I recommend seeing the movie first, if you haven’t read the book. And then, treat yourself to a copy of the book, which, while the film has some of the wit, presented in a form with is pleasing to both the eyes and the ears as well, does not have the same lasting impression as the written word on the imagination. It’s a shame they didn’t just do the entire five part Hitchhiker’s trilogy all at once, because alone without promise of more, it barely has legs, aside from the fact that we know there is more to come. At least you can read the rest, but do yourself a favor and read the first book as well, because there are great scenes with witty banter that would have played out spectacularly on film, and I think I could have done a much better job interpretting this for the screen. A complimentary Lord of the Rings style film, this is not.
Archive for April, 2005
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Friday, April 29th, 2005Abortion Clinic Workers Refuse to Save Live Child
Wednesday, April 27th, 2005ORLANDO, FL – Angele, a single mother in her thirties with two children, thought that abortion was the answer to her circumstances. At almost 23 weeks gestation, she entered the EPOC Clinic in Orlando, Florida. Little did she realize that the next day she would give birth to a live, perfectly healthy boy whom she named Rowan. Cradling Rowan’s moving body, her screams for help were ignored by abortion clinic workers while her son took his last breath.
The clinic is known for late-term abortions and for its well-known founder, Dr. James Pendergraft. A few years ago, he served time in a federal prison regarding an alleged scheme to extort the city of Ocala, Florida by means of his other abortion clinic in that city.
On April 1, Angele was given Valium, and Laminaria were inserted in her cervix to begin dilation. She was told to return the following day. On April 2, Angele took prescribed medicine to induce labor. Cramping and crying, she went to the clinic and knocked repeatedly on the door. Eventually someone came and directed her to a room that had dried blood on the wall. She was given a blanket that was still wet. She began to bleed and go into labor. Despite her cries, no one assisted her. After one hard push, the baby was born, fully intact and definitely alive. Angele said, “His right leg moved. He curled up a bit, like he was cold; I screamed but no one came.” She pleaded for the clinic workers to call 911, but they did not.
Angele caressed and comforted her son by rubbing his back, tummy and chest. “I stroked his precious little head and kept telling him I loved him, and we would be okay,” she said. Still no one came to help. Eventually, Angele, holding the baby still attached to the umbilical cord, ran to get her cell phone. Help did not arrive in time. Rowan took his last breath. “After a few minutes, I realized for certain that he was gone. I picked up my son. I held him to my chest. I rocked him and prayed. I could not stop crying,” said Angele. “I felt so bad. I felt so helpless. I had been so wrong to come here … I wanted to fix and change everything once I saw Rowan’s precious little face and body. All we needed was someone to get us to safety,” Angele said.
Mathew D. Staver, President and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel, which represents Angele, told LifeSiteNews.com, “Angele’s baby Rowan’s birth and death unmasked the tragic abortion and infanticide that occurs every day in America. Most victims are nameless and we never hear about them. We need to replace the abortion rhetoric with a culture of life.”
Staver recalls, “When I visited baby Rowan at the funeral home and saw his precious little body, fully formed with blond eyelashes and growing fingernails, I wondered, ‘How can we continue to kill our children and hide behind the rubric of choice?’” He added, “Rowan’s short life will not be in vain if his story can give life and hope to mothers who believe their only choice is abortion. We must protect our precious, innocent children. We must extend a healing hand to mothers like Angele.”
National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day
Tuesday, April 26th, 2005
Rock for Life
You will not silence my message
You will not mock my God
You will stop killing my generation
Newsflash: The Pope IS Catholic
Friday, April 22nd, 2005My friend Pat sent me a link to this story. Granted, it’s Fox News and not a lot of people trust Fox News, but this article takes the taco:
Like a Rock
Thursday, April 21, 2005
By Neil Cavuto
Here’s a newsflash: The pope is Catholic.
I say that because so many seem to forget that – seemingly demanding Pope Benedict XVI be something he is not.
Well, here’s another news update: He will never be for abortion. He will never be for euthanasia. And if you ever say the Catholic Church should be a democracy, he will never say it is. Because it isn’t.
Most Catholics know that. A lot of Catholics hate that. But I think we’d all be wise to get over that. Because of this: The pope is here to espouse not the whims of our times, but the values that stand the test of time.
Some can quibble over whether priests should marry or laypeople should be more involved. The church evolves on such matters.
But on basic matters – matters of life and death, right and wrong -there are no ifs, ands or buts.
On these matters, any pope – including this pope – stands firm. As so he should.
Some Catholics hate it. They say they don’t like this club and don’t want to be part of this club.
Well, there’s another cardinal rule here: No one says they have to be.
Pope Benedict XVI
Tuesday, April 19th, 2005Text of Speech Delivered by New Pope
“Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me – a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.
“The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.
“In the joy of the risen Lord, trusting in his permanent help, we go forward. The Lord will help us and Mary his very holy mother stands by us.”
Pope Benedict XVI
German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the strict defender of Catholic orthodoxy for the past 23 years, was elected Pope on Tuesday despite a widespread assumption he was too old and divisive to win election.
He took the name Benedict XVI, a cardinal announced to crowds in St. Peter’s Square after white smoke from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel chimney and the pealing of bells from St. Peter’s Basilica announced that a new pope had been chosen.
Roman Catholic cardinals elected Ratzinger on just the second day of secret conclave to find a successor to Pope John Paul II.
Billed as the front-runner going into the conclave, Ratzinger, 78, was widely seen as a standard-bearer who would fall short of the required two-thirds majority and have to cede to a more conciliatory compromise figure.
But he sounded very much the candidate before going into the conclave on Monday, defending orthodox Catholicism and warning the other 114 cardinal electors against following godless modern trends.
“We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one’s own ego and one’s own desires,” he declared at a pre-conclave Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Ratzinger’s stern leadership of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern successor to the Inquisition, delighted conservative Catholics but upset moderates and other Christians whose churches he described as deficient.
Born in Bavaria on April 16, 1927, Ratzinger was a leading theology professor and then archbishop of Munich before taking over the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1981.
In that office, Ratzinger disciplined Latin American “liberation theology” theologians, denounced homosexuality and gay marriage and pressured Asian priests who saw non-Christian religions as part of God’s plan for humanity.
In a document in 2000, he branded other Christian churches as deficient — shocking Anglicans, Lutherans and other Protestants in ecumenical dialogue with Rome for years.
As dean of the College of Cardinals, he presided over John Paul’s funeral Mass and the daily meetings of cardinals to discuss the next papacy.
Ratzinger was the oldest cardinal to be named pope since Clement XII, who was also 78 when he became pope in 1730. He is the first German pope since Victor II (1055-1057).
Serenity Prayer
Monday, April 18th, 2005God grant me the wisdom to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Amen
Classic Scrubs
Monday, April 11th, 2005J.D. and Dr. Cox are there. Elliot rushes up to them.
Elliot: Dr. Cox! I’m so glad I caught you! I need—
Dr. Cox: And there it is again — that ringing in my ears. It’s kind of an “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” but it’s more piercing, more of an “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”—
J.D.: She’s trying to ask you a question.
Dr. Cox: Now you, you’re more of a low-pitched “Ooga-ooga-ooga.” It’s more masculine, which, quite frankly, is surprising considering the source, but make no mistake — oh, just equally annoying! Luckily, though, I know how to make the pain go away!
He walks away from them.
Dr. Cox: [from down the hall] Ahhhh. Much better.
Elliot: Can you believe that!? I mean, every time we even try to talk to him, he starts going off on one of these random tangents and….
She continues to spew, but is drowned out by….
J.D.’s Thoughts: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Elliot: –You know?
Star Wars
Tuesday, April 5th, 2005Time for a general entry. Not to say that this will be a boring entry by any means. I was having a conversation with my friend Deb, when I realized something simple, yet profound.
I know what it is about Star Wars that made like it more, and makes me love it. My mom once told me that my Grandpa loved Star Wars, and loved talking about the spiritual elements of the films, and how much fun it would have been, talking to him about the new ones. She also said that he would have LOVED talking to me about the Lord of the Rings.
My Grandpa was a convert to the Catholic Church, a Father of nine, and the Doctor for a small town. He passed on when I was 12.
Somehow, I feel a connection to him, through Star Wars. I realize now, that is why I defend the prequels, and part of why I enjoy them. I look beyond the surface, of what people would consider a “bad” movie, to the things that I think my Grandpa and I would have talked about. We would have had some mighty good discussions about both of the new films.
Now with the third film coming out, people are scared that they’ll be let down, again. I’ve got no fears about this film. While Episode I is a flawed film, it’s not without its’ moments. The same goes for Episode II. I’ve felt they could have covered the material of Episodes I and II in film one, the clone wars in film two, and the third film to be, well, pretty much what it is: The purging of the Jedi, the rise of the Empire, and the birth of Darth Vader.
I’ve got here, two review samples. The first, is of the Novelization of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, by a man named LargeFarva, on FilmRot.com:
At least, in print, it does appear that the movie will tie together all of the plot threads successfully. The major issues most fans have speculated and dared Lucas to explain are included in the novelization, from Qui-Gon Jinn’s non-disappearance, to Kenobi’s claims that Yoda was his master. There is even strong evidence that a few characters in the original trilogy knew quite more than they let on, and with plenty good reason. Also, it is true that the first character to speak in the original trilogy has the last line of the prequels. Finally, after reading the epilogue, I’m finding it hard to continue laughing at Lucas’ claims that Sith is “a real tear-jerker”.
I’ve read the other novelizations and this is by FAR the best, the one we’ve been waiting for since the announcement of the prequels.
I’m predicting that most fans of the [Original Trilogy] will consider there to be four films-the [Original Trilogy] and Ep. 3 is the single prequel to them.
This is very promising news. Another review, is of the Screenplay, now available as an ebook, by Bill Hunt, Editor of TheDigitalBits.com:
I have to tell you that I was awfully uneasy as I began reading the script. The first third of Revenge of the Sith feels very much like parts of The Phantom Menace… and I don’t mean the good parts. There’s a lot of Anakin and Obi Wan bantering back and fourth as they fight scores of battle droids, and the dialogue is pretty bad. BUT don’t despair, because once you get past this, the film gets a lot better. About a third of the way in, the Sith lord’s nefarious plot really starts unfolding… and it’s all dark and intense action from there on out. The script finishes well, setting up A New Hope beautifully. There are a couple of great surprises, and the plot threads all tie up nicely. You’re going to be left with a strong sense of “Wow… so THAT’S how it all happened.” I’ve heard from people who have seen most of the film that the action and visuals are astonishing – the best yet from Lucas. Add to that John William’s final score, which you KNOW is going to kick ass, and I think the vast majority of Star Wars fans will enjoy this film. If Lucas pulls it off, it’ll easily be the best of the three prequels. Whatever you think of them so far, there’s nothing like a strong finish. When I get the chance to SEE this film, you can be sure that I’ll post a review.
Both of those reviews sum up pretty much all I know about the movie, save for the footage I’ve seen in the trailers, commercials, and some of the music I’ve heard on the official site, StarWars.com. And from what I know, we’re in for a real treat.
Go into this movie expecting it to be just what it was meant to be. Entertainment and the origin of Darth Vader. This is how it happened folks.
I’m not looking for comments on this post to talk about whether or not you’ve seen Star Wars, or if you think the prequels suck, or that this one will suck. Any comments like that will be deleted, no questions asked.
I want to give this last Star Wars film a shot at being a great film, and to expect anything less from it, would be contrary to what it very well could be. The third film of any trilogy should justify the first two. However, this film isn’t meant to end the story, it’s to set the stage for the beginning of the original trilogy, and to build the arc that puts Darth Vader right where he’s always been: the main character and centerpiece of all six Star Wars films. The Fall and Redemption of Anakin Skywalker. Redemption is the theme, folks, but redemption from what?
“Do what must be done, Lord Vader. Do not hesitate, show no mercy.”
We talk about forgiveness a lot, and it is one of the hardest things to ask for, and the hardest things to do for others. This story is about one man who fell, and for years walked a dark path, and finds forgiveness in people that weren’t even there when he fell. That is a testament of how we should live our lives for others. Forgiving everyone, everything, NOW! Not WASTING TIME holding onto hatred or anger. There’s just no point. Save the anger for true evils.
On Birth Control .. Part 2
Sunday, April 3rd, 2005“The way to plan the family is Natural Family Planning, not contraception. In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self. This turns the attention to self and so destroys the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other. Once that living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily.”
- Mother Teresa (in front of Bill and Hillary Clinton) (more…)
On Birth Control
Sunday, April 3rd, 2005Q. What are the failure rates and side effects of each kind of birth control?
A. There are many methods of contraception, but the most common are the birth control pill, the condom, Norplant, Depo-Provera, the diaphragm, spermicides, the intrauterine device (IUD), and sterilization surgeries. Each method of contraception carries with it some risk of harmful side effects, many of which are downplayed in our culture. Although some are rare, men and women should be aware of all of the possible consequences.
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