Archive for: Afghanistan

Stay Safe With Bagram Batman

Now that Dark Knight trilogy is complete, Batman has a new gig promoting safety and situational awareness in Afghanistan at Bagram Airfield. +Continue Reading

‘Trigger Point’ & the Future of Movies

Trigger Point is a CIA spy thriller set in Afghanistan starring Josh Dallas (from Thor and the Once Upon a Time TV series) and Vincent Regan (300 and excellent as the villain in Lockout earlier this year). You can’t see it in a theater or on DVD or as video on demand from your cable company because it’s a web exclusive from the folks over at Break​.com, a site usually known for its funny videos.

That’s not to say you can’t watch this one on TV. If you’ve got some kind of device that can access YouTube (Blu-ray player, Roku, AppleTV, etc), you can watch it on a big screen and be impressed with the production values for a movie shot on a budget that wouldn’t cover the catering bill on Battleship. +Continue Reading

‘Call Me Maybe’ Gets a Military Video

We’ve haven’t seen one of these lip-sync videos in a while and this one featuring U.S. Marines performing Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” in Afghanistan. Freelance photographer and videographer Eric Raum worked with choreographer Randy Moresi both work with the USO and, after getting clearance from the Marine command in Kandahar, they decided to put together a dance routine simple enough for a group of Marines to learn in 30 minutes but still manly enough that they wouldn’t balk at participating.

The main shoot took an hour and Raum filled in the video scenes by wandering around the base and getting pickup shots from other men and women who serve. The YouTube version of the video already has 125K plays in just over 2 weeks and it’s sure to explode in the next few days. Great work by the Marines who were under orders to follow Raum and Moresi’s instructions and great work by the directors who do a fantastic job of reminding Americans that we’re still serving in the ‘Stan.

Bill O’Reilly Gets Torched in Afghanistan

Fox News instigator Bill O’Reilly always likes to talk about how much he “supports the troops,” except his idea of support usually involves promoting the life and career of Bill O’Reilly.

Gawker tracked down these photos on the Everqueer tumblr, a blog maintained by a soldier serving in Afghanistan. +Continue Reading

Three Cups of Tea Meets the 60 Minutes Buzzsaw

At least Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson knows enough not to answer when 60 Minutes sticks a camera in his face, but he still gets hammered in this report from this week’s episode.

The book’s runaway success has made Mortensen has become a worldwide celebrity renowned for his relief work in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He’s even earned some cred as a U.S. Military adviser.  +Continue Reading

Operation Instant Jolt

We’re not the only ones who love the How to Make Coffee in Afghanistan video. G4’s Attack of the Show got so inspired that they’ve started Operation Instant Jolt, a campaign to send free instant coffee to American and Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan.

How to Make Coffee in Afghanistan

“Nothing f*cks up your coffee like f*cking insurgents.”

Let’s hope the Food Network is paying attention to these Canadian soldiers and their lesson in proper coffee preparation in Afghanistan. If they can’t get their own TV show, they at least deserve some kind of endorsement deal from Starbucks Via.

Restrepo’s Oscar Run

The Oscar nominations just came out and Restrepo, Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s documentary about a deployment of U.S. troops in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature.

In honor of the nomination, we’re reposting Ward Carroll and Christian Lowe’s exclusive interview with Cpt Dan Kearney and Sgt Misha Pemble-Belkin, two soldiers featured in the film. +Continue Reading

Restrepo on Netflix

Over at our Kit Up! blog, Christian points out that Restrepo, Sebastian Junger and Tim Heatherington’s documentary about the Afghan war, is now available for streaming on Netflix.

You should really check out the movie and a Netflix account isn’t a lousy way to spend $8 a month, either.

Hipstamatic at War

Even though we’ve already seen some great war photography from the iPhone, New York Times photographer Damon Winter has taken some downright incredible shots with the new iPhone 4 camera and the Hipstamatic app. +Continue Reading