Alexander

Indeed... This confrims nothing except that the fear of death is the primary motivation for belief in God. The guy's 81 years old. He was bold in his disbelief because he didn't believe he was really going to die. But for some time now I'm sure that he's found himself brought closer and closer to the inevitable fact of his mortality, until he found himself unable to resist Pascal's wager and threw in, just in case, with the Diety. Am I disappointed? Hardly. Frankly, I'd never heard of the guy before today. Similarly, my disbelief isn't predicated on anyone else's disbelief. All of the atheists in the world could embrace God tomorrow, but it wouldn't change the way *I* feel. I still don't believe, and I don't think I ever will. But who am I to argue with death? One day, when the end of my life is near, I'll probably feel like hedging my bets too. But somehow I doubt it...

I apologize as well. I was one of the people who liked the idea, but failed to come forward when the time came. For me, it was a sudden realization of just how deep in the hole we are and how small a Christmas we're really going to have (especially considering the fact that I'll be student teaching in the spring and will be earning exactly $0). Given the interest expressed earlier, I didn't think my lack of participation would be missed. Obviously that wasn't the case. So I deserve a lump of coal as well. Hopefully, by this time next year I'll be teaching and earning money and will be able to participate. Maybe we need to do the sign ups earlier...October maybe?

Jesus is carrying or traveling, or about to... "I am NOT a role model!" - Jesus H. Christ, Phoenix Suns

Just finished reading those threads... Whatta maroon!

Sorry I've been remiss in extending my greetings to our newest member. Despite what you may have heard, we've all had our shots...

A few months ago, I picked up the Roberta Flack/Donny Hathaway duet album. At the time, I was getting into Flack and I didn't have any idea who Hathaway was. The only tune I knew on the disc was "Where Is the Love," which got a lot of radio play when I was a kid (probably still does on the Adult Contemporary stations). Anyway, I loved the disc and I was blown away by Hathaway's voice. I decided to keep my eyes open and see what I could find by this guy. Recently, I was browsing in the Reggae section at Borders. For some reason, the geniuses who work there have Hathaway shelved in the Reggae section (no wonder I never saw him in soul! ). The only disc they had was his second (self-titled) album, so I picked it up. Again, absolutely amazing! He had a beautiful voice. It's at once classic and completely contemporary, largely because Hathaway has influenced nearly every male soul singer (starting with Stevie Wonder). Even some female singers (like India.Arie and Alicia Keyes) cite Hathaway as an influence. Sadly, this troubled genius only recorded three studio albums ("Everything Is Everything," "Donny Hathaway," and "Extentions of a Man") and one live album (which features amazing covers of "What's Goin' On" and John Lennon's "Jealous Guy") before committing suicide in 1978. What really blew me away was that I'd never heard of this guy before! For all those who haven't heard Mr. Hathaway, I recommend him highly.

I'm disappointed that the Gordian Knot didn't make the cut. Guess I have no reason to see this now...

The Grey Video is VERY clever! Liked it a lot. Went a little over the top when they had John break-dancing, but the integration of the "Hard Day's Night" footage and the new footage was nearly flawless. Ringo as DJ was pretty hilarious too!

My favorite episode in Alexander's life involves his solving the Gordian knot - an unsolvable ancient puzzle. Alexander cut the knot in two with his sword, demonstrating (centuries ahead of his time) that sometimes the only solution to an intractable problem is to step outside of conventional solutions. Did Stone put this in his film? None of the reviews have mentioned it.

I had a college roommate who used to go on drunken CD buying sprees. He'd wake up the next morning, find the Tower Records bag on the desk, and marvel at his purchases (usually things he already owned). Drinking and CD buying do not mix!

I believe you're thinking of award-winning poet/convict Tyrone Green.

I just looked at the site. It looks good. What's the catch?

Alan Cumming is a fine Scottish actor (he played, among other things, Nightcrawler in the recent X-Men movie). Paula Poundstone is a comedianne. Tool is a rock band. Alex Cox directed "Repo Man" and "Sid and Nancy." I think it's cool that so many porno people are atheists! Not only do we get the babes, but we get a lot of sex too! But you believers can console yourself with all of the country musicians and sports figures. THEY thank God all the time...

You're all just jealous because we have Angelina Jolie, Jodie Foster, and Uma Thurman! Apparently babes don't dig God!

http://www.celebatheists.com/ Hasn't been updated in a while, but its still cool to see how many famous people don't believe in God.

Big Pixar fan here. This is undoubtedly their best film to date, and probably the best superhero movie of all time...

I echo this sentiment. I remember when Stacy was diagnosed people said the same thing to me, and I was like, "What do you mean? I'm doing what any husband would do!" But I found out that that isn't always the case. My wife and I have met many MS patients who's spouses took off after they got sick.

My number one spot was Worcester, MA. Not bad...not too far from Boston...

I had this disc on my car's CD player last year when I had a car accident. Amazingly, I don't recall the music skipping a beat! When you wreck your car and the music still sounds good, that's a classic! The reissue sounds great, BTW.

It's really "Mr. HANKY the Christmas Poo." His theme song: "Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo He loves me I love you Therefore vicariously he loves you Even if you're a Jew. Sometimes he's nutty Sometimes he's corney He could be brown Or greenish brown, But if you eat fibre on Christmas Eve He might come to your town."

I don't know if this will help, but I've been there. I know what you're going through and a really feel for you, man. My wife has M.S., and the main thing I can advise you is this: Don't stop asking questions until you and your wife get an answer that satisfies both of you. When my wife was first diagnosed, we didn't know what was going on. She had a pins-and-needles sensation in her legs and feet, so we figured there was a circulation problem. She went to her doctor, and he ordered an MRI. The MRI indicated MS, and she was sent to a neurologist. This guy turned out to be a joke. First, when he did a spinal-tap to test for MS (the only way to do it at the time) he didn't do a blood patch and he told her she could be up and at work the next day. We later found out that you should ALWAYS do a blood patch (to balance the spinal fluid) and need to stay down for three days MINIMUM to recover from a spinal-tap. The doctor also put Stacy on steroids to help fight off the attack, but it didn't help. The numbness kept spreading and she became extremely dizzy. Before long, she couldn't drive, couldn't walk without a cane, and was losing the use of her hands. Fortunately, we didn't stop asking questions, and before long we discovered that this neurologist was using techniques that were at least 20 years out of date. We looked for another neurologist, and this time we struck gold. Her new doctor put her on a very high dose of steroids to fight the symptoms, which really helped, and put her on Copaxone - a drug that she has to inject subcutanoiusly daily. The result? Her MS is under control. She can drive again and walk without the aid of a cane. She has complete use of her hands. If she had stayed with the first doctor, I have no doubt that she'd be in a wheelchair today. I really hope that your wife pulls through and that this isn't anything serious. Good luck.

If he was doing some serious turntabling, yeah, I would be...

I'm all for "caveat emptor," but it seems like a silly thing to quibble over a few dollars. If he's willing to send it back in good condition, then give him his money back and be done with it. Is there space where the LP is listed to provide a description? Maybe you should include a brief explanation of what "Master disk" means in this context.

When I first started listening to jazz, Miles was one of the artists I was into. Because I had always "collected" my favorite artists (Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell), I thought I'd do the same with Miles. Well, first of all Miles has a MUCH bigger discography than any artist I had previously collected, which made getting "everything" next to impossible (I have over forty Miles albums today, and still don't have "everything"). Secondly, Miles went through so many stylistic changes over the years that it made listening to different albums difficult for the jazz neophyte (such as I was at the time). "Sketches" and "BB" were two of the albums I didn't "get" in those early days. In fact, I actively hated both. But I can tell you that after years of experience listening to all kinds of jazz (not just Miles) these albums came to be favorites of mine. I agree with Moose that these are somewhat anomalous when compared with the rest of Miles' catalogue. My suggestion is just to keep enjoying what you enjoy and let the rest take care of itself. If you come around on these albums, great. If not, it's cool. One man's meat is another man's poison, as they say. I also agree that I don't quite "get" your problem with "Someday..." That one is extremely accessable, it seems to me. I forget...do you have any of Miles's Prestige recordings? If not, I suggest the four "N" albums: "Cookin'," "Relaxin'," "Workin," and "Steamin'." Also, "And the Modern Jazz Giants" and "Bag's Groove" are well worth checking out. You might also enjoy "Birth of the Cool" if you don't have that yet. The RVG is breathtaking... Edit...I see you do have "Cookin'" and "Birth of the Cool."

Well, I actually picked up both this album and "Who Is Jill Scott?" on the strength of Jim's recommendation, and I agree that both are absolutely gorgeous. Ms Scott has a gravity defying voice and a knack for melodic invention that leads me to think that she'd sing some nice jazz...not that I want her to put together one of those dreaded "standards" packages that's so in vogue these days...