BEN-HUR ( 2017 ), PG-13 ( 2 hr & 5 min )

BEN-HUR ( 2017 ), PG-13 ( 2 hr & 5 min )

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where:  CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA

when:  Thursday, August 18ht, 2016

show:  7:30 p.m. 2-D Advanced Screening

costs:  $8.00 Ticket + $6.80 Lite Bites = $14.80

auditorium:  9

seat:  2nd row from the front, 8ht column from the left ( as you can tell from where I was seated, there were a lot of people who went to see this movie--mostly older folks ).

2nd time

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where:  CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA

when:  Tuesday, August 23rd, 2016

show:  4:40 p.m. 3-D

costs:  $9.75 Ticket + $6.80 Lite Bites = $16.55

auditorium:  2

seat:  4th row from the front, 7th column from the right

synopsis/overview:  A Jewish prince, Judah Ben-Hur ( Jack Huston ), is betrayed by his adopted Gentile brother, Messala ( Toby Kebbell ), loses his family and property, is sold into slavery, escapes death by drowning, and swears to exact revenge on his estranged brother in a chariot race with the help of an African tribal chief, Ildarin ( Morgan Freeman ). He encounters Christians and Jesus ( Rodrigo Santoro ), Himself, along the way. ( They weren't called Christians back then. Their fellow Jews referred to them as, Ebionim, i.e. the poor and destitute. )

noteworthy scenes:  1.) Accident; 2.) "We have different Gods, Messala"; 3.) Family; 4.) Carpenter; 5.) A wounded Zealot; 6.) Life as a soldier; 7.) Pacified town; 8.) Sword; 9.) Cemetery; 10.) Brother's bow; 11.) "I may kill your brother, someday"; 12.) Death or peace; 13.) Assasination attempt; 14.) I confess; 15.) "You killed them both"; 16.) "He needs water"; 17.) New galley ship slave; 18.) "Don't care ... just survive"; 19.) "Keep rowing"; 20.) Chain; 21.) "All are dead to the last man"; 22.) "How long were you a galley slave"; 23.) "She couldn't keep pace"; 24.) On the road to Jerusalem; 25.) Message of Jesus; 26.) A gift; 27.) S.P.Q.R. ( Senatus Populus que Romanus ); 28.) "Where's my mother and sister"; 29.) "He brought you back to me"; 30.) "Twenty Jews from the street"; 31.) "There's nothing here for you anymore"; 32.) "In the circus, there is no law"; 33.) The wager; 34.) "The Gate"; 35.) "Bury us together"; 36.) "First to finish, last to die"; 37.) "She wants you"; 38.) "I know where your family is"; 39.) "If he wouldn't save her, I would save her from his own mistake"; 40.) Chariot race; 41.) "They want blood. They are Romans now"; 42.) "Find something for yourself"; 43.) The kiss of betrayal; 44.) "My life I give of my own free will"; 45.) The Crucifixion; 46.) Miracle; 47.) "Come, you are free"; 48.) "Come see what you did to me"; 49.) "What I can do is carry you"; and 50.) Reunited.

audience reaction:  The audience liked this movie but didn't give it a "Hands Clapper" ending.

2nd audience reaction:  The audience liked this movie but didn't give it a "Hands Clapper" ending.

recommendation:  I liked this movie. Go see this movie if you like Action/Adventure movies. And especially if you're an old fart because most of the audience members were that old ( says the man who almost always is given a Senior Citizen discount--keep the discounts coming, baby! ).

But, seriously, my dear readers, pay no attention to the bad reviews that it got.

spoiler alert!  There were townspeople just standing around when they should have helped Messala carry his wounded and unconscious brother. Another Archaeological Faux Pas: Red Hot Chilis. No one back then had travelled to the Americas to gather hot chilis. And chilis are not to be mistaken for peppers. It was Columbus who mistakenly named American Chilis as Peppers because he noticed a similarity between the two types of spices. Black, green and white peppers from India would have already been in common use in Israel during Jesus' time. This movie presupposes that Jesus Christ remained in Jerusalem all of His life and learned His father's carpentry trade. So, Jesus' 18 lost years are attributed to His dedication to His vocation. And this movie downplays Jesus Christ's miracle works. Did the galley ship slaves get bathroom breaks? There is no mention of Jesus Christ stopping the stoning of a man in The New Testament. The setting for the stoning was all wrong. People that were found guilty of sin back then were first dragged out of the town before they were stoned to death. In this way, blood would not be spilled on the town's ground and made it unclean and defiled ( contrast that with today's execution chambers and abortion clinics that are operated well within a town's boundaries--people do anything and everything to turn God away so that they can claim that He doesn't exist! ). You would need more than two men to carry a chest full of thousands of gold coins ( they could just have used a wheeled cart )! The question should have been, "Not appropriate for whom?"  They didn't stone lepers to death back then; they just ostracized them since killing them would have been tantamount to commiting murder. There were no women in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of Jesus' betrayal by a kiss. Jesus Christ was crucified on a tree ( New Testament Book of Acts 5:30 ) which actually makes more sense and that I could effectively argue for. I don't recall a mention of rain when Jesus Christ died on the cross. The Bible mentions darkening of the day, ghosts going up to heaven ( Rapture? ) and an earthquake that rips the Temple's curtain; but rain isn't mentioned at all ( I think ). I'm not sure if I saw it or if my eyes fooled me, but there were no stirrups back then.

fyi:  I don't remember the Charlton Heston version of BEN-HUR because I was still very young when I saw it and my English vocabulary was limited to the words that I learned in English Nursery Rhymes and in simple sentences like, "See spot run," et cetera,  for the most part.

Back in Ancient Times, only the rich could afford to have fancy clothes. Others wore the same old clothes 24/7/365!

The sign's acronym, S.P.Q.R. ( Senatus Populus que Romanus ), as it was nailed on the front door, meant that the place belonged to a Roman citizen ( since Messala was adopted into the royal Jewish family ) of high standing. In other words, as it applies to this example, trespass only at the risk of death! Which is why the abandoned mansion was not ransacked.

I felt sorry for the horse.

According to Ancient Jewish tradition and superstition, Jesus Christ would have been hanged totally butt-naked to let everybody see the "nakedness of His sins"!

And His hair and beard would have also been cut short. Just like in this Veronica's Veil image:

I found this on the Internet.

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Since, more than likely, Jesus Christ took some kind of a vow, which would have made Him a Nazirite, just like Samson was. And we all know what happened to Samson after his hair was cut!

And speaking of Jesus's hair, He more than likely had sported dreadlocks, just like Morgan Freeman's character did, because He spent time in India, during His 18 lost years, where holy men and ascetics had dreadlocks.  (  https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Dreadlocks/  )

This movie should have been released around Easter time.

word of advice:  "Forgive and forget."

tidbits:  Early this morning, just past midnight, on my way home from watching HOW TO BE YOURS, some idiot drove fast on Admiral Callaghan Lane behind me and gained fast on me. We were coming to a stop sign on the corner of Rotary Way. I pumped my brakes to slow my car down and to let the idiot know that we were coming to a stop sign. I did a full stop and the idiot behind me had to swerve his car to the right to avoid rear-ending my car! What was it about pumping-my-brakes-to-slow-down-my-car-before-reaching-the-stop-sign that the idiot behind me did not understand? Some people are just so damn clueless.

Partway through my sleep, I had the beginning-stage sensation of an Out-of-Body-Experience ( OOBE ). The last time that I had a full OOBE was sometime around 2008.  The most OOBE experiences that I have had was when I was in my late teens and early 20s. They'd have had numbered in the 100s had I taken the time to document each one, I kid you not! My OOBEs became fewer and fewer and further and further apart the more I studied The Bible. Maybe, I'm being set-up for more of such experiences now that I am older and wiser.

I went to Benicia to pick-up my paycheck. And, wouldn't you know it. I was shorted. I had asked for an extra day-off for my anniversary date of employment. But I wasn't paid for it. I will have to request this paid day-off again.

At work, I met Cheyenne, a former co-worker, who was rehired. We hugged each other. I asked her how her brother was doing. He's doing fine, it seems, having been hired to replace their dad at work when their dad retired. He makes more money than I do, and he's just starting-off. He sure was lucky to land such a job at Berkeley Cement, Inc. I asked Cheyenne why she didn't have her dad help her to apply for a job position. She said that they passed on her because of the hard manual labor involved in such a job. I told her that she should sue for discrimination.

After checking my work schedule for next week, I drove to the Benicia Southampton Shopping Center to buy lottery tickets at the liquor store and to deposit money at the Chase Bank directly across the parking lot.

And I walked a few doors down to buy stuff at the health food store and at the Dollar Tree Store. I had to pass by Petco along the way. I couldn't help but look through the storefront window to admire the kittens and cats that were awaiting to be adopted into their "forever homes". If only I lived in a house instead of in a condo, I would have happily adopted a few of them. Why do I need to have a house just to adopt cats? Simple, I can just let them loose in the yard to do their "business" so that I don't have to spend so much money on cat litter. And they can fertilize the yard while they're at it. Ha, ha, ha.

At the health food store, Earthly Nutrition, I inquired about my special order, Natural Sources Raw Multiple Glandular.

I found this on the Internet.

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It still had not arrived. I will just have to order this on-line and save on $$$. In the meantime, I bought a bottle of Natural Sources Raw Male:

I found this on the Internet.

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Raw Male is made with prostate and orchic glands derived from bovine sources. Maybe it will help improve my libido.    ;-)

I also bought some Solgar Olive Leaf Extract as I was running low. This is supposed to be good for the cardiovascular system, and it also kills viruses--supposedly.

I found this on the Internet.

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At the Dollar Tree Store, I bought some cough drops and some take-to-work snacks.

Speaking of cough drops, I've been having coughing episodes for the past week. I don't know if it's because of an allergy or if I am coming down with a cold. I say that I don't know because my coughing doesn't come with most of the symptoms of either one.

But, last night, I read an on-line article that says eating lots of nuts can trigger a histamine attack. And I've been eating lots of nuts and seeds, and peanut/almond butters, for over two years now. I mentioned this to Michelle, a co-worker, who said that airlines have banned peanuts on flights because of such a possible reaction. She said that coughing in an enclosed cabin that has lots of people in it can help to spread germs and infect other passengers--'makes sense.

And I'd been coughing so much and so hard that it had given my lower torso such a good workout. My abdominal six-pack is well on its way to becoming more defined, as a result.  Ha, ha, ha.

Back to my conversation with Michelle. I told her that walking through a pine forest has an anti-histamine effect because pine trees release such an agent into the air whenever they "exhale".

2nd tidbits:  It amuses me whenever I see this pendant:

I found this on the Internet.

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Why does it amuse me? Simple, a small cross inside of a Mogen David translates to ... A bunch of Jews crucified a Christian! If you're a Jewish-Christian sporting this, you're showing the world your culpability---And it's bad enough that the whole world blames the Jews for anything and everything! It should be the other way around: A big Cross and a small Mogen David where the cross pieces intersect to denote that Pagan Law allowed for the crucifixion of a Jew. Yeah, as Jesus Christ would say, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's". 

Kaynak:

Cine-Man

THE MECHANIC: RESURGENCE, R ( 1 hr & 39 min )

THE MECHANIC: RESURGENCE, R ( 1 hr & 39 min )

 

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I went to see this on Thursday, August 25th, 2016, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 7:00 p.m. Advanced Screening in auditorium 2, 4th row from the front, 5th column from the right.  The price of admission was $11.50. And I bought a $6.80 Lite Bites at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review:  Arthur Bishop ( Jason Statham ), an expert assassin, is forced out of retirement by a bad guy to kill other bad guys. Or his girlfriend, Gina ( Jessica Alba ), gets it.

The audience liked it. I liked it enough. Go see this if you like Action movies.

I liked the Skyscraper Swimming Pool scene, as did the other audience members.

Here are some things wrong in this movie: The bad gal had her forearm pinned under the table but she should still have been able to move her hand and shoot at Bishop. Those Brazilian bad guys wanted him dead ( if he refused the offer, which he did ) but didn't shoot at him while he was slowly gliding away in the air. I was disappointed to see that Michelle Yeoh was not cast as a fighter in this movie. Shark repellent lotion? I don't think so.

I found this on the Internet.

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He would have been better served by using Dead Shark Juice Repellent! The first time that he boarded the yacht to kill bad guys, he used too many bullets on each one but he didn't have extra magazines for his handgun.


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Did I just die in my sleep ...?

That was the question going through my mind just before dawn today.

I got out of bed around 3:00 a.m. to empty my bladder.

Soon after I went back to bed, I found myself in a semi-transparent state, standing in "my" hallway. I felt like I was in a haze. But I was very calm about it. I knew that I was experiencing something supernatural so I checked the time on my watch. There was just one thing wrong about my watch, though.

I found this on the Internet. This analog watch looks similar to the one strapped on "my" wrist in the hallway.

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It wasn't my watch at all! I looked at the time which was approximately 3:18 a.m. I usually check the time whenever something supernatural happens to me so that I can log it accurately in my journal.

And I noticed that the hallway's wall paint looked different from my condo's paint color, which is cream. This supernatural event's hallway paint looked like a dull gray or a "dirty" faded blue. I stood in the 40-watt incandescent-lighted hallway in a semi-brainfog state. I marvelled at how I was able to see through my arms.

Next thing I knew, I was back in my futon bed in my darkened living room ( I haven't slept in my bedroom in so many years because I could hear my upstairs, next door, and downstairs neighbors in the middle of the night doing God-knows-what ). I looked at the watch on my left wrist. It was the one that I own, not the one that "I" had on earlier.

I found this on the Internet. This digital Casio Chronograph is my everyday watch that I also take to bed with me.

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Finally, I can check the time, I said to myself. I tried to push the "Light" button ( lower right corner ) with my invisible right index finger ( my whole right arm was still invisible ). But I couldn't get the light to turn on. And my left arm was completely transparent so that it was almost impossible to see it in the pre-dawn darkness.

As I kept pushing on the "Light" button repeatedly, I heard a man's voice say a word to me in my left ear. I don't recall the word. It might have been, "Hello." But I was too busy trying to find out the exact time to pay the voice any attention. I hope that I didn't disrespect the disembodied voice. If I did, it would be the 4th time that I had unwittingly done it ( in the past, I had intentionally disrespected certain disembodied voices as a form of challenge ). People these days are obsessed with their smartphones. I, on the other hand, seems obsessed with keeping track of time!

As a precaution, I recited the King James Version of Psalm 23.

I found this on the Internet.

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But I was in such a trance state that I found my tongue not cooperating with me. I had a hard time enunciating each word as a result. With each almost-unintelligible word that I uttered, I had to breathe. And the whole process was so very slow and so very labored. Have you ever had your tongue all numbed-up by your periodontist, for a deep-cleaning, and you tried to maintain a conversation with your doctor throughout it all? Well, that was pretty much how I sounded like.

Then, I saw myself standing before the glass sliding door of my deck. 'Only thing was, it wasn't my deck at all. I live on the 2nd floor of my condominium complex which has wooden decks on the 2nd and 3rd floors. This deck's floor is cement, not wood; and it looked like a patio in someone else's backyard. On the opposite side of the glass sliding door were three--somewhat fat--black pugs. This event seemed like it was happening during an early morning hour.

I found this on the Internet.

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The black pugs were happy to see me and wanted to be let in. Am I in my niece's home, I asked myself. Although I would've had no possible way of knowing  it because I have never been to Oregon where my niece, Anna, lives with her family, her cats, and her brown pug. I looked behind me. It didn't look like my living room at all. I decided not to let the black pugs in because, well, I'm a cat person. And if these black pugs were supposed to be my shamanic guides, well then, they picked the wrong species to disguise themselves as!

I was once again back in my futon. And I tried once more to find out the exact time. Finally, I could see both of my arms. And my watch finally lit up the time which was 6:56 a.m.---Actually, the real time was 6:41 a.m. because I keep my watch 15 minutes ahead of time so that I won't be late for work ( which almost always fails me because I never account for traffic delays on my 10-mile [ 16.1 km ] work commute ).

Why was I invisible? Did I die? They say that most heart attack deaths happen between 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., when your blood is at its thickest/most sluggish because of dehydration. I cannot die now, what with my condo in such a mess. I need to tidy up first, I said to myself. I needed to buy me some more time. Yet, I was very calm the whole time, though. I never panicked, not even for a second.

But ... if there ever was a time that I needed to go to work, it was today. Really. Seriously. Today. Because I reasoned that if they could see me at work and interact with me then I'm still alive. Never mind the fact that I would have to physically drive myself to work first. ( If I could write this blog then I'm still alive! But can you guys read this particular entry? is the nagging question. )

From shortly after I emptied my bladder to the last time that I checked the time on my watch in my altered state of shamanic consciousness was approximately 3 & 1/2 hours of lost sleep. And I had to wake up at 8:00 a.m. to go to work! I spent the next hour or so flat on my back trying to make sense of what just happened to me, since I could no longer fall back to sleep.

My conclusion ...?

I guess that this experience is my very first non-drug induced altered state of shamanic consciousness ( ndASSC ). As I mentioned in my last post, I've had 100s of Out Of Body Experiences ( OOBE ). And this one is of an entirely different nature. Years ( decades ) ago, I read an article which said that an OOBE is totally different from an Astral Projection. I will have to agree with that article's findings now. I always thought that both terms were interchangeable since one ends up out of his/her body in either case. But they aren't the same because in Astral Projection, it occurs in stages until you fly out of your body ( like Superman ). However, in this altered state of shamanic consciousness, I left my body instantly, without the "running" or "falling down" or "flying" initial stage that occurs with Astral Projection. The second stage of Astral Projection is when you will hear and feel a tremendous surge of energy coursing throughout your body which leads to the third and final stage, Lift-Off! But what I experienced this morning had none of these three characteristic stages. That ... is the difference.

But I think that OOBE is just a general term as there are also the Clinical Near-Death Experience ( cNDE ), the Traumatic Near-Death Experience ( tNDE ), and the Psychotropic Out Of Body Experience ( pOOBE ) to consider. The cNDE occurs during surgery.  The tNDE happens because of a severe illness or because of an accident or because of an attempt at one's life.  The pOOBE is drug-induced either because a post-surgical pain killer was taken ( I had this experience twice ) prior to it happening or a narcotic was used to deliberately alter one's mind's perception of reality for a "spiritual quest" ( which I don't recommend )  or simply for "recreation". Please don't use narcotics to experience a different reality because if things get ugly--and they might--you will need every bit of your mental faculties to help you out of the predicament!

And, I might add, my Astral Projections were mostly accompanied by a foreboding sense of dread, that I was about to be attacked by evil other-wordly spirits. And I was mostly right, more than I care to remember. But such experiences molded me into what I have spiritually become. My bad encounters had done more to strengthen my faith in God than my fewer good encounters had ever done for me. Whereas, this non-drug induced altered state of shamanic consciousness ( ndASSC ) seems, at this time, geared towards calm and peaceful encounters with other-wordly entities. Only time will tell, though ....

Well, I'm totally "game" for this new experience! I will just have to write down a list of things that I want to address for when I do establish communications with spirit guides.

All in all, from the first time that I did the Shaman Isochronic Sound Meditation twice a day to my very first non-drug induced altered state of shamanic consciousness ( ndASSC ), it took exactly six weeks. But it is still too early for me to recommend this type of CD sound meditation. I still have to put more effort into it for me to achieve the desired results.

( I wonder if I can talk a spirit guide into punishing those lowlifes who vandalized my cars and those jerks who insulted/disrespected/unfairly treated me. Or will such a guide just tell me to "forgive and forget" so as to put an end to the give-and-take cycle of bad karma endured over many lifetimes.  )
Kaynak:

Cine-Man

HANDS OF STONE / DON'T BREATHE

HANDS OF STONE / DON'T BREATHE

I went to see this today, Monday, August 29th, 2016, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJ0, for the 11:15 a.m. 1st-show Matinee in auditorium 13, 3rd row from the front, 7th column from the left. The price of admission was $6.25. I bought a $5.40 Nachos w/ Cheese and a $0.00 small Powerade Mountain Berry Blast ( free offer on my movie-watcher e-mail reward coupon ) at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review:  Roberto Duran's ( Edgar Ramirez ) life is chronicled from his childhood in a poor neighborhood in Panama to his rise as one of the world's greatest boxing legends.

The audience of about a dozen liked this movie. I liked this movie, too. Go see this movie if you're a boxing aficionado.

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Is it just me or did boxing promoter Don King's stable of boxers all fall from grace?

I didn't know that Roberto Duran loves Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors ice creams.

Roberto Duran must have a very complicated personality! I found this on the Internet.

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Which reminded me of when I moved into my condo back in April of 2001. I stuffed my freezer with nothing but ice cream. I had 21 flavors of ice cream ( which qualifies me to be called, "Baskin-Robbins Junior"? ) at one time in my freezer. And that was all I ate for breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight snack. Now, I don't even want to eat ice cream anymore!

I went to Selecta Pilipino Buffet Restaurant on Springs Road to have lunch and to buy some lottery tickets. I paid $8.00 for lunch and $9.00 on lottery tickets.

On my way to Selecta Pilipino Buffet Restaurant, I saw a black man, without a shirt on, walking west on Tennesee Steet, past the corner of Lassen Street, in the middle of the left lane. Dumbass idiot. I bet that if he got hit by a car he would sue!

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I went to see this on the same day, in the same theatre, for the 4:40 p.m. show in auditorium 8, 6th row from the front, 8ht column from the right. The price of admission was $6.25. And I bought a medium Powerade Mountain Berry Blast for $4.80 at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review:  Three burglars think that they have an easy target in a blind man rumored to have a big stash of money hidden somewhere in his house. But they are wrong.

The audience liked this movie. I liked it, too. Go see this movie if you're into Horror/Suspense movies.

The scene with the turkey baster was probably the best scene in the movie! The scene wherein a bad guy was shot in the head was good. And the dog in the trunk of the car was good, too.

As much as I liked this movie ...

There are some things wrong in this movie:  They break into someone's house without a flashlight, only relying on their smartphones' flashlight app that eats up battery "juice" too fast--doesn't make sense ( I carry two mini flashlights on my person at all times, and I'm not a burglar ). Since the gestation period was still early on, then a crucial event in the movie occurred within a three-month period prior to the break-in. Why was a newspaper clipping well within reach? How was a blind man able to procure a medical/scientific device for his own personal use during that time period? How was he able to set the device to the proper operating temperature? How was the "dungeon" built by a blind man? He hit that guy hard in the head with a steel mallet which should have killed the guy, I think. Shoving a turkey baster straight and hard into someone's mouth would produce serious injury to the back of that one's mouth. The dog couldn't reach her face but her breasts--not to sound kinky--were well within range. The cops who investigated the crime scene would have discovered the secret "dungeon" and the pair of shoes that couldn't be accounted for. This movie sends a bad message at the end.


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After the movie, I went to the 99-Cent Only Store on Sonoma Boulevard to buy allergy tablets and cough drops. I also bought a jar of salad dressing, a small tub of cream cheese and a can of cream of mushroom soup.

I bought the cream cheese and the cream of mushroom soup because I'm still tweaking a ( sour dough bread or corn chip ) dip recipe that a co-worker shared with me. Her dip only calls for the use of three ingredients: cream cheese, cream of mushroom soup and garlic. She gave me the wrong amount to use on the garlic. I asked her if the dip needed two bulbs ( heads ) of garlic or two cloves ( pieces ). She said to use two bulbs.

Well, when I first made the dip, it seemed to me that even one bulb of garlic was too much. I only used half a bulb ( 6 goodly-sized cloves ). It was still just too strong--but I'm sure that it killed viruses and germs in my body and kept the girls at bay, for sure! Ha, ha, ha.

The second time that I made the dip, I used just 3 cloves of garlic. The third time around, I'll use 4 cloves of garlic. And I'm thinking of taking this dip to the next level by adding other stuff to it.

When I got home, I called the mailbox company to inquire about getting my new mailbox key since I learned just last night that the new "theft-proof" mailboxes have already been installed. I mentioned to the man who responded that I specifically wrote them a note to put my mailbox key in an envelope and slip it under my door. I guess they forgot to take notice it. Anyway, after I spoke with him, I e-mailed him just to go over the specifics.

Even after I get my mailbox key, I will still make it a habit of going to the main post office twice a week so that I can check on the on-going Selena Gomez Netflix film shoot in Old Downtown Vallejo. Since I would like to be allowed on the set so that I can blog about it.
Kaynak:

Cine-Man

Why I Can't Stand Star Wars Anymore

I'm a fairly pretty big nerd. I love to play video games, especially RPGs (I have a $1/hr of gameplay standard - otherwise I usually feel like I don't get my money's worth). I love Magic: The Gathering so much I've had to swear it off, and it's all I can do to keep myself from buying a new booster pack every time I pass by the "impulse buy" isle at Walmart. I like to play complicated, two- or three-hour long board games with my friends. I'm a big history nerd (it's kind of my thing). And as a child growing up in AMERICA, I grew up on and loved Star Wars Episodes IV-VI.

My fascination with the original Star Wars trilogy was more than just a love for the funny robots, the big furry monster, and the cool superpowers. I remember sitting in front of the TV one summer with a blue legal notepad and writing down things to watch for in a list on the left ("R2 Beeps," "Lightsabers," "Laser Blasts") and leaving space on the right to write down tally marks for however many times those things happened/appeared throughout each movie. It was incredibly nerdy and incredibly pointless, but I enjoyed the films enough to watch them as many times as it took to fill out my little form. I went back to school before I could really get started, but I remembered thinking I was going to be pretty cool if I could cite all of my statistics to my friends (how weird my perceptions of cool were).

I saw the entire prequel trilogy in theaters, and I had posters of Ewan McGregor and the Battle of Geonosis on my bedroom wall. I didn't like the prequel trilogy nearly as much as the originals, and I did outright dislike the third movie. Even so, I did honestly like Attack of the Clones and all of its huge battles. It was a mixed bag, but I took it for what it was and went on with my life.

My falling out of love with Star Wars really (and oddly) began in earnest with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I went and saw it with my mom opening weekend, and was utterly incensed at how inane it all was. I wasn't even upset about the ultimate supernatural force behind the plot (after God, uh, eggs, and Jesus in the first three, aliens didn't really phase me). The plot was insane, Harrison Ford was really old, Cate Blanchett's accent was atrocious, and Shia LaBoeuf swung from tree-to-tree with monkeys. The movie was so terrible, so cynical, such a pandering mess, that I couldn't get any enjoyment from it.

Once I saw the cynicism, I couldn't un-see it in Lucas's work. From the pandering of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, to the evidence that the putting the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi was a marketing decision (because cute toys sell better), to the complete disregard for continuity among the movies out of laziness, my dislike for Star Wars grew out of my disgust with George Lucas. Everything he had touched was tainted (except for Jurassic Park - that bun was almost out of the oven by the time Lucas got his grubby hands all over it).

Then I saw the devastating RedLetterMedia reviews of Episodes I, II, and III. Talk about exposing the rotting, hollow center to a series gilt in pretty CGI.  After watching these, it confirmed what I had already suspected: these movies don't make sense; they are artistically bankrupt; they disrupt the mythology, look, feel, and message of the series; and, oh yeah, they don't make any sense.

Even after all of this, I could still hear about Star Wars without cringing, and I still referenced it very occasionally in conversation. Hearing someone talk about George Lucas would annoy me, but somewhere in my heart was the little girl with her notepad, her eyes glued to the original trilogy, enjoying every scene, every minute.

Then I snapped.

I was reading an io9 review for God's War by Kameron Hurley with the headline "The heroine of 'God's War' makes Han Solo look like a boy scout." I understand that blogs run on clicks, and for io9, a nerdy sci-fi blog, putting a name like Han Solo in the title is cash money. But besides the tiniest similarities, Han Solo and Nyx, the main character of God's War (which I bought and have been reading), are absolutely nothing alike. The situation is completely different. Her status is completely different. Her behavior is completely different. The politics of the world she is in are different, and have helped make her character different, and so on. This is apples and oranges stuff.

In addition to the comparison being completely inaccurate, no matter the qualification, comparing Nyx to Han Solo in the first place is boring. Again, I know how blogs work, and contrast is a legitimate way to frame something readers don't know about. But are we so unimaginative that Han Solo, who, in retrospect, was a pretty tame idea of a rogue with gray morals, is the only archetype people can understand? Why are we still using Star Wars, when so many great sci-fi films have come out before and since that fill out archetypes much better? Is it because we credit Star Wars with the invention of the archetypes? Because even that's not quite the whole story, though it may get close.  The review wouldn't have annoyed me even half as much if the reviewer had mentioned even one other cultural item. But it's as if drawing the throwaway comparison between Nyx and Han Solo was enough, the work done. And really, it was - the whole point was to get some extra clicks. I admit, I clicked for that very reason.

What bothers me about this isn't that Star Wars still has cultural currency. By all rights, it should still have purchase, because it changed a lot in cinema. It's not that it doesn't deserve its dues. It's that, to paraphrase Patton Oswalt in his recent Wired editorial, we simultaneously live in a culture that places special importance on creativity and originality, but also in a culture that places pride in planting a flag on something that has come before. Geek culture is a snake eating its own tail.*  Geek culture is masturbatory. Geek culture is fiercely territorial for things it claims but does not create. It depends on a wide and (sometimes) deep library for its cultural references, and it depends on the same library to understand it. It is self-referential, self-important, and self-congratulatory, and it isn't concerned with creation that does not include recycling bits of other people's work.

The io9 review, as benign as it really is, flipped my switch from "tolerate and sometimes participate in" to "loathe and cringe at the sight or sound of" Star Wars and large swaths of geek culture in general. The idea that something that has been proven, through analysis and the words of its creator, to be creatively bankrupt in dozens of ways and can still command the respect that it does, even knowing what we know, makes geeks, nerds, "enthusiasts", and whoever else falls into that category, stubborn and sheltered. The switch io9 flipped (again, it's still very benign) has changed how I see the references to Star Wars or to The Legend of Zelda or to Batman. It's all part of the same recycle and reuse that fuels entire industries which run on nostalgia and fear of disappointment in the new.

This isn't a hipster argument. This isn't about the mainstream making nostalgia and obscurity into commodities. This really isn't even an argument, as I'm trying to express, not convince. The point I am trying to get to is that I am of the opinion that Star Wars (among myriad other geeky icons), as stunted in growth, commercial in sensibility, nostalgically revered, and crassly cynical as it is, has infiltrated and modified our cultural assumptions for the worse. We are constantly comparing apples to oranges to Star Wars or to some other famous tidbit, when the degrees of relation are so distant they can't even be considered to exist in the same plane.

Walker Percy once used the analogy of the postcard experience. People travel to see the postcards image of sights and landmarks. But what they don't realize is that the trip is never going to be fulfilling, because they are going to see exactly what they and millions of others have seen before. Going to the Grand Canyon and standing at the railing, looking down at millions of years of formations, isn't experiencing something new and personal - it's experiencing 1/n^nth of the full experience. Going off the beaten path gets you closer to the 1/1 experience, and gives you the chance to be fulfilled by your adventures. Star Wars is a 1/n^nth experience. It saturates our current pop culture, being the go-to for references, archetypes, etc., so much that it makes people lazy, expecting or desiring nothing better. Those movies are everywhere. When I finally started to notice, I couldn't help but feel nauseated and unfulfilled.

I understand my opinion is largely impractical. There really hasn't been in a time in history when the present isn't scouring the past for inspiration, if not outright recycling, and I am not under the illusion to the contrary. I am also aware that I am just as much a participant in the nostalgia machines and nothing-new industries, and that I am just as responsible as the next human being for giving people like George Lucas my time, devotion, and cash - making this a self-indictment and not just an opinion. I also do not begrudge anyone for loving this culture and claiming it as their own. It simply isn't for me, and everything I've expressed here applies to how I see the culture and isn't an attempt to interpret anyone else's experience. But maybe, just maybe, I can break some of the cycle by refusing to keep participating in what I see as the mindless repetition, the knee-jerk references, and the tired cliches of Star Wars that have seeped into our culture.

But likely not.

*I do disagree with Patton that Star Wars was ever uncool or not mainstream (have you seen those box office numbers?) and that one group can own or even has the right to own any part of pop culture. People are territorial about all sorts of things, but that doesn't mean they have any right to it

Heyecanla beklenen Bayram namazı saat kaçta kılınır? - İşte il il 2017 Ramazan Bayram saatleri

Heyacanla beklenen Bayram namazı saat kaçta kılınır? - İşte il il 2017 Ramazan Bayram saatleri

Milyonlarca Müslüman 11 ayın sultanı Ramazan'ın bitmesinin üzüntüsünü yaşarken bir yandan ise Ramazan Bayramı'nı idrak etmenin sevinci içerisinde. 25 Haziran Pazar gününe denk gelen Ramazan Bayramı nedeniyle ''Bayram namazı saat kaçta?'' cevabı en çok araştırılan sorulardan bir tanesi oldu. 2017 Ramazan Bayram namazı saatlerini bu başlık altında sizler için derledik. İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir ve diğer illerde Bayram namazı saat kaçta kılınacak? İşte detaylar...

Her sene coşkuyla kutlanan bir Ramazan Bayramı'na daha sayılı günler kaldı. Müslümanlar çok değerli kabul ettikleri bugüne erişmenin mutluluğunu yaşarken ''Bayram namazı saat kaçta kılınacak?'' sorusunun ise cevabını aramaya başladı. İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir ve diğer iller için Bayram namazı saatlerini bu başlık altında derledik. Şeker bayramı olarak bilinen ve bu sene 25 Haziran Pazar gününe denk gelen Ramazan Bayramı namazı saat kaçta kılınacak? İşte tüm detaylar...

BAYRAM NAMAZI SAAT KAÇTA KILINACAK? İŞTE İL İL BAYRAM NAMAZI SAATLERİ

"Adana: 06.04, Adıyaman: 05.50, Afyon: 06.18, Ağrı: 05.26, Aksaray: 06.05, Amasya: 05.52, Ankara: 06.06, Antalya: 06.22, Ardahan: 05.24, Artvin: 05.27, Aydın: 06.31, Balıkesir: 06.27, Bartın: 06.04, Batman: 05.38, Bayburt: 05.36, Bilecik: 06.17, Bingöl: 05.38, Bitlis: 05.33, Bolu: 06.09, Burdur: 06.22, Bursa: 06.21, Çanakkale: 06.31, Çankırı: 06.01, Çorum: 05.56, Denizli: 06.27, Diyarbakır: 05.42, Düzce: 06.11, Edirne: 06.27, Elazığ: 05.44, Erzincan: 05.40, Erzurum: 05.33, Eskişehir: 06.16, Gaziantep: 05.55, Giresun: 05.41, Gümüşhane: 05.38, Hakkari: 05.29, Hatay: 06.02, Iğdır: 05.21, Isparta: 06.21, İstanbul: 06.19, İzmir: 06.33, Kahramanmaraş: 05.56, Karabük: 06.04, Karaman: 06.12, Kars: 05.23, Kastamonu: 05.59, Kayseri: 05.59, Kırıkkale: 06.04, Kırklareli: 06.24, Kırşehir: 06.03, Kilis: 05.57, Kocaeli: 06.16, Konya: 06.13, Kütahya: 06.19, Malatya: 05.48, Manisa: 06.31, Mardin: 05.41, Mersin: 06.07, Muğla: 06.31, Muş: 05.35, Nevşehir: 06.02, Niğde: 06.04, Ordu: 05.43, Osmaniye: 06.00, Rize: 05.33, Sakarya: 06.14, Samsun: 05.49, Siirt: 05.35, Sinop: 05.51, Sivas: 05.50, Şanlıurfa: 05.49, Şırnak: 05.34, Tekirdağ: 06.25, Tokat: 05.50, Trabzon: 05.36, Tunceli: 05.42, Uşak: 06.23, Van: 05.28, Yalova: 06.19, Yozgat: 05.59, Zonguldak: 06.06."

KKTC'nin başkenti Lefkoşa'da bayram namazı 06.15, Almanya'nın başkenti Berlin'de 05.43, ABD'nin başkenti Washington'da 06.28, İngiltere'nin başkenti Londra'da 05.41, Bosna Hersek'in başkenti Saraybosna'da 05.53'te eda edilecek.

BAYRAM NAMAZI NASIL KILINIR?

2 rekat olan Bayram namazına, Allahuekber "Niyet ettim Allah rızâsı için vâcib olan Kurban Bayramı namazını kılmaya. Uydum imama." denip niyet edilir. İmam, ellerini kulaklarına kaldırıp "Allâhuekber" diyerek tekbîr alıp ellerini göbek altında bağlar. Cemaat de aynısını yapar ve "Sübhaneke" duasını okunur. Ardından, imam ellerini kulaklarına kaldırıp "Allahu Ekber" diyerek tekbîr alır ve ellerini yana bırakır ki cemaat de aynısını tekrarlar. Sonrasında imam, ellerini kulaklarına kadar kaldırıp "Allâhu Ekber" diyerek tekbîr alır ve ellerini yana bırakır. Cemaat de onu takip eder. Ardından imam, ellerini kulaklarına kadar kaldırıp "Allâhu Ekber" diyerek tekbîr alır ve ellerini göbek altında bağlar. Cemaat de aynı şeyi yapar ve imamın okuduğu sûre ile âyetleri dinler. Bu rekat imamla birlikte rükû ve secde edilirek bitirilir.İlk rekatın ardından 2. rek'âta kalkılıp eller göbek altında bağlanır. İmam, sûre ve âyetleri okur, cemaat dinler. Sonra, imam ellerini kulaklarına kaldırıp "Allahuekber" diyerek tekbîr alır ve ellerini yana bırakır. Cemaat de bunu tekrarlar. Ardından, imam ellerini kulaklarına kaldırıp "Allahu Ekber" diyerek tekbîr alır ve ellerini yana bırakır. Cemaat de aynısını yapar. Ardından imam ellerini kulaklarına kaldırıp "Allahuekber" diyerek tekbîr alır ve ellerini yana bırakır. Cemaat de aynısını yapar. Sonra, imamla birlikte rükû ve secde edilerek namaz bitirilir. Sonra, imam minber'e çıkarak "Bayram hutbesi"ni okur. Hutbenin ardından dua edilir. Bayram namazının kılınışının akıllarda kalması için "İki salla bir bağla üç salla bir yat." şeklinde bir tekerleme de üretilmiştir.

EN GÜZEL RAMAZAN BAYRAMI MESAJLARI

*Bu bayramda gönlünüz dertlerinden arınmış, tüm gözyaşlarınız dinmiş olsun. Yüzünüz de hep gülümseme, kalbiniz huzurla dolsun. Ramazan Bayramı"nız kutlu olsun.

*Dua Kapılarının Ağzına Kadar Açık, bela Ve Kötülüklerin Arındırıldığı Bu Güzel Günde Bayramınızı Tüm Sevdiklerinizle Birlikte Hayırlı ve Mutlu geçirmeniz Dileğiyle Mübarek ramazan Bayramınızı Kutlarım.

*En güzel günler sizin olsun. Yüzünüzde hep gülücük hayatınız da yüzünüz kadar güzel olsun. Ramazan Bayramınız mutlu olsun…

*İslam'ın nurlu güneşi kalbine dolsun, makamın cennet Hz. Muhammed komşun olsun, günlerin mutluluk, gönlün saadetle dolsun bayramın mübarek olsun.

*Şeker tadında bir Ramazan Bayramı diler her şeyin kalbiniz kadar güzel olmasını temenni ederiz iyi bayramlar…

*Benim ömrümde ırmaklar vardır sularında hayallerimi yüzdürdüğüm, benim ömrümde sevdiklerim vardır bayramlar ayrı geçince üzüldüğüm. Bayramınız mübarek olsun!

*En kötü gününüz bu Ramazan Bayramı"ndaki gibi güzel olsun… Bayramınız kutlu olsun…

*Güzellik, birlik, beraberlik dolu, her zaman bir öncekinden daha güzel ve mutlu bir Bayram diliyoruz. Büyüklerimizin ellerinden küçüklerimizin gözlerinden öpüyoruz.

*resimli ramazan bayramı mesajlarıSana gelen her iyilik Allah"tandır, bütün kötülükler nefsindendir. Mekânın cennet yuvan huzurlu kalbin Allah ile dolu Ramazan Bayramın mübarek olsun.

*Güzel Düşünceler Nefeslere Dolarsa Güzel Dualar Olur, Dua ise Yüce ALLAH'a Gider Nur Olur, Gökyüzünde Buluşan Dualarımızın NurLanması ümidiyle Bayramınızı Kutlarım..

*Her şeyin rahatça yenip içilebildiği mübarek 11 aylar başlamıştır. Hayırlı bayramlar…

*En delice esen seher yeli, en güneşli günler, en parlak gecedir bayramlar. Ramazan Bayramınız kutlu, her şey gönlünüzce olsun.

*Yüreklerde bir esinti ve barış paylaşımına en sıcak merhabadır bayramlar. Ramazan Bayramınız kutlu, her şey gönlünüzce olsun…

Kaynak:http://www.sabah.com.tr