Peter Chataway at FilmChat has a post on Disney cartoons based on the Bible, as well as news about upcoming DVD relseases that include some of these cartoons.
Author Archives: Tyler F. Williams
Palindromes and Abortion
Last night my film distributor/critic friend and I watched Todd Solondz‘s film Palindromes (2004). This film provides a biting social commentary on the abortion debate in the U.S. One of the blurbs on the DVD case describes the film as “corrosively funny.” It definitely is corrosive and at times it’s funny; my primary thought while watching the film was one of surprise — surprise at the shots Solondz took at both sides of the abortion debate (among other things). This film is not subtle, many scenes hit you like a two-by-four.
This film tells the story of a young woman named Aviva (note the palindrome), who grows up in a middle-class Jewish home with nice liberal parents (played well by Ellen Barkin and Richard Masur). Aviva wants nothing from life but a baby — a boyfriend or husband is not necessary. This desire leads her to her first sexual experience as a thirteen-year-old. She gets pregnant but then has an abortion at the behest of her parents (she has a hysterectomy due to complications with the abortion, though she is never told that she can’t have children). Aviva then runs away, still determined to get pregnant one way or another. Instead, she has a surreal journey from the suburbs of New Jersey, through Ohio to the plains of Kansas and back. To let you know what happens on her journey would reveal too much of the plot — suffice it to say that things come full circle (again a palindrome) though you are not sure if anything has really changed.
The film is clever (e.g., the palindrome structure, as well as the fact that Aviva’s character is played by a number of different actresses), philosophical, and will force you to reflect on your view about abortion. It may offend some on both sides of the debate, though as piece of social criticism it is worth viewing (it was released in the US without a rating, while the Canadian Home Video Rating is 14A). The film had a very limited screening, but the DVD will be released this fall.
Resources: Official website | TH!NKFilm (Canadian distributor) | Wellspring Media (U.S. distributor) | IMDb
Tags, Navigation, and the Meaning of Life
Tim Bulkeley at SansBlogue and Wayne Leman at BetterBibles Blog have been talking a lot about tagging blog posts recently. I encourage you to take a look at their posts. One I found particularly helpful that Tim highlighted pointed to a script that could be used with Blogger to add tags easily; it is available from Freshblog. Note that you need to edit the script to make it work and you can also edit it to produce tags employing your own CSS styles (if you are using them). Tim (and Wayne) also have some helpful suggestions for standardizing biblioblog tags here.
As you may have noticed, I started to tag my posts about a week ago (I have been going back and adding tags to previous posts — I am currently in July somewhere!) and have also made some changes to my side navigation bar for my blog. I’ve added a topical index to my blog which will help you find blog entries on some of main topics I tend to post on (it will also take you to delicio.us where you can see my other subject tags and do further searches). In addition, I have added a search feature which allows you to google search my blog archives as well as the entire Codex site. Finally, I have also added a few more blogs to my “blogroll” (BetterBibles, Faith & Theology, Hermeneutica, Midrash le-Justin, Novum Testamentum, Philo of Alexandria, Ricoblog, and SansBlogue).
I hope these features will make my blog more accessible for my two or three readers…
O, yes… because of my title you may have been looking for the meaning of life. If so, look here.
The Apocryphal Jesus
Phil Harland over at Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean blog has put together a series of fascinating posts on the “life” of Jesus from the New Testament Apocrypha. They are available here, here, and here. I encourage you to check them out (this has nothing to do with the fact he’s a friend from Toronto!).
Leviticus Scroll Fragment Article Now Online
My ChristianWeek article on the Leviticus Scroll fragments is available online here (I have also heard it will be picked up by CanadianChristianity.com).
In addition, I have brought together my posts and pictures of the fragments — including some new hi-resolution pictures –at my Resources Relating to the Dead Sea Scrolls pages.