u/Simon_and_Garchomp

I don’t think this spoils anything too major, but I added a spoiler tag just to be safe.

What makes the original trilogy great is that even though it was an action series, the movies were also something more than action flicks because of the unique camaraderie/chemistry between the characters and the deep role of spirituality in the plot.

For instance, we see Han change from a reluctant participant in events to a loyal and sacrificial friend. Luke and Obi Wan have chemistry immediately after meeting, playing off one another to draw us into the story. Even interactions with minor characters come off as very meaningful, such as Luke’s conflict with his aunt and uncle.

Additionally, the Force manages to intrigue us from its first mention. We hear enchanting, mysterious music when Obi Wan speaks of it. In his famous choking scene, Vader brings up questions about faith and the significance of our existence in the universe. Then, of course, there is Luke’s training with Yoda and its themes of faith, self, introspection, facing fear, patience, and letting go of attachment. I could go on.

With the sequels, by contrast, we get lots of action but (with the exception of certain parts of TLJ) none of the depth. The filmmakers attempt to recreate the wonderfully done dynamics between characters in the original trilogy, but fail to do so. The Force is an action prop, not something that draws us toward spiritual contemplation.

TFA: Largely a remake of ANH - but without the depth. Endless action scenes meant for thrills and none of the profound spirituality of the original movies. Ford/Fisher’s roles feel like fan service rather than something that adds to the plot.

TLJ: I actually like this sequel the best because there are moments where the Force is dealt with in a deep way: I enjoy Rey’s training with Luke and Ren‘s discussion of ending the cycle of the Light vs. Dark Side. However, despite these instances, the rest of the movie is just mindless action.

ROS: This is not only a bad movie, but one of the worst movies ever made. There is only the skeleton of a plot. A bunch of random events happen, many of which have the unintentional quality of unbearable cheesiness. The only good aspect of the film is a few comical 3CPO moments. I want to watch the movie again to see if I can enjoy it from a ‘so bad it’s good’ perspective.

There is widespread fascination with cults. Figures such as Jim Jones and Charles Manson have become iconic symbols of evil for the public at large. The Internet allows people to find out about the history of a group with a quick Google search. Thus, it is likely that cults have a much harder time recruiting people than in the 20th century and even the early 2000’s. Additionally, at least for regions such as the US and Europe, the massive decline in religiosity has led to a much smaller pool to draw from.

If so, what was your reading/viewing experience like? Did the universe feel alien compared to a setting closer to our own time? It would be cool if there was a series set near the heat death of the universe, with various species trying to survive and cope psychologically as well.

On this subreddit, I remember someone mentioning that there could be life on galaxies moving away from the observable universe. Someone replied that this was outside the Fermi paradox because we have no way of contacting such galaxies.

Although the issue is beyond the scope of the Fermi paradox, I‘m fascinated by it because it seems to increase the odds of there being civilizations somewhere. There are so many galaxies that we can’t contact and the observable universe is only a small fraction of what’s out there. Thus, even if we envision rare Earth, the Great Filter, or the Dark Forest Hypothesis, the odds of other life forms as intelligent as us being out there seem quite high - even if they are too far away to contact.

I’m reading a translation of the principal Upanishads by Patrick Olivelle. I’m wondering which Upanishad would be a good one to start out with before going on to read the others. Thanks!

In the final scene of the good ending, there is a girl hugging a fish. Who are the girl and the fish? I take the girl to be who you play as (originally a fish before the world transformed) - and the fish to be someone (formerly human) who she developed a close bond with. However, I don’t remember any events in the game suggesting that the protagonist was close to a fish. Thus, I would speculate that the fish used to be a human who had the protagonist as a pet, loved her, and took good care of her.

If Mamdani, Bernie, and the Squad could press a button to turn the world into a bunch of classless, moneyless, stateless societies, would they do it?

I’m not bashing people who think it’s their favorite. This is just my personal perspective.

I didn’t like the story as much as Bioshock 1’s. In the first game, I was intrigued by the ideology of the city and by the major/minor characters. Particularly fascinating were Steinman (with his obsession with beauty) and Cohen (with his obsession with art and greatness). The revelation mid-game was absolutely stunning and moving. While I get why people think the story kind of fizzles out after that (and I agree to a certain extent), I found the latter half’s exploration of free will and self-discovery (in terms of the protagonist’s past abuse/upbringing) to still be very interesting.

2’s plot and characters just didn’t interest me as much. I felt less connection to Sinclair than Atlas, who really gave me a sense of being someone who was rooting for me. I found Sinclair to have less personality. Lamb was less menacing than Ryan and not a particularly interesting villain. Her ideology of no-self is so vague that it doesn’t seem as fleshed out as Ryan’s. It would have been more interesting if they based her on Jim Jones and featured Peoples Temple ideology in the game. The other characters weren’t particularly memorable for me.

Most importantly, Rapture is less beautiful and unique than in the first game. In 1, I was extremely enchanted by the wonderful use of neon, lighting, and art deco. Every level (and even sometimes sections within a level) felt like it had a distinct personality. Think about how distinct the gardens level feels from Cohen’s theater-/museum-like level.

2’s levels lack the same level care and attention to detail. They are usually more like generic 50’s urban settings. There is far less neon and beautiful lighting. For me, the levels blur together to some extent. Rapture has far less personality.

I don’t hate the game. It’s decent and fun to play, but it doesn’t wow me. For Bioshock fans, I’d still recommend checking it out.

Major spoilers

Ever wondered what it would be like if Steven Spielberg directed a Fast and Furious movie? That’s basically what you get with Disclosure Day. The film is vastly disappointing.

I was hoping for a movie that dealt a lot with contact and its impact on society, but instead we get a barrage of mindless action scenes. Aliens are barely shown at all. The plot is fairly incoherent, with important plot points poorly explained (such as why the two characters given special powers by the aliens need to meet in the first place). Yes, previous Spielberg films had action, but they also had stories and characters you could feel invested in.

The movie does not give us a reason to care about its characters or their quest. In ET, Spielberg made viewers care deeply about the alien and his young companion. When scientists want to capture ET, this matters to the audience because he is such a fleshed out character. By contrast, the characters in Disclosure Day are so one-dimensional that it is hard to care about their fates. Similarly, aliens are tortured by the evil agency, but we don’t get to know them and thus have little reason to care.

I did not like the acting. A lot of it was so poor that it took me out of the experience of watching the movie. While Emily Blunt’s performance has been widely praised, I found her delivery overdramatic and cheesy (although, to be fair, I blame the awful script rather than her acting skills).

John Williams’ musical score is disappointing in that I didn’t notice it much. Sometimes the music didn’t fit what was going on in the film.

The movie tries but fails to be profound. We are told through dialogue how contact might be disastrous by causing people to freak out and lose their religion. However, being spoon fed this information feels heavy handed. The film would have done better by  showing us these themes through what happens in the movie rather than telling us through exposition.

Another factor is that so many plot elements are glaringly implausible. Now, I’m willing to suspend disbelief a bit for a movie, but the elements that are unbelievable add up so much that they become an issue. For instance, the protagonist wants to upload the secret files depicting alien contact/torture to the internet, but the turncoat agent assisting him instructs him to wait until the footage can be shared with the world by the protagonist and his allies. To me, this was so incredibly stupid that it was not believable. Why couldn’t the protagonist upload the documents and then meet with the media some time afterwards to prove that the footage is real and further explain the background behind it? Then, the evidence would at least be out there. Other implausibilities abound. The evil agency has been capturing aliens for decades and hiding their existence. The FBI and CIA are not aware that such an organization exists. So when the evil agency causes mayhem such as car chases, police and FBI inexplicably fail to intervene against what to them would be rogue actors dressed like law enforcement. There is a train scene that there is no way the characters could have survived. At the end of the film, the media station that the characters arrive in just accepts that there is a bombshell story worth lapsing coverage of impending WWIII for. In reality, it would take immense wrangling for the station to switch its coverage. Similarly, the villain inexplicably has a change of heart despite having the heroes surrounded.

It’s also unclear why the aliens are being tortured. One would assume people would be so awed and excited by alien contact that they would need a compelling explanation to persuade them to torture aliens rather than ensuring good relations with extraterrestrial species.

The ending is very anti-climactic. The movie builds up contact as something that could cause immense chaos and religious doubt, but also something that will profoundly change humanity by getting humans to embrace empathy and adopt a higher alien mindset. Once Earth becomes aware of aliens, we don’t see any of this happen. Instead, we see people looking at their cell phones and a reporter talking as the released footage plays.

It‘s very sad to know that Spielberg created a dud late in his career, after releasing such well-made films in the past.

I know Middle Earth is technically our Earth in pre-history, but the Silmarillion claims that the music of Eru will eventually be restored (Tolkien’s version of the new creation in Revelation). In letters or other documents, does Tolkien ever go into detail about what the end of the world will look like?

Obviously, there is a spectrum (such as the criteria in the BITE model) in which groups are more or less controlling. On the extreme end, there is Heaven’s Gate, in which people gave up contact with outsides and had every aspect of their lives controlled by Applewhite. A more ambiguous case is the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who still have jobs and interact with outsiders (although being overly close with them is discouraged). JW’s also engage in shunning, which lends to them being seen as cult-like.

Major spoilers

Ever wondered what it would be like if Steven Spielberg directed a Fast and Furious movie? That’s basically what you get with Disclosure Day. The film is vastly disappointing.

I was hoping for a movie that dealt a lot with contact and its impact on society, but instead we get a barrage of mindless action scenes. Aliens are barely shown at all. The plot is fairly incoherent, with important plot points poorly explained (such as why the two characters given special powers by the aliens need to meet in the first place). Yes, previous Spielberg films had action, but they also had stories and characters you could feel invested in.

The movie does not give us a reason to care about its characters or their quest. In ET, Spielberg made viewers care deeply about the alien and his young companion. When scientists want to capture ET, this matters to the audience because he is such a fleshed out character. By contrast, the characters in Disclosure Day are so one-dimensional that it is hard to care about their fates. Similarly, aliens are tortured by the evil agency, but we don’t get to know them and thus have little reason to care.

I did not like the acting. A lot of it was so poor that it took me out of the experience of watching the movie. While Emily Blunt’s performance has been widely praised, I found her delivery overdramatic and cheesy (although, to be fair, I blame the awful script rather than her acting skills).

John Williams’ musical score is disappointing in that I didn’t notice it much. Sometimes the music didn’t fit what was going on in the film.

The movie tries but fails to be profound. We are told through dialogue how contact might be disastrous by causing people to freak out and lose their religion. However, being spoon fed this information feels heavy handed. The film would have done better by showing us these themes through what happens in the movie rather than telling us through exposition.

Another factor is that so many plot elements are glaringly implausible. Now, I’m willing to suspend disbelief a bit for a movie, but the elements that are unbelievable add up so much that they become an issue. For instance, the protagonist wants to upload the secret files depicting alien contact/torture to the internet, but the turncoat agent assisting him instructs him to wait until the footage can be shared with the world by the protagonist and his allies. To me, this was so incredibly stupid that it was not believable. Why couldn’t the protagonist upload the documents and then meet with the media some time afterwards to prove that the footage is real and further explain the background behind it? Then, the evidence would at least be out there.

Other implausibilities abound. The evil agency has been capturing aliens for decades and hiding their existence. The FBI and CIA are not aware that such an organization exists. So when the evil agency causes mayhem such as car chases, police and FBI inexplicably fail to intervene against what to them would be rogue actors dressed like law enforcement. There is a train scene that there is no way the characters could have survived. At the end of the film, the media station that the characters arrive in just accepts that there is a bombshell story worth lapsing coverage of impending WWIII for. In reality, it would take immense wrangling for the station to switch its coverage. Similarly, the villain inexplicably has a change of heart despite having the heroes surrounded.

It’s also unclear why the aliens are being tortured. One would assume people would be so awed and excited by alien contact that they would need a compelling explanation to persuade them to torture aliens rather than ensuring good relations with extraterrestrial species.

The ending is very anti-climactic. The movie builds up contact as something that could cause immense chaos and religious doubt, but also something that will profoundly change humanity by getting humans to embrace empathy and adopt a higher alien mindset. Once Earth becomes aware of aliens, we don’t see any of this happen. Instead, we see people looking at their cell phones and a reporter talking as the released footage plays.

It‘s very sad to know that Spielberg created a dud late in his career, after releasing such well-made films in the past.

Major spoilers

Ever wondered what it would be like if Steven Spielberg directed a Fast and Furious movie? That’s basically what you get with Disclosure Day. The film is vastly disappointing.

I was hoping for a movie that dealt a lot with contact and its impact on society, but instead we get a barrage of mindless action scenes. Aliens are barely shown at all. The plot is fairly incoherent, with important plot points poorly explained (such as why the two characters given special powers by the aliens need to meet in the first place). Yes, previous Spielberg films had action, but they also had stories and characters you could feel invested in.

The movie does not give us a reason to care about its characters or their quest. In ET, Spielberg made viewers care deeply about the alien and his young companion. When scientists want to capture ET, this matters to the audience because he is such a fleshed out character. By contrast, the characters in Disclosure Day are so one-dimensional that it is hard to care about their fates. Similarly, aliens are tortured by the evil agency, but we don’t get to know them and thus have little reason to care.

I did not like the acting. A lot of it was so poor that it took me out of the experience of watching the movie. While Emily Blunt’s performance has been widely praised, I found her delivery overdramatic and cheesy (although, to be fair, I blame the awful script rather than her acting skills).

John Williams’ musical score is disappointing in that I didn’t notice it much. Sometimes the music didn’t fit what was going on in the film.

The movie tries but fails to be profound. We are told through dialogue how contact might be disastrous by causing people to freak out and lose their religion. However, being spoon fed this information feels heavy handed. The film would have done better by showing us these themes through what happens in the movie rather than telling us through exposition.

Another factor is that so many plot elements are glaringly implausible. Now, I’m willing to suspend disbelief a bit for a movie, but the elements that are unbelievable add up so much that they become an issue. For instance, the protagonist wants to upload the secret files depicting alien contact/torture to the internet, but the turncoat agent assisting him instructs him to wait until the footage can be shared with the world by the protagonist and his allies. To me, this was so incredibly stupid that it was not believable. Why couldn’t the protagonist upload the documents and then meet with the media some time afterwards to prove that the footage is real and further explain the background behind it? Then, the evidence would at least be out there.

Other implausibilities abound. The evil agency has been capturing aliens for decades and hiding their existence. The FBI and CIA are not aware that such an organization exists. So when the evil agency causes mayhem such as car chases, police and FBI inexplicably fail to intervene against what to them would be rogue actors dressed like law enforcement. There is a train scene that there is no way the characters could have survived. At the end of the film, the media station that the characters arrive in just accepts that there is a bombshell story worth lapsing coverage of impending WWIII for. In reality, it would take immense wrangling for the station to switch its coverage. Similarly, the villain inexplicably has a change of heart despite having the heroes surrounded.

It’s also unclear why the aliens are being tortured. One would assume people would be so awed and excited by alien contact that they would need a compelling explanation to persuade them to torture aliens rather than ensuring good relations with extraterrestrial species.

The ending is very anti-climactic. The movie builds up contact as something that could cause immense chaos and religious doubt, but also something that will profoundly change humanity by getting humans to embrace empathy and adopt a higher alien mindset. Once Earth becomes aware of aliens, we don’t see any of this happen. Instead, we see people looking at their cell phones and a reporter talking as the released footage plays.

It‘s very sad to know that Spielberg created a dud late in his career, after releasing such well-made films in the past.

Major spoilers

Ever wondered what it would be like if Steven Spielberg directed a Fast and Furious movie? That’s basically what you get with Disclosure Day. The film is vastly disappointing.

I was hoping for a movie that dealt a lot with contact and its impact on society, but instead we get a barrage of mindless action scenes. Aliens are barely shown at all. The plot is fairly incoherent, with important plot points poorly explained (such as why the two characters given special powers by the aliens need to meet in the first place). Yes, previous Spielberg films had action, but they also had stories and characters you could feel invested in.

The movie does not give us a reason to care about its characters or their quest. In ET, Spielberg made viewers care deeply about the alien and his young companion. When scientists want to capture ET, this matters to the audience because he is such a fleshed out character. By contrast, the characters in Disclosure Day are so one-dimensional that it is hard to care about their fates. Similarly, aliens are tortured by the evil agency, but we don’t get to know them and thus have little reason to care.

I did not like the acting. A lot of it was so poor that it took me out of the experience of watching the movie. While Emily Blunt’s performance has been widely praised, I found her delivery overdramatic and cheesy (although, to be fair, I blame the awful script rather than her acting skills).

John Williams’ musical score is disappointing in that I didn’t notice it much. Sometimes the music didn’t fit what was going on in the film.

The movie tries but fails to be profound. We are told through dialogue how contact might be disastrous by causing people to freak out and lose their religion. However, being spoon fed this information feels heavy handed. The film would have done better by showing us these themes through what happens in the movie rather than telling us through exposition.

Another factor is that so many plot elements are glaringly implausible. Now, I’m willing to suspend disbelief a bit for a movie, but the elements that are unbelievable add up so much that they become an issue. For instance, the protagonist wants to upload the secret files depicting alien contact/torture to the internet, but the turncoat agent assisting him instructs him to wait until the footage can be shared with the world by the protagonist and his allies. To me, this was so incredibly stupid that it was not believable. Why couldn’t the protagonist upload the documents and then meet with the media some time afterwards to prove that the footage is real and further explain the background behind it? Then, the evidence would at least be out there.

Other implausibilities abound. The evil agency has been capturing aliens for decades and hiding their existence. The FBI and CIA are not aware that such an organization exists. So when the evil agency causes mayhem such as car chases, police and FBI inexplicably fail to intervene against what to them would be rogue actors dressed like law enforcement. There is a train scene that there is no way the characters could have survived. At the end of the film, the media station that the characters arrive in just accepts that there is a bombshell story worth lapsing coverage of impending WWIII for. In reality, it would take immense wrangling for the station to switch its coverage. Similarly, the villain inexplicably has a change of heart despite having the heroes surrounded.

It’s also unclear why the aliens are being tortured. One would assume people would be so awed and excited by alien contact that they would need a compelling explanation to persuade them to torture aliens rather than ensuring good relations with extraterrestrial species.

The ending is very anti-climactic. The movie builds up contact as something that could cause immense chaos and religious doubt, but also something that will profoundly change humanity by getting humans to embrace empathy and adopt a higher alien mindset. Once Earth becomes aware of aliens, we don’t see any of this happen. Instead, we see people looking at their cell phones and a reporter talking as the released footage plays.

It‘s very sad to know that Spielberg created a dud late in his career, after releasing such well-made films in the past.

It’s ironic that Christians are often hostile towards asexual people, even sometimes trying to ‘fix‘ them. This is extremely ironic in light of early Christianity’s extreme aversion to sex and glorification of abstinence. For instance, Mary’s status as a perpetual virgin in some strains of Christianity reflects this anti-sex mentality. Paul claims marriage is good and permissible, but clearly sees refraining from marriage as the much better option. In the Acts of Paul and Thecla, protagonist Thecla hears Paul’s preaching on rejecting sex and marriage and is willing to face martyrdom as a consequence of breaking off marriage with her fiancé. In the Act of Peter, Peter refuses to heal his paralyzed daughter because otherwise her great beauty would cause men to want to sin by marrying her.

Nakba denial is racist because it treats Palestinians as people who cannot accurately report their own experiences.

To claim the Nakba never happened is to imply either:

1.) Nakba survivors are lying and passing on fake stories to their descendants

2.) The Nakba was invented by later generations of Palestinians, who falsely claimed their parent/grandparents were expelled from their land when they actually weren’t

3.) Palestinians somehow developed false memories of being expelled from their land despite they fact that they left willingly

None of these implications make sense because there is ample evidence that the Nakba did take place (testimonies from survivors, Israeli documents, etc.). Despite this, Nakba denial is quite common even today.

Major spoilers

Ever wondered what it would be like if Steven Spielberg directed a Fast and Furious movie? That’s basically what you get with Disclosure Day. The film is vastly disappointing.

I was hoping for a movie that dealt a lot with contact and its impact on society, but instead we get a barrage of mindless action scenes. Aliens are barely shown at all. The plot is fairly incoherent, with important plot points poorly explained (such as why the two characters given special powers by the aliens need to meet in the first place). Yes, previous Spielberg films had action, but they also had stories and characters you could feel invested in.

The movie does not give us a reason to care about its characters or their quest. In ET, Spielberg made viewers care deeply about the alien and his young companion. When scientists want to capture ET, this matters to the audience because he is such a fleshed out character. By contrast, the characters in Disclosure Day are so one-dimensional that it is hard to care about their fates. Similarly, aliens are tortured by the evil agency, but we don’t get to know them and thus have little reason to care.

I did not like the acting. A lot of it was so poor that it took me out of the experience of watching the movie. While Emily Blunt’s performance has been widely praised, I found her delivery overdramatic and cheesy (although, to be fair, I blame the awful script rather than her acting skills).

John Williams’ musical score is disappointing in that I didn’t notice it much. Sometimes the music didn’t fit what was going on in the film.

The movie tries but fails to be profound. We are told through dialogue how contact might be disastrous by causing people to freak out and lose their religion. However, being spoon fed this information feels heavy handed. The film would have done better by showing us these themes through what happens in the movie rather than telling us through exposition.

Another factor is that so many plot elements are glaringly implausible. Now, I’m willing to suspend disbelief a bit for a movie, but the elements that are unbelievable add up so much that they become an issue. For instance, the protagonist wants to upload the secret files depicting alien contact/torture to the internet, but the turncoat agent assisting him instructs him to wait until the footage can be shared with the world by the protagonist and his allies. To me, this was so incredibly stupid that it was not believable. Why couldn’t the protagonist upload the documents and then meet with the media some time afterwards to prove that the footage is real and further explain the background behind it? Then, the evidence would at least be out there.

Other implausibilities abound. The evil agency has been capturing aliens for decades and hiding their existence. The FBI and CIA are not aware that such an organization exists. So when the evil agency causes mayhem such as car chases, police and FBI inexplicably fail to intervene against what to them would be rogue actors dressed like law enforcement. There is a train scene that there is no way the characters could have survived. At the end of the film, the media station that the characters arrive in just accepts that there is a bombshell story worth lapsing coverage of impending WWIII for. In reality, it would take immense wrangling for the station to switch its coverage. Similarly, the villain inexplicably has a change of heart despite having the heroes surrounded.

It’s also unclear why the aliens are being tortured. One would assume people would be so awed and excited by alien contact that they would need a compelling explanation to persuade them to torture aliens rather than ensuring good relations with extraterrestrial species.

The ending is very anti-climactic. The movie builds up contact as something that could cause immense chaos and religious doubt, but also something that will profoundly change humanity by getting humans to embrace empathy and adopt a higher alien mindset. Once Earth becomes aware of aliens, we don’t see any of this happen. Instead, we see people looking at their cell phones and a reporter talking as the released footage plays.

It‘s very sad to know that Spielberg created a dud late in his career, after releasing such well-made films in the past.

New Testament scholars such as James Tabor argue that the Jesus movement was originally centered on keeping the Torah, but was profoundly changed by Paul’s notion that the Torah had been replaced by a new, internal Torah that consisted of the struggle between the flesh and the spirit; Paul even condemned how the Torah would be read aloud in synagogues because he regarded it as superseded.

For scholars studying less ancient eras of history, more documents and more archeological discoveries often increase their knowledge of what happened in the past and answer questions that were disputed before. For instance, historians of the US from 1945-present are helped by the declassification of FBI files and freedom of information requests. Historians studying recent centuries might find revelations in various archives around the world.

By contrast, we are unlikely to learn more about Jesus than what we know from the gospels, certain non-canonical documents, and a few hints by Paul - especially given how scant documentation is for Jesus’ region during the era he lived. Even if archeological discoveries are made in Judea and Galilee, they are unlikely to be about Jesus specifically. As scholars, do you ever find it discouraging that there will almost certainly be no documents unearthed giving more insight into issues such as why Judas betrayed Jesus or what Pilate said at Jesus’ trial?