The BBC have started running trailers for the Life on Mars Finale. Needless to say the trailer drops some tantalising hints, with DCI Frank Morgan (according to the Radio Times the part played by his namesake in the Wizard of Oz is significant) telling Sam that he is suffering from amnesia, and then a shot of a gravestone belonging to Sam Tyler, but one who died in the nineteenth century. All very confusing, and I’m sure we won’t know what’s really going on until next week.
Monthly Archives: April 2007
The Most Hated Family in America
We missed seeing Louis Theroux – The Most Hated Family in America when it was first shown last week, as it went out on Sunday night where we usually watch and tape a number of other programmes. The programme has provoked strong reactions from many of those who saw it, and having missed it first time around, I was glad to find it showing again last night.
The programme focuses on the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, who have been well known for a number of years in particular for their websites condemning homosexuals, but they also condemn Roman Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Sweeden and Canada amongst others. They believe that nearly every tragedy in the world can be linked back to homosexuality, and it’s increasing tolerance and acceptance. They therefore picket various places they believe to be involved with or condoning homosexuality daily in Topeka, and also travel around the US to picket funerals of high-profile victims of hate crimes, or AIDS victims. More recently these protests have extended to the funerals of soldiers killed in action in Iraq, since they believe that deaths of soldiers in Iraq is God’s judgement on America. The programme shows pickets at funerals, and even members of the Church picketing a store for selling Sweedish vacuum cleaners!
In the programme, Louis Theroux spent three weeks with the Church, talking to members, attending their services and following them on protests. Unlike some extreme religious groups they have not withdrawn from society – all the members either attend regular schools, or hold down normal jobs. They do however live together in a group of houses in a block around the house in which Fred Phelps, the founder of the Church lives, and services are held. Phelps is related to the majority of the people in the Church.
Theroux is his usual self, portraying a sense of innocent bemusement, whilst in some ways asking pretty leading questions. As often happens, it doesn’t always work. At one point he innocently asks Phelps how many children he has – Phelps has thirteen, but four have left the Church. Theroux was curious as to whether Phelps would answer thirteen or nine. Phelps refuses to answer the question. However Theroux has more success with some of the younger members. There are quite shocking scenes of the protests where the Church takes really young children along to hold placards, indeed at one point one of the young children is hit by a drinks container hurled from a passing car. Theroux on several occasions asks the children to explain the meaning of the words on the placards – something they cannot do. The older young people seem resigned to being single, as members are not allowed to marry outside the Church, and the Church doesn’t attract new members from outside the family. When older members are asked whether the young people have boyfriends and girlfriends they are told no, as with the modern generation it is just an excuse for fornication, however there are hints from some of the younger members that at times they may have strayed from the path…
To be honest, I could go on about the programme for a lot longer, it was filled with jaw dropping moments, and yet all the time there was this bizarre tension between the seemingly nice, well spoken people and intelligent people shown, who then came out with some incredible statements at the protests, and happily acknowledged some bizarre corruption’s of Christian beliefs. As with any Christian group they are of course picking and choosing particular parts of the Bible on which to focus in order to justify their position. As Theroux points out at one point, they are heavily focused on Old Testament theology in order to underpin what they believe. Certainly the fact that much of what Jesus taught turns their ideas of divine punishment on it’s head is totally ignored. Ironically this is precisely what Jeffrey John was talking about in his radio broadcast earlier in the evening.
I’m sure the programme will be shown again, however you can get a flavour of what goes on through a series of clips available on the BBC2 Website.
Pick Up the Best Sci-Fi Movie of All Time for a Fiver
![Serenity [2005]](http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000BLJGBC.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
The recent SFX best Sci-Fi movie has produced a bit of surprise result. Usually the results of such surveys are predictable, with Star Wars and Blade Runner heading the list, but this time, number one spot went to Serenity, the movie version of the cancelled Joss Whedon Sci-Fi/Western Firefly. It didn’t just sneak by either, it achieved 61% of the vote, with the second placed Star Wars only managing 28%. Of course it’s not the first time the film, which was decidedly poorly publicised over here has pulled off a win like this, it scooped the film of the year award from Film 2005 too. The win has even made it to the national news, although it’s interesting to note that when put to a more general audience, the on page vote currently puts Star Wars about 8% ahead of Serenity.
The win has also given sales of the Serenity DVD a boost – within 24 hours of the news breaking, sales on Amazon had increased by 860% – not surprising since the DVD is available for a couple on pence under £5 and has over 250 reviews and an average rating of 4.5/5 stars. It is definitely worth picking up, if only to see what all the fuss is about. More than that, do yourself a favour and watch the series before seeing the film, believe me it will make things easier to follow, and flesh out the back-story a lot more.
So is it the best Sci-Fi movie of all time? Opinion is sharply divided, there is a definite love it or loathe it aspect to some of the comments. I also think that for fans of the series it’s as much a vote for the whole series as for the movie itself – coming to the movie cold without having seen the series, you probably won’t get what the fans love about it. Elements such as the weird mix of Chinese and Western elements will just seem bizarre I’m sure. I have to say that I like all three of the top movies – Star Wars, Blade Runner and Serenity all have elements that make them stand out, but to choose between them? I really don’t know.
Amazing Grace – Seeing a Movie with the Church
We’ve just got back from seeing Amazing Grace, the movie about William Wilberforce, the main difference from our usual trips to the cinema being that we were at a private screening accompanied by well over 200 other people from primarily St James, but with others from the other local Churches too.
The most amusing thing about going with the Church was watching everybody come in. Members of the Church of England have a reputation for always filling up a Church from the back. I joked with Beth beforehand that a bunch of Church people going to the cinema would do exactly the same, not really expecting that they would. We went in and sat down in a pair of seats on the end of the sixth row with better legroom, but seriously, until about ten minutes before the film started, there was nobody in front of us – the entire cinema filled up from the back!
Anyway, it being a private screening, there was none of the usual advertising, trailers or promotions for the cinema aside from one solitary advert for advanced booking – we just went straight into the movie.
The movie is very much a talkie political piece, concentrating on Wilberforce himself. Thanks to the need to compress twenty years worth of campaigning into a two hour film, parts of the movie are pretty compressed, and in some ways quite confusing and hard to keep up with – especially as much of the early part of the movie is told in flashback from April 1797 when he meets his wife-to-be.
Although it is definitely a talkie, there is relatively little of scenes in parliament, and the focus is primarily on the relationships between Wilberforce and William Pitt, Wilberforce and John Newton, and Wilberforce with fellow abolitionists.
One of the main thoughts I had about the movie though, was that two hours was not really enough time to tell the whole story about Wilberforce – for example he was a founding member of what is now the RSPCA, which comes up in passing when he is discussing the animals with which he shares his house. Certainly a series may well do more justice to the amount of work, and just the sheer slog of repeatedly putting the act through parliament and failing than a two hour movie could ever do. Having said that, it is still a good movie, and I certainly recommend that people go and see it if they can.
Just one point to note though, I have to admit that the very final sombre scene, with pipers playing Amazing Grace outside Westminster Abbey instantly caused this scene to pop into my head… Sorry, I’m obviously a cultural philistine… 😮
Kathy Sierra Update
I blogged about the Kathy Sierra death threats last week, and the responses of some of the others involved, particularly Chris Locke . I’m glad to see that thanks to the intervention of Tim O’Reilly, Chris Locke and Kathy Sierra are now talking, and have even issued a joint statement on recent events. Thanks to CNN they have also now met in person – you can see the video here.