Sunday, September 23, 2007

posted by Dave Oehler @ 11:05 PM

Friday, September 14, 2007

posted by Charles W. Rawls, III @ 4:01 PM

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

posted by Dave Oehler @ 12:44 PM

Thursday, September 06, 2007

posted by Terence @ 10:13 PM

 Sunday, September 02, 2007

Will She, Won’t She?

An insightful article regarding the state of P&G today (with great quotes from our own Dick Antoine)….

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9619074

posted by Kober @ 12:24 PM

Film set for release February 12, 2010:

The Wolfman (2010)

Upon his return to his ancestral homeland, an American man (Del Toro) is bitten, and subsequently cursed by, a werewolf.  Starring: Emily Blunt,  Benicio Del Toro, Hugo Weaving, Anthony Hopkins, and Geraldine Chaplin.

The Wolfman (2010)

Joe Johnston – Director, Andrew Kevin Walker – Writer (screenplay), David Self – Writer (screenplay), Curt Siodmak – Writer (1941 motion picture screenplay),  and Benicio Del Toro – Producer

Production:

In March 2006, Universal Pictures announced the remake of The Wolf Man with actor Benicio del Toro (a fan of the original film and collector of Wolf Man memorabilia) in the lead role.  Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker was attached to the screenplay, developing the original film’s story to include additional characters as well as plot points that would take advantage of modern visual effects.  Del Toro also looked towards Werewolf of London and The Curse of the Werewolf for inspiration.

In February 2007, director Mark Romanek was attached to helm The Wolfman.  The film was scheduled for a November 12, 2008 release, before being pushed back to early 2009 in September 2007.  In January 2008, Romanek left the project because of “creative differences”.  Brett Ratner emerged as a frontrunner to replace Romanek, but the studio also met with Frank Darabont, James Mangold and Joe Johnston. They were also interested in Bill Condon, and Martin Campbell was interested.  Johnston was hired to direct on February 3, 2008, and the film’s shooting schedule and budget remained as intended.  Johnston hired David Self to rewrite the script.

Shooting took place from March 3 to June 23, 2008 in the United Kingdom. The film was budgeted at US$85 million.  They shot at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, Chatsworth, Derbyshire, and Castle Combe in Wiltshire.  They transformed Chatsworth House by adding weeds, dead grass and ivy.  They also shot in Lacock in Wiltshire, a village conserved by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, for a day. Universal donated £5000 to the village, in return for filming in the tithe barn for a scene involving frozen corpses.  A funeral scene was also shot beside the Temple of Ancient Virtue at Stowe House for the duration of an afternoon, the temple coated in false ivy with copious amounts of smoke/mist floating over the setting. Pick-ups at Pinewood were conducted in May 2009.

Rick Baker created the make-up for The Wolfman. When he heard Universal was remaking the film, he eagerly pursued it, as both The Wolf Man and Frankenstein inspired him to become a make-up artist as a child. He acknowledged transforming del Toro was difficult because he is a hairy man: “Going from Benicio to Benicio as the Wolf Man isn’t a really extreme difference. Like when I did An American Werewolf in London, we went from this naked man to a four-legged hound from hell, and we had a lot of room to go from the transformation and do a lot of really extreme things. Here we have Benicio del Toro, who’s practically the Wolf Man already, to Benicio del Toro with more hair and bigger teeth.”

From left to right: Rick Baker, Emily Blunt, and Benicio del Toro

Baker and del Toro were adamant about the design resembling the make-up created by Jack Pierce, but Romanek went through thousands of concept art. When Johnston signed on, Baker returned to his second design, which is the finished result.  The make-up took three hours to apply, and one hour to remove. New pieces of latex prosthetic makeup and loose hair was applied to del Toro’s face each day, while several dentures and wigs were created in case some were damaged.  Baker said the transformation will likely be computer-generated, which disappoints him as he is not being involved and therefore feels it will look unrealistic (as the animators do not have his knowledge of the design).  In February 2009, ZBrush art of the transformation by Baker leaked online.  In addition to the film, at the 2009 “Halloween Horror Nights,” Universal Studios Florida is adding The Wolfman to the event.

The Wolfman (2010)

Wolfman Collection on DVD

A Maui court gave final approval this morning to a settlement involving a canceled Aerosmith concert on Maui nearly two years ago.

Circuit Court Judge Joseph Cardoza granted final approval today.  Under the settlement, those who bought tickets to the September 26, 2007 concert and filed a claim as a class action member by yesterday’s deadline, are entitled to (the equivalent of) free General Admission tickets to a rescheduled show.

Plaintiff Attorney Brandee J.K. Faria tells Pacific Radio Group/ Mauinow.com that the class action may result in the highest participation rate in Hawaii history, with thousands of class action members endorsing the suit.

As part of the settlement, Aerosmith has agreed to come to Maui to perform a Rescheduled concert at a date and venue to be announced in either September or October (2009) at the War Memorial Stadium.  In addition to the Maui concert, Aerosmith will also perform an additional concert on Oahu that will be open to the general public in late September.

Plaintiff attorneys anticipate the dates for the concerts will be finalized sometime over the next several weeks.

A BRIEF RECAP:

The rock band was scheduled to perform on September 26, 2007, but canceled the event claiming band equipment could not arrive in Hawaii in time for the Maui Show.

Aerosmith was already scheduled to perform a private show on Oahu for Toyota car dealers on September 29^th.  On September 10^th, the band announced, that due to an illness in the band, its larger Chicago show scheduled for that evening was canceled.  On September 14, Aerosmith announced that the Chicago concert would be rescheduled to September 24^th, 48 hours before the Maui Concert.  On September 19^th, 2007, the Maui Concert was canceled.  On September 20^th, Aerosmith issued a statement that “it is not logistically possible for the band’s equipment to make it to Hawaii in time for the scheduled Maui show.”  Aerosmith came to Hawaii and performed its private show for the Toyota car dealers as scheduled on September 29^th, using a stage and sound system provided by Toyota.

The suit asserts the band canceled the show for financial, not logistical concerns, violating Hawaii Law protecting consumer rights.   In a notice of the proposed settlement, the Plaintiffs contended that: “Aerosmith Defendants knew they could not make any money on the Maui Concert due to shipping costs when they rescheduled the Chicago concert to 48 hours before the Maui Concert, but rescheduled it nonetheless as they had show cancellation coverage under which they made a claim, and they were ultimately paid almost $400,000 due to the cancellation.”

The Defendants denied the allegations and claims, contending that: (1) there was no false or deceptive marketing; (2) they always intended for the concert to be performed; (3) they did not sell tickets or advertise the concert; (4) the concert was cancelled only when it was belatedly learned that delivery of Aerosmith’s equipment could not be guaranteed in time for the performance; and (5) they lost money by not playing the Maui Concert, since most of the insurance money was for actual out-of-pocket costs they had to pay as a result of the Chicago rescheduling and Maui cancellation.

(By Wendy Osher © 2009)

This is an archive of sermons preached in Sept. 2007.

New Life — John 3 (Sept 2, 2007)

Eternal Security (Sept 9, 2007)

Unknown (Sept 16, 2007)

Unknown (Sept 23, 2007)

Unknown (Sept 30, 2007)

Click to play in your browser or Right Click to Save Download (recommended)

I want to share with you some of the most awaited and anticipated movies of 2009.

1. Watchmen

We almost failed to see this movie, because the production and development of this adaptation was mired in a lot of controversy and problems.

The first director who was tapped to do the movie version, Terry Gilliam deemed the famous comic novel unfilmable.

Luckily, the producers finally choose Zack Snyder, the director who directed 300. They started shooting the movie version September of 2007. Unlike 300, Snyder decided to do more location and set shoots than use Chroma.

Watchmen stars…

Malin Akerman

Billy Crudup

Patrick Wilson

Watchmen is based on Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons 1986 limited comic book series of the same name.

2. Monster Vs. Aliens

Monsters vs. Aliens is an upcoming 2009 computer-animated 3-D feature film from DreamWorks Animation. The release date was moved up to prevent competition with James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar.] This will be the first computer animated movie which will be produced in real 3-D instead of converting the film into 3-D after it is finished, which will add $15 million extra to the film’s budget.

Monster Vs. Aliens is voiced by the following actors…

Reese Witherspoon

The very sexy Paul Rudd

Dr. House himself of the medical drama series House, Hugh Laurie

24 actor, Kiefer Sutherland

Movie critics expects Monster Vs. Aliens to be a big hit not only among children but adults as well.

3. Fast & Furious IV

Who would have thought that a movie about speeding cars will make it to the 4th installment. This shows that the 3rd installment was still a hit.

Is it really because the movie is so great or people watch it because of the good looking actors!

Sexy Actor Paul Walker

Paul Walker

Drop dead gorgeous hunk Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel from the movie Triple X (XXX), the scene that made both men and women sigh with desire!

4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

After watching X-Men III (The Last Stand), which I absolutely love, I was hoping that they will be able to make another one. Professor and Magneto both survived anyway, but what came is even better.

X-Men Origins is a series of prequel to the three X-Men series. Thankfully they featured the Wolverine as the first. Among all the X-Men character he and Storm are the ones that I absolutely love.

It stars, nobody else, but the very sexy hunk actor Hugh Jackman.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine

With him are…

Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed or Sabretooth.

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool.

Taylor Kitsch as Gambit.

Korean heartthrob actor Daniel Henney as David North/Agent Zero.

Agent Zero needs some angst…and here’s some proof that Daniel Kenney can be versatile and have that angst…

5. Star Trek

I’m really not a Star Trek fan, too young to watch the original movie series. However, I am including it here because I know that a lot of people are wating for the said movie.

As you can see in the trailer, the new generation Star Trek cast are better looking.

They are…

Chris Pine

Zachary Quinto

And my favorite…

Eric Bana

In September 2007, this 28 year old pharmaceutical sales representative’s life was brutely taken away from her and her family and friends.  Such a selfish act of a monster.  This woman looked like the picture of all good things in the world.  Successful, beautiful, friendly, energetic, etc.  She appeared from all the photos and comments I saw and read to have so much to give and it was all brutely taken away.  Reginald Potts alledgedly dated Nailah for a short time prior to her murder.  This one made me cry.  Click here for the latest developments.

    

    

Located along the Tallulah River in extreme north Georgia (I say extreme b/c it’s very close to North Carolina), this was one of the most relaxing trips I have ever had.  Sitting in the river next to our campsite and enjoying the weather made me want to stay there and not go back to the real world.  There were no bee stings this time, and our campfire was much better (we were definitely more prepared), and listening to the Georgia-Alabama game on the radio that night…it all made for another great camping trip!

            On Saturday, September 29, 2007 I attended a conference sponsored by Pax Christie of Minnesota on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

            Josh Winter my friend, surrogate son, business partner and employee encouraged me to try to understand their point of view as appalling as it was to me.  The conference was held at St Bens Catholic College with the supposed backing of the Catholic Church which I find difficult to believe.  It was very obviously anti-Israel (anti-Semitic) and pro Palestinian/pro Muslim (pro-satanic).

            This “Christian” conference opened with a prayer that included “praise be to Allah but neglected to mention Christ Jesus!  I sat dumb founded.  A female prayer leader read from the Koran which denies that Jesus is the Son of God.  I wonder if she realized that Shari law would forbid her to even be in the same room with the men, let alone leading them in prayer!  (Not to mention requiring a “bag” over her head!)

            To believe that our Heavenly Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is the same being as Allah is ludicrous!  They are opposites of one another.  Our Lord, motivated by amazing love, chose to die a heinous death Himself to give us access to Heaven.  Apparently Allah’s only guarantee of heaven is for his followers to kill “themselves” while murdering God’s chosen people and other innocents.  Allah and God Almighty the same?  Not so much!  The New Testament teaches that –  Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever —  all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness — and all scripture was   written for our instruction, that through perseverance and obedience to God, we might have hope.  Malachi 3:6 says I am the Lord thy God, I change not.  So much for discounting the Old Testament.  Thousands of years ago before the advent of Islam, deceived people worshipped the moon god – who is either a high ranking demon or satan himself – now called Allah.

            The radical Muslims are causing death and destruction all over this planet and have vowed to bring down America.  Why on earth would we want to support those who want to destroy us?  Is there any logic to this at all?

The Pax Christie panel erroneously depicted the Israelis as the perpetrators of all the violence and conflict while nothing could be further from the truth.  They simply want to be accepted as a nation – allowed to exist and function as other free nations – interacting with the world in peace and prosperity.   As Golda Meir once said, “Israel won’t have peace until the Palestinians love their children more than they hate ours.”

When the Pax Christie panel did use the Holy Bible, they totally distorted and/or disregarded the infallible teachings therein.  God’s word clearly and repeatedly teaches that He gave a large portion of land including Israel and much of the surrounding area to Abraham and his descendants forever.  It is stated as an “everlasting covenant.”  A covenant was an agreement in blood (the life is in the blood) which COULD NOT be broken.  God, Himself, the Creator of the universe has vowed to fight for Israel and for Abraham’s descendants.  They WILL be preserved – He has spoken – you count on it!  During the 1000 year reign of the Messiah on earth, He will rule from Jerusalem.  God promised to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel.  It would be wisdom to get in on the blessings.

The Islamofacists judge success by how may civilians they kill; we judge it by how few.  From September 28, 2000 to December 31, 2006, there were 25,770 terrorists attacks against Israel including 147 suicide bombings.  There were 1,084 people killed and 7,454 injured.  Of the dead and wounded, 82% were Israeli civilians.  The world and the media always seem to condemn Israel for retaliating while in actuality they use remarkable restraint.  John Darlington, Pax Christie panel member, conveniently neglected to state this fact while vilifying Israel for building their wall. 

            The Pax Christie panel was in agreement with the Palestinians and with Jimmy Carter whose recent book Peace Not Apartheid, was full of distortions, inaccuracies and omissions.  It makes light of the terrorist campaign and blames Israel as the source of what ails the Middle East.  Its clear agenda is to weaken American support for Israel.  Carter is at his most shameful when he makes the statement:  “It is imperative that the general Arab communities and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international law and the ultimate goal of the roadmap for peace are accepted by Israel.”  Fourteen members of Carter’s centers board of councilors resigned in protest.

            The Pax Christie historical and prophetic timeline was an absolute fabricated myth and consistently called the Jews terrorists!  The conference was not about facts and understanding the conflict.  It was a veritably diatribe against Israel – very anti-Semitic.  As hard as I tried, I could not understand how Pax Christie can consider themselves “Christian” while discounting the Bible and opposing the will of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The way I see it that puts them in darkness on the side of Satan, the enemy of mankind.

            The book of Ephesians, chapter six tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly realms.  These people don’t realize they are being used by evil spirits.  We forgive them and pray for them.

            In conclusion, my response to the naïve opinion of “peace at any cost” is to quote the Bible.  The apostle Paul while teaching the Romans about the governing authorities, explained in Chapter six that they are God’s ministers to us for good.  But…he says in verse four…if you do evil (like acts of terror) be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.  So you see, God assigns people to establish and maintain justice.  Without governing authorities we would have anarchy and the eventual annihilation of mankind.  We have a spiritual enemy who comes to kill, steal and destroy – John 10:10.  Deception is one of his major weapons.  He tricks us into using our God-given dominion against ourselves and each other.

Pray for our nation.    

Until next time – Bob    

P.S.      1967  6 DAY WAR

At the conference the members of the panel blamed Israel for instigating the war – the revision of history is hard to believe – To get to the truth, simply Google:  Israel 1967 6 Day War.

            The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.  In the book of Revelation at the end of the age consider the promise of God – He returns on a white horse and in righteousness He judges and wages war – His eyes are a flame of fire – He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and His Name is the Word of God.  From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations.

The Fall Fair is here and it is one of the best parties ever!

Here is the clothing catalog

Waddle On!
~DirkD

Rockhopper is here again and he brought a boatload!

Here is the new pin

Look at the Lighthouse!

Waddle On!

~DirkD

The September Clothing Catalog is here!

The secret items

Waddle On!

~DirkD

Gutomo Priyatmono

Masih segar diingatan ketika Ambon membara begitu juga Poso, ratusan jiwa melayang dan sebagian dari mereka tidak tahu kenapa harus binasa, kenapa harus dihilangkan dan dibisukan. Mereka hanya tahu bahwa yang lain adalah musuh, yang lain memerangi mereka, begitu juga mereka juga memerangi yang lain tadi. Kebencian dicuatkan, kebencian menjadi sumbu utama meledaknya pembataian atas nama identitas yang berbeda, walau sebenarnya identitas tidak mutlak menguasai hidup seseorang. Identitas menjadi label, bahwa dengan “sistem ide” yang berbeda dalam kerangka kultur yang didukungnya mereka dan kita menjadi liyan, menjadi yang lain, dan yang lain selalu dibayangi oleh label yang kita konstruksi seperti jahat, pelit, kafir, dan masuk neraka. Label tersebut kita pelihara untuk membisukan yang lain, label sekaligus mengesampingkan hak hidup yang tersebut. Kebisuan yang lain adalah kemenangan kita.

Membisukan yang lain adalah bentuk ketidakadaan toleransi yang telah terjadi puluhan tahun yang lalu ketika ruang publik menjadi semakin sempit. Pada tahun 1947 seorang pengacara Iran Ahmad Kasravi harus mati karena dituduh menghina sistem ide yang “telah disepakati bersama”, Farag Foda, penulis Al-Hakika al-gha’iba, pendukung sekulerisme di Mesir dibisukan dengan pebunuhan. Di Belanda November 2004 Theo Van Gogh dibunuh secara brutal di pagi hari yang dingin karena dianggap menghina sistem ide tentang kebenaran hakiki yang diyakini oleh pembunuhnya. Klaim atas nama kebenaran tunggal yang selanjutnya lewat pemahaman (tafsir) manusia sering menganggap dan melabelkan salah kepada yang lain, dan yang lain tersebut layak dan sah untuk dibisukan dengan jalan apapun juga.

Masih adakah ruang bersama yang dapat menampung segala sistem ide yang berbeda, dan melihatnya sebagai perbedaan yang terbekati bukan perbedaan sebagai ancaman ? Yogyakarta hingga saat ini masih menjadi ruang yang masih dapat menampung perbedaan sistem ide yang beragam dan dapat dikatakan sangat banyak berseliweran, namun sampai kapan ? Hal ini patut dipertanyakan ketika klaim-klaim kebenaran atas nama kelompok-kelompok yang mengusung hegemoni kebenaran masing-masing sistem ide bermunculan. Kehendak mereka juga sama yaitu membisukan yang berbeda, membisukan yang berpikir lain, membisukan yang lain. Toleransi menjadi sangat sempit di Yogyakarta, sesempit jalan-jalan dan ruang-ruang yang dipenuhi “identitas-identitas”, terjadilah perebutan ruang (publik) untuk eksistensi kelompok-kelompok tersebut dengan sistem ide yang diusung, namun perebutan tersebut melupakan esensi dasar kemanusiaan dalam ruang hidup kewargaan (citizenship) sebuah kota. Esensi dasar citizenship adalah co-existence, bahwa ananing sira merga nira, bahwa keberadaan “saya”sebagai “aku” karena keberadaan yang lain (liyan).

Kericuhan di atas hingga saat ini tidak terselesaikan dan menyisakan masalah di Yogyakarta, yang sebenarnya adalah bara yang siap terbakar kapanpun, hal ini diperparah dengan komersialisasi ruang-ruang publik. Yogya bertambah sempit, begitu juga toleransi masyarakatnya. Minggir Su…! adalah umpatan yang nyaris terdengar di setiap ruas jalan yang merupakan tolok ukur toleransi modern, yang sepadan dengan membisukan yang lain. Yang lain yang berbeda adalah mereka yang harus dibisukan, apakah di jalan raya, di kampung, dalam kelompok, dalam gaya hidup dan dalam keyakinan sistem ide. Dan gejala ingin membisukan yang lain ini sudah mulai terjadi di Yogyakarta yang ironis dengan Yogyakarta The City of Tolerence sebagai sebuah harapan bersama.

Harapan bersama akan terwujud bila didasari semangat egalitarian, kesejajaran, begitu singkatnya. Egalitarian adalah sesuatu yang pelik di ranah Jawa, ranah budaya feodal. Hegemoni terjadi melalui superioritas intelektual, maka tidak heran ketika Universitas Gadjah Mada dengan superioritas intelektualnya hendak menghegemoni secuil jalan kaliurang yang membelah jantung kampus rakyat tersebut. Superioritas intelektual membawa akibat yang luar biasa karena dapat mewujudkan “kebenaran”, kebenaran yang dikonstruksi atau constructed truth, dan kebenaran terkonstruksi tersebuat biasanya sarat dengan kepentingan, baik kekeuasaan maupun ekonomi, seperti dalam hal hegemoni fungsi jalan kaliurang tersebut di atas, kepentingannya tidak lebih agar book strore UGM dapat “dibenarkan” ! Luar biasa, sulit ternyata mewujudkan semanngat egalitarian yang mengemban kepentingan bersama…karena lebih mudah berfikir untuk diri sendiri, dan membisukan yang lain !