date:20100416

I'm hoping that the kid was just thinking outside of the box. There are a
lot of kids that come up with some great ideas. Many lose that zeal when
they get older.

Anyone remember the kid that created a device so that he could talk to his
friends underwater?

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 5:34 PM, Martin Baxter wrote:

>
>
> This means one of two things.
>
> Either the kid dreams big, for which I applaud him, or Mommy and Daddy
> handed him an iPad the day they became available, in which case I sneer at
> him.
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 7:14 PM, Mr. Worf  wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>>- Home /
>>- ZDNet Photo Galleries 
>>
>> Kid builds his own iPad stand 
>> (photos)
>>
>>- Next Image » 
>>
>>  
>>
>>- 
>>- 
>>- 
>>- 
>>- 
>>- 
>>- 
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
>> Mahogany at:
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
>>
>
>
>
> 
>



-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

Re: [scifinoir2] Dreadlocks OT

Yea, but its not as cool... :)

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:37 PM, Bosco Bosco  wrote:

> I just wanted to say that removing a decade of dreadlocks from the top of
> your head will reduce the average human's weight by 10%
>
> Bosco
>
>
>
>
>
> 
>
> Post your SciFiNoir Profile at
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/app/peoplemap2/entry/add?fmvn=mapYahoo!
> Groups Links
>
>
>
>


-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

[scifinoir2] Dreadlocks OT

2010-04-16 Thread Bosco Bosco

I just wanted to say that removing a decade of dreadlocks from the top of your 
head will reduce the average human's weight by 10%

Bosco

[scifinoir2] The iPad: A Cat's Perspective

 The iPad: A Cat's Perspective by Mike Krumboltz

 9 hours ago
984 Votes

The recently released
iPadis, in the
words of Apple cofounder and CEO Steve
Jobs , a "magical
and revolutionary product." That may be true from the human perspective, but
how does the feline species feel about the touch-screen device?

One cat owner aimed to find out. He placed his iPad in front his cat, Iggy,
to see just how user-friendly the device really is. Watch below for the
results...

As you can see, Iggy finds the device quite user-friendly. Not shy about
diving in with paws first, the curious cat especially enjoys creating music
on the iPad's piano.  If only it came with a yarn app...

Cats dig it, but what about their arch rivals: dogs? Here's a video that
shows Chloe the canine's experience with the tablet. Chloe, after some
initial paw-padding, backs away and barks at Steve Jobs' wonder-product. She
must be more of a PC pooch.

Follow Buzz Log on Twitter .
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9NP-AeKX40&feature=player_embedded




-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

Re: [scifinoir2] SyFy Premieres New "Riverworld" Miniseries this Sunday Night

You were better off watching Mega Shark or Pirahana Picnic. Or Dino-Snake.
Or whatever is on this week.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 8:54 PM, Keith Johnson wrote:

>
>
> that's what I heard, so I didn't bother watching.
>
>
> - Original Message -
> From: "Mr. Worf" 
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 11:36:05 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] SyFy Premieres New "Riverworld" Miniseries this
>  Sunday Night
>
>
>
> My comment on the first mini-series. It was garbage, didn't make sense and
> ended weird. As if they didn't air an episode.
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 8:30 PM, Keith Johnson 
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Well, looks like SyFy is going back to the well, so to speak, with a new
>> "Riverworld" miniseries, premiering this Sunday night. I have a few
>> questions about Riverworld for the gang:
>>
>> One.  I believe SciFi aired a Riverworld miniseries a few years back, that
>> wasn't well received by fans. My understanding was much of the basic premise
>> from the source material was changed, such as the protagonist of the movie
>> *not* dying over and over, as in the book(s)? Can anyone here comment on
>> that first miniseries?
>>
>> Two. From what you've heard and read  and seen about the new
>> depiction--such as getting the dying over and over thing right--do you have
>> hope for this new one? Do you plan to watch it?
>>
>> Three. I have never read any of the "Riverworld" stuff. Is it good and
>> worth seeking out? I was just deciding on my next big undertaking for
>> leisure reading. It came down  a choice of  the "Wheel of Time" stuff (which
>> I've never read), return to Raymond Fiest's world of Midkemia (the "Riftwar"
>> saga and others), or Terry Brooks' latest works tying together the worlds of
>> his books depicting the fall of our civilization with the ones that depict
>> the rise of the magic that leads to the world of Shannara. Should
>> "Riverworld" be on my list of potential choices?
>>
>> 
>> http://www.syfy.com/riverworld/
>>
>> What if, after you die, you are reborn on another planet, along with
>> everyone else who has lived and died on Earth? And what if, in this
>> incredible life after death, there comes death after death, after death,
>> after death? Welcome to Riverworld, a place of strange, watery beauty and
>> the current abode of a fascinating cast of the recently (and
>> not-so-recently) dead. It certainly isn't Heaven, but it just might be Hell.
>>
>>
>> Matt, an American journalist, and his fiancee, Jessie, are killed in an
>> explosion, but reawaken in this unusual afterlife. Everyone who has ever
>> lived on Earth has been resurrected simultaneously in this strange new
>> world. Determined to find Jessie, Matt joins forces with an intrepid crew,
>> including a 13th century female warrior and riverboat captain Mark Twain. As
>> they embark upriver, their adventure begins, all the while tracked by the
>> watchful eye of a mysterious alien force.
>>
>> Tahmoh Penikett (*Battlestar Galactica/Dollhouse*) and Laura Vandervoort
>> (*Smallville*) star in *Riverworld*, a four-hour miniseries based on the
>> popular award-winning series of novels by Philip Jose Farmer. Others in the
>> cast include Alan Cumming (*Tin Man*), Mark Deklin (*Nip/Tuck*), and
>> Peter Wingfield (*X2: X-Men United*). *Riverworld* is directed by Stuart
>> Gillard (*Charmed*, *Taking Liberty*) and produced by Reunion Pictures.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
> Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
>
>
>
> 
>



-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

Re: [scifinoir2] SyFy Premieres New "Riverworld" Miniseries this Sunday Night

that's what I heard, so I didn't bother watching. 

- Original Message - 
From: "Mr. Worf"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 11:36:05 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] SyFy Premieres New "Riverworld" Miniseries this 
Sunday Night 

My comment on the first mini-series. It was garbage, didn't make sense and 
ended weird. As if they didn't air an episode. 

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 8:30 PM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > 
wrote: 

Well, looks like SyFy is going back to the well, so to speak, with a new 
"Riverworld" miniseries, premiering this Sunday night. I have a few questions 
about Riverworld for the gang: 

One. I believe SciFi aired a Riverworld miniseries a few years back, that 
wasn't well received by fans. My understanding was much of the basic premise 
from the source material was changed, such as the protagonist of the movie 
*not* dying over and over, as in the book(s)? Can anyone here comment on that 
first miniseries? 

Two. From what you've heard and read and seen about the new depiction--such as 
getting the dying over and over thing right--do you have hope for this new one? 
Do you plan to watch it? 

Three. I have never read any of the "Riverworld" stuff. Is it good and worth 
seeking out? I was just deciding on my next big undertaking for leisure 
reading. It came down a choice of the "Wheel of Time" stuff (which I've never 
read), return to Raymond Fiest's world of Midkemia (the "Riftwar" saga and 
others), or Terry Brooks' latest works tying together the worlds of his books 
depicting the fall of our civilization with the ones that depict the rise of 
the magic that leads to the world of Shannara. Should "Riverworld" be on my 
list of potential choices? 

http://www.syfy.com/riverworld/ 

What if, after you die, you are reborn on another planet, along with everyone 
else who has lived and died on Earth? And what if, in this incredible life 
after death, there comes death after death, after death, after death? Welcome 
to Riverworld, a place of strange, watery beauty and the current abode of a 
fascinating cast of the recently (and not-so-recently) dead. It certainly isn't 
Heaven, but it just might be Hell. 

Matt, an American journalist, and his fiancee, Jessie, are killed in an 
explosion, but reawaken in this unusual afterlife. Everyone who has ever lived 
on Earth has been resurrected simultaneously in this strange new world. 
Determined to find Jessie, Matt joins forces with an intrepid crew, including a 
13th century female warrior and riverboat captain Mark Twain. As they embark 
upriver, their adventure begins, all the while tracked by the watchful eye of a 
mysterious alien force. 

Tahmoh Penikett ( Battlestar Galactica/Dollhouse ) and Laura Vandervoort ( 
Smallville ) star in Riverworld , a four-hour miniseries based on the popular 
award-winning series of novels by Philip Jose Farmer. Others in the cast 
include Alan Cumming ( Tin Man ), Mark Deklin ( Nip/Tuck ), and Peter Wingfield 
( X2: X-Men United ). Riverworld is directed by Stuart Gillard ( Charmed , 
Taking Liberty ) and produced by Reunion Pictures. 

-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! 
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

Re: [scifinoir2] "Ben 10: Alien Force" Season 3 Finale has a Familiar Writer

Martin, I think it may be on hulu. They have repeated this episode several
times. They are using it as a bridge for the next season.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 6:01 PM, Martin Baxter wrote:

>
>
> I missed the S3 finale, Keith, and came in late on the enw series. Hoping
> it recycles tomorrow. And that I'm conscious to appreciate it.
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 8:57 PM, Keith Johnson 
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> I'm watching the Season 3 finale of "Ben 10 Alien Force", a show I've
>> really come to like. It's a one-hour special in which Ben fights an evil
>> doppelganger of himself, as well as a longtime nemesis, Vigilax. Looking at
>> the opening credits, I was surprised to see that the ep is written by none
>> other than Dwayne McDuffie! It's a pretty good show.
>> Ben has lost the Omnitrix which is the source of his powers, having traded
>> it to Vigilax to save his friends. Later, he determines to destroy it rather
>> than let the villain keep it. I got a chuckle out of the self-destruct
>> command Ben issued: it ends with "Command Code 0...0...0.  Destruct 0".I
>> laughed to realize that this is almost the exact same self-destruct final
>> command Captain Kirk issued in the OS episode "Let That Be Your Last
>> Battlefield".   Figures McDuffie would throw something like that in.
>>
>> Ben 10 is a cut above some cartoons, with more adult themes and stakes as
>> it goes along. What I really like is that the show has progressed. Ben and
>> his friends have aged since season one, with their powers, relationships,and
>> threats faced changing accordingly. Tonight, Ben even destroyed the original
>> Omnitrix, but has a more powerful replacement , courtesy of his
>> doppelganger. And my understanding is that the upcoming season 4 will begin
>> with Ben's identity known to the people of Earth, and having to deal with
>> the fact that most of them view him as a threat.
>> Good stuff.
>>
>
>
>
> 
>



-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

Re: [scifinoir2] "Ben 10: Alien Force" Season 3 Finale has a Familiar Writer

They have been repeating the episodes for season 3 as a refresher for the
new season starting next week.

I thought that destruct code sounded very familiar!

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 5:57 PM, Keith Johnson wrote:

>
>
> I'm watching the Season 3 finale of "Ben 10 Alien Force", a show I've
> really come to like. It's a one-hour special in which Ben fights an evil
> doppelganger of himself, as well as a longtime nemesis, Vigilax. Looking at
> the opening credits, I was surprised to see that the ep is written by none
> other than Dwayne McDuffie! It's a pretty good show.
> Ben has lost the Omnitrix which is the source of his powers, having traded
> it to Vigilax to save his friends. Later, he determines to destroy it rather
> than let the villain keep it. I got a chuckle out of the self-destruct
> command Ben issued: it ends with "Command Code 0...0...0.  Destruct 0".I
> laughed to realize that this is almost the exact same self-destruct final
> command Captain Kirk issued in the OS episode "Let That Be Your Last
> Battlefield".   Figures McDuffie would throw something like that in.
>
> Ben 10 is a cut above some cartoons, with more adult themes and stakes as
> it goes along. What I really like is that the show has progressed. Ben and
> his friends have aged since season one, with their powers, relationships,and
> threats faced changing accordingly. Tonight, Ben even destroyed the original
> Omnitrix, but has a more powerful replacement , courtesy of his
> doppelganger. And my understanding is that the upcoming season 4 will begin
> with Ben's identity known to the people of Earth, and having to deal with
> the fact that most of them view him as a threat.
> Good stuff.
>
>
> 




-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

Re: [scifinoir2] SyFy Premieres New "Riverworld" Miniseries this Sunday Night

My comment on the first mini-series. It was garbage, didn't make sense and
ended weird. As if they didn't air an episode.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 8:30 PM, Keith Johnson wrote:

>
>
> Well, looks like SyFy is going back to the well, so to speak, with a new
> "Riverworld" miniseries, premiering this Sunday night. I have a few
> questions about Riverworld for the gang:
>
> One.  I believe SciFi aired a Riverworld miniseries a few years back, that
> wasn't well received by fans. My understanding was much of the basic premise
> from the source material was changed, such as the protagonist of the movie
> *not* dying over and over, as in the book(s)? Can anyone here comment on
> that first miniseries?
>
> Two. From what you've heard and read  and seen about the new
> depiction--such as getting the dying over and over thing right--do you have
> hope for this new one? Do you plan to watch it?
>
> Three. I have never read any of the "Riverworld" stuff. Is it good and
> worth seeking out? I was just deciding on my next big undertaking for
> leisure reading. It came down  a choice of  the "Wheel of Time" stuff (which
> I've never read), return to Raymond Fiest's world of Midkemia (the "Riftwar"
> saga and others), or Terry Brooks' latest works tying together the worlds of
> his books depicting the fall of our civilization with the ones that depict
> the rise of the magic that leads to the world of Shannara. Should
> "Riverworld" be on my list of potential choices?
>
> 
> http://www.syfy.com/riverworld/
>
> What if, after you die, you are reborn on another planet, along with
> everyone else who has lived and died on Earth? And what if, in this
> incredible life after death, there comes death after death, after death,
> after death? Welcome to Riverworld, a place of strange, watery beauty and
> the current abode of a fascinating cast of the recently (and
> not-so-recently) dead. It certainly isn't Heaven, but it just might be Hell.
>
>
> Matt, an American journalist, and his fiancee, Jessie, are killed in an
> explosion, but reawaken in this unusual afterlife. Everyone who has ever
> lived on Earth has been resurrected simultaneously in this strange new
> world. Determined to find Jessie, Matt joins forces with an intrepid crew,
> including a 13th century female warrior and riverboat captain Mark Twain. As
> they embark upriver, their adventure begins, all the while tracked by the
> watchful eye of a mysterious alien force.
>
> Tahmoh Penikett (*Battlestar Galactica/Dollhouse*) and Laura Vandervoort (
> *Smallville*) star in *Riverworld*, a four-hour miniseries based on the
> popular award-winning series of novels by Philip Jose Farmer. Others in the
> cast include Alan Cumming (*Tin Man*), Mark Deklin (*Nip/Tuck*), and Peter
> Wingfield (*X2: X-Men United*). *Riverworld* is directed by Stuart Gillard
> (*Charmed*, *Taking Liberty*) and produced by Reunion Pictures.
>
>
>
> 




-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

[scifinoir2] SyFy Premieres New "Riverworld" Miniseries this Sunday Night

Well, looks like SyFy is going back to the well, so to speak, with a new 
"Riverworld" miniseries, premiering this Sunday night. I have a few questions 
about Riverworld for the gang: 

One. I believe SciFi aired a Riverworld miniseries a few years back, that 
wasn't well received by fans. My understanding was much of the basic premise 
from the source material was changed, such as the protagonist of the movie 
*not* dying over and over, as in the book(s)? Can anyone here comment on that 
first miniseries? 

Two. From what you've heard and read and seen about the new depiction--such as 
getting the dying over and over thing right--do you have hope for this new one? 
Do you plan to watch it? 

Three. I have never read any of the "Riverworld" stuff. Is it good and worth 
seeking out? I was just deciding on my next big undertaking for leisure 
reading. It came down a choice of the "Wheel of Time" stuff (which I've never 
read), return to Raymond Fiest's world of Midkemia (the "Riftwar" saga and 
others), or Terry Brooks' latest works tying together the worlds of his books 
depicting the fall of our civilization with the ones that depict the rise of 
the magic that leads to the world of Shannara. Should "Riverworld" be on my 
list of potential choices? 

 
http://www.syfy.com/riverworld/ 




What if, after you die, you are reborn on another planet, along with everyone 
else who has lived and died on Earth? And what if, in this incredible life 
after death, there comes death after death, after death, after death? Welcome 
to Riverworld, a place of strange, watery beauty and the current abode of a 
fascinating cast of the recently (and not-so-recently) dead. It certainly isn't 
Heaven, but it just might be Hell. 

Matt, an American journalist, and his fiancee, Jessie, are killed in an 
explosion, but reawaken in this unusual afterlife. Everyone who has ever lived 
on Earth has been resurrected simultaneously in this strange new world. 
Determined to find Jessie, Matt joins forces with an intrepid crew, including a 
13th century female warrior and riverboat captain Mark Twain. As they embark 
upriver, their adventure begins, all the while tracked by the watchful eye of a 
mysterious alien force. 

Tahmoh Penikett ( Battlestar Galactica/Dollhouse ) and Laura Vandervoort ( 
Smallville ) star in Riverworld , a four-hour miniseries based on the popular 
award-winning series of novels by Philip Jose Farmer. Others in the cast 
include Alan Cumming ( Tin Man ), Mark Deklin ( Nip/Tuck ), and Peter Wingfield 
( X2: X-Men United ). Riverworld is directed by Stuart Gillard ( Charmed , 
Taking Liberty ) and produced by Reunion Pictures.

Re: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11!

The article's title should have been "some people have totally unrealistic
opinions of how 11 year olds act when adults are not around"

People have also forgotten how things have changed. When I was 12 there were
12 year old hookers and heroin junkies in the bad parts of town. Worrying
about a fictional 11 year old on screen and her influences on kids is
silly.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 6:03 PM, Martin Baxter wrote:

>
>
> Puh-LEEZE!
>
> I come from The Projects, where FIVE-year-olds know more cuss words than
> I've heard come out of her.
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Kelwyn  wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Profanity-slinging kid does damage in Kick-Ass'
>>
>> By MARK CARO
>>
>> A pistols-wielding girl massacres a suite's worth of thugs, exchanges
>> brutal blows with the kingpin and uses language that might make David Mamet
>> blush - if only because it's coming out of the mouth of an 11-year-old girl.
>>
>> The movie may be called "Kick-Ass," a title that already has some parents
>> shielding their young'uns from the marketing campaign, but the pre-release
>> publicity has focused less on the high school-age male title character than
>> the diminutive Hit Girl, played by now-13-year-old Chloe Grace Moretz. One
>> of the film's explicit trailers plays like Hit Girl's greatest hits,
>> complete with her dropping "f" and "c" bombs and shooting a doorman through
>> the cheek while dressed in a schoolgirl outfit.
>>
>> This is all played for kicks, of course. Director Matthew Vaughn's R-rated
>> "Kick-Ass," which opens Friday, is a comic book movie based on the work of
>> Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr., so everything is delivered inside giant,
>> nothing-reallycounts quotation marks.
>>
>> Still, you can't forget that you are watching an 11-year-old girl causing
>> violent mayhem and taking punches in the face from an adult, all while
>> out-cussing Tony Soprano. Sure, you can't take your eyes off Hit Girl, but
>> is this a good thing?
>>
>> "I don't know that it means anything other than the destruction of
>> civilization as we know it," joked film critic-historian Leonard Maltin.
>>
>> "There's always that question of whether movies lead social change or
>> reflect it. I always think the answer is somewhere in the middle, but
>> there's no question that movies and TV shows have broken down or dissolved a
>> lot of barriers of what is considered acceptable for men and women and boys
>> and girls."
>>
>> Hit Girl certainly marks the extreme end of a progression that can be
>> traced back a few decades. Audiences were shocked when Linda Blair spewed
>> profanities and vomit as the12-year-old possessed girl of "The Exorcist"
>> (1973), though they could console themselves that it was the devil's doing.
>>
>> Also in1973, Tatum O'Neal played the sassy-mouthed (PG-rated),
>> cigarettesmoking, 9-year-old con artist of Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper Moon";
>> she became the youngest Oscar winner, for best supporting actress, the next
>> year.
>>
>> Jodie Foster became another troubledgirl icon with her Oscar-nominated
>> performance as the 12-year-old prostitute of Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver"
>> (1976).
>>
>> No cheap thrills were meant to be derived from her mean-streets situation;
>> here was a girl who needed protection - and got it from Robert De Niro's
>> unhinged title character. Yet the director's seriousminded intentions
>> couldn't keep John Hinckley Jr. from being so smitten with Foster that he
>> tried to impress her by shooting President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
>>
>> Thematically, the closest movie precedent to Hit Girl may be Natalie
>> Portman's 12-year-old Mathilda, who learns hit man Jean Reno's tricks so she
>> can avenge her murdered family in Luc Besson's "The Professional" (aka
>> "Leon," 1994). But Besson is ultimately a sentimentalist who spares
>> Portman's character from doing the lethal work, whereas Vaughn isn't exactly
>> concerned about Hit Girl getting blood on her hands.
>>
>> Or, as the "Kick-Ass" press notes state: "Hit Girl is a sparky, spunky
>> force of nature, likely to be an instant professional icon redolent of Jodie
>> Foster in 'Taxi Driver' and Natalie Portman in 'The Professional.'" (No one
>> from Lionsgate or the film was made available to comment.)
>>
>> "The notion of innocence in this society is gone," said Neal Gabler,
>> author of "Life: The Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality." "It's not
>> just a function of violence. I think it's a function of a certain social
>> cynicism that has just built and built and built over the years where people
>> believe in nothing."
>>
>> Which isn't to say violence doesn't play a role. "There was kind of a
>> firewall between kids and violence, and that firewall is completely gone
>> now," Gabler said. "Kids sit around and kill people on video games."
>>
>> And if the finger-waggers come out against "Kick-Ass," then the movie
>> essentially has done its job.
>>
>> "If you're making this movie, you want people to dis

[scifinoir2] New Dr. Who Premieres Saturday on BBC America!

Holy crap, i almost overlooked this! For some reason I thought the new Doctor 
wasn't premiering until June, but it's airing tomorrow night?! I listened to a 
"Slice of SciFi" podcast recently about it. The crew there had already seen the 
first ep, "The Eleventh Hour". Doubters all, they really like the new Doctor. 
The fear was that he was too young and would be too boyish and goofy. However, 
they were surprised to discover that this new Doctor is more professorial, more 
fastidious than Tenant or Eccleston's portrayals. They saw he looks young, but 
actually acts old, and reminds them of a throwback to a couple of the earlier 
incarnations. I think at least one of them was an older guy who was a 
combination of crotchety, deadly serious? (Martin would know). 
Should be interesting... 

* 

http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/doctor-who/index.jsp 

Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide 

Original Air Date: April 17, 2010 
SYNOPSIS 

Just in time for the U.S. premiere of Doctor Who, journey into the Doctor Who 
universe with BBC AMERICA's original program, Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide. 
The program is an original, all-access look inside the world's biggest, most 
successful sci-fi television program. Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide premieres 
Saturday, April 17th at 8 pm/7c on BBC AMERICA, followed by the series premiere 
of the new Doctor Who at 9pm/8c. 


Episode 1 - The Eleventh Hour 

Written by: Steven Moffat 
Directed by: Adam Smith 
Original Air Date: April 17, 2010 
SYNOPSIS 

The Doctor has regenerated into a brand new man, but danger strikes before he 
can even recover. With the TARDIS wrecked, and the sonic screwdriver destroyed, 
the new Doctor has just twenty minutes to save the whole world - and only Amy 
Pond to help him.

Re: [scifinoir2] New Study Questions Donner Party Cannibalism

It probably happened a lot more than that. They don't really talk about the
entire wagon trains dying off from starvation or from being sick. I remember
when I was a kid that they had tombstones of kids near a rest area New
Mexico or Arizona.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 6:05 PM, Martin Baxter wrote:

>
>
> I remember reading something very similar, Keith. Sometimes, I think that
> some "historians" are out to revise history, rather than report it
> objectively. In the Old West, I've heard at least three tales of people
> stranded eating the family pets.
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 1:26 AM, Keith Johnson 
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Interesting. I'm not surprised that the press of the day--which could put
>> The National Enquirer and Fox News to shame for sensationalism--might have
>> played up a story that might be untrue. I clearly remember reading about
>> this as a child, and reading one story which asserted that a diary had been
>> found kept by one of the party. Not sure which it was, but the story gave
>> graphic details of how this man supposedly recorded he'd come to like the
>> taste of human flesh, and had even written down recipes for how he cooked
>> certain organs!
>>
>>
>>
>> ***
>>  http://news.discovery.com/history/donner-party-cannibalism.html Donner
>> Party Ate Family Dog, Maybe Not People Did ethnic prejudice spur the now
>> infamous legend of the Donner Party's cannibalism By Jennifer 
>> Viegas| Thu Apr 15, 
>> 2010 12:01 PM ET
>>  [image: Donner Party]
>>
>> James F. Reed and his wife, Margret W. Keyes Reed, seen in this file photo
>> taken in the 1850s, were survivors of the tragic Donner Party.
>> *AP Photo*
>>
>> *THE GIST:*
>>
>>- *Analysis of bones discovered at the Donner Party campsite found no
>>evidence for cannibalism.*
>>- *The members did resort to consuming the family dog, cattle, deer
>>and horses. *
>>- *Slate pieces and china shards reveal the members tried to live with
>>dignity.*
>>
>> --
>>
>>  The Donner Party, a group of 19th century American pioneers who became
>> snowbound in the Sierra Nevada and supposedly resorted to cannibalism, may
>> not have eaten each other after all, suggests a new study on bones found at
>> the Donner's Alder Creek campsite hearth in California.
>>
>> Detailed analysis of the bones instead found that the 84 Donner Party
>> members consumed a family dog, "Uno," along with cattle, deer and horses.
>> Cattle, likely eaten after the animals themselves died of starvation, appear
>> to have been their mainstay.
>>
>> The study is the first to show that the Donner members successfully hunted
>> deer, despite the approximately 30 feet of snow on the ground during the
>> winter of 1846-1847. The horses are thought to have come from relief parties
>> that arrived in February and could have left a few of their animals behind.
>>
>>  The paper, which will be published in the July issue of the journal 
>> *American
>> Antiquity*, is also the first to prove the theory that the stranded
>> individuals ate their pet dog.
>>
>> "They were boiling hides, chewing on leather and trying desperately to
>> survive," project leader Gwen Robbins told Discovery News. "We can see that
>> the bones were processed so heavily -- boiled and crushed down in order to
>> extract any kind of nutrients from them."
>>
>> Robbins, an assistant professor of biological anthropology at Appalachian
>> State University, and her team produced thin sections from the hearth bones
>> and examined them under high magnification in order to measure each basic
>> structural unit and link the bones to particular animals.
>>
>> No human bones were identified.
>>
>> "What we have demonstrated is that there is no evidence for cannibalism,"
>> said Robbins. "If the Donner Party did resort to cannibalism, the bones were
>> treated in a different way (such as buried), or they were placed on the
>> hearth last and could have since eroded."
>>
>> Victorian Era journalists, who embellished the accounts provided by the 47
>> survivors, largely fueled the legend of the Donner Party cannibalism. The
>> survivors, 11 men and 36 women and children, fiercely denied the
>> allegations. Although one man, Louis Keseberg, filed and won a defamation
>> suit, he was still forever known as Keseberg the Cannibal.
>>
>> "Racism might have played a part," Robbins said. "Keseberg was an
>> immigrant, and negative sentiment existed toward some recent immigrants
>> then."
>>
>> The trash and debris left around the Donner Party hearth in the spring of
>> 1847 show that, in spite of their very difficult circumstances, the members
>> tried to maintain a sense of decorum and normalcy.
>>
>> "Slates suggest they had the children sitting and doing their lessons,
>> while shards of china indicate they were eating off of plates, retaining
>> some dignity and

Re: [scifinoir2] New Study Questions Donner Party Cannibalism

Right. I'm stunned to hear there were *any* animals left to eat. All the 
stories I'd read said the animals had already been eaten, and that's when they 
fell into cannibalism. 

- Original Message - 
From: "Martin Baxter"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 9:05:28 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] New Study Questions Donner Party Cannibalism 

I remember reading something very similar, Keith. Sometimes, I think that some 
"historians" are out to revise history, rather than report it objectively. In 
the Old West, I've heard at least three tales of people stranded eating the 
family pets. 

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 1:26 AM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > 
wrote: 

Interesting. I'm not surprised that the press of the day--which could put The 
National Enquirer and Fox News to shame for sensationalism--might have played 
up a story that might be untrue. I clearly remember reading about this as a 
child, and reading one story which asserted that a diary had been found kept by 
one of the party. Not sure which it was, but the story gave graphic details of 
how this man supposedly recorded he'd come to like the taste of human flesh, 
and had even written down recipes for how he cooked certain organs! 

*** 
http://news.discovery.com/history/donner-party-cannibalism.html 
Donner Party Ate Family Dog, Maybe Not People 
Did ethnic prejudice spur the now infamous legend of the Donner Party's 
cannibalism 
By Jennifer Viegas | Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:01 PM ET 

Donner Party

James F. Reed and his wife, Margret W. Keyes Reed, seen in this file photo 
taken in the 1850s, were survivors of the tragic Donner Party. 
AP Photo 

THE GIST: 

• Analysis of bones discovered at the Donner Party campsite found no 
evidence for cannibalism. 
• The members did resort to consuming the family dog, cattle, deer and 
horses. 
• Slate pieces and china shards reveal the members tried to live with 
dignity. 

The Donner Party, a group of 19th century American pioneers who became 
snowbound in the Sierra Nevada and supposedly resorted to cannibalism, may not 
have eaten each other after all, suggests a new study on bones found at the 
Donner's Alder Creek campsite hearth in California. 

Detailed analysis of the bones instead found that the 84 Donner Party members 
consumed a family dog, "Uno," along with cattle, deer and horses. Cattle, 
likely eaten after the animals themselves died of starvation, appear to have 
been their mainstay. 

The study is the first to show that the Donner members successfully hunted 
deer, despite the approximately 30 feet of snow on the ground during the winter 
of 1846-1847. The horses are thought to have come from relief parties that 
arrived in February and could have left a few of their animals behind. 

The paper, which will be published in the July issue of the journal American 
Antiquity , is also the first to prove the theory that the stranded individuals 
ate their pet dog. 

"They were boiling hides, chewing on leather and trying desperately to 
survive," project leader Gwen Robbins told Discovery News. "We can see that the 
bones were processed so heavily -- boiled and crushed down in order to extract 
any kind of nutrients from them." 

Robbins, an assistant professor of biological anthropology at Appalachian State 
University, and her team produced thin sections from the hearth bones and 
examined them under high magnification in order to measure each basic 
structural unit and link the bones to particular animals. 

No human bones were identified. 

"What we have demonstrated is that there is no evidence for cannibalism," said 
Robbins. "If the Donner Party did resort to cannibalism, the bones were treated 
in a different way (such as buried), or they were placed on the hearth last and 
could have since eroded." 

Victorian Era journalists, who embellished the accounts provided by the 47 
survivors, largely fueled the legend of the Donner Party cannibalism. The 
survivors, 11 men and 36 women and children, fiercely denied the allegations. 
Although one man, Louis Keseberg, filed and won a defamation suit, he was still 
forever known as Keseberg the Cannibal. 

"Racism might have played a part," Robbins said. "Keseberg was an immigrant, 
and negative sentiment existed toward some recent immigrants then." 

The trash and debris left around the Donner Party hearth in the spring of 1847 
show that, in spite of their very difficult circumstances, the members tried to 
maintain a sense of decorum and normalcy. 

"Slates suggest they had the children sitting and doing their lessons, while 
shards of china indicate they were eating off of plates, retaining some dignity 
and hoping for the future," Robbins explained. 

University of Montana anthropologist Kelly Dixon worked on the initial study 
that first documented the hear

Re: [scifinoir2] Did anyone see this?? Texan accused of disabling 100 cars over Internet

Admit, I must.

Laugh, I did.

On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 11:22 PM, Bosco Bosco  wrote:

>
>
> Lets not also forget that it is just a little bit funny Perhaps not a
> spectacular idea but there is some level of excellently fun pranksterism
> going on here. Perhaps I'm just a bad bad man
>
> Bosco
>
> --- On *Thu, 4/15/10, Mr. Worf * wrote:
>
>
> From: Mr. Worf 
> Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Did anyone see this?? Texan accused of disabling
> 100 cars over Internet
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010, 5:49 PM
>
>
>
> Yea, but he was an employee there. I'm just concerned that it will open up
> the door for abuse. The car I bought previously than the one I have now was
> from a dealer that turned out to be shady. If he had technology like this in
> his hands no telling what would have happen.
>
> On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 3:44 PM, Martin Baxter  gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> I heard about this somewhere, Mr Worf. More proof that, IMO, too many
>> children have Internet access.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 5:12 PM, Mr. Worf > gmail.com
>> > wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I didn't know that this had already been implemented! This technology is
>>> not good especially for folks that are having rough times.
>>>
>>> Texan accused of disabling 100 cars over Internet
>>>
>>> By JEFF CARLTON (AP) – Mar 17, 2010
>>>
>>> DALLAS — A man fired from a Texas auto dealership used an Internet
>>> service to remotely disable ignitions and set off car horns of more than 100
>>> vehicles sold at his old workplace, police said Wednesday.
>>>
>>> Austin police arrested Omar Ramos-Lopez, 20, on Wednesday, charging him
>>> with felony breach of computer security.
>>>
>>> Ramos-Lopez used a former colleague's password to deactivate starters and
>>> set off car horns, police said. Several car owners said they had to call tow
>>> trucks and were left stranded at work or home.
>>>
>>> "He caused these customers, now victims, to miss work," Austin police
>>> spokeswoman Veneza Aguinaga said. "They didn't get paid. They had to get tow
>>> trucks. They didn't know what was going on with their vehicles."
>>>
>>> Ramos-Lopez was in the Travis County Jail on Wednesday with bond set at
>>> $3,000. The Associated Press could not find a working phone number for his
>>> family.
>>>
>>> The Texas Auto Center dealership in Austin installs GPS devices that can
>>> prevent cars from starting. The system is used to repossess cars when buyers
>>> are overdue on payments, said Jeremy Norton, a controller at the dealership
>>> where Ramos-Lopez worked. Car horns can be activated when repo agents go to
>>> collect vehicles and believe the owners are hiding them.
>>>
>>> "We are taking extra measures to make sure this never happens again,"
>>> Norton said.
>>>
>>> Starting in mid-February, dealership employees noticed unusual changes to
>>> their business records. Someone was going into the system and changing
>>> customers' names, such as having dead rapper Tupac Shakur buying a 2009
>>> vehicle, Norton said.
>>>
>>> Soon, customers began calling saying their cars wouldn't start, or that
>>> their horns were going off incessantly, forcing them to disengage the
>>> battery. Norton said the dealership originally thought the cars had
>>> mechanical problems.
>>>
>>> Then employees noticed someone had ordered $130,000 in parts and
>>> equipment from the company that makes the GPS devices.
>>>
>>> Police said they were able to trace the sabotage to Ramos-Lopez's
>>> computer, leading to his arrest.
>>>
>>> Norton said Ramos-Lopez didn't seem unusually upset about being fired.
>>>
>>> "I think he thought what he was doing was a harmless prank," Norton said.
>>> "He didn't see the ramifications of it."
>>>
>>> Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
>>> Mahogany at: http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/mahogany_ pleasures_
>>> of_darkness/
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
> Mahogany at: http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/mahogany_ pleasures_
> of_darkness/
>
>
>  
>

Re: [scifinoir2] OT: White House Upset over CBS Blog Post about Kagan's Sexuality

[?][?]

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 9:03 PM, Keith Johnson wrote:

>
>
> Exactly --and their parents too!
>
>
> - Original Message -
> From: "Martin Baxter" 
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 8:40:05 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] OT: White House Upset over CBS Blog Post about
>  Kagan's Sexuality
>
>
>
> Keith, again this goes to my past comment on children with Internet access.
> Whatever strikes theiur fancy gets posted, without regard for truth or the
> feelings of others. As long as their jollies are had...
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 3:33 PM, Keith Johnson 
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Wow, this is wild because it exemplifies how the news is increasingly
>> being invaded by/merged with what amounts to opinion, speculation, and
>> calculated lies. Remember when people could only write letters to the
>> editor, and the newspaper could then decide which to publish? I celebrate
>> the greater range of voices the Net allows to be heard, but, especially when
>> attached to a news site, they have to be filtered somehow. Sometimes I look
>> at user replies to news stories on NPR and CNN and other sites, and am
>> amazed and even appalled at the low-brow and hateful comments that are to be
>> found there. It's still disconcerting for me to read a news story and then
>> see all that vitriol and arguing on the same page. This was at least the
>> blog site, but the powers that control it still have a responsibility to
>> manage content...
>>
>>
>>
>> 
>>
>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1652
>>
>>
>>
>> *White House gets CBS to remove blog post alleging possible high court
>> nominee is gay*
>>
>>
>>
>> There's not yet an official nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court
>> Justice John Paul Stevens — but the Obama White House's rapid-response
>> machine is already working overtime to squelch speculation over the politics
>> of the nominations process. Last week, it took just a few hours for the
>> administration's communications team to tamp down a rumor that Secretary of
>> State Hillary Clinton was on the short list of prospective nominees. (*See
>> our coverage of the Hillary rumor, and other names floated at the margins of
>> the nomination debate 
>> here
>> *.)
>> And yesterday, the administration blasted CBS News for a blog 
>> poston
>>  its Web site claiming that one of the people who is reportedly on that
>> list — U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan — is a lesbian, eventually
>> getting the news organization to retract the claim and take down the post.
>>
>> The episode marks a curious case study in both the politics surrounding
>> the high court and the blurry line between opinion and reporting in the
>> fast-moving world of online journalism. On the White House side,
>> administration flaks had to strike a delicate balance between their demands
>> that CBS remove content that they insisted was factually incorrect — without
>> at the same time suggesting that anything would be amiss if the rumors about
>> Kagan's sexuality proved to be true. (*See our assessment of Kagan and
>> the other reported inside candidates for the nomination 
>> here
>> .*) In her statement on the episode, Anita Dunn, a former White House
>> spokeswoman who is now consulting with the administration on its
>> communications strategy for the upcoming nominations fight, focused instead
>> on the motivations of the blogger who floated the rumor, conservative writer
>> Ben Domenech, a former GOP Senate staffer and Bush White House aide.
>> Dunn charged that by circulating the rumor, Domenech was "applying old
>> stereotypes to single women with successful careers."
>>
>> On the CBS side, meanwhile, network executives first resisted the White
>> House's demands to remove the post, insisting that the content of Domenech's
>> post amounted to fair comment on the nominations process and was clearly
>> labeled as opinion rather than news reporting. But Don Farber, editor of the
>> CBSNews.comsite,
>>  told
>> the Washington 
>> Post

Re: [scifinoir2] New Study Questions Donner Party Cannibalism

I remember reading something very similar, Keith. Sometimes, I think that
some "historians" are out to revise history, rather than report it
objectively. In the Old West, I've heard at least three tales of people
stranded eating the family pets.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 1:26 AM, Keith Johnson wrote:

>
>
> Interesting. I'm not surprised that the press of the day--which could put
> The National Enquirer and Fox News to shame for sensationalism--might have
> played up a story that might be untrue. I clearly remember reading about
> this as a child, and reading one story which asserted that a diary had been
> found kept by one of the party. Not sure which it was, but the story gave
> graphic details of how this man supposedly recorded he'd come to like the
> taste of human flesh, and had even written down recipes for how he cooked
> certain organs!
>
>
>
> ***
>  http://news.discovery.com/history/donner-party-cannibalism.html Donner
> Party Ate Family Dog, Maybe Not People Did ethnic prejudice spur the now
> infamous legend of the Donner Party's cannibalism By Jennifer 
> Viegas| Thu Apr 15, 
> 2010 12:01 PM ET
>  [image: Donner Party]
>
> James F. Reed and his wife, Margret W. Keyes Reed, seen in this file photo
> taken in the 1850s, were survivors of the tragic Donner Party.
> *AP Photo*
>
> *THE GIST:*
>
>- *Analysis of bones discovered at the Donner Party campsite found no
>evidence for cannibalism.*
>- *The members did resort to consuming the family dog, cattle, deer and
>horses. *
>- *Slate pieces and china shards reveal the members tried to live with
>dignity.*
>
> --
>
>  The Donner Party, a group of 19th century American pioneers who became
> snowbound in the Sierra Nevada and supposedly resorted to cannibalism, may
> not have eaten each other after all, suggests a new study on bones found at
> the Donner's Alder Creek campsite hearth in California.
>
> Detailed analysis of the bones instead found that the 84 Donner Party
> members consumed a family dog, "Uno," along with cattle, deer and horses.
> Cattle, likely eaten after the animals themselves died of starvation, appear
> to have been their mainstay.
>
> The study is the first to show that the Donner members successfully hunted
> deer, despite the approximately 30 feet of snow on the ground during the
> winter of 1846-1847. The horses are thought to have come from relief parties
> that arrived in February and could have left a few of their animals behind.
>
>  The paper, which will be published in the July issue of the journal *American
> Antiquity*, is also the first to prove the theory that the stranded
> individuals ate their pet dog.
>
> "They were boiling hides, chewing on leather and trying desperately to
> survive," project leader Gwen Robbins told Discovery News. "We can see that
> the bones were processed so heavily -- boiled and crushed down in order to
> extract any kind of nutrients from them."
>
> Robbins, an assistant professor of biological anthropology at Appalachian
> State University, and her team produced thin sections from the hearth bones
> and examined them under high magnification in order to measure each basic
> structural unit and link the bones to particular animals.
>
> No human bones were identified.
>
> "What we have demonstrated is that there is no evidence for cannibalism,"
> said Robbins. "If the Donner Party did resort to cannibalism, the bones were
> treated in a different way (such as buried), or they were placed on the
> hearth last and could have since eroded."
>
> Victorian Era journalists, who embellished the accounts provided by the 47
> survivors, largely fueled the legend of the Donner Party cannibalism. The
> survivors, 11 men and 36 women and children, fiercely denied the
> allegations. Although one man, Louis Keseberg, filed and won a defamation
> suit, he was still forever known as Keseberg the Cannibal.
>
> "Racism might have played a part," Robbins said. "Keseberg was an
> immigrant, and negative sentiment existed toward some recent immigrants
> then."
>
> The trash and debris left around the Donner Party hearth in the spring of
> 1847 show that, in spite of their very difficult circumstances, the members
> tried to maintain a sense of decorum and normalcy.
>
> "Slates suggest they had the children sitting and doing their lessons,
> while shards of china indicate they were eating off of plates, retaining
> some dignity and hoping for the future," Robbins explained.
>
> University of Montana anthropologist Kelly Dixon worked on the initial
> study that first documented the hearth and bones.
>
> "The tale of the Donner Party has focused on the tragedy of survival
> cannibalism," said Dixon, "yet the archaeological remains inspire us to
> consider more significant implications, such as what it was like to be
> human, doing whate

Re: [scifinoir2] OT: White House Upset over CBS Blog Post about Kagan's Sexuality

Exactly --and their parents too! 

- Original Message - 
From: "Martin Baxter"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 8:40:05 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] OT: White House Upset over CBS Blog Post about 
Kagan's Sexuality 

Keith, again this goes to my past comment on children with Internet access. 
Whatever strikes theiur fancy gets posted, without regard for truth or the 
feelings of others. As long as their jollies are had... 

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 3:33 PM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > 
wrote: 

Wow, this is wild because it exemplifies how the news is increasingly being 
invaded by/merged with what amounts to opinion, speculation, and calculated 
lies. Remember when people could only write letters to the editor, and the 
newspaper could then decide which to publish? I celebrate the greater range of 
voices the Net allows to be heard, but, especially when attached to a news 
site, they have to be filtered somehow. Sometimes I look at user replies to 
news stories on NPR and CNN and other sites, and am amazed and even appalled at 
the low-brow and hateful comments that are to be found there. It's still 
disconcerting for me to read a news story and then see all that vitriol and 
arguing on the same page. This was at least the blog site, but the powers that 
control it still have a responsibility to manage content... 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1652 

White House gets CBS to remove blog post alleging possible high court nominee 
is gay 

There's not yet an official nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice 
John Paul Stevens — but the Obama White House's rapid-response machine is 
already working overtime to squelch speculation over the politics of the 
nominations process. Last week, it took just a few hours for the 
administration's communications team to tamp down a rumor that Secretary of 
State Hillary Clinton was on the short list of prospective nominees. ( See our 
coverage of the Hillary rumor, and other names floated at the margins of the 
nomination debate here . ) And yesterday, the administration blasted CBS News 
for a blog post on its Web site claiming that one of the people who is 
reportedly on that list — U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan — is a lesbian, 
eventually getting the news organization to retract the claim and take down the 
post. 

The episode marks a curious case study in both the politics surrounding the 
high court and the blurry line between opinion and reporting in the fast-moving 
world of online journalism. On the White House side, administration flaks had 
to strike a delicate balance between their demands that CBS remove content that 
they insisted was factually incorrect — without at the same time suggesting 
that anything would be amiss if the rumors about Kagan 's sexuality proved to 
be true. ( See our assessment of Kagan and the other reported inside candidates 
for the nomination here . ) In her statement on the episode, Anita Dunn , a 
former White House spokeswoman who is now consulting with the administration on 
its communications strategy for the upcoming nominations fight, focused instead 
on the motivations of the blogger who floated the rumor, conservative writer 
Ben Domenech , a former GOP Senate staffer and Bush White House aide. Dunn 
charged that by circulating the rumor, Domenech was "applying old stereotypes 
to single women with successful careers." 

On the CBS side, meanwhile, network executives first resisted the White House's 
demands to remove the post, insisting that the content of Domenech's post 
amounted to fair comment on the nominations process and was clearly labeled as 
opinion rather than news reporting. But Don Farber, editor of the CBSNews.com 
site, told the Washington Post that the rumor in Domenech's column "just got 
through our filters." 

And here's a crowning journalistic irony to the episode: The Post itself had 
hired Domenech as a conservative blogger back in 2006, only to see him resign 
three days into his tenure, after liberal bloggers circulated claims that he 
had plagiarized other work in his published writing — including a Washington 
Post story that Domenech apparently lifted for a column in the New York Press . 
The White House, of course, made prominent reference to that incident as well, 
with Dunn pointing out that the blogger had "a history plagiarism," and that 
the network's overseers were "enablers of people posting lies on their site." 

And this, in turn makes one last thing : If the White House is expending this 
sort of rhetorical firepower on a blog post about a possible nominee, just 
imagine what it will do when an actual nomination fight

Re: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11!

Puh-LEEZE!

I come from The Projects, where FIVE-year-olds know more cuss words than
I've heard come out of her.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Kelwyn  wrote:

>
>
> Profanity-slinging kid does damage in Kick-Ass'
>
> By MARK CARO
>
> A pistols-wielding girl massacres a suite's worth of thugs, exchanges
> brutal blows with the kingpin and uses language that might make David Mamet
> blush - if only because it's coming out of the mouth of an 11-year-old girl.
>
> The movie may be called "Kick-Ass," a title that already has some parents
> shielding their young'uns from the marketing campaign, but the pre-release
> publicity has focused less on the high school-age male title character than
> the diminutive Hit Girl, played by now-13-year-old Chloe Grace Moretz. One
> of the film's explicit trailers plays like Hit Girl's greatest hits,
> complete with her dropping "f" and "c" bombs and shooting a doorman through
> the cheek while dressed in a schoolgirl outfit.
>
> This is all played for kicks, of course. Director Matthew Vaughn's R-rated
> "Kick-Ass," which opens Friday, is a comic book movie based on the work of
> Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr., so everything is delivered inside giant,
> nothing-reallycounts quotation marks.
>
> Still, you can't forget that you are watching an 11-year-old girl causing
> violent mayhem and taking punches in the face from an adult, all while
> out-cussing Tony Soprano. Sure, you can't take your eyes off Hit Girl, but
> is this a good thing?
>
> "I don't know that it means anything other than the destruction of
> civilization as we know it," joked film critic-historian Leonard Maltin.
>
> "There's always that question of whether movies lead social change or
> reflect it. I always think the answer is somewhere in the middle, but
> there's no question that movies and TV shows have broken down or dissolved a
> lot of barriers of what is considered acceptable for men and women and boys
> and girls."
>
> Hit Girl certainly marks the extreme end of a progression that can be
> traced back a few decades. Audiences were shocked when Linda Blair spewed
> profanities and vomit as the12-year-old possessed girl of "The Exorcist"
> (1973), though they could console themselves that it was the devil's doing.
>
> Also in1973, Tatum O'Neal played the sassy-mouthed (PG-rated),
> cigarettesmoking, 9-year-old con artist of Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper Moon";
> she became the youngest Oscar winner, for best supporting actress, the next
> year.
>
> Jodie Foster became another troubledgirl icon with her Oscar-nominated
> performance as the 12-year-old prostitute of Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver"
> (1976).
>
> No cheap thrills were meant to be derived from her mean-streets situation;
> here was a girl who needed protection - and got it from Robert De Niro's
> unhinged title character. Yet the director's seriousminded intentions
> couldn't keep John Hinckley Jr. from being so smitten with Foster that he
> tried to impress her by shooting President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
>
> Thematically, the closest movie precedent to Hit Girl may be Natalie
> Portman's 12-year-old Mathilda, who learns hit man Jean Reno's tricks so she
> can avenge her murdered family in Luc Besson's "The Professional" (aka
> "Leon," 1994). But Besson is ultimately a sentimentalist who spares
> Portman's character from doing the lethal work, whereas Vaughn isn't exactly
> concerned about Hit Girl getting blood on her hands.
>
> Or, as the "Kick-Ass" press notes state: "Hit Girl is a sparky, spunky
> force of nature, likely to be an instant professional icon redolent of Jodie
> Foster in 'Taxi Driver' and Natalie Portman in 'The Professional.'" (No one
> from Lionsgate or the film was made available to comment.)
>
> "The notion of innocence in this society is gone," said Neal Gabler, author
> of "Life: The Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality." "It's not just a
> function of violence. I think it's a function of a certain social cynicism
> that has just built and built and built over the years where people believe
> in nothing."
>
> Which isn't to say violence doesn't play a role. "There was kind of a
> firewall between kids and violence, and that firewall is completely gone
> now," Gabler said. "Kids sit around and kill people on video games."
>
> And if the finger-waggers come out against "Kick-Ass," then the movie
> essentially has done its job.
>
> "If you're making this movie, you want people to disapprove because popular
> culture has always been a form of rebellion," Gabler said. "One of the
> reasons American popular culture is so 'trashy' is not because everybody is
> stupid; it's because people love the idea of challenging official culture."
>
> Yet don't assume that the reactions to Hit Girl will be anything close to
> universal. Melissa Silverstein, who writes the feminist blog Women and
> Hollywood (womenandhollywood.com), saw an advance screening of "Kick-Ass"
> and said she was surprised by how torn she

Re: [scifinoir2] Obama's tax return

Again, rave, to quote Martha Stewart, "It's a good thing." [?]

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:50 PM, Kelwyn  wrote:

>
>
> On their income tax return Mr. and Mrs. Obama list their occupations as US
> PRESIDENT and US FIRST LADY. I LOVE this!
>
> ~rave!
>
>
> http://www.examiner.com/x-12837-US-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m4d16-President-Obama-releases-his-tax-returns-to-the-public-on-tax-day-read-tax-returns
>
>  
>
<<330.gif>>

[scifinoir2] C2E2 - Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo

2010-04-16 Thread Omari Confer

Is anyone on thelist headed there this weekend?

Sent on the go from my Peek

Re: [scifinoir2] "Ben 10: Alien Force" Season 3 Finale has a Familiar Writer

I missed the S3 finale, Keith, and came in late on the enw series. Hoping it
recycles tomorrow. And that I'm conscious to appreciate it.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 8:57 PM, Keith Johnson wrote:

>
>
> I'm watching the Season 3 finale of "Ben 10 Alien Force", a show I've
> really come to like. It's a one-hour special in which Ben fights an evil
> doppelganger of himself, as well as a longtime nemesis, Vigilax. Looking at
> the opening credits, I was surprised to see that the ep is written by none
> other than Dwayne McDuffie! It's a pretty good show.
> Ben has lost the Omnitrix which is the source of his powers, having traded
> it to Vigilax to save his friends. Later, he determines to destroy it rather
> than let the villain keep it. I got a chuckle out of the self-destruct
> command Ben issued: it ends with "Command Code 0...0...0.  Destruct 0".I
> laughed to realize that this is almost the exact same self-destruct final
> command Captain Kirk issued in the OS episode "Let That Be Your Last
> Battlefield".   Figures McDuffie would throw something like that in.
>
> Ben 10 is a cut above some cartoons, with more adult themes and stakes as
> it goes along. What I really like is that the show has progressed. Ben and
> his friends have aged since season one, with their powers, relationships,and
> threats faced changing accordingly. Tonight, Ben even destroyed the original
> Omnitrix, but has a more powerful replacement , courtesy of his
> doppelganger. And my understanding is that the upcoming season 4 will begin
> with Ben's identity known to the people of Earth, and having to deal with
> the fact that most of them view him as a threat.
> Good stuff.
>  
>

Re: [scifinoir2] Fw: Re: Fw: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen

I don't *want* to know. That mystery is one I want left to the mists for
eternity. [?][?]

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 3:03 PM, Augustus Augustus
wrote:

>
>
> thought you all would enjoy this one.  break it down for me Rave, cannot
> figure this one out.  that goes for both Martin and Mr. Worf too!
>
> Fate.
>
> --- On *Tue, 4/13/10, Todd * wrote:
>
>
> From: Todd 
> Subject: Fw: Re: Fw: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen
> To: jazzynupe_...@yahoo.com
> Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 8:53 AM
>
>
>
> Todd Alkire
>
> --- On *Mon, 4/12/10, Todd * wrote:
>
>
> From: Todd 
> Subject: Re: Fw: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen
> To: "A Jims Email" , "A Chad" ,
> stonecr...@verizon.net
> Date: Monday, April 12, 2010, 10:08 AM
>
>   That was awesome!
>
> Todd Alkire
>
> --- On *Sat, 4/10/10, stonecr...@verizon.net *wrote:
>
>
> From: stonecr...@verizon.net 
> Subject: Fw: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen
> To: "A Jims Email" , "A Chad" , "A
> Todd" 
> Date: Saturday, April 10, 2010, 7:36 AM
>
>  Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
> --
> *From: *Rick 
> *Date: *Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:10:32 -0700 (PDT)
> *To: *
> *Subject: *This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen
>
>   *I TOTALY AGREE ! !  *
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> *Subject:* FW: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> * **This is an illusion!  The BEST I have ever
> seen!*
>
>
>
>
> *Don't need to understand the language, obviously Chinese,  to see how
> amazing this is. Spectacular!*
>
>
>
>
> *Click here * #t=78
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  
>
<<35C.gif>><<330.gif>>

[scifinoir2] "Ben 10: Alien Force" Season 3 Finale has a Familiar Writer

I'm watching the Season 3 finale of "Ben 10 Alien Force", a show I've really 
come to like. It's a one-hour special in which Ben fights an evil doppelganger 
of himself, as well as a longtime nemesis, Vigilax. Looking at the opening 
credits, I was surprised to see that the ep is written by none other than 
Dwayne McDuffie! It's a pretty good show. 
Ben has lost the Omnitrix which is the source of his powers, having traded it 
to Vigilax to save his friends. Later, he determines to destroy it rather than 
let the villain keep it. I got a chuckle out of the self-destruct command Ben 
issued: it ends with "Command Code 0...0...0. Destruct 0". I laughed to realize 
that this is almost the exact same self-destruct final command Captain Kirk 
issued in the OS episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". Figures McDuffie 
would throw something like that in. 

Ben 10 is a cut above some cartoons, with more adult themes and stakes as it 
goes along. What I really like is that the show has progressed. Ben and his 
friends have aged since season one, with their powers, relationships,and 
threats faced changing accordingly. Tonight, Ben even destroyed the original 
Omnitrix, but has a more powerful replacement , courtesy of his doppelganger. 
And my understanding is that the upcoming season 4 will begin with Ben's 
identity known to the people of Earth, and having to deal with the fact that 
most of them view him as a threat. 
Good stuff.

Re: [scifinoir2] OT: White House Upset over CBS Blog Post about Kagan's Sexuality

Keith, again this goes to my past comment on children with Internet access.
Whatever strikes theiur fancy gets posted, without regard for truth or the
feelings of others. As long as their jollies are had...

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 3:33 PM, Keith Johnson wrote:

>
>
> Wow, this is wild because it exemplifies how the news is increasingly being
> invaded by/merged with what amounts to opinion, speculation, and calculated
> lies. Remember when people could only write letters to the editor, and the
> newspaper could then decide which to publish? I celebrate the greater range
> of voices the Net allows to be heard, but, especially when attached to a
> news site, they have to be filtered somehow. Sometimes I look at user
> replies to news stories on NPR and CNN and other sites, and am amazed and
> even appalled at the low-brow and hateful comments that are to be found
> there. It's still disconcerting for me to read a news story and then see all
> that vitriol and arguing on the same page. This was at least the blog site,
> but the powers that control it still have a responsibility to manage
> content...
>
>
>
> 
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1652
>
>
>
> *White House gets CBS to remove blog post alleging possible high court
> nominee is gay*
>
>
>
> There's not yet an official nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court
> Justice John Paul Stevens — but the Obama White House's rapid-response
> machine is already working overtime to squelch speculation over the politics
> of the nominations process. Last week, it took just a few hours for the
> administration's communications team to tamp down a rumor that Secretary of
> State Hillary Clinton was on the short list of prospective nominees. (*See
> our coverage of the Hillary rumor, and other names floated at the margins of
> the nomination debate 
> here
> *.)
> And yesterday, the administration blasted CBS News for a blog 
> poston
>  its Web site claiming that one of the people who is reportedly on that
> list — U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan — is a lesbian, eventually
> getting the news organization to retract the claim and take down the post.
>
> The episode marks a curious case study in both the politics surrounding the
> high court and the blurry line between opinion and reporting in the
> fast-moving world of online journalism. On the White House side,
> administration flaks had to strike a delicate balance between their demands
> that CBS remove content that they insisted was factually incorrect — without
> at the same time suggesting that anything would be amiss if the rumors about
> Kagan's sexuality proved to be true. (*See our assessment of Kagan and the
> other reported inside candidates for the nomination 
> here
> .*) In her statement on the episode, Anita Dunn, a former White House
> spokeswoman who is now consulting with the administration on its
> communications strategy for the upcoming nominations fight, focused instead
> on the motivations of the blogger who floated the rumor, conservative writer
> Ben Domenech, a former GOP Senate staffer and Bush White House aide.  Dunn
> charged that by circulating the rumor, Domenech was "applying old
> stereotypes to single women with successful careers."
>
> On the CBS side, meanwhile, network executives first resisted the White
> House's demands to remove the post, insisting that the content of Domenech's
> post amounted to fair comment on the nominations process and was clearly
> labeled as opinion rather than news reporting. But Don Farber, editor of the
> CBSNews.comsite,
>  told
> the Washington 
> Postthat
>  the rumor in Domenech's column "just got through our filters."
>
> And here's a crowning journalistic irony to the episode: The Post itself
> had hired Domenech as a conservative blogger back in 2006, only to see him
> resign three days into his tenure, after liberal bloggers circulated claims
> that he had plagiarized other work in his published 
> writing

Re: [scifinoir2] Kid builds his own iPad stand (photos)

This means one of two things.

Either the kid dreams big, for which I applaud him, or Mommy and Daddy
handed him an iPad the day they became available, in which case I sneer at
him.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 7:14 PM, Mr. Worf  wrote:

>
>
>
>- Home /
>- ZDNet Photo Galleries 
>
> Kid builds his own iPad stand 
> (photos)
>
>- Next Image » 
>
>  
>
>- 
>- 
>- 
>- 
>- 
>- 
>- 
>
>
>
> --
> Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
> Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
>  
>

[scifinoir2] Kid builds his own iPad stand (photos)

   - Home /
   - ZDNet Photo Galleries 

Kid builds his own iPad stand
(photos)

   - Next Image » 

 

   - 
   - 
   - 
   - 
   - 
   - 
   - 



-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

[scifinoir2] Clash of the Ipad trailer

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcy2v8_clash-of-the-ipad-trailer_shortfilms#hp-v-v2?from=feedblitz_523284_3824858




-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

[scifinoir2] OT: White House Upset over CBS Blog Post about Kagan's Sexuality



Wow, this is wild because it exemplifies how the news is increasingly being 
invaded by/merged with what amounts to opinion, speculation, and calculated 
lies. Remember when people could only write letters to the editor, and the 
newspaper could then decide which to publish? I celebrate the greater range of 
voices the Net allows to be heard, but, especially when attached to a news 
site, they have to be filtered somehow. Sometimes I look at user replies to 
news stories on NPR and CNN and other sites, and am amazed and even appalled at 
the low-brow and hateful comments that are to be found there. It's still 
disconcerting for me to read a news story and then see all that vitriol and 
arguing on the same page. This was at least the blog site, but the powers that 
control it still have a responsibility to manage content... 



 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1652 



White House gets CBS to remove blog post alleging possible high court nominee 
is gay 



There's not yet an official nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice 
John Paul Stevens — but the Obama White House's rapid-response machine is 
already working overtime to squelch speculation over the politics of the 
nominations process. Last week, it took just a few hours for the 
administration's communications team to tamp down a rumor that Secretary of 
State Hillary Clinton was on the short list of prospective nominees. ( See our 
coverage of the Hillary rumor, and other names floated at the margins of the 
nomination debate here . ) And yesterday, the administration blasted CBS News 
for a blog post on its Web site claiming that one of the people who is 
reportedly on that list — U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan — is a lesbian, 
eventually getting the news organization to retract the claim and take down the 
post. 

The episode marks a curious case study in both the politics surrounding the 
high court and the blurry line between opinion and reporting in the fast-moving 
world of online journalism. On the White House side, administration flaks had 
to strike a delicate balance between their demands that CBS remove content that 
they insisted was factually incorrect — without at the same time suggesting 
that anything would be amiss if the rumors about Kagan 's sexuality proved to 
be true. ( See our assessment of Kagan and the other reported inside candidates 
for the nomination here . ) In her statement on the episode, Anita Dunn , a 
former White House spokeswoman who is now consulting with the administration on 
its communications strategy for the upcoming nominations fight, focused instead 
on the motivations of the blogger who floated the rumor, conservative writer 
Ben Domenech , a former GOP Senate staffer and Bush White House aide.  Dunn 
charged that by circulating the rumor, Domenech was "applying old stereotypes 
to single women with successful careers." 

On the CBS side, meanwhile, network executives first resisted the White House's 
demands to remove the post, insisting that the content of Domenech's post 
amounted to fair comment on the nominations process and was clearly labeled as 
opinion rather than news reporting. But Don Farber, editor of the CBSNews.com 
site, told the Washington Post that the rumor in Domenech's column "just got 
through our filters." 

And here's a crowning journalistic irony to the episode: The Post itself had 
hired Domenech as a conservative blogger back in 2006, only to see him resign 
three days into his tenure, after liberal bloggers circulated claims that he 
had plagiarized other work in his published writing — including a Washington 
Post story that Domenech apparently lifted for a column in the New York Press . 
The White House, of course, made prominent reference to that incident as well, 
with Dunn pointing out that the blogger had "a history plagiarism," and that 
the network's overseers were "enablers of people posting lies on their site." 

And this, in turn makes one last thing : If the White House is expending this 
sort of rhetorical firepower on a blog post about a possible nominee, just 
imagine what it will do when an actual nomination fight

Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum

Well said. This new trend is a bit more cynical, a bit more paranoid, a bit 
more frantic, and a bit more racist. 

- Original Message - 
From: "B Smith"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 2:42:07 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 






Obama's not above criticism and he gets a ton from both sides of the spectrum 
and some of it is well deserved. Card identifies as a Democrat but was an avid 
supported of Bush and McCain but tries to pedal it with the "I'm a registered 
Democrat" softshoe. He also gladly carried Bush's water no matter how badly he 
ran the country into the ground. He's not a contrarian. 

My problem is with some writers newfound love of the Fox News segment of the 
population. Maybe some of them see it as an oppurtunity to pick low hanging 
fruit by throwing red meat to the willing masses but it becomes a bit 
problematic. There were old school conservatives that wrote sci-fi and I never 
blinked at their viewpoints and i still enjoy their work. This trend I'm 
speaking of seems a bit more cynical. 

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Omari Confer  wrote: 
> 
> All I sense in his work is a genuine distrust of politics in general; a 
> contrarian point of view, maybe. I am an Obama supporter but I am also not 
> behind the way he conducts his presidency. In one breath I can lambast his 
> centrist approach to policy and then give him kudos on ...maybe 
> Healthcare I applaud Card for his opinionated and spear sharp criticisms. 
> Some people just refuse to let the other foot drop. 
> 
> 
> c w m 
> 
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:42 AM, Keith Johnson 
> wrote: 
> 
> > 
> > 
> > Wow, that's sad, but, given Card's Mormon background, guess it's not 
> > surprising. (No offense to any Mormons here who may want to disavow me of 
> > my 
> > sentiment). 
> > No matter what anyone says, I think there's a strong racist component to 
> > all the hatred towards Obama. Everyone keeps saying it's his liberalism 
> > (which is funny, 'cause he's more left of center than most liberals), his 
> > financial excesses (which Bush started with the first bailout), his making 
> > America less safe (by following a nuclear reduction path that Reagan 
> > himself 
> > endorsed back in the day). "It's the economy, stupid", all the opponents 
> > like to say. 
> > 
> > They conveniently forget that Obama was given increased Secret Service 
> > protection *before* he even won the Democratic nomination...that he was 
> > being called a traitor before he had negotiated a single treaty...that 
> > Birthers said he wasn't a real American before he'd even started debating 
> > McCain. Obama, like any President, has modified and changed some of his 
> > positions over the years. The only thing about him that has remained the 
> > absolute same over this whole time is his skin color. 
> > 
> > 
> > - Original Message - 
> > From: "B Smith"  
> > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 9:40:10 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > The usual right wing playbook. Not qualified, too liberal, dangerous for 
> > the country, blah, blah, blah. 
> > 
> > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Keith 
> > Johnson  wrote: 
> > > 
> > > Kinda wild when a scifi/futurist who's written stories about a world 
> > where Natives weren't conquered by Europe has homophobia. But then, scifi 
> > is 
> > chock full of prejudices and fears, and I guess those of us with that Star 
> > Trek "Man will get better" eye toward the future might even be in the 
> > minority. 
> > > What has Card said about Obama? 
> > > 
> > > - Original Message - 
> > > From: "B Smith"  
> > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com  
> > > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 8:14:02 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> > > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > All of the above and more. He's written some very homophobic things and 
> > his take on President Obama is pretty interesting. He claims that he's a 
> > Democrat but has been hyper-critical of Obama from the very beginning and 
> > been very alarmist about all of the actions he's taken since he became 
> > president. Very Tea Partyish in some ways. 
> > > 
> > > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com  , Keith 
> > Johnson  wrote: 
> > > > 
> > > > I haven't read a Card book in twenty years. But, why is he on the 
> > avoided list? Is there something about his Mormon (?) background and how it 
> > influences his writings? Disrespect for people of color or other 
> > non-whites? 
> > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > - Original Message - 
> > > > From: "B Smith"  
> > > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com  
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 2:48:23 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> > 
> > > > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > That makes me remember when

Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum

Well, of course there are reasoned and reasonable objections to Obama from both 
sides of the political spectrum. I'm just saying, though, that there's an 
unusual and even unprecedented amount of opposition to him that can't be based 
on anything but extreme dislike/distrust of his being a man of color. 

- Original Message - 
From: "Omari Confer"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 1:47:35 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 

All I sense in his work is a genuine distrust of politics in general; a 
contrarian point of view, maybe. I am an Obama supporter but I am also not 
behind the way he conducts his presidency. In one breath I can lambast his 
centrist approach to policy and then give him kudos on ...maybe Healthcare 
I applaud Card for his opinionated and spear sharp criticisms. Some people just 
refuse to let the other foot drop. 

c w m 

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:42 AM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > 
wrote: 

Wow, that's sad, but, given Card's Mormon background, guess it's not 
surprising. (No offense to any Mormons here who may want to disavow me of my 
sentiment). 
No matter what anyone says, I think there's a strong racist component to all 
the hatred towards Obama. Everyone keeps saying it's his liberalism (which is 
funny, 'cause he's more left of center than most liberals), his financial 
excesses (which Bush started with the first bailout), his making America less 
safe (by following a nuclear reduction path that Reagan himself endorsed back 
in the day). "It's the economy, stupid", all the opponents like to say. 

They conveniently forget that Obama was given increased Secret Service 
protection *before* he even won the Democratic nomination...that he was being 
called a traitor before he had negotiated a single treaty...that Birthers said 
he wasn't a real American before he'd even started debating McCain. Obama, like 
any President, has modified and changed some of his positions over the years. 
The only thing about him that has remained the absolute same over this whole 
time is his skin color. 

- Original Message - 
From: "B Smith" < daikaij...@yahoo.com > 
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 

Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 9:40:10 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 

The usual right wing playbook. Not qualified, too liberal, dangerous for the 
country, blah, blah, blah. 

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Keith Johnson  wrote: 
> 
> Kinda wild when a scifi/futurist who's written stories about a world where 
> Natives weren't conquered by Europe has homophobia. But then, scifi is chock 
> full of prejudices and fears, and I guess those of us with that Star Trek 
> "Man will get better" eye toward the future might even be in the minority. 
> What has Card said about Obama? 
> 
> - Original Message - 
> From: "B Smith"  
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 8:14:02 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All of the above and more. He's written some very homophobic things and his 
> take on President Obama is pretty interesting. He claims that he's a Democrat 
> but has been hyper-critical of Obama from the very beginning and been very 
> alarmist about all of the actions he's taken since he became president. Very 
> Tea Partyish in some ways. 
> 
> --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Keith Johnson  wrote: 
> > 
> > I haven't read a Card book in twenty years. But, why is he on the avoided 
> > list? Is there something about his Mormon (?) background and how it 
> > influences his writings? Disrespect for people of color or other 
> > non-whites? 
> > 
> > 
> > - Original Message - 
> > From: "B Smith"  
> > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 2:48:23 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > That makes me remember when I used to like OSC. He's another author on the 
> > to be avoided list. 
> > 
> > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Keith Johnson  wrote: 
> > > 
> > > I've heard mixed views, but never a good synopsis, thanks. What you 
> > > presented made it sound like a great premise. I love the idea of 
> > > hypersleep causing such problems. I may check it out. How does it compare 
> > > to another scifi film I really love, "Event Horizon"? I know that latter 
> > > is much more of a horror-focused scifi film. 
> > > 
> > > As for hypersleep, I remember reading a book by Orson Scott Card 
> > > ("Ender's Game", among many others). It postulated a fascinating world in 
> > > which people who were deemed absolutely critical to humanity (great 
> > > politicians, wealthy financiers, brilliant scientists, etc.) would "skip" 
> > > generations. A person of sufficient means would live among humanity for a 
> > > few years, doing whatever he or s

Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment

Good point. That's the main reason I'm following this: i want to know the 
particulars, how the law applies, and what the resolution will be. Last thing 
we need is a bunch of kids trying to claim right of privacy on the Internet 
just because their parents ticked them off (though I acknowledge it may be more 
than that here). 
Heck, if I'd tried something like this back in the day...well, I wouldn't be 
here to type this e-mail! :) 


- Original Message - 
From: "Tracy Curtis"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 2:06:41 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment 






I think the criminal thing may be analogous to the way domestic violence laws 
have evolved. It used to be that the person being hurt had to press charges. 
Now, if there's evidence, the state must bring charges. I don't know how much 
of a choice they would have if she pretended to be him. 


On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:20 PM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > 
wrote: 









Same here. That's the only thing I can see that would possibly warrant criminal 
charges. Still, I wonder if the law couldn't have tried to get them to settle 
this out of court? Maybe have everyone sit down and talk it out? The kid is 
obviously angry, and maybe with good reason. But I hate to see him taking his 
mom to court like this. She might even be "wrong" in a way, but criminal? 


- Original Message - 
From: "Tracy Curtis" < tlcurti...@gmail.com > 
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 



Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 1:12:35 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment 






I don't really know. I was speculating about the fraud part. I imagine that's 
why she can be charged. I read somewhere that she posted pretending to be him. 


On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:09 PM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > 
wrote: 









I agree, the family dynamic is a big issue. 
Can a parent be charged if that parent were to hack into the underage child's 
account? In this case the dude left his computer logged in to Facebook. What if 
his mother had intentionally gone looking for a password, found it, and then 
accessed his account? Is that illegal? 


- Original Message - 
From: "Tracy Curtis" < tlcurti...@gmail.com > 
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 12:00:59 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment 






Keith, I was also wondering about this case. My very uninformed guess is that 
she posted something while pretending to be him. Perhaps that along with the 
hacking can be construed as fraud. People can be charged with that no matter 
what their relationships with the people they attack. 

But it also seems that this family's situation is worse than the average one in 
which a parent might monitor the kids' online activity. She seemed to have 
little opportunity to reach him in person. And if his tales about driving 95 
mph are correct, the grandparents' influence isn't keeping him in line. Maybe 
these charges will get him the kind of attention that will lead him to take 
better care of himself. 


On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > 
wrote: 









Interesting. I am a very liberal person, and certainly had major battles with 
my parents as I was growing up. I am a big fan of letting children grow and 
learn and stretch as much as possible, without constraining them more than 
necessary. Give them as much freedom as possible, I say. 

Still, I also believe that children are children, and subject to their parents' 
rules in the main. As much as I rebelled against my folks, i don't like seeing 
kids turn into arrogant little snots. So my gut reaction at first was to upset 
that a teen could take his mom to court for this. But the one thing that 
bothers me is not knowing exactly what the mother did that convinced the 
authorities to charge her. Frankly, her reading his Facebook account, even 
changing his password--that doesn't upset me as much if, as she said, she was 
alarmed at him revealing doing dangerous and irresponsible things. The 
advancement of technology and the growth of social networking, along with the 
associated change in mores, doesn't allow a minor to do anything he wants. The 
tech may change, but in one way this is no different than my parents telling me 
when to turn off the TV, picking up the extension when I was on the phone 
trying to talk to a girl and embarrassing me, or "overhearing" conversations 
with friends. And if stuff like Facebook did exist when I was a teen, you can 
be guaran-damn-teed that there'd be *no* way I'd have been allowed to make it 
private, lock my parents out, or not include them among my friends so they 
could read what I was posting. 

I'm assuming--even hoping--that the obviously dysfunctional nature of the 
family

[scifinoir2] Fw: Re: Fw: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen

2010-04-16 Thread Augustus Augustus

thought you all would enjoy this one.  break it down for me Rave, cannot figure 
this one out.  that goes for both Martin and Mr. Worf too!

Fate.

--- On Tue, 4/13/10, Todd  wrote:

From: Todd 
Subject: Fw: Re: Fw: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen
To: jazzynupe_...@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 8:53 AM



Todd Alkire

--- On Mon, 4/12/10, Todd  wrote:


From: Todd 
Subject: Re: Fw: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen
To: "A Jims Email" , "A Chad" , 
stonecr...@verizon.net
Date: Monday, April 12, 2010, 10:08 AM






That was awesome!

Todd Alkire

--- On Sat, 4/10/10, stonecr...@verizon.net  wrote:


From: stonecr...@verizon.net 
Subject: Fw: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen
To: "A Jims Email" , "A Chad" , "A Todd" 

Date: Saturday, April 10, 2010, 7:36 AM



Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®


From: Rick  
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:10:32 -0700 (PDT)
To: 
Subject: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen





I TOTALY AGREE ! !  







 




Subject: FW: This is an illusion, The BEST I have ever seen

 











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 This is an illusion!  The BEST I have ever seen!
























 


Don't need to understand the language, obviously Chinese,  to see how amazing 
this is. Spectacular!







 




Click here  #t=78

[scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum

2010-04-16 Thread B Smith

Obama's not above criticism and he gets a ton from both sides of the spectrum 
and some of it is well deserved. Card identifies as a Democrat but was an avid 
supported of Bush and McCain but tries to pedal it with the "I'm a registered 
Democrat" softshoe. He also gladly carried Bush's water no matter how badly he 
ran the country into the ground. He's not a contrarian.

My problem is with some writers newfound love of the Fox News segment of the 
population. Maybe some of them see it as an oppurtunity to pick low hanging 
fruit by throwing red meat to the willing masses but it becomes a bit 
problematic. There were old school conservatives that wrote sci-fi and I never 
blinked at their viewpoints and i still enjoy their work. This trend I'm 
speaking of seems a bit more cynical.

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Omari Confer  wrote:
>
> All I sense in his work is a genuine distrust of politics in general; a
> contrarian point of view, maybe. I am an Obama supporter but I am also not
> behind the way he conducts his presidency. In one breath I can lambast his
> centrist approach to policy and then give him kudos on ...maybe
> Healthcare I applaud Card for his opinionated and spear sharp criticisms.
> Some people just refuse to let the other foot drop.
> 
> 
> c w m
> 
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:42 AM, Keith Johnson
> wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > Wow, that's sad, but, given Card's Mormon background, guess it's not
> > surprising. (No offense to any Mormons here who may want to disavow me of my
> > sentiment).
> > No matter what anyone says, I think there's a strong racist component to
> > all the hatred towards Obama. Everyone keeps saying it's his liberalism
> > (which is funny, 'cause he's more left of center than most liberals), his
> > financial excesses (which Bush started with the first bailout), his making
> > America less safe (by following a nuclear reduction path that Reagan himself
> > endorsed back in the day). "It's the economy, stupid", all the opponents
> > like to say.
> >
> > They conveniently forget that Obama was given increased Secret Service
> > protection *before* he even won the Democratic nomination...that he was
> > being called a traitor before he had negotiated a single treaty...that
> > Birthers said he wasn't a real American before he'd even started debating
> > McCain. Obama, like any President, has modified and changed some of his
> > positions over the years. The only thing about him that has remained the
> > absolute same over this whole time is his skin color.
> >
> >
> > - Original Message -
> > From: "B Smith" 
> > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 9:40:10 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum
> >
> >
> >
> > The usual right wing playbook. Not qualified, too liberal, dangerous for
> > the country, blah, blah, blah.
> >
> > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Keith
> > Johnson  wrote:
> > >
> > > Kinda wild when a scifi/futurist who's written stories about a world
> > where Natives weren't conquered by Europe has homophobia. But then, scifi is
> > chock full of prejudices and fears, and I guess those of us with that Star
> > Trek "Man will get better" eye toward the future might even be in the
> > minority.
> > > What has Card said about Obama?
> > >
> > > - Original Message -
> > > From: "B Smith" 
> > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> > > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 8:14:02 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> > > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > All of the above and more. He's written some very homophobic things and
> > his take on President Obama is pretty interesting. He claims that he's a
> > Democrat but has been hyper-critical of Obama from the very beginning and
> > been very alarmist about all of the actions he's taken since he became
> > president. Very Tea Partyish in some ways.
> > >
> > > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com  , Keith
> > Johnson  wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I haven't read a Card book in twenty years. But, why is he on the
> > avoided list? Is there something about his Mormon (?) background and how it
> > influences his writings? Disrespect for people of color or other non-whites?
> >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > - Original Message -
> > > > From: "B Smith" 
> > > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 2:48:23 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> >
> > > > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > That makes me remember when I used to like OSC. He's another author on
> > the to be avoided list.
> > > >
> > > > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com  ,
> > Keith Johnson  wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > I've heard mixed views, but never a good synopsis, thanks. What you
> > presented made it sound like a great premise. I love the idea of hypersleep
> > causing such problems. I may check it out. How does it compare to another
> > scifi film I really lo

Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment

2010-04-16 Thread Tracy Curtis

I think the criminal thing may be analogous to the way domestic violence
laws have evolved.  It used to be that the person being hurt had to press
charges.  Now, if there's evidence, the state must bring charges.  I don't
know how  much of a choice they would have if she pretended to be him.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:20 PM, Keith Johnson
wrote:

>
>
> Same here. That's the only thing I can see that would possibly warrant
> criminal charges. Still, I wonder if the law couldn't have tried to get them
> to settle this out of court? Maybe have everyone sit down and talk it out?
> The kid is obviously angry, and maybe with good reason. But I hate to see
> him taking his mom to court like this. She might even be "wrong" in a way,
> but criminal?
>
>
> - Original Message -
> From: "Tracy Curtis" 
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 1:12:35 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment
>
>
>
> I don't really know.  I was speculating about the fraud part.  I imagine
> that's why she can be charged.  I read somewhere that she posted pretending
> to be him.
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:09 PM, Keith Johnson  > wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> I agree, the family dynamic is a big issue.
>> Can a parent be charged if that parent were to hack into the underage
>> child's account? In this case the dude left his computer logged in to
>> Facebook. What if his mother had intentionally gone looking for a password,
>> found it, and then accessed his account? Is that illegal?
>>
>>
>> - Original Message -
>> From: "Tracy Curtis" 
>> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
>> Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 12:00:59 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>> Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment
>>
>>
>>
>> Keith, I was also wondering about this case.  My very uninformed guess is
>> that she posted something while pretending to be him.  Perhaps that along
>> with the hacking can be construed as fraud.  People can be charged with that
>> no matter what their relationships with the people they attack.
>>
>> But it also seems that this family's situation is worse than the average
>> one in which a parent might monitor the kids' online activity.  She seemed
>> to have little opportunity to reach him in person.  And if his tales about
>> driving 95 mph are correct, the grandparents' influence isn't keeping him in
>> line.  Maybe these charges will get him the kind of attention that will lead
>> him to take better care of himself.
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Keith Johnson <
>> keithbjohn...@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Interesting. I am a very liberal person, and certainly had major battles
>>> with my parents as I was growing up. I am a big fan of letting children grow
>>> and learn and stretch as much as possible, without constraining them more
>>> than necessary. Give them as much freedom as possible, I say.
>>>
>>> Still, I also believe that children are children, and subject to their
>>> parents' rules in the main. As much as I rebelled against my folks, i don't
>>> like seeing kids turn into arrogant little snots. So my gut reaction at
>>> first was to upset that a teen could take his mom to court for this. But the
>>> one thing that bothers me is not knowing exactly what the mother did that
>>> convinced the authorities to charge her. Frankly, her reading his Facebook
>>> account, even changing his password--that doesn't upset me as much if, as
>>> she said, she was alarmed at him revealing doing dangerous and irresponsible
>>> things. The advancement of technology and the growth of social networking,
>>> along with the associated change in mores, doesn't allow a minor to do
>>> anything he wants. The tech may change, but in one way this is no different
>>> than my parents telling me when to turn off the TV, picking up the extension
>>> when I was on the phone trying to talk to a girl and embarrassing me, or
>>> "overhearing" conversations with friends. And if stuff like Facebook did
>>> exist when I was a teen, you can be guaran-damn-teed that there'd be *no*
>>> way I'd have been allowed to make it private, lock my parents out, or not
>>> include them among my friends so they could read what I was posting.
>>>
>>> I'm assuming--even hoping--that the obviously dysfunctional nature of the
>>> family can lead one to assume the mother went way way over the line here. He
>>> doesn't seem close to his parents, they say the divorce was messy, and he
>>> only sees his mother every now and then. Did she make fun of her son in
>>> Facebook? Did she insult his friends? Did she make up lies and attribute
>>> them to him? Must have been something extreme for the law to get involved.
>>> At least,  I hope, 'cause the last thing we need is for kids to start
>>> thinking they have the right to privacy when their under eighteen, just
>>> because they can now create password-protected social networking accounts.
>>>
>>> I wanna fo

Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum

2010-04-16 Thread Omari Confer

All I sense in his work is a genuine distrust of politics in general; a
contrarian point of view, maybe. I am an Obama supporter but I am also not
behind the way he conducts his presidency. In one breath I can lambast his
centrist approach to policy and then give him kudos on ...maybe
Healthcare I applaud Card for his opinionated and spear sharp criticisms.
Some people just refuse to let the other foot drop.


c w m

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:42 AM, Keith Johnson
wrote:

>
>
> Wow, that's sad, but, given Card's Mormon background, guess it's not
> surprising. (No offense to any Mormons here who may want to disavow me of my
> sentiment).
> No matter what anyone says, I think there's a strong racist component to
> all the hatred towards Obama. Everyone keeps saying it's his liberalism
> (which is funny, 'cause he's more left of center than most liberals), his
> financial excesses (which Bush started with the first bailout), his making
> America less safe (by following a nuclear reduction path that Reagan himself
> endorsed back in the day). "It's the economy, stupid", all the opponents
> like to say.
>
> They conveniently forget that Obama was given increased Secret Service
> protection *before* he even won the Democratic nomination...that he was
> being called a traitor before he had negotiated a single treaty...that
> Birthers said he wasn't a real American before he'd even started debating
> McCain. Obama, like any President, has modified and changed some of his
> positions over the years. The only thing about him that has remained the
> absolute same over this whole time is his skin color.
>
>
> - Original Message -
> From: "B Smith" 
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 9:40:10 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum
>
>
>
> The usual right wing playbook. Not qualified, too liberal, dangerous for
> the country, blah, blah, blah.
>
> --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Keith
> Johnson  wrote:
> >
> > Kinda wild when a scifi/futurist who's written stories about a world
> where Natives weren't conquered by Europe has homophobia. But then, scifi is
> chock full of prejudices and fears, and I guess those of us with that Star
> Trek "Man will get better" eye toward the future might even be in the
> minority.
> > What has Card said about Obama?
> >
> > - Original Message -
> > From: "B Smith" 
> > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 8:14:02 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > All of the above and more. He's written some very homophobic things and
> his take on President Obama is pretty interesting. He claims that he's a
> Democrat but has been hyper-critical of Obama from the very beginning and
> been very alarmist about all of the actions he's taken since he became
> president. Very Tea Partyish in some ways.
> >
> > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com  , Keith
> Johnson  wrote:
> > >
> > > I haven't read a Card book in twenty years. But, why is he on the
> avoided list? Is there something about his Mormon (?) background and how it
> influences his writings? Disrespect for people of color or other non-whites?
>
> > >
> > >
> > > - Original Message -
> > > From: "B Smith" 
> > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> > > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 2:48:23 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>
> > > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > That makes me remember when I used to like OSC. He's another author on
> the to be avoided list.
> > >
> > > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com  ,
> Keith Johnson  wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I've heard mixed views, but never a good synopsis, thanks. What you
> presented made it sound like a great premise. I love the idea of hypersleep
> causing such problems. I may check it out. How does it compare to another
> scifi film I really love, "Event Horizon"? I know that latter is much more
> of a horror-focused scifi film.
> > > >
> > > > As for hypersleep, I remember reading a book by Orson Scott Card
> ("Ender's Game", among many others). It postulated a fascinating world in
> which people who were deemed absolutely critical to humanity (great
> politicians, wealthy financiers, brilliant scientists, etc.) would "skip"
> generations. A person of sufficient means would live among humanity for a
> few years, doing whatever he or she did for a living. Then, that person
> would go into suspended animation for a time. As an example, Steve Jobs
> might run Apple for three years, set its future course, then go into
> suspended animation for twenty or thirty years. He'd wake up, get the lay of
> the land, do some more work, then back into the routine. If you think about
> it, it's a cool way to be granted a sort of immortality, as you can skip
> across the centuries, experiencing and influencing human development.
> > > > The only problem is that the sleeper's mind is "bubbled" into a

Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment

Same here. That's the only thing I can see that would possibly warrant criminal 
charges. Still, I wonder if the law couldn't have tried to get them to settle 
this out of court? Maybe have everyone sit down and talk it out? The kid is 
obviously angry, and maybe with good reason. But I hate to see him taking his 
mom to court like this. She might even be "wrong" in a way, but criminal? 

- Original Message - 
From: "Tracy Curtis"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 1:12:35 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment 

I don't really know. I was speculating about the fraud part. I imagine that's 
why she can be charged. I read somewhere that she posted pretending to be him. 

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:09 PM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > 
wrote: 

I agree, the family dynamic is a big issue. 
Can a parent be charged if that parent were to hack into the underage child's 
account? In this case the dude left his computer logged in to Facebook. What if 
his mother had intentionally gone looking for a password, found it, and then 
accessed his account? Is that illegal? 

- Original Message - 
From: "Tracy Curtis" < tlcurti...@gmail.com > 
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 12:00:59 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment 

Keith, I was also wondering about this case. My very uninformed guess is that 
she posted something while pretending to be him. Perhaps that along with the 
hacking can be construed as fraud. People can be charged with that no matter 
what their relationships with the people they attack. 

But it also seems that this family's situation is worse than the average one in 
which a parent might monitor the kids' online activity. She seemed to have 
little opportunity to reach him in person. And if his tales about driving 95 
mph are correct, the grandparents' influence isn't keeping him in line. Maybe 
these charges will get him the kind of attention that will lead him to take 
better care of himself. 

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > 
wrote: 

Interesting. I am a very liberal person, and certainly had major battles with 
my parents as I was growing up. I am a big fan of letting children grow and 
learn and stretch as much as possible, without constraining them more than 
necessary. Give them as much freedom as possible, I say. 

Still, I also believe that children are children, and subject to their parents' 
rules in the main. As much as I rebelled against my folks, i don't like seeing 
kids turn into arrogant little snots. So my gut reaction at first was to upset 
that a teen could take his mom to court for this. But the one thing that 
bothers me is not knowing exactly what the mother did that convinced the 
authorities to charge her. Frankly, her reading his Facebook account, even 
changing his password--that doesn't upset me as much if, as she said, she was 
alarmed at him revealing doing dangerous and irresponsible things. The 
advancement of technology and the growth of social networking, along with the 
associated change in mores, doesn't allow a minor to do anything he wants. The 
tech may change, but in one way this is no different than my parents telling me 
when to turn off the TV, picking up the extension when I was on the phone 
trying to talk to a girl and embarrassing me, or "overhearing" conversations 
with friends. And if stuff like Facebook did exist when I was a teen, you can 
be guaran-damn-teed that there'd be *no* way I'd have been allowed to make it 
private, lock my parents out, or not include them among my friends so they 
could read what I was posting. 

I'm assuming--even hoping--that the obviously dysfunctional nature of the 
family can lead one to assume the mother went way way over the line here. He 
doesn't seem close to his parents, they say the divorce was messy, and he only 
sees his mother every now and then. Did she make fun of her son in Facebook? 
Did she insult his friends? Did she make up lies and attribute them to him? 
Must have been something extreme for the law to get involved. At least, I hope, 
'cause the last thing we need is for kids to start thinking they have the right 
to privacy when their under eighteen, just because they can now create 
password-protected social networking accounts. 

I wanna follow this one just to make sure Arkansas isn't setting a troubling 
precedent, but given that state's social leanings, I can't believe they'd be on 
the liberal side of privacy law interpretations for kids... 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1264604/Boy-sues-mother-Facebook-harassment-argues-parental-duty.html

Boy, 16, sues his mother for harassing him on Facebook as she arg

Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment

2010-04-16 Thread Tracy Curtis

I don't really know.  I was speculating about the fraud part.  I imagine
that's why she can be charged.  I read somewhere that she posted pretending
to be him.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:09 PM, Keith Johnson
wrote:

>
>
> I agree, the family dynamic is a big issue.
> Can a parent be charged if that parent were to hack into the underage
> child's account? In this case the dude left his computer logged in to
> Facebook. What if his mother had intentionally gone looking for a password,
> found it, and then accessed his account? Is that illegal?
>
>
> - Original Message -
> From: "Tracy Curtis" 
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 12:00:59 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment
>
>
>
> Keith, I was also wondering about this case.  My very uninformed guess is
> that she posted something while pretending to be him.  Perhaps that along
> with the hacking can be construed as fraud.  People can be charged with that
> no matter what their relationships with the people they attack.
>
> But it also seems that this family's situation is worse than the average
> one in which a parent might monitor the kids' online activity.  She seemed
> to have little opportunity to reach him in person.  And if his tales about
> driving 95 mph are correct, the grandparents' influence isn't keeping him in
> line.  Maybe these charges will get him the kind of attention that will lead
> him to take better care of himself.
>
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Keith Johnson  > wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Interesting. I am a very liberal person, and certainly had major battles
>> with my parents as I was growing up. I am a big fan of letting children grow
>> and learn and stretch as much as possible, without constraining them more
>> than necessary. Give them as much freedom as possible, I say.
>>
>> Still, I also believe that children are children, and subject to their
>> parents' rules in the main. As much as I rebelled against my folks, i don't
>> like seeing kids turn into arrogant little snots. So my gut reaction at
>> first was to upset that a teen could take his mom to court for this. But the
>> one thing that bothers me is not knowing exactly what the mother did that
>> convinced the authorities to charge her. Frankly, her reading his Facebook
>> account, even changing his password--that doesn't upset me as much if, as
>> she said, she was alarmed at him revealing doing dangerous and irresponsible
>> things. The advancement of technology and the growth of social networking,
>> along with the associated change in mores, doesn't allow a minor to do
>> anything he wants. The tech may change, but in one way this is no different
>> than my parents telling me when to turn off the TV, picking up the extension
>> when I was on the phone trying to talk to a girl and embarrassing me, or
>> "overhearing" conversations with friends. And if stuff like Facebook did
>> exist when I was a teen, you can be guaran-damn-teed that there'd be *no*
>> way I'd have been allowed to make it private, lock my parents out, or not
>> include them among my friends so they could read what I was posting.
>>
>> I'm assuming--even hoping--that the obviously dysfunctional nature of the
>> family can lead one to assume the mother went way way over the line here. He
>> doesn't seem close to his parents, they say the divorce was messy, and he
>> only sees his mother every now and then. Did she make fun of her son in
>> Facebook? Did she insult his friends? Did she make up lies and attribute
>> them to him? Must have been something extreme for the law to get involved.
>> At least,  I hope, 'cause the last thing we need is for kids to start
>> thinking they have the right to privacy when their under eighteen, just
>> because they can now create password-protected social networking accounts.
>>
>> I wanna follow this one just to make sure Arkansas isn't setting a
>> troubling precedent, but given that state's social leanings, I can't believe
>> they'd be on the liberal side of privacy law interpretations for kids...
>>
>>
>> 
>>
>> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1264604/Boy-sues-mother-Facebook-harassment-argues-parental-duty.html
>> Boy, 16, sues his mother for harassing him on Facebook as she argues it's
>> her 'parental duty'
>>
>> By Paul 
>> Thompson
>> Last updated at 8:13 AM on 9th April 2010
>>  [image: g]
>>
>> 'It's just like going through his bedroom... it's my duty': Denise New,
>> who is being sued by her son Lane for going through his Facebook page
>>
>> A teenager has taken his mother to court for logging on to his Facebook
>> page and reading about his private life.
>>
>> Denise New has been charged with harassment after her 16-year-old son,
>> Lane, said he wanted criminal charges filed aga

Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment

I agree, the family dynamic is a big issue. 
Can a parent be charged if that parent were to hack into the underage child's 
account? In this case the dude left his computer logged in to Facebook. What if 
his mother had intentionally gone looking for a password, found it, and then 
accessed his account? Is that illegal? 

- Original Message - 
From: "Tracy Curtis"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 12:00:59 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment 

Keith, I was also wondering about this case. My very uninformed guess is that 
she posted something while pretending to be him. Perhaps that along with the 
hacking can be construed as fraud. People can be charged with that no matter 
what their relationships with the people they attack. 

But it also seems that this family's situation is worse than the average one in 
which a parent might monitor the kids' online activity. She seemed to have 
little opportunity to reach him in person. And if his tales about driving 95 
mph are correct, the grandparents' influence isn't keeping him in line. Maybe 
these charges will get him the kind of attention that will lead him to take 
better care of himself. 

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > 
wrote: 

Interesting. I am a very liberal person, and certainly had major battles with 
my parents as I was growing up. I am a big fan of letting children grow and 
learn and stretch as much as possible, without constraining them more than 
necessary. Give them as much freedom as possible, I say. 

Still, I also believe that children are children, and subject to their parents' 
rules in the main. As much as I rebelled against my folks, i don't like seeing 
kids turn into arrogant little snots. So my gut reaction at first was to upset 
that a teen could take his mom to court for this. But the one thing that 
bothers me is not knowing exactly what the mother did that convinced the 
authorities to charge her. Frankly, her reading his Facebook account, even 
changing his password--that doesn't upset me as much if, as she said, she was 
alarmed at him revealing doing dangerous and irresponsible things. The 
advancement of technology and the growth of social networking, along with the 
associated change in mores, doesn't allow a minor to do anything he wants. The 
tech may change, but in one way this is no different than my parents telling me 
when to turn off the TV, picking up the extension when I was on the phone 
trying to talk to a girl and embarrassing me, or "overhearing" conversations 
with friends. And if stuff like Facebook did exist when I was a teen, you can 
be guaran-damn-teed that there'd be *no* way I'd have been allowed to make it 
private, lock my parents out, or not include them among my friends so they 
could read what I was posting. 

I'm assuming--even hoping--that the obviously dysfunctional nature of the 
family can lead one to assume the mother went way way over the line here. He 
doesn't seem close to his parents, they say the divorce was messy, and he only 
sees his mother every now and then. Did she make fun of her son in Facebook? 
Did she insult his friends? Did she make up lies and attribute them to him? 
Must have been something extreme for the law to get involved. At least, I hope, 
'cause the last thing we need is for kids to start thinking they have the right 
to privacy when their under eighteen, just because they can now create 
password-protected social networking accounts. 

I wanna follow this one just to make sure Arkansas isn't setting a troubling 
precedent, but given that state's social leanings, I can't believe they'd be on 
the liberal side of privacy law interpretations for kids... 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1264604/Boy-sues-mother-Facebook-harassment-argues-parental-duty.html

Boy, 16, sues his mother for harassing him on Facebook as she argues it's her 
'parental duty' 

By Paul Thompson 
Last updated at 8:13 AM on 9th April 2010 
g

'It's just like going through his bedroom... it's my duty': Denise New, who is 
being sued by her son Lane for going through his Facebook page 

A teenager has taken his mother to court for logging on to his Facebook page 
and reading about his private life. 

Denise New has been charged with harassment after her 16-year-old son, Lane, 
said he wanted criminal charges filed against his mother for her 'snooping'. 

The teenager claims his mother changed his password on his Facebook account 
after he accidentally left his computer on. 

He also said she posted slanderous comments and changed the password to his 
email so he can no longer receive updates to his page. 

The teenager, who lives with his grandmother following his parents' messy 
divorce, made a complaint with prosecutors in Arkans

[scifinoir2] Obama's tax return

On their income tax return Mr. and Mrs. Obama list their occupations as US 
PRESIDENT and US FIRST LADY.  I LOVE this!

~rave!

http://www.examiner.com/x-12837-US-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m4d16-President-Obama-releases-his-tax-returns-to-the-public-on-tax-day-read-tax-returns

Re: [scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment

2010-04-16 Thread Tracy Curtis

Keith, I was also wondering about this case.  My very uninformed guess is
that she posted something while pretending to be him.  Perhaps that along
with the hacking can be construed as fraud.  People can be charged with that
no matter what their relationships with the people they attack.

But it also seems that this family's situation is worse than the average one
in which a parent might monitor the kids' online activity.  She seemed to
have little opportunity to reach him in person.  And if his tales about
driving 95 mph are correct, the grandparents' influence isn't keeping him in
line.  Maybe these charges will get him the kind of attention that will lead
him to take better care of himself.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Keith Johnson
wrote:

>
>
> Interesting. I am a very liberal person, and certainly had major battles
> with my parents as I was growing up. I am a big fan of letting children grow
> and learn and stretch as much as possible, without constraining them more
> than necessary. Give them as much freedom as possible, I say.
>
> Still, I also believe that children are children, and subject to their
> parents' rules in the main. As much as I rebelled against my folks, i don't
> like seeing kids turn into arrogant little snots. So my gut reaction at
> first was to upset that a teen could take his mom to court for this. But the
> one thing that bothers me is not knowing exactly what the mother did that
> convinced the authorities to charge her. Frankly, her reading his Facebook
> account, even changing his password--that doesn't upset me as much if, as
> she said, she was alarmed at him revealing doing dangerous and irresponsible
> things. The advancement of technology and the growth of social networking,
> along with the associated change in mores, doesn't allow a minor to do
> anything he wants. The tech may change, but in one way this is no different
> than my parents telling me when to turn off the TV, picking up the extension
> when I was on the phone trying to talk to a girl and embarrassing me, or
> "overhearing" conversations with friends. And if stuff like Facebook did
> exist when I was a teen, you can be guaran-damn-teed that there'd be *no*
> way I'd have been allowed to make it private, lock my parents out, or not
> include them among my friends so they could read what I was posting.
>
> I'm assuming--even hoping--that the obviously dysfunctional nature of the
> family can lead one to assume the mother went way way over the line here. He
> doesn't seem close to his parents, they say the divorce was messy, and he
> only sees his mother every now and then. Did she make fun of her son in
> Facebook? Did she insult his friends? Did she make up lies and attribute
> them to him? Must have been something extreme for the law to get involved.
> At least,  I hope, 'cause the last thing we need is for kids to start
> thinking they have the right to privacy when their under eighteen, just
> because they can now create password-protected social networking accounts.
>
> I wanna follow this one just to make sure Arkansas isn't setting a
> troubling precedent, but given that state's social leanings, I can't believe
> they'd be on the liberal side of privacy law interpretations for kids...
>
>
> 
>
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1264604/Boy-sues-mother-Facebook-harassment-argues-parental-duty.html
> Boy, 16, sues his mother for harassing him on Facebook as she argues it's
> her 'parental duty'
>
> By Paul 
> Thompson
> Last updated at 8:13 AM on 9th April 2010
>  [image: g]
>
> 'It's just like going through his bedroom... it's my duty': Denise New, who
> is being sued by her son Lane for going through his Facebook page
>
> A teenager has taken his mother to court for logging on to his Facebook
> page and reading about his private life.
>
> Denise New has been charged with harassment after her 16-year-old son,
> Lane, said he wanted criminal charges filed against his mother for her
> 'snooping'.
>
> The teenager claims his mother changed his password on his Facebook account
> after he accidentally left his computer on.
>
> He also said she posted slanderous comments and changed the password to his
> email so he can no longer receive updates to his page.
>
> The teenager, who lives with his grandmother following his parents' messy
> divorce, made a complaint with prosecutors in Arkansas after the incident
> last month.
>
> Prosecutors agreed with the teenager and charged Mrs New under the state's
> harassment laws.
>
> The high tech family row began after Lane accidentally left his computer on
> while visiting his mother at her home in the town of Arkadelphia.
>
> The 42-year-old became concerned about several entries, including one in
> which he son wrote about driving home at 95mph after an argument with his
> girlf

Re: [scifinoir2] Re: She shoots! She swears! She's 11!

2010-04-16 Thread Daryle Lockhart

Yeah, so it's funny, my daughter's a five foot one inch girlie girl  
who I have seen snatch somebody up when they  were trying to get  in  
the way of her money. (She didn't know I was watching. She was about  
to  punch a 250 pound dude in the throat).


We go to the movies together like twice every year, and it HAS to be  
an action movie. This is a tradition we started when we went to see  
"Kill Bill" together opening day. She saw "300" before me. Now,  this  
is a woman who has the complete "Sex and the City" series on DVD,   
and has a fancy shoe collection. This ain't Peppermint Patty. She's  
in touch  with her complete self, and walks in that  balance.


She's seen more Bond movies than her boyfriend. Watching the Bond  
girls did something different  for her. She takes the fashion cues  
from the women and drives like 007. (My insurance premiums are  
evidence of this)


She's also a DJ and in law school. I think girls need (and like) to  
see empowering images just like we dudes do. It  helps balance their  
personalities.



On Apr 16, 2010, at 11:41 AM, Kelwyn wrote:


I was more intrigued by the feminist aspect of the article:

Yet don't assume that the reactions to Hit Girl will be anything  
close to universal. Melissa Silverstein, who writes the feminist  
blog Women and Hollywood(womenandhollywood.com), saw an advance  
screening of "Kick-Ass" and said she was surprised by how torn she  
felt.


"It was disturbing, but I was also empowered in the same moment,  
and that doesn't happen very often," Silverstein said. "It just  
kind of flew into the face of all expectations of how girls act on  
screen, and that's what was so exciting and breathtaking. I  
couldn't help but feel some semblance of excitement as a person  
who's watched male comic book characters save the day time and time  
again."


At the same time, though, she was "ambivalent about someone who  
just kills people for the sake of killing," and the casual use of a  
certain very vulgar anti-female epithet bothered her. "I saw all  
the boys sitting around me loving that, and they loved it a little  
too much."


Reminds me of one of the most enjoyable movie experiences I have  
shared with my daughter (who was then 13 or 14). We watched Karyn  
Kusama's "Girlfight" starring my personal fave, Michelle Rodrigues  
(don't get me started on how pissed-off I was when I got the "Fast  
and Furious" DVD and found out that even though she was fourth  
billed, she was out of the movie almost before the opening  
credits!) and afterwards watching my five foot ten-inch tall  
daughter stand up straight and strong and form her hands into  
fists, then turning them and jabbing the air in replication of  
Rodriques' heavy bag technique.


~rave!

Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum

Wow, that's sad, but, given Card's Mormon background, guess it's not 
surprising. (No offense to any Mormons here who may want to disavow me of my 
sentiment). 
No matter what anyone says, I think there's a strong racist component to all 
the hatred towards Obama. Everyone keeps saying it's his liberalism (which is 
funny, 'cause he's more left of center than most liberals), his financial 
excesses (which Bush started with the first bailout), his making America less 
safe (by following a nuclear reduction path that Reagan himself endorsed back 
in the day). "It's the economy, stupid", all the opponents like to say. 

They conveniently forget that Obama was given increased Secret Service 
protection *before* he even won the Democratic nomination...that he was being 
called a traitor before he had negotiated a single treaty...that Birthers said 
he wasn't a real American before he'd even started debating McCain. Obama, like 
any President, has modified and changed some of his positions over the years. 
The only thing about him that has remained the absolute same over this whole 
time is his skin color. 

- Original Message - 
From: "B Smith"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 9:40:10 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 






The usual right wing playbook. Not qualified, too liberal, dangerous for the 
country, blah, blah, blah. 

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Keith Johnson  wrote: 
> 
> Kinda wild when a scifi/futurist who's written stories about a world where 
> Natives weren't conquered by Europe has homophobia. But then, scifi is chock 
> full of prejudices and fears, and I guess those of us with that Star Trek 
> "Man will get better" eye toward the future might even be in the minority. 
> What has Card said about Obama? 
> 
> - Original Message - 
> From: "B Smith"  
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 8:14:02 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All of the above and more. He's written some very homophobic things and his 
> take on President Obama is pretty interesting. He claims that he's a Democrat 
> but has been hyper-critical of Obama from the very beginning and been very 
> alarmist about all of the actions he's taken since he became president. Very 
> Tea Partyish in some ways. 
> 
> --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Keith Johnson  wrote: 
> > 
> > I haven't read a Card book in twenty years. But, why is he on the avoided 
> > list? Is there something about his Mormon (?) background and how it 
> > influences his writings? Disrespect for people of color or other 
> > non-whites? 
> > 
> > 
> > - Original Message - 
> > From: "B Smith"  
> > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 2:48:23 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Pandorum 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > That makes me remember when I used to like OSC. He's another author on the 
> > to be avoided list. 
> > 
> > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Keith Johnson  wrote: 
> > > 
> > > I've heard mixed views, but never a good synopsis, thanks. What you 
> > > presented made it sound like a great premise. I love the idea of 
> > > hypersleep causing such problems. I may check it out. How does it compare 
> > > to another scifi film I really love, "Event Horizon"? I know that latter 
> > > is much more of a horror-focused scifi film. 
> > > 
> > > As for hypersleep, I remember reading a book by Orson Scott Card 
> > > ("Ender's Game", among many others). It postulated a fascinating world in 
> > > which people who were deemed absolutely critical to humanity (great 
> > > politicians, wealthy financiers, brilliant scientists, etc.) would "skip" 
> > > generations. A person of sufficient means would live among humanity for a 
> > > few years, doing whatever he or she did for a living. Then, that person 
> > > would go into suspended animation for a time. As an example, Steve Jobs 
> > > might run Apple for three years, set its future course, then go into 
> > > suspended animation for twenty or thirty years. He'd wake up, get the lay 
> > > of the land, do some more work, then back into the routine. If you think 
> > > about it, it's a cool way to be granted a sort of immortality, as you can 
> > > skip across the centuries, experiencing and influencing human 
> > > development. 
> > > The only problem is that the sleeper's mind is "bubbled" into a storage 
> > > device before the body is put under. If something happened to that 
> > > device, the sleeper would be rendered little more than a body with no 
> > > mind, akin to a newborn babe, albeit in an adult's body. In one story, 
> > > that very thing happens with a colony ship to another planet. There's an 
> > > accident, all the crew's bubbles are destroyed, and the one guy who was 
> > > awake is left with trying to retrain and re-educate all the now 
>

[scifinoir2] Re: She shoots! She swears! She's 11!

I was more intrigued by the feminist aspect of the article:

Yet don't assume that the reactions to Hit Girl will be anything close to 
universal. Melissa Silverstein, who writes the feminist blog Women and 
Hollywood(womenandhollywood.com), saw an advance screening of "Kick-Ass" and 
said she was surprised by how torn she felt.

"It was disturbing, but I was also empowered in the same moment, and that 
doesn't happen very often," Silverstein said. "It just kind of flew into the 
face of all expectations of how girls act on screen, and that's what was so 
exciting and breathtaking. I couldn't help but feel some semblance of 
excitement as a person who's watched male comic book characters save the day 
time and time again."

At the same time, though, she was "ambivalent about someone who just kills 
people for the sake of killing," and the casual use of a certain very vulgar 
anti-female epithet bothered her. "I saw all the boys sitting around me loving 
that, and they loved it a little too much."

Reminds me of one of the most enjoyable movie experiences I have shared with my 
daughter (who was then 13 or 14).  We watched Karyn Kusama's "Girlfight" 
starring my personal fave, Michelle Rodrigues (don't get me started on how 
pissed-off I was when I got the "Fast and Furious" DVD and found out that even 
though she was fourth billed, she was out of the movie almost before the 
opening credits!) and afterwards watching my five foot ten-inch tall daughter 
stand up straight and strong and form her hands into fists, then turning them 
and jabbing the air in replication of Rodriques' heavy bag technique.

~rave!

Re: [scifinoir2] Re: She shoots! She swears! She's 11!

I agree. You know I'm being tongue-in-cheek. I always get a chuckle when a 
movie or TV show comes out, and some parents and groups say it'll ruin our 
children. Aside from the debate on whether that's so, I always think "just 
don't let them see it until you feel they're ready". Some of these people act 
as if they *can't* prevent their children from being exposed to some things, so 
then want to limit what the rest of us enjoy. That's just bad/lazy parenting, 
like the lady years ago who claimed she couldn't prevent her kid from watching 
Beevis and Butthead, and later he turned into a little pyro, which she blamed 
on the show. 

Like I said, it's up to parents to make decisions like that. I have some 
neighbors who don't take their kids to see any "R"-rated movies. My dad took me 
to see "Night of The Living Dead" when I was four, and it didn't bother me. My 
ten-year-old brother, however, had nightmares so severe he had to get a 
sedative from the doc. So for him, violent movies at that age were too much. My 
wife is the same way: she doesn't do well with too much graphic violence, gore, 
or really frightening flicks. Growing up with six brothers, she was always 
having to negotiate with the family what kind of movies they'd see. 
h 
That's what parents are for: to make decisions on what their kids can and 
should be able to handle. Like you, I tend to go for giving kids as much as 
they can handle. I've noticed though, that sometimes I have to be careful on 
what I discuss around some friends who aren't as liberal with their kids' 
educations. I have at times been discussing real life adult issues, or 
adult-themed movies, around people who aren't yet exposing their young ones to 
same. Always an adjustment for me, since nothing was off limits to me as a kid. 

- Original Message - 
From: "Kelwyn"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 11:24:07 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: She shoots! She swears! She's 11! 

I took the opposite tack. I let my kids read and see everything. So far I am 
two-for-two: straight A honor students both of whom have earned academic 
scholarships to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (one of the top public 
universities in America). Neither of my children, one 21 and one 18, drink, 
smoke or do drugs. Neither one of them is pregnant or someone's baby daddy. 

Further, although I was raised in a very strict pentecostal sect, my children 
were raised without religion. When I told my daughter that "Slumdog 
Millionaire" was a Cain and Abel story, she looked at me and asked: "Who are 
Cain and Abel?" 

So, if I have any regrets, it was not teaching my children the bible as 
literature (but I digress). 

~rave! 

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , Keith Johnson  wrote: 
> 
> If this were Japan, or S. Korea or France or Germany, no one would bat an eye 
> at this violent, vulgar little girl. 
> Still, I understand why some parents wouldn't want their kids to see the 
> film. And that doesn't make one some kind of nutty ultra-conservative for not 
> wanting, say, a ten year old to see this flick. 
> But, gee, if only there were a way to shield children from "R" rated movies 
> with problematic themes. If only there were some kind of way to protect 
> children from TV programs and movies that are too adult for them. If only 
> parents had the ability to--I don't know--simply prevent their kids from 
> seeing these movies by saying "no"... 
> 
> - Original Message - 
> From: "Kelwyn"  
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 10:10:30 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> Subject: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11! 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Profanity-slinging kid does damage in Kick-Ass' 
> 
> By MARK CARO 
> 
> A pistols-wielding girl massacres a suite's worth of thugs, exchanges brutal 
> blows with the kingpin and uses language that might make David Mamet blush - 
> if only because it's coming out of the mouth of an 11-year-old girl. 
> 
> The movie may be called "Kick-Ass," a title that already has some parents 
> shielding their young'uns from the marketing campaign, but the pre-release 
> publicity has focused less on the high school-age male title character than 
> the diminutive Hit Girl, played by now-13-year-old Chloe Grace Moretz. One of 
> the film's explicit trailers plays like Hit Girl's greatest hits, complete 
> with her dropping "f" and "c" bombs and shooting a doorman through the cheek 
> while dressed in a schoolgirl outfit. 
> 
> This is all played for kicks, of course. Director Matthew Vaughn's R-rated 
> "Kick-Ass," which opens Friday, is a comic book movie based on the work of 
> Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr., so everything is delivered inside giant, 
> nothing-reallycounts quotation marks. 
> 
> Still, you can't forget that you are watching an 11-year-old girl causing 
> violent mayhem and taking punches in the face from an adult, all while 
> out-cussin

Re: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11!

Ha-ha! I hear you. Did you like the film? 

- Original Message - 
From: "Daryle Lockhart"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 11:19:47 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11! 

Any parent who allows their kid to go see this film deserves what they get. 
There have been NO ads on any of the kids networks. The name of the movie is 
Kick Ass. And it's not like American parents are, oh I dunno, watching what 
their kids are READING , so this could have been dealt with over a YEAR ago. 

I have first prints of each issue of this book. #2 is even signed by Mark. Hit 
Girl is awesome. If I gotta sit through Transformers, then kids can stay home 
while I watch Kick Ass. 

By the way, Kick Ass now replaces "Spider Man" on my list of comic book movie 
adaptations. Because of this film, I will be checking for "Scott Pilgrim". 

Daryle 

On Apr 16, 2010, at 11:05 AM, Keith Johnson wrote: 

If this were Japan, or S. Korea or France or Germany, no one would bat an eye 
at this violent, vulgar little girl. 
Still, I understand why some parents wouldn't want their kids to see the film. 
And that doesn't make one some kind of nutty ultra-conservative for not 
wanting, say, a ten year old to see this flick. 
But, gee, if only there were a way to shield children from "R" rated movies 
with problematic themes. If only there were some kind of way to protect 
children from TV programs and movies that are too adult for them. If only 
parents had the ability to--I don't know--simply prevent their kids from seeing 
these movies by saying "no"... 

- Original Message - 
From: "Kelwyn"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 10:10:30 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11! 

Profanity-slinging kid does damage in Kick-Ass' 

By MARK CARO 

A pistols-wielding girl massacres a suite's worth of thugs, exchanges brutal 
blows with the kingpin and uses language that might make David Mamet blush - if 
only because it's coming out of the mouth of an 11-year-old girl. 

The movie may be called "Kick-Ass," a title that already has some parents 
shielding their young'uns from the marketing campaign, but the pre-release 
publicity has focused less on the high school-age male title character than the 
diminutive Hit Girl, played by now-13-year-old Chloe Grace Moretz. One of the 
film's explicit trailers plays like Hit Girl's greatest hits, complete with her 
dropping "f" and "c" bombs and shooting a doorman through the cheek while 
dressed in a schoolgirl outfit. 

This is all played for kicks, of course. Director Matthew Vaughn's R-rated 
"Kick-Ass," which opens Friday, is a comic book movie based on the work of Mark 
Millar and John S. Romita Jr., so everything is delivered inside giant, 
nothing-reallycounts quotation marks. 

Still, you can't forget that you are watching an 11-year-old girl causing 
violent mayhem and taking punches in the face from an adult, all while 
out-cussing Tony Soprano. Sure, you can't take your eyes off Hit Girl, but is 
this a good thing? 

"I don't know that it means anything other than the destruction of civilization 
as we know it," joked film critic-historian Leonard Maltin. 

"There's always that question of whether movies lead social change or reflect 
it. I always think the answer is somewhere in the middle, but there's no 
question that movies and TV shows have broken down or dissolved a lot of 
barriers of what is considered acceptable for men and women and boys and 
girls." 

Hit Girl certainly marks the extreme end of a progression that can be traced 
back a few decades. Audiences were shocked when Linda Blair spewed profanities 
and vomit as the12-year-old possessed girl of "The Exorcist" (1973), though 
they could console themselves that it was the devil's doing. 

Also in1973, Tatum O'Neal played the sassy-mouthed (PG-rated), 
cigarettesmoking, 9-year-old con artist of Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper Moon"; 
she became the youngest Oscar winner, for best supporting actress, the next 
year. 

Jodie Foster became another troubledgirl icon with her Oscar-nominated 
performance as the 12-year-old prostitute of Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" 
(1976). 

No cheap thrills were meant to be derived from her mean-streets situation; here 
was a girl who needed protection - and got it from Robert De Niro's unhinged 
title character. Yet the director's seriousminded intentions couldn't keep John 
Hinckley Jr. from being so smitten with Foster that he tried to impress her by 
shooting President Ronald Reagan in 1981. 

Thematically, the closest movie precedent to Hit Girl may be Natalie Portman's 
12-year-old Mathilda, who learns hit man Jean Reno's tricks so she can avenge 
her murdered family in Luc Besson's "The Professional" (aka "Leon," 1994). But 
Besson is ultimately a sentimentalist who spares Portman's character from doing

[scifinoir2] Re: She shoots! She swears! She's 11!

I took the opposite tack.  I let my kids read and see everything.  So far I am 
two-for-two: straight A honor students both of whom have earned academic 
scholarships to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (one of the top public 
universities in America).  Neither of my children, one 21 and one 18, drink, 
smoke or do drugs.  Neither one of them is pregnant or someone's baby daddy.  

Further, although I was raised in a very strict pentecostal sect, my children 
were raised without religion.  When I told my daughter that "Slumdog 
Millionaire" was a Cain and Abel story, she looked at me and asked: "Who are 
Cain and Abel?"

So, if I have any regrets, it was not teaching my children the bible as 
literature (but I digress).

~rave!

--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson  wrote:
>
> If this were Japan, or S. Korea or France or Germany, no one would bat an eye 
> at this violent, vulgar little girl. 
> Still, I understand why some parents wouldn't want their kids to see the 
> film. And that doesn't make one some kind of nutty ultra-conservative for not 
> wanting, say, a ten year old to see this flick. 
> But, gee, if only there were a way to shield children from "R" rated movies 
> with problematic themes. If only there were some kind of way to protect 
> children from TV programs and movies that are too adult for them. If only 
> parents had the ability to--I don't know--simply prevent their kids from 
> seeing these movies by saying "no"... 
> 
> - Original Message - 
> From: "Kelwyn"  
> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
> Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 10:10:30 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> Subject: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11! 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Profanity-slinging kid does damage in Kick-Ass' 
> 
> By MARK CARO 
> 
> A pistols-wielding girl massacres a suite's worth of thugs, exchanges brutal 
> blows with the kingpin and uses language that might make David Mamet blush - 
> if only because it's coming out of the mouth of an 11-year-old girl. 
> 
> The movie may be called "Kick-Ass," a title that already has some parents 
> shielding their young'uns from the marketing campaign, but the pre-release 
> publicity has focused less on the high school-age male title character than 
> the diminutive Hit Girl, played by now-13-year-old Chloe Grace Moretz. One of 
> the film's explicit trailers plays like Hit Girl's greatest hits, complete 
> with her dropping "f" and "c" bombs and shooting a doorman through the cheek 
> while dressed in a schoolgirl outfit. 
> 
> This is all played for kicks, of course. Director Matthew Vaughn's R-rated 
> "Kick-Ass," which opens Friday, is a comic book movie based on the work of 
> Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr., so everything is delivered inside giant, 
> nothing-reallycounts quotation marks. 
> 
> Still, you can't forget that you are watching an 11-year-old girl causing 
> violent mayhem and taking punches in the face from an adult, all while 
> out-cussing Tony Soprano. Sure, you can't take your eyes off Hit Girl, but is 
> this a good thing? 
> 
> "I don't know that it means anything other than the destruction of 
> civilization as we know it," joked film critic-historian Leonard Maltin. 
> 
> "There's always that question of whether movies lead social change or reflect 
> it. I always think the answer is somewhere in the middle, but there's no 
> question that movies and TV shows have broken down or dissolved a lot of 
> barriers of what is considered acceptable for men and women and boys and 
> girls." 
> 
> Hit Girl certainly marks the extreme end of a progression that can be traced 
> back a few decades. Audiences were shocked when Linda Blair spewed 
> profanities and vomit as the12-year-old possessed girl of "The Exorcist" 
> (1973), though they could console themselves that it was the devil's doing. 
> 
> Also in1973, Tatum O'Neal played the sassy-mouthed (PG-rated), 
> cigarettesmoking, 9-year-old con artist of Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper Moon"; 
> she became the youngest Oscar winner, for best supporting actress, the next 
> year. 
> 
> Jodie Foster became another troubledgirl icon with her Oscar-nominated 
> performance as the 12-year-old prostitute of Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" 
> (1976). 
> 
> No cheap thrills were meant to be derived from her mean-streets situation; 
> here was a girl who needed protection - and got it from Robert De Niro's 
> unhinged title character. Yet the director's seriousminded intentions 
> couldn't keep John Hinckley Jr. from being so smitten with Foster that he 
> tried to impress her by shooting President Ronald Reagan in 1981. 
> 
> Thematically, the closest movie precedent to Hit Girl may be Natalie 
> Portman's 12-year-old Mathilda, who learns hit man Jean Reno's tricks so she 
> can avenge her murdered family in Luc Besson's "The Professional" (aka 
> "Leon," 1994). But Besson is ultimately a sentimentalist who spares Portman's 
> character from doing the lethal work, whereas Vaugh

[scifinoir2] Teen Sues Mother for Facebook Harassment

Interesting. I am a very liberal person, and certainly had major battles with
my parents as I was growing up. I am a big fan of letting children grow and
learn and stretch as much as possible, without constraining them more than
necessary. Give them as much freedom as possible, I say.

Still, I also believe that children are children, and subject to their parents'
rules in the main. As much as I rebelled against my folks, i don't like seeing
kids turn into arrogant little snots. So my gut reaction at first was to upset
that a teen could take his mom to court for this. But the one thing that
bothers me is not knowing exactly what the mother did that convinced the
authorities to charge her. Frankly, her reading his Facebook account, even
changing his password--that doesn't upset me as much if, as she said, she was
alarmed at him revealing doing dangerous and irresponsible things. The
advancement of technology and the growth of social networking, along with the
associated change in mores, doesn't allow a minor to do anything he wants. The
tech may change, but in one way this is no different than my parents telling me
when to turn off the TV, picking up the extension when I was on the phone
trying to talk to a girl and embarrassing me, or "overhearing" conversations
with friends. And if stuff like Facebook did exist when I was a teen, you can
be guaran-damn-teed that there'd be *no* way I'd have been allowed to make it
private, lock my parents out, or not include them among my friends so they
could read what I was posting.

I'm assuming--even hoping--that the obviously dysfunctional nature of the
family can lead one to assume the mother went way way over the line here. He
doesn't seem close to his parents, they say the divorce was messy, and he only
sees his mother every now and then. Did she make fun of her son in Facebook?
Did she insult his friends? Did she make up lies and attribute them to him?
Must have been something extreme for the law to get involved. At least, I hope,
'cause the last thing we need is for kids to start thinking they have the right
to privacy when their under eighteen, just because they can now create
password-protected social networking accounts.

I wanna follow this one just to make sure Arkansas isn't setting a troubling
precedent, but given that state's social leanings, I can't believe they'd be on
the liberal side of privacy law interpretations for kids...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1264604/Boy-sues-mother-Facebook-harassment-argues-parental-duty.html

Boy, 16, sues his mother for harassing him on Facebook as s he argues it's her
'parental duty'

By Paul Thompson
Last updated at 8:13 AM on 9th April 2010
g

'It's just like going through his bedroom... it's my duty': Denise New, who is
being sued by her son Lane for going through his Facebook page

A teenager has taken his mother to court for logging on to his Facebook page
and reading about his private life.

Denise New has been charged with harassment after her 16-year-old son, Lane,
said he wanted criminal charges filed against his mother for her 'snooping'.

The teenager claims his mother changed his password on his Facebook account
after he accidentally left his computer on.

He also said she posted slanderous comments and changed the password to his
email so he can no longer receive updates to his page.

The teenager, who lives with his grandmother following his parents' messy
divorce, made a complaint with prosecutors in Arkansas after the incident last
month.

Prosecutors agreed with the teenager and charged Mrs New under the state's
harassment laws.

The high tech family row began after Lane accidentally left his computer on
while visiting his mother at her home in the town of Arkadelphia.

The 42-year-old became concerned about several entries, including one in which
he son wrote about driving home at 95mph after an argument with his girlfriend.

She also read some other postings, which bothered her so much she decided to
change the password barring her son's access to the account.

Mrs New said she was simply performing her parental duties, and looking at the
Facebook page, was the same as going through his bedroom.
fc

Right to privacy? Lane claims his mother had slandered him

She said: 'You're within your legal rights to monitor your child and to have a
conversation with your child on Facebook whether it's his account, or your
account or whoever's account.

'I read things on his Facebook about how he had gone to Hot Springs one night
and was driving 95 m.p.h. home because he was upset with a girl and it was his
friend that called me and told me about all this.

'That prompted me to even actually start really going through his Facebook to
see what was going on.'

Her son disagreed with his mother's views and has asked not to have fu

Re: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11!

2010-04-16 Thread Daryle Lockhart



Any parent who allows their kid to go see this film deserves what  
they get. There have been NO ads on any of the kids networks. The  
name of the movie is Kick Ass. And it's not like American parents  
are,  oh I dunno,  watching  what their kids are READING ,  so  this  
could have been dealt  with over a YEAR ago.


I have first  prints of each issue of this book. #2 is even signed by  
Mark. Hit  Girl is awesome. If I gotta sit through Transformers,   
then kids can stay home while I  watch  Kick Ass.


By the way,  Kick Ass now replaces "Spider Man" on my  list of comic  
book movie adaptations. Because of this film, I will be checking for  
"Scott Pilgrim".


Daryle

On Apr 16, 2010, at 11:05 AM, Keith Johnson wrote:



If this were Japan, or S. Korea or France or Germany, no one would  
bat an eye at this violent, vulgar little girl.
Still, I understand why some parents wouldn't want their kids to  
see the film. And that doesn't make one some kind of nutty ultra- 
conservative for not wanting, say, a ten year old to see this flick.
But, gee, if only there were a way to shield children from "R"  
rated movies with problematic themes. If only there were some kind  
of way to protect children from TV programs and movies that are too  
adult for them. If only parents had the ability to--I don't know-- 
simply prevent their kids from seeing these movies by saying "no"...


- Original Message -
From: "Kelwyn" 
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 10:10:30 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [scifinoir2] She shoots!  She swears!  She's 11!


Profanity-slinging kid does damage in Kick-Ass'

By MARK CARO

A pistols-wielding girl massacres a suite's worth of thugs,  
exchanges brutal blows with the kingpin and uses language that  
might make David Mamet blush - if only because it's coming out of  
the mouth of an 11-year-old girl.


The movie may be called "Kick-Ass," a title that already has some  
parents shielding their young'uns from the marketing campaign, but  
the pre-release publicity has focused less on the high school-age  
male title character than the diminutive Hit Girl, played by now-13- 
year-old Chloe Grace Moretz. One of the film's explicit trailers  
plays like Hit Girl's greatest hits, complete with her dropping "f"  
and "c" bombs and shooting a doorman through the cheek while  
dressed in a schoolgirl outfit.


This is all played for kicks, of course. Director Matthew Vaughn's  
R-rated "Kick-Ass," which opens Friday, is a comic book movie based  
on the work of Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr., so everything is  
delivered inside giant, nothing-reallycounts quotation marks.


Still, you can't forget that you are watching an 11-year-old girl  
causing violent mayhem and taking punches in the face from an  
adult, all while out-cussing Tony Soprano. Sure, you can't take  
your eyes off Hit Girl, but is this a good thing?


"I don't know that it means anything other than the destruction of  
civilization as we know it," joked film critic-historian Leonard  
Maltin.


"There's always that question of whether movies lead social change  
or reflect it. I always think the answer is somewhere in the  
middle, but there's no question that movies and TV shows have  
broken down or dissolved a lot of barriers of what is considered  
acceptable for men and women and boys and girls."


Hit Girl certainly marks the extreme end of a progression that can  
be traced back a few decades. Audiences were shocked when Linda  
Blair spewed profanities and vomit as the12-year-old possessed girl  
of "The Exorcist" (1973), though they could console themselves that  
it was the devil's doing.


Also in1973, Tatum O'Neal played the sassy-mouthed (PG-rated),  
cigarettesmoking, 9-year-old con artist of Peter Bogdanovich's  
"Paper Moon"; she became the youngest Oscar winner, for best  
supporting actress, the next year.


Jodie Foster became another troubledgirl icon with her Oscar- 
nominated performance as the 12-year-old prostitute of Martin  
Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" (1976).


No cheap thrills were meant to be derived from her mean-streets  
situation; here was a girl who needed protection - and got it from  
Robert De Niro's unhinged title character. Yet the director's  
seriousminded intentions couldn't keep John Hinckley Jr. from being  
so smitten with Foster that he tried to impress her by shooting  
President Ronald Reagan in 1981.


Thematically, the closest movie precedent to Hit Girl may be  
Natalie Portman's 12-year-old Mathilda, who learns hit man Jean  
Reno's tricks so she can avenge her murdered family in Luc Besson's  
"The Professional" (aka "Leon," 1994). But Besson is ultimately a  
sentimentalist who spares Portman's character from doing the lethal  
work, whereas Vaughn isn't exactly concerned about Hit Girl getting  
blood on her hands.


Or, as the "Kick-Ass" press notes state: "Hit Girl is a sparky,  
spunky force of nature, likely to be an inst

Re: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11!

If this were Japan, or S. Korea or France or Germany, no one would bat an eye 
at this violent, vulgar little girl. 
Still, I understand why some parents wouldn't want their kids to see the film. 
And that doesn't make one some kind of nutty ultra-conservative for not 
wanting, say, a ten year old to see this flick. 
But, gee, if only there were a way to shield children from "R" rated movies 
with problematic themes. If only there were some kind of way to protect 
children from TV programs and movies that are too adult for them. If only 
parents had the ability to--I don't know--simply prevent their kids from seeing 
these movies by saying "no"... 

- Original Message - 
From: "Kelwyn"  
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 10:10:30 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11! 






Profanity-slinging kid does damage in Kick-Ass' 

By MARK CARO 

A pistols-wielding girl massacres a suite's worth of thugs, exchanges brutal 
blows with the kingpin and uses language that might make David Mamet blush - if 
only because it's coming out of the mouth of an 11-year-old girl. 

The movie may be called "Kick-Ass," a title that already has some parents 
shielding their young'uns from the marketing campaign, but the pre-release 
publicity has focused less on the high school-age male title character than the 
diminutive Hit Girl, played by now-13-year-old Chloe Grace Moretz. One of the 
film's explicit trailers plays like Hit Girl's greatest hits, complete with her 
dropping "f" and "c" bombs and shooting a doorman through the cheek while 
dressed in a schoolgirl outfit. 

This is all played for kicks, of course. Director Matthew Vaughn's R-rated 
"Kick-Ass," which opens Friday, is a comic book movie based on the work of Mark 
Millar and John S. Romita Jr., so everything is delivered inside giant, 
nothing-reallycounts quotation marks. 

Still, you can't forget that you are watching an 11-year-old girl causing 
violent mayhem and taking punches in the face from an adult, all while 
out-cussing Tony Soprano. Sure, you can't take your eyes off Hit Girl, but is 
this a good thing? 

"I don't know that it means anything other than the destruction of civilization 
as we know it," joked film critic-historian Leonard Maltin. 

"There's always that question of whether movies lead social change or reflect 
it. I always think the answer is somewhere in the middle, but there's no 
question that movies and TV shows have broken down or dissolved a lot of 
barriers of what is considered acceptable for men and women and boys and 
girls." 

Hit Girl certainly marks the extreme end of a progression that can be traced 
back a few decades. Audiences were shocked when Linda Blair spewed profanities 
and vomit as the12-year-old possessed girl of "The Exorcist" (1973), though 
they could console themselves that it was the devil's doing. 

Also in1973, Tatum O'Neal played the sassy-mouthed (PG-rated), 
cigarettesmoking, 9-year-old con artist of Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper Moon"; 
she became the youngest Oscar winner, for best supporting actress, the next 
year. 

Jodie Foster became another troubledgirl icon with her Oscar-nominated 
performance as the 12-year-old prostitute of Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" 
(1976). 

No cheap thrills were meant to be derived from her mean-streets situation; here 
was a girl who needed protection - and got it from Robert De Niro's unhinged 
title character. Yet the director's seriousminded intentions couldn't keep John 
Hinckley Jr. from being so smitten with Foster that he tried to impress her by 
shooting President Ronald Reagan in 1981. 

Thematically, the closest movie precedent to Hit Girl may be Natalie Portman's 
12-year-old Mathilda, who learns hit man Jean Reno's tricks so she can avenge 
her murdered family in Luc Besson's "The Professional" (aka "Leon," 1994). But 
Besson is ultimately a sentimentalist who spares Portman's character from doing 
the lethal work, whereas Vaughn isn't exactly concerned about Hit Girl getting 
blood on her hands. 

Or, as the "Kick-Ass" press notes state: "Hit Girl is a sparky, spunky force of 
nature, likely to be an instant professional icon redolent of Jodie Foster in 
'Taxi Driver' and Natalie Portman in 'The Professional.'" (No one from 
Lionsgate or the film was made available to comment.) 

"The notion of innocence in this society is gone," said Neal Gabler, author of 
"Life: The Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality." "It's not just a 
function of violence. I think it's a function of a certain social cynicism that 
has just built and built and built over the years where people believe in 
nothing." 

Which isn't to say violence doesn't play a role. "There was kind of a firewall 
between kids and violence, and that firewall is completely gone now," Gabler 
said. "Kids sit around and kill people on video games." 

And if the finger-waggers come out against "Kick-Ass," then the mov

[scifinoir2] She shoots! She swears! She's 11!