i m N s h o

This isn’t simply “oh, I’m not that interested so I think I’ll skip it”. Oh sure, I’m not that interested in the movie, but that’s not why I’m skipping this one. And it’s not because of the uproar over whether or not the movie’s anti-Semitic. Nope, it’s all about marketing and cynicism… I don’t have any problem with Gibson making a movie about his beliefs, nor ultimately with his ultra-traditionalist take on Catholicism. It’s problematic to me that he may believe that the Jews deserve blame for the death of Christ, but I’ve already talked about my take on that whole topic, so I’m not going to into that here. (On KROQ earlier this week, they spoke with a theologian who pointed out that the early Christians—Peter, the rest of the apostles, etc.—were all Jews and that the blame for Christ’s death, if it was to be laid anywhere, was Rome’s. It wasn’t until several centuries later, when the Christians were attempting to convert the Romans that the blame was shifted...

Why NOT try it again, huh? Bypassing Senate for 2nd Time, Bush Seats Judge "As a state official in Alabama, Mr. Pryor, 41, gained prominence as an outspoken opponent of legalized abortion and as an advocate for a greater Christian influence in government." Do I need to say ANYTHING about this? Twice in five weeks Bush has seated judges opposed by Senate Democrats because of their narrow-minded views on civil rights in this country. He justifies it, saying "Their tactics are inconsistent with the Senate's constitutional responsibility and are hurting our judicial system." I submit, once again, Mr. President, that it's your tactics that are hurting our judicial system… your insistence on nominating justices that fit your narrow agenda (one that criminalizes abortion and cripples the advances of the civil rights movement in this country) are just as detrimental to a fair and balanced judiciary as all the "left-wing liberals" that you fea...

Jesus, will someone PLEASE tell this man to shut up and go home? PLEASE? Nader announces presidential run (Actually, it looks like more than a few people ARE asking him to shut-up and go away… Nader's Raiders-turned-Haters? ) I've never cared much for Nader—he seems to suffer from the same malady as Bush, a conviction that he's right, no matter what anyone else might think. I might agree with some of the problems he sees in American politics as it stands today (and I completely agree that Al Gore is the reason Al Gore lost in 2000), but the last thing we need is this idiot mucking things up any more than they already are.

I know looking for logic when talking about religion is probably pointless, undoubtedly naïve and inevitably frustrating, but I sometimes can’t help myself. I’m talking, of course, about all the noise about Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ . Understand, if I were Jewish and I’d seen 2000 years of history with my people being blamed for killing the Christian’s god, and finally getting the Church to refute that blame in the 60’s only to have some yahoo Hollywood star come along 40 years later and pick the scab off that festering wound, I’d probably be a little upset too. But here’s what gets me. Now, I’m no theologian, but I did get run through the Catechism grind in grade school and sent to a Catholic high school (no better cure for rampant Catholicism than 4 years of a Catholic high school, I assure you) not to mention countless masses during my formative years, so I distinctly remember rote memorization and sermons galore: “Christ was sent to earth to redeem man from h...

I get accused of exaggerating sometimes, and gleefully admit that I resort to hyperbole on a regular basis. It's kind of "worst case scenario" thinking. I'd rather be Chicken Little and proved wrong than calm & complacent and proven wrong. Then I read about stuff like this and realize "hey, I'm not that far off after all"… An Antiwar Forum in Iowa Brings Federal Subpoenas A university forum on civil disobedience and non-violent protests brings Grand Jury subpoenas "seeking details about the forum's sponsor — its leadership list, its annual reports, its office location — and the event itself" as federal prosecutors investigate an individual that attempted to scale a National Guard Base fence the day after the forum. Justice Dept. Seeks Hospitals' Records of Some Abortions The Justice Department is demanding hundreds of patient medical records on certain abortions. Lawyers for the department say they need the records to ...

(given the chance for a bad pun, how could I resist?) So who’d have thought that in all this annoying stupidity over the SuperBowl halftime show, Janet Jackson would be the only one you don’t hate? In Washington this week, you’ve got the heads of CBS, Viacom and the NFL wringing their hands, saying it’s not their fault and gladly pointing their fingers at MTV. FCC Chairman Michael Powell, in a disingenuously outraged performance is claiming, “I share the displeasure and fatigue of millions of American about the erosion of common decency on television…” proving, if you needed any proof, that the FCC’s laissez-faire approach to media operations has more to do with standard Republican “any business regulation is too much” policy than any belief that we might have finally outgrown those archaic 1950’s era morality codes. (And, not incidentally attempting to distance himself from all the uproar about Bono not getting in trouble for saying “fuck” on an awards show.) Meanwhi...

A while back I wrote about this Michael Chabon book I’d found called “ McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales ”. In his intro, he talks about his boredom with stories “plotless and sparkling with epiphanic dew”. I latched onto that phrase and it’s been reverberating through my head since then. Part of the reason for this is that it’s a great phrase. The other is that I share his boredom with this type of story. I like my stories (whether they be short, novel or film) to have more than just a character (or characters) who, by the end of the story have had some epiphany which changes their life (or their outlook, or their state of mind, or whatever). I like my stories to have a plot, in other words. I like something to happen, for them to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Being aware of this, I shouldn’t be surprised by my reaction to The Station Agent . I’ve been hearing about this movie for months. It’s been getting great reviews and ended up on Top 10 lists a...

Or, more likely, simply attempts to confuse, obfuscate and obscure the point. Bush defends invasion of Iraq, despite WMD questions In his speech, Bush states: "Knowing what I knew then and knowing what I know today, America did the right thing in Iraq…" But, here's the thing. The point isn’t “did we do the right thing”. That’s for history to decide and, frankly, we’re way too close to these events for anyone to know that yet. But even those of us that prefer to think of war as a ‘last resort’ rather than a ‘first option’ are perfectly willing to grant that the world is probably much better off without Saddam Hussein and his cohorts in power. Granted… given… run with it… and if that lets you sleep better at night, more power to you. But the real question—the one that SHOULD keep you up nights—is “did the President lie (mislead? misdirect? let's not quibble over semantics, okay?) to everyone in order to ‘sell’ us on a war in Iraq.” Be...

hathos (HAY.thohs; TH as in thin) n. Feelings of pleasure derived from hating someone or something. —hathotic adj. From The Word Spy mailing list. I KNOW I've experienced that feeling recently.

Ok, so 2003 was a bad year for "guilty pleasure" films but, despite what I've said about both Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle & Bad Boys II, I think I've found the worst movie of the year. (How the hell The Razzies missed this one is beyond me!) I submit, for your consideration, American Wedding . Dani & I both thought American Pie 1 & 2 were amusing, fun, had some good performances--the typical things you say about guilty pleasure movies. Well, I was warned about Wedding a couple of weeks ago by a friend here at work, but forgot that until it showed up yesterday from Netflix. Ignoring those warnings, we popped it in the DVD player to check out over dinner. My god, what an amazing piece of crap! The director, Jesse Dylan, obviously has no concept of timing and how it relates to comedy. Meanwhile the writer, Adam Herz, (who's credited as writing the first film and has multiple writing credits for the second) has obviously lost (or throw...

I was subjected to Orwell's 1984 several times in college, and I've been (sarcastically) saying that it looks like someone in the Bush administration has been cribbing from him all along. But this clinches it: Blair and Bush up for Nobel prize "The pair have been put forward by a Norwegian politician who said toppling the Iraqi dictator had reduced the threat of weapons of mass destruction." To quote Mr. Orwell: …the three slogans on the white face of the Ministry of Truth came back to him: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH Extending the metaphor a bit, we've already got Bush making a virtue of his ignorance. Now he's nominated for a Nobel PEACE Prize for starting a war in the Middle East. (And, if we just give Ashcroft a little more time with the Constitution, we may even manage to work in that "freedom is slavery" bit as well. ) Of course, aside from the lunacy of nominating someone for starting a war i...

White House Calls Critics Of Bush Military Record Outrageous Cause we've all seen his pictures in his flight suit so we all know what a commanding " warfighter " he's proven himself to be.

Not politics, mind you. There's just too much there to mock. But movies and other entertaining things. See, last year I incessantly mocked Pirates of the Caribbean (a movie based on a movie ride? COME ON!). Until I saw the first trailer and realized that I really wanted to see this movie. And it turned out to be one of my favorites of the year. Later on, I read about the new Alien DVD set (the Alien Quadrilogy ) and mocked that one for being the most over-the-top DVD special edition pack yet. Until I realized that there were special edition/director cuts of each film packed into this overwhelming mass of extra content and couldn't resist buying it. And it pretty much turned out to be worth it, too! (And, after watching the extended cut of Alien 3 all I have to say is that David Fincher has every right to be pissed at what they did to his film.) THEN, just recently I read about the remake of Dawn of the Dead and thought, "really, what's the point?" I m...