I’m sorry, but after seeing shit like this, I can’t support Israel at all. I apologize for invoking Godwin’s law, but they’re acting as evil as the Nazis did, getting back for the Holocaust the way black Americans are trying to get back for slavery. I support one country called Palestine, where Hebrews, Arabs, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all coexist, not in apartheid (and Palestine’s flag doesn’t even have a crescent moon on it the way Israel’s has the Star of David, which to me is today to the Palestinians what the swastika is to the Jews and the Southern Cross is to black Americans). America needs to stay the hell out of international affairs, pissing away trillions on international conflicts that have nothing to do with us, and focus on its issues. Putting the interests of foreigners above residents of your country is called treason, similar to Abraham Lincoln’s illegal invasion of the Confederacy. I’m no isolationist, but I believe that containment while working for peace is the best policy towards warring nations.
Based on the rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the first film adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Norman Jewison (who had two years before directed that of Fiddler on the Roof) is an incredibly psychedelic take on the story of Jesus that screams “the 1970s,” rife with tons of WTF anachronisms (like a bus of hippies, military soldiers that resemble those of the film’s time, and a few air force jets, among others), and sizably focusing on historical/religious figures like Jewish high priest Joseph ben Caiaphas (whose name and biblical role I now know thanks to the film and his respective Wikipedia article), with bizarre takes on other luminaries like King Herod as well.
I don’t want to go into intense depth about the film. However, I will say that it exemplifies my belief that the quality of any form of media like books, film, television, and video games (for me especially), positive or negative, is almost strictly a point of view. Much of the music is enjoyable and sometimes catchy but frequently has abrupt instrumental, stylistic, and tonal shifts, with its other aspects having abundant WTF and YMMV moments. I found the film incredibly entertaining (but as I said, film quality is often a point of view) because I relate to the story of Jesus as an autistic (like being seen as delusional and ostracized by my kind) and have certain biases regarding the religious commentary, in which case it very much deserved the criticism from religious groups it got at its time of release.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie but can easily understand why and how many others would feel otherwise.
Written by Union Civil War General Lewis “Lew” Wallace, the first fictional work of literature blessed by a Roman Catholic Pope (Leo XIII), and the inspiration for numerous live-action and animated film adaptations, Ben-Hur opens with the Three Magi: Gaspar the Greek, Melchior the Hindu, and Balthasar the Egyptian, visiting the newborn Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. Twenty-one years later, the Roman Messala and the titular Jewish protagonist, Judah Ben-Hur, have a rivalry, with the latter being sent to galley slavery for life after a tile from a home whence he witnesses a procession nearly kills the new procurator of Judea, Valerius Gratus.
A few years later, Ben-Hur labors as a galley slave aboard a ship commanded by Quintus Arrius, who is fascinated by the young Jew and thus adopts him as his son. In Antioch, Judah sees Messala again and yearns to rival him in a forthcoming chariot race while hearing of a Messiah speaking of a greater kingdom, not of the Earth. The race transpires, but the results are contested, with northern barbarians dispatched to kill the Jew when he finds himself in an empty palace following the games. However, a maneuver involving his falsified demise allows him to escape.
Afterward, Pontius Pilate succeeds Valerius Gratus as governor of Judea, and Ben-Hur seeks his mother and sister, who went missing after the incident that led him into slavery in the first place. He eventually meets the prophesized King of the Jews, witnessing His miracles and returning to his former palace. Throughout the book, Judah befriends Balthasar’s daughter Iras, who talks of an escaped galley slave Jew who murdered others when they reunite. Messala’s fate receives its resolution, Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus, and the Messiah is crucified, having refused the throne of His ancestor David.
While I had read this around a decade ago, it didn’t very well stick with me, but I remembered some elements. However, I enjoyed Ben-Hur more with my recent reread. The historical and geographical tidbits indicate that Wallace did his research, with the names of the Wise Men and their respective countries of origin adding nice touches. I could well relate to the themes, within and without my Christian faith, and while there were many portions I somewhat skimmed, I could still follow the central plot well. Granted, much of the dialogue is awkward, such as “Unclean, unclean!” regarding lepers, but Ben-Hur is a must-read for any Christian book enthusiast.
Frank Herbert’s final Dune novel before his death follows the action of Heretics of Dune, chronicling the continued conflicts of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood against the Honored Matres, who are attempting to control the universe and destroy factions and worlds that oppose them. In his introduction, Herbert notes the novel’s setting, over ten millennia in the human future, when women rule the Known Universe. The story begins with Mother Superior Darwi Odrade celebrating the birth of a ghola-baby (in other words, a clone) from an axlotl tank of the recently deceased military genius Miles Teg. Meanwhile, Great Honored Matre Dama, nicknamed the “Spider Queen,” tortures Reverend Mother Sabanda.
Odrade enjoys seeing the cloned Miles at play, with the boy being trained in the military arts just like the original, as the Honored Matres plan to use a mysterious “weapon” to further their conquest of the universe. The Honored Matres destroy Lampadas, a center for Bene Gesserit education, with one of the survivors, Reverend Mother Lucilla, escaping with the shared minds of millions of Reverend Mothers from the past and finding sanctuary with an underground group of Jews. The Rabbi who leads them reveals a “wild” Reverend Mother named Rebecca, who has gained her Other Memory, a well of genetic memory, without formal Bene Gesserit training.
Duncan Idaho returns in ghola form like Teg, retaining memories from his previous incarnations due to being a Mentat. The time eventually comes for the assault upon the Honored Matres, with Teg becoming the Bashar of the military forces, and the tides constantly turn in each other’s favor. Throughout the story, the Bene Gesserit attempt to terraform the eponymous planet, Chapterhouse, to accommodate sandworms, given that the native homeworld of the creatures, Arrakis, had been decimated by the Matres. The story ends with a cliffhanger, which Herbert’s son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson would resolve with the final two chronological books in the Duniverse a score later.
In brief, Chapterhouse does have many positive aspects, such as Herbert’s trend (which his son would continue) of including various philosophical quotes at the beginning of each chapter, alongside the intricate outer space setting, discussion of ecology, and the presence of the Kindle X-Ray feature, which alleviates some confusion readers unversed in the franchise’s unique terminology and many characters may have. However, confusion frequently abounds regarding character ages (namely, the gholas), many lines and terminology are unclear, and it can be hard to keep track of who is talking in conversations given the infrequent mention of names and constant use of pronouns. Though not a bad book, this is one that readers will need to meticulously focus on while being incredibly familiar with the plots of its predecessors.
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