Gabo

For me the qualities of the film outweigh the bad light under which business is shown in the movie. And anyway, it's always attacking speculation and corruption, not private enterprise itself. It's like saying that Rush's "The Spirit of Radio" is anti-Capitalist because it favours artistic integrity intead of "the echoes of the sound of salesmen". Surely a socialist would like to see that in the song, but he would be missing the point (apart from the fact that Rush is clearly not an anti-Capitalist band, on the contrary, they're very Randian)

Well obviously, if somebody hates Capitalism, they'll be eager to find that message in the movie. But as I said, it's not what it's all about. After all, Speed's victory is to defeat a corrupt businessman, not the racing business itself.

If you enjoyed the movie and want more Iron Man, I recommend the direct-to-video animated feature The Invincible Iron Man (which is even better than the live action one) and the comic book series Marvel Adventures: Iron Man, which features one of the best renditions of the character ever (Marvel is currently publishing this series.)

You are overrating the importance of family values in the movie. It´s all about racing for the sake of it versus spoiling the fun of the game by means of corruption. After all, what Speed's family did was business after all. Same with the organization that studied the crimes, which seemed to be private. I wasn't a big fan of the old cartoon, by the way. That's why the movie to me has even more merit: they managed to make something fresh, interesting and worthwhile out of questionable source material.

The first two were clear in the context of the film. The third one maybe not so much, but one could come up with possible reasons. Those are all right, but don't neccessarily have to do with a theme of "being able to be proud of one's ideas" Speed fights for racing and for his family, both of which are highly valued by him. Yes, I suppose so. All right, no problem

Obviously, I don't agree. Just because the villain in the movie is an unscrupulous businessman doesn't mean we have to condemn it right away--- there are unscrupulous businessmen in the world, after all. The theme of the movie is artistic integrity (since racing, at least on Speed's terms, is considered to be an art in the movie)--- performing as an end in itself, instead of as a means to raise a company's actions. So Speed does accomplish something extremely important in the end. "It's the beginning of a whole era", one of the characters say, and it's exactly that: being back to an era of racing passionately just for the sake of it. The way the plot is expressed is fast and innovative, and not at all difficult to follow. So in the end we are left with a movie that's far more innovative and satisfying that Iron Man. Iron Man is a good superhero movie, mind you. It's probably the best, or at least more coherent, Marvel superhero movie yet. But taking into account the source material, many more interesting things could have been done. It comes out a bit shallow in the end. The theme you mentioned about being able to be proud of one's ideas is only patchily expressed throghout the film, it requires a lot of good will from the viewer's part to actually infer it (most people will probably never think of it after watching the film). In Speed Racer, on the other hand, the theme has constant attention during the film, it doesn't come as a mere afterthought. I thought an Objectivist would be above using intimidation as an argument.

I think Speed Racer is much better than Iron Man, actually (and I'm a big fan of Iron Man in the comic books.) First of all, it has a theme. And secondly, it's much more fun!

By all means, go and watch Speed Racer, it's an awesome film. Though the story could be seen as overly anti-business, I think it just ends up showing that there are good and corrupt people in every area, and it's up to the good not to default. The use of humour is excellent. The movie has lots of tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top scenes, but the object of the humor is always something worth mocking (ninja fights, for instance, or other anime cliches). Speed's values of bravery and heroism, and the movie's (quite explicitly stated) theme of artistic integrity are taken very seriously. The visuals are a treat. Everything in the movie occurs in a futuristic make-believe world which, bizarrely enough, leaves all the elements from the original cartoon intact. It works perfectly.

As a Hollywood superhero movie, this is probably one of the best. As it has been said, it's not a masterpiece but the plot is solid and Stark's motivations are believable, logical, and not altruistic. I would have enjoyed more of Iron Man blowing up terrorists, but that posed no challenge to him after all If you liked the movie, I recommend The Invincible Iron Man, a direct-to-video animated film that Marvel released last year. It's another version of Iron Man's origin, and it has a theme of free will vs. duty, represented by American technology and Oriental mysticism respectively. Very good.

Yeah, in a way Objectively speaking, probably the best novel I've read so far by him is Double Star, where the lecture element is not so extensive and is perfectly integrated into the storyline, rather than as an end in itself. Nevertheless, I enjoy his "lecture-type" novels in spite of its literary mistakes, for his ideas are very interesting (though I don't agree with many of them) and effectively presented. Starship Troopers is worth reading if only for its devastating and hilarious attack on the Marxist theory of value.

I didn't know about that. Hope you are enjoying your re-reading, by the way! I'm currently finishing For us, the living, Heinlein's long-lost first novel. It's mainly a fictionalized lecture on mores and economics, but nevertheless quite interesting, and very consistant with his later ideas.

"A report to an academy" is quite an interesting story. The rest of his work, as far as I´ve read, are a dramatization of life as the ultimate irrational nightmare. Makes you feel desperate just to read it.

Yes, but her favorite music ever was "tiddlewink" music. Anyway, neither thing proves anything of value about music or about classical music having an intrinsic superiority to everything else.

Have you even listened to the artists I mentioned, or are you just name-dropping classical composers as an argument?

What about Mike Oldfield? R.E.M.? Nick Cave? Nothing deep or subtle there?

Indeed. It is generally self-hatred that leads you towards passionate and irrational hatred towards the rest.

If Argentina does turn into a dictatorship after all, I guess the forest would be better. But only under those extreme circumstances.

The fourth video from Think! is now available at www.youtube.com/user/Gabobjectivist and www.myspace.com/gabo67 The song is called "The Ecologist" and deals with environmentalism and the anti-industrial mentality. Here are the lyrics: I've got a message for the world Which I'm going to transmit Through these means which I didn't create but which have to cease to exist I've got a message for the world It simply occurred to me During the idle time that I enjoy thanks to what has to cease to exist Let's return to the good times When man can be alone with nature With its wonders, its mosquitoes and its alligators Let's return to the good times When man be alone with nature So that I stop singing songs and blocking roads with the vilest of intentions

I'm not sure about a sequel, I consider it a self-contained story with nothing further to resolve (I know the concepts of Eternity and hypertime could be further explored, but the theme of the novel itself is already perfectly dramatized). By the way, yesterday I read an amazing science fiction story that I recommend to anyone here. It's called "Tunesmith" and the author is Lloyd Biggle Jr. The plot goes on like this: in an era where commercial jingles are the only musical form that still exists, a single individual brings about a musical renaissance that reaches the whole solar system. It's available in Orson Scott Card's "Masterworks" anthology.

I think that both movie and film of 2001 complement each other perfectly. On the one hand, you need to read the book in order to understand the movie fully, and on the other, reading the book while having the impressive images from the film on your mind makes it a much more enjoyable experience.

Well... to tell you the truth, I hadn't thought so deeply about that . I had understood that the people from Noys' time had sent her in their self-interest, to prevent Eternity from ultimately making their reality an impossibility. I would have to re-read this part.

The importance of the individual is showcased throghout, I think... the downfall of the entire organization is caused by a single indivudal's desire to be with the woman he chose. Even Noys' choice to operate in this reality was motivated by her personal love for Harlan.

D'kian, I wanted to thank you for recommending Asimov's The End of Eternity. I think it's the best science fiction novel I've read so far. To anyone here who still hasn't read it, you're in for a treat. It's about the downfall of the ultimate altruistic organization. Strange how some of Asimov's books like this one and the first Foundation book seem like clear odes to individualism, yet others advocate collectivism, like the Second Foundation.

He will indeed be missed. I love the fact that most of Clarke's stories are about science as an end in itself, and they always portray and optimistic and benevolent sense of life.

The guy in the article package-deals everything into "popular music". You cannot dismiss popular music, or being more specific rock, pop, etc. as a whole. Some artists are absolutely brilliant and others are worthless. To think that only classical music is good is a fallacy, used by many people to avoid the task to actually think critically about the popular music they hear.