The article quotes some short excerpts from "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran:

On marriage: "Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup."

On children: ''Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.''

On beauty: ''Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror.''

The article asks:

Kahlil Gibran is said to be one of the world's bestselling poets, and his life has inspired a play touring the UK and the Middle East. But many critics have been lukewarm about his merits. Why, then, has his seminal work, The Prophet, struck such a chord with generations of readers?

Well, perhaps for the same reason Paul Coelho did; he saw that there was a market for narcissistic sentimental mystical bullshit and knew how to exploit it.

Despite the immense popularity of his writing, or perhaps because of it, The Prophet was panned by many critics in the West who thought it simplistic, naive and lacking in substance.

But no - it's because of them elites with their ivory-tower 'standards'!

"There is no doubt he deserves a place in the Western canon. It is strange to teach English literature and ignore a literary phenomenon."

Professor Cole must also find it strange that The Louvre isn't stuffed to the rafters with Thomas Kincaid paintings.

Full article:

[Link: www.bbc.co.uk...]

If you've ever watched certain older DVD movies on a new panel TV, you may have noticed that some of them render incorrectly due to an issue with the refresh rate of the modern TV and the original refresh rate and/or pull-down method used by the DVD, giving a cheap daytime tv look and destroying the original cinematic ambience.

Apparently this is how movies are increasingly going to look in the future. A higher refresh rate will allow for smoother transitions and more accurate recording of fast moving objects, but it also generates this cheap, 'daytime soap' look. Jackson argues that it will make for a more immersive experience, however to me and others I've spoken to the effect is just the opposite. Rather than take you into the world of the movie, the effect distances you from it, making you hyper aware of the arrtificiality of every scene. It is as if you can 'feel' the crew crowded around the actors with all their lights and equipment. Is that 'immersion'? Peter Jackson and James Cameron think so, so I guess you'd better get used to it.

[Link: www.bbc.co.uk...]

"It does take you a while to get used to," admitted Jackson. "Ten minutes is sort of marginal, it probably needed a little bit more.

"Another thing that I think is a factor is it's different to look at a bunch of clips - and some were fast-cutting, montage-style clips. This is a different experience than watching a character and story unfold."

Jackson told the Hollywood Reporter that he had no plans to shoot a trailer for the film using the same 48-frame-per-second technique.

"The 48 frames is something you should experience with the entire film. A two-and-a-half minute trailer isn't enough time to adjust to the immersive quality."

[Link: www.bbc.co.uk...]

I'm no fan of the Tory party in the UK, but it is interesting to contrast with US conservatives who have been regressing at an ever increasing rate:

The adverts were reportedly booked for two weeks by Core Issues to display on vehicles running on five routes in central London, including top tourist destinations such as St Paul's Cathedral, Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and the Conservative candidate for mayor in next month's elections, said the suggestion that being gay was an illness was "clearly offensive" and added that he was "not prepared to have that suggestion driven around London on our buses".

In this historic event, Stephen Fry and other friends of Christopher Hitchens came together to celebrate the life and work of this great writer, iconoclast and debater. Fry was joined on stage at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall by Richard Dawkins and the two discussed Hitch's unflinching commitment to the truth. Hollywood actor Sean Penn was beamed in from LA by Google+ and, between cigarette puffs, read from Hitch's acclaimed work, The Trial of Henry Kissinger. Five friends of Hitch spoke via satellite in New York: satirist Christopher Buckley and editor Lewis Lapham mused on Hitch's prowess as a journalist. 'Like a pot of gold', said Lapham. Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and James Fenton delighted the audience with stories of Hitchens as a young man. Rushdie drew roars of laughter when he recounted a word game invented by Amis and Hitchens where the word 'love' is replaced with 'hysterical sex'. Particular favourites included Hysterical Sex in the Time of Cholera and Hysterical Sex Is All You Need.

Watching the event with Hitch at his bedside in Texas, Hitch's wife Carol and novelist Ian McEwan provided an email commentary. 'His Rolls Royce mind is still purring beautifully', typed McEwan.

The event was watched live by 2500 at the venue, and by thousands more in UK cinemas and online.

video at link:[Link: richarddawkins.net...]