golden compass half-truths

I was chatting with a friend over Yahoo Messenger and another friend sent me this:

"gm!! Do not watch the movie, "The Golden Compass." The movie "The Golden Compass" starring Nicole Kidman is coming to theaters December 7th. It is based on the trilogy of books by atheist Phillip Pullman, of England, and is geared towards kids. He wants kids to denounce God and Heaven but he does it in a very subtle way that parents may not pick up on what his true intentions are. In a 2003 interview, Pullman said, "My books are about killing God." Please don't take your kids to see this movie!! Send this to EVERYONE you know!!! We need to get the word out about this movie and make sure that no one supports it!!!You'll be shocked, I'm sure. His beliefs are "dumbed-down" in such a way that even adults might not realize the deception before them,-gm"

You creepy fundamentalist Christian groups! It's as if imagination is banned in churches; and that discourse with the powers-that-be in established religion is wrong. Whoever composed this message seriously hasn't read the books. And yes it is true that the books eventually lead to killing god (remember, a merely as a character in a fiction!!!), but they aren't about saying religion is false. Don't they see that this movie can finally start an era for common people to engage religion? To ask what they should recognize as existing beyond this world? To really start a dialogue with dogmas various religions have fed us? I seriously have problems with these fundamentalist Christians. Urrgh. Don't they see that this movie (with the trilogy His Dark Materials) opens a chance for a more enlightened outloook in life for both believers and non-believers?!

rebels in makati... again.

They're at it again. I swear I didn't vote for Mr. Trillanes because I knew something like that would happen. And, ladies and gentlemen, this time it's another luxury hotel. It's the Manila Peninsula after Oakwood 3 years ago. I swear I was laughing my heart out when that CNN newscaster said in passing, while reporting about the Makati "siege", that "these guys sure like to get comfortable". Well, it seems like that. I mean, why hotels right? I don't get it. If he wanted to get a proper press conference, why didn't he do it in prison. That would sure look more romantic- perhaps heroic. Sure, we don't like the Mole of Asia but I really feel like people are tired after 3 Edsa's. So Mr. Trillanes, and to that other general who had been involved in other coup attempts in the past, you failed- and will fail I think in calling for people to support your agenda. Or perhaps we need more saintly personalities to lead us to the streets...

And the media. The media! They're at it again, glorifying their role in the country's democracy. Sure we monkeys know things because of them but sometimes, yes sometimes, they get to be the ones inciting anarchy or suicide, in the case of that well and wrongly publicized supposedly suicide case in Davao. And, ABS-CBN seems too fond of romanticizing their job, that "they were just doing their job to get the truth"; that they shouldn't have been arrested, etc. Whatever. Although true, it's not like the arrest of those mediamen was in anyway tantamount to tyranny or martial law. And boy do they convey such maudlin sentiments over the television... Perhaps, Maria Ressa missed a lot on Marcos real martial law.