Expelled Arrives in Canada -- Critics Not Impressed

[X]

Oh my poor nephews and niece.

I'm glad I bought them the Cosmos DVDs.

You have depressed me, Eos.

(Isn't there a skpetic group or something in Red Deer who could write a letter on behalf of reason? There is the Alberta Skeptics group, maybe they could weight in...)

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Um. There was my group in my city. We had our own webiste. I started it with an x-xtian who is awesome. We are laying low for awhile though. I'm just getting back on my feet again. I'll look at the Alberta site, but I've heard that has fizzled too.

Yeah, just checked their links. Busted.

I will wait around and hope for some reviews panning it somewhere in the province. I've linked the local one encouraging everyone to see it instead.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

<< Snippity snip >>

This one sure doesn't seem critical:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080627.wstein27/BNStory/Entertainment/home

And we do sell the the Globe and Mail in my city.

The actual review in the Globe and Mail will cheer you up!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...Story/Entertainment/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

You know, moving to Upper Canada from Alberta was a real eye-opener for me. It is hard for Westerners fathom just how much epic douche-baggery and blind arrogance exists in the self-styled "centre" of the country. We just assume that they're nice folks like us at heart, notwithstanding all that crap about the Maple Leafs. How wrong we are. (How Eastern Canada - Maritmes excepted - can label itself the geographic centre with a straight face is an endless source of mystery to me) (Another mystery is "Southwestern Ontario". It's in the South East you United Empire Loyalist morans! Kenora is Southwestern Ontario).

Having said that, if there's a bright centre to the universe, Red Deer is the farthest city from it. What a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

I love you too.

 

[D'rok]

I love you too.

I know you do. What would Tronna do without Alberta as a punchline for every joke?

P.S. It's oilsands. What the hell are "tarsands"?

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I know you do. What would Tronna do without Alberta as a punchline for every joke?

P.S. It's oilsands. What the hell are "tarsands"?

Sure. Sure. Next thing you'll be telling me is that it's Canola not Rape Seed. And that once upon a time it was trademarked.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

The actual review in the Globe and Mail will cheer you up!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...Story/Entertainment/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail

Then the Lord looked upon Ben Stein's work and declared: “Though I am a loving God, quite frankly, Ben, this film is an appallingly unscrupulous example of hack propaganda and it sucketh mightily. What's more, I didn't laugh once.”

Yayy!!! Thank you

Didn't really explain in great depth why it is soo horrible though. Dayummmm, I want so much to write something, I itch! Garrr. There are others who have written great stuff on how evolution is not the topic that attempts to explains the origins of the Universe. I'll go read that over again, it is very consoling...


http://www.expelledexposed.com/

 

[Jimbo07]

As fundamentalism increases in the USA, some parts of Alberta chase after it.

You can thank our good-buddy Steve

P.S. It's oilsands. What the hell are "tarsands"?

the "tarsands" are what the "Alberta is teh awxome," oilsands were once called...

 

[Koshy]

Ohh dear yes.

I've been arguing back and forth for quite some time on the IMDB boards about expelled.

There are some incredible YECs there, though I can't really determine if they are serious or are Poe's.

One of the few people that actually paid for a ticket, I watched Expelled, it was effectively made. In that I think to someone who has no knowledge on the topic may have been swayed by it.
The main note was how boring it was though, I found myself looking at my watch a quarter of the way through.

 

[MattusMaximus]

Can someone write to both of my city's newspapers? So far, the public loves Expelled and is calling evolution "devil-usion".

Provide the contact information and I'm sure most people here (especially those native to Canada) can start writing letters. In fact, the more people who write letters, the better. Eventually they'll have to publish at least one or two of those letters, and then you've got your foot in the door.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Gladly, and thank you to anyone who writes in!
[email protected]

reddeeradvocate.com

 

[Morrigan]

Eos, what's the story on you getting fired? I understand if you're uncomfortable sharing (you can always PM me) but I'm curious. It has something to do with your atheism/skepticism?

Watch what you say about my home province, bub.

 

[blutoski]

"Expelled" arrived here (aka Canada) this week and the reviews have been pretty critical. Some reviewers are more clued in than others but the wholehearted consensus seems to be "it's a bad, bad movie".

In scanning the reviews on Google.ca News I found this one had a pretty revealing piece in an interview with Stein.

http://www.westender.com/articles/entry/ben-stein-gets-serious-in-controversial-doc-expelled/

Scientific American published an article titled “Six things Ben Stein doesn’t want you to know about Expelled.” Have you read it?

I have not read [it] or many of the other articles that have come out strongly against our film. We were fully expecting these articles to come out, because we are exposing these very people and their tactics to suppress.

Snicker. Now that's a real open approach. Can I say "hypocrite". Why, yes I can. HYPOCRITE

I was disappointed in how 'neutrally' the two journalism articles I've read about this were. ie: I get the impression that the articles were written by the arts and culture people (because it is a movie) rather than the science people, so they were seeing reporting it as a cultural phenomenon as if the scientific and historical falsehoods were not actually relevant.

I mean: good for sticking with what you know, but if the central controversy about the topic surrounds its factual failures, maybe you'd want to at least engage an expert in one of these fields?

 

[blutoski]

Did Dawkins and others who were misled into appearing in the film have their views misrepresented?

The only complaints I've heard are about "selective editing".

eg: Shermer was asked whether there were scientific studies that specifically refute Intelligent Design, and he said that because ID is unscientific and imaginary - like the tooth fairy - it's hard to prove a negative, so he's unaware of any scientific studies that specifically refute Intelligent Design.

The clip: "I'm unaware of any scientific studies that refute Intelligent Design."

So, not outright fraud, but the normal editing-room adjustments to an interview that just didn't provide much.


It's possible that Dawkins' views are 'misrepresented' as those of an ID endorser by the very fact of being in the film considering he has publicly stated that he does not provide interviews to cranks.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I was disappointed in how 'neutrally' the two journalism articles I've read about this were. ie: I get the impression that the articles were written by the arts and culture people (because it is a movie) rather than the science people, so they were seeing reporting it as a cultural phenomenon as if the scientific and historical falsehoods were not actually relevant.

I mean: good for sticking with what you know, but if the central controversy about the topic surrounds its factual failures, maybe you'd want to at least engage an expert in one of these fields?

I agree with pretty much all you say. The interesting thing is that even if some (if not most of) the interviews are "neutral" because they are conducted by no-nothing liberal arts graduates, they still don't like the movie as a movie -- something presumably within their field of expertise.

 

[X]

So, appearantly Epelled grossed less than $25,000 nation wide during its opening weekend in Canada.

 

[porch]

I got one! From the National Post:

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=607100

I like it. The article comes out of the gates calling it a conspiracy theory, comparing the alleged persecution of ID proponents to 911 looniness. What I like best about this piece is that it doesn't just tackle the weak arguments for ID, it cites specific examples from the movie where the proclaimed persecution is out and out false.

My two favourite quips:

ID is often referred to as Creationism light. In fact it's more Creationism in drag.

and

Complaining that science won't take ID seriously is like grieving the fact that mathematicians won't consider a flower pot to be a number.

Eos of the E, sorry that you've been getting such a hard time for voicing your opinions. FWIW, I appreciate the contributions that you've made to the I Support Bill C-51 FB group.

Madalch: I always wondered why Marvel Comics' oh-so-Canadian mutant, Wolverine, kept calling people "Bub". I'm from the east coast, and I've only been as far west as Ontario. Never heard it. Is that a prairies thing? And am I mistaken in calling Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta "The Prairie Provinces"?

 

[Madalch]

Madalch: I always wondered why Marvel Comics' oh-so-Canadian mutant, Wolverine, kept calling people "Bub". I'm from the east coast, and I've only been as far west as Ontario. Never heard it. Is that a prairies thing? And am I mistaken in calling Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta "The Prairie Provinces"?

I don't think it's a prairie thing- it's certainly not very common (I think I may have used it only once in coversation, including this thread). I'm more likely to have picked it up from someone who read Marvel comics than anywhere else. (And judging by the portrayal of Northern Alberta in the first X-Men movie, I wouldn't expect anyone at Marvel comics to find Canada with flashlight and a map, let alone get Canadian idioms right.)

And yes, those are the prairie provinces. (Although there may be people in Manitoba who take offence at that grouping. But you know what they say about them Manitobans.)

ETA: The only common use for "bub" that I knew of was the comic strip mentioned here: http://www.unitedfeatures.com/ufsapp/viewFeature.do?id=75

 

[Jimbo07]

And yes, those are the prairie provinces. (Although there may be people in Manitoba who take offence at that grouping. But you know what they say about them Manitobans.)

Geez... if Manitoba doesn't have praries, what else does it got? Water, maybe?

 

[X]

We have a desert.


And that National Post review is fantastic.