June 2006

And in Lexington, Massachusetts, anti-gay activist David Parker claims that his first-grade son was beaten up by other first-graders after being riled up by “activist lesbian mothers.”

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from the article. Personally, I just love the juxtaposition of phrases like “hate crime” and “well-planned and coordinated assault” with phrases like “think sheet” and “play date.” And Activist Lesbian Mothers would make a great band name.

(Thanks to Dave for the link…)

A nice comment came at the end of the Long Now discussion between Brian Emo (composer) and Will Wright (game designer):

It’s interesting that just one verb is used both for music and for games: “play.”

This seems to be true in a large number of languages too, which implies some kind of universality of the concept. I also note that my dictionary says the English word play is related to the Middle Dutch word pleien: ‘leap for joy; dance’.

(The discussion, by the way, was excellent. You can download audio in OGG or MP3 or read Stewart Brand’s summary.)

DocBug Exclusive — Yesterday the US Senate passed a non-binding resolution declaring that Democrats are all “poopy-heads.” The resolution passed along party lines, with all Republicans voting for the resolution, plus Joe Lieberman (D-CT). When Senate Minority-Leader Harry Reid of Nevada protested the resolution as childish and irresponsible, an amendment was passed adding that Democrats are “all whiners and a bunch of cry-babies too.” Republican strategists predict similar resolutions will fill the bulk of the Senate’s time until after the November elections.

The resolution now has to be resolved with the House version of the bill, which declares that Democrats are idiotic dumb dumbs and girly cowards. In recent days several Republican Representatives in the House have condemned the Senate language as being squishy-soft and going against core conservative values, and a compromise version is not expected before the end of this legislative session.

I’ve really gotta wonder about this NYT review of the latest Superman movie:

‘Superman Returns’ to Save Mankind From Its Sins

Jesus of Nazareth spent 40 days in the desert. By comparison, Superman of Hollywood languished almost 20 years in development hell…

…what is essentially a new and considerably more sober sequel to the first two films, one that shakes the earthiness off Superman and returns him to the status of a savior. There’s always been a hint of Jesus (and Moses) to the character, from the omnipotence of his father to a costume that, with its swaths of red and blue, evokes the colors worn by the Virgin Mary in numerous Renaissance paintings. It’s a hint that proves impossible not to take.

OK, so I can see the omnipotence of Superman’s father angle, if by “omnipotence” you mean unable to even save himself, much less his planet, from complete destruction. As for the red and blue costume, doesn’t that mean Superman is actually the Virgin Mary rather than Jesus?

Of course there are a few similarities between Superman and Jesus. For example, Superman pretends to be a mild-mannered reporter while fighting crime in the big city. So does Jesus. And Jesus fights a never-ending battle for the salvation of our immortal souls, which is kinda like Truth, Justice and the American Way. Oh yeah, and they’re both American.

Not that the Times is entirely to blame here. This latest movie is pushing the whole Christ theme in their trailers, presumably hoping the crowd that made Passion of the Christ a box office success either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that they’re being exploited. But really, this is as dumb as those literary critics who claim Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar character is a Christ figure — you can tell, see, by the fact that both of them have the initials J.C.