Chomsky & Zinn: The Lost Commentary

The Leftist icons, Gnome Chomsky and Howard Zinn allegedly did a commentary for the Platinum Extended Edition of the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The key word there is allegedly. It's a little long, but I got a couple chuckles from it.

Live Blogging MOB at Keegan's Irish Pub

Mondocognito, Muzzy and I are still at Keegan's (see The Impudent Finger). I had the salmon, Muzzy had a sandwich and Mondo had the corned beef and cabbage. Guess which one of us will be sleeping on the sofa tonight. That's right. The cabbage guy.

We've had the pleasure of meeting Mitch Berg, Captain Ed, Doug of Bogus Gold and Douglas of Belief Seeking Understanding. We've met some other bloggers whose name I either can't recall or didn't hear the first time. It is just a little loud in here. I know. Excuses, excuses.

More LOTR Humor

This is not exactly Abbott & Costello's Who's On First routine, but it is funny.

Taters

You may have seen this before, but I still get a chuckle from it.

Ridley Scott's Rewrite

Being a fan of Blade Runner, Gladiator and Blackhawk Down, I was looking forward to Ridley Scott's new film, Kingdom of Heaven. Then I found this article from the Telegraph. It sounds like we are going to be assaulted again with another Hollywood revision of history. Here are some excerpts:

The £75 million film, which stars Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson, is described by the makers as being "historically accurate" and designed to be "a fascinating history lesson".

So, they made sure to thouroughly research the history of the Crusades, right? Let's find out...

Academics, however - including Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith, Britain's leading authority on the Crusades - attacked the plot of Kingdom of Heaven, describing it as "rubbish", "ridiculous", "complete fiction" and "dangerous to Arab relations..."

...Prof Riley-Smith, who is Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge University, said the plot was "complete and utter nonsense". He said that it relied on the romanticised view of the Crusades propagated by Sir Walter Scott in his book The Talisman, published in 1825 and now discredited by academics.

"It sounds absolute balls. It's rubbish. It's not historically accurate at all. They refer to The Talisman, which depicts the Muslims as sophisticated and civilised, and the Crusaders are all brutes and barbarians. It has nothing to do with reality..."

...Prof Riley-Smith added that Sir Ridley's [Scott] efforts were misguided and pandered to Islamic fundamentalism. "It's Osama bin Laden's version of history. It will fuel the Islamic fundamentalists."

Need another expert opinion? Okay:

Dr Jonathan Philips, a lecturer in history at London University and author of The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople, agreed that the film relied on an outdated portrayal of the Crusades and could not be described as "a history lesson".

He said: "The Templars as 'baddies' is only sustainable from the Muslim perspective, and 'baddies' is the wrong way to show it anyway. They are the biggest threat to the Muslims and many end up being killed because their sworn vocation is to defend the Holy Land."

Dr Philips said that by venerating Saladin, who was largely ignored by Arab history until he was reinvented by romantic historians in the 19th century, Sir Ridley [Scott] was following both Saddam Hussein and Hafez Assad, the former Syrian dictator. Both leaders commissioned huge portraits and statues of Saladin, who was actually a Kurd, to bolster Arab Muslim pride.

Need a pro-Muslim opinion? Will a French opinion do?

Amin Maalouf, the French historian and author of The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, said: "It does not do any good to distort history, even if you believe you are distorting it in a good way. Cruelty was not on one side but on all."

Ridley Scott's spokesman, intentionally or not, shares the real purpose of this film:

Sir Ridley's spokesman said that the film portrays the Arabs in a positive light. "It's trying to be fair and we hope that the Muslim world sees the rectification of history."

So, "historically accurate" has nothing to do with reporting history factually; it's about rewriting history to make it "fair". I've got news for you, Ridley. History isn't fair. It is what it is what it is.

Narnia Revisited

Jinx found a BBC article which refers to Harper Collins' plan to rewrite the Chonicles of Narnia in order to remove the Christian message. Although this article is from 2001 and does not refer directly to the film currently in production, it does show that those who hold the publishing rights to the books are open to the idea of eliminating Christ from a story which is an allegory of His life. I wonder if Harper Collins also intends to rewrite "Mere Christianity" in order to reach a wider audience?

Narnia Coming to the Big Screen

C. S. Lewis' classic fantasy "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" is being made into a live action film. The official movie website can be found here. There is also a trailer available here. You will notice that WETA Workshop/WETA Digital is involved in making the movie. WETA did most of the special effects and props in the Lord of the Rings movies. This bodes well for the look and design in the movie. The only question is whether or not the director and screenwriters will ruin the movie by trying to remove the Christian message from this Christian allegory.

Slipcase for Lord of the Rings SEE

If you're like me, you have collected each of the Special Extended Editions of the Lord of the Rings films as they were released. The downside to not buying them as a set is that you don't get the nifty slipcase. Fear not, my fellow Ringers! You can get a slipcase for your LOTR SEE collection by going here. The only charge is a $3.00 shipping and handling fee. This is legit. My ROTK SEE had a flyer advertising the offer. If you didn't get the flyer in your ROTK SEE or haven't purchased it yet, go and order your slipcase. It sounds like they may limit the supply.