Okay Bond! You win.

[_Blixa]

[I doubt he has sweeter hair than that mop of silentkids'.]

I agree. I Googled him. Silent hair, sweeter hair.

[_Blixa]

Also, offal like this:

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/arts/080804dark.html

is why I was so surprised by the adult discussion of In Bruges I found on those christian website.

(No I haven't seen Dark Knight yet. I suppose I'll have to take a look at some point because it will come up in class. *Sigh* I wish the Nolan brothers would make un-Hollywood films again...)

[_gramps]

Bond...you rule. But you already knew that.

I never truly ruled till recently...when I scored The Who tickets for October. Now I can truly take up my throne.

Bond, didn't mean to let that one skip by without comment! That is a score. The only time I saw the Who was in SLC, at the Salt Palace, in 1976. I think that tour was a reunion tour, as well, if I remember correctly.

It was the first time that I had tried hash, black afghani, which knocked me on my butt, and I remember very little. The light show was great! :) And I remember Daltry throwing his mic around, but that is about it.

Munich was great. It is a nice town, though a bit expensive. Now, seriously thinking about moving down there in September, if I can find a place. I'm thinking of living outside the city, suburban train, 30 minutes from the university, rather than inside the city. (My boss already found something, maybe, near her home.)

Now, back in Dresden. Still haven't seen the movie. This weekend for sure. So much work to do and so little time to do it all.

Damn marking papers! :)

[_Bond...James Bond]

I never truly ruled till recently...when I scored The Who tickets for October. Now I can truly take up my throne.

Bond, didn't mean to let that one skip by without comment! That is a score. The only time I saw the Who was in SLC, at the Salt Palace, in 1976. I think that tour was a reunion tour, as well, if I remember correctly.

It was the first time that I had tried hash, black afghani, which knocked me on my butt, and I remember very little. The light show was great! :) And I remember Daltry throwing his mic around, but that is about it.
[/quote]

They were still together in 76, so it probably wasn't a reunion tour [you did get to see them with Keith Moon though, try to remember that at least you senile old man!].

[_gramps]

I never truly ruled till recently...when I scored The Who tickets for October. Now I can truly take up my throne.

Bond, didn't mean to let that one skip by without comment! That is a score. The only time I saw the Who was in SLC, at the Salt Palace, in 1976. I think that tour was a reunion tour, as well, if I remember correctly.

It was the first time that I had tried hash, black afghani, which knocked me on my butt, and I remember very little. The light show was great! :) And I remember Daltry throwing his mic around, but that is about it.

They were still together in 76, so it probably wasn't a reunion tour [you did get to see them with Keith Moon though, try to remember that at least you senile old man!].[/quote]

I thought they had split up for just a bit and then decided to do a final swan song. that's what I am sticking to.

Yeah, Keith Moon still would have been there, wouldn't he have? Oh well, the hash was excellent!

Thank you Mr. Nice!

p.s. I'm getting old. that can not be denied. But, I can still get the quote functions right. Duh!

[_gramps]

Hi guys and gals.

Back from Munich and wanted to comment on that movie, In Bruges. Thanks so much for the tip-off and leads to good reviews. It is a very special movie.

As a background to my thoughts, I just returned from Munich where I taught a week-long, five-hour a day seminar on U. S. Constitutional Jurisprudence and 'The Hard Cases.' In preparation for this semester, I had been doing a lot of reading in natural law theory (Finnis) and positive law theory (Austin) and whatever you want to call Dworkin.

'So, I had, coming into this movie, just discussed with my students the general theories of the philosophy of law, and being in Germany, followed their application throughout the Nuremberg trials. (The prosecutors used a natural law theory to convict and the ones charged with war crimes advanced positive theory-based defenses.)

As I listened to the dwarf in the hotel scene, with Ray and the prostitutes and Ken, as well, and they discuss war between the blacks and whites, and racism, I began to meditate on some of the things I had discussed with my students.

Specifically, we discussed the manipulatory power of social institutions, particularly the legal institutions, in any given society, to fashion the rhetoric of the day (that whites are superior to blacks) into codified legal principles.

This happened in the States with slavery, and it is interesting to watch how the legal system struggled to maintain this positioning despite the frontal attack on its legitimacy through natural law theory, the basis of the Enlightenment.

So, where do hoodlums get this 'conscience' that convicts them for the death of someone that was never intended? Does that arise out of a 'seat of reason' that exists in each of us? or is it planted there by God? Or is our conscience the result of, or the assimilation of, living within rules that have been decided generations before us and enforced regularly as a means for peaceful co-existence?

The law, holds him responsible, though he never intended to actually kill the little child. Why should that be?

His own gangster code, for heavens sakes, convicts him! 'Why should that be?' Where did that rule come from, for that gangster, particularly (Fiennes)?

Simply a stunning movie. I love the pace. I felt like it gave me time, at various moments, to ponder the issues that arise: for me the two most interesting were, one: on the theological level, substitution theory vs. ransom theory vs. moral theory; and two, the legal aspects that played out in what I wrote above.

Maybe more later.

[_gramps]

Ok. I'm going to Bruges. I'm relatively close and it looks beautiful.

September. I will take pictures.

Hey, someone clear this up for me: I didn't know there were classes of prostitutes that can be kissed. Was that accurate? I'm not very experienced in this regard. :)

[_Blixa]

I'm glad you liked the film, gramps. Like you I was impressed with its thoughtful handling of various ways to look at an issue. It would be very interesting to use the film in class because this kind of abstract investigation is at the center. And that it's coupled with an extremely smart visual style is also so very impressive.

Martin McDonagh's first film, a short titled "Six Shooter," won an Oscar and you can probably find it via a torrent or grab it for a buck or two at iTunes. Its got his great dialog and use of character, and also stars Brendan Gleeson, but I was a tad disappointed overall (the ending is too "punchline). His theatre work is always extremely well received, "The Pillowman" being a huge success when it was staged here (with the actor who played Canadian who Ray punches in the restaurant among the cast).

Carter Burwell's soundtrack is another element that I find stellar, as well.

I look forward to a Flickr set of Bruges (don't forget the tower and the Groeninge museum).

As for the economics of prostitution, well I assume anything is negotiable...

[_Moniker]

16 more to go.

Merely replying so gramps will reply to me and then only 15 more to go!

[_Ray A]

Hey, someone clear this up for me: I didn't know there were classes of prostitutes that can be kissed. Was that accurate? I'm not very experienced in this regard. :)

There are.

That should get gramps going. :)