Art

The Bible is Fiction

Ian McKellen, cast in the movie The DaVinci Code, had some choice words about the bible in recent interview:

Matt Lauer: “There have been calls from some religious groups, they wanted a disclaimer at the beginning of this movie saying it is fiction because one of the themes in the book really knocks Christianity right on its ear, if Christ survived the crucifixion, he did not die for our sins and therefore was not resurrected. What I’m saying is, people wanted this to say ‘fiction, fiction, fiction’. How would you all have felt if there was a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie? Would it have been okay with you?”
There was a pause, and then famed British actor Ian McKellen [Gandalf of Lord of the Rings], piped up:
“Well, I’ve often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction. I mean, walking on water, it takes an act of faith. And I have faith in this movie. Not that it’s true, not that it’s factual, but that it’s a jolly good story. And I think audiences are clever enough and bright enough to separate out fact and fiction, and discuss the thing after they’ve seen it.”

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idiots rule

“Everything you love, everything meaningful with depth and history, all passionate authentic experiences will be appropriated, mishandled, watered down, cheapened, repackaged, marketed and sold to the people you hate.” — Mr. Jalopy.

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Alabama needs better sex ed classes. Seriously.

The website goodasyou.com pointed out an anti-gay “sex-ed” (no actual education included) pamphlet distributed by an Alabama Middle School that has a quote that literally made me snort soda out of my nose a few minutes ago.

These same sex “unions” cannot provide an adequate means of achieving a genuine physical relationship with another human being because this type of “union” is contrary to the laws of nature. There can be no real union because same sex bodies do not even fit together.

Somebody seems to have a lack of imagination, there. Apparently, they’ve never read my post on intelligent design, or they’d know better than that.

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The Lusty Month of May

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  • Post category:Music
The Lusty Month of May
Julie Andrews
Camelot Soundtrack

The Lusty Month of May, Camelot
The Lusty Month of May, Camelot

Tra la, it’s May, the lusty Month of May
That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray
Tra la, it’s here, that shocking time of year,
when tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear.

It’s May, It’s May, that gorgeous holiday,
when every maiden prays that her lad will be a cad
It’s mad, it’s gay, a libelous display,
Those dreary vows that everyone takes, everyone breaks,
everyone makes divine mistakes
The Lusty Month of May

Whence this fragrance wafting through the air?
What sweet feelings does it’s scent transmute?
Whence this perfume floating everywhere?
Don’t you know, it’s that dear forbidden fruit.

It’s May, the lusty month of May,
That darling month when everyone throws self-control away.
It’s time to do a wretched thing or two,
and try to make each precious day one you’ll always rue.

It’s May, it’s May, the month of "Yes, you may."
The time for every frivolous whim, proper or im-
It’s wild, it’s gay, a blot in every way,
The birds and bees with all of their vast amorous past,
gaze at the human race aghast
The Lusty Month of May.

Tra la, it’s May, the lusty Month of May
That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray
Tra la, it’s here, that shocking time of year,
when tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear.

It’s May, it’s may, the month of great dismay,
when all the world is brimming with fun, wholesome or un-
It’s mad, it’s gay, It’s gay, a libelous display
Those dreary vows that everyone takes, everyone breaks, everyone makes divine mistakes
The Lusty Month of May

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The Moustache Tattoo

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  • Post category:Brain Food

This is just hilarious — people in Federal Hill, Rhode Island have started trend — a tattoo of a moustache, that you get on your finger, so that when you hold your finger up to your upper lip, you appear to have a moustache. Check out the video where they interview the tattoo artist who started the trend.
That’s so funny.

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Books I’ve Read Recently

The Nanny Diaries
by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
I enjoyed this light, comic novel as a easy summer reading book. I have to admit being frustrated by the level to which “Nanny” — the young female protagonist — put up with the crap of the Manhattan family that hired her to take care of their son. Any reasonable person would have walked away from the employment situation, so it’s hard to suspend disbelief at some of the plot points. But it was a fun peek into a society I don’t have access to.
A better summary from Amazon: “The Nanny Diaries is an absolutely addictive peek into the utterly weird world of child rearing in the upper reaches of Manhattan’s social strata. Cowritten by two former nannies, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, the novel follows the adventures of the aptly named Nan as she negotiates the Byzantine byways of working for Mrs. X, a Park Avenue mommy.”

The Watchmen (Absolute Edition)
by Alan Moore
Unfortunately, I don’t time to write a review that would do this book justice, because it deserves a couple pages of thoughful analysis and philosophical examination. It’s an extraordinary graphic novel, written in the 1980s that still resonates in today’s political and social sphere. The author — Alan Moore — also wrote the graphic novel V for Vendetta, which was recently made into a movie (although he disavows any association with the film version). The watchmen is the story of a couple of generations of masked crime fighters, set in real cold war America in the 1980s. Unlike the primary-colored superheroes that we’re all familiar with, these complext heroes explore the moral ambiguity of vigilantism and of society itself.
I bought this after reading an Entertainment Weekly review that quoted some of my favorite writers and television producers (Neil Gaiman, Joss Whedon, the producers of Lost) as saying it was an enormous influence on them, and the influences are clear. One of my favorite things about both Whedon’s stories and about Lost are the subtle plot details that pop out on second and third viewings — a technique that’s used to extraordinary effect in The Watchmen.

A Theory of Fun for Game Design
by Raph Koster
I need to re-read this book to write a good review of it, and to really grasp what I read. That isn’t the fault of the book at all; it was great. It’s entirely on me that I didn’t get a complete picture because my free time to read has been so scattered lately, and it’s difficult to put a book down and pick it back up and remember where I was. I’m going to go over this book again after I finish reading the book I’m currently enjoying, which is:

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
Melanie Rehak
I’ll write up a full-scale review of this book when I’m done with it, because I’m thoroughly enjoying reading this great book about one of my childhood role models.

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2006 ICAAN Scavenger Hunt

I’m going to write an article about this for IndyScribe, but I thought I’d do a short blog post about it here, first. Yesterday, Stephanie and I and our friends Jen and Lori were on a scavenger hunt team to benefit ICAAN, a local organization that trains helper dogs and at the same time helps troubled youth by having them train dogs.
Among the wacky things we did for charity — Stephanie and I both ate dog biscuits to get 250 points. They were pretty yummy, actually; they came from the Three Dog Bakery.
2006 ICAAN Scavenger Hunt
Here’s a photo of our team… #9: Acting out the “Sharks Vs. Jets” dance scene from West Side Story in front of a local theatre. (200 points)
See all of our pictures from the event in this Flickr photoset.
Our team, “The Escalator Accident” finished pretty respectably out of the 39 teams — in the top ten.

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