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I was reading the other day that Steven Spielberg is teaming up with Leonardo diCaprio (I think) to produce a new version of HG Wells' classic tale of late Victorian pessimism: the War of the Worlds. Apparently, the intention is to follow the script of the 1950s Cold War, the Commies are coming, propaganda (well, the Martians may be green, but their planet sure is red), rather than the one that was written by Mr Wells. I'm not at all certain why that should be the case, unless Mr Spielberg's intention is for the Martians in his new film to wear turbans and quote the Koran (well, the Martians' planet may be red, but their skin sure is green). No doubt the film will have a very happy ending with the evil creatures who threaten our way of life being brought to their knees by an orchestral soundtrack and some apple pie philosophy. But, hey, I'm a sucker for big budget SFX sci-fi movies (I must see them once - I very rarely see them twice, unless they're on TV when I'm not doing something more interesting, like unblocking the drains), and you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be dragging Liam along to it, whether he wants to see it or not. I actually managed to get a download of Orson Wells' original radio version of The War of the Worlds, and let me tell you, if I had been sitting in front of the fireplace listening to this on my old bakelite valve radio, I think that I would have been out on the streets kicking up a riot as well: the first five minutes were quite frightening. Going back to the original 1950s War of the Worlds film, I wonder if Mr Spielberg will have the scene with the token latino being blasted by the emerging Martian? I also wonder if the scene with the priest walking towards the Martians will be included... or will that be too controversial!!! My favourite film is still Betty Blue (closely followed by LA Confidential), by the way, so I'm not a complete air head (and neither do I believe that Hollywood can't make a good film now and again). Just so you know. And for you cynics out there who believe that this is a photo of hi-fi leads, you are very much mistaken - unless there are hi-fi leads floating somewhere in the vicinity of the International Space Station. Remember: our political leaders are extra-terrestrial lizards... David Icke and Fox Mulder both said so, so there!

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