P.P.P.S. When I drove by today he yelled at me to tell Lee hello and that he misses you and will forgive your sins.

 

Problem is that he is the guy living with Wil. Another FSU fan.
-Lee

 

[QUOTE=s2k_zonie,May 30 2006, 04:03 PM] I do consider myself religious, though not necessarily devout in any respect, but I have some MAJOR issues with the bad press the story has gotten.

I find it alarming that so many people found more faith and answers from a work of fiction by Dan Brown than they did from a work of fiction by King James.

 

this is interesting....

[QUOTE]Etymology

The etymology of the word "religion" has been debated for centuries. The English word clearly derives from the Latin religio, "reverence (for the gods)" or "conscientiousness". The origins of religio, however, are obscure.

Proposed etymological interpretations include:


From Relego
Re-reading

 

I completely agree with this. It's surprising to me that a movie/book has had such an impact. IMO, if someone's faith is shaken by a work of fiction or by what others are saying about it, their faith was never true in the first place.

I saw the movie and I plan to read the book, which surprised a couple friends of mine. I'm pretty religious, and a Christian, and people expected me to be offended by the movie. I thought it was pretty entertaining, but there wasn't anything in there that made me think twice about my faith. It did raise a good point though: human beings are very capable of screwing up a a good/true thing. The Church has made some BIG mistakes in the past, and because of that turned off a lot of people that can't separate the human imperfections from the true nature of faith.

 

Does anyone remember Ahmad Salman Rushdie? The Satanic Verses?

What's interesting to me is that Rushdie beat Dan Brown to the punch of fictionalizing our beliefs, but South Park followed with the whole L Ron Hubbard bashing - those bastards.

 

I think you heard wrong. He said tell Lee hell no and that he misses Wil's foreskin. He's not into circumcised units.

Sorry about starting the whole religion thing. Let's talk politics instead...j/k

 

Now you are in my neck of the woods, pure Scientologist baby. My thetons are out of control.

Now, on a more serious topic, I liked TDC when I read it a few years ago, then liked it less when I read Angel's and Demons. To me, it was the same damn book with a few minor changes (yes I know a few major changes, but to me the plot outline was the same with the details interchangable, what I'd imagine a Danielle Steele book is like, not that's I'm big on DS). My main gripe with it wasn't that it brought up questions about religion (IMO that's a GREAT thing, question everything, damn the man), but that Dan Brown likes to write down to the audience. He did it in all of his books (read Deception Point and Digital fortress the same summer, I was at camp, not much else to do) and it frustrates the living shit out of me. As a general rule, most people who read books are on the smarter curve than those who don't. DISCLAIMER: By no means am I saying that if you don't read you are a retard. Not at all. I know plenty of smart people who don't read. However, I know more smart people who DO read, that's where I'm basing this. Anyway, if you have a certain percentile of the smarter section of society reading your book, don't dumb it down. You don't have to explain simple things that anyone who is even moderately versed in READING COMPREHENSION can figure out without taxing the grape on top of one's shoulders.

When the movie first came out I read HORRIBLE reviews. Among the worst reviews I've read in recent years, all coming out of Cannes. Apparently the first few showings resulted in epidemic laughter at several key parts when Hanks would say a pivotal line (See? They S P E L L E D it out for the audience and it became even more apparently stupid.) Anyway, I went in expecting garbage (sidenote, I do this to most movies. Makes it so oftentimes when I'm walking out of the theater 2 hours later I have a sense of being pleasantly surprised. Expect nothing, that way when you get somewhat mediocre it seems AWESOME) and walked out thinking it wasn't that bad of a movie. Hanks best performance? Not by a long par 5, but still watchable. I actually liked it more than MI3 or XMen3 (and I dug the first two incantations of MI and grew up reading the entire X universe.).

I think MI3 was just too much Tom Cruise, I couldn't see him as Ethan Hunt anymore, everything he did just kept bringing me back to him jumping up and down on the couch screaming at Oprah (btw one day I was listening to Stern way back when and he said something hysterical about the whole thing. Very much not appropriate for this forum, but if you wanna hear it PM me). Sure it was good special effects, and realistically that's why you go see that movie, but for me it wasn't as good of a movie experience as TDC.

XMen actually pissed me off. Seemed like it was done with a skeleton cast. Don't get me wrong, I liked the story, I liked the special effects, but without Halle and Hugh you've got 12 minutes of footage. Cyclops was almost in it, same with Prof. X, Jean Grey hung out at the end, I mean wtf??? These are the three main characters (or at least three of the main characters), but the big thing that got my goat was the fact that Nightcrawler just up and disapeared. Poor bastard teleported somewhere at the end of the second one and just never made it back. There were some other cast mates that just didn't make the 2nd to 3rd transition as well, but Nightcrawler was in the flipping "Official Video Game" as one of the three playable characters. But in the film? Nary a mention. Also, Academy Award Winning Actress Anna Paquinn was in the movie. I think. Can't be completely sure, the 5 words she said and the action equivalent of setting down a small glass of water really wasn't that strong a role. I honestly believe her breakout moment was STANDING IN LINE. Are you kidding? I dunno, I guess having a trilogy end with a movie that's 17 minutes shy of two hours is weak sauce in my mind. On the plus side, the girl that plays Kitty Pride is hot. And only gonna get hotter. And before you start using that pedophile word on me, she's 19, Jeff stays out of prison.


I just realized I wrote a small book, damn talk about long weeks to build up that kind of pent up rage. I still want to meet a scientologist though.

 

GAAAAHHHHHH!!! NO ****IGN MOVIE SPOILERS DAMMIT!!!!! I've been traveling so much I haven't gotten to see XM3 or DV Code (loved the book and curious about the movie).

William, I will have to read Job. And who could forget, later in Job...

"It stalketh weary Goldblums that doth question it's existence"
"Thou that thy flock elects to reseteth the power grid be damned and returned to ash"
"Its talons those of a spear teareth flesh from bone"

 

Man, it is a good thing you all aren't questioning the legitimacy of Muhammed..

Because if you were, I would have to strap a bomb to my back and

TAKE YOU ALL OUT!!! (aka another South Park episode)

Oh, wait, I'm not Muslim....sorry, I was watching the mainstream American media.

Funny how we can all have a discussion on this, but a simple cartoon can cause the death of hundreds in another religion.

Did I cross it?? Huh?? Where did that line go???

JJ