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nagpants

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Posts posted by nagpants

    Throbbing

    in General off-topic discussions

    Posted

    I had a throbbing headache this morning. Probably has a lot to do with the 5 bottls of beer last night. (And to think 10 years ago, that would have been nooooo problem.... \:\( ).

     

    Anyway, came to think about a friend back at college who actually DRANK MORE when they were in that state, in the morning. And I've heard of people who drink all day and just keep on going....

     

    I just can't get that. This morning I would have puked violently if I had even had a faint whiff of any alcohol - probably still would now!

    Easter

    in General off-topic discussions

    Posted

    Does that include illegally downloading music??

     

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    I had a dream recently. It was really strange. I fell down the stairs and cracked my head. It opened, revealing itself to be a gigantic Cadburys Creme Egg - so you can imagine all that middle part oozing out.

     

    I wonder what it meant. Hey thats a good topic. I'll make a new topic.

    The passion of Christ.

    in General off-topic discussions

    Posted

    Just read this mighty review, thought I'd share:

     

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    Probably due to our reputation as a religious, predominantly Catholic country, Ireland was given the chance to see The Passion of the Christ before England. You could practically hear the holy-rollers shout "Yippee". Not only do they get to see their hero on-screen but they also get one up on the Protestants! Well I'm neither a catholic nor a Christian and the prospect of seeing this movie never exactly filled me with excitement. First of all, I had heard about the explicit violence and being a bit of a nancy when it comes to stuff like that, I planned to avoid. But more importantly, I wasn't anxious to see one man's interpretation of an already biased and fascist work of fiction presented on screen as fact. I'm not just anti-religion; I'm militantly anti-religion! I don't go around bombing churches or anything but I do look good in a "Jesus is Coming - Look Busy" t-shirt and I'm known to laugh at the bible bashers on campus. So anyway, I wasn't planning to go and see this. But then one of my friends went last week and said it was great. He's a fellow atheist and said it's a good story and a good movie whatever your beliefs. And I supposed that if you're a movie fan, you have to see this event.

     

    The first I noticed was that the core audience was very different to your usual cinemagoers - it was mainly elderly people. The film was given a 15pg certificate over here, meaning that children of any age can go as long as they’re with someone over the age of 15. I'm sure kids all over the country are being brought to this film to be religiously traumatised by the violence at the hands of their psalm-sucking parents. Luckily there was none there when I was.

     

    The film starts off well in a beautifully lit Garden of Olives where a bitching Satan tempts the man himself. In this movie, Satan ROCKS. The woman who plays him just reeks of evil! The atmosphere and tone of the film is established from the off - sombre, dark and heavy. Then Judas gets his thirty pieces of silver, the Jews arrive and the anti-Semitic campaign begins.

     

    Looking at the U.S Box-Office charts, The Passion has so far taken an incredible $264 million dollars and that's rising. But how much of that is due to the non-stop controversy surrounding the movie for the last six months? A lot I'd say. There have been loud accusations of anti-Semitism and even louder denials. But Mel Gibson can say what he wants - The Passion is the most rampantly anti-Semitic film since Leni Riefenstahl picked up her camera and made propaganda for the Nazis. Throughout the entire running time the Jews are portrayed as nothing more than a bloodthirsty murderous mob who wants Jesus' head on a stick, or failing that, his body on a cross. They scream for his crucifixion even after his entire body has been ripped to shreds by razor-tipped whips. I found it bewildering that Gibson portrayed Pontius Pilate, the man we were always thought at school was the most evil man in history, in a very sympathetic manner. He's a good guy really you know! Same for many of the Roman soldiers. If Gibson has been decent enough to extend this same sympathy to the Jews then there would not be a problem. But oh no, that's would be too different from the gospels. To be fair, I don't totally blame Gibson for the anti-Semitic overtones in his work. As Eamon McCann put it in this month’s issue of Hot Press magazine - "If The Passion is to be true to the bible then it has no alternative to be anti-Semitic. It wouldn't be authentic if it wasn't" By striving to film the gospels as he interprets them, Gibson had to show the Jews as they are portrayed in that anti-Semitic, fictitious piece of religious propaganda. Filming the gospels and leaving out the anti-Semitism would be like filming Mein Kampf and doing the same. But if only Gibson had the good grace to show the Jews as having some redeeming features I don't think there'd be half as much uproar. For an example of how out of control the Jew bashing gets consider this:

     

    Once the Jews have delivered Jesus to the Romans and demanded he be punished, they all stand in a circle watching him being literally ripped to shreds. And who's that standing with them? Oh yes, why it's Satan himself. That's right, there's Lucifer, standing alongside the Jews watching the scourging at the pillar. If that's not anti-Semitism then I don't know what is.

     

    And then there's the violence. I have no doubt that this is the most violent film ever to be given a mainstream release. The viewer is spared nothing. In the near 20 minute scourging scene, we see a man having large chunks of flesh ripped out of him, often in gory slow-mo. At one particularly vomit-inducing bit, we get a slow motion side-view of Jesus as the razor-whip comes down on his side, digs into his flesh and is then pulled out with force sending chunks everywhere. This goes on and on and when you think it's finally over, as Jesus lies there in a massive pool of blood, he's turned over and the whole thing starts again. The violence is pornographic in its extremity and not at all necessary to the extent given. But there's more to come - the crucifixion itself is unbearable. Nails through bone in bloody close up followed by the most excruciating bit in the entire movie - an arm wrenched out of its socket with a horrible "pop".

     

    Here's something I just can't figure out - if Gibson was striving for complete accuracy then how come he cast a white man in the role of Jesus? The real Jesus was a Semite so he undoubtedly had dark skin. By intentionally overlooking this simplest of facts, Gibson has proven that accuracy is not his top priority and has revealed his ignorance by casting a good ol' white boy in a coloured man's role.

     

    So, leaving aside the violence and anti-Semitism, is The Passion good as a film? I would say yes. It's gorgeously photographed, brilliantly acted, well directed and powerful. But if you don't have any knowledge of the bible, then you're going to be confused as many characters are not properly introduced and we are left with absolutely no idea who they are. I guess Gibson just had no time for us non-believers.

     

    I don't know whether to recommend the Passion of the Christ or not. On the one hand, it is a good film. On the other, it's intolerant and repulsively violent. Make up your own minds.

     

    One more thing, if you happen to be sitting beside someone who is fondling their rosary beads and crying the whole way through, don't be too alarmed, this happened to me too.

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