Posts by Preston

I think rather than a statement on religion I think the movie acknowledges broader themes of using fear to contol people. I don't consider "The Village" to be a movie that uses suspense to its advantage (its not a scary movie at all). However, (SPOILERS ahead) Once you get past the surprise of the movie, you see how the "Elders" removed themselves from the modern world of death, murder, rape, war, to create in their minds the perfect utopian society, and yet their whole plan backfires when what they have left is a population living in fear of ambiguous threats, marks on doors, and skinned livestock. The Elders used those fear tactics to limit human rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness, Noah's envy of Lucius results in greed, attempted murder, his eventual death, and other things as well. Young children die of sickness and lack of modern day necessities because the all-knowing Elders are too proud to risk their way of life.

Plus, as the Elders get a retrospective look at what their society has done (i.e. death, heighened fear) they fail to realize their planned utopia is hell on earth. The villagers continue to die, murder, and get sick.

If there is one main theme of the movie its the question of "Can we really escape the horrors of this world?" The answer is no. So maybe we should learn from the mistakes of modern society and put our efforts into contributing to the betterment of life here and now, Instead of escaping into a utopia where we deceive ourselves into thinking that everythings okie-dokie.

17

Will Mars Encounter be Catastrophic?

by Preston in

first of all, please forgive my absence in light of preparations for the wedding and such...i will try to be more regular with my meeting attendance (not that kind silly...!).

anywho, my roomate (a.k.a.

the self-proclaimed oracle of the household) and i were having a discussion the other day about mars coming as close to earth this month as it has in almost 60,000 years.

Preston

First of all, please forgive my absence in light of preparations for the wedding and such...I will try to be more regular with my meeting attendance (not that kind silly...!)

Anywho, My roomate (a.k.a. the self-proclaimed oracle of the household) and I were having a discussion the other day about Mars coming as close to Earth this month as it has in almost 60,000 years. The closest coming will be on Aug. 27. We related our discussion with the notion that everything in the universe has a broad effect on everything else. In relationship to our own planet, winds are stirred by planets in rotation, the sea rises and falls due to the attraction of our earth to the sun, and so on and so forth. Anyway, he feels that as Mars gets closer to our planet it will also have an effect on our weather and earth patterns: there will be earthquakes in California and China, possible hurricanes, and maybe and asteroid or two (!). He tempered our discussion by saying he could be wrong, but it is an interesting thought. For those in here who know anything about science (not me) how accurate do you think his prediction will be?

Saddam Hussein.....What a dumbass!

by Preston in

adolf hiter?

benito mussolini?

or the three stooges?

Preston

Adolf Hiter? Benito Mussolini? or The Three Stooges?

How our defense secretary can compare Saddam Hussein to Hitler is possibly the most insulting remark I have ever heard in my lifetime because nobody has the heart to admit one simple fact: Saddam Hussein is possibly the stoopidist dictator to have ever showed his behind on the world scene. Just how in hell did this guy get elected anyway...even more so, why weren't there enough people from his own country that could of seen the forest through the trees and overthrown the guy. If Saddam was as clever as the government claims he was, to have have hid ALL of his weapons of mass destruction, then he sure as hell fooled a helluva lot of people because it doesn't say much on how he fought in Dubya Dubya II (i.e. the second Desert Storm). In essence he let us win, sure it took all three weeks to do so, but he gave it to us. This was best seen by the fact that he failed to blow up any of the bridges leading into Baghdad (Sproiing!), utilized a third rate disorganized outfit to accomplish this war (Ka-Boiing!), and appeared on television the day the war started wearing ever-so-tacky bi-focals.....not the kind of impression you want your fealess leader to portray (Ker-Plop!)

With three significant groups in Iraq all vying for control, I hope that the next dictator...oops, I mean leader to run iraq will at least show some smarts, at least, in the event when we go to war against him too. Clevr enough to hide weapons of mass destruction? The guy couldn't find his rear with both hands, under a spotlight.

Cheers!

Preston.

32

White Stripes

by clash_city_rockers in

so far for album of the year 2003 is the white stripes "elephant".

using vintage instaments and laying them down on an old 8 track give this album an old school flavor.

with the energy of the buzzcocks with an instamental sound of vintage stones

Preston

LOL, I was going to do a post about the white stripes as soon as I got the album....if simply for that Squirrel Song. LOL.... I relived my days siting at meetings hearing talks when I heard the opening monologue. LOL

BTW, clash_city_rockers, just got my tickets to see Blur on June 11th here in Phoenix. I'll listen to just about anything by them, Haven't heard the new album though. So far my favorite album of the year is Evil Heat by Primal Scream.

17

Finally they came to my door!

by Beans in

well it was a thursday night and i see these two sisters walking up the street, my after thought was what the hell are they out on bookstudy night?

so then the doorbell rings, bingo my wish has come true after a year of reading i get to ask some door knockers some deep hearted questions!.

as they went into there spiel i had a major flashback, they were saying the exact same thing i recall my father saying 30 years ago "we are living in such a terrible world" and i said to them what, this is a great place to live, we are in a great country living a great life!

Preston

"I want to call back on him and see if we can bring him into the truth -- what a hottie!"

Not if I can help it, I'd be tempting Beans back with more evil slave literature than you can shake a stick at...

23

Donnie Darko

by Huxley in

jw
friends

has anyone seen this film?.

i just watched it today and was blown away!

it really has my head spinning.... .

Preston

Donnie Darko is an excellent acheivement...for a first film, and I give the director plenty of credit for it. I own a copy of Donnie Darko, and I thought it was well done in that respect, however, there was something on the subsurface that bothered me. This film kind of plays as the opposite of "It's a Wonderful Life", Instead of the main character being shown what life would be like if he had never lived, Donnie Darko shows how important life is for everyone else had he died.

Basically, he is shown his future had he not died, which leads to chaos, destruction, and disorder. His death is important, for by dying his potential girlfriend would have never died.

A beautiful, and morbid film....

30

"We Want You To Know That the Governing Body LOVES You"

by minimus in

jw
friends

at a number of elder's meetings with the circuit and district overseers, over the years, we were told that the governing body loved us.

the gb were said to truly appreciate all of our hard work in behalf of jehovah god and his organization..............i thought thay you would be pleased to know how the governing body feels about us.

Preston

At a number of elder's meetings with the Circuit and District Overseers, over the years, we were told that the Governing Body loved us.

They can bend over anytime as far as I'm concerned...

nah, scratch that....probably not their thing....

104

Liberals have lost the Iraq argument, so please stop whining...

by dolphman in

nothing you said was going to happen has actually happened.

the iraqis have welcomed us with open arms.

we have not decimated baghdad's infrastructure.

Preston

You know what burns my beans? It's this stoopid WAR. But it's not the war as much as it is the stoopid things people are doing around the war. For example, I'd like to go 10 minutes without some warmonger or protester stridently reminding me to "SUPPORT THE TROOPS!!" The way I see it, I'm already supporting the troops--by paying my goddamn TAXES. Is there something else I should be doing? Sending the troops an FTD Spring Bouquet?

Don't get me wrong; I like the troops. They seem like fine young men and women with a healthy attitude toward killing people. What I don't like is the "secret code" being used by those telling me to "SUPPORT THE TROOPS!!" Because these people don't really mean "SUPPORT THE TROOPS!!" They mean, "DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT THE TROOPS!!" And I'm sorry, but the last I heard, this is still America, I can still say whatever I want, and those ridiculous haircuts being worn by the troops have got to go!