For Fetishists And Pedants

What? Does George Lucas Need More Money?
The unaltered 'Original' Star Wars trilogy is finally making its way to DVD.
That's right. Having released the touched up/suped up versions in 2004, Lucas Film has finally given in to the voices of the pedants and fetishists who wanted to own the 'Originals'.

After decades of imploring pleas, Lucasfilm has decided to release the original versions of the classic Star Wars trilogy – Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back! and The Return of the Jedi.

The latest DVDs are versions that premiered in 1977, 1980 and 1983. Over the years, creator George Lucas revised and expanded those films, provoking dismay among fans of the early movies.

The new two-disk limited editions will be released on Sept 12 through Dec 31. Each set will include commentary by Lucas and by crew and cast members.

Star Wars devotees have been clamoring for years for the originals, which should push sales beyond the 2004 DVD box set. Lucasfilm’s John Singh said that set was the “best selling DVD set of all time.”

I think Frank Zappa had this problem with his early records where he'd replace entire drum performances using digital recordings, only to find certain kinds of fans wanting the 'Original' with all its faults. It's actually a very interesting issue in our times because I doubt Leonardo DaVinci had this poblem - "Hey Leonardo, the touch up in your new version of your Mona Lisa doesn't have quite the same smile, and I didn't want you to put in the Imperial Walkers in the background there!"

I read that author Yasutaka Tsutsui refuses to alter his writings on successive pressings of his books, because he sees them as historic documents, but clearly that kind of thinking is lagging behind the times. The 'finished media product' is a lot more motile and mercurial in the public place. To paraphrase Bill Clinton, what you think 'Star Wars' is, depends on your definition of what 'is' is...

Yet, for George Lucas to bow to the fans who really wanted the pedantic-fetishist version probably understands somewhere deep down in his geeky soul that for the sake of completion (and making even more money out of the same people) he must do this. If nothing else it's a sign we live in interesting times. What will I do? Probably end up buying the damn thing again. - *ugh*
September 12 you say? Better save my pennies.

Talking To The Wrong Demon: Evil But Kind Of Interesting

I actually don't believe in 'evil' the way that the Levantine religions tend to harp on and on. Evil to me is a bit more abstract than that. And so I bring to you some quotes from the closing stage of the Moussaoui trial.

Judge Brinkema used the final session of Moussaoui’s two-month trial to challenge his claim on Wednesday that the jury’s decision to spare his life meant America had “lost” — and he had won.

She said: “Mr Moussaoui, when this proceeding is over, everyone else in this room will leave to see the sun, smell the fresh air, hear the birds and associate with whomever they want. You will spend the rest of your life in a supermax prison. It’s absolutely clear who won.”

She told him: “You came here to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory, but to paraphrase the poet T. S. Eliot, instead you will die with a whimper.” Moussaoui tried to interrupt, but she continued: “You will never get a chance to speak again and that’s an appropriate ending.”

Moussaoui, 37, had entered court in Alexandria, Virginia, flashing a victory sign and shouting: “God save Osama bin Laden — you will never get him.” He was then forced to listen to the family members of those who died on 9/11. Rosemary Dillard, who lost her husband in the Pentagon attack, described how she had watched the man who destroyed her life “twiddle his beard and make faces” during the trial. “For you I feel nothing but disgust,” she told him. “I hope I never hear your name again.”

Moussaoui used his final five-minute address to respond directly to Mrs Dillard. “She said I destroyed a life and she lost a husband. Maybe one day she can think about how many people the CIA have destroyed . . . You have a hypocrisy beyond belief. Your humanity is a selective humanity. Only you suffer.”

He added: “You think you rule the world. We will prove you wrong. I have nothing more to say because you don’t want to hear the truth. You missed an opportunity here to find out why people like me and people like Mohammed Atta [who led the 9/11 attacks] have so much hatred. So we will come back again. If you do not hear it, you will feel it.”

In my humble opinion, the trial proves nothing, it brings back no lives, it hardly brings closure to 9/11. The words ring hollow on both sides; it may as well have been a sideshow, which in one sense it was.

Words are so weak, acts are so uncommunicative. We sink into a world of meaningless exchanges. Osama bin Laden is still out there, our present day 'Goldstein; even more blood is shed daily in Afghanistan and Iraq; and yet in concrete terms, nobody really cares beyond the price of petroleum per barrel. The cycle of violence rolls on, unyielding. See you next in Iran.

A Stupid Person Is A Stupid Person, Regardless Of The Colour Of His Robes

I'm really not into this war on Islam... oops, Terror, that is being peddled by 'Right Wing Christians'. I mean, to be 'right wing' and Christian seems like a strawberry brick proposition on any given day, but today, I find this piece of news in the SMH.

The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said reading the Koran, the sacred text of Islam, was vital "because the challenge of Islam will be with us for the remainder of our lives - at least".

But in a speech to US Catholic business leaders, Dr Pell said Western democracy was also suffering a crisis of confidence as evidenced by the decline in fertility rates. "Pagan emptiness" and Western fears of the uncontrollable forces of nature had contributed to "hysteric and extreme claims" about global warming.

"In the past, pagans sacrificed animals and even humans in vain attempts to placate capricious and cruel gods. Today they demand a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions."

What the hell is this man Pell talking about?
Is he saying that Global Warming is not taking place?
Is he saying people who complain about Global Warming taking place are by default pagans?
Is he saying that reducing carbon emissions is bad, un-Christian and un-Catholic?
Is he saying that continued Carbon Emissions is God's will (albeit his god)?
Is he saying that Deomocracy in the West would work better if people campaigning against better eco-management would simply shut up and go away?
Clearly, none of this is factually correct. So how on earth does he get away saying this stuff?

I can understand that since the days of Gallileo the Church is anti-science on a profound level, that deep down, they've never really recovered their credibility from the impact of losing the Geocentric/Heliocentric debate; but do the Catholics of Australia really like having this reactionary, pro-business-anti-environmenta nut-case shepherding their souls?
And isn't that sort of like quite corrupting to their own souls?

Then I read on and found this:

Last year, Dr Pell courted controversy when he drew a link between Islam and communism.

His speech on Islam and Western democracies was delivered in Florida on February 4 but only appeared on the archdiocese's website on Wednesday.

Dr Pell said every nation and every religion, including Catholicism, had "crimes in their histories". In the same way, Islam could not airbrush its "shadows".

Claims of Muslim tolerance of Christian and Jewish minorities were largely mythical and he wondered about the possibility of theological development in Islam when the Koran was said to come directly from God.

"Considered strictly on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion and its capacity for far-reaching renovation is severely limited," he said.

However, like Christianity, Islam was a living religion and the existence of moderate Islam in Indonesia was proof of the softening impact of human intervention.

Democracy and moderation did not always go hand in hand and an "anorexic vision of democracy and the human person was no match for Islam", he said.

It was Adolf Hitler who tried to connect Judaism and therefore by extension all Jews to Communism. Here we have a man trying to connect Islam with Communism. Not only is it a longer bow, it's entirely the wrong line. It does however prove Dr. Pell's radical Fascist mentation. My mind boggles at the abject stupidity of this man with so much power vested in him. We live in dangerous times simply because too many idiots like this get air time.
Democracy would be best served by keeping more of these kinds of morons away from affairs of the State.