Here are a few videos and images I’ve encountered this week:
- Slashdot reports
that my former classmate Charles Ross is taking his superb One
Man Star Wars to the Apollo Theatre in Chicago. If you haven’t seen it,
make sure you do next time he does it in Vancouver. I’ve
mentioned him before, but this time there’s video
of the trash compactor scene (WMV, sorry). Charles has also done a One
Man Lord of the Rings, and you
can vote on what cinematic epic he should take on next. The Matrix
is in front, but I favour Indiana Jones. Why isn’t Titanic on
that list? - The Cult of Apple is strong in this one. How much do Apple users love their
products? This guy made a freakin’
(and awesome-looking) ad for his iPod mini. Thanks, Steve. - Via BoingBoing,
here’s a remarkable panorama
of Strawberry Fields in Central Park. - A while back I did an
interview with the founder of Beautiful
Agony. I remember remarking after watching a couple clips that it was
like watching the participants see God. This well-written
piece from City Pages comes to a similar conclusion. - Doonesbury has
been spoofing
media relations this week, from the Duke’s bathtub in Al Amok.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Having just watched all the Star Wars films on DVD (and 2/3 of the way through the commentaries), that was a FREAKISHLY accurate rendition of the garbage masher scene. He hit all the inflections perfectly
Wow.
wrt Beautiful Agony, it’s interesting you should say that: Gnostics believed that during orgasm is one of the few times the mind is clear enough of distractions for it to be possible to see (or communicate with) God. This was presumably the rationale behind their secret “Bridal Chamber” ritual, which was symbolic of the “lost spirit of man” uniting with the Godhead, and which many believe probably, at least occasionally, involved sex and orgasm. It’s not hard to understand why Gnosticism was so mercilessly expunged from early Christianity.