Greetings fellow travelers. LaSalle here, holding down the fort for the inimitable Bernard Chapin, who is even now stretching his legs from his Adirondack chair, up on the fair Lake Michigan.
Meanwhile, I came across a this gem on the inland beach over at Pajama’s Media.
The Truth of the Jewish Conspiracy Revealed:
“Yes, I have grown sick and depressed intriguing against all and sundry, as I have been taught by the masters of the Torah, but especially against so beneficent a nation as the United States of America. I have experienced a change of heart. Not only will I now cease my nefarious activities but I will reveal to my fellow countrymen the sinister magnitude of the Jewish plot against the weal of the nation. President Obama’s former pastor of choice, Jeremiah Wright, was perfectly correct in suspecting our motives, though he failed to recognize the scope and nature of our recent electoral project.”
Such a howler. Read the full article here.
When is “murder” and “wife-abuse” the same thing? When a feminist decides.
What We’re Missing in DV Debate
Don’t get me started.
H/T TheMadShangi and AlekNovy.com
“There’s another force at work here. Whether you want to call it God, or the gods, or some sublime Inspiration, It Exists. And our two destinies are entwinned in its force.” – Gaius Baltar, Battlestar Galactica
Moving on to entertainment news, back in March the United Nations Department of Public Information sponsored a retrospective of the groundbreaking TV series Battlestar Galactica, which was credited with the invocation of myth and story-telling to express the modern condition.
The event was visited by a pantheon of UN officials, each offering witness to BSG’s value in educating the public about the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The creative and business brains of BSG – Ronald D. Moore and David Eick – were present, as were actors Edward James Olmos (Adm. Adama) and Mary McConnell (President Roslin). Whoopi Goldberg acted as the panel’s moderator.
CraigMokhiber, Deputy Director for the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, credited BSG with offering a fictional narrative of real situations covered under the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Sixty years after the adoption of that Declaration. (the) themes that we were struggling with at the end of the Second World War (are) the same themes represented in Battlestar Galactica.”
According to Mokhiber, one of Battlestar Galactica’s artistic successes was to identify a “moral relativism”, wherein the subjective “other” is systematically dehumanized and eventually (as in the case of the Cylons) denatured.
As a long-time fan of Battlestar Galactica, I will opine that this 84-episode television show is the first group-produced bardic narrative and performance of its kind. Seen as a whole, the series was expertly conceived, produced, nourished, sustained, honed, and concluded.
Peggy Heller, a lecturer at the University of Vancouver, says popular television is the modern way of social commentary. “Looking back to the myths of the past, they would take these ancient stories and would retell them in a way that was a commentary on the dilemmas they were facing. It seems certain television does that today,” she says.
“Present stories stumble on to an ancient tradition,” says Heller. “Consciously or unconsciously, they draw upon older stories, problems we’ve been wrestling with all the time.”
I can see that.
More on BSG:
Wikipedia
UN and Battlestar Galactica host discussion of human rights and armed conflict
‘Battlestar Galactica’ at the UN: A night of geekery, human rights, and fantastic curtains
Battlestar Galactica – Season 4.0
Battlestar Galactica – Season 3.0
Battlestar Galactica – Season 2.0 (Episodes 1-10)
Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.5 (Episodes 11-20)
Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.0 and 2.5
Battlestar Galactica (2003 Miniseries)
Battlestar Galactica – Season One
Battlestar Galactica – Season One [HD DVD]
From Mike Murphy at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
“A new trailer for the upcoming 2-hour “Battlestar Galactica” movie, “The Plan,” was released over the weekend. Until I watched it, I had almost forgotten how much I loved that series. Now I’m itching for fall to come, because “The Plan” looks seriously cool. The Sci Fi Network movie takes place early in the Season 1 storyline, after the Cylon attack on the human planets. Looks like we’ll get some behind-the-scenes explanation into Boomer’s attempted assassination of Adama and the destruction of the Olympic Carrier, the mysterious civilian ship the Galactica controversially blew up. And Tigh’s back, with both of his eyes!
Can’t… frakkin… wait.”
