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There's a TV network, here, called "ion," that used to be called "PAX" -- PAX was blatantly Christian, "ion" is only slightly less so. Mostly, the line-up is made up entirely of 'family friendly' sitcoms from the Eighties: "Mama's Family," "Who's the Boss," "Designing Women," etc. But they also air Bible-study shows, after midnight, and the animated lineup "Qubo" (The folks who do "Veggie Tales" [think the old "Davie and Goliath" show, but with a talking zucchini]) on Friday afternoon.
So think a minute how amused I was to see them airing a live action dramatization of Hogfather last night. For those of you who don't know it, this is the story of Discworld "Christmas," and the "Santa" figure is a blatant homage to the Norse God Freyr, even down to the flying chariot pulled by four wild boar. Of course, the people responsible for making this decision probably see it as acceptible because the whole conflict is over an actack on Belief, itself. But I'm not sure they truly realize what they're saying about their own deity in the process (Christianists, at least in my limited experience, have hardly any understanding of other religious traditions). So it amuses me.
And then, of course, I come into LJ this afternoon, and find the news about Terry Pratchett. So there's a certain irony (ion is also full of commercials, so the second half of "Hogfather" will be airing tonight, after Pushing Daisies).
About that: take heart, folks. They have medicines, now that can slow the progression of the disease, and apparently, they work pretty well (I remember hearing about them on Nova, before seeing them in tv ads), and the earlier the Alzheimer's is caught, the better they work. With all of Mister Pratchett's royalties and fame, I'm sure he's getting the best of care. If he's mildly optimistic, I think we should be, too.
[ETA: Just saw the end of Hogfather; they skipped over all the phases of the transformation between wild boar and Hogfather-in-sleigh (including the human sacrifice, the evolution into a bishop, etc.) that was in the boook, thus skipping a lot of messy theological questions. But Death still gave his "Humans make God in their image" speach, at the end...]
So think a minute how amused I was to see them airing a live action dramatization of Hogfather last night. For those of you who don't know it, this is the story of Discworld "Christmas," and the "Santa" figure is a blatant homage to the Norse God Freyr, even down to the flying chariot pulled by four wild boar. Of course, the people responsible for making this decision probably see it as acceptible because the whole conflict is over an actack on Belief, itself. But I'm not sure they truly realize what they're saying about their own deity in the process (Christianists, at least in my limited experience, have hardly any understanding of other religious traditions). So it amuses me.
And then, of course, I come into LJ this afternoon, and find the news about Terry Pratchett. So there's a certain irony (ion is also full of commercials, so the second half of "Hogfather" will be airing tonight, after Pushing Daisies).
About that: take heart, folks. They have medicines, now that can slow the progression of the disease, and apparently, they work pretty well (I remember hearing about them on Nova, before seeing them in tv ads), and the earlier the Alzheimer's is caught, the better they work. With all of Mister Pratchett's royalties and fame, I'm sure he's getting the best of care. If he's mildly optimistic, I think we should be, too.
[ETA: Just saw the end of Hogfather; they skipped over all the phases of the transformation between wild boar and Hogfather-in-sleigh (including the human sacrifice, the evolution into a bishop, etc.) that was in the boook, thus skipping a lot of messy theological questions. But Death still gave his "Humans make God in their image" speach, at the end...]
