Gays Attack Rick Warren's Church (It Sounds Like Something From The Onion...)

While Obama was being elected as the next President of the United States, California quietly passed the now infamous proposition 8, which has effectively banned gay marriage in that state. An angry group of homosexuals have been rioting ever since and their protests have become so violent that an old lady who was being interviewed by a news outlet was harassed by a crowd who pulled a cross out of her hands and stomped on it. (The blogger over at the Gay Patriot is asking if any grown ups are there.)

Glenn Reynolds (who certainly doesn't consider himself to be a Christian) has been defending the Christians involved, which is probably the first time he has done that since I started reading his blog. He wonders why these angry gay activists are not taking out their anger on Mosques, of course, that would be a hate crime.

There is a terrible rift between America's Christians and America's homosexuals and this doesn't have to be the case. We can blame some of this on foolish Christians who have blamed gays for hurricane Katrina or insisted that every gay person is a child molester. This is not the view of most Christians, only of a small few, but as always that vocal minority has made the rest of us look bad. (Rick Warren is not a gay basher, so it is unfair that his high profile church is under attack.)

Let's take this opportunity to get rid of the "us vs. them" attitude between Christians and gays and not add to the clamor. Let's show the homosexuals in our families and at our jobs that we not interesting in fighting them, but in showing true Christian love to them.

I watched Moulin Rouge for the first time...

Recently, my wife decided that it was time for me to watch Moulin Rouge!. (She had recently suffered through the Mystery Science Theater version of Werewolf for me, so it was only fair that I watch a sissy musical with her.)

In case you don't know, Ewan McGregor has got an incredible voice, I've never heard anything like it. Also there is some cool cinematography, but my praise of this picture ends there.

The only thing Hollywood loves more than Jennifer Aniston is pretending that they are part of a struggling theater act. I don't know why, but the subject matter of top plays and films is often a theater production, like Chicago, or something that goes behind the stage of a show, like Dreamgirls. This is every actor's favorite storyline but I don't know why.

The second favorite storyline is the Cinderella one, where a poor person marries a rich one. Again, I don't know why elite socialite actors think that they can relate to this one.

In the Moulin Rouge! story, a Bohemian wants to marry a rich whore. Sorry, I mean lounge dancer. No, I meant to say whore. Anyway, The audience wonders (1) if the struggling theater act will open to a large audience (and if they will get shut down by 'the man') and (2) whether the girl (whore) will choose to fall in love with the Bohemian writer or the rich guy (who, conveniently, happens to be 'the man' in this story, as well).

Does Hollywood expect me to believe that they can relate to these struggles? How many A-List actors have ever met and married a commoner who saw them at a show and fell in love with them? Am I expected to believe that these socialites really idealize a Bohemian lifestyle when their bodygaurds escort them to their mansions at the end of the day? These actors, who are adored by all and have everything they want, can only pretend to know what it is like to worry about their next paycheck or to love someone who seems to be out of their league. If Hollywood types really cared about the things they portray in these films they would date ordinary people and fund local theaters. Are any of them doing that?

These films always seem empty to me because I don't believe that the actors involved really understand the struggles they portray. I believed it when it was Jimmy Stewart, but not anymore.

Michael Crichton has Died

Michael Crichton has died of cancer, today. He is most known for his work Jurassic Park and the creation of the show E.R., but he is the author of numerous books and I have never stopped reading some of them. In middle school/high school I read Jurassic Park nearly ten times. Since then, I have read Congo and Sphere about once every two years. Crichton and King have dominated bookstore shelves for as long as I can remember.

As a Harvard Grad (M.D.) his views on science have been taken very seriously, but his statement that 'Environmentalism is a religion' earned him a great deal of criticism. He has often pointed his finger at poorly constructed scientific ideals like man-man global warming and the idea of nuclear winter. Not everyone agreed with him, but he did a brave thing by standing up to scientific paradigms. (And he sold a lot of books doing so.)

As a Medieval historian, I can tell you that in his book Timeline, a story of scientists who travel to the middle ages, he does a fantastic job of quoting his sources and explaining his research. (The movie sucks.) I wish every paper I read could be as thoroughly notated as that work of fiction.

Crichton introduced me to quantum physics, historical snobbery, the physics of space travel, the Congo, and a working knowledge of DNA. My point of view would be very different if he had not published books. He will be missed.

Happy Halloween! The Mystery of Dyatlov Pass...

In happened in 1959 when a group of experienced Ski Hikers in Russia left on a hike and, except for the one hiker who got ill and turned back, did not return. Investigators were skeptical that entire team of experienced explorers could be lost completely, but when they finally launched an investigation they were horrified at what they found.



The campsite was a disaster and bodies were found all over the place. (It took months to find them all even after the campsite was found.) The tents showed evidence that the some of the campers had exited their tents by tearing a hole in the back of the tent, instead of going out the front flap. Some of the hikers were found nearly naked, as if they felt the need to exit the tent into the unforgiving cold as quickly as possible. Whatever frightened them was scarier than being exposed to the Russian winter and gave them the impression that they needed to tear their tents apart to escape.

The bodies were strange in themselves. There were no obvious signs of trauma on their dead bodies but some of them had head wounds and other internal damage that would seem to be a cause of death. Authorities said that it would take an impact similar to getting hit by a car to cause the internal injuries that were discovered. Oh, and the bodies had a peculiar orange glow about them. The bodies showed a high level of radiation when they were tested. (I should add that UFO's were sighted in the area that evening, but I almost hate to include that. Gotta' be thorough.) It doesn't help that many of these details were suppressed by the Russian government.

To make things worse, the official cause of death is an 'unknown compelling force'. Creepy.

Here's more information:

Skeptoid Article
Neatorama Article