Voices From The Pulpit (Ramblings of an Inadequate Messiah)

America's road building in the Antartic draws condemnation Sir Edmund blasts US Road to Pole (BBC News On-Line; Sunday 28th November 2004)

My personal feelings are that the continent should remain as natural as possible. We can fly to the scientific bases around Antartica without having to resort to road-building.

I saw The Forgotten yesterday. It was a film that had intrigued me with the trailers and I'd been waiting to see for the last few weeks (as I kept getting the UK release dates mixed up).
Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) lost her son in a plane crash fourteen months previous. She's been unable to deal with his death and has been in therapy since the accident. Her husband tries to support her as much as he can but she is clining to memories that refuse to let her resume a sembalance of normal life.
Then pictures of her son start disappearing, family photos, home video footage, etc. Her husband, and psychiartrist, both inform her that she's been living in a delusional world for the last nine years since having a miscarriage. She's made-up the whole history of her son, there has never been a baby, there was never a plane crash. It's all in her mind. She refuses to listen and runs away.
In her night-time wanderings she comes across Ash Correll (played by Dominic West) who was the father of her own sons best friend who also died in the plane crash. Ash spends most of his time drunk and has no recollection of ever having a daughter. That is until Tally ends up trashing one of his rooms to reveal paintings on the walls made by the daughter. Ash thinks she's nuts and the police take her away, only for the NSA to turn up to take her off the police's hands. During this time Ash is flooding by memories of his daughter and goes to her aid.
Thus they become hunted by the NSA and the police. Although Detective Anne Pope suspects there is more to this that delusion and sets out to uncover the truth and help Tally and Ash.
The film is enjoyable and generally well filmed and directed. Some of the scenes come across a bit iffy and the whole film strikes you as a kind of extended X-Files episode. Saying that I enjoyed it and would defintely consider picking it up on DVD at some stage in the future. The plot struck me as very fmailiar though and, without telling you the ending, I'm sure I have either seen something very similiar in another film/TV show or read it in a book. Special effects are pretty good as and when they happen and there are certainly a few 'moments' which will make the audience jump.
School Report: B-/C+ (Enjoyable but more of a TV Film than a cinema trip)

I also didn't manage to write up a proper review of Birth (Nicole Kidman, et al) the other day. I'm not going to now either apart from to say it has a very good plot idea but the execution of it is ponderous and very dull. School Report: E (There are better things to do in your life and many better ways to cure insomnia)

I find the latest ruling from a Paris court regarding Jean-Pierre Jeunet's (fdirector of Amelie) latest film completely astounding.

The court has ruled that film is not 'French' enough and thus is not eligible for the state funding it received nor allowed to be entered into a number of film prizes such as Cannes.

The film, which has french actors (including Audrey Tautou who was the star in Amelie) and crew and was filmed in France, fell under scrutiny when producers associations in France claimed it should not get state funding because the production house was Warner Brothers France which is a subsidary of the US giant. Jeunet claimed this was a cynical ploy by French production houses to protect their slice of the pie in the home grown market and keep out competition. He also warned the decision could harm the French film industry as other overseas investors would think twice about funding French based films.

The ruling is all the more extraordinary when you consider that Oliver Stone's latest Hollywood Blockbuster 'Alexander', starring Colin Farrel. received French funding but was not filmed in France nor did it use French actors. But Oliver Stone's mother is French and he used a post-production house based in Paris so he qualified. Go Figure!!!

Anyway, I can't wait to see Jeunet's 'A Very Long Engagement' as Amelie is one of my all-time favourite films.

Film Rules "Not French Enough" (BBC News Online; Saturday 27th November 2004)

You scored as The Crab Clan. You are a member of the Crab Clan! You have a strong sense of duty, but lack a bit in tact. People don't understand the sacrifices you make so they can enjoy themselves. </td> The Crab Clan 78% The Crane Clan 78% The Scorpion Clan 72% The Phoenix Clan 72% The Mantis Clan 67% The Lion Clan 61% The Dragon Clan 56% Ronin 44% The Unicorn Clan 28% What Legends of the Five Rings Clan are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Right, I'd better get back on with some work now...ahem....

Taken from Rhona's LJ.... and yes, I am still at work and shouldn't be checking LJ!


The Indian snake creature known as the naga was
believed to reside in groups apart from normal
humans, and many legends tell of their secret
citites hidden deep in the jungle, underground,
or underwater. In many tales, the naga is often
of royal lineage, or sometimes even divinity.
Nagas are often associated with water, and it
is said that they can control the weather.

As a naga, you possess strong leadership abilities,
you are highly intelligent, and you can also be
a bit intimidating. You also enjoy the finer
things in life and like to be pampered, and
you're not too keen on mixing and mingling with
the unwashed masses.


Who is your inner Shapeshifter?
brought to you by Quizilla

After last months post-US Election get together/bitch at the Tally Ho we all decided we had to do it again - and do it more regularly. So it was decreed that the first Wednesday of every month would host a gathering centered around good conversation and alcohol followed by less coherent conversation as the alcohol kicked in.

So, if anyone is around this coming Wednesday evening we'll be having another small gathering at The Tally Ho Pub in North Finchley. We'll be kicking off about 8.30pm again.

Please come along if you can!!!

Thank you one and all, and especially thank you to miramanga and ian_wyrdness who friended me today taking my Friends total to 100.

I'm actually stunned that there's a hundred of you out there prepared to tolerate my whinging about politics, life and all things within (and without) this universe of ours. I know I've been rather to-heavy on some memes recently and a little light on non-news content but hopefully that'll be changing soon as I've been very rushed doing other things (such as organising Dragonmeet which is taking place next Saturday - 4th December!) or way too knackered/down to do anything at all.

I'll also be posting another poem or two within the next week as it was pointed out to me by one of my non-LJ friends who chekcs in on me every so often that I haven't posted another poem for a couple of weeks or so. Don't worry K you'll see one appearing soon enough - but I still think you should get yourself an LJ too :-p

Anyways, thank you to every single one of LJ Friends. A milestone has been achieved and the pressure is now on me to make sure that the time you spend browsing your friends pages and seeing my posts is not wasted.  :-)

Hope you all had a great weekend and as always, enjoy the ride!

Fascination Of Thought

Is it a new day
Or one we’ve already played
But lost as memory repeats.
The fascination of thought
And the oaths we swore
That we’d never again
Do what we did before.

But now it’s a new day
And we’ve forgotten promises,
Or did we ever really make
Promises?
Or is it a game
We’ve already played before
But now it’s lost
As memory repeats.
Repeats itself
Like an old black and white movie
That keeps being replayed
To an audience losing interest
In a cinema falling down.

FASCINATION OF THOUGHT
By A R J Abranson
23-05-91/16:12
(Taken from 'Wild Card Symphonies')

Guilt

Well I’ve tried
But I haven’t beaten the memories yet
I would if I could
But I can’t
Get you out of my mind
I want you to live up to yourself
I want to see you smile.

Just call my name in ecstasy
Forget my name and come next to me
I want you to get it together
And get out of my mind
To float amongst forgotten dreams
And live up to yourself and smile.

Ghosts don’t always want forgiveness
That’s a belief of a guilty mind
But if I believe your fiction
Does that mean I share your guilt?
Or am I guilty anyway
For wanting more than I have.
For wanting more than I deserve?

I don’t know why I still remember you
With the fondness that I do
There’s no reason I can think of
Unless I’m asking forgiveness
Or trying to forget such actions
That may have hurt either of us.

 Well I’ve tried
But I haven’t beaten the memories yet
I would if I could
But I can’t
Get you out of my mind
I want you to live up to yourself
I want to see you smile.

 I’ve no wish for tears
Or for another sunset
With the dead of a thousand lovers
Standing on the sand
Looking, lost and lonely
Pretending everything’s fine.

GUILT
By A R J Abranson
12-12-93/14:35
(Taken From 'Wild Card Symphonies')