Sam Harris, End of Faith - BOOKTV CSPAN2

Sam Harris - End of Faith (1 of 4) [max] sam begins with the prestige given religion against criticism (first) about stem cell research where in between a 3 day old human embryo having 150 cells (hardly human) and a suffering human being who is plagued by an illness. theists put more value to the 3 day old human embryo. (second) theists belief in the soul at conception. if it were true that a soul is assigned to an embryo, then later splits which become two souls (?). what happens when the two souls recombine - which sometimes does happen.

Sam Harris - End of Faith (2 of 4) [max] he talks about the evils of religious moderation giving cover to the inevitable evils of fundamentalism. that is, if christians were to truly follow the bible, specific not metaphorical commandments from leviticus/exodus/thessalonians. slavery, child abuse, murder, genocide, sexism, and rape would all be legal.

Sam Harris - End of Faith (3 of 4) [max] he contines to speak about religious moderation. i am undecided about his point of view on tolerance over other people's irrationalities as being part of the problem. he does have a good point about reason being the only solution to improve the human condition. case in point, i am thinking that tolerance might be the first step and then reason as the last and only step in solving the problem of fundamentalism.

Sam Harris - End of Faith (4 of 4) [max] question and answers part. i believe the best part of the speech. he is asked to respond to religious zealotry, to homosexuality, on morality and ethics as far as statistics comparing the atheistic nations of europe and the states, the multi-verse, anne rice book on jesus?, meditation (c'est pour toi john!), distinction of buddhism compared to the violence we see in christianity and islam, and other topics ..

Rating: 3 out of 5
Makes sense

The Best Cartoons on TV

Here's a list of my top five favorite cartoon series of all time. Three of the five are still in active production, which is nice.

5. Dragon's Lair
An oldie but goody. I got to watch old episodes of this as a kid through betamax tapes. I liked how the show gave choices to the viewer, ala-Choose Your Own Adventure, as to what Dirk the Daring should do next. Then it would show the results of those choices, most of them leading to the demise of the lead characters. It also helped that I was into the whole Knights and Wizards thing as a kid, adding more spark to an already overactive imagination.

4. Futurama
Very underrated show. I like how Simpsons creator Matt Groening combines sci-fi with humor. Some of the stories and ideas are actually quite good, covering many popular science fiction paradoxes and cliches. Although the series has been cancelled on TV, there are plans to create new episodes exclusively for DVD, and even its own movie.

3. Family Guy
I admit I hated this the first time I saw it. I thought it was trying too hard to be funny and cute. But lately Family Guy has grown on me and is one of the funniest shows on TV. My favorite character in this is the talking dog. He is easily the most articulate in the family, but at times goes back to doing dog things. I can't stand the obnoxious baby Stewie. The father lead character, Peter is obviously their version of Homer Simpson. They squeeze in an incredible amount of satire and jokes in each episode with plenty of sexual references and toilet humor. Well worth watching.

2. The Simpsons
The gold standard by which all primetime cartoons are measured against. The Simpsons seem to get better season after season. I like the Halloween episodes where they have elements of science fiction and horror, and where anything can happen. The characters, Homer, Bart, Flanders, Lisa & co. as well as the city of Springfield seem to have taken a life of its own. Decades from now we will be marvelling at the genius of this series.

1. South Park
The boys are #1! Matt and Trey try very hard to offend as many people as they can. They make fun of organized religion, hybrid car owners, hollywood, and every possible group they can piss off. I have a list of my favorite South Park episodes: the one where Cartman grows his own race of Sea Monkeys that worship him as a God, the Iraq war debate which devolves into an "I'm a little bit country, I'm a little bit rock n' roll" concert, Randy Marsh spoofing Rocky, the Scientology episode which caused Isaac 'Chef' Hayes to quit the series, and of course this season's 'The Return of Chef' where Chef turns into Darth Vader in the end. Every new episode of South Park is an event and the highlight of my week. We want more!!

Computer Shows

The untimely demise of TechTV left a huge void in computer and technology-related programming on the airwaves. Fortunately, there has been a recent renaissance in tech-related shows on TV, radio, and the web, most of whom were produced by the old TechTV mainstays. As someone who works and plays with computers everyday, you gotta love this stuff. Here's a list of my favorite shows that I follow:

1. This Week in Tech (podcast)
Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, and the old Screen Savers gang are back in this very informative and entertaining weekly podcast. Leo and his buddies sit back, relax, and be their geeky selves as they discuss all the latest tech news. This is ground zero for everything tech. Also check out Leo's other podcast, Security Now! with Steve Gibson which focuses on computer security related topics.

2. Call For Help
Leo had to move his show to Canada after it was canceled. Thank goodness someone in Canada had the sense to pick this up. Leo and his 'Call for Help'ers, Amber and Andy have fascinating guests such as Mr. Excel, The Photoshop Guy, and The Security Guy Steve Gibson, as well as help call in viewers with their computer problems. Fun and educational.

3. KFI Tech Guy (radio)
Man, this Laporte guy must be real busy. This is Leo in his finest form, as radio is his favorite medium. He tries to solve listener's computer problems in his show and makes complicated topics easy to understand. I listen to this over the internet every weekend. Most of it is basic stuff. Still it's a fun tech talk show.

4. Digital Life TV
This is hosted by Patrick Norton, Leo's former co-host in The Screen Savers. This web-only show is probably the closest thing you'll get to TechTV-style programming. They cover a lot of howto topics as well as all the newest gadgets available. Fun weekly show.

5. commandN
Hosted by Amber Mac and Mikey of Call For Help. Another web-only tech news show from a younger perspective. The nice thing about this is that it covers pop tech culture without catering to the lowest common denominator of viewer. While entertaining and informative, the best reason to watch this is to see the lovely Amber in her own show.

The growing available of video and audio over the internet as opposed to traditional broadcast airwaves signals a trend towards Internet TV. We're witnessing the start of the golden age of IP TV. I can hardly wait.

Podcasts, IP TV, and Leoville

There's a revolution going on in broadcast entertainment these days. I believe we're seeing a shift from conventional TV, radio, and cable to a form of grassroots user broadcasting via the web. Younger people these days trend towards less TV, and more internet. If you fall asleep, you'll miss it. A lot of my favorite programming I get directly from the web. And they're all freely produced and distributed. Here's a list of some of the good stuff that's available.

1. Podcasts
Radio is alive and well. Podcasts are similar to recorded radio programs that you can download and listen to. The best and most popular podcast is TWiT - This Week in Tech, hosted by former TechTV personalities Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton and others. Other good ones you can get are Ebert & Roeper Movie Reviews, Leo's own weekend tech radio show on KFI, and several NPR news shows. You can save a bunch of them on your portable mp3 player and listen to them while taking the bus to work, or on long plane flights.

2. Online Tech Shows
Once upon a time, there was this channel called TechTV that was all about computers and technology. Alas, it was too good to be true as the channel was sold and broken up last year. But good things that die eventually come back in another form. Lately there has been a renaissance in tech-oriented shows that you can now download for free over the web. Check out Digital Life TV, NerdTV, among others. These hardworking folks sacrifice their time and energy to produce quality programming for the rest of us who's tired of the lowest common denominator programs they show on cable. I love these guys.

3. Bittorrent Downloads
Technically, these are TV programs that people record as video files and make them downloadable from the web. Missed an episode of The Simpsons? Living in an area where they don't show your favorite show? No problem, with some luck you can download your favorite shows using the revolutionary Bittorrent utility. Bittorrent works by sharing the bandwidth among all the users downloading the file. It is the great equalizer and can help promote a good show that's not widely available. If I'm living in a country where the Canadian-produced Call for Help isn't available, I can still download and watch it through Bittorrent. I can even envision a future where TV programs are distributed through the web, foregoing cable and network TV entirely. Wouldn't that be great? At least until they spoil it with commercials.

I find the story of the former TechTV personalities, particularly everyone's pal, Leo Laporte very interesting. This guy is an icon in the industry. He makes complicated tech topics easy to understand. And this guy genuinely loves what he's doing. I'm amazed at his energy level and how he has the time to do so many different projects.

His comeback story is amazing. Despite being one of the most loved TV personalities, his program Call For Help was canceled and he was eventually fired after Comcast acquired TechTV. I'm thinking the reason was because Comcast wanted to focus more on game-oriented shows, and dumb down the programming to have more mass appeal. The result was a whole channel, G4TV focused on the lowest common denominator audience composed of gaming/low attention span teenagers. While all this was going on, Leo had to move the Call For Help show to Canada and record a weekend radio program in LA, in effect being exiled from his regular US audience. The reason I like this story is because it proves you can't put a good man down. Just this past month, G4 bought the rights to show the Canadian version of Call For Help in the US. Apparently, some executives there felt they needed Leo back. Ahhh... sweet vindication. I'm watching Call For Help and it is a breath of fresh air. We now have at least one entertaining and intelligent tech show on cable. And I actually learn something new in every episode. I have no doubt in the future we will eventually see Leo back in a US-produced show. When it happens, the whole tech world will welcome him back.

kampanerang kuba

[english] one if not the hottest actress in the philippines today - the humpback bell ringer. it seems like there is a resurgence of interest towards true halfbreeds. not a few years has passed, we observe a decline especially since the advent of korean and japanese tv shows and music. i told myself once. this is it! the reign of mestizas is over. since anybody can feign hair and even skin color which in the beginning were sole trademarks. what made it so special was it was so rare. anne curtis is akin to mestiza actresses like susan roces, nida blanca, and rosa rosal. until i saw how hot she was in an episode (every night at channel 2) of the humpback bell ringer. (i might have sounded like a pedo hehehe but i truly admire her from a different standpoint). my cable was disconnected. i was late in payment. i am left with channel 2, 7, televised radio program - radio ng bayan, and thank the universe for channel 23. there are two things which i hate about the show. (1) i dont see how the catholic church got involved. it seemed like there is an agenda behind it. and there is. its instant promotion of the religion (2) the kids who mostly comprise the audience are taught to judge by appearance rather than by merit. this show teaches how to be shallow. reinforcing the wrong habit. how we interact with people has got something to do wether or not they are good looking.

Rating: 2 of 5 **
Anne Curtis is hot ..

The Devil's Arithmetic and Local Shows

it is alice and wonderland except wonderland is a nazi operated camp in poland. and alice is played by kirsten dunst. isnt she awesome?

why do we lack patriotism? its one obvious problem that is plaguing our country. we fail to commemorate our own history. the result. we dont have a sense of who we are. it is the combined fault of a commercialized media, its artists, and producers concerned only with fame and profit. and our society bereft of ambition and pride. that, i find, is one of the lessons of this film. from a tragedy. take the holocaust story, repeatedly told, so that younger generations have a mind to appreciate themselves. take pride from where they come from.

why cant we come up with something like this. we also have our own holocaust stories. we had our liberation from the spaniards, americans, and japanese. these are as rich a source of meaningful tragedies (or in business terms - entertainment).

instead we insist on fairy tales (darna, kampanerang kuba - exception i like this one, sugo), even condemning ourselves in the process (sugo portrays the native culture as barbarians while the catholic invaders morally superior). another is we romanticsize the victim, not the martyr. martyrs are those who triumph from their convictions, from their own merits. while victims willingly suffer. subjecting themselves to fate. and they take pride in it. they think being the victim, is virtue. this is the obscenity. when these shows are inadvertently teaching this "virtue" to the kids. what do you think we'll end up with several years from now fom watching all this crap? in this film, we see this contrast of cultures.

one last thing. i dont get why its entitled devil's arithmetic. it sounds smart but it doesnt seem to have anything to do with the story. (or im just ignorant)

Rating 3 of 5 ***
Simple but highly effective message

mulawin

the story and character development started out pretty well but turned preachy and predictable towards the end. there were just too many unnecessary characters (anybody else disgusted to see eagle, an entertainment reporter posing as one of the mulawin? wala na silang makuhang ibang actors?). it seemed to have lost its original direction. once adrift the story had no where else to go but mainstream. and when its filipino mainstream. dont get me started. it became one dimensional. probably it was doomed from the start. i was disappointed but not suprised that it became a good vs evil story. ravenas turning mulawin and back again. who are they kidding? the drama was as usual, dragging and pointless.

there were elements of blatant plagiarism. the sentient book from harry potter. mulawin and ravena militia, the fae race from lord of the rings. the winged specie from flash gordon. father ravena meets mulawin son from starwars. "luke! i am your father" cliche. ravenna patriarch exhibiting dark jedi like powers. and some mutant like powers (flash and mr fantastic). tragedy of romeo and juliet and several references to a kind of biblical messiah (and related stories).

i would have focused on the humanity of the all characters. different aspects of being human. for example.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars (1 because the actors were hot)