history.
The movie is slow, to be sure, but extremely deliberate, and moves with purpose. Intercut, very interestingly, is the soundtrack, which is performed at intervels by a studio band in the movie, with a stunning jazz soundtrack. That's at the top of my list to get.
As far as acting goes, each and every role has been superbly done. While I'm fond of Clooney, I'm very glad that he didn't take the lead role because nobody could have carried this movie as well as David Strathairn did. He takes on this role in an amazing way, and simply could not have been done any better. Clooney and the rest of the supporting cast do just as well with their roles, and it will be a huge shame if this movie recieves few awards for the actor's performances.
One of the aspects of the movie that has largely been overlooked was the role of the media and the world, highlighted in the beginning and end of the movie with a speech by Murrow. It's almost word for word from a speech that the real Murrow did, and in it, he warns that the media will become a force that will only entertain and amuse the nation, and will no longer be the force that it was then. I think that he's got a number of very good points there, and I'm going to do some more research into him and that speech. The media has essentially become a force that entertains and amuses the nation, while it does educate and enlighten us as well, although I don't believe that it will ever go back to the same standard that was upheld then.
The movie takes political sides, but makes a clear case for loving one's country and agreeing with it, and is best summed up with Morrow's line: "We must not confuse descent from disloyalty.", which is an extremely important, and in today's world, relevant. While the characters and movie takes sides with this, no one is denying that communism was not a threat. It was the methods that were used to uncover it, no matter what the results, it wasn't right, a point that a number of low ranking reviews point out. It's not about uncovering communism. It's about taking a stand when one person is able to push people and their rights into a corner. And in this, the movie succeeds brilliantly.
So with that, goodnight, and good luck.

Nickel Creek!

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I just got an e-mail from Nickel Creek, a band that I really like. Apparently they've got a show tomorrow at the South Bank Theatre, which is in London. Hopefully they'll have tickets, it'd be awesome to see them in person. I'll probably rant about them later on.
For today - Watching a John Cleese movie that was free in a newspaper, which is very funny so far, very English, and hanging out with some people watching Rugby in a pub later on.

And on top of that, I really want to get a Mini Cooper. They're everywhere here.

Edit: Okay, Rugby game is actually next week. I'm glad that I figured that out before I reached the pub and found that out. Okay, now to find something to do for the evening...

The John Cleese movie, Clockwise, is hilarious. It was free in one of the local news papers, and has Cleese, a headmaster who's a stickler for being on time, trying to reach a meeting (Ironically, at a University at Norwich). However, he ends up getting into problem after problem and becoming horribly late in a very funny series of events.

And after that, catching up with some NPR news. Great station, if you've never listened to it.

Blue Merle

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Another artist to highlight: Blue Merle. I found these guys through radio play, with their single Burning In The Sun, which is simply a great song. Great sound to it, lyrics are great, and for me, highly relatable for me, regarding love and breakup. Their album has a number of other great songs, including Boxcar Racer, Lucky to Know You, Every Ship Must Sail Away and Places being my favorites. The others are all equally as good, and I think that these guys are just about up there with Low Millions, Amos Lee and Carbon Leaf.

If you like Coldplay, you'll like their stuff. Their lead singer, Luke Reynolds, (Who's also from Vermont) has a very similar sound to that of the British Band, but their music sounds a bit more diverse with a Fiddle and Mandolin. Mandolins seem to be popping up more, and they do add a cool sound to the music, especially here.
Track listing:

1- Burning in the Sun
2- If I Could
3- Lucky to Know You
4-Stay
5- Every Ship Must Sail Away
6- Boxcar Racer
7- Made to Run
8- Seeing Through You
9- Places
10- Part of Your History
11- Either Way It Goes
12- Bittersweet Memory

Their official Website is : http://www.bluemerle.com/main.html. Again, highly recommended.

Scotland

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Well, I'm back from my trip up to Eidinburgh, and had an extremely fun, if quick time up there. I left around noon on Tuesday via train for about a five and a half hour ride up. It was extremely nice, great scenery and the light was at the right angle to make everything look really good. Saw the ocean for the first time while over here, which was nice.
Upon arriving in the city, I set about trying to find the youth hostel that I planned to stay at. I ended up walking around for a half an hour, bought a map, walked up and down the road three times before finding the place, but after that, checked in a dormitory and got dinner. Discovered that I left my black hat on the train. The hostel, the Eidinburgh Backpacker's Hostel was nice. Very laid back feel to it, with several long term residents from all over. I talked to people from Australia, Canada, Greece, Japan and South Africa. My roommate was Japanese and didn't speek very much English, but we did manage some conversation. Watching the Olympics with the Canadians was fun. They had their flag out for their team and were very excited.

On Wedsnday, I got up around ten or so, and brought my pack with me to do some wandering. I had a couple of places in mind, but no itinerary, which was nice. I walked up to the Castle, took some pictures and went to the National and Royal Museums, took in some Scottish history and got a book on James Hutton, whom I'm doing a project on. (Considered the father of modern geology).

From there, I went around on some random streets, got lunch, and circled the city. I ended up going to Holyrood Park, which has the remains of a volcano, which has since been overridden by glaciers. For the first time in weeks, I finally was able to take a good look at some outcrops and to do some hiking. The volcanos erupted about 300 million years ago, and there's basalt, overlain by coarse sandstone and another layer of basalt. There were some nice features in there as well. There's a couple main sections, the Craigs and Arthur's Seat, as well as a third section which I didn't get around to hiking over to. I hiked around and up the Sainsbury Craigs, up to the edge, where there was a lot of intense wind, which nearly blew me over. I then went down and back up and came across the ruins of a chapel, then turned and went up Arthur's Seat, which was the highest peak in the area. Very strong winds up there as well. The entire hike took me around three hours, and I went back to the city, got something to eat after the hike and returned to the hostel. I then went out again and walked around another section of the city, bought something for dinner, brought it back to the hostel, read my book and watched the Olympics. Then went to sleep.

Unfortunently, we were right above a club of some sort, so around 1 a bunch of people came out singing really loudly. Same thing happened the night before.
Got up at around ten, checked out and got on the train and arrived back home five hours later. All in all, great trip. I also lucked out, my iPod batteries died right as I went through the door of my flat complex. Good timing or what?


I took about 70 pictures, and they can be seen in here and here. Now, for food and to pass out somewhere.

Stuff

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I'm headed up to Scotland for the rest of the week, and I need to pack and get my train ticket for the five hour ride up. Should be very fun and I'm very much looking forwards to it. I need a bit of a break from my roommates. I like them, but a break is needed.

This VERY interesting bit of news came through in regards to Firefly: From junglejen9: Firefly. You gotta spill it if you have any additional info, please!I've heard the CW is considering bringing it back as a series, miniseries or movie for next season. Hurrah! For you who missed my message board posting, on Tuesday, Nate Fillion, Summer Glau and Gina Torres were seen coming out of one of the exec buildings at Paramount, where they are putting together the new CW unit.
I'm not making it up.

I'm holding my breathe about this one, but if it happens?

Have a good rest of the week.

Sunshine

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I think that I found a new, interesting looking SciFi film that will be coming out later this year. Thus far, it's been under the radar, but from the couple (and only) places that I've really found any mention of it, it looks like there's a considerable amount of anticipation.
The movie is called Sunshine, and it's being directed by Danny Boyle, who is known for his movie 28 Days Later. It's also written by the same person. Now, I've heard a number of good things about 28 Days Later, so that certainly piqued my interest.

Here's the plot summary from the official weblog of the movie:

The Film
The Sun is dying, and mankind is dying with it. Our last hope: a spaceship and a crew of eight men and women. They carry a device which will breathe new life into the star. But deep into their voyage, out of radio contact with Earth, their mission is starting to unravel. Soon the crew are fighting not only for their lives, but their sanity.

Empire Magazine also posts up this brief summary:
The sun is dying. A team of astronauts have been sent to re-ignite the first failing spot, but communication with them has been dead for some time. A second team are sent to complete the mission.

Okay, it's a little on the "this has already been done before" side, but I'm getting the feeling that this isn't a disaster movie, and that it's going to be a lot more interesting than just that, at least, one can hope. Looking through the official blog, there's mention of the types of solar radiation that the sun puts out, Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharaoh with mention of the sun worship and achievements that the egyptians made with calculations and the like, the lifecyle of a star, and creation of the universe.

So, in my opinion, this looks to be one to keep your eyes out for. Could be very interesting. This is their official weblog: http://www.sunshinedna.com/

Olympics!

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I've been watching the Olympics on BBC 2, having quite a bit of fun doing so. I think that the last time that I watched the event was in 1998, and I ended up missing the 2002 Salt Lake City one, which is a bit of a shame.
The opening events were pretty cool to see, and I had a map out seeing where some countries were in the world, which was fun.
Today, the French got a very surprising win in the downhill racing. I watched the Men's Halfpipe for snowboarding and watched with glee as the US got both the Gold and Silver, and came very close to sweeping the entire thing, as another American got 4th place. I was, however, surprised at how many people fell down on their first run.
My neighbor just got tickets for a couple events a couple weeks from now. I'm seriously debating whether it'd be worth it to try and get some, and to fly over and watch. Any ideas?

Vacation... Soon

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I finally got a phone card that actually calls the US, and called home for the first time in like three weeks. Got to talk to my parents and sister, and my grandmother, giving them all a bit of an update on what I've been up to, and talked with my dad about the protests in London and the Middle East and my plans for my mid semester break next week.
I've decided that I'll be visiting Scotland, and I'm looking at Edinburgh. So thus begins the process of looking up Youth Hostels, train times and places to visit. Edinburgh is where a lot of the major geologists who started the entire field came from, James Hutton and Charles Lyell most notably. Planning on staying up there for two nights, seeing the ocean, parks and whatever else I come across while there. I'm looking forwards to it, finally getting around to travelling on my own.

One thing that I've often noticed about travelling, is the anticipation of going somewhere, but actually going somewhere seems to come up incredibly fast, and that you don't realize that you're on your way until you're sitting, looking at the countryside flying by that you realize that you're going.

Now, to find a printer that works...

Cambridge

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We went on another excursion yesterday, off to Cambridge, the other major University location in England, and a major rival of Oxford. Overall, I was more impressed with Cambridge than I was with Oxford. The place was smaller, and with less noise. There were few cars, but tons of bikes, everywhere. We almost got hit several times.
Cambridge is more specialized with Sciences, while Oxford is more concerned with Humanities. We saw the places where DNA was discovered and where the first computer was built. They also have a dedicated museum of Geology, which I was able to walk around in, and was very impressed. It was fairly small and cluttered, but there was a lot of things to look at there. Hopefully I'll get a chance to return sometime in the near future. We had a walking tour of the town, which I'm guessing is about the size of Montpelier, which surprised me. It has a nice feeling to it. We visited a number of the colleges and universities there while we were there, all of which were pretty impressive.

Now, for a political rant: Bush Hates Big Bird. Maybe not so much like that, but according to this article, the White House has cut funding for PBS by nearly 100 million dollars. This is all in response to the demand for fun increases in Homelanad Security and Defense departments.
Personally, I think that it's sad, that we have to cut funding that provides near vital children's programming that has been around for decades.
“Oscar the Grouch has been friendlier to Sesame Street characters than the Bush administration, which has chosen to make huge cuts to children’s television programming,” Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said regarding the cuts, according to Variety. “In a world of fast and furious television with content often inappropriate for young children, the public broadcasting system represents the last stronghold of quality, child-oriented programming - we owe this free over-the-air resource to America’s children and their parents.”
I don't think that I could say that better.

5 Weird Things

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Five Weird Habits
I stole this from Walter Jon Willams, In which I reveal five allegedly weird habits that I possess, and then tag five other folks with the same meme.

1. Like WJW, I've never actually sat down and watched the Super Bowl. Not once, never, ever. It's just never interested me. WJW mentioned that: For a few years, on Super Bowl Sunday, Kathy and I made a point of attending the ballet as a form of cultural protest against this annual rite of drunkenness and spouse abuse. It was easy to get to the auditorium because the roads were empty, and the theater was always filled with mothers and their daughters, all of whom seemed very happy to be there.

2. I like the cold. Here in London, it's hovering around 0 C. That = 32 degrees F, and it can get 60 degrees colder back at home, and I don't mind that. I'm actually missing the snow a bit.

3. I go out of my way to look up very odd things, which comes with being a History major and Geology major. Currently on the desk in front of me is a print out of the following subjects: William Smith, Charles Lyell, Arthur Holmes, James Hutton and Quantum Mechanics. The men are all geologists who really started the field in it's modern sense.

4. I don't watch TV, despite being a huge fan of a number of TV shows. Where I live, I don't get TV, so I'll get a show on DVD and watch the entire season within a week or two. I'll probably watch an episode premire once a week, if that.

5. I love and hate heights. With ropes or something of that nature, I'll do anything. On ladders, especially unstable ones, I get nervous.

Tag: Nathan, Andrea, Rachel, Jim, and Zach.

Mark Bowden's Upcoming Books

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Mark Bowden has a new book coming out, which is extremely exciting. It's entitled Guests of the Ayatollah, and according to Barnes and Noble, it's about the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979 -1980, which is a subject that I've read a little about, but from the military standpoint. Bowden is the author behind Black Hawk Down, which is still one of favorite (that doesn't really seem to be the right word) war stories, because of it's intense detail.
The book also looks to be very interesting, given today's interactions with the Middle East and Iran in paticular, which has been a subject that I've been gaining interest in, ever since we took a look at it in several of my politics classes over the past couple years.
The book is due out in May

He also seems to have a second book coming out a in March called Roadwork, which is a collected set of stories that he's written:
Anyone who has read Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down or Killing Pablo knows that he is capable of putting us in the heat of a story in a way few writers can. Road Work gathers the best of his award-winning writing, from his breakout stories for the Philadelphia Inquirer to his influential pieces in the Atlantic on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Whether traveling to Zambia, where a team of antipoachers fights to save the black rhino, to Guantánamo Bay to expose the controversial ways America is fighting its war on terror, or to a small town in Rhode Island to penetrate the largest cocaine ring in history, Bowden takes us down rough roads previously off limits—and gives us another gripping read.

This one also looks like a good one to get, and I'll be keeping my eyes open for it.