Daily Archives: July 11, 2013

Jul 11 2013

One of Moffat’s Funnier Scenes

I was watching “Dr Who and the Snowmen” a couple minutes ago and I got to laughing at a particular scene. Clara’s run into the Doctor and, not wanting to be known for who he is, he has Strax get the memory worm. One touch, as he explains, and a person forgets the past hour. If it bites, then entire decades can be lost. This is where things get hilarious.

The-Snowmen-Doctor-Who-Christmas-Special-Trailer-16

 

The Doctor: Sontaran. Clone warrior race, factory-produced. Whole legions at a time. Two genders is a bit further than he can count.
Clara: Sir, do not discuss my reproductive cycle in front of enemy girls. It’s embarrassing!
The Doctor: Typical middle child of six million. 
Clara: Who are you?
The Doctor: It doesn’t matter because you are about to forget that you and I ever met. {to Strax}We’ll need the worm.

The Doctor: Where is it?
Strax: Where’s what, sir?
The Doctor: I sent you to get the memory worm.
Strax: Did you? When? Who’s he? What are we doing here? Look! It’s been snowing!
The Doctor: You didn’t use the gauntlets, did you?
Strax: Why would I need the gauntlets?

Jul 11 2013

ABC official questioned U.Va. student’s arrest – Richmond Times Dispatch: Virginia News

This was so ridiculous that I can’t even comment on it. I’ve dealt with two ABC agents in my life and both times they went for maximum intimidation. Both times I broke no laws and was in the clear, but their attitudes are only beaten by those of the BATF.

 

 

ABC official questioned U.Va. student’s arrest – Richmond Times Dispatch: Virginia News.

Jul 11 2013

Orson Scott Card’s antigay views prompt ‘Ender’s Game’ boycott

From the LA Times:

 

'Ender's Game'Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield in the upcoming film version of “Ender’s Game.” (Richard Foreman Jr. / Summit Entertainment)
By Carolyn KelloggJuly 11, 2013, 8:31 a.m.

The books of the bestselling, award-winning “Ender’s Game” science-fiction series, about child soldiers in space, are almost universally beloved. The same cannot be said for their author, Orson Scott Card.

Over the years, Card has spoken and written publicly about his opposition to gay rights and gay marriage — to the extent that one group, Geeks OUT, felt compelled to speak up about it. On the website SkipEndersGame.com, they call for a boycott to the film adaptation coming in November.

They quote Card writing in 1990, “Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society’s regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.”

In the Mormon Times in 2009, he wrote, “Married people attempting to raise children with the hope that they, in turn, will be reproductively successful, have every reason to oppose the normalization of homosexual unions.”

Now with the boycott, he’s asking for tolerance. “Now it will be interesting to see whether the victorious proponents of gay marriage will show tolerance toward those who disagreed with them when the issue was still in dispute,” he wrote in a statement to Entertainment Weekly.

Does it make sense to boycott a film because of the political views of the original work’s author? Geeks OUT urges people to pledge not to see the film in theaters, not to rent or buy the DVD, not to stream it, and to eschew its toys and merchandise. “However much you may have admired his books, keep your money out of Orson Scott Card’s pockets,” the group writes.

In his EW statement, Card wrote, “‘Ender’s Game’ is set more than a century in the future and has nothing to do with political issues that did not exist when the book was written in 1984.”

In fact, the “political issues” he talks about were very much alive in 1984. The fight for the civil rights of lesbian, gay, and transgendered people had gone on for years, and back in 1970, Los Angeles held the first of many celebratory gay pride parades.

The boycott’s greatest effect may be to raise awareness — perhaps even Card’s.

Jul 11 2013

Orson Scott Card Under Fire

What’s happening here proves why I say authors, and celebrities, should keep their private views to themselves. This world no longer allows for dissenting viewpoints and will crucify, and destroy the reputation and life of, anyone who had a viewpoint that is not ‘politically correct.’ It’s a disgusting destruction of freedom of speech that’s been coming in the US for years. I remember back in the 1990’s when PC arrived, and I knew back then it’d lead to ‘though police’ and stifling of speech. And I’ve been correct. Now one doesn’t have to actually do anything anymore. Just speak your mind and things will be used against you. As someone who values freedom of speech, and what writer would not, I find it frightening and discouraging at the same time.

per TGDaily.com

 

Ender’s Game Author Under Fire

Posted July 10, 2013 – 15:23 by David Konow

While this has been a very turbulent summer for blockbusters, Ender’s Game, which is coming in November, is one of the most anticipated genre films in recent memory. Except there’s a potentially big controversy brewing because of homophobic comments made by the book’s author Orson Scott Card.

Ender’s Game, which was published in 1985, is one of the most popular sci-fi novels of the last thirty years, and it’s taken nearly just as long to bring it to the big screen. This is such an anticipated event in genre movies that even the press shy Harrison Ford, who stars along with Ben Kingsley, has eagerly been promoting the film, or as eagerly as he can muster.
Nevertheless, as E! Online tells us, Card’s open feelings against gay marriage are now a hot button topic in the wake of Paula Deen’s firing, and Alec Baldwin’s homophobic tweets. Card has come forward to say that his views on gay marriage is “moot,” that this story takes place over a century into the future and it “has nothing to do with political issues that did not exist when the book was written in 1984.”
While many geeks will be out in force to support Ender’s Game, a group called Geeks OUT is trying to organize a boycott of the movie, posting the command of “Do NOT see this movie! Do not buy a ticket at the theater, do not purchase the DVD, do not watch it on-demand. Ignore all merchandise and toys. However much you may have admired his books, keep your money out of Orson Scott Card’s pockets.”
These days, there are plenty of gay geeks making their presence known everywhere, and under normal circumstances they’d probably be on line opening day for a big geek event like Ender’s, but now it’s turning into a big line in the sand. Considering Card is clearly not going to back down from his stance, expect more controversy to come before Ender’s Game is released on November 1.

Read more at http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-features/72419-enders-game-author-under-fire#ihYfRaciH6Y664sl.99

Jul 11 2013

Pacific Rim Needs Our Help

Per TGDaily.com

Posted July 11, 2013 – 09:50 by David Konow

We just reported on the critical response to Pacific Rim, which so far has been mixed. There are critics that liked it, some who thought it was okay, and at least one overall negative review, which to be fair didn’t say the movie was dreadful, but it didn’t say it was anything to get excited about either.

You know from reading TGD that the geeks will be out in force to see Pacific Rim this weekend, yet even though the geeks are a force to be reckoned with, a movie can’t survive on geeks alone. In fact, the box office pundits have been predicting doom for Pacific Rim, even though its buzz is nowhere near as deadly as The Lone Ranger, or last year’s mega stink bomb Battleship.
How do these people know it’s going to bomb before it comes out? By tracking all the data, which isn’t always infallible. Variety headlined their story, “Pacific Rim Looking Grim With $25 Million – $35 million Opening,” noting that “Warner Bros. are bracing for what appears to be a gruesome inevitability” of potential low gross.
As The Wrap points out, this has been a particularly rough summer for movies, and this could potentially be the fourth week in a row of big screen bombs. Yet, on the other hand, as Variety also reports, Pacific Rim has gotten a very strong 85% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 98% rating of people who want to see it this weekend.
So definitely get out there and give Pacific Rim your support. It’s Guillermo Del Toro’s big return to the theaters, and it looks like it could be great fun. Hollywood may be panicking that it may not have a huge opening weekend, but perhaps word of mouth can make Pacific Rim a winner if the fan response is enthusiastic enough.

Read more at http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-features/72432-pacific-rim-needs-your-help#XhIPjEmXkI1d1oH2.99

Jul 11 2013

Wegmans cuts health benefits for part-time workers

And here’s the first major domino to fall. There will be more as we get closer to January 1, 2014. While the rich, and the powerful will have access to their own private health care options, the average Joe will be saddled with high cost insurance-and eventually government run insurance. This will cut the quality of care for us average people down to unacceptably poor levels while the elite keep theirs. Same song, same dance with the ‘climate change’ bullshit. They want everyone living in the cities, where we’re easy to control, while they move out of the countryside and enjoy the nice open spaces that we, the great unwashed masses, aren’t smart enough or powerful enough to possess. And never forget this: the big boys aren’t going to give up their million dollar bonuses to look out for us either.

Per the Buffalo News:

By Samantha Maziarz Christmann | News Staff Reporter | @DiscountDivaSam

on July 10, 2013 – 11:57 PM

, updated July 11, 2013 at 11:20 AM

 

Et tu, Wegmans?

The Rochester-based grocer that has been continually lauded for providing health insurance to its part-time workers will no longer offer that benefit.

Until recently, the company voluntarily offered health insurance to employees who worked 20 hours per week or more. Companies are required by law to offer health insurance only to full-time employees who work 30 hours or more per week.

Several Wegmans employees confirmed part-time health benefits had been cut and said the company said the decision was related to changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act.

However, part-time employees may actually benefit from Wegmans’ decision, according to Brian Murphy, a partner at Lawley Benefits Group, an insurance brokerage firm in Buffalo.

“If you have an employee that qualifies for subsidized coverage, they might be better off going with that than a limited part-time benefit,” Murphy said.

That’s because subsidized coverage can have a lower out-of-pocket cost for the insured employee while also providing better benefits than an employer-paid plan.

Under the Affordable Care Act, part-time employees are not eligible for health insurance subsidies if their employer offers insurance.

“It’s a win-win. The employee gets subsidized coverage, and the employer gets to lower costs,” Murphy said.

“As a private company, we don’t share specifics of our employee benefits programs. It’s a given that health care reform will result in some changes to our benefits program, but it will not change our commitment to meeting the needs of our employees,” Wegmans said in a statement.

Wegmans declined further comment.

Wegmans employs roughly 1,433 full-time employees and 4,304 part-time employees in the Buffalo Niagara region.

email: schristmann@buffnews.com