Hey Steve, I saw your car out at Parkway Point Friday night as I was going to purchase LOTR: The Two Towers tickets. What movie were you watching?

Also, I saw in the Illinois Times that everyone is encouraged to wear their "Middle Earth attire," so does that mean you will be dressing up as Legolas the Elf or Gimli the Dwarf? My friend Eric Fliege is going and he will be dressing up as the beautiful elf Arwen (As played by Liv Tyler!).

Oh my god. I was looking for tips on how to destroy the AT-ST before he kills all the prisoners I was trying to save in the Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2 - Jedi Outcast game, when I came across an interesting paper on negative themes George Lucas is pushing in his Star Wars movies.

Here is an excerpt:

"And yet, in "The Phantom Menace," Lucas wants us to gush with warm feelings toward a cute blond little boy who will later grow up to murder the population of Earth many times over? While we're at it, why not bring out the Hitler family album, so we may croon over pictures of adorable little Adolf and marvel over his childhood exploits! He, too, was innocent till he turned to the "dark side," so by all means let us adore him."

Oh man, it goes on and on. The name of the article is

"Star Wars" despots vs. "Star Trek" populists
Why is George Lucas peddling an elitist, anti-democratic agenda under the guise of escapist fun?

It is buried two-fifths of the way down in this long rambling essay at AAMP.

Here is the heart of the article:

"By now it's grown clear that George Lucas has an agenda, one that he takes very seriously. After four "Star Wars" films, alarm bells should have gone off, even among those who don't look for morals in movies. When the chief feature distinguishing "good" from "evil" is how pretty the characters are, it's a clue that maybe the whole saga deserves a second look.

Just what bill of goods are we being sold, between the frames?

* Elites have an inherent right to arbitrary rule; common citizens needn't be consulted. They may only choose which elite to follow.

* "Good" elites should act on their subjective whims, without evidence, argument or accountability.

* Any amount of sin can be forgiven if you are important enough.

* True leaders are born. It's genetic. The right to rule is inherited.

* Justified human emotions can turn a good person evil.

That is just the beginning of a long list of "moral" lessons relentlessly pushed by "Star Wars.""

Fun stuff.

Revenge does not solve anything.

Want to get revenge on someone? How about sending their bio to 500 inmates for romantic correspondence?

All the info is here. http://www.very-special-woman.com/bio.htm

I'm gonna go with Girl. Girl. Cheese Whiz. Nun.

If you ask nice I can tell you where to get the Brittany and Anna video.

Help. I'm trapped at work and I'm bored. And it's only 9:30.

danger schmanger. You beavers out there have a good weekend.

Hey now, that's dangerous thinkin'.

I've always been fond of hairly little beavers. Someday I suppose.

So what is everyone's top sexual fantasy?

I'd like to do it in something like mud or pudding sometime.

Fark.com is very informative. Thanks for showing us this news site, Mr. Wanless. I particularly like the story about aliens pledging to support the US in a war against Iraq. I'm going to reconsider my position based upon these patriotic extra-terrestrials.

...

Matt...... not another word. Maybe i need to deal with my own insecurities of myself as a person and then i wouldn't have issues with yours. Oh well. I won't speak of it again.
How bout those "ex gays" huh? trying to scare our gay youth straight. I say be gay and be proud.

Monica, lighten up sister.

ex gay? Geez Matt....... What is up? Have you talked to someone about this rapid personality changing?

Speaking of Monty Python - How to tell if your child is becoming homosexual: he is too satirical.

ex-gays ex-gays

rama lama ding dong

I just found out the History club for Film Night will be showing "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," a historical film about the Middle Ages.

UIS is so much cooler than ISU.

No, that is not fair. I am just trying to incite a "fun riot" between myself and Mike.

[I got this story in an e-mail from GLOBAL Diversity, the GBLT group at UIS, who got is from a news service called THE LIST, from hatecrime.org]

"EX-GAYS" HITTING HIGH SCHOOLS AND COMPANIES

The "ex-gays" - a fake organization that the religious right cooked up
years ago to help take away the civil rights of gay people - now have a
new target, youth and businesses. As you should know by now, about ten
years ago, anti-gay activists cooked up this idea that if they found a
few people who would pretend to be "gay people who prayed and went
straight," they would then sell this to the American public as "proof"
that any gay person could become straight. I am not joking. They're
incredibly hateful people. Spouting off about "science" that proves
gays are prone to molesting children, that the reason you're gay is that
you were sexually molested by your father (that one was news to my
dad), and that a lot of us are gay because God put a "curse" on us (not
kidding about that one either). These folks are 100% certifiable nut
cases.

Forget the fact that the number one "ex-gay" spokesman, John Paulk, was
caught hitting on a young guy in a gay bar two years ago in Washington,
DC (the "ex-gay" dope was hitting on an off-duty staffer of the Human
Rights Campaign, doh!) Forget the fact that their chief "ex-gay" youth
spokesman, Wade Richards, has now left them and admitted that they're
all fakes. Forget the fact that the largest "ex-gay" group in England,
Courage, has now closed it doors and admitted that it was a fraud.
Forget the fact that most of the heads of these "ex-gay" groups - the
folks who say they have the secret to preventing homosexuality in YOUR
kids - have gay kids themselves who they don't seem to be able to cure.
And forget the fact that most of the "ex-gay" success stories - all 5 of
them - are folks on the payroll of religious right bigots who make
money off of attacking gay peoples' civil rights.

Anyway, what these people are doing now is suggesting that high schools
and businesses adopt "ex-gay" non-discrimination policies and "ex-gay"
clubs. Major stumbling block here? There are no "ex-gays," so who you
going to sing Cumbaya with? Other than that, sounds like a chipper
idea. Perhaps we can have Santa Claus and Easter Bunny non-
discrimination policies too (I always thought Rudolph was a bit nelly,
and don't even get me started on that twink of a dentist-elf Hermey).