March2004 :: wintermute

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March2004

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back back again

25March2004 [directLink] [personal]

Been out of it for a while - back at uni means everything’s very chaotic, add to that all the web work I’ve been hit with and I can’t find the time to develop my own site.

While I was at it I reinstalled Gentoo Linux on my laptop - using kernel 2.6.4 and KDE 3.2.1 - probably about 36 hours of compiling in all that, but now I’m really getting the most out of the old P3 800… Best of all, KDE seem to have really benefited from their work with Apple on the Safari browser, and you can see the Mac design ethic all-over the new release.

Promises: adding a new section on web programming and design; adding a portfolio of sorts - aided by a Flash project I’m working on for uni; trying for some Flash enhancements; rewriting in compliant XHTML and CCS2

The Passion Pre-Viewing

04March2004 [directLink] [myth]

ok, so I haven’t seen The Passion yet. But these are my comments before I do…

When I first saw the trailer I had reservations about the film, although I wasn’t entirely sure what my problem was. As the media noise got louder I realised - it’s the violence. I really am scared that the film will present too much violence - focussing on Christ’s suffering for us, rather than his love (as in “God so loved the world…”). While this conflict may not be an issue for a practicing Christian who understands the Faith, I fear that it may be a serious problem for the rest of the audience. Whether it’s people that are already antagonistic towards Christianity, or who are just confused/ignorant etc, this over-emphasis on violence may serve to reinforce some of the stereotypes of Christianity - as medieval, as forcing its views on others, as all about guilt or suffering.

That attitude - focussing on the guilt and suffering - is something I associate with certain american Protestant interpretations of Christianity, which can be very dangerous (particularly spiritually, but sometimes in other ways).

More on this later. I’ll have to watch the movie at some stage; and I want to come back and explore this ‘american interpretation’ comment.