Moralmovies

Name:
Location: Forest Town, California, United States

Many people ask where Helga and I (Vinnie) met. It was at a Jesus Freak festival in the days of my squandered youth. Some brownies were going around that tasted funny and the next thing I know, I'm married to a hippie. But she was cute, and I wouldn't serve a church that hired a divorced pastor, so we are still together till Judgement Day, when I assume we will go our seperate ways. Let me (Helga) add, that it seems the Universe brought Vinnie and I together, who am I to argue. He does have a judgmental nature though, which I find unforgivable.

Monday, August 14, 2006

WORDPLAY

Vinton:

I went in to this film with some hope it would not be complete filth and tripe. I heard it was a documentary about crossword puzzles and a national crossword puzzle tournament.
Now I like word games. I often do the word search in the Sunday School supplaments and have a couple of them myself. What could be the harm in word puzzles?
You'll have an idea once I tell you the film centered on puzzle master Will Shortz. You may not know the name, but I'll tell you this, he works for the New York Times and NPR. In the film he calls these institutions the finest news organizations going. What's wrong, Will, did they shut down Pravda?
Obviously, we know from the organizations mentioned, with have a blue state, liberal slant in this film. But it gets worse. They interview celebrities who do cross word puzzles. Such as Jon Stewart (the smarty pants 'phoney newsman' from Comedy Central, as if there were any other kind of news man), Ken Burns (PBS, need we say more), and BILL CLINTON! But we are not yet at the bottom of the barrel, they also interview a NEW YORK YANKEE!
Now I've always had a bad feeling about the NYTs, ever since I learned they didn't run comics. You have to wonder about the patriotism of an organization that refusing to be associated with NANCY or THE FAMILY CIRCUS. Now with a little research, I discovered this newspaper had been a big fan of Mr. Joseph Stalin. So I was on to their game, before they started providing helpful hints to terrorists.
But what could be the harm of little puzzles? I wondered at first, till the film tipped their hand.
You see, in 1996, the day of the presidential election, they did this with the puzzle. They had a clue (16 across) that could be either CLINTONELECTED or BOBDOLEELECTED. They worked the clues with various clues so either answer could be correct.
Do you get it now? The puzzles are obviously a way for passing information to communists and terrorists. I wouldn't be surprised if Fidel Castro had read the puzzle every day till his recent death (if you consider two years ago recent, which is my estimation.) The 'answers' they give are not the real answers, which can only be decoded by the stealth KGB or Al Quada.
If that wasn't enough to keep you from the film, let me tell you here and now (please shield the eyes of young people that may be reading) though the film is rated PG, it shows two homosexual men kiss. (Alright, you can let the kids read again.)
So don't see this film, because a good sermon is all the fun you need. But if you insist on something else, I've composed a word search to go with today's riview:

X N E W Y O R K T I M E S P
E D I T O R S Z A R E A L L
H E L L B O U N D A S A R E
V I R T U A L L Y A L L C B
H O L L Y W O O D X X X X X
A C T O R S A N D B B U U U
I I I D I R E C T O R S Q Q
V V V E S P E C I A L L Y X
W O D D Y A L L E N E A N D
M A D D O N A U N L E S S I
T H E Y R E P E N T A N D W
G I V E R E F U N D S F O R
T H E F I L T H T H E Y X X
Y U I I I H A V E M A D E Q

Helga here:
Did you know that the bottom half of the New York Times crossword puzzle is the mirror image of the top half, so if you take a blank puzzle and turn it upside down the space are in the exact same order?
I learned this in WORD PLAY, and this is one of the reasons I can't recommend this film. Such an obsesive-combusive world, the world of the crossword puzzle. In the national competition finals, three people work the same crossword puzzle. And if you put one letter the wrong box, you lose. How judgmental is that? You have to put the pre-ordained words in the right boxes in the right order. It us downright facsist I tell you.
So I can not recommend this film, but I will give you a puzzle that is all about freedom.
With love and hamonic convergence, Helga

(Fill in the blanks, unless you want to do something else altogether with them!)

1) I love _________________!

2) I feel mellow when I ______________ !

3) Men are pigs because ___________ !

4) Instead of polluting the Mother/Sister Earth, I ___________!

5) The universe will be better when I _____________ !

Have fun! (And remember, if your answers feel right, they are right!)

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

"Triumph of the Will" (1934)

From Vinnie:

This is a reather interesting film for us to review, because it is a bit of a history lesson. This film was directed by Leni Riefenstahl (a person of German descent, I believe) as a propaganda film for none other than Adolf Hitler. It records the German Fuerer going to rallies, and has him and lots of people speaking about Germany, the Rhine and such, and has plenty of shots of men in formation and Nazi flags and eagle statues.
Now I take a back seat to no one in my abhorance of this fiend who went to battle against God' country, America (at least it was for the first half of the 20th century, till they took prayer out of the schools) and killer of God's chosen people, the Jews.
But they did manage to make a film without any foul langauge (though I am depending on the people that translated the German to the English, so maybe there was cursing and devil worshiping languag that was cleaned up) and not a hint of sexual immorality. In this, Hollywood film makers of today could learn a from this Riefenstahl fellow.
I even learned a thing or two. I had always wondered I was young and unfortunately watched television, what they meant on "Hogan's Heros" when the Germans said "Sieg Heil" (well, it means "Hail Victory").
Still, the film seems to be pretty favorable to Nazism, which although not as bad as Communism, still is very unBiblical. And my keen moral eye noted some idolatry in the film, so I cannot recommend it to any one (except maybe history students with a note from their instructor.) So remember, a good sermon is all the fun you need.

From Helga:

I watched this bit of history with Vinnie at the museum, and was struck by errie parrallels to the present day.

1) Hitler spoke to crowds - George W. Bush speaks to crowds.

2) There were Nazi flags all about during the Nazi rallies - there were American flags everywhere at the Republican conventions.

3) Hitler mentioned God in a speech - Bush mentions God in speeches.

I tell you, it was just uncanny, the list could go on and on.

On hte other hand, Hitler did say the German people should be peace lovers and in one scence, he looks very fondly at a cat. (And I've been told Hitler was a vegatarian.) It does make one wonder whether perhaps Americans were dragged into World War II on lies, just as we were in the current conflict. If FDR had been a Reblican, we could be sure.

I was dissappointed that a film directed by a woman, had so few woman. You can be sure a woman Fureur would never take anyone to war.

I must now get to a PASA meeting, but till later, bioharmony to all! Helga

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Scoop

Vinton writes:

If recent days have taught us anything, it is that you can not judge a film by its maker. One of the only films to come out of Hollywood that I could even come close to recommending was "The Passion of the Christ". (I couldn't recommend others see it, because it was rated 'R', and if anyone else saw one going into an 'R' rated movie, it might cause them to stumble. After, how would those outside the theater know you were seeing a film rated 'R' for violence, rather than for foul language or nakedness.) And yet, as we have heard in the news, the maker of that nearly fine film, does, in fact, drink alcohol. Somehow we must seperate the film maker from the film.
So I went in the film, "Scoop" knowing the film maker, Woody Allen is a well known athiest, degenerate and New Yorker, but I put those things aside to judge the film as a film.
And the film, standing alone, apart from its perverted creator, I cannot recommend. Sure it does have some interesting things about a couple of suspect professions.
Mr. Allen plays a magician who goes by the name, The Great Spledini. In the name of magic, show buisness magic, he accidently conjurers up the spirit of a dead reporter who happens to divulge to a member of the audience a clue to a murder.
At least someone in the show buisness industry is finally honest about the link between "magic shows" and the occult. I've been suspecious of this for years.
Sure, I do myself the occasional illusion in a children's sermon. But before I do the trick, I clearly label it as such and not magic. And after I perform the illusion with a suitable Biblical or spiritual analogy, I explaing the illusion ("See the hidden pocket in my sleeve", "See how the Bible coloring book has uneven edges to the pages" "See how the elephant is really your Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Milia")
The film not only shows the clear link between magic shows and the occult, but also the link between Tarot Cards and Murder (the serial killer always leaves a Tarot Card at the murder scene.) I have always been suspecious of such a cause and effect. (I also suspect palm reading leads to cannabalism and the horoscope will make you blind and weegee boards lead to thoughts of suicide and bad posture.)
The other dark profession examined in the film is journalism. Now this is not the wholesome kind of reporting I did at seminary when I scribed for "The End Times Times". There we interviewed and investigated our stories. (I'm still proud of my expose on Darwinism in the kindergarten class.)
But that isn't what the student reporter played by Scarlett (fitting name) Johannson does in the film. No, she seems to think the way to investigate a person is to lie about one's idenity and then have sexual intercourse with them (in this case that Wolverine fellow from those comic book films.) Now, I'm sure this is standard reporting procedure at The New York Times, but I think even some reporters at CNN would find this behavior questionable.
And, of course, the film has much in the way of double Ontarios (French for dirty jokes), but fortunately, I did not get them. If I did have any inclination to foul humor, I would simply remove the 'S' from the title of this film, but I am above such things.
So let me urge you to skip this, and all films, because a good sermon is all the fun you need.

Helga:

Sadly, I must once again agree with Vinnie that you should not see this film.
The young womyn character in the film, played by Scarlett Johannson, goes to England to visit with friends in the upperclass and falls for the Hugh Jackman character who plays a Lord or some such thing, but the film never directly critizes the class system as such.
I believe in the equality of all human beings (and that equality goes out also to all species, whether human or chimpanzee, moose or bananna slug). I do not believe there should be 'classes' on planes - first class, buisness class, tourist class and such - all people are equal. (I also don't think anyone should be destroying our planet by flying a plane either, but that is another subject.)
I believe any judgements and distictions made by class are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! (Unless these distictions are made in the Hindu caste system, because we can not judge other cultures, especially when the culture, such as anything related to Eastern Spirituality is clearly superior to our own.)
And it goes without saying the film is sexist, as are all Hollywood films. Many times in the film, the subject of Ms. Johannson's glasses are raised, as to whether they make her more or less attractive. I thought perhaps this might be a telling plot point in the mystery, but no, the 'focus' is just lookism. Does anyone in the film raise the point whether Mr. Allen would look better or worse without glasses? I think not.
At least there was no talk about a romantic or sexual relationship between Mr. Allen and Ms. Johannson. As my regular readers know, I do not believe there should be any obstacles love, whether those obstables be age or race or gender, but when it comes to Mr. Allen and younger womyn, let me just say... how should I put it? Alright - "EWWWWWW!YUCK!PETU-EEE!"
So, do not burn fossil fuels to venture to see this film. Instead of this comedy, enjoy the comedy found in your own soul. Instead of this mystery, enjoy the mystery your own heart. Instead of theater popcorn, enjoy the popcorn of your own karma.
Best of our Mother Earth to you all, Helga