Good stuff

True to his name, Cultural Offering offers us culture: 18th century Austrian culture, to be exact, in the form of Mozart. Beautiful.

Camp

2012, the new disaster flick from Roland Emmerich, who has a thing for destroying the world, is unintentionally hilarious, says Kyle Smith. The premise of the film, as I gather, is that the world ends just when the Mayan calendar said it would (see movie title). But many are arguing that the Mayan calendar never actually said that the world will end in 2012; it’s all a misinterpretation. Meanwhile, many more just don’t care what the Mayan calendar says, end-of-the-world interpretation or not. What I do find interesting, though, is that the President in the film is played by Hugo Chavez admirer Danny Glover. Coincidence, or Emmerich’s inspired choice?

Where in the world…?

Apologies for (yet another) recent lack of posts. I picked up a cold somewhere and have spent the past several days getting intimate with bottled water and sore throat lozenges. During my convalescence I’ve been kept company by Alan Furst’s latest book, The Spies of Warsaw, which, a third of the way in thus far, is quite good. I am much better now.

I made an interesting discovery: The song that you hear just before getting sick is the song that plays in a loop, over and over again,  in your head as you lie in the throes of feverish pain. For me this time it was something by a band called the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I’d complain, but the previous time I got sick the song that stuck was – I am not making this up – ”Sweet Dreams” by Marilyn Manson. (I was exposed to that song from a movie trailer I saw just before falling ill.) As you’ve probably guessed, the dreams were not sweet.

Another view

Joanna Krupa — bikini model, “Dancing with the Stars” participant, and very smart person — defending Playboy from its detractors:

“I think [feminists] suffer from lack of knowledge and tunnel vision. How many of those self-important, so-called ‘feminists’ have been on the set when a celebrity shot a Playboy spread? There you go. What is feminist about discriminating a photo shoot just because it involves female (partial) nudity that happens to give men pleasure? Pathetic,” Krupa told Tarts in an exclusive interview.

I know that there are manifold arguments to be made about how Hef’s enterprise contributed to, if not kickstarted, the deterioration of the moral and social fabric of the culture. Some of them I buy, others not so much. Instead, I’m more upset at the fact that the parents of the Baby Boom generation didn’t know how to articulate their values to their children, which could have avoided some if not most of the damage done by the Playboy free-wheeling, life’s-a-party philosophy.

That said, Ms. Krupa makes some good points, namely: 1)Many feminists hate it when women make men happy; 2)An actress can do an explicit, full-frontal-nudity sex scene for the sake of “art” and receive praise, yet be stigmatized for posing for a much-less-risque Playboy pictorial; and 3)Most of those artistic sex scenes aren’t even close to being artistic anyway. (But you already knew that last one.)

“Knight on a shining bicycle”*

Why European politics is interesting:

LONDON (Reuters Life!) – London Mayor Boris Johnson rescued a woman attacked by a group of girls wielding a metal bar after answering her plea for help during an evening bicycle ride, a spokeswoman for his office said Wednesday.

 

*Alas, I do not refer here to Ted Knight.

Again

We’re on a roll now: The latest addition of selective religion bashing comes from Roland Emmerich, the director of 2012:

The filmmaker is well known for decimating famed landmarks on movies including The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day. He stated that while he decided to destroy the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro because he is “against organised religion”, he was fearful of the Islamic religious decree for a sequence that was planned but not shot.

 

[HT: Big Hollywood]

Tolerance

While we wait for those new Muhammad films: Ian McKellen rips out pages of the Bible.

 

[HT: Big Hollywood]

Fitna it’s not

The Guardian is reporting that a producer of The Matrix is planning a film on the life of Muhammad:

Budgeted at around $150m (£91.5m), the film will chart Muhammad’s life and examine his teachings. [Producer Barrie] Osborne told Reuters that he envisages it as “an international epic production aimed at bridging cultures. The film will educate people about the true meaning of Islam“.

It sounds like a great idea. Except, of course, for the fact that it’s considered an insult by Muslims to show an image of the prophet Muhammad, as some folks in Denmark know. The film’s producers, none of whom are named Geert Wilders, have agreed that, “In accordance with Islamic law, the prophet will not actually be depicted on screen.” This is the second Muhammad-themed film being made: A remake of The Message is in the works as well.

[HT: Drudge]

Get Cameron

Sir Michael Caine, one of my favorite actors since childhood, has always seemed to have his feet in the real world while his fellow thespians live on Planet Rainbow. One sign of his real-worldism: He’s looking toward the Tories in the next parliamentary election:

“I’ll probably vote Conservative. I mean, we’re in a terrible state whichever way you look at it, socially, financially and politically, so just give the other guy a chance.

I’m not so enthusiastic about his belief in educating criminals (“troublemakers,” he calls them) instead of sending them to prison, but you can’t have everything.

 

[HT: Hilary]

Homo Patheticus

Are we the most pathetic men in history? Kyle Smith says there’s a very good chance of that:

Twenty thousand years is a long time, but the Aboriginal men were essentially the same species as today’s homo sapiens. Calculations indicate that one of them, “T8” — sounds like an action hero right there; Vin Diesel’s XXX wouldn’t stand a chance — reached 23 miles per hour while chasing prey. OK, Usain Bolt hits about 26 miles per hour on the 100-meter sprint — but T8 was just a random dude out of a population of 150,000, and he was running barefoot in a muddy lake edge. Give the guy a pair of sneakers and a little training, and Usain would be lucky to get a job as a middle-school gym teacher.

Even over shorter time periods, things look bleak. In the Victorian age, bridge builders spent all day working with 40-pound sledgehammers. Their counterparts today wield toothpick-sized 14-pounders. In the same era, young lads who worked as runners for British glassworks regularly ran 13 to 17 miles a day. They didn’t need some cocktail-party credential like “Oh, did I mention? I ran the Marathon” to prove their mettle.

The Green Zone

Damon. Greengrass. War on terror.

You know where this one’s going:

Sting, philosopher

Here’s an interview with the musician Sting, who opines on Obama (“exactly who we need in the world”), Obama’s opponents (“aggressive and violent and full of fear”), and life:

“My hope is that we can start talking about real issues and not caring about whether God cares about your hemline or your color,” he said. “We are here to evolve as one family, and we can’t be separate anymore.”

It’s hard to write a snide comment about Sting when you have no idea what the hell Sting is talking about.

 

[HT: Drudge]

Artistic courage

Well, this is pleasant:

Comedian Larry David is under attack from critics who say he pushed the mocking of religion and Christian belief in miracles over the edge in the latest episode of his HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which the cable network defended as “playful.” 

On the show’s most recent installment, which aired Sunday, David urinates on a painting of Jesus Christ, causing a woman to believe the painting depicts Jesus crying.

I look forward to the next episode where David flushes the Koran down the toilet.

 

[HT: Big Hollywood]

Big Dog

I don’t know which it is more of: an impressive feat or the stuff of nightmares.

Tossing and turning

Have trouble sleeping? The Guardian’s Charlie Brooker on insomnia, and some possible cures for it:

The insomniac brain comes in various flavours; different personality types you’re forced to share your skull with for several hours. It’s like being trapped in a lift with someone who won’t shut up. Sometimes your companion is a peppy irritant who passes the time by humming half- remembered TV theme tunes until 7am. Other times it’s a morose critic who has recently compiled a 1,500-page report on your innumerable failings and wants to run over it with you a few times before going to print. Worst of all is the hyper-aware sportscaster who offers an uninterrupted commentary describing which bits of your body are currently the least comfortable. No matter where you put that leg, he won’t be satisfied. And he’s convinced you’ve got one arm too many.

The not-so-funny pages

What is it with all these comic strips pushing volunteer work? I’m not the only one who’s asked the question (or gotten annoyed at the Left-leaning propaganda).

Amazing

I want to interrogate you like an animal

WASHINGTON – A coalition of mega-bands and singers outraged that music — including theirs — was cranked up to help break uncooperative detainees at Guantanamo Bay is joining retired military officers and liberal activists to rally support for President Barack Obama’s push to shutter the Navy-run prison for terrorist suspects in Cuba.

Pearl Jam, R.E.M., and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails are among the musicians who have joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, which launched Tuesday.

Read the whole thing here.

Two things. First, naming your band Nine Inch Nails and then writing songs that sound like they come from a band called Nine Inch Nails pretty much guarantees that your music will find a niche market in enhanced interrogation techniques.

Second, these guys are angry that their music, and the music of their colleagues, led to the release of valuable information that likely prevented attacks which could have killed thousands of American civilians? Who says modern music has no value?

Gratitude

But I thought Hollywood has the best moral compass

Inspiring story of how the actor known as Mexico’s Brad Pitt came to shun the Hollywood lifestyle and devote his life to God:

Flying between Miami and Los Angeles one day, Verastegui encountered a casting director from 20th Century Fox who invited him to audition for Chasing Papi. “I told him I barely spoke English” Verastegui recalls, “but he asked if I could memorise five pages of script and promised me a language coach should I get the part.”

The coach, a committed Catholic, prompted by dint of gentle grilling, Verastegui’s reversion to the practice of his Catholic faith. “She used a Socratic method, just asking me questions: why had I wanted to become an actor in the first place? What did I think the true meaning of life? Was I really making the best use of my God-given talents.” Initially, Verastegui resisted. The crunch moment came when the coach asked if he believed his body “was a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

 

[HT: Big Hollywood]