Issue 147

News: Proposition 8 Passes.
Just a few days ago, California's courts passed a controversial measure to put into the constitution a message which banned same-sex marriage. Of course, there are a few states where this is legal, but I have to ask: Why shouldn't gay people have the right to marry each other? Would having 2 men or 2 women marrying each other be more of an insult to a "sacred institution" such as marriage than the existence of Las Vegas-style quickie marriages and divorces that made Britney Spears' first marriage particularly notable? Or that somebody like myself can actually be licensed to perform marriages in this state? How will gay marriage affect your life in such a negative way that you feel that you have a duty to oppose it? Is the issue of whether homosexuals really should have the same exact rights as heterosexuals really such a big issue that you need to legislate your prejudices for all? If gay rights is really the proverbial "hill to die on" for the Christian right, I hope that they have written their last words already. At the very least, I would be very reasonable to assume that their grandchildren would end up looking upon their grandparents' generation who fought against gay rights, and would dismiss them in very much the same way that today's generation dismisses those who fought against Civil Rights. All I can say is that, despite this setback, it is likely only a matter of time until same-sex marriage becomes legal nation-wide, in the same way that gay sex itself became legalised nationwide in 2003.

Band Name of the Day: The Legion of Excited Prostitutes. From Cryptonomicon.

Film IDea of the Day: Young Americans. I can imagine this as a series similar to Little Britain, except with a larger cast, and many even more strange characters who aren't just exported from the british version of the show, including a rock star whose drug use has rendered him incoherent when he's not singing, a noir novelist whose plots frequently get totally derailed, a Gulf war vet who seems to pop up everywhere, and two teenaged boys, one of whom is uptight, and the other is hell-bent on having sex with any female regardless of age, body temperature, or species.

Review of the Day: Draughtsman's Contract. All that needs to be said is that, it seems not so much like a movie that takes place in the 1600s, as a film that would have been made if people in 1600s Britain could make movies (much less in full color and sound.) The only real thing that detracts from the illusion is the score, with its anachronistic saxophone section, as good as it is, of course.

Quote of the Day: "His name was Finnish, but he was British as only a non British Anglophile could be."
______Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon. This book, so far, seems to be as filled with lots of funny lines like this, as it does with really cryptic information you'll be hard-pressed to understand unless you've gotten far enough in life to become a qualified computer programmer.

Link of the Day: The personal site of yet another freethinker, less funny and more scholarly than Jim Huger.

Issue 146

News: Dinosaur Tissue does not mean a young earth.
Well, so I haven't been making good on my promise to post more regularly. Some of the things that have been occupying me are the addition of several new projects coming my way in school, including my final essays in English and my Honors Seminar, and hopefully I should get them finished. Another thing that has been sidetracking me is a debate that has been going on in one of my forums (not Newspeak), where I have been debating two creationists who claim that recent discoveries of dinosaur tissue prove that dinosaurs co-existed with man, and that, therefore, the earth is young. Here is my summary of the problems with this reasoning, as given by talk.origins: For instance, the age of fossils is not given by how well-preserved they are, but by radiometric dating (which of course, is rejected by creationists), and it is the radiometric dating that confirmed the age of the bones, among many other methods. Indeed, if the fossils are as young as the creationists assume they are, why would this be news which they can use to trumpet their worldview? If they were, wouldn't we be be able to recover DNA from dinosaurs by now? Besides, we weren't even able to recover DNA from them. Indeed, for that matter, even if it could prove that Dinosaurs co-existed with man, and there is no evidence whatsoever for that conclusion, that would not have proven that the earth is young. The theory of evolution does not demand that organisms change over millions of years, and in an unchanging environment, they wouldn't. Hopefully, after classes are done next week, or probably after my Chemistry interim class, updates may become more frequent.

Band Name of the Day: DinoBlood from the title of the thread.

Film Idea of the Day: None.

Film Review of the Day: The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover. This movie, while certainly disgusting at many moments, enough so to making me proud to be prefer casual dining restaurants to the sort of opulent restaurants seen in the film, certainly treats its subject matter in such an amazing manner (especially in its cinematography and music) that I must say that I believe that everybody over 18 should see it at least once, with the key words being "Over 18" [non-negotiable, as the movie is currently rated NC-17, but I must admit that it is hardly as pornographic as the connotation of the rating implies], and, to a lesser extent "once" [I'm sure that for most viewers, once is more than enough.] The way that I'm interpreting this movie is not in the light of Thatcherism, although my general ignorance of Thatcher's government is probably to blame, but in a more generally cynical manner; Albert Spica, who seems to thrive on being anywhere from violent (ubiquitous throughout the film) or otherwise irritating to others (particularly when haranguing Michael for reading in the restaurant), is seen as a contrast with Michael, who seems to have very little interest in being around other people, outside of his lover Georgina and is likely the most sympathetic of the leads. Georgina and Richard are ultimately corrupted by their associations with Albert.

Quote of the Day: "And here's Marta, our subway sweetheart. Taking the A-Train to fashion. With her mustard socks and her ketchup sash. She is a real hot dog."
________Mr. T

Link of the Day: I am beginning to get interested in Baudelaire.