Day: February 24, 2014

In an unanticipated statement read on live TV, Egypt’s interim Prime Minister declared the resignation of his cabinet on Monday, a move likely to open the way for the country’s popular defense minister to run for the presidency in upcoming elections.

For many Egyptians, that will be the announcement that can’t come fast enough. Already the streets of Cairo are draped in banners celebrating Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. His face adorns nightgowns and teapots in local shop windows, and one popular poster depicts him last in a series of great Egyptian leaders, starting with a picture of a pharaoh followed by portraits of King Fuad, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat (the poster appears to elide over the more recent unpleasantness of former Presidents Hosni Mubarak and Mohammad Morsi). In Egypt, it’s not a question of if al-Sisi will declare his intention to run, but when…

Kevin Spacey is totally cheesy and Morgan Freeman has gone bananas in this reenSnackment of David Fincher’s spooky thriller Se7en.

That’s not commentary about their acting chops, but rather their roles in this snack-food-based reenactment of Se7en from comedy troupe Dos Padres.

In the clip, Morgan Freeman (played by an actor dressed as a banana), Brad Pitt (a tomato), and Kevin Spacey (a block of cheese) recreate the film’s iconic —and chilling — “what’s in the box” scene. While the effect is downright silly, it speaks to the power of the script that even when played out by what appear to be lesser Fruit of the Loom characters, the scene is still enough to make your skin crawl.

The video, which is not for the lactose intolerant, comes on the heels of the comedy troupe’s snack take on The Usual Suspectsand Reservoir Dogs.  Perhaps Nymphomaniac

Running an international terrorist organization from a hiding place somewhere in Pakistan isn’t easy. Even though war, be it in Somalia, Yemen or Libya, presents great opportunities for expansion, growth brings unique challenges, as any CEO can attest. Nowhere has that been made clearer for al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri than Syria. For the past year, al-Qaeda’s star franchises in Syria and Iraq — the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria [ISIS], respectively — have battled over turf, recruits and the right to claim the mantle of al-Qaeda’s true representative in Syria.

Strongly worded letters written by Zawahiri didn’t work. An audio recording posted to jihadist websites didn’t defuse tensions either. Finally, Zawahiri decided to send an envoy to sort out the problem. Not only was Abu Khalid al-Suri a trusted confidant who had fought with Zawahiri in Afghanistan, he once worked for al-Qaeda founder Osama…