Sunday, 17 February 2008

zodiac movie secret octavia butler



Zodiac Movie, The Secret, Octavia Butler Scholarship

P.T. BARNUM REDUX: Amazon's number one bestseller is The Secret by

Rhonda Bryne. The book description says: "In this book, you'll learn

how to use The Secret in every aspect of your life -- money, health,

relationships, happiness, and in every interaction you have in the

world... By applying the knowledge of The Secret, they bring to light

compelling stories of eradicating disease, acquiring massive wealth,

overcoming obstacles, and achieving what many would regard as

impossible."

So glad that Ms. Bryne has explained why bad things happen. Now we

don't have to feel awful about the victims of genocides, famines,

plagues, dictatorships, tidal waves, etc. They caused these terrible

things to be brought upon themselves by not thinking positively. Wow,

I feel better about myself as a middle-class person in a wealthy

nation already!

MOMMA SAID TO KNOCK YOU OUT: Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind is

blogging about the new movie, Zodiac, about the Zodiac Killer who

terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area in the '60s. I'm interested in

the movie, but I kind of hate director Robert Fincher's work (Se7en

and Fight Club). I get stuck on little things -- like in Se7en, why

did Brad Pitt's character keep five dogs in a small room of an

apartment and not even walk them? Wassup with the obsession with

Catholic symbolism by serial killers? Real serial killers, such as the

Zodiac, are eclectic in their choice of religious and mystical

symbolism. What serial killer is going to limit himself to seven

murders for the seven deadly sins? This seems to show a lack of

ambition. A more career-minded killer would have chosen the Hanukkah's

eight days and nights, the 12 days of Christmas, the month of Ramadan,

etc.

My favorite serial killer movie: Spike Lee's Summer of Sam.

Book Stuff: I'll be reading at Sunday at the Starry Plough in

Berkeley. Here's the scoop.

Date: Sunday, March 4, 2007, 5 to 7 PM

What: A fundraiser reading to benefit the Octavia E. Butler Memorial

Scholarship

Featuring: Nalo Hopkinson, Susie Bright, Jewelle Gomez, Jennifer de

Guzman, Guillermo Gomez-Pena and Marta Acosta

Where: The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA,

510-841-2082,

http://www.starryploughpub.com/

Admission: $5 to $20 sliding scale

Why: The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship will enable writers of

color to attend one of the Clarion writing workshops, where Octavia

got her start. It is meant to cement Octavia's legacy by providing the

same experience/opportunity that Octavia had to future generations of

new writers of color. In addition to her stint as a student at the

original Clarion Writers Workshop in Pennsylvania in 1970, Octavia

taught several times for Clarion West in Seattle, Washington, and


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