Thursday, June 28, 2007
Songs For Labor
So I was putting together a bunch of music for Julie while she is in labor. I searched the internet for the best labor music. I thought maybe some Enya or Norah Jones. But it is mostly stuff like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan. Weird. I hope she likes it.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Evan Almighty and the cynical, secular critics
It was written by a perfectly capable Steve Oedekerk (Bruce Almighty, Jimmy Neutron, Nutty Professor I & II, Patch Adams, and the underrated Nothing To Lose). It was directed by a consistent Tom Shadyac (Bruce Almighty, Patch Adams, Liar Liar, The Nutty Professor, Ace Ventura). It has an endless cast of top-notch performers (Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, John Goodman, Wanda Sykes, John Michael Higgins, Molly Shannon, and probably the only guy in movie history to recommend having supervision when/if you ever perform autoerotic self-asphyxiation, Jonah Hill. Go see Knocked Up.)
After seeing review after review after review of tearing the movie apart, I wondered how a great cast and crew could really make such a stinker. Especially a movie that seemed to be even more Godly and Biblical than Bruce Almighty, with a powerful environmental overtone. Hollywood is still pro-environment, right? Steve Carell bearded and robed! With a staff! How could it get a 22% at Rotten Tomatoes, a site that compiles reviews from around the world? I had a feeling of cynical secularism in the reviews, and I was right.
Julie and I saw it today, and I have to say the critics are full of crap. It is not a "22%". After about 30 minutes into the movie, you realize that this isn't supposed to be 40-Year-Old Virgin or Wedding Crashers (duh). In fact, they never really try to get you rolling on the floor (I did laugh pretty hard when Evan explains his long hair and beard with, "My wife is a big Loggins and Messina fan".) I know funny, and I know trying to be funny (but not funny), and I know lighthearted comedy wrapped in a positive message. It is a family movie, much more than Bruce Almighty. Which baffles me how critics can call it "adolescent". When it was all over, I realized the message of this movie is for kids...because adults are assholes and will scoff at the movie even if it had tits and ass. Adults are the ones that choose materialism over environment. While it is fun all the way through, it still gets serious pretty fast and never quits. It isn't that the jokes miss, it's that there aren't many jokes. Which is fine, because it isn't that kind of movie.
Bruce Almighty got better reviews, but still not great (a 49% at R.T.). One major difference between Bruce and Evan, is that Evan turns the tables and puts the Bible in your face. It asks, "Are you in the flock that laughs at and ridicules Evan?" (It almost answers for you, especially with the way we treat the world.) Would you be destroyed by the flood? What if God came to you, and asked you to do something spectacular, knowing that you could look foolish and that society would persecute you? You could resist and fit in, knowing the spiritual consequences of "fitting in". You know what has been asked of you. You know what you have to do.
After seeing review after review after review of tearing the movie apart, I wondered how a great cast and crew could really make such a stinker. Especially a movie that seemed to be even more Godly and Biblical than Bruce Almighty, with a powerful environmental overtone. Hollywood is still pro-environment, right? Steve Carell bearded and robed! With a staff! How could it get a 22% at Rotten Tomatoes, a site that compiles reviews from around the world? I had a feeling of cynical secularism in the reviews, and I was right.
Julie and I saw it today, and I have to say the critics are full of crap. It is not a "22%". After about 30 minutes into the movie, you realize that this isn't supposed to be 40-Year-Old Virgin or Wedding Crashers (duh). In fact, they never really try to get you rolling on the floor (I did laugh pretty hard when Evan explains his long hair and beard with, "My wife is a big Loggins and Messina fan".) I know funny, and I know trying to be funny (but not funny), and I know lighthearted comedy wrapped in a positive message. It is a family movie, much more than Bruce Almighty. Which baffles me how critics can call it "adolescent". When it was all over, I realized the message of this movie is for kids...because adults are assholes and will scoff at the movie even if it had tits and ass. Adults are the ones that choose materialism over environment. While it is fun all the way through, it still gets serious pretty fast and never quits. It isn't that the jokes miss, it's that there aren't many jokes. Which is fine, because it isn't that kind of movie.
Bruce Almighty got better reviews, but still not great (a 49% at R.T.). One major difference between Bruce and Evan, is that Evan turns the tables and puts the Bible in your face. It asks, "Are you in the flock that laughs at and ridicules Evan?" (It almost answers for you, especially with the way we treat the world.) Would you be destroyed by the flood? What if God came to you, and asked you to do something spectacular, knowing that you could look foolish and that society would persecute you? You could resist and fit in, knowing the spiritual consequences of "fitting in". You know what has been asked of you. You know what you have to do.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Bit of Wisdom
"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
-Thomas Jefferson, 1816
-Thomas Jefferson, 1816
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Pledge allegience to whatever you want, including nothing.
Recently, our group of friends had a discussion on flag-burning. I learned about the following tidbit of American history today about forcing people to pledge allegience. I thought it made an interesting link. That is, if you are to ban flag-burning, should you then require people to pledge allegience to the flag? Wow. It sounds really fascist when you say it out loud. In fact, it is downright idol worship. Last time I checked, that is a no-no. Oh, that's right...God invented America and the CIA, and murdered JFK, RFK, and MLK. So it's kinda the same thing. U.S.A. God. U.S.A. God. All the Christians in other countries should just move here! "America, the place that just-wars call home!"
Anyways, back to the history. Jehovah's Witnesses are apolitical and consider all governments antithetical to God. They don't vote, get involved in politics, or pledge allegience to the flag. During World War II...well, you read it...
This issue centers on whether or not the government can force a child to salute the American flag. It is bizarre to think that the question is not settled and that lawmakers even today think that they can still attempt to do this, but it appears that the lessons of the two Supreme Court cases involved have not yet been learned. Mandatory flag pledges in public schools were a product of war-inspired America, with the first appearing in several states during the Spanish-American war. Many more joined during World War I, with the recently formed ACLU tracking only a few dissents. It wasn't until World War II was drawing close that the practice was challenged directly in a way that rose through the court system. In Minnersville School District v. Gobitis, two Jehovah's Witness school children, 10 and 12 years old, were suspended from school because they refused to salute the American flag during mandatory morning exercises. According to their beliefs, the Bible forbids having any false idols before God; and since all human governments are ultimately instituted by Satan, pledging to them would be a sin. In a preview of what was to come, the children suffered horrible teasing, taunting, and attacks from the other kids. A local Catholic church started a boycott of the family store and business dropped off. Because of their eventual expulsion, their father had to pay for them to enroll in a private school, resulting in even more economic hardship. What these bare facts fail to adequately describe is just how rancorous the situation really was. Gobitis was only recently a convert to Jehovah's Witnesses. The national leadership had recently decided to make an issue of the forced pledges and asked people to stand up for their rights. Jehovah's Witnesses who challenged the practice were accused of working with or being duped by German sympathizers - which is ironic, because many Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany were persecuted for refusing to pledge allegiance to Hitler. (blogger's note: 10,000 German Witnesses were sent to concentration camps as well.) It is also ironic because, at the time, many flag pledges were done not with the right hand over the heart as they are today, but instead with an outstretched right hand which has now become associated with the "Sieg Heil" salute of the Nazis. This was a mostly Catholic area and Jehovah's Witnesses were not looked kindly upon. Tensions were already high before this case arose and many viewed this as one way to get back at the troublesome Witnesses. In the initial court proceedings, school superintendent Roudabush displayed characteristic contempt for the beliefs of the children, stating that he felt they had been "indoctrinated" and that the existence of even a few dissenters would be "demoralizing," leading to widespread disregard for the flag and American values. Despite two stinging lower-court losses, the school chose to take its case to the Supreme Court, making essentially the same arguments which had failed before. In what is perhaps one of the Courts most embarrassing decisions, Justice Frankfurter wrote the 8-1 majority decision finding that the school district's interest in creating national unity was enough to allow them to require students to salute the flag. According to Frankfurter, the nation needed loyalty and the unity of all the people. Since saluting the flag was a primary means of achieving this legitimate goal, an issue of national importance was at stake. Although many Court opinions have provoked strong reactions, none have provoked such a wave of violence across the entire country. It is this which should, without question, demonstrate not only why the government should not get involved in either supporting or hindering religion, but why the government should not disparage any minority. By doing so, official sanction was given for people to vent anti-Witness feelings. Hundreds of attacks were reported to the Justice Department in the two following years. Among the worst were the burning of a Kingdom Hall in Maine, police assisting a mob in Maryland in dispersing a Bible meeting, and nearly an entire town in Illinois attacking a group of Witnesses, which required calling in state police to protect them. In West Virginia, a chief of police and deputy sheriff forced a group of Jehovah's Witnesses to drink large quantities of castor oil, tied them up with police department rope, and paraded them through town. In Nebraska, a Witness was kidnapped, beaten, and castrated. All of these acts - and many more like them - were traced directly back to the Gobitis ruling. Justice Harlan Stone wrote a strongly-worded dissent to that ruling which became a primary basis of the reversal of this decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette three years later. This time, Justice Jackson wrote the majority opinion, finding that the school district violated the rights of students by forcing them to salute the American flag. Unlike the Court Decision in Gobitis, this Court did not declare that allowing an individual's rights to be supported over government authority is a sign of a weak government, and compulsion was not found to be legitimate means for creating national unity.
It is a crime that "patriotic" Americans had to assault these people and burn their buildings in the "land of the free". Then again, white America doesn't really have a nice streak in the first place, and Jehovah's Witnesses are in a long line of persecuted Americans in their own country.
What does make it the land of the free, is that the Supreme Court got it right. Which is ironic considering the extreme apolitical nature of the religion. It is just a shame that the Supreme Court is so reactionary, and there are always victims before justice can prevail. [However, even when justice prevails, people can still be assholes.]
If someone doesn't want to perform the ritualistic chants of the Babylon-worshipping classroom ceremonies, that is their right. If someone wants to burn a piece of red, white, and blue fabric that was made in China...again, their right.
This is what happens to flag-burners in these parts!
Mola Ram is a prick.
Anyways, back to the history. Jehovah's Witnesses are apolitical and consider all governments antithetical to God. They don't vote, get involved in politics, or pledge allegience to the flag. During World War II...well, you read it...
Minnersville School District v. Gobitis, from about.com
This issue centers on whether or not the government can force a child to salute the American flag. It is bizarre to think that the question is not settled and that lawmakers even today think that they can still attempt to do this, but it appears that the lessons of the two Supreme Court cases involved have not yet been learned. Mandatory flag pledges in public schools were a product of war-inspired America, with the first appearing in several states during the Spanish-American war. Many more joined during World War I, with the recently formed ACLU tracking only a few dissents. It wasn't until World War II was drawing close that the practice was challenged directly in a way that rose through the court system. In Minnersville School District v. Gobitis, two Jehovah's Witness school children, 10 and 12 years old, were suspended from school because they refused to salute the American flag during mandatory morning exercises. According to their beliefs, the Bible forbids having any false idols before God; and since all human governments are ultimately instituted by Satan, pledging to them would be a sin. In a preview of what was to come, the children suffered horrible teasing, taunting, and attacks from the other kids. A local Catholic church started a boycott of the family store and business dropped off. Because of their eventual expulsion, their father had to pay for them to enroll in a private school, resulting in even more economic hardship. What these bare facts fail to adequately describe is just how rancorous the situation really was. Gobitis was only recently a convert to Jehovah's Witnesses. The national leadership had recently decided to make an issue of the forced pledges and asked people to stand up for their rights. Jehovah's Witnesses who challenged the practice were accused of working with or being duped by German sympathizers - which is ironic, because many Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany were persecuted for refusing to pledge allegiance to Hitler. (blogger's note: 10,000 German Witnesses were sent to concentration camps as well.) It is also ironic because, at the time, many flag pledges were done not with the right hand over the heart as they are today, but instead with an outstretched right hand which has now become associated with the "Sieg Heil" salute of the Nazis. This was a mostly Catholic area and Jehovah's Witnesses were not looked kindly upon. Tensions were already high before this case arose and many viewed this as one way to get back at the troublesome Witnesses. In the initial court proceedings, school superintendent Roudabush displayed characteristic contempt for the beliefs of the children, stating that he felt they had been "indoctrinated" and that the existence of even a few dissenters would be "demoralizing," leading to widespread disregard for the flag and American values. Despite two stinging lower-court losses, the school chose to take its case to the Supreme Court, making essentially the same arguments which had failed before. In what is perhaps one of the Courts most embarrassing decisions, Justice Frankfurter wrote the 8-1 majority decision finding that the school district's interest in creating national unity was enough to allow them to require students to salute the flag. According to Frankfurter, the nation needed loyalty and the unity of all the people. Since saluting the flag was a primary means of achieving this legitimate goal, an issue of national importance was at stake. Although many Court opinions have provoked strong reactions, none have provoked such a wave of violence across the entire country. It is this which should, without question, demonstrate not only why the government should not get involved in either supporting or hindering religion, but why the government should not disparage any minority. By doing so, official sanction was given for people to vent anti-Witness feelings. Hundreds of attacks were reported to the Justice Department in the two following years. Among the worst were the burning of a Kingdom Hall in Maine, police assisting a mob in Maryland in dispersing a Bible meeting, and nearly an entire town in Illinois attacking a group of Witnesses, which required calling in state police to protect them. In West Virginia, a chief of police and deputy sheriff forced a group of Jehovah's Witnesses to drink large quantities of castor oil, tied them up with police department rope, and paraded them through town. In Nebraska, a Witness was kidnapped, beaten, and castrated. All of these acts - and many more like them - were traced directly back to the Gobitis ruling. Justice Harlan Stone wrote a strongly-worded dissent to that ruling which became a primary basis of the reversal of this decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette three years later. This time, Justice Jackson wrote the majority opinion, finding that the school district violated the rights of students by forcing them to salute the American flag. Unlike the Court Decision in Gobitis, this Court did not declare that allowing an individual's rights to be supported over government authority is a sign of a weak government, and compulsion was not found to be legitimate means for creating national unity.
It is a crime that "patriotic" Americans had to assault these people and burn their buildings in the "land of the free". Then again, white America doesn't really have a nice streak in the first place, and Jehovah's Witnesses are in a long line of persecuted Americans in their own country.
What does make it the land of the free, is that the Supreme Court got it right. Which is ironic considering the extreme apolitical nature of the religion. It is just a shame that the Supreme Court is so reactionary, and there are always victims before justice can prevail. [However, even when justice prevails, people can still be assholes.]
If someone doesn't want to perform the ritualistic chants of the Babylon-worshipping classroom ceremonies, that is their right. If someone wants to burn a piece of red, white, and blue fabric that was made in China...again, their right.
This is what happens to flag-burners in these parts!
Mola Ram is a prick.
Monday, June 11, 2007
War Pigs
-Since 3600 B.C., the world has only known 292 years of peace.
-During this period, there have been 14.531 wars.
-An estimated 3,640,000,000 lives have been lost in them.
-The "value" of the wars would pay for a golden belt around the world, 97 miles wide and 33 feet deep.
-During this period, there have been 14.531 wars.
-An estimated 3,640,000,000 lives have been lost in them.
-The "value" of the wars would pay for a golden belt around the world, 97 miles wide and 33 feet deep.
I can think of better ways to spend money and lives.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
G'mork, servant of The Nothing...
G'mork: If you come any closer, I will rip you to shreds.
Atreyu: Who are you?
G'mork: I am G'mork. And you, whoever you are, can have the honor of being my last victim.
Atreyu: I will not die easily. I am a warrior!
G'mork: Ha! Brave warrior, then fight the Nothing.
Atreyu: But I can't! I can't get beyond the boundaries of Fantasia!
[G'mork laughs] What's so funny about that?
G'mork: Fantasia has no boundaries.
Atreyu: That's not true! You're lying.
G'mork: Foolish boy. Don't you know anything about Fantasia? It's the world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it, is a piece of the dreams and hopes of mankind. Therefore, it has no boundaries.
Atreyu: But why is Fantasia dying, then?
G'mork: Because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. So the Nothing grows stronger.
Atreyu: What is the Nothing?
G'mork: It's the emptiness that's left. It's like a despair, destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.
Atreyu: But why?
G'mork: Because people who have no hopes are easy to control; and whoever has the control... has the power!
Atreyu: Who are you, really?
G'mork: I am the servant of the power behind the Nothing. I was sent to kill the only one who could have stopped the Nothing. I lost him in the Swamps of Sadness. His name... was Atreyu.
Atreyu: If we're about to die anyway, I'd rather die fighting! Come for me, G'mork! I am Atreyu!
I just watched The Neverending Story again, and it just keeps getting better. I told Julie that you could probably write a thesis on it. It becomes more obvious that not only is the dialogue and plot summary deep, but the characters are symbols themselves...which then makes the meaning deeper...and the characters deeper-er...and the meaning even more deeper...and so on. (OK, so maybe it can only go so deep...it isn't quantumphysics!)
Some things that caught my attention this time around:
-When Atreyu is called on by the Empress to find a cure for her sickness and save Fantasia, he is asked to lay down his weapons and go on the quest alone.
-Morla, The Ancient One, is the giant turtle in the Swamps of Sadness. He is supposed to be the 'wisest' being in all of Fantasia. However, the giant turtle is sick and says "We are allergic to youth", "We don't even care whether or not we care", and begins his sentences with "Not that it matters...". He symbolizes the myth that adults have all the answers, therefore they run the world...yet they have become complacent and lost their idealism. He is completely disinterested in (and allergic to) the youthful Atreyu's desire to save "Fantasia".
I will be back later to write some more...
Atreyu: Who are you?
G'mork: I am G'mork. And you, whoever you are, can have the honor of being my last victim.
Atreyu: I will not die easily. I am a warrior!
G'mork: Ha! Brave warrior, then fight the Nothing.
Atreyu: But I can't! I can't get beyond the boundaries of Fantasia!
[G'mork laughs] What's so funny about that?
G'mork: Fantasia has no boundaries.
Atreyu: That's not true! You're lying.
G'mork: Foolish boy. Don't you know anything about Fantasia? It's the world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it, is a piece of the dreams and hopes of mankind. Therefore, it has no boundaries.
Atreyu: But why is Fantasia dying, then?
G'mork: Because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. So the Nothing grows stronger.
Atreyu: What is the Nothing?
G'mork: It's the emptiness that's left. It's like a despair, destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.
Atreyu: But why?
G'mork: Because people who have no hopes are easy to control; and whoever has the control... has the power!
Atreyu: Who are you, really?
G'mork: I am the servant of the power behind the Nothing. I was sent to kill the only one who could have stopped the Nothing. I lost him in the Swamps of Sadness. His name... was Atreyu.
Atreyu: If we're about to die anyway, I'd rather die fighting! Come for me, G'mork! I am Atreyu!
I just watched The Neverending Story again, and it just keeps getting better. I told Julie that you could probably write a thesis on it. It becomes more obvious that not only is the dialogue and plot summary deep, but the characters are symbols themselves...which then makes the meaning deeper...and the characters deeper-er...and the meaning even more deeper...and so on. (OK, so maybe it can only go so deep...it isn't quantumphysics!)
Some things that caught my attention this time around:
-When Atreyu is called on by the Empress to find a cure for her sickness and save Fantasia, he is asked to lay down his weapons and go on the quest alone.
-Morla, The Ancient One, is the giant turtle in the Swamps of Sadness. He is supposed to be the 'wisest' being in all of Fantasia. However, the giant turtle is sick and says "We are allergic to youth", "We don't even care whether or not we care", and begins his sentences with "Not that it matters...". He symbolizes the myth that adults have all the answers, therefore they run the world...yet they have become complacent and lost their idealism. He is completely disinterested in (and allergic to) the youthful Atreyu's desire to save "Fantasia".
I will be back later to write some more...
Friday, June 08, 2007
It's the Motherload!
I was recently referred to this site, and I am willing to bet a few of you will be returning to this gloriousness over and over again.
http://www.tv-links.co.uk/
It is like having your own TIVO, but you don't have to do any work and there is no restriction on the hard drive!
There are "in theaters now" movies, but I get mixed results with the connection. However, the quality is pretty darn good. (The actual movie, not some dude with a camcorder) Still waiting on Knocked Up to get uploaded...
and don't forget to watch all the Human Giant episodes.
http://www.tv-links.co.uk/
It is like having your own TIVO, but you don't have to do any work and there is no restriction on the hard drive!
There are "in theaters now" movies, but I get mixed results with the connection. However, the quality is pretty darn good. (The actual movie, not some dude with a camcorder) Still waiting on Knocked Up to get uploaded...
and don't forget to watch all the Human Giant episodes.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Baby consumerism makes disgusting children
So when you are having a baby, you get on all kinds of mailing lists for free magazines, coupons, and catalogs. Aside from the gigantic waste of paper, free stuff is nice. The magazines have some helpful information, but most are full of advice on what you are supposed to buy for your new child. If you don't get them the best of everything, you don't love your child as much as you should. You are a bad parent, and your baby will die a horrible death in that entry-level car seat.
But I really just wanted to post this cover of the new American Baby magazine. Gross!!! I found the image of this child repulsive. So big, on the cover, and in your face. Made up like a doll and in a bikini?? At first glance, I thought this was a 25-year-old with some sort of gland problem. Or maybe an exploited Hollywood baby with a psychotic, obsessed mother.
(If you saw this and said, "Awww! She is so cute!" You should be ashamed!)
Summer's Here! Make your baby look like a superstar! Anyone that can shit, piss, and cry so much deserves the spotlight!
No...Put it on page 43, not the cover.
But I really just wanted to post this cover of the new American Baby magazine. Gross!!! I found the image of this child repulsive. So big, on the cover, and in your face. Made up like a doll and in a bikini?? At first glance, I thought this was a 25-year-old with some sort of gland problem. Or maybe an exploited Hollywood baby with a psychotic, obsessed mother.
(If you saw this and said, "Awww! She is so cute!" You should be ashamed!)
Summer's Here! Make your baby look like a superstar! Anyone that can shit, piss, and cry so much deserves the spotlight!
No...Put it on page 43, not the cover.
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