Hi, cantstayhome, I did meet him at the Portsmouth Music Hall Authors Series a few weeks ago. He was very pleasant. My "manners" comment was made because of a kind and polite note he sent after the show to a musician I know quite well. It was a very nice touch and we just thought he was a class act to have done this.

Is that the truth, AnthonyGa, exactly the same thing that went through my mind.

read somewhere that 30% of readers polled thought the Da Vinci Code was accurate - goes to show how desperate people are to believe anything. I suppose if people believed the Mother of God appeared in an tortilla I shouldn't be surprise. And no - I haven't read the book - studied religion and philosphy in college (hint - all religious books are just literature) - and not sure if I'll see the movie - going along with the crowd is so high schoolish

Carta Pisana

The image of the Mother Mary HAS appeared in a tortilla, as well as a piece of French Toast. Both happened somewhere in the Midwest.




Jules

While I found <u>The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail</u>, the book from which the premise of DVC was plagiarized, to be interesting reading, I didn't place any more credence in it than I did in <u>Chariots of the Gods</u> a few years earlier. I thought it was well-contrived conjecture, nothing more. Then when I found out that the <i>Prieur&eacute; de Sion</i> was made up of whole cloth, I had a good chuckle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_blood_holy_grail

All these negative replies concerning DVC...Maybe they ARE hiding something after all!

Jules, I she showed up in a grilled cheese sandwich and the seller got 28 grand on ebay.No bull!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6511148/

Given all the howls about the book from assorted Christian organizations, I can't imagine anyone using the word &quot;apathy,&quot; unless it's tongue in cheek.

How sad that so many people cannot tell the difference between fact and fiction. (We'll leave the terrible writing out of it this time.)

Oh Baby - Jurgen Prochnow - is my kind of MAN!!

Love his knees!!!!!

LLinda --

See there again, French toast or grilled cheese sandwich...do the facts of the story really matter, or is it just important that Mary showed herself to us in fried bread? Only The Church can answer that. HA.

I'm going to fry for that I suspect.

Jules

Thought the DVC was okay, but want to see the movie for the scenery. Some of you experts please give list your top three movies that show off Paris and/or London.

LLinda, the other day I was spreading Nutella on my toast, and suddenly the face of Elvis appeared right in the middle my toast, as if it were sculpted in Nutella!! It was a young Elvis, and the Nutella provided perfect coloring for the dark hair and long sideburns. But stupid me, I just ate the toast, Elvis and all!! No telling what I could have got for that on ebay.

I think I'll go make more toast now.

P_M: While you're at it, could you please make a few pieces for me? Maybe I'll get lucky and find some holy image in the toast as well!

LLindaC: I do believe that each person approaches the entire subject brought up by the DVC differently. If some feel the urge to investigate further the progression of Christianity after Christ, why not allow them to entertain all kinds of different approaches?

I, for one, find that the Catholic Church and the Western Protestant Churches are creations of other people, not Christ.

If you can go back to the historical Christ: he was a Jew, he was preaching against the beliefs of OTHER JEWS. That's how the Pharisees - who was probably the dominant Jewish &quot;sect&quot; of the day - became villified in the Bible. Most certainly, what he taught was meant to be practised by JEWS, and not by other peoples.

As far as I know (which is not that far! ) Jews encourage marriage for the sake of their &quot;community&quot;. The majority of rabbis are married. Thus, I don't think that the idea of Christ having been married is such a farfetched idea.

And so on and so on, I have so many thoughts spinning around right now and dinner needs to be served!

e.g., Christ claimed that he was a messiah. The idea of a messiah who comes along periodically and &quot;makes everything right again&quot; is also a part of the Jewish beliefs of his day.

Christianity has evolved to such a state that had the original historical Christ appeared on earth in our era, he will not recognize this religion named after him.

For one, he was anti-political and anti-wealth. Look at the great wealth which the Catholic Church has amassed - look at the preachers who are using TV to get rich.

Well, I've really got to go! Thanks for a most interesting thread!

Surprisingly, it's hard to find films that really show a lot of Paris; much is done on sound stages (especially in older films), and of course in all movies the plot and action take precedence over showing the scenery.

Some old movies I recall that show Paris to a fair degree include <i>American Dreamer</i>, <i>French Kiss</i>, <i>Until September</i>, <i>French Postcards</i>, <i>Diva</i>, and quite a few others, although they typically are not major hits. Even <i>The Da Vinci Code</i> isn't necessarily going to show a lot of Paris. It's not a travelogue (which is unfortunate, since it might be more interesting if it were).

Paris is a very popular destination for film crews, especially for advertising and to occasionally spice up a television series. On any given weekday you can find at least a couple of crews around the city filming something. Big-budget American films are easy to recognize because they are quite arrogant and seem to think that entire neighborhoods belong exclusively to them while they are filming. It's like Los Angeles.

&gt;...he was supposed to release a while back, but postponed it to do more research and make sure his facts were as accurate as possible.&lt;

Well, that's certainly different.

&quot;Given all the howls about the book from assorted Christian organizations, I can't imagine anyone using the word &quot;apathy,&quot; unless it's tongue in cheek.&quot;


That's pretty funny. After all, compared to the Muslim riots, executions, firebombs, hostage-taking and embassy-storming that occurred over the Danish cartoons, I'd say the Christian response was very mild by comparison.

Michael Moore made-up and creatively edited 90% of his &quot;hit&quot; movie and a great many people accept it as Gospel. There's no need to tell the truth anymore - people believe whatever they want to believe.

By the way, we just bought &quot;Cassanova&quot; on DVD. Something tells me it isn't all true, but the scenery, especially Sienna Miller and the Doges' Palace, is awe-inspiring.

I do love the anti-DVC crowd. &quot;Facts&quot;, just what are facts? Historians debunk the DVC using writings made 1,000 years ago of events that happened 1,000 years before that.

We have a truly amazing communcations system today and we still really don't have a handle of the &quot;facts&quot; surrounding events that took place in the recent past. Who's doing the spinning?????

Now, I was raised an RC, and like all good RCs I was told to listen and take as gospel truth anything said by Rome and its agents. Somewhere along the way I started to see the church as an organization of men, not the voice of god. Like all organizations it seemed to exist for the betterment of the organization. Credibility becomes questioned. Actions are analyzed.

Now, before you condem me to the fires of hell, understand that my view of god is that there is simply a missing &quot;o&quot;. There should be an &quot;Almighty Good&quot;, with one rule, THE GOLDEN RULE. When the Catholic Church works toward Good it is an amazing thing. When it works toward god it falls prey to human frailty.

I'll watch DVC as an entertainment vehicle not as a historical documentary. I'll wait until I reach the pearly gates to truly get the &quot;facts&quot;.

Amen, altajoe!

Brockbank,

If you are going to see the movie just for the scenery, you will be disapointed, there isn't that much. I just saw it last night and that was my one dissapointment, not that much scenery.

As for the movie itself, even though I am a HUGE Tom Hanks fan, I thought it was just okay. I read the book and liked it, though to be honest, I don't understand how come it was as huge as it was.

So far I have not talked to anybody who has seen the movie who hasn't read the book and while watching it last night, I wondered if sometimes people who haven't read the book may be confused as to what happens. My sister who hasn't read the book will go see the movie and I'll ask her.

As to the whole controversy, I am a Catholic and my parents still go to church every Sunday, and are strong believers. However, they also thought us that the Bible was not to be taken for its exact word, it is a vehicle to teach people and filled with parables. Just think how a news story changes from the beginning of the week to the end. What truly happened and how witnesses saw it can be very different.

Did the book or movie change my views about being a Catholic? NO! If my faith was so easily changed by a movie than the word &quot;faith&quot; doesn't apply. And to be so scared to have another viewpoint out there that you need to protest is very sad. Be strong in your faith and it doesn't really matter what others say.

And most of all, it's a BOOK and a MOVIE, not gospel. (pun fully intended )