Religulous: “Do you smell something burning?”

I have to confess to being a big fan of that great American patriot Bill Maher.

Maher’s documentary movie called “Religulous,” originally slated for an Easter opening, is now to be released October 3 in the US. “Uproarious nonfiction film about the greatest fiction ever told.” Preview here. HuffPo has an exclusive clip. Maher discussing movie with Larry King here. [Warning: religious types won’t like any of this.]

The movie also has its own website disbeliefnet. This features: the “homo handshake” (Know how to protect yourself, should you be subjected to the homo handshake); a guide to suicide cults (Absolut Jonestown; choosing the cult that best matches your personality and eternity goals); YFZ Ranch (the Little House on the Compound) and much, much more.

And for some quite unintentional humour from the local christian right, scrubone at Something should go here does his best to entertain… If, after reading scrubone, you’re in the Hawkes Bay and planning on going to the beach, the “homo handshake” could come in handy…

Update: It appears that the film is due for release in November (thanks Stephen).

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The crowded fringes

Just returned from a wedding down country. It was a small affair with little in the way of formality. The groom, an in-law, is a “drifter” in his spare time, which has something to do with driving a car sideways, I gather. The bride’s family were all dressed in black, as though for a funeral.

Despite this, and partly because of my own tenuous position, I felt that I should socialise with the “other side”. Eventually I found a farmer who was not dressed for a funeral, and who seemed very affable. All went well until I ventured that the food crisis could last some time. Why, he asked. Amongst other things, I mentioned climate change.

Mr Sensible seeks partner

“For years, Dunne has been willing to hitch his little engine to whatever chain of wagons is available, before chugging off in whatever direction is most likely to deliver him the goods.”

Somewhat patronisingly, Gordon Campbell sums up Peter Dunne’s approach to the pursuit of power in introducing his interview with “Mr Common Sense & Reliable”.

I’d like to say it’s been fascinating watching Mr Middle of the Road’s progress through the years, but, well, he’s much too bland and sensible to be all that interesting. Winston Peters without attitude, you might say.

I was there at the beginning. In a fit of enthusiasm I can’t now explain, I attended all of the candidate meetings for the Labour nomination in Karori in 1983. There were some interesting candidates, including one said to be the designated head office choice. And then there was this awkward chap in a plain grey suit, strikingly ill-fitting and outsize shirt cuffs, odd hairstyling with a painfully earnest manner.

God botherers bother McCain

Just watched an immensely satisfying account of John McCain’s rejection of Pastor Hagee’s endorsement on CNN News. Essentially, Hagee described the holocaust as God’s will in hastening the Jews return to Israel: “Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter.”

If you haven’t been following this, Hagee is the powerful televangelist who inter alia has described Roman Catholicism as a “Godless theology”, and Hurricane Katrina as “an act of God”, punishment for “a level of sin that was offensive to God.”

Why so satisfying?