The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
An apocalyptic story set in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and almost everyone is fighting for the necessities of life, especially water. I was surprised at how much I actually liked it. I was set for the disappointment that sequels usually bring. However, Mad Max: Fury Road is a visually stunning work by George Miller.
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Caleb, a 26 year old coder at the world’s largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world’s first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl. Watch this movie, it’s weird, it’s claustrophobic, it will suck you in, and it will make you stop and think.
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In the near future, Earth has been devastated by drought and famine, causing a scarcity in food and extreme changes in climate. When humanity is facing extinction, a mysterious rip in the space-time continuum is discovered, giving mankind the opportunity to widen its lifespan. A group of explorers must travel beyond our solar system in search of a planet that can sustain life. I watched this one afternoon a few weeks ago on Amazon Streaming. I would like to have seen it in iMax. It was a very good movie. Well worth watching.
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It seems the Commission on the General Conference for the United Methodist Church, meeting last month, decided to hold the first quadrennial General Conferences outside the United States . The original choice had the GC going to Zimbabwe in 2024, and the Philippines in 2028. Fortunately, an ever-present advocate for LGBT people within the Church was there, and raised a few concerns, including the fact that Amnesty International has declared Zimbabwe one of the most dangerous countries for LGBT people. The years were switched.
Read moreYes, this is a bit behind, but I had to make comments about some of the discussion points put forward
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Unfortunately, as gay people are less afraid to hide in a stifling closet, and are demanding that they be accorded the same rights as every other American, the heads of the leaders of the evangelical branch of the christian right are exploding. They are ratcheting up the rhetoric to a disturbing level, and some of their language is most certainly designed to evoke a violent response by unstable people who follow them. So, I’d like to drop them a note.
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But at the end of the day, with or without these RFRA laws, you still have the same religious freedoms you have had since the Republic was founded. You can pray to whatever God you choose, or you can choose to not pray. You can go to whatever house of worship you wish on whatever day you’d like, and you can crawl into the pulpit and preach the ugliest and nastiest things your sad little heart can drum up about people you don’t like. So Mike, stop with the lying about the need for these laws. The only thing you’re trying to do is get special rights to take your particular from of hatred and bigotry into the public square, and you’re finding that Americans are finally less and less tolerant of your intolerance. I know it’s hard to take now, but in the end, America, and even you, will be better for it.
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This past weekend was my birthday. I love Lewis Black, and have never seen him in person, so I was excited to find that he was performing his current show, “The Rant is Due, Part Deux,” at the Straz Center here in Tampa Saturday evening, March 14. I love Lewis Black and his comedy, but was really disappointed when this show went nowhere.
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We’re starting to see the backlash against LGBTQ people as the likelihood of nationwide marriage equality increases, and LGBTQ people achiever equality under the law. One of the main ways the Christianists are trying to keep us in our place, is to pass these bogus, and clearly unconstitutional, religious liberty bills. We saw how cowardly they are in Oklahoma this week.
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My expectations were not too high, and I was surprised that Lay was interested at all. I was in the band in high school, a great band at that, with a tough (but nothing like the J.K. Simmons character, Terence Fletcher) band director. I just didn’t see how it could be that compelling. Boy, was I wrong. Everything about this film was stellar; casting, writing, acting, directing, music and cinematography all came together to just tell an incredible story. You really need to see this movie, which is already out on DVD, Amazon and Redbox.
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This is a great Youtube by the Ad Council. You know them from the late night public service announcement on TV. The Video tells a great story about not judging a book by its cover. Take 3 minutes to get a smile for today.
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