The Ultimate Challenge

In the scientific community and even now, at your place of work, if you want to prove something to someone, you need evidence. Even when trying to convict someone of a crime, you need evidence. No longer are the days where everything is by word of mouth or trust. Now everything comes in the form of trials, tests and evaluations to give you statistical and irrefutable proof, which ultimately leads to the decision of whether or not something is worth following.

This is the ultimate challenge to all those who believe in a God. Come and take the challenge and prove it! However, here are the clauses numbered 1 to 9 that are not acceptable as proof, they are, afterall, very simply excuses and are not proof itself.

1. Faith is not proof. It's just a mental block to keep you from questioning your belief.

2. Not understanding how the universe came about is not proof.

3. Your existence is not proof. It's only proof that your mom and dad had sex and that you're not a test tube baby.

4. Beauty and perfection (if there's such a thing) is not proof.

5. A (gut) feeling you have is not proof. The belief is what caused the feeling in the first place. It's the chicken or the egg.

6. Miracles are not proof. The very meaning of a miracle is simply something you do not or cannot understand.

7. Not understanding luck is not proof. What is luck? That is another challenge to proof.

8. Accidents or natural disasters are not proof.

9. The bible is not proof. It is a fairy tale handed down from generations with people writing their own versions into it, twisting and shaping it into what it is today. There are too many contradictions in the bible.

Ladies and gentlemen, do not take this as an attack on any religion, it is far from it. Looking for a God and having a religion just teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few. And religion is regarded by the common people as true, the wise as false and by the rulers as useful.

This little challenge is aimed to see if anyone can come up with proof of the existence of a God, and then perhaps, you can convince me to believe, and I need proof in order to believe and follow. I leave you with a quote to ponder over from the greatest scientist of our time (deceased of course):

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. - Albert Einstein

...And A Bottle Of Rum!

This thread contains spoilers for the review, so read it at your own risk!

Pirates Of The Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest has been a movie worth waiting for this summer. All the cast members are back, including some of the supporting casts, together with a few new characters. I had a great belly laugh throughout the entire movie, although the cinema seats were hurting my back more than the laughter itself, I have to make a note not to get tickets at that particular cinema again.

The movie begins with the arrest of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan for aiding and abetting the escape of the pirate Captain Jack Sparrow. The new power of the sea is the East India Company. Their spokesperson, whose name escapes me, makes a deal with Will to obtain the compass that Captain Jack Sparrow carries with him at all times. The compass (from the first movie) that doesn't point North. Of course, there comes Davy Jones, who is the supposed devil of the sea. He will offer you service on his ship The Flying Dutchman for all eternity in exchange to stay "alive" and sail the seas with him as his crew. The search for a mysterious-looking key that unlocks the Dead Man's Chest which contains Davy Jone's heart, is the underlying theme throughout the entire movie, which is set in adventure on the high seas, escape, magic, swash-buckling, thievery, trickery etc etc etc.

Orlando Bloom did rather well reprising his role as Will Turner, although not as much swash-buckling as I would have expected. It was more rolling and tumbling around, together with escaping and running, not much acting skills involved there really. Somehow he has been typecasted as one of the following roles: A blacksmith; Holding a bow and arrow; Holding a sword or two; All of the above.

Keira Knightley's character has become darker. She seems to have taken charge of things as compared to her demure, lady-like screamer role in the first movie. In this movie, she can actually fight with swords, is devious and conniving and she moves towards having the heart of a pirate, especially seen towards the end of the movie.

Johnny Depp surpassed his role as Captain Jack Sparrow, again with his ditsy moves, shash-shaying himself across the screen when making his point. Word bantering with his crew and enemies to confuse them. With all his antics and prancing, it's no wonder his character has earned him a most interesting reputation. The make-up done on him with all the eyes, when he was captured by the tribe of cannibals was amazing!

I was amazed by the costumes and how crustacean they made it look, like sea animals: crabs, starfish, hammerhead shark, octopus etc. Even the CGI for Davy Jones (yes, he was CGI, and the actor wasn't wearing any masks or props), was based on the mannerisms of actor Bill Nighy, it was most impressive! Having The Flying Dutchman the option of sailing the seas or going underwater like a submarine was rather creative also.

However, there were loop-holes in the story. For one, how did the Black Pearl land on the island of cannibals and get caught? How did Captain Jack Sparrow end up being their great chief? Was it because he could speak their language? Who was Davy Jones in love with before he became this creature? I'm guessing that all questions will be answered in the third and final movie in this trilogy, due out in May 2007.

The music was done by Hans Zimmer (Hannibal, The Da Vinci Code) and it really captured the moods and comedy of the movie. Some of the pieces were recycled from the first film, mostly the theme and all, but a few new pieces have been added. I particularly enjoyed the piece where Davy Jone's was playing the pipe organ with his face tentacles, it reminded me of one of J S Bach's Toccata's, perhaps just the faint trace of the theme.

There are critics saying that this second movie isn't as great as the first movie and the plot of it didn't really move much. If you're going to listen to the critics, you'll never watch anything. Each and every movie will have something different for everyone. If you think it's worth watching, then go watch it already. Don't get swayed by crappy reviews from critics who cannot appreciate a good adventure movie.

And finally, do remember to stay until the end of all the credits, there's a short snippet of what happened to the dog that ended up being left behind on the island of cannibals.

8 out of 10

Superman Returns Finally!

There are going to be spoilers in this thread, so if you haven't watched the movie, try not to read it first, if you can help it!

I was rather disappointed that Bryan Singer left X-Men hanging and crossed-over to do Superman Returns. I was hoping that he finished the X-Men before moving on. Anyhow, I was rather surprised that this movie didn't have all that dark undertones that his movies usually have.

Brandon Routh looks so good it hurts the eyes. My female friends who were watching the movie with me were swooning over him! He resembles Christopher Reeves right down to the curl in his hair on his forehead. I was amazed that we have "twins" out there in the world somewhere, acting, breathing, walking around, that look like us in one way or another. His mannerism as Superman and as Clark Kent jogged memories of what Christopher Reeves did in Superman 1 and 2 back in the 1980s, when I watched those 2 movies as a little boy. They were fond memories!

Kate Bosworth did an amazing job portraying this version of Lois Lane. I was taken with how she can actually act instead of just looking pretty in a swimsuit in the last movie I saw her in called Blue Crush. The other Lois Lane was Margot Kidder, who portrayed Lois as a rather nutty character. In fact, Kate did such a good job, I've been comparing her to Katie Holmes in Batman Begins and how badly Katie's acting was as compared to Kate's.

James Marsden aka Scott Summers aka Cyclops from X-Men was pulled into this project by Bryan Singer. He did a fairly good supporting character role in this movie, although there could have been more potential in his character.

Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, gave a very impressive performance that shone throughout the movie. His ability to portray a temperamental Lex Luthor, the criminal mastermind was amazing. As compared to Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum version of Lex Luthor, this Lex has passed beyond being just friends with Clark Kent, he has actually gone over to the dark side (so to speak) and onto the path of being a criminal completely.

The plot of the movie needed a little more tinkering with, it was rather straight-forward. Lex Luthor again trying to conquer the world with his megalomaniac schemes of growing a continent out of crystal (from Superman's Fortress of Solitude) and sinking the USA in the process. He alone will have the technology from Krypton that will put him ahead of every nation on Earth. Enter Superman, who returns after a visit his dead home planet of Krypton to see if there was anything left. He's left Lois hanging and wondering why he left and expected to return to their on/off relationship.

The subplot in the movie, which doesn't directly show it, but hints at, was that the little boy Jason, who was introduced to us as Lois's son, was actually also the Man Of Steel's son too. You wouldn't realise this until he drops the piano (literally!) on one of the thugs to save his mom from harm. At the same time, there's also debate as to whether he was afraid of the kryptonite waved in his face by Lex Luthor or whether he was immuned to it, unlike his father. This makes for interesting debate, as Jason would be completely invincible if he's immune to the effects of kryptonite.

The luxury yacht was amazingly crafted with a helicopter landing pad and a glass bottom library that had a Steinway grand piano in it. A pity they had to destroy everything!

The special effects were also top-notch. Now, when Superman breaks the sound barrier you can actually see a faint arc in front of him, just before the sonic boom - an attention to detail that wasn't brought into the previous Superman movies.

This movie was good, but it needed something to spice it up a wee bit more. Perhaps in the next movie, they will do better and have more interesting villians. Superman/Clark Kent liking Lois Lane, it's very old romance, very boring already. Something new needs to be done. In the comics, they're married! Superman succumbing to kryptonite, it's very cliche as his only weakness, so something new would always be refreshing.

7.5 out of 10