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I like both Star Wars and Star Trek. I’ve seen all of the Star Wars and Star Trek movies, and while watching the kids, even saw a number of Clone Wars cartoon episodes. I’ve seen most episodes of Star Trek, every series, though I’ve barely been able to watch Star Trek: Discovery except the Mirror Universe episodes. I say this so that my criticism is not mistaken for “you just don’t like the franchises.” And I think modern politics and shifts in storytelling are hurting both science fiction universes.

The Bible isn't required reading -- according to GQ. The magazine is facing criticism after it included The Good Book in its list of "21 Books You Don't Have to Read" last week. Compiled by GQ editors, the post laments that "the Great Books" aren't all they're cracked up to be: "Some are racist and some are sexist, but most are just really, really boring." "Census" author Jesse Ball says the Bible (No. 12 on the list) is highly rated by people who claim to live by it but haven't actually read the tome. "Those who have read it know...

If we valued black art, Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer would have been for literature. When will the education system wake up to black creativity? I can’t help thinking that the Pulitzer prize committee missed a trick in their award to the rapper Kendrick Lamar this week. If they had given him the Pulitzer for literature rather than for music it would have elevated his artform and sent a message that would have resonated around the world: that rap is a legitimate form of poetry and should be put on a par with, and treated with the same deference as, Shakespeare and...

Rush Limbaugh had a caller that said that he couldn't give a bad review (one-star) on the Amazon site for James Comey's ghostwritten piece of excrement, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership," based upon substance. He is a verified buyer of the book, so it wasn't a spam posting. Limbaugh's staff went ahead and tried to post, each having purchased the book, but weren't allowed to post either. The only reviews are 4- and 5-star reviews (though there's one or two 1-star reviews that must have sneaked through the algorithm). Go ahead and try this. If you have Kindle,...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". vituperous English Etymology From French vitupéreux, from Late Latin vituperosus, from Latin vituperare (“to blame, censure”), from vitium (“fault, defect”) + parare (“to furnish, provide, contrive”). Adjective vituperous (comparative more vituperous, superlative most vituperous) (rare) Vituperative. (rare) Worthy of blame. Quotations 1682: A. Marsh, The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and The Confession of the New-married Couple Yet howsoever though this is true, nevertheless I must furnish the delicate stomackt Ladies with some sort of...

What does it really mean to say that time ‘passes’? Why does time pass faster in the mountains than it does at sea level? The physicist explains in this extract from his latest book I stop and do nothing. Nothing happens. I am thinking about nothing. I listen to the passing of time. This is time, familiar and intimate. We are taken by it. The rush of seconds, hours, years that hurls us towards life then drags us towards nothingness ... We inhabit time as fish live in water. Our being is being in time. Its solemn music nurtures us,...

In 1987, a few years after Margaret Mead and Samoa was published, it was discovered that one of Mead’s close informers in 1926, Fa’apua’a Fa’amu, was still alive, and wished to swear on the Bible to clear the record on what she had told Mead all those years ago about sexual relations among the Samoans: We said that we were out all night with the boys; she failed to realize that we were just joking and must have been taken in by our pretenses…She must have taken it seriously but I was only joking. As you know, Samoan girls are...

Deep under the Vatican lies one of the world’s greatest archaeological and religious wonders. It is almost unknown to the public, and was recently opened on a very limited basis to a few carefully vetted people each day as the so-called, “Scavi Tour.” The tour is often called the, “Hottest Ticket in Rome.” Beginning 75 years ago, the Vatican began a secret search for the tomb of the Apostle Peter, whom legend said was buried on Vatican Hill after his execution by the Roman Emperor, Nero, in 66 A.D. Peter was Christ’s most important lieutenant and, with Paul, one of...

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ con·tu·me·ly ˈkäntyo�oməlē,ˈkäntyo�omlē/ noun noun: contumely; plural noun: contumelies insolent or insulting language or treatment. "the church should not be exposed to gossip and contumely" Origin late Middle English: from Old French contumelie, from Latin contumelia, perhaps from con- ‘with’ + tumere ‘to swell.’

Remains belonging to one of one of the most famed poets of the Romantic Movement have been rediscovered in a wine cellar, following a recent excavation. The coffin of literacy genius Samuel Taylor Coleridge was uncovered in a hidden vault that had been long forgotten about. This space was integrated into the crypt of St Michael's when the church was built in 1831, which is located near the top of Highgate Hill in north London.

It was announced last year that the novel, which is one of the best-selling sci-fi works of all time, was being adapted for a British television. And filming well and truly got under way for War Of The Worlds on Wednesday, as stars Eleanor Tomlinson and Rafe Spall were spotted on set in Cheshire. The Poldark actress, 25, slipped into Victorian garb to transform into her character Amy, while her on-screen husband Rafe, 35, shot a number of more dramatic scenes, surrounded by fire and smoke.

(A film adaptation of Kiki's Delivery Service by Studio Ghibli became one of the animation studio's most loved films) Eiko Kadono's playful tales about a young witch and her furry companion have entertained generations of Japanese readers, and have now earned her one of the highest honours in children's literature. Last month the 83-year-old was awarded the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award, sometimes called the Little Nobel Prize for Literature. The jury described the "ineffable charm" of Ms Kadono's picture books and novels, deeply rooted in Japan. She was inspired to write her most famous series - Kiki's Delivery...

In a competitive situation, Apple has nabbed a TV series adaptation of Foundation, the seminal Isaac Asimov science fiction novel trilogy. The project, from Skydance Television, has been put in development for straight-to-series consideration... Originally published as a short story series in Astounding Magazine in 1942, Asimov’s Foundation is the complex saga of humans scattered on planets throughout the galaxy, all living under the rule of the Galactic Empire...

I think it's a fair suspicion that our Education Establishment lie much too often. If not that, their ideas are narrow, their horizons limited. Most children, they seem to believe, are mud, lacking any special gifts. Last week I met a different kind of educator, a Roman named Quintilian, 35-100 AD. (He and Cicero, 106-63 BC, have long been considered the two great masters of oratory, language, and education.) All it took was a few quotes and I knew that Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was brilliant, big-minded, and bold. If we had a dozen guys like this, the ed games are...

I watched Into the Wild (2007) last night on NetFlix for the first time. I am familiar with the story, and even have the book. I have had the book for many years, but have yet to read it. Hal Holbrook's character, Ron Franz, comes in toward the end of the film. His on screen time is not that much, but the acting, to me, is so good and real. His character really made me cry. I felt so much compassion for him.I have seen Holbrook in TV movies and feature films over the decades, and have always thought he...

A friend recently posed this question: “If you had to recommend one book for a first-time visitor to the U.S. to read, to understand our country, what would it be and why?”... If the goal is an education, we could recommend Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager’s Growth of the American Republic, a two-volume history that used to be required reading... Huckleberry Finn may be the greatest American novel... But there is no single novel, no matter how great, that can do the job alone. Consider instead the great American essayists who invented a new style of writing in...

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vicissitude noun 1. a change or variation occurring in the course of something. 2. interchange or alternation, as of states or things. 3. vicissitudes, successive, alternating, or changing phases or conditions, as of life or fortune; ups and downs: They remained friends through the vicissitudes of 40 years. 4. regular change or succession of one state or thing to another. 5. change; mutation; mutability. vi·cis·si·tude vəˈsisəˌt(y)o͞od/ noun plural noun: vicissitudes a change...

Google gathered a star-studded cast of celebrities, including Alicia Keys, Laverne Cox, and Oprah Winfrey, to help celebrate Dr. Maya Angelou. Today's Doodle honoring the poet, civil rights activist, and author on what would have been her 90th birthday is nothing short of a masterpiece. When you click the homepage illustration, you'll hear the words of Angelou's empowering poem "Still I Rise" read aloud as drawings illustrating each line fill the screen. The recorded reading from Angelou is interspersed with sections read by Keys, Cox, Winfrey, America Ferrera, Martina McBride, and Angelou's son, Guy Johnson.

... With network time slots and movie theater screens becoming a precious commodity, it’s no wonder Netflix looks so lucrative. Thanks to our source, Nelson Murdoch, we are pleased to announce that the fourth film in the Narnia series The Silver Chair, will be a Netflix exclusive original movie and will be available on the streaming service December 6th of next year. ...

Bibliotheca Of course, one cannot talk about Bibles intentionally designed for reading without mentioning Bibliotheca. Although Zondervan’s Books of the Bible existed before Adam Lewis Greene came on the scene, the success of his Kickstarter project deserves most of the credit for the release of every reader-friendly Bible since. Thank you, Adam, and I’m sorry for what I’ll say next. bibliotheca I love everything about Bibliotheca except the text itself. I don’t mean the typeface, which is a gorgeous original font. I’m referring to its translation, the American Literary Version, an update of the ASV. The language is just archaic...