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Stosur beats Ivanovic to set up Wozniacki final in Moscow Posted: 20 Oct 2012 09:51 AM PDT Samantha Stosur all concentration to make the final of the Kremlin Cup. — Reuters pic MOSCOW, Oct 20 — Top seed Samantha Stosur reached her first final in eight months with a comeback 2-6 6-3 6-2 win over fourth-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic in the Kremlin Cup semi-finals today. The Australian will face another former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the final tomorrow after the Danish third seed beat unseeded Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-3 6-7 6-4 in the first semi-final at the Olympic indoor arena. After splitting the first two sets, 2011 US Open champion Stosur broke Ivanovic in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead after the Serbian missed an easy volley on break point. Ivanovic took a medical break after falling behind but looked a shadow of her former self after coming back on court as Stosur reeled off the next three games for an easy victory. Wozniacki had a much tougher time against her Scandinavian rival. She served for the match at 6-5 in the second set but 46th-ranked Arvidsson battled back to force a tiebreak. In the third set, the Dane again served for the match after pulling ahead 5-3 and missed her chance on her serve but she finally ended Arvidsson's resistance in the next game. World number 11 Wozniacki, looking for her second WTA title of the season after winning the Korea Open last month, blamed the slow surface for her inability to finish the match. "It was very tough to finish off the point on this surface, especially because we know each other so well," she told reporters. "I had to raise my game in order to win today." Second seed Andreas Seppi faces Malek Jaziri, the first Tunisian player to reach the last four on the ATP Tour, while fourth-seeded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci takes on giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the men's semi-finals later today. — Reuters

Mata inspires Chelsea, Rooney fires Man United Posted: 20 Oct 2012 09:32 AM PDT Wayne Rooney elated as he makes amends after putting Stoke City ahead with an own goal, before scoring at the right end twice. — Reuters pic LONDON, Oct 20 — Two goals by Juan Mata helped Premier League leaders Chelsea to a 4-2 victory in a captivating London derby at Tottenham Hotspur today and Wayne Rooney was among the scorers as Manchester United stayed in hot pursuit with a 4-2 win over Stoke City. Champions Manchester City were reduced to 10 men at West Bromwich Albion before going a goal down but hit back with two late strikes from Edin Dzeko to snatch a 2-1 victory. Liverpool beat Reading 1-0 for a first home league win of the season. West Ham United overcame Southampton 4-1, Swansea City defeated Wigan Athletic 2-1 and Fulham also enjoyed a home victory, 1-0 against Aston Villa. Arsenal face Norwich City later today. Gary Cahill gave Chelsea a halftime lead at Tottenham but goals early in the second half by William Galllas and Jermain Defoe looked like giving Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas a win against the club who sacked him in March. Mata then struck twice before Daniel Sturridge added a fourth in stoppage time to lift unbeaten Chelsea to 22 points from eight games, four more than United and City. Rooney scored an own goal to give Stoke the lead on the 10th anniversary of his famous goal as a 16-year-old for Everton against Arsenal that launched his career. He then scored two at the right end as United roared to victory. City were reduced to 10 men after 23 minutes when James Milner was sent off and seemed set for defeat after Shane Long put West Brom ahead. Dzeko's introduction turned the match City's way, however, and he bagged a dramatic last-gasp winner. — Reuters

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Like girls, US boys may be hitting puberty earlier Posted: 20 Oct 2012 06:05 AM PDT NEW YORK, Oct 20 — Boys in the United States may be entering puberty earlier than in generations past, a study has found, suggesting it's not just girls who are developing at younger ages. Comparing decades-old data, boys who were seen for well-child visits between 2005 and 2010 were maturing six months to two years sooner, based on the development of their genitalia. The finding is significant for researchers seeking to understand why the age of puberty may be creeping down. The discovery is also important for parents, who have to know how and when to discuss changing bodies with their children, according to the lead author of the study published online today by the journal Pediatrics. Click here for the full study. "They need to talk to their boys earlier than they would have thought about puberty and sexual development and all of those related issues," said Marcia Herman-Giddens at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Recent studies from the United States and elsewhere have shown that girls are maturing at a younger age, with many starting to develop breasts as early as age 7 or 8. Doctors have not necessarily thought the same early puberty trend applied to boys. Some doctors blame oestrogen-like chemicals in the environment for the earlier development of girls. Those same chemicals would be expected to delay sexual maturation in boys. But even if boys were developing earlier than in the past, that did not mean they were more mature socially and psychologically at younger ages, researchers said. "Now there's probably a bigger disparity between their physical maturation and their psychosocial maturation," said Dr Frank Biro, head of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children's Medical Centre, who was not involved in the new analysis. "People are going to interact with them like they're older," he told Reuters Health. Change may not be healthy Data for the new study came from 144 US paediatric practices and included 4,131 boys age 6 to 16. Based on the so-called Tanner stages of development — a technique doctors use to measure how far along in puberty a young person is — genital changes in boys started around the age of 9 or 10, and pubic hair appeared between age 10 and 11⅟₂, on average. Testicle size hit a common measure for the start of puberty just before age 10 and full sexual maturity happened at 15 to 16. In general, African-American boys developed earlier than their white and Hispanic peers, Herman-Giddens and her colleagues reported. A study from the 1950s through 1970s of white boys in England — for which the Tanner scale is named — found boys started genital development at age 11.6, on average. Other data through the 1970s also put the start of genital changes between age 11 and 12, and pubic hair development typically between 12 and 13 — about two years later than in the new study. Despite strong evidence showing girls are developing breasts and getting their periods at younger and younger ages, Herman-Giddens said it was still not clear why boys might also be hitting puberty sooner than in years past. One possible explanation is high rates of obesity, which alters the body's hormone levels. "The reasons it is happening may not be healthy," she told Reuters Health. The new study was not designed to be representative of what is happening across the country. Biro said he thought puberty was indeed coming earlier in US boys in general, though other researchers might not agree. Regardless of general trends, it was important for parents to pay attention to their own child's development, researchers said, and to know when to start talking to them about sexual activity, he said. "Parents need to monitor both their daughters and their sons a little more closely than they would have before," Biro said. — Reuters

Poland’s narrowest building opens, a home from home Posted: 20 Oct 2012 05:02 AM PDT WARSAW, Oct 20 — A building just 92 cm (36 inches) wide at its narrowest point was opened in Warsaw today as an artistic installation that will be a home from home for Israeli writer Edgar Keret. Keret, who told news channel TVN24 he would live there when he visits Warsaw twice a year, said he conceived the project as a kind of memorial to his parents' family, who died in the World War Two Holocaust. Wedged into the gap between two central Warsaw blocks of flats on the edge of the former Warsaw Ghetto, the several-level structure was designed by Polish architect Jakub Szczesny and is never more than 152 cm (60 inches) wide. "It contains all necessary amenities such as a micro-kitchen, mini-bathroom, sleeping cubicle and tiny work area, all accessible via ladders," Szczesny said. The station called Keret House Poland's narrowest residential building — possibly Europe's. — Reuters

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‘The Wire’ creator ‘amazed’ TV career still alive Posted: 20 Oct 2012 05:52 AM PDT David Simon's "The Wire" was nearly pulled twice by the cable network HBO for lack of viewers. — Reuters pic PARIS, Oct 20 — His Baltimore-set series "The Wire" has been dubbed the best TV programme ever made, with a cult worldwide following, but David Simon says he is "amazed" his screen career is still alive. While critically acclaimed, "The Wire" met with poor ratings when it aired in the United States from 2002 to 2008. "Of all the people who've never found an audience, I have the longest and most viable career of anybody," the crime reporter-turned-TV auteur told a masterclass at the Forum des Images film centre in Paris on Monday night. "Every year I am more and more amazed," he said. "The joke is, when viewers started showing up we were two years, three years off the air. They were finding it on DVD and through word of mouth." "The Wire" — which portrays the different facets of Baltimore, from drug-ravaged housing projects, to down-at-heel docks, crumbling public schools and corrupt institutions -- was nearly pulled twice by the cable network HBO for lack of viewers. "I set about writing memos, and begging, and wrapping my arms around the legs of HBO executives," Simon said. "I couldn't bear the thought of not finishing the story." Simon has attributed the show's low ratings to its largely African-American cast, complex plot and use of thick street jargon. He went on to create the series "Treme", about a cast of characters rebuilding their lives in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, which last month got the green light for a fourth and final season. Does he have more projects in the pipeline? "At some point HBO may figure out that nobody's watching what I do," he quipped. "The long tail of 'The Wire' has given them a lot of pause before they think maybe they should give up on me. But at some point, you know, I always keep one suitcase packed. "It's getting less and less probable that I'm going to go back to journalism -- but I might, and I'm OK with it if it happens." Simon's full interview will be viewable online from Saturday at www.forumdesimages.fr/fdi/Videos/Les-Master-class-et-les-rencontres. — AFP-Relaxnews

After the party, Jason Aldean rides ‘Night Train’ for success Posted: 19 Oct 2012 07:25 PM PDT Country music star Jason Aldean performs during the 2012 iHeart Radio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada September 21, 2012. — Reuters pic NASHVILLE, Oct 20 — After kicking up a storm with the success of "My Kinda Party", country music singer Jason Aldean is feeling the pressure for "Night Train" to keep up the pace of his rising star. Aldean, 35, scored his biggest hit to date with his fourth studio album "My Kinda Party" in 2011, which became the biggest-selling country album of the year and also hit the top five all-genre rating alongside Adele, Lady Gaga and Mumford & Sons. For his fifth album "Night Train", released this week, Aldean told Reuters in an interview he was aware of high expectations surrounding the follow-up record. "I tried not to add any more pressure to myself," Aldean said. "I feel like what's put us in this position is me doing the things I always have - trusting my instinct to find the best songs." Aldean said the album's title track "Night Train" was a perfect description of his career right now. "The train is moving, and it's moving at a rapid pace." The new album has so far been well received, with lead single "Take a Little Ride" becoming the biggest country music digital debut by a male artist in July. It helped Aldean secure what will be the first gig by a country artist at Boston's Fenway Park in July 2013. "Night Train" features 15 songs that range from what Aldean terms his core tunes to the ones that are a little outside the lines. One of those, "Black Tears", is about a subject not often found in a country song — an exotic dancer. "I feel like it's one of the most well written songs on the record, and it's probably one of the coolest sounding tracks we've ever cut on any album, dark and mysterious but real." One of Aldean's most personal songs on the album is "Wheels Rollin'", written specifically for him by Nashville songwriters Neil Thrasher, Wendell Mobley and Hillary Lindsey. "The song describes what it's like for all of us out there. People see you onstage and the glamorous side, but they don't see you traveling 600 miles a night, eating truck stop food and spending by yourself staring at walls," Aldean said. "You do all of that stuff to be on stage for that hour-and-a -half, and this song sums up that reality." Bigger spotlight, small town pride Just a few short years ago, before songs like "Dirt Road Anthem," "She's Country" and "Big Green Tractor" hit the airwaves, Aldean's career was moving at a slow, steady pace. But crossover pop-country songs like his Grammy-nominated duet "Don't You Want to Stay" with Kelly Clarkson have helped Aldean become one of the hottest commodities in the country music market. With success comes a bigger spotlight, and the singer, who is married with two children, recently found his private life grabbing headlines after being photographed in a Hollywood bar kissing a former "American Idol" contestant, Brittany Kerr, by celebrity news outlet TMZ.com. Both Aldean and Kerr were subjected to vitriol from fans on social media platforms and issued formal apologies to their families and friends. Reflecting on the craziness of his career at the moment, Aldean said, "the great thing about it is, it's the place I always hoped we could get to and what I've worked this whole time for. The bad thing is, I don't take the opportunity to sit back and reflect on it as much as I should and realize how far we've come." Georgia native Aldean has also made a stand for the small towns and residents scattered across the US with tunes like "This Nothin' Town" and "The Only Way I Know". "It's just how I grew up and something I can sing about," he said. "I feel like a lot of times mid-America gets looked down on by other parts of the country, which drives me crazy. I'm from middle Georgia and I'm proud of where I came from." As for the crossover songs, which have brought Aldean new fans but also critics who think he is moving away from his country roots, the singer shrugs off the notion. "I think as an artist all you can do is just go and do your thing. We were fortunate to have a couple crossovers, the duet with Kelly Clarkson and 'Dirt Road Anthem,' which brought us new fans," Aldean said. "We cut the songs because we thought they were great songs, not because we thought we'd grab some pop fans. All you can do is go out and represent country music the best way you can, and when you get a chance to do that, make it count." — Reuters

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Humble eBook Bundle nears US$1m sales, doubles offer Posted: 20 Oct 2012 09:15 AM PDT Screenshot of the Humble eBook Bundle on October 19, 2012.©All rights reserved SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 20 — The Humble Bundle, a pay-what-you-want scheme that recently extended its remit to cover e-books, is on the verge of taking US$1 million (RM3 million) worth of payments with its first collection, close to the offer's October 23 deadline. It had started on October 9 with a six-title collection that contained stories from sci-fi and fantasy specialists Cory Doctorow, Paolo Bacigalupi, Lauren Beukes, Mercedes Lackey, and Kelley Link. Buyers could set their own price, splitting proceeds between authors, charity concerns, and admin costs, and any that paid more than the floating average would unlock access to the Bundle's bonus books. Though there were just two extra books at the start of the promo, successive titles were later included in accordance with Humble Bundle tradition. Those additions came from popular webcomic writers and artists in Randall Munroe (xkcd), Zach Weiner (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal), and the Penny Arcade pairing of Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. The Humble Bundle scheme had previously specialised in computer games and music but joins other book-loving promotions such as SnugNugget and the StoryBundle in offering a selection of certifiably good reads at a provocatively low cost. Sign on here. — AFP/Relaxnews

‘The Casual Vacancy’ reaches 1 million sales Posted: 20 Oct 2012 08:54 AM PDT The Casual Vacancy in a shop window in central London. — AFP pic LONDON, Oct 20 — J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, has notched a million sales across print and digital, according to a joint statement from publishers Little Brown and Hachette. Little surprise, as it's been top of the best-seller charts in the UK, US, Australia and Canada since it made its September 27 debut. Such a strong start puts the hardback in contention for the end of year best-seller lists. Half-way through 2012 and trend tracker Nielsen had various Fifty Shades and Hunger Games titles occupying nine of the top 10 places, non-fiction title Jesus Calling in 10th, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, Killing Lincoln, The Serpent's Shadow, Heaven Is for Real and The Lorax taking slots 11 to 15. — AFP/Relaxnews

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Pemuda MCA mengkritik pasangan blog seks Posted: 20 Oct 2012 02:41 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Okt — Ketua pemuda MCA Datuk Wee Ka Siong hari ini berkata Pemuda MCA menolak sikap pasangan muda Malaysia yang membuat blog seks yang gempar baru-baru ini. Ketua pemuda itu berkata, Alvin Tan dan Vivian Lee tidak seharusnya menunjukkan hubungan peribadi mereka di Internet semata-mata mahu mendapat perhatian kerana budaya Malaysia ini yang konservatif. "Mereka tidak seharusnya menggunakan platform ini untuk jadi popular, atau menjadi pelakon video lucah. "Ini bukan caranya untuk mendidik masyarakat muda," katanya (gambar) apabila ditemuramah pada perhimpunan agung pemuda MCA hari ini. Wee berkata, hak kebebasan individu ada hadnya, terutamanya dalam negara ini yang menolak keterbukaan dalam hal ehwal seksual. Beliau berkata Lee dan Tan seharusnya berfikir kesan atas tindakan mereka memuatnaik gambar dan video lucah mereka. Di dalam blog lucah mereka, Lee, 23 tahun dan kekasihnya Alvin Tan Jye Yee, 24 telah meletakkan video dan gambar lucah mereka ketika melakukan hubungan seksual. Blog tersebut telah ditutup oleh pasangan terbabit, cuma meninggalkan beberapa tulisan dari 20 September hingga 15 Oktober, tetapi gambar dan video tersebut telah disiarkan di Gutter Uncensored. Ini menyebabkan blog tersebut, Sumptuous Erotica menjadi terkenal dan dilaporkan dalam media Singapura. MENYUSUL LAGI

Jabatan Penerangan sudah bersedia hadapi PRU13, kata Ketua Pengarah Posted: 20 Oct 2012 12:51 AM PDT TAWAU, 20 Okt — Jabatan Penerangan Malaysia sudah bersedia menghadapi pilihan raya umum ke-13, baik dari segi tenaga kerja mahupun logistik, kata Ketua Pengarah Penerangan Malaysia Datuk Ibrahim Abdul Rahman. Beliau berkata jabatan itu telah lama bersedia dan kini melakukan penyelenggaraan bagi memastikan sistem sentiasa dalam keadaan baik untuk digerakkan apabila perlu. Persiapan jabatan termasuk penyediaan maklumat yang hendak disebar kepada rakyat serta program komuniti yang dilaksana secara berterusan, katanya kepada pemberita selepas mesyuarat warga Jabatan Penerangan Sabah dan taklimat isu semasa, di sini hari ini. Katanya sebagai agensi kerajaan yang dipertanggungjawab menyampaikan dasar kerajaan, pihaknya terus meningkatkan aktiviti turun padang bersama masyarakat bagi memastikan rakyat memahami dasar berkenaan termasuk Belanjawan 2013. Antara perkara yang diberi fokus ialah penjelasan berkaitan pelbagai bantuan kepada rakyat seperti Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia, Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia, Tayar 1Malaysia, Klinik 1Malaysia dan Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia, katanya. Ibrahim berkata menjadi tanggungjawab pegawai jabatan itu untuk menterjemahkan dasar kerajaan kepada bentuk yang mudah difahami golongan sasar. Mengenai kefahaman akar umbi berhubung dasar transformasi kerajaan, Ibrahim berkata berdasarkan maklum balas yang diterima, kefahaman rakyat berada pada tahap amat tinggi. Katanya kajian yang dijalankan mendapati penghayatan rakyat terhadap gagasan 1Malaysia serta penerimaan mereka kepada pelbagai program dan dasar yang dilaksana begitu baik. Bagaimanapun beliau menegaskan rakyat perlu diberi penjelasan berterusan oleh semua agensi kerajaan kerana ada pihak tertentu suka memutar belit fakta untuk mengelirukan rakyat. Mengenai pusat media bagi wartawan yang bertugas pada pilihan raya akan datang, Ibrahim berkata setiap Pejabat Penerangan negeri akan menyediakan kemudahan seperti komputer dan alat telekomunikasi bagi memudahkan wartawan melaksanakan tugas. — Bernama

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Chelsea’s biggest test Posted: 19 Oct 2012 07:26 AM PDT OCT 20 ― I have to admit that Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season has surprised me. Although they are European champions (remind me again... how on earth did that happen?), the Blues approached the new season with every look of a club in the midst of a turbulent transitional period. Back in August I was convinced that they had little chance of mounting a serious challenge for the English Premier League title ― in fact, I said exactly that in my column on August 28, entitled "Troubled times ahead for Chelsea". The reasons for that belief were a new and relatively inexperienced manager, Roberto Di Matteo ― whose previous job ended in failure with West Brom ― a number of departees including star striker Didier Drogba, a batch of new signings who would need time to settle, and a selection of old guard favourites who must be gradually eased into the background. At the moment, it looks like I might have to eat my words. The Blues have won six of their first seven Premier League games, drawing the other, to open up a four-point lead at the top of the table, and have also picked up a creditable four points from their opening two Champions League group games. Furthermore, summer signings Eden Hazard and Oscar have adapted quickly to their new lives at Stamford Bridge, while Fernando Torres finally is starting to look like a force to be reckoned with again and fellow Spaniard Juan Mata has been in brilliant form in midfield. However, I'm still not convinced. Although the results are indeed very impressive, the Blues have been helped in that task by a friendly fixture list that hasn't really tested them. Look at their opposition so far: Wigan, Reading, Newcastle, QPR, Stoke, Arsenal and Norwich. With apologies to Newcastle (who are renowned for their historically poor away form), the only high-class opposition that Chelsea have faced is Arsenal, and they won that game (2-1 at the Emirates) purely because of poor Arsenal defending from two set-pieces. On the balance of play, they were second best. In Europe, the Blues initially caught the eye as they raced into a two-goal lead against Juventus thanks to a wonder strike by Oscar, but they were unable to maintain that advantage and were eventually left to hang on for a 2-2 draw after the Italians belatedly started to impose themselves. And most significantly, Chelsea's limitations were laid bare at the end of August when they suffered a 4-1 humiliation against Atletico Madrid in the European Super Cup in Monaco. Atletico were sensational on that evening (especially striker Radamel Falcao, who may well end up at Stamford Bridge in January) but the meekness of Chelsea's surrender ― with a trophy on the line ― was shocking. Maybe that will prove to be a horrible one-off and they'll never play that badly again all season, but it doesn't bode well for their ability to compete with high-quality opposition. An extremely tough set of fixtures in the next ten days will be revealing: Tottenham away in the Premier League, Shakhtar Donetsk away in the Champions League, and then two home meetings with Manchester United in the Premier League and the League Cup. If Di Matteo's men can come through that set of fixtures with their unbeaten record intact, I might have to change my mind about their longer-term prospects. The most immediate of those tasks is today's early kick-off trip across London to take on in-form Tottenham at White Hart Lane. The added spice of a game that hardly needs it is the reunion between Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas and his former employers. Many observers ― including me ― felt that AVB was harshly treated by the Stamford Bridge club when he was unceremoniously dumped midway through last season, and the young Portuguese boss would undoubtedly derive great pleasure from picking up three points this weekend. However, he won't be on the pitch and therefore his own personal mission is little more than a tasty subplot for the media to hype up rather than a significant factor in determining the result. Even so, Tottenham have a great chance of picking up at least one point from this game. They went into the international break on the back of four consecutive victories ― including a 3-2 win at Old Trafford against Manchester United ― and are starting to look a very strong team as their challenge for a place in the all-important top four gathers momentum. Spurs certainly have the individuals: Gareth Bale, Jermain Defoe, Moussa Dembele, Clint Dempsey, Aaron Lennon and Emmanuel Adebayor are all potential match-winners, and I don't think it will be long before summer signing Gylfi Sigurdsson starts to make a bigger impact as well. With Chelsea lynchpin John Terry missing through suspension, I'd be surprised if the Blues come away from White Hart Lane with all three points. But then again, they've already surprised me this season so it's probably not wise to bet against it. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Obey Posted: 19 Oct 2012 02:43 AM PDT OCT 20 ― As Hannibal Smith famously, repeatedly and so succinctly puts it in "The A-Team": "I love it when a plan comes together." Applying that catchphrase to another altogether different scenario, I especially love it when an allegorical movie comes together. Some movies have no message. They're there strictly to entertain us, or to try to entertain us. Some movies have nothing but message. These are there teach us a few things, but since they're a bit too concerned with delivering that message, they can sometimes be a bit too preachy or dry for most people's liking. Allegorical movies occupy a special place in my heart because they're like a combination of the best of both worlds. They're usually genre movies (therefore obliged to at least try to entertain us, no matter how warped the meaning of "entertainment" can be in some cases), but with some messages attached (usually in the form of "booby traps" as they're attached to the most unexpected of things) for those in the audience who'd care to look. Out of the thousands of movies I've seen so far in my life, not many movies stand out as exemplary forms of allegorical moviemaking. Of the lot, one that's most burned into my memory is the Iranian film, "The Apple", which is the debut feature film by then 17-year-old Samira Makhmalbaf, daughter of the famous Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The story is dead simple, concerning a father who doesn't allow his twin 12-year-old daughters out of the compound of their house for fear that exposure to the sun will cause them to fade. In case you're thinking it sounds too strange to be true, it is in fact based on a true story, and stars the family themselves. If that sounds remarkable enough, wait till you actually see the movie and realise how it can also work as an allegory on how the Iranian powers-that-be and culture itself have held women in general as virtual prisoners there as well, and the beauty is that the hidden message and the story itself is so intertwined that you can entirely fail to catch the metaphor and the movie would still work. With the catchphrase "Janji Ditepati" bombarding us left, right, and centre for the past few months, how timely it is for me to see a movie that not only meditates on but completely works as an allegory on mankind's unfortunate conditioning when it comes to obeying orders and following a chain of command. The movie, titled "Compliance" and directed by Craig Zobel was a sort of minor succes de scandale at this year's Sundance Film Festival as it managed to divide opinion furiously down the middle as people either felt really impressed or incredibly outraged at the events it depicted. Apparently very closely based on a true story (what is it with true stories and allegory?), the movie basically consists of one very long phone call made by a guy who pretends to be a police officer, who calls up a fast food restaurant and manages to convince the store manager that one of his staff is guilty of theft, and that in order to facilitate police matter, she not only has to hold the accused staff in a room but later on strip search the accused, take away her clothes and then leave her alone with not only one male employee, but two other men at different times in the story. I guess you can very well imagine what happens when you leave a naked girl (covered with only an apron) alone with a guy, and the guy is encouraged (or is it empowered?) by the "police officer" on the phone to assist with investigations by "searching" her body for the stolen money. On the one hand the movie works perfectly well as a horrific thriller, only the horror is in human nature itself and not supernatural, as we bear witness to our shocking capacity to do bad things when empowered by someone else higher up in the hierarchy. Call it the Stanford Prison Experiment taken to even more extreme ends then. On the other hand, the movie also works as an allegory of how our currently established system of following a chain of command (whether in the military, the government or at a corporate or blue-collar workplace) can dehumanize us as the lines that colour the concept of responsibility get significantly blurred. The most striking thing about the movie is that the only person who finally said "No" to the "police officer" is someone with practically no opportunity for career advancement and nothing to lose. Everyone else either complied or kept quiet as they fear what might happen if they said no, no matter how wrong the whole thing felt to them. I've only watched the movie once and in quite distracting circumstances so I'm pretty sure that there are plenty more layers to peel from the movie. But right after seeing it, and also encountering the seemingly endless bombardment of "Janji Ditepati" everywhere I look, I do start to wonder ― are we being compliant, too? Too easily, perhaps? * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

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