We had a conversation awhile back about the relative worth of various superheroes. I noted my distaste for Superman. Now I offer further proof: “Superman is a dick”.

Well, I just finished watching the third and last of the three movies released to counter Fahrenheit 9/11: FahrenHYPE 9/11, Celsius 41.11, and Michael Moore Hates America. Ironically, the one called Michael Moore Hates America is the only one with any semblance of reason or honest discourse. FahrenHYPE and Celsius left me feeling angry. Michael Moore Hates America left me feeling enlightened, and even made me laugh in a few places.

The first two get lost in name-calling and France-bashing, and everybody’s favorite, miltary men crossing their arms and telling us, “We fought for your right to think, so STOP THINKING!” Of course, there was also the interesting assertion that we anti-war folks were right about there being no WMD, but somehow we’re still the ones in the wrong about it. Huh. Funny how that works.

But Michael Moore Hates America actually makes decent points, largely because it resorts to reason, not to yelling. It’s also more about Moore’s hypocrisy and contempt for individualism, than his film’s conclusions. For example, it tackles his dishonest filming style, but barely addresses guns and GM. It doesn’t even address Iraq at all, in fact. It’s an ad hominem attack, but it recognizes that it’s an ad hominem attack and not an argument for anything beyond “I don’t like Michael Moore.” Not that it isn’t flawed. There’s the psychologist trying to diagnose Moore with Narcissist Personality Disorder in absentia, the soldier who’s outraged - outraged I tell you! - by anyone who would suggest his losing two arms is a Bad Thing, not to mention filmmaker Michael Wilson’s bewilderment as to why Michael Moore doesn’t want to sit down for an interview in a movie called Michael Moore Hates America. But if you’re going to watch any of the three, watch this one.

Here’s hoping Bo wins and Carrie pulls a Josh Gracin.

The last Enterprise truly sucked. Ah, well. A sucky ending for a sucky show.

Spoilers after the jump.

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From my Soundbites daily desk calendar, for May 10:

“People can be weird and not be traitors.” — Newt Gingrich

It’s that time of the year, when us non-tenured teachers get “laid off” until the town budget passes, just in case. It’s got me thinking more about this teacher accountability stuff. Now, I’ve been wary of mandates from people who’ve never stood in front of a classroom, let alone did well in school. But I’ve been looking at what accountability means to the Bush administration. Alberto Gonzalez opens the doors to torture, something far more anti-American than anything else I can imagine, short of absolute monarchy. He’s Attorney General. Wolfowitz gets it wrong on troop numbers and costs for the war. He’s in charge of the World Bank. Bremer screws up the occupation. He gets a medal. A man criticizes the very existence of the United Nations. He’s now our ambassador to the UN.

I’ve decided to embrace this brand of accountability. Tomorrow’s a professional development day, but Tuesday I plan to walk into class and start beating my students for every wrong answer they give. Then I’ll just start making words up. I figure I’ll also just give up the curriculum and start teaching them something else. Maybe pottery. I figure I’ll be Secretary of Education in no time.

Today is the one-year anniversary of the terrorist bombing in Madrid. 11M (”Once-Eme”), for 11 de marzo, as the Spanish call it. Thought it was worth noting. Brought it up in every class today, in fact.

Spanish II: “Estoy cenando mi familia.” I am eating my family for dinner. (The correct answer should have been “Estoy cenando con mi familia,” I am eating dinner with my family.) Okay, well, I’m amused anyway.

Got this in my work e-mail this morning, and I thought I’d pass it along. This is the judge’s ruling in the shoe bomber trial:

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Kristy’s post got me thinking about this again. I have a challenge. Can anyone think of a single positive portrayal of an atheist in books, TV, or movies? The closest I’ve seen was in an episode of Babylon 5. The captain had to show the other worlds Earth’s dominant belief system. At the end of the episode, he took them through a long line of members of every single religion on the planet. The first introduction was, “This is Mr. Harris. He’s an atheist.” But then, J. Michael Straczynski is atheist. St. Claire in Uncle Tom’s Cabin doubted, but as he died he turned to Christ and Harriet Beecher Stowe made sure to reserve the word atheist for slave catchers. I really can’t think of anything else. The message in most entertainment that touches the subject is that you must believe. The woman in Stigmata was an atheist, and she had pretty much no morals. Agnostic writer Piers Anthony’s only scene with an atheist involved his suicide and the destruction of his soul. Even atheist Carl Sagan wrote Contact with a message that seemed to glorify faith over observation. (Or maybe it was just changed for the movie. I never read the book. Plus, it would seem to contradict his message in his nonfiction work The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.)

Now, now, I’m not demanding affirmative action for atheists, or suggesting I’m such a victim that I’ll never get where I want to be, or anything like that. Besides, artists don’t need to be pressured to add positive depictions of minorities once they realize the lack. They tend to like doing that on their own. And I’m not pointing fingers, or suggesting that religious characters should not be portrayed positively. (In fact, I can recall a review of B5 praising JMS because he was an atheist but understood that religion would be with us always, and because he could treat it so fairly.) This is purely academic.

I’ve come to an epiphany. We’re ALL right about the Iraq war, opposition and supporters both. We on the opposition were right that Saddam posed no threat to us because we knew from the beginning that he had no WMD or alliance with al Qaeda. We were right that it would cost extraordinary amounts of money and that the people would turn against us violently. We were right that there would be wrongs committed in the occupation. We were also right that a man like Bush would blunder on the details. Supporters were right that people do just want to be free to live their lives, wherever they are, and elections would serve as inspiration for those nascent democratic movements in the Middle East. Oh yes, and that the UN sucks. Almost completely irrelevant, but yet oh so true.

The moral of the story: Iraq is less filling AND tastes great.

From Chuck Shepherd’s News of the Weird:

[A] 21-year-old student at the University of Nebraska Lincoln was killed when, not belted in, he was ejected from the back seat of an SUV in a crash; the student was prominent for his libertarian political views, including a defiant stand in the student newspaper against mandatory seatbelt laws. (He described himself as one of “a die-hard group of non-wearers out there who simply do not wish to buckle up.”) (January) [CNN-AP, 1-18-05] [Lincoln Journal Star, 1-5-05]

He’s right. There shouldn’t be seatbelt laws. Doesn’t mean seatbelts are a bad thing…

It’s official. J. Michael Straczynski’s vision of Star Trek will launch Fall 2006.

UPDATE: Or not. See comments.

No sooner than Enterprise is cancelled, than J. Michael Straczynski steps up to the plate, offering a 5-season treatment for a new Star Trek. I know I said Star Trek should take a break, but if JMS is involved, there’s no need for one. I loved Babylon 5, especially JMS’s ability to weave together plot points, and I love his current work on The Amazing Spider-Man. I think he could do some really deep and really exciting work. I don’t even need to know anything about his plans. (Well, as long as it’s not another prequel.) I say go for it.

Well this was interesting. I walk into my class and what do I find? All my students gathered around one kid with pictures of me from this site. Thanks for disrupting my class, Brendan. :-P