Marie Antoinette
Columbia Pictures/American Zoetrope
Written & Directed by: Sofia Coppola
Starring:
Kirsten Dunst (Marie Antoinette),
Jason Schwartzman (Louis XVI),
Steve Coogan (Ambassador Mercy),
Rip Torn (Louis XV),
Judy Davis (Comtesse de Noailles),
& Others
Rating: 6.4
The Preacher of Ecclesiastes (rumored by some to be Solomon, that legendary king, wise man, and collector of wives from the Bible) tells us, “…Money answers every need.†(Ecclesiastes 10:19; JPS Tanakh) Having worked at two small private schools and been a part of other non-profit organizations, I’ve found that dealing with money on a regular basis can be a truly daunting task. No matter how secure and established a group’s vision, program, and/or five-year plan might be, if they money’s not there, nothing will ever get done (outside of scratching and scrambling for just enough money to keep the lights on and the merest of bills paid). Conversely, when a corporation of any orientation (religious, business, governmental, or otherwise) has in its hands a great deal of money, the results can bring great benefit, great damage, or, sometimes, great apathy. As another Jewish thinker once said, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…†(I Timothy 6:10; NRSV)
For you see – here’s a random admission you won’t find being made by many reviewers – I find budgets quite intriguing. Read the rest of this entry »
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My good online friend Andrew Careaga has decided to finally put electronic pen to electronic paper and get to talking about two of his more favorite topics in the entire world — Punk Music & Theology. His website, Never Mind the Bibles, is a place where revolutionary music and revolutionary theology intersect in the strangest & rawest possible places, but still come together in ways that will challenge the ways that punks think about theology & theologians think about punk music.
From the site:
“Never Mind the Bibles is an online book about the often overlooked spiritual aspect of punk rock. I tried to publish this book through conventional means, and shopped it around to a couple dozen publishers, but none of them would bite. So I decided to release it online, for free. Please feel free to post your thoughts about this work as we go along. Talk to me about music, God, punk rock, Jesus, Johnny Rotten, Joe Strummer, your quest for spiritual significance. Hell, you can even talk to me about Green Day if you like. Whatever.”
Furthermore, AC has just posted his personally composed Brief History of Punk and Evolution of Punk Podcast (Part 1). Go check him out and let him know what you think! Read the rest of this entry »
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“The major problem — one of the major problems, for there are several — one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of geting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.
And so this is the situation we find: a succession of Galactic Presidents who so much enjoy the fun and palaver of being in power that they very rarely notice that they’re not.
And somewhere in the shadows behind them — who?
Who can possibly rule if no one who wants to do it can be allowed to?”
– The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; p278 in The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide
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If you haven’t yet heard this sad bit of news, Ken Lay’s verdict has been thrown out by Judge Lake of Houston because Mr. Lay died in between the verdict coming down and his official sentencing. I thought about posting a series of articles about the verdict & his death, but most of the following articles about this news item do a good job of providing the back story.
It’s a sad day for former Enron employees everywhere, as Mr. Lay’s family gets to rest on the laurels of his buy-out package when Enron went bankrupt 3 years ago, while the people that trusted him get the shaft.
And somewhere in the South Caribbean, Kenny-Boy is sipping Rum & Mai Tais with JFK, Elvis, Jimmy Hoffa, & Tupac….
From the BBC
From the London Independent
And from the New York Times
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