Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]...and how is the art of Riefenstahl different than this? ..from this months WIRED magazine. ----------- The military has been using flight and tank simulators for decades ("War Is Virtual Hell," Wired 1.01), but the installation at Fort Sill is the first attempt to duplicate battle conditions for troops by combining wartime science and theme-park showmanship. The Joint Fires and Effects Trainer System, or JFETS, is the product of an unprecedented level of cooperation among the Pentagon, film and gaming companies, and Silicon Valley - a synergy that Stanford history professor Tim Lenoir calls the military-entertainment complex. ---------- It may be a tech story but at its heart are artists. Film makers, cinematographer, writer, photographer, SFX specialists, illutrators, Computer graphics people... Lets be honest, artists are basically self absorbed creatures who, to them, their work is more important than the vagaries of silly politics. If someone is going to give them money to make their art, they are there. ...and I can't honestly say I wouldn't be there too, but it doesn't mean I believe in the politics of my paymaster. In fact, it may be more about how much the Paymaster values my work and talent. My ego is stroked, I create my work and I make few bucks too. Are they not human desires? Not everything is politics. Like I said, different place, different time, same story. Greg Locke St. John's, Newfoundland http://blog.greglocke.com