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The BSG Finale - Some thoughts
Mar. 26th, 2007 02:28 pmI enjoyed watching the episode while it was running, but I haven't really enjoyed thinking about it afterwards.
( Spoilers ahoy )
( Spoilers ahoy )
(no subject)
Feb. 13th, 2007 10:10 pmWeird. Just watched Veronica Mars - sort of - and they were speaking about this movie I had never heard of, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
A while later I turn to HBO, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is on. It doesn't look very compelling. And indeed I soon turned it off.
In other weird matters, we had a bomb scare in my neighborhood today - the police blocked off from 80th - 81st and between Amsterdam Ave and West End to car and foot traffic. That is a major thoroughfare in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. AFAIK, it didn't come to anything, but, to the best of my recollection, I haven't been in one of those since I lived in Israel.
A while later I turn to HBO, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is on. It doesn't look very compelling. And indeed I soon turned it off.
In other weird matters, we had a bomb scare in my neighborhood today - the police blocked off from 80th - 81st and between Amsterdam Ave and West End to car and foot traffic. That is a major thoroughfare in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. AFAIK, it didn't come to anything, but, to the best of my recollection, I haven't been in one of those since I lived in Israel.
Prejudice is Bad, as if we didn't know!
Feb. 13th, 2007 06:52 pmSo, what was the point of BSG the other night? I can't see how the story fit into the overall arc. It just seemed like a stand alone episode with a really simplistic message - IOW, religious prejudice is bad.
Geez, I saw the same show on the Partridge family growing up - religious prejudice is bad. Then, of course, it was Jews, not Saggitarians, but the point remains...
The storyline really seemed off the show's more typical sophistication.
Nothing to puzzle out; nothing to discuss.
Geez, I saw the same show on the Partridge family growing up - religious prejudice is bad. Then, of course, it was Jews, not Saggitarians, but the point remains...
The storyline really seemed off the show's more typical sophistication.
Nothing to puzzle out; nothing to discuss.
Want to write about BSG and philosophy? Here is your chance:
Abstracts and subsequent essays should be philosophically substantial but accessible, written to engage the intelligent lay reader. Contributors of accepted essays will receive an honorarium.
Possible themes and topics might include, but are not limited to, the following: Rationalism vs. faith: Baltar and Adama vs. Six and Roslin; Hybrid-speak and the Scrolls of Pythia: Interpreting ambiguities of sense and reference; Are Cylons humans, persons, or none of the above?; Reincarnation, resurrection, or transmigration: How do Cylon souls get around?; "All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again": Eternal recurrence realized; "God has a plan for you, Kara": The precarious nature of Starbuck's freedom; Did Boomer really shoot Adama? Conscious acts, freedom, and moral responsibility; Leaving people behind: Utilitarian ethics and the appropriateness of cutting one's losses; "Join the New Caprica Police": Is collaboration ever the right move?; "People need something to hope for, let it be Earth": Adama's noble lie; Tigh's bottle, Lee's hooker, and Kat's stims: The vain quest for happiness; How many Cylons does it take to eradicate humanity? Collective moral responsibility among the seven models; Freedom vs. survival: Roslin's abortion policy and the black market; Tom Zarek's fight for democracy: But look who got elected president?; Humanity as a "flawed creation": Should we share the Cylon goal of "transhumanism"?; "Worthy of survival": Humanity's need for redemption through atonement; Cylon monotheism vs. Colonial polytheism: Which mode of theism is more rational?; Starbuck's a woman?! Gender identity and character templates
For Dorothy Dunnett Fans
Jan. 20th, 2007 01:10 amHey, I got Lymond! And I didn't even cheat to get it!
Which Lymond Character Are You?
Congratulations, you're Francis Crawford of Lymond, for a time the Master of Culter. You're the hero and the focal point of everything. You're the quintessential romantic hero: brooding, mysterious, witty, informed, gentle, sensitive and all the rest. You should, perhaps, consider doing the dishes once in a while and speak in your native tongue when possible. In other words, show off a bit less. It won't kill you.
Take this quiz!
Quizilla |
Join
| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code
Which Lymond Character Are You?
Congratulations, you're Francis Crawford of Lymond, for a time the Master of Culter. You're the hero and the focal point of everything. You're the quintessential romantic hero: brooding, mysterious, witty, informed, gentle, sensitive and all the rest. You should, perhaps, consider doing the dishes once in a while and speak in your native tongue when possible. In other words, show off a bit less. It won't kill you.
Take this quiz!
Quizilla |
Join
| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code
(no subject)
Jan. 4th, 2007 11:47 pm| Pan's Labyrinth |
 |
TATF has been down all day, which is frustrating. So after over a year of postlessness on LJ, I'm posting my review of Pan's Labyrinth here. Though it would help if I remembered how to do an LJ cut tag. Eek!
Ah, finally, there's the page with the code!
I saw Pan's Labyrinth over the holiday weekend; and unlike the vast majority of films these days, I'm still puzzling over the meaning days later. I've been unhappy with it the last few days because I felt the final scenes forced me into a perspective that I thought essentially negated the very story premise that I had watched during the course of the movie.
Last night I figured out the exegetical work around. And now, happily, I don't have to puzzle anymore; though there are plenty of other levels to work through this film including prominently the mythic, the psychological, and even the postmodern.
The last movie I saw, by the way, that took so much work to figure out was Hero. And like Hero, the exegetical solution to the film has to do with absence.
( Spoilers for Pan's Labyrinth below. )
(no subject)
Dec. 20th, 2005 12:34 amHelp stop the slaughter of wild horses in the West. Sign the petition.
Heh! Good for you after all!
Sep. 29th, 2005 12:48 pmCoffee not only helps clear the mind and perk up the energy, it also provides more healthful antioxidants than any other food or beverage in the American diet, according to a study released Sunday.Course this study is as likely to be proved as disproved sometime in the future. But at least in the meantime, there is one study telling us that coffee is good for you. Glad I just poured another cup.
Now I don't have to be resigned to green tea or peony leaf tea for antioxidants.
In February, a team of Japanese researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that people who drank coffee daily, or nearly every day, had half the liver cancer risk of those who never drank it. The protective effect occurred in people who drank one to two cups a day and increased at three to four cups.
Hangings in Iran
Aug. 2nd, 2005 08:58 amHere's a petition some of you may be interestined in signing and spreading around more widely, concerning the Iranian national policy of hanging gay teenagers.
As far as I understand the matter, these people are offered a choice between sex change operation, legal under Iranian religious law, or death.
This is a heinous matter which must be stopped.
[Hat tip: Normblog]
As far as I understand the matter, these people are offered a choice between sex change operation, legal under Iranian religious law, or death.
This is a heinous matter which must be stopped.
[Hat tip: Normblog]
(no subject)
Jul. 31st, 2005 08:35 pmSo, I've read the exciting tales of plosions – of the ex and im variety – throughout the HP verse.
But now for the real question.
So, can anyone recommend some really good HP fic?
( Read more... )
But now for the real question.
So, can anyone recommend some really good HP fic?
( Read more... )
(no subject)
Jul. 24th, 2005 03:28 pmThe Diameter of the Bomb
By Yehuda Amichai
The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimeters
and the diameter of its effective range about seven meters,
with four dead and eleven wounded.
And around these, in a larger circle
of pain and time, two hospitals are scattered
and one graveyard. But the young woman
who was buried in the city she came from,
at a distance of more than a hundred kilometers,
enlarges the circle considerably,
and the solitary man mourning her death
at the distant shores of a country far across the sea
includes the entire world of the circle.
And I won’t even mention the howl of orphans
that reaches up to the throne of God and
beyond, making
a circle with no end and no God.
By Yehuda Amichai
The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimeters
and the diameter of its effective range about seven meters,
with four dead and eleven wounded.
And around these, in a larger circle
of pain and time, two hospitals are scattered
and one graveyard. But the young woman
who was buried in the city she came from,
at a distance of more than a hundred kilometers,
enlarges the circle considerably,
and the solitary man mourning her death
at the distant shores of a country far across the sea
includes the entire world of the circle.
And I won’t even mention the howl of orphans
that reaches up to the throne of God and
beyond, making
a circle with no end and no God.
Women Worldwide
Jul. 13th, 2005 11:10 amTwo sickening stories about the plight of women in the world:
The ongoing fight against female genital mutilation on Africa. The good news is that incremental progress is being made. The sickening aspect is reading about the details of what is done by women to girls because of tradition based on ignorance and superstition and false intrepretations of the Koran.
And in Pakistan, a separated woman's feet are chopped off by her husband and in laws after they accused her of promiscuity. God knows what trivial infringement that means in central Pakistan, the same region that sentenced Mukhtaran Mai to gang rape. Just because they can apparently.
In a really backhanded kind of way I suppose that it counts as progress that so many of these stories are finally getting out to the West, seeing the light of day. In the past, I'm sure they were simply covered up – and there was no hope of stopping these traditions at all. So the fact that these stories are getting a public airing is actually hopeful – embarrassing the Musharraf regime represents the greatest hope for arresting these traditions.
The ongoing fight against female genital mutilation on Africa. The good news is that incremental progress is being made. The sickening aspect is reading about the details of what is done by women to girls because of tradition based on ignorance and superstition and false intrepretations of the Koran.
And in Pakistan, a separated woman's feet are chopped off by her husband and in laws after they accused her of promiscuity. God knows what trivial infringement that means in central Pakistan, the same region that sentenced Mukhtaran Mai to gang rape. Just because they can apparently.
In a really backhanded kind of way I suppose that it counts as progress that so many of these stories are finally getting out to the West, seeing the light of day. In the past, I'm sure they were simply covered up – and there was no hope of stopping these traditions at all. So the fact that these stories are getting a public airing is actually hopeful – embarrassing the Musharraf regime represents the greatest hope for arresting these traditions.
The Faceless Man
Jul. 12th, 2005 10:05 amCheck out my new icon from THE INSIDE. Isn't this a great image? Virgil "Web" Webster – the unknowable man, the faceless man, a perfect visual symbol of the character. There's absolutely nothing coincidental about that shot - the camera lingered over it for long moments. I'm quite sure they spent a long time arranging it so the umbrella was the perfect height.
Moreover, it reminds me very strongly of images of Magritte, though I know nothing about Magritte, so don't know yet what this visual confluence suggests. 
magritte
Originally uploaded by alcibiades.
magritte mnazna
Originally uploaded by alcibiades.
The last time I was this excited about the visual imagery in a TV show was when I watched Angel and did my analysis of its Escherian imagery, available here at TATF for anyone who wants to look at it. As for movies, Hero was amazing. And of course I have a post on it here.
In the last few episodes THE INSIDE has gotten great. I went from plenty of resistance to love really, really quickly. Which means, of course, that just now apparently is when Fox decided to axe it. Typical Fox broadcasting.
Still anyone out there even vaguely interested, or someone who gave up early becauase it didn't gel, should watch out for the next episode, episode 7. As all Jossverse watchers know, the 7th episode is always dramatic.
The Continuing Story
Jul. 11th, 2005 03:30 pmThe Times of London has a list of the dead and missing here.
Apparently the bombs were so powerful that hardly any identifications have yet been made.
( Read more... )
Catching Up To Bujold
Jul. 11th, 2005 01:36 pmPaper Says Edible Meat Can be Grown in a Lab on Industrial Scale
Read the entire gruesome thing...
Heh! Well at least Cordelia will be please.
Experiments for NASA space missions have shown that small amounts of edible meat can be created in a lab. But the technology that could grow chicken nuggets without the chicken, on a large scale, may not be just a science fiction fantasy.
In a paper in the June 29 issue of Tissue Engineering, a team of scientists, including University of Maryland doctoral student Jason Matheny, propose two new techniques of tissue engineering that may one day lead to affordable production of in vitro - lab grown -- meat for human consumption. It is the first peer-reviewed discussion of the prospects for industrial production of cultured meat.
"There would be a lot of benefits from cultured meat," says Matheny, who studies agricultural economics and public health. "For one thing, you could control the nutrients. For example, most meats are high in the fatty acid Omega 6, which can cause high cholesterol and other health problems. With in vitro meat, you could replace that with Omega 3, which is a healthy fat.
"Cultured meat could also reduce the pollution that results from raising livestock, and you wouldn't need the drugs that are used on animals raised for meat."
Read the entire gruesome thing...
Heh! Well at least Cordelia will be please.
