... Ruthie was so nice to Gloria at Sunday tea!!! Now all these jerks in the media - let's just assume they're male and run with it - have to drag her through the mud!

When I saw The Seventh Seal, I had already "moved beyond" my catholic upbringing, read Nietzsche (among others), and accepted the logic and reason underlying modern theories of evolution, and the purely physical, material basis of life.

So in seeing this movie, I felt no profound realizations about the existence of god, or the "meaning," or more accurately the lack thereof, in the finality of death. But I was entertained, and enjoyed the movie all the same. Just because I had already accepted some of the existential realities The Seventh Seal identifies, doesn't mean I was ready to dismiss it as "lowbrow" or "middlebrow."

I suspect some of the religiously minded are repelled by the movie because of the questions it asks, and the self-doubt it awakens in them. Maybe some on the other end of the spectrum who dismiss it for intellectual reasons just can't get beyond the feeling that Bergman is pandering to them?

Without regard to whether the underlying philosophy is shiny and new, or old and dull, I liked it because I felt the dialogue throughout is fantastic, especially the scenes where von Sydow battles Death, or the Squire dispatches the village scoundrel after an attempted rape. Bergman really was an auteur, and here he is simply doing what he does best.

And as an odd-sidenote, I gained a new appreciation for Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. Those guys may come off as dumb, but they actually BEAT Death... unlike Bergman/von Sydow.

What a laugh! There's never a shortage of parasites looking to earn a buck off the brilliance of others. Crowther was another. Pure presumption. Art speaks for itself - it does not need an intermediary. But these self-appointed judges work no end of mischief with their foolish prating - distorting truth, misleading the gullible, blocking the enjoyment of others, and contrary to reason, actually affecting the outcome of intense, creative work and the forward movement of culture.

My, what highbrow trolling this piece has attracted...

I understand that you are or were a lawyer, by now you should realize that justice in this nation isn't blind, and lawyers can and will contort the language to make it mean whatever they want it too.

of course a judicial confirmation hearing (which is supposed to be unbiased) has nothing to do with advocating a position while representing a client.

One is a proper venue for "contorting language" the other is not. At least in theory, though maybe not in practice for the GOP's approach, which is what is being criticised here.

...sucks.

Also, there are a lot of stupid people in this world who have unsurprisingly bad taste in movies, music, and art. so it shouldn't surprise anyone that when these people contribute to a list of greatest movies (imdb)... their list also sucks.

For chrissakes... there is apparently a "reality tv" show about fat people who compete against eachother as they attempt to lose weight and cry a lot. And it's popular (!)

People who watch shows like this shouldn't be allowed to vote on things.

Lou Dobbs has always had it in for Obama since he perceived that Barack snubbed him for an interview after Obama gave his speech at the DNC a few years back. I understand it wasn't personal - he was doing interviews left and right in those days - just couldn't fit Dobbs' in for the slot he wanted.

Of course when you're a small-minded, self-absorbed media goof... you'll take this perceived slight and really run with it.

More established institutions just have better PR depts.

They know what buttons to push.

A few years ago, I was sitting in the EL here in Chicago, and happened to look up at a particularly obnoxious ad for Kaplan's LSAT prep courses. In the ad, an attractive 20-something in a well-tailored business suit was sitting on the grass, in the sun, in an Eastern Buddhist Lotus-pose type position with a briefcase nearby.

The ad read "Practice Law Your Way."

Yeah right. Good luck paying for it. $150K of student loan debt, an over-crowded job market, slaving away in a profession dominated by self-absorbed nudniks for a boss that views you with suspicion at best, hatred at worst... and you're sitting in the sun practicing law "your way."

Madison Avenue is adept at hiding the reality of higher education in America today. There are just too many college graduates for too few jobs in this country. And that doesn't even factor in the half-bright kids getting cranked out of the diploma mill commuter schools.

Yeah, they are high. That might seem shocking until you realize (or accept the fact) that these are for-profit institutions preying off the intellectually slower or financially unlucky members of the population.

These institutions are not in place to create a more well-educated work force. They are solely there to line the pockets of their administrators.

is it possible that the Aztecs,Maya and Inca originated with the Mound Builders?

No, if had any idea about the dates, you'd know that the Mayan culture had already disappeared by these dates. Their pyramids (made of stone, not dirt) had long been abandoned by 900 AD.

The Aztec culture was only the latest of a series of cultures in Central Mexico that dated back hundreds of years.

The Inca were way too far away. Remember, these people did not have the wheel, and they did not domesticate any animals. Without the wheel, horses, oxen, or even donkeys, transporting large quantities of goods was difficult.

These cultures were all isolated from eachother by both time and geography.