One of the things I like so much about the new Heroes TV show is that the writers are constantly surprising me. But they’re doing it in the right way, not the cheap way that Lost keeps pulling—by leading you in one direction and deliberately messing with your mind once you’ve figured out where the writers are going. Heroes is simply peeling away the layers and making its heroes and villains multidimensional, which makes them hard to predict, which keeps the show interesting. And that is something I absolutely prefer in my TV shows: If they’re not interesting, I stop watching. Predictable? Yawn.

The thing is, I also have the kind of mind that tends to spoil surprises. Only once in my life have my friends successfully thrown me a surprise party, and that’s because I’d convinced myself that it was going to be at my brother’s house the next day, not at my friend’s house that night. Every other one I’ve managed to walk in on early or figure out was being thrown for me. That goes for major movie plotlines, too, for the most part. The Sixth Sense? I had it long before the end. Picked up on it during the scenes with Bruce Willis’ wife in the restaurant.

So tonight, I was watching The Prestige, and about 40 minutes into it was debating whether I wanted to keep watching, because it seemed to be turning into an ugly little film about a vengeance fight between two men who, even though being played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, had little to appeal to me. But I stuck with it, and then the plot started to pull me into it, and then it just grabbed me by the throat and wouldn’t let me go. And the ending—well, that one was the biggest mindf*ck ending I’ve seen since the Sixth Sense. I figured out one part of the twist, and I thought I had the other part figured out. But then it turned out there were twists within twists within twists, and at the final scene, I just said, “Oh my God!” and sat there, slack-jawed, as the credits rolled.

It’s the kind of film that needs digesting before you can recommend it to a friend, but then, a film that makes you think about it like that is generally the kind of film you’d recommend to a friend.

I think I may have to start reading some Christopher Priest novels. Damn, that movie was good.

There’s a post I never published, written after Kurt Vonnegut’s remarks in praise of suicide bombers. I never published it because I never quite finished it, and I never quite finished it because I couldn’t stand that the man I’d admired for most of my life, the writer who is on my top ten list of all-time favorites, could so sell out his own moral code and say something good about those who murder. He made his career by writing anti-war novels (Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five), and yet, here he was, glorifying killers. So I never finished the post, and in fact finally deleted it from my drafts a month or two ago, realizing I’d never put it out there.

Vonnegut died last night, and the words that come to me most vividly are the words that either Harpo Marx or his ghostwriter wrote about John Barrymore, watching him drunk, crying, and trying to find a scrap of paper in a pile sawdust with a blowsy waitress’ phone number on it:

The passing of a great man is tragic, and doubly so when the greatness passes before the man.

Vonnegut’s greatness passed before he did. But it doesn’t take away from the legacy of his writing. It doesn’t take away from my discovery of him in high school, and my memories of being thrown out of the high school library for laughing too hard at a certain illustration in Breakfast of Champions. (It was the picture of an asshole, to my 17-year-old mind, it was hilarious. And, well, I never got thrown out of anywhere in high school and, in fact, was such a book geek that I had the librarians sign my yearbook.)

It doesn’t take away from the fact that I have all of his novels, and will take them out and reread them from time to time, or that his influence can sometimes be seen in my humor pieces.

And yes, I know that he quoted David Irving liberally in Slaughterhouse-Five, and I know that Irving’s facts have since been utterly debunked—but that doesn’t take away from Vonnegut’s writing career, either. Irving fooled a lot of people in those days.

The science fiction community tried to claim Vonnegut, and to this day is a bit resentful because he never considered himself an SF writer. That’s because he wasn’t. He was an American humorist, and yes, in the same vein as Mark Twain. So I will remember his writing, and forget his foolishness, and thank God that he can no longer say anything stupid in interviews that will make me cringe and wonder what happened to the man I respected all those years.

So it goes.

This post was originally published on June 18, 2005.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA—An arrest warrant was issued in Wisconsin for the murder of a bluejay by Tigger Yourish of Richmond, Virginia.

Following the highly unsuccessful attempt to allow hunting of feral cats, the Cheeseheads are looking for more publicity and have seized on the murder of innocent birds by domestic cats.

“Domestic cats are fed by their owners. They don’t need to hunt. It’s murder,” said J. Goldberg, a spokesman for the Friends of Cat-Haters of Wisconsin. When asked how they expect cats to overcome their instinct, the spokesman said, “Instinct, shminstinct. It’s murder, murder I tell you! They’re not like dogs. Dogs don’t hunt animals for no reason.” When asked about the many breeds of hunting dogs who kill rabbits, moles, squirrels, and other small animals, Goldberg said, “Well, dogs are different. Dogs are, uh, well, they’re not cats!”

Meryl Yourish, owner of Tigger, said, “Oh, please. It’s bad enough he killed the damned thing before breakfast. I don’t think anyone should have to get rid of a dead bird before they’ve even had their breakfast.”

The alleged killer, when questioned about the murder, said, “Mrowr?”

Yourish said there is no truth to the rumor that the anonymous tip was placed by Gracie. “I know she wants to be an only cat, but to go this far? I don’t think so.”

Gracie could not be reached for comment.

Miracle of miracles, the EU has decided that Hamas isn’t fooling anyone.

EU Says No to Aiding Palestinian Unity Government
New Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad has failed to convince the European Union to agree to resume aid to the Palestinian Authority despite what he called a “very acute financial crisis”.

Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, Fayyad, a respected independent and a former senior World Bank official, warned that the Palestinian coffers only had about a quarter of the funds required for 2007, a shortfall of around a billion euros ($1.3 billion).

“These are very difficult times for the Palestinian people,” he told reporters at a joint press conference with EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The Finance Minister added that if the international community did not come to the aid of the Palestinians, the outcome would be “devastating”.

[...] At the Brussels press conference, Ferrero-Waldner said this temporary mechanism would continue but offered Fayyad technical assistance to get his finance ministry in order.

She also repeated the international demands that the Palestinian government renounce violence, formally recognize Israel’s right to exist and abide by former agreements. Ferrero-Waldner said until that happened the EU would only deal with what it considered to be Western-friendly members of the new Palestinian Fatah-Hamas unity government, which took power in March this year.

Well, for now, the situation stands at: The EU will only give the Palestinians $1 billion in aid per year, and not a euro more.

This finance minister, by the way, is the subject of many glowing news articles talking about what a “reformer” he is, and how he’s going to stop the thievery. Funny. They’re still managing to steal the money if he can’t account for $1.3 billion dollars. But he’s a reformer, you see. I’m not quite sure why, but he is.

Apparently, the Vatican is unable to face the fact that Pius XII didn’t do squat to stop the murder of six million Jews, and its representative is boycotting the memorial at Yad Vashem for the Holocaust Day observances.

Vatican ambassador to Israel Monsignor Antonio Franco has refused to participate in annual Holocaust Day memorial services at the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem.

Franco is shunning the service due a photograph displayed at the Holocaust museum depicting then-Pope Pius XII. The caption beside the photo comments on the pope’s dubious reaction to the murder of Jews during the Holocaust.

The controversial photograph first appeared at the new Yad Vashem museum in 2005. In early 2006, the previous Vatican ambassador turned to the museum with the request that the caption be changed. In response, Yad Vashem said they would readily examine Pius XII’s conduct during the Holocaust if the Vatican opened its World War II-era archives to the museum’s research staff. The Vatican however did not open the archives, and thus the caption remained.

That Vatican. So touchy on the subject of the Holocaust, and the same organization that refused to establish full relations with Israel until, hm, 1993. But I’m sure there were very good reasons for it. Like the Vatican opposition to Jews establishing a home in the British Mandate of Palestine. (That was Pius XII, the guy who wasn’t anti-Semitic. I suppose he was one of the world’s first anti-Zionists.)

Officials involved in the matter told Ynet, “This is a very sensitive matter which needs to be examined in depth. It is important to us that all diplomatic delegates attend the memorial ceremony. As well, Israel aspires to good relations with the Vatican.

“On the other hand history cannot be changed, and if certain officials failed to help Jews during the Holocaust – that is the reality. There are nations that take responsibility for their actions during the Holocaust and those that don’t. The Vatican did not actively participate in exterminating Jews, but questions remain regarding the pope’s actions.

“Since the Holocaust there have been substantial improvements in relations between Israel and the Vatican, but certain scars from the past cannot be ignored. History can’t be tossed in the trash.”

Here’s Yad Vashem’s page on the Pope. Here is the Catholic League’s response. There aren’t any cites to that information, just summations, and, gee, they’re the ones run by Bill Donahue, who says that Hollywood is full of secular Jews who hate Christianity.

Here’s the Jewish Virtual Library page on Pius XII. Here’s a review of “Hitler’s Pope.” Or just go here, and start reading.

It isn’t the Jews the Vatican should be worried about. Jews aren’t murdering Christians all over the world in the name of religion. Jews aren’t pushing Christians out of the few remaining Middle Eastern countries where they still survive. And it isn’t fanatical Jews that are blowing themselves up all over the world in an effort to force their religion on others.

Which is, I’m sure, one of the reasons the Vatican ambassador feels free to shun a Holocaust Day remembrance. Because Jews won’t riot and try to kill him for it.

Because Ami Isseroff asked for it:

http://www.zionism-israel.com/jew.htm Jew

http://www.mideastweb.org/jewreligion.htm Jew Hate!

It’s to reclaim the word “Jew” from the haters.

Pass it on. The more of us link these two pages, the higher they will go in Google rankings.