p e n g u i n d e v i l

So I finally got around to watching The Saddest Music in the World. Though, yea, it was pretentious, his whole directorial concept is pretentious, so how much can I hold it against him. It was only the second Guy Maddin film that I have seen but I suppose it could be said that, so far, I like his stuff. The main problem I had with this film was the casting of Mark McKinney in the lead role. While I do like the Kids in the Hall just fine, I feel that the way that he played the character brought just a tad too much levity to the movie. Just because the movie is a bit silly and pretentious doesn’t mean that the actors should act like it is.

I also settled down to watch The Devil Rides Out which, while it isn’t the finest Christopher Lee film, I always find Charles Gray’s brand of evil to be a refreshing view. And I always find the Satanic Rites deals to be pretty well entertaining.

So yes. Lessons learned? I have learned to be sure and communicate
with people in such a way as to ensure that they ignore whatever
point I may be trying to make. In my personal life, yes, of course.
But also, in my other correspondense. I have mastered the art of
over-stating my point (and over-extending my point) to such an
extreme that the orginal point becomes lost.
Why am I speaking of this? Well, I sent off an e-mail today to CNN.com
regarding their quickpoll and issues that I think exists with the system
they use for supply possible answer for respondeds to utilize. What was
contianed in my little e-mail? Well, I’m glad you asked! Once again, in
the name of anti-brevity, here is my e-mail:

“Hi! I just have a comment about the Quickpoll. I am a fan of the
quickpoll and I tune in nearly everyday to respond to it but I had
one question: It seems to me that polls results become lopsided if
the answers offered do not express a full range of opinions. Maybe
you could also offer an “Other Answer” option?

For instance. Today’s poll at edition.cnn.com: “What’s the best
way to fight terrorism?”

The answers that you offer: Promoting democracy, Military action,
Tighter security… All reflect a support of dominance over people
(Spread our political system everywhere, military domination, control
our nations and our citizens). So no matter what answer one picks,
it shows that 100% of responses show that domination & control are
the only way to combat terrorism.

If someone believes that domination and control are, in fact, the causes
of terrorism, if one holds the thought that “terrorism is people fighting
back against nations that oppress them: say Palestine vs Israel (Israel
trying to basically destroy the Palestinian people in their own land),
IRA vs Britain (a people trying to end centuries of military, religious and
political domination by those across the Irish sea), the Middle East vs
the West (the 20th century long battle to change Islam and their society
into something that we find acceptable and to dominate the oil fields),
there is no way to express anything like that on the poll. If there was an
“other” option, then at least whatever minority of the population believe
that people have a right to self determination and that say, Islamic
terrorists wouldn’t attack the west if we weren’t over there with our
miltary and oil interests. People who realize that those folks don’t
actually “hate our freedom” but actually “hate our presence in their
lands” (as we would hate their presence in our) don’t have anyway
in this poll to express that maybe none of those three options would
really be the best way to fight terrorism and would, in fact in two of
those cases, actually cause more terrorism.

But I digress… In short, with a multiple choice poll, it would seem
sensible to offer one vague option just for those who want to vote but
whose opinions don’t match whatever specific answers that have been
supplied.

Thank you.”

Yes, as you might guess, this will end up in the “never got to the end…”
pile. Along with the e-mails that I sent to 2 Oregon State Reps’ regarding
the mass poisoning (er, I mean, the Fluoridation) of Oregon’s drinking
water and the e-mail that I sent to the NYT about the blantant right-wing
slant they showed by putting “Don’t Think of an Elephant” in the “Self-Help
best sellers” to prevent such a wonderful and helpful piece of progessive
politics from appearing on the Non-Fiction list.

Strangely, I never seem to get very many responses…