It appears that, according to the Internet Movie Database, Mel Gibson isn't finished mining the Middle East for religiously-themed movies:

[Gibson] wants to make a movie about the origins of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Gibson - who was criticized by some quarters of the Jewish church, who accused his epic The Passion Of The Christ of blaming Jews for Jesus Christ's death - has hinted he may make a filmed account of the Revolt Of The Maccabees, the story behind Hanukkah.

The 46-year-old says, "The story that's always fired my imagination is the Book of Maccabees. "The Maccabees family stood up, and they made war. They stuck by their guns and they came out winning. It's like a western." The Maccabees led a three year war, 200 years before the birth of Jesus, against Antiochus, a king who forced the Jews to worship false gods. The war led to the liberation of Jerusalem.

Gibson's interest in Jewish history concerns the Jewish Anti-defamation League. National director Abe Foxman says, "My answer would be, 'Thanks but no thanks.' The last thing we need in Jewish history is to convert our history into a western."

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Well, if Mel makes it, I'll watch it. I'm not Jewish (y'think?) and so I'd probably miss out on the culture-specific tidbits, but it couldn't be all bad. As for the odious Abe Foxman, I would suggest that the last thing Jewish history needs is someone like him trying to control it.

A good swords 'n sandals epic about a revolution against an oddball king which leads to victory (in the short term) and the establishment of Hannukah would probably be interesting. We know that Gibson would be faithful to whatever source material his research people could turn up. Phooey on you, Foxman.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 01:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Long-time readers know that I was really fond of Cate Blanchett's turn as Galadriel in The Fellowship of the Ring. This stands in stark contrast to Joseph Pearce, who prattled something about Galadriel-as-Mary, mother of Jesus and how Blanchett was "disturbed and disturbing". Right. It's my understanding that Mary's turn in history was as mother to Jesus, not as some ageless and immortal insurrectionist sorceress, which is what I understand Galadriel was up to before we got around to the Age of Men. At any rate, Blanchett's Galadriel was a babe, and although I didn't think much of the green scene, I didn't let it detract from my overall enjoyment of the performance.

Anyways, I was browsing the blogroll and found something from Mr Free Market:

Petite Kylie Minogue missed out on a part in Lord of the Rings - because she is too small.Director Peter Jackson reckoned the pop star did not measure up.She wanted to play the part of elf queen Galadriel.But she lost out to fellow Aussie Cate Blanchett, who at 5' 9" is nine inches taller.

I'm not sure what I would have thought of this. Miss Minogue, although a good looker in her own right and everything, probably couldn't carry the "Immortal Ice Queen of Lorien" vibe like Cate Blanchett did. Plus, I haven't the foggiest as to how well Minogue can act. Sure she can prance about on stage, reinvent her career on several occasions, and be featured in the Sydney Olympics (!) but that doesn't automatically translate into qualifications for Galadriel. On the other hand, Cate Blanchett's breakthrough role was playing a woman who got hailed as an icon of an era, and I would think that such experience would mean more.

Nevertheless, Mr Free Market is true to his British roots and includes a wee little JPEG that makes reading his original entry all worthwhile.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 03:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I was plowing through a backlog of e-mail late last night (or early this morning; the days are starting to run together again) and I found some good news:

Someone's going to be releasing the first season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century on DVD. Yeah, sure Gil Gerard can't act and some of the stories were awful, but this means Erin Gray on DVD. As Warner Wolf used to say on Imus in the Morning, "Baby, you've gotta love it!"

Woo hoo. Ostensibly, this would mean that the series release of Battlestar Galactica was to some extent a sufficient success. This is, to borrow a phrase which is probably trademarked, A Good Thing.

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Hrrm. It's 01 March, and I don't have a place to fly a kite. Bother!

Do people who aren't at the beach fly kites any more? I always fly one at the beach, just because it's absolutely relaxing and you're unobtrusive. It's also a way to talk to people, sort of. And mind you, strolling down the beach with a kite string in hand gives you an excuse to have your eyes fixed in a single direction for a while, which can be very er, rewarding when one's field of vision wanders back to some of the inhabitants of the beach.

Any graduate student guy independent enough to fly a kite on a partially-occupied beach ought to be interest just for the sake of being arrogant enough to do it, right? Right? (Yes, interesting in like call-the-cops-interesting. --Ed.)

Anyways. Two months and counting until graduation. Fear and loathing, here we come.

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