Veritas Forum

There is no end to the bizarre in the art world.

Wow...this gave me goosebumps.

Here is a story of a real man.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=6062

For once I stand with and applaud the doings of the Civil Liberties Union.

Several years ago when making my short film 'Knight Time' I was severely harrassed by Oregon State Park Rangers and my day was nearly canceled because I didn't have official state permits and $1million liability insurance.

Well a similar incident happened in NYC and the CLU fought back on the side of the filmmaker.

An excellent excerpt that I couldn't agree with more:
"In a democracy, individuals don't have to ask before taking pictures or making films," NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. "Those activities are protected by the First Amendment. The Civil Liberties Union will continue to prioritize their protection."

For full article, clicky clicky
http://www.nyclu.org/sharma_pr_052307.html

Discontent with only raising the ire of the campus paper, our very own Nathanael Blake has gathered criticism on national TV! He's a written a couple of commentaries on the VT shooting incident here and here. This prompted Kieth Olbermann to give him the silver medal in his Worst Person Awards.

While fighting in the trenches, Walter Hooper was first introduced to C.S. Lewis through two elderly women who kindly mailed books to him. He devoured every word. “If a book can keep your attention above all that racket, it must be a very good book,” He said. Later when Bob Jones (yes that Bob Jones) visited their base chapel, Hooper couldn’t resist asking his opinion of Lewis. “That man,” replied Jones, “smokes a pipe. That man drinks liquor. But, I do believe he is a Christian.”

=> Read more!

Of the emergency broadcast system. Actually, just the ability to post youTube videos. This funny little vid is right up there with blue grass covers of Metalica.

A few guys I know from church just started this website to discuss art (properly understood) and its relation to Christianity.

A lovely essay here: "There are esthetes who appreciate the cross-eyed cartoons of Pablo Picasso, the random dribbles of Jackson Pollack, and even the pickled pigs of Damien Hirst. Some of my best friends are modern artists. You, however, hate and detest the 20th century's entire output in the plastic arts, as do I. "I don't know much about art," you aver, "but I know what I like." Actually you don't. You have been browbeaten into feigning pleasure at the sight of so-called art that actually makes your skin crawl, and you are afraid to admit it for fear of seeming dull."

Men and women process pain differently.

A piece I wrote for Human Events Online is now up. Enjoy.

"A US casino mogul has pulled out of a deal to sell his Picasso painting for a record $139m (£74m) after accidentally elbowing a hole in the middle."

The indispensable Club for Growth has won some primary victories.

DEAD

(so I am going to party tonight. WOOHOO!!!)

of his death.

According to this article, Madonna recently put herself up on a cross during a show in Los Angeles. Apparantly she has decided that the only way to make up for the sins of 30 years of bad music (not to mention making out with Britney Spears on National TV) was a gory self-execution. I have only one question on the matter....

Why didn't someone call me? If Madonna is going to do away with herself, after polluting our planet for so many years, then I want to see it happen!

NEW YORK, NY, May 19 – The release of "The Da Vinci Code" in theaters today was met with violence as Christians, outraged over what they consider to be a blasphemous depiction of their religion’s founder, rioted in major cities across Europe and the United States. At least seven protesters died in New York as rioters took to the streets and attacked local theaters. Dozens of police officers and standers-by were wounded.

=> Read more!

John Derbyshire presents a defense of Lolita, a book I think utterly vile. I'm not swayed by his piece, but he did have one good observation in there, "Here you see one of the paradoxes of our strange times. Our women dress like sluts; our kids are taught about buggery in elementary school; “wardrobe malfunctions” expose to prime-time TV viewers body parts customarily covered in public since “the lamented end of the Ancient World B.C.” (Humbert); our colleges have coed bathrooms; songs about pimps rise to the top of the pop music charts; yet so far as anything to do with the actual reality of actual human nature is concerned, we are as prim and shockable as a bunch of Quaker schoolmarms."

I have emoticons enabled again

Jay Nordlinger makes a damning point in today's Impromptu, "For many years, we have heard, "There was no excuse not to know what Hitler was about; he laid it all out, as early as Mein Kampf." Well, there's no excuse with regard to Ahmadinejad either: The man is not shy, and not cryptic. He's glad to tell you that Israel must be destroyed; that it must not be allowed "to continue to live." Are we not to take him at his word?"

There's also this:
"Got to tell you something hilarious, from last night. I attend the premiere of Lowell Liebermann's opera Miss Lonelyhearts, at the Juilliard School. And there's a sign at the entrance of the auditorium: "Please be advised, gunshots and herbal cigarettes will be used in this performance." Now, this opera — like the famed novella it's based on — features assault, fornication, perversion, madness, murder, and virtually every other kind of depravity or brutality. And what are we warned about? Gunshots and herbal cigarettes! You ask for commentary on modern America (don't you?) — you got it."

You know its bad when every single song on an album suddenly has deep personal significance.