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Review the Beowulf Movie

November 16, 2007 By Gene Veith

I hope some of you see the Beowulf movie this weekend and post a comment about how it was. A critic I really like, Stephen Hunter, has a good take on how the animation/real-life combo prevents any real acting or human emotions from happening. The same people who made this movie made “Polar Express,” which utterly creeped me out. Our faithful reader and commenter tODD usefully explained why, pointing us to this article about the “uncanny.” Animation does make possible,… Read more

What about Obama?

November 16, 2007 By Gene Veith

22 Comments

In my continuing series, we turn to the Democrats. Barack Obama, it seems to me, has conducted himself very well in this campaign, which is free of the vitriol of pretty much every one else. Alone of all the Democrats, he is not demonizing conservatives. He is not even demonizing opponents of abortion. In his book, he writes about how he understands and appreciates their points, though he depicts himself as reluctantly “pro-choice” anyway. That book also tells about his… Read more

How to Play Rachmaninoff

November 15, 2007 By Gene Veith

14 Comments

Some great composers create music so aesthetically complex that hardly anyone can play them. For example, hardly any pianist has hands big enough to reach some of Rachmaninoff’s chords. But where there is a will, there is a way. HT: C. R. Biggs Read more

Mormons Mad at Romney

November 15, 2007 By Gene Veith

18 Comments

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon, has been reaching out to conservative Christians. In doing so, some conservative Mormons think he is compromising his faith. From an article in The New Republic: specially irksome to some Mormons are Romney’s efforts to minimize the differences between their religion and traditional Christianity–differences that, in some cases, define the very essence of the Mormon faith. In a cover story last month in Newsweek, Romney was asked whether he had ever performed baptisms for… Read more

The Myth of the Evangelical Crack-up

November 14, 2007 By Gene Veith

14 Comments

One of our Patrick Henry College students scored an internship at Slate, the big and influential online magazine. Recently, he actually wrote the lead, front-page story. I’ll link it to his byline: David Sessions. First of all, how good does an openly conservative Christian have to be to get an internship with “Slate”? Second, how good of an intern does he have to be to write a lead story? Third, how good does the college have to be to prepare… Read more

What about McCain?

November 14, 2007 By Gene Veith

18 Comments

David Brooks argues that John McCain has the best character of all the candidates. Indeed, he is a war hero, a POW who was never broken, a man of integrity who stands by his principles even when they go against the grain in Washington. He has been said to have the strongest pro-life credentials of any of the other candidates. He is wobbly, though, on stem cell research. And the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill is an assault on the most… Read more

Chaos in Pakistan

November 13, 2007 By Gene Veith

16 Comments

So which should be our priority, defending democracy or fighting terrorists, and what do we do if a democratic country votes in the terrorists? That is only one of the issues in the chaos that is Pakistan. Raising the ante is that this particular country, now thrown into political chaos, ALREADY has nuclear weapons that the jihadists would love to get their hands on. Unfortunately, our man, President Musharraf, is repressing moderate secularists as well as Islamic extremists, and maybe… Read more

DNA as Language

November 13, 2007 By Gene Veith

34 Comments

The “Washington Post” published a fascinating story on the latest findings in DNA research, which finds that genetic replication is far more complex than anyone dreamed just a few years ago. What struck me in the article were the descriptions of genetic processes as language, with the article full of terms such as “code,” “letters,” “transcription,” “translation,” “read,” “instruction,” “message” and even references to what can only be sentences and punctuation marks. I’d like to hear even a conceptual explanation… Read more

Pro-life Group Endorses Thompson

November 13, 2007 By Gene Veith

28 Comments

The National Right to Life Committee is endorsing Fred Thompson for president. That’s a good group, but I remain confused. He opposes a constitutional amendment barring abortion and he has even done consulting, earlier in his career, for a pro-abortion organization. His Senate record was pro-life, though, but it seems to me that his pro-life credentials are no better than anyone else’s in the race. Why endorse anyone under those circumstances? Why not hold everyone’s feet to the fire, then… Read more

High-Tech Missionaries

November 12, 2007 By Gene Veith

4 Comments

The “Washington Post” published an article recently about how missionaries are spreading the Gospel with great effect by means of the new information technology. Drawing on the truth that “faith comes by hearing the Word of God,” they are distributing audio recordings of the Bible in local people’s languages and giving them play-back devices. They are showing a film of the life of Jesus to people who have never seen a movie before. And they are teaching children to read… Read more