Harry Potter and the Quite Frankly I Don't Care

Today I treated myself to a movie. I went to see Transformers 3. I quite enjoyed it, it was a typical, big blockbuster summer popcorn flick and great way to kill a couple of hours. It almost made up for Transformers 2... almost. But I digress, for this is not the reason for my post and the reason I have come out of blogging semi-retirement. With apologies to Harry Potter fans.

Today at my local cinema house the last installment of the Harry Potter franchise will premier at midnight. My movie started at 12pm. There were already people lined up for the midnight showing. When my movie ended at around 2:30, the lineup had swelled to the length of the building. Now lining up for a movie 12 hours early is not in itself all that bad. And even though I would never lineup for 12 hours, I can understand it, after all I am a Star Trek geek.

However in line, were full grown adults, mostly women, who seemed to not have any mental deficiencies or learning disorders, who were in full costume, complete with wands. Ok, so now we're bordering on full blown nerd alert! (In fairness I would say the same thing about trekkies). But even though I have never dressed up myself, I know where they are coming from, I am a Star Trek geek.

The thing that pushed me over the edge and compelled my cranky self to blog was the fact that in broad daylight, in full view of anyone with eyes that work, and at the top of their lungs I might add, they were casting imaginary spells on each other and cheering each other on. Wow! Seriously people? Did I mention I'm Star Trek geek? I have buckets of mint in package Star Trek action figures, I have all my movies and series DVDs prominently displayed in my home, IN MY HOME, and I can tell you with certainty that I have never seen anything so fucking nerdy in all my life, and I have been to the Star Trek experience in Las Vegas people!

I will admit that I have never read a Harry Potter book, but I have tried, oh how I've tried to watch the movies! What the hell am I missing? NOTHING happens! I don't care about the characters, I felt no sense of peril for them. Honestly, help me out here, am I watching some chinese bootlegged copies of the movies? My God, what is compelling these adults to wait in line for over 12 hours? Presumably they have already read the books and know how it will end! What's the payoff? I don't get it.

Well to anyone who does like the Harry Potter movies, enjoy! I will be at home drinking my Romulan Ale, making fun of you. :)

We've Hit A New Low

I don't blog often. To this day I don't even know where the term blog came from or what it means. But once in a while something happens that just drives a man to rant. Today such a something happened. In its infinite wisdom the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has banned Money for Nothing by Dire Straits.

On the heels of the decision in the states to edit Mark Twain's Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, the CBSC has found that a radio station in Newfoundland breached the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code in its broadcast of the song “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits on February 1, 2010. The song contained a word that referred to sexual orientation in a derogatory way. All radio stations who are members of the Canadian Broadcast Standard’s Counsel must adhere to the code.

So ONE woman in Newfoundland complained about the word "faggot" and now the song is banned which means it can only be played in an edited form. Where the hell do we live, North Korea? One stupid person complains and a song is banned? Since when did one person make the rules? Don't we need a majority of people in a democracy?

ONE woman complained about a 25 year old song and now it has to be edited. 25 years old people! Does this woman live in a cave? There are what, 30+ million people in Canada? Is there anyone who hasn't heard this song? 25 years later she complains? Get a life!

By the way, the word "fag" is allowed but not faggot. How long before "I Shot the Sheriff" or "Hey Joe" (who's going down to shoot his old lady) is banned? How long before "Imagine" is banned? It's not as if I'm a huge fan of Dire Straits but censorship stinks! Here's a novel idea, and this goes for the Mark Twain editing too, how about EDUCATING rather than relying on the government to babysit you or your kids. Or here's an even better idea, change the fucking channel idiot!

Banning song lyrics is a slippery slope. A downward slope. Banning words gives them power, instead of hiding them we need to look at them in their context, (Money for Nothing and Tom Sawyer are both about intolerance,) their history, their meaning. Hey I'm all for hate speech laws but this is not that. This out and out censorship and it's not right!