Angels and Demons and DaVinci, Oh My!
Well I finally finished the DaVinci Code and nearly finished Angels & Demons and so far some pretty fun and entertaining books. If you’re into a fast-paced suspenseful thrill ride with a touch of the X-Files thrown in for good measure, you will certainly get a kick out of Dan Brown’s books. I was actually one of those people that heard other people talking about how great the DaVinci Code was and quite skeptical. I finally gave in (I got to borrow the books) and read “Code” first and thoroughly enjoyed the book. It boils down to this: It’s a “Chase/Thriller” that brings the idea of Christ’s human life and possible bloodline to forefront of the story by introducing an idea that quite a few famous (and not so famous) people who belong to this ancient society that have preserved and kept secret this “truth” through riddles and hidden messages in their art and the murder of a museum curator sets off a chain of events that keeps the story moving almost nonstop adventure. Okay, now for my dislikes, Brown has almost obviously written this book to get a movie deal and there are even parts of the book that look like they were written in script form. Well kudos to him, cause he got his deal and little Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard for all of you not in the know) is directing. I also don’t like the way he repeatedly crams down my throat information that will obviously pertain to events later on in the book. I don’t need to be reminded of “sacred feminine” every chapter Mr. Brown! It’s perfectly vlear where you are going with this idea. If you really want to keep this thought freash in your readers mind, try every five chapters. So other than the obvious script style and the repeated use of a relevant plot point, I found this a very entertaining book. I’ll get back to you with Angels & Demons when I finish this week sometime. And, I will be hitting the politics pretty hard these next few months to ensure my part in removal of Bush from office this November. Peace out, peeps!
August 17th, 2004 at 9:42 am
Well, diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks. I thought Brown’s approach was repulsively direct, and insulting even to my intelligence. I much prefer the lighter touch of Somerset Maugham–read The Razor’s Edge after you finish Angels and Demons!
God help you if Kerry takes the election . . . the man doesn’t know which way is up! http://media1.streamtoyou.com/rnc/080304v1.wmv
August 17th, 2004 at 10:38 am
It’s better than our current President who comes off like he wants to attack his own country: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=126
August 17th, 2004 at 2:27 pm
Okay, Arlen, that stream is just way too long…
I can understand the conservatism. I can understand your reasons for not supporting Kerry. But I cannot understand how you can support the Bush administration in spite of all of their major screw ups and serious abuses of power. Do you honestly think they have done a good job and deserve another four years? Or is it just a matter of “no other option.” I guess I can understand that. But if that’s the case, why the zeal on your part?
I guess I just don’t get it. God help us no matter who gets in, but God save my ability to travel abroad if Bush gets another four. It is a great country, don’t get me wrong, but it is nice to leave every once in awhile.
August 17th, 2004 at 8:04 pm
My cousin forwarded me the clip. I was getting a little impatient with it myself. 12 minutes?
Why the zeal? Part of it is because I know it gets y’all’s goats . . . really, in my day-to-day dealings I’m not a proselytizer. I keep quiet on campus.
I think the reason I favor Bush is because I see Kerry as symptomatic of a tendency to think everything can be resolved by talk, and I see Bush as a doer. I see Kerry as someone who would avoid taking action in the name of “nuance” and Bush as somebody who realizes that nuancing an argument can only accomplish so much. If you have a list, article, or book detailing the screwups and abuses of power, I’d be interested to look at it. It’s a very real possibility that I’m underinformed.
August 18th, 2004 at 12:44 pm
That’s fine - get my goad. I don’t think that either candidate can be dismissed as either a “talker” or “doer.” Bush has certainly DONE lots of things (while not on vacation) and these deeds have repeatedly demonstrated a lack of critical thinking or (worse) total submission to a policy of ever-increasing concentration of power in the executive branch drafted by some of the nastiest people ever to populate DC. In other ways Bush does nothing, such as proposing a “no child left behind” policy with no funding. I could go on, but even if you are so convinced that what we are doing in the Middle East is a “good thing” (I think it is a disaster), what are Bush’s other successes? What good is a “doer” if everything he does is bad for the country. Personally, I was hoping Bush would be an Eisenhower (he probably was too) and have a nice easy presidency. He didn’t get it, and I do not think he has the capacity to deal with all the serious problems that have confronted his office.
And do you honestly think that Kerry will be so obsessed with nuance that he will be paralyzed, unable to make difficult decisions? That would be a bad thing, but I don’t believe that he will be allowed such luxuries at this point in time. I also don’t see a man who recongnizes that there are in fact various shades of gray as someone who is dangerous or ineffective. I see that man as someone who thinks in a way that is closer to my own, and there is some comfort in that.
As for “lists, articles, or books” - come on, A, there are too many for me to even begin to think about. Just try keeping up with the mainstream press. And if you honestly believe there is a pervasive liberal bias that corrupts these sources, I don’t know what I can say to help you out, my brother. You are underinformed, and therefore a perfect Bush supporter. Just keep smiling.
August 18th, 2004 at 3:14 pm
August 19th, 2004 at 10:00 am
Everywhere you look, you’ll find things you don’t like about the current leaders and their potential replacements. We need the pendulum to swing both ways in order to maintain a balance. Have some Democrats around for a while, then some Republicans. But what bothers me is when a guy like Michael Moore gets a cult-like fanboy following. Michael Moore hates America and Americans. He’s allowed to do that in this free country, but perhaps he should consider the international impact of the media he has chosen to express himself. Or (drumroll for the conspiracy theory about to follow) perhaps he has… distribution for his movie, Farenheit 9/11 is being funded by terrorist organization, Hezbollah, to get it shown in Syria where it will be used as a training film for terrorists. This is being done with Moore’s knowledge and approval.
I can respect various political views from both the right and the left. But, Scott, you should realize that Moore thinks you are stupid and he’s banking on that to get you and people like you to buy his books and buy tickets to his movies so that he can make a lot of money (capitalism) with his anti-capitalism rap. To me, he is one of the most overt (flagrant, obvious, etc.) hypocrites in all of celebrity-dom.
P.S. Glad to see you’re up and running with a new WordPress site.
August 19th, 2004 at 4:34 pm
I think I got a better idea of where Moore is coming from after I saw “Roger and Me”. MM is a Catholic. Whether still practicing or not, I don’t know, but he’s big on the Catholic approach to social justice. I.e., feed the poor, etc. This is very clear in “Roger and Me”. Talking with a friend here who just joined the Church this Easter, and who is a HUGE Moore fan, I learned that this basic concern for social justice informs “F9/11″ as well. My friend was telling me that it’s not primarily a film against the Iraq war, but against the capitalistic greed that he sees as having given rise to the war in the first place. It is a bit incongruous to have a multimillionaire calling out for a more even distribution of wealth, but perhaps he sees his millions as enabling him to reach more people with his message (through his films) than he would have if he were broke.
Anyway, I’m not apologizing for Moore, but I’m not bent on his doom anymore either.
August 19th, 2004 at 4:48 pm
Scott, regarding that admittedly funny Bush quotation at Michael Moore’s site, it’s clear that A) he flubbed it by his poor choice of words, and B) That what he meant was “our enemies never stop thinking about ways to harm America, and we never stop thinking about ways OUR ENEMIES MIGHT TRY to harm America.” Kind of like a piece I read at ZMag (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=6011) that cited Tommy Franks as saying, in response to the question, what should Americans discuss regarding terrorism, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” The Zmag author calls this a “chilling” response.
I don’t get it. It sounds to me like Franks is saying that Americans should be prepared for a worst-case scenario. That just sounds like prudence to me. But since people hate Bush, they take Franks’s comment as meaning that since Bush spends all his time working on his public image, and zero time running the country or doing the right thing in Iraq (as the context of the article suggests), we should discuss “the worst possible thing” because that’s what will inevitably befall us with such a captain at the helm.
Likewise with Bush’s misstatement. Moore’s too intelligent to not understand what Bush meant, but he’s also not about to let pass an opportunity to make Bush look bad.
Anyway, I laughed when I read the quote . . .
August 19th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
Sorry — last comment. Didn’t mean to end two comments in a row with “Anyway . . .”
August 20th, 2004 at 8:36 am
So now Moore’s OK because he’s Catholic? Sheesh. I know you weren’t really going so far as to say that. But, you’re an intelligent guy. You should be able to rationally consider his actions regardless of his (lapsed?) affiliation with your Church. Moore is a hate-monger. He makes money hating stuff and getting other people to hate the same stuff. He uses obfuscation and deception to do it. His talent lies in his ability to appeal to the common man. Now he’s taking money from terrorists and saying “thank you very much, good luck using my film to train people to kill Americans.” Hitler was the same and he knew the power of using film to dupe the masses. Does Moore = Hitler? No. But I see him as nothing short of a traitor. As soon as some Hezbollah-bred terrorist comes over here and kills some Americans, I think it will become indisputable.
August 20th, 2004 at 1:14 pm
You guys are High-LAR-ious!
August 20th, 2004 at 3:23 pm
Mark, any kind words for Jon?
. . . I’m not saying I agree with Moore’s tactics; only that I THINK I see where he’s coming from a little better, as regards his desired ends.
August 20th, 2004 at 10:01 pm
Whenever I’m not hospitalized I like to check on these blog pages…
What do I have to say to Jon? Well, he sounds pretty convinced about the terror connection with Moore, and it could be true for all I know. But the terrorists will do just fine without Moore’s help.
Essentially, Arlen, I agree with you and I’m glad you’ve discovered Moore’s M.O. - the CLASS factor. I think it is a worthwhile point to make and it has always been a difficult sell in the U.S., where we all imagine that we are or will be millionaries. The class card just doesn’t work too well here, because of this mass delusion that is such a strong part of our culture.
I just read some scary statistic that 20% of Americans think that their incomes are in the top 1%. That’s great. That’s why nobody got it when Gore kept pounding the fact that Bush’s tax cuts were tailored to the top 1% - everybody was like, “yeah that’s me!”
I don’t hate Americans, but man, we are dumb.
And I’m also not saying that I wish we were obsessed with class here - that hasn’t really worked out so well for other people. Also, I am a capitalist pig and I’d rather not submit to the will of my employees. It wouldn’t be pretty.
So I really feel sad for Moore, because ultimately I think he wants to be accepted and popular with the masses. The masses don’t like his spiel, though, so ultimately his base of support will always be the academic far left in this country and America haters everywhere else. I don’t really think Moore hates America, though. He just seriously questions some of the core values that we can’t really deal with, and this makes him more dangerous here than he would be in other countries, where class-war-speak is just another subject for morning coffee.
August 21st, 2004 at 9:40 am
Hi Everyone,
Just to introduce myself… I am the one who loaned Scott “Angels & Demons” and “The Da Vinci Code.” I tried to get him to read some of my Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly, but he wouldn’t go that far. (Not yet at least)
I beleive Mr. Moore is a greedy opportunist who is laughing his ass off all the way to the bank. He has found a nice way to make a ton of money and is exploiting it to his great benefit. If he is truly such a “liberal, I want to save the world” person, then what the hell is he doing with the Millions he is raking in from the sheep of America? I bet he is using some of that money to find another situation where he can twist the truth to play on the populist ignorance most of us Americans live in. To me, F-911 is on the same par as an episode of the X-Files. A string of half-truths tied together to get an outlandish story. I loved the X-Files, not because I beleived in all the conspiracy theories, but the entertainment the show provided.
I know F-911 will do extremely well outside the US. For completely different reasons. Most of the people of the world truly hate Americans. They want what we have, but are completely unwilling to change themselves enough to do it themselves. It’s much easier to try and take it from us and then hate us for making it available. Good example, the number one watched television station in Iran is MTV. The government forbids it, so everyone denies watching it. But they do… Of course, some of the people watching it are the same ones who would cut your throat, take everything you have and throw you in a ditch if they found you in their neighborhood one night. Just because you are an American. The best part… they would probably be a celebrity in the area the next day.
Final thought:
The Republican party is committed to the defense of our way of life (above all others) so that liberals can stay home and make movies.
Andy
(Co-authored by Cris)
August 21st, 2004 at 11:56 am
Ah, the anger, the jingoism, the xenophobia, the paranoia… It’s so refreshing to hear those core values of the American Right honestly spelled out. Arlen, your team is waiting for you. Remember, we’ll be right here when you get better.
August 21st, 2004 at 2:26 pm
I’d add a comment here, but I have to go patronize Baja Fresh . . . be back soon.
August 21st, 2004 at 3:42 pm
Mmm, Baja Burrito . . . well worth the walk across the street. Isn’t Baja Fresh owned by McDonald’s?
I won’t go so far as to generalize about the majority of the world’s people. I will say, though, that some of them may be unwilling to change to get what we have because they perceive our capitalist society to have sold its soul in pursuit of material wealth. It doesn’t matter that 97% of Americans say they “believe in God”–we are nearly as secular as France and Holland. Human dignity, like religion itself, is a social construct, according to the American power-brokers.
And if I may say so without creating an uproar, I don’t consider myself on the same team in this discussion as Andy. (Or in literary matters–anybody who owns two Dan Brown books is not of my way of thinking!) I don’t think that “just being American” is enough to move somebody to hatred. From the little I know about international relations, America has made a few empty promises to less privileged countries, and looked the other way when it could have stepped in and made a huge difference for the good (I’m thinking Rwanda under Clinton, and Darfur under Bush). Why do we allow genocide, or even (perhaps) create the conditions necessary for it to occur? Because it allows us to maintain our way of life. We don’t want to be inconvenienced.
Re: Moore. I’d be interested to see what kind of charity work he’s been involved in. In his commentary on “Roger & Me” Moore tells how part of the movie distribution deal was that the studio would pay the rent of the people shown in the movie, for two years. And a number of other socially beneficial things. It’s tempting to dismiss someone with a lot of money as being careless for those without it, but I would want to know more about what Moore has given back before accusing him of opportunism. Certainly, with millions of dollars he’s much better able to give back to society, than if he was down and out.
August 23rd, 2004 at 6:17 pm
Hey “Andy, co-authored by Cris”:
Just an FYI, the next pack of liars MM is going after is the HMO’s. Now having an HMO and experiencing the poor care I receive at high cost, I am all for that. I’d love your ‘point / counterpoint’ on that topic when it comes out.
August 24th, 2004 at 11:49 am
The whole article that I link here is great reading. It goes to far to stay factual and not be a partisan bashing session. I’m linking to the bottom section. Scroll down to Deceit 58 “Moore Supports Terrorists” and Deceit 59 “Terrorists Support Farenheit”. http://www.davekopel.org/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm#Flint
This guy is obviously biased against Moore, but it’s interesting reading just the same: http://www.tacitus.org/story/2004/7/3/8152/65492
August 24th, 2004 at 11:51 am
I did not mean to say that the article “goes to far to stay factual”. That was a typo. I was trying to say that I think the article does try to stay factual.
August 25th, 2004 at 9:19 pm
“Dave Kopel” and “not partisan” ? How about this one: “Ann Coulter” and “not insane” ? I’m getting into this whole reality distortion field surrounding the right. True liberation! Anything goes. Cha cha cha.
August 26th, 2004 at 2:06 pm
I KNOW! (Monica:-)