So Kath and I arranged for child care for Caroline and went to see “King Kong” yesterday, hitting an early morning show when the kids were all in school.
Is it worth seeing? Right, like anything *I* say is going to make a difference to you one way or the other on that score. Bottom line: If you intend to see it, absolutely don’t wait for it to show up on DVD. You should see it on a big screen. Spoilers follow:
Although some folks have been commenting on the previous update thread, this will be the official commentary thread for the new issue.
Whad’ja think?
PAD
FALL OF KNIGHT: Copy-edited manuscript proofread and shipped off to publisher. Next up to be proofread: The galleys for “Writing Comics With Peter David,” due out beginning of summer 2006.
FALLEN ANGEL #1: Advance copies received from IDW. Looks fantastic. Considering everything we had to go through to make this happen, I feel like I’m holding a small miracle in my hands when I flip through it. I’m told the on-sale date is December 28.
X-FACTOR #1: Out this week. Advance copies were made available in Marvel’s advance look package, and Silver Bullet Comic Books has already posted something like half a dozen reviews of it as part of their Sunday Slugfest. We’re told that the aggregate score is among the highest ever received from the SS. So that bodes well.
Next up: Working on the Battlestar Galactica novel for Tor. A tight deadline, but I should be able to make it.
PAD
So the Bush White House endeavors to send out a nice, simple, inclusive holiday card. No different than millions of Americans of all religions send out.
And what happens? The extreme religious right is offended. Hëll, let’s not even call them the extreme religious right, because that makes it sound like extremist Jews, Muslims, Shintoists, etc., are all on the same page. Let’s call it what it is: Extremist Christians.
Here’s the fascinating thing about Extremists: They’re all the same. The philosophy of Extremist Christians is fundamentally no different than, say, that of Extremist Muslims. They believe in the same things: Exclusionary thinking. Intolerance. Ignoring fundamental lessons of their own faith when it runs afoul of extremist thinking. Where is the philosophy of Christian charity and understanding? Where is the writings in the Koran specifically forbidding the killing of innocents? They don’t serve the Extremist viewpoint of exclusion and intolerance and thus are cast aside.
They only differ in degrees of their actions. Some chop off the heads of helpless victims. Others blow up abortion clinics.
And the most consistent link is that trying to accommodate them never, ever works. That’s what Bush is discovering now, having staked his political star to the whims of the Extremists. It’s insufficient for Extremists that eighty percent of this country celebrates Christmas. Instead the ONLY acceptable greeting at this time of year is “Merry Christmas” rather than something inclusive such as “Happy holidays.” It’s insufficient for Extremists that there is already an implicit lack of separation of church and state around the holidays (the government shuts down for Christmas. You see the government shutting down for Yom Kippur? For Ramadan?) They want an EXplicit lack of separation by having the official greeting card from the White House be in celebration of Christmas only.
It’s never enough for Extremists. Never enough. Because the only thing that will really satisfy them–whether they’re walking bombs or just bombasts–is if everyone thinks just like them, believes just like them, and wants the same things as them. Which is never, ever going to happen, which is why they will never, ever be satisfied. Bush has been trying to appease them and hopefully even he is now realizing that it’s hopeless.
One is left shaking one’s head at a people who are claiming their holiday, their very beliefs, are being threatened. No. When Romans were throwing them to the lions, THEN their beliefs were being threatened. Here, in this country, their core philosophies have complete dominance over just about every aspect of life in this country.
And it’s not enough.
When dealing with Extremists and terrorists…it never is.
PAD
Twenty five years ago, I was at home in my apartment in Queens with then-wife Myra. We were watching the TV news and were stunned when they announced that John Lennon had been shot. At the time, that was all we knew: He’d been shot. That was appalling enough. The notion that the gunshot was fatal was almost too much to contemplate. Then, almost immediately thereafter, they gave an update stating that Lennon had passed away.
It’s just one of those moments in life–like when JFK was shot or when the Challenger blew up–where you remember exactly where you were when you heard the news.
PAD
Three years ago yesterday, I drove an in-labor Kathleen to the hospital. We arrived just before midnight and I parked right nearby the hospital itself since almost no one was there. When I left late the next day–today, December 5th–my car was buried under a foot of snow, and blizzard conditions were such that I skidded three times on the dangerous drive back home.
Somewhere between all that, Caroline Helen David was born. One of the first remarks by a nurse: “Oh my God, look at those FEET!” Great gunboats they were, indicating this was going to be one tall kid (now more than halfway to six feet in height).
We had her “official” party on Saturday since that was when all her little friends, cousins, aunt and grandparents could attend. Today’s her actual birthday, so we’re having the remains of her birthday cake and trying to work out a time to take her to see “Chicken Little.”
PAD
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