The Blog Has Risen!
The Pope
On Good Friday, according to the Times, London, earlier this week: “…[T]he Pope will say that society is in the grip of a kind of ‘anti-Genesis’ described as ‘a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family’. He will pray for society to be cleansed of the ‘filth’ that surrounds it and be restored to purity, freed from ‘decadent narcissism’.”
And afterwards - cake and coffee in the narthex! Decadent narcissists welcome.
On Easter, the Pope said:
"If we live in this way, we transform the world. It is a formula contrary to all ideologies of violence, it is a program opposed to corruption and the desire for power and possession."
Once we get those diabolically proud family elimintaors out of the narthex.
What did the Archbishop of Canterbury have to say on Good Friday?
“[I]it was no huge surprise to see a fair bit of coverage given a couple of weeks ago to the discovery of a GOSPEL OF JUDAS which was (naturally) going to shake the foundations of traditional belief by giving an alternative version of the story of the passion and resurrection.
“Never mind that this is a demonstrably late text which simply parallels a large number of quite well-known works from the more eccentric fringes of the early century Church; this is a scoop, the real, 'now it can be told' version of the origins of Christian faith.
“You'll recognise the style, of course, from the saturation coverage of the Da Vinci Code literature.
“We are instantly fascinated by the suggestion of conspiracies and cover-ups; this has become so much the stuff of our imagination these days that it is only natural, it seems, to expect it when we turn to ancient texts, especially biblical texts.
“We treat them as if they were unconvincing press releases from some official source, whose intention is to conceal the real story; and that real story waits for the intrepid investigator to uncover it and share it with the waiting world.”
All this over a few scraps of heresy written a few thousand years ago.
And Father O’Connel told the Catholic News Service:
'To give Judas greater credit," the Jesuit said, the gnostics "portray Jesus giving him secret knowledge.”
“It was a nice try," he said, adding that there is no evidence to support the claim.
"It was junk then and it is junk now," he said.
And there was this guy.
From the Associated Press: "’Christ is still sold, but not any more for 30 coins,’ the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa said in his Good Friday homily before Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Basilica, referring to Jesus' betrayal by the Apostle Judas before his crucifixion, ‘but to publishers and booksellers for billions of coins’.”
But I think he was talking about SOUTH PARK. Or maybe THE DA VINCI CODE.
And what did Jenny Shimizu have to say?
News of the World: A STUNNING model who seduced Angelina Jolie into her first lesbian fling last night predicted Brad Pitt will NEVER satisfy the Hollywood sex goddess. In an exclusive and astonishingly explicit interview with the News of the World, Calvin Klein beauty Jenny Shimizu told us: ‘Angelina is an unbelievable lesbian lover.’
I always had trouble believing Angelina as a lesbian lover myself.
Volunteers!
From Reuters: Some 200 Iranians have volunteered in the past few days to carry out ‘martyrdom missions’ against U.S. and British interests if Iran is attacked over its nuclear program, a hardline group said on Sunday.
Apparently, to join this volunteer group you have to sign your name, pledge to defend the Islamic Republic’s Interests,and sign a document called the "Registration form for martyrdom-seeking operations.'
So Iran has a bureaucracy in charge of monitoring its suicide bombers? I don't think we need-- to worry about their getting The Bomb any time soon.
The Quotation key on my key pad just stopped working!
No more ‘scare quotes’ for a while. Just ‘half’ scare quotes.
Newsday
"The boos that met Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday as he tossed out the first ball for the Washington Nationals' home opener against the New York Mets may reflect a greater discontent with his off-diamond performance than his pitching form. Cheney walked onto the field flanked by three veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the soldiers' support failed to lift Cheney's ratings - or his pitch - which was more a grounder than a fastball.”
From the video and photos of the event, it appeared that our veep was wearing a bullet-proof vest under his windbreaker, which may have hampered his normally lightning-fast pitch.
Kong
We rented the Peter Jackson KING KONG remake this weekend, and I must say I didn’t care for it. The actors were good – especially Naomi Watts, and Andy Serkis, who modeled Kong. But after a series of totally gratuitous backstories, the movie doesn’t even make it to Skull Island for an hour or so. Then, to avoid racism, the natives of Skull Island are no longer black, but some kind of ragtag bunch of bloodthirsty hippies. When Ms. Watts is taken by Kong, and her rescuers pursue, they encounter an environment that’s like Jurassic Park on steroids AND hallucinogens. At one point Kong does battle with not one but THREE T. Rexes. It became a bit wearying, though I did like the fanged penis things in the swamp that ate a guy’s head. That was cool!
And when they finally get to New York, and Kong meets his doom, it’s so much sadder than the original. It’s not beauty that virtually kills the beast in this version, it’s Jack Black, as the maker of the movie inside the movie (that never gets made). So when Kong dies, it’s just as sad as the original death, but there are creepier elements made more explicit.
The exploitation of a beast for profit.
The sadism of watching him get killed, slowly, by faceless men in airplanes.
The idea that millions of dollars were spent just to make you believe in the vitality and personality of this creature, just so you can machine-gun him to death.
I don’t believe Peter Jackson is a cynical man, but movie comes across as cynical, unnecessary, bloated, and long.
Now, time to do my taxes!
On Good Friday, according to the Times, London, earlier this week: “…[T]he Pope will say that society is in the grip of a kind of ‘anti-Genesis’ described as ‘a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family’. He will pray for society to be cleansed of the ‘filth’ that surrounds it and be restored to purity, freed from ‘decadent narcissism’.”
And afterwards - cake and coffee in the narthex! Decadent narcissists welcome.
On Easter, the Pope said:
"If we live in this way, we transform the world. It is a formula contrary to all ideologies of violence, it is a program opposed to corruption and the desire for power and possession."
Once we get those diabolically proud family elimintaors out of the narthex.
What did the Archbishop of Canterbury have to say on Good Friday?
“[I]it was no huge surprise to see a fair bit of coverage given a couple of weeks ago to the discovery of a GOSPEL OF JUDAS which was (naturally) going to shake the foundations of traditional belief by giving an alternative version of the story of the passion and resurrection.
“Never mind that this is a demonstrably late text which simply parallels a large number of quite well-known works from the more eccentric fringes of the early century Church; this is a scoop, the real, 'now it can be told' version of the origins of Christian faith.
“You'll recognise the style, of course, from the saturation coverage of the Da Vinci Code literature.
“We are instantly fascinated by the suggestion of conspiracies and cover-ups; this has become so much the stuff of our imagination these days that it is only natural, it seems, to expect it when we turn to ancient texts, especially biblical texts.
“We treat them as if they were unconvincing press releases from some official source, whose intention is to conceal the real story; and that real story waits for the intrepid investigator to uncover it and share it with the waiting world.”
All this over a few scraps of heresy written a few thousand years ago.
And Father O’Connel told the Catholic News Service:
'To give Judas greater credit," the Jesuit said, the gnostics "portray Jesus giving him secret knowledge.”
“It was a nice try," he said, adding that there is no evidence to support the claim.
"It was junk then and it is junk now," he said.
And there was this guy.
From the Associated Press: "’Christ is still sold, but not any more for 30 coins,’ the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa said in his Good Friday homily before Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Basilica, referring to Jesus' betrayal by the Apostle Judas before his crucifixion, ‘but to publishers and booksellers for billions of coins’.”
But I think he was talking about SOUTH PARK. Or maybe THE DA VINCI CODE.
And what did Jenny Shimizu have to say?
News of the World: A STUNNING model who seduced Angelina Jolie into her first lesbian fling last night predicted Brad Pitt will NEVER satisfy the Hollywood sex goddess. In an exclusive and astonishingly explicit interview with the News of the World, Calvin Klein beauty Jenny Shimizu told us: ‘Angelina is an unbelievable lesbian lover.’
I always had trouble believing Angelina as a lesbian lover myself.
Volunteers!
From Reuters: Some 200 Iranians have volunteered in the past few days to carry out ‘martyrdom missions’ against U.S. and British interests if Iran is attacked over its nuclear program, a hardline group said on Sunday.
Apparently, to join this volunteer group you have to sign your name, pledge to defend the Islamic Republic’s Interests,and sign a document called the "Registration form for martyrdom-seeking operations.'
So Iran has a bureaucracy in charge of monitoring its suicide bombers? I don't think we need-- to worry about their getting The Bomb any time soon.
The Quotation key on my key pad just stopped working!
No more ‘scare quotes’ for a while. Just ‘half’ scare quotes.
Newsday
"The boos that met Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday as he tossed out the first ball for the Washington Nationals' home opener against the New York Mets may reflect a greater discontent with his off-diamond performance than his pitching form. Cheney walked onto the field flanked by three veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the soldiers' support failed to lift Cheney's ratings - or his pitch - which was more a grounder than a fastball.”
From the video and photos of the event, it appeared that our veep was wearing a bullet-proof vest under his windbreaker, which may have hampered his normally lightning-fast pitch.
Kong
We rented the Peter Jackson KING KONG remake this weekend, and I must say I didn’t care for it. The actors were good – especially Naomi Watts, and Andy Serkis, who modeled Kong. But after a series of totally gratuitous backstories, the movie doesn’t even make it to Skull Island for an hour or so. Then, to avoid racism, the natives of Skull Island are no longer black, but some kind of ragtag bunch of bloodthirsty hippies. When Ms. Watts is taken by Kong, and her rescuers pursue, they encounter an environment that’s like Jurassic Park on steroids AND hallucinogens. At one point Kong does battle with not one but THREE T. Rexes. It became a bit wearying, though I did like the fanged penis things in the swamp that ate a guy’s head. That was cool!
And when they finally get to New York, and Kong meets his doom, it’s so much sadder than the original. It’s not beauty that virtually kills the beast in this version, it’s Jack Black, as the maker of the movie inside the movie (that never gets made). So when Kong dies, it’s just as sad as the original death, but there are creepier elements made more explicit.
The exploitation of a beast for profit.
The sadism of watching him get killed, slowly, by faceless men in airplanes.
The idea that millions of dollars were spent just to make you believe in the vitality and personality of this creature, just so you can machine-gun him to death.
I don’t believe Peter Jackson is a cynical man, but movie comes across as cynical, unnecessary, bloated, and long.
Now, time to do my taxes!
posted by Merle Kessler at 2:57 PM
1 Comments:
Of course, it's hard to rebut Secret Knowledge. If one knew enough to do that, it probably wouldn't be SECRET. And if you're part of Authority, there's always the possibility that you're just keeping it from the masses :-)
-D.E.
wondering if Judas was authorized to leak his Secret Knowledge
Post a Comment
<< Home