I have seen more than once that many white people are more comfortable with black people who manifest black stereotypical traits than the ones who don't. A black man who talks sports or pussy or hip-hop or in bad grammar and thick "ebonics" will always be more popular than the black man who can talk about books or computers or even country music. A lazy black person will invoke much whining, but a fair amount of tolerance. It's nothing new, it's "how they are", and all is right in the world when you have to tell Leroy to get back to work. The universe is in order.

Denzel Washington became popular not because, he is a thorough actor who gives intense and thoughtful performances. He became popular because it was hip to like him. It was hip to like him because he was incredibly popular with black women. He was the replacement-Billy-Dee-Williams-black-heartthrob long before he was recognized for his acting chops. He is not dumb enough to be really likable to your average moviegoer. I have a hard time imagining a lot of dedicated white Denzel Washington fans. Not saying there aren't any, just not a lot. I would think that Danny Glover would have more.

Faith over Logic is what you use to draw the masses. Most people find thought and any kind of calculation a burden. I used to have a co-worker who would sign papers without reading, it was too much trouble to read. Same kind of thing. There are major holes in your major religions. Stuff that doesn't make sense. But no one thinks about them, that's how they find purpose in life, that's how they hold on to their hope. That's how they make peace with death. Except that when you don't think, when you live in denial of the hard questions and comes up death looks you in the eye, you can't hide anymore, and you must think (if have time) because now eternity rests on the things you've been hiding from.

There is a lot of stuff in the Davinci Code that I knew before starting the book. The fact that the Roman Catholic Holidays are just thin masks for paganism, for instance. Nobody is going to look at the holes in their religion while life and it's problems can distract them from it. It's like preaching to rocks.

The Davinci Code really is a badly written book. A good story and well told, but I can only think that that's due to the hard work of a good editor. The language is clichéd and basic, characters are shallow, and as for everything except for the symbolism and a few facts about Opus Dei, it's all been done before.

What I like about Ewan Macgregor: He's short and he has a big unit (by the way, was that movie called memoirs of a Geisha? Can't be bothered to look), kind of like me. The Island is a religious allegory, but you already knew that, it's so obvious that the fourteen year-olds who watched the movie got it. It's interesting that they dug up the guy who you used to be on Benson for the role of lovable, dopey sidekick. Macgregor does not look as young as he should for the part. You get the feeling that it was written for a younger, less jaded-looking person. But I digress.

This is the smartest movie that Baz Lurhma- er, I mean, Michael Bay has ever done. Meaning that it's for the more discerning short-bus rider. It's for the discerning short-bus rider in all of us. It's for the lustful 13 year-old virgin aching for a glimpse of Ewan's testicle cameltoe in all of us. Or maybe not.

It could also be a political allegory. I live in the Third World, and it could also be symbolizing to an escape to the USA. Okay, that's a stretch. But maybe not.