Posted by Cagliostro at cacheflow2-1.cadvision.com on December 03, 1999 at 04:39:09:
In Reply to: Some Q's posted by ibn on December 03, 1999 at 02:15:52:
:
: Is Jason Lee that cool in real life? He and Ben Affleck crack my ass up on the Mallrats DVD. btw, kudos Vincent. It fucking rocks.
The DVD is extremely diggable. Mucho props to Vincent. Jason Lee, from the little I know is as "cool" as the characters he plays, but is not at all like them as far as his persona goes. If we were to liken him to a Smith character, he would probably be more Silent Bob, then Banky Edwards--very quiet, and very intense and serious. Kevin once called him: "The most unfunny guy I know"(I'm pretty that's the quote. If it is not, then let the fires rainc down. I don't believe Kevin meant this as a slight to Jason, it was merely a reflection on his intensity and focus)
: I've yet to read any of the comics done by Mr. Smith (You're a disease.). Are they worth picking up, and are they availible still, or OOP?
Too bad.
Yes.
Most of them should be.
: And lastly, do you think you'll go light on your next movie, to avoid those guys? Not as much cursing and shit. Kind of like Mallrats?
I seriously doubt it, but who knows.
: P.S. On a recent poll on mrshowbiz.com, religion was found a more controversial topic than Nazi Sympasithers! What the...
Fuck?
I think this is due to years of overlap. Zealous racists, Fascist Dogmatists...it's easy for people to get mixed up and lose sight of the big picture/questions. "What is positive? What is life affirming? What is vital to the progress and betterment of the human species?"
A film like Dogma raises these questions, and sparks the flame of uproar. People want to be able to say "You are bad! Shame!" "I am righteous"
Naziism had it's chance, we saw what happened. Now that we know what it stands for, it is branded in our minds as evil.(which I believe) We move on. What is the next issue? The next issue is religion. However, religion is not so cut and dry. Religion's are drafted in the intent to better all of humanity. It has a positive premise, however the substantiating arguments and qualifications for each individual religion don't always hold up to reason(i.e. Jesus did this, Buddha lived at this time, Vishnu shook the world thusly..etc). Therefore the conclusion: "BELIEVE IN THIS...." becomes quite unpalatable to a humanity who's only knowledge is gained experiencially through rational means.
Religion is a hot button because, it is hard to have faith in something unseen. If you raise reasonable questions about the thin argument that someones entire concept of existence rests on, you're going to terrify them. Religion is a more controversial topic than Nazi Sympathizers because we know Naziism is wrong, it doesn't make any sense, it is founded on falsehoods, and we've seen the damage. Religion, is anxiety in a box. It's the unknown, and probably forever will be a very difficult issue. I don't know what possessed Kevin to do DOGMA. It either took extreme naivette, or King Kong size balls. Regardless, I'm glad he did, it along with FIGHT CLUB & AMERICAN BEAUTY are, all pretense aside, the most important films of the year, possibly of the decade. They are the denoument to century of a shrinking planet.