Is is Filmable? Red-Storm Rising

I've often asked this question "is it filmable", such as the age old argument that the Lord of the Rings was not filmable before Peter Jackson proved that theory wrong... Sort of (cough).

So what don't I think is filmable?  Well, the Tom Clancy novel "Red Storm Rising".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Storm_Rising

I really like this book, I read it every couple of years and get really engrossed in the concept of what a war in the Europe of my youth would have been actually like.

Remember, I'm a kid who played on the beaches of Skegness (in the UK) when A10 Warthogs were flying low over the coastline in dummy strafing runs, we could find spent 50'cal bullets (metal and a stone line practice bullet too) from their activities and we read up avidly about the new to service Tornado jet.

I have a vivid and expectant concept of that that war might have been, everything from blistering nuclear instant death, to a lingering radioactive malaise, to the starvation induced strangling of Britain's sea-trade by the Red menace.

We all know it never came to pass, but this novel visualizes it, you get the interspersed stories from a single tank commander, to the infantry on the ground, A10 pilots are mentioned and the desperate struggle of the high-seas as well as the personal impact on civilians on Iceland.

Could it ever be filmed?  Certainly the CG is out there to allow it, and perhaps convincingly, so technically yes this story could be told on screen.

The question therefore is should it be made?  With the current resurgence in an autocratic mind-set from Russian voters you could argue that the days gone-by of the Soviet regime are actually echo'd on the streets of Moscow today, but that feeling is tempered a much more cosmopolitan mixing of peoples and business, even organised crime.  All completely change the social-political landscape of Russia.

What was once a far-away distant disturbing land, is still very far away and still disturbing, but it's far far less distant, we can all connect to Russian news, feel the pulse of Russian politics.  We all even watched their invasion (yes I'm afraid I sit on the fence of it being an invasion) of the Crimea, literally taking it from Ukraine.

A moment of pride to some I'm sure, but a sign of things to come?  Maybe, I never felt that was a war which would go hot, I don't think anyone in the west had the stomach for a war with Russia, submarines off the coast of Sweden, incursions into Ukraine and the murder of airline passengers all passed without serious repercussions.

But you film Red Storm Rising, you put that story out there, from the perspective given in the book.  I think that would get serious repercussion and denounced in the Russian press as scare mongering, I really do.

That's why its unfilmable, because Russia.

People : Donald Trump

This afternoon, in a few tens of minutes actually (by the time I schedule this post) there will be a new President of the United States of America.  A controversial figure, whom some might argue didn't win the election in a 100% clear cut fashion (his opponent - Hilary Clinton - won the popular vote, and then there's a little grey area with foreign involvement in the whole process).

But, I'm British, so I'm not too invested in who the man is, I am more interested in his politics, he's a half Scottish, through his Mother and has close ties to Britain.

We ourselves are not enamoured with the whole EU affair, and so trade avenues with the US may now open back up.  I certainly have a vested interest in the US economy as one of my pensions is tied up over there in a US fund, but for the tiny amount I put into that pension it's paying for itself, and depending on how things look in a years time, I may have to jolt things around.

However, we're left guessing about the next steps he will take, we can not tell whether he'll stick to all his pledges or promises.  He is however a business man, rather than a dyed in the wold politician, so he may have more rancur than previous presidents elect.

But politics aside the question today then is what will happen with the man?  Will, with protesters, detractors and so many unhappy voters in the US, both foreign and domestic, will the man survive?

This is a very serious question, one of the major points of out going president Obama's calls was for gun reform, however, everyone and their granny is seemingly still packing a piece in the US, even in liberal New York City & Washington DC.

So, will he survive the day?  The week?  The Year or his whole term?  I think that is an important question to ask.

As for the politics, we can but wait and see, though I believe the markets will heave this afternoon and though the seas may not boil and the sky may not fall, Donald Trump will be sworn in.

Its Christmas

Yeah, its christmas.. and this is what mankind has achieved... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16323666

That's right Obama... cancel the return to the moon... Nike have a new shoe out... for fuck sake.