I just watched a brief news-magazine / “documentary” program about a book called The Pagan Christ by Tom Harpur. This book seems to put forward a new version of a fairly well-known (if not well-accepted) claim, that Christian beliefs have their antecedents in various pagan cults and religions. He also suggests that Jesus didn’t exist …
The Culture of Fear
This culture of fear is ridiculous. On Thursday, I was on my home, and at the James-Main intersection. I wanted to cross it a particular way because, on Thursday, the new View comes out. It is located in a box on the southeast corner. So I want to go to that corner, rather than the …
Student throws korans into toilets
Okay, so a student at Pace University has been arrested because he apparently threw some books in toilets back in the fall. As far as I know, he was not charged with stealing the books, and he has not been punished by the university for obstructing the septic system. (I don’t know if there is …
Reunion
So I didn’t write about this last week, I guess because I didn’t have much time on le net. I went to an, ‘ancestral’ lets call it, cottage on Bob’s Lake – that’s near Sharbot Lake, that’s 40 min or so north of Kingston – last weekend. We used to spend a fair amount of …
Cheney and NHL’s Silly Season
The NBA isn’t the only league with a silly season any more, but first…The Whores!
My own attempt at a list of great movies as of 2007
Since the AFI list has come out, I have been thinking that I should at least put forward my suggestions. What I have done is come up with an incomplete list of directors and their films. My intention is to suggest them, this is by no means definitive. It is not definitive because some of …
The Daily Show, Conservapedia
A friend of my once mentioned that he didn’t like the Daily Show that much because it was too “left wing.” To call the Daily Show left wing is to buy in to the US bullshit about “right-left.” This supposed distinction (which isn’t much of one at all), makes these terms virtually meaningless except as applies …
Caged Terror (1973, directed by Barrie McLean, Kristen Weingartner): An Appreciation
Yesterday, I reminded myself that I am not the man I used to be. I drank lots of beer during the Sens game, and then promptly crashed during dinner, because I can’t drink like I used to, so I stopped drinking, so I crashed. Anyway, as a remedy, I decided I would watch a shitty …
Ontario Proportional Representation Proposal 2007
In October Ontario will vote on whether or not to accept a new method of electing our MPPs. This is a good idea, except for the fact that the proposed new one sucks balls.
An American Tragedy (1925) by Theodore Dreiser
How is An American Tragedy on any best of list? I don’t get it. Dreiser is not a very good writer. I mean, he’s ridiculous. Everything ever has an explanation, apparently. As human beings, we can understand every single aspect of every single action and find all the causes, both major ones and minor / …
Gilmour vs. Muller…and why Mats belongs
Some time in September I had nothing to do and a friend had mentioned that he thought Gilmour as unworthy as the Hall as Muller. So I decided to pursue a numbers argument. I never published it (I must have pushed the ‘save as draft’ button instead) and I remembered it when I was thinking …
“Food” and “It took them long enough”
In the CD player: The Violent Femmes
Almost had my first major accident…
I guess I can’t say first accident since I did drove into a snow bank last winter… So, I just dropped my dad off at the airport. I’m entering the 401 collectors and I’m wanting to stay in them so that I can exit onto the 403 (you know, at that weird exit that only …
Why it’s good when bands break up or have lots of side projects…
In the CD player: King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime by FNM (yes, I know…) I was just thinking, it’s amazing the number of other bands and artists and various other people I’ve been exposed to because of one band I really like. For example: Mr. Bungle I don’t really remember why I …
TV
In the CD player: Cult by Apocalyptica I think I have to add Twin Peaks to my list of best tv shows ever. I’m addicted to it. I haven’t seen an episode in a few days and it’s driving me crazy. This despite the fact that I know what happens since I’ve seen the prequel, …
The Manchurian Candidate (2004, Jonathan Demme)
I usually hate remakes. I usually hate the ideas of remakes. I say to people, “How would you feel if they remade your favourite movie?” Most people say they wouldn’t be happy. And yet we constantly rehash and remake movies. The only movies I think should really be remade are those that had a great …
Deep in the Woods (2000, Lionel Delplanque)
In the CD player: Obscured by Clouds the soundtrack by Pink Floyd It’s too bad this movie’s so disappointing overall. The actual title is something like “Promenons-Nous dans les Bois” or something. Anyway, there are some fantastic shots and moments in this movie. You see them and you just think “Brilliant! Another Masterpiece!” like that …
Hotel Rwanda (2004, Terry George)
Well, I don’t want to get into too big a discussion about genocide because I will reveal how little I care for most of the human race. So, let’s take as our starting point that I’m a selfish asshole who helps allow people to die in far off places but isn’t phased by that very …
Saturday…for lack of a better title
In the cd player: nothing, it’s too early I was planning on catching the 9:37 bus. Apparently my mom wants to come pick me up. This changes things substantially. I could have slept in. Oh well. I had no intention of going out last night. But I did. So why? Because Jenny’s friend, who’s been …
Cross of Iron (1977, Sam Peckinpah)
It’s because of movies like Cross of Iron that, when I find a director I think is interesting, I try to watch all his movies, even those that don’t have good reputations. In the CD player: Wheels of Fire by Cream…listening to the live part. The first two tracks are great, the second two suck. …
Things
My computer pissed me off last night. So far I’m okay with it today. Maybe not my computer. Rather certain things that happened with my computer (whether it was to blame or not). In the CD player: Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. I’m on a jazz kick. Had some Coltrane on last night. This …
Unions
Firstly, the party went very well.
Movies
One of the things I did in Florida was watch a lot of movies. Because that’s what you do in Florida when it’s dark and you’ve got crazy American cable with 30+ movie channels. That’s not to say that’s all I did (though this list will give you that impression), but I definitely watched a …
I want to burn Rice, but I won’t…hopefully someone else will
Rice’s confirmation hearing is today. She mentioned this “Town Square Test” (the name of the academic she name-dropped is not important, though I would like to give credit to him or her) that determines whether a society is a “fear society” or not. Apparently, an individual enters the town square and speaks his or her …
Grades
Listening to Neil Young on my computer. I won’t rant about how awesome he is. The other day (Thursday!) when I went to pick up an essay for a class (worth 50% of my mark) I was more nervous about a mark than I have been in 3 or more years. I can’t remember really …
On Self-Deprecation
See, I’m a philosopher. My titles begin with “On.”
Jesus
So, I was watching some religious TV yesterday. I’ve been paying more attention to this stuff since I started studying the Bible. Like when I was at my stepcousin’s wedding a little while ago. I was very interested in the service all of a sudden… Anyway, Jack Van Impe was on Vision. It’s amazing, by …
Fahrenheit 911 (2004, Michael Moore)
So I saw Fahrenheit 911 last night. I thought I was going to come up with something witty to insult it but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Very polemical and full of the usual publicity stunts (and times when you wonder how insincere Moore was being when he was getting some of these …