Maybe he should go into politics

It was recently announced that planning has begun for Rocky VI. Now in an effort to prove beyond any shadow of doubt that his career is dead, aging action star Sylvester Stallone is officially slated to star in Rambo IV. The man is going to be 60 years old when Rocky VI shoots, and reportedly the plot involves him stepping back into the ring. That was ridiculous enough. I guess he's going to slaughter hordes of hapless foes as Rambo again too.

Please rethink this plan, Mr. Stallone. Just because your days as an action star are behind you and your comedies are unwatchable, doesn't mean you have to make this crap. Consider other career options like governor of California.

Persecution Complexes

I was thinking about how a well developed sense of persecution is so important to several very common viewpoints:

1. Intelligent Design - Supporters often claim that ID is kept out of school science classes because the courts and "secular" educators are anti-Christian, not because ID has no legitimate scientific basis.

2. Alternative medicine - Proponents, as well as providers trying to make money, claim that their treatments or even cures for major illnesses are ignored because pharmaceutical companies and the medical community in general do not want to cure you, but rather want to keep you buying expensive treatment and drugs. So the medical community discredits and ignores much of alternative medicine because of their greed, not because the alternative treatment doesn't work.

3. Media bias - Some people claim that almost all major media, except Fox News, has a liberal bias and many say an anti-Christian bias as well. Of course some who make this claim see liberal and anti-Christian as synonyms. They may rail against the liberal bias of some media while not acknowledging the conservative bias of other media. People on both sides of the fence tend to see their side as "middle of the road". In this case, if they consider Fox News to be "middle of the road", then it's easy to see how they'd think the major networks are all liberal.

I think many believers in these viewpoints ascribe to all three. Okay, alternative medicine picks up extremists from both sides because they get some new age/hippy types too, but often we're talking about the same group of people. These are people from a conservative Christian and often fundamentalist background who are taught from an early age that "the World" is against Christians. Their worldview is such that they expect to encounter many anti-Christian activities from a world influenced by the Prince of the Air (aka Satan). When people expect to see something, they usually see it.

Because people are raised to expect opposition and persecution, it's very difficult for them to fairly evaluate the above issues. They may assume without evidence that opponents' facts are skewed by a strong anti-Christian bias, so cannot possibly be reliable. Information from fellow conservative Christians, or at least those who claim to be, is considered infinitely more reliable. It's an attitude I've encountered many times, especially in college and for a few years afterward when I had contact with fundamentalist Christian groups.

Okay, so I'm not sure what my point in this post is. I think it's just that these three viewpoints and others are interconnected, and have a lot to do with how people are raised in the more conservative churches and the worldview that results. Maybe I'm stating the obvious.

mmm.... more beer

I greet most stories with a healthy dose of skepticism, but I completely and unquestionably believe and support this story about the cancer fighting benefits of beer. Now I must go drink MORE beer! I wouldn't want to get cancer.

3 posts today... en fuego!

Halloween

So I'm debating whether I'll actually do anything for Halloween that involves a costume. As usual I'm planning at the last minute and am not sure what it will be. I can't find a Karl Rove mask anywhere, so I can't be Darth Rove. Damn. Failing that, I could wear the long, black hooded robe from last year's Reaper-esque outfit, but replace the skull mask with a Dick Cheney mask. He can hardly hide how evil he is now anyway, so it seems sort of appropriate. If I really want to be a dick about it, I can carry an "Ask me about undercover CIA agents" sign or something. Meh.

I'm sort of jealous of the guy who dressed up as a giant box of Franzia wine. I have his picture around here somewhere. I'll link it later, if I remember.

I've heard a couple guys claim that going in drag got them a lot of attention from the ladies. I think I'm going to pass on that idea though. Granted a female friend in college thought I would make a good crossdresser. I really wasn't sure how to take that. I think I was somewhat insulted, but it was such a bizarre comment... anyway... NO.

The bloated epic

I guess the next installment of the world's most bloated epic is out, book 11 of the Wheel of Time. I'm betting that once again the most interesting thing about this doorstop of a book is the negative reviews at Amazon. Look at some of Robert Jordan's previous books to get the idea. This series is somewhere around 7,000 pages or more in hardcover. Now I guess we can once again read endless pages of mind numbing details, and action packed sequences such as women pulling on their braids, women wearing divided skirts for riding, women spanking one another as discipline, perhaps fulfilling some secret fantasy of the author, and more mind bogglingly mundane details. Once again I have no doubt that all of the female characters are immature, manipulative bitches and so are most of the men.

Why do I care? I'm not sure. I guess because before this author came along, I never knew a once compelling writer could become so bad.

Scopes trials 2005

Another ridiculous court case continues in Pennsylvania. In case you've missed this one, a couple people sued because their school district requires that an idiotic four paragraph statement about intelligent design be read to all students before they learned about evolution. The statement references the creationist intelligent design book Of Pandas and People. Here's a Pennsylvania columnist's take on recent testimony in the case. Of course intelligent design is Christian creationism dressed up as supposed science. Intelligent design advocates deny this claim, but the columnist again points out what I've read a couple other places... popular ID book Of Pandas and People has had a previous version. In that version, the word "creationism" was used instead of the phrase "intelligent design". Yep, they just did a find/replace on the old word processor. Nice.

Good for the parents who brought this suit. What's ridiculous is that they ever needed to.

Project Steve

Fundamentalists trying to get creationism taught in science classes like to circulate lists of scientists who sign some statement against evolution. Here's one from the Discovery Institute, a creationist group. It's interesting to note that the statement they agreed to isn't very controversial at all, and many scientists who study evolution would have no problem with it. Yet the creationist groups make it out to be a big deal. The statement says, I am skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged. Well duh. Keeping a healthy sense of skepticism is integral to scientific investigation.

But anyway, in response to these stupid lists of names trying to muster support for religion in public school science classes, there is now Project Steve. Project Steve is a statement of support for evolution and against creationism being taught in public school science classes. The catch is that only scientists named Steve, Steven, Stephan, Steffan, Stephanie, or a couple other close variations are allowed to sign it. They have over 600 signatures and counting. So if a fundamentalist points you to a list of a couple hundred scientists who don't like evolution, point them to a list of over 600 scientists, all named Steve, who do support it. Game. Set. Match.

Meetin group in Fort Wayne

MEETin.org now has a Fort Wayne site. It took a little convincing as most of their cities are much larger, but I got the founder to set up a Fort Wayne section. Now I need to get people to join.

What is it? MEETin is a free organization that helps people set up a social/activity club in their area. No fees are permitted for the clubs and they are entirely member run. About the only membership restriction is an age minimum of 21. There's no maximum. It's not a singles club. I suspect in many cities a lot of the members are single just because they're most often looking for stuff to do, but it's absolutely not restricted to singles.

It looks like a great way to meet people and find some new things to do in the area. Activities can be almost anything (legal) that the group members want. Other cities have done anything from simple happy hours at a bar to participating in charity races to hiking day trips and longer group trips, and much more. Any special interest that you think others might enjoy is a possible event.

So anyway, if you're anyways near Fort Wayne, take a look and consider signing up. That's my pitch for today.

It's French... bitch.

I don't watch much television, but I highly recommend the new show on Comedy Central, The Colbert Report, pronounced with both 'T's silent. It follows the 11pm EDT broadcast of The Daily Show. Since I love both satire and deadpan deliveries, Colbert is hilarious. His personality from numerous Daily Show appearances gets a show to himself that skewers 24 hour news network commentators like Bill O'Reilly. If you've ever watched these shows, you'll probably recognize Colbert's send up of them as dead on and well deserved. So umm... be sure to watch it and stuff.

Followup: The guy who's hilarious auction for leather pants was linked here last week has a humorous website called The Banterist. It's worth a read.

It's the world pulled over your eyes...

According to Matt Drudge, Madonna declares some rather odd things about our world in her upcoming documentary. "The material world. The physical world. The world of illusion, that we think is real. We live for it, we're enslaved by it. And it will ultimately be our undoing," she babbles.

Err... what? Has she been talking to this man? And more importantly, is this man advertising a brand of razor, and if so, which one? That's a nice, close shave!


Apparently besides being an illusion, our world is The Beast. But wait... I thought it was a vampire! Damn you, celebrity musicians! Why must you disagree? How do I know who's right? Madonna or Billy Corgan?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

The town of Cheshire, Connecticut actually had a "Subcomittee Handling Interim Treatment", but they just scrapped flushed it. And yes, they mean sewage treatment.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving is now a neo-prohibitionist group. Know any politicians who would dare oppose MADD though? Didn't think so...

This leather pants auction on e-bay is hilarious. After admitting to actually buying the pants a number of years ago, the guy says, among other things, I’ll go so far as to say you either have to be very tough, very gay, or very famous to wear these pants and get away with it. Read the whole thing though.

UNICEF has made an anti-war commercial where they bomb the hell out of the smurfs. Nice! I think Trogdor causing the carnage would be funnier than bombs though. Oh, it's not meant to be a comedy? Well, damn.

Suspect Zero and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

Here's a quick take on two more movies that are out on dvd.

"Suspect Zero" is a Ben Kingsley film about serial killers. Kingsley's character, Benjamin O'Ryan, is himself a killer, but his targets and his reasons are more complicated than simple carnage. Aaron Eckhart plays plays the principle FBI investigator while Carrie-Anne Moss is in a supporting agent role. There really wasn't much for Moss's character to do in this film, and Eckhart is just okay in his role. As usual the movie belongs to Ben Kingsley. He's excellent, but unfortunately there's little more to recommend the film. The plot is rather ridiculous with Kingsley's character leaving clues for Eckhart so big a trained monkey could follow them. Later I found it odd that the terrible serial killer being pursued doesn't really fit the profile described with the words "Suspect Zero". Sure he crisscrosses the country, but the title words are said to describe a serial killer who kills in both a different place and a different way every time, making him very difficult to detect. On the other hand, this sicko seems pretty consistent. Two stars out of four for this one, mostly for Kingsley's effort.

"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" is a British film starring Clive Owen of Sin City fame. In short, this movie sucks. The pacing is mind-numbingly slow. As with some other artsy films, the slow pace seems to be deliberate to set a particular mood. In this case that mood is known as boredom. We're constantly watching long, slow shots of Owen's character standing around saying nothing. Apparently he's the strong, silent, withdrawn type, which is difficult to translate into good film when that character type is the movie's central character. It can be done, but it doesn't happen here. 1 star. Bleh.

Oh, and here's my rating scale:
4 stars = Absolutely superb film, one of the year's best
3 stars = A film that delivers the goods, entertaining, well worth seeing at the theater
2 stars = An okay film with some significant flaws. Wait for the dvd or skip it.
1 star = This film sucks. Don't see it anywhere. The film industry should not be encouraged to make more of this crap.
0 stars = "It's like a kind of torture to have to watch the show." This film is a horrible waste of celluloid and, if you watch it, your time. For the love of all that is good, don't watch this film. It may induce severe depression, nausea, and the desire to poke out your eyes. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Serenity

Serenity opened last weekend and it's a fun film. Think space opera with wild west attitude. The movie has a built in cult following of fans of the TV series Firefly. The movie picks up where the cancelled television show left off, but can be enjoyed without ever having seen the show. I've never seen the TV show myself. The film has a lot of action and plenty of laughs. There's potential for a sequel built into the ending. I think creator Joss Whedon will find himself with a movie series or an offer to revive the TV show if Serenity does well enough. Let's hope so. 3 1/2 stars.

Also over the weekend I watched The Machinist starring Christian Bale. The movie is dark, disturbing, and in my opinion, okay, but not great. The most disturbing thing about it is Bale's emaciated character. The actor lost 63 pounds for the role, dropping to about 120 pounds stretched over his six foot frame. In the shirtless shots he looks like he has severe anorexia. In the movie you're basically watching his character, an insomniac who says he hasn't slept for a year, fall apart mentally. Many shots have a deliberately grey, washed out coloration and the depressing mood never really shifts. 2 1/2 stars, mostly for Bale's great acting.