Issue 59

News: A modest proposal for the creationists.
This November marks the first anniversary of the state of Kansas saying that all public schools in the state should teach Intelligent Design as an equal theory to Evolution, which as longtime readers should know I believe is totally wrong, as Evolution has huge amounts of elevidence for it and Intelligent Design has little more than a book which seems to me to be no more believable than the work of the Brothers Grimm (in fact, if one uses one's King James Bible, one can find reference to Unicorns, as in Job 39:9-12). Many other counties have a sticker that is placed on all biology textbooks which says that evolution is a theory and not a fact (as if a theory is as close as science can get on many issues, like Earth's position in relation to the sun) and that it should be considered with an open mind. I think I may approve of stickers like this as long as those same people who are pushing for these stickers get stickers of their own. My plan is that, if the evangelicals must have their way to push their religion and their view on science by trying to discredit actual science as not a fact, they should feel free to have on their tracts a disclaimer stating: "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a theory, not fact, and one which should be studied critically with an open mind." Unfortunately, I know that this law could very well be unconstitutional, but then again, I highly doubt that constitutionality is what the people who stickered those textbooks had in mind, much less so in Kansas. The point here is that there is no real reason for Intelligent Design to be taught in schools, nor for Evolution, which has loads of evidence (much of which can be found at talk.origins, as well as a huge index of Creationist Claims debunked) to be denigrated.

Band Name: Evil Monkey- Watch More Family Guy and get it.

Film Idea of the Day: A stage version of the life story of Nick Drake, told with only two cast members: Nick himself and his psychiatrist.

Film Review of the Day: I'm Not Rappaport. It's a funny, if long, film about two 80-something men, one a communist philosopher, and the other a half-blind super of an apartment building. These people spend a day in Central park avoiding their children, smoking medicinal marijuana, and keeping out of nursing homes. I give it thumbs up.

Quote of the Day: "I think, personally, that Galileo did the right thing by giving up science for Christ."
____________Some Kid in Jesus Camp.

Link of the Day: The Video Album of one of my new favorite albums by Serge Gainsbourg.

Issue 58

News: Chicago's future biggest theatre troupe.
I apologize for not having posted a new entry in two weeks, what with the Persuasive writing essay I had to take to get to Senior year and the Woody Allen project for Film class. Anyway, after coming to the new and Improved Chicago Historical society, I saw a brief feature on Chicago's biggest theatre troupes: The Lookingglass, Goodman, and Steppenwolf theatre troupes. From this exhibit came an idea for a theatre troupe based in Chicago which covers many different styles, ranging from Theatre of the Absurd to Greek Tragedy to Elizabethan theatre. Plays I would plan to make for the first season: Aeschylus' The Persians, which is the earliest play known to exist today, Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, which was said to be the first play to have been performed in the Americas, Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin, which everybody knows about as the play that Abe Lincoln was watching when he was killed, but very few people have ever seen or read in any form, Beckett's Waiting For Godot, which is a classic of Theatre of the Absurd, and a double feature of Edward Albee's Zoo Story and my
play Wot??!!&,:;%${}, which I wrote about in Issue 30 this February. There will be (or at least, I intend for there to be) other seasons of the theatre, but the plays I would put out for them remain to be seen.

Band NAme of the Day: Bible-God. A term I found used on the page I will link to today.

Film IDea of the Day: Filmed/Taped/DVD'd versions of the plays I would put on for the aforementioned theatre.

Film Review of the Day: Teahouse of the August Moon. I recently saw this film about life on post-war Okinawa and its effect on an American Soldier sent to build schools, and turns native (in a much more civilized way than one would expect). Curiously, Marlon Brando manages to do a dead-on Gedde Watanabe impression in his role even before Gedde Watanabe was even born.

Quote of the Day :"By the Power of Mencia! I don't have to wear pants anymore!"
____________The King of Mexico after turning into a giant worm, Drawn Together.

Link of the Day: A Deistic page about the religion (or lack thereof) of the Founding Fathers.

Issue 57

News: Ted "The Elephant Pastor" Haggard in sex scandal.
The pastor of New Life Church and inspiree of my forthcoming play about the anti-semitism in the USAF academy, Ted Haggard, aka The Elephant Pastor, for reasons which should be obvious by anybody who looks at him, has been outed by a man named Mike Jones who claims that over the last three years, they had been having a once-monthly affair, sometimes while taking Crystal Meth. It should be noted that Haggard is a vocal opponent of Same-Sex marriage and Homosexuality in general, as a man who has been known to speak with pResident Bush for an hour every monday. So far, he has admitted to purchasing the Crystal Meth, as supported by a voicemail which shows him calling for some meth, although he still denies using it, as if there was anything but using it as a recreational drug that it was used for. He stepped down from his post as head of the New Life Church and National Association of Evangelicals, which has several million members, on Thursday and was fired just yesterday from the church, which claimed to have proved beyond a doubt that he had broken the by-laws of the church and had to leave the church. Seeing what has happened to many previous evangelists in the past, all I can say is that he'll be back. It'll most likely be on a smaller scale than before, but he'll be back.

Band Name of the Day: Jagshemash!. It is a greeting that Borat uses frequently in his new movie, which is reviewed below.

Film Review of the Day: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazahkstan. Until recently, I wasn't much of a fan of Sascha Baron Cohen or his characters. But then I saw him on Saturday Night Live last week and when I saw how much he was creeping out my mother, I just knew I had to see the movie. In the movie itself, Kazahkstani television personality Borat and his producer Azamat are sent to America to film a documentary in New York, but then he sees Pamela Anderson on TV and when his wife dies (she was eaten by a Bear), so Borat decides to Pursue and marry her. When Azamat discovers his true plans, they have a naked fight across the hotel they're in, and so he leaves, leaving Borat to Hitchhike and he is picked up by college frat boys who show Borat that Pamela isn't a virgin, and he gets depressed, but is picked up again when he attends a Pentecostal revival meeting and reunites with Azamat, and then they managed to catch up with her, but she escapes their advances. Borat then marries a prostitute he met earlier in the movie.

Film Idea: In keeping with the News story for today, here is a plan for the ending of my "Christ-Killers" play about Ted Haggard's recent scandal involving the USAF academy: He is caught in the act of Gay sex and the pastor loses his church, while the reporter gains nationwide clout.

Quote of the Day: We don't have to debate about what we should think about homosexual activity, it's written in the Bible.
__________Ted Haggard

Link of the Day: Borat's official homepage.

Tract Reviews: The Unwelcome Guest- A church deacon is drawn into the world of the freemasons, and after a year, his wife is distressed at the fact that he seems to love her less, and the pastor Saves him, as per usual in the tracts, and claims that Masonry is a Satanic cult.

Who Loves You- Who Loves ya, baby? it's the Black version of the tract "A Love story", which is not even close to related to the sappy 1970 film of the same name.