UFO movie news round-up (1 Jan. 2012)

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Harrison Ford is to play the role of Colonel Hyram Graff in Ender's Game, a big screen adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s classic – and, until now, “unfilmable” – sci-fi novel about a future Earth under threat of invasion by a race of insectoid aliens known as 'Formics'. Set seventy years after an epic human/alien war, the story follows the character of Ender Wiggin, a young boy whose tactical genius offers hope for humanity in the face of a new Formic invasion.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ender's Game will also star Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), Abigail Breslin and Ben Kingsly. Ben Hood (Rendition, X-Men: Origins) will helm the production, while Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (whose credits include Transformers and Cowboys and Aliens) will produce. Shooting begins in February and the movie will hit cinemas in March 2013.

In other news, Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor has been chosen by Marvel to direct the sequel to Thor. Plot details for Thor 2 are sketchy at present, but the first movie – which features in my ten most notable UFO movies of 2011 list – touched on various themes and ideas central to UFOlogy, including Ancient Astronauts, wormhole travel and shadowy government agents tasked with monitoring extraordinary phenomena. Incidentally, the character of Thor will also be appearing in the upcoming mega-movie The Avengers, in which he and other Marvel superheroes will be pitted against the alien menace Loki – Thor’s own brother. Thor 2 is due for release in 2013. The Avengers is released this April. View the trailer below...

Finally, the Moscow-set alien invasion movie The Darkest Hour has opened to poor reviews from critics. Entertainment Weekly gave the movie a D+, noting: “You should be rooting for the humans, but you might as well be rooting for the blobs. Most likely, though, you’ll just be rooting for the credits.” Ouch. The Wrap was no less scathing in its review, calling The Darkest Hour an “aggressively idiotic movie”, saying of its thinly sketched characters: “if these dimwits represent the hope of humanity, bring on the alien overlords.” In the same vein, The Hollywood Reporter describes The Darkest Hour as “An alien invasion flick that evidently expects dramatic shots of a depopulated Red Square to make up for a flatlining screenplay and the absence of even a single compelling character." Ouch again. For many more wince-inducing reviews of The Darkest Hour, head on over to Rotten Tomatoes.

The Darkest Hour (2011): An "aggressively idiotic movie."

Resad Sultanovic : Happy New 2012 Year !

Happy New 2012 Year !
Best Regards!
Resad Sultanovic
Kladanj, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Europe
resad.sultanovic@bih.net.ba

Willem Rasing : Prettige jaarwissel​ing - happy new year

Mecho : Happy New Year

Giving Thanks

As I complete my 14th year as an Oblate of the Order of Julian of Norwich, I rejoice and celebrate with all my OJN sisters and brothers the anniversary of the founding of the Order by Fr. John Julian, OJN, on December 30, 1985. That day The Rt. Rev. W. Bradford T. Hastings, Episcopal Visitor of the Order and Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut, heard the solemn profession of life vows by Fr. John Julian, formerly John Douglas Swanson, and invested him with the staff and medallion of the Guardian of the Order. 


Fr. John Julian wrote earlier: "On a personal level, it is the blossoming of a flower whose seed was planted almost an immeasurable age ago. But you will understand that even after what seemed sometimes an interminable wait, it is still fraught with awe and dread. One hears the echo of Mother Julian's words: 'The soul may do no more than seek, suffer, and trust, and this is wrought in the soul...by the Holy Ghost; and the clearness of finding is of his special grace when it is his will."


Those last words resonate and echo, especially today, in the hearts of each of us who is a Member, Oblate or Associate of the Order. We've each been drawn into this common enterprise in many different ways: some determined and direct, some after much procrastinating or doubt, some in complete surprise. But here we find ourselves trying each day to "seek, suffer, and trust", by the nudging of the Spirit, to live our vows of holy poverty, chastity, obedience and prayer. Looking back on fourteen years -- and I know many feel the same as I do -- I'm not sure what I'd have done without the Order and the support of devoted and beloved sisters and brothers. Scott Peck opens his book The Road Less Traveled with the words "Life is difficult." He surely wasn't kidding, and anyone who's tried living by the Spirit knows the depth of those words in spades. 


Thanks be to God that Fr. John Julian was attentive to the call, despite many overwhelming odds, and by the Spirit's inspiration provided a means by which so many of us could come to know Mother Julian and drink from the springs of her amazing wisdom. And in the process, we have found ourselves, by God's "courteousness and love", as Julian would put it, growing ever closer to God and to each other, and reaching out with that same courteousness and love to the Church and the world. 

Willem Rasing : End of 2011

6th International Humor and Satire on Manners Prize Novello 2012, Italy

6th Edition of the International Humor and Satire on Manners
Prize Novello: un signore di buona famiglia
(Novello: A Wellborn Gentleman)
Each artist may submit max three entries linked to the topic
"Il censimento: come cambia la società / Population census: How Society Is Changing".
The participants should submit their works
(with the application form and a copy of author's valid identity papers)
no later than March 26, 2012.
Rules & Application Form

United Colors of Peacock HD Wallpapers

Engin Selçuk, Turkey

The ten most notable UFO movies of 2011

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

UPDATED: 30 December 2011

Top row, left to right: Attack the Block, Paul, Mars Needs Moms, Thor, Super 8. Bottom row, left to right: Battle: Los Angeles, I Am Number Four, Cowboys and Aliens, Transformers 3, Apollo 18.

As we say goodbye to 2011 I thought it only appropriate that I put together a list of what, in my opinion, have been the best, worst, and most interesting UFO movies of the year. Please do feel free to compile your own lists in the comments section below.

For those new to Silver Screen Saucers, I define a "UFO movie" as:

Any movie that taps directly into any aspect of UFO mythology or notably draws inspiration from UFOlogical discourse, incorporating into its plot references to frequently debated UFOlogical phenomena (abductions, crop circles, etc.), events (Roswell, for example) and locales (such as Area 51), and/or specialised UFOlogical terminology (‘Close Encounter’, ‘missing time’, ‘Blue Book’, ‘Moon Dust’, ‘Majestic’, etc).

A UFO movie need not be about UFOs, per se, nor feature traditional UFOlogical iconography (such as flying saucers or little ‘Grey’ aliens with big black eyes), but will nevertheless often devote a respectable amount of its running time to the dramatisation of imagined human/alien interactions, usually – though not always – in the context of a ‘first contact’ scenario in which the extraterrestrials assume the role of visitor/invader. In other words, the UFO movie frequently is concerned with the possibilities inherent from a human perspective in earthly encounters with extraterrestrials.

Silver Screen Saucers' ten most notable UFO movies of 2011

Ranked according to quality (with star ratings out of five)

Ranked according to level of UFOlogical interest/significance

INVADING CINEMAS NEXT YEAR...

Five high-profile UFO movies due for release in 2012

Information and discussion about all of the above movies is accessible directly through the Silver Screen Saucers' search bar function at the top right of the page. For a comprehensive list of UFO movies due for release between 2012 and 2014, simply scroll down the Silver Screen Saucers sidebar.

Corruptio Optimi Pessima

One of the Latin phrases which has stuck with me from my seminary days is the one above: "Corruptio optimi pessima" which, roughly translated means, "The corruption of what is best is the worst tragedy". What you see in the photo at the right, brawling Christian Greek and Armenian monks at the shrine of the Nativity in Bethlehem, during the very octave of the Christmas celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace, is for me the epitome of the saying above. How did it start? It seems that it was because one of the monks sweeping with a broom got just a bit over the "boundary" of the territory of the other group of monks! Then all hell broke loose, as, unfortunately, it has done a number of other times in the past. So great is the traditional antipathy between the two groups of monks, I understand, (and I don't think it's limited to just these two groups) that the keys to the shrine are in the keeping of the Muslims!


"Disedifying" is a polite word that comes to mind for such goings-on. Bad enough that this took place in that particular sacred place and during this particular week. Even more shameful is that it took place only weeks before the annual Week of Prayer for Christian & Interfaith Unity. What in the world were these monks thinking?! As if Christianity these days doesn't have enough bad press! I hardly think that the great monastic abbas and ammas of the desert would look on such actions with anything but scorn and disappointment.


These thoughts were running through my mind as I read the excerpt from the Second Letter of John at Morning Prayer today: "The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Fathr and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, in truth and love...But now, dear lady, I ask you not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning -- you must walk in it..."


I invite you to join me in praying for these monks, as well as for the whole human family:

Loving God, you created us in your own image 

and redeemed us through Jesus your Son:

Look with compassion on the whole human family;

take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts;

break down the walls that separate us;

unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle

and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; 

that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you

in harmony. Amen.

"This Meddlesome Cleric"

Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, preaches in the Cathedral on Christmas Morning, 1170:


“'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' The fourteenth verse of the second chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Luke. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.


Dear children of God, my sermon this morning will be a very short one. I wish only that you should ponder and meditate the deep meaning and mystery of our masses of Christmas Day. For whenever Mass is said, we re-enact the Passion and Death of Our Lord; and on this Christmas Day we do this in celebration of His Birth.  So that at the same moment we rejoice in His coming for the salvation of men, and offer again to God His Body and Blood in sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. It was in this same night that has just passed, that a multitude of the heavenly host appeared before the shepherds at Bethlehem, saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men'; at this same time of all the year that we celebrate at once the Birth of Our Lord and His Passion and Death upon the Cross. Beloved, as the World sees, this is to behave in a strange fashion. For who in the World will both mourn and rejoice at once and for the same reason? For either joy will be overborne by mourning, or mourning will be cast out by joy; so it is only in these our Christian mysteries that we can rejoice and mourn at once for the same reason. 'But think for a while on the meaning of this word 'peace.' Does it seem strange to you that the angels should have announced Peace, when ceaselessly the world has been stricken with War and the fear of War? Does it seem to you that the angelic voices were mistaken, and that the promise was a disappointment and a cheat?


Reflect now, how Our Lord Himself spoke of Peace. He said to His disciples 'My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.' Did He mean peace as we think of it: the kingdom of England at peace with its neighbours, the barons at peace with the King, the householder counting over his peaceful gains, the swept hearth, his best wine for a friend at the table, his wife singing to the children? Those men His disciples knew no such things: they went forth to journey afar, to suffer by land and sea, to know torture, imprisonment, disappointment, to suffer death by martyrdom. What then did He mean? If you ask that, remember then that He said also, 'Not as the world gives, give I unto you.' So then, He gave to His disciples peace, but not peace as the world gives.
           
Consider also one thing of which you have probably never thought. Not only do we at the feast of Christmas celebrate at once Our Lord's Birth and His Death: but on the next day we celebrate the martyrdom of His first martyr, the blessed Stephen. Is it an accident, do you think, that the day of the first martyr follows immediately the day of the Birth of Christ? By no means. Just as we rejoice and mourn at once, in the Birth and in the Passion of Our Lord; so also, in a smaller figure, we both rejoice and mourn in the death of martyrs. We mourn, for the sins of the world that has martyred them; we rejoice, that another soul is numbered among the Saints in Heaven, for the glory of God and for the salvation of men. 
           
Beloved, we do not think of a martyr simply as a good Christian who has been killed because he is a Christian: for that would be solely to mourn. We do not think of him simply as a good Christian who has been elevated to the company of the Saints: for that would be simply to rejoice: and neither our mourning nor our rejoicing is as the world's is. A Christian martyrdom is no accident. Saints are not made by accident. Still less is a Christian martyrdom the effect of a man's will to become a Saint, as a man by willing and contriving may become a ruler of men. Ambition fortifies the will of man to become ruler over other men: it operates with deception, cajolery, and violence, it is the action of impurity upon impurity. Not so in Heaven. A martyr, a saint, is always made by the design of God, for His love of men, to warn them and to lead them, to bring them back to His ways. A martyrdom is never the design of man; for the true martyr is he who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, not lost it but found it, for he has found freedom in submission to God. The martyr no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of martyrdom. So thus as on earth the Church mourns and rejoices at once, in a fashion that the world cannot understand; so in Heaven the Saints are most high, having made themselves most low, seeing themselves not as we see them, but in the light of the Godhead from which they draw their being.
            
I have spoken to you today, dear children of God, of the martyrs of the past, asking you to remember especially our martyr of Canterbury, the blessed Archbishop Elphege; because it is fitting, on Christ's birth day, to remember what is that Peace which He brought; and because, dear children, I do not think I shall ever preach to you again; and because it is possible that in a short time you may have yet another martyr, and that one perhaps not the last. I would have you keep in your hearts these words that I say, and think of them at another time. In the Name of the Father, and o£ the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”

(From Murder in the Cathedral, Interlude, by T.S. Eliot),

Vasiliy Alexandrov, Russia

Happy New Year!
Sincerely yours,
Vasiliy Alexandrov
Cartoonist
Russia
Moderator of the International Cartoonist's Club CARTUNION
http://www.cartoonblues.com/forum/index.php

Oleksy Kustovsky, Ukraine

Happy New Year!
Best regards,
Oleksy Kustovsky

Viacheslav Shilov

С наступающим Новым Годом!
Здоровья, счастья, удачи
и до новых встреч в 2012-м!
С уважением, Вячеслав ШИЛОВ,
http://cartoonbank.ru/

Sadness For the Children

Today's feast of the Holy Innocents hasn't much lifted my spirits today. Perhaps it's because of this week's news of two particularly brutal incidents: first, the kidnap, murder, and savage dismemberment of a 9 year old girl, and then the tragic fire in Connecticut which claimed the lives of three young daughters and their grandparents. In either case, I can't begin to imagine the depth of the pain, the desolation, the emptiness which has seized the hearts and lives of the families left behind. How does anyone deal with such tragedy? Not a shred of good, for anyone, seems even possible in the face of the two realities. Or, for that matter, in the face of any similar violence and death dealt to children or young ones, whether accidental or deliberate.


Faith tells me otherwise, but what a stretch I'm feeling to accept that! The graphic words of the prophet Isaiah in the first Lesson of Morning Prayer did bring some comfort, probably because of the graphic imagery which Isaiah uses to bring it to a more personal level. "...the Lord has comforted God's people, and will have compassion on God's suffering ones." When the people object to him that God has forsaken them, forgotten them, Isaiah replies: "...Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands..." 


It's unknown who all was actually involved in the massacre of the Holy Innocents, reported by Matthew (2:16-18), or how many children were slaughtered. Some estimate it may have been as few as six or as many as twenty. The numbers really don't matter, in a way: neglect, abuse, violence, or the death of a single child or young one is far too costly and is cause for unbridled lamentation. It helps, perhaps, to be reassured that the compassionate, loving God never forgets a child or young one, indelibly imaged in the palms of God's creative hand and in God's heart of love. Nevertheless...


And so we fervently pray on this day: "Receive...into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Savior..." 

Cartoon Foundation

NEZIH DANYAL
KARIKATUR VAKFI
PK: 364 YENISEHIR/ANKARA
http://nd-karikaturvakfi.org.tr/

Emre Yılmaz

Stops Nicu Stopel

http://stopsy-romania.blogspot.com

Theme in CARTUNION contest international 2012 : We are electing

15 February 2012 - CARTUNION contest - "We are electing"
The International Cartoonists Club CARTUNION invites cartoonists from around the world to take part in the contest "We are electing".
Historical experience shows that the election is not only a formal democratic procedure, but also a great chance to explore the human nature. Here, at the polling station, you have a chance to watch the clash of amazing characters, to observe the cowardice and desperate insolence on one side and the civic courage of the other.
In other words, the election is the perfect reason for artists-satirists to roll up their sleeves and take up a pencil or a computer mouse.
The rules of the contest:
1. Works should be sent electronically to the following address: cartoongallery@gmail.com
2. Picture format: A3, jpg or gif. The resolution should be sufficient for high quality printing (at least 300 dpi).
3. Deadline for sending: February 15, 2012
4. The authors of the three best works will be awarded with the Honorary Diploma of the International Cartoonists Club.
5. The organizers reserve the right to publish the submitted drawings without monetary compensation.
6. Selected works will be presented on the CARTUNION site: http://www.cartoon-expo.com/. We are also planning the traveling exhibition of the best works.
Several countries have already expressed an interest in this collection. Among them are: Australia, France, Canada, China, Bulgaria, Poland.
Thank you!
Our best wishes for the New Year!
Andrey Feldshteyn
The International Cartoonists Club CARTUNION
http://www.cartoonblues.com/forum
Source: cartoonblues

Cartoonist's view: "Change the name of your country?", Rep. Macedonia

Cartoon exhibition (contest) : "Cartoonist’s opinion about...."
Are the cartoonists free thinkers - critics who may have and to express their opinions of
"hot" topics which would be contrary to the position of political elites in their countries?
Deadline: 1.03.2012
Responsible: Zoran Grozdanovski
z.grozdanovski@gmail.com
More info on the blog:
http://cartoonistsview.blogspot.com/

Theme in 4th Cyprus International Cartoon Contest 2012 : Crisis of Euro.

Source: ecc-kruishoutem

British Council Turkey : Happy new year !

www.britishcouncil.org.tr

Oğuz Gürel

Milenko Kosanovic

Milenko KOSANOVIC
www.mkcartoons.com

Fruit Ninja Game Cute HD Wallpapers

Leonardo Massimino : FELIZ 2012 !

http://humorleo.blogspot.com/

İsmail Kar

René Bouschet : "Espoir 2012..." du jour...

http://erby.free.fr
http://www.erbykezako.blogspot.com
http://peintures-numeriques.blogspot.com
http://navranture2010.blogspot.com
http://montsegumour.blogspot.com

Will The Real "Beloved Disciple" Please Stand Up

St. John the Evangelist (יוחנן Yoḥanan =  Yahweh is gracious) lived c. 1 - c. 100 A.D.). John is the conventionally named author of the fourth Gospel. Traditionally he has also been identified with the author of the other Johannine works in the New Testament: three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation, written by a John of Patmos. He is likewise referred to as John the Apostle and the Beloved Disciple, mentioned in the Gospel. However, at least some of these connections have been highly debated since about 200 A.D.


John's Gospel speaks of an unnamed "Beloved Disciple" of Jesus who bore witness to his message. The editors of the Gospel seem interested in the author's anonymity. Apparently this disciple of Jesus had not been well known, but had greatly outlived Peter.


Surely the apostle John was a historical figure, one of the leaders of the Jerusalem church after Jesus' death. Some scholars believe that he was martyred along with his brother, James (Acts 12:1-2), although many other scholars doubt this. The tradition that John lived to old age in Ephesus seems to have developed in the late 2nd century, although the tradition does appear in the last chapter of the Gospel. By the late 2nd century, the tradition was held by most Christians.


The late Fr. Raymond Brown, S.S., was/is, if not the greatest Johannine biblical scholar, certainly one of the world's top experts on John the Evangelist. His monumental two-volume commentary on the Gospel of John (Volumes 29 and 29A of The Anchor Bible series) is still the standard in biblical study of the fourth Gospel. In his Introduction, Fr. Brown, in the simple, clear style for which he was noted, says this about the person wrote the Gospel of John: "...A distinctive figure in the primitive Church preached and taught about Jesus, using the raw material of a tradition of Jesus' works and words, but shaping this material to a particular theological cast and expression. Eventually he gathered the substance of his preaching and teaching into a Gospel, following the traditional pattern of the baptism, the ministry, and the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Since he continued to preach and teach after the edition of the Gospel, he subsequently made a second edition of his Gospel, adding more material and adapting the Gospel to answer new problems. After his death a disciple made a final redaction of the Gospel, incorporating other material that the evangelist had preached and taught, and even some of the material of the evangelist's co-workers. A theory of two editions and a final redaction by a disciple would not be extraordinary among the theories of the composition of biblical books..."


And so, the final redactor of the Gospel of John could say in conclusion: "...there are many other things that Jesus did. Yet, were they ever to be written down in detail, I doubt that there would be room enough in the whole world for the books to record them." (John 21:25) Fr. Brown's comment, at the end of the second volume of his commentary, is: "...having added another long commentary to the already ample bibliography on the Fourth Gospel, and still feeling that much has been left unsaid, the present writer is not in the least inclined to cavil about the accuracy of the Johannine redactor's plaint that no number of books will exhaust the subject."


Though we may never know exactly who the "Beloved Disciple" was that wrote the Gospel of John, Fr. Brown assures us of one thing: the general message which St. John wanted to convey. "Serving as a preface to the Gospel, the Prologue is a hymn that encapsulates John's view of Christ. A divine being (God's Word [1:1-14], who is also the light [1:5,9] and God's only Son [1:14,18]) comes into the world and becomes flesh. Although rejected by his own, he empowers all who do accept him to become God's children, so that they share in God's fullness -- a gift reflecting God's enduring love that outdoes the loving gift of the Law through Moses..." (An Introduction To The New Testament, ABRL Doubleday, 1997)

Hell on Wheels TV Serie HD Wallpapers

Hule Hanusic

Mit den besten Wünschen für 2012
With the best wishes for 2012
Sve najbolje u Novoj 2012
Hule Hanušić

Irina Iosip

Merry Christmas ! Happy New Year 2012 !
Crăciun Fericit ! La mulţi ani 2012 !
Be More Healthy and Prosperous Day by Day !
Din zi în zi să fiţi mai sănătoşi şi mai prosperi !
Wishes you,
Founder & Editor of
Salt & Pepper Magazine
visual artist
Irina IOSIP
http://irinaiosip.weebly.com/

Salt & Pepper Magazine
Bucharest, Romania
http://saltandpepperm.blogspot.com/

Halis Dokgöz

http://halisdokgoz.blogspot.com/

Muriel Frega : Happy new year! Feliz año nuevo!

http://murielfrega.blogspot.com/

Crowned With Love

Stephanos, in Greek, means crown, wreath. How apt a name for St. Stephen the Deacon, first martyr of the Christian community. Luke the Evangelist tells Stephen's story in Chapters 6:1-8:1 of his Acts of the Apostles, noting his connection with Saul, persecutor of the early Christian community, who later underwent a dramatic conversion and became St. Paul the Apostle. St. Fulgentius (c. 465 - 527 or 533), Bishop of Ruspe in North Africa, also writes beautifully of St. Stephen in one of his sermons:


"...Strengthened by the power of his love, [Stephen] overcame the raging cruelty of Saul and won the persecutor on earth as his companion in heaven. In his tireless love he longed to gain by prayer those whom he could not convert by admonition. Now at last, Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he delights in the glory of Christ, with Stephen  he exalts, with Stephen he reigns...This, surely, is the true life, beloved, a life in which Paul feels no shame because of Stephen's death, and Stephen delights in Paul's companionship, for love fills them both with joy. It was Stephen's love that prevailed over the cruelty of the mob, and it was Paul's love that covered the multitude of his sins; it was love that won for both of them the kingdom of heaven. Love, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defense, and the way that leads to heaven. Whoever walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides, protects, and brings the one who loves to the journey's end. Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your progress in it, make your ascent together."