Sparta

This movie sounds pretty bad. I'd love to see a well made movie about Thermopylae because its a great story and doesn't need to be turned into a geeky wet dream. But then I thought Sin City was garbage too.

And I disagree with nightbloom, Sparta's side won the Peloponeesian War but the fact is Athens had it in the bag until they threw it away with over-confident errors such as the attack on Syracuse (one of the major cities of the Greek world).

Also, I think Sparta was more "decadent" than Athens. It was Sparta that was the small warrior elite living on a heap of subjects.

Ah American pop-history

Yeah the decadence argument has been a favorite of militaristic elitist fanatics through the ages.

Sparta also had the help of the Persians when they defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War. Of course then Sparta was defeated by Thebes, and then Athens and Sparta rose up to defeat Thebes, and then along came some guy named Alexander the Great who took it all over, and then the Romans came and dominated the area for quite a few centuries.

What is interesting about the story of the 300, is that it led to the domination of the Aegean by the Delian League, essentially an Athenian empire, for a few decades.

Sparta, however, definitely seems to have appeal for present day neocon elitist wannabe theocratic oligarchs. Right up your alley hey NB? That Sparta depended entirely on slavery for its economic survival undoubtedly bothers them not a bit. Of course Athens was not much better. It was really only democratic for wealthy male Athenian citizens, and they depended on slaves as well, although no where close to the extent that Sparta did.

But people are rarely curious about the true complexities of history, and tend instead to depend on the glossy, pulpy pop versions that those with an ideological agenda spit out fairly regularly.

Admittedly the point is

Admittedly the point is debatable. Athens was definitely the premier regional power prior to the Peloponnesian War. Sicily was a debacle from which it never recovered. And Sparta did receive assistance from the Persians during the war...

Sparta has bequeathed little if anything resembling a ‘cultural inheritance’ to the modern world, whereas Western civilization and modernity itself are inconceivable without Athens's cultural deposit. So military defeat cannot in itself be taken as a definitive verdict in any "Clash of Civilizations".

I'm surprised Truman hasn't weighed in

He's usually the first to complain, justifiably, about these nonsensical opportunities for immature boys to revel in blood-soaked, ridiculous scaled Grand Guignol.

At least Errol Flynn was mostly in Black and White.

I’ll give it a pass.

Question

I've never seen the origin of "Dubya" - why is President Bush consistently called Dubya on this site?

Can somebody explain?? What does it mean, what is it derived from??

It's a riff on 'W'

As in George 'W' bush.

Say double 'yew' slowly several times, the way Americans typically enunciate and you'll get it.

The 'dubya' is just a handy way of representing a person and an image in print - quite effectively.

You should read a little Garry Trudeau and you'll see how such things can be portrayed graphically as well.

Referring to Gordon Campbell as the 'Soup Nazi', something I don't do (hence the inverted commas - it's another convention) is a similar riff on someone's name.

I have other terms I use for Mr. Campbell.

Always happy to further your education.

The film is politically and

The film is politically and sexually risible, as is pointed out in (ahem) my Straight review, but it is open to another reading, much more sanguine to the anti-US-imperialist palates of the Tyee reader.

300 is really the inspirational tale of how two traditionally warring groups, the Athenians and Spartans (the Sunnis and Shi'a) combined to heroically resist the invasion of an overwhelmingly superior military empire, whose weaknesses were decadence and hubris (the US), thanks to a fanatical devotion to ideological purity and love of sacrifice (King Leonidas as the Baath Party + martyred jihadis resisting Amerikkka).

Got it

Simple as that. I though it would have been far more complicated. Dubya sounded arabic to me, sort of like Dubai.

I think I would have got it if it was Dub-Ya. I was reading it doo-by-a.

Soup Nazi: Premier of Beautiful British Columbia.

G, I think the "Soup Nazi" name is cuttingly apt for characterization of our premier as well as being a riff on the name.

Remember how the Soup Nazi treated his clientele like the enemy, refusing them soup (the best in the world, apparently) even banning customers for the slightest deviation from his terms of service?

Remember how Elaine (under probation for some imagined impoliteness) tried to sneak back in to buy some soup, and the Soup Nazi (pre-tuned to detect such things) heard her voice and begam shouting -- ordering her off the premises -- this time, forever?

I think you must admit, what with the revised Public Inquiry Act and TILMA and so much else, British Columbia is another place where another Soup Nazi is in complete charge of us all.

But if I remember correctly, Elaine got her hands on the secret recipes for his soup ... which changed the whole situation, right?

Soup Nazi! Totalitarian Premier Soup Nazi!

I'll have to wait and see if

I'll have to wait and see if the political messaging is really as blatant as you suggest, Yammer. Sometimes reviewers jump the gun, and see things myopically. Not saying this is the case here. But I remember all sort of advance commentary about how the Narnia movie was a "christianist" epic...but when I actually saw it, I noted that Disney had maintained only the most superficial traces contained in the storyline itself, while totally purging the story of its orthodox elements and its Catholicity (Aslan's resurrection being one of many examples of such secular tampering).

So who knows - is this case of film makers making politics, or just the film reviewers? This review certainly appears to have James Burns banging on his shield.

Oh I agree Mary

It is bitingly apt and appropriate.

It sums up so succinctly and both humorously (a al Seinfeld) and metaphorically (a la Elaine Brenzinger) whom I'm sure you also remember had an infamous encounter with the Capo di tutti capi in a caucus meeting - the story, you remember, I’m sure, is here:
http://www.wmst.ubc.ca/pdf_files/fwcbcRep/FWCBCMar05.pdf
I didn’t not mean to criticize the label at all – nor anyone who uses it.

I don’t use it (except in quotation marks) out of respect for a casual acquaintance who, in my limited knowledge, is its author. And someone whose work I also respect and sometimes suggest that folks should pay more attention to.

He hangs around here sometimes, but you can always find him here:

http://houseofinfamy.blogspot.com/

Gene Seymour from "Newsday"

Gene Seymour from "Newsday" says that this movie is "too darned silly to withstand any ideological theorizing". http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/ny-etlede5121896mar09,0,2850452.story?coll=ny-moviereview-headlines

Me thinks that you are reading WAY too much into this film which is more about entertainment than politics.

Movie reviewers at the Tyee.ca need to check their "leftiness" at the theater entrence! You are allowed to be entertained without putting your own ideological spin on a movie!

ooooooooohhhh... you

ooooooooohhhh... you wouldn't want to show any persians being victimized. this burgess review is about as bad as the work he used to do on 'the end'. typical cbc'ish lefty blather.

Yeah, but people pay for

Yeah, but people pay for risibility and silliness. It's box office democracy in action. It'll probably be a blockbuster.

Sparta

I have a degree in classical studies. My professors would have been appalled by this film. Homosexual (both pederastic and non-pederastic) relationships were an integral part of the Spartan polis. This film is not so much a historical whitewash as it is a fanboy hetwash. See for example:

http://www.livius.org/ho-hz/homosexuality/homosexuality.html

If filmmakers ever want to make a movie about a truly alien culture from another time and place, they should try making a historically accurate film about ancient Athens or Sparta. Of course, such a film could never be made, at least not in the U.S. and A.

Burgess' reviews are usually

Burgess' reviews are usually good short snapshots of what to expect, but the prominence of the anti-Bush sentiment in this one just makes be wonder if the political analogies in the film are being overstated here. Based on this review, I expect to be smacked hard in the face for 2 hours with ham-handed messaging and maybe even some subliminal messaging between frames! Perhaps it's really as bad as that, but I'll have to check it out and see. If reviewers are inadvertently feeding a false political controversy regarding the film, I suspect it will only feed its box office success.

Aside from the Narnia example I mentioned above, another film which got liberal reviewers all hot-and-bothered without cause was the Lord of the Rights trilogy. The NYT couldn't tolerate its alleged "Christian symbolism" (so fleeting, so understated, and so negligible, one wonders why they even bothered). Even its unnuanced mythopoetic dichotomy of good/evil, light/dark came under fire by everyone from po-mo cynics in the movie review departments to that pompous egotist and self-annointed sci-fi guru David Brin...although smarter wags made good on the story's symbolism by circulating a photoshop job of 'Dubya' at his desk in the Oval Office, an inset revealing that he was in fact wearing the evil One Ring of the Dark Lord.

Film Review

For a more informed perspective than most reviews of the film seem able to offer:

http://www.afterelton.com/movies/2007/3/300.html

Great link, Bluenose.

Great link, Bluenose. Thanks!

yeh!

Thanks Bluenose.

The Dangers of Being Too Polite

Right on , BC Mary.

Here's to finding that secret recipe!

Yes, that's what the Soup Nazi is counting on, both inside and outside of the legislature....that we will all be oh-so-polite and oh-so nice, not to mention soooo well-behaved... while The Soup Nazi and Co. steal this province away from us all.

gerge knoboulopolis was drooling

yes,gerry whats his face with the adorable six pack that george kept reffering to was on the hour the other night.

george was drooling all over his boots...

what was that about disturbed young people ???????????

It's all just "harmless" fun

The glorification of a mythologized Sparta has been a staple of militaristic elitists at least since Plato. Present day neocons very neatly fit into that mindset.

How closely 300 is shaped to that ideological sensibility is impossible for me to say until I actually see the movie myself (I'll probably wait for the torrent.). Burgess seems to think it fits that mold. Yammer's notions might fit if the movie was made in Iraq by Iraqis, but let's not forget this is American pop history.

Judging by the stills in the review linked to by Bluenose I'd have to say the movie looks like a joke, a homophobic wet dream. You only have to look at 300's visual depiction of Xerxes, which has about as much historical accuracy as the notion that the Bush Administration promotes freedom and democracy around the world.

As for the movie being too silly for ideological theorizing, come on now, trash culture that reinforces negative stereotypes is hardly ideologically neutral. It's crass, pathetic and encourages rather spectacular forms of ignorance. All which appear to be specialties of many Hollywood blockbusters.

Hell I recall one episode of the Daily Show last year where they showed clips of a wildly popular (in the Middle East) Turkish action movie that depicted Americans as the bad guys, murdering innocent civilians and harvesting their organs for wealthy westerners. Stewart's audience was shocked to silence... Stewart then went on to say that, it's not like Americans ever do that to any nationality or ethnic group as he rolled a few clips of American movies depticting cartoonish muslim terrorists. Needless to say the whole report seemed to amuse Stewart's audience not at all. I guess it's just not as fun when the shoe is on the other foot.

For a description of the Turkish movie I'm talking about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Wolves_Iraq

Bluenose - felicitations on

Bluenose - felicitations on the Classical Studies degree. I was seriously tempted as an undergrad to abandon modern history and German in favour of antiquity.

Later, when I was upgrading my GPA in preparation for application to grad schools, I studied under Anthony Barrett (the biographer of Livia and Caligula) and was again captivated by the subject matter.

I'm a total convert now. There's no question that a monumental mistake was made in purging classics from the primary and secondary curricula in favour of corporatized "relevancy", "workplace applicability" and "diversity". One only has to read any sample of pre-20th century writing, everything from private letters to to political speeches and academic works, by anyone from the America, U.K., Frace, Germany, South Africa, India, Russia, etc. to see how a classical foundation created common cultural reference points that enabled and enhanced mutual understanding and a genuine sense of universal citizenship.

Did you also do a language minor (Latin or Greek)? I started teaching myself Latin about three years ago in my spare time, and have realized how much easier my French, German and Spanish classes would have been if I'd had that foundation at an earlier age.

Bluenose - felicitations on

Bluenose - felicitations on the Classical Studies degree. I was seriously tempted as an undergrad to abandon modern history and German in favour of antiquity.

Later, when I was upgrading my GPA in preparation for application to grad schools, I studied under Anthony Barrett (the biographer of Livia and Caligula) and was again captivated by the subject matter.

I'm a total convert now. There's no question that a monumental mistake was made in purging classics from the primary and secondary curricula in favour of corporatized "relevancy", "workplace applicability" and "diversity". One only has to read any sample of pre-20th century writing, everything from private letters to to political speeches and academic works, by anyone from the America, U.K., Frace, Germany, South Africa, India, Russia, etc. to see how a classical foundation created common cultural reference points that enabled and enhanced mutual understanding and a genuine sense of universal citizenship.

Did you also do a language minor (Latin or Greek)? I started teaching myself Latin about three years ago in my spare time, and have realized how much easier my French, German and Spanish classes would have been if I'd had that foundation at an earlier age.

Quite the accomplishment...

NB you're an iconic example of a throwback reactionary. You repeatedly demonstrate just how throughly your cultural sensibilities are warped by the glorification of mythologized western history whenever you manage to type out a sentence or two. It's a remarkable feat really, to live in such spectacular ignorance, especially in this day and age. To wit: "universal citizenship" should be based on classical studies. Yes I believe you when you say you are a "total convert" to the worship of the words of dead white males.

From the movie

From the movie synopsis:

"Facing insurmountable odds, their valor[sic] and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian enemy, drawing a line in the sand for democracy."

Spartans defending democracy? They stamped democracy out out wherever they could manage.

What irritates me is not so much that this is a movie that will suck but probably still manage to make a huge amount of money. This happens all the time. Or that cheap political propaganda is infused into the storyline. This also happens all the time. It's that the true story is really interesting, and worth telling properly.

Go tell the Spartans,

Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
That a bunch of fools just made a really crappy movie about them.

- jimmy_laroux (with apologies to Simonides)

Stick to the subject matter,

Stick to the subject matter, JB. I've put my opinion out there, and you've put yours. You're sorta funny when you launch into these cliché tirades of yours, but any witless verdict you have to pronounce on me personally is of no interest to me. Your animosities are just too transparent and predictable to even bother with. Besides, my post was addressed to Bluenose.

Okay, now I've gotta see

Okay, now I've gotta see this film!

Slate review
http://www.slate.com/id/2161450?nav=ais

Has it not occurred to anyone that people are taking this movie waaaaayyyyy too seriously--?

nightbloom

Your monomania wouldn't be so offensive if, just once in a while, you put the simple phrase 'in my opinion' into some of your posts.

Quite frankly though, you keep up the euphoria about the relevance of classical studies, I happen to think they're a gas too.

Just stop pretending there's something positive about an attitude that says it's okay to contemplate forcing everyone onto the some Procrustean bed just because you find it comfortable.

What was it Gibbon had to say?

The deification of Antinous, his medals, statues, city, oracles, and constellation, are well known, and still dishonor the memory of Hadrian. Yet we may remark, that of the first fifteen emperors, Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct. [ftnote. p 68 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]

Now allowing for Gibbon's prejudices, I still think we can look upon their lives as interesting historical artifacts, as exemplars of much else - in movies or anything else - not so much, in my view.

The Greeks, as role models (which seems to be how most historical figures are promoted today) were no better as a general rule.

steve burgess bias

what is the big deal? write a mediocre review of a mainstream movie. give youself a moral high ground for having sat through it by comparing it to recent actions of the american administration.

just more american bashing from a canadian with nothing of consequence to add.

steve, stick to talking about special effects.

Didn't anyone find that

Didn't anyone find that Slate blurb a hoot?

So this movie is offensive to elephants and rhinos, for casting them on the 'bad side'. Oh, nevermind. But personally, I've known my share of "towering, bald club fags with facial piercings". Only about 30% of them were evil bitches, the rest were just sour.

Speaking of evil bitches, Ann "the faggot-woman" Coulter has elicited an eloquent rejoinder from Andrew Sullivan. This one is worth reading:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/03/faggots.html

Sullivan's take was excellent

Taranto's attack on John Edwards in the WSJ was just about as bad as Coulter's

Ann Coulter

Totally off topic, but hilarious!

http://blogs.salon.com/0002874/stories/2003/11/22/annCoultersBeautySecret.html

That's almost as funny

As Frank Magazine's ad hoc committee of support for Tubby Black:

http://www.supportlordblack.com/

It's proven to be

It's proven to be surprisingly polarizing. Some papers are dropping her columns, others are defending her.

Now some Republicans are deriding Edwards as the possible "first woman president". Is there any limit--?

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/mar/09/new_winger_attack_john_edwards_could_be_our_first_woman_president

Andrew Sullivan made a salient point about emasculating male minorities as an exercise in not-so-sublimated hatred. When a man does it, it's just thuggish and mean; when a woman does it, you know something really dark and nasty is going on. I don't think it should be acceptable or "cute" for women to 'go there', no less than it is for other men. I was called a faggot for the first time when I was six years old, and it continued non-stop until I left for university at nineteen. It certainly left an emotional legacy I and many other men have had to struggle with. So I'm glad Sullivan said what he did, and that it's getting a lot of airplay.

But back to them Spartans in man-briefs...!

It's about time

That Coulter got some stick. I just can't imagine what's wrong with most conservative voices - not just Mitt Romney.

Sullivan's a good guy and he's fighting for a lot more than gay people.

Good for him - I think the last 3 years have taught him a lot.

And challenged him.

And he's risen to the challenge.

Deserves a lot of credit.

The idea that Edwards would be a woman president;

Hillary would be a black president and Obama would be a terrorist president - seems to be about as deep as the far right-wing analysis gets....The New York Sun/ Rush Limbaugh variety

Mind you, with Bush's popularity at less than 30% I guess desperation is the flavour of the the day.

A real stretch

Next year 2008 George Bush will no longer be the president 0f the USA.
I can only wonder who the many lazy critics will blame from everything from Katrina to bad movies.
I hope it's Hillary. Oh, oop's that can't happen. Maybe this will be a good thing.
The liberals will really be scrambling.
Life may not be as easy as they thought.
Maybe the world is more complicated than the lib's think, once they have to be forced into finding a new demon, that it might be themselves.
This is the true enemy. Liberals.
They will get us killed by conservatives from elsewhere, where liberal and conservative have a different value.
I would rather deal with a liberal Iranian than a conservative one.
Rush Limbaugh has 20 million listeners a day.
He is KING of radio.
Liberals should listen to him. They might learn something, like how to find the truth.
Don't listen to the drive by media, if you expect a fair explanation of modern events.
MSM ( main stream media ) is not a puppet of the conservatives. Exactly the opposite is true. They are lib's, by and large.
The ranch at Crawford ( George Bush home and southern Whitehouse ) uses state of the art energy saving technology, in this 4000 sq. ft. home.
Let's compare this to the homes of Reverend Al Gore and Edwards mansions.
Ant George isn't trying to ruin your standard of living by trying to swindle you out of your standard of living, by buying credits from themselves.
What hypocrisy reins on this liberal website.

Right Ron

Let's hear another one.
With Ann Coulter on your side I'd say you've got nothing whatever to be proud of.

Unless you're impressed by 6 or 7 hundred thousand Iraqis who're now dead as a direct and indirect result of your hero's campaign against terrorism - a campaign that's actually incresed terrorism.

I wouldn’t call that hypocrisy. I’d call that criminal. If Bush isn’t impeached before his term is out he’ll be very fortunate.
Libby has already been convicted.

Nice bunch you hang with. No hypocrisy here Ron, except when you drop by.

Quote:Maybe the world is

Ron is saying the world is too complicated for those on the left, we like to find a demon to blame for problems etc.

Then in the very next statement he finds his demon to blame his troubles on.

That was truly inspired Ron. I can't understand why you were banned. Yet you create a new alias and come back anyway to tell us you don't want to be here.

Early showings for "300"

Early showings for "300" film draw sell-out crowds

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyid=2007-03-09T235445Z_01_N09220702_RTRUKOC_0_US-BOXOFFICE-300.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Classical Studies

Nightbloom wrote:

Ironic. Most of my professors taught that classical studies actually lends support to modern gender theory and its ideas of social and sexual diversity. In addition to the words of dead males (none of whom were white) we also studied the role of women in classical antiquity through such titles as Sarah Pomeroy's pioneering book Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves.

Classical studies (properly understood) are not a refuge from modernity. On the contrary -- they complement it. People who teach otherwise are just ideological obscurantists.

Rodrigo Santoro is hot. Not his character Xerxes though. Hollywood should make a film about George Washington that depicts him as an alcoholic pedophile junkie pimp who walks with a limp and thinks with his prick. I wonder how most Americans would react to that? Surely they'd embrace it as just another popular entertainment? Why does everyone have to take everything so seriously these days?

Get Lit

There is an enormous amount of value in all literature. What is useful about a diverse selection, as opposed to a focus on one particular cultural subset, is that it encourages connections between a breadth of cultures. Pretending one group is fantastically superior, because it suits your sense of identity is simply willful ignorance driven by an entrenched inferiority complex. Hmmm.... now who here would fit that description I wonder.

GET LIT: Censored due to political correctness

The following passage is from a 1899 book by Winston Churchill, "The River War", in which he describes Muslims he apparently observed during Kitchener's campaign in the Sudan. It has been removed from older editions AND from an edition online due to political correctness. People who pick up the book do not relaize they are reading a censored version.

Read it. Seems quite accurate to me...

------------------------------------------

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.

flattax

Do a little more digging. I'm sure you'll find quite a few more outrageous things that Chuchill wrote and said about Jews, Hindus and blacks too.

You did have a point, didn't you?

Or are you just intrested in dragging the poor dead fellow's already sodden late Edwardian colonialist reputation through the mud a little further.

No doubt you'll also find references you won't want to cite about how the British and their American cousins are the saviors of both the world and civilization.

Carry on. You're not making yourself look too swift these days. Is that typical of folks who live in West Van with you?

Do your homework

The point was about censorship being related to political correctness these days. And it related to SB's politicaly correct review of the 300, which was more a dig at the USA disguised as a review.

G West, if you want to contribute then do so. Find the references to the other ethnic groups, british or Americans from Churchills writings that you pseak about, and let us know if they have been censored as well.

The insults show a reluctance to actually tackle the issues and just resort to name calling. Try to add value to the discussion, and not just insults.

I disagree completely

I don't think censorship has anything what ever to do with this review - and as to censoring Churchill's remarks, I'm sure his editor was trying to preserve his somewhat shattered reputation from any further self-inflicted damage.

That's something you could learn a little about to. Especially with respect to your strong sense of West Van entitlement and your views about the character of the current police force there.

I haven't insulted you at all. And I won't be starting anytime soon. That's your department. I'd never try to say that it was appropriate to wall oneself off in an area like West Vancouver and pretend that you have no responsibility for the wider problems of this society. A society whose faults we all have a role in creating.

As for other reviews of this particular film, I might recommend for your consideration, that of A.O. Scott in the New York Times yesterday. He starts out with this passage:

And it pretty much goes downhill from there. I don't think Mr. Burgess has much to apologize for. If this is the harshest criticism the current president of the United States receives for the next fortnight I think he'll sleep very well at night.

errata

final word of first sentence in 2nd graf should be 'too', not to.

This is off subject but

This is off subject but really puts the people that don`t want to admit there is more to 911 than the official story on the defensive. This proves a conpiracy in at least the bringing down of WTC7 www.pumpitout.com/

asbestos

There are very few (0) people that were attributed to have died from asbestos poisoning who were no smokers.
It's hard to find anyone
The original design for the World Trade Centre was that all steel girders were supposed to be lined with asbestos.
Enviromush took over and they did not adhere to the original design. Thousands died.
Maybe asbestos would have saved many.
Rachael Marsden wrote a book called A Silent Spring. This book inaccurately depicted DDT as so dangerous that it shouldn't be used.
The result was Malaria took the lives of a 100 million poor Africans.
The Army Core of Engineers, in 1977, recommended that New Orleans should construct a series of locks and weirs to protect the city in case of a storm surge that would flood out the very areas affected by Katrina ( George Bush ) , same word right?
The same eniro-fraulds that fought DDT fought these measures as well.
These terrorists must want as much human death as they can get.

These people ( you people) are dangerous to my health.
Please try to find some other cause, besides the eradication of human beings from our Earth, something that maybe even helps the planet, while also helping the humans living on it..
i don't want you lib enviromush frauds killing my children.
You should be neutralized immediately.

Rachel Marsden????

I'll bet that's news to both Rachel Marsden AND Rachel Carson - who actually wrote Silent Spring

Oh, and you might want to talk to the building standards and fire protection branch of the NEW YORK CITY Government about that sprayed on insulation issue too. It had nothing whatever to do with asbestos remediation Ron. The towers were built fast and cheap and light and some of the people had connections to organized crime and the building trades in NYCity..but I don't suppose you want to hear about that do you.

If you actually knew anything, even half the story, you'd be dangerous. As it is you're just kinda funny.

I think you're managing to effectively neutralize yourself into the bargain.

And Rachel Marsden is actually one of yours, big guy. You can check it out.

www.rachelmarsden.com

I had no idea she was an environmentalist.

Ron Erwin

Ron, I love hearing you. I could write a 1000 comments and not one of them would make the Right look as ridiculous as a single one of your posts.

And by the way, I love the way you glean all your factoids from Rush and then don't even hive him credit in your post.

please

Frank Miller makes great stories about the power of individuals and basic liberties.

The "Reason over Mysticism" ethos here is against Bush and Al-Queda and the little minds of the politically correct.

I loved it, it was a tonic to the mealy-mouthed bleating.

And a great way to bring history to many who would not know it - look online and find out what actually happened..Salamis et al.

I wonder if so many dislike it so much because it is against relgious belief.....

There's nothing wrong with glorifying a crucial moment in the history of liberty and emocracy - though those pesky christians certainly certainly tried to kill that history what with burning all those libraries and all after bullying themsleves onto the scene...

www.jesusneverexisted.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salamis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermopylae

Don't hate the individual - celebrate them...though in Canada this is not done and offical canadian culture only allows for the worship of individuals if they are attached to an institution....

As someone who grew up in sparta-lite-like environment on the mean streets of montreal in the 70's I can tell you that though you do not have any feel for what it's like to be so, my heart breaks at the stupidity and complacency in this society from so many who would rather be weak than strong, enslaved versus free.

And it is no wonder that on aboard dominated by reactionary leftists that so many would hate the thing publicly without seeing the film or even just bad-mouthing it to puff up your own sense of self-importance. Pathetic weaklings indeed, you only serve to reinforce the movies message with your mewlings rather than combat it.

MyBrainIsOnFire

Hope you've managed to find another job.

Living on EI can be kind of difficult - all the best with your job search if you haven't.

thanks g west

the search continues!

Bluenose

Bluenose said:

Agreed. The Greek spirit is modernity. My beef is with so-called "post-modernity". Study of the classics, as Allan Bloom argued, puts us back in touch with the roots of true modernity.

There's a difference between the recognition of the in-built diversity of human sexuality and the corroboration of modern po-mo gender theory. Many professors argue for gender theory in their disciplines because they are the product of the politics and ideology of their times. Your professors were endorsing an ideology, and the fate of their careers likely pivoted on that endorsement.

Classical studies neither corroborate nor gainsay po-mo gender theory. That's apples & oranges. Gender theory is a outgrowth of liberal ideology that can be superimposed, like an opaque overlay, upon any discipline. It's a method of interpretation that has been applied to everything from English Lit to International Relations. To say that classical studies supports po-mo gender theory is like saying Political Science supports gender theory. It boils down to interpretation - opinion and ideology. You're always going to get schools of thought that exist in tension with each other, and these schools of thought are transient inhabitants of these disciplines, existing in a state of synthesis and evolution, yet never synonymous with the disciplines themselves. Po-mo gender theory has made its contribution, but the form it existed in during my time in academia is already passé. No one outside of women's studies, social work, sociology and queer theory takes it seriously anymore (at least not without supplementing it with a healthy appreciation for the prevailing influence of biological determinism - Mother Nature).

The great failure of the po-mo gender theorists is their inability to synthesize a credible explanation for the tropes that continually emerge and re-emerge in human cultures, from Antiquity to popular culture. The closest thing even approaching a credible explaination that I've encountered is itself pretty touch-and-go, and certainly not post-modern. I'm referring to Carl Jung's work.

I noticed "300" has broken the record for March openings. It's obviously pushing some very responsive buttons.

Bluenose

Bluenose said:

Agreed. The Greek spirit is modernity. My beef is with so-called "post-modernity". Study of the classics, as Allan Bloom argued, puts us back in touch with the roots of true modernity.

There's a difference between the recognition of the in-built diversity of human sexuality and the corroboration of modern po-mo gender theory. Many professors argue for gender theory in their disciplines because they are the product of the politics and ideology of their times. Your professors were endorsing an ideology, and the fate of their careers likely pivoted on that endorsement.

Classical studies neither corroborate nor gainsay po-mo gender theory. That's apples & oranges. Gender theory is a outgrowth of liberal ideology that can be superimposed, like an opaque overlay, upon any discipline. It's a method of interpretation that has been applied to everything from English Lit to International Relations. To say that classical studies supports po-mo gender theory is like saying Political Science supports gender theory. It boils down to interpretation - opinion and ideology. You're always going to get schools of thought that exist in tension with each other, and these schools of thought are transient inhabitants of these disciplines, existing in a state of synthesis and evolution, yet never synonymous with the disciplines themselves. Po-mo gender theory has made its contribution, but the form it existed in during my time in academia is already passé. No one outside of women's studies, social work, sociology and queer theory takes it seriously anymore (at least not without supplementing it with a healthy appreciation for the prevailing influence of biological determinism - Mother Nature).

The great failure of the po-mo gender theorists is their inability to synthesize a credible explanation for the tropes that continually emerge and re-emerge in human cultures, from Antiquity to popular culture. The closest thing even approaching a credible explaination that I've encountered is itself pretty touch-and-go, and certainly not post-modern. I'm referring to Carl Jung's work.

I noticed "300" has broken the record for March openings. It's obviously pushing some very responsive buttons.

www.organicconsumers.org/Poli

www.organicconsumers.org/Politics/harpers101205.cfm

attempting to parse human

attempting to parse human culture without recognizing the animal within is doomed to failure.

Nightbloom

Nightbloom wrote:

Jesus F. Christ. The hubris. You have no idea what my professors were endorsing: you don't know them, and you weren't there. Their acadamic careers are flourishing. How's yours?

You should write a book or start a blog 'cause the knowledge is just seaping out of you. I'm sure you'll have dozens of readers.

Nightbloom: Culture Warrior Extraordinaire and Bon Vivant to the Oppressed Majority! Just a thought.

Sarcasm says a lot about a

Sarcasm says a lot about a person. No hubris here. I'm expressing an opinion that sits on the same level as everyone else's here. But I have heard the arguments surrounding gender theory, both in and out of the lecture hall. Professors who put it forward in their lectures on history or any other discipline are lending voice to a school of thought that is grounded in Locke & Rousseau’s tabula rasa, the genesis of liberal ideology. It's a school of thought, one method of interpretation among many others, and it ultimately boils down to personal opinion and ideological bias.

'300' Smashes March Opening Record; Spartans Stampede To $70 Mil

"As for the makeup of the filmgoers this weekend who shelled out in record numbers, Finke says it was "about 60/40 male-female and about evenly split younger/older." (Deadline Hollywood Daily)"

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/r-rated-300-makes-huge-numbers-25-mil-friday-for-expected-60-mil-wkd/

G West -

Yes of course this is somewhat late, but alas, I admired you explaining the Dubya thing to someone of lesser education =] Always admirable.

I have no drive whatsoever

to see this movie. I have better things to do with my time than sit in a theatre, at home, or anywhere else watching this movie. But by the plot, the first 5 minutes may make me want to drown myself. We could enjoy a better movie, maybe one where Michael Jackson is the lead star?

Rachel Sweet Rachel

Quite possible the funniest case of mistaken identity ever.

I'll bet former Tonight Show host Johnny Marsden would laugh and laugh.

Sure throws some doubt into the rest of the post and its accompanying stats. Are you sure it was just 100 million Africans killed? Maybe it was 100 billion!!!!

Here's a funny take from a

Here's a funny take from a reader of Sullivan's Daily Dish blog...

How Gay is '300'?
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/03/how_gay_is_300.html

I'll post the comments that

I'll post the comments that I linked just above, just for conversation...

It is a deeply silly and deeply beautiful film. It's most silly when it's trying to be a movie, and it's most beautiful when it's trying to be a graphic novel. Fortunately, it mostly just tries to be a graphic novel. But, ah, the men Andrew. All those beautiful, beautiful men dancing around in briefs and capes. It almost brought me to tears. It is perhaps the gayest movie that I've ever seen that wasn't porn.

Those who try to deconstruct the movie into a statement on the current war, or who say that it is racist or (most glaringly wrong) anti-gay are utterly missing the point. Everyone (perhaps excluding the Queen) in the film is gay. You have the butch gym queens of Sparta (I mean can any chisled man run around in speedos and a cape and call himself straight?), and the pierced, shaved, and bejeweled bar queens of Persia. It's gay-on-gay violence, pure and simple. If I were to cast this film in any way (and it really is far too silly for this sort of analysis), I'd say it was portraying the libertarian, buffed and bearded Sullivanistas taking on the effete, decadent elites of the HRC. The movie is clearly on the side of the Sullivanista/Spartans, and so am I.

Here's to speedos, capes, and libertarian principles!

Blah blah blah

Nightbloom wrote:

Hmmm. Yes, I suppose you would know, wouldn't you?

Oh, of course there isn't! Not even the slightest hint!

Allan Bloom, yet another gay conservative! (No pun intended, but is there no end to these repellent creatures?) Of course, Miss Bloom wouldn't have appreciated being called "gay." She was, more accurately, a self-loathing, closeted, miserable old queen. No wonder you're so fond of her corpse!

As a last word, Christopher Hitchens notes:

Nightbloom, what lovely company you keep! Quelle surprise, mon chéri!

Quote:Nightbloom, what

I'm starting to get a mental picture of you Bluenose....it looks something like Xerxes in the film now under discussion.

out of the closet...

Geeze,nightbloom i noticed you got an affect on some people!!!

and BLUENOSE seems really effected by your prose!!!

how you draw them out of their klosets ???

i will never know...be gentle now,nightbloom...bluenose knows not what he does

then again bluenose sounds a lot like DOGSCHILD????????

i luvs being inna funni pages,duz my hart goud .

Nightbloom's Mental Pictures

Nightbloom wrote:

Oh Nightbloom ... I've no doubt whatsoever that your picture of me is completely mental. Absolutely and completely mental.

I saw the film "300" tonight: to say that it's an insult to the intelligence of the ancient world and the noble legacy of classical antiquity would be an understatement. It is also blatantly and indefensibly racist.

Here is a link to a review by A. O. Scott:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/movies/09thre.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin

Hasta la vista!

LOL - "funni pages" indeed!

LOL - "funni pages" indeed!

It seems someone out there

It seems someone out there is taking this movie seriously:

http://english.people.com.cn/200703/12/eng20070312_356565.html

Good grief!

The Toronto Star's review,

The Toronto Star's review, for anyone still following...

Sparta? No. This is madness:
An expert assesses the gruesome new epic
http://www.thestar.com/article/190493

Quote: saw the film "300"

MY GOD!FOLKS!It's a TAKE on a real incident that was USED for entertainment.

Seems,CARTOON has been lost in the language!

Just cause the story was EMBELLISHED WITH ...CARTOON LIKE FIGURES ...doesn't mean..we are CHANGING HISTORY !!!

WHOA,NELLY!!! we got some real intelectuals on the loose???

i hope no one thinks ANIME is real...EH???
BLUENOSE???

So Alternet has hosted

So Alternet has hosted Steve's squib. For a chuckle, check out how he gets lambasted by Americans:

http://www.alternet.org/movies/49029/

Note to self: never point out American suck.

but speedo

Ya gotta admit he got them to kick up a lotta dust.

Neocon connection

Apparently a nutbag neocon by the name Victor Davis Hansen was a historical consultant for for 300. Here are a few links to support his reactionary cred, including a link to his blog.

http://www.victorhanson.com

http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hansonblog030207.html

I particularly like the following introduction Hansen writes for a "book trailer" for the movie. He utterly fails to describe the Spartans with any historical accuracy, instead characterizing only the Persians as enslavers. But hey, it's all just in fun right? No political motives there. Right?

http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson101106.html