December 2007 Archives
If you're interested, the music is part of a haunting and beautiful collection of old recordings called The Sounds of Slavery. It's public domain, so you can download the entire collection free of charge.
Here's the original:And here's my answer to it:
Yeah, we've got those here, too.
“We cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches.”Well, I've got news for you Melvin, your church doesn't have a leg to stand on even as you define it. As one of your sincere and devoted critics please allow me to congratulate you for arriving (albeit embarrassingly late) to the party.
Before you get too excited imagining the hoards of devoted young believers falling over themselves to follow your counsel, consider the humble numbers of this single blog. Last year, the Eight Hour Lunch Podcast was downloaded 14,582 times. Since January 1, 2007 this single site has served over 33,530 pages. And I've done a piss-poor job of keeping it current.
Your days are numbered. Show some dignity and bow out while there's still a chance of history regarding you kindly.
I've been following with some disgust the Catholic smear campaign against The Golden Compass. I know I'm a little late to the controversy, but that's because I've been busy doing something the critics at the
Vatican were either too busy or too dishonest to do--I'm actually
reading it.
I'm two-thirds of the way through the last book of the trilogy now, and I'd recommend the books to anyone. As I've read, the main characters have demonstrated nothing if not a driving hope for a better life and a deep and loyal commitment to the people who deserve their love. Pullman's clever and engaging style create a universe that's easy and enjoyable to immerse yourself in.
So if we're reading the same book and watching the same movie, how do Catholic.org and the Vatican reach this conclusion?
It can only be because of the clear and intelligent way this book exposes issues not just within Catholicism, but within the greater whole of religion--organized or not."The Vatican newspaper criticized the movie 'The Golden Compass,' saying the film depicts a fantasy world that is without emotion, without hope and without love."
Still, Pullman insists that his only agenda as a writer is to keep his reader turning pages. And in that regard he succeeds magnificently. It is easily the best fantasy series I've read this year.
The movie however, was dreadful. There were too many liberties taken with the original story, the characters were unconvincing and the dialog was hopelessly corny. But as film.com reports, controversy pays. Pullman should at least send the Pope a thank you card for the 500% spike in sales ten years after he wrote the books. You can't buy publicity like that.
(Spoiler alert.) There's a new movie in town and the critics just loooove it. That should be your first clue that something in the movie No Country for Old Men is absolutely, hopelessly, screwed up. It started out and continued strongly, but when the movie ended, that was it.
There was no warning, reason or resolution. Out of nowhere, it just ended. Ended like when someone changes the channel in the middle of the show you're watching. There wasn't even a sense of disquiet to imply that it had ended on purpose. Apparently the writer's strike had a trial run.
No one in these settings wants to say they don't like the film because they don't want to admit that they might not be in on what the critics and "intellectuals" are. No one wants to feel stupid. So they watch a show that leaves them baffled in a way that reminds them of all the times they've been taught to appreciate "art". After a long pause and a whimper they proclaim, "that was great!"
It's exactly how I felt when I finished watching Brokeback Mountain. No one could stop talking about what a bold, groundbreaking show it was. Of course, none of the critics had the spine to say what I thought after watching it—that it was pointless, hopelessly dull movie whose underdeveloped characters I couldn't force myself to give a damn about.
You see, there's this phenomena among critics that takes me back to the days of my fine art classes in college. The scene goes something like this. Everyone sits around a piece of art that no one understands or likes. The reason no one understands or likes is that said piece of "art" is a turd in a frame that some con artist actually managed to collect payment on.
Insult is added to injury as the professor makes everyone talk about why it's great. The honest people are ridiculed while the bullshitters get accolades and high marks.
In other words, Rosebud.
Today at lunch I went to see Brynn's school Christmas program. In spite of my regular irritation at being subjected to a birthday celebration for a mythical man I don't even respect, the kids were great. Unfortunately, many of their parents were unforgivably obnoxious.
As I sat in the second row, I could barely hear the teacher over the parents talking. Cell phones went off. Younger kids in the audience were screaming while people were getting up and walking around during the show. Suddenly I was overcome by a sickening wave of memories—I felt like I was back in church!
I glared in disgust at the inconsiderate freak behind me as her cell phone went off at concert volume for the second time. It's called SILENT mode you moron. If you're too damn stupid to figure it out, then you're too DAMN STUPID to own the phone. How many emergency calls can stay-at-home mom need to take during my kid's lines before she turns the damn thing off or leaves the room?
A few months ago on a bulletin board, someone argued with me that people have always been more likely to cling to a god the poorer they were, and that if history is any indicator, things were unlikely to change anytime soon.
So I spent the next day thinking about whether or not that could be true. If an event or idea continues over a long period of time, does that mean that it is destined to continue unchanged forever? Now here's the part I need to hash out. It seems to me the longer something continues on an unchanging course (at least where human intervention is involved), the more likely it becomes that the object or the person's course will be changed or eventually halted.
For example, the longer you spend driving your car in a straight line, the more likely you are to turn or stop. An unstoppable disease or virus eventually runs out of hosts. The Crusades eventually ended, witch trials aren't tolerated anymore and slavery has been largely abolished. Stonings for blasphemy don't happen in the enlightened world. Beatniks and hippies fade into obscurity while a new generation finds new things to improve. The avante guard becomes the establishment.
Newton said things tend to continue in their present course until acted on by another force. Do philosophical ideas follow this rule? It's hard to say. But it seems we have two choices. Humanity could continue on its present course of irrationality and violence in a straight line, but it seems it can't continue indefinitely. Just like driving, we've reached a point where we have to turn soon.
Santa's coming...if he manages to pass the breathalyzer test. This year we're handing out a home brewed Kolsch to a few of our friends. We figure it's not fair that only the good kids get something.
Ok, it was a little bit of a pain to set up, but I'm back!
My original technical goal on this site had been to write my own blogging tool, and I freely confess--that was stupid. It became such a hassle to keep up that I just stopped writing.
Enter Movable Type. I read on BoingBoing that they were giving it away free, so I gave it a peek. All in all, it hasn't been that bad of a setup. Of course there' s a lot to change here now as far as appearances are concerned, so look for that. I hope that the easer publishing platform means you'll hear from me more often.
Regards,
Doug
P.S. If you're looking for everything on the old site, you can still get to it all here.
