This must be the finest film ever produced. Nay, this may be the finest object ever crafted by human hands. I await its arrival every day, and will not be a complete person until I am bathed in its glory and wonder.
Tag: Media
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I *heart* Penn Jillette
I’ve been a fan for years, but Penn just keeps saying what he believes, and I just keep loving it. Their show on Showtime, Bullshit!, is amazing, and one of these trips out to Vegas I’ll actually get to see them live. For now, I’ll just be blown away by the manner in which he sums up his wordview worldview (and mine) for NPR:
So, I’m saying, “This I believe: I believe there is no God.”
Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I’m not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it’s everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I’m raising now is enough that I don’t need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.
Believing there’s no God means I can’t really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That’s good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.
Believing there’s no God stops me from being solipsistic. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I’m wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don’t travel in circles where people say, “I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith.” That’s just a long-winded religious way to say, “shut up,” or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, “How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do.” So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that’s always fun. It means I’m learning something.
Believing there is no God means the suffering I’ve seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn’t caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn’t bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.
Ok…this is just wrong. Hurricane Rita is now a Catagory 5, and may strengthen further.
Two Cat 5’s in the Gulf within a month of each other? AND we’re about to run out of hurricane names…all we have left this year are Stan, Tammy, Vince, and Wilma. If that happens it would be the most active hurricane season in recorded history.
But global warming…nah, not a big deal, right Mr. President? I suppose the Salon article is right…if you can’t even admit that evolution is a fact, how can you possibly be asked to understand Global Warming?
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My new hero: Rex Libris!
Just as a tide of ignorance swells up and threatens to engulf the world, out of the ashes of the Great Library of Alexandria arises a hero, an educated fellow with fists of steel and a mind as sharp as a tack: public librarian Rex Libris. Follow the story of Rex, the tough-as-nails Head Librarian at Middleton Public Library, and his unending struggle against the forces of darkness. Wearing his distinctive, super-thick bottle glasses and armed with an arsenal of powerful weapons, he strikes fear into recalcitrant borrowers, and can take on virtually any foe — from loitering zombies to alien warlords who refuse to pay their late fees. Even the occasional infestation of rogue, public domain literary characters are dispatched with aplomb.
Everyone must check out the preview, as well as buy copies for everyone they know. I can’t wait to see how this goes…now if only there were somewhere within 50 miles I could buy it. This could well be the coolest comic book in the history of the world. 🙂
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The Man in Black
OMFG.
I must own this poster.
This looks amazing. I’m a sucker for Cash…and to see Pheonix doing him is really interesting. It appears as if he’s even doing his own singing, which is a hell of a challenge. Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash is a little odd (I always thought of June as the “strong one” in that relationship, and Reese doesn’t do that for me). But trailer looks incredible, so…something to look forward to this Fall.
One word:
Interesting.
I’ll not spoil anything for those of you still working your way through it. But in a week or so, I wanna hear what everyone thought, and where you think the story is heading. This one went in all the directions I expected (except one) and I’m interested in what she’s doing with certain characters, and how the whole thing might wrap up.
My verdict: I loved it, but I like all the books. It’s not my favorite of the bunch, but it certainly had its surprising moments, as well as its warm fuzzy ones. Damn spoilers….hurry up, every one, so I can talk about it!
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MORE MONKEY!
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The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Those that know me well might be surprised to hear that as a child I was rabidly addicted to the C.S. Lewis Narnia books. My mother bought me the paperback set of them, and I read them until they fell apart. I adored the powerful children, the idea that these kids could become kings and queens, and could fight evil and win. They could talk to animals, befriend fawns, and command armies…these were the children that I wished I could be.
Discovering that the stories were Christian propaganda was disappointing, to say the least. But I still remember being riveted to the tales, and reveling in the adventure of it all. The morals contained within the stories (greed will cause you heartache and pain, loyalty and bravery will always win the day, love really will make everything right) are universal morals, not just Christian ones. I suppose I can live with the thinly veiled character re-writes of christian mythology, if only because the stories are so very part of my nature.
In any case: now comes the movie, and the trailer. I’m not sure how all of these came out at once, and May became “movie trailer month” on the blog. But I promise that we’ll go back to our regularly scheduled copyright issues, blog defending, and library stuff soon. For now, I give you: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Grab a piece of Turkish Delight and enjoy!
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Batman Begins
And to round out this 4 part series on geek movies of the year, the trailer to Batman Begins was just released this past week.
Batman has always been my favorite superhero; mainly because he’s not really a superhero. He’s got no superpowers, just the dogged determination to make sure that he’s the absolute best at what he does. He’s also been interesting because of the iconic heroes (Superman, Batman, Spiderman) he’s the one with the loosest moral code. He’s clearly a good guy, but he sometimes acts pretty bad. He’s also damaged, but holds himself together enough to do the right things. All in all, very different from the idealized boy scout that is Superman.
I suppose I just like my heroes with a side of dark.
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NOCHNOI DOZOR
An interesting new film from Russia, on it’s way to these shores (hopefully in wide enough release that I can actually see it): Night Watch. Evidently part of a trilogy, it’s looks stylish and quick….what Underworld should have been. Check the trailer, and see what you think. Lots of comments at IMDB from the Russian release of the film (evidently this was the highest grossing film in the country’s history).