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This is by far the worst documentary movie ever made.  I went with every intention of being enlightened with some solid arguments that support “Creationism” theory and “Intelligent Design”.

The ENTIRE movie from start to end simply offered up a single MOAN of Scientists who published or took part in intelligent design as a theory that were then fired from their positions, shunned from the scientific community and yada yada.

After about an hour, I nearly walked out because the arguments were so weak, so obviously propaganda and Ben Stein as the narrator failed to make ANY POINT!  Constantly brining up the fact that there are flaws in Darwinian theory and that it can’t in-and-of-itself explain species to species evolution and that there had to be some SOURCE of instruction (intelligent design) when an inorganic world suddenly switched to an organic world and began to evolve along Darwin’s theory.

I thought I was going to walk away with some intelligent arguments to defend my personal ideology of intelligent design as a compliment to my belief in evolution… BUT, I walked away thinking less of all those “experts” AND Ben Stein.

Understand that SCIENCE is the study of the world around us.  That’s the most simply definition I can remember being told in grade school.  Science is NOT the study of the various intangible beliefs and hundreds of names given to deity and their purpose for us.

In this movie, Ben Stein was moaning constantly about how any mention of “Intelligent Design” is quickly spurned and those pushing that agenda are cast out.  Well once you add a “mystical” element to the conversation of STOP ANY FURTHER REASEARCH BECAUSE ITS SOMETHING YOU CAN’T EXPLAIN  (i.e. “Intelligent Design”) into an argument it is no longer a study of SCIENCE, by definition.

Remember, science is the study of OUR world around US.  When Sir Isaac Newton was studying gravity and performing experiments to better understand the phenomenon.  If someone had come up to him when he was performing one test and said.  “Oh hey, Newty…  That component of gravity you’re stuck on.  The answer is God.  God did it, so in your published work, just cite God and move on” then we wouldn’t have near the initiative and drive to “understand more of OUR world around US” now would we.

I was hoping throughout the entire movie that a POINT would be made and that by possibly allowing Intelligent Design to be argued in the discourse of Science it would open the doors to better medical research, more advanced theory, more thorough dialogue on matter, planets, physics, etc.  Well it doesn’t.  Injecting “Intelligent Design” into any scientific argument is a STOP BLOCK to what science exists for… to study the world around us, make hypotheses, test them, make conclusions.

The common denominator in all religion is faith.  Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.  Science is NOT THE STUDY OF THINGS HOPED FOR in any way shape or form.  It’s the study of things that are seen, or detected, or tangible and an attempt to understand how and why they work.

I’m now of the conclusion that wether the proponents of Intelligent Design have a religious motive or not, that it truly has NO place in scientific discourse. 

As a molecular biologist/scientists is mapping out the humane genome to find the source instruction for cancer cells and how they replicate in an attempt to create a chemical compound to counter that replication and halt the spread of cancer… it matters not if she is religious or not.  It matters not if she believes in Intelligent Design or in Darwin’s theory of evolution.  Science and Intelligent Design are two entirely different and unrelated ideologies.

I don’t even want to get into how Ben Stein tried to make a broad stroke accusation that those who took Darwin’s theory to heart will fundamentally support ethnic cleansing.

Intelligent Design shouldn’t be taught as part of science in schools.  Science is the study of the world around us and sometimes stretches into defining the source of all things but always remember, it’s based on the world around us.  If you believe in an existence BEFORE you lived on this planet and in one AFTER you die, then get your guidance and faith from Religion… not Science.  Science seeks to define the now, religion seeks to define the before and after to make the NOW relevant.  Don’t get them confused.

Ben Stein needs some lessons from Mr. Wizard on science some more… propose a problem, suggest a solution, test the solution, draw a conclusion.  In this film, he goes over and over and over the problem, then makes a conclusion.  He skipped two steps entirely.  He also just started making conclusions without ever even defining a problem!  If you’re trying to get Intelligent Design into Science, follow the bloody rules of science!

Ugh!  So disappointed in this film. 

New movie coming out next week starring Jared Leto and Lindsay Lohan which chronicles the death of John Lennon.  Jared Leto packed on the pounds as you can see and the only reason I find this noteworthy is cause I like his band 30 Seconds to Mars. 

He did smack some guy with his microphone when he was crowd surfing at a concert last month.  Looks kinda harsh but who knows what was going on really…

Admittedly I’m not well versed on the battle, but if the news of today and and article from a few days ago are any indication I think the format war is all but over… or at least will begin a rapid unraveling soon.

A guest blogger for c|net recently wrote a post about his “roadmap for ending the high-def format” wars…  Whether you agree with him or not (he’s advocating a roadmap to get Blu-Ray to win) if his statistics are/were true then HD-DVD lost.

In the article he says that Blu-Ray has roughly 49% market share.  Market share is defined as studios which release DVDs I imagine.  HD-DVD is seeing a more widespread adoption from consumers because hardware and DVDs themselves are priced well below that of Blu-Ray.  Had things continued, you’d see more and more studios who saw that consumers were buying HD-DVD and therefore many which support both formats would defect to the ones that are lining their pockets with money and not dead weight.

P.S. This format war has nothing to do with how superior one format is over the other.  That fact is pointless.  It’s only about the benjamin’s. 

Anyhow… Warner Brothers announced today that while they have previously straddled the fence in the format war supporting BOTH standards, they will now be in the Blu-Ray camp exclusively come Q2 of 2008.

Again, going back to the blog article.  The “roadmap” cited the suggestion a week ago that the Blu-Ray camp (i.e. Sony) court Warner Brothers to get them exclusively to their side which would put the market share of studios who release DVDs on Blu-Ray at 70%.  Since Warner Brothers announced today they’ll be doing just that it seems just a matter of time before those who straddle or exclusively support the HD-DVD format will switch sides.

So what to do?  Nothing.  I have an HD-DVD player but likely won’t buy Blu-Ray for a very long time, if ever.  Watch CES over the next few weeks for products which will support the recently ratified UWB (Ultra Wide Band) wireless frequency.  By this time next year, Internet, cable, PVR and set-top box high-def delivery will be the vehicle of choice.  Netflix just announced they’re working with LG for a set-top box to deliver movies.  Cox Communication will soon support VOD services and Verizon will push out FIOS (uber-high speed Internet) in more markets so that Internet delivery of High Definition programming will be the de-facto standard, not a paltry DVD player.  Just my ill-informed two-cents.

From Magnolia Pictures comes “No End In Sight”, a documentary about the Bush Administrations conduct and occupation of Iraq.  Opens at Camelview theatre in Scottsdale, AZ tomorrow.  Here’s the trailer;

The sequel to one of my most favorite movies…  Coming October 12, 2007.