Christian groups slam new Kidman children's movie
by Tangi Quemener Mon Dec 3, 7:33 PM ET
Christian groups are up in arms here over a new children's film starring Nicole Kidman and based on an award-winning novel by British author Philip Pullman, accusing it of being anti-religious.
"The Golden Compass" which opens here Friday is the film version of "The Northern Lights," the first book in Pullman's "Dark Materials" fantasy trilogy aimed at teenage readers.
The books by confirmed agnostic Pullman trace the fate of a young girl, Lyra, as she becomes drawn into an apocalyptic battle of good against evil, meeting a host of strange characters along the way including a polar bear, voiced in the film by Ian McKellan.
Evil in Pullman's books is represented by the church, called the Magisterium, whose acolytes kidnap orphans across England to subject them to horrible experiments in the frozen northern wastelands.
[...]
The author's attack on organized religion has been toned down for the film, in a bid to attract as wide as audience as possible, something director Chris Weitz has acknowledged.
However, the sanitized version of Pullman's book has failed to appease the Catholic League, which gathers some 350,000 members, and which has already been sending out leaflets denouncing the film.
"The Catholic League wants Christians to stay away from this movie precisely because it knows that the film is bait for the books," said president William Donohue.
"Unsuspecting parents who take their children to see the movie may be impelled to buy the three books as a Christmas present. And no parent who wants to bring their children up in the faith will want any part of these books," he added. [...]
Oh wow. I'm so sorry that not every movie in the United States of America has blatant Christian overtones. Heaven forbid a film be released that doesn't place religion in a good light; we wouldn't want that viewpoint to be represented on screen, now would we? And our children can't see this film! Stay away! Because although it is an allegorical fantasy that doesn't specifically call-out anyone, it may cause them to *gasp* THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX and "bait them" into reading the books! Lord knows their Faith isn't strong enough to prevent them from changing their minds after reading this satanic and atheistic (they're the same thing after all) garbage! PROTEST THIS FILM!
Honestly, Christian Right? Honestly? This is why your interest group is laughed at by educated members of society. "Let's not care that our boys are dying in Iraq, but we sure as hell will protest a fantasy movie!" Give me a break.Gmail links to AOL instant messaging
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer Wed Dec 5, 7:09 PM ET
AOL is providing the newest communications channel on Google.
Fulfilling a pledge made two years ago, Google Inc. this week unveiled a feature that enables people to chat on AOL's instant messaging service through "Gmail" — the popular search company's free e-mail service. [...]
This is, like, my IM dream come true. I've tried it out already and it's awesome. You should give it a go as well.
Tigers, Marlins finish blockbuster deal
By MIKE FITZPATRICK, AP Baseball Writer 1 hour, 25 minutes ago
Dontrelle Willis was on vacation in Mexico when the blockbuster deal was completed, and Miguel Cabrera was home in Venezuela.
Their next stop is Detroit, where the busy Tigers are building an awfully powerful team.
The Tigers finalized their big trade with the Marlins on Wednesday, an eight-player swap that sent both coveted All-Stars from cash-strapped Florida to go-for-broke Detroit.
The Marlins received a package of six players, including two highly rated prospects: left-hander Andrew Miller and outfielder Cameron Maybin. The teams reached a preliminary agreement Tuesday, with the deal subject to both sides being satisfied after exchanging medical records.
The Tigers also sent catcher Mike Rabelo and right-handers Burke Badenhop, Eulogio De La Cruz and Dallas Trahern to Florida in a huge trade that developed quickly and took the spotlight away from the Johan Santana sweepstakes at baseball's winter meetings.
Hooooooly whoa. Damn. Talk about blockbuster offseason deals. The Marlins once again trade away their stars, and the Tigers have totally taken all of the power in the AL Central. First off, I don't think D-Train will see a lot of success in this league; he's gonna get shelled. But who cares when your offense will do the same to the opposing team?:
Granderson - CF
Polanco - 2B
Cabrera - 3B(?)
Ordonez - RF
Sheffield - DH
Guillen - 1B
Renteria - SS
Rodriguez - C
Inge - 3B(?)
Damn. Is that possible to pitch to? I don't think so. And on the other side of the trade, we have the Marlins gaining future star talent...that will end up on the Yanks/Sox/Tigers eventually anyway. But when it's all said and done, the AL should easily take interleague play, the All-Star Game, and the World Championship once again; it's just that much better than the Senior Circuit.
Gardenhire shoots down rebuilding
12/05/2007 5:20 PM ET
By Kelly Thesier / MLB.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Coming into this offseason, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire knew that his ballclub would be in for its fair share of changes.
Center fielder Torii Hunter was expected to leave via free agency, which he did. The Twins were expected to try to extend the contract of ace Johan Santana or trade him if that wasn't possible. So far, the team is in the process of working on a trade.
It's all the impending departures that have led many to speculate whether the Twins are in the midst of a rebuilding process -- a notion that Gardenhire quickly shot down during his managerial interview session at the Winter Meetings on Wednesday.
"Everybody keeps talking about us trying to shelve everybody and clean house to get ready for our new stadium, but that's not the case here," Gardenhire said. "That's why we haven't parted ways with Santana up to this point. We need to get back people that are going to help us win right now in the Major Leagues."
Santana's future was the hot topic of discussion during Gardenhire's 30-minute session, just like it has been for the entire week at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. It's created plenty of buzz despite the fact that no move had actually been made.
"Nothing has happened and nothing is imminent," Gardenhire said when speaking to the media around 10 a.m. CT. "He's still my starting pitcher. That's what I know about Johan Santana."
You tell 'em, Ron! You let this clueless rookie GM of yours know that you actually need a team in order to manage!
And also, I'd like to report that Hillary's lead over Obama in New Hampshire is down to only single digits. Ohhhh boy. I didn't foresee this as being so close, but perhaps the tide is turning indeed...
My GREs went much better today than last time. Well, at least the math part did; I sucked it up royally with the verbal but that's okay since I did fine on it before. Actually, this week as a whole is going much better than I expected. We did excellent on .622, .82 is coming together, I got a job offer (!), and all that's left is this .31 pset for Friday. And after that, I'm home free...
Oh, I suppose I should cover the Santana Situation more closely before I sign off. Well, there's nothing much to cover. Boston and Minnesota "appear to be close", but this is the longest stretch of "closeness" I've ever experienced in my life. Neither Theo nor Smith want to make this move. As I said awhile ago, Johan will be starting for the Twins in April.
