Issue 106

News: Capalert: The most insane movie Review site I've ever seen.
With MPAA Finally ******, and the last fantastic ratings criterion flung out of the tenament window, I decided to see if there was a more sane alternative to its rating system. One of the first ones I found was the site ChildCare Action Project (hereinafter referred to as CAPalert), and what I found on it shocked me. First gaining mainstream notoriety after Roger Ebert trashed it in a 2001 column, CAPalert is a fundamentalist Christian review site which reviews movies based on moral criteria and assigns it a rating based on the MPAA's ratings systems (excepting NC-17). The criteria upon which they judge the movies include (My words, not theirs): Violence (non-lethal and lethal in two separate categories), Sex (any remote sugestion of sexuality or homosexuality qualifies), Sacreliege (encompasses everything from atheism to acknowledging the idea of other non-Christian spiritual systems existing), Hate, and Drug use (encompassing everything from Tobacco to Smack). Some things on the site I agree with, for instance, that the MPAA system is flawed (for me it's that the MPAA seems to be more lenient with violence than with sex, although for them it means that it's too liberal) , and that the MPAA is rating movies which would have years ago been rated "R" are now rated "PG-13". Of course, I differ from them because I think it's a sign of change of cultural mores, which Fundamentalists see as a threat to them (indeed one Fundamentalist church has a slogan that says "An unchanging church for a changing world"), while I see it as perfectly normal. Back to CAPalert, one particular review which is in my head is that of the movie Matilda. Curiously, despite the fact that it is a children's movie, they took extreme issue with Trunchbull's and The Wormwoods' behavior towards other people (and at one point, when Matilda points out that her father is breaking the law, takes her father's side in the matter), Matilda's antagonism towards them, and her supernatural powers. Of Course, they didn't give it a score, but would most likely have given it an "R" rating, despite the fact that it is obviously a typical "Lite/Kid's PG" rating with some incidental things added to not recieve the "too kid-friendly" stigma of a "G" rating.

Band Name of the Day: Beware of the Bladder. Don't ask where this came from.

Film Idea of the Day: A childhood prodigy Pianist/Surgeon grows up and finds he has a desire to murder innocent people and tries to fight the urge to no avail. This is based on what may most likely be a true story.

Film Review of the Day: The Golden Compass. I originally was ambivalent about seeing it, since, after watching the first Lord of the Rings movie, I grew disillusioned with fantasy movies, but after reading an interview in the Trib with the author, I decided I had to see it. As it turns out, it's pretty good, enough so that I decided to get the entire trilogy, which I am currently reading. Watch it. You Will not be disappointed.

Quote: "Wanton Violence and Crime:
*Gothic Cartoon Scene of Evil"
_________Capalert, Natural Born Killers Review.

Link of the Day: The Aforementioned Capalert.

Issue 105

News: Dylan at Newport.
One major misconception about Bob Dylan concerns his performance at Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Many people believe that this show ended in disaster due to Bob Dylan's use of electric instruments. While his use of electric instruments caused great controversy in other concerts, this wasn't one of them. I heard this legend being disseminated in films like (reviewed below), and even in Scorsese's otherwise accurate documentary No Directon Home. I managed to get a copy of the performance before the video of the performance got released on DVD. The fact is that his set (while it lasted) was well recieved, despite the poor quality of the sound (which was most likely what was booed at at first). However, the booing truly began later, when he left after only a three-song set. Both of his previous sets were six songs each. The booing really got large when Peter Yarrow decided to introduce some other act, and justify Dylan's leaving. Of course, the audience was eventually placated when Dylan managed to get back on stage to do two songs with only his guitar and harmoninca. This would be one of the last times Dylan would be performing completely solo as was the norm in years before.

Band Name of the Day: None this week.

Film Idea of the Day: Jukebox Musical. This will be a stage musical based on a bizarre and random list of songs.

Film Review of the Day: I'm Not There. This movie is a biopic of Bob Dylan with a twist: there are several actors of different ages, races, and sexes playing Bob Dylan (just like in Todd Solondz's Palindromes). If you know Bob Dylan, you might like it, but odds are that anywhere else, you'd just be more confused with the changing settings and the changing main characters, and nonlinear plot.

Quote of the Day: "The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box. As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash."
__________Atticus Finch.

Link of the Day: 253: An online novel.

Issue 104

News: The Bible Literacy Project
There is a group bent on bringing the Bible back to schools in another form. The group is the Bible Literacy Project, whose new textbook for public schools is gaining a lot of controversy. The book, The Bible and its Influence, has been written for the Bible-studying electives in Public Schools. These electives are allowed only if they do not promote religion itself, but knowledge thereof. However, the textbook straddles the line between promoting Christianity, and being neutral. Although the textbook claims that the book was written with the help of scholars from many different religions, The Bible Literacy Project is helmed primarily by people active in the Religious Right, including their president, Chuck Stetson, a campaign donor to President Bush, and head to many organizations dedicated to knocking down the wall of Church and State. As you might have inferred, the book pays lip service to not openly advocating religion within its pages, but the glaring thing noticed is that while it is supposed to cover the influence of the Bible, which is the most influential book of all time, it does not mention misuses of the Bible in any of its 392 pages. Sure, there have been many positive things which have been facilitated through men whose arguments came from the Bible, but there have also been just as many bad things. One major example can be found in the Civil Rights struggles of the 50s and 60s. Martin Luther King Jr used metaphors from the Bible to justify Black freedom, but most if not all supporters of Segregation used the Bible to justify their injustice. Of course, there are more important things which need to be taught in schools. The Bible is not one of them, and if you want to learn about it, you can always go to your church or read it at home.

Band Names: The Dirt Gods. Watch this.

Film Ideas: A man walks into his 10-year high school reunion and feels he has to choose between his fiancee, the popular girl whom he lusted after in high school, and her neurotic Persona-obsessed best friend who lusts after him.

Film Review: The Last Temptation of Christ. This movie may actually be a somewhat accurate version of the events of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, including several redone versions of several of the classic naturalistic (not involving miracles) stories of the Gospels, despite denying that it is supposed to be an actual adaptation of the Gospels. Surpsisingly, the film has become less controversial in the past 2 decades in its "life."

Quote of the Day: " If the entire human species were a single individual, that person would long ago have been declared mad."
___________Jeffrey Kluger, "What Makes us Good?"
Better Yet, "If the entire human species were a single individual, his name would be Hannibal Lecter."
_______Me.

Link of the Day: Jodie Foster finally acknowledges her lesbian lover and the Apocalypse begins.