VELVET DONK

Introductions

Preface

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Archives

Issue 1
Issue 2
Issue 3
Issue 4
Issue 5
Issue 6

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Contributers

Insights

Douglas Adams

• "Every particle in the universe affects every other particle, however faintly or obliquely. Everything interconnects with everything. The beating of a butterfly's wings in China can affect the course of an Atlantic hurricane. If I could interrogate this table leg in a way that made sense to me, or to the table leg, then it could provide me with the answer to any question about the universe. I could ask anybody I liked, chosen entirely by chance, any random question I cared to think of, and the answer, or lack of it, would in some way bear upon the problem to which I am seeking a solution. It is only a question of knowing how to interpret it."
• "Kate wondered for a moment how it was that eyes conveyed such an immense amount of inofrmation about their owners. They were, after all, merely spheres of white gristle. They hardly changed as they got older, apart from getting a bit redder and a bit runnier. The iris opened and closed a bit, comma, but that was all. Where did all this flood of information come from?"
• "...[she wished] she could simply follow without needing to think about it or abything else ever again. This, she reflected, in a continuation of her earlier train of thought, was presumably who religions got started, and must be the reason why so many sects hang around airports looking for converts. They know that people there are at their most vunerable and perplexed, and ready to accept any kind of guidence."
• "...but at that moment she realized that if she said [something] she would have to listen to his reply, which would be bound to infuriate her into arguing back. It occurred to her for the first time that the only way of escaping, was just not to get drawn into these arguments. If she simply did not respond this time, then she was free to leave. She tried it. She felt a sudden freedom. She left. A week later, in much the same mood, she married an airline cabin steward called Smith."
• "The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it which the merely improbable lacks. How often have you been presented with an apparently rational explanation of something that works in all respects other than one, which is just that it is hoplessly improbable? Your instsinct is to say, 'Yes, but he or she simply wouldn't do that.'"
• "The Universe, as has been observed before, is an unsettlingly big place, a fact for which the sake of a quiet life most people tend to ignore. Many would happily move to somewhere rather smaller of their own devising, and this is what most beings in fact do."
• "His first theory was that if human beigns didn't keep exercising their lips, their mouths probably shrivled up. After a few months of observation, hehad come up with a second theory, which was this -- 'if human beings don't keep exercising their lips, their brain's start working.'"
• "The Universe, as has been observed before, is an unsettlingly big place, a fact for which the sake of a quiet life most people tend to ignore. Many would happily move to somewhere rather smaller of their own devising, and this is what most beings in fact do."
• "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
• "The major problem -- one of the major problems, for there are several -- one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
  To summerize: it is a well known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summerize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem."
• "'Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.'
  `Very deep,' said Arthur, `you should send that in to the Reader's Digest. They've got a page for people like you.'"
• "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
• "`A curse,' said Slartibartfast, `which will engulf the Galaxy in fire and destruction, and possibly bring the Universe to a premature doom. I mean it,' he added.
  `Sounds like a bad time,' said Ford, `with luck I'll be drunk enough not to notice.'"
• "`My doctor says that I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes.'"
• "Trillian did a little research in the ship's copy of THHGTTG. It had some advice to offer on drunkenness.
  `Go to it,' it said, `and good luck.'
  It was cross-referenced to the entry concerning the size of the Universe and ways of coping with that."
• "Arthur hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realised there was a contradiction there and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife."
• "There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler's mind."
• "The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair."
• "`She hit me on the head with the rock again.'
  `I think I can confirm that that was my daughter.'
  `Sweet kid.'
  `You have to get to know her,' said Arthur.
  `She eases up does she?'
  `No,' said Arthur, `but you get a better sense of when to duck.'"
• "He believed in a door. He must find that door. The door was the way to... to...
  The Door was The Way.
  Good.
  Capital letters were always the best way of dealing with things you didn't have a good answer to."

Fiction

Decider

by Dax

Mark rises at the same time every day, except Sundays, when he sleeps an hour longer. Today is Monday. So Mark rises at six-o-clock, on the dot. The alarm is piercing, as usual; the shower is refreshing, as it is everyday; and the food Mark eats for breakfast, the same familiar Lucky Charms he has been eating since childhood, tastes bland and looks boring to him, as can be expected. Actually, the only thing Mark does that really varies, is vote.

Mark votes every morning, including Sundays, just like most adult Americans. He votes about everything that concerns him as a citizen in his country: about welfare and agricultural subsidies and freedom of speech and speed limits and alcohol regulatory laws. About everything. Mark enjoys voting. And why shouldn't he?

Voting has replaced the elected congressmen in the United States of America since the implementation of the Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Now congressmen are the people, not representatives of the people. Sure there are still Senators and the President and the Supreme Court, but their job descriptions have been modified.

The branches of government are back to the basics, engaging only in activities that they were originally designed to do. The Senate now just proposes laws which the President just enforces and the Supreme Court just judges. The Senate and the President do not vote or pass or sign laws; the people and only the people decide if laws become laws and if Amendments become Amendments. Or at least that is the way things are supposed to happen.

Supposedly, laws, to pass, require that three-fourths of the adult American population vote on them and that two-thirds of those who vote, vote in favor of the law. Laws have a week to pass or fail. All of the laws that are under consideration that week appear on the screen of the free Decider series computers, issued by the government to every registered household.

The Decider is incredibly simple. It speaks for illiterate and deaf citizens, and it has a special Braille add-on for blind citizens. It has available the full text of each proposed law, fully searchable. The Decider even has textual information from experts on each law, telling citizens the pros and cons of each law and what might happen to the United States if the law passes or fails. The Decider is loved and appreciated in almost every household. People like to believe they are deciding their fate. People like to vote.

The Decider system seemingly works amazingly well because everybody benefits in efficiency and freedom. And voting doesn't even take much time. A simple yes or no will suffice. You can even change your answer up to midnight on Sunday night. And people talk about voting at work and at home. The process provides great discussions for families and friends. People love it.

They probably wouldn't, though, if they knew what was really going on.

Mark is a Wall Street businessman, a broker. He is a hard worker. He makes oodles of money. He is very well-to-do. He is also single. Mark doesn't even have a pet. But Mark has friends and Mark has work and Mark enjoys work and Mark enjoys voting. He is content with his monotonous life, not even realizing its monotony.

Mark has a brother-in-law named Deeder. Deeder works for the government. He is a senator. He has been a senator for years upon years. He will probably stay a senator until he wants to quit. As a senator, Deeder's job is to propose laws, which he does. To become a senator, Deeder was voted upon by the people of his state through the Decider Voting System and was supposed to receive a majority vote. But, in reality, Deeder has never once received such a vote. In fact, not more then twenty percent of the voting population in Deeder's state have ever voted for him in any election. Deeder is illegally elected, election after election, and nobody does anything about it. This is understandable, however, because not many people know about Deeder's duplicity.

I know though. Indeed, I know.

You see, I am good with computers. If I wanted, I could break into other peoples computers. I have done this once. I broke into the Decider Voting System.

"The Decider Voting System (DVS) can not be tampered with," politicians tout. They should be touting this, because they keep people from tampering with their systems for years and years with threats of amazing fines and prison sentences and such. And the punishments are supported by the public. Who would want people tampering with freedom? And the government has even carried some of these sentences out. Treason, they call it. One of my friends was busted. He claimed he didn't do it; I believed him. The public did not, and the politicians received what they wanted. Computer hackers stay away from Decider.

But I was not deterred. DVS seemed to me a challenge.

It wasn't.

Truly, DVS security is pathetic. I was inside the system in less then a minute; it seemed too simple. I thought it was a trap. But I had my personal security systems in tact. My trace jammers and such. And nothing happened. No one was even watching the system. I could even see vote totals. I was baffled. It was so strange.

And then it hit me. The security system is horrible for a reason—because the politicians don't care about the votes. Why waste time and money on an unbreakable security system when the votes that the security protects don't matter? You see, the people's votes aren't being heard. True, the system works, but it is just not being used.

I proved this too. I recorded the vote totals from my break in and then matched them up against the vote totals presented on the Monday morning news and they were completely different. The politicians are simply making up numbers. They are implementing any laws they want. And they are voting themselves into office.

Everybody is being fooled. No one is even questions the system because they are assuming it is working. They talk to each other about what and who they vote for, but at most, they talk to about one hundred people regularly. No one knows or polls enough people to actually discover the faults inherent the system.

That is where I am now. What am I supposed to do? If I talk I'll probably be killed or at least silenced. And probably no one would believe me anyway. Besides, America is happy. People don't know they are not being heard. They think they are living in some utopian democracy. Well, that is definitely not the case.

Lyrics

Lies

by The Violent Femmes

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Jenny Says

by Cowboy Mouth

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Breathe

by The Prodigy

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Religious Document

The Atheist Manifesto

by an unknown author

1. I have received no IMO trustworthy accounts of any interaction of any God or Gods with any humans. All accounts of such encounters that I have encountered thus far have been clouded by alterior motive, need for self-convincing, drugs or hoax. Basically because these reports are of a supernatural, immeasurable or unbelievable kind, it is easier to doubt the source than credit the information.
2. There are thousands of differing religious belief structures which are mutually exclusive and equally believable. Some of these belief structures do not involve deities. The major point being which one? And if one, why one? Why any, isn't it just as likely that all of them have it wrong?
3. As history has progressed, the role of Gods has decreased as understanding has replaced supernatural explanations for natural events. If there is no God, then one would think it likely that in our stage of development, the hypothetical God would only be responsible for those things which we do not currently understand. In other words the remaining God or Gods in our modern society will only be necessary for the "possibly" supernatural parts of existence. However because 500 years ago God/s were necessary to explain the perfection of the heavens, where as now we know it's to do with the 4 forces of nature and the 3 families of matter, then I do not see why this trend will not continue, as it has for thousands of years now, until understanding will eventually replace all of the hypothetical God's reasons for existence.
4. If there is a God, how did such a being come into existence? The Big Bang Theory is, on the surface, a remarkably simple idea. However I have heard no such ideas contemplating the creation of God.
5. People who seem to have a broad knowledge about the workings of the universe as we know it so far do not think that a God is necessary to obtain a working hypotheses of the world around them. (ie. Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, David Suzuki, Arthur C. Clarke, etc.) Here I am talking people who know a lot about a large number of fields of science and philosophy. I believe that belief in an all-powerful being is intellectual weakness as is the requirement for an afterlife to avoid the fear of death.
6. Much of the work of religion seems to be based on guesswork or pure creativity. The age of the Earth, the age of homo sapiens, history as it happened over the thousands of years seem to differ from religion to religion and, most importantly, differ from the objective findings of archeologists, geologists, biologists etc.
7. I could not enjoy Monty Python half as much, were I a theist. But on a more serious note. I have read that some high percentage of New York Catholic Priests were diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic by the MMPI (I think it was around 60%, well over 1000 times the national average maybe someone could supply me with a reference), and also the systems of temporal lobe syndrome (or epilepsy) correlate highly with religiosity. In other words sick people become devout religious types. I do not have any symptoms of schizophrenia or temporal lobe epilepsy.
8. I have never seen the distinction between Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, God, the Googy Monster, or distinctly pink invisible unicorns. All of these things seemed to be stories told to you by your parents that you eventually grew out of.

   From now on I'll deal distinctly with why I am not a Christian.

9. I have discussed religion with many theists (3 of which I have converted to atheism) and most of them cannot answer the most simple inconsistencies in their belief systems. Most of them make great sacrifice for their belief systems and therefore undergo dissonance when confronted with ideological impasses. This leads therefore to not think about the inconsistency, it's better to bury the dissonance (avoidance behavior) rather than confront the dissonance and move your belief system accordingly, which may cause much extra dissonance. This is why I believe we should set up Zealots Anonymous all over the world to help Christians and other cultists come down from their mind bending cults.
10. Having done psychology I have come across the Gazzanigga split brain studies and numerous studies involving personality alteration via neurotransmitter infusion. These operations and drugs which affect the synaptic gap in neurons can and do radically alter peoples personality profiles. Their basic awareness, their memories, their mores, their reactions, their processing capacity, their motor functions: every function of the brain which has been hypothesised as part of the mind or soul can be and is effected by these treatments. Why would the soul alter due to physical changes in the brain? (Isn't it much simpler and correct) to believe that these personality functions are the direct result of the brain and not of some intermediary supernatural soul which accomplished nothing?
11. History has shown that those viewpoints or ideologies with the most aggressive doctrine are more likely to survive the centuries. Throughout the history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are numerous examples of this aggressive viewpoint. This is why they are the dominant views today. So why, in particular, should the most aggressive ideologies necessarily be the right ones?
12. A lot of testimony about the existence of a supreme rightness or God comes from Xtians and Moslems who claim to have felt God due to this spiritual ecstacy they had felt during a "religious experience". However I also have felt similar feelings to what they described as I sit upon a country hill at night underneath a cloudless sky and can "feel" Earth as a giant spaceship speeding through the Galaxy. I become so overwhelmed by the immensity and beauty of it all that I stare for hours. However I still understand the basic principles behind how the whole of the universe exists, and none of it requires a God.
13. Believing anything with a conviction that it precludes questioning is merely beyond my capacity. I simply can't do it. I have an inquiring mind and I have found my beliefs to be wrong before so why not again in the future. To believe beyond question in a supreme, all-loving deity seems absurd to me for the mere reason that it asks you to suspend reason.
14. Too often in the past has religion been used as an excuse for the great evils of human beings. Kings have promised the subjects that they rule by divine right or that they themselves are descendant from Gods and are therefore Gods themselves. Torture, genocide, racism, slavery, invasions, mass rape, and war have all been justified under the auspices of divine authorization. This represents to me that religion is a powerful tool used by those smitten with power for unscrupulous ends (was that poetic or what). I do not want to be associated with such vile acts any more than being human already implicates me.
15. Too often the church does backflips and makes errors. If the church hierarchy were truly led by a divinity (as most claim) they would not make such glaring errors. It is because of this desire to maintain a divine public image that the church is loathe to admit to mistakes until the mistake is shown to be ludicrously obvious (eg Galileo, evolution, etc.).
16. As I point out the problems with each individual denomination under the Christian umbrella, Christians will often defend by saying "Oh well, THEY'RE not real Christians, but my church or I AM". This is so common that for each claim of true Christianity there is probably over a hundred other denominations chastising them as not real Christians.
17. Church teachings are sexist, judgmental, arrogant, inconsistent, filled with authoritative explanation rather than rational explanation and are therefore not conducive to learning a good life philosophy.
18. The Bible has literally hundreds of ambiguities, inconsistencies, falsehoods, and ascriptions to God of horrific, puerile behavior. Anyone who does not acknowledge that this is true really is not reading the Bible seriously or has a major mental block in the way of them seeing it. The Bible is bunk, there is NO denying that. Besides there are multiple versions of this book. It is constantly being updated (read "rewritten") to suit the leaders of the church responsible for the particular version that produce it. There is no such thing as "The Bible" it is like saying "The Apple is better than the IBM". Which Apple? Which IBM? Which Bible? The excuses that Xtians offer for Bible inconsistencies are extremely weak and remind one of the sort of things that die-hard scientists, clinging to an old dogma, produce in order to protect an old dogma.
19. The anthropocentric view is a dangerous view for humans to have at this point of time. Humans, even non-theists, believe for some reason that the universe is here for them and that we will not be destroyed because there is some purpose. This abrogates responsibility. In order for our species to survive, and personally I think that this would be a good eventuality, we must realize that the universe is as ignorant of us as any other piece of space dust and cares naught whether we propagate and fill the universe or extinguish in a nuclear blase. We are responsible for our own survival. We cannot look to some all powerful Daddy to come in, when we have sufficiently stuffed it up for us to learn our lesson, and make it all right again. Once we stuff it up, it's stuffed up. Religions promote an anthropocentric view, to the detriment of our species. It is for this reason that I actively oppose Christianity and any other anthropocentric religion.
20. Religions have played their role in history. They were one of the major cultural influences in uniting peoples into close-nit communities. It enabled the survival of the species through some of it's toughest tests. But we have reached adolescence now and we must give up our childhood fantasies. We must quickly reach maturity before we become another teenage drink/driving or drug overdose or suicide statistic in the Universe's intelligent race survival book. I'd like to be part of the maturing process not the part that holds on to childhood days.
21. No-one has given me a good explanation of why humans are any more deserving of a soul and an after-life than other animals. When did we acquire a soul (at birth, at conception, at baptism, never)? Why don't dolphins get souls? There are many unanswered questions in Christianity: Should we use contraception, pop-up toasters, refrigerators? None of these things are mentioned in the so called 'God's word'. If God had written the holy word, why did He write some of it allegorically and other parts literally without marking the allegorical parts clearly to distinguish them from the literal sections. Basically, if the Bibles are meant to be manuals for life, they are extremely poorly written and are highly confusing and are unclear on the most basic points. I am sure a God could do a much better job. It makes much more sense that they are not the works of a God but are the works of people attempting to keep control of their flock.
22. Since the beginning, religions have attempted to make predictions about the future and have been invariably wrong. Despite this appalling track-record, religious leaders continually predict the date of some Armageddon or future mundane event (such as resurrections of exorcised wives: we saw this in Australia recently). Some of the evangelical types have told their flock, "God has told me to raise 3 million by next week". This is blatant fleecing and nothing more.
23. Any one of these reasons may be refuted, but in collaboration they shore up their strength in order to make only one option available to me in my choice between theism and atheism.

Non-Fiction

Aspirations

by Dax

I periodically (doubtless more than periodically) embark in people-watching: the act of sitting back in an unnoticeable place with a drink (non-alcoholic) and perceiving—a pure James-Dean-type operation. I notice what people do and what they talk about and how they interact and their mating calls and so on. From the various experiences I've encountered through people-watching, I have drawn two basic conclusions. First, it has dawned on me that too many individuals spend their sacred time on activities which they could care less about. The things that these people aspire to be involved in and the roles in society which they really wish to play vault out at them whenever they converse. But I can see that they are clearly and helplessly trapped in their current positions (like Jonas in Lowry's The Giver). It is doubtful that these lost souls can be helped. However, those of us who have not yet placed ourselves in societal roles, have the ability and the duty to strive for what we have passions for, for what we are proficient at and for what we take pleasure from. Otherwise, our lives will surely turn into personal hells punctuated by a whet for objects of these prepositions.

Resolution number two: every individual seems to be issued a different set of passions, avenues to personal meaning. My set is particularly peculiar. I find what most people do to be petty, although I acknowledge that their labors have a definite role in our current civilization. The life of the door-to-door salesman, pitching his sale for the super-vac two-thousand and ten, which cleans your ears, scratches your back and feeds the iguana in addition to vacuuming, seems petty to me. All jobs attributable to the production and manufacturing of plastic Styrofoam cups, seem petty to me. The vocation of endlessly picking and choosing colors for carpets and surrounding walls, seems petty me. Opposing, medicine, science, research, all forms of personal expression, teaching, having intriguing conversations and the uplifting production of comedy—all seem far from petty.

My involvement in these activities keep me from being utterly cynical and pessimistic. I do not have any desire to get rich quick. I do not want to play pro sports. I do not want to be on mind-controlling, time dissolving game shows (with the major past exceptions of Idiot Savants and Jeopardy). I do not even want the two-story house with a door and a window on top and a nice white picket fence set upon a single hill with a yellow flower.

I know that when I indulge in certain activities I have an overwhelming feeling of self-worth; a feeling that I am working towards something meaningful; a feeling of controlled ecstasy. I have seen the big picture now (or at least part of it), and I take pleasure from what I see. I also know what I need to do in order to achieve my visions. Education is the skeleton key which will unlock the gigantic titanium laser-guarded door to my dreams (and also possibly lots of mangos as well). Abundant knowledge in chemistry, astronomy, literature, language, sketch comedy, the mind, philosophy, music, film and much more more will be an integral part of my future. And, the fact that I came to these conclusions before the time came to scribble out this essay will reward me with some iota of chance to step onto the next plateau from which I might be able to touch my dreams with my middle finger—if I stand really high on my tippie-toes.

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Humor

50 Fun Things to do in an Elevator

1. Make race car noises when anyone gets on or off.
2. Blow your nose and offer to show the contents of your kleenex to other passengers.
3. Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering: Shut up, dammit, all of you just shut UP!
4. Whistle the first seven notes of It's a Small World incessantly.
5. Sell Girl Scout cookies.
6. On a long ride, sway side to side at the natural frequency of the elevator.
7. Shave.
8. Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside ask: Got enough air in there?
9. Offer name tags to everyone getting on the elevator. Wear yours upside-down.
10. Stand silent and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.
11. When arriving at your floor, grunt and strain to yank the doors open, then act embarrassed when they open by themselves.
12. Lean over to another passenger and whisper: Noogie patrol coming!
13. Greet everyone getting on the elevator with a warm handshake and ask them to call you Admiral.
14. Censored by your son.
15. On the highest floor, hold the door open and demand that it stay open until you hear the penny you dropped down the shaft go plink at the bottom.
16. Do Tai Chi exercises.
17. Stare, grinning, at another passenger for a while, and then announce: I've got new socks on!
18. When at least 8 people have boarded, moan from the back: Oh, not now, damn motion sickness!
19. Give religious tracts to each passenger.
20. Meow occassionally.
21. Bet the other passengers you can fit a quarter in your nose.
22. Frown and mutter gotta go, gotta go then sigh and say oops!
23. Show other passengers a wound and ask if it looks infected.
24. Sing Mary had a little lamb while continually pushing buttons.
25. Holler Chutes away! whenever the elevator descends.
26. Walk on with a cooler that says human head on the side.
27. Stare at another passenger for a while, then announce You're one of THEM! and move to the far corner of the elevator.
28. Burp, and then say mmmm...tasty!
29. Leave a box between the doors.
30. Ask each passenger getting on if you can push the button for them.
31. Wear a puppet on your hand and talk to other passengers through it.
32. Start a sing-along.
33. When the elevator is silent, look around and ask is that your beeper?
34. Play the harmonica.
35. Shadow box.
36. Say Ding! at each floor.
37. Lean against the button panel.
38. Say I wonder what all these do and push the red buttons.
39. Listen to the elevator walls with a stethoscope.
40. Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers that this is your personal space.
41. Bring a chair along.
42. Take a bite of a sandwich and ask another passenger: Wanna see wha in muh mouf?
43. Blow spit bubbles.
44. Pull your gum out of your mouth in long strings.
45. Announce in a demonic voice: I must find a more suitable host body.
46. Carry a blanket and clutch it protectively.
47. Make explosion noises when anyone presses a button.
48. Wear X-Ray Specs and leer suggestively at other passengers.
49. Stare at your thumb and say I think it's getting larger.
50. If anyone brushes against you, recoil and holler Bad touch!

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Poetry

The Vine of Silence

by Abby

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Prometheus

by Dax

BACKGROUND

MORALS

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Reviews

Movie: Contact

by Abby

The story is based on Ellie Arroway (Jodi Foster), a brilliant scientist who, according to her supervisor, David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt), wastes her time and intelligence "listening for E.T."  Her crew finally identifies a message in the form of a steady repetitive sound echoing through space and originating in Vega, a distant star (coincidentally, just before their grant runs out). Drumlin, of course, steps in and allows himself to do the talking while Dr. Arroway does the thinking.  The message itself is decoded by a very brilliant, very eccentric old man with too much money and not a lot of time to live.  S.R.Hadden, played by Jon Hurt, after dying later in the film, sparks doubt in the media's and the government's minds about the legitimacy of the message.  Of course, doubt in the minds of the media is always doubt in the minds of the public. 

When the alien massage is finally made public, the reaction of the people is hysterical, and, sadly, pretty realistic. From the Elvis impersonators to the choirs singing odes to Vega to the evangelists screaming about the end of the world to the people just listening to the message on headphones while perched atop their trailer homes, the American public was pretty well represented. 

Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan's widow, later said that "Carl's and my dream was to write something that would be a fictional representation of what contact would actually be like, that would convey something of the true grandeur of the universe. But it would also have the tension inherent between religion and science, which was an area of philosophical and intellectual interest that both of us were riveted by."  They have definitely grasped their dream. 

One aspect of Contact that is admirable is that the director, Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future I, II, and III) manages to portray two conflicting opinions through Dr. Arroway (Foster, an atheist), and Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey, a new-age religious theologian) without forcing either of the views on the viewer. 

Another funny aspect of the film is the vague speeches tossed out by Bill Clinton about cloning and other scientific advances.  The speeches are used in the movie without permission from the White House, and Clinton is upset because now all the movie goers know that he doesn't know what he's talking about. 

Contact is an excellently done, refreshingly original film.  Using beautiful special effects to intensify the story, scientific terms that are simple enough for most viewers to comprehend,  and controversial subject matter, the movie challenges viewers to actually make decisions and doesn't simply tell them what to think. 

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