"religion row hits Pullman epic"...

This quote from the article, from the Secular Society that Pullman is a part of

"...Terry Sanderson, president of the society. 'In doing that they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it. It seems that religion has now completely conquered America's cultural life and it is much the poorer for it. What a shame that we have to endure such censorship here too.' "

is nice, and shows that they are true fans of the book. (If you've read the book, you know why.)

Taking Religion out of the "His Dark Materials" might be the dumbest idea since wanting to get rid of the word "athiest". Remove religion from the book and all you have is a story about polar bears, witches, and a little girl saving the world with her magical aelitheometer. In other words, "Harry Potter and the Magical Compass"

I love the Pullman series. I'm suspicious of this change, but still eager to see the film, and eager to hear what Pullman thinks once he's seen it. Some of us are smart enough to move from a particular instance to it general application. The fact that the filmmakers "save" us this step makes me nervous. First the Kite Runner is unreleased to safeguard the Afghani children who star in it, and now this. Have you ever noticed how religion fucks up a lot of people's lives?

I'm suspicious of this change, but still eager to see the film, and eager to hear what Pullman thinks once he's seen it.

Yeah, me too. Low expectations keeps me from walking out extremely disappointed, and possibly pleasantly surprised.

Without religious connotation however, the second and third movies (if they make them) will be confusing globs of unconnected events with no narrative of why Lyra is doing the things she does.

Agreed, Willey. And I'm looking forward to seeing the old, doddering, decrepit Jesus (or was it Jehovah?) in the crystal case. How will they make a generic substitute for that??

Freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they have, or the views they express, or the words they speak or write. —Hugo L. Black, U.S. Supreme Court Justice 1963

Norm, how you doing there, dude? You better prune that quote archive of yours -- or quite deleting those comments that that Tillerman Tea character expressed. I mean, I don't like the guy's opinions either, but deleting his posts, while praising free speech seems a tad inconsistent...

Dzwonka:

I half to agree with you there, fella. I half-asked my dog "Mandolinito" Barko and he agreed too. But then his favorite composer is "Orff". And his favorite food is Macaronix and cheese. Say no more.

How can Norm constantly post links about good writing, when he rarely writes a sentence that isn't awkward? Almost as often, they're loaded with gramatical errors. Oh well. Thanks for the links!

Yeah, I believe that this is the reason T4T has his posts deleted. It's his attack on people and his continual persistance not to stop that is getting his posts deleted, not his opinion.

"gramatical errors."

Grammatical erors? Is Tony t4t? The Sambush/am Bush was a "test".

Sorry for the awe-queered screeds. Tyro typos. Keyboard-inepts sometimes resort to short, pithy, Pythic... Alan Greenspanish. Thoughts looping back like a shoelace, etc. Dorothy is the Lady who's sure...

Let him among you who is sinless* ...

Aspersions written in stone.

Maybe the poisonous Tea was crying wolf, or fire, or using right-brain-processed Michael Richards language. Jonathan Becker is back from the yellow-brick funnel-cloud Stairway to Oz...

One for "Ahhhs," "Ahhhs" for one (one small step for a Luna tick, one giant leap into the void for Man's kind... with a return ticket sometimes. Fasting is faster. After the 4th day).

We CAN ahhh-ll call the tune. It is... "Over the Rainbow," Hal Arlen.

.

Or was it Mazursky? Nevermind.

.

.

*Willey?

Believe what you want Willey,

"Gee, Anonymous, shouldn't you be choking on a huge, throbbing, purple-veined nazi cock somewhere?" - Dzwonka October 16, 2007 7:22 PM Coats Made of Puppies

Any chance Dzwonka will be uninvited to OGM?

I, for one, hope not.

"Gee, Anonymous, shouldn't you be choking on a huge, throbbing, purple-veined nazi cock somewhere?" - Dzwonka October 16, 2007 7:22 PM Any chance Dzwonka will be uninvited to OGM?

Oh, I do beg your pardon -- I was supposed to be logged in as Anonymous when I made that post, wasn't I?

Any chance Syngas will be un-- oh never mind...

Hows that cock?

I only wonder why someone who tries to write (Mostly Anecdotal - yikes) and who posts links once or twice a week about grammar and good writing slops together such terrible sentences. That's all.

The commenting policy says to email Norm about his lousy grammar, but one link in this post is about writing, so I don't think my comment is interrupting the flow of this conversation.

And - more on the Commenting Policy - I don't think I'm criticizing the person, because the idea of one of these links is writing, and Norm is a, um, writer.

I don't know about t4t.

Okay, I'll say a few more things... No sarcasm is intended.

I believe in a civilized exchange of ideas. Free marketplace of ideas -- all that; I think it's a very sensible notion. But when people post things anonymously (civilized is, as civilized does), well -- I think you should be allowed to respond in uncivilized ways. Hence the throbbing nazi cock.

I will not defend to my death, Tillerman's right to express his opinions -- I'm not that righteous. Syngas of course -- being a good christian, is that righteous, and he'll lick anyone's arse, to silence the opinions he does not favor.

So don't "uninvite" me, and don't uninvite Syngas -- or Tillerman, or anyone else...

In the end, Norm, the true sign of a good character is one that accepts, and actually appreciates opposition.

Thanks Dzwonka.

Willey, do you need anymore clues?

Well. One can only guess at Tony's motivation. Derailment? ((non-)personal?) politics? Alcohol? But I must say I don't like his tone. He seems tone-deaf.

But don't ban 'em. Karaoke 'em.

Thanks Dzwonka.
-- Syngas

Hey, don't mention it, dude. Always happy to oblige. Hows your mom and dad and the wife and the Jesus enjoying that huge, throbbing, purple-veined nazi cock?

Mom is dead, but the rest are doing just fine. Thanks for your concern.

Mom is dead, but the rest are doing just fine. Thanks for your concern.

Oh hang on, didn't someone kill that Jesus guy? I think he's dead too, dude! You're not keeping up on current events.

Damn, Dzwonka, you can really be a heartless bastard sometimes..

Damn, Dzwonka, you can really be a heartless bastard sometimes.. -- Jo Ann

You're quite right. Hell, you're absolutely right. I really can be a heartless bastard sometimes. And so can you. It's a human condition. You can be a heartless bastard; I can be a heartless bastard, and Syngas The Jesusboy can be a heartless bastard. We're all Gods and Monsters.

But hopefully you and I won't drag the corpses of our dead mothers into the street -- or the conversation -- to obtain sympathy.

It ain't much, but hell, it's better than being a hypocrite.

You're not a hypocrite?

You're not a hypocrite?
--- Syngas

Whaaaaaa...? Of all the people on this board, you'd call ME a hypocrite? Are you just reverting to some imbecilic, childish "I'm not -- but YOU are!" form of argument, or is your understanding of the English language this limited?

Being a hypocrite means pretending to be a moral and virtuous person -- without actually being one.

I've not pretended to be anything of the sort. I was just accused of being a heartless bastard, and accepted the accusation gladly. You dragged that nazi cock post into multiple, unrelated threads, in a poorly (well, retarded) veiled attempt to have me banned -- and I stood up and said yup, I'm profane; I'm a gosh darn potty mouth. I've never pretended to be virtuous.

As Mr. Lecter sez, if you can't keep up with the conversation, best not try to join in, hm?

Now, fuck off. Or get a goddam-- sorry, a motherfucking dictionary.

Well, Dzwonka, ýou're the one that introduced Syngas' precious mom into the conversation. All he did was respond. The death of a loved one is so profound that I would never be harsh about such an thing or treat it lightly.

2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

"I mean, I don't like the guy's opinions either, but deleting his posts, while praising free speech seems a tad inconsistent..." - by: Dzwonka October 16, 2007 6:27 PM

"So don't "uninvite" me, and don't uninvite Syngas -- or Tillerman, or anyone else...": Dzwonka October 17, 2007 12:47 PM

"Now STFU." by: Dzwonka October 17, 2007 7:56 PM High on God

If you'll read the last sentence of my original post, you'll see I don't want you or anyone else barred from commenting on 1GM.

I honestly thought you were working with me to show Willey and anyone else who might be watching that he was wrong to believe breaking the commenting policy had anything to do with Tillerman's expulsion. I guess you didn't need to be doing it on purpose. You still did a great job. Thanks again!

The death of a loved one is so profound that I would never be harsh about such an thing or treat it lightly.
--Jo Ann

Oh come on... I realize that the harshness of my language rarely does me any favors, but please, don't pander to this hypocrite. If you've lived a while, you'll have lost someone you love. If you've live a while longer, you'll realize that everyone has experienced it. And if you've paid attention, you'll know that as horrible as the experience is, it takes a pathetic, hypocritical, sanctimonious shit to drag it out in public, in order to obtain sympathy.

Syngas basically engaged in a dirty debate, and when he was called a motherfucker, he called himself a martyr on account of his mother being dead. And you're defending him. Don't.

... guess you didn't need to be doing it on purpose. You still did a great job. Thanks again!
-- Syngas

Hey, aren't you supposed to say something like "I'll pray for you," also?

Sanctimonious, hypocritical motherfucker. Got a dictionary yet, motherfucker? No? Fuck off.

T4T gets banned for going on too long, or as Willey suggests, because he doesn't want to use a typekey account? wtf?

Oh sure, but Dzwonka can go on and on with this stupid drivel. You keep arrogant, offensive bigots like Dzwonka on the thread, but ban anyone you just don't like for whatever inane reason.

Nice work, Jhonny!

Norm, you're just being immature and playing favorites here, in case you didn't know. Dzwonka ruins almost every thread he's on with his assinine anecdotes, poor analogies and general offensiveness. Can't you at least install a stupid filter or something?

"Syngas basically engaged in a dirty debate, and when he was called a motherfucker, he called himself a martyr on account of his mother being dead."

That is a lie! The thread isn't that long for fuck's sake! Why don't you just calmly read through the thing one time?! (unless half of it's deleted by now) - I just love how Dzwonka always forgets what it was he was on about just three lines down a thread...

"...engaged in a dirty debate" - motherfucking pot kettle black! Just about every debate with Dzwonka comes down to name-calling.

And how about the time Dzwonka was going on about his British beat down? Was he trying to garner symapathy? If that's not hypocritical, then tell me what is.

(I bet he deserved it, too.)