Mel Gibson's the Passion....because the other thread's gotten too long.

hmmmm

interesting (and disturbing) stat about how the biggest ticket buyers are young men (not the most devout portion of society i imagine).

* -- the evangelicals support israel, that's true -- but that's only for eschatological purposes. who needs hitler when Jesus is gonna do the dirty work?

(Then again, another popular notion in American far-right evangelism is that the Antichrist will be elected Pope -- which says nothing bad about the Catholics who reject the current line of popes.)

(xpost with Tad)

Tep.
Its going to be the Nigerian, and when its the nigerian, a few million catholics are going to be finding new churches.

its the new schism.

Evangelicals believe that jews will mass convert to Christianity religion after the apocalypse. As long as the problem is deferred to the end of time who cares?

five bucks sez they swing it back to italy!

The papacy is just about the most conservative force of earth. Even picking a pope from Poland was considered a startling turn by some. It seems likely they'll look for the next Bishop of Rome from somewhere close to home.

that's true ... but what about the jews who don't mass convert? something tells me that those dudes in jerusalem spending all of their days reading torah ain't convertin' to shit.

Plot: a bunch of terrorist losers with too much time on their hands prepare for the Apocalypse by taking some time off to read the full cycle of The Wheel of Time, knowing full well by the time they are done nothing will have happened.

Why does the world need mad max 4 ?
(also his money, his profits ?)

D Tettamanzi 31/10
Claudio Hummes 5/1
JL Ortega Y Alamino 32/5
CM Martina 9/1
Francis Arinze 19/2
C Von Schoenborn 10/1
Angelo Sodano 12/1
Crescenzio Seppe 12/1
Juan Luis Cipriani 12/1
D Castrillion Hoyos 13/1
JM Bergoglio 16/1
Godried Daneels 16/1
G Battista Re 18/1
O Rod Maradiaga 19/1
Ennio Antonelli 21/1
Giacomo Biffi 22/1
Murphy O'Connor 33/1

how can anyone actually work with mel gibson?

"Oh, forgot the safety ropes, sorry Jim! We'll have to use real nails for this take!"

Associated Press

STATESBORO, Ga. - A couple who got into a dispute over a theological point after watching "The Passion of the Christ" were arrested after the argument turned violent.

The two left the movie theater debating whether God the Father in the Holy Trinity was human or symbolic, and the argument heated up when they got home, Melissa Davidson said.

"It was the dumbest thing we've ever done," she said.

Davidson, 34, and her husband, Sean Davidson, 33, were charged with simple battery on March 11 after the two called police on each other. They were released on $1,000 bail.

According to a police report, Melissa Davidson suffered injuries on her arm and face, while her husband had a scissors stab wound on his hand and his shirt was ripped off. He also allegedly punched a hole in a wall.

"Really, it was kind of a pitiful thing, to go to a movie like that and fight about it. I think they missed the point," said Gene McDaniel, chief sheriff's deputy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3559753.stm

Various crude suppositions come to mind.

(OH GOD NOW I HAVE A MENTAL IMAGE OF HARRY KNOWLES EATING A SUNDAE OUT OF HALLE BERRY'S BUTT WOW I HATE YOU ALL)

but then followed two pieces by christian priests, which made me really angry. one of them began with something not very far from 'the jews are always so antsy, what's their deal?'

As Easter approaches, we take a historical look at crucifixion as a form of execution. We talk with John Dominic Crossan, one of the leading scholars of the historical Jesus, and author of the books The Birth of Christianity and Who Killed Jesus?

South Park last night was weirdly brilliant, too, while we're on the subject again.

this has opened here, to surprisingly sober response. lots of biblical scholars on the radio to explain where the film trips over itself.

the reviews have been universally negative

a) Kyle goes to see The Passion, is traumatized by it, and decides that he -- and Jews in general -- need to apologize for their part in Jesus's death, even if the blame isn't theirs alone;

b) Stan and Kenny go to see The Passion, think it sucks, demand their money back, and everyone keeps telling them they can't possibly not have been touched and fulfilled by the movie, so they'll have to take it up with Mel Gibson, who turns out to be an insane (like bouncing up and down like Daffy Duck or oldschool Woody Woodpecker) masochist;

and

c) Cartman is the head of the Passion Fan Club, dresses up as Hitler to lead the meetings, and teaches the adults attending said meetings German phrases (I don't know German either, but since "Juden" was in there I assume they're Nazi catchphrases) to chant (they think they're Aramaic), declares that everyone should convert at least one person by bringing them to the movie so they can see how evil the Jews are, and keeps making references to "sending them all off to the camps."

(I was surprised South Park's Jesus never showed up in the episode, but I don't think they could have done it the same way, really. It was just kind of funny that everyone's walking out of the movie talking about how their faith was renewed by seeing how painful Jesus's death was, and no one went over to the public access cable show he hosts to say, "Hey, Jesus ... you feeling better?")

all the replacement reindeer had jewish names.

maybe this season.

you can always check the news out at their official site, too. southparkstudios.com

I think my Horrified Shrieky Laughter quota for the year was fulfilled by watching last night's South Park episode.

The Passion of the Easter Bunny

Gibson's Icon Sues Regal Over 'Passion' Box Office
Tue Jun 8,12:34 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor/director Mel Gibson's Icon Distribution Inc. has sued No. 1 movie theater chain Regal Entertainment Group for more than $40 million, claiming Regal failed to pay Icon its fair share of box office receipts for "The Passion of the Christ."

In the suit, filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Icon said its agreement with Regal called for the companies to share receipts on "studio terms," which Icon defined as 55 percent of gross ticket sales paid to it and 45 percent retained by Regal.

Icon claims Regal has reneged on that deal and offered to pay Icon only 34 percent, instead.

"The Passion of the Christ," about the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, was the biggest movie hit of this past winter and spring. It generated slightly under $370 million in domestic markets -- the United States and Canada.

The suit did not stipulate how much of those receipts came from Regal theaters, but Icon claims it is owed actual damages in excess of $40 million. Icon also seeks punitive damages.

Regal operates over 6,000 movie screens in about 550 theaters around the world. A spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

Regal shares edged down 0.2 percent, or 4 cents, at $17.59 shortly after midday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Privately held Icon was formed in 1990 by Gibson to distribute films made by his Icon Productions film company, of which "The Passion" is one. Privately held Newmarket Films partnered with Icon in distributing the movie to U.S. theaters, but Newmarket is not a party in the lawsuit.

also, so did Michael Moore.

however, the most significant result is that Shrek 2 won so many!

family edition : extended edition : judaic edition

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23118285/

LOS ANGELES - Mel Gibson has been slapped with a major fraud and breach of contract lawsuit, filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Benedict Fitzgerald, who wrote the screenplay for 1979’s “Wise Blood,” claims that he was hired to write a script for "The Passion of the Christ" for Gibson.

Fitzgerald claims that in spring 2001, he was contacted by Eveleen Bandy about “writing a dramatization of ‘The Passion of Our Lord’ (which became ‘The Passion’) for Gibson.”

He claims that in their original negotiations, Gibson said he was going to pay for the film himself, and "because he was so rich," he wouldn't take a cut of any profits, but that they would be divided among the other people who worked on the movie, “excluding Gibson.”

Fitzgerald also claims Gibson "considered the movie a personal gift to his faith."

Fitzgerald claims he wrote the script for the film, devoting several years of his life and doing several re-writes. Because of the amount of work he put in, “he experienced substantial cash flow problems,” the lawsuit claims as his “dedication trumped fiscal self-interest.”

The screenwriter claims he struggled to receive a production bonus of $75,000 which had been promised to him. He goes on to claim he eventually only received the money “because he permitted writing credit to be shared with Gibson.”

But it doesn't end there. Fitzgerald, after lengthily describing his own Catholicism and fervent belief in the project (which he claims is how he got hired in the first place), says Gibson "preyed monetarily" on him, "taking advantage of his unbridled enthusiasm for the project and with full cognizance of Fitzgerald’s fundamental personal and spiritual beliefs. In making a mockery of his own purported belief system, Gibson callously and greedily exploited Fitzgerald,” the suit read.

“He shamelessly minted and cobbled gobbles of money from ‘The Pasion.’ And just as Gibson extracted shared screenplay credit from Fitzgerald, he also extracted sums of money due Fitzgerald,” the suit continued.

Fitzgerald is suing for fraud breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith, unfair business practices and unjust enrichment. He is asking for at least $5,000,000.

George R. Hedges, an attorney for Gibson's production company, Icon, told People, the lawsuit "is utterly baseless and the charges are utterly baseless."

He said the screenwriter "was handsomely compensated — a very significant amount of money for any writer on any project."

cobbled gobbles

christ this movie was horrible

pardon the expression