These are movies about which you could say, "That's Not Entertainment." They're not 'rides' or 'diversions.' They are galvanizing experiences that place squarely in your face all the stuff Hollywood usually presumes you go to the movies to get away from. Films that rearrange your head, that challenge your bedrock ideas about life and love and the big sleep. Consciousness-expanders, in other words, but rarely in a pleasant way. Thank God for them.

Posted by GeeTee at January 07, 2003 09:29 AM | TrackBack 0

Canada has been selling gold from foreign reserves since 1980, investing the proceeds in bonds and foreign-currency securities that yield a return which "far exceeds the return that the government gets on gold," the official said.

Posted by GeeTee at January 07, 2003 08:12 AM | TrackBack 0

In the end, Eaves renounces "all sexuality for profit." Some readers will say that she is privileged because, unlike many other women, she was able to dabble in the sex trade, then move on to her "real" career. Her renunciation of sexual commerce is reminiscent of the Magdalene houses: 19th century institutions where "fallen women" who were down on their luck could receive shelter and sustenance in exchange for their spiritual salvation. It is easy to understand why a destitute or ailing sex worker would renounce her wayward past and embrace the role of repenting sinner. It came with food, medical care and shelter. But Eaves is no victim of poverty. She has actively chosen the Victorian path of renunciation while cloaking it in the language of late 20th century feminism, and this leads us to wonder whether it is a convenient posture or a case of sexual guilt that can never be entirely washed away.

Posted by GeeTee at January 07, 2003 08:11 AM | TrackBack 0

Happiness = P (5xE) (3xH)

Posted by GeeTee at January 07, 2003 08:06 AM | TrackBack 0

The informant, identified as Michael Hamdani, who was arrested in Canada in late October 2002, created the story about 19 men who were seeking false passports in an attempt to get himself off the hook on criminal charges he was facing in the United States, sources said.

Posted by GeeTee at January 07, 2003 07:56 AM | TrackBack 0

Yet so far the entertainment industry bulldogs have stayed noticeably silent about an old model of TiVo recorder and a new flavor of Windows that now allow hackers to swap video. Why haven't TV executives mounted a similar defense against these potential tools for would-be pirates? Perhaps because their erstwhile partners, TiVo and Microsoft, all but invited the video swappers in.

Posted by GeeTee at January 07, 2003 07:25 AM | TrackBack 0

"The holy anointing oil, as described in the original Hebrew version of the recipe in Exodus, contained over six pounds of keneh-bosum - a substance identified by respected etymology, linguists anthropologists, botanists and other researchers as cannabis extracted into about six quarts of olive oil along with a variety of other fragrant herbs.
"The ancient annointed ones were literally drenched in this potent mixture."

Posted by GeeTee at January 07, 2003 07:12 AM | TrackBack 0

The court ruled there was "no evidence" that either Johansen or others had used the decryption code (called DeCSS) for illegal purposes. Johansen therefore couldn't be convicted on such grounds, nor for acting as an accessory to other alleged illegal activity, wrote judge Irene Sogn in the court's ruling. Nor, wrote Sogn, was there any evidence that Johansen intended to contribute to illegal copying. The court determined that it is not illegal to use the DeCSS code to watch DVD films obtained by legal means.

Posted by GeeTee at January 07, 2003 06:43 AM | TrackBack 0