jordanz

I guess I'm in the minority. My wife and I saw it in New York this past weekend and hated it. I thought the music was trite and unmemorable. Worse still, though, was the story. s p o i l e r s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The story smacked so much of modern multi-culturalism and moral relativism that I was, frankly, disgusted. The entire premise of the Wizard of Oz is inverted such that evil is portrayed not as a choice you make but something that "happens to you" and "needs to be understood". The characters are poorly rendered and change motivation willy-nilly. Little context is given for any choices that the main characters make and when context is given, it's usually some modern-day pablum (saving animals, helping others, etc.).

This _used_ to be my favorite show. This season has be atrocious, though. Bauer isn't even on the screen very much anymore. The writers have run out of ideas, apparently, and now just recycle stuff they've done before.

Stephen and Betsy's forum gave me true hope for the Objectivist community. The Speichers are "ARI-types" but show a streak of independence and openness that is extremely rare for that side of the community. I didn't know Stephen at all (other than his various posts over the years) but I feel such a deep loss because of his openness.

This is horrible. I'm terribly upset by this. I never met Stephen, but over the past months I've come to enjoy spending time at his and Betsy's Forum. This is just so god damned awful.

One of favorite bands of all times. Incredible musicians, incredible arrangements, incredible songwriting. I saw them in concert in the 70s when I was a teenager.

Terrible news, Chris. Rita and I wish you a quick and complete recovery.

I just started a new MMORPG called Vanguard, Saga of Heroes: http://www.vanguardsoh.com/ This is an excellent game. It has many aspects of World of Warcrack (which I was addicted to for a year) but much more depth and playability. Also, Oblivion was the best game of 2006.

As soon as Jack showed up at Bro's door I knew that Bro was in for some Jack-justice. Do you think the writers had this plot in mind when the Brother character was in season 4 (or was it 5?)?

My favorite show on television. It reminds me a lot of Twilight Zone stories. Of course, there are many mystical elements in the show but they have left the door open somewhat for rational explanations.

Believe it or not, I love DIO with whatever group he sang with. Man on the Silver Mountain (Rainbow) is a classic.

LOL!!!!!!!!!

As posters above point out, the show is ludicrous. It's a shame the show was handed over to inferior writers. The first season was a masterpiece. Now, it's merely good entertainment. I continue watching because Bauer is a true American Hero and there are few if any of them in the media anymore. Also, the show constantly drives down the anti-PC road and has nice turns to boot. Occasionally, the show is profound and moving. The ending to last night's show scared me at a deep level. The scenario 24 presents is a very real possibility and the current US culture refuses to look at it; instead most people plug their ears, cover their eyes and pretend it doesn't exist.

Another important refutation of Valliant's awful book. Thank you Neil.

The other day on CNBC, I heard anchor Rick Santelli say "Someone should send Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged..." in reference to Hugo Chavez.

For those who don't know... Chavez is planning on stealing a number of business, re-writing the constitution and lots of other great ideas: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070110/wl_nm/venezuela_dc_7 This prompted Rick Santelli on CNBC this morning to say, and I quote, "Someone needs to send a copy of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged".

Oh, yeah. That one really gets the blood stirring. Anybody else notice that Holst begins and ends "The Planets" with pieces in 5/4? Judith Anyone notice how big an influence Holst was on John Williams? Listen to the Star Wars music and then listen to the Planets.

It depends what you mean by "classical". In everyday language, it refers to music written for orchestra and written in a "serious" (i.e. non-popular) format. 'Time to Say Goodbye', while a wonderful pop song, is not "classical". For me: Opera: Anything by Puccini Symphony: Rachmaninoff's Concerti I guess, musically, I'm orthodox Objectivist ;)

That house gets smaller and smaller. By the time Diana takes over, she'll be the only one left.

I was very disappointed. Stossel always added free market qualifiers to what he said, but the entire program had an altruist bent to it. It was sad to see this show come from the man who produced the Greed show.

He was a dear friend of Liberty and did a lot of good in his 94 years. He was also married to his wife, Rose, for 60 years!.

Jonathan - where/how can I buy your paintings? Are there seriagraphs available?

Unfortunately, it will be "interesting" as in the Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times".

Oh my god! Those are exquisite. I don't give ecstatic comments easily. Where can I see more of your work? Where can I buy your work?

As Robert points to, there is quite a division in the ARI community over this and I'm happily surprised by this. I thought they'd all follow LP lock-step. But, the courage of many of them to counter LP and state reality as they see it gives me a lot of hope about some reconciliation in the Oist community. 2006 was the year of PARC, maybe 2007 can be the year that the worst of ARI is jettisoned.

Check your cuteness.