Issue 127
News: Didactic Cloudcuckoolanderism, or CAPAlert II: Electric Boogaloo.
In December, I mentioned and criticized CAPalert in one entry. Recently, I decided to email them about one of their articles, which stated that basically, because movies often tend to not reflect daily life of many people in the most extreme cases, (taking several examples from Natural Born Killers), but, as one may have guessed, Fundies tend to not cotton to differing opinions. When I made my point that just because things don't happen often in one's daily life, this doesn't mean that it's not representative of the real world, the person answering my email frequently brought up Spiderman. Of course, just because one never got bitten by a radioactive spider and gained superpowers, never means that one never went through many of the same things that Peter Parker went through. Of course, after reading their reply to a section where I paraphrased Robert McKee's speech in Adaptation in response to Charlie Kaufman's claim that "nothing happens in real life", I suddenly realized something; Somewhere, a point was missed entirely, perhaps it was when they said movies are not representative of the real world, or perhaps when I said that art does often reflect real life, or maybe when it became clear that their focus was not on what was, but on what should be, which are two entirely different concepts to me, but apparently not to CAPalert. Sure, kids shouldn't see American Psycho until they're old enough to see that Patrick Bateman is not in any way a role model, but maybe the films themselves should not be criticized solely on moral grounds, but maybe what should be criticized are parents who allow young children to watch these movies, and any non-children who assume that characters in films should be good role models to children, whether or not children are intended to see said movie. I'm not replying to them via email, because, as I said, Fundies don't cotton to differing opinions, and accordingly, they appear to have blocked my email address. The Moral of the Story: Never debate with fundamentalists, because it's not worth it. Oh, well. If you want to keep taking the blue pill and join John Gardner, feel free to do so while I take my red.
Band Name of the Day: Chicken Corn Whores. Apparently from a sight my family witnessed at a farm in Door County earlier in the summer.
Film Idea of the Day: A study of the antecedents and the aftermath of the public suicide of a Nazi War criminal.
Film Review of the Day: Brideshead Revisited. I recently saw the movie, and while I had not read the book, I did enjoy the movie, although I'm sure much of the reason I enjoyed it was because of the fact that I had not read the book, since the movie was apparently gleamed of much of the subplots in order to fit into a 100-minute film. Of course, even with the questionable ending, I would give the film thumbs up.
Quote of the Day: " Every poem, it is said, should inculcate a moral; and by this moral is the poetical merit of the work to be adjudged. We Americans especially have patronized this happy idea; and we Bostonians, very especially, have developed it in full. We have taken it into our heads that to write a poem simply for the poem's sake, and to acknowledge such to have been our design, would be to confess ourselves radically wanting in the true Poetic dignity and force:--but the simple fact is, that, would we permit ourselves to look into our own souls, we should immediately there discover that under the sun there exists nor can exist any work more thoroughly dignified--more supremely noble than this very poem--this poem per se--this poem which is a poem and nothing more--this poem written solely for the poem's sake."
_______________Edgar Allen Poe.
Link of the Day: Garfield Without Garfield: A webcomic.
In December, I mentioned and criticized CAPalert in one entry. Recently, I decided to email them about one of their articles, which stated that basically, because movies often tend to not reflect daily life of many people in the most extreme cases, (taking several examples from Natural Born Killers), but, as one may have guessed, Fundies tend to not cotton to differing opinions. When I made my point that just because things don't happen often in one's daily life, this doesn't mean that it's not representative of the real world, the person answering my email frequently brought up Spiderman. Of course, just because one never got bitten by a radioactive spider and gained superpowers, never means that one never went through many of the same things that Peter Parker went through. Of course, after reading their reply to a section where I paraphrased Robert McKee's speech in Adaptation in response to Charlie Kaufman's claim that "nothing happens in real life", I suddenly realized something; Somewhere, a point was missed entirely, perhaps it was when they said movies are not representative of the real world, or perhaps when I said that art does often reflect real life, or maybe when it became clear that their focus was not on what was, but on what should be, which are two entirely different concepts to me, but apparently not to CAPalert. Sure, kids shouldn't see American Psycho until they're old enough to see that Patrick Bateman is not in any way a role model, but maybe the films themselves should not be criticized solely on moral grounds, but maybe what should be criticized are parents who allow young children to watch these movies, and any non-children who assume that characters in films should be good role models to children, whether or not children are intended to see said movie. I'm not replying to them via email, because, as I said, Fundies don't cotton to differing opinions, and accordingly, they appear to have blocked my email address. The Moral of the Story: Never debate with fundamentalists, because it's not worth it. Oh, well. If you want to keep taking the blue pill and join John Gardner, feel free to do so while I take my red.
Band Name of the Day: Chicken Corn Whores. Apparently from a sight my family witnessed at a farm in Door County earlier in the summer.
Film Idea of the Day: A study of the antecedents and the aftermath of the public suicide of a Nazi War criminal.
Film Review of the Day: Brideshead Revisited. I recently saw the movie, and while I had not read the book, I did enjoy the movie, although I'm sure much of the reason I enjoyed it was because of the fact that I had not read the book, since the movie was apparently gleamed of much of the subplots in order to fit into a 100-minute film. Of course, even with the questionable ending, I would give the film thumbs up.
Quote of the Day: " Every poem, it is said, should inculcate a moral; and by this moral is the poetical merit of the work to be adjudged. We Americans especially have patronized this happy idea; and we Bostonians, very especially, have developed it in full. We have taken it into our heads that to write a poem simply for the poem's sake, and to acknowledge such to have been our design, would be to confess ourselves radically wanting in the true Poetic dignity and force:--but the simple fact is, that, would we permit ourselves to look into our own souls, we should immediately there discover that under the sun there exists nor can exist any work more thoroughly dignified--more supremely noble than this very poem--this poem per se--this poem which is a poem and nothing more--this poem written solely for the poem's sake."
_______________Edgar Allen Poe.
Link of the Day: Garfield Without Garfield: A webcomic.
Labels: Movies
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